Anthony Louis's Blog, page 30

Levi Cosijn and I discuss Lilly’s horary about Mr. B’s houses

Recently astrologer Levi Cosijn invited me to join him in a discussion of one of Lilly’s horaries. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U_d6RkFWQk&t=1200s

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An Interview with Daniel Beck of Inner Makeup Astrology

Recently I had the pleasure of doing an interview with New Orleans astrologer Daniel Beck. Click on the link below the image to go to his site.

[image error]https://www.innermakeup.net/insights/2020/4/17/star-love-podcast-episode-2-featuring-anthony-l-louis?fbclid=IwAR1Ob7qD8nmZovTcxBHlfl_yII0OimtkF0kW9whtXyo8NOTiYnAIgVatLI8

Evangeline Adams ‘New Horary’ — Will I pass the exam?

In the previous post I surveyed some of the literature about horary charts that deal with academic examinations and looked at a couple of charts. In this post I’d like to consider Evangeline Adams “new horary” method as applied to such questions. Adams, who spent about a half hour with each client, developed a quick method of doing horary which differed from the traditional method taught by Lilly. Because she was already intimately familiar with the client’s natal chart, she sought a way to quickly use what she knew about the birth chart to answer horary questions that came up during the 30-minute consultation.

Although Adams does not clearly spell out the theoretical reasoning behind her horary method, she must have reasoned somewhat as follows. The birth chart depicts the natal promise. Nothing happens in the life of the querent that is not somehow indicated in the birth chart. Every 24 hours the Earth makes a full rotation so that at any given moment a particular factor in the natal chart gets highlighted by the nature of the horary Ascendant and the relative positions of the natal planets in houses of the horary wheel. Thus, by placing the positions of the planets at birth in the horoscope of the moment of the horary question, the astrologer is able to read which factors in the birth chart are prominent and how this natal promise will play out in the life of the querent.

Traditonal astrology uses the planetary hour of the horary chart to indicate “radicality”. Why should this be so? My hypothesis is that the planet ruling the hour of the question forms a link between the horary and the natal charts. Whatever role the horary hour lord plays in the birth chart comes to the forefront at the time of the question. An example chart will illustrate what I mean.

The following chart was posted in a horary forum to which I belong. The author of the chart gave permission to reproduce it here, but I have withheld identifying information out of respect for her privacy. The querent was taking a history course at the university and asked whether she would pass the exam. She was using Regiomontanus houses and Ptolemaic terms/bounds. Here is the chart she posted: inner wheel is the horary, outer wheel is her natal chart.

[image error]Inner wheel: Horary chart – Will I pass the history exam? (Asc = 14 Aquarius 12. MC = 7 Scorpio 57.)
Outer wheel: natal chart.

To make it easier to read, below is the original horary chart without the natal planets.

[image error]Will I pass the exam? — Original horary chart without natal planets outside. Mars day, Saturn hour.

This is a reasonably favorable chart, so she should pass the exam. The question was asked on a Mars day during a Saturn hour. Saturn rules the Ascendant and is dignified in its domicile Capricorn. The Sun, a general signifier of success, is prominent in the 10th near the MC and applies to sextile Saturn. The Moon, which co-rules the querent and conjoins the Ascendant rapidly applies to trine Mars, which rules the 10th (honors, success) and occupies the 9th of higher education. The Moon does not occupy any of the dignities of Mars, so the success on the exam will be modest due to the lack of dignity.

Now let’s look at the natal chart (outside wheel in the first horoscope above) to see what role the horary hour ruler Saturn plays in the birth chart. Here is the natal chart:

[image error]Natal chart of querent with Regiomontanus houses and Ptolemaic terms.

The horary hour lord Saturn occupies the 9th house of higher education in the birth chart and has dignity only by face, indicating a serious attitude toward university studies but also the potential for difficulties in this area of life. Saturn also rules the natal 9th house. Saturn’s closest aspect is a square with Venus, ruler of the 12th house. Thus, the astrologer, simply knowing that the horary question was asked during a Saturn hour, could say that the query has to do with Saturn issues in the birth chart which probably relate to difficulties with higher education. In her own discussion of the horary question the querent said that higher learning “has always been highly prized by me but studying never came easy.”

Now let’s look at the Evangeline Adams horary for this question. She simply placed the natal planets into the horary wheel and ignored the transiting planets at the moment of the question.

[image error]Qurent’s natal planets placed into horary wheel.

The above chart is what Evangeline Adams would have used to answer this querent’s question. The question was asked on a Mars day during a Saturn hour.

Saturn rules the Ascendant and the 12th Regiomontanus house cusp. By exaltation Saturn rules the 9th house of higher education, which it occupies in the birth chart. Adams was thoroughly familiar with the natal charts of her clients, so she could readily call upon the natal symbolism when looking at the horary charts. Saturn’s only dignity is by face, so the querent will have to struggle to get what she wants. It is favorable that Saturn, as exalted ruler of the 9th, lies in the 1st because this gives the 1st-house querent some control over the outcome of 9th house matters. When I saw this chart in the horary forum, I wrote the following:

—–

The 12th part of the horary ASC at 14 Aquarius lies in Cancer, which is on the 6th house cusp. The Moon rules Cancer and lies in the 1st conjunct the Ascendant, perhaps indicating a focus on hard work and personal initiative regarding the question. Moon’s next aspect is a trine to Mars, ruler of the 10th in the 9th of higher education. This is a positive indication and suggests that the hard work in her studies will pay off on the exam.

If we look at the Adams chart with the natal planets in the horary wheel, we see that the horary hour lord Saturn lies in the natal 9th house. This is fitting because the question is about higher education. In addition, the natal Moon conjoins the cusp of the natal 9th, again indicating that higher education is on the mind of the querent when she asks the question. Venus rules the 9th and Mars rules the 10th. There is no applying aspect between the Asc ruler Saturn and either Venus or Mars, so we need to consider collection and translation of light.

In the Adams chart Venus is separating from a square to Saturn (querent) and applying the a sextile with Mars (10th ruler of honors and success). In addition, the 12th house moon (ruler of the 6th) is separating from a sextile to Mars in Aries (10th ruler, honors & success) and applying to the exalted Sun, ruler of the 7th and a general signifier of success.

Most likely this was a difficult exam and required a lot of 6th house agonizing and hard work, but the querent passed the exam in the end.

——

Interestingly, translation and collection of light often signify the involvement of a third person in the matter. In this case the querent commented that she had worked with a tutor in addition to the lecturer who taught the course.

In addition, I’d like to call attention to a comment which Ema Kurent made in reference to my previous post on this topic: “always look at what the chart is saying to you, where it is leading you. There should be harmony between, and strength of, the 1st, 10th, with some links to the 3rd or 9th rulers. Sometimes, a harmonious applying aspect of the Moon to the Sun can give an affirmative answer, even without finding the ‘correct’ house. I tend to be very flexible with the exam questions.” In this horary chart, the querent’s Moon applies to perfect a sextile with the Sun, exalted in Aries in the 3rd house which is associated with education.

Horary: Will I pass the exam?

The 17th century astrologer William Lilly did not discuss questions about examinations in his classic text on horary astrology (1647), so modern horary astrologers are somewhat left to their own devices in answering such questions. One can find references in the modern literature to the use of the 3rd house for written examinations (for example, C.C. Zain locates “thoughts, studies and writing” in the horary chart’s 3rd house) but more commonly contemporary horary practitioners tend to look to the 9th and 10th houses for answers to such questions.

Lee Lehman in The Martial Art of Horary Astrology (2002, p250) notes that the modern emphasis on education was not part of the cultural context of 17th century astrologers. Lehman goes on to say the the 9th house of wisdom and abstract knowledge and the opposite 3rd house of more practical knowledge have significance in matters of education. She adds that Lilly’s horary about attaining the Philosopher’s Stone implicates the 10th house as a signifier of the result of years of study and learning.

Christopher Warnock on his website gives an example of the horary question, “Will I pass my finals and graduate from college?” asked in Tel Aviv on 20 June 2003 at 12:21 PM. Virgo rises and Taurus occupies the 9th cusp. Warnock states that Venus, as ruler of the 9th house, signifies higher education, the university and the pending final exams (which are part of university education). Because Asc-ruler Mercury applies to soon conjoin 9th ruler Venus, he delineates that the querent will pass the exam and graduate. Mercury in this chart also rules the Gemini 10th house and thus has the added significance of honors and success.

Nina Gryphon in her website give the example of a horary about whether her husband would pass an exam. She uses the Aquarius 7th house as her husband and argues that because 7th ruler Saturn occupies the Libra radical 3rd (her husband’s 9th) and occupies Libra, its sign of exaltation, that her husband would do well on the exam. She interprets the Retrograde status of Saturn as meaning that her husband will remember the material during the exam. She does not consider whether the Moon or the rulers of her husband’s 9th or 10th (radical 3rd and 4th) houses will aspect his ruler Saturn. Her main argument seems to be that because Saturn rules her husband (Aquarius 7th cusp) and is the exalted ruler of his 9th (the radical 3rd) of higher education, he is bound to do well on the exam.

John Frawley in his Horary Textbook (2014) also identifies the 9th and 10th houses as important in questions about education. In Frawley’s view (p258) the 10th house shows the profit from the knowledge gained through 9th house studies and learning. Frawley then equates the exam results with the profit from study and argues that success on an academic exam is a 10th house matter. Nonetheless, states Frawley, the ruler of the 9th house must be in good enough condition for the querent to pass an exam because the 9th indicates the querent’s level of knowedge of the subject matter.

To summarize commonly used house significations in this type of question are:

1st house: the querent.

3rd house: written documents, primary or ‘hands-on’ education and its attendant examinations.

9th house: universities, higher education, abstract knowledge, studies and learning, exams as part of the advanced education learning process.

10th: honors, success of a venture, judges and their judgments, profit from 9th house knowledge (hence success in an exam), the result of years of study and learning.

In searching the internet I found the following interesting examination question posted in 1995 by astrologer Andrew J. Bevan, QHP, DMS Astrology. Mr. Bevan attempts to answer the query, “Will I pass my physiotherapy exam?”, asked at 15.30 GMT, 8 June 1995 in Oslo, 59N55, 10E43. Here is the chart with Regiomontanus houses and Egyptian terms/bounds. (Bevan writes that the chart was cast on a Venus day during a Mercury hour, which would make the date June 9th rather than June 8th. Because the chart he posted is from June 8th and the text reads June 8th, I will work with the June 8th chart rather than the June 9th chart which matches Bevin’s comments about the day and hour lord. It is possible that he posted the wrong chart and we should be studying the June 9th chart instead. The main difference between the two charts is that on Friday June 9th the Moon would have been at 29 Libra, the other planets have moved only slightly.)

[image error]Will I pass my physiotherapy exam? Chart cast for Thursday 8 June 1995 on a Jupiter day during a Mars hour.

The question is asked on a Jupiter day during a Mars hour. Mars also rules the Ascendant and thus signifies the querent as well as 6th house health-related matters. The very early Ascendant is a consideration before judgment.

Higher learning is shown by the Regiomontanus 9th house, which has Gemini on the cusp and Cancer intercepted within. Thus, Mercury signifies her studies and the Moon may act as a co-ruler.

The success of her studies, as reflected in her exam grade, will be shown by the 10th house which has Leo on the cusp. Mars (the querent) in Virgo lies in the 10th Regiomontanus house (honors, success) and in the 11th Whole Sign (hopes and wishes) from the Ascendant. Bevan also notes that the 10th house signifies judges (CA p55) and their judgment in court cases, and in many ways an exam is like presenting your evidence to a judge to see whether you are found sufficiently knowledgeable or not to pass the course.

The Moon, a co-ruler of the querent and ruler of Cancer intercepted in the 9th, is applying to trine the Sun, ruler of the 10th of success on exams and a general ruler of honors and recognition — an indication that she will pass the exam. In addition, Mars (querent) and Mercury (9th ruler) are mutually applying to a square with Mars in a domicile of Mercury. According to Bevan, the querent “was examined on the subjects of hip and hand and passed the examination with perfection.”

——

Here’s another example I found online. The querent asks whether his brother will pass an important exam, which apparently has to do with his career. In this case the 10th house is especially significant because the 10th can signify both career advancement and success on an exam. The question was asked in Karachi, Pakistan, on 17 May 2009 at 12:15 pm. Here is the chart with Regiomontanus houses and Egyptian terms.

[image error]Will my brother pass the exam? Asked on a Sun day during a Jupiter hour.

The brother is indicated by the Libra 3rd cusp, ruled by Venus which is in the sign of her detriment in the 8th house and afflicted by Mars, the out-of-sect malefic, so the brother is not in great shape in this question.

To judge the brother’s performance on the exam we must look at the brother’s 9th and 10th houses, which are the radical 11th and 12th, ruled by Mercury and the Moon respectively.

The Moon, ruler of the brother’s 10th, has dignity only by face and is about to square the Sun in the radical 10th from Aquarius, the sign of the sun’s detriment. This is an argument that the brother will fail the exam.

Mercury rules the brother’s 9th of higher education, is peregrine (without essential dignity) and is combust the Sun and applying to the Sun, thus increasing in combustion. This is another argument that the brother will not pass the exam because his knowledge is not sufficient.

The outcome was that the brother did not pass the exam, which was a requirement for the job he was seeking, and therefore gave up on pursuing that job.

——

In the next post I plan to consider a recent horary about passing an examination from the point of view of Evangeline Adams “new horary” method.

Further thoughts about Pluto, Wuhan and the pandemic

In March of 2020 I posted a blog about Pluto and the current pandemic with reference to Evangeline Adams’ USA chart. At that time I was a bit surprised that the transits of Pluto to the Independence Day USA chart seemed to imply the pandemic lasting into the year 2022 when Pluto returns to its natal position in the USA chart. Since then medical scientists and epidemiologists have been increasingly making the same prediction as the USA chart. Here is a list of Pluto transits to the USA chart (Adams version). The critical periods are those when transiting Pluto makes a station and those when transiting Pluto perfects an opposition to the natal Mercury in the USA chart with Gemini rising, so that Mercury rules the Ascendant, symbolizing the overall well-being of the country.

[image error]Stations and Transits of Pluto to the Adams USA chart with Gemini rising.

Note in the above list that the pandemic came into focus in the USA the week of March 9th during the first transiting Pluto opposite USA Mercury aspect, which is when many states first issued their “shelter in place” recommendations. The next tr. Pluto opposite Mercury aspect perfects on June 14, 2020, so this should be another highly significant period in the course of the pandemic.

According to many public health models, the Pluto station of April 25, 2020, will correlate with a peak period of corona virus infections in the USA. This may be followed by another peak period around October 4, 2020, when Pluto stations direct.

My hypothesis is that the pandemic in the USA is representative of the final phase of the nation’s Pluto cycle, which occurs in 2022.

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Addendum (23 April 2020): the asteroid Wuhan

I just came across this article from Urania.com.ar about the asteroid “Wuhan” and its transits correlate very closely with those of Pluto described above: Wuhan: un asteroide, con nombre de ciudad, en sincronismo con el derrumbe del planeta.

The asteroid Wuhan perfects the following transits during this period:

8 March 2020: conjoins Jupiter

21 March 2020: conjoins Mars

24 March 2020: conjoins Pluto

25 April 2020: conjoins Saturn

29 May 2020: Wuhan turns Retrograde

11 July 2020: conjoins Saturn

6 August 2020: conjoins Pluto

11 September 2020: Wuhan turns Direct

13 October: conjoins Pluto

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Further thoughts about Pluto and the pandemic

In March of 2020 I posted a blog about Pluto and the current pandemic with reference to Evangeline Adams’ USA chart. At that time I was a bit surprised that the transits of Pluto to the Independence Day USA chart seemed to imply the pandemic lasting into the year 2022 when Pluto returns to its natal position in the USA chart. Since then medical scientists and epidemiologists have been increasingly making the same prediction as the USA chart. Here is a list of Pluto transits to the USA chart (Adams version). The critical periods are those when transiting Pluto makes a station and those when transiting Pluto perfects an opposition to the natal Mercury in the USA chart with Gemini rising, so that Mercury rules the Ascendant, symbolizing the overall well-being of the country.

[image error]Stations and Transits of Pluto to the Adams USA chart with Gemini rising.

Note in the above list that the pandemic came into focus in the USA the week of March 9th during the first transiting Pluto opposite USA Mercury aspect, which is when many states first issued their “shelter in place” recommendations. The next tr. Pluto opposite Mercury aspect perfects on June 14, 2020, so this should be another highly significant period in the course of the pandemic.

According to many public health models, the Pluto station of April 25, 2020, will correlate with a peak period of corona virus infections in the USA. This may be followed by another peak period around October 4, 2020, when Pluto stations direct.

My hypothesis is that the pandemic in the USA is representative of the final phase of the nation’s Pluto cycle, which occurs in 2022.

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A Famous Horary about Alan Leo

When astrologer Alan Leo fell seriously ill in August of 1917, his wife Bessie asked her husband’s colleague H.S. Green (author of a well-known book on mundane astrology) whether her husband would succumb to the illness. On page 82 of the book The Life and Work of Alan Leo by Bessie Leo we learn that the horary chart was cast for 3:10 PM Summer Time in Bournesmouth, UK, on 29 August 1917. Here is the chart calculated by modern computer with Placidus cusps which were in vogue at the time:

[image error]Horary chart interpreted by H.S. Green whom Bessie Leo consulted about whether her husband Alan Leo would survive his illness.

According to what she writes in her book, Bessie Leo was worried that her husband might die and asked, “Will Mr. Leo’s illness be serious?” She continues that Mr. Green’s analysis was the following:

“The reply was given that while the illness was serious, the worst need not be feared, and that it should pass off in a few days. Stomach and liver affected.” Bessie Leo then states:

“In light of the subsequent events there is here a failure to predict death, but it is curious that the judgment agreed exactly with the doctor’s diagnosis, of which Mr. Green knew nothing. The Ascendant Sagittarius stands for Mrs. Leo, and the 7th house for the person enquired about. Jupiter is in the 7th in good aspect to Venus culminating, to Saturn, and to Neptune, both in the 8th house. Mercury, Mr. Leo’s significator, receives none but good aspects.”

“The afflictions are the Sun in Virgo in square to Jupiter in the 7th (Mr. Leo’s Ascendant), and the Moon, ruler of the 8th, in opposition to Mars in the 8th; the Moon always being co-significator in the horary question.”

Astrologer H.S. Green clearly misread the chart because Alan Leo died the next day, on 30 August 1917 at 10 AM BST at Bude, Cornwall, UK. Let’s see if we can figure out where Mr. Green went astray.

The horary was cast on a Mercury day during a Mercury hour. Mercury rules the Gemini 7th cusp, which signifies her husband. The Ascendant at 9 Sagittarius 56 has its 12th part (dwad) in Pisces, which contains no planets, but the ruler of Pisces is Jupiter on the 7th cusp of the spouse. She is clearly asking a question about her husband.

Mercury represents Alan Leo (the husband of the querent) in this chart. The turned 8th of death from the 7th is the radical Capricorn 2nd house, ruled by Saturn, which is also a natural signifier of death.

Cancer on the cusp of the radical 8th makes the Moon a signfier of death in this chart. The Moon at 24 Cap 18 will perfect no aspects before leaving its sign, but as soon as the Moon enters the next sign Aquarius, it will perfect its trine to Mercury, the husband’s signficator. Mercury receives the Moon in its term/bound at the beginning of Aquarius and as a good host, Mercury will act to please the Moon which is the radical lord of death. This is a clear indication that the husband will die. The trine aspect probably reflects that the death would occur quickly without undue suffering, which was the case. Bessie Leo writes, “Mr. Leo actually died of effusion of blood on the brain, the bursting of a blood vessel in the head … the rupture of the blood vessel was brought about by the strain caused by vomiting; and if the latter had been stopped the death would not have occurred just when it did but would have been postponed, being in a sense unnecessary.“

In addition to the 8th ruler Moon’s next aspect being to the 7th ruler Mercury, there is a translation of light from husband’s ruler of death Saturn to the querent’s ruler Jupiter on the cusp of the 7th. Venus, which rules the radical 6th of illness (turned 12th of undoing of the husband) is separating from Saturn (ruler of the husband’s 8th of death) in the radical 8th of death and rapidly applying to Jupiter. Venus also rules the radical 10th which is the husband’s 4th house of end of life matters. This translation of light connects the husband’s end of life (radical 4th), hospital confinement (radical 6th), and death (radical 2nd) with his wife’s death-related experience (Saturn in radical 8th).

The fact that Mars rules the radical 12th, which is the husband’s 6th of illness, and lies in the radical 8th of death, where Mars conjoins the 8th cusp, supports the above interpretations.

Evangeline Adams “New Horary” method

I was curious to see how Evangeline Adams would have interpreted this horary question. In her method, Adams calculates the angles and cusps of the horary chart and then inserts the natal planets of the querent. The next chart is Bessie Leo’s natal chart from AstroDataBank turned so that the horary Ascendant is rising instead of her natal Ascendant. The house cusps are those of the H.S. Green horary chart but the planets are those of the birth chart of Bessie Leo, the querent.

[image error]Evangeline Adams New Horary Method chart, with the horary cusps from the H.S. Green horary chart and the natal planets of the querent, Bessie Leo.

The 7th ruler Mercury signifies the husband who is ill. Saturn, ruler of the radical 2nd which is the turned 8th, signifies the death of the husband. There is no applying aspect connecting Mercury to Saturn.

On the other hand, there are several ominous indications in the chart. Saturn, ruler of the husband’s house of death, occupies and conjoin the cusp of the radical 8th of death, showing that an experience of death is coming to the querent. The Sun, a general signifier of the husband in a woman’s chart, applies to square Saturn in the 8th. The Moon, debilitated in the 1st in Capricorn, rules the radical 8th of death and is rising toward the Ascendant. Adams commonly read the planets in the 1st that were rising toward the horizon to symbolize events that were soon to enter the life of the querent. Here, as the Moon advances in the zodiac, it will square the Sun (a natural signifier of the husband) and then oppose Saturn (ruler of the husband’s house of death).

Given the above, my guess is that Evangeline Adams would have interpreted this horary to mean that Alan Leo would die of his illness.

A Bizarre Twist on Evangeline Adams “New Horary” method

Now for an even more bizarre twist and something Evangeline Adams never tried, as far as I can tell from her books. What if we put the quesited’s natal planets into the horary chart instead of the querent’s? Because Bessie Leo was asking about her husband, it occurred to me to try Adams’ method using Alan Leo’s natal planets in Bessie Leo’s horary chart as cast by H.S. Green. Here is the result.

[image error]A bizarre twist on the horary chart cast by H.S. Green for a question asked by Bessie Leo about her husband Alan, with Alan Leo’s natal planets placed in the horary figure.

I was blown away when I first looked at this unorthodox version of an Adams horary for Bessie Leo’s question with the quesisted’s natal planets in the horary figure. In other words, she asked about her husband so I put the husband’s natal planets in the horary chart. It is striking how the 8th house just jumps out at you.

Here the most angular planet is Uranus on the 7th cusp, indicating a sudden disruptive event coming into the life of the querent’s spouse.

Mercury rules the husband and occupies the radical 8th of death where it conjoins Saturn, ruler of the 2nd which is the husband’s turned 8th of death. Mercury is combust the Sun and thus strongly debilitated. The Sun rules Leo which is intercepted in the Placidus 8th and thus has an 8th house significance. Mercury and the Sun are mutually applying to conjoin, uniting the symbol of the husband with a signifier of death. The Moon, ruler of the radical 8th of death, is separating from a trine to the sun (ruler of Leo in the 8th) and applying to trine Mercury (the husband), thus translating the light from Sun to Mercury. Mars occupies the 2nd of the husband’s death and is mutually applying to oppose Venus, ruler of the radical 6th of illness and turned 12th of the husband’s hospitalization.

All in all, this is not a favorable chart and it indicates that the husband will die of his illness.

Interestingly, there is a prominence of Jupiter and the 9th house in these charts. Some modern astrologers have noted that Jupiter and the 9th are often active in charts related to the death of the person, especially if death is a welcome ending from some type of suffering which cannot be alleviated in this life. In Hellenistic astrology the 9th is the House of God (“metaphorically, the ninth represents the speeding through a tunnel toward a brilliant light after death“) as well as long journeys, and Jupiter has to do with religion and spirituality. Perhaps the prominence of the 9th and Jupiter at the time of death has to do with making a final long journey back to one’s Maker. As I write this, I am reminded of a sidereal Solar Return which Aswin Balaji recently discussed regarding the death of Robin Williams in which the 9th house and Jupiter played a significant role.

Birthplace versus current location for the Solar Return?

Aswin Balaji invited me to participate in a discussion about solar returns. His recording of our talk can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onq1QHpQyfw

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The Decumbiture of Rudolph Valentino

The recent illness of Boris Johnson got me thinking about decumbiture charts, especially the famous example of the chart of heartthrob Rudolph Valentino, which bears many resemblances to Boris Johnson’s chart.

The Italian-American actor Rudolph Valentino was a popular romantic superstar of film in the 1920s. When he fell ill and was hospitalized on 15 August 1926, the news made national headlines. According to wikipedia: “On August 15, 1926, Valentino collapsed at the Hotel Ambassador on Park Avenue in Manhattan. He was hospitalized at the New York Polyclinic Hospital. ”

Reporters noted the exact time that Valentino collapsed at the hotel in NYC: 11:50 AM EDT. Based on this data, astrologers were able to calculate a “decumbiture” chart for the moment the person first experiences symptoms sufficient to require taking to his sickbed. Here is the chart with Placidus houses, which were in vogue at the time.

[image error]This is a decumbiture chart for the moment Valentino fell ill, according to news reports in August of 1926.

Decumbiture charts are read in a manner similar to horary charts. Many special “rules” apply, however. For example, the 1st house signifies the sick person, the 7th is his physician, and the 10th is the treatment given for the disease. The Moon is often used to time “critical” periods for the illness, which correspond to the hard aspects of the transiting Moon to its radical position in the chart.

Valentino’s decumbiture chart is not especially favorable and suggests that he may not recover from this illness. It is cast for a Sun day during a Saturn hour. The malefic Saturn is without essential dignity and rises in the 1st house. Saturn is also almuten of the 1st (the body, vitality), 4th (endings) and 12th (confinement, undoing).

In addition, Saturn is opposes by Mars, which rules the 6th (illness) and the 7th (the treating physician). Mars in Taurus is in the sign of his detriment. The Moon (a general symbol of the body) lies in Scorpio, the sign of its fall, separates from an opposition to Mars and applies to conjoins Saturn, in the 1st house of the body and life-force.

Venus, which rules the 8th of health crises and death, applies to square the Ascendant, which lies in the term/bound of Mars at the end of Libra.

The Sun (a general signifier of the life force and ruler of the 10th of the medical treatment received) applies to conjoin Neptune, a planet of dissolution. The Sun also has the role of “hyleg” or “giver of life” in this chart. Sol closely conjoins Emerson’s Point of Death, which lies at 22 Leo 44. In her book on horary astrology (p. 173), Barbara Watters popularized Charles Emerson’s “death point” which is calculated by the formula: Mars + Saturn – MC.  Watters noted that in her experience Emerson’s Point of Death was more reliable than the traditional Lot of Death.

The Moon will square its radical position and also oppose the Sun and Emerson’s Death Point on August 22, 1926, which will be a critical day in the progress of the illness.

Rudolph Valentino died on August 23, 1926 at 12:10 PM EDT. The cause of death was perforated ulcers which mimicked appendicitis and resulted in peritonitis, a bacterial inflammation of the tissues that line the inner wall of the abdomen. Apparently several of his distraught fans committed suicide after receiving news of his death. Perhaps Sun conjunct Neptune and the Point of Death in the 10th house of this chart reflects the mass hysteria attending his demise.

The most famous astrologer practicing in NYC in 1926 was Evangeline Adams. There is an astrological urban legend that Adams foretold Valentino’s death, but the evidence for this is scanty. According to Karen Christino, who wrote an excellent authoritative book on Adams:

“In their book The Day the Bubble Burst, Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts say that Evangeline Adams, ‘foretold Rudolph Valentino’s death to within a few hours’. This claim sounds outrageous, and I have seen it corroborated in no other sources. Yet the Bubble Burst team had scanned an incredible array of material in order to put together their book.”

Unfortunately, even if Adams did predict “Valentino’s death to within a few hours,” there is no record of how she did so. Karen Christino suggests that Adams may have used traditional methods of horary astrology regarding decumbitures to analyze the chart for the moment Valentino collapsed at the hotel and was then taken to the hospital. This information appeared in the newspapers on 16 August 1926, a day after the event. It is possible, or even likely, that Adams had erected and studied the decumbiture chart in anticipation of being contacted by the press about her astrological opinion of the possible outcome of the famous movie star’s surgery.

What we know of Evangeline Adams’ horary technique is that she did not follow traditional guidelines. Her “new horary” method, which she documents in her writings, was to calculate the horary cusps for the moment of the question and to insert the natal planets into the horary figure, ignoring the planetary positions at the time of the question.

Although Valentino was apparently not a client of Adams, she would have known the basic birth data (perhaps not the exact hour) of this superstar and may even have studied his chart as she did for many famous personalities of her time. Here is Valentino’s natal chart based on his birth certificate:

[image error]Natal chart of Rudolph Valentino, based on Birth Certificate.

If Adams used her usual horary technique, she would have calculated the decumbiture cusps for 15 August 1926 at 11:50 AM EDT in NYC and placed Valentino’s natal planets in the decumbiture wheel, without the current transiting planets of August 15, 1926. The resulting “Adams-style decumbiture” would look like the following:

[image error]Adams-style decumbiture chart for Valentino’s illness, based on her method of doing horary astrology. The cusps are generated for NYC on 15 August 1926 at 11:50 AM EDT when he fell ill. Valentino died on 23 August 1926 at 12:10 PM EDT, which was 8 days and 20 minutes later.

Given Adams’ reports of how she did horary astrology, my hunch is that she would have taken the moment of Valentino’s decumbiture as a horary chart and inserted his natal planets into it, resulting in the above figure. It is striking that in the birth chart based on the official Birth Certificate the first degree of Libra is rising, and in this decumbiture chart the Ascenant lies in the last degree of Libra, symbolically implying that the native has traversed his entire life span.

Also apparent in Adams’ version of the decumbiture chart is that the Retrograde Saturn in Scorpio rising to conjoin the very late Ascendant in Libra is an ominous sign that portends the death of the actor. As William Lilly (CA 122) warns,

“if Saturn be in the Ascendant, especially Retrograde, the matter of that Question seldom or never comes to good.”

Adams regularly used Uranus in her work, and she would also have been alarmed by Retrograde Uranus in Scorpio in the 1st house so closely opposing Mercury and the Sun in Taurus in the 7th of the physician.

The Sun rules the 10th of the treatment received by the patient, and its opposition to Uranus suggests an unexpected turn for the worse. Both the Sun and Mercury are disposed by Venus, which rules the 8th of death. Mercury itself rules Gemini, which lies mostly in the 8th Placidus house. Adams used Placidus houses in her work.

The Moon, which is always important in horary charts, occupies the 12th of hospitalization where it is separating from a square to Mars (ruler of the 7th of illness and a symbol of surgery). The Moon’s next major aspect to a visible planet is a trine to Venus, ruler and occupant of the 8th of death. Thus, the Moon is transferring the light of Mars (the illness) to Venus (death). The Moon will perfect the trine to Venus in almost exactly 8 degrees, which symbolically could represent exactly 8 days, corresponding to around Noon on August 23rd, his actual date of death. (The use of this method of timing depends on an accurate birth time.)

Adams would probably have noted that the Ascendant ruler Venus also rules and occupies the 8th house of death, suggesting that the “querent” or sick person is confronting his own mortality.

As for timing, it is unclear how Adams would have predicted the death to within several hours. (Using the Moon, as noted above, she would have predicted that he would die around Noon on August 23rd.) One possibility is that she considered when 8th ruler Venus would change signs from Gemini into Cancer. Venus lies about 7.67 degrees from the end of Gemini. If she used a degree for a day, the adding 7.67 days to August 15th at 11:50 AM EDT would give an estimate of August 15th at midday plus 7.67 days (7 days and 16 hours), which calculates to August 23rd at about 4 in the morning. Valentino died on August 23rd at 12:20 PM EDT, roughly 8 hours later.

If Adams had access to Valentino’s birth data from his birth certificate, she might have calculated the moment when his natal Venus, ruler of the 8th of the decumbiture by transit would reach the natal MC at 01 Cancer 01 and oppose the natal 4th cusp of endings and the grave. By transit his natal Venus reached his natal MC on 14 May 1895 at about 1:30 AM CET. He was born on 6 May 1895 at 3 PM CET, so the difference is 7 days 13.5 hours, which is very similar to the result obtained in the above paragraph. Either way she would have concluded that Valentino was likely to die in the hospital in the early morning of August 23, 1926.

Rudolph Valentino

Boris Johnson enters the ICU

Yesterday (April 6th) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson entered the Intensive Care Unit for breathing difficulties related to COVID-19 which he contracted last month. As receiving a question from a colleague about this event, I wondered what astrological measures might currently be active in this chart. Johnson was born in NYC on 19 June 1964 at 2 pm EDT. Here is his birth chart with Topocentric houses.

[image error]Boris Johnson’s birth chart. Topocentric houses. Tropical Zodiac.

Boris Johnson was born on a Venus day during a Sun hour. The Sun is also hyleg in his chart. The Prime Minister is now 55 years old and will turn 56 in June. At age 55 his profected Ascendant falls in the natal 8th sign from 1st house, that is, in Taurus. An 8th house profection year often puts an emphasis on life and death issues as well as one’s personal mortality. The fact that Jupiter rules the 6th of illness and occupies the 8th raises the possibility of personal illness during the year. Venus, which rules the Taurus 8th house, lies in aversion to the 8th and is combust the sun, so the year is likely to be a rather difficult one. Next let’s look at his current solar return at his birth place.

[image error]Boris Johnson Solar Return at birthplace.

The Solar Return occurred on a Mercury day during a Sun hour. Johnson’s “lord of the orb” this year is the Sun, so the the Sun is especially emphasized and its placement in the 6th house of his chart becomes a prominent symbol for the year. Natally the sun is also “lord of the orb” and afflicts Venus, ruler of the natal 8th house. Mercury is significant in the Solar Return as ruler of the 6th of illness.

In the current solar return Capricorn rises and Saturn rules the SR Ascendant. SR Saturn is Retrograde in the 1st where it conjoins SR Pluto and opposes the SR Mercury/Mars conjunction in Cancer in the 7th. In horary charts Lilly regarded Retrograde Saturn in the 1st house as particularly troublesome. With SR Mercury ruling the SR 6th of illness, conjoining SR Mars (inflammation, infection), and opposing SR Asc-ruler Saturn in the 1st, the symbolism of significant illness during the year is evident. The illness symbolism is reinforced by the Sun in the SR chart occupying the 6th house of illness. In addition, as I have previously reported, the presence of the Stationary Lunar Nodes in the Solar Return chart almost always heralds a year of dramatic, life-altering events which often take the form of some sort of personal, profession or serious health crisis.

Regarding distributions through the bounds, at age 55 Boris Johnson’s directed Ascendant lies in the Saturn term of Scorpio and its participant is the opposition of Jupiter from the 8th house. Natally Jupiter in the 8th is tightly opposite Neptune in Scorpio in the 2nd, so this troublesome natal Jupiter/Neptune opposition is active by primary direction during this phase of his life.

If we look at his primary directions for this period, we see the following. I used Placidus semi-arc, hard aspects only, with and without latitude, and a key of the midpoint of Ptolemy/Naibod, which is my preferred rate for primary directions.

[image error]

Judging from his hard aspects for the current year, Johnson’s primary directions indicate April as a difficult month as the directed Ascendant and natal Mars in the 8th perfect an opposition, and the directed Moon conjoins natal Pluto. Directed Pluto will perfect a quincunx to natal Mars in June, which also looks troubling. Not shown in the above list is the fact that primary directed Venus is closely applying to conjoin the natal 8th Topocentric cusp, which it rules, again marking this period as having 8th house significance.