U.S. Horoscope - Donald Bradley 1948

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Jim Eshelman
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U.S. Horoscope - Donald Bradley 1948

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[These excerpts are from the first of four early articles I have by Tropical astrologer Donald Bradley on the U.S. horoscope. The chart in question is the "shortly past noon" chart for July 4, 1776, rectified by Llewellyn George to 12:14:42 PM LMT.]

Remarks on what to expect from a national chart:
...in mundane astrology, think of the nation under consideration as an entity, a "collective psyche," with its physical vehicle thought of in terms of its geopolitics, its personality in terms of its cultural and social mores, and its mind in terms of its "body politic." Historians and sociologists tell us that there is no great difference between the behavior-pattern of individuals and nations of similar types. This is your cue to personal success as an astrological observer of signs of the times.
He cites studies recently published at the time showing that the U.S. had reached economic maturity in a surprisingly fast arc, a mere 17 centuries.
Now, a fundamental of our science is that Saturn rising in a birth-chart denotes rapid maturity of its subject. It would be inconsistent with even the simplest tents of astrology to hold that Mars and Uranus in Gemini, with that sign rising, could describe a nation which matured in the same length of time required for other nations to adolesce. Saturn rising in [TZ] Libra is the horoscopic shoe which fits the facts.... It is not by chance that our Uncle Sam is popularly portrayed as a Saturn-Libra somatotype. Furthermore, Samuel Americanus is always shown with a goatee beard, so named for its resemblance to the tuft of Capricornus. Saturn in the first house ("the face" in constitutional astrology) could never be charicatured more descriptively.
The next section is particularly interesting to me. It shows Bradley, at age 23, using techniques that he later dismissed, but with the same kind of mind that guided his best work for the next quarter of a century.
A Highlight of the Past Year: The progressed horoscope for our nation this past year experienced a conjunction of the Moon with progressed and natal Uranus near the cusp of the radix 9th house in November 1947 and January 1948, respectively. A casual observer might conclude that this influence worked itself out appropriately in the startling of our people by the sudden refusal of Panama to permit our continued use of strategic military points and bases in the vicinity of the Canal Zone. Our 9th house does relate to such matters, but we feel that this development represents but a secondary fulfillment of the configuration in question, inasmuch as it repeats itself periodically every 28 years. Past performances of this aspect brought about turns in the social tide which smacked of such 9th-house and Uranian factors as documentation, scientific contribution, and social revolution with reflexes of a 5th-house nature (radix Moon in Aquarius in 5th, Aquarius being the particular provenance of Uranus).

The 19th Amendment to our Constitution, that granting women's suffrage, became effective the last time this progressed conjunction was in operation (1920), while the Moon-Uranus union previous to that (1893) synchronized with the Columbian Exposition World's Fair, which, historians acknowledge, marked our international coming-of-age as a world power and cultural dispensary. America unveiled its scientific and intellectual genius at that time (as apart from its inventive talents). The 1865 conjunction marked the abolition of slavery under Amendment 13. Each of these epochs signaled a turning point, an advancement, a precedent-shattering development in our national destiny.

The only significant event of the recent period last Winter which "gives no better fit" for recognition as the recurrence of this cyclic waymarker in American history was the publication of the book, "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" by Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey and his research associates at Indiana University. Known familiarly by the public as "the Kinsey report," publication of this work with advance reviews was announced to the public in November 1947 and made available to an overwhelmingly receptive market in January. To students steeped in the social mores which this historic document proves groundless, this event might not seem so remarkable. But all lines of interpretation converge upon a realization that publication of the Kinsey report is the waymarker matching up in importance to the other developments at previous epochs in this cycle. Each previous epoch introduced itself as a publication. documentation or exhibition. the substance of which wrought basic changes in our society, changed written laws, broke up social mores. eased the conscience of multitudes, and brought about revolutions in modes of education. According to leading commentators, availability of the Kinsey report has established itself as the most important, most discomfiting and most enlightening eventuality in the nation's social and intellectual orders for many decades. And the astrological evidence assuredly agrees with this opinion. If Walter Winchell and astrology are right, Dr. Kinsey's contribution will have as profound a revolutionary effect in the social and educational fabric of our land as did the two constitutional amendments and the Columbian Exposition.
This aspect never occurred again during Bradley's life (at least, not the conjunction). The next occurrence was March to April 1975. Can anyone think of anything that matches this same pattern during those months? One that comes to mind (again, more diplomatic than cultural)is the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War at the end of April (progressed Moon 10' past natal Uranus). Saturday Night Live didn't premiere until October. Bill Gates founded Microsoft in April, but it wasn't public or immediately socially impactful. Ideas?

June 2002 again brought, most obviously, a diplomatic event: Pres. Bush reversed U.S. foreign policy by deciding we would not recognize an independent Palestinian state while Arafat remained in power. Any better ideas, this doesn't seem to fit the pattern?
The Limits of a Chart: ...There is a widespread illusion among beginners in our subject concerning the scope of significance covered by any one chart. A horoscope pertains only to factors indigenous to it. This theorem is based on the principle of psychic totality dwelt upon rather thoroughly from psychological and metaphysical points of view by Dr. Carl G. Jung, an analyst recently become popular among astrologers by a profession of a common belief in astrology. The birthchart of a nation relates only to the life of the nation as an integral social organism and body politic. A nation's radix cannot be expected to reflect developments in realms not directly related to the population. To illustrate: a destructive earthquake like that at San Francisco in 1906 cannot be functionally related to the U.S. chart. Indices of the fire which followed it and nearly destroyed that city as an organ of the nation, however, can most definitely be traced in the radix. The terrain in the Bay Area, understand, was not conditioned by a crisis at Philadelphia thirteen decades earlier, although growth of the city is associated with the life of the nation itself... In studying the U.S. chart, you cannot expect weather cycles and certain major economic waves to evidence themselves directly in the chart, for these are trends shared by the world as a whole and which have repeated periodically throughout human history.
He ended with his prediction for the next 12 months.
Jim Eshelman
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Re: U.S. Horoscope - Donald Bradley 1948

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Arena wrote:Ok, so in this he is using a natal chart for the nation and not ingresses. Don't you still sometimes check that natal chart for events, or do you only consider the ingress charts today?
It shows Bradley, at age 23, using techniques that he later dismissed
Which techniques did he later dismiss? The use of houses for one, something else?

About progressed Moon to Uranus in 1975, is there something on this list you find fitting?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_in_the_United_States

And here is 2002 (could it have to do with the Climate Change Movement?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_in_the_United_States
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Re: U.S. Horoscope - Donald Bradley 1948

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Arena wrote:Ok, so in this he is using a natal chart for the nation and not ingresses.
Yes. I think I said that in the title and at the top, yeah? :)
Don't you still sometimes check that natal chart for events, or do you only consider the ingress charts today?
I consider this natal chart valid, but the ingresses blow it away overall. A lot of the time, the national chart has been disappointing for predictive purposes, and the ingresses nearly always ring right through. But, as we'll see as I post more of these, the national chart is phenomenal for showing the national character and social structure and, for at least certain kinds of events, shows well for events, too.
It shows Bradley, at age 23, using techniques that he later dismissed
Which techniques did he later dismiss? The use of houses for one, something else?
Yeah, that's the main thing I meant.
And here is 2002 (could it have to do with the Climate Change Movement?)
We want something fitting the description that occurs the exact month the progression is exact (or the 2-3 month range when the progression is exact to either natal or progressed Uranus). The climate change march was in November, the aspect was in June. And, though this was a march past a U.S. embassy, it occurred in London and I don't think most Americans even knew it existed. (I pay attention to that sort of thing, and I don't remember it, so it certainly hasn't proven to be ground-breaking and altering the social fabric of the country.)
Jim Eshelman
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