Benjamin Franklin

[Jim Eshelman]

Benjamin Franklin, like other Founders of the U.S., would have been one of the early presidents except he was too old. Nonetheless, he was arguably the greatest of them all and a giant of intelligence, science, scholarship, statecraft, invention, humanity, and more - routinely lauded as a Renaissance Man in the same breath as Leonardo Da Vinci.

He was born January 17, 1706 in Boston, MA. The time is unknown and several times are proposed. However, ruling out speculations by this astrologer or that, what's left?

Frances McEvoy quoted Grant Lewi for a 1:30 AM time, claiming "records found at Old south church state that he was baptized the Sunday morning of his birth." (He was born across the street.) However, there is no time given on the birth record. We likely can rely on the birth being before sunrise (time to get ready and cross the street for church).

Despite this, all sorts of rectification exist for late morning. They can't be correct if the Lewi note is correct (ignoring the Lewi time).

Events for study:

• Birth of son William February 22, 1730
• Common law marriage formed September 1, 1730
• Death of common law wife (from a stroke) December 14, 1774 (he was in Great Britain)
• Declaration of Independence signed July 2-4, 1776, Philadelphia, PA
• Unanimously elected president of the governing council of Pennsylvania October 18, 1785
• Death from pleurisy April 17, 1790, Philadelphia, PA

Moon was in Aquarius all day. Sunrise was 7:27 AM LMT (which seems a bit late to be preparing a baby to take across the street to church). Rather than start from scratch, I might as well cast an initial chart for Grant Lewi's time of 1:30 AM LAT and test it against the events.

[Jim Eshelman]

Events for study:

• Birth of son William February 22, 1730
• Common law marriage formed September 1, 1730
• Death of common law wife (from a stroke) December 14, 1774 (he was in Great Britain)
• Declaration of Independence signed July 2-4, 1776, Philadelphia, PA
• Unanimously elected president of the governing council of Pennsylvania October 18, 1785
• Death from pleurisy April 17, 1790, Philadelphia, PA

Let's make a quick tour through these events with SLRs and demis, with quick looks at what TMSA produces.

DEATH: SLR t Neptune &c, r Sun &c. Mixed because some solar aspects are positive and should cause vitality but (of the two most angular planets) t Neptune sq. r Sun 0°25' is closest aspect. OK at least.

ELECTED PA PRES: t Neptune exact (19'), r Neptune strongest, Sun-Uranus sq., some positive aspects plus Neptune opposite Neptune across horizon. Seems to miss the point. Poor.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE SIGNED: SLR 6/7 is contentious and quarrelsome (Moons, Mars, Pluto, etc.). Demi-SLR 6/21 luminaries &c with a transiting Sun-Jupiter conjunction rising (quite good). New SLR 7/5, t Venus & Jupiter &c., natal Venus - I like it.

WIFE DIED (for London): Mostly transiting Mars and Uranus, a few other things. Strange, not sure what their relationship was then. t Uranus squared natal Moon foreground.

SECURED COMMON LAW MARRIAGE: I think this was in Boston, but I'm not sure. I don't know if this was a business event or a romantic step. Transiting Moon and Mars are strongest in the SLR, plus transiting Pluto. The Demi-SLR is also transiting Mars mostly. This seems not to fit, but I may not understand the event.

BIRTH OF SON: I think this was Boston but I'm not sure. A great fit, with transiting Venus and a lesser Jupiter, then natal Jupiter and Saturn. Perfect!

Some of these are good, some utterly boring, none of them outright wrong with what I know; but I feel uncomfortable with them as a set. On to the progressions!

[ODdOnLifeItself]

Can you try the time from the Starkman rectification?

Franklin Benjamin
Jan 17 1706
9:37:20 AM
LMT +04:44:15
Boston
Massachusetts USA
71w03'37 42n21'30

For his death, the SLR has Saturn directly on the Ascendant, contacting Mars (0° 15' orb).

SLR: Apr 10 1790
4:40:58 AM
LMT +05:00:40
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania USA
75w09'51 39n57'08

[Jim Eshelman]

I still have a long way to go on this one time (the only one that seems to be from an actual source) and, if it doesn't pan out, then will start from "no known time" and spiral down. (I'm not sure why I'd test someone else's rectification based on no original source data, but it will certainly be interesting to see if we end up in about the same place.)

[Jim Eshelman]

Events for study:

• Birth of son William February 22, 1730
• Common law marriage formed September 1, 1730
• Death of common law wife (from a stroke) December 14, 1774 (he was in Great Britain)
• Declaration of Independence signed July 2-4, 1776, Philadelphia, PA
• Unanimously elected president of the governing council of Pennsylvania October 18, 1785
• Death from pleurisy April 17, 1790, Philadelphia, PA

A quick check of progressed Moon for these: I find the following worth mentioning:

BIRTH OF SON: p Moon trine r Saturn: Unsure if this fits, since it was an illegitimate birth initially covered up and only publicly owned years later.

COMMON LAW MARRIAGE FORMED: No lunar progressions or forming soon.

WIFE'S DEATH: p Moon trine r Saturn: Seems appropriate but minor (they seem not to have been close by then)

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE SIGNED: No lunar progressions. Forming soon would have been p Moon op. p Venus, 2°17', which might be the right feel.

ELECTED PA PRESIDENT: p Moon op. r Jupiter 9'! Clean hit.

DEATH: No lunar progressions or forming soon.

We don't expect a hit for each of these. Overall, they aren't bad but also aren't overwhelmingly persuasive.

[Jim Eshelman]

Events for study:

• Birth of son William February 22, 1730
• Common law marriage formed September 1, 1730
• Death of common law wife (from a stroke) December 14, 1774 (he was in Great Britain)
• Declaration of Independence signed July 2-4, 1776, Philadelphia, PA
• Unanimously elected president of the governing council of Pennsylvania October 18, 1785
• Death from pleurisy April 17, 1790, Philadelphia, PA

Since we have a starting time, we can also test progressed (primary) angles.

DEATH: p MC op. r Saturn +0°20' (also sq. r Mercury). p Asc sq. r Neptune +0°59'. Fantastic!

ELECTED PA PRESIDENT: p EP op. p Uranus seems OK, but not definitive; I'll count this as no clear hits.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE SIGNED: Several things approximate for then or exact for the same era. p EP co. r Sun -1°11', p Asc co. r eis -1°19' are all the right feel for how Franklin felt at the time but not clean hits.

[Jim Eshelman]

Events for study:

• Birth of son William February 22, 1730
• Common law marriage formed September 1, 1730
• Death of common law wife (from a stroke) December 14, 1774 (he was in Great Britain)
• Declaration of Independence signed July 2-4, 1776, Philadelphia, PA
• Unanimously elected president of the governing council of Pennsylvania October 18, 1785
• Death from pleurisy April 17, 1790, Philadelphia, PA

Testing transits to Moon and angles:

DEATH: t Pluto op. r MC 0°18'!

ELECTED PA PREZ: t Pluto sq. r Asc 0°16' (on a day that Sun squared his Jupiter)

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: No transits to Moon or angles but, again, it was a Pluto event for him: t Pluto co. r Sun 0°15'

WIFE'S DEATH: Nothing useful.
FORMED COMMON LAW MARRIAGE: Nothing useful.
SON BORN: Nothing useful.

[Jim Eshelman]

Looking back, the events about which we know the most have strong clear indications.

His death is marked stupendously with the SLR being weakest and, even then, showing frailty and fading physical resources and the right symbolism for pleurisy. Primary angles hit natal Saturn and Neptune. Pluto crossed his IC by transit.

On being elected president of Pennsylvania, in addition to Pluto transiting his Nadir he had an exact Moon-Jupiter progression.

For the Declaration of Independence, in addition to Pluto conjoining his Sun, the demi-lunar was excellent.

For the death of his wife of many decades, but seemingly emotionally distant by then, a progressed Moon-Saturn trine but not much else. For their formal contracting of their common law marriage there is really nothing, as if it were a formality and not an important event.

For the birth of his son out of wedlock, kept a secret at the time, he had a sweet Venus-Jupiter themed SLR but a progressed Moon-Saturn trine.

This chart isn't bad at all!

As I have time, I'll see if the quotidians support this further and grant refinement but, at the moment, it' looking pretty good to approximately the minute.

[ODdOnLifeItself]

Since Age Harmonics demand a high-precision birthtime in order to work, it seems an ideal (additional) method in which to test a given birthtime. It is worth noting that Age Harmonics are NOT a normal part of Isaac's rectification process, so it heightens their use as a cross-corroborating factor.

Using the Starkman rectification:

Jan 17 1706
9:37:20 AM
LMT +04:44:15
Boston
Massachusetts USA
71w03'37 42n21'30

The Age Harmonic technique creates a chart that itself is readable and valid. All the positions below are from the Age Harmonic chart, itself. I've been seriously studying/verifying this technique since 2008 and it has performed beyond all expectations. His similar success with AH's is perhaps why Dymock Brose said that "Age Harmonics are the greatest astrological discovery of the last century."

Birth of secret, illegitimate Son: Pluto conjunct Moon, Neptune inconjunct MC

Common law marriage: Jupiter opposite Sun, Jupiter conjunct Mars

Death of Wife: Uranus opposite Ascendant, Neptune square Sun

Declaration of Independence: Uranus octile MC!, Mars octile Mercury

Elected president PA gov. council: Jupiter opposite Sun, Jupiter octile MC, Jupiter square Venus

Death: Saturn opposite Sun, S.Node opposite Ascendant

From my experience with Age Harmonics, and based on "correctness of symbolism," these seem perfect to me.