Anthony Louis's Blog, page 31

The Illnesses and Death of King Edward VI (1537–1553)

Edward VI was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, wife #3 of the king. In his autobiography astrologer Jerome Cardan notes that during his travels in England in October of 1552 he was consulted about Edward’s horoscope, especially regarding the recent illnesses of the young king and the prospects for his early death. Edward was only 15 years old when Cardan met him, and Cardan was acutely aware of the delicate nature of the consultation. Upon returning to Italy, Cardan wrote more frankly about Edward’s birth chart.

Edward VI was generally a healthy child except for a bout of quartan fever in 1541, but in April of 1552 he contracted the measles and perhaps also smallpox from which he apparently recovered by mid-year of 1552. According to medical science, measles is known to suppress the human immune response and leaves its victims open to infection with tuberculosis. The authors of an article in the New England Journal of Medicine write: “We believe that his death was due to rapidly progressive tuberculosis that developed after he had measles.”

In December of 1552 or January of 1553 young Edward developed a cough which became progressively worse. A summary from the Tudor Society notes that “when his half-sister, Mary, visited him on the 10th February [1553], she found him bedridden. Although he had rallied at various points, by the 20th May, the Imperial Ambassador, Jehan Scheyfve, described Edward’s condition as ‘desperate’, and on the 30th May he wrote: ‘The King of England is wasting away daily, and there is no sign or likelihood of any improvement. Some are of opinion that he may last two months more, but he cannot possibly live beyond that time.’

Born on 12 October 1537 at Hampton Court Palace (51n22, 0w20), 15-year-old King Edward VI died on the evening of 6 July 1553 at Greenwich Palace, England. Hampton Court Palace is in East Molesey in the borough of Richmond upon Thames, 12 miles south west and upstream of central London on the River Thames. 

The British astrologer Ebenezer Sibly pubished the following horoscope of the young king.

[image error]Sibly’s chart for the birth of Edward VI

Below is the same chart as from Sibly’s book but calculated by modern computer. (Sibly’s chart differs slightly from the one at AstroDataBank, which gives an Asc of 6 Virgo 01. Cardan apparently used a birth time of 1:16 AM instead of 1:36 AM LMT as in the Sibly chart.)

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Now let’s consider the primary directions during 1552 – 1553, the period when he became ill with measles and smallpox, recovered, and then developed tuberculosis or some other serious lung ailment which eventually killed him. Using Janus 5.3, I calculated the Placidus semi-arc primaries, with and without latitude, using only the hard aspects to keep the list manageable. (Cardan in the 16th century would have used Regiomontanus primary directions rather than Placidus semi-arc as shown below.)

[image error]Hard aspect Placidus semi-arc primary direction, with and without latitude, for 1551-1552

We see in April of 1552, when the young king came down with measles and smallpox, that primary directed Saturn (ruler of the 6th of illness) with latitude came to the natal Ascendant, and the primary directed square of Mars (ruler of the whole sign 8th house) came to the natal sun (a symbol of the life force and ruler of the 12th of confinement). The astrological symbolism fits a serious bout of potentially life-threatening illness that this time.

In January of 1553, when his cough began, by primary direction the opposition of the ecliptic position of Mars (without latitude) came to the natal Moon (a symbol of the body) and the square of the ecliptic position of Mars (without latitude) came to the MC. Mars is a universal symbol of infection and inflammation.

In July of 1553, the month of his demise, by primary direction the square of the body of Mars came to the MC, opposite the IC (endings and the grave).

In September of 1553, by primary direction the ecliptic position of Saturn (without latitude) came to the Ascendant, and this direction would have been within orb of its perfection at the time of his death in July.

Interestingly, once Cardan was safely back in Italy, he speculated that the primary direction involving Mars and the Sun suggested that one of the British government ministers was plotting against the life of the king and perhaps considering killing him with poison. To this day there are conspiracy theories about whether Edward VI was poisoned in a power grab or whether he died of natural causes.

For the sake of completeness, the list below shows the hard aspect Regiomontanus primary directions for the period of the king’s illnesses and death, calculated with and without latitude at the Naibod rate.

[image error]REGIOMONTANUS primary directions, with and without latitude, at Naibod rate. When primary directed Saturn comes to the ASC in April of 1552, Edward VI falls ill of measles and smallpox, from which he recovers by mid-year. In late December 1552 or early January 1553 he develops a chronic and worsening cough when the square of Mars is directed to the Sun and to the MC, and the square of Jupiter is directed to Pluto. Finally, he dies in July 1553 when the directed ASC comes to the ecliptic position of natal Saturn. Both the Placidus and the Regiomontanus primary directions tell a similar story in this birth chart.

Lilly’s Definition of Collection of Light

William Lilly writes that matters can be perfected by collection of light “when as the two principal significators do not behold one another, but both cast their several aspects to a more weighty planet than themselves, and they both receive him in some of their essential dignities, then shall that planet that collects both their lights bring the thing demanded to perfection” (CA 126).

Lilly’s definition is a bit complicated and not well understood, so let me break it down into its essential components, namely, that collection of light occurs when all three of the following conditions are met:

1) “the two principal signficators do not behold one another” — that is, they are not within orb of a bodily conjunction or aspect.

2) “both cast their several aspects to a more weighty planet than themselves” — that is, both significators apply to conjoin or aspect a planet which is slower (heavier) than either of them.

3) “both receive him [receive the heavier “collecting” planet] in some of their essential dignities” — that is, the heavier/slower planet, which collects the light of the two faster significators, must occupy one or more of the dignities of each of the faster significators. In other words, the heavy planet can only collect the light of a faster planet if it resides in a segment of the zodiac which the faster planet “owns” or where the lighter planet has some sort of dignity. If the heavy planet lies in a part of the zodiac which the faster planet does not own, it cannot collect the faster planet’s light.

To illustrate Lilly’s definition, let’s look at a horary chart. I couldn’t readily find an illustrative chart in my files, so I invented a hypothetical example (one that never occurred) as a teaching device. Suppose the querent through carelessness lost a sizable a mount a cash, maybe a few hundred dollar bills got carried away in a gust of wind as he opened his wallet outdoors in the midst of a hurricane. He goes to his astrologer in New York City and at 8:32 PM EDT asks whether he will be able to retrieve the lost $100 bills. The date is August 29, 2019. Here is the chart with classic Alcabitius houses.

[image error]In this hypothetical horary, does Saturn “collect the light” of Venus and Mars which apply to trine Saturn? Lilly would say “no.”

The astrologer looks at the chart and shakes his head. “Sorry,” says the stargazer, “it looks like your $100 bills are gone for good. Do you have a credit card to pay me for my services?”

The astrologer goes on to explain that the querent who lost the money is signified by Mars, ruler of the Aries Ascendant. The lost money is signified by Venus, ruler of the Taurus 2nd house. Uranus on the cusp of the 2nd house correlates with the unexpected loss of money. Venus (the $$$) is rapidly separating from its recent conjunction with Mars (the querent) in the unfortunate 6th house. On top of that, both Venus and Mars are combust or “burnt” the Sun. Since this querent doesn’t have money to burn, one say say that his $100 bills went up in smoke.

“Wait a minute,” says the querent, who knows a little about astrology. “Aren’t Venus and Mars in Virgo both applying to trine Saturn in Capricorn via mutual application? Isn’t that a collection of light which gives me hope of getting my money back?”

The astrologer shakes his head in negation and digs out his copy of Christian Astrology. He points out that the two significators, Venus and Mars, are currently in orb of conjunction and thus do behold each other, so the first condition of “collection of light” is not met.

He also notes that even if Venus and Mars were not beholding one another (condition #1 of collection of light), Saturn occupies the exaltation of Mars and is able to collect the light of Mars; BUT Saturn does not occupy a part of the zodiac where Venus has any dignity, so Saturn cannot collect the light of Venus. If Saturn can’t collection the light of Venus, then Saturn can’t unite the light of Venus and Mars.

Finally, even if Saturn occupied a space where both Venus and Mars had dignity, both Mercury and the Sun would perfect a trine to Saturn before Mars could do so, and these prior perfections might interfere with the ultimate collection of light between Mars and Venus. On the other hand, Saturn does not reside in a dignity of the Sun or of Mercury. Thus, Saturn who does not occupy a region “owned” by Saturn or by Mercury is not able to collect their lights, and so there may not be a lot of interference with the unification of the lights of Mars and Venus if the conditions of this final possibility were met, which they are not in this chart.

Addendum: Upon reading this blog post, astrologer Lyuben Meshikov sent me the following quote by Abu Ma’Shar regarding collection of light from The Great Introduction (Keiji Yamamoto, Charles Burnett version):

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The Beheading of Jerome Cardan’s Son

The Italian astrologer Jerome Cardan (1501 – 1576), aka Gerolamo Cardano, was one of the greatest mathematicians of the Renaissance. Because he was often short on cash, he developed probability theory to help him win at gambling. Cardan was born on September 24, 1501 in Pavia, Italy.

In his autobiography he writes: “I was born normally September 24, 1501 when the first hour of the night was more than half run but less than two-thirds.” The first hour of the night belonged to Mars and ran from 5:31 pm to 6:34 pm LMT in Pavia, but I’m not sure how time was measured in Pavia (probably LAT) when Cardan was born. Based on his reading of the works of Cardan, Morinus cast Cardan’s natal chart with a birth time of about 6:29 pm LMT. This is consistent with Cardan’s description of his own horoscope in his autobiography in which he writes that Venus rules his Ascendant (Taurus rising), Sun lies in the 6th and Moon in the 12th Campanus houses, and Jupiter is in the Ascendant (rising sign). There is a typo in the autobiography which states the year was 1500 but the description of the chart only makes sense if he was born in 1501.

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Jerome Cardan had a difficult life. He was born illegitimate and in ill health. Despite his obvious brilliance, his bastard status impeded advancement in his career. He had hoped to work in Milan but due to social opprobrium he ended up practicing in the municipality of Saccolongo (45N24, 11E45) near Padua. His children were born in this region.

On 20 December 1557 Cardan had a premonition. He spent the night sleepless and felt that his bedroom was shaking as if in an earthquake. The next day he asked people in the market if they had the same experience but was met with denial. When he returned home, his servant informed him that his 23-year-old physician son Giovanni Battista had married an apparently disreputable girl, Brandonia Seroni, who had no dowry. Cardan writes: “that was the beginning of all misfortune.” The son eventually realized that Brandonia had been cheating on him and had given birth to her lover’s children instead of his own, so he allegedly poisoned her with arsenic and was convicted of murder. Giovanni Battista Cardan was imprisoned on 17 February 1560 and beheaded on 14 April 1560 NS.

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The story of Cardan’s beheaded son became well known and was discussed by many famous astrologers in later centuries. Placidus reviewed the chart in one of his books in the 17th century. Reproduced below is the natal chart of Cardan’s son from the writings of Placidus translated into English by John Cooper.

[image error]Natal chart of Giovanni Battista Cardan, the son of Jerome Cardan, according to Placidus. The native was born in Saccolongo (45N24, 11E45) near Padua, so the latitude of 44 degrees is either a typo or represents the nearest available entry from available tables of the time. The birth time of 8:30 pm is in LAT and corresponds to about 8:27 pm LMT in Padua. Below is a modern calculation of this chart.



[image error]Giovanni Battista Cardan’s natal chart. He was beheaded for killing his wife with arsenic because she was cheating on him. He died of beheading by the sword on 14 April 1560 NS in the dungeon where he was imprisoned.

Is there symbolism in the birth chart which suggests a violent death? Yes, there is. Jupiter, the Ascendant ruler, closely opposes a peregrine Mars in the 8th house of death. Jupiter also conjoins Pluto which opposes Mars in the 8th, suggesting a violent demise. Mars also rules the 12th of self-undoing and the 4th of endings and the grave A debilitated Saturn in Cancer rules the wife’s 8th and occupies the native’s 8th of death. Uranus, a planet of sudden disruptive events, applies to conjoin the 8th cusp. The Moon, which rules the 8th, is peregrine in Gemini (the detriment of Asc-ruler Jupiter) and is also in aversion to the 8th. The antiscion of the Moon lies at 9 Cancer 25, conjunct the true lunar north node and opposite the true lunar south node. Such nodal contacts are often considered “fateful” degrees.

The young physician died at age 25 about a month before his 26th birthday. In his solar return he was in a 2nd house (Capricorn) profection year. The 2nd house contains the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction which opposes Mars in the 8th, and Saturn (ruler of Capricorn) occupies the 8th, so that these natal configurations, which signify a violent death, become activated during his 25th year.

Giovanni Batistta’s primary directions by Placidus semi-arc at the Naibod rate without latitude for this period, as calculated in Janus 5 software, are the following:

[image error]The closest primary direction to the date of his beheading at the Naibod rate is the square of the Sun conjoining Mars in the 8th house on May 26, 1560. Mars (a symbol of violence and severing) occupies the 8th of death and the Sun (a symbol of the life force) rules Leo intercepted in the 8th house.

My preferred rate for primary directions is the midpoint of the Ptolemy and Naibod rates. Below are the primary directions at this midpoint rate. Custom point 1 refers to Caput Algol, the fixed star associated with beheading.

[image error]This list was generated with the same parameters as the previous one but at a rate midway between that of Ptolemy and Naibod. It is noteworthy that by primary direction the square of the Sun conjoined natal Mars in the 8th house on 19 March 1560 and then the sextile of Caput Algol arrived at Mercury in the 7th house on 5 April 1560, both aspects perfecting very close to the date of his beheading on 14 April 1560.
(In 1560 Caput Algol had an ecliptic longitude of 19 Taurus 40.)

The Problem with Birth Time Rectification

Any astrologer who has tried to rectify a birth chart knows what an arduous task it is. I know astrologers who have spent years trying to rectify their own charts, and nearly every time a new major event occurs in their life they are forced to adjust their rectified birth time. A glance through AstroDataBank at charts of celebrities with unknown birth times will reveal that many astrologers have attempted a rectification and come up with different birth times, often hours apart. Even the historical literature has examples of charts that were “rectified” to times many hours removed from the recorded birth time. The case of King Henri II of France is a good example, which I have discussed elsewhere.

Recently I was talking with an astrological colleague from Argentina who swore by the exact predictions available via topocentric primary directions which would enable a very precise rectification of a birth chart. Skeptical of such a claim, I decided to read more about this method and I began reading works by Alexander Marr and Juan Estadella. My own experience with primary directions is that they identify a general period of several months, somewhat like time lords or dasa lords, but are only exact in timing events on occasion. The proponents of the topocentric system claim that if the birth time is correct, then the primary directions will identify the time of events within a week or two. I find this hard to believe.

Reading the first book on predictions by Alexander Marr, I attempted to work with his rectification of the chart of Elizabeth Taylor, who has a well-documented birth time. Marr came up with a time that was quite different, and I am inclined to believe the birth certificate more than the speculations of Marr. In addition, Marr appears to use Placidian directions under the pole rather than the proportional semi-arc method which Placidus felt was superior in accuracy. Marr also uses the key of Naibod and, as far as I can tell, does not take planetary latitude into account in calculating primary directions.

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I next turned to a book by Juan Estadella who describes the method of Alexander Marr. One of Estadella’s chief examples is the chart of Jackie Kennedy, which has a suspect birth time because it was given by Frances McEvoy who had a reputation for rectifying birth charts and then claiming that the source of the birth time was a mutual acquaintance of the famous person whose chart she had rectified. Mr. Estadella, using McAvoy’s data which was probably already rectified by McEvoy, notes that the primary direction of the MC to the 9th house Sun perfected on June 18, 1953, just 6 days before she announced her engagement to Jack Kennedy on June 24, 1953. He cites this as evidence of the immense accuracy of primary directions, an accuracy that is not obtainable with any other astrological predictive technique. Rectifying what is most likely an already rectified chart is hardly convincing.

Transits, Estadella claims, are only able to be accurate within a period of many weeks or even several months and do not have the pinpoint accuracy of topocentric primary directions. However, if we look at the transits to Jackie Kennedy’s chart for June of 1953 we find that Jupiter in the 7th house of marriage returns by transit to its natal position (Jupiter conjunct Jupiter) on June 19, 1953, just 5 days before her engagement (even more accurate than the primary direction). Then, on 24 June 1953, the date of the announcement, transiting Jupiter perfects a semi-square to her natal Moon which rules her 9th house of the dissemination of information.

My guess is that Frances McEvoy used the transits of Jupiter to rectify the chart initially and then passed the rectified time off as the recorded birth time of Jackie Kennedy. In fact, the hospital record does not contain the birth time, although there is mention in the nursing notes that at 5 pm that the baby was being monitored, so we know she was born some time before 5 pm.

So far the evidence in favor of the extreme accuracy of the topocentric system is not convincing. I’d like to see a rectification which is then verified by hard historical evidence that was not previously rectified and was otherwise unknown to the astrologer.

On the Origin of the USA Gemini-rising charts

In a recent post I speculated about how Evangeline Adams might have studied the current pandemic in her version of the USA Gemini rising chart, cast for 3:03 AM on July 4th 1776. Some readers questioned whether the Adams’ chart of the USA could be considered a valid event chart. Having studied Adams work for many years, I believe that she was using a symbolic chart based on her understanding of the importance of eclipses in mundane astrology. I have written about this theme previously but thought it might be useful to recap the argument.

According to the site https://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-declaration-of-independence/fascinating-facts/, “In fact, independence was formally declared on July 2, 1776, a date that John Adams believed would be ‘the most memorable epoch in the history of America.’ On July 4, 1776, Congress approved the final text of the Declaration. It wasn’t signed until August 2, 1776.” Apparently the last signature on the Declaration of Independence was placed there some five years after its July 4th drafting.

Thus, any chart for July 4th 1776, regardless of the time, simply reflects the final draft and formal declaration of independence. It did not achieve full legitimacy until August 2nd 1776 when most of the state signed on and agreed to unite to fight for independence from Great Britain. My hypothesis is that Adams, in her understanding of mundane astrology, looked for the solar eclipse nearest to August 2nd to determine the cusps of her symbolic chart for the USA Independence and then, following her own horary method, she placed the planets of July 4th into the wheel generated by the August 14th solar eclipse. Here is was the solar eclipse chart looked like in Philadelphia (using maximum eclipse time as the measure):

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To generate a symbolic chart for the July 4th final draft of the Declaration of Independence (officially signed on August 2nd, just 12 days before the solar eclipse), Adams appears to have cast a July 4th chart with the same Ascendant (20 Gemini 34) as the August eclipse chart. Thus, Adams’ USA chart, which she rounded to a 3:03 AM chart, looks like this:

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Adams’ chart is not the only USA chart in the literature. Another commonly used USA chart, which was popularized by Elbert Benjamine of the Brotherhood of Light, has around 7 Gemini 35 rising and is based on presumptive USA “birth data” of July 4th, 1776 at 2.14 AM LMT, Philadelphia (74W08, 39N57). The site http://lightofegypt.com/rs_backissues/terror-events-an-astrological-perspective/ gives the following reference to a Dr. Keifer:

“As per Dr. James D. Keifer from a letter written by Elbert Benjamine to American Astrology magazine in January 1940 where he wrote: `Dr. James D. Keifer and I, as far back as 1900, belonged to the same occult fraternity. In 1908 I was in Iowa, and in the summer of that year I dropped all other interests to devote the balance of my life to astrology and occult work. I was in correspondence with Dr. Keifer who was about that time organizing and incorporating the First Temple of Astrology in Los Angeles (1907). He gave me the chart of the U.S. merely writing that the data had been supplied by an acquaintance of his who was a descendant of a signer of the Declaration of Independence.’”

As far as I know, the reasoning behind this popular USA chart has never been explained. If I were to venture a guess, I would speculate that Dr. James Keifer, like Evangeline Adams, was also working with a symbolic chart. William Lilly had written “that Gemini is the Ascendant of the City of London all authors agree.” The Declaration of Independence of July 4th 1776 was a clear statement of the intent of the colonies to break free of the British rule centered in London, governed by Gemini. What better symbol of the intent to revolt against the British King in London than a chart with Uranus about to conjoin the Ascendant in the sign Gemini?

Why choose a 2:14 AM time which gives an Ascendant of 7 Gemini 31, with Uranus at 8 Gemini 53? Here Uranus lies 1 degree 22 minutes from the Ascendant. Again, I would speculated that this Ascendant was chosen on the basis of the August 14th 1776 partial solar eclipse, which fell close to the August 2nd signing. August 14th is 41 days after July 4th. If we use the symbolic measure of one degree equals one month (30 days), the 41 days converts to 1 degree 22 minutes of arc, the exact distance between Dr. Keifer’s USA Ascendant and the planet Uranus in his USA Gemini rising chart, as can be seen below:

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“Age Harmonic” Charts

Recently, in this age of corona virus, I was chatting online with a colleague who does a lot of sports astrology. One of his favorite techniques is to analyze the “age harmonic” charts of two teams to predict the outcome. He apparently has a good success rate. His comment got me curious because it’s a technique that I had not previously used in predictive work, so I decided to dig a little deeper into the literature.

To be honest, I had experimented with harmonic charts over the years and found them to be theoretically fascinating but not especially useful in my day-to-day workings with predictive astrology. This may have been due to my inexperience with the technique or my not having studied with an astrologer conversant with the method. I recall back in the 1980s and 1990s reading works by Karl Ersnt Krafft (1930s), John Addey (1970s), David Hamblin (1980s), and Charles Harvey (1990s) on the topic, but the method never became a staple in my own practice, which was geared more toward predictive work than psychological astrology. More recently I’ve been trying to learn some Hindu astrology which makes ample use of harmonic and other “divisional” charts to focus in on various potentials of the birth chart.

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The idea of harmonic charts grows out of our ancient astrological tradition, much of which is derived from Pythagorean numerology and musical theory. The Pythagorean school studied stringed musical instrument and discovered that the intervals between harmonious musical notes could always be expressed in whole number ratios. For example, the notes in a “perfect fifth” have the ratio of 3 to 2. In addition, a string of a musical instrument which is exactly half the length of another will produce a pitch that is exactly an octave higher when plucked. Similarly, a 2nd harmonic chart will traverse the entire zodiac in 180 degrees rather than the 360 degrees required to circumnavigate the standard horoscope wheel.

An author who popularized “age harmonic” charts is Dymock Brose who wrote a popular article in Solar Fire Deluxe Tips & Techniques. In fact, the option to calculate many types of harmonic charts is a feature of the Solar Fire program. Brose writes that he first learned about age harmonics from artist-astrologer Ross Harvey of NSW, Australia, in 1983. I do not know whether Ross Harvey developed the idea or learned it from someone else. Charles Carter’s book on Symbolic Directions in 1929 documented that astrologers in the early part of the 20th century had been experimenting with almost any number conceivable to symbolically direct charts in the hope of finding a magic formula to make predictions. In my opinion, most of these were silly attempts that turned out to be nonsense.

As I understand the application of harmonic theory to astrology, the birth chart is the first harmonic. We enter the world as a first harmonic. The natal chart vibrates at the basic frequency against which all other charts are measured. By analogy with music theory, the 2nd harmonic chart “vibrates” at twice the frequency of the birth chart (the 1st harmonic). Everything in the 2nd harmonic chart moves twice as fast around the zodiac as it would in the natal chart, that is, everything in the second harmonic chart plays the same tune but at one octave higher.

Unfortunately, the article by Dymock Brose appears to have a logical fallacy because he treats the birth chart as if the infant does not begin its first harmonic until age one. Instead the infant, according to Brose’s argument, comes into the world as harmonic zero, which symbolically would probably correspond to an unmanifested idea in the mind of God. Perhaps the moment before the Big Bang could be considered harmonic zero because of the absence of all vibration, but the conception of the birth chart as “harmonic 0” defies logic and common sense. Infants are not born as amorphous blobs and tabula rasas.

The proponents of Brose’s theory try to get around this illogical position with arguments such as the following from Alice Portman’s site:

“From the moment of our first breath in this world our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies are continually assimilating information, which leads to continuous growth and development of our psyche. … “Each year of life emphasises and unfolds one of the harmonics and their multiples:

“The period between 0-1 opens and develops harmonic fractions.”

“The period between 1-2 opens and develops the 1st harmonic, the conjunction.”

In other words, by claiming that birth chart represents harmonic zero, the astrologer must invent an illogical concept of “harmonic fractions.” What in the world is a “harmonic fraction”? The utter nonsense of this concept becomes apparent if we try to apply it in real life.

Consider a baby born with a congenital heart defect requiring surgery within 24 hours to save the baby’s life. The age harmonic chart, according to Brose, would be calculated as follows: one day is 1/365.2422 of a tropical year, so the harmonic chart would be calculated by multiplying the zodiac longitude of each point in the birth chart by 1/365.2422 or 0.00273. Such an “age harmonic” chart would compress the entire birth chart into less than one degree of the zodiac. The closer to the birth time, the more compressed the birth chart becomes in Brose’s “age harmonic” calculations because his theory considers the birth time to be the equivalent of a “Big Bang” event which is at harmonic zero.

Even Juan Estadella in his thoughtful book on Predictive Astrology (3rd edition, pp 257-258) falls into this trap. Fortunately, Solar Fire offers the option of “Harmonic Age + 1” which adds one year to the age of the individual before calculating the harmonic age chart. The rationale for doing so is that age 0 corresponds to the 1st harmonic chart (the birth chart), age 1 to the 2nd harmonic chart, age 2 to the 3rd harmonic chart, and so on. Brose and his followers appear to have confused cardinal with ordinal numbering: age 0 begins the 1st year of life, age 1 begins the 2nd years of life, etc. The numbers 0, 1, 2, etc., are cardinal numbers. The numbers 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc., are ordinal numbers.

In his article Brose gives the example of a woman born in 1947 who undergoes major abdominal surgery in 2006. He implies that the “age harmonic” chart is superior to other methods of predicting this event because it is more precise and individualized. Nonetheless, the primary directions and solar and lunar returns for this event show it quite clearly. In addition, because Brose is using the birth of this individual as a big bang event, as if birth were harmonic zero, his calculations are a full year off.

The importance of regarding the birth chart as the 1st harmonic rather than a “big bang zero harmonic” becomes especially evident in sports astrology in which the first game of the season is often taken as the team’s “birth chart” from which age harmonic charts are generated. If the first game were considered harmonic zero, as in Bryce’s system, then a game two weeks later (14 days divided by 365.2422 day in a year) would produce an age harmonic chart in which every point in the birth chart was multiplied by 0.038, resulting a a harmonic chart with all planets and points in the first 14 degrees of Aries. How would an astrologer make sense of such a chart? For this reason, sports astrologers would choose the “Harmonic Age + 1” option in Solar Fire to generate their Age Harmonic charts for sports teams each season. Interestingly, some sports astrologers also use “converse” or pre-natal Age Harmonic charts of teams to assist in predicting the outcome of matches.

In doing an online search, I found a Google Groups entry by astrologer Gail Klein who appears to understand correctly that the birth chart is the first harmonic. To quote her helpful post verbatim:

“To calculate your age harmonic chart:

Take your current age and add 1 to it.  This number represents your current age harmonic.  So, if you’re 52 years old now, 53 is your current age harmonic.

Convert all your planets, and your Ascendant and MC, into zodiacal longitude.  
For instance, 12 Aquarius 48 becomes 312d 48m.  

Multiply each converted position by 53 (or whatever your age harmonic is) using a “scientific calculator”, reducing* the result until your number is less than 360. Convert this number back into sign position.  

For instance, for an original placement at 12 Aquarius 48, do: 312 48 x 53 (or whatever the age harmonic actually is) = 16578 24
Reduce 16578 24 to a number less than 360 = 18 24 = 18 Aries 24 is the 53rd harmonic position of that natal 12 Aquarius 48 position.
(*Reduce by subtracting 360 until you get a number less than 360.)

When you get your age harmonic Ascendant, simply draw equal houses and the put your new positions in.  Try one for the birthday before your last one and see whether the chart describes conditions of that year.  It’s fun!“

Further thoughts about the pandemic and the USA chart

For years my favorite chart of the USA has been the 7 Gemini 35 rising chart, which was taught by Elbert Benjamine in his Brotherhood of Light mundane astrology classes. Benjamine said that he was given the 7 Gemini 35 chart by Dr. James D. Keifer in 1908, and Dr. Keifer appears to have originated this chart. Whether Keifer derived this Gemini rising chart from other sources is not known.

In mundane astrology the charts of the equinoxes and solstices are quite significant. Because China reported the early cases of unusual pneumonia to the rest of the world at the end of December 2019, I thought it would be useful to compare the USA Declaration of Independence chart (July 6, 1776) with the Winter Solstice chart of December 21, 2019, which occurred very close to the beginning of the current worldwide pandemic. I set both charts for Philadelphia, which has cusps very close to those of charts set for Washington, DC.

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The inner wheel is the 21 Dec 2019 winter solstice chart for Philadelphia. Superimposed around it is the USA Gemini rising chart of Dr. James Keifer (1908).

What is striking about these superimposed charts is that natal USA Neptune almost exactly conjoins the 2019 winter solstice Ascendant, and natal USA Mars almost exactly conjoins the 2019 winter solstice Midheaven. Mars, which rejoices in the 6th house, is a general signifier of infections, inflammation and disease. Neptune is a modern symbol of mysterious and hard-to-diagnose illnesses. As the two most angular planets, they set the tone for the months ahead.

Furthermore, Mercury rules the Ascendants of both the natal USA chart and the 2019 winter solstice chart in Philadelphia. As ruler of the Ascendant, Mercury represents the life force, health and vitality of the nation. In the superimposed charts transiting Pluto opposes natal USA Mercury, and natal USA Mars opposes transiting (solstice) Mercury. Thus, Mercury, both natal and transiting, is highly afflicted by malefic planets associated with disease and death. In addition, the most angular aspect is the opposition of solstice Mercury (which rules both Ascendants) and USA natal Mars (which rules the 6th whole sign of the Gemini rising chart).

Would Evangeline Adams have predicted the current pandemic?

In the last post I discussed how Evangeline Adams predicted World War II almost a decade before it happened. In this post I’d like to speculate about how she might have analyzed the current pandemic of Corona Virus. Because Adams worked primarily with transits, I compared the current transits to the symbolic chart she used for the birth of the USA. What stood out was transiting Pluto in the USA 8th house of death opposing natal Mercury, which rules the USA Gemini-rising chart Ascendant (health, vitality) and 2nd house of the economy. Here is the chart which Adams used in her predictive work about the USA:

[image error]Evangeline Adams’ USA natal chart

Currently transiting Pluto is in the 25th degree of Capricorn in the 8th house of the USA chart and is approaching its Pluto return. Pluto has also been transiting opposite natal 1st-ruler Mercury since the Corona Virus epidemic began toward the end of 2019. Here is a list of significant transits since the fall of 2019:

03 Oct 2019: Tr. Pluto turns stationary direct at 20 Cap 38 in the USA natal 8th (loss of life) and opposite natal Mercury in the natal 2nd (the economy).

17 Nov 2019: According to news reports, the first case of a person in Wuhan, China, suffering from Covid-19 was traced back to 17 November 2019.

10 Jan 2020: Lunar Eclipse at 19 Cancer 59, activating the tr. Pluto opposite natal Mercury aspect

09 Mar 2020: Tr. Pluto opposes natal Mercury. This is the week that the “shit hit the fan” in the United States. Major universities sent students home. Broadway shut down in NYC. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson were diagnosed with the virus. President Trump shook hands with Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro who then tested positive for Covid-19. Many governors declared states of emergency, banning large gatherings. Disney closed its amusement parks. The stock market had one of its worst weeks in history (Mercury rules the 5th of gambling, entertainment, and speculative investments).

25 Apr 2020: Tr. Pluto turns stationary retrograde at 24 Cap 59

14 June 2020: Tr. Pluto opposes natal Mercury

04 Oct 2020: Tr. Pluto turns stationary direct at 24 Cap 29, almost exactly opposite natal Mercury.

08 Jan 2021: Tr. Pluto opposes natal Mercury

27 Apr 2021: Tr. Pluto turns stationary retrograde

11 Sep 2021: Tr. Pluto opposes natal Mercury

06 Oct 2021: Tr. Pluto turns stationary direct

30 Oct 2021: Tr. Pluto opposes natal Mercury

20 Feb 2022: Tr. Pluto conjoins natal Pluto (the Pluto return)

From the above list of transits it appears that the current lethal pandemic and problems with the American economy (natal Mercury in the 2nd, natal Pluto in the 8th) will be under major stress from transiting Pluto and will characterize the final period of its Pluto cycle through the time of the Pluto return in February of 2022. The fact the Mercury rules not only the Ascendant but also the 5th house of this USA chart correlates with the toll the virus is taking on the stock market as well as the entertainment, sports, restaurant and vacation sectors of the U.S. economy.

Unfortunately the USA response to the pandemic has been dismal. When China shut down cities in December of 2019, it was a clear warning the countries around the world needed to begin immediate testing for the virus. The USA delayed until late February to begin any testing in earnest and as of the date of this writing the testing is woefully inadequate. I read in the local news this week that in Connecticut where I live, with a population of 3 million people, fewer than 100 tests had been done statewide. It is not possible to mount an appropriate response if we don’t know where the virus is and who is already infected. Unfortunately, transiting Pluto opposing the Ascendant-ruler Mercury of the Adams’ USA chart does not bode well for how the virus will propagate and cause needless deaths throughout America in the months and perhaps years ahead.

The following chart shows Adams’ USA chart in the center surrounded by the chart for Pluto turning stationary retrograde on 25 April 2020, which should be a peak time in the pandemic crisis facing the United States in the coming months.

[image error]Transiting Pluto is opposing Asc-ruler Mercury from the 8th to the 2nd house as it approaches the end of its Pluto cycle and prepares to make a Pluto return in the year 2022. The current pandemic and economic downturn in the USA correlate with the transits of Pluto to Adams’ USA chart, especially the opposition of transiting Pluto to natal Mercury.

Other than noting that the Ascendant of the Pluto station chart of 25 April 2020 lies in the natal 4th house and closely squares the USA Uranus in the 12th, I leave it to the reader to ponder the other implications of this comparison chart.

Historical Note: Among the worst cases now in the USA are those in the Seattle area. Looking back to when Pluto was last transiting this same part of the USA chart during the 1770s, we find that, in this same region of the country, the disease smallpox (variola major) eradicated at least 30 percent of the native population on the Northwest coast of North America, including numerous members of Puget Sound tribes.

How Evangeline Adams Predicted World War II

When I first got interested in astrology in the 1950s, among the only books available on the topic in my local library were those of Evangeline Adams. I recall reading, during my teens, Adams’ text Astrology for Everyone (copyright 1931 and reissued in 1960). Adams died in November of 1932. I also recall being astounded that in the Introduction to her 1931 book Adams predicted that the United States would enter into war in 1942, a full 9 years after her death. She based her prediction on the cycle of Uranus in the USA chart and noted that during the American Revolution and the American Civil War, Uranus was in Gemini. Checking the ephemeris, she noticed that Uranus would again enter Gemini in 1941 – 1942, and with it the USA would again enter into a major war.

Apparently her 1931 volume was not the only time that she had predicted a war in the early 1940s. The site https://www.psychicpowernetwork.com/ quotes The Milwaukee Sentinel of 11 October 1931 as announcing an upcoming talk by Adams at the city’s Pabst Theater:

“Evangeline Adams, the astrologer, who in 1912 predicted a world war in 1914 and who predicts that the next great war will occur in 1941-42 with the United States as its center, will speak on astrology as a science at the Pabst theater, Oct. 23 [1931] at 8:15 p.m” (bold and italics mine).

Adams first astrology teacher was Dr. J. Heber Smith (5 Dec 1842 – 23 Oct 1898), who stressed the importance of using transits in predictive work. A booklet entitled Transits of the Planets attributed to J. Heber Smith is published by the American Federation of Astrologers. In this text J. Heber Smith (or whoever the author is) notes that transits of Uranus are “powerful, irresistible and destructive in evil aspect to the Sun, or other important parts of the horoscope.” From her study of planetary cycles Adams had already noticed that the ingress of Uranus into Gemini corresponded the the United States entering into a major war. She also regarded squares and oppositions as “evil” aspects and would have considered sensitive points like the degrees of the Ascendant and Midheaven as important parts of the horoscope.

In previous posts I have shown that Adams used a chart for the USA based on 3:03 AM LMT in Philadelphia on the 4th of July 1776, Independence Day. She most likely chose this “birth time” of the nation on the basis of the Solar Eclipse of August 14, 1776 calculated for the maximum eclipse time. It was not uncommon for Adams to insert natal planets into a chart calculated with sensitive cusps; this was the basis of her horary method, which she appears to have combined with her mundane astrology techniques in making this prediction.

Adams saw that Uranus would enter Gemini on 7 August 1941, so she was certain that the USA would become involved in a war in that year. Most likely she also noticed that Uranus turning Retrograde and then Direct would make a series of “evil” squares to the Midheaven of her USA Gemini-rising chart, specifically on 21 May 1941, 23 January 1942 and again on 14 February 1942. Transiting Uranus during this period was traveling in close proximity to transiting Saturn, another ominous indicator. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on 7 December 1941 in the midst of this sequence of squares from transiting Uranus to the USA Midheaven. Below is the list of transits of Uranus to Adams’ USA chart, generated by Solar Fire. Note that Uranus stations direct in February of 1942 almost exactly square the radical USA Midheaven.

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Here is Evangeline Adams’ Gemini-rising chart for the USA surrounded by the transiting planets of 7 December 1941 in Philadelphia. Note transiting Uranus and Saturn, in square aspect to the radical MC and approaching their ingresses into Gemini of the USA chart.

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Ebenezer Sibly’s Use of Placidus Houses in the late 1700s

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The British astrologer Ebenezer Sibly (1751 – c. 1799) is perhaps most noted for the chart he published for the July 4th 1776 Independence Day of the United States of America. In discussing with Chris Brennan on The Astrology Podcast the increasing popularity of Placidus houses in England beginning at the end of the 17th century, I cited a reference to Sibly’s translation of Placidus from page 441 the 1898 book The Elements of Astrology by Luke Dennis Broughton:

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Although the above direct quote from Broughton’s text indicates that E. Sibly translated the 1650 book by Placidus from Latin into English, the wikipedia entry on Sibly states that the translation was done by his brother Manoah Sibly (1757 – 1840) who was a linguist. In any case, it seems clear that Ebenezer Sibly had access to, and made use of, the translated works of Placidus in the year 1789. Judging from E. Sibly’s published horoscope charts, he was using Placidus houses in his astrological practice at the end of the 18th century.

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The following image of the USA Independence chart is taken from Figure No. 53 following page 1055 of Ebenezer Sibly’s A New and Complete Illustration of the Celestial Science of Astrology, published posthumously in 1826.

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Sibly’s chart for “America Independence” is cast for London at around 10 pm on 4 July 1776. In London 19 Aquarius 49 is rising on the Ascendant and 13 Sagittarius 12 is the degree of the Midheaven. Modern computer calculations indicate that the “birth time” for this chart is 9:53:14 pm LMT in London, UK. This would correspond to a time of 4:53:15 pm LMT in Philadelphia, PA.

The evidence that Ebenezer Sibly is using Placidus cusps can be seen in the intermediate houses. Sibly’s 2nd house cusp at 20 Aries 00 corresponds to the modern computer calculation of 19 Aries 54 as the 2nd Placidus cusp. Sibly’s 3rd house cusp at 23 Taurus 00 corresponds to the modern calculation of 22 Taurus 25 as the 3rd Placidus cusp. Sibly’s 12th house cusp at 20 Capricorn 00 corresponds to the modern values of 19 Capricorn 46 as the 12th Placidus cusp. Finally, Sibly’s 11th house cusp at 1 Capricorn 0 corresponds to the modern calculation of 0 Capricorn 40 as the 11th Placidus cusp. In fact, Sibly appears to have rounded his numbers to the nearest degree.

The point of this historical interlude is that the prominent British astrologer Ebenezer Sibly, who died around 1799, was influenced by the writings of Placidus, perhaps through his brother’s translations, and was advocating the use of Placidus houses in the final decades of the 18th century, well before the popularization of Tables of Placidus Houses in England in the 1820s. One could argue that Sibly’s adoption of Placidus houses was one of the forces that prompted the adoption of Placidus as the dominant house system in England in the 19th century.