Garth Allen wrote me this in January 1971. It refers to the question of whether natal and SSR quotidians should be progressed at a linear (RAMS) rate or varying (RAAS) rate. Decades ago I spot-checked what he said but have never tabulated a serious cross-comparison where others can view it.Garth Allen 1971 Jan 4 wrote:The term "fictitious time" is itself fictitious if you confuse revolutions with rotations! Even Cyril in his dotage couldn't separate the two logically, though of course he knew better in his brighter years. GET THIS STRAIGHT: What is called fictitious time in astronomy RUNS AT THE SAME PACE AS SIDEREAL TIME -- and by pace I MEAN LINEARLY. The Earth turns, for all practical purposes within one part in millionths, EXACTLY AT THE SAME RATE WHETHER IT IS AT APHELION OR PERIHELION. THE SIDEREAL ROTATION OF THE EARTH IS UNIFORM, AND IT IS SURELY THE SIDEREAL (THAT IS, CELESTIAL) SPHERE WHICH IS THE TRUE FRAME OF REFERENCE.
It is pitiably simple to establish whether the Q charts should be rotated sidereally or in terms of the solar anomaly. Study just a few cases (a lot aren't necessary) of events occurring in October-November for February-born people, and you have a big surprise coming. Reverse the process, studying progressed charts by both methods for autumn-born people with the events in February. The flow of time is uniform in astrology as well as in physics.
Search for equation of time online (Wikipedia will do) and you'll get helpful graphs showing that Sun's actual pace lags most behind its mean position in February and races most ahead in late October and early November every year. That means that we can get the best examples of which rate works better by comparing Oct-Nov events for February-born people and February events for Oct-Nov-born people.
I will use this thread primarily to identify major events with reliable birth data and this kind of February vs. October-November timing, then compare the SNQ to the Neo-SNQ, and the SQ to the Neo-SQ. (Neo- was Fagan's end-of-life nomenclature for quotidians calculated at the apparent solar rate rather than mean rate.)
While I'm at it, with the charts in front of me and transits calculated for the events, I might as well take the time to compare the SNQ1 vs. SNQ2. Bradley wrote me about this a couple of times:
Garth Allen 1971 Jan 4 wrote:Also, any statistical tabulation of "scores" for testing which is valid, Q1 or Q2, the Q2 column always shows a three-to-one total in its favor.
My tests over the years confirmed this rough three-to-one preference of Q2 over Q1. The method is to look at the two side-by-side for the same event and - relying on progressed Moon aspects and close angular contacts - judge which is better. About three-fourths of the time you'll probably end up choosing the Q2.Garth Allen 1971 Jan 14 wrote:Just got your letter and am spurred to make a quickie reply. Maybe I didn't make it clear that I totally reject the SNQ [Q1], having done more than one objective statistical test (with accurately recorded birth and event times) to see which is the valid one, the Q1 or the Q2. The SNQ is the Q1.
Whenever you take a batch of data, tallying an X under Q1 or Q2 whenever one or the other shows clearer and more apt contacts, the Q2 column will always have about three times more Xs than the Q1 column. (Notice that Cyril was making more of the Q2 also as time passed.) (I have a 21-year accumulation of Cyril's charts, correspondence, etc., and time after time they'll bear the notation, "The Q2 is more lucid for this case," or some remark to that effect.) I simply reject the SNQ according to the evidence.
I've started a blank post for each event to be studied, and now will work my way through them (it will be a slow, tedious, and regrettably error-prone job) and fill in the blanks.
Here are the events I will check (a work in progress) - I'm using some examples just outside the ideal weeks of the year to increase the number of examples:
- Edward White (1930 Nov 14) - died in Apollo 1 fire 1967 Jan 27
- James Dean (1931 Feb 8) - died in car crash 1955 Sep 30
- Janis Joplin (1943 Jan 19) - died from overdose 1970 Oct 4
- Karen Silkwood (1946 Feb 19) - died in car crash 1975 Nov 13
- Larry Flynt (1942 Nov 1) - shot and crippled 1978 Mar 6
- Sylvia Plath (1932 Oct 27) - suicide 1963 Feb 11
SNQ: 4
Neo-SNQ: 1
SQ: 5
Neo-SQ: 1
SNQ2: 3
SNQ1: 2