Anthony Louis's Blog, page 4

Walter H. Sampson and the AFA booklet on TRANSITS

This is a follow-up to my previous post, Did Marie Juliette Pontin write Dr. Smith’s Book on Transits?

The booklet on Transits was published by the American Federation of Astrolgers many decades ago. It is advertised on amazon.com with the blurb:

“This book represents the work of Heber J. Smith, a homeopathic physician in Boston who was born in 1842. He was a professor of materia medica at Boston University and a practicing astrologer who was a teacher of Evangeline Adams. Legend says that Julie Pontin, a rival of Evangeline, paid Heber $150 for a typewritten copy of this material-a large sum in the early 20th century. In addition to the value of the astrological experience and knowledge presented in this book, it is also representative of the thinking of the astrologers of the time, which was decidedly deterministic. Some of the words and phrases are quaintly archaic when viewed from the 21st century, and the writing style is also representative of an earlier time. Nevertheless, much astrology can be learned from the author’s insights into the transiting planets. He also includes examples from his own life regarding the effects of transits and directions. Included are chapters on the transits of Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in both favorable and unfavorable aspect to other planets.”

The authorship of this book has long been in doubt because many of the case examples took place in the period prior to WWI (1914 – 1918), and Dr. J. Heber Smith died in 1898. For instance,there is a discussion of the assassination attempt on President Teddy Roosevelt, which occurred on October 14, 1912. There is also a prediction about what will happen when Uranus transits to the span of 10 to 15 of Aquarius during the 1914 – 1916 period. These facts suggest that the bulk of the text was written in 1913.

Sydney Omarr got a copy of the Transits text and permission from the AFA to publish it as an appendix to his 1965 book My World of Astrology. Omarr states that the Transits book is the work of Dr. Heber Smith of Boston, the mentor of Evangeline Adams. He also reports a rumor that Marie Juliette Pontin purchased a typewritten copy of the material for $150 (a large sum in the early 1900s).

Recently, Philip Graves posted an article about his own research into the origins of the Transits text. He came across a rare book by Marie Pontin (born in NYC on July 1, 1973) entitled A Manual of Astrology: Planetary Aspects and Transit Effects, which she appears to have self-published in 1924. This book consists of two parts, the first of which is about natal astrology, and the second of which is essentially the verbatim text of the AFA booklet on Transits, which was erroneously attributed to Dr. J. Heber Smith (1842 – 1898). Graves points out that James Holden of the AFA had raised doubts about Dr. Smith’s authorship as far back as 1988.

Who, then, did write the text on Transits? In her 1924 book Marie Juliette Pontin of New York City states in her foreword that her book is compiled from notes written by several noted astrologers of the period:

“These notes have been compiled from notes of Dr. Heber Smith, of Evangeline Adams, of Alan Leo, of Walter Gorn Old, of Walter Sampson, and from personal experience; and are designed to amplify and to express in more modern terms and phraseology the ideas obtained from ptolemy, Placidus de Titus, and Lilly, Sibly, Gadbury, and the earlier writers on Astrology.”

This topic has interested me for several years, and I have attempted to deduce the birth data of the original author of Transits by studying its case examples. My discussions with Karen Christino about Evangeline Adams, Dr. Smitth, and the Transits booklet were quite helpful as I researched this matter.

Using the electional search function of Solar Fire software, and geocentric charts cast in the tropical zodiac, I found three potential candidates for the author:

Feb 11 – 13, 1872 (Moon in Aries, Mercury in early Aquarius)Jan 31 – Feb 2, 1874.  (The date Feb 1, 1874 has Moon 12 Leo and Mercury 11 Aquarius)Jan 11 – 13, 1876. (Moon in Leo, Mercury in early Aquarius)

After reading Pontin’s 1924 book and re-examining the case examples in the second part of the book on transits, I concluded that the best fit was the chart of someone born on January 13, 1876 in England. The text uses many idioms that were popular in England in the early 1900s, and the Moon’s position in the UK worked better than the Moon’s position for a chart of the same date and same Ascendant, born in New York City. From Pontin’s list of astrologers in her Foreword, the most likely candidate was Walter Harold Sampson who wrote The Zodiac: A Life Epitome, published by Blackfriar Press, London, in 1928.

Philip Graves suggested that I contact Kim Farnell regarding the birthdate of Walter Sampson. Kim responded quickly with the comment that Walter H. Sampson “appears on a family tree in Ancestry. Born 5 January 1876, Marylebone, London, died in the third quarter of 1961 (July to Sept).”

Walter H. Sampson was born on January 5, 1876, in London. My research had led to the most likely birthdate being January 13, 1876 in the UK with about 4 Sagittarius rising. Initially, I was puzzled by the difference in dates, January 5th versus January 13th of the same year (1876). Then, it occurred to me that the principal author of Transits (part two of Pontin’s 1924 book) always used both the geocentric and heliocentric positions of natal planets to judge the transits. Using, the heliocentric positions of Walter Sampson’s 5 Jan 1876 birthchart, everything fell into place. The examples throughout the text all “worked” when both geo and helio positions were taken into account. In addition, references to Pontin’s natal chart also fit when both her geo and helio positions were utilized.

It now appears clear that Marie Pontin compiled the material in her 1924 text from other astrologers, adding some of her own comments along the way, but that the bulk of part two on transits comes from the work of W.H. Sampson of England who often refers to Pontin’s birth chart and makes predictions for her during the period after 1913, when I believe most of the original Transits text was written.

W.H. Sampson’s birth chart deduced from examples in the AFA booklet Transits, which was taken from the second part of Marie Juliette Pontin’s 1924 text, A Manual of Astrology: Planetary Aspects and Transit Effects.

Here is one of tthe examples, taken from the text verbatim:
“I was robbed under the following configuration.
Jupiter entering, Scorpio, opp. Neptune and Mars radical, and square Mer. helio, with Saturn entering Taurus in opposition.”
The punctuation makes this sentence confusing and may be due to typos on Pontin’s part. The sentence can be more clearly written as, [transiting] Jupiter entering Scorpio opp. [natal] Neptune; and Mars radical and square [natal] Mer., helio [in the heliocentric chart]; with [transiting] Saturn entering Taurus in opposition [to transiting Jupiter].”

Looking in the ephemeris for this period, I found the Jupiter was entering Scorpio while Saturn was entering Taurus in the months of November and December of 1910. The author of this example states that transiting Jupiter was opposite natal Neptune in early Taurus (true of Sampson’s chart), and natal Mars was square Mercury in the helio chart (true of Sampson’s chart) , Saturn was entering Taurus opposite transiting Jupiter.

Did Marie Juliette Pontin write Dr. Smith’s Book on Transits?

For many years the authorship of the famous booklet on transits has been a mystery. This booklet, attributed to Dr. J. Heber Smith, was allegedy used by Evangeline Adams and another noted New York astrologer, Marie Juliette Pontin. Because it discusses events that occurred after the death of Dr. Smith in 1898, he could not have been the author, at least of those sections that give examples after his demise.

Marie Juliette Pontin was a well-known New York astrologer in the early 1900s. According to Who’s Who in America, 1914 ediction, which lists her as a “Lecturer,” she was born Marie Juliette Everett in New York City on July 1, 1873. She married Henry Morris Pontin (1871 – 1927) on October 23,1894 in Passaic, N.J., and the couple had one son, John Frederick Pontin. In 1911, she became associate editor of Mystic Light Magazine. Her interest in Hindu philosophy and occultism prompted her to join the Theosophical Society. In 1924 she published A Manual of Astrology: Planetary Aspects and Transit Effects, which contains the material found in the book attributed to Dr. Smith and some additional text.

From the 1914 edition of Who’s Who in America

Recently, Philip Graves in a Facebook post wrote:

“I’ve now had a chance to compare the A.F.A. publication ‘The Transits of the Planets‘ that has traditionally been credited to Dr. J. Heber Smith with Marie Juliette Pontin’s 1924 book “A Manual of Astrology: Planetary Aspects and Transit Effects” that she says herself was partly based on his notes (NB: he is not her only source for this book – she also cites Evangeline Adams, Alan Leo, Walter Gorn Old – i.e. Sepharial- Walter [H.] Sampson, and her own personal experience, as sources for her writing, in the foreword to her book). …
‘The Transits of the Planets‘ was first published in book form by the AFA as a large-format slender booklet of just 43 pages, probably around the early 1970s, as shown by their address in the edition to hand bearing the Washington, D.C. address, where the AFA was based only until 1975, when they moved to Tempe, AZ. This edition was credited to Dr. Heber J. Smith [who died in 1898]. However, the AFA’s own late research director James Herschel Holden later debunked this attribution by drawing attention to internal references in the text as published by the AFA to events from the 1920s. …
Looking at the Internet archive scan of a similarly ragged original copy of Pontin’s book to the one I now have, so as to avoid damaging the original further, I observe the following: Pontin’s book is 85 large-format pages long, actually twice as long as the AFA publication first published in the 1970s (although later reprints of the AFA publication were reset in smaller format with more pages).
The first half of Pontin’s book is not focused on transits at all, but rather on natal chart aspects.
Then on p. 47, the material on transits begins with ‘The Transits of the Planet Mercury‘. This material is textually almost identical to that on p. 1 of the AFA edition, but not quite. The AFA edition has an added short section headed ‘Mercury to the Aspects of Venus‘, absent from Pontin’s edition. Additionally, minor copy-edits have been made to Pontin’s text by the editor of the AFA edition, for instance removing some punctuation and splitting long sentences into two, and minor edits to wording. So it is not quite Pontin’s authentic text, but a slightly modernised edit thereof. Some of the headings have even been changed. For instance, where Pontin has ‘Venus in the conj. and evil aspect Neptune’, the AFA edition has changed this to ‘Venus in evil aspect to Neptune’, removing all reference to the conjunction! At the end of this delineation, Pontin credited Walter H. Sampson as a source for her notes on it. The AFA edition has removed this attribution, which must have been inconvenient when Sampson was not active until the 20th century.
On p. 83 of Pontin’s edition, the paragraph starting ‘The transits of Neptune are very subtle’ ends with a sentence ‘However, here is an attempt to outline them as best I can’. This sentence has been completely removed from the AFA edition.
Pontin’s edition ends with the paragraph starting ‘On the other hand’ and ending ‘remarkable has happened’ on p. 85 (part of the section on Neptune transits). This occurs also in the AFA’s edition, from pp. 36-7, but after this, the AFA’s edition continues with new sections not found at this point in Pontin’s book: one headed ‘Transits’ (pp. 37-9), and one giving keywords for the signs (pp. 40-42). As this material is not in Pontin’s book, I would suggest that it was added by the AFA’s editor from other sources.
It looks strongly from the evidence as though the AFA edition credited to J. Heber Smith was not, as Holden correctly pointed out, his work, but was an extract from Pontin’s book of 1924, lightly edited, and with a few other pages of extraneous material appended.”

Philip Graves also posted a scholarly article about this issue at https://www.astrolearn.com/astrology-articles/on-pseudo-dr-j-heber-smiths-book-the-transits-of-the-planets/

Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of Pontin’s 1924 book, A Manual of Astrology: Planetary Aspects and Transit Effects, so I am unable to review the initial section about natal charts, which is absent from the AFA book on Transits. It may be that references to the birth chart of Marie Juliette Pontin appear in this additional natal section but are absent from the AFA book on Transits. Thus far I have been unable to find references to Pontin’s birth chart of July 1, 1873 in the AFA version. Here is Pontin’s birth chart (both geocentric and heliocentric in the tropical zodiac) cast for Noon (time unknown) based on the information given in Who’s Who.

Here are the same charts in the sidereal zodiac (Lahiri ayanamsa, about 22:05:00 in July of 1873) in case she used the Hindu system in her work.

Philip Graves mentions that the AFA version of Transits may have been first published in the 1970s, but an edition exists from the AFA at 327 A Street S.E, Washington, DC, which means that an edition of Transits was published probably in the late 1950s. This AFA ediition was apparently reproduced verbatim by Sydney Omarr as an Appendix in his 1965 book My World of Astrology and by Celeste Teal in her 2000 text Identifying Planetary Triggers. These versions contain several autobiographical comments, apparently by the original author. Sydney Omarr mentions a rumor that Marie Pontin, a rival of astrologer Evangeline Adams in NYC, paid $150 (a lot of money in the early 1900s) for a typewritten copy of Dr. Heber Smith’s notes on transits.

For example in the section on the aspects of Uranus: “Under the aspect of Uranus square Mars in Pisces, I had a nasty accident to my foot.” Thus, the author claims to have natal Mars in Pisces. Marie Juliette Pontin was born on July 1, 1873. The planet Mars was in geocentric tropical Pisces from Jan 23, 1872 – Mar 1, 1872, and next from Dec 31, 1873 – Feb 9, 1874, and was not in Pisces when Marie Juliette Pontin was born in July of 1873. (In the sidereal zodiac, geocentric natal Mars was not in Pisces at all in 1873.)

Marie Juliette Pontin also used heliocentric positions. The planet Mars was in Heliocentric tropical Pisces from Dec 24, 1871 – Feb 10, 1872, and next from Nov 10, 1873 – Dec 28, 1873, and was not heliocentrically in Pisces when Marie Juliette Pontin was born in July of 1873. (In the sidereal zodiac, heliocentric natal Mars was in Pisces from Dec 15, 1873 until Feb 2, 1874.)

In none of her potential birth charts does Mars appear in Pisces. It is possible that ‘Pisces’ is a typo and she meant to write Sagittarius (another mutable sign), in which case Uranus would have squared natal Mars in mutable Sagittarius in December of 1880 in the heliocentric tropical chart when she was almost 7 1/2 years old, but this is true only if she made a mistake when she wrote that her birth Mars was in Pisces.

The AFA book ends with a section labeled “The Transits of the Planet Neptune,” which closes with the statement, “I have had Neptune trining Jupiter and I don’t think anything remarkable has happened.” Apparently, she means that she has experienced transiting Neptune making a trine aspect to her natal Jupiter, which lies at 28 Leo 54′ (tropical, geocentric) on July 1, 1873, which corresponds to 7 Virgo 05′ (tropcial, heliocentric). In the sidereal zodiac these values of the position of Jupiter would be about 22 degrees earlier in the zodiac because the Lahiri ayanamsa was about 22:05:00 in July of 1873.

If we look at Pontin’s tropical geocentric chart, we see that she was born with a partile trine between Neptune and Jupiter. Could she be stating that having this trine at birth has made no remarkable difference in her life? But why would she be using a natal aspect to interpret a transit? More likely, this final sentence (“I have had Neptune trining Jupiter and I don’t think anything remarkable has happened”) if written by Pontin, is simply Pontin’s personal note about the preceding paragraph about the transits of Neptune written by the author of Transits.

However, if Pontin is not the author, then this final statement implies that the author’s natal Jupiter is receiving a transit from Neptune sometime after 1913 (based on historical events discussed in the book) and before 1924 (when Pontin published her book). During that period, Neptune transited between 25 Cancer and 19 Leo, which means that the author’s natal Jupiter lies in late Scorpio or Pisces, or in Aries or Sagittarius. I believe that the book was originally written shortly after the events it cites from 1913, which would mean that the author’s Jupiter lies in late Scorpio. This condition is not met by any of Pontin’s possible natal charts. However, in my original article on this issue I identified three possible charts that satisfied all the planetary positions mentioned by the author in the AFA text, suggesting that the author’s likely date of birth is around January 12, 1876 (with Moon in Leo and Mercury in early Aquarius), at which time Jupiter lies in 26 Scorpio and receives a trine from Neptune in late Cancer.

Another telling section of the AFA book, which more clearly indicates that Pontin is not the author, but rather the transits book was written for her by another astrologer. In the discussion of the transits of Uranus to natal Mercury, the author writes about herself and also addresses the reader, who is Marie Pontin: “With the conjunction of Uranus to Mercury, at the present time [at the time the transits book was written], I have been constantly thrown with people who are presenting ideas of various sort to me, and who are talking about matters of occult nature, etc., and my mind is in just the state to take up some new line of thought, as well as the fact the I am doing a certain amount of speaking and getting a little publicity. You [which is addressed to Marie Pontin] with Mercury conjuncting Uranus radically [Pontin has a close Mercury-Uranus conjunction in her birth chart], always have a certain amount of this sort of thing.” In other words, Pontin has Uranus conjunct Mercury at birth; the author of Transits is experiencing transiting Uranus conjunct her natal Mercury when she is writing the book, probably during the years around 1915 when Uranus was transiting Aquarius, which would imply that the author has natal Mercury in Aquarius and also mean that her natal Sun must be in Capricorn, Aquarius, or Pisces because Mercury travels within 28 degrees of the Sun.

In summary, it appears that Marie Juliette Pontin did not write the original book on transits, but rather she commissioned a contemporary astrologer (born around January 12, 1876 with Moon in Leo) to write it for her, most likely a woman who practiced and lectured on astrology in the New York area, and possibly someone she met through her the Theosophical Society.

Based on the astrological clues scattered throughout the text, the most likely birth chart of the author of AFA Transits is for someone born on January 13, 1876 (probably in or near NYC) at about 3:46 AM LMT with an Asc of about 4 Sagittarius. Here is such a chart:

This is a likely birth chart of the author of the AFA booklet Transits, incorrectly attributed to Dr. J. Heber Smith. A similar chart cast for January 12, 1876 would also work, but January 13, 1876 is a somewhat better match for the data. Interstingly, the novelist Jack London was born on January 12, 1876, and his father was a traveling astrologer.

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References:



https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Woman’s_who’s_who_of_America,_1914-15.djvu/640

Philip Graves article: https://www.astrolearn.com/astrology-articles/on-pseudo-dr-j-heber-smiths-book-the-transits-of-the-planets/

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PS: This is an excerpt from my original article about this topic:

Thus far, our sleuthing indicates the following about the birth chart of the author of Transits:

Mercury in AquariusMars in PiscesSun in Sagittarius, Capricorn or AquariusMoon in Aries or Leo (in trine to Sagittarius)In 1901 Uranus transited 13o – 16.5o Sagittarius in trine to her natal Moon, which must have been in either Aries or Leo. The author writes that this transit inclines to travel and expansion of one’s horizons.Ascendant in Sagittarius sextile to natal Mercury in Aquarius.Neptune in late Aries or early Taurus.Year of birth between 1871 and 1880.Place of birth is most likely the USA.

An electional search in Solar Fire for dates in the entire 19th century that meet these criteria produced the following results:

Feb 11 – 13, 1872 (Moon in Aries, Mercury in early Aquarius)Jan 31 – Feb 2, 1874.  (The date Feb 1, 1874 has Moon 12 Leo and Mercury 11 Aquarius)Jan 11 – 13, 1876. (Moon in Leo, Mercury in early Aquarius)

Luke Broughton, Ebenezer Sibly, and the USA Chart

Luke Broughton (20 Apr 1828, Leeds, England — 22 Sep 1899, NYC) was a prominent astrologer in the USA during the 19th century. Born into a family in which fathers taught their children the family tradition of astrology, he emigrated to the USA as a young man. His study of American history led him to view Gemini as the ruling sign of the United States of America, much as British astrologers regarded Gemini as the tratidional ruler of the city of London (as in Lilly’s famous woodcut of the fire of London of 1666). Broughton published his hypothesis on January 1, 1861, page 2, in his Monthly Planet Reader and repeated it in the February 1861 edition. Here are his words verbatim:

From Broughton’s Monthly Planet Reader, Jan 1, 1861, page 2.

Broughton makes the following points:


1) The sign Gemini rules the USA. The remaining points are evidence in favor of this hypothesis.
2) The Americian Revolution began when Uranus entered Gemini in the spring of 1775. [He had in mind that the Revolutionary War officially began on April 19, 1775, with the battles of Lexington and Concord.]
3) On July 4, 1776, the date of the Declaration of Independence, Uranus was in the 9th degree of Gemini. By modern calculations, Uranus was at 8 Gem 55′ in the Sibly chart.
4) When Uranus moved out of Gemini into Cancer in the spring of 1872, hostilities between the USA and England ceased.
5) Uranus made a complete cycle and re-entered Gemini in the Spring of 1859.
6) John Brown’s Harpers Ferry affair occurred when Uranus reached 7 Gemini, about 2 degrees away from its position at the time of the Declaration of Independence. [John Brown, a radical abolitionist, led the raid during October 16-18, 1859,  to seize the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), to obtain weapons and spark a slave rebellion in the South. The raid was a significant event in the lead-up to the American Civil War.  By modern calculations, Uranus was at 7 Gem 15′ Rx when the raid began.]
7) As a prelude to the U.S. Civil War, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the United States union on December 20, 1860. At that time Uranus was at 9 Gem 15′ Rx. Thus, one could say that the USA began with Uranus at 8 Gem 55′ and ended after one Uranus cycle when the planet was at 9 Gem 15 Rx.
8) In January of 1861, Broughton predicted that there would not be peace until Uranus exited Gemini and entered Cancer in July of 1865.

Broughton’s publications had a major impact on astrology in the United States, and many American astrologers accepted his argument that Gemini ruled the United States. Evangeline Adams incorportated Broughton’s ideas into her own practice of astrology. For example, she predicted in the early 1930s that the USA would enter into war in 1942 when Uranus entered Gemini. She also created her own symbolic chart of the Declaration of Independence for her mundane astrology work, using a time of 3:03 AM in Philadelphia to generate Angles corresponding to an important eclipse during the summer of 1776.

Other astrologers also created symbolic charts of the Declaration of Independence to use in their work regarding mundane astrology. One of these symbolic charts, which became quite popular, had 7 Gemin 35′ rising and was cast for 2:14:17 AM LMT in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. Obviously, the Continental Congress was not in session at 2 or 3 in the morning, but modern astrologers appeared not to understand that these were symbolic charts based on principles of mundane astrology rather than actual birth charts of an abstract entity, like a nation.

In an article about the 7 Gemini 35′ USA Declarartion of Independence chart, D.W. Sutton cites the noted astrologer Elbert Benjamine who used this chart since 1908 and attributed its authorship to a Doctor James D. Keifer. Here is the direct quote from Sutton’s article:

“… in 1940 Elbert Benjamine categorically states in American Astrology magazine that the chart he had used since 1908 – referring to a chart that had 7 Gemini 35 on the ascendant – had been given to him by Dr. James D. Keifer. We don’t have an original copy of this chart – or the Herndon chart – so we don’t really know if either chart actually had 7 Gemini 35 ascending. The chart provided by Elbert Benjamine does and it’s possible that he and the Brotherhood of Light’s mundane astrology class, who were actively engaged in ongoing research into the chart, fine-tuned the approximate degree to a more precise 7 Gemini 35. But the documented evidence from Elbert Benjamine states that he was given the 7 Gemini 35 chart by Dr. James D. Keifer in 1908 – so he did it. His Gemini rising chart precedes the Herndon chart by 16 years and astrologers using the US chart with 7 Gemini 35 ascending should identify Dr. James D. Keifer as its source – data supplied by an acquaintance who was a descendant of a signer of the Declaration of Independence. And it seems that Dr. Keifer did a lot of research into the chart before he gave it to Elbert Benjamine.”

In short, Elbert Benjamine (aka CC Zain) of the Brotherhood of Light received the 7 Gemini 35′ chart from Dr. Keifer in 1908 and used it routinely in his practice and teaching to many students for decades thereafter, thus popularizing it among a large group of American astrologers. The Brotherhood of Light lessons are still available online.

How did Dr. Keifer arrive at 7 Gem 35′ for his symbolic chart of the Declaration of Independence? Unfortunately, we don’t have historical records that document his thinking. Given that Keifer gave his chart to Benjamine in 1908 he certainly would have been familiar with Broughton’s writings and idea that Gemini ruled the USA. Thus, it would be logical to look for a symbolic chart with Gemini rising and to incorporate Broughton’s key dates and positions of Uranus in his efforts. Following Broughton’s lead, Keifer would have looked at key dates and degrees of Gemini to identify an Ascendant.

Broughton had identified a few important degrees of Uranus in Gemini that were linked to U.S. independence and should reasonably be close to a symbolic Ascendant in Gemini. These included:
— 8 Gem 55′ on July 4, 1776
— 9 Gem 15′ when South Carolina was the first state to leave the Union.
— 7 Gem 15′ at the start of John Brown’s raid — a kind of declaration of independence for slaves in America.
Thus, a symbolic Ascendant, somewhere from 7 to 9 Gemini, would be consistent with Broughton’s findings.

In mundane astrology, the 20-year period of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction plays a role in forecasting. The US Declaration of Independence occurred during the Jupiter-Saturn cycle that began on March 18, 1762 with the Jup-Sat conjunction occuring at 12 Aries 21′ near Uranus at 8 Aries 27′ in close sextile to Uranus at 8 Gemini 55′ in the July 4, 1776 chart. The Jup-Sat conjunction position is also trine the MC of Sibly’s USA chart.

The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction of 1762 occurred at 12 Sag 21′, close to Uranus at 8 Aries 27′, and has an MC in Philadelphia at 8 Gem 15′.

A highly significant event, not discussed by Broughton, was the Articles of Confederation (the first constitution of the United States). The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union established a weak central government and served as the first frame of government for the 13 states of the United States. They were debated from July 1776 at the time of the Declaration of Independence and finalized on November 15, 1777 at which time Uranus was at 14 Gem 05′ Rx. Mundane astrologers, however, would have also considered the preceding Aries Ingress of March 20, 1777, as significant at which time Uranus was at 7 Gemini 29′ — almost exactly the Asc of the most popular Gemini rising chart. One can speculate that Dr. Keifer regarded the finalization of the July 4, 1776 discussion about independence came to fruition on November 15, 1777 when the first constitution of the new entity was finalized, and thus 7 Gem 29′ (the position of Uranus at the 1777 Aries Ingress) was the most suitable candidate for the Ascendant of the symbolic chart of the Declaration of Independence.

What about the Aries Ingress of 1776? At that time Uranus was at 3 Gem 19′ — a possible candidate for the Asc of a symbolic Independence chart.

At the Cancer Ingress of June 20, 1776 (prior to the Declaration of Indpendence), Uranus was at 8 Gem 10′ — another potential candidate for a symbolic Ascendant. Let’s look at the chart cast for Philadelphia:

The 1776 Cancer Ingress in Philadelphia, just prior to the Declaration of Independence, has 7 Sag 46′ on the Asc and 7 Gem 46′ on the Dsc, with Uranus at 8 Gem 10′ opposing the Asc.

In the Cancer Ingress in Philadelphia, 7 Gem 46′ falls on an Angle, and is close to the 7 Gem 35′ Ascendant of the Keifer USA chart. Could Sibly have used the 1776 Cancer Ingress as the basis for his famous chart? Let’s cast the same chart for London:

The 1776 Cancer Ingress, just prior to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, has 17 AQ 15′ rising and 11 Sag 53′ on the Midheaven. These values are close to those of Sibly’s USA chart which has 19 AQ 49′ rising and 13 Sag 11′ on the MC.
In addition, Sibly’s MC and the Cancer Ingress MC in London are extremely close to the position of the March 18, 1762 Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, which took place at 12 Sag 21‘. Sibly’s original chart for the US Declaration of Independence. This may also be a symbolic chart based on the Sun’s Ingress into Cancer shortly before the July 4, 1776 meeting of the Continental Congress. Sibly’s USA chart calculated in Solar Fire with the same Angles as in the original. Note the Moon at 27 Aquarius differs from the original with Moon at 24 Aquarius. Could he have miscalculated the Sun’s exact time of ingress into Cancer as well and thus generated slightly incorrect values for the angles of his symbolic chart for the USA?

The Sun’s monthly ingress into each sign can also be significant. For example, the Revolutionary War officially began on April 19, 1775, with the battles of Lexington and Concord. On April 20, 1775, the transiting Sun left Aries and ingressed into Taurus. Here is the chart of the ingress cast for Washington, DC.

This is the chart for the ingress of the Sun into the sign Taurus, which occurred before sunrise on April 20, 1775. Astrologically, this chart would be considered as covering the day that began at sunrise on April 19 and ended at sunrise on April 20. The battles occurred on April 19, 1775 and coincide with the Sun’s ingress into Taurus. Note that on the first day of the U.S. Revolutionary War 7 Sat 31′ is on the MC and 7 Gem 31′ on the IC, which can symbolize the homeland. Again, 7 Gem 31′ appears as a significant degree related to American Independence.

In this chart, we see that 7 Gem 31′ on the meridian in Washington, DC, of the Sun’s ingress into Taurus highlights the importance of this degree in American history.

In summary, the USA Gemini rising chart with 7 Gemini 35′ rising appears to be a symbolic chart tested against many significant events in the founding of the nation and its establishment of its indendence from England. The selection of the Ascendant is also based on important solar ingress charts and probably important eclipses and the 20-year cycle of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions. It may be that Sibly followed a similar process in creating a symbolic chart for US independence based on the Angles of the Cancer Ingress prior to July 4, 1776 and the actual positions of the planets on that date.

The Racist Joke Heard Round the World

During the October 27 th Trump rally at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, comedian Tony Hinchliffe, who was hired by the Trump campaign to warm up the crowd for Donald Trump, called the U.S. territory Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.” 

As ABC News reported:

“Of the nearly 30 speakers who recently warmed up the crowd for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe got the most attention for racist remarks. ‘I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,’ he said, later including lewd and racist comments about Latinos, Jewish and Black people.”

Unfamiliar with this particular comedian, I wondered what his natal chart might show. Several websites reported his date and place of birth, but his birth time remains unknown. Here is his sunrise birth chart (time unknown) for his place of birth.

Without a birth time, we cannot be sure of house placements. A stellium in Gemini certainly fits for a comedian who relies on speech and communication to make a living. Mercury in close conjunction to Chiron also makes sense, since many comedians turn to comedy to deal with some type of childhood trauma. Whether this is true of Mr. Henchcliffe, I have no information.

I was also struck by the Moon square Jupiter Rx in Capricorn (the sign of its fall). This Moon was the site of a recent Solar Eclpse on October 2, 2024, which mean that this solar ecllpse took place very close to the comedian’s October lunar return. This is not surprising, given that his recent off-color remarks at the New York Trump rally offended millions and catapulted him into the national spotlight.

Here is the Oct 2, 2024 solar eclipse chart for the comedian’s birthplace with his sunrise natal planets superimposed.

Hinchcliffe’s fallen and Retrograde Jupiter conjoins the solar eclipse Ascendant at his birthplace and is opposed by eclipse Mars. The eclipse takes place conjunt eclipse Mercury and tightly square the comedian’s natal Jupiter Rx in Capricorn on the Eclipse Ascendant. Hinchcliffe’s natal Sun and Venus conjoins the Eclipse Jupiter. His natal Mars-Saturn conjunction conjoins eclipse Venus, which rules the eclipse 9th house of broadcasting.

On October 27, 2024, during the Madison Square Garden Rally, transiting Mars was at 27 Cancer opposing eclipse Pluto in the eclipse 1st house and in partile opposition to Pluto in the USA July 4, 1776 chart. Mars opposing Pluto does seem to symbolically fit the mood of a polarized nation prior to the November 5th presidential elections.

How do Alcabitius and Placidus Houses Differ?

[My thanks to Nicolás Varlotta for pointing out some mistakes in the original post. I am in the process of correcting it. Please leave a comment if you notice any errors and I will do my best to correct them.]

A recent discussion online prompted this post. The Alcabitius system of astrological house division dates back to about the 5th century CE and was the go-to or standard house system for many centuries until the time of Regiomontanus.

Here is a chart example from Ralph William Holden’s book on Houses (1977).

Alcabitius Houses

Holden explains that the Alcabitius system calculates how much time it will take for the current Asc-degree to rise and culminate, that is, when will 21 Capricorn 00′ become the MC of this chart. By my calculation, 21 Capricorn will culminate at 16:57:10 UT. At that time 3h 59m 10s (the dirunal semi-arc of 21 Capricorn) will have elapsed, and 1/3 of this time span is 1h 19m 40s (the time span of each house). If we advance the chart by this amount of time, we get the following chart in which the original degree on the 11th cusp (14 Sag) has risen to become the new MC. If we move ahead another 1h 19m 40, the degree of the 12th cusp (2 Cap 29′) will have risen to the midheaven. Alcabitius is quite logical and easy to calculate.

Alcabitius cusps, original chart advanced by exactly 1/3 of diurnal semi-arc so that 11th cusp has risen to the midheaven.

Now let’s look at Holden’s example chart with Placidus cusps.

PLACIDUS CUSPS

The Placidus cusps are close to the Alcabitius cusps. What accounts for the difference? Alcabitius divides the time it takes for the Asc-degree to culminate into three equal parts and assumes that by advancing the original chart by 1/3 of the time to culmination, the 11th cusp will be on the midheaven, and by 2/3 of that time, the 12th cusp will be on the midheaven. His method is to measure along diurnal path of the Ascendant degree to where it crosses the meridian, equally trisect that diurnal path of the Asc, and project those trisections onto the Ecliptic using great circles of longitude from the N to S poles of the Equator.

If I understand Placidus correctly, he feels that the Alcabitius system does not adequately account for the seasonal hours (aka planetary hours) which vary according to location between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. This variation can be depicted as “hour-lines” that run from the Tropic of Cancer above the Equator to corresponding planetary hours along the Tropic of Capricorn below the Equator. These hour-lines are not great circles and are difficult to work with mathematically. Placidus proposed dividing the arc of the Equator from the East Point of the Horizon (which corresponds to the time the Asc-degree is on the horizon) to the point where the Equator intersects the meridian (corresponding to the time the Asc-degree would culminate) into 3 equal parts (each part corresponding to two seasonal or planetary hours). He then used the hour-lines to project the trisections of the Equator onto the Ecliptic to generate the Placidus houses. Placidus felt that his house system was consistent with Ptolemy’s method of primary directions by proportional semi-arc.

In practice the calculation of Placidus houses is complex and involves a process of iteration using a recurusive algorhythm. To quote Nicolás Varlotta’s message, the Placidus method “trisects the path of every zdiacal degree between the AC and the MC to find out which degrees are exactly 1/3 and 2/3 of the way up. But instead performing all of these lengthy calculations, it used originally a recursive algorythm, the technical details of which I am not quite familiar with.”

An helpful article at https://www.uraniatrust.org/astrology/astronomy-of-houses explains this iterative process as follows:

“The calculation of the [Placidus] cusps starts in the same way as Alcabitius: the time for a given position on the ecliptic to move from being the ascendant to being the MC is noted and this time trisected. The calculation then differs from Alcabitius. These intermediate times are the times at which the given ecliptic position will become the eleventh and twelfth house cusps. Note the important difference; we do not calculate the position of the cusps for the time of the natal chart. We calculate the time of a chart in which the given position will be the relevant cusp. To calculate the position of these intermediate cusps in the natal chart, we need to find the time of an earlier chart whose ascendant position will become the relevant cusp at the time of the natal chart.”

The Trump Birth Certificate Controversy

Recently a reader (somanystars38) left me a message and asked a question:

“Perhaps you have heard the controversy that started this month when Bill Meridian participated on a panel and said he had a different birth time for Donald Trump. According to Meridian, Trump’s astrologer uses 9:51 am EDT. The chart has 17 Leo 34 on the Ascendant. Christine Arens corroborated this on her article, which she posted on Skyscript. Here’s the link. http://www.friendsofastrology.org/christine-arens.html “

Let me offer a perspective on this controversy based on history and my own experience.

I recall working with Trump’s chart many years ago, and the generally accepted birth time then was 9:51 AM. It was the time listed in the Clifford Data Collection of the year 2000, and it was assumed to be DST (daylight saving time) which was in effect in NYC from April 28th until September 29th of 1946. This time was attributed to a direct quote from Trump’s mother and seemed to produce a symbolically meaningful chart, which worked well with various astrological techniques. I don’t recall any astrologer ever questioning the accuracy of the 9:51 AM birth time in the 1990s or early 2000s.

Then, in 2011, Donald Trump published a copy of his official Birth Certificate which has a different time: 10:54 AM. Trump released his birth certificate in the midst of the Obama birther controversy in which Trump played a major part. Even though Obama released a short-form copy of his Birth Certificate in 2008 and then released the long-form copy in 2011, Trump refused demands by the press to see a copy of Trump’s birth certificate.

Having being one-upped by Obama releasing his long-form Birth Certificate in 2011, Trump finally gave in to pressure to release his his won long-form official Birth Certificate that same year. In fact, Trump, not bo be outdone by Obama, released both the short and long form copies, which give the time of birth as 10:54 AM at Jamaica Hospital in New York City. Here are copies of Trump’s forms.

The official document from the Department of Heath of the City of New York clearly states a birth time of 10:54 AM but does not specify whether it was EST or EDT. Because daylight time was in effect in 1946 in NYC, one can reasonably assume that EDT was intended. The Jamaica Hospital form also gives a time of 10:54 AM but does not clarify whether it is EDT or EST. Again, one can assume the EDT was intended because it was in use in June of 1946 in NYC.

Unfortunately, we do not have a copy of the actual entry in the hospital record. Having done my medical training in New York City, I recall being instructed by the Head Nurse on the hospital ward that the medical record is a legal document and therefore it is important to unambiguously record the correct time of any procedure, specifying whether it was EST or EDT, because such precision could be a key factor in any further research, investigation, or legal matter.

Thus, the 9:51 AM EST, if it were recorded in the chart as standard time, would be the same at 10:51 AM EDT, only 3 minutes different from the official time of birth. If Trump’s mother asked the nurse in the delivery room what time the baby was born, she might have responded 9:54 AM as she had just written the time in EST in the official chart, a legal document. Trump’s mother, having just delivered a child, could have later recalled what the nurse said as 9:51 AM, not realizing it had been stated in standard time. Or his mother, with the passage of years, could simply have recalled 10:54 AM as 9:41 AM. Human memory is notroiously faulty.

Another possibility is that hospital staff could have recorded the wrong time in the chart. Mistakes in record keeping do happen, but in my experience, having worked in several NYC hospitals, they are rather uncommon.

In short, common sense and my own hospital experience tell me that Trump was, to a high probability, born at (or very close to) 10:54 AM EDT at Jamaica Hospital.

Trump’s case reminds me of a client who years ago asked for help in rectifying his chart. He was born in an part of Kentucky on the border between Eastern and Central time. In addition, he was born in the summer, so he did not know if the time on his birth certificate had been recorded in EST, CST, EDT, or CDT. This produced several possible charts exactly an hour apart. The odd thing was that key life events seemed to produce astrological “hits” in each of the three charts. It occurred to me that these one-hour intervals were probably producing resonant charts that would reflect major life events astrologically, making it difficult to distinguish between them for rectification purposes. He finally consulted an experienced Uranian astrologer who was able to identify which chart best fit the events of his life. Thus, in Trump’s case, it is likely that a chart for 9:51 AM and another for an hour later (10:54 AM here) would both resonate with his major life events. Perhaps the solution lies in using Uranian astrology to decide which chart produces more astrological “hits” from a Uranian astrology perspective.

Further thoughts on the U.S. 2024 Presidential Election

The last post looked at the Yogini Dasa system with regard to the natal charts of both candidates, Harris and Trump, and concluded that Harris appeared more strongly positioned during the election season and was more likely than Trump to be victorious. This post will consider some tropical techniques, specifically the Wynn Key Return, Secondary Progressions and Solar Arc Directions.

Here are quad-wheels for each candidate supimposing all three techniques with their natal chart. I placed the Wynn Key Return in the center because it is a composite of the projected solar return cusps with the transits for the inauguration on January 20, 2025. My hypothesis is that the candidate with the stronger connections to the January 2025 inauguration is the likely winner of the election.

Donald Trump:

Kamala Harris:

Of these figures for the two candidates, it appears to me that Harris has the stronger configuration on Inauguration Day. Her 10th house in the Wynn Key Return is much more strongly activated than that of Trump whose major activity in the Wynn Key chart appears to be below the horizon. It is also striking that Kamala’s solar arc Rahu (which conjoins her natal Asc) conjoins the Wynn Key MC in the 10th, whereas Donald’s solar arc Ketu occupies the 10th of his Wynn Key chart, reversing its placement from its position in his birth chart.

The 2024 U.S. Presidential Election

The appears to be no consensus among astrologers about who will win the 2024 presendtial election in the United States. My brief survey of astrological sites on this topic finds astrologers split about 50/50. The opinion of the astrologers depends on what techniques they use and how they interpret the astrological symbols, which is of course subject to their personal and political bias.

The same is true of political pundits, whose opinions vary widely. One pundit, historian Allan Lichtman, has studied elections as far back as that of Ronald Reagan and has identified 13 socio-political factors that in aggregate often predict the winner. According to professor Lichtman’s omen system, Kamala Harris is the likely winner in 2024, but his system is not infallible.

Other pundits study the gambling odds, which can be a reasonable measure of what the public believes will be the outcome. All the gambling sites which I surveyed believe that Kamala Harris will win the popular vote by a solid margin, but the current gambling-odds put Donald Trump slightly ahead in the electoral college, which is the vote that counts. Thus, the votes of the majority of U.S. citizens will hardly matter, and the electoral college vote will be determined by a handful of “swing” states. In other words, the voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin will essentially determine the next president of the USA. Current gambling odds sites, as of 22 October 2024, identify Trump as the likely winner in the electoral college, suggesting that the voters in these 7 key states are leaning toward Trump.

Can astrology be of assistance in identifying the winner? Unfortunately, astrologers are split in their opinions, and some are more convinced than others that their astrological analysis is correct and their colleagues are mistaken. Several colleages have recently asked for my opinion. As I’ve experimented with various techniques, my opinion has varied from a slight edge for Trump to a slight edge for Harris. It depends on the method beng used to analyze the charts.

Another complicating factor is that voting has already begun in several states, so that the voting period extends over several weeks, making it hard for astrologers to pick a meaningful date and time to study. In addition, many different charts have been proposed for the “birth” of the nation. Perhaps the most meanngful date is January 20, 2025 at 12 Noon in Washington, DC, when the new president will be inaugurated.

A method I have experimented with for the past several years and found to be moderately reliable is the Yogini Dasa system of Indian astrology. For astrologers unfamiliar with dasa systems, they are like Zodiacal Releasing described by Vettius Valens in Hellenistic astrology. The system uses a sidereal zodiac and whole signs as houses. Of the many ayanamsas available, I have found the true Chitra ayanamsa to give good results with Yogini Dasas.

The basic idea is that the Moon occupies a certain Naksahtra at birth and progresses through the birth chart at a variable rate (depending on which Nakshatra it is traversing), making one complete cycle every 36 years. Here is the basic data for the two candidates.

Donald Trump:

Born June 14, 1946 with natal Moon in Mars-ruled Scorpio in Jyeshta near the star “the heart of the Scorpion.” Jyeshta is noted for its drive for power, honors, and recognition and is prone to feelings of inadequacy, betrayal, jealousy, and low self-esteem.

At the time of the election, Trump will be roughly 78.4 years old. In the Yogini system, his progressed Moon will be in Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius among the fixed stars of the tail of the Scorpion in Mula (“the root” or “bunch of roots”), whose symbol is the goad of an elephant which directs the giant animal where to move. The deity associated with Mula is Nirriti, god of dissolution and destruction, whose nature is to shatter or ruin what it encounters. The spiritual purpose of such destruction, loss, and material misfortune is to teach non-attachment and advance liberation. Those who do not learn the important spiritual lesson of detachment from their losses and reversals tend to feel bitter, vindictive, and resentful.

The Yogini lord of Mula is Saturn (in his natal 12th and his progressed 8th house), and its Vimshottari lord is Ketu, the South Lunar Node associated with non-attachement and spiritual liberation. Ketu occupies his progessed 12th house. He is in a Yogini sub-period of Mercury, which occupies and rules his natal 11th (gain) and rules his progressed 10th (career) and natal 2nd (a maraka house).

Kamala Harris:

Born October 20, 1964 with natal Moon in Mars-ruled Aries in Aswini of the horse-headed twins who were physicians and healers to the gods. The Aswinis are quick-thinking, courageous pioneers and explorers who like to try new things.

At the time of the election, Harris will be roughly 60.03 years old. In the Yogini system, her progressed Moon will be in Saturn-ruled Capricorn in Uttara Ashada (“latter victory” or “invincibility”) whose symbol is the tusk of an elephant. Uttara Ashada is associated with winning, commitment to one’s ideals, and leadership positions in government.

The Yogini lord of Uttara Ashada is Rahu (in her natal 1st house), and its Vimshottari lord is the Sun (in her progressed 10th house). The Sun is with Mercury, dispositor or Rahu, in the progessed 10th house.

Overall, given the nature and symbolism of the progressed Nakshatras of each candidate, and the houses ruled by the Yogini dasa lords in both the natal and progressed houses, it appears that Kamala Harris has an advantage over Donald Trump from the perspective of this astrological technique. From the perspective of the tropical zodiac, I also took into account that all the slower planets are undergoing a sign change in the year around the election and inauguration of a new president in the USA. Such an event is likely to have major political consequences in mundane affairs, and the election of a mixed black-Indian woman as U.S. president seems to fit the symbolism. The Yogini results are consistent with those of the socio-political omen system of Allan Lichtman. Time will tell whether this Yogini dasa analysis proves accurate.

Rectifying Kepler’s Birth Chart

Astro.com gives Johann Kepler’s birth data as 27 December 1571 Jul.Cal. (6 Jan 1572 greg.) at 14:37 LMT (= 2:37 PM ) in Weil der Stadt, Germany, 48n45, 8e52, and cites Kepler’s autobiography as the source. This chart has an Ascendant of 24 Gemini 25′ and is apparently Kepler’s rectification of his birth chart based on his accepted birth time of 2:30 pm LAT.

According to Kepler’s own writings, he became deeply interested in astrology during the period around 1590, having studied it at the university. Kepler began to cast charts, including his own, to study their symbolism and make predictions. For example, in 1595 Kepler cast the birth chart of Christoph Ortolph, a former fellow student at Tübingen, and in a letter warned him of the possibility of his death in two years time. Ortolph did not take Kepler seriously and responded in jest. However, two years later Kepler’s old friend died of the plague. In his notes Kepler wrote: ‘He died in the year 1597 from the plague, two years after I predicted it to him’. Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate a copy of Kepler’s birth chart for his friend Christoph Ortolph.

In working with his own chart, it appears that Kepler understood his birth time to be about 2:30 PM, probably from family sources. Realizing that the 2:30 PM might be an approximate time, he apparently sought to recifty the chart, or at least to verify the time he believed he was born. To do so, he experimented with two other charts cast for 1 PM and for 1:30 PM, both of which he noted in Latin “fuit H.2:30” or “fuit hora 2 1/2” meaning that “it was [originally] Hour 2:30” — his accepted birth time.

After experimenting with these three charts and trying to verify key events of his life with primary directions (Regiomontanus circle of position method), Kepler concluded that the 2:30 PM time was the most accurate. However, he could not identify an astrological reason for a severe bout of acute fever in 1591. In search of an explanation for the failure of astrology to explain his fever, he wrote to the noted astrologer-physician Helisaeus Röslin (1544-1616) asking why he could not find the cause, using primary directions, for the fact that during the Bacchanals of 1591 [around mid-March when he was 19.2 years old] he endured an intense, sharp, and burning fever.

This is Kepler’s chart from Astro.com. It is calculated with Placidus houses (Kepler used Regiomontanus) and Kepler’s time of 2:30 PM LAT has been converted to the equivalent 2:37 PM LMT to generate an Asc of 24 Gem 25′.

Röslin graciously replied on 17 October 1592 with a brief delineation of Kepler’s birth chart and included an explanation of the primary direction involved in the fever of March 1591. He began with a general comment: “The nativity seems to be rather violent (violenta), since one luminary, the Sun, is in a violent sign, and the other, the Moon, is with a violent fixed star, the eye of Taurus. And one of the malefics, Mars, damages the Sun with a square aspect. Likewise Mercury, the lord of the Horoscope [Ascendant], is in a violent sign and afflicted by Mars.”

The Sun and the Asc-ruler Mercury both occupy Capricorn, which is a “bestial” sign, sometimes considered violent. In the Indian tradition Capricorn is a sea-monster. For example, in Pingree’s translation of the Yavanajataka, he writes: “The first Hora in Capricorn is a man with jagged teeth who is hideous, and fierce, armed with a club like Death at Doomsday. He breaks the peace, this wearer of a deer-skin.” Similarly, the first decan of Capricorn, where the Asc-ruler Mercury resides, is described in these words: “The first Decan in Capricorn is the color of collyrium. His teeth are as terrible as a crocodile’s. He is armed with a staff, and his actions are like those of Time and Death. He stands in the middle of a cemetery with an armor of heavy hair and a strong body.”

Because Röslin chose to describe Kepler’s nativity with the Latin adjective “violenta,” I looked up the meaning of the word “violentus” in Latin. While it often literally means violent, it can also be used to mean powerful, forceful, overbearing, impetuuous, fierce, aggressive, intense, vehement, overwhelming, or exceeding normal bounds or natural limits. In addition, like many Latin adjectives, “violentus” can carry both negative and neutral connotations depending on context — sometimes simply meaning “powerful” or “forceful” without necessarily implying wrongdoing. It may be that Röslin was impressed by Kepler’s chart and realized that the native was a forceful person who stood out from the crowd.

Regarding the acute fever in March of 1591, Röslin notes that the dexter square of natal Mars (which occupies 8 Libra 16′) lies in the natal 1st house at 8 Cancer 16′ about 14 degrees from the Ascendant and, given an approximate birth time of 2:30 PM LAT, would reach the Ascendant by primary motion in his late teen around the time he suffered the fever. Mars is a “hot” planet associated with acute illness and high fevers. The square of Mars, with natal Mars ruling the 6th house of illness, conjunct the natal Asc by primary direction could certainly signify an acute febrile illness. Röslin also writes to Kepler that primary directions don’t necessarily manifest exactly on time, so that even if this direction of the square of Mars to the Asc perfected before he turned 19 years old, its effects could still show up at age 19.2, depending on other astrological factors active at the time.

In In Röslin’s own words (italics mine): “I have learned this much in astrology, that one can’t tie these things to years, let alone days, especially when we may not be sure of the minute of birth. And if the Lord [referring to Kepler who contacted him] were reckoned to have been born even 20 minutes before, [with] 19 degrees 30 minutes rising, and the Horoscope [Ascendant] will meet Mars’s square aspect in the 21st year of life. This meeting could certainly cause a burning fever of this nature. But I shall reckon that the Lord was born at the hour I have in the present chart [2:30 PM LAT]; still, it could be that the square of Mars delays the effect because of another direction, that of the Sun, to conjunct the South Node, which happens only in the 23rd year of life.”

The astrologers of the 1590s would have been using Regiomontanus Houses and the Regiomontanus method of primary directions. I don’t know which timing key Röslin used, but assuming he followed Ptolemy’s rule that 1 degree of Right Ascenstion across the MC = 1 year of life, Röslin’s suggestion that the dexter square of Mars on the eastern horizon by primary motion would yield the following birth chart for Johann Kepler (using the zodiacal position of Mars and not accounting for the latitude of Mars). Röslin points out, however, that the directed Lunar South Node will conjoin the 8th house Sun a couple of years after the directed square of Mars conjoins the Asc, so that the combined influence of the two directions may affect the exact timing of either of them. Thus, a rectified time closer to 2:30 PM LAT is still possible. In Röslin’s own words: “But the method is not that certain that one can pin it to a certain time, as many particulars will take effect and interrupt heaven’s universal laws, so that their effect is either to speed up or delay.”

Accounting for the dexter square of natal Mars rising to the horizon at age 19.2, this rectified chart has a birth time of 2:22 PM LMT and an Asc of 20 Gemini 39′. Clearly, one cannot rectify a chart based on a single event, but this chart at least addresses Kepler’s concern about finding an astrological indication of a severe bout of high fever around age 19 if he were indeed born around 2:30 PM LAT.

The Fall of Liam Payne

In recent news from Argentina there was an accounting of the passing of Liam Payne, a British singer and songwriter who had been a member of the band One Direction. News reports stated that the singer was described by hotel staff as having been agitated and destructive in his 3rd floor hotal room while in a state of intoxication. Unfortunately, the room had a balcony, and Mr. Payne in his agitated state fell or jumped off the balcony to his death.

Various sites give his birth data as 29 August 1993 in Wolverhampton, England, 52n36, 2w08. The time often mentioned is 1 PM, which may simply have been chosen as the midday time during British Summer Time, so I would regard the time of birth as unknown. For charts with unknown birth time, my preference is to erect a sunrise chart as a generic chart for someone born on that day in that particular location.

Liam Payne SUNRISE Birth Chart

The natal potential for a significant accident or injury during his lifetime may be shown by Mars in Libra, the sign of its detriment, applying to square the Uranus-Neptune conjunction in Capricorn. In addition, Saturn (symbolically related to gravity and falls) occupies the sunrise 6th house of accidents and illness and closely squares the sunrise Midheaven. Natal Saturn is also opposite Chiron (bodily wounds) and in square to Pluto in Scorpio, a sign ruled by Mars (violence, wounds).

Let’s look at the birthplace Solar Return for this year, based on the sunrise natal chart.

On the left is the Solar Return at the birthplace, on the right I have adjusted the time of the solar return to show the Mars-Saturn paran active on the day of his solar return. Mars-Saturn configurations are traditionally associated with serious injuries due to falls.

Now let’s consider the natal chart with the solar return superimposed:

Return Uranus tops the chart, conjoining the natal MC. SR Mars closely trines natal Saturn in the 6th in signs of short ascension, and with natal Saturn in close square to SR Uranus on the natal MC. SR Venus is in partile opposition to SR Neptune (intoxication) across the 2nd-8th axis. In addtion, SR Chiron makes an almost exact quincunx to an angular natal Pluto.

Finally, the Solar Eclipse of October 2, 2024, occurred at 10 Libra, exactly on his natal Mars. The astrological symbolism certain fits with the incident as reported in the news.