In 1987 Chris Stubbs sent a letter to the editor of the Astrological Journal. He gives arguments for the use of the housesystem of Morin but he proposes to use the cusps from Morin as centers of the houses and not as the beginnings.
He describes how Morin divides the equator and then mentions: These points are taken to be the centre (rather than the boundaries) of the House making them more symmetrical about the place of birth.
In a note he adds: For simplicity House boundaries are taken to be midway between House centres.
He considers this to be a slightly modified version of the Morin system.
In a later (2012) publication – just as his letter to the editor titled Heaven’s Message – Stubbs does not mention anymore he modified the system but he presents the Morin system with the cusps in the center of the houses without further explanation.
We do know Morin did not use cusps as centers in his calculations and he also did not do so in his delineations. The system as proposed by Chris Stubbs is not the Morin system but a system of his own making. It is also not a slightly modified version; if you do use the cusps as centers on average 50% of the planets will be positioned in another house. So we are talking about a new system. I will name it after its inventor: the Stubbs system .
A difficult point is the definition of the centers of the houses. You can do so by defining the centers at the equator and after that calculating the corresponding positions in longitude. You will need mathematical formulas to do so. You can also define the centers in longitude. The second option is not logical, if you define the houses on the equator it makes sense to calculate both centers and starting points of the houses on that same equator. Stubbs mentions that the borders of the houses are positioned on the equator but that he calculates them in longitude for reasons of convenience. He actually does not draw the borders of the cusps, only the standard Morin cusps, but in delineations uses them as centers.
I assume the Stubbs system defines both centers and borders of the houses on the equator as the author himself mentions this as the correct method. Defining the borders on the ecliptic is only an approximation.
I will calculate the borders of the houses explicitly. Stubbs does define the borders during the delineation.
Contact
I tried to get in contact with Chris Stubbs and thankfully received a lot of help form the dutch astrology group WvA, publisher of the periodical Uania in which Stubbs published several articles. Unfortunately to no avail. If anybody could connect me with Chris Stubbs I would appreciate it very much.
Formula
You can calculate the cusps for the Stubbs system with the same formula as for Morin cusps:
tan L = cos e * tan(ramc + ad)
The values for the ad (Ascensional Difference) however are different:
- cusp 10: -15
- cusp 11: 15
- cusp 12: 45
- cusp 1: 75
- cusp 2: 105
- cusp 3: 135
Often you need to correct the outcome for the correct quadrant. If the result of tan(ramc + ad) is between 0º and 90º, you do not apply a correction. If this value is between 90º and 270º, you need to add 180º to the resulting longitude. Between 270º and 360º you need to add 360º.
Example calculation
The location is again Enschede (52º 13′ N and 6º 54′ E). Date and time November 2, 2016 (Gregorian calendar), 21:17:30 UT. This results in a sidereal time of 0:35:23.6 (decimal 0.5899018653) and an angle E of 23° 26′ 13.56586091” (decimal 23.437101628).
MC: 9.62989868323 Converted to degrees and minutes: 9°37′48″ Aries
Asc: 123.507983345667 = 3°30’28” Leo
cos e = cos 23.437101628 = 0.9174972619 ramc = sidereal time * 15 = 8.8485279795
We will calculate the borders of the cusps.
Cusp 10
tan L = cos e * tan(ramc + ad) this results in tan L = 0.9174972619 * tan(8.8485279795 + -15) tan L = 0.9174972619 * -0.1077778744 = -0.0988859047 L = -5.6473852417 + 360º (correctie voor kwadrant) = 354.3526147583 24º 21' 9" Pisces
Cusp 11
tan L = cos e * tan(ramc + ad) this results in tan L = 0.9174972619 * tan(8.8485279795 + 15) tan L = 0.9174972619 * 0.4420646626 = 0.4055931175 L = 22.0771359390 22º 4' 38" Aries
Cusp 12
tan L = cos e * tan(ramc + ad) this results in tan L = 0.9174972619 * tan(8.8485279795 + 45) tan L = 0.9174972619 * 1.3687576900 = 1.2558314328 L = 51.4702085981 21º 28' 13" Taurus
Cusp 1
tan L = cos e * tan(ramc + ad) this results in tan L = 0.9174972619 * tan(8.8485279795 + 75) tan L = 0.9174972619 * 9.2783421965 = 8.5128535603 L = 83.3002022084 23º 18' 1" Gemini
Cusp 2
tan L = cos e * tan(ramc + ad) this results in tan L = 0.9174972619 * tan(8.8485279795 + 105) tan L = 0.9174972619 * -2.2621125020 = -2.0754820267 L = -64.2744988541 + 180 gr (correctie voor kwadrant) = 115.7255011459 25º 43' 16" Cancer
Cusp 3
tan L = cos e * tan(ramc + ad) this results in tan L = 0.9174972619 * tan(8.8485279795 + 135) tan L = 0.9174972619 * -0.7305895027 = -0.6703138683 L = -33.8344951277 + 180 gr (correctie voor kwadrant) = 146.1655048723 26º 9' 56" Leo
References
- Stubbs, C. – Heaven’s Message (Letter to the editor). Astrological Journal Vol. 29 Nr. 6. November/December, 1987.
- Stubbs, Chris – Heavens’s Message – How to read it nowadays. US, no location, 2012.