Anthony Louis's Blog, page 51

Mystery Solved: the USA Gemini Rising Chart

For years I have used a Gemini rising chart for the July 4, 1776 birth of the nation.  I learned this technique many years ago from astrologer Don Jacobs (“Moby Dick the Astrologer”).  Don’s son Jayj worked with his dad in making predictions based on this 7 Gemini 35 rising chart and reported a remarkable accuracy rate: “Don ´Moby Dick` The Astrologer Jacobs- my dad- and I, and all my subsequent partners have used 7 Gemini 35 for the US Ascendant on July 4, 1776. Our media measured accuracy rate of >95% validates that chart & Asc.”

When I first got interested in astrology back in the 1950s, I read the books by Evangeline Adams in the public library.  I was particularly struck by her 1930 prediction that America would enter into another war when Uranus returned to Gemini in the early 1940’s.  She was using a Gemini rising chart for 3:03 a.m. as the basis of this prediction.  This chart has 20 degrees of Gemini rising with Mars on the ASC.  Over the years I have puzzled about the origin of this chart because it does not match the historical events of the day.  It occurred to me that it must be a symbolic chart rather than the horoscope of a particular event which occurred on July 4, 1776.

In mundane astrology, the common practice for centuries has been to use eclipses and ingress charts to predict world events.  It turns out that Evangeline Adam’s USA chart with 20 Gemini 26 rising has virtually the exact Ascendant and MC as the Solar Eclipse of August 14, 1776 in Philadelphia. In the following graphic the chart is calculated for maximum eclipse time.

It seems clear that Adams took the house cusps from the partial solar eclipse in Philadelphia at the end of the summer of 1776 and used the 3:03 AM time on July 4, 1776 to produce a USA birth chart with the same house structure.  Most likely she chose the August eclipse because the Declaration of Independence was still in the process of being signed by all the states at that time.  The eclipse chart has 20 Gemini 34 rising; Adam’s chart has 20 Gemini 26 rising, but she appears to have rounded the time to the nearest minute.  The difference between the Ascendants of the two charts is a mere 08′ of arc.

What about the Don Jacobs 7 Gemini 35 rising chart for the USA?  Again, I have puzzled about this chart for many years.  After realizing that Adams used the August solar eclipse of 1776 to generate her 20 Gemini 26 USA chart, I wondered if the originator of the 7 Gemini 39 USA chart had also used either an eclipse or an ingress.  A little investigation revealed that the Summer Solstice Ingress in June of 1776, just three weeks before the July 4th date, has an uncanny resemblance to the Jacobs’ Gemini rising chart, except that it has the opposite sign Sagittarius rising in the same degree of that sign.  See the following graphic.

It appears that the person who originated this version of the Gemini rising chart for the USA took the Descendant of the June 20, 1776 Summer Solstice (Cancer Ingress) and used it as the Ascendant of the July 4, 1776 chart for the birth of the nation. The Cancer Ingress chart for Philadelphia on June 20, 1776 has 7 Sagittarius 39 rising whereas the USA chart used by Don and Jayj Jacobs has 7 Gemini 35 rising.  Perhaps the symbolism is that the ASC of the Cancer Ingress represents the old nation (a British colony) and the Descendant of this chart becomes the “equal but opposite” 7th house independent new nation, the United States of America.

So the mystery of the USA Gemini rising chart may finally be solved.  The one used by Evangeline Adams is based on the Solar Eclipse of August 14, 1776; and the other common chart, used by Don Jacobs is based on the Cancer Ingress chart of June 20, 1776 in Philadelphia whose Descendant becomes the Ascendant of the new nation.  Like Don and Jayj Jacobs, I have found the 7 Gemini 35 chart to be extremely reliable in making predictions about the USA.  Given the long tradition of using solar ingresses into cardinal signs and solar eclipses to predict events in mundane astrology, it is not surprising that both these charts yield impressive results.

The Gemini rising chart that most closely matches the horizon of the June 20th Cancer Ingress in Philadelphia would be for 2:14:29 AM, which has an ASC of a tiny 04′ of arc more than the Don Jacobs’ chart.  My own preference has been an ASC of 7 Gemini 27, based on my own experience with this chart.

Interestingly, the famous Sibly chart, which the British astrologer set for roughly 10 PM in the UK, has 19 Aquarius 49 rising in London.  This is equivalent to a time of 21:53 UT or 4:53 PM LMT in Philadelphia.  At 4:47 PM LMT in Philadelphia the Ascendant was at 7 Sagittarius 39, as it was in the Cancer ingress chart.  Here is an image of the Sibly chart cast for London with an ASC fo 19 AQ 49 from the page www.astrology.co.uk/news/sibly.htm:

If you try to reproduce Sibly’s chart, it becomes clear that his calculations were not very accurate.  For example, his planetary positions are different from those in a modern ephemeris.  He indicates that it is a 10 PM chart, but the ASC he uses is for 9:53 PM in the UK.  We cannot rule out the idea that Sibly chose an Ascendant for this mundane chart from the Cancer Ingress.  If he were using the ASC of the Summer Solstice in London, the ASC would have been 17 Aquarius 00, which corresponds to 9:47 PM LMT on July 4, 1776 in London.  There is only a difference of 6 minutes between these two Ascendants, which leads me to suspect that Sibly was taking the horizon of the Cancer Ingress and using it to erect a chart for the Declaration of Independence.

Hillary’s loss, Trump’s win, and the Importance of an Accurate Birth Time

In July of this year I posted an astrological analysis of the election in which I wrote the following:

“Hillary Clinton is more likely than Donald Trump to be our next president, though she will have some tough times in late summer/early fall during the height of the campaign. Trump is extremely popular and has tapped powerfully into the public mood, so a Trump win is not out of the question.”

This last statement was based on the fact that “Trump’s natal Moon falls  exactly on the USA progressed Ascendant, an indication that Trump’s sense of the public mood of the America people is exactly in accord with the emotional state of the populace.”

My reasoning about Hillary’s victory being more likely was based on an 8:02 AM time of birth, which was in wide use among astrologers.  We do not have a copy of her birth certificate, but I later learned that Chris Brennan had asked Hillary her birth time at a book signing, to which she replied 8 PM (a full 12 hours later).

Astrologer Al Mackenzie looked at my analysis and wrote: “Trump’s progressed Ascendant ruler (himself) is well-dignified and conjunct the progressed US MC…to me that speaks better of his chances than the ill-dignified Saturn ruling her chart which falls in the US eighth.”  In other words, Al looked at the same information and concluded that Trump would win the presidency.

The crux of my prediction was that, despite the negative factors which Al Mackenzie was alluding to, in Hillary’s secondary progressed chart (8:02 AM birth time), her progressed Mercury and Sun were in a cazimi configuration in mid-October of 2016 just weeks before the November election. To the Arab astrologers a planet in cazimi was “in the heart of the Sun” and therefore shone with the brilliance of the Sun.  In Hillary’s 8 AM chart, Mercury rules her career and public status, so I concluded that this was the determining factor which would take her to the White House since it occurred so close to the election.

If we consider the 8 PM time, which Hillary says is her true birth time, the situation charges significantly.  In this case, the Mercury/Sun cazimi configuration took place in mid-April of 2016 during the primary season and indicated her defeating Bernie Sanders to become the Democratic candidate.  By November 8 of 2016, progressed Mercury and the progressed Sun were 21′ of arc apart, well beyond the 17′ of arc limit of cazimi. Here Mercury is combust the Sun, totally obscured and “burnt” by the Sun’s rays — a symbol of  invisibility and a lack of prominence.  Maybe it’s just Monday morning quarterbacking, but had I used the 8 PM time, I would have predicted that Trump was more likely than Hillary to win the election.

In this graphic, the central wheel is is USA Gemini rising chart progressed to November 8, 2016. The out wheel is Hillary’s 8 PM birth time chart progressed to the same date.

Mercury rules the Whole Sign 10th house of the USA progressed chart. Hillary’s Mercury/Sun conjunction in Capricorn is a combust configuration which squares her progressed Neptune as well as the progressed USA MC.  This is an aspect of discouragement and dissolution.  In addition, Hillary’s progressed Ascendant lies in Leo (ruled by the Sun) in the 8th house of death, where the ASC conjoins the malefic Saturn in the sign of its detriment.  A comparison of these progressed charts (USA and Hillary for an 8 PM birth) suggests that she will lose the election.

Fortunately, I stated in the July post that my prediction at that time was predicated on a speculative birth time of 8:02 AM and that a different birth time could result in a different outcome.

Hillary’s Wobble

The big news this week in the presidential campaign has been Hillary Clinton’s wobble at the 9-11 ceremony and the revelation of her diagnosis of pneumonia.  According to news reports:

“Clinton, who was here and only about 20 feet away from Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump, was listening along with Trump to the reading of the names lost in the terror attacks on this tragic day 15 years ago. Trump appeared at the ceremony around 8:20 a.m. receiving applause when he arrived, while Clinton arrived shortly before the first bell rang at 8:46 a.m. which is a citywide moment of silence in observance of time the first plane struck the North Tower. Shortly before 9:37 a.m.–the time marked for a moment of silence in observance of the flight that struck the Pentagon down just outside Washington, D.C.–Clinton was seen leaving the ceremony with her press corps in tow. Clinton was leaving through a back entrance, quietly.”

Here are Hillary’s transits for the day:

The non-lunar aspects are all favorable, so she should weather this controversy without too much difficulty.  The Moon, however, began the day with a square to Neptune in her 12th Whole Sign house and went on to quincunx Mars (ruler of her 6th of illness) and Pluto in the 10th Whole Sign house of career and public reputation.  The Moon ended with a sextile to Venus in the afternoon when she was seen leaving her daughter’s Manhattan apartment in good spirits and apparently reasonably healthy. Here is her chart with Whole Sign houses:

Since taking Chris Brennan’s course on Hellenistic astrology, I’ve been experimenting a lot with zodiacal releasing from the Lot of Spirit.  Here is the printout from Solar Fire for Hillary’s ZR in this time period:

On Level 3 she is going though a Cancer period (27 July 2016 – 28 September 2016).  Cancer is the derived 4th house of her part of Fortune, so it is an important career time.  On September 9th she entered a “loosing of the bond” in Capricorn on Level 4, which lasts until September 15, 2016. During these seven days her Level 4 time lord is Saturn (ruler of Capricorn).  Saturn occupies her 10th Whole Sign house of career where it conjoins Pluto and Mars, so the emphasis should be on professional matters, public reputation, and the significations of Mars in her chart.  Mars is ruler of her 6th of illness and 1st of the body’s vitality, and is also the out-of-sect malefic thus capable of signifying significant difficulties and health issues coming to public view.

 

 

The Eclipse Strikes

There has been much discussion recently among astrologers about tomorrow’s eclipse in the 10th degree of Virgo.  People with a significant natal point or planet around the 10th degree of mutable signs are most likely to feel the effects.  Part of what makes this September 1st eclipse at 9 Virgo 21 so significant is that Saturn made a station (turning direct) at 9 Virgo 46 on August 13, 2016.  At the same time transiting Mars is traveling close to Saturn in the heavens.  In addition, at the moment of the eclipse, transiting Neptune will be across the zodiac at 10 Pisces 39.

Ebertin notes that Saturn/Neptune contacts tend to undermine the structure of an organism, leading to states of infirmity or malfunction.  With Mars in the mix, there is the possibility of problems with bones, teeth or skin, or with toxins in the body.

Such was the case for a friend of mine with his natal Mars at 11 Virgo 37 with Scorpio on the cusp of his Placidus 6th house of bodily infirmities.  He was on vacation in Maine and walking down a rocky path along the seashore when around 10 AM on Sunday 28 August 2016, just five days before the eclipse and 15 days after the Saturn station, he slipped and broke a bone in his foot.  To make matters worse, when he and his wife went to drive home from the vacation a couple hours after the accident their car broke down and they had to spend several hours getting it repaired.  Furthermore, when he saw the doctor the next day, he was told that the fracture was serious and he would need to wear a cast and stay off his feet for a couple on months (a very Saturnian outcome).  Here is his natal chart with the eclipse (at this birthplace) superimposed.

Man with fractured bone in foot (inside chart). September 1, 2016 Solar Eclipse at his birthplace (outside chart).

Note the solar eclipse conjunct his natal Mars in the 4th house, with Mars ruling Scorpio on the natal 6th cusp (health problems).  Interestingly, at his birthplace eclipse Uranus (accidents) is on the MC and squares his natal Saturn.  The transiting Mars/Saturn conjunction in his natal 6th square his natal Mars (and the eclipse).  Transiting Neptune opposes his natal Mars (and the eclipse).

It is always fascinating to see how astrological symbolism plays out in real life.

The Origin of the Via Combusta (Burned Path)?

Horary astrologers learn about the Via Combusta or Burned Path as a place of detriment of the Moon.  For example Dorotheus writes in Book V-5 on electional astrology and The Corruption of the Moon: “… a commencement is not to be made in an action or anything when you find this, until the condition of the Moon and its Lord is ameliorated.” He then goes on to give several conditions which corrupt the Moon including:

“If the Moon in its motion is in the path which the learned call “the burned path” (the burned path is the middle of the equator, which is Libra and Scorpio)  and if the Moon is in the last degrees of a sign, then it is according to this in the term of Saturn or Mars, and none of the terms which are at the end of the signs are harder than the terms of these two” (Pingree translation).

Abraham Ibn Ezra, writing about Electional Astrology, says: “Be careful not to place the Moon from 9 degrees of Libra to its end… in the burnt path (which is the end of Libra and the beginning of Scorpio) and this is the worst that there is of the impediments of the Moon.”

Modern astrologers have speculated that the malefic nature of this “burnt” Libra-Scorpio region derives from the presence of malefic fix stars here in Babylonian antiquity, where the designation “burned path” originated long before the Hellenistic era.

Al Biruni regarded this region as unfortunate because Libra is the fall of the Sun (which is exalted in Aries) and Scorpio is the fall of the Moon (which is exalted in Taurus) — the Sun and the Moon being the two principal Lights in the sky.

In the early Christian tradition there is a reference to a “path” or “river” passing across the zodiac belt from the constellations Taurus/Gemini to the constellations Sagittarius/Scorpio, which is quite analogous to the path traced by the Via Combusta. In the Book of Revelation, one can find :

Revelation 22:1-2

“22 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
2 “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (King James Bible)

This passage appears to be a reference to the Milky Way which comes down from heaven and crosses the zodiac belt from Taurus across to Scorpio, dividing the zodiac into two semi-circles of six constellation each — the tree of life with its 12 fruits, one for each month of the year.

In a fascinating study of the import of the the Milky Way in ancient philosophy, Lynda Harris notes that in many ancient cultures the Milky Way was views as a vertical axis or tree and a path leading to the heavens. She further notes that Aristotle, writing the the 4th century BCE, did not regard the Milky Way as containing the flow of a milk-like substance but rather that “the Milky Way was ‘a low and steady burning of dry exhalation’, located below the sphere of the moon.”  In other words, the route traced by the Milky Way through the zodiac belt was, in Aristotle’s view, a burned path formed by the steady burning of dry exhalation.

Other philosophers of the ancient Greek period, influenced by apparent the circular path of the planets around the Earth began to view the Milky Way as a circle rather than as a vertical axis, as it was originally conceived.  Lynda Harris traces the evolution of these ideas as follows:

“But whatever its shape, the cloudy, white colour of the Milky Way (or Milky Circle, as it came to be called in the Greco-Roman world) needed to be accounted for.  Many ancient mythologies had associated it with the milk of the goddess identified with the great tree. The mythological connection with the milk (‘gala’) of a great goddess continued among many Greeks, accounting for the Milky Way’s other name, ‘Galaxy’.  Another view, especially common in the later Greco-Roman world, pictured it as containing ashes. These marked a scorched path which had been burnt into the sky by a falling star, or the path of the sun.” (italics mine)

In summary, it may be that the so-called “burned path” or Via Combusta of ancient astrology was to the Babylonians the path of the Milky Way as it traversed the circle of zodiacal constellations.  With the adoption of the tropical zodiac and its use of zodiac signs, the dimensions given to the Via Combusta by the Hellenistic astrologers may well have corresponded to the original dimensions used by the Babylonians to the traversing of the zodiac circle by the Milky River, corrected for precession from Babylonian times.

The next image from the site www.astronomy.com shows the Milky Way passing through the constellations Scorpio and Sagittarius, as it might have appeared to the ancient Babylonian astrologers.  Taking precession into account, could this intersection of the Mikly Way and the zodiac constellations be the origin of the “burned way” of of the tropical zodiac in Hellenistic astrology?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

La Liberación Zodiacal

For those who may be interested, Campus Astrología of Barcelona recently published a brief article I wrote about zodiacal releasing. Click on the following image to see it:

Zodiacal Releasing

 

An interesting horary about a missing watch

One of the best ways to learn horary is to follow up what happens and restudy the chart. Here is an illustrative example.

In December of 2014 a woman contacted me because she could not find a valuable watch which had been in her family for many years. She had recently had the watch cleaned at the jeweler’s with the intention of giving it as a gift to a member of the younger generation in her family. She thought she recalled bringing the watch home from the jeweler’s but, despite an exhaustive search, it was nowhere to be found in her house.

She told me the story in a telephone conversation on 22 December 2014, just a few days before Christmas.  I noted the time she asked the question about the missing watch: 9:23 AM EST at my location.  Here is the chart with Regiomontanus Houses, as used by William Lilly.

Where is the missing watch? Will I be able to find it? 22 Dec 2014, 9:23 AM EDT, Orange, CT

The querent is shown by the Aquarius Ascendant. Her traditional ruler is Saturn in Scorpio in the 10th house. Her co-ruler is the Moon in Capricorn in the 12th of hidden things. Mars in Aquarius in the 1st house is a possible co-significator of the querent as well.

The missing watch is shown by Pisces on the 2nd cusp, ruled by Jupiter Rx in Leo in the 7th.  The ruler of the missing item being retrograde often indicates that it will eventually return.  Uranus Stationary in Aries in the 2nd is a possible co-significator of the watch.

The Moon’s last aspect was a sextile to Neptune in Pisces in the 1st house, suggesting that she was perhaps distracted and somehow misplaced the watch but that it was not lost or stolen. Jupiter’s location in the angular 7th suggests that the watch is in her house, perhaps in an area used by her spouse or partner. The stationary Uranus in the 2nd of possessions implies that a longstanding disruptive influence overhangs the search for the watch.

Will she find the watch? Her co-ruler Moon does not apply to aspect Jupiter (the watch). Her co-ruler Mars in the 1st mutually applies to oppose Jupiter (the watch) in the 7th, but the opposition is a separative aspect, suggesting that she will not soon come in contact with the watch.  Her principal ruler Saturn at the end of Pisces and Jupiter (the watch) retrograding in Leo are currently separating.  Eventually Jupiter will turn direct and will apply to square the position of Saturn in the chart on 10 August 2015. By transit, Jupiter squares transiting Saturn on 3 August 2010 and again by transit-to-transit in March and May of 2016. Sometimes a square between principal rulers can indicate the recovering of the missing item, but usually with some kind of difficulty.

The next favorable Ptolemaic aspect transiting Jupiter would make to horary Saturn at 29 Scorpio 52 would occur on 8 September 2016 when Jupiter reached 29 Virgo 52.

Based on the above analysis, I told the querent that most likely the watch was still in her house but that it would take a very long time (probably a matter of years) for her to find it. The earliest positive indicator I could find was transiting Jupiter in Virgo sextile horary Saturn in Scorpio in 2016.

I next heard from the querent on 17 July 2016. She still had not found the watch and wondered if another reading would be helpful.  Here is the chart for her second horary about the missing watch.

Second horary chart for the missing watch. 17 July 2016, 3:34 PM EDT, Orange, CT

Scorpio rises, making Mars the significator of the querent. Her co-ruler, the Moon, again lies in Capricorn but now in the 2nd house of possessions, including the missing watch. This is a favorable indicator.

With Sagittarius on the cusp of the 2nd, Jupiter again rules the missing watch. Jupiter is again angular (as in the 1st horary) but now occupies the 10th house. An angular significator suggests that the watch is still in the house.

Unfortunately, Mars (the querent) is separating from a sextile to Jupiter (the watch).  The Moon (her co-ruler) will eventually trine Jupiter (the watch) but the aspect is not yet within orb.  The watch is in her house, not lost or stolen, but it will still take some time for her to find it.  If we take Pluto in the 2nd to co-signify the watch, then her co-ruler Moon in the 2nd mutually applies to conjoin retrograde Pluto in the 2nd within about 16 degrees (? = 16 weeks ?).

I told the querent that the missing watch was still in her home but that it would still take some time to find it.  She would not find it quickly but it was likely to be inside something like a drawer, box, pocket or bag because Virgo loves to organize and compartmentalize, and Jupiter (the watch) lies in Virgo.  Earth signs often signify places that may be dark and low down in a room.

The outcome:

On 13 August 2016, the querent sent me the following email:

“It’s taken a while, as you said, but I FOUND THE WATCH hiding behind some seldom-looked-at astrology books in my closet.  No reason to pull out the ones I did — looking for other books — and there it was.  Thank you so much – especially for keeping my hopes up by saying it would take ‘a while’ but would be found. ”

She added: “Jupiter knew what it was saying.  I had had the watch cleaned, bought a fine holder for it, put the whole thing in a very nice white box, in a small black and gold bag from a very posh store.  How Jupiter in Virgo is that!!!”

Interestingly, she found the watch on Friday afternoon, 12 August 2016 as the transiting Moon was passing through Sagittarius (disposed by Jupiter) and applying to square horary from the 2nd to the 10th house of the July 17th horary chart.

On 15 August 2016 at around 6 PM she gave the watch to her son as a gift (with the transiting Moon still in the 2nd house, having just trined horary Jupiter in the 10th and about to perfect a trine to transiting Jupiter as well).  It had been his grandfather’s watch. Her grandson was also impressed with it.

The issue of timing is interesting in this example.  Based on the first chart, I thought that she would not find the watch until September of 2016 at the earliest.  Based on the July 2016 horary for the same question, I thought the movement of the Moon would indicate a matter of at least several more months until she found the watch.  In fact, she found the watch about a month later on the same day that the transiting Moon squared horary Jupiter from their respective houses in the July 17th horary chart.

 

Wynn’s Famous Prediction of Financial Turmoil

This is a follow-up to an earlier post in which I wrote: “Wynn’s claim to fame in the 1930’s was a 1932 prediction he made in the NY Daily News , when he forecast a week of immense financial turmoil for early March of 1933.  On March 4, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated.  One of his first acts, in response to many bank failures and “runs” on banks, was to proclaim a “bank holiday,” closing all the banks in the United States from March 6th until March 13.  There was great financial turmoil and uncertainty until the banks reopened on March 13th and depositors began to return their cash to the ailing institutions. Interestingly, on March 8, 1933 (two days after the start of Roosevelt’s bank holiday) the recently discovered dwarf planet Pluto in Aries by transit made an exact square to Uranus in Cancer (the Whole Sign 2nd house of money of the USA Gemini-rising chart).  I don’t know whether Wynn had begun to use Pluto in his charts at that time.”

How did Wynn (Sidney Kimball Bennett) make this astounding prediction which catapulted him to fame?  I’ve been unable to find a record of his reasoning, so I will try to reconstruct it from what we know about his methods and the astrology of the period.  We know that by 1932 Wynn had developed his Solar Return Key Cycle method, based on his the failure of primary and secondary progressions to forecast his serious accident of May 18, 1926.  (See Wynn, The Key Cycle, 1931, reprinted by the AFA, Tempe, Arizona in 1970.)

Most likely Wynn studied the natal chart of the USA and compared the Key Cycle chart for March of 1933 to the USA natal chart, with a special emphasis on the financial houses. In the astrology of nations, the relevant mundane financial houses are the 2nd house of money, national wealth and financial institution and the 11th house of assets of the government, including the Treasury.

Which natal chart for the USA did Wynn used in 1932?  I’ve been unable to find the actual chart that he used, but at the time the USA chart in vogue was a Gemini rising chart popularized by the famous astrologer (an Wynn’s competitor in the media) Evangeline Adams.  Ms. Adams set the birth chart of the USA for July 4, 1776 at 3:03 in the morning. In the 1930s, not long before her death, Adams predicted the timing of the entry of the USA into World War II.  I suspect that Wynn used the same USA chart as Adams.

How did Evangeline Adams arrive at the 3:03 AM birth time for the USA?  Clearly it is not a factual time, since the delegates were probably all asleep at that hour. Thus, Adams must have based this chart on astrological symbolism or on principles of mundane astrology.  Symbolically in the 3:03 AM chart Uranus has recently risen and Mars conjoins the Ascendant — fitting symbolism for a Declaration of Independence (Uranus) which would most certain lead to a war (Mars) with England.

Why 3:03 AM and not a few minutes earlier or later?  Most likely this time was selected from an eclipse of the period.  Not all states ratified the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 and it would take a few months to get everyone officially on board. The last eclipse of the year 1776 was a partial solar eclipse, which occurred on August 14, 1776 at 00:22:21 AM LMT in Philadelphia with 20 Gemini 34 rising. Notably the July 4th USA chart used by Evangeline Adams has the same degree of Gemini rising, which occurred at exactly 3:03:30 AM LMT in Philadelphia. Here is the chart used by Adams and mostly also used by Wynn to make forecasts about the USA:

USA Gemini-rising chart used by Evangeline Adams, based on the symbolism of declaring independence and going to war with England (Uranus and Mars rising in Gemini) and using the Placidus house cusps of the August 14th solar eclipse in Philadelphia, which was the last eclipse of 1776 and the closest eclipse to the final signing of the Declaration of Independence by all of the states.

To make his predictions Wynn would have looked for Key Cycle contacts with the natal USA chart for March of 1933. Here is the Key Cycle chart for March 6, 1933 (the beginning of the bank holiday) superimposed on the USA natal chart used by Evangeline Adams:

The Key Cycle chart is a transit chart whose cusps are derived from the Solar Return for the year.  The MC of a key cycle chart moves 1 degree forward every four days and the other house cusps change accordingly.

Notable features of this combined chart are:

A transiting Uranus/Pluto square which became exact on March 8, 1933 and which connects the 11th house of the Treasury with the 2nd house of banks and financial institutions in the USA chart.  This is clearly an indicator of financial turmoil, peaking on 8 March 1933. This Uranus/Pluto square was probably the most significant transiting aspect of 1933 and would therefore have a major symbolic role to play in national affairs.
Transiting Mercury (ruler of the USA natal chart) and Key Cycle Ascendant in the 11th of the Treasury squaring the natal Venus/Jupiter conjunction (symbolizing the nation’s wealth) during early March of 1933.
The Key Cycle Moon transiting the USA natal 2nd house of banks from March 8th until March 10th of 1933.
The Key Cycle MC opposing natal Venus (money, wealth) on March 6th, the first day of the bank holiday.
Transiting Sun square the natal Ascendant/Mars conjunction on March 11, 1933 with Mars ruling Aries intercepted in the natal 11th of the Treasury.
Transiting Sun oppose natal Neptune becoming exact on March 13, 1933, the day that the bank holiday ended.

It seems to me that Wynn must have performed this type of analysis to predict a year in advance a period of major financial turmoil in the USA in early March of 1933.

Testing Wynn’s Key Cycle Theory

The universe works in mysterious ways.  As I was reading through Wynn’s work on the Key Cycle with its description of his hit-and-run accident, I received a message from a man I know who was born in Texas and now lives in Oregon.  For reasons of confidentiality, I will call him Jake.  It turns out that Jake wanted to tell me that he was recently hit by an inexperienced teenage driver while riding his bicycle in Eugene, Oregon.  Fortunately, he did not sustain serious injuries, but his bike was quite damaged.

Using Wynn’s techniques, I cast Jake’s natal chart and derived his Key Cycle chart for Eugene, Oregon, the site of the accident.  The chart comparison was not particularly descriptive of a motor vehicle accident.  However, when I calculated the Key Cycle chart for his birthplace, there was an exact hit.  Wynn felt that the Key Cycle chart should be done for the location of the querent at the time if it was different from the birthplace.

With Jake’s permission, I have reproduced his natal chart with the Key Cycle chart for the time of the accident superimposed.

First we look for the potential for motor vehicle accidents in the natal chart, on the principle that nothing happens in the life of the native that is not promised in the birth chart.  His natal 3rd house (local travel) is ruled by the Moon, and the natal Sun lies in the 3rd house.

The natal Moon conjoins the cusp of the 6th of bodily ailments and also conjoins a natal Pluto/Mars conjunction in the 6th. Natal Sun in the 9th (a travel house) squares the squares Pluto/Mars conjunction in the 6th.   These configurations all raise the possibility of problems related to travel.

At the time of the accident transiting Sun in the 3rd (travel) squares the natal stellium of planets (Pluto/Mars/Sun) in the 6th.  In addition, transiting Saturn closely opposed his natal Ascendant (the body).

Transiting Sun in the natal 3rd is closely quincunx the transiting Key Chart MC/Pluto conjunction in the natal 8th, indicating health risks while traveling.

Even more notable is the fact that the birthplace Key Cycle Ascendant almost exactly conjoined transiting Uranus (sudden unexpected disruptions), and the birthplace Key Cycle MC closely conjoined transiting Pluto in the natal 8th house.

In the Key Cycle chart or Eugene, Oregon, the planetary positions are essentially the same but the ASC lies at 16 Pisces 28 and the MC at 23 Sagittarius 19, not making any direct hits as we see in the Key Cycle chart for San Antonio.  Even though Wynn thought that the Key Cycle chart should be cast for the location of the native (Oregon in this case), here the Key Cycle chart for the Texas birthplace is more compelling.

 

Wynn’s Key Cycle and his Natal Chart

Recently I’ve been looking at the work of astrologer Sidney Kimball Bennett (pseudonym Wynn), born February 10, 1892, in Chicago, at 9 AM.  In a previous post I reviewed his decision to abandon secondary progression and directions in favor of the use of transits and house cusps determined by the annual Solar Return and the Wynn Key Cycle, which he invented.

In his book The Key Cycle Wynn tells us that his disappointment with progressions and directions came to a head when these traditional methods failed for forecast a serious car accident in which he was struck and nearly killed by a hit-and-run driver in Merced, California on 18 May 1926 at around 9 PM.

In the previous post about this topic I used the data for Wynn’s birth from astro.com which gives a chart cast for 9 AM CST in Chicago , 10 February 1892.  Wynn, however, makes a point that he was born at 9 AM TLT (true local time), so the natal chart he was using in his book differs by several minutes from the one posted at the AstroDataBank site.

Wynn does not show his natal chart in The Key Cycle, but on page 5 he reproduces his Key Cycle chart for the date and location of the accident (18 May 1892, Merced, CA).  Here is the Key Cycle chart from Wynn’s book.

Working backward from this Key Cycle chart for 18 May 1926 at Merced, California, I was able to reconstruct the chart used by Wynn for his nativity.  For the above chart to be accurate, Wynn must have been born on 10 February 1892 in Chicago at 8:48:55 AM CST. Below is the natal chart which Wynn used for himself.  (The chart at astro.com differs in that it has an MC at 6 Cap 54 and and ASC at 13 Aries 18.)

This birth chart produces the following Key Cycle chart for 18 May 1926 in Merced, CA (with the natal chart superimposed outside).

As you can see, the Key Cycle chart is the one used by Wynn in his book and is the one cast from the birth chart on the outside calculated for 8:48:55 AM CST, which is 11 minutes 05 seconds earlier than the 9 AM CST.

The so-called Equation of Time in Chicago represents the difference between the longitude correction for Local Mean Time (05:50:36) in Chicago and the longitude correction for Local Apparent Time, i.e. sundial time, (06:05:02) in that city.  Doing the math, 06:05:02 minus 05:50:36 = 14 minutes 26 seconds.

When Wynn wrote that he was born at 9 AM true local time, he meant that a local sundial at his birth place would have indicated that it was 9 AM according to the true position of the Sun in the sky.  If Wynn were born at 9 AM on the sundial, however, his ASC would be at 15 Aries 29 and his MC at 8 Capricorn 03 — but this is not the chart he used for himself.  In fact, for Wynn to have been born with an ASC of 8 Aries 25 (as we deduced from his 18 May 1926 accident Key Cycle chart), he would have to have been born at 8:43:55 AM true local (sundial) time.

If we take Wynn at this word, that he was born at 9 AM true local time, then his birth chart would look like this:

The Key Cycle chart based on the 9 AM true local chart would be the following (with the natal chart on the outside):

The timing of the accident is shown by Key Cycle MC conjunct transiting Saturn which lies opposite natal Uranus.  The Key Cycle MC advances about one degree every four days and thus crosses transiting Saturn on 19 May 1926, one day after the 9 pm accident –a day he would have spent in the hospital.  In the natal chart transiting Uranus occupies the 12th house of hospitalization, and natal Saturn occupies the 6th house of bodily ailments.  Thus, the Key Cycle MC crosses this Uranus/Saturn opposition activates the 12th and 6th houses.

Here are Wynn’s transits, secondary progressions and solar arc directions for May of 1926 based on the 9 AM true local time chart:

Wynn was focused on the progressed Moon trine natal Sun aspect of May 17th and the favorable progressed natal Sun conjunction natal Venus aspect of May 30th, and therefore was expecting something wonderful to happen.  Unfortunately, the Sun rules his natal 6th house of health problems, and Venus occupies the natal 12th house of hospitalization and undoing.  Perhaps the positive features of these progressions are that he did not die in the accident and that the experience gave him an astrological theme to write about for years to come, thus noticeably enhancing his career.

Wynn apparently did not pay attention to the very stressful solar arc directed Uranus conjunct natal Mars aspect of May 13th, or to the many minor stressful aspects involving Moon/Neptune, Venus/Jupiter, Jupiter/Venus, and Moon/Jupiter. These are significant because they involve the natal 12th house of confinement.

In addition, on May 28th (ten days after the accident) transiting Saturn exactly conjoined the natal South Lunar Node on the cusp of the natal 8th house of death, as can be seen when we swap the two charts. Transiting Saturn entered the degree of the Moon’s South Node on May 24, 1926, just 6 days after the accident.  To quote astrologer Ivy Goldstein-Jacobson: “Any planet or angle in the same degree as the Nodes points to a catastrophe, casualty, fatality or tragedy (italics mine) in a horary or natal chart, the more far-reaching when a malefic is involved.”  In Wynn’s case, Saturn conjoined the Moon’s South Node.

Wynn’s natal char for 9 AM LAT  with Key Cycle chart for accident superimposed.

In conclusion, there are at least three possible birth charts for Sidney Kimball Bennett (Wynn):

9 AM CST as presented at astro.com  (this is most certainly not the chart Wynn himself used.)
9 AM LAT (local apparent time, or true solar local time) — this is the time Wynn claims that he was born.  This chart has and ASC of 15 Aries 29.
Wynn’s version of the 9 AM true local time chart, which I cannot re-create from the current available astronomical data.  I have no idea of the mathematics that Wynn used to arrive at a natal chart with an ASC of 8 Aries 25, which gives a birth time of 8:48:55 AM CST.