Combust.
Said of a planet when in extreme closeness
to the Sun, the limits variously placed at
from 3° to 8°30'. The characteristic
effect to which the term applies is probably
confined within an arc of 3° and is more
pronounced when the planet rises after the
Sun. Older authorities, including Milton,
have described it as weakening, except in
the case of Mars which was said to be
intensified. The probabilities are that the
effect of the combust condition is to
combine the planet's influence more closely
with that of the Sun, until it is no longer
a physical emotion capable of independent
control, but an integral part of that
consciousness of Destiny that the Sun
imparts. Thus Mercury combust imparts to the
mind a capacity for concentration upon what
it deems its own destiny, but robs it of its
receptivity to distracting or diverting
influences. Hence it is no bar to the
achievement of its own objectives insofar as
the ability to achieve them is within its
own powers, but it robs the native of the
cooperation of those whom he alienates by
his particular species of obtuse deafness to
any or all argument that runs counter to his
own concepts. Edison and Kant both
illustrate this interpretation. Venus
combust may take away the strength to
achieve, but when in a particularly close
conjunction with the Sun it produces the
condition sometimes termed nymphomania -
described by Bolitho concerning Lola Montez.
Mars combust is always the man who fights
for what he wants; and so with each planet
according to its intrinsic nature.
The
distinction is an important one, in that a
person with an entirely unaspected Mercury
is one who usually develops a complex by way
of an escape mechanism, while one whose
Mercury is within 5° to 10° of the Sun is
seldom afflicted with any manner of mental
derangement.
Wilson says
"there seems manifest a difference in
genius and propensities of natives,
according to the distance of their Mercury
from the Sun; and that those whose Mercury
is combust have little wit or solid
judgment, though they will persevere in
business and frequently with good
success." Also that a good aspect to
the Moon, if angular and increasing in
light, will in great measure remedy this
defect, making one "judicious and
penetrating."
It should not
be confused with the phrase "under the
Sun's beams" which applies to, let us
say, the degree of non-combustion, and is
perhaps embodied in the doctrine that a
planet within the Sun's aura - which extends
to 17° on either side - is within orbs of a
conjunction therewith. In other words, while
the orbs of the planets, with regard to
aspects, are variously from 3° to 10°
according to the nature of the aspect, the
solar orb, by conjunction or opposition, can
be as much as 17°.
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