Re: SSRs and Mercury/Uranus aspects

[Jupiter Sets at Dawn]

Oct 16, 2008 4:28 pm

Hi all,
I began this discussion elsewhere on the forum. I should point out that Zip Dobyns' house in Los Angeles was also a large library with nearly every wall covered by shelves stacked with books and journals. It was there that I got involved in the astrological community as a member of ISAR's board and--naturally-- as their librarian. I continue to spend much of my free time in libraries doing research, though I can no longer indulge in buying, selling, and trading piles of books as frequently as I once did. To continue briefly with this prologue--Reinhold Ebertin, father of Cosmobiology, is another good example. He has a close 2° ME 90 UR natal aspect, and besides his publishing work he had accumulated a large library, much of which was destroyed during the Nazi persecution of astrologers. Edwin Steinbrecher, who developed the excellent Steinbrecher data collection and was another bibliophile, had his natal Sun at the midpoint of a 7° ME/UR conjunction. On to the SSRs...

In his Feb 1961 Solunars column, Cyril Fagan gives us details about his discovery of the rationale behind the Hypsomata or degrees of exaltation. Here is how he told the story: "Chart 2 is the writer's SSR for 1948. It took place at 20:18:53 UT on May 23, 1948 at Dublin, Ireland...As the Moon progresses some 13° during the solar year, it will be observed that it will form the exact opposition of Mercury and Uranus before the year expires, these two planets being within 0°09' of a partile (exact) conjunction. Being curious to know what transpired when this happened, the writer calculated the date of maturation of the Moon's opposition to Uranus as follows...Glancing through the ephemeris for the following year, 1949...it will be found, under the column "Sidereal Time" that this MS [mean Sun] tallies with May 12, 1949. It was two days later, to wit May 14, 1949, that the writer, to his immense joy, succeeded in solving the 2745 year old mystery of the Hypsomata (exaltation degrees of the planets)--see Zodiacs Old and New...Indeed it was a thrilling experience for him as it proved conclusively that the authentic astrological zodiac of antiquity was sidereal and that its fiducial-star was Spica in Virgo 29°. The above calculation is all the more remarkable because hitherto he could never satisfactorily account astrologically for this crowning discovery. His mind had been occupied with the problem for about a week or so previously, during which he had determined that the year in which the Hypsomata occurred was 786 BC. He recognized that the Hypsomata could not be positions in a horoscope because of Mercury's elongation from the Sun. What then was it? As he was returning late at night, on Friday, May 13, 1949, from his weekly visit to his old friend James Hynes, whose name is well known to constant readers of this magazine, it suddenly flashed across his mind (Uranus) that the answer lay in heliacal phenomena, which loomed so largely in Babylonian astronomy. On the Following night, he tested this theory out and discovered that the right answer had at last been found." I checked his calculations and they are fairly accurate, though he is using the noon birth time rather than the 11:47 am rectified time mentioned on his chart by Jim. He gives the Moon's Q2 position as 0Sa58, SSR ME 0Ge46, Q2 ME 1Ge55, SSR UR 0Ge51, and Q2 UR 0Ge54. Curiously, the Sun is closely conjunct the DSC in the SSR, and Fagan mentions the importance of heliacal phenomena in his article. Note also how this can be used for rectification.

In my own natal chart, I have a close ME 90 UR from the 12th to the 9th house. (9 Nov 1955, 6:40 am PST, from my birth certificate, former Monte Sano Hospital, 2834 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, N 34° 06' 32" W 118° 15' 47". Entering either Los Feliz or Glendale in your software will get you close to this location.) My SSR in November 2005 featured Jupiter nearly on my natal Mercury closely squaring natal Uranus. For me this meant leaving the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in January where I had been living and working (which is also a library) and taking a grand tour from Massachusetts to Virginia and then across the country to California. I spent five days at a Vajrayana Buddhist Center in Soquel, California, and visited other Buddhist and Spiritual Centers as well, including the Rosicrucian HQ in San Jose. After returning to Arizona and New Mexico, I touched base in Texas with family and then headed up to Michigan where I lived and worked for about 6 months--April through September--at Michael Erlewine's Heart Center Library. Michael and his wife are long-time practitioners of Vajrayana-Tibetan Buddhism, and a bonus was that Neil Block's papers are archived there. I think we are seeing a theme here!

Even though I've been uncomfortable with the vagueness of the timing of SSRs (and SLRs) I now understand that astrological time is a rather different animal than normal civil time. Bradley and others have even experimented with converse charts that run time backwards! I don't think that I'll go in that direction for now, but I do need to pay more attention to solar returns with potent aspects, as these examples demonstrate.
Regards,
Wayne

Edit 10-20: Corrected hospital address.

[Jupiter Sets at Dawn]

Oct 23, 2008 11:36 am

Wayne wrote:
“but I do need to pay more attention to solar returns with potent aspects, as these examples demonstrate.”

Wayne, there are many layers (systems) in the field of astrology but the SSR, with Fagan’s techniques is without a doubt one of the best, if not the best, prognosticators in the field of astrology. SSR’S never ceased to amaze me with their accurate astrological symbolism for a Solar Year. The progressed SSR Moon (Quotidians) with conjunct and opposition aspects to both Solar and Natal planets are truly remarkable in offering precise timing symbolism for life experiences, relative to one’s environment. Your excellent cited writings in this thread pertaining to Fagan’s progressed SSR Moon forming a partile opposition to his progressed SSR ME/UR is an excellent example of a huge event in Fagan’s life, (timed within two days by the Quotidian method) of his monumental discovery ‘in solving the 2745 year old mystery of the Hypsomata.’ Fagan writes an account of this astrological life experience in Chapter 11, ‘Primer of Sidereal Astrology’. Progressed SSR Moon aspects forming Parans with Quotidian Charts to Solar & Natal planets are the most precise astrological timing method that I have studied in the field of astrology. This SSR method is so precise, Fagan stated that one could rectified a correct birth time. On W’S SQ1 Quotidian on 9/11, there was an exact Paran opposition of his 2001 progressed SSR Moon to Natal Saturn. I know of no other astrological method that offered dead on symbolism for what he psychologically experienced that occurred to this country precisely on 9/11. SSR’S with Fagan’s astrological techniques are truly remarkable. Bur it should be clearly understood by the astrologer-- a correct birth timed and correct latitudes for the place of the experience/event is a MUST in order for Fagan’s techniques to accurately prognosticate.

I should also add there is only one astrological book that I know of that has taken Fagan’s brilliant work on the SSR through Fagan’s scattered writings, and condensed Fagan’s teachings into a whole. That book is Jim’s ‘Interpreting Solar Returns’. Without this book—no astrologer would be able to see and understand Fagan’s brilliant work pertaining to the astrological symbolism of a SSR and its methods.

Regards, Steve