Henry Coley Rectifies a Chart

In Coley’s 1676 edition of Clavis Astrologiae Eliminata, A Key to the Whole Art of Astrology he gives an example of how to rectify a chart using primary directions. The chart is that of a friend who was 26 years old at the time. Henry’s friend was born on 11 March 1650 (OS) = 22 March 1650 (NS) in Willingham, England (52N19, 000E04). The friend reported his time of birth to be about 9:30 in the morning. This is what the chart looks like, based on the native’s report of his birth data. It has Regiomontanus houses, which were in vogue at the time. The modern planets are included here but were not known in the 17th century.

Chart of Henry’s friend based on a reported 9:30 AM birth time. Henry will proceed to rectify this chart based on events in the person’s life.

Henry asked his friend for major notable events in his life. The young man reported having a serious febrile illness which was quite debilitating and began on August 11, 1665 (NS) when he was 15 years and 142 days old (age 15.4 years). Henry reasoned that fevers are signified by Mars, which also happens to rule the 6th cusp of illness in this chart. Mars is combust the Sun and quincunx Jupiter (which conjoins the 6th cusp and rules part of the 6th house as well as the 7th cusp opposite the Ascendant).

Mars (febrile illness) casts its sinister square to the 7th degree of Cancer, which is about to rise. On the ecliptic there are about ten degrees between the eastern horizon and the sinister square of Mars. Henry therefore decides to adjust the birth time so that the Ascendant degree lies about 15.4 degrees away from the square of Mars along the Equator, measured in oblique ascension. Instead of the key of Ptolemy (1 degree = 1 year), Henry uses the key of Naibod (00 deg 59′ 8.33″ = 1 year). Doing his calculations by hand, he arrives at the following rectified birth chart, based on a single event of a significant illness at age 15.4. In practice, it is necessary to use many life events and to find the time that best fits all of them.

This chart is Henry’s first attempt at rectification of his friend’s 9:30 AM birth time chart, adjusted so that the sinister square of Mars on the ecliptic comes to the eastern horizon by primary motion (Naibod key) in August of 1665 when the native is 15.4 years old and suffers a serious febrile illness.

In the predictive system of “distributions” or “divisors and participants,” when 6 Cancer 27′ is on the eastern horizon, Mars will be both the divisor and the participant of the period, so that the significations of Mars in the birth chart are highly likely to manifest.

As a modern check on the relative accuracy of this rectified birth time, we can look at the Wynn Key Return for August 11, 1665, when the fever began. Here is the Wynn chart:

This is the Wynn Key Return for the date Henry’s friend fell seriously ill in 1665. Note transiting Saturn on the Ascendant (the body) and 8th ruler transiting Sun conjunct the 8th Wynn Key cusp and conjunct transiting Mercury, which rules the 6th in the Wynn chart and the Ascendant in the birth chart. Mars in this chart opposes the Part of Fortune in the 1st.