[WATCHES] Excerpts from Cyril Fagan's ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS on the
"Octoscope" (the 8-fold watches) which represent his final research and
years of thinking on the "time" divisions of the 24-hour Earth Day (as
opposed to the spacial division in "Houses"). Plus references to other
articles on HOUSES, WATCHES, and MELOTHESIA by Fagan from the DRIES'
INDEX TO FAGAN'S "SOLUNARS" as published in American Astrology 1953-
1970. See also related file [HOUSES].
* * *
Cyril Fagan, ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, 1971
THE OCTOSCOPE (OKTOTOPOS)
Every student of astrology knows that the modern horoscope form is
divided into twelve sectors numbered counterclockwise, commencing with
the Ascendant or cusp of the 1st house... on the eastern horizon. The
Greeks called such a scheme to Dodekotopos-dodeko meaning twelve and
topos meaning places. Moreover, the Greeks made it synchronize with
the signs of the zodiac, commencing with Aries 0 degrees,
notwithstanding the fact that the order of the houses runs from west to
east, whereas the signs of the zodiac run from east to west. Hence,
they are incompatible. One cannot pair off twelve signs and twelve
house when they run in opposite directions. Yet, this is precisely
what the tropicalists have attempted to do. Moreover, in the Arctic
and Antarctic circles where certain zodiacal signs never rise above the
horizon, while others never set below it, such a synchronization
collapses completely.
The Dodekotopos, which is the vogue today throughout the whole
astrological world, appears to have been culled from the hermetic
writing of Hermes Trismegitos, literally the "thrice greatest Thoth,"
and is supposed to be of Egyptian origin. But Thoth is the Egyptian
god of the Moon while Hermes is the Greek for Mercury; so the
Dodekotopos is, in fact, a Hellenic rendition of an Egyptian original,
which rendition violates at every point the archetypical fitness of
things. What appears to be the original, and hence authentic, scheme
of houses is described in the Greek Michigan Papyrus No. 149, probably
written by the pseudo-Manetho, born in A.D. 80, of which a translation
by the Greek scholar, Rupert Gleadow, appeared in the September and
October 1950 issues of American Astrology magazine. It is described in
the Astronomicon of Manilius who flourished in Rome during the reigns
of Emperors Augustus and Tiberius. (Manilii Astronomicon,
ed. A.E. Housman, London, Grant 1903-1930). Known as the Oktotopos-
okto meaning eight and topos, places-its comprises only eight houses
and these run clockwise, no attempt being made to make them tally with
the zodiacal signs.
In the original scheme of things, as conceived by the early
Egyptians, these so-called houses or places were not measures of space
at all but measures of time; a fact which modern astrological
mathematicians have utterly failed to grasp. So, instead of calling
them houses or spaces, for want of a better name we shall designate
them "watches." The immortal Imhotep, of Sothic fame, is credited with
having devised the Oktotopos. Naturally the arms of the mundane
crucifix, the framework of the chart, which defines the Ascendant, the
Midheaven, the descendant and the Anti-Midheaven (often erroneously
called the Nadir) is treated, and trigonometrically computed, as being
spacial. The division of the mundane sphere into succedent and cadent
lunes are also spacial. But in the matter of dominion, the Egyptians
treated these watches as measures of time, just conventional time as
ordinary people understand it.
For the sake of convenience and identification we shall synchronize
these eight watches with the local temporal hours of the day which most
people in antiquity were accustomed to using. Everybody knows that
except on the dates of the vernal equinoxes, the length of the day
never equals the length of the night. In summer, it is much longer and
in winter, shorter, so that the Sun rises and sets at different times
during the year. In the temporal scheme of things the length of the
hours and minutes are so proportioned that the Sun always rises at 6
a.m. and sets at 6 p.m., culminating at high noon - 12 p.m. - and
coming to the Anti-Midheaven at midnight - 12 a.m. As stated
elsewhere, these were the smedt, or middle points of their respective
watches, which ran as follows:
1st watch = 4:30 am to 7:30 am
2nd watch = 7:30 am to 10:30 am
3rd watch = 10:30 am to 1:30 pm
4th watch = 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm
5th watch = 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm
6th watch = 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm
7th watch = 10:30 pm to 1:30 am
8th watch = 1:30 am to 4:30 am
In those places where the day began with sunset, the 1st watch would
tally with the temporal house of from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm and so on.
According to the custom of ancient times and of a people who inhabited
the sub-tropics, during the 1st watch, which was that of daybreak and
sunrise, all nature awoke to life and the people arose and prepared for
the activities of the coming day--hence they designated this watch
"life." During the hours of the 2nd watch, the people bartered their
ware and otherwise earned a livelihood, so they designated this watch
as that of "money." During the 3rd watch, which embraced midday when
the heat was at its greatest and so too hot to work, the people wended
their way home to rest or often took to their boats to enjoy the cool
or the waters, so this watch was designated that of "travel." During
the 4th watch parents were honored and entertained so this period was
designated that of "parents." During the 5th watch, that of sunset,
work ceased for day and everyone returned home to the family, so this
period was designated that of "children." During the 6th watch, the
aged and ailing were attended to and their needs supplied, so this
period was designated that of "illness." During the 7th watch,
people's homes were closed for the night and husbands and wives betook
themselves to bed so this period was designated that of "wife." The
8th and last watch was that of slumber and death, so it was recognized
as the "death" watch.
In their recent book on Sleep, Julius Segal and Gay Gaer Luce
observed that at 10 am, a man is very different to what he is at 4 pm
or at midnight. One of the obvious reasons is the daily temperature
which with great regularity rises during the day and falls at night,
dropping to its lowest point between the hours of 2 am and 5 am. This
is the time, they state, when nightworkers and railroad people have the
most accidents; the time when doctors receive the highest number of
calls reporting coronaries. In the Oktotopos, the hours from 2 am to 5
am cover the 8th watch--that of death--and so could hardly be more
appropriate. But in the Dodekotopos currently in use, the 8th house
tallies with the afternoon hours from 2 pm to 4 pm which are not
particularly noteworthy for mortality. With their passion for
schematism, the Greeks, in attempting to synchronize their tropical
zodiac with the eight places, or watches, increased their number by
four. This nonsensical brew has been accepted by astrologers both in
the occident and the orient for the past two thousand years or so, and
is reverenced as an article of faith that brooks no contradiction.
They see nothing incongruous in the fact that the 2nd house of the
Dodekotopos, that house holding dominion over the acquisition of money,
tallies with the hours from 2 am to 4 am when the vast majority of
mortals are deep in slumber; nor with the fact that the 7th house, that
of mating, tallies with the hours from 4 pm to 6 pm when most of us are
only finishing work for the day and wending our weary ways toward home.
Incidentally, do all the religious-minded attend church services
between thee hours of noon to 2 pm as the Dodekotopos would have us
believe? Or do some communities attend church early in the morning?
Of course they do, depending on the sect. Hence, it is pure nonsense
to decree that any house or watch is universally that of religion.
Should a community consistently attend religious services, say, between
the hours of 6 am and 7 am, then for them the 1st watch becomes also
that of religion. In short, according to the timing of their daily
customs, each nation, each community and each person decrees their own
watches and their own dominion.
In ancient times before the advent of ephemerides, the ascension of
the degree of the zodiac crossing the eastern horizon at any given
moment (Ascendant or Horoscope) was considered the most personal degree
in every chart and was observed by means of astrolabes or by similar
instruments.
The Foreground, Middleground and Background: When planets are in
close propinquity to the angles of any chart, they are said to be in
the foreground - the angles, hinges, or corners as they are often
called, being the points of the ecliptic that rise, culminate, set, and
also that point at the Anti-Meridian. Some astrologers call the point
that rises the East Point and that which sets the West point but this
is really quite erroneous. The point of the ecliptic that rises is
only due east when in conjunction with the vernal or with the autumnal
equinox, not otherwise; and it is due west when it sets in conjunction
with these equinoctial points.
But the point of the ecliptic that culminates is always due south in
the northern hemisphere while the opposite or midnight point is always
due north. In the southern hemisphere these orientations are reversed.
These angles constitute the middle and the strongest points of their
respective watches....This means that the Ascendant or Horoscope is the
center of the 1st watch of the Octotopos (or of the house); the
Midheaven is the center of the 3rd watch; the Descendant of the 5th
watch; and the Anti-Midheaven of the 7th watch....When planets are so
placed, they are in the foreground and at their maximum potency for
good or evil according to their individual nature. They overrule and
take precedence over all other planets, dominating and coloring the
life and character to the exclusion of all other influences....
Planets near the cusps or centers of the succedent watches are said
to be in the middleground. The succedent houses are those that follow
the angular ones reckoned counterclockwise. So placed, their influence
is less effective and not so obvious as those in the foreground.
Planets situated on the cusps of the cadent watches are said to be
in the background. The cadent watches those which follow the succedent
ones. So placed, their influence is dim, vague, remote, ineffective
and devoid of potency....
* * * *
DREIS' INDEX TO FAGAN'S "SOLUNARS" ("Solunars" as published 1953 to
1970 in American Astrology) references Cyril Fagan's following articles
on the evolution of his thought on HOUSES & WATCHES:
House Meanings: Oct/55 p.3,4,5; Nov/55 p.3,4,5; Jan/62 p.2,3,4,
5,6; Feb/62 whole article; (symbolism) Jun/66 p.5;
Houses: (mundane), Sep/53 p.2; Nov/55 p.4 (ancient horoscope);
Dec/55 p.4 (arrangement by season); Aug/56 p.1,2; Mar/67 p.1,2,3;
See also Jul/57 "Many Things" - More evidence in support of Fagan
from a letter on Irish Zodiac from Colin J. Robb.
Watches: Oct/68 p.5; Dec/69 whole article; Jan/70 whole article;
See also Sep & Oct/50 Translation of manuscripts by Rupert Gleadow as
basis of Fagan's presentation of Octoscope.
Octotopas: Aug/56 p.1,2; Jan/62 p.2.3,4,5,6; Feb/62#; Apr/67 p.5;
Feb/68 p.2.3,4; Jul/69 p.2; Oct/69 p.1; Dec/69 #; Jan/70 #;
A related topic, Melothesia, the correspondence of parts of body to
constellations and/or the mundane (time) sphere is also pertinant:
Melothesia: May/58 whole article: Aug/65 p.4 (achronychal man);
Sep/65 whole article (achronychal man), Mar/67 p.4; Feb/70 p.5,6
(Hindu);
* * *
Kay Cavender archives
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Gauquelin
[GAUQUELN] What did Garth Allen and Cyril Fagan think of Michel
Gauquelin? A couple of 'in print' excerpts. Allen's comment on
Gauquelin's early failure to ask the pertinent research question
regarding constellation division. Fagan discusses Gauquelin's
statistical findings in reference to the traditional house meanings.
This was a factor in Fagan's thinking on the way to understanding the
8-fold Watches or Octoscope. Also note Fagan's insistence on
astronomically separating Houses (based on Horizon System parameters)
from the Ecliptic System. See file [WATCHES].
* * * *
Garth Allen, "Your Corner," 3/1960 A.A.
Birthdata Bonanza!
There aren't many things more maddening than to attempt translation
of portions of books printed in a language with which one is not all
acquainted. But bravely, with French-English dictionary in hand, this
yours truly tried with "Influence des Astres" by Paris psychologist
MICHEL GAUQUELIN. Though "The Influence of the Stars" was published in
1955, it was not until recently that we learned of the books' existence
through Rupert Gleadow, whose France-residing sister kindly sent this
department a copy. Purported to be a scientific work which
statistically disproves astrology, the book was something we were quite
naturally eager to inspect. Astro-statistics have long been our
province and we just couldn't believe that such a claim could be
substantiated, if it were genuinely scientific in its proofs.
As things turned out, however, Gauquelin has made some worth-while
contributions to astrological knowledge, partly through his analyses
but mainly through the tremendous catalog of authentic birthdata he
compiled and printed as an appendix to his book. That index of raw
material, giving recorded figures, for no less than 5,756 individuals,
grouped by vocation or behavior class, is a gold mine of possibilities
for the studious astrologer. For instance, of the 570 athletes for
which birthdata were collected, with the array broken down into
specific sports categories (skiing, basketball, billiards, acrobatics,
etc.), the names of most of France's athletic stars famed the world
over are included. There are Marcel Cerdan's and Georges Carpentier's
particulars in the boxing section, and so on--priceless data of
celebrated people. Other inclusions: 676 career militarists, 576
members of the Academy of Medicine, 906 artists, 500 actors, 349
scientists, 884 priests and prelates, and the like--no doubt the most
encompassing collection of reliable birthdata ever published between
two covers. Being a French researcher has it advantages, for France
has long made recording of birth hours mandatory in the public files.
Strangely enough, Gauquelin seems to have paid no attention whatever
to zodiacal distributions--in fact, he doesn't even bother to mention
the "signs" of the zodiac in connection with the vocational arrays.
This is a circumstance worth mulling over. While awaiting delivery of
the book, not knowing its contents, we had visions of tropical-zodiac
distributions used to "disprove astrology" and, quite automatically,
had hoped to use these very facts and figures to prove that it was not
astrology which had been debunked but one of its popularized concepts,
instead. Having been long familiar with "zodiacal distributions" and
knowing that scientific treatment invariably resulted in a triumph for
sidereal theory, we were hoping for such ammunition.
But the French psychologist completely skirted the issue and
restricted his study only to broad mundane distributions--the house and
area positions of the planets at birth rather than their ecliptic
placements and patterns. In a way, this is disappointing, but at least
now it cannot be said by astrologers that science has never fairly
given a study of timed charts adequate objective investigation.
Gauquelin's research has surely been complete enough, despite its many
shortcomings, to establish certain things and dethrone others.
He found, among other things, that there is a slight tendency for
the planets to group in angular houses for certain vocational types of
people--Saturn tends to be ascending at the births of physical
scientists. Mars tends to be rising when professional soldiers are
born, and the like. But on the whole, the distributions appear to be
random. It may sound like heresy to most readers to say this, but this
is good scientific astrology if not good popular astrology. This is
because the profession a man enters if for the most part incidental,
from the logical viewpoint. A birthchart, contrary to widespread
belief generated by fortune-telling frumps to whom logic appears
utterly subversive, cannot possibly point to specific careers. The
horoscope can reveal attitudes but not activities, capacities but not
achievements. It can show manual dexterity and artistic perceptions
but not whether a person is good at painting or sculpture. It can
reveal keen physical intelligence but not whether the native will
express this acumen through mechanics or sport. It can suggest to what
degree an individual is inner- or outer-directed, but never whether he
will become a recluse or a limelight-loving Babbitt.
Not the least of Gauquelin's contributions, then, is making this
unpopular but logical truth glaringly obvious. Those who don't like
facts, of course, will not like his book or the search for knowledge
that it truly represents, just as those to whom statistics is a dirty
word are most apt to uphold perverse magical concepts, and just as
those who carp against psychologists are most in need of therapy.
Human beings are strange creatures, indeed.
As for criticisms of Dr. Gauquelin's report, these occur to us in
such abundant numbers we hardly know where to begin. A good starter
would be to point out the sheer idiocy of his having employed the
layout of the sky in an arbitrary fashion. To confuse matters and
hence cause himself to miss out on something vital his own research had
to tell him, he adopted a silly division of the sky into eighteen
sectors. Consequently, it is hardly possible to discern from his
distribution tallies jut how many times a planet is within orb of at
least wide conjunction with the angular cusps. To protect himself from
appearing pro-astrology to his colleagues, Gauquelin even went so far
as to devise his own sector-numbering system. The first sector, for
example, covers the first twenty degrees above the eastern horizon, and
the numbering runs clockwise from there, toward the Midheaven in
twenty-degree stages, around to the Descendant, and so on. This is
utterly uncalled-for contrariness, not essentially different from the
sillinesses he accuses astrologers of committing.
The saddest shortcoming of all his effort, however, remains the
avoidance of the two issues of the zodiac and of aspects between the
planets. He finds that Mars is angular in abnormal numbers for both
physicians and military men, that there are almost twice as many
Jupiters at the Midheaven for actors than chance would tend to allow,
and that there are overdoses of Saturn (usually rising) for the staid
professions in contrast to the cadency of Saturn for the creative
professions. These findings alone should have spurred him on to
tabulating the differences between the groups in terms of aspect-
participation. Surely there would be a decided contrast between the
aspects involving the strong Saturns of priests and scientists, or
between those stimulating the Mars of doctors and soldiers. But no,
Gauquelin is not at this stage interested in anything save house
placements--and thereby cheats himself out of having authored a
milestone book in the history of scientific literature. The thought
occurs, on reflection, that such a sequel may already be in the making.
* * * *
NOTE: Fagan discusses Gauquelin's statistical findings in reference to
the traditional house meanings. This was a factor in Fagan's thinking
on the way to understanding the 8-fold Watches or Octoscope. See file
[watches].
Cyril Fagan, "Solunars", 5/1962 A.A.
Proof of the Pudding
According to astrological tradition, accepted by astrologers for
thousands of years, next to being precisely on the angular points,
planets in the angular houses exercise their maximum strength. Next in
order of strength were the succeedent houses (although in the middle of
these house were the famous inactive places) that is the 30 degrees
that succeeded the angular houses namely the 11th, 8th, 5th, and 2nd;
while the cadent houses, i.e., those that "fell away" from the angles,
were the 30 degrees of the mundane sphere that followed the succeedent
houses, namely the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12 houses.
In the clockwise enumeration the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th houses
become the angular houses, while the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th houses
become the cadent ones....
In his INFLUENCE DES ASTRES; ETUDE CRITIQUE ET EXPERIMENTALE,
Editions du Dauphin, Paris, he examines statistically (a) the transits,
at the time of death over the natal Sun and Moon in 7,482 cases; (b)
astral hereditary with respect to the luminaries in 1,873 cases and (c)
the ecliptical position (tropical, of course) of the planets for
painters, army generals, doctors, sportsmen, actors, criminals,
politicians and priests; the "samples" comprising 500 to 2000 cases.
The results of the investigation were negative and very damaging to the
cause of astrology.
Evidently finding that statistics in the tropical zodiac proved
consistently negative, in his THOSE WHO GUIDE US (Debresse Editions,
1946) the well-known French astrologer, Leon Lasson, approached the
problem from a different angle. Ignoring the zodiac, he decided to
investigate statistically the position of the planets in the mundane
sphere instead. He found Mars rising or culminating for 134
politicians; Venus for 190 artists, and Mercury for 209 actors and
writers, which statistically, was much more rewarding.
Gauquelin then resolved to verify this data and to his surprise they
were confirmed. In a group of medical academicians he found Saturn
present, shortly after the Midheaven and Ascendant in an abnormal way
(48 and 43 positions instead of the expected 32). He had the same
results with Mars for 570 sports champions; with Mars and Jupiter for
676 senior military officers; with Saturn for 349 prominent scientists
and for 884 priests from the same diocese.
As a result of some technical criticism among savants Gauquelin
produced his Method for the Study of the Distribution of the Planets in
the Diurnal Motion, where his previous findings were fully confirmed.
This was followed in 1960 by Les Hommes et les Astres coll. La Tour
Saint-Jacques ed. Denoel. In this work the same statistical approach
was extended to Western Germany, Belgium, Holland and Italy, where
times of birth are officially recorded, and Gauquelin obtained exactly
the same results. J. M. Faverage, Professor of Statistics at the
Sorbonne; E. Tornier, Honorary Professor of Probabilities Calculation
at Berlin University and J. Porte, Administrator at the National
Institute of statistics, Attache to the National Centre of Scientific
Research found it mathematically flawless.
In it Gauquelin examines no less than 25,000 birth dates. For 3142
military chiefs, Mars is found rising or culminating 634 times instead
of the expected frequency of 535. The probability against this being 1
in 100,000; for 993 political chiefs Jupiter rose and culminated 208
times instead of 164 times; probability against this being 1 in 5000
and for 1485 sports champions the rising and culminating of Mars
reached the probability of 1 in 5,000,000 against it happening by
chance!
While French astrologers rejoiced at these results so much in favor
of astrology, they were, nevertheless, deeply disturbed by Gauquelin's
circular graphs (which, unfortunately, cannot be reproduced in this
issue). All of them showed the peak of influence somewhere about the
middle of the 12th and 9th houses, and to a lesser extent, the 6th and
3rd houses, that is in the conventional cadent houses; while the
troughs fell about the middle of the so-called angular houses; namely
the 1st, 10th, 7th, and 4th, which was in flagrant contradiction to one
of their fundamental and most cherished astrological doctrines.
In this TRAITE PRATIQUE D' ASTROLOGIE (Editions du Seuil, 1961)
Andre Barbault suggests that the official time of birth may be later
than the actual time, but in 25,000 cases, this seems most unlikely.
Gauquelin's statistics also destroy the opinion held by Hindu
astrologers, and for many years shared by the present writer, namely
that the cusps of the houses are actually the centers of those houses.
An examination of Gauquelin's graphs dispels this notion immediately,
for the curve of ascent 'begins' at the angular points, reaching its
peak about the middle of the following house, reckoned clockwise.
According to Barbault, the actual statistical result shows that mean
field of strength is two thirds after and one third before the diurnal
passage of the angle. For further information on this subject see
Andre Barbault's article entitled A "Decisive Probability Test in
France" published in the Fall 1960 issue of IN SEARCH and a review of
Gauquelin's LES HOMMES ET LES ASTRES by Brigadier R. C. Firebrace in
THE ASTROLOGICAL JOURNAL, Sept. 1960. ...
Summing Up--
Gauquelin's statistics most admirably support our present thesis,
namely (a) that the zodiac and the mundane houses, which have been
uneasy bedmates for some 2,000 years, must be completely separated and
(b) that the mundane houses, beginning with the Ascendant (or if one
wishes, the Descendant, to bring it into line with the Egypto-
Babylonian astrology) must, as in the Oktotopos, be counted
'clockwise.'
In effect, this means that for every individual there will be two
natal charts, one that is exclusively zodiacal and counted
anticlockwise, and another that is exclusively mundane (in fact, a
revised version of the mundoscope) and reckoned clockwise. Numbered,
thus, the angular houses remain the 1st, 4th (meridian) 7th and 10th
and the cadent houses the 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th. Admittedly this is
a complete revolution and a very inconvenient one for all of us,
necessitating that every astrologer must re-educate himself to accept
the change-over, demanded by historical and theoretical considerations
as well as by the hard facts of statistics. But if we are to interpret
our charts aright as well as keep abreast of the times, no other course
is left open to us.
Gauquelin? A couple of 'in print' excerpts. Allen's comment on
Gauquelin's early failure to ask the pertinent research question
regarding constellation division. Fagan discusses Gauquelin's
statistical findings in reference to the traditional house meanings.
This was a factor in Fagan's thinking on the way to understanding the
8-fold Watches or Octoscope. Also note Fagan's insistence on
astronomically separating Houses (based on Horizon System parameters)
from the Ecliptic System. See file [WATCHES].
* * * *
Garth Allen, "Your Corner," 3/1960 A.A.
Birthdata Bonanza!
There aren't many things more maddening than to attempt translation
of portions of books printed in a language with which one is not all
acquainted. But bravely, with French-English dictionary in hand, this
yours truly tried with "Influence des Astres" by Paris psychologist
MICHEL GAUQUELIN. Though "The Influence of the Stars" was published in
1955, it was not until recently that we learned of the books' existence
through Rupert Gleadow, whose France-residing sister kindly sent this
department a copy. Purported to be a scientific work which
statistically disproves astrology, the book was something we were quite
naturally eager to inspect. Astro-statistics have long been our
province and we just couldn't believe that such a claim could be
substantiated, if it were genuinely scientific in its proofs.
As things turned out, however, Gauquelin has made some worth-while
contributions to astrological knowledge, partly through his analyses
but mainly through the tremendous catalog of authentic birthdata he
compiled and printed as an appendix to his book. That index of raw
material, giving recorded figures, for no less than 5,756 individuals,
grouped by vocation or behavior class, is a gold mine of possibilities
for the studious astrologer. For instance, of the 570 athletes for
which birthdata were collected, with the array broken down into
specific sports categories (skiing, basketball, billiards, acrobatics,
etc.), the names of most of France's athletic stars famed the world
over are included. There are Marcel Cerdan's and Georges Carpentier's
particulars in the boxing section, and so on--priceless data of
celebrated people. Other inclusions: 676 career militarists, 576
members of the Academy of Medicine, 906 artists, 500 actors, 349
scientists, 884 priests and prelates, and the like--no doubt the most
encompassing collection of reliable birthdata ever published between
two covers. Being a French researcher has it advantages, for France
has long made recording of birth hours mandatory in the public files.
Strangely enough, Gauquelin seems to have paid no attention whatever
to zodiacal distributions--in fact, he doesn't even bother to mention
the "signs" of the zodiac in connection with the vocational arrays.
This is a circumstance worth mulling over. While awaiting delivery of
the book, not knowing its contents, we had visions of tropical-zodiac
distributions used to "disprove astrology" and, quite automatically,
had hoped to use these very facts and figures to prove that it was not
astrology which had been debunked but one of its popularized concepts,
instead. Having been long familiar with "zodiacal distributions" and
knowing that scientific treatment invariably resulted in a triumph for
sidereal theory, we were hoping for such ammunition.
But the French psychologist completely skirted the issue and
restricted his study only to broad mundane distributions--the house and
area positions of the planets at birth rather than their ecliptic
placements and patterns. In a way, this is disappointing, but at least
now it cannot be said by astrologers that science has never fairly
given a study of timed charts adequate objective investigation.
Gauquelin's research has surely been complete enough, despite its many
shortcomings, to establish certain things and dethrone others.
He found, among other things, that there is a slight tendency for
the planets to group in angular houses for certain vocational types of
people--Saturn tends to be ascending at the births of physical
scientists. Mars tends to be rising when professional soldiers are
born, and the like. But on the whole, the distributions appear to be
random. It may sound like heresy to most readers to say this, but this
is good scientific astrology if not good popular astrology. This is
because the profession a man enters if for the most part incidental,
from the logical viewpoint. A birthchart, contrary to widespread
belief generated by fortune-telling frumps to whom logic appears
utterly subversive, cannot possibly point to specific careers. The
horoscope can reveal attitudes but not activities, capacities but not
achievements. It can show manual dexterity and artistic perceptions
but not whether a person is good at painting or sculpture. It can
reveal keen physical intelligence but not whether the native will
express this acumen through mechanics or sport. It can suggest to what
degree an individual is inner- or outer-directed, but never whether he
will become a recluse or a limelight-loving Babbitt.
Not the least of Gauquelin's contributions, then, is making this
unpopular but logical truth glaringly obvious. Those who don't like
facts, of course, will not like his book or the search for knowledge
that it truly represents, just as those to whom statistics is a dirty
word are most apt to uphold perverse magical concepts, and just as
those who carp against psychologists are most in need of therapy.
Human beings are strange creatures, indeed.
As for criticisms of Dr. Gauquelin's report, these occur to us in
such abundant numbers we hardly know where to begin. A good starter
would be to point out the sheer idiocy of his having employed the
layout of the sky in an arbitrary fashion. To confuse matters and
hence cause himself to miss out on something vital his own research had
to tell him, he adopted a silly division of the sky into eighteen
sectors. Consequently, it is hardly possible to discern from his
distribution tallies jut how many times a planet is within orb of at
least wide conjunction with the angular cusps. To protect himself from
appearing pro-astrology to his colleagues, Gauquelin even went so far
as to devise his own sector-numbering system. The first sector, for
example, covers the first twenty degrees above the eastern horizon, and
the numbering runs clockwise from there, toward the Midheaven in
twenty-degree stages, around to the Descendant, and so on. This is
utterly uncalled-for contrariness, not essentially different from the
sillinesses he accuses astrologers of committing.
The saddest shortcoming of all his effort, however, remains the
avoidance of the two issues of the zodiac and of aspects between the
planets. He finds that Mars is angular in abnormal numbers for both
physicians and military men, that there are almost twice as many
Jupiters at the Midheaven for actors than chance would tend to allow,
and that there are overdoses of Saturn (usually rising) for the staid
professions in contrast to the cadency of Saturn for the creative
professions. These findings alone should have spurred him on to
tabulating the differences between the groups in terms of aspect-
participation. Surely there would be a decided contrast between the
aspects involving the strong Saturns of priests and scientists, or
between those stimulating the Mars of doctors and soldiers. But no,
Gauquelin is not at this stage interested in anything save house
placements--and thereby cheats himself out of having authored a
milestone book in the history of scientific literature. The thought
occurs, on reflection, that such a sequel may already be in the making.
* * * *
NOTE: Fagan discusses Gauquelin's statistical findings in reference to
the traditional house meanings. This was a factor in Fagan's thinking
on the way to understanding the 8-fold Watches or Octoscope. See file
[watches].
Cyril Fagan, "Solunars", 5/1962 A.A.
Proof of the Pudding
According to astrological tradition, accepted by astrologers for
thousands of years, next to being precisely on the angular points,
planets in the angular houses exercise their maximum strength. Next in
order of strength were the succeedent houses (although in the middle of
these house were the famous inactive places) that is the 30 degrees
that succeeded the angular houses namely the 11th, 8th, 5th, and 2nd;
while the cadent houses, i.e., those that "fell away" from the angles,
were the 30 degrees of the mundane sphere that followed the succeedent
houses, namely the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12 houses.
In the clockwise enumeration the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th houses
become the angular houses, while the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th houses
become the cadent ones....
In his INFLUENCE DES ASTRES; ETUDE CRITIQUE ET EXPERIMENTALE,
Editions du Dauphin, Paris, he examines statistically (a) the transits,
at the time of death over the natal Sun and Moon in 7,482 cases; (b)
astral hereditary with respect to the luminaries in 1,873 cases and (c)
the ecliptical position (tropical, of course) of the planets for
painters, army generals, doctors, sportsmen, actors, criminals,
politicians and priests; the "samples" comprising 500 to 2000 cases.
The results of the investigation were negative and very damaging to the
cause of astrology.
Evidently finding that statistics in the tropical zodiac proved
consistently negative, in his THOSE WHO GUIDE US (Debresse Editions,
1946) the well-known French astrologer, Leon Lasson, approached the
problem from a different angle. Ignoring the zodiac, he decided to
investigate statistically the position of the planets in the mundane
sphere instead. He found Mars rising or culminating for 134
politicians; Venus for 190 artists, and Mercury for 209 actors and
writers, which statistically, was much more rewarding.
Gauquelin then resolved to verify this data and to his surprise they
were confirmed. In a group of medical academicians he found Saturn
present, shortly after the Midheaven and Ascendant in an abnormal way
(48 and 43 positions instead of the expected 32). He had the same
results with Mars for 570 sports champions; with Mars and Jupiter for
676 senior military officers; with Saturn for 349 prominent scientists
and for 884 priests from the same diocese.
As a result of some technical criticism among savants Gauquelin
produced his Method for the Study of the Distribution of the Planets in
the Diurnal Motion, where his previous findings were fully confirmed.
This was followed in 1960 by Les Hommes et les Astres coll. La Tour
Saint-Jacques ed. Denoel. In this work the same statistical approach
was extended to Western Germany, Belgium, Holland and Italy, where
times of birth are officially recorded, and Gauquelin obtained exactly
the same results. J. M. Faverage, Professor of Statistics at the
Sorbonne; E. Tornier, Honorary Professor of Probabilities Calculation
at Berlin University and J. Porte, Administrator at the National
Institute of statistics, Attache to the National Centre of Scientific
Research found it mathematically flawless.
In it Gauquelin examines no less than 25,000 birth dates. For 3142
military chiefs, Mars is found rising or culminating 634 times instead
of the expected frequency of 535. The probability against this being 1
in 100,000; for 993 political chiefs Jupiter rose and culminated 208
times instead of 164 times; probability against this being 1 in 5000
and for 1485 sports champions the rising and culminating of Mars
reached the probability of 1 in 5,000,000 against it happening by
chance!
While French astrologers rejoiced at these results so much in favor
of astrology, they were, nevertheless, deeply disturbed by Gauquelin's
circular graphs (which, unfortunately, cannot be reproduced in this
issue). All of them showed the peak of influence somewhere about the
middle of the 12th and 9th houses, and to a lesser extent, the 6th and
3rd houses, that is in the conventional cadent houses; while the
troughs fell about the middle of the so-called angular houses; namely
the 1st, 10th, 7th, and 4th, which was in flagrant contradiction to one
of their fundamental and most cherished astrological doctrines.
In this TRAITE PRATIQUE D' ASTROLOGIE (Editions du Seuil, 1961)
Andre Barbault suggests that the official time of birth may be later
than the actual time, but in 25,000 cases, this seems most unlikely.
Gauquelin's statistics also destroy the opinion held by Hindu
astrologers, and for many years shared by the present writer, namely
that the cusps of the houses are actually the centers of those houses.
An examination of Gauquelin's graphs dispels this notion immediately,
for the curve of ascent 'begins' at the angular points, reaching its
peak about the middle of the following house, reckoned clockwise.
According to Barbault, the actual statistical result shows that mean
field of strength is two thirds after and one third before the diurnal
passage of the angle. For further information on this subject see
Andre Barbault's article entitled A "Decisive Probability Test in
France" published in the Fall 1960 issue of IN SEARCH and a review of
Gauquelin's LES HOMMES ET LES ASTRES by Brigadier R. C. Firebrace in
THE ASTROLOGICAL JOURNAL, Sept. 1960. ...
Summing Up--
Gauquelin's statistics most admirably support our present thesis,
namely (a) that the zodiac and the mundane houses, which have been
uneasy bedmates for some 2,000 years, must be completely separated and
(b) that the mundane houses, beginning with the Ascendant (or if one
wishes, the Descendant, to bring it into line with the Egypto-
Babylonian astrology) must, as in the Oktotopos, be counted
'clockwise.'
In effect, this means that for every individual there will be two
natal charts, one that is exclusively zodiacal and counted
anticlockwise, and another that is exclusively mundane (in fact, a
revised version of the mundoscope) and reckoned clockwise. Numbered,
thus, the angular houses remain the 1st, 4th (meridian) 7th and 10th
and the cadent houses the 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th. Admittedly this is
a complete revolution and a very inconvenient one for all of us,
necessitating that every astrologer must re-educate himself to accept
the change-over, demanded by historical and theoretical considerations
as well as by the hard facts of statistics. But if we are to interpret
our charts aright as well as keep abreast of the times, no other course
is left open to us.
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Long Life
[LONGLIFE] Garth Allen's statisitic studies of 7,528 birth-death cases
with the Synodic Cycle (of 29.53 days) applied to an individual's
health and longevity have serious medical warnings for one's 23rd and
8th day. "...there was a mathematically abnormal relationship, in
synodical-month terms, built into the birth-death lunar distribution.
... The actual values, as hoped, sharpened the distribution's key
features and demonstrated that a significant number of eminent people
who died during the eight years 1943-1950 had passed away
preferentially with respect to fractional parts of a lunisolar cycle."
Also birth frequencies of eminent people, and Sun-Moon dexter sextiles
and the following day (75 degree aspect). The Sun's Earth Triplicities
(TAU, MIR, CAP) and the Moon's fixed Quadriplicities (TAU, SCO, LEO,
AQU) are statistically preferred longevity constellations - again (and
again) with peaks in the sidereal framework and not the tropical.
* * * *
Excerpts from Garth Allen's "New Horizons In Health Research,"
American Astrology, 11/1971.
...The work we'll give a rundown on now is, like others we have
publicly discussed of late, several years old. It is far from
completed, which is why we were hesitant to publish the key findings
until the entire project was all wrapped up. But because it looks as
though we'll never find the time to get around to resuming the effort
along this particular line, we decided to disclose the highlights of
results which can be put to immediate practical use by the progressive
student of astrology, despite the incompleteness of this learning
adventure undertaken some ten years ago.
In connection with an old study of correlation between the date of
birth and statistical longevity (length of lifetime, in blunter terms),
we had garnered the birth and death dates of every native American
whose biographical sketch appeared in Volume II of Who Was Who in
America, covering the necrology from 1943 through 1950. The purpose
was to compare the anomalies, if any, with a similar independent
collation of data from the subsequent Volume III, covering eminent
deaths from 1951 through 1960, and with the British equivalent source,
Who Was Who (in England), volume V, 1951-1960. As it happened, though
quite enthused by the discoveries from objective analysis of the first
source, we suspended the project while only one-third of the way
through the British volume, having so many other interesting irons in
the research fire in the meanwhile.
For the first source, upon which the present report is based, there
were just 7,528 entries for which the data were complete and the
birthplace within the United States. We were contrasting lunar and
solar distributions for the 1,500 eminent people who were the youngest
of the 7,528 when they passed away with the same story for the 1,500
who were the oldest of the lot. (In effect, these groups are the lower
and upper quintiles, or youngest 20% versus the oldest 20%, the more
exact number being 1,506 in each group.) The comparisons were
remarkable, of course, the internal variances being entirely a
derivative of divisions within the sidereal zodiac, and some time later
we shall again give our attention to this topic in print.
What was more intriguing and curiosity-tweaking, however, had to do
with the lunar factors involved in the sample as a whole. There was
more than just a Moon-phase association with the distribution of the
births in time; there was a mathematically abnormal relationship, in
synodical-month terms, built into the birth-death lunar distribution.
This had been first discovered in the initial program wherein the
length of each lifetime in civil days, obtained by subtracting the
Julian Day number of each birthday from each deathday, was divided by
23, 28, and 33 to see if the remainders behaved normally in terms of
probability. They did, which was no surprise to us. The November 1963
report to readers of this magazine concerning the theory of
"biorhythms" established the fallacy of that pseudoscientific cult; the
massive statistical assault we made using 7,528 cases merely verified
what we already knew from single-case and small-sample statistical
studies.
The compilation of 7,528 birth-death cases had paid off handsomely
in terms of fundamental truths about the astrology of longevity and the
unreality of a popular belief which was vying with astrology among the
gullible. But the real bonanza was found in the anomalous distribution
of the "remainders" when the length of the lifetime in days, for each
person, was divided by 27.3217 days (for multiples of the sidereal
month) and 29.5306 days (for multiples of the synodical lunar month).
These mean-value results were so fascinatingly different from what
should have been the case in terms of a null hypothesis against the
existence of lunar cycles in the data, we embarked upon an actual-value
treatment of each birth and death date, using the lunar positions in
the zodiac with respect to the Sun's longitude at Greenwich Mean noon
(equating roughly to 6 A.M. at the population center of the continental
U.S.). The actual values, as hoped, sharpened the distribution's key
features and demonstrated that a significant number of eminent people
who died during the eight years 1943-1950 had passed away
preferentially with respect to fractional parts of a lunisolar cycle.
The observed effect is admittedly a weak one, but of its reality
there can be no doubt, as can be so easily proved. But before
describing its nature and measure, let us put first things first and
discuss the lunar-month distribution of eminent births in and of
itself. Figure 1 shows how the 7,528 births were strewn throughout the
lunation.
Moon Phase Versus Birth Date
The fact that human reproductive functions correlate quite
definitely with lunar-time units has been rather well established by
nonastrological scientists. The most noteworthy research projects
along this line were the studies reported on by Walter Menaker, M.D.,
in 1959, and by Drs. J. R. Gibson and T. McKeown in 1952. Those and
other findings have shown the existence of both sidereal month (27.32
days) and synodic-month (29.53 days) periodicities in the phenomena of
menstruation, ovulation and length of pregnancy. For instance, based
on massive statistics culled from both American and British medical
records, the average duration of pregnancy, counting from the last
menstrual period, is 280.54 days--right on the nose, since exactly 9-
1/2 lunar months span the same interval (9.5 X 29.53 = 280.535).
It was Menaker's epic effort, a plotting of the dates of over half a
million births in New York City hospitals in terms of the lunar
calendar, which revealed a faint, though quite distinct, variation in
the frequencies of human births occurring throughout the lunar month.
Such research in the fascinating area of "biological clocks" was long
overdue. Astrologers, of course, were not surprised by the disclosures
themselves, but most of us were a bit disappointed that the magnitude
of the observed effects was not greater than it turned out to be.
After all, lunar periodicities have proved to be highly significant
units of biophysical time in myriads of connections ranging from tomato
plants and snails to oak trees and primates. To learn that the Moon's
pressures alter the overall birth rate by only a few percent at most
was something of a letdown to many devotees of astrology.
Such facts needn't be disappointing, however, when viewed in the
correct way, which is through the awareness that not eventuality or
condition is ever the result of a single influence. It is the
cumulative pressures of many factors, each by themselves quite weak,
which add up to the circumstance or state of affairs in question. In
practical astrology the same condition holds true. Very few of
eventualities of life, as reflected in the horoscope and its
sensitivity to progressions and transits, are the result of a single
configuration.
The Menaker curve for live births generally (irrespective of later
eminence of lack of it) is well enough known that those interested in
this sort of thing will note distinct differences in Figure 1, which
depicts the eminent population's preferred times of arrival. The
Menaker peak just prior to the date of the Full Moon is wholly absent;
instead this lunar date is one of the two abnormally low points on the/
graph. Just what this can mean will have to await comparison with the
British volume, to see if the trough is indeed a real feature
distinguishing superior citizens from the rank and file of the whole
populace. Our guess is that it is.
The second and third days after New Moon, and the first and second
days before Full Moon, are the two zones in which there is a shortage
of the births of eminent people--not a great many, percentagewise, but
enough to prove the presence of a lunisolar inhibiting factor. Do
people who are born at Full Moon or just prior thereto tend to have
lesser creative intellects? We've known too many talented achievers in
this category to allow ourselves to think it is a matter of a lunar-
phase influence on intelligence as such. It probably hs more to do
with either drive or emotional stability or perhaps a combination of
these attributes.
The greatest number of accomplished people were born with the Moon
and Sun in dexter sextile aspect and the day after. Again we do not
know for certain just what the astrological contribution may be, though
of course we all instinctively grasp for the standard "opportunity"
keyword of the sextile aspect, in addition to stereotypes about 3rd
solar houses and innately harmonious aspects, by way of an explanation.
But we look in vain, in the actual record, for evidence that the
sinister sextile is significantly represented. And the trines, alas
are both on the under-represented side. So until there are even more
massively compiled statistics than these, with reliable birth times,
we'll have to let matters stand as this graph indicates them to be.
The fact that Menaker's contrasting halves of the lunar month for the
whole population do not make themselves evident in the case of eminent
people suggests a very real modifying lunar-phase impact on the
distribution that should be taken into account by astrologers
evaluating horoscopes for any potential for worldly success and
recognition. Those Startling Residuals
As with much other research involving the Moon, we make liberal use
of the technique of dividing the lunar month into hundredths, an
especially useful convention for cases where the birth hour is unknown
and one has to assume a Noon value for convenience. Working with
degrees is more tedious and gives a resolution not necessarily superior
to the tactic of using divisions that are 3 degrees 36' wide.
Subtracting the synodic decimal of birth from the synodic decimal of
the date of death instantly provides a "synodic residual" which is a
figure telling what percent of one complete lunar month as elapsed
since the last integral number of whole months lived--in other words,
arriving at virtually the same figure, but a more accurate one, as that
obtained through breakdown of the total number of days lived by the
divisor 29.5306.
The pattern (using the usual ten-unit moving totals) of the 7,528
synodic residuals is shown in Figure 2, wherein a hemispheric or half-
month symmetry is noticeable. One big peak stands out for the three
days centered on the day after 3/4ths or 75% of a lunar cycle has
ensued. The positions are the same but the magnitudes are variant, the
second peak being the one during which an excess number of deaths
occurred. Superimposing these hemispheres and finding the median base-
line by standard procedures, we see the peak to be a singularity, that
is statistically there is no comparable dip or low point to contrast
with the single crest.
To put it into nontechnical terms, it would seem that every 29 1/2
days in everybody's life there are two brief periods lasting from one
to three days, during which the vitality tends to be below par, so that
if one is very ill, the days in question can represent or bring about
the intensification of the physical crisis. The critical periods are
predictable on the basis of knowledge about the relative Moon-Sun angle
prevailing at the time of birth. THE CRITICAL DATES ARE THE 8TH AND
[PARTICULARLY] THE 23RD DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF RECURRENCE OF THE SAME
NATAL MOON-SUN RELATIONSHIP.
...So much new evidence of the importance of this angle between the
luminaries at birth should be opening up a whole new horizon for
intelligent astrologers. (Keeping facts separate from fancies in this
connection is vital, especially now that fabricated, purely-guessed-at
"delineations" for births on each "day" of the lunar month have been
published and worked into the reading repertoire of professional
astrologers who do not question either their origin or correctness.)
....
A Health or Morale Cycle?
We used death data as a statistical device; quite obviously the
cycle itself has nothing very directly to do with the event of terminus
vita. All that the figures show is that a significant excess of people
actually passed away on these critical days rather than, say, a week
before, or maybe two days afterward. Quite clearly, we are dealing
only with some kind of metabolic rhythm or body-tone periodicity in
which the physical efficiency is a bit impaired--such that people who
are already terminally ill tend to give up the ghost during these
temporary periods of impairment. In all likelihood it is a
psychosomatic mechanism which operate through affecting the morale and
the will-to-live.
Spot checks of authentic data in our files concerning the dates of
initial heart attacks, apparently sudden succumbings to influenza and
similar contagions, and migrainelike attacks of pain, show a distinct
preference for the three-day intervals centered at the 8th and 23rd
days after the event of the victim's "lunisolar return" epochs. It is
probably no accident that the most famous coronary of modern times,
President Eisenhower's first cardiac crisis on September 24, 1955, took
place when his synodic residual was 0.26, i.e., on the 8th day of his
personal lunation cycle.
Perhaps the 8th and 23rd days are times of greater emotional strain
or accident proneness, or the junctures in time during which "relapses"
from former ailments and surgical traumas are most likely to take
place. Ever since this situation came to light, we have been calling
the peak areas 'enervating" or "catabolic zones," but a permanent label
should not be adopted until the exact nature of the critical periods
has been established. Ascertaining this is probably best done through
subjective studies of widely varied individual cases.
In any event, check back through your own diaries and records of
your own and others' days of illness or ennui, noting the prevailing
Moon-sun relationship with respect to the natal one. An unusual number
of these blah days will surely mirror this cycle's presence and
effectuality. Chances are, the efficacy of medication can be modified
or enhanced by application during various fractional parts of one's
personal lunation cycle. After all, biophysicists have found that the
effectiveness of medicine and radiological therapy is variable with
respect to the hour of the day they are administered; and lunar as well
as diurnal periodicities are facts of life throughout the biosphere in
which we live. Meanwhile, until further research answers the big
questions, you can still make good use of this new knowledge in your
day to day application of astrological principles. For example, if you
are undergoing one of those transits notorious for synchronizing with
viral attacks or digestive disorders, check to see where you are in
your monthly vitality cycle. It just might mean the difference between
a brief sniffle and a real bout with whatever bug is making the rounds!
* * * *
From Garth Allen's "Perspectives In the Sidereal,"
American Astrology, May 1974
FACTS ABOUT LONGEVITY
In compiling statistical arrays and trying to extract sound
information from them, the bugaboo of seasonal variation does, among
other factors, often serve to discourage the investigator. What is
more, the larger the sample--and it is ideal to have the largest
possible sample--such as of birthdates obtained from catalogues like
WHO'S WHO, the more liable are such secondary influences to assert
themselves in the data to complicate matters. It is well known for
instance, that "physical types" such as athletes and engineers tend to
be born during the autumn months in the north temperature zone, whereas
"artistic types" like actors, poets and artists are born in
significantly greater numbers during the spring months. Politicians
present an even worse situation, their births cresting in late winter
and early spring. These seasonal influences, reversing as they do in
the two hemispheres, are not at all astrological in nature. Rather,
they are akin to the sort of influences meant by biological clocks,
phototropisms and the like and have to do with purely physical and
mechanical forces such as light and gravitation. They are no more
astrological than, say, the solilunar reactions visible as tides in
air, water and rock.
There are many ways in which a scientist can counteract or negate
the impact of these secondary influences in data so that any pure
planetary or zodiacal factors, if they exit, are able to manifest
themselves in the final results. In this article we are aiming to show
the research-minded student at least one bona fide way to handle this
purification process by dealing with one of the simpler sort of
problems one is apt to run across, showing him how to arrive a
reasonable authentic astrological effects with a minimum of blood,
sweat and tears. This technique may be called the sort of problems one
is apt to run across, showing him how to arrive at reasonable authentic
astrological effects with a minimum of blood, sweat and tears. This
technique may be called the intramural or intrasample form of analysis.
Put simply, it pits the data contained within itself against some of
its own related data; this is not doubletalk, strange as it sounds at
first. This method is a godsend tot he research plagued by the demo-
graphic factors of eminence curves, seasonal variances within types,
etc. it is essentially a procedure of suppressing the presence of
factors within a sample in order to uncover the existence of other
factors that may be more responsible for the condition one is hopeful
of understanding.
The subject in which we are immediately interested is longevity--
length of life--as reflected in natal positions in the zodiac of the
Sun and Moon. The source work is a familiar one--volume II of WHO WAS
WHO IN AMERICA covering the necrology of eminent Americans in every
profession who passed away during the 1943-1950 period. Our original
sample is a bit larger than the one, culled from this same source, that
was used to demonstrate the existence of a mild lunisolar cycle in
health tone (as reported in the November 1972 issues of American
Astrology). In that former study a total of 7,528 birthdates were
used. In the present study we are able to take advantage of even more,
a total of 7,809 this time, a difference due to the fact that in the
former study the specific death date was used while in the current
effort only the age is needed (about 3.6% of all entries not giving the
exact date of demise.)
Now all these deceasees were all notable folks and their births will
unavoidably reflect the "eminence curve" typical of American celebrity
registers. So how do we handle the data to eliminate this annoying
eminence factor? The solution is quite easy and forthright. We merely
arrange the 7,809 items from youngest to eldest in terms of age at
death. Then we take the upper decile, i.e., the 10% of them who died
when youngest and the lower decile, the 10% of them who died when
eldest. In other words, we are provided an out by the data themselves,
with two equal-sized samples of 781 cases each--the 781 youngest versus
the 781 eldest. Cause of death is, or course, irrelevant (and a
psychologist or physician would smile approvingly at our assumption
that even accidental death is not wholly bereft of internal or psyche-
based sponsorship). They are solid cross-sections of the same
population and their births are strewn across the year, effectively
abolishing the seasonal as well as other demographic variations that
might be playing down on the entire populace of eminent persons. For
convenience we are called one group the shortlivers and the other group
the longlivers. Since length of life is the only ostensible parameter
distinguishing the two samples.
We can say at this outset that the ploy was highly productive of
results of immense value and interest to all students of astrology,
those of tropical and those of sidereal persuasion alike (though it is
an historical misnomer to use the words persuasion and tropical
together; the poor devils didn't have much of a chance, to begin with,
to be persuaded one way or the other!). There very definitely are
astrological factors differentiating the shortlivers from the
longlivers. These factors, as you will be able to see for yourself,
function strictly through the sidereal zodiac, but the spread in each
case, luckily enough, is wide enough that they may be applied to the
tropical concept with nearly the same adequacy in practice.
Length of life has obviously been one of astrology's traditionally
important subtopics, judging by ancient literature both Oriental and
Occidental; it is rare to encounter an old text that does not proffer
tenets and observations along this line, sometimes whole chapters. The
Hindus in particular give the matter much detailed attention; we more
optimism-slanted Western astrologers tend to duck the issue on
philosophical grounds that horoscopic longevity knowledge can be more
harmful than helpful, not only to a client but to people of all kinds,
including themselves (few of us like to entertain thoughts about our
own possible extinction). Still, it may be noted parenthetically at
this point, judging transits and progressions as matters of life and
death is a persistently popular diversion among astrologers, especially
those on the downhill side of 40.
As a result of such widespread interest, most students of astrology
are aware of the precept that, generally speaking, the fixed signs and
the earthly signs tend to be pro-longlife. In the typical case, the
references are to the sun signs of the tropical zodiac, occasionally to
the ascending and Moon signs as well--and sometimes even to those signs
boasting a stellium or more of birth planets.
Inasmuch as we have for this presort consideration only birth
'dates' with which to work, what we have to say here pertains primarily
to only Sun and Moon signs. In this connection, by the way, don't
number yourself among those idiots who write in, after every published
statistical report, telling us all about what we didn't include in our
study or what we failed to say. We have several hundred octogenarian
birthcharts in our files, incidentally, and will one day tabulate for
publication the Ascendant and house positions, as well as significant
aspects, contained in them. Meanwhile, take the time you would
ordinarily spend gilding the lilies and spend it on some worthwhile
research project of your own.
Now do these popularly held ideas really hold water? For the most
part the answer is yes, but not in the popularly recognized zodiac,
which observation you can make for yourself from the accompanying
graphs. These graphs are basically excess-percentage graphs, showing
30-degree moving totals of solar and lunar longitudes, subtracting the
short-livers' lines from the longlivers' lines. (The Moon positions
used are for zone-time Noon at the birthplace; the margin for possible
error or range of actual Moon placements is at most plus and minus
seven degrees from the Noon longitude. Statistically these margins of
probable-error scatter blend into each other and clearly present no
problem to the investigator if the sample is large enough to allow such
statistical blending to take place.)
In the interest of saving space we are giving only the Sun's
distribution within the elemental triplicities instead of the entire
twelve signs separately considered. That is, the Sun graph here shows
the performance with the zodiacal elements: Aries, Leo and Sagittarius
superposed; the earthy signs superposed; the airy signs superposed; and
the watery signs superposed--in effect folding over three 120 degree
arcs of ecliptic longitude. This is done to show how spectacularly
fruitful our youngest-versus-eldest stratagem turns out to be in terms
of usable knowledge. Each point on the graph represents the center of
a 30 degree zone in the style already familiar to veteran readers of
astrological literature of the American Astrology caliber.
[GRAPHS NOT INCLUDED]
Observe that the 'tropical' fire signs traditionally linked with
high vitality are uniformly low in flat contradiction to the
stereotype. The next triplicity, however, and the next one after that,
representing the earthy and airy signs respectively, tell a quite
different story, being substantially above average. The peak of this
plus activity, fittingly enough, falls right at the centers of the
earthy signs of the classical (sidereal) zodiac! The watery signs,
true to expected form, return to the below-average status of what must
be surely called low overall vitality. In short, the graph shows one
thing too clearly to quibble about: there 'is' a distinct zodiacal
influence on length of life, but only through the divisions of the
zodiac as propounded by astrology's founders and not according to the
scheme taught by latter-day corrupters of their concept.
The Moon story is equally fascinating, but where the Moon is
concerned the triplicities show nothing truly unusual enough to remark
about. Instead, the Moon displays an important role in the longevity
drama via the quadruplicities! As the lunar graph shows so lucidly,
with the quadruplicities superposed (four 90 degree arcs of the
ecliptic folded over), cardinal signs are only so-so in their
contribution to vitality, being only slightly above average. The fixed
signs of the tropical zodiac represent, however, utter disaster in
terms of length of life, being far below normal and reaching a low
point at exactly the degree marking the natural lineaments of the
sidereal zodiacs' cardinal signs! The tropical mutable situation is
just the opposite, featuring a peak, all right, but that peak again
falls exactly where it should if the sidereal zodiac is real and the
other one phony. To put it bluntly, this study, like all the others,
behaves just as though the tropical zodiac didn't exist at all.
THE SUN'S POINTING TO SIDEREAL TAURUS, VIRGO AND CAPRICORN as the
solar-sponsored lengtheners of life is no surprise; what surprise there
might be lies in the fact that the solar peak falls where it shouldn't
have, according to every 'tropical' text and published article on the
question of longevity that we have ever inspected. THE MOON'S POINTED
TO SIDEREAL TAURUS, LEO, SCORPIO, AND AQUARIUS AS THE LUNAR-BASED
LENGTHENERS OF LIFE IS NO SURPRISE, EITHER; the only surprise is that
the lunar peak falls where it shouldn't according to the vast consensus
of 'tropical' literature. But ah, the hoary old texts of bygone
ancients are proven to have been correct all along!
Fortunately, as we intimated earlier, the results from these
tabulations are usable in any form, either tropical or sidereal, so
don't get yourself uptight about the fact that for the thousandth or so
time an objective statistical study of 'something real' was made with
the result that the wrong zodiac--wrong according to the popular
tropical stereotype--surfaced instead of the popular (tropical) one.
It seems not to have happened any other way. If you want it otherwise,
you'll just have to do what they've always done when they wanted the
tropical scheme to land upright on its feet: fake the figures. The
'real' figures give a marvelously consistent account of themselves
every time. or you can do what was done by a British astrologer a few
year back, to wit, publish a graph of the real figures and then
blithefully tell the reader that it isn't unusual or significant in any
way--and that such studies always produce such meaningless arrays. The
only thing wrong is that the graph itself virtually screamed about its
unusualness and usefulness. Some astrologers are astrology's worst
enemies.
* * * *
with the Synodic Cycle (of 29.53 days) applied to an individual's
health and longevity have serious medical warnings for one's 23rd and
8th day. "...there was a mathematically abnormal relationship, in
synodical-month terms, built into the birth-death lunar distribution.
... The actual values, as hoped, sharpened the distribution's key
features and demonstrated that a significant number of eminent people
who died during the eight years 1943-1950 had passed away
preferentially with respect to fractional parts of a lunisolar cycle."
Also birth frequencies of eminent people, and Sun-Moon dexter sextiles
and the following day (75 degree aspect). The Sun's Earth Triplicities
(TAU, MIR, CAP) and the Moon's fixed Quadriplicities (TAU, SCO, LEO,
AQU) are statistically preferred longevity constellations - again (and
again) with peaks in the sidereal framework and not the tropical.
* * * *
Excerpts from Garth Allen's "New Horizons In Health Research,"
American Astrology, 11/1971.
...The work we'll give a rundown on now is, like others we have
publicly discussed of late, several years old. It is far from
completed, which is why we were hesitant to publish the key findings
until the entire project was all wrapped up. But because it looks as
though we'll never find the time to get around to resuming the effort
along this particular line, we decided to disclose the highlights of
results which can be put to immediate practical use by the progressive
student of astrology, despite the incompleteness of this learning
adventure undertaken some ten years ago.
In connection with an old study of correlation between the date of
birth and statistical longevity (length of lifetime, in blunter terms),
we had garnered the birth and death dates of every native American
whose biographical sketch appeared in Volume II of Who Was Who in
America, covering the necrology from 1943 through 1950. The purpose
was to compare the anomalies, if any, with a similar independent
collation of data from the subsequent Volume III, covering eminent
deaths from 1951 through 1960, and with the British equivalent source,
Who Was Who (in England), volume V, 1951-1960. As it happened, though
quite enthused by the discoveries from objective analysis of the first
source, we suspended the project while only one-third of the way
through the British volume, having so many other interesting irons in
the research fire in the meanwhile.
For the first source, upon which the present report is based, there
were just 7,528 entries for which the data were complete and the
birthplace within the United States. We were contrasting lunar and
solar distributions for the 1,500 eminent people who were the youngest
of the 7,528 when they passed away with the same story for the 1,500
who were the oldest of the lot. (In effect, these groups are the lower
and upper quintiles, or youngest 20% versus the oldest 20%, the more
exact number being 1,506 in each group.) The comparisons were
remarkable, of course, the internal variances being entirely a
derivative of divisions within the sidereal zodiac, and some time later
we shall again give our attention to this topic in print.
What was more intriguing and curiosity-tweaking, however, had to do
with the lunar factors involved in the sample as a whole. There was
more than just a Moon-phase association with the distribution of the
births in time; there was a mathematically abnormal relationship, in
synodical-month terms, built into the birth-death lunar distribution.
This had been first discovered in the initial program wherein the
length of each lifetime in civil days, obtained by subtracting the
Julian Day number of each birthday from each deathday, was divided by
23, 28, and 33 to see if the remainders behaved normally in terms of
probability. They did, which was no surprise to us. The November 1963
report to readers of this magazine concerning the theory of
"biorhythms" established the fallacy of that pseudoscientific cult; the
massive statistical assault we made using 7,528 cases merely verified
what we already knew from single-case and small-sample statistical
studies.
The compilation of 7,528 birth-death cases had paid off handsomely
in terms of fundamental truths about the astrology of longevity and the
unreality of a popular belief which was vying with astrology among the
gullible. But the real bonanza was found in the anomalous distribution
of the "remainders" when the length of the lifetime in days, for each
person, was divided by 27.3217 days (for multiples of the sidereal
month) and 29.5306 days (for multiples of the synodical lunar month).
These mean-value results were so fascinatingly different from what
should have been the case in terms of a null hypothesis against the
existence of lunar cycles in the data, we embarked upon an actual-value
treatment of each birth and death date, using the lunar positions in
the zodiac with respect to the Sun's longitude at Greenwich Mean noon
(equating roughly to 6 A.M. at the population center of the continental
U.S.). The actual values, as hoped, sharpened the distribution's key
features and demonstrated that a significant number of eminent people
who died during the eight years 1943-1950 had passed away
preferentially with respect to fractional parts of a lunisolar cycle.
The observed effect is admittedly a weak one, but of its reality
there can be no doubt, as can be so easily proved. But before
describing its nature and measure, let us put first things first and
discuss the lunar-month distribution of eminent births in and of
itself. Figure 1 shows how the 7,528 births were strewn throughout the
lunation.
Moon Phase Versus Birth Date
The fact that human reproductive functions correlate quite
definitely with lunar-time units has been rather well established by
nonastrological scientists. The most noteworthy research projects
along this line were the studies reported on by Walter Menaker, M.D.,
in 1959, and by Drs. J. R. Gibson and T. McKeown in 1952. Those and
other findings have shown the existence of both sidereal month (27.32
days) and synodic-month (29.53 days) periodicities in the phenomena of
menstruation, ovulation and length of pregnancy. For instance, based
on massive statistics culled from both American and British medical
records, the average duration of pregnancy, counting from the last
menstrual period, is 280.54 days--right on the nose, since exactly 9-
1/2 lunar months span the same interval (9.5 X 29.53 = 280.535).
It was Menaker's epic effort, a plotting of the dates of over half a
million births in New York City hospitals in terms of the lunar
calendar, which revealed a faint, though quite distinct, variation in
the frequencies of human births occurring throughout the lunar month.
Such research in the fascinating area of "biological clocks" was long
overdue. Astrologers, of course, were not surprised by the disclosures
themselves, but most of us were a bit disappointed that the magnitude
of the observed effects was not greater than it turned out to be.
After all, lunar periodicities have proved to be highly significant
units of biophysical time in myriads of connections ranging from tomato
plants and snails to oak trees and primates. To learn that the Moon's
pressures alter the overall birth rate by only a few percent at most
was something of a letdown to many devotees of astrology.
Such facts needn't be disappointing, however, when viewed in the
correct way, which is through the awareness that not eventuality or
condition is ever the result of a single influence. It is the
cumulative pressures of many factors, each by themselves quite weak,
which add up to the circumstance or state of affairs in question. In
practical astrology the same condition holds true. Very few of
eventualities of life, as reflected in the horoscope and its
sensitivity to progressions and transits, are the result of a single
configuration.
The Menaker curve for live births generally (irrespective of later
eminence of lack of it) is well enough known that those interested in
this sort of thing will note distinct differences in Figure 1, which
depicts the eminent population's preferred times of arrival. The
Menaker peak just prior to the date of the Full Moon is wholly absent;
instead this lunar date is one of the two abnormally low points on the/
graph. Just what this can mean will have to await comparison with the
British volume, to see if the trough is indeed a real feature
distinguishing superior citizens from the rank and file of the whole
populace. Our guess is that it is.
The second and third days after New Moon, and the first and second
days before Full Moon, are the two zones in which there is a shortage
of the births of eminent people--not a great many, percentagewise, but
enough to prove the presence of a lunisolar inhibiting factor. Do
people who are born at Full Moon or just prior thereto tend to have
lesser creative intellects? We've known too many talented achievers in
this category to allow ourselves to think it is a matter of a lunar-
phase influence on intelligence as such. It probably hs more to do
with either drive or emotional stability or perhaps a combination of
these attributes.
The greatest number of accomplished people were born with the Moon
and Sun in dexter sextile aspect and the day after. Again we do not
know for certain just what the astrological contribution may be, though
of course we all instinctively grasp for the standard "opportunity"
keyword of the sextile aspect, in addition to stereotypes about 3rd
solar houses and innately harmonious aspects, by way of an explanation.
But we look in vain, in the actual record, for evidence that the
sinister sextile is significantly represented. And the trines, alas
are both on the under-represented side. So until there are even more
massively compiled statistics than these, with reliable birth times,
we'll have to let matters stand as this graph indicates them to be.
The fact that Menaker's contrasting halves of the lunar month for the
whole population do not make themselves evident in the case of eminent
people suggests a very real modifying lunar-phase impact on the
distribution that should be taken into account by astrologers
evaluating horoscopes for any potential for worldly success and
recognition. Those Startling Residuals
As with much other research involving the Moon, we make liberal use
of the technique of dividing the lunar month into hundredths, an
especially useful convention for cases where the birth hour is unknown
and one has to assume a Noon value for convenience. Working with
degrees is more tedious and gives a resolution not necessarily superior
to the tactic of using divisions that are 3 degrees 36' wide.
Subtracting the synodic decimal of birth from the synodic decimal of
the date of death instantly provides a "synodic residual" which is a
figure telling what percent of one complete lunar month as elapsed
since the last integral number of whole months lived--in other words,
arriving at virtually the same figure, but a more accurate one, as that
obtained through breakdown of the total number of days lived by the
divisor 29.5306.
The pattern (using the usual ten-unit moving totals) of the 7,528
synodic residuals is shown in Figure 2, wherein a hemispheric or half-
month symmetry is noticeable. One big peak stands out for the three
days centered on the day after 3/4ths or 75% of a lunar cycle has
ensued. The positions are the same but the magnitudes are variant, the
second peak being the one during which an excess number of deaths
occurred. Superimposing these hemispheres and finding the median base-
line by standard procedures, we see the peak to be a singularity, that
is statistically there is no comparable dip or low point to contrast
with the single crest.
To put it into nontechnical terms, it would seem that every 29 1/2
days in everybody's life there are two brief periods lasting from one
to three days, during which the vitality tends to be below par, so that
if one is very ill, the days in question can represent or bring about
the intensification of the physical crisis. The critical periods are
predictable on the basis of knowledge about the relative Moon-Sun angle
prevailing at the time of birth. THE CRITICAL DATES ARE THE 8TH AND
[PARTICULARLY] THE 23RD DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF RECURRENCE OF THE SAME
NATAL MOON-SUN RELATIONSHIP.
...So much new evidence of the importance of this angle between the
luminaries at birth should be opening up a whole new horizon for
intelligent astrologers. (Keeping facts separate from fancies in this
connection is vital, especially now that fabricated, purely-guessed-at
"delineations" for births on each "day" of the lunar month have been
published and worked into the reading repertoire of professional
astrologers who do not question either their origin or correctness.)
....
A Health or Morale Cycle?
We used death data as a statistical device; quite obviously the
cycle itself has nothing very directly to do with the event of terminus
vita. All that the figures show is that a significant excess of people
actually passed away on these critical days rather than, say, a week
before, or maybe two days afterward. Quite clearly, we are dealing
only with some kind of metabolic rhythm or body-tone periodicity in
which the physical efficiency is a bit impaired--such that people who
are already terminally ill tend to give up the ghost during these
temporary periods of impairment. In all likelihood it is a
psychosomatic mechanism which operate through affecting the morale and
the will-to-live.
Spot checks of authentic data in our files concerning the dates of
initial heart attacks, apparently sudden succumbings to influenza and
similar contagions, and migrainelike attacks of pain, show a distinct
preference for the three-day intervals centered at the 8th and 23rd
days after the event of the victim's "lunisolar return" epochs. It is
probably no accident that the most famous coronary of modern times,
President Eisenhower's first cardiac crisis on September 24, 1955, took
place when his synodic residual was 0.26, i.e., on the 8th day of his
personal lunation cycle.
Perhaps the 8th and 23rd days are times of greater emotional strain
or accident proneness, or the junctures in time during which "relapses"
from former ailments and surgical traumas are most likely to take
place. Ever since this situation came to light, we have been calling
the peak areas 'enervating" or "catabolic zones," but a permanent label
should not be adopted until the exact nature of the critical periods
has been established. Ascertaining this is probably best done through
subjective studies of widely varied individual cases.
In any event, check back through your own diaries and records of
your own and others' days of illness or ennui, noting the prevailing
Moon-sun relationship with respect to the natal one. An unusual number
of these blah days will surely mirror this cycle's presence and
effectuality. Chances are, the efficacy of medication can be modified
or enhanced by application during various fractional parts of one's
personal lunation cycle. After all, biophysicists have found that the
effectiveness of medicine and radiological therapy is variable with
respect to the hour of the day they are administered; and lunar as well
as diurnal periodicities are facts of life throughout the biosphere in
which we live. Meanwhile, until further research answers the big
questions, you can still make good use of this new knowledge in your
day to day application of astrological principles. For example, if you
are undergoing one of those transits notorious for synchronizing with
viral attacks or digestive disorders, check to see where you are in
your monthly vitality cycle. It just might mean the difference between
a brief sniffle and a real bout with whatever bug is making the rounds!
* * * *
From Garth Allen's "Perspectives In the Sidereal,"
American Astrology, May 1974
FACTS ABOUT LONGEVITY
In compiling statistical arrays and trying to extract sound
information from them, the bugaboo of seasonal variation does, among
other factors, often serve to discourage the investigator. What is
more, the larger the sample--and it is ideal to have the largest
possible sample--such as of birthdates obtained from catalogues like
WHO'S WHO, the more liable are such secondary influences to assert
themselves in the data to complicate matters. It is well known for
instance, that "physical types" such as athletes and engineers tend to
be born during the autumn months in the north temperature zone, whereas
"artistic types" like actors, poets and artists are born in
significantly greater numbers during the spring months. Politicians
present an even worse situation, their births cresting in late winter
and early spring. These seasonal influences, reversing as they do in
the two hemispheres, are not at all astrological in nature. Rather,
they are akin to the sort of influences meant by biological clocks,
phototropisms and the like and have to do with purely physical and
mechanical forces such as light and gravitation. They are no more
astrological than, say, the solilunar reactions visible as tides in
air, water and rock.
There are many ways in which a scientist can counteract or negate
the impact of these secondary influences in data so that any pure
planetary or zodiacal factors, if they exit, are able to manifest
themselves in the final results. In this article we are aiming to show
the research-minded student at least one bona fide way to handle this
purification process by dealing with one of the simpler sort of
problems one is apt to run across, showing him how to arrive a
reasonable authentic astrological effects with a minimum of blood,
sweat and tears. This technique may be called the sort of problems one
is apt to run across, showing him how to arrive at reasonable authentic
astrological effects with a minimum of blood, sweat and tears. This
technique may be called the intramural or intrasample form of analysis.
Put simply, it pits the data contained within itself against some of
its own related data; this is not doubletalk, strange as it sounds at
first. This method is a godsend tot he research plagued by the demo-
graphic factors of eminence curves, seasonal variances within types,
etc. it is essentially a procedure of suppressing the presence of
factors within a sample in order to uncover the existence of other
factors that may be more responsible for the condition one is hopeful
of understanding.
The subject in which we are immediately interested is longevity--
length of life--as reflected in natal positions in the zodiac of the
Sun and Moon. The source work is a familiar one--volume II of WHO WAS
WHO IN AMERICA covering the necrology of eminent Americans in every
profession who passed away during the 1943-1950 period. Our original
sample is a bit larger than the one, culled from this same source, that
was used to demonstrate the existence of a mild lunisolar cycle in
health tone (as reported in the November 1972 issues of American
Astrology). In that former study a total of 7,528 birthdates were
used. In the present study we are able to take advantage of even more,
a total of 7,809 this time, a difference due to the fact that in the
former study the specific death date was used while in the current
effort only the age is needed (about 3.6% of all entries not giving the
exact date of demise.)
Now all these deceasees were all notable folks and their births will
unavoidably reflect the "eminence curve" typical of American celebrity
registers. So how do we handle the data to eliminate this annoying
eminence factor? The solution is quite easy and forthright. We merely
arrange the 7,809 items from youngest to eldest in terms of age at
death. Then we take the upper decile, i.e., the 10% of them who died
when youngest and the lower decile, the 10% of them who died when
eldest. In other words, we are provided an out by the data themselves,
with two equal-sized samples of 781 cases each--the 781 youngest versus
the 781 eldest. Cause of death is, or course, irrelevant (and a
psychologist or physician would smile approvingly at our assumption
that even accidental death is not wholly bereft of internal or psyche-
based sponsorship). They are solid cross-sections of the same
population and their births are strewn across the year, effectively
abolishing the seasonal as well as other demographic variations that
might be playing down on the entire populace of eminent persons. For
convenience we are called one group the shortlivers and the other group
the longlivers. Since length of life is the only ostensible parameter
distinguishing the two samples.
We can say at this outset that the ploy was highly productive of
results of immense value and interest to all students of astrology,
those of tropical and those of sidereal persuasion alike (though it is
an historical misnomer to use the words persuasion and tropical
together; the poor devils didn't have much of a chance, to begin with,
to be persuaded one way or the other!). There very definitely are
astrological factors differentiating the shortlivers from the
longlivers. These factors, as you will be able to see for yourself,
function strictly through the sidereal zodiac, but the spread in each
case, luckily enough, is wide enough that they may be applied to the
tropical concept with nearly the same adequacy in practice.
Length of life has obviously been one of astrology's traditionally
important subtopics, judging by ancient literature both Oriental and
Occidental; it is rare to encounter an old text that does not proffer
tenets and observations along this line, sometimes whole chapters. The
Hindus in particular give the matter much detailed attention; we more
optimism-slanted Western astrologers tend to duck the issue on
philosophical grounds that horoscopic longevity knowledge can be more
harmful than helpful, not only to a client but to people of all kinds,
including themselves (few of us like to entertain thoughts about our
own possible extinction). Still, it may be noted parenthetically at
this point, judging transits and progressions as matters of life and
death is a persistently popular diversion among astrologers, especially
those on the downhill side of 40.
As a result of such widespread interest, most students of astrology
are aware of the precept that, generally speaking, the fixed signs and
the earthly signs tend to be pro-longlife. In the typical case, the
references are to the sun signs of the tropical zodiac, occasionally to
the ascending and Moon signs as well--and sometimes even to those signs
boasting a stellium or more of birth planets.
Inasmuch as we have for this presort consideration only birth
'dates' with which to work, what we have to say here pertains primarily
to only Sun and Moon signs. In this connection, by the way, don't
number yourself among those idiots who write in, after every published
statistical report, telling us all about what we didn't include in our
study or what we failed to say. We have several hundred octogenarian
birthcharts in our files, incidentally, and will one day tabulate for
publication the Ascendant and house positions, as well as significant
aspects, contained in them. Meanwhile, take the time you would
ordinarily spend gilding the lilies and spend it on some worthwhile
research project of your own.
Now do these popularly held ideas really hold water? For the most
part the answer is yes, but not in the popularly recognized zodiac,
which observation you can make for yourself from the accompanying
graphs. These graphs are basically excess-percentage graphs, showing
30-degree moving totals of solar and lunar longitudes, subtracting the
short-livers' lines from the longlivers' lines. (The Moon positions
used are for zone-time Noon at the birthplace; the margin for possible
error or range of actual Moon placements is at most plus and minus
seven degrees from the Noon longitude. Statistically these margins of
probable-error scatter blend into each other and clearly present no
problem to the investigator if the sample is large enough to allow such
statistical blending to take place.)
In the interest of saving space we are giving only the Sun's
distribution within the elemental triplicities instead of the entire
twelve signs separately considered. That is, the Sun graph here shows
the performance with the zodiacal elements: Aries, Leo and Sagittarius
superposed; the earthy signs superposed; the airy signs superposed; and
the watery signs superposed--in effect folding over three 120 degree
arcs of ecliptic longitude. This is done to show how spectacularly
fruitful our youngest-versus-eldest stratagem turns out to be in terms
of usable knowledge. Each point on the graph represents the center of
a 30 degree zone in the style already familiar to veteran readers of
astrological literature of the American Astrology caliber.
[GRAPHS NOT INCLUDED]
Observe that the 'tropical' fire signs traditionally linked with
high vitality are uniformly low in flat contradiction to the
stereotype. The next triplicity, however, and the next one after that,
representing the earthy and airy signs respectively, tell a quite
different story, being substantially above average. The peak of this
plus activity, fittingly enough, falls right at the centers of the
earthy signs of the classical (sidereal) zodiac! The watery signs,
true to expected form, return to the below-average status of what must
be surely called low overall vitality. In short, the graph shows one
thing too clearly to quibble about: there 'is' a distinct zodiacal
influence on length of life, but only through the divisions of the
zodiac as propounded by astrology's founders and not according to the
scheme taught by latter-day corrupters of their concept.
The Moon story is equally fascinating, but where the Moon is
concerned the triplicities show nothing truly unusual enough to remark
about. Instead, the Moon displays an important role in the longevity
drama via the quadruplicities! As the lunar graph shows so lucidly,
with the quadruplicities superposed (four 90 degree arcs of the
ecliptic folded over), cardinal signs are only so-so in their
contribution to vitality, being only slightly above average. The fixed
signs of the tropical zodiac represent, however, utter disaster in
terms of length of life, being far below normal and reaching a low
point at exactly the degree marking the natural lineaments of the
sidereal zodiacs' cardinal signs! The tropical mutable situation is
just the opposite, featuring a peak, all right, but that peak again
falls exactly where it should if the sidereal zodiac is real and the
other one phony. To put it bluntly, this study, like all the others,
behaves just as though the tropical zodiac didn't exist at all.
THE SUN'S POINTING TO SIDEREAL TAURUS, VIRGO AND CAPRICORN as the
solar-sponsored lengtheners of life is no surprise; what surprise there
might be lies in the fact that the solar peak falls where it shouldn't
have, according to every 'tropical' text and published article on the
question of longevity that we have ever inspected. THE MOON'S POINTED
TO SIDEREAL TAURUS, LEO, SCORPIO, AND AQUARIUS AS THE LUNAR-BASED
LENGTHENERS OF LIFE IS NO SURPRISE, EITHER; the only surprise is that
the lunar peak falls where it shouldn't according to the vast consensus
of 'tropical' literature. But ah, the hoary old texts of bygone
ancients are proven to have been correct all along!
Fortunately, as we intimated earlier, the results from these
tabulations are usable in any form, either tropical or sidereal, so
don't get yourself uptight about the fact that for the thousandth or so
time an objective statistical study of 'something real' was made with
the result that the wrong zodiac--wrong according to the popular
tropical stereotype--surfaced instead of the popular (tropical) one.
It seems not to have happened any other way. If you want it otherwise,
you'll just have to do what they've always done when they wanted the
tropical scheme to land upright on its feet: fake the figures. The
'real' figures give a marvelously consistent account of themselves
every time. or you can do what was done by a British astrologer a few
year back, to wit, publish a graph of the real figures and then
blithefully tell the reader that it isn't unusual or significant in any
way--and that such studies always produce such meaningless arrays. The
only thing wrong is that the graph itself virtually screamed about its
unusualness and usefulness. Some astrologers are astrology's worst
enemies.
* * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
100th Solar Return: Remembering Cyril Fagan
[SOLAR100] FAGAN'S 100TH SOLAR RETURN YEAR, 1996; and 50 YEARS OF
SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY, 1997. Predictive work with Solar & Lunar Returns
as "corrected for precession" helped crystallize Fagan's realization of
the veracity of the sidereal or star constellational framework of
astrology. R.C. Firebrace's farewell and delineation of Cyril Fagan's
chart.
* * * *
100TH SOLAR RETURN YEAR, REMEMBERING CYRIL FAGAN
May 1996* will mark the occurrence of Cyril Fagan's 100TH SOLAR
RETURN YEAR, his Centennial Solar Year. To Cyril Fagan, the Re-
Discoverer of Sidereal Astrology, as he phrased it, we who love the
truth of the archetypal symbolism of the Star Constellation Zodiac owe
an inexpressible debt. He was born Dublin, Ireland (6w15, 53n21)
22 May 1896. Several birthtimes are in existence: R.C. Firebrace's
4/70 SPICA gives: "12:14:28 PM GMT, born Dunsink, Ireland." His wife
Pauline Fagan after his death said that Fagan used 12:25pm GMT as a
rectified birthtime.
Alexander Marr has released data on Fagan's radix "according to his
[Fagan's] own information" as 1896 May 22nd, 12h 27m 48s UT, in Dublin
Dunsink, with an additional refined rectification. Dunsink Time was
used as LMT until the adoption of GMT and is 25 minutes earlier than
GMT. (Fagan has reported that his mother repeatedly told him he was
born at noon.) He died in Tucson, Arizona, 5 January 1970 between 3
and 5 am.
It is interesting to note that in May 1996, Transiting Pluto at
07 SCO 01'rx is near opposition his natal SUN (and will come to exact
opposition the end of November 1996). Fagan once wrote of that aspect
that it was known to "bring the native out of retirement" and we hope
that this will be true of his work.
Since Fagan's first published notice of his work with the Sidereal
Zodiac was in 1947, 1997 will mark 50 YEARS OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY for
the West. Rupert Gleadow mentions 1947 in his ORIGINS OF THE ZODIAC as
Fagan's first published date, and in April 1970 SPICA, Editor R.C.
Firebrace, who as a friend and associate of Fagan's, wrote this after
his passing: "He [Fagan] told me that it was on February 17, 1944 that
he finally accepted the Sidereal Zodiac..." and then was immediately at
work with the Lunars. And by April 30, 1944, Fagan had "finally
accepted the Sidereal Solar Return" and later made his findings public
in a series of articles entitled "Incidents and Accidents of Astrology"
which ran in the A.F.A. Bulletin in 1947. Also in an Afterword to
SOLUNARS HANDBOOK, Fagan writes that it was "1944 when I first glimpsed
the truth of the sidereal system." And May 14, 1949 is the day he
discovered the date and origin of the historical Hypsomata or
Exaltation degrees. He said it came together for him when he was
dancing with his wife Pauline.
Evidently that 'straw' that broke the back of the Tropical Zodiac
for Fagan were the Solar and Lunar Returns as he found that they did
not work for predictive work in the precessing tropical framework and
had fallen into disuse. We have found a May 1950 letter by Fagan in
response to the use of the Solar Returns "corrected for precession,"
which letter very clearly states the implications for the tropical
zodiac. Those early studies with Solar Revolutions, as they were
referred to, indeed started a revolution in thought.
And so something new and very much rooted in the old was reborn into
the world, as all great ideas must be in each age. And this study and
understanding of an astronomically correct archetypal symbolism
implying meaning and connectedness in the universe is still growing.
50 years after the Solar and Lunar "lights" came on, even greatly aided
with recent computer technology, is not long to reshape a cosmic study,
but it's a good start. HAPPY 100TH SOLAR RETURN, CYRIL FAGAN! AND TO
US ALL!
***************
"Many Things," 7/1950 A.A.
Cyril Fagan, Letter May 21, 1950 from Dublin, Ireland
SOLAR REVOLUTION
Readers of your ubiquitous magazine will, I am sure, be deeply
grateful to Mr. C. M. Bellairs for bringing to their notice the
importance of the solar revolution as a prophetic instrument (American
Magazine, May 1950). It is not sufficiently realized that the famous
priests of Nabu, who officiated in the temples of that god in Borsipps,
Calakh and Nineveh, relied almost exclusively on solar and lunar
returns for the success of their astrological forecasts. In his
REVOLUTIONIBUS NATIVITATUM, Hermes says:
"The Babylonians, Persians, Indians and Egyptians, both kings and
private persons, undertook nothing in any year without examining their
solar revolutions; and if they found the year was good they set to
work, otherwise they refrained. The kings examined the nativities of
their generals and observed their solar revolutions and if they found
that one of the returns indicated power and victory, they sent him
against the enemy, otherwise they left him aside. And they observed
the nativities not only of their generals but of ambassadors to see if
their anniversary indicated a successful result. If it signified
prosperity they sent for them, but if not they appointed, instead,
others whose anniversary did presage success. In the same manner kings
and citizens chose food, drink, medicine, bought, sold and did
everything according to their solar revolutions: and they used these
things and left aside those likely to be hurtful that year. They
deduced both from their own nativities and those of others and acted
accordingly. Men wishing to beget a son observed their wife's solar
revolution as well as their own and if both signified procreation they
cohabited with them; otherwise they looked for other women whose
nativities did signify the birth of a son. So the study of solar
revolutions is very useful and expedient."
In view of this it might well be asked why it is that such scant
attention is given nowadays to the solar return. Why was it that the
leading astrologers of the 19th century paid increasingly less
attention to the computation of such charts, many of them dropping them
altogether out of consideration? Obviously they must have found them
valueless. Then what made the ancients put such faith in them; why did
they form the backbone of their vaticinations? Because the ancient
method was fundamentally different from that now commonly employed.
The Hemu-netru of Egypt and the priest of Nabu computed these figures
for the Sun's return to the actual place it occupied among the fixed
stars at birth, whereas modern astrologers calculate the chart for the
Sun's return to its natal tropical longitude. The reader has only to
compute the solar return by both methods to realize how very dissimilar
are the charts. For a middle-aged person there will be a difference of
about 18 hours in time! In effect this implies that the modern method
of calculating these returns is incorrect.
Mr. Bellairs suggests, that the difficulty can be obviated by adding
the amount of precession equivalent to the native's age to the Sun's
longitude at birth, and then computing the solar revolution in the
usual manner. But this compromise omits to take into consideration the
corrections for aberration of light and for solar and lunar nutation.
The corrections for aberration and solar nutation will be reasonably
constant but that for lunar nutation will differ from year to year.
But apart from this there is a fundamental error involved in
applying a correction for precession to the longitude of the sun. Let
us consider the matter a little deeper. Astrologers recognize two
methods of defining celestial positions; (a) the sidereal and (b) the
tropical. In the sidereal method, measurements of time and space are
made from some relatively fixed point in the heavens such as a
convenient fixed star like Spica and Regulus. A sidereal day is the
interval that elapses between two successive transits of the same fixed
star across the midheaven; and a sidereal year is the interval that
elapses between two successive conjunctions of the sun with one fixed
star. The sidereal coordinates are celestial longitude and latitude
which remain constant for thousands of years except for minute changes
of position due to the proper motions of the fixed stars. With the
Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, all longitudes were measured from a
fixed star and not from the so-called "first point of Aries," the
vernal equinox.
In the post-Ptolemaical tropical system, measurements are made from
the every receding equinoctial and tropical points, especially from the
vernal-equinoctial point. These move backwards among the fixed stars
at the approximate rate of one degree in 72 years, for which reason the
"zodiac" now in common use is frequently referred to as the "moving"
(not movable?) "zodiac," because it takes its origin from the shifting
vernal-point. The tropical system expresses time and space in terms of
the seasonal year and its co-ordinates are Right Ascension and
Declination. A tropical day is the time that elapses between two
successive transits of the vernal-point over the midheaven; and the
tropical year is the time that elapses between two successive
conjunctions of the Sun with the vernal point. As the latter recedes
at about 50.26" per annum, the tropical year is some 20 minutes shorter
than the sidereal year.
Now what happens when a correction for precession is applied to the
Sun's longitude at birth, that is, to its position in the tropical
"zodiac."? To suggest such a procedure is tantamount to denying the
validity of the modern zodiac for its "raison d'etre" is in its very
tropicality. BY ADDING PRECESSION, THE MODERN ZODIAC CEASES TO BE
TROPICAL AND BECOMES QUASI-SIDEREAL. Therefore such a procedure is
astronomically and astrologically inadmissible. If--as the ancients
found--it is correct to compute the solar revolution ex-precessionally,
then on astronomical grounds we have no option but to compute it in
terms of the sidereal (fixed) zodiac which for the Egyptians and
Babylonians took its origin from Spica as fiducial in Virgo 29.00
degrees (179 degrees).
[NOTE when Fagan wrote this in early 1950, before he had the benefit
of Garth Allen's SVP correction of 06'05".] The mean tropical
longitude of Spica on January 1, 1950 was Libra 23 degrees 08'36",
giving the mean sidereal longitude of the vernal equinoctial point as
Pisces 5 degrees 51'04" (335 degrees ev' 24").
* * *
From Fagan's ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS bookcover: Born into a well-known
medical family in Dublin, Ireland, Cyril Fagan was educated at
Belvedere and Castleknock Colleges. Prevented from following in the
family tradition through almost totally impaired hearing since
childhood, he turned his acutely enquiring mind to other things, many
and varied, finally deciding to make the betterment of the subject he
loved the most astrology, his life's work.
Dissatisfied with all available material on the subject, he decided
to set out and find the answers for himself. He combed the libraries
of many of the capitals of Europe and soon concluded that a working
knowledge of astronomy and Egyptology was essential if the embryo of
astrology was to be unearthed. These he mastered alone as he had done
everything else. He has lived in many places over the years including
Wales, London, Spain, Morocco, and the USA, and has traveled throughout
most of Europe and some of Canada.
Works include Astrological Origins; Zodiacs, Old and New; A Primer
of Sidereal Astrology; Symbolism of the Constellations; and a monthly
contribution to American Astrology, "Solunars" from July 1953 to March
1970, as well as various ephemerides. See also articles in American
Astrology under his pseudonym, Ian Cowley, on mundane astrology. Also
he made contributions to SPICA and other astrological publications.
Cyril Fagan was President/Founder of the Irish Astrological Society,
and a Fellow of the American Federation of Astrologers; a Fellow of the
Federation of British Astrologers; and a Komandoro of the Universal
Order of Antares (Trieste).
The most momentous and revolutionary astrological discovery of all
time was made in 1949 by Cyril Fagan, the well-known astrologer and
Egyptian scholar. He discovered that the historical exaltation degrees
of the zodiac originated in 786 B.C. and that all these degrees were
expressed in terms of the zodiac of the constellations and not of the
signs. This led him into a whole series of further discoveries which
are equally important to the archeologist, the chronologist, the
historian, and the astrologer.
First and foremost, he found that the so-called Egyptian decans were
in fact PENTADS or 5-day star groups, a discovery that immediately led
to the identification of most of them. He also solved the precise date
of the Inauguration of the famous Sothic Cycle as well as dating the
zodiacs of Esna and Denderah.
...Without his insight, selflessness, application and dedication,
sidereal astrology might not have had its modern renaissance for
centuries to come. And when once more in years to come, this subject
is restored to its rightful place...in its original form, it will be
largely through this one man's crusade. The serious astrological world
owes him a tremendous debt.
* * * *
R.C. FIREBRACE'S HAIL AND FAREWELL TO FAGAN
Delineation has always been a prime strength of the sidereal
framework. Since Brigadier R.C. Firebrace, the Editor of SPICA, A
Review of Sidereal Astrology, was Fagan's friend and colleague and a
siderealist, his "Hail and Farewell to Cyril Fagan" seems most
appropriate to include here. Firebrace's delineation of Fagan's chart
is interesting in many respects. Note that his approach to astrology
is indicated by citing what is astrologically significant as based on
what he knew of Cyril Fagan: "These do seem very apt for the man as I
knew him and are indeed exemplified by his work in life." In this
Firebrace has the great advantage of us in knowing Fagan, but it is an
important orientation. In the delineation of any chart, the ability to
weigh the perceived characteristics of an individual against those set
forth in a chart is a most important consideration, if not the most
important issue. Neither the ability to weigh character by itself nor
the added difficulty of judgement in reconciling character with a chart
is a guarantee of studying astrology. It comes from something deeper.
In the following (also from 4/70 SPICA), Firebrace very simply and
clearly states his basic orientation and philosophy in sidereal
astrology:
"...It raises the point as to whether we can predict exact events or
are we limited to discerning the nature of the influence present, say,
in terms of symbolism. This is a problem which should occupy our
researchers. My opinion for what it is worth is that we cannot
foretell exact events and that the effect of the influence will act in
accordance with the spiritual development of the individual....But I
stick to my long held opinion that the most useful application of
astrology is in consultation with the client. Then we can translate
the influence or the symbolism into possible events in the lives of our
clients. Astrology is most akin to psychology. If we can find out the
psychology of the individual from our map we shall have accomplished
much."
In addition to his wisdom, Firebrace's continual graciousness in
providing a forum for and being open to testing new methods was a great
gift to the development of sidereal astrology. Over the years, he
exemplified an innate dignity and extended his belief in the same
dignity in everyone. The following words from his column "Thoughts on
Astrology" in July 1972 SPICA presents a fuller context of his
philosophical thinking:
"...We cannot maintain that the symbolism in one map will work out
in events in exactly the same way as it will in another map....But in
true astrology, we are dealing with metaphysics, something beyond the
physical life which we necessarily lead on this physical plane. If
there is truth in astrology...it must be a part and concept of the
Supreme Intelligence, call that what you like....
This statement inevitably brings me to a consideration of Free
Will....Many astrologers would doubt that he [man] has free will and
hold that man is controlled by his natal planets. And so indeed it
often appears. But it can be said that the destiny of man is to
control his planets and not the other way round. It may well be true
too that the majority of us do not do this but that does not alter the
statement that we should do so.
So where lies our Free Will? It can only be said that Free Will is
of the Spirit of Man and to the extent that we realize this and bring
it into our being, so shall we attain true free will. A difficult task
I will freely admit but a worthy aim in life. As part of this thinking
I will not admit that any luminary or planet is bad. Every planet is
essentially for our good and can point the way in this life for us to
utilize it for good. It is true that some planets, if at all, do seem
to bring troubles in our humans lives, be they physical, material or
mental. With most of us, for example, Saturn is not popular as it
tends to bring hindrances, frustration, depression and other unpleasant
effects. But on the real side, Saturn is the planet of duty,
perseverance, of 'keeping on keeping on', of serious thought. It is to
this side of Saturn that we should attempt to tune. I speak as one who
natally has Saturn in Leo within 14 minutes of the Sun. There were bad
effects, a delicate childhood and an inferiority complex! I am trying
to 'keep on keeping on' and I am afraid that some would say that the
inferiority complex has changed to one of superiority!"
* * * * *
CYRIL FAGAN'S CHART DATA published in SPICA: May 22, 1896, 12:14:28 PM
GMT, Dublin Ireland (6w15 53n20), SVP 6 42'15.3", ST 3h 51'52",
Campanus House: 6TAU51 MC, 5GEM, 9CAN, 14LEO39 ASC, 16VIR, 12LIB. SUN
8TAU33'10", PLU 18TAU04, NEP 23TAU51, MER 29TAU32, JUP 10CAN40, MOON
8VIR12, SAT 21LIB18rx, URA 28LIB47rx, MARS 7PIS20, VEN 25ARI31.
CYRIL FAGAN, MASTER OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY, HAIL AND FAREWELL.
R.C. Firebrace, SPICA April 1970
I deeply regret the passing of my old friend, Cyril Fagan and shall
always remain grateful to him for teaching me Sidereal Astrology.
Cyril died peacefully on January 5, 1970 between 3 and 5 a.m. in
Tucson, Arizona. He had a fall and cut his head but seemed to be
recovering when his weak heart failed. So we have lost the Father of
Sidereal Astrology as I always called him.
He was born on May 22 at Dunsink (Dublin) Ireland 12h 14m 28s PM GMT
according to a map of which I have and which I reproduced on the
following page. I have always felt that the Taurus-Scorpio axis was
that of the researcher and here he had 4 planets and these on the Mid-
Heaven. Here is the down to earth man to be persuaded by facts and
nothing else. Add to that a Taurean obstinacy or determination, if you
prefer that word and it will seem that once his mind was made up
nothing could shake him. But he demolished his opponents with reasoned
argument and woe betide writers in astrological journals who betrayed
their essential ignorance of the facts of astrological or astronomical
life. I think that Cyril enjoyed these controversies. As an Irishman
he enjoyed a good fight. I think that this quality is shewn by both
Sun and Moon being in aspect to Mars. He had lately discovered that
Pluto is the planet of loneliness which I have confirmed in several
cases, and I think that at heart, in spite of a devoted family, that he
was a lonely man. His Pluto is very near the Mid-Heaven.
Some of the interpretations of the mid-points of his map are very
illuminating. As far as I know he did not use them himself. But they
give such readings as untiring creative work, influence on public
through writing, desire to cause changes, obstinate pursuit of a
particular aim. These do seem very apt for the man as I knew him and
are indeed exemplified by his work in life.
Cyril began his astrological studies at the early age of 20 in 1916
and thus had completed his half century of constant work in studying
all the techniques of astrology. He had the advantage of being a good
mathematician and no calculation frightened him. In this field he was
greatly helped by his old friend, James Hynes a real expert in this
difficult subject. Cyril was always ready to spend hours in intricate
work to prove his point. He studied widely and deeply and was not
averse to taking on in argument some of the astrological masters of the
time. I have copies of a lengthy correspondence with Sepharial in
which he certainly held his own. For nearly 30 years he was of course
an adherent of the tropical zodiac.
In the late thirties he added to his repertoire a study of
Egyptology and this enabled him later to study with understanding
ancient Egyptian horoscopes and their symbolism. He was to find later
that all ancient horoscopes, down to the oldest, were drawn in the
sidereal zodiac. That was the discovery which was to change the course
of his astrological life.
He told me that it was on February 17th, 1944, that he finally
accepted the Sidereal Zodiac and within a week 'invented' the Sidereal
Lunar Return. On April 30, 1944 he finally accepted the Sidereal Solar
Return and made these discoveries public in a series of articles
entitled "incidents and Accidents of Astrology' which ran in the A.F.A.
Bulletin in 1947. Since then he added the Anlunar and the Kinetic to
his repertoire.
His main problem had been to discover the ayanamsa or the difference
for any particular date between the two zodiacs. After much work he
found that in a map for the spring of 786 B.C. all the planets as
calculated by him were either in the degree of their heliacal rising or
in the longitude or their exaltation degrees. The odds against this
happening by chance are fantastic. From this map he worked out the
ayanamsa of the date which enables all tropical ephemerides to be
converted t the sidereal. A lengthy statistical study by Garth Allen
altered this ayanamsa by only 6 minutes and this was accepted by Fagan.
At that time he regarded Spica as the marking point of the sidereal
zodiac but lately, on finding that this ayanamsa puts ALDEBARAN in
exactly 15d 0'0" of sidereal Taurus he felt that we should consider
this fixed star as the marking point. Aldebaran is, of course, in very
close opposition to ANTARES, making a very powerful axis.
Through the courtesy of Mr. and later Mrs. Clancy he contributed to
American Astrology Magazine 170 articles on the sidereal entitled
"Solunars" which were widely read all over the world. These contain
much of his wisdom. Must these remain buried in back numbers? I can
only hope that someone will be able to write them up in a book on the
sidereal. This would be a wonderful contribution to sidereal
astrology.
In his book Zodiacs Old and New he gave some details of his
discovery and in "Symbolism of the Star Constellations" which is
unfortunately out of print, he developed the sidereal theme. The
essence of his wisdom in this respect is to be issued shortly in a new
book entitled Astrological Origins. He set so much store by this book
that it is a tragedy the he died before he could see it in print. He
had other books planned including one on the Oktopos, an eightfold
clockwise division of the ecliptic which he claimed was invented by
Imhotep. A life long supporter of the Campanus system, he had finally
abandoned this in favour of the Oktopos which he had already begun to
use in his "Solunars." He also planned a new textbook to replace the
Primer of Sidereal Astrology issued in our joint names. This is now
out off of print but I will do what I can to get it re-issued.
At his death progressed Sun was almost exact square to progressed
Saturn. This seems to have been the fatal aspect.
Cyril was a very human man and a good friend. When he was in
England I was in constant touch with him and from abroad we remained in
constant communication through letters. I shall miss him very much as
a friend and the world will miss him as a great astrologer.
* * * * *
EVENTS in Cyril Fagan's life:
Death of Father - October 11, 1910
Thrombosis - February 19, 1929 Death of Mother - April 28, 1930
Great Discovery - May 14, 1949 (Hypsomata)
Voyage to Morocco for studies - October 10, 1954
Resignation (began full time research) October 2, 1956
Death of sister, considerable inheritance - August 23, 1962
Death - January 5, 1970 between 3 & 5 am, Tucson, Arizona.
* * * * *
OTHER PIONEER SIDEREALISTS:
BRIGADIER ROY C. FIREBRACE (publisher of SPICA, A SIDEREAL JOURNAL)
(sent to me by Brigadier Firebrace): 16 AUG 1889; 5:00 pm InterColonial
or Atlantic time (-4h 14' 20"); Halifax, Nova Scotia 63w35, 44n38';
Died 10 NOV 1974, 10:30 am, London. Rectified time given to James
Eshelman & noted 10/75 SPICA (pub. by Nerak Enterprises, Orange, CA
USA): 21:00:19 UT (4:45:55 PM LMT).
DR. MARY AUSTIN, 27 FEB 1914, 03:39pm, Bournemouth, England 1w53'
50n43' (from April 73 SPICA).
GARTH ALLEN (Donald Bradley): (from American Astrology): 16 MAY
1925; 2:04 am CST; 40n21' 97w35' Nebraska; Died 25 APR 1974, 11:25PM
MST, 110w59 32n14.
RUPERT GLEADOW (data from inside of his book he autographed): 22 NOV
1909, 11:55 am, Leicester, England. Died 30 OCT 1974.
* * * *
SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY, 1997. Predictive work with Solar & Lunar Returns
as "corrected for precession" helped crystallize Fagan's realization of
the veracity of the sidereal or star constellational framework of
astrology. R.C. Firebrace's farewell and delineation of Cyril Fagan's
chart.
* * * *
100TH SOLAR RETURN YEAR, REMEMBERING CYRIL FAGAN
May 1996* will mark the occurrence of Cyril Fagan's 100TH SOLAR
RETURN YEAR, his Centennial Solar Year. To Cyril Fagan, the Re-
Discoverer of Sidereal Astrology, as he phrased it, we who love the
truth of the archetypal symbolism of the Star Constellation Zodiac owe
an inexpressible debt. He was born Dublin, Ireland (6w15, 53n21)
22 May 1896. Several birthtimes are in existence: R.C. Firebrace's
4/70 SPICA gives: "12:14:28 PM GMT, born Dunsink, Ireland." His wife
Pauline Fagan after his death said that Fagan used 12:25pm GMT as a
rectified birthtime.
Alexander Marr has released data on Fagan's radix "according to his
[Fagan's] own information" as 1896 May 22nd, 12h 27m 48s UT, in Dublin
Dunsink, with an additional refined rectification. Dunsink Time was
used as LMT until the adoption of GMT and is 25 minutes earlier than
GMT. (Fagan has reported that his mother repeatedly told him he was
born at noon.) He died in Tucson, Arizona, 5 January 1970 between 3
and 5 am.
It is interesting to note that in May 1996, Transiting Pluto at
07 SCO 01'rx is near opposition his natal SUN (and will come to exact
opposition the end of November 1996). Fagan once wrote of that aspect
that it was known to "bring the native out of retirement" and we hope
that this will be true of his work.
Since Fagan's first published notice of his work with the Sidereal
Zodiac was in 1947, 1997 will mark 50 YEARS OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY for
the West. Rupert Gleadow mentions 1947 in his ORIGINS OF THE ZODIAC as
Fagan's first published date, and in April 1970 SPICA, Editor R.C.
Firebrace, who as a friend and associate of Fagan's, wrote this after
his passing: "He [Fagan] told me that it was on February 17, 1944 that
he finally accepted the Sidereal Zodiac..." and then was immediately at
work with the Lunars. And by April 30, 1944, Fagan had "finally
accepted the Sidereal Solar Return" and later made his findings public
in a series of articles entitled "Incidents and Accidents of Astrology"
which ran in the A.F.A. Bulletin in 1947. Also in an Afterword to
SOLUNARS HANDBOOK, Fagan writes that it was "1944 when I first glimpsed
the truth of the sidereal system." And May 14, 1949 is the day he
discovered the date and origin of the historical Hypsomata or
Exaltation degrees. He said it came together for him when he was
dancing with his wife Pauline.
Evidently that 'straw' that broke the back of the Tropical Zodiac
for Fagan were the Solar and Lunar Returns as he found that they did
not work for predictive work in the precessing tropical framework and
had fallen into disuse. We have found a May 1950 letter by Fagan in
response to the use of the Solar Returns "corrected for precession,"
which letter very clearly states the implications for the tropical
zodiac. Those early studies with Solar Revolutions, as they were
referred to, indeed started a revolution in thought.
And so something new and very much rooted in the old was reborn into
the world, as all great ideas must be in each age. And this study and
understanding of an astronomically correct archetypal symbolism
implying meaning and connectedness in the universe is still growing.
50 years after the Solar and Lunar "lights" came on, even greatly aided
with recent computer technology, is not long to reshape a cosmic study,
but it's a good start. HAPPY 100TH SOLAR RETURN, CYRIL FAGAN! AND TO
US ALL!
***************
"Many Things," 7/1950 A.A.
Cyril Fagan, Letter May 21, 1950 from Dublin, Ireland
SOLAR REVOLUTION
Readers of your ubiquitous magazine will, I am sure, be deeply
grateful to Mr. C. M. Bellairs for bringing to their notice the
importance of the solar revolution as a prophetic instrument (American
Magazine, May 1950). It is not sufficiently realized that the famous
priests of Nabu, who officiated in the temples of that god in Borsipps,
Calakh and Nineveh, relied almost exclusively on solar and lunar
returns for the success of their astrological forecasts. In his
REVOLUTIONIBUS NATIVITATUM, Hermes says:
"The Babylonians, Persians, Indians and Egyptians, both kings and
private persons, undertook nothing in any year without examining their
solar revolutions; and if they found the year was good they set to
work, otherwise they refrained. The kings examined the nativities of
their generals and observed their solar revolutions and if they found
that one of the returns indicated power and victory, they sent him
against the enemy, otherwise they left him aside. And they observed
the nativities not only of their generals but of ambassadors to see if
their anniversary indicated a successful result. If it signified
prosperity they sent for them, but if not they appointed, instead,
others whose anniversary did presage success. In the same manner kings
and citizens chose food, drink, medicine, bought, sold and did
everything according to their solar revolutions: and they used these
things and left aside those likely to be hurtful that year. They
deduced both from their own nativities and those of others and acted
accordingly. Men wishing to beget a son observed their wife's solar
revolution as well as their own and if both signified procreation they
cohabited with them; otherwise they looked for other women whose
nativities did signify the birth of a son. So the study of solar
revolutions is very useful and expedient."
In view of this it might well be asked why it is that such scant
attention is given nowadays to the solar return. Why was it that the
leading astrologers of the 19th century paid increasingly less
attention to the computation of such charts, many of them dropping them
altogether out of consideration? Obviously they must have found them
valueless. Then what made the ancients put such faith in them; why did
they form the backbone of their vaticinations? Because the ancient
method was fundamentally different from that now commonly employed.
The Hemu-netru of Egypt and the priest of Nabu computed these figures
for the Sun's return to the actual place it occupied among the fixed
stars at birth, whereas modern astrologers calculate the chart for the
Sun's return to its natal tropical longitude. The reader has only to
compute the solar return by both methods to realize how very dissimilar
are the charts. For a middle-aged person there will be a difference of
about 18 hours in time! In effect this implies that the modern method
of calculating these returns is incorrect.
Mr. Bellairs suggests, that the difficulty can be obviated by adding
the amount of precession equivalent to the native's age to the Sun's
longitude at birth, and then computing the solar revolution in the
usual manner. But this compromise omits to take into consideration the
corrections for aberration of light and for solar and lunar nutation.
The corrections for aberration and solar nutation will be reasonably
constant but that for lunar nutation will differ from year to year.
But apart from this there is a fundamental error involved in
applying a correction for precession to the longitude of the sun. Let
us consider the matter a little deeper. Astrologers recognize two
methods of defining celestial positions; (a) the sidereal and (b) the
tropical. In the sidereal method, measurements of time and space are
made from some relatively fixed point in the heavens such as a
convenient fixed star like Spica and Regulus. A sidereal day is the
interval that elapses between two successive transits of the same fixed
star across the midheaven; and a sidereal year is the interval that
elapses between two successive conjunctions of the sun with one fixed
star. The sidereal coordinates are celestial longitude and latitude
which remain constant for thousands of years except for minute changes
of position due to the proper motions of the fixed stars. With the
Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, all longitudes were measured from a
fixed star and not from the so-called "first point of Aries," the
vernal equinox.
In the post-Ptolemaical tropical system, measurements are made from
the every receding equinoctial and tropical points, especially from the
vernal-equinoctial point. These move backwards among the fixed stars
at the approximate rate of one degree in 72 years, for which reason the
"zodiac" now in common use is frequently referred to as the "moving"
(not movable?) "zodiac," because it takes its origin from the shifting
vernal-point. The tropical system expresses time and space in terms of
the seasonal year and its co-ordinates are Right Ascension and
Declination. A tropical day is the time that elapses between two
successive transits of the vernal-point over the midheaven; and the
tropical year is the time that elapses between two successive
conjunctions of the Sun with the vernal point. As the latter recedes
at about 50.26" per annum, the tropical year is some 20 minutes shorter
than the sidereal year.
Now what happens when a correction for precession is applied to the
Sun's longitude at birth, that is, to its position in the tropical
"zodiac."? To suggest such a procedure is tantamount to denying the
validity of the modern zodiac for its "raison d'etre" is in its very
tropicality. BY ADDING PRECESSION, THE MODERN ZODIAC CEASES TO BE
TROPICAL AND BECOMES QUASI-SIDEREAL. Therefore such a procedure is
astronomically and astrologically inadmissible. If--as the ancients
found--it is correct to compute the solar revolution ex-precessionally,
then on astronomical grounds we have no option but to compute it in
terms of the sidereal (fixed) zodiac which for the Egyptians and
Babylonians took its origin from Spica as fiducial in Virgo 29.00
degrees (179 degrees).
[NOTE when Fagan wrote this in early 1950, before he had the benefit
of Garth Allen's SVP correction of 06'05".] The mean tropical
longitude of Spica on January 1, 1950 was Libra 23 degrees 08'36",
giving the mean sidereal longitude of the vernal equinoctial point as
Pisces 5 degrees 51'04" (335 degrees ev' 24").
* * *
From Fagan's ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS bookcover: Born into a well-known
medical family in Dublin, Ireland, Cyril Fagan was educated at
Belvedere and Castleknock Colleges. Prevented from following in the
family tradition through almost totally impaired hearing since
childhood, he turned his acutely enquiring mind to other things, many
and varied, finally deciding to make the betterment of the subject he
loved the most astrology, his life's work.
Dissatisfied with all available material on the subject, he decided
to set out and find the answers for himself. He combed the libraries
of many of the capitals of Europe and soon concluded that a working
knowledge of astronomy and Egyptology was essential if the embryo of
astrology was to be unearthed. These he mastered alone as he had done
everything else. He has lived in many places over the years including
Wales, London, Spain, Morocco, and the USA, and has traveled throughout
most of Europe and some of Canada.
Works include Astrological Origins; Zodiacs, Old and New; A Primer
of Sidereal Astrology; Symbolism of the Constellations; and a monthly
contribution to American Astrology, "Solunars" from July 1953 to March
1970, as well as various ephemerides. See also articles in American
Astrology under his pseudonym, Ian Cowley, on mundane astrology. Also
he made contributions to SPICA and other astrological publications.
Cyril Fagan was President/Founder of the Irish Astrological Society,
and a Fellow of the American Federation of Astrologers; a Fellow of the
Federation of British Astrologers; and a Komandoro of the Universal
Order of Antares (Trieste).
The most momentous and revolutionary astrological discovery of all
time was made in 1949 by Cyril Fagan, the well-known astrologer and
Egyptian scholar. He discovered that the historical exaltation degrees
of the zodiac originated in 786 B.C. and that all these degrees were
expressed in terms of the zodiac of the constellations and not of the
signs. This led him into a whole series of further discoveries which
are equally important to the archeologist, the chronologist, the
historian, and the astrologer.
First and foremost, he found that the so-called Egyptian decans were
in fact PENTADS or 5-day star groups, a discovery that immediately led
to the identification of most of them. He also solved the precise date
of the Inauguration of the famous Sothic Cycle as well as dating the
zodiacs of Esna and Denderah.
...Without his insight, selflessness, application and dedication,
sidereal astrology might not have had its modern renaissance for
centuries to come. And when once more in years to come, this subject
is restored to its rightful place...in its original form, it will be
largely through this one man's crusade. The serious astrological world
owes him a tremendous debt.
* * * *
R.C. FIREBRACE'S HAIL AND FAREWELL TO FAGAN
Delineation has always been a prime strength of the sidereal
framework. Since Brigadier R.C. Firebrace, the Editor of SPICA, A
Review of Sidereal Astrology, was Fagan's friend and colleague and a
siderealist, his "Hail and Farewell to Cyril Fagan" seems most
appropriate to include here. Firebrace's delineation of Fagan's chart
is interesting in many respects. Note that his approach to astrology
is indicated by citing what is astrologically significant as based on
what he knew of Cyril Fagan: "These do seem very apt for the man as I
knew him and are indeed exemplified by his work in life." In this
Firebrace has the great advantage of us in knowing Fagan, but it is an
important orientation. In the delineation of any chart, the ability to
weigh the perceived characteristics of an individual against those set
forth in a chart is a most important consideration, if not the most
important issue. Neither the ability to weigh character by itself nor
the added difficulty of judgement in reconciling character with a chart
is a guarantee of studying astrology. It comes from something deeper.
In the following (also from 4/70 SPICA), Firebrace very simply and
clearly states his basic orientation and philosophy in sidereal
astrology:
"...It raises the point as to whether we can predict exact events or
are we limited to discerning the nature of the influence present, say,
in terms of symbolism. This is a problem which should occupy our
researchers. My opinion for what it is worth is that we cannot
foretell exact events and that the effect of the influence will act in
accordance with the spiritual development of the individual....But I
stick to my long held opinion that the most useful application of
astrology is in consultation with the client. Then we can translate
the influence or the symbolism into possible events in the lives of our
clients. Astrology is most akin to psychology. If we can find out the
psychology of the individual from our map we shall have accomplished
much."
In addition to his wisdom, Firebrace's continual graciousness in
providing a forum for and being open to testing new methods was a great
gift to the development of sidereal astrology. Over the years, he
exemplified an innate dignity and extended his belief in the same
dignity in everyone. The following words from his column "Thoughts on
Astrology" in July 1972 SPICA presents a fuller context of his
philosophical thinking:
"...We cannot maintain that the symbolism in one map will work out
in events in exactly the same way as it will in another map....But in
true astrology, we are dealing with metaphysics, something beyond the
physical life which we necessarily lead on this physical plane. If
there is truth in astrology...it must be a part and concept of the
Supreme Intelligence, call that what you like....
This statement inevitably brings me to a consideration of Free
Will....Many astrologers would doubt that he [man] has free will and
hold that man is controlled by his natal planets. And so indeed it
often appears. But it can be said that the destiny of man is to
control his planets and not the other way round. It may well be true
too that the majority of us do not do this but that does not alter the
statement that we should do so.
So where lies our Free Will? It can only be said that Free Will is
of the Spirit of Man and to the extent that we realize this and bring
it into our being, so shall we attain true free will. A difficult task
I will freely admit but a worthy aim in life. As part of this thinking
I will not admit that any luminary or planet is bad. Every planet is
essentially for our good and can point the way in this life for us to
utilize it for good. It is true that some planets, if at all, do seem
to bring troubles in our humans lives, be they physical, material or
mental. With most of us, for example, Saturn is not popular as it
tends to bring hindrances, frustration, depression and other unpleasant
effects. But on the real side, Saturn is the planet of duty,
perseverance, of 'keeping on keeping on', of serious thought. It is to
this side of Saturn that we should attempt to tune. I speak as one who
natally has Saturn in Leo within 14 minutes of the Sun. There were bad
effects, a delicate childhood and an inferiority complex! I am trying
to 'keep on keeping on' and I am afraid that some would say that the
inferiority complex has changed to one of superiority!"
* * * * *
CYRIL FAGAN'S CHART DATA published in SPICA: May 22, 1896, 12:14:28 PM
GMT, Dublin Ireland (6w15 53n20), SVP 6 42'15.3", ST 3h 51'52",
Campanus House: 6TAU51 MC, 5GEM, 9CAN, 14LEO39 ASC, 16VIR, 12LIB. SUN
8TAU33'10", PLU 18TAU04, NEP 23TAU51, MER 29TAU32, JUP 10CAN40, MOON
8VIR12, SAT 21LIB18rx, URA 28LIB47rx, MARS 7PIS20, VEN 25ARI31.
CYRIL FAGAN, MASTER OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY, HAIL AND FAREWELL.
R.C. Firebrace, SPICA April 1970
I deeply regret the passing of my old friend, Cyril Fagan and shall
always remain grateful to him for teaching me Sidereal Astrology.
Cyril died peacefully on January 5, 1970 between 3 and 5 a.m. in
Tucson, Arizona. He had a fall and cut his head but seemed to be
recovering when his weak heart failed. So we have lost the Father of
Sidereal Astrology as I always called him.
He was born on May 22 at Dunsink (Dublin) Ireland 12h 14m 28s PM GMT
according to a map of which I have and which I reproduced on the
following page. I have always felt that the Taurus-Scorpio axis was
that of the researcher and here he had 4 planets and these on the Mid-
Heaven. Here is the down to earth man to be persuaded by facts and
nothing else. Add to that a Taurean obstinacy or determination, if you
prefer that word and it will seem that once his mind was made up
nothing could shake him. But he demolished his opponents with reasoned
argument and woe betide writers in astrological journals who betrayed
their essential ignorance of the facts of astrological or astronomical
life. I think that Cyril enjoyed these controversies. As an Irishman
he enjoyed a good fight. I think that this quality is shewn by both
Sun and Moon being in aspect to Mars. He had lately discovered that
Pluto is the planet of loneliness which I have confirmed in several
cases, and I think that at heart, in spite of a devoted family, that he
was a lonely man. His Pluto is very near the Mid-Heaven.
Some of the interpretations of the mid-points of his map are very
illuminating. As far as I know he did not use them himself. But they
give such readings as untiring creative work, influence on public
through writing, desire to cause changes, obstinate pursuit of a
particular aim. These do seem very apt for the man as I knew him and
are indeed exemplified by his work in life.
Cyril began his astrological studies at the early age of 20 in 1916
and thus had completed his half century of constant work in studying
all the techniques of astrology. He had the advantage of being a good
mathematician and no calculation frightened him. In this field he was
greatly helped by his old friend, James Hynes a real expert in this
difficult subject. Cyril was always ready to spend hours in intricate
work to prove his point. He studied widely and deeply and was not
averse to taking on in argument some of the astrological masters of the
time. I have copies of a lengthy correspondence with Sepharial in
which he certainly held his own. For nearly 30 years he was of course
an adherent of the tropical zodiac.
In the late thirties he added to his repertoire a study of
Egyptology and this enabled him later to study with understanding
ancient Egyptian horoscopes and their symbolism. He was to find later
that all ancient horoscopes, down to the oldest, were drawn in the
sidereal zodiac. That was the discovery which was to change the course
of his astrological life.
He told me that it was on February 17th, 1944, that he finally
accepted the Sidereal Zodiac and within a week 'invented' the Sidereal
Lunar Return. On April 30, 1944 he finally accepted the Sidereal Solar
Return and made these discoveries public in a series of articles
entitled "incidents and Accidents of Astrology' which ran in the A.F.A.
Bulletin in 1947. Since then he added the Anlunar and the Kinetic to
his repertoire.
His main problem had been to discover the ayanamsa or the difference
for any particular date between the two zodiacs. After much work he
found that in a map for the spring of 786 B.C. all the planets as
calculated by him were either in the degree of their heliacal rising or
in the longitude or their exaltation degrees. The odds against this
happening by chance are fantastic. From this map he worked out the
ayanamsa of the date which enables all tropical ephemerides to be
converted t the sidereal. A lengthy statistical study by Garth Allen
altered this ayanamsa by only 6 minutes and this was accepted by Fagan.
At that time he regarded Spica as the marking point of the sidereal
zodiac but lately, on finding that this ayanamsa puts ALDEBARAN in
exactly 15d 0'0" of sidereal Taurus he felt that we should consider
this fixed star as the marking point. Aldebaran is, of course, in very
close opposition to ANTARES, making a very powerful axis.
Through the courtesy of Mr. and later Mrs. Clancy he contributed to
American Astrology Magazine 170 articles on the sidereal entitled
"Solunars" which were widely read all over the world. These contain
much of his wisdom. Must these remain buried in back numbers? I can
only hope that someone will be able to write them up in a book on the
sidereal. This would be a wonderful contribution to sidereal
astrology.
In his book Zodiacs Old and New he gave some details of his
discovery and in "Symbolism of the Star Constellations" which is
unfortunately out of print, he developed the sidereal theme. The
essence of his wisdom in this respect is to be issued shortly in a new
book entitled Astrological Origins. He set so much store by this book
that it is a tragedy the he died before he could see it in print. He
had other books planned including one on the Oktopos, an eightfold
clockwise division of the ecliptic which he claimed was invented by
Imhotep. A life long supporter of the Campanus system, he had finally
abandoned this in favour of the Oktopos which he had already begun to
use in his "Solunars." He also planned a new textbook to replace the
Primer of Sidereal Astrology issued in our joint names. This is now
out off of print but I will do what I can to get it re-issued.
At his death progressed Sun was almost exact square to progressed
Saturn. This seems to have been the fatal aspect.
Cyril was a very human man and a good friend. When he was in
England I was in constant touch with him and from abroad we remained in
constant communication through letters. I shall miss him very much as
a friend and the world will miss him as a great astrologer.
* * * * *
EVENTS in Cyril Fagan's life:
Death of Father - October 11, 1910
Thrombosis - February 19, 1929 Death of Mother - April 28, 1930
Great Discovery - May 14, 1949 (Hypsomata)
Voyage to Morocco for studies - October 10, 1954
Resignation (began full time research) October 2, 1956
Death of sister, considerable inheritance - August 23, 1962
Death - January 5, 1970 between 3 & 5 am, Tucson, Arizona.
* * * * *
OTHER PIONEER SIDEREALISTS:
BRIGADIER ROY C. FIREBRACE (publisher of SPICA, A SIDEREAL JOURNAL)
(sent to me by Brigadier Firebrace): 16 AUG 1889; 5:00 pm InterColonial
or Atlantic time (-4h 14' 20"); Halifax, Nova Scotia 63w35, 44n38';
Died 10 NOV 1974, 10:30 am, London. Rectified time given to James
Eshelman & noted 10/75 SPICA (pub. by Nerak Enterprises, Orange, CA
USA): 21:00:19 UT (4:45:55 PM LMT).
DR. MARY AUSTIN, 27 FEB 1914, 03:39pm, Bournemouth, England 1w53'
50n43' (from April 73 SPICA).
GARTH ALLEN (Donald Bradley): (from American Astrology): 16 MAY
1925; 2:04 am CST; 40n21' 97w35' Nebraska; Died 25 APR 1974, 11:25PM
MST, 110w59 32n14.
RUPERT GLEADOW (data from inside of his book he autographed): 22 NOV
1909, 11:55 am, Leicester, England. Died 30 OCT 1974.
* * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
On the Value of Opinion
[OPINION] A spinoff with stories in stories... Kay Cavender's "On The
Value of Opinion (Be it Mystical or Insurance Reporting). Thanks to
the irritating car salesman who sparked this harrumph by scorning
astrology.
* * * *
ON THE VALUE OF OPINION
(Be It Mystical or Insurance Reporting)
ON ASTROLOGY OR WHATEVER:
(With Reference Also To This Opinion)
BUBBLES INSIDE BUBBLES, SPHERES IN SPHERES,
LUNAR-SENSE ALL! BELIEVE IT OR NOT!
Since my "interpretation" in astrology would follow from my basic
axioms or beliefs about it, it is only fair that I present some
explanation of said basic axioms. Basic #1: I believe that astrology
is a way to wisdom, a means for directing the intuition through complex
symbols, a science for the intuition, in other words, an art. Basic
#2: I believe that at best an interpretation can be suggestive,
provocative, perhaps evocative, but not absolutely "right." The rest of
my basic axioms, in my opinion, are found in the following stories (for
those who have ears). Of course, that will require the reader's
interpretation.
UMPTEENTH ACT: STREET SCENE: At any given point in time and space,
ask any three or four persons on the street to make an observation and
judgement, i.e., a "prediction" about traffic: what will happen in the
street. A small boy yells, "Two cars are going to crash into my ball!"
He notices because his ball just rolled into the street. An ecstatic
mechanic looks and says, "A new blue Caddie is coming." He goes home
and writes an inspired poem about it. Cadallac buys the poem for a
commercial and the mechanic is doubly enriched, and he only noticed one
car. Another man, an insurance man, looks up from a conversation and
says, "Those guys in the Ford and Caddie are going to crash. One looks
like a guy we insured last week. There go our profits." A Communist
theorist full of passionate intensity and much conviction is moved to
deliver a polemic on selfish capitalist imperialists, riding around
one-to-a-car, who will ultimately destroy themselves."
Who is right? I believe them all - each viewpoint in their own
context. None has the ultimate truth. All judgments are ultimately
based FIRST on one's subjective values which focus one's objective
perceptions. A subjective judgment is much like an objective judgment:
it depends on the observer and his viewpoint. And the judgment of the
VALUE of any interpretation is subjective; truth is what we believe it
to be.
To illustrate, let me give the version of another observer from
Indres Shah's The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin, a
legendary wise fool:
"Laws as such do not make people better," said Nasrudin to the King,
"people must practice certain things in order to become attuned to
inner truth. This form of truth resembles apparent truth only
slightly."
The King decided that he could, and WOULD, make people observe the
truth. He could make them practice truthfulness. His city was entered
by a bridge. On this he built a gallows. The following day, when the
gates were opened at dawn, the Captain of the Guard was stationed with
a squad of troops to examine all who entered.
An announcement was made: "Everyone will be questioned. If he
tells the truth, he will be allowed to enter. If he lies, he will be
hanged."
Nasrudin stepped forward.
"Where are you going?" asked the Guard.
"I'm on my way," Nasrudin said slowly, "to be hanged."
"We don't believe you!"
"Very well, if I have told a lie, hang me!"
"But if we hang you for lying, we will have made what you said come
true!"
"That's right; now you know what truth is - your truth!"
And, Mulla's observation (notice he ignores the cars completely and
tells his own story) is no more complete than the Kruschiev fan's. And
this story no more right than either - just another streetwalker's
version. But perhaps, provocative and suggestive. And there's always
more! We have yet to hear from the fairy godmother!
Let us suppose the accident is averted. (Avert! Avert!) The man
in the Ford suddenly steps on his brakes and honks, then the man in the
Caddie does likewise. Does this prove the observers wrong or
fraudulent? No, again their judgments, I believe, were consistent with
their own perception and context; always other factors are at work. A
value of one judgement lies in the fact that the Ford owner heard the
boy yell and noticed his danger. In the meantime, each believes he is
right. Each was - in his own context. This opinion is that no one has
the ultimate truth. Others hold they have. Theoretically in our
country, the majority rules - whether right or wrong. And it might be
remembered, the majority crucified Christ! Another weighty matter.
"There are more things in this world, Horatio, than you or I dream of."
But now, Mulla pulls at my arm with another suggestive story:
"What is Fate?" Nasrudin was asked by a scholar.
"An endless succession of intertwined events, each influencing the
other."
"That is hardly a satisfactory answer. I believe in cause and
effect."
"Very well," said the Mulla, "look at that." He pointed to a
procession passing in the street.
"That man is being taken to be hanged. Is that because someone gave
him a silver piece and enabled him to buy the knife with which he
committed the murder; or because someone saw him do it; or because no
one stopped him, or...?"
There's more! and less...!
And what of the individuals inside the cars? Surely to them who are
the actors, all of this speculation is not as significant as living the
role? Don't they decide the ultimate meaning for themselves? Well,
sometimes. The man in the beautiful blue Caddie had too much to drink
and one arm and half his remaining attention around a woman. He swears
at the idiocy of the Ford driver and shouts the blame at him. He
believes he is right. The driver of the Ford is a student of astrology
and doesn't pay attention to the Caddie driver because he is writing
down the time of his near-accident for study with his Lunar Returns and
his Tarot reader's predictions. Had there been an accident, the
astrologer may also have been interested in the observers' viewpoints
for insurance reports.
But, you say, "Put them together and what have you got?" Well,
"Bippetty Boppetty Boo!" Any magic here? Bugaboos. Bubbles yet.
Predictions, wands, and insurance reports are still the stuff that
dreams are made of. Illusions. Poooph! One no more true than the
other. Don't they exist? Definitely. Fairy godmothers, of both the
good and evil variety, also exist in an imaginary world, and not so far
removed from evil capitalists or communists, depending on one's
viewpoint. Both evil capitalists and even communists are mental
constructs of less quality than fairy godmothers. Here we are, eternal
dreamers dreaming non-eternal dreams.
"Mich-a-ga-roola roo!"
will work magic, believe it or not --"
but only
If one remembers to ask
for the magic words...
"That readiness is all,"
in this opinion.
As for the resolution of these tales, the ultimate pronouncement:
It doesn't make any difference in the long run or the short run, except
for those to whom it does make a difference. They will straighten the
stories out this time, or the next time around, or some other time once
upon a life. Time? Maybe before. Maybe not.
Bippetty Boppetty BE-
Lieve It or Not!
BOO!
March 1969
Value of Opinion (Be it Mystical or Insurance Reporting). Thanks to
the irritating car salesman who sparked this harrumph by scorning
astrology.
* * * *
ON THE VALUE OF OPINION
(Be It Mystical or Insurance Reporting)
ON ASTROLOGY OR WHATEVER:
(With Reference Also To This Opinion)
BUBBLES INSIDE BUBBLES, SPHERES IN SPHERES,
LUNAR-SENSE ALL! BELIEVE IT OR NOT!
Since my "interpretation" in astrology would follow from my basic
axioms or beliefs about it, it is only fair that I present some
explanation of said basic axioms. Basic #1: I believe that astrology
is a way to wisdom, a means for directing the intuition through complex
symbols, a science for the intuition, in other words, an art. Basic
#2: I believe that at best an interpretation can be suggestive,
provocative, perhaps evocative, but not absolutely "right." The rest of
my basic axioms, in my opinion, are found in the following stories (for
those who have ears). Of course, that will require the reader's
interpretation.
UMPTEENTH ACT: STREET SCENE: At any given point in time and space,
ask any three or four persons on the street to make an observation and
judgement, i.e., a "prediction" about traffic: what will happen in the
street. A small boy yells, "Two cars are going to crash into my ball!"
He notices because his ball just rolled into the street. An ecstatic
mechanic looks and says, "A new blue Caddie is coming." He goes home
and writes an inspired poem about it. Cadallac buys the poem for a
commercial and the mechanic is doubly enriched, and he only noticed one
car. Another man, an insurance man, looks up from a conversation and
says, "Those guys in the Ford and Caddie are going to crash. One looks
like a guy we insured last week. There go our profits." A Communist
theorist full of passionate intensity and much conviction is moved to
deliver a polemic on selfish capitalist imperialists, riding around
one-to-a-car, who will ultimately destroy themselves."
Who is right? I believe them all - each viewpoint in their own
context. None has the ultimate truth. All judgments are ultimately
based FIRST on one's subjective values which focus one's objective
perceptions. A subjective judgment is much like an objective judgment:
it depends on the observer and his viewpoint. And the judgment of the
VALUE of any interpretation is subjective; truth is what we believe it
to be.
To illustrate, let me give the version of another observer from
Indres Shah's The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin, a
legendary wise fool:
"Laws as such do not make people better," said Nasrudin to the King,
"people must practice certain things in order to become attuned to
inner truth. This form of truth resembles apparent truth only
slightly."
The King decided that he could, and WOULD, make people observe the
truth. He could make them practice truthfulness. His city was entered
by a bridge. On this he built a gallows. The following day, when the
gates were opened at dawn, the Captain of the Guard was stationed with
a squad of troops to examine all who entered.
An announcement was made: "Everyone will be questioned. If he
tells the truth, he will be allowed to enter. If he lies, he will be
hanged."
Nasrudin stepped forward.
"Where are you going?" asked the Guard.
"I'm on my way," Nasrudin said slowly, "to be hanged."
"We don't believe you!"
"Very well, if I have told a lie, hang me!"
"But if we hang you for lying, we will have made what you said come
true!"
"That's right; now you know what truth is - your truth!"
And, Mulla's observation (notice he ignores the cars completely and
tells his own story) is no more complete than the Kruschiev fan's. And
this story no more right than either - just another streetwalker's
version. But perhaps, provocative and suggestive. And there's always
more! We have yet to hear from the fairy godmother!
Let us suppose the accident is averted. (Avert! Avert!) The man
in the Ford suddenly steps on his brakes and honks, then the man in the
Caddie does likewise. Does this prove the observers wrong or
fraudulent? No, again their judgments, I believe, were consistent with
their own perception and context; always other factors are at work. A
value of one judgement lies in the fact that the Ford owner heard the
boy yell and noticed his danger. In the meantime, each believes he is
right. Each was - in his own context. This opinion is that no one has
the ultimate truth. Others hold they have. Theoretically in our
country, the majority rules - whether right or wrong. And it might be
remembered, the majority crucified Christ! Another weighty matter.
"There are more things in this world, Horatio, than you or I dream of."
But now, Mulla pulls at my arm with another suggestive story:
"What is Fate?" Nasrudin was asked by a scholar.
"An endless succession of intertwined events, each influencing the
other."
"That is hardly a satisfactory answer. I believe in cause and
effect."
"Very well," said the Mulla, "look at that." He pointed to a
procession passing in the street.
"That man is being taken to be hanged. Is that because someone gave
him a silver piece and enabled him to buy the knife with which he
committed the murder; or because someone saw him do it; or because no
one stopped him, or...?"
There's more! and less...!
And what of the individuals inside the cars? Surely to them who are
the actors, all of this speculation is not as significant as living the
role? Don't they decide the ultimate meaning for themselves? Well,
sometimes. The man in the beautiful blue Caddie had too much to drink
and one arm and half his remaining attention around a woman. He swears
at the idiocy of the Ford driver and shouts the blame at him. He
believes he is right. The driver of the Ford is a student of astrology
and doesn't pay attention to the Caddie driver because he is writing
down the time of his near-accident for study with his Lunar Returns and
his Tarot reader's predictions. Had there been an accident, the
astrologer may also have been interested in the observers' viewpoints
for insurance reports.
But, you say, "Put them together and what have you got?" Well,
"Bippetty Boppetty Boo!" Any magic here? Bugaboos. Bubbles yet.
Predictions, wands, and insurance reports are still the stuff that
dreams are made of. Illusions. Poooph! One no more true than the
other. Don't they exist? Definitely. Fairy godmothers, of both the
good and evil variety, also exist in an imaginary world, and not so far
removed from evil capitalists or communists, depending on one's
viewpoint. Both evil capitalists and even communists are mental
constructs of less quality than fairy godmothers. Here we are, eternal
dreamers dreaming non-eternal dreams.
"Mich-a-ga-roola roo!"
will work magic, believe it or not --"
but only
If one remembers to ask
for the magic words...
"That readiness is all,"
in this opinion.
As for the resolution of these tales, the ultimate pronouncement:
It doesn't make any difference in the long run or the short run, except
for those to whom it does make a difference. They will straighten the
stories out this time, or the next time around, or some other time once
upon a life. Time? Maybe before. Maybe not.
Bippetty Boppetty BE-
Lieve It or Not!
BOO!
March 1969
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Choice vs. Determinism in Life
[CHOICE] Choice vs. Determinism in Life, Literature & Astrology:
Philosophic Implications. Kay Cavender. "The study of Sidereal
Astrology contains the connection between character and the mathematic
position of bodies in our solar system and in relation to the universe.
That's an incredible and astonishing idea in itself." "Astrology by
the mere intent and act of attempting to see a person in terms of the
framework of our solar system and cosmos does imply universal
archetypes as a philosophic construct."
* * * *
CHOICE VS. DETERMINISM IN LIFE, LITERATURE & ASTROLOGY:
PHILOSOPHIC IMPLICATIONS.
Kay Cavender
In 1968, I wrote in my beginning astrology notebook: "Be careful
what you look for in astrology as in life; you shall surely find it,
and it will be yourself. As with any philosophical or religious
pursuit, one can only know as much about astrology as one is willing to
know about oneself. Therefore, it behooves all of us to look for the
very best. We see the divinity we are; for we have only the capacity
for the divinity we see--or are willing to admit, not only about
ourselves, but also others. We see ourselves."
This was a statement of what I knew about myself and the world, and
to me even then, one's worldview could only be part of a selfview. In
literature, we can reflect on and ask such questions about human
nature. And in astrology, so must we also, as our interpretation of
depends on our preconceptions about 'life, the universe and
everything.'
Admittedly because of the terminology in astrology, such as
"rulerships," there would appear to be a mechanical, not a purposive
causation implied in astrology's conceptual framework. Unfortunately
such terminology is there from other ages and thought, even though many
psychologically savvy astrologers have rewritten the ideas for our
time. However, there are still preconceptions of our culture which
read determinism into our lives, rather than being open to the
implications that there is meaning in universe, a larger philosophy of
what it is all about. Astrology by the mere intent and act of
attempting to see a person in terms of the framework of our solar
system and cosmos does imply universal archetypes as a philosophic
construct. That's the big picture which is missed by those folk who
determinedly refuse to consider that some 'big hunks of rock out there
have anything to do with us.' And as that is the limited concept, they
rightfully refuse it.
Orson Scott Card in his Introduction to Cruel Miracles, gives a
thrilling and vital moral perspective on religious literature, which
would apply not just to life, but also to astrological thought as a
standard for exploration. Because we bring our understanding of life
to astrology, we must be wary to not ascribe our own understanding and
purposes to the universe. O. S. Card says gives one of the clearest
and most pertinent expositions on determinism in our current thinking
that I have seen:
"The need to discover purpose in our lives is a universal human
hunger....There is a tendency, though, in the "true" stories available
today to explain human behavior, to remove purpose--motive--from
serious consideration. We tend to accept the notion that mechanical,
not purposive, causation accounts for the things people do. Joe
Sinister is a criminal because his parents beat him or because of a
chemical imbalance in his brain or because of a genetic disorder that
removed the function we call conscience. Jane Dexter, on the other
hand, acts altruistically because she is compensating for feelings of
inadequacy or because she has a brain disorder that causes an
overactive sense of responsibility.
These explanations of human behavior may be accurate; I'm interested
in the question, but the issue of accuracy is, in fact, quite
irrelevant to human societies. A human community that uses mechanical
causation to account for human behavior 'cannot survive,' because it
cannot hold its members accountable for their behavior. That is, no
matter how you account for the origin of a human behavior, a community
must continue to judge the perpetrator on the basis of his intent, as
near as that intent can be understood (or guessed, or assumed). That
is why parents inevitably ask their children the unanswerable question:
Why did you do that? Terrible as that question is, it at least puts
the responsibility back on the child's head and forces the child to ask
himself the question that society absolutely requires him to answer:
Why do I do the things I do? And how, by changing my motives, can I
change my behavior? Whereas nothing is more debilitating or enervating
for a child than parents who do not ask why, but rather say. You're
just going through a phase, or, You can't help that, or I understand
that's just the way you are. Such a child, if he believes these
stories, has no hope of getting control of himself and therefore no
hope of becoming an adult, responsible citizen of the community. We
must believe in motives for human behavior, or we cannot maintain
community life.
And once we have embarked on that course--judging each other by
motive, rather than explaining behavior by mechanical causation alone
--the fundamental religious question of the meaning or purpose of life
cannot be avoided."
We must consider directly the issue of purpose versus mechanical
causation in connection with astrology. It is indeed an essential
question in any life philosophy and resulting psychology, and it is
still with us. I always find folk who think that astrology is
ultimately deterministic, that it uses the planets as a kind of
mechanical causation. "How can planets out there affect me here? Does
that means I am to accept I have no control over my life?" And indeed,
much terminology in astrology smacks of determinism. Some folk
dislike, and some folk like astrology for this reason. Often I think,
those who dislike such a concept are thinking and responsible people;
and those who like a deterministic causation, which absolves them of
responsibility, are those who don't want to be responsible for their
choices. "Synchronicity," a concept inherent not in astrology but in
good astrologers, suggests a psychological explanation for ultimately a
metaphysical philosophy. For both those who dislike and those who like
astrology for any reason, I recommend the Karl Jung's concept of
Synchronicity. For if you suspect all astrologers are making excuses,
you don't understand Synchronicity. It's an expansive and enriching
and freeing concept, and it goes with the astrological territory.
Consider the notion that our own energies move according to the same
principles as the planets, that one is born at a particular time
because of the kind of person he is, not that he is the person he
is because of time of birth. The natal is a marker or a description,
NOT a cause. One creates the world as it creates us. Interconnection.
We affect others as they affect us. It is more than a two-way street,
it's a multi-dimensional crossroads. To many but not to all, it is
obvious we are all each subject to our times and our place on earth in
terms of climate & season & political organization & culture & family &
sex, & many other multiples. And within the complexity, there have
always been attempts to discover principles which are universal behind
our mundane experience on Earth, principles which float the solar
system's planets as well as our lives, that we live in harmonic
resonance with. "I miss the meaning of my own part in the play of life
because I know not of the parts that others play," says the Indian poet
& philosopher Rabindranath Tagore.
In this day and age in the free world, we are not tortured and
killed for asking questions about the nature of the universe and
whatever we conceive of as God. Our beliefs which prohibit asking
questions are our major limit. We have an incredible access to ideas
if we are capable of them. For instance, one of the finest historical
models for understanding the complex and ever cycling principles behind
the "uni"(one)verse is the I Ching. (Please see Barbara Walker's
historical research, especially the Introduction to her I Ching of the
Goddess, on the earlier and original FU HSI Arrangement of Hexagrams;
it's a must read.) Cycles are the essence of astrology with its focus
on the changing Earth's day, the Moon's Month, and the Earth's yearly
seasonal cycle around the Sun, as well as the cycles of the other
celestial bodies in our solar system. But it is those quintessential
three--day, month, year--in which we live and have our being. And
these represent are the basic elements in a chart.
How we understand the nature of the world has a direct connection to
how we understand our own behavior. A 'metaphysic' in philosophy means
a notion of the nature of the world, an 'epistemology' - how we know,
and 'ethics' - how we act. All are related to our basic notions about
the world, whether we consider we have a philosophy or not. Admit it
or not, we each choose what we believe on some level. Certainly in
America, we give lip service to that ideal, and that fact that we can
means that it's at least a cultural option, which is a great quality
for a people to have as a group. Without the perception of options,
choice is limited. It's a good time and place to live. We can
understand that it is a perception that there is no choice, and that is
a perception we can choose to change.
In our culture we have literary models of an extended philosophy
which includes both the universe and a focus on choice, from
playwrights, poets, philosophers, and astrologers. Shakespeare: "Our
remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we ascribe to heaven. The
fated sky gives us free scope..." "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in
our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings." And R.E.
Emerson: "Man is his own star, and the soul that can render an honest
and a perfect man, commands all light, all wisdom and all fate." And
British astrologer C.E.O. Carter: "The natus is not, or at least need
not be the Man. It is rather his general life pattern and the
instruments available for his use."
References to this-or-that aspect must sound to the astrological
novice as reasons or excuses why someone does something rather than a
kind of "psychological shorthand" for one's characteristics that
astrology can provide, which such is meant to be. I personally assume
that either a Venusian or a Martian can commit murder: the Venusian may
wrap poison in candy so it tastes sweet and the Martian may just take
up a hatchet and start chopping, but either way it's murder. Now the
characteristic way/s a person moves in his own currents is totally
fascinating; it's always typical of a larger archetype. I have come to
see such archetypal psychological patterns as a given in the same way
that genetic ones give us 5 digits (we devoutly hope) on each limb.
But the characteristic "how" one does something is not an explanation
of 'why' or even 'what' one does. "Whys" are one's own choice, however
fraught with circumstances, whether one chooses to know that or not.
To understand character has been held to be the most important
philosophic end, even if it's only life service, it's been
written, even carved in stone: Know thyself! And I'm sure, even high
school English teachers still introduce the Greek idea that 'character
is fate.' Depending on one's philosophy/values, the character-fate
equation may not be as primary as the admonition of 'loving your
neighbor' (now there's a hard one--what I know about myself is that I
don't love even half of my neighbors), but even much current pop
psychological thinking would have us understand ourselves so we can
then accept ourselves before we can do the same for our neighbor. I'm
OK, you're OK.
Knowing one's character, like knowing the weather forecast, can help
one make better choices. If it is to rain, don't plan a picnic. If
your temperament is stormy, don't set yourself up as a diplomat (or
picnic leader). Self awareness can save days and years of hard knocks.
And being aware that character partakes of larger universal
characteristics, symbols, and/or archetypes is an affirmation in the
universal, (or cosmic, or whatever-biggest-word works here)
interconnectedness of life and consciousness. That 'high' may be an
affirmative religious one, but I absolutely applaud and affirm it.
(And Jupiter-Venus on this writer's M.C. is not a 'reason' for such
sentiment, but a description of a psychological given.) There is a
grand company who through the ages have had similar thoughts.
Hippocrates (4th c. B.C.): "The space between the earth and sky is
filled with spirit. The very movements of the sun, the moon, and the
stars are caused by the blowing of this spirit." Ptolemy: "Mortal as I
am, I know that I am born for a day, but when I follow the serried
multitude of the stars in their circular course, my feet no longer
touch the earth; I ascend to Zeus himself to feast me on ambrosia, the
food of the gods." Now that's a High! Hinge of Heaven to tread upon.
With astrology there is that additional dimension; each time one
casts a chart, one can affirm and also explore the nature of the
universe along with the individual, The study of Sidereal Astrology in
particular contains the connection between character and the mathematic
position of bodies in our solar system and in relation to the universe.
That's an incredible and astonishing idea in itself. Astrology was
once called the divine science because it was perceived to reveal
cosmic connections.
Unfortunately, few respectable academics today would even dare
to admit considering astrology for fear of not being accepted as
credible. Certainly very few scientists. People may aspire in
education to be an academic or scientist, but there's no money in
philosophy. Nor as R.C. Firebrace used to say, in good astrology. No
statistics can help us. I remember years ago in my first exposure to
Bertrand Russell, philosopher, sociologist, friend of Einstein,
contributor to symbolic logic, writer of such books as THE ABC'S Of
RELATIVITY, that he observed there is no way to scientifically prove
the Sun will rise tomorrow, that there are some things we just must
assume. I took that to heart. I 'thank the heavens' I have not feared
what others think respectable get in the way of my search for
understandings of inherent divine patterns, the archetypes, known in
other times as the gods and goddesses. Some would say the downside of
that is I'm not a respectable academic. But that's again a matter of
perspective. At this stage of my life, I would not change, nor would I
ever have whatever it has cost me, my pursuit of Sidereal Astrology as
a key to understanding my life.
Here's my bottom line choice perspective which is not statistically
or scientifically validated: I do think ultimately that the "purpose"
of the universe for humans can be and must be found in the purposes of
the human heart. That will be found in the person only. Besides
revealing the psychology with which we pursue our heart's desire, the
study of astrology can help one perceive that there is a kind of
archetypal order if not a purpose, and in so doing, that study can give
a lift to the perspective of the mind and heart. Many know and have
known this. The German poet Schiller wrote, "The stars of your destiny
are within your heart." A similar thought from a different culture is
expressed by Kouan-Tse: "The Tao (way) which is revealed by the sun's
course through the heavens is also revealed inside man's heart... It
is the vital energy which lends existence to being. On earth it makes
the five crops grow; up high, it orders the path of the stars." This
most common, kindred, and divine thought is summarized in a Chinese
saying: "Love everything in the universe because the sun and the earth
are but one body."
Joseph Campbell, one of greatest writers on mythology, in Myths To
Live By, expresses our felt basic oneness with the universe, and brings
us home again, earths us in that heavenly conviction.
"Our mythology now, therefore, is to be of infinite space and its
light, which is without as well as within. Like moths, we are caught
in the spell of its allure, flying to it outward, to the moon and
beyond, and flying to it, also inward."
"We also know that if divinity is to be found anywhere, it will not
be 'out there,' among or beyond the planets. Galileo showed that the
same physical laws that govern the movements of the bodies on earth
apply aloft, to the celestial spheres;... Furthermore we know that the
mathematics of those outermost spaces will already have been computed
here on earth by human minds. There are no laws out there that are not
right here; no gods out there that are not right here, and not only
here, but within us, in our minds."
* * * * *
Philosophic Implications. Kay Cavender. "The study of Sidereal
Astrology contains the connection between character and the mathematic
position of bodies in our solar system and in relation to the universe.
That's an incredible and astonishing idea in itself." "Astrology by
the mere intent and act of attempting to see a person in terms of the
framework of our solar system and cosmos does imply universal
archetypes as a philosophic construct."
* * * *
CHOICE VS. DETERMINISM IN LIFE, LITERATURE & ASTROLOGY:
PHILOSOPHIC IMPLICATIONS.
Kay Cavender
In 1968, I wrote in my beginning astrology notebook: "Be careful
what you look for in astrology as in life; you shall surely find it,
and it will be yourself. As with any philosophical or religious
pursuit, one can only know as much about astrology as one is willing to
know about oneself. Therefore, it behooves all of us to look for the
very best. We see the divinity we are; for we have only the capacity
for the divinity we see--or are willing to admit, not only about
ourselves, but also others. We see ourselves."
This was a statement of what I knew about myself and the world, and
to me even then, one's worldview could only be part of a selfview. In
literature, we can reflect on and ask such questions about human
nature. And in astrology, so must we also, as our interpretation of
depends on our preconceptions about 'life, the universe and
everything.'
Admittedly because of the terminology in astrology, such as
"rulerships," there would appear to be a mechanical, not a purposive
causation implied in astrology's conceptual framework. Unfortunately
such terminology is there from other ages and thought, even though many
psychologically savvy astrologers have rewritten the ideas for our
time. However, there are still preconceptions of our culture which
read determinism into our lives, rather than being open to the
implications that there is meaning in universe, a larger philosophy of
what it is all about. Astrology by the mere intent and act of
attempting to see a person in terms of the framework of our solar
system and cosmos does imply universal archetypes as a philosophic
construct. That's the big picture which is missed by those folk who
determinedly refuse to consider that some 'big hunks of rock out there
have anything to do with us.' And as that is the limited concept, they
rightfully refuse it.
Orson Scott Card in his Introduction to Cruel Miracles, gives a
thrilling and vital moral perspective on religious literature, which
would apply not just to life, but also to astrological thought as a
standard for exploration. Because we bring our understanding of life
to astrology, we must be wary to not ascribe our own understanding and
purposes to the universe. O. S. Card says gives one of the clearest
and most pertinent expositions on determinism in our current thinking
that I have seen:
"The need to discover purpose in our lives is a universal human
hunger....There is a tendency, though, in the "true" stories available
today to explain human behavior, to remove purpose--motive--from
serious consideration. We tend to accept the notion that mechanical,
not purposive, causation accounts for the things people do. Joe
Sinister is a criminal because his parents beat him or because of a
chemical imbalance in his brain or because of a genetic disorder that
removed the function we call conscience. Jane Dexter, on the other
hand, acts altruistically because she is compensating for feelings of
inadequacy or because she has a brain disorder that causes an
overactive sense of responsibility.
These explanations of human behavior may be accurate; I'm interested
in the question, but the issue of accuracy is, in fact, quite
irrelevant to human societies. A human community that uses mechanical
causation to account for human behavior 'cannot survive,' because it
cannot hold its members accountable for their behavior. That is, no
matter how you account for the origin of a human behavior, a community
must continue to judge the perpetrator on the basis of his intent, as
near as that intent can be understood (or guessed, or assumed). That
is why parents inevitably ask their children the unanswerable question:
Why did you do that? Terrible as that question is, it at least puts
the responsibility back on the child's head and forces the child to ask
himself the question that society absolutely requires him to answer:
Why do I do the things I do? And how, by changing my motives, can I
change my behavior? Whereas nothing is more debilitating or enervating
for a child than parents who do not ask why, but rather say. You're
just going through a phase, or, You can't help that, or I understand
that's just the way you are. Such a child, if he believes these
stories, has no hope of getting control of himself and therefore no
hope of becoming an adult, responsible citizen of the community. We
must believe in motives for human behavior, or we cannot maintain
community life.
And once we have embarked on that course--judging each other by
motive, rather than explaining behavior by mechanical causation alone
--the fundamental religious question of the meaning or purpose of life
cannot be avoided."
We must consider directly the issue of purpose versus mechanical
causation in connection with astrology. It is indeed an essential
question in any life philosophy and resulting psychology, and it is
still with us. I always find folk who think that astrology is
ultimately deterministic, that it uses the planets as a kind of
mechanical causation. "How can planets out there affect me here? Does
that means I am to accept I have no control over my life?" And indeed,
much terminology in astrology smacks of determinism. Some folk
dislike, and some folk like astrology for this reason. Often I think,
those who dislike such a concept are thinking and responsible people;
and those who like a deterministic causation, which absolves them of
responsibility, are those who don't want to be responsible for their
choices. "Synchronicity," a concept inherent not in astrology but in
good astrologers, suggests a psychological explanation for ultimately a
metaphysical philosophy. For both those who dislike and those who like
astrology for any reason, I recommend the Karl Jung's concept of
Synchronicity. For if you suspect all astrologers are making excuses,
you don't understand Synchronicity. It's an expansive and enriching
and freeing concept, and it goes with the astrological territory.
Consider the notion that our own energies move according to the same
principles as the planets, that one is born at a particular time
because of the kind of person he is, not that he is the person he
is because of time of birth. The natal is a marker or a description,
NOT a cause. One creates the world as it creates us. Interconnection.
We affect others as they affect us. It is more than a two-way street,
it's a multi-dimensional crossroads. To many but not to all, it is
obvious we are all each subject to our times and our place on earth in
terms of climate & season & political organization & culture & family &
sex, & many other multiples. And within the complexity, there have
always been attempts to discover principles which are universal behind
our mundane experience on Earth, principles which float the solar
system's planets as well as our lives, that we live in harmonic
resonance with. "I miss the meaning of my own part in the play of life
because I know not of the parts that others play," says the Indian poet
& philosopher Rabindranath Tagore.
In this day and age in the free world, we are not tortured and
killed for asking questions about the nature of the universe and
whatever we conceive of as God. Our beliefs which prohibit asking
questions are our major limit. We have an incredible access to ideas
if we are capable of them. For instance, one of the finest historical
models for understanding the complex and ever cycling principles behind
the "uni"(one)verse is the I Ching. (Please see Barbara Walker's
historical research, especially the Introduction to her I Ching of the
Goddess, on the earlier and original FU HSI Arrangement of Hexagrams;
it's a must read.) Cycles are the essence of astrology with its focus
on the changing Earth's day, the Moon's Month, and the Earth's yearly
seasonal cycle around the Sun, as well as the cycles of the other
celestial bodies in our solar system. But it is those quintessential
three--day, month, year--in which we live and have our being. And
these represent are the basic elements in a chart.
How we understand the nature of the world has a direct connection to
how we understand our own behavior. A 'metaphysic' in philosophy means
a notion of the nature of the world, an 'epistemology' - how we know,
and 'ethics' - how we act. All are related to our basic notions about
the world, whether we consider we have a philosophy or not. Admit it
or not, we each choose what we believe on some level. Certainly in
America, we give lip service to that ideal, and that fact that we can
means that it's at least a cultural option, which is a great quality
for a people to have as a group. Without the perception of options,
choice is limited. It's a good time and place to live. We can
understand that it is a perception that there is no choice, and that is
a perception we can choose to change.
In our culture we have literary models of an extended philosophy
which includes both the universe and a focus on choice, from
playwrights, poets, philosophers, and astrologers. Shakespeare: "Our
remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we ascribe to heaven. The
fated sky gives us free scope..." "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in
our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings." And R.E.
Emerson: "Man is his own star, and the soul that can render an honest
and a perfect man, commands all light, all wisdom and all fate." And
British astrologer C.E.O. Carter: "The natus is not, or at least need
not be the Man. It is rather his general life pattern and the
instruments available for his use."
References to this-or-that aspect must sound to the astrological
novice as reasons or excuses why someone does something rather than a
kind of "psychological shorthand" for one's characteristics that
astrology can provide, which such is meant to be. I personally assume
that either a Venusian or a Martian can commit murder: the Venusian may
wrap poison in candy so it tastes sweet and the Martian may just take
up a hatchet and start chopping, but either way it's murder. Now the
characteristic way/s a person moves in his own currents is totally
fascinating; it's always typical of a larger archetype. I have come to
see such archetypal psychological patterns as a given in the same way
that genetic ones give us 5 digits (we devoutly hope) on each limb.
But the characteristic "how" one does something is not an explanation
of 'why' or even 'what' one does. "Whys" are one's own choice, however
fraught with circumstances, whether one chooses to know that or not.
To understand character has been held to be the most important
philosophic end, even if it's only life service, it's been
written, even carved in stone: Know thyself! And I'm sure, even high
school English teachers still introduce the Greek idea that 'character
is fate.' Depending on one's philosophy/values, the character-fate
equation may not be as primary as the admonition of 'loving your
neighbor' (now there's a hard one--what I know about myself is that I
don't love even half of my neighbors), but even much current pop
psychological thinking would have us understand ourselves so we can
then accept ourselves before we can do the same for our neighbor. I'm
OK, you're OK.
Knowing one's character, like knowing the weather forecast, can help
one make better choices. If it is to rain, don't plan a picnic. If
your temperament is stormy, don't set yourself up as a diplomat (or
picnic leader). Self awareness can save days and years of hard knocks.
And being aware that character partakes of larger universal
characteristics, symbols, and/or archetypes is an affirmation in the
universal, (or cosmic, or whatever-biggest-word works here)
interconnectedness of life and consciousness. That 'high' may be an
affirmative religious one, but I absolutely applaud and affirm it.
(And Jupiter-Venus on this writer's M.C. is not a 'reason' for such
sentiment, but a description of a psychological given.) There is a
grand company who through the ages have had similar thoughts.
Hippocrates (4th c. B.C.): "The space between the earth and sky is
filled with spirit. The very movements of the sun, the moon, and the
stars are caused by the blowing of this spirit." Ptolemy: "Mortal as I
am, I know that I am born for a day, but when I follow the serried
multitude of the stars in their circular course, my feet no longer
touch the earth; I ascend to Zeus himself to feast me on ambrosia, the
food of the gods." Now that's a High! Hinge of Heaven to tread upon.
With astrology there is that additional dimension; each time one
casts a chart, one can affirm and also explore the nature of the
universe along with the individual, The study of Sidereal Astrology in
particular contains the connection between character and the mathematic
position of bodies in our solar system and in relation to the universe.
That's an incredible and astonishing idea in itself. Astrology was
once called the divine science because it was perceived to reveal
cosmic connections.
Unfortunately, few respectable academics today would even dare
to admit considering astrology for fear of not being accepted as
credible. Certainly very few scientists. People may aspire in
education to be an academic or scientist, but there's no money in
philosophy. Nor as R.C. Firebrace used to say, in good astrology. No
statistics can help us. I remember years ago in my first exposure to
Bertrand Russell, philosopher, sociologist, friend of Einstein,
contributor to symbolic logic, writer of such books as THE ABC'S Of
RELATIVITY, that he observed there is no way to scientifically prove
the Sun will rise tomorrow, that there are some things we just must
assume. I took that to heart. I 'thank the heavens' I have not feared
what others think respectable get in the way of my search for
understandings of inherent divine patterns, the archetypes, known in
other times as the gods and goddesses. Some would say the downside of
that is I'm not a respectable academic. But that's again a matter of
perspective. At this stage of my life, I would not change, nor would I
ever have whatever it has cost me, my pursuit of Sidereal Astrology as
a key to understanding my life.
Here's my bottom line choice perspective which is not statistically
or scientifically validated: I do think ultimately that the "purpose"
of the universe for humans can be and must be found in the purposes of
the human heart. That will be found in the person only. Besides
revealing the psychology with which we pursue our heart's desire, the
study of astrology can help one perceive that there is a kind of
archetypal order if not a purpose, and in so doing, that study can give
a lift to the perspective of the mind and heart. Many know and have
known this. The German poet Schiller wrote, "The stars of your destiny
are within your heart." A similar thought from a different culture is
expressed by Kouan-Tse: "The Tao (way) which is revealed by the sun's
course through the heavens is also revealed inside man's heart... It
is the vital energy which lends existence to being. On earth it makes
the five crops grow; up high, it orders the path of the stars." This
most common, kindred, and divine thought is summarized in a Chinese
saying: "Love everything in the universe because the sun and the earth
are but one body."
Joseph Campbell, one of greatest writers on mythology, in Myths To
Live By, expresses our felt basic oneness with the universe, and brings
us home again, earths us in that heavenly conviction.
"Our mythology now, therefore, is to be of infinite space and its
light, which is without as well as within. Like moths, we are caught
in the spell of its allure, flying to it outward, to the moon and
beyond, and flying to it, also inward."
"We also know that if divinity is to be found anywhere, it will not
be 'out there,' among or beyond the planets. Galileo showed that the
same physical laws that govern the movements of the bodies on earth
apply aloft, to the celestial spheres;... Furthermore we know that the
mathematics of those outermost spaces will already have been computed
here on earth by human minds. There are no laws out there that are not
right here; no gods out there that are not right here, and not only
here, but within us, in our minds."
* * * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Synchronicity
[SYNCHRON] Simple, lucid excerpts from Rupert Gleadow on
SYNCHRONICITY, Karl Jung's philosophic concept suggesting the
interconnectedness of psychology and the physical universe. In
another time, another version of same philosophy was found in
astrological concept of "correspondences."
See also DREIS' INDEX references to issues of Fagan's "Solunars"
wherein Fagan discusses Karl Jung.
* * * * *
ADDENDUM: Excerpts from
Rupert Gleadow, YOUR CHARACTER IN THE ZODIAC
In scientific work astronomers admit only one principle of
explanation, namely cause and effect. This is not because no other
exists, but only because it is convenient for scientists to limit
themselves to the study of causes and effects. As soon as they begin
to meet human beings outside the laboratory, they have to allow a
second valid principle of explanation, namely purpose. If I suddenly
give a howl, there are two possible explanations you can offer: the
cause may be some pain I suffer, and the purpose may be to call for
help. But both explanations can be valid at the same time. They are
not mutually exclusive. So it is quite conceivable that a third and
fourth principle of explanation may also exist, besides cause and
purpose. And in fact two more have been suggested, both based on the
work of Professor C. G. Jung.
One, called 'SYNCRONICITY,' was put forward by Dr. Jung himself
(and W. Pauli) in a book entitled The Interpretation of Nature and the
Psyche (1955). It means that events which occur at the same moment
have in some way the same implications. The world, after all, is a
coherent structure, for if it were not we should never know what to
expect; a cat could turn into an apply dumpling, or a cow jump over the
moon, at any moment and without asking our permission. But the laws of
nature are not broken.
This means that no part of the universe is ever arbitrarily cut off
from any other part. Everything therefore is to some extent linked
with everything else. The Moon draws an imperceptible tide on every
puddle, and since tiny and trivial events will be most obviously
affected by the forces around them, as the fall of a feather by the
faintest puff of wind, so it is fair to think that the local conditions
of events at any moment reflects to a very small extent the evolution
of the world as a whole.
On this principle DIVINATION would be possible, and also knowledge
of events at a distance, provided always that one's mind were as
perfectly undisturbed as a perfectly smooth mirror or an unruffled
lake--that one did not confuse the picture by one's own expectations,
hopes and guesses. When people try to foretell the future by cards or
crystal they find it much easier to confuse the picture with
expectations than to reflect it clearly.
But the present does contain a good deal of the future to which it
leads--not all, but a good deal. The diver half way between bridge and
water is going to make a splash; the train whizzing towards a station
will enter it unless interfered with; the burglar breaking a pane of
glass has exposed himself to a chance of prison. Yet this is not a
doctrine of determinism, since obviously the different forces already
acting in the present might cancel each other out, and then nothing
happens until you take a decision. So the future depends not on an
irresistible force, but on a small act of freewill.
Granted then that the present contains within it the ingredients of
the future, and is the germ from which the future grows, it is not so
absurd to take it as an emblem from which to prophesy.
Rupert Gleadow's THE ORIGIN OF THE ZODIAC,
"The Naming of the Constellations"
The zodiac grew up, and must have grown up, as a device for
measuring time. Only later did it come to be used for divination, and
later still for the analysis of character. But divination is not and
never has been based on cause and effect. The principle, which has
been best explained by Jung and Pauli, is synchronicity, or the
interpretation of signs occurring simultaneously. Divination is a
matter of signs, not causes, and the ancients did not suppose there to
be any mysterious causative influence of the stars. It is therefore a
waste of time for either astrologers or their enemies to try to
establish or disprove the existence of such an influence.
The Babylonians were deeply addicted to taking omens, and in
particular to observing them in the sky. This is one half of
astrological practice. But their method was basically empirical; they
expected a similar sign in heaven to be followed by a similar event on
earth in virtue of correspondence between heaven and earth, not in
consequence of any cause. And, most important, they did not time their
omens closely. The occurrence of a halo round the moon and enclosing
Venus would have two different significations according as it appeared
in the west or east, and possibly according to the width of the
conjunction; but it was only expected to foretell one event in the near
but not precise future, and it was not taken as a significant moment
from which the future should be counted. This, which is the other half
of astrological practice, was unknown to the Babylonians in the second
millennium.
* * *
NOTE: DREIS' INDEX TO FAGAN'S "SOLUNARS," (as published from
7/53 to 3/70) lists the following issues of American Astrology on Karl
Jung:
Jung, Karl: 11/66 p3 & 4;
Jung and Pauli: 8/56 p3, 4, 5;
Jung Astrological Experiment: 7/61 p3 & 4; 10/61 p4; 1/65 p2;
* * *
On Birthtime & Synchronicity
"Many Things," A.A. 6/41 & 10/65
The time-honored rule is to accept the moment at which a child
utters its first cry as the moment for which the horoscope of that
child should be calculated. The theory is briefly that, with the first
breath, the child, as a psychic entity, establishes a magnetic contact
with his physical environmental and sets into motion the rhythmic
mechanism of his life, both physical and psychic, which thereafter
remains perfectly synchronized with the periodicity that prevails
throughout all nature from that moment until his death.
Karl Jung, commenting on the synchronistic principle of Chinese
science, ancient and modern as distinct from our scientific principle
of causality, has this to say: "I found that there are psychic
parallelisms which cannot be related to each other casually but which
must be connected through another sequence of events. This connection
seemed to be essentially provided in the fact of the relative
simultaneity, therefore the expression synchronistic." ...
"In other words, whatever is born or done at this moment of time has
the qualities of the moment of time."
...From the viewpoint of the astrologer there are no pre-mature
births. We must accept the fact of birth as, and when, it occurs, and
to assume that it should have occurred at any other time is merely
splitting hairs. Jung summed it up neatly in the phrase that will bear
repetition: "Whatever is born or done at this moment of time has the
qualities of the moment of time."
* * * *
SYNCHRONICITY, Karl Jung's philosophic concept suggesting the
interconnectedness of psychology and the physical universe. In
another time, another version of same philosophy was found in
astrological concept of "correspondences."
See also DREIS' INDEX references to issues of Fagan's "Solunars"
wherein Fagan discusses Karl Jung.
* * * * *
ADDENDUM: Excerpts from
Rupert Gleadow, YOUR CHARACTER IN THE ZODIAC
In scientific work astronomers admit only one principle of
explanation, namely cause and effect. This is not because no other
exists, but only because it is convenient for scientists to limit
themselves to the study of causes and effects. As soon as they begin
to meet human beings outside the laboratory, they have to allow a
second valid principle of explanation, namely purpose. If I suddenly
give a howl, there are two possible explanations you can offer: the
cause may be some pain I suffer, and the purpose may be to call for
help. But both explanations can be valid at the same time. They are
not mutually exclusive. So it is quite conceivable that a third and
fourth principle of explanation may also exist, besides cause and
purpose. And in fact two more have been suggested, both based on the
work of Professor C. G. Jung.
One, called 'SYNCRONICITY,' was put forward by Dr. Jung himself
(and W. Pauli) in a book entitled The Interpretation of Nature and the
Psyche (1955). It means that events which occur at the same moment
have in some way the same implications. The world, after all, is a
coherent structure, for if it were not we should never know what to
expect; a cat could turn into an apply dumpling, or a cow jump over the
moon, at any moment and without asking our permission. But the laws of
nature are not broken.
This means that no part of the universe is ever arbitrarily cut off
from any other part. Everything therefore is to some extent linked
with everything else. The Moon draws an imperceptible tide on every
puddle, and since tiny and trivial events will be most obviously
affected by the forces around them, as the fall of a feather by the
faintest puff of wind, so it is fair to think that the local conditions
of events at any moment reflects to a very small extent the evolution
of the world as a whole.
On this principle DIVINATION would be possible, and also knowledge
of events at a distance, provided always that one's mind were as
perfectly undisturbed as a perfectly smooth mirror or an unruffled
lake--that one did not confuse the picture by one's own expectations,
hopes and guesses. When people try to foretell the future by cards or
crystal they find it much easier to confuse the picture with
expectations than to reflect it clearly.
But the present does contain a good deal of the future to which it
leads--not all, but a good deal. The diver half way between bridge and
water is going to make a splash; the train whizzing towards a station
will enter it unless interfered with; the burglar breaking a pane of
glass has exposed himself to a chance of prison. Yet this is not a
doctrine of determinism, since obviously the different forces already
acting in the present might cancel each other out, and then nothing
happens until you take a decision. So the future depends not on an
irresistible force, but on a small act of freewill.
Granted then that the present contains within it the ingredients of
the future, and is the germ from which the future grows, it is not so
absurd to take it as an emblem from which to prophesy.
Rupert Gleadow's THE ORIGIN OF THE ZODIAC,
"The Naming of the Constellations"
The zodiac grew up, and must have grown up, as a device for
measuring time. Only later did it come to be used for divination, and
later still for the analysis of character. But divination is not and
never has been based on cause and effect. The principle, which has
been best explained by Jung and Pauli, is synchronicity, or the
interpretation of signs occurring simultaneously. Divination is a
matter of signs, not causes, and the ancients did not suppose there to
be any mysterious causative influence of the stars. It is therefore a
waste of time for either astrologers or their enemies to try to
establish or disprove the existence of such an influence.
The Babylonians were deeply addicted to taking omens, and in
particular to observing them in the sky. This is one half of
astrological practice. But their method was basically empirical; they
expected a similar sign in heaven to be followed by a similar event on
earth in virtue of correspondence between heaven and earth, not in
consequence of any cause. And, most important, they did not time their
omens closely. The occurrence of a halo round the moon and enclosing
Venus would have two different significations according as it appeared
in the west or east, and possibly according to the width of the
conjunction; but it was only expected to foretell one event in the near
but not precise future, and it was not taken as a significant moment
from which the future should be counted. This, which is the other half
of astrological practice, was unknown to the Babylonians in the second
millennium.
* * *
NOTE: DREIS' INDEX TO FAGAN'S "SOLUNARS," (as published from
7/53 to 3/70) lists the following issues of American Astrology on Karl
Jung:
Jung, Karl: 11/66 p3 & 4;
Jung and Pauli: 8/56 p3, 4, 5;
Jung Astrological Experiment: 7/61 p3 & 4; 10/61 p4; 1/65 p2;
* * *
On Birthtime & Synchronicity
"Many Things," A.A. 6/41 & 10/65
The time-honored rule is to accept the moment at which a child
utters its first cry as the moment for which the horoscope of that
child should be calculated. The theory is briefly that, with the first
breath, the child, as a psychic entity, establishes a magnetic contact
with his physical environmental and sets into motion the rhythmic
mechanism of his life, both physical and psychic, which thereafter
remains perfectly synchronized with the periodicity that prevails
throughout all nature from that moment until his death.
Karl Jung, commenting on the synchronistic principle of Chinese
science, ancient and modern as distinct from our scientific principle
of causality, has this to say: "I found that there are psychic
parallelisms which cannot be related to each other casually but which
must be connected through another sequence of events. This connection
seemed to be essentially provided in the fact of the relative
simultaneity, therefore the expression synchronistic." ...
"In other words, whatever is born or done at this moment of time has
the qualities of the moment of time."
...From the viewpoint of the astrologer there are no pre-mature
births. We must accept the fact of birth as, and when, it occurs, and
to assume that it should have occurred at any other time is merely
splitting hairs. Jung summed it up neatly in the phrase that will bear
repetition: "Whatever is born or done at this moment of time has the
qualities of the moment of time."
* * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Velkovsky
[VELIKOVS] Evidence from astro-archaeology on Immanuel VELIKOVSKY'S
error in interpreting history, from letters by Cyril Fagan and Garth
Allen, plus excerpt from Peter Lancaster Brown's Megaliths Myths and
Men: An Introduction to Astro-Archaeology. Astrology as well as
astronomy is now "beset with UFOism and Danikenism and several other
pseudological overspills from outer space..." The pearls in this
collection irritated/inspired 'not' by peoples' interest in Velikovskys
Stitchins, or even Easter Death Comets, but from the lack of reliable
comment on same fascinating subjects.
* * * * *
EDITOR'S NOTE: Regarding Velikovsky vs. Venus, which planet he thought
collided with Mars as set forth in his Worlds in Collision, I can't
help wondering about his natal Venus and Mars aspects. His partial
data: June 10 (N.S.) 1895, Vitebsk, Russia, 30E12' 55N12' (-2:00:48).
Star constellation TAU SUN conjunct NEP (loose orb 3 degrees), semi-
square VEN (orb 2 deg), quincunx URA (orb 3 deg), & sesqui-square SAT
(loose orb 3deg). Most ironically amusing: his natal VENUS is
"conjunct" MARS (loose orb 3 deg) and square SAT (orb 1 deg), the two
classical 'malefics.' Just those aspects suggest that when those who
project themselves on events rather than being open to understanding,
they do so characteristically, however great their intellects.
* * * * * *
Cyril Fagan, "Many Things" (On E. Velikovsky)
5/66, American Astrology
From time to time letters are received at the editorial office from
writers who still cleave to the theory seemingly first propounded about
1950 by Immanuel Velikovsky in his Worlds in Collision that there was a
titanic collision between the earth and the head of a comet about the
middle of the first millennium B.C., which so altered the revolution of
the earth on its axis that the Sun, which erstwhile rose in the west
and set in the east, began to rise in the east and set in the west. In
consequence of this terrible impact a new planet was born and added to
our solar system; the planet Venus!
It would appear that the author of Worlds in Collision got his
decision as to the changed orientation of the earth from his perusal of
Professor A. Pogo's description of what he calls "...the astronomical
ceiling decoration..." found in the then newly discovered tomb of
Senmut. Pogo, who admitted he was not an Egyptologist, states inter
alia in his contribution to (14) "...A characteristic feature of the
Senmut ceiling is the astronomically objectionable orientation of the
southern panel. It has to be inspected, like the rest of the ceiling,
by a person facing north, so that Orion appears east of Sirius..." and
seemingly Velikovsky took this statement to mean at the time of Senmut
(c. 1400 B.C.) the sun rose in the west and set in the east.
But if Velikovsky took the trouble to glance at a modern horoscope
diagram, especially the rectangular variety he, too, would find the
orientation astronomically objectionable, for it is identical with that
of Senmut's astronomical ceiling which is nothing else but a copy of a
horoscope (as the legends, indeed, state) for the heliacal rising of
Sirius on New Year's Day of the common Egyptian calendar: an event
which can only recur for a tetraeteris (4 year period) about 1456
years!
Additional copies of the same horoscope were found in the two
temples of Rameses II at Abydos and at Madinat Habu; in the tombs of
Rameses VI, VII, IX at Thebes (c. 1150 B.C.) in the sarcophagus of
Prince Nectanebo, and in the coffin of Hor-nef-tef of the Saite period
(663-420 B.C.) and in the two tombs at Alfih of the Ptolemaic period
(305-30 B.C.) where they acted as talismans promising longevity in the
Elysian Fields.
Sidereal Campanus: OLDEST HOROSCOPE July 16 O.S., 2767 B.C.
M.C. 10ARI37, llth 9TAU00, 12th 18GEM41, ASC 28CAN52, 2nd 26LEO59,
3rd 19VIR00, MARS 19CAN01, JUP 21CAN35, SAT 24CAN53, VEN 25CAN42,
SUN 10LEO34, MER 28LEO54, MOON 19AQU02
These copies show a very rare quadruple conjunction of Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn and Venus (as Mars was identified with the evil god
Seth, for superstitious reasons in a few copies it was omitted), with
Venus, under its Pyramidic name of the Benu-bird or Bird of the
Inundation risen in the east just above the Ascendant. Retrospective
calculation discloses that such a conjunction actually took place on
July 16 (O.S.) 2767 B.C. which happened to be New Year's Day of the
common Egyptian calendar, and incidentally midsummer day. On this date
Sirius rose heliacally at Heliopolis the Greenwich of Egypt! Note the
accompanying chart which is a copy of the oldest extant horoscope in
existence!
Apart from the above, the 63rd Tablet of the great Babylonian Enuma
Anu Enlil series gives the heliacal rising and settings in Nin-se-an-na
(Venus) in terms of the Babylonian months (not the zodiac, which was
unknown to the Babylonians at this period, not yet being imported from
Egypt) during 22 successive years in the reign of Ammisaduqa of the
First Babylonian Dynasty. There can be no question that Nin-se-an-na
is identical with Venus for the periodicity of its heliacal risings and
settings are the same as those of Venus, and for no other planet.
On the 1st Nisan, the first day of the Hypsomatic lunar year,
commencing April 4, 786 B.C. the triad comprising the Sun, Moon and
Venus were found precisely in their traditional degrees of their
exaltation! Apart from such considerations it is known that Babylonian
and Assyrian sanctuaries, dating from that of Enlil-Assur-Zikurrat in
2931 B.C. to Nabu's Temple in 606 B.C., whose foundation dates were
recorded, were oriented on the 1st Nisan of the foundation year, to the
Pedjeshes (an arc of a circle intersecting Benetnash and Spica), which
has been confirmed by the researches of Gunter-Martiny, P.V.
Neugebauer, Boker and others. But such confirmation would not be
possible had the axes of the earth suffered a somersault as claimed in
Worlds in Collision.
* * * *
Cyril Fagan, "Solunars," AA 2/67
"The Sidereal and Its Detractors"
As with all seemingly new subjects, detractors of the sidereal
version of the zodiac are not a few. For the most part they are
theorists who never really studied the authentic history of the Zodiac,
nor of astronomy and astrology in remote antiquity. What little they
do know has been gleaned from questionable sources, which seem to rely
more on occult information than on sound academic scholarship. Of
course, the older generation of astrologers, who boast of an
astrological library, generally refer, with satisfaction, to the
writings of Sir Isaac Newton, Sayce, and the numerous tracts of the
Hon. Emmiline Plunkett, reprinted from the "Proceedings of the Society
of Biblical Archeology" towards the close of the 19th century, and to
many others, to refute the claims of siderealists; their "bible" being
"Constellations and Calendars" by the Hon. Emmiline Plunkett (1904).
Writing from Vienna several years ago, Weidner, the great
Assyriologist, informed the present writer that the statements, dates,
translations and conclusion about Babylonia and Assyria, published in
books prior to 1920 should be completely discountenanced and were not
longer authoritative or valid. For since that year great headway had
been made by scholars in the correct transcription of cuneiform texts
and in the understanding of ancient texts and in the understanding of
ancient Mesopotamian chronology, rendering worthless all that had been
written about Babylonia and Assyria before 1920. In particular the
charts, dates, theories and conclusions arrived at, in "Calendars and
Constellations," are now known to be completely false, in the light of
the new discoveries. In academic circles the book has, so to speak,
long ago has been consigned to the trash can!
THE TRUTH
Whether we care to believe it or not, it is an incontestable fact,
proved to the hilt by scholars, from the excavated cuneiform tablets of
Babylonia and Assyria, and from the papyri of Egypt that the original,
and hence authentic, version of the zodiac was sidereal. It was in
this version that all the rulerships, exaltations and astrological
aphorisms that have come down to us from hoary antiquity were framed.
They were never intended to apply to the tropical version, where they
are a misfit. The Greeks made the cardinal blunder in believing that
just because the equinoxes perpetually rose due East and set due West
they were fixed point in the ambient for all eternity. Hence they made
them fixed points in their version of the zodiac that originally hailed
from Egypt. About 900 B.C. their zodiac showed the vernal-point fixed
in Aries 15d. Some centuries later they shifted it to Aries 12d and
then to Aries 10d. At the time of the Babylonian astronomer Naburiannu
(500 B.C.), the Greeks fixed the equinox in Aries 8d and about 379 B.C.
they altered it to Aries 4d, to bring it into conformity with Kidinnu's
solilunar tablets. About 139 B.C. the Greek astronomer Hipparchus was
alleged to have discovered the phenomenon known as "The Precession of
the Equinoxes." But he, and Claudius Ptolemy after him, firmly adhered
to the opinion it was the fixed stars that were moving, and that the
equinoxes were fixed. It was not until the medieval ages--the time of
Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo and Copernicus--that it was discovered it
was the equinoxes that were moving and not the fixed stars! Just
because the Greeks hitched the vernal-equinox to their versions of the
zodiac, all of them were tropical. The present version, with the
vernal-equinox fixed in Aries 0d was invented by Posidonius (c 135--50
B.C.) and promulgated by his pupil Geminus, according to Bouche-
Leclercq ("L'Astrologie Greque", Paris, 1899). It had no existence
prior to the second century B.C. So the statements of Emmiline
Plunkett and many others that the tropical version of the zodiac, as is
known to us today, is of immense antiquity and invented by the
Babylonians is just a fairy tale. Incidentally Aries did not exist in
the Babylonian zodiac. Its place was taken by Khun.ga "the hirling"!
In the original Egyptian version Sa the ram, St the ewe and S3 sa the
lamb occupy precisely the place in the zodiac now known as Aries,
provided the so-called "decans" are read as pentades. The Egyptians
and the Babylonians (i.e. the Chaldeans) hitched their zodiac to the
fixed stars; and which has never altered down the long corridors of
time. The Greeks in ignorance hitched it to the retrograding
equinoxes, and in consequence it is altering all the time. These are
the facts of history. They are not theories....
THE SINKING OF ATLANTIS
Notwithstanding the fact that the many "Celestial Diagrams," as they
are called by scholars, found in Egyptian temples and tombs of many
dynasties, prove to be copies of a star chart for the heliacal rising
of Sirius on New Years Day of the common Egyptian calendars, as their
legends in fact state, which retrospective computations demonstrate
conclusively to have occurred on July 16, 2767 B.C. (see The Symbolism
of the Constellations) scholars are not persuaded that astrology
flourished in Egypt at such a remote date because of the complete lack
of collateral records. However, Garth Allen, has now very kindly
brought to our attention an article in the Saturday Review of November
6, 1966 which discusses in some detail, Professor Angelos Galanopoulos,
(the Greek seismologist) apparent discovery that the volcanic island of
Santorini (N 36d 22' 01"; E 25d 28' 33") or what now remains of it, in
the Aegan Sea, was identical with ancient Atlantis which erupted and
almost completely disappeared about 1400 B.C. This tallied with the
Eighteenth Egyptian Dynasty. Sacred writing of this period "...tell of
a time of prolonged darkness, thunder, floods, plague and days when the
Sun was 'in the sky like the Moon'... Confusion seized the eyes, there
was not exit from the palace... Now these nine days were in violence
and tempest; none could see the face of his fellow man...O that the
earth would cease from noise. The towns have been destroyed...Upper
Egypt has been wasted..." Is this the real reason there were no
records? Was the land so completely covered with flooding silt that
everything was destroyed? In the light of Galanopoulos's epoch-making
discovery, it seems very like it.
It now appears fairly obvious that in his "Collision of Two Worlds"
Velikovsky has mistaken the disaster caused by the eruption and sinking
of Atlantis as that caused by the highly improbable collision of the
head of a comet with the earth, resulting in the formation of the
planet Venus. Apart from the fact that "The Venus Tablets of
Ammisaduqa," which treat of the heliacal risings and setting of the
planet Venus in terms of the Babylonian lunar calendar (and not in
terms of the constellations or signs of the zodiac, which were unknown
to the Babylonians at this period) during the reign of Hammurapi, a
king of the 1st Babylonian dynasty (18 century B.C.), the celestial
diagrams of Egypt depict the planet Venus as the Benu-bird (pink heron)
which they identified with the fabulous Phoenix, just risen above the
Ascendant. Calculation reveals that at the moment of Sirius' heliacal
rising on July 16, 2767 B.C. at Heliopolis, Venus in 25CAN42' had risen
by 3 degrees above the Ascendant, which was in 28CAN52'.
* * *
Research Dept. (G. Allen?) American Astrology 9/72
Yes, Mr Fagan commented on Velikovsky's opinion (don't misname it
"research") in past "Solunars" easily demonstrating the absurdity of
Velikovsky's theory about the recent origin of Venus. Ephemerides of
Venus compiled by at least three different ancient civilizations show
Venus right where Venus should be, much earlier than its alleged
"origin." The author you so vainly vaunt is obviously inept in
celestial dynamics, just as he was inept in geology, archaeology,
history and ancient literature (especially the Biblical kind), so
calling his work well-documented and convincing just doesn't ring true.
To those who know these subjects well are more amused by, than
contemptuous of his writings, which have staged a come-back in this age
of paperback reprints of interesting rubbish.
But even if Velikovsky's fancies were facts, how could they possibly
impinge upon the historical reconstruction of astrology. Fagan's
studies reveal primarily what was believed and done by astrologers in
antiquity and how these beginnings have affected modern astrological
ideas.... Since the vast majority of astrologers in the history of the
world have been siderealists, and the traditional threads have run
unbroken through some five millennia, the Western popularization of
classical astrology by Cyril Fagan is hardly to be taken as something
worked out from a premise either true or false. The statement in your
letter is surely the non sequitur of the year. We suggest that you dig
just a little deeper into the facts, read just a little more
extensively, and be just a bit less impressed by lurid reading matter.
Reality is more fascinating than fiction.
* * * * * *
Peter Lancaster Brown, MEGALITHS MYTHS AND MEN: AN INTRODUCTION
TO ASTRO-ARCHAEOLOGY - Excerpt regarding I. Velikovsky
But it was not until 1881, when the Jesuit fathers Epping and
Strassmaier recognized sophisticated Babylonian lunar theory in
cuneiform texts, that the real scientific astronomy of the ancient
world came to light.
The interpretation of Babylonian astronomy has its own
controversies. One of the earliest scientific texts concerns the Venus
tablets of Ammizaduga (found in Assurbanipal's library), which are now
counted among the treasured possessions of the British Museum. These
tablets are closely involved with Immanuel Velikovsky's contentious
theories. Among numerous hyperspeculations, Velikovsky proposed that
two major catastrophes occurred sometime in the past owing to the
Earth's dynamic interaction with a comet and then Mars. The comet
encounter with the Earth supposedly took place about -1500, and as a
consequence the comet became transformed into the planet Venus: the
Mars encounter supposedly took place in -687. In both encounters
Velikovsky claimed that the directions of the Earth's axial spin was
switched plus the angle of tilt of the axis itself, resulting in a
major change in the obliquity of the ecliptic.
These catastrophe theories of Velikovsky are in fact an updated
interpretation of a fanciful seventeenth-century idea of Edmond Halley
which he later revoked himself, and it was then taken up and developed
by William Whiston in his New Theory of the Earth (1696).
If Velikovsky's ideas are correct, the proof whould be forth-coming
in Megalithic alignments. It follows that Stonehenge and other
Megalithic monuments constructed before c. -15 -- would now not show
positive alignments to the Sun and Moon. These colourful cataclysms
have enormous dramatic appeal to a lay readership and in particular to
some contemporary student bodies revolting against so-called
traditional scientiful dogmatism and teaching authoritarianism; by
these Velikovsky is now considered something of a guru. In attempts to
counter the daming positive Stonehenge alignment evidence, Velikovsky
claims the monument was erected later than -687; he maintains that the
radiocarbon dates are completely unreliable, the archaeological data
wrong, and he is utterly convinced that artefacts originating from
Stonehenge which had been dated as belonging to the early second
millennium might easily have been placed there afterwards. Perhaps his
views echo the instances of the British penny discovered in the lower
levels of Harappa in the Indus Valley civilization, and the empty soda-
water bottle found in a very ancient South African site!
The Venus tables of Ammizaduga have also been drawn into these
arguments. Several books and many contentious papers have been written
about the Venus tablets. These have argued several premises but in
particular the problem relating to their actual date which is believed
at present to be c.-1645 to -1625; whereas Velikovsky's ideas would
place them about a millennium later. All who have attempted to
decipher the tablets have been faced with the problem of separating out
misleading scribal errors. These errors have been manipulated and
interpreted by Velikovsky and his acolytes in futile attempts to show
that Venus has not always moved in the orbit she moves in today, and
indeed they believe that the tablets justify and support the
catastrophe theory.
The old diffusion-versus-independent-innovation arguments hound
astronomy as much as they do archaeology. Perhaps even more so since
astronomy is now beset with UFOism and Danikenism and several other
pseudological overspills from outer space...
* * * * * * * * * * *
error in interpreting history, from letters by Cyril Fagan and Garth
Allen, plus excerpt from Peter Lancaster Brown's Megaliths Myths and
Men: An Introduction to Astro-Archaeology. Astrology as well as
astronomy is now "beset with UFOism and Danikenism and several other
pseudological overspills from outer space..." The pearls in this
collection irritated/inspired 'not' by peoples' interest in Velikovskys
Stitchins, or even Easter Death Comets, but from the lack of reliable
comment on same fascinating subjects.
* * * * *
EDITOR'S NOTE: Regarding Velikovsky vs. Venus, which planet he thought
collided with Mars as set forth in his Worlds in Collision, I can't
help wondering about his natal Venus and Mars aspects. His partial
data: June 10 (N.S.) 1895, Vitebsk, Russia, 30E12' 55N12' (-2:00:48).
Star constellation TAU SUN conjunct NEP (loose orb 3 degrees), semi-
square VEN (orb 2 deg), quincunx URA (orb 3 deg), & sesqui-square SAT
(loose orb 3deg). Most ironically amusing: his natal VENUS is
"conjunct" MARS (loose orb 3 deg) and square SAT (orb 1 deg), the two
classical 'malefics.' Just those aspects suggest that when those who
project themselves on events rather than being open to understanding,
they do so characteristically, however great their intellects.
* * * * * *
Cyril Fagan, "Many Things" (On E. Velikovsky)
5/66, American Astrology
From time to time letters are received at the editorial office from
writers who still cleave to the theory seemingly first propounded about
1950 by Immanuel Velikovsky in his Worlds in Collision that there was a
titanic collision between the earth and the head of a comet about the
middle of the first millennium B.C., which so altered the revolution of
the earth on its axis that the Sun, which erstwhile rose in the west
and set in the east, began to rise in the east and set in the west. In
consequence of this terrible impact a new planet was born and added to
our solar system; the planet Venus!
It would appear that the author of Worlds in Collision got his
decision as to the changed orientation of the earth from his perusal of
Professor A. Pogo's description of what he calls "...the astronomical
ceiling decoration..." found in the then newly discovered tomb of
Senmut. Pogo, who admitted he was not an Egyptologist, states inter
alia in his contribution to (14) "...A characteristic feature of the
Senmut ceiling is the astronomically objectionable orientation of the
southern panel. It has to be inspected, like the rest of the ceiling,
by a person facing north, so that Orion appears east of Sirius..." and
seemingly Velikovsky took this statement to mean at the time of Senmut
(c. 1400 B.C.) the sun rose in the west and set in the east.
But if Velikovsky took the trouble to glance at a modern horoscope
diagram, especially the rectangular variety he, too, would find the
orientation astronomically objectionable, for it is identical with that
of Senmut's astronomical ceiling which is nothing else but a copy of a
horoscope (as the legends, indeed, state) for the heliacal rising of
Sirius on New Year's Day of the common Egyptian calendar: an event
which can only recur for a tetraeteris (4 year period) about 1456
years!
Additional copies of the same horoscope were found in the two
temples of Rameses II at Abydos and at Madinat Habu; in the tombs of
Rameses VI, VII, IX at Thebes (c. 1150 B.C.) in the sarcophagus of
Prince Nectanebo, and in the coffin of Hor-nef-tef of the Saite period
(663-420 B.C.) and in the two tombs at Alfih of the Ptolemaic period
(305-30 B.C.) where they acted as talismans promising longevity in the
Elysian Fields.
Sidereal Campanus: OLDEST HOROSCOPE July 16 O.S., 2767 B.C.
M.C. 10ARI37, llth 9TAU00, 12th 18GEM41, ASC 28CAN52, 2nd 26LEO59,
3rd 19VIR00, MARS 19CAN01, JUP 21CAN35, SAT 24CAN53, VEN 25CAN42,
SUN 10LEO34, MER 28LEO54, MOON 19AQU02
These copies show a very rare quadruple conjunction of Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn and Venus (as Mars was identified with the evil god
Seth, for superstitious reasons in a few copies it was omitted), with
Venus, under its Pyramidic name of the Benu-bird or Bird of the
Inundation risen in the east just above the Ascendant. Retrospective
calculation discloses that such a conjunction actually took place on
July 16 (O.S.) 2767 B.C. which happened to be New Year's Day of the
common Egyptian calendar, and incidentally midsummer day. On this date
Sirius rose heliacally at Heliopolis the Greenwich of Egypt! Note the
accompanying chart which is a copy of the oldest extant horoscope in
existence!
Apart from the above, the 63rd Tablet of the great Babylonian Enuma
Anu Enlil series gives the heliacal rising and settings in Nin-se-an-na
(Venus) in terms of the Babylonian months (not the zodiac, which was
unknown to the Babylonians at this period, not yet being imported from
Egypt) during 22 successive years in the reign of Ammisaduqa of the
First Babylonian Dynasty. There can be no question that Nin-se-an-na
is identical with Venus for the periodicity of its heliacal risings and
settings are the same as those of Venus, and for no other planet.
On the 1st Nisan, the first day of the Hypsomatic lunar year,
commencing April 4, 786 B.C. the triad comprising the Sun, Moon and
Venus were found precisely in their traditional degrees of their
exaltation! Apart from such considerations it is known that Babylonian
and Assyrian sanctuaries, dating from that of Enlil-Assur-Zikurrat in
2931 B.C. to Nabu's Temple in 606 B.C., whose foundation dates were
recorded, were oriented on the 1st Nisan of the foundation year, to the
Pedjeshes (an arc of a circle intersecting Benetnash and Spica), which
has been confirmed by the researches of Gunter-Martiny, P.V.
Neugebauer, Boker and others. But such confirmation would not be
possible had the axes of the earth suffered a somersault as claimed in
Worlds in Collision.
* * * *
Cyril Fagan, "Solunars," AA 2/67
"The Sidereal and Its Detractors"
As with all seemingly new subjects, detractors of the sidereal
version of the zodiac are not a few. For the most part they are
theorists who never really studied the authentic history of the Zodiac,
nor of astronomy and astrology in remote antiquity. What little they
do know has been gleaned from questionable sources, which seem to rely
more on occult information than on sound academic scholarship. Of
course, the older generation of astrologers, who boast of an
astrological library, generally refer, with satisfaction, to the
writings of Sir Isaac Newton, Sayce, and the numerous tracts of the
Hon. Emmiline Plunkett, reprinted from the "Proceedings of the Society
of Biblical Archeology" towards the close of the 19th century, and to
many others, to refute the claims of siderealists; their "bible" being
"Constellations and Calendars" by the Hon. Emmiline Plunkett (1904).
Writing from Vienna several years ago, Weidner, the great
Assyriologist, informed the present writer that the statements, dates,
translations and conclusion about Babylonia and Assyria, published in
books prior to 1920 should be completely discountenanced and were not
longer authoritative or valid. For since that year great headway had
been made by scholars in the correct transcription of cuneiform texts
and in the understanding of ancient texts and in the understanding of
ancient Mesopotamian chronology, rendering worthless all that had been
written about Babylonia and Assyria before 1920. In particular the
charts, dates, theories and conclusions arrived at, in "Calendars and
Constellations," are now known to be completely false, in the light of
the new discoveries. In academic circles the book has, so to speak,
long ago has been consigned to the trash can!
THE TRUTH
Whether we care to believe it or not, it is an incontestable fact,
proved to the hilt by scholars, from the excavated cuneiform tablets of
Babylonia and Assyria, and from the papyri of Egypt that the original,
and hence authentic, version of the zodiac was sidereal. It was in
this version that all the rulerships, exaltations and astrological
aphorisms that have come down to us from hoary antiquity were framed.
They were never intended to apply to the tropical version, where they
are a misfit. The Greeks made the cardinal blunder in believing that
just because the equinoxes perpetually rose due East and set due West
they were fixed point in the ambient for all eternity. Hence they made
them fixed points in their version of the zodiac that originally hailed
from Egypt. About 900 B.C. their zodiac showed the vernal-point fixed
in Aries 15d. Some centuries later they shifted it to Aries 12d and
then to Aries 10d. At the time of the Babylonian astronomer Naburiannu
(500 B.C.), the Greeks fixed the equinox in Aries 8d and about 379 B.C.
they altered it to Aries 4d, to bring it into conformity with Kidinnu's
solilunar tablets. About 139 B.C. the Greek astronomer Hipparchus was
alleged to have discovered the phenomenon known as "The Precession of
the Equinoxes." But he, and Claudius Ptolemy after him, firmly adhered
to the opinion it was the fixed stars that were moving, and that the
equinoxes were fixed. It was not until the medieval ages--the time of
Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo and Copernicus--that it was discovered it
was the equinoxes that were moving and not the fixed stars! Just
because the Greeks hitched the vernal-equinox to their versions of the
zodiac, all of them were tropical. The present version, with the
vernal-equinox fixed in Aries 0d was invented by Posidonius (c 135--50
B.C.) and promulgated by his pupil Geminus, according to Bouche-
Leclercq ("L'Astrologie Greque", Paris, 1899). It had no existence
prior to the second century B.C. So the statements of Emmiline
Plunkett and many others that the tropical version of the zodiac, as is
known to us today, is of immense antiquity and invented by the
Babylonians is just a fairy tale. Incidentally Aries did not exist in
the Babylonian zodiac. Its place was taken by Khun.ga "the hirling"!
In the original Egyptian version Sa the ram, St the ewe and S3 sa the
lamb occupy precisely the place in the zodiac now known as Aries,
provided the so-called "decans" are read as pentades. The Egyptians
and the Babylonians (i.e. the Chaldeans) hitched their zodiac to the
fixed stars; and which has never altered down the long corridors of
time. The Greeks in ignorance hitched it to the retrograding
equinoxes, and in consequence it is altering all the time. These are
the facts of history. They are not theories....
THE SINKING OF ATLANTIS
Notwithstanding the fact that the many "Celestial Diagrams," as they
are called by scholars, found in Egyptian temples and tombs of many
dynasties, prove to be copies of a star chart for the heliacal rising
of Sirius on New Years Day of the common Egyptian calendars, as their
legends in fact state, which retrospective computations demonstrate
conclusively to have occurred on July 16, 2767 B.C. (see The Symbolism
of the Constellations) scholars are not persuaded that astrology
flourished in Egypt at such a remote date because of the complete lack
of collateral records. However, Garth Allen, has now very kindly
brought to our attention an article in the Saturday Review of November
6, 1966 which discusses in some detail, Professor Angelos Galanopoulos,
(the Greek seismologist) apparent discovery that the volcanic island of
Santorini (N 36d 22' 01"; E 25d 28' 33") or what now remains of it, in
the Aegan Sea, was identical with ancient Atlantis which erupted and
almost completely disappeared about 1400 B.C. This tallied with the
Eighteenth Egyptian Dynasty. Sacred writing of this period "...tell of
a time of prolonged darkness, thunder, floods, plague and days when the
Sun was 'in the sky like the Moon'... Confusion seized the eyes, there
was not exit from the palace... Now these nine days were in violence
and tempest; none could see the face of his fellow man...O that the
earth would cease from noise. The towns have been destroyed...Upper
Egypt has been wasted..." Is this the real reason there were no
records? Was the land so completely covered with flooding silt that
everything was destroyed? In the light of Galanopoulos's epoch-making
discovery, it seems very like it.
It now appears fairly obvious that in his "Collision of Two Worlds"
Velikovsky has mistaken the disaster caused by the eruption and sinking
of Atlantis as that caused by the highly improbable collision of the
head of a comet with the earth, resulting in the formation of the
planet Venus. Apart from the fact that "The Venus Tablets of
Ammisaduqa," which treat of the heliacal risings and setting of the
planet Venus in terms of the Babylonian lunar calendar (and not in
terms of the constellations or signs of the zodiac, which were unknown
to the Babylonians at this period) during the reign of Hammurapi, a
king of the 1st Babylonian dynasty (18 century B.C.), the celestial
diagrams of Egypt depict the planet Venus as the Benu-bird (pink heron)
which they identified with the fabulous Phoenix, just risen above the
Ascendant. Calculation reveals that at the moment of Sirius' heliacal
rising on July 16, 2767 B.C. at Heliopolis, Venus in 25CAN42' had risen
by 3 degrees above the Ascendant, which was in 28CAN52'.
* * *
Research Dept. (G. Allen?) American Astrology 9/72
Yes, Mr Fagan commented on Velikovsky's opinion (don't misname it
"research") in past "Solunars" easily demonstrating the absurdity of
Velikovsky's theory about the recent origin of Venus. Ephemerides of
Venus compiled by at least three different ancient civilizations show
Venus right where Venus should be, much earlier than its alleged
"origin." The author you so vainly vaunt is obviously inept in
celestial dynamics, just as he was inept in geology, archaeology,
history and ancient literature (especially the Biblical kind), so
calling his work well-documented and convincing just doesn't ring true.
To those who know these subjects well are more amused by, than
contemptuous of his writings, which have staged a come-back in this age
of paperback reprints of interesting rubbish.
But even if Velikovsky's fancies were facts, how could they possibly
impinge upon the historical reconstruction of astrology. Fagan's
studies reveal primarily what was believed and done by astrologers in
antiquity and how these beginnings have affected modern astrological
ideas.... Since the vast majority of astrologers in the history of the
world have been siderealists, and the traditional threads have run
unbroken through some five millennia, the Western popularization of
classical astrology by Cyril Fagan is hardly to be taken as something
worked out from a premise either true or false. The statement in your
letter is surely the non sequitur of the year. We suggest that you dig
just a little deeper into the facts, read just a little more
extensively, and be just a bit less impressed by lurid reading matter.
Reality is more fascinating than fiction.
* * * * * *
Peter Lancaster Brown, MEGALITHS MYTHS AND MEN: AN INTRODUCTION
TO ASTRO-ARCHAEOLOGY - Excerpt regarding I. Velikovsky
But it was not until 1881, when the Jesuit fathers Epping and
Strassmaier recognized sophisticated Babylonian lunar theory in
cuneiform texts, that the real scientific astronomy of the ancient
world came to light.
The interpretation of Babylonian astronomy has its own
controversies. One of the earliest scientific texts concerns the Venus
tablets of Ammizaduga (found in Assurbanipal's library), which are now
counted among the treasured possessions of the British Museum. These
tablets are closely involved with Immanuel Velikovsky's contentious
theories. Among numerous hyperspeculations, Velikovsky proposed that
two major catastrophes occurred sometime in the past owing to the
Earth's dynamic interaction with a comet and then Mars. The comet
encounter with the Earth supposedly took place about -1500, and as a
consequence the comet became transformed into the planet Venus: the
Mars encounter supposedly took place in -687. In both encounters
Velikovsky claimed that the directions of the Earth's axial spin was
switched plus the angle of tilt of the axis itself, resulting in a
major change in the obliquity of the ecliptic.
These catastrophe theories of Velikovsky are in fact an updated
interpretation of a fanciful seventeenth-century idea of Edmond Halley
which he later revoked himself, and it was then taken up and developed
by William Whiston in his New Theory of the Earth (1696).
If Velikovsky's ideas are correct, the proof whould be forth-coming
in Megalithic alignments. It follows that Stonehenge and other
Megalithic monuments constructed before c. -15 -- would now not show
positive alignments to the Sun and Moon. These colourful cataclysms
have enormous dramatic appeal to a lay readership and in particular to
some contemporary student bodies revolting against so-called
traditional scientiful dogmatism and teaching authoritarianism; by
these Velikovsky is now considered something of a guru. In attempts to
counter the daming positive Stonehenge alignment evidence, Velikovsky
claims the monument was erected later than -687; he maintains that the
radiocarbon dates are completely unreliable, the archaeological data
wrong, and he is utterly convinced that artefacts originating from
Stonehenge which had been dated as belonging to the early second
millennium might easily have been placed there afterwards. Perhaps his
views echo the instances of the British penny discovered in the lower
levels of Harappa in the Indus Valley civilization, and the empty soda-
water bottle found in a very ancient South African site!
The Venus tables of Ammizaduga have also been drawn into these
arguments. Several books and many contentious papers have been written
about the Venus tablets. These have argued several premises but in
particular the problem relating to their actual date which is believed
at present to be c.-1645 to -1625; whereas Velikovsky's ideas would
place them about a millennium later. All who have attempted to
decipher the tablets have been faced with the problem of separating out
misleading scribal errors. These errors have been manipulated and
interpreted by Velikovsky and his acolytes in futile attempts to show
that Venus has not always moved in the orbit she moves in today, and
indeed they believe that the tablets justify and support the
catastrophe theory.
The old diffusion-versus-independent-innovation arguments hound
astronomy as much as they do archaeology. Perhaps even more so since
astronomy is now beset with UFOism and Danikenism and several other
pseudological overspills from outer space...
* * * * * * * * * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Extra Constellations
[EXTRACON] From time to time, there are rumors of Extra
Constellations which keep popping up into the skies. This file
includes an explanation of the WHOLE LUNE DIVISION of the celestial
sphere [revised and corrected in 1999] as an introduction to Garth
Allen's book review & comments on those pesky Extra CONS-tellations.
It was after I had recreated this explanation on LUNES already
presented by Garth Allen that I found one of Allen's essays
specifically on Lunes as followup comment on the book ASTROLOGY 14 (on
extra constellations). This is now included at the end of this file
and titled "Getting Things Straight" from "Many Things," 3/71 American
Astrology. At the end of that essay, Allen refers to the "Solar Apex"
as a Fiducial marker for the divisions between the constellations,
whose position was based on research now regarded as incorrect. The
Solar Apex is no longer regarded as a Sidereal Fiducial for the
constellational divisions. See the file [APEX]. However, as in the
file [APEX], I still include Allen's essays as a record of his thinking
and a creative endeavor in understanding the whole, big picture.
[DOOMDATE] is an another 'extra' included in this file. As Garth
Allen points out, the accumulation of many planets in one constellation
has not tipped the balance historically to destruction, nor will the
the upcoming May 2000 Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which
is included in his list. Garth Allen who died untimely in 1974 would
certainly have loved to comment on the current teaser--the Mayan
calendar prediction of world destruction at the end of the Fifth Sun,
23 December AD 2012, which is not so far off geologists' reckonings for
and the famous Edgar Cayce's warnings of earth changes to occur--any
time now. Time will tell soon enough. Earthquakes, shifting icecaps,
widening holes in the Earth's protective atmosphere, all suggest a
brink. "Armegeddonists Take Note !"
As a point of definition, none of the above indicate the changing
of an "Age" indicated by the precession of the equinoxes from its
current position in the constellation Pisces to Aquarius, which is not
to occur for some 376+ years. The spring equinox for the epoch 2000
January 1st occurs at 5 degrees PISCES 15' 49" according to the
Fagan/Allen ayanamsha, and precession occurs at about 71.6 years per
degree.
* * * *
The Zodiacal Star Constellations name and include WHOLE LUNE
DIVISIONS, or orange-shaped sections of the heavens from the north
ecliptic pole to south ecliptic pole; these are 12 longitudinal
sections of the ecliptic plane, at right angles to the plane. The
ecliptic or 'invariable' astronomical plane is defined by the Earth's
yearly path or orbit around the Sun, and this plane is 0 degrees
latitude of the Sidereal Zodiac. The ecliptic plane represents the
backbone of the zodiac because the constellations near it are used to
mark the `apparent' path of the Sun. However, every few years somebody
finds or redraws a star constellation map which connects a zodiacal
star (one near the ecliptic plane) to an extra-zodiacal constellation
(one further away from the ecliptic plane), and Voila! It's announced
that a whole new, EXTRA CONstellation has emerged. The problem is a
lack of understanding of the astronomical concept involved, i.e., the
lunes of the heavens.
It is helpful to visualize the 12 (longitudinal) lunes, so-called
because these sections have an appearance similar to a crescent lunar
phase, as orange-shaped sections. The core of the orange would
represent the pole of the ecliptic plane with the 12 orange sections
around it. If you were to cut open the orange midway at right angles
to its core, you would have the ecliptic plane, and 0 degrees ecliptic
latitude of the Sidereal Zodiac. When inscribed on the 'sphere of the
heavens,' each 30 degree longitudinal lune section from ecliptic north
pole to south pole includes parts of many constellations; however, each
lune was anciently named for a star constellation near the ecliptic
plane. That is, the whole lune section including many constellations
was named a 'zodiacal' constellation near the ecliptic plane.
To restate, it is not merely the plane of the ecliptic that is
being divided, but the entire celestial sphere. Of the many
constellations over the surface of the celestial sphere, the zodiacal
ones give their names to the sectioning of the celestial sphere in the
Sidereal or star constellation measurement of the Zodiac. Thus, all
the other constellations in the heavens are already included in the
twelve 30 degree 'zodiacal' LUNE sections--regardless of how one
connects a stray star. Redrawing lines from stars to constellations
does not revise the 12 zodiacal divisions. In assigning longitude and
latitudes to any constellation in the Sidereal Zodiac, the reference is
from the ecliptic/zodiacal plane and its division into 12 equal
sections of 30 degrees.
Unfortunately, the spurious question of whether or not, for
example, the Serpent Holder/Bearer (Ophuichus) is 'another' zodiacal
constellation does not become clear if one looks at a map of the
ecliptic (zodiacal) constellations, because maps are not standardized
in this day, nor anciently, from culture to culture or even from
century to century. What does become clear from looking at celestial
maps is that constellational boundaries (i.e., which affect the number
of stars therein) have been redrawn and recreated through history and
have varied from culture to culture and are all of various sizes. In
our culture alone, the boundaries vary from starmap to starmap
depending on what the parameters are, i.e., from which discipline one
views them, and the boundaries vary even within the discipline of
astronomy. Thus the argument concerning various sizes of the
constellations gets off the point since all constellations, zodiacal or
otherwise, are of various shapes and sizes. However, the 'zodiacal'
divisions along the ecliptic plane have been of 30 degrees each since
ancient times, and are a heritage from Egyptian and Babylonian
astronomy.
A further complication of this issue is the precession phenomena
which can be explained by the distinction between the ecliptic plane of
the Earth's orbit (the Sidereal framework) and the wobbling equatorial
plane of the Earth's projected longitude and latitude coordinates onto
the celestial sphere (which is the Tropical framework). Although the
Earth circles around the Sun (not vice versa), astronomically the
Earth's inscribed path is referred to as the Sun's "apparent" path in
sky because that's how we see it from Earth. The Sun's "apparent" path
in the heavens as seen from Earth represents the plane of the ecliptic.
The "invariable" ecliptic plane, as it is referred to astronomically,
is constant in reference to the fixed stars, and generally speaking,
the zodiacal stars do not change their relationship to each other or
the ecliptic plane except over very long periods of time. Because of
their great distances, the stars' *proper motion also is for all
practical purposes constant.
(*The stars have their own proper motion which, as Aldebaran,
may only change its sidereal longitude by 3 minutes of arc in
2735 years, or 1 degree in approximately 57,000 years.)
It is otherwise with the Earth's present 23.5 degree axial tilt in
relation to its ecliptic path/plane which causes the seasons (i.e., the
directness of the angle at which the Sun's light strikes the northern
and southern hemispheres). Because the Earth (including its pole and
equator) has a slow gyroscopic wobble, much like a spinning top, over
the centuries it changes its axial orientation and thus its equatorial
indicator of the equinoxes in reference to the backdrop of the fixed
star constellations. This `precession' phenomena is part of the
confusion because it is caused by changes in our Earth's axial
orientation to the heavens. As one system of astronomical coordinates
(the Equatorial System), the Earth's equator is projected onto the
heavens (at an angle of 23.5 degrees in relation to the ecliptic plane)
and intersects the ecliptic plane thereby marking the spring and fall
equinoxes. Again, because the Earth's polar axis wobbles, its axis and
equator move, "precessing backwards through the star constellations
about 1 degree every 71.6 years along the ecliptic plane. Two
intersecting planes--one invariable, the other moving or precessing
backwards in reference to the other. The Tropical (moving) Zodiac
takes the spring equinox (intersection of celestial equator and
ecliptic) as the beginning or 0 degrees of the 'sign' Aries.
The Sidereal measurement of the Zodiac is set in the framework of
the fixed stars behind the ecliptic or invariable plane, and the
brightest marking stars were historically the indicators of the
constellational divisions (such as Aldebaran at 15 Taurus, Regulus at 5
LEO, Spica at 29 Virgo, Antares at 15 Scorpio). The Tropical (moving
and seasonal) framework is dependent on the Earth's projected longitude
and latitude as measured from its axis and equator; because the Earth
wobbles, the celestial equator moves or precesses backward along the
ecliptic plane in reference to the fixed stars because the Earth
wobbles. The precessional equinoxes (where the celestial equator
intersects the ecliptic plane) move generally about one degree every 72
years (more precisely 71.6 years), taking about 2160 years to move
through a constellation (30 degrees x 72 years), and taking 25,920
years to complete a whole precessional cycle (2160 x 12
constellations).
The basics of precession although complicated are not greatly
difficult and are taught in high school astronomy classes. In college
astronomy books, precession gets only two to three paragraphs at the
most. Also it is also well known that Vedic astrology of India, the
one surviving ancient astrology, is sidereally based. Even so, the
conceptual difference between the two ways of measuring the zodiac
(Tropical and Sidereal) has not been widely understood and accepted by
the astrological world even though Cyril Fagan first announced and
explained it to western astrology in 1947 and wrote a monthly column
for 17 consecutive years in American Astrology. The problem is not
in the difficulty of precession... But to restate: the Tropical
framework of the 'Signs' is based on the precessing spring equinox
(mistaking that for the beginning of the zodiac and calling it 0
Aries). The measurement of the equinoxes is based on the gyrating
Earth's projected equatorial plane onto the celestial sphere where it
(as celestial equator) intersects the ecliptic plane and thus marks the
moving equinoxes against the backdrop of the fixed stars.
The confusion historically is due to the Greek error in
misunderstanding the true stellar framework of ancient Egyptian and
Babylonian astrology, and this was compounded in the Middle Ages. The
Tropical `signs' were erroneously named from the constellations through
which they were precessing at a time when the two 'zodiacs' were only a
few degrees apart. However, we have had for several centuries more
clarity of astronomical measurement. Estimates are that in about 221
AD the spring equinox occurred near 0 Aries of the star constellations.
For the epoch January 1, 2000, the position of the spring equinox in
the star constellations is 5 degrees PISCES 15' 49" in terms of the
Fagan/Allen ayanamsha. Time to update!
Primary historical and astronomical questions which should and will
always require clarification are how and why the Sidereal Zodiac was
divided as it was, and the meaning of the mathematical division of the
twelve 30 degree segments. According to Cyril Fagan and other
scholars, ancient Egypt which contained the geographic center of the
world's land mass was a primary source of our zodiacal constellations
and also specifically of the idea of the twelve 30 degree zodiacal
segments of the 360 degree ecliptic circle, which equal segments were
named after zodiacal constellations of various unequal lengths. For
more information on these divisions indicated by KEY MARKING STARS (but
not "caused" by those stars), see Fagan's writing on Astrological
Origins in [ORIGINS1] and [EGYPTIAN].
- Revised March 1999
*******************************
Garth Allen, "Many Things." A.A. 11/70
BOOK REVIEW: Steven Schmidt's Astrology 14
Letter dated 8-21-70, N.Y., N.Y.: Steven Schmidt wrote a book,
"Astrology 14." He believes there are now 14 constellations in the
zodiac. Offhand, I think it's ridiculous. What do you think?
Comment: Anybody who thinks that Cetus and Ophiuchus are planets
unquestionable deserves "Astrology 14," and we are glad they found each
other. That book is surely the lamest offering in the name of
astrology's progress to come along in some time. Though labeled by his
publisher as a technical writer, its author describes himself as "one
who writes fiction and poetry," which somehow seems more to the point.
The intellectual stratum of our profession is always on the lookout
for new researchable ideas and the uncovering of new analytical
techniques, for the studious in our field are well aware that what is
usually passed off as astrology is, for the most part, defective,
incomplete and often irrational. But "Astrology 14" represents nothing
in the way of a remedial contribution for what ails our subject. Its
concept is scientifically as well as historically untenable, but that
this should be the case is no surprise when you read the book and take
note of its lack of technical knowledge and of information-based logic.
An example of scientific error is the repeated statement in the book
and its advertising that two new constellations "have moved into the
zodiac." It author is apparently so inept in astronomy that he doesn't
realize that precession cannot significantly alter any star's latitude
away from the ecliptic. The celestial latitude of Sabik (Eta
Ophiuchi), by way of illustration, has been 7d 13' North throughout all
historical time and it will continue to have this value in the eons
ahead no matter what the precession in longitude amounts to. In the
manner of most sciolists and astrological dilettantes he mixes up the
tropical and sidereal zodiacs; in fact, his choice of words indicates
that he doesn't really know the difference between them--to him the
zodiac is the stellar groups known to cub scouts and school marms.
An example of historical error is the book's ignoring of the fact
that one of the basic branches of practical astrology is siderealism
which has a significant advocacy in the profession and a considerable
literature of its own (as well as continuous representation in this
magazine), about which Mr. Schmidt seems to know nothing at all.
Constellational astrology is the specialty of many astrologers
throughout the world, which fact contrasts comically with Steven
Schmidt's posture that he is presenting a "discovery" that the zodiac
is badly out of whack because it has shifted through precession. When
one writes a book purportedly authoritative, the least the paying
public expects is that the author should be minimally acquainted with
the subject being written about. "Astrology 14" has not brought a
damned thing "up to date" as claimed; it has merely revealed its
author's unfamiliarity with the historical development and scientific
parameters of his chosen topic--which makes him a potential pledgee of
the tropical fraternity he thinks his book will enlighten.
But it was probably bound to happen sooner or later that somebody
would come up with an ersatz sidereal zodiac comprising 14 rather 12
divisions, if only because in this nonsense-saturated subject of ours
every imaginable absurdity is advanced as a "new truth" at least once
per generation. The author of this particular absurdity evinces no
awareness whatever of the great amount of available research material
that has accumulated, primarily though the efforts of those who have a
dissatisfaction with modern astrology coupled with an appreciation of
the scientific method. Nowhere in the book "Astrology 14" is there
knowledgeable reference to any of the many studies which indicate the
areas in which astrology is sorely in need of improvement.
Instead, the few sources cited and quoted from generally represent
some of the trashiest or most superficial works on the market today.
It is amazing that some with even elementary astronomical knowledge
would seriously quote, as justifications for any kind of argument, the
patent ignorances of another writer. They may deserve each other, but
the public for all its academic waywardness is not deserving of either
of them.
How could anybody with even mediocre grasp of astronomy come to
believe, for instance, that "A great Sidereal Year is 25,920 years.
This is how long it takes for all the planets to return to their same
positions and relationships to each other. It has to do with the
precession of the equinoxes" ? A prize example of the blind leading
the blind into a ditch! It would be laughable were it not so sickly to
entertain for a moment the notion that the mythic star assignments of
Hellenic astronomy have anything to do with the discrete zones of
zodiacal influence--even in sidereal astrology (which the author of
"Astrology 14" does not even allude to, no doubt because he didn't know
anything about it when he wrote the book).
If there is one merit of "Astrology 14," albeit one indirectly
earned, it is that its author accidentally "discovered" certain broad
outlines of the sidereal zodiac without realizing it. To a siderealist
his book almost hilariously hits onto little realizations that make
age-old zodiacal symbology come to life. This is owing, of course, to
Mr. Schmidt's estimate of the calendar dates embraced by his 14 signs.
To illustrate, in sidereal astrology the Sun-sign of Libra covers
roughly October 18th to November 16th, whereas Schmidt's "Libra" covers
October 15th to November 9th. Evaluating commonly shared attributes of
his list of notables having birthdays in the interval, he touches upon
one of the most important properties of classical Libra, But just
accidently.
The effort to arrive at new key words and concepts for each of the
14 signs is badly botched, however, by too much use of the tactic of
transliterating standard tropical stereotypes, as penned by other
authors, into the new array of signs and dates. In another form, this
is the old familiar block on which many tropicalists have the habit of
stumbling; falling victim to the homonymous fallacy, they can't seem to
imagine that tropical Aries, say, is something quite different from
sidereal Aries. In this reviewer's opinion, "Astrology 14" is just
another addition to the huge, scrap-pile of sophomoric, pseudo-
scientific, silly books that would not have been written had their
writers spent a few more hours in genuine research and a few more
dollars on reference materials penned by scholars who pursue the truth
more avidly than they do the fast buck.
The ad copywriters at Bobbs-Merrill claim that their new baby is
"shaking the Astrology establishment and making other books on
astrology obsolete." Oh come on, fellows, if there is one thing that
can't be done, that's it! Many of the conventional breed of
astrologers have endlessly proven themselves quite impervious to facts
and figures, science and history, overwhelming evidence and self-
evident truths. Do you actually believe that a fairytale is going to
faze them? There is admittedly an entrenched eagerness in our field to
dismiss what is true and accept what is false, but let's face it,
"Astrology 14" is not a big enough fallacy to attract that sort of
following.
*****************
"Many Things," 3/1971 American Astrology
Getting Things Straight
(ON LUNES)
LETTER 11/25/70, Fort Dodge, Iowa: I found the scathing review of
"ASTROLOGY 14" very interesting. I have not read that book, and Garth
Allen has eliminated both the necessity and the desire to do so.
I am a mere novice at astrology and a tropicalist at that, so I know
you will understand if the question I am about to bring up would be
elementary or obvious to others more advanced in their studies.
I have an old star map printed by the National Geographic magazine,
December 1957. Across the bottom is a map of the ecliptic through the
constellational zodiac, which quite clearly shows the Sun as moving
only through the traditional 12 constellations with Cetus and Ophiuchus
nowhere to be seen.
Mr. Allen, National Geographic and I all agree that the Sun does not
traverse these two constellations. Then I read astronomical
descriptions of the dates when the visible planets moved through
various constellations, and in this the constellation Ophiuchus is
definitely mentioned!
I have always thought that the siderealist viewed the constellations
from the same point of view as the astronomer. If this is true, how
does sidereal astrology deal with, say, Saturn in Ophiuchus? In
anything I've ever read on sidereal astrology I have never seen any
reference to the planets being anywhere but in the traditional
constellations. Please enlighten me and other faithful readers via
your excellent publication.
Garth Allen's COMMENT: You have hit onto the commonest
misunderstanding about the sidereal zodiac. The term 'constellation'
is used by an astrologer only to distinguish the dozen zodiacal zones,
which are exactly 30 degrees of longitude in width, from the word
'sign' which through broad usage has come to be more closely associated
with the tropical scheme (even though the word 'sign' itself is clearly
sidereal in derivation!). Sidereally speaking, a sign is a great lune
representing one-twelfth of the entire celestial sphere, with the horns
of the lune converging at the ecliptic poles--and therefore has nothing
directly to do with the classical star-outlined figure straddling the
ecliptic which gave the zone its name.
Modern astronomers have allocated various areas on the celestial
sphere to "constellations" roughly grouped according to tradition but
using the equatorial system for their boundaries; right ascension and
declination are more convenient coordinates for astronomical purposes.
In this nonastrological set-up, the modern boundaries of Ophiuchus and
Cetus do protrude into what is called the "zodiacal belt" even though,
as far as astrologers are concerned, the zodiac should never be thought
of as a belt or band or discrete width centered on the ecliptic. For
instance, no matter how far from the ecliptic they may be, each of the
stars of the Little Dipper--including Polaris itself--has a zodiacal
longitude and latitude, expressible in either tropical or sidereal
terms.
To repeat for emphasis, the 12 zones of the sidereal zodiac are each
30 degrees in extent and are absolutely independent of individual stars
and the artifices of star lore. The fiducial line, technically
speaking, is determined by a perpendicular drawn to the ecliptic from
the solar apex in absolute space; it is only a welcome happenstance
that certain of the brighter stars have longitudes close to convenient
divisions in the sidereal signs, such Aldebaran at 15 degrees Taurus,
Antares at 15 degrees Scorpio, Alcyone and Regulus at 5 degrees of
Taurus and Leo, respectively, and the traditional "tail stars" in the
last two degrees of the sidereal divisions they belong to.
* * * *
[WORLDEND] or [DOOMDATE] In the universe at large, stars are imploding
and exploding, recreating themselves and dying, as is life on Earth.
Eons eventually, our SunStar will Blow and incinerate a good many of
its planets, but a long, long time after humans have made this Earth
unlivable for all life anyway. Given that; but considering history in
much smaller increments as our species conceives it and without looking
to our own responsibility - When would a more current, external Doom
doom us?
"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow Creeps in this petty pace from
day to day to the last syllable of recorded time." (Gloom, etc., - S's
Macbeth).
Happily Garth Allen, sidereal astrologer, in 3/62 A.A. contributed
pertinent astronomical info as an answer under the caption
"Armegeddonists Take Note." When discussing 2/1961 septet grouping of
planets within a mere 16 decree ecliptic longitude as only the second
most potent of the millennium, he also cited the tighter 12 degree
cluster of all 7 "visible to the naked eye" bodies of the solar system
in Sept 15, 1186 A.D., Julian Calendar. The downside of this info is
the lack of any significant historical events or disasters for either
date above. The upside is that we can still worry about future dates.
Another previous occasion when the 7 classical planets were in a 30
degree zone occurred twice in April 1821; again no events beyond
workayear happenstance.
Let the words of Garth Allen, that quintessential Aquarian,
introduce his data: "Inasmuch as apocryphal-type predictions are
characteristically more lurid and fearsome the longer the time it takes
to see if the prognoses 'come true,' this far-in-advance astronomical
information will be especially helpful to assorted Armegeddonists,
Calamity Howlers, Continent Sinkers, and Axis Topplers." His future
septet planet cluster dates for the late, great planet Earth are - May
5, 2000; Sep 8, 2040; and Nov 2, 2100. Perhaps three dates in 100
years will be a charm.
* * * * * * *
Garth Allen, "Your Corner," A.A. 3/62
Armegeddonists Take Note !
Just how rare that February concentration of planets actually was
can be judged from the astronomical record of other planetary traffic
jams of the past 1,000 years. The February 4th-5th grouping spread out
over 16 degrees of ecliptic longitude, all against the familiar star
layout of Capricornus, the constellated Goat or Goatfish. This space
in the sky is assigned, for some reason, to a sector bearing the "sign"
name of Waterbearer
An even tighter meeting of the solar clan, spanning only 12 degrees,
occurred in September 1186 A.D., along with a partial eclipse of the
Sun in 28.4 degrees tropical Virgo or 15.0 degrees sidereal Virgo. All
of the seven naked-eye or anciently known bodies of the solar system
were clustered within 12 degrees of the eastward side of the Sun on
September 15, 1186, Julian calendar.
The compactness of that get-together 775 years ago was appreciably
greater than this year's show, making our 1961 septet the second most
potent, spacewise, in the past millennium. Annoyingly little of note
took place in the year 1186. This was three years before the Third
Crusade and, twenty-nine years prior to the momentous signing of the
Magna Carta, an event (bewailable by the latter-day ultra rightists, no
doubt) that is credited with changing the entire course of human
history. Even though we have not personally delved into detailed
chronologies of the period, we are nonetheless disquieted over the lack
of references to the year 1186 as unusual in any sense. In the light
of the zodiacal situation, we would suppose that the conjunction had
something epochal to do with the history of Mariolatry, virgin worship,
but reference material along this line is not accessible at the present
time.
The last previous occasions when all seven classical planets
happened to be placed within a thirty-degree zone was twice in April,
1821, on the 2nd and on the 30th. Anybody have any suggestions as to
what made April 1821 otherwise extraordinary? Lists of memorable dates
show that 1820 and 1822 bristled with important developments, but the
year 1821 is rather workayear--unless we bypassed something significant
in our cursory pourings over the catalogs.
As for future septets, the next two centuries face three of them,
though none will pack the punch of this year's. But because they are
of crucial interest to most students of astrology, here are the
Greenwich Mean Noon positions of the planets calculated to the nearest
tenth of a degree, in both zodiacs.
May 5, 2000 Tropical Sidereal
Sun 14.8 TAU 20.1 ARI
Moon 26.1 TAU 1.4 TAU
Mercury 9.9 TAU 15.2 ARI
Venus 4.8 TAU 10.1 ARI
Mars 0.8 GEM 6.1 TAU
Jupiter 17.1 TAU 22.4 ARI
Saturn 19.6 TAU 24.9 ARI
Sept. 8. 2040
Sun 16.0 VIR 20.7 LEO
Moon 1.7 LIB 6.4 VIR
Mercury 6.5 LIB 11.2 VIR
Venus 12.9 LIB 17.6 VIR
Mars 15.8 LIB 20.5 VIR
Jupiter 10.2 LIB 14.9 VIR
Saturn 11.4 LIB 16.1 VIR
Nov. 2, 2100
Sun 9.7 SCO 13.6 LIB
Moon 7.8 SCO 11.7 LIB
Mercury 14.1 LIB 28.0 VIR
Venus 11.0 LIB 14.9 VIR
Mars 2.6 SCO 6.5 LIB
Jupiter 5.0 SCO 8.9 LIB
Saturn 0.7 SCO 4.6 LIB
Inasmuch as apocryphal-type predictions are characteristically more
lurid and fearsome, the longer the time it takes to see if the
prognoses "come true," this far-in-advance astronomical information
will be especially helpful to assorted Armageddonists, calamity
howlers, continent sinkers and axis topplers.
* * * * * * * *
Constellations which keep popping up into the skies. This file
includes an explanation of the WHOLE LUNE DIVISION of the celestial
sphere [revised and corrected in 1999] as an introduction to Garth
Allen's book review & comments on those pesky Extra CONS-tellations.
It was after I had recreated this explanation on LUNES already
presented by Garth Allen that I found one of Allen's essays
specifically on Lunes as followup comment on the book ASTROLOGY 14 (on
extra constellations). This is now included at the end of this file
and titled "Getting Things Straight" from "Many Things," 3/71 American
Astrology. At the end of that essay, Allen refers to the "Solar Apex"
as a Fiducial marker for the divisions between the constellations,
whose position was based on research now regarded as incorrect. The
Solar Apex is no longer regarded as a Sidereal Fiducial for the
constellational divisions. See the file [APEX]. However, as in the
file [APEX], I still include Allen's essays as a record of his thinking
and a creative endeavor in understanding the whole, big picture.
[DOOMDATE] is an another 'extra' included in this file. As Garth
Allen points out, the accumulation of many planets in one constellation
has not tipped the balance historically to destruction, nor will the
the upcoming May 2000 Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which
is included in his list. Garth Allen who died untimely in 1974 would
certainly have loved to comment on the current teaser--the Mayan
calendar prediction of world destruction at the end of the Fifth Sun,
23 December AD 2012, which is not so far off geologists' reckonings for
and the famous Edgar Cayce's warnings of earth changes to occur--any
time now. Time will tell soon enough. Earthquakes, shifting icecaps,
widening holes in the Earth's protective atmosphere, all suggest a
brink. "Armegeddonists Take Note !"
As a point of definition, none of the above indicate the changing
of an "Age" indicated by the precession of the equinoxes from its
current position in the constellation Pisces to Aquarius, which is not
to occur for some 376+ years. The spring equinox for the epoch 2000
January 1st occurs at 5 degrees PISCES 15' 49" according to the
Fagan/Allen ayanamsha, and precession occurs at about 71.6 years per
degree.
* * * *
The Zodiacal Star Constellations name and include WHOLE LUNE
DIVISIONS, or orange-shaped sections of the heavens from the north
ecliptic pole to south ecliptic pole; these are 12 longitudinal
sections of the ecliptic plane, at right angles to the plane. The
ecliptic or 'invariable' astronomical plane is defined by the Earth's
yearly path or orbit around the Sun, and this plane is 0 degrees
latitude of the Sidereal Zodiac. The ecliptic plane represents the
backbone of the zodiac because the constellations near it are used to
mark the `apparent' path of the Sun. However, every few years somebody
finds or redraws a star constellation map which connects a zodiacal
star (one near the ecliptic plane) to an extra-zodiacal constellation
(one further away from the ecliptic plane), and Voila! It's announced
that a whole new, EXTRA CONstellation has emerged. The problem is a
lack of understanding of the astronomical concept involved, i.e., the
lunes of the heavens.
It is helpful to visualize the 12 (longitudinal) lunes, so-called
because these sections have an appearance similar to a crescent lunar
phase, as orange-shaped sections. The core of the orange would
represent the pole of the ecliptic plane with the 12 orange sections
around it. If you were to cut open the orange midway at right angles
to its core, you would have the ecliptic plane, and 0 degrees ecliptic
latitude of the Sidereal Zodiac. When inscribed on the 'sphere of the
heavens,' each 30 degree longitudinal lune section from ecliptic north
pole to south pole includes parts of many constellations; however, each
lune was anciently named for a star constellation near the ecliptic
plane. That is, the whole lune section including many constellations
was named a 'zodiacal' constellation near the ecliptic plane.
To restate, it is not merely the plane of the ecliptic that is
being divided, but the entire celestial sphere. Of the many
constellations over the surface of the celestial sphere, the zodiacal
ones give their names to the sectioning of the celestial sphere in the
Sidereal or star constellation measurement of the Zodiac. Thus, all
the other constellations in the heavens are already included in the
twelve 30 degree 'zodiacal' LUNE sections--regardless of how one
connects a stray star. Redrawing lines from stars to constellations
does not revise the 12 zodiacal divisions. In assigning longitude and
latitudes to any constellation in the Sidereal Zodiac, the reference is
from the ecliptic/zodiacal plane and its division into 12 equal
sections of 30 degrees.
Unfortunately, the spurious question of whether or not, for
example, the Serpent Holder/Bearer (Ophuichus) is 'another' zodiacal
constellation does not become clear if one looks at a map of the
ecliptic (zodiacal) constellations, because maps are not standardized
in this day, nor anciently, from culture to culture or even from
century to century. What does become clear from looking at celestial
maps is that constellational boundaries (i.e., which affect the number
of stars therein) have been redrawn and recreated through history and
have varied from culture to culture and are all of various sizes. In
our culture alone, the boundaries vary from starmap to starmap
depending on what the parameters are, i.e., from which discipline one
views them, and the boundaries vary even within the discipline of
astronomy. Thus the argument concerning various sizes of the
constellations gets off the point since all constellations, zodiacal or
otherwise, are of various shapes and sizes. However, the 'zodiacal'
divisions along the ecliptic plane have been of 30 degrees each since
ancient times, and are a heritage from Egyptian and Babylonian
astronomy.
A further complication of this issue is the precession phenomena
which can be explained by the distinction between the ecliptic plane of
the Earth's orbit (the Sidereal framework) and the wobbling equatorial
plane of the Earth's projected longitude and latitude coordinates onto
the celestial sphere (which is the Tropical framework). Although the
Earth circles around the Sun (not vice versa), astronomically the
Earth's inscribed path is referred to as the Sun's "apparent" path in
sky because that's how we see it from Earth. The Sun's "apparent" path
in the heavens as seen from Earth represents the plane of the ecliptic.
The "invariable" ecliptic plane, as it is referred to astronomically,
is constant in reference to the fixed stars, and generally speaking,
the zodiacal stars do not change their relationship to each other or
the ecliptic plane except over very long periods of time. Because of
their great distances, the stars' *proper motion also is for all
practical purposes constant.
(*The stars have their own proper motion which, as Aldebaran,
may only change its sidereal longitude by 3 minutes of arc in
2735 years, or 1 degree in approximately 57,000 years.)
It is otherwise with the Earth's present 23.5 degree axial tilt in
relation to its ecliptic path/plane which causes the seasons (i.e., the
directness of the angle at which the Sun's light strikes the northern
and southern hemispheres). Because the Earth (including its pole and
equator) has a slow gyroscopic wobble, much like a spinning top, over
the centuries it changes its axial orientation and thus its equatorial
indicator of the equinoxes in reference to the backdrop of the fixed
star constellations. This `precession' phenomena is part of the
confusion because it is caused by changes in our Earth's axial
orientation to the heavens. As one system of astronomical coordinates
(the Equatorial System), the Earth's equator is projected onto the
heavens (at an angle of 23.5 degrees in relation to the ecliptic plane)
and intersects the ecliptic plane thereby marking the spring and fall
equinoxes. Again, because the Earth's polar axis wobbles, its axis and
equator move, "precessing backwards through the star constellations
about 1 degree every 71.6 years along the ecliptic plane. Two
intersecting planes--one invariable, the other moving or precessing
backwards in reference to the other. The Tropical (moving) Zodiac
takes the spring equinox (intersection of celestial equator and
ecliptic) as the beginning or 0 degrees of the 'sign' Aries.
The Sidereal measurement of the Zodiac is set in the framework of
the fixed stars behind the ecliptic or invariable plane, and the
brightest marking stars were historically the indicators of the
constellational divisions (such as Aldebaran at 15 Taurus, Regulus at 5
LEO, Spica at 29 Virgo, Antares at 15 Scorpio). The Tropical (moving
and seasonal) framework is dependent on the Earth's projected longitude
and latitude as measured from its axis and equator; because the Earth
wobbles, the celestial equator moves or precesses backward along the
ecliptic plane in reference to the fixed stars because the Earth
wobbles. The precessional equinoxes (where the celestial equator
intersects the ecliptic plane) move generally about one degree every 72
years (more precisely 71.6 years), taking about 2160 years to move
through a constellation (30 degrees x 72 years), and taking 25,920
years to complete a whole precessional cycle (2160 x 12
constellations).
The basics of precession although complicated are not greatly
difficult and are taught in high school astronomy classes. In college
astronomy books, precession gets only two to three paragraphs at the
most. Also it is also well known that Vedic astrology of India, the
one surviving ancient astrology, is sidereally based. Even so, the
conceptual difference between the two ways of measuring the zodiac
(Tropical and Sidereal) has not been widely understood and accepted by
the astrological world even though Cyril Fagan first announced and
explained it to western astrology in 1947 and wrote a monthly column
for 17 consecutive years in American Astrology. The problem is not
in the difficulty of precession... But to restate: the Tropical
framework of the 'Signs' is based on the precessing spring equinox
(mistaking that for the beginning of the zodiac and calling it 0
Aries). The measurement of the equinoxes is based on the gyrating
Earth's projected equatorial plane onto the celestial sphere where it
(as celestial equator) intersects the ecliptic plane and thus marks the
moving equinoxes against the backdrop of the fixed stars.
The confusion historically is due to the Greek error in
misunderstanding the true stellar framework of ancient Egyptian and
Babylonian astrology, and this was compounded in the Middle Ages. The
Tropical `signs' were erroneously named from the constellations through
which they were precessing at a time when the two 'zodiacs' were only a
few degrees apart. However, we have had for several centuries more
clarity of astronomical measurement. Estimates are that in about 221
AD the spring equinox occurred near 0 Aries of the star constellations.
For the epoch January 1, 2000, the position of the spring equinox in
the star constellations is 5 degrees PISCES 15' 49" in terms of the
Fagan/Allen ayanamsha. Time to update!
Primary historical and astronomical questions which should and will
always require clarification are how and why the Sidereal Zodiac was
divided as it was, and the meaning of the mathematical division of the
twelve 30 degree segments. According to Cyril Fagan and other
scholars, ancient Egypt which contained the geographic center of the
world's land mass was a primary source of our zodiacal constellations
and also specifically of the idea of the twelve 30 degree zodiacal
segments of the 360 degree ecliptic circle, which equal segments were
named after zodiacal constellations of various unequal lengths. For
more information on these divisions indicated by KEY MARKING STARS (but
not "caused" by those stars), see Fagan's writing on Astrological
Origins in [ORIGINS1] and [EGYPTIAN].
- Revised March 1999
*******************************
Garth Allen, "Many Things." A.A. 11/70
BOOK REVIEW: Steven Schmidt's Astrology 14
Letter dated 8-21-70, N.Y., N.Y.: Steven Schmidt wrote a book,
"Astrology 14." He believes there are now 14 constellations in the
zodiac. Offhand, I think it's ridiculous. What do you think?
Comment: Anybody who thinks that Cetus and Ophiuchus are planets
unquestionable deserves "Astrology 14," and we are glad they found each
other. That book is surely the lamest offering in the name of
astrology's progress to come along in some time. Though labeled by his
publisher as a technical writer, its author describes himself as "one
who writes fiction and poetry," which somehow seems more to the point.
The intellectual stratum of our profession is always on the lookout
for new researchable ideas and the uncovering of new analytical
techniques, for the studious in our field are well aware that what is
usually passed off as astrology is, for the most part, defective,
incomplete and often irrational. But "Astrology 14" represents nothing
in the way of a remedial contribution for what ails our subject. Its
concept is scientifically as well as historically untenable, but that
this should be the case is no surprise when you read the book and take
note of its lack of technical knowledge and of information-based logic.
An example of scientific error is the repeated statement in the book
and its advertising that two new constellations "have moved into the
zodiac." It author is apparently so inept in astronomy that he doesn't
realize that precession cannot significantly alter any star's latitude
away from the ecliptic. The celestial latitude of Sabik (Eta
Ophiuchi), by way of illustration, has been 7d 13' North throughout all
historical time and it will continue to have this value in the eons
ahead no matter what the precession in longitude amounts to. In the
manner of most sciolists and astrological dilettantes he mixes up the
tropical and sidereal zodiacs; in fact, his choice of words indicates
that he doesn't really know the difference between them--to him the
zodiac is the stellar groups known to cub scouts and school marms.
An example of historical error is the book's ignoring of the fact
that one of the basic branches of practical astrology is siderealism
which has a significant advocacy in the profession and a considerable
literature of its own (as well as continuous representation in this
magazine), about which Mr. Schmidt seems to know nothing at all.
Constellational astrology is the specialty of many astrologers
throughout the world, which fact contrasts comically with Steven
Schmidt's posture that he is presenting a "discovery" that the zodiac
is badly out of whack because it has shifted through precession. When
one writes a book purportedly authoritative, the least the paying
public expects is that the author should be minimally acquainted with
the subject being written about. "Astrology 14" has not brought a
damned thing "up to date" as claimed; it has merely revealed its
author's unfamiliarity with the historical development and scientific
parameters of his chosen topic--which makes him a potential pledgee of
the tropical fraternity he thinks his book will enlighten.
But it was probably bound to happen sooner or later that somebody
would come up with an ersatz sidereal zodiac comprising 14 rather 12
divisions, if only because in this nonsense-saturated subject of ours
every imaginable absurdity is advanced as a "new truth" at least once
per generation. The author of this particular absurdity evinces no
awareness whatever of the great amount of available research material
that has accumulated, primarily though the efforts of those who have a
dissatisfaction with modern astrology coupled with an appreciation of
the scientific method. Nowhere in the book "Astrology 14" is there
knowledgeable reference to any of the many studies which indicate the
areas in which astrology is sorely in need of improvement.
Instead, the few sources cited and quoted from generally represent
some of the trashiest or most superficial works on the market today.
It is amazing that some with even elementary astronomical knowledge
would seriously quote, as justifications for any kind of argument, the
patent ignorances of another writer. They may deserve each other, but
the public for all its academic waywardness is not deserving of either
of them.
How could anybody with even mediocre grasp of astronomy come to
believe, for instance, that "A great Sidereal Year is 25,920 years.
This is how long it takes for all the planets to return to their same
positions and relationships to each other. It has to do with the
precession of the equinoxes" ? A prize example of the blind leading
the blind into a ditch! It would be laughable were it not so sickly to
entertain for a moment the notion that the mythic star assignments of
Hellenic astronomy have anything to do with the discrete zones of
zodiacal influence--even in sidereal astrology (which the author of
"Astrology 14" does not even allude to, no doubt because he didn't know
anything about it when he wrote the book).
If there is one merit of "Astrology 14," albeit one indirectly
earned, it is that its author accidentally "discovered" certain broad
outlines of the sidereal zodiac without realizing it. To a siderealist
his book almost hilariously hits onto little realizations that make
age-old zodiacal symbology come to life. This is owing, of course, to
Mr. Schmidt's estimate of the calendar dates embraced by his 14 signs.
To illustrate, in sidereal astrology the Sun-sign of Libra covers
roughly October 18th to November 16th, whereas Schmidt's "Libra" covers
October 15th to November 9th. Evaluating commonly shared attributes of
his list of notables having birthdays in the interval, he touches upon
one of the most important properties of classical Libra, But just
accidently.
The effort to arrive at new key words and concepts for each of the
14 signs is badly botched, however, by too much use of the tactic of
transliterating standard tropical stereotypes, as penned by other
authors, into the new array of signs and dates. In another form, this
is the old familiar block on which many tropicalists have the habit of
stumbling; falling victim to the homonymous fallacy, they can't seem to
imagine that tropical Aries, say, is something quite different from
sidereal Aries. In this reviewer's opinion, "Astrology 14" is just
another addition to the huge, scrap-pile of sophomoric, pseudo-
scientific, silly books that would not have been written had their
writers spent a few more hours in genuine research and a few more
dollars on reference materials penned by scholars who pursue the truth
more avidly than they do the fast buck.
The ad copywriters at Bobbs-Merrill claim that their new baby is
"shaking the Astrology establishment and making other books on
astrology obsolete." Oh come on, fellows, if there is one thing that
can't be done, that's it! Many of the conventional breed of
astrologers have endlessly proven themselves quite impervious to facts
and figures, science and history, overwhelming evidence and self-
evident truths. Do you actually believe that a fairytale is going to
faze them? There is admittedly an entrenched eagerness in our field to
dismiss what is true and accept what is false, but let's face it,
"Astrology 14" is not a big enough fallacy to attract that sort of
following.
*****************
"Many Things," 3/1971 American Astrology
Getting Things Straight
(ON LUNES)
LETTER 11/25/70, Fort Dodge, Iowa: I found the scathing review of
"ASTROLOGY 14" very interesting. I have not read that book, and Garth
Allen has eliminated both the necessity and the desire to do so.
I am a mere novice at astrology and a tropicalist at that, so I know
you will understand if the question I am about to bring up would be
elementary or obvious to others more advanced in their studies.
I have an old star map printed by the National Geographic magazine,
December 1957. Across the bottom is a map of the ecliptic through the
constellational zodiac, which quite clearly shows the Sun as moving
only through the traditional 12 constellations with Cetus and Ophiuchus
nowhere to be seen.
Mr. Allen, National Geographic and I all agree that the Sun does not
traverse these two constellations. Then I read astronomical
descriptions of the dates when the visible planets moved through
various constellations, and in this the constellation Ophiuchus is
definitely mentioned!
I have always thought that the siderealist viewed the constellations
from the same point of view as the astronomer. If this is true, how
does sidereal astrology deal with, say, Saturn in Ophiuchus? In
anything I've ever read on sidereal astrology I have never seen any
reference to the planets being anywhere but in the traditional
constellations. Please enlighten me and other faithful readers via
your excellent publication.
Garth Allen's COMMENT: You have hit onto the commonest
misunderstanding about the sidereal zodiac. The term 'constellation'
is used by an astrologer only to distinguish the dozen zodiacal zones,
which are exactly 30 degrees of longitude in width, from the word
'sign' which through broad usage has come to be more closely associated
with the tropical scheme (even though the word 'sign' itself is clearly
sidereal in derivation!). Sidereally speaking, a sign is a great lune
representing one-twelfth of the entire celestial sphere, with the horns
of the lune converging at the ecliptic poles--and therefore has nothing
directly to do with the classical star-outlined figure straddling the
ecliptic which gave the zone its name.
Modern astronomers have allocated various areas on the celestial
sphere to "constellations" roughly grouped according to tradition but
using the equatorial system for their boundaries; right ascension and
declination are more convenient coordinates for astronomical purposes.
In this nonastrological set-up, the modern boundaries of Ophiuchus and
Cetus do protrude into what is called the "zodiacal belt" even though,
as far as astrologers are concerned, the zodiac should never be thought
of as a belt or band or discrete width centered on the ecliptic. For
instance, no matter how far from the ecliptic they may be, each of the
stars of the Little Dipper--including Polaris itself--has a zodiacal
longitude and latitude, expressible in either tropical or sidereal
terms.
To repeat for emphasis, the 12 zones of the sidereal zodiac are each
30 degrees in extent and are absolutely independent of individual stars
and the artifices of star lore. The fiducial line, technically
speaking, is determined by a perpendicular drawn to the ecliptic from
the solar apex in absolute space; it is only a welcome happenstance
that certain of the brighter stars have longitudes close to convenient
divisions in the sidereal signs, such Aldebaran at 15 degrees Taurus,
Antares at 15 degrees Scorpio, Alcyone and Regulus at 5 degrees of
Taurus and Leo, respectively, and the traditional "tail stars" in the
last two degrees of the sidereal divisions they belong to.
* * * *
[WORLDEND] or [DOOMDATE] In the universe at large, stars are imploding
and exploding, recreating themselves and dying, as is life on Earth.
Eons eventually, our SunStar will Blow and incinerate a good many of
its planets, but a long, long time after humans have made this Earth
unlivable for all life anyway. Given that; but considering history in
much smaller increments as our species conceives it and without looking
to our own responsibility - When would a more current, external Doom
doom us?
"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow Creeps in this petty pace from
day to day to the last syllable of recorded time." (Gloom, etc., - S's
Macbeth).
Happily Garth Allen, sidereal astrologer, in 3/62 A.A. contributed
pertinent astronomical info as an answer under the caption
"Armegeddonists Take Note." When discussing 2/1961 septet grouping of
planets within a mere 16 decree ecliptic longitude as only the second
most potent of the millennium, he also cited the tighter 12 degree
cluster of all 7 "visible to the naked eye" bodies of the solar system
in Sept 15, 1186 A.D., Julian Calendar. The downside of this info is
the lack of any significant historical events or disasters for either
date above. The upside is that we can still worry about future dates.
Another previous occasion when the 7 classical planets were in a 30
degree zone occurred twice in April 1821; again no events beyond
workayear happenstance.
Let the words of Garth Allen, that quintessential Aquarian,
introduce his data: "Inasmuch as apocryphal-type predictions are
characteristically more lurid and fearsome the longer the time it takes
to see if the prognoses 'come true,' this far-in-advance astronomical
information will be especially helpful to assorted Armegeddonists,
Calamity Howlers, Continent Sinkers, and Axis Topplers." His future
septet planet cluster dates for the late, great planet Earth are - May
5, 2000; Sep 8, 2040; and Nov 2, 2100. Perhaps three dates in 100
years will be a charm.
* * * * * * *
Garth Allen, "Your Corner," A.A. 3/62
Armegeddonists Take Note !
Just how rare that February concentration of planets actually was
can be judged from the astronomical record of other planetary traffic
jams of the past 1,000 years. The February 4th-5th grouping spread out
over 16 degrees of ecliptic longitude, all against the familiar star
layout of Capricornus, the constellated Goat or Goatfish. This space
in the sky is assigned, for some reason, to a sector bearing the "sign"
name of Waterbearer
An even tighter meeting of the solar clan, spanning only 12 degrees,
occurred in September 1186 A.D., along with a partial eclipse of the
Sun in 28.4 degrees tropical Virgo or 15.0 degrees sidereal Virgo. All
of the seven naked-eye or anciently known bodies of the solar system
were clustered within 12 degrees of the eastward side of the Sun on
September 15, 1186, Julian calendar.
The compactness of that get-together 775 years ago was appreciably
greater than this year's show, making our 1961 septet the second most
potent, spacewise, in the past millennium. Annoyingly little of note
took place in the year 1186. This was three years before the Third
Crusade and, twenty-nine years prior to the momentous signing of the
Magna Carta, an event (bewailable by the latter-day ultra rightists, no
doubt) that is credited with changing the entire course of human
history. Even though we have not personally delved into detailed
chronologies of the period, we are nonetheless disquieted over the lack
of references to the year 1186 as unusual in any sense. In the light
of the zodiacal situation, we would suppose that the conjunction had
something epochal to do with the history of Mariolatry, virgin worship,
but reference material along this line is not accessible at the present
time.
The last previous occasions when all seven classical planets
happened to be placed within a thirty-degree zone was twice in April,
1821, on the 2nd and on the 30th. Anybody have any suggestions as to
what made April 1821 otherwise extraordinary? Lists of memorable dates
show that 1820 and 1822 bristled with important developments, but the
year 1821 is rather workayear--unless we bypassed something significant
in our cursory pourings over the catalogs.
As for future septets, the next two centuries face three of them,
though none will pack the punch of this year's. But because they are
of crucial interest to most students of astrology, here are the
Greenwich Mean Noon positions of the planets calculated to the nearest
tenth of a degree, in both zodiacs.
May 5, 2000 Tropical Sidereal
Sun 14.8 TAU 20.1 ARI
Moon 26.1 TAU 1.4 TAU
Mercury 9.9 TAU 15.2 ARI
Venus 4.8 TAU 10.1 ARI
Mars 0.8 GEM 6.1 TAU
Jupiter 17.1 TAU 22.4 ARI
Saturn 19.6 TAU 24.9 ARI
Sept. 8. 2040
Sun 16.0 VIR 20.7 LEO
Moon 1.7 LIB 6.4 VIR
Mercury 6.5 LIB 11.2 VIR
Venus 12.9 LIB 17.6 VIR
Mars 15.8 LIB 20.5 VIR
Jupiter 10.2 LIB 14.9 VIR
Saturn 11.4 LIB 16.1 VIR
Nov. 2, 2100
Sun 9.7 SCO 13.6 LIB
Moon 7.8 SCO 11.7 LIB
Mercury 14.1 LIB 28.0 VIR
Venus 11.0 LIB 14.9 VIR
Mars 2.6 SCO 6.5 LIB
Jupiter 5.0 SCO 8.9 LIB
Saturn 0.7 SCO 4.6 LIB
Inasmuch as apocryphal-type predictions are characteristically more
lurid and fearsome, the longer the time it takes to see if the
prognoses "come true," this far-in-advance astronomical information
will be especially helpful to assorted Armageddonists, calamity
howlers, continent sinkers and axis topplers.
* * * * * * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Afghanistan Re-Emerging
AFGHANISTAN RE-EMERGING
by Kay Cavender
THE AFGHAN SIGNING CEREMONY, HOPEFUL OF CHANGE
12-05-2001, Bonn, Germany 7e05 50n44,
10:05am to 10:19am, (GMT=9:05am +1 hr)
This event, the agreement as to Afghanistan's interim government,
took considerable international support and pressure to direct Afghan
conflicting factions. The last to sign was U.N. Special Envoy Lakhdar
Brahimi who had long worked for such an event. There were 30 seats
agreed upon for the interim Afghan government with 2 filled by women;
16 seats went to the Northern Alliance including 3 of the strongest
offices. Dr. Abdullah Abdullah of the Northern Alliance remained as
Foreign Affairs Minister, and Hamid Karzai of the southern Pastuns was
chosen as Interim Prime Minister. The same day in Afghanistan, U.S.
"friendly fire" killed 5 Afghans and 3 American Special Operations
members, with an unspecificed number of Afghans and 19 Americans
injured. With them at that time, Hamid Karzai was said to be wounded
although not seriously. Nevertheless, a consecration in blood.
One Afghan was quoted on TV coverage as saying that at best,
"Afghan politics is an agony." And yet, this unique event indicating
an abundance of hope! It was said there was "exuberance" among the
delegates, a collective high, even knowing they are supposed to
accomplish the absolutely impossible in 6 months, at which time a loya
jirga, a Council of Elders, is called to sit and choose a permanent and
stable government to assume office in about 2 years. Literally an
impossible dream. Camelot in Xanadu glimpsed behind opium smoke, which
crop, as broadcast on TV the last week of December, some Afghans still
insist they want to grow. This unawareness after the fall of the
Taliban which was the biggest heroine cartel on earth! "A savage
place! as holy and enchanted As e'er beneath a waning moon was
haunted..." (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
In a December 12th interview, Hamid Karzai spoke of the event as a
"new opportunity," one that they must grasp. He said they feel that
this is their moment. In these words, an astrologer hears a sense of
Uranus for that crucial moment of change. When asked how he ever
thought he could oppose the Taliban with no army, Karzai replied that
it was patriotism (a Jupiter theme) that motivated him. He said he had
only the knowledge that the Afghan people wanted the Taliban gone.
The angular planets tell a good part of the story: NEPtune, the
epitome of impossible ideals, is on the East Point, and URAnus, the
indicator of all that is new and unique, is on the Anti-Vertex.
JUPiter is DSCending (4+ degrees above the horizon), aspected by both
Sun and Moon for a triple emphasis on hope and optimism and patriotism.
Truly this agreement was an accomplishment. At the same time at Kabul
(69E13), JUPITER aspected by both lights was about 4-5 degrees west of
the IC, and approaching the IC. Thus that indication of hope runs
directly through Afghanistan.
Astrologers have noted for several decades that a President's natal
Venus can often be found where he makes peace and his natal Mars can
be found where he makes war. President G.W. Bush's natal Mars runs
locationally as Midheaven (M.C., Latin Medium Coeli) through
Afghanistan. And yet while taking Afghanistan apart to find Al Qaeda
terrorists, he has at the same time chosen to be putting it back
together. [GWB: July 6, 1946, 7:26am dest, New Haven, Conn 72w56
41n18]
Whatever one's political affiliation, it is fitting astrologically
to note that some of President G.W. Bush's natal planets are
significantly configured in the Afghan Signing Ceremony. Certainly
that event would not have been possible without the support of the
President of the U.S.A. In Germany, the event JUP 19GEMll is near the
event DSC, as well as near Kabul's IC. Because the same event JUP is
transiting conjunct GWB's natal SUN 19GEM47, GWB's natal SUN is also
angular in both the event chart and the Kabul locality chart. Moreover
at Kabul [2:05pm, or GMT+5 hrs], the DSC is 22VIR05 which is near GWB's
natal MOON 22VIR43 and natal JUP 24VIR09. Astrologically, where the
GWB's emotions are involved, there also is his sense of good will. The
event Moon 16CAN17 is near GWN's nMER 15CAN51 and nPLUTO 16CAN36, thus
focusing his mental attention as well. The President has personally
and politically extended considerable national help to Afghanistan,
acccording to his own lights. By Sun and Moon and Mercury--spiritual
center, soul, and mind, G.W. Bush has been involved. Call him a God
Father of that country's re-emergence.
Additionally, GWB has also brought to Afghan's plight his sense of
liberty and liberation, astrologically indicated by Uranus. Before
September 11th, the USA was already the primary contributor of food aid
to Afghanistan, giving some 80%! In addition to being the President of
the U.S.A. and thus Commander of the military which has liberated
Afghanistan from its Taliban government, G.W. Bush has helped bring
forth conditions through projects, legislation, and budgeting of
considerable, additional humanitarian aid, whereby there could be not
only a chance for survival for millions, but a true chance for change
in Afghanistan. Not the least of these is his emphasis on the rights
of women there. Uranus that planetary significator of revolution and
freedom which found prominence in the Afghan Signing Ceremony by
position on the (eastern) Anti-Vertex is interwoven through several key
events which Bush has promoted for Afghans.
Some examples which show URA either angular or significantly
aspected are as follows. GWB sponsored his wife Laura giving a
presidential radio address on the subject of women's treatment by the
Taliban, which was touted as being the first time a First Lady gave the
radio address, and therefore unique. In this November 17, 2001 radio
address from Crawford, TX @ 9:00am CST, "both" GWB's & Laura's natal
URANUS were angular on the event M.C. The radio address was followed
the day after and coordinated with British Prime Minister Tony Blair's
wife speaking on the same subject.
GWB has sponsored several programs for Afghans specifically
involving children In a speech beginning at 11:57am DEST on 10-12-2001
in D.C., he announced the American (Children's) Fund for Afghan
Children, whereby children were to raise or give $1 for the children of
Afghanistan; this event showed the TRansiting SUN, MOON & URA all
aspecting GWB's natal URA as well as his natal MOON & JUP (all aspects
within 3 degrees orb). Additionally, this event Moon 27CAN18 was
opposite the event URA 26CAP17.
In a speech beginning at 11:10am DEST on 10-25-2001 in D.C., he
announced the Friendship Through Education program accessible on the
internet. The event MOON was conjunct URANUS with both planets also
parallel in Altitude, thus doubling their potency.
At 11:45am EST on 12-12-2001 in D.C., GWB signed the Afghan Women
and Children Relief Act, which time showed his natal URANUS 25TAU10
near the event IC 22TAU04.
Even though liberated from the Taliban called the most oppressive
and brutal political regime on earth, the Afghans will not soon recover
internally, nor soon begin to comprehend or respond to the gift of
liberty. They have more urgent needs--survival. In order for the
several millions starving and mal-nourished Afghans to continue to
receive international aid even before reconstruction can begin, they
must have peace and a stable government to provide that.
*********************************************************************
THE AFGHAN INAUGURATION CEREMONY, STANDSTILL OF THE SPIRIT
AN INTERIM GOVERNMENT AND INTERIM PEACE
VENUS ON THE MIDHEAVEN
Mid-winter--the Solstice 12-22-2001; Kabul, Afghanistan 34n30
69e10; @ 11:50 am (GMT=6:50am +5hrs). Due to differences in
computer programs in calculating time zones, it may be easiest
to assume Kabul in the 5th time zone east (75e00) ahead of GMT.
You are the people.
You are this season's people--
There are no other people this season.
If you blow it, it's blown.
Stephen Gaskin, This Season's People
OF PEACE
CNN covered the Afghan Inauguration Ceremony which was scheduled to
begin at 11:30 am in Kabul, (GMT+5hrs). Astrologically at that time
the close angularity of Pluto on the MC and Mars ASCending would have
indicated a continuing disaster. It is against most imagining that
with such a devastatingly bloody history, the Afghans could have
started at any other time. I watched the proceedings saying, Wait!
Wait! Wait! Quite amazingly, they did. Only divine intervention
could explain it. An Angel of uncommon compassion must have heard,
intervened, and nudged the Wheel of Time. They delayed 20 minutes, and
VENUS came to the pinnacle of the day, the Midheaven. Less than 6
degrees away was the Sun at its standstill, a solstice of spirit, the
year's shortest day in the northern hemisphere. I marked the time the
meeting was begun with the chanting of a prayer from the Koran--at
11:50 am (GMT+5hrs for standard time).
While waiting, commentators said with trepidation that the Afghans
"must" get their tribes together, that they "must" cooperate, that they
"must" work together, knowing that any precedent the Afghans may have
had for peace has long been obliterated with violence and death.
Looming over the seated new representatives was an at least 8 foot
picture of their much revered Masud, the Northern Alliance leader who
was assassinated by Al Qaeda two days before September 11th under the
pretense of taking his picture.
The Afghan Inauguration Ceremony was, quite extraordinarily, a
peaceful passage of power, the first in 28 years, and the first in 23
terrible, interminable years of war--international and civil. There
were to be no guns (contradicting that, the necessity, the terrible
necessity, of armed security agents for persons such as American
General Tommy Franks and other national and international government
representatives). After Hamid Karzai spoke and took his oath of
office, he went to shake the hand of former Afghan President Rabinni,
who in turn embraced and kissed the new Interim Prime Minister Hamid
Karzai. A perfect gesture for Venus holding sway from the Midheaven.
Likely an extraordinary image for Afghans. I hoped mightily that they
really and truly want and choose peace, and that their purpose would
lead them to the right time.
As an entity--at that time, the Afghan representatives selected at
the Bonn Agreement were able to begin under the auspices of VENUS
coming to the MC within 2 degrees! That fact is hopeful and most
significant as an indication of their essential purpose. Further
increasing its potency, Venus (0SAG11), the significator of peace,
cooperation, art and beauty, is approaching the Moon's South Node
2SAG22'. And Venus is square the AQUarius Moon (29AQU20) and is the
strongest aspect to the Moon by aspect and orb. The heavens reflect
the Afghan accomplishment in holding their Inaugural Ceremony at that
moment.
The ASCendant is also in Aquarius, 23AQU49', giving a double
emphasis of Aquarius with intimations of universality, perfect
symbolism as a guide for the fiercely independent multi-tribal and
multi-ethnic entities which must work together. Aquarius has long
been reputed to give a sense of altruism, a sense of humanity's unity
without barrers of race or class, as well as being known for its
inventive and scientific thought. I quite believe that the Afghans
could not have begun at this time if they did not truly want peace,
and I extend to them as many have, sincere best wishes for that peace.
Equally, I do not believe that such an event means that cooperation
will persist. It could be shattered at any moment. A miraculous and
fragile peace. A shining event, perhaps only an interim event, but
miraculous in its calm. Among the over 2500 men seated in audience
there, tribal members who in the last month had been literally killing
each other sat together with tears streaming down their faces when
their national anthem was played. But yet, even with Venus presiding,
so few women were there; the cameras showed seats with only perhaps 10
to 20 women.
In this country where the men have killed their fellow men and
brutalized and killed their women, the men now resume playing their
bloody, `national' game played for 500 years--fighting on horseback for
the headless body of a goat or calf, all others beating the carrier of
the corpse back from the goal post, literally all against one--a
literal metaphor for their notion of cooperation. This sport is as
close to unity as they have come--all against one. This while the
women who have literally risked their lives to secretly educate their
daughters now rejoice that they may do so without pain of death.
VENUS's aspects, in addition to the square to the Moon--the strongest
or 1st level aspect, are 2nd level aspects to MARS/ASC & SATURN: post-
sextile (75d) MARS/ASC & post-quincunx (165d) SATURN; a euphemistic way
to state the negative expression of that combination is forced
conquest. Therefore the women still hidden under burkas fear exposure.
In search of a positive spin, speculatively VEN-MARS-SAT could
represent the forced stabilization of peace. (For the whole string of
planets with the Moon, see below under Quindecimus Orbs & Aspects.)
Hopeful little everyday events are reported, even of the Venusian
province of music, like one the last week of December in downtown Kabul
from a cassette store. It seems that hardly a month before under the
Taliban which banned music as well as any representation of the human
figure, the store owner sold only about 40 cassettes a week of the
Taliban's specified religious doctrine and Koranic verses. Now that
the `Taliban is out of the top 40,' the same owner says he is selling
from 5000 to 10,000 musical tapes a week. Their favorite--an Afghan
artist Farhad Daria, a man. May there be music in the air and dancing
in the streets!
Would it that Venus MC square the AQU MOON just beneath an AQU
ASCendant was all the story. It's not. There are other, very
powerful, conflicting configurations.
OF A STABLE PEACE AMIDST CONFLICT
One could hardly reckon this a true chart for this event unless
the considerable brutality and violence of various tribal groups is
astrologically represented. MARS ASCends, and it is quarti-sextile to
the AQU Moon, and further linked to the Moon by a parallel in
Declination (of about 1.5 degrees orb). But Mars is nearly 4 degrees
above the ASC, separating from the ASC, and therefore not as powerful
as Venus which is stronger, being only 2 degrees from the M.C. and by
an (eastern) approach to the M.C. (Pluto is about 7 degrees in R.A.
west of and separating from the M.C., and the Moon is mundanely about
7.5 degrees in Altitude below the ASC.)
The night before the Inauguration, the U.S. bombed about 13
vehicles carrying 50 to 65 `Taliban', which some Afghans later
protested were tribal elders, in all likelihood `Taliban & Elders' were
one and the same--traveling at night, on a back road, and shooting a
land-to-air missile at U.S. planes. Mars is not out of the picture.
At least 2 to 3 million are estimated still armed and dangerous;
banditry is the quickest means of earning a living in this totally
stricken country, for those who are trapped or for those who are in
their own country.
And so a peaceful passage of power and an interim government
protected from the surrounding fighting. But can power be stabilized
for the protection of the Afghans? Can the Afghans whose allegiances
are to warlords in the mode of the 12th century change to the 21st
century? These Afghans will not easily be separated from their guns
which are part of their manhood. Change versus necessity, or change as
necessity? Astrologically those issues could be conceptualized as
Uranus versus Saturn. Uranus itself, although semi-sextile the AQU
MOON, is not prominent in this chart, and even a double emphasis of
Aquarius in this event is not Uranus.
The needs of much of Afghanistan's people are starkly crucial in
terms of survival--unpolluted water and food and shelter. Those needs
can only be begin to be met by enormous international help for the next
decade, and that absolutely depends on a stable government, now still
threatened by--the armed ex-Taliban Afghans and the Anti-Taliban
Afghans, even presuming thousands of Al Qaeda terrorists will be dealt
with. Realistically, basic necessities represent the most significant
change they can accomplish in the next decade, if they can do that.
Astrologically, issues of survival and basic necessities have long been
understood as Saturn's province, and Saturn is not a strong theme. As
noted above, Saturn is in the string of planets aspecting both the MC
VENUS and the MOON, but SAT itself is not prominent otherwise.
The most stressful energy to the impossible task of the new Afghan
government is indicated by the Winter Solstice SUN and its aspect/s.
Solstice of course means standstill, and the Sun signifies one's
essence or character. The Solstice SUN 5SAG43 is near two other cosmic
angles: separating from the Galactic Equator 5SAG16 (intersection of
the Ecliptic), and approaching the SOLAR APEX 7SAG24 (intersection of
the Ecliptic). As can be seen on the computer planetarium SKYGLOBE,
the SUN is in a minefield of Messier Objects*: M20 Triffid Nebula
(29'x27' of arc), M21 Open Galactic Cluster (12' of arc), and M8 Lagoon
Nebula (90'x40' of arc). In this most potent area of Sagittarius, the
Sun indicates an overwhelming inclination for extreme autonomy and
self-determination. In the constellation Sagittarius, the Sun tends to
think oneself right and justified in whatever endeavor, even personally
mandated by God.
[*MESSIER numbers were assigned to various nebulous
celestial objects by 18th c. French astronomer Messier
in his catalog, including open & globular star clusters,
gaseous nebula, and galaxies. These numbers are still
used. Open star clusters are a type of galactic star
cluster confined to or near the plane of the Milky Way.
Globular star clusters are found in the halo surrounding
the nucleus of the Milky Way. Nebula, clouds of gases
and particles, are nurseries for stars being formed out
of the stuff of interstellar space. Galaxies are star
systems of various shapes, some analogous to the Milky
Way, to which our Sun belongs.]
Compounded with the Sun's overweening power is its aspect to
Pluto 20SCO56, itself on another cosmic angle, the SOLAR EQUATOR
(intersection with the Ecliptic at about 21 TAU & SCO). Pluto is
domineering and dictatorial and often takes whatever it is aspected
with `beyond beyond'. The Sagittarius Sun and Pluto linked by aspect
in no wise speak of cooperation, but are exquisitely appropriate for
the fierce competition of the Islamic tribal entities and ethnicities
which prefer to stand alone rather than together. It is one of the
most radical configurations. I fear that Gaskin's above admonition,
reminiscent of Pluto's singular focus, may reflect the keynote for this
interim government rather than Venus. Time will tell. Rather, the
Afghan's penchant for peace will be revealed in time. They who are the
people there.
QUINDECIMUS ORBS & ASPECTS
According to Quindecimus Orb&Aspects rating system, the strongest
aspects to the Moon and Sun are as follows below. As most agree, the
most powerful aspects are the conjunction, opposition and square. This
system for evaluating aspects considers all aspects within 15 degree
arcs including four formerly ignored aspects which are significantly of
second level power. These four occur on each side of the strongest
aspects: 15 degrees or quarti-sextile & 165 degrees or post-quincunx;
75 degrees or post-sextile and 105 degrees or pre-trine. The maximum
points in the rating system are 15 points. Aspects and orbs with
points less than 7 points tend to be marginal unless a planet is
angular. Usually I detail any angular planets before the aspects to
the lights, but below that is included in the summation.
AQU MOON -- square VEN/MC (13.3 pts); quarti-sextile MARS/ASC (12.6
pts); post-sextile SAT (12.1 pts); post-sextile MER (ll.7 pts); semi-
sextile URA (8.9 pts); pre-trine JUP (8.3 pts); & semi-square NEP (8.0
pts). The Moon is in the vicinity of the East Point and the Anti-
Vertex although not within 3 degrees orb of either.
SAG SUN/SOLSTICE/GALACTIC EQUATOR/SOLAR APEX -- quarti-sextile
PLU/SOLAR EQUATOR (13.5 pts); with a loose (3.5d orb) post-quincunx
aspect (or 165 degrees) to JUP.
This event will be an interesting astrological study regarding
which might be the most significant forces--planets on the MUNDANE
ANGLES VERSUS planets on the COSMIC ANGLES. Indeed this is the
essential question in interpretation posed by this chart and this
event. On the mundane angles are VENus MC & MARS ASC, both aspected by
the Moon, versus those on "cosmic" angles--the Sun and Pluto
(themselves in aspect in Celestial Longitude). The cosmic angles
(Great Circles intersecting the Ecliptic plane--itself a Great Circle)
include the Sun 5SAG44 on the Winter Solstice 5SAG16, on the Galactic
Equator 5SAG16, and near the Solar Apex 7SAG24, and at the same time in
aspect to PLUto on the Solar Equator intersection with the Ecliptic.
THE INTERIM DAMOCLES UNDER A SWORD SUSPENDED BY A HAIR
The legend of Damocles, perhaps from about 4th century B.C.,
illustrates the precariousness of royal or ruling rank, preserved only
by constant risk, as in a juggler's performance. Damocles was willing
to be chosen by the god-king as that king's surrogate as a sacrificial
victim. The name Damocles like that of Heracles meant either "glory of
the Lady" or "glory of the blood." (B.G. Walker, The Woman's Dictionary
of Symbols & Sacred Objects).
It is said that in Afghanistan the only person who doesn't want to
be king is the king. Interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai, blood
relative to the exiled king of Afghanistan in Italy, said that "If they
can deliver what they hope to, it would be a great day, but if not, it
will be oblivion." Simplicity, directness, and bravery. What a
razor's edge he knowingly walks. He could be killed at any time. He
must juggle the demands of his own countrymen against those of
international interests and particularly those of the United States.
The Afghans are not likely to betray to another nation the Taliban many
of whom are Pastun Afghans, and so they nestle the vipers to their own
breast.
Karzai's birthday will likely show that some of his planets are
significantly aspected and/or angular in these events. He is said to
be ideal for this time and office, having worked on ways to cooperate,
kindly and moderate in all his views, effective at expressing national
ideals, well educated and sophisticated, speaking excellent English, as
well as being a patriotic man of his own country. At the same time, he
comes across as decidedly resolute, perhaps natally Saturnine and/or
Plutonian. Nor would I be surprised to find Scorpio as his Sun or
Ascendant.
CNN cut into KARZAI'S SPEECH AT 1:26 PM while in progress (which
may not have been exactly the beginning, but likely within a minute or
so). This time gives MERcury about 5+ degrees past the MC, and JUPiter
about 3+ degrees past the IC. The MOON has moved just into Pisces.
This configuration is reminiscent of a key one in the Signing Ceremony
in Bonn, Germany (above) wherein JUP & MER were prominant: the angular
JUP was also angular (4+ degrees above the DSC), and the SUN (conjunct
MER) with both quincunx (150d) the DSC JUP.
Karzai is invited to Washington D.C. in February 2002. Can Karzai
convince G.W. Bush of his ability to lead? Hopefully Bush can impress
and direct him; the IC for Karzai's speech is about 20GEM and Bush's
natal Sun is 19GEM. Upon their working relationship depends the fate
of Karzai's country.
At the end of his speech Hamid KARZAI took his OATH AT 1:41 PM as
Interim Prime Minister (the ceremony lasted about 2 hours). At
Karzai's oath, no event planet is angular, although one of his natal
planets may be. Karzai swore in his CABINET AT 1:46 PM.
Karzai's speech was impressive. In previous times he had already
spoken of the primary need of Afghanistan for "peace and stability,"
which realization may also reflect his own astrological characteristics
as well as an acute awareness and assessment of Afghanistan. He faces
very difficult issues directly. He said, "Healing this war-torn
country will be a long journey." Karzai says they must open schools
and begin educating their young by spring which is their New Year. May
it be so! Another of his beginning announcements was that warlordism
must go, that it goes hand in hand with terrorism. With those words,
he's signed his death warrant. It will take a flock of angels to keep
him alive even until spring. In this case, the American Military may
be Karzai's best angel, Arch-angel Madimiel of the Celestial Sphere of
Mars in Marine garb, which all too many Afghan officials want out of
the country. Long may Karzai live long so the Afghans may prosper!
Disregarding the political reality, I refer to the Selected Poems
Of Thomas Merton for a poet's vision and prayer to express a wish for
Afghanistan. Merton, a Trappist Monk, could be in a cemetery and see
resurrection. Because of its history, too much of Afghanistan has been
made a cemetary, a burial of human lives, hopes, and spirit. What I
with my Moon and Neptune aligned with Afghan's borders really wish for
Afghanistan is that resurrection that the dedicated monk Merton saw.
From the end of Thomas Merton's "The Trappist Cemetery--Gethsemani":
Pray us a torrent of the seven spirits
That are our wine and stamina:
Because your work is not yet done.
But look: the valleys shine with promises
And every burning morning is a prophecy of Christ
Coming to raise and vindicate
Even our sorry flesh.
Then will your graves, Gethsemani, give up their angels,
Return them to their souls to learn
The songs and attitudes of glory.
Then will creation rise again like gold
Clean, from the furnace of your litanies:
The beasts and trees shall share your resurrection,
And a new world be born from these green tombs.
OF THE HORIZON AND MERIDIAN STARS
As a preface to this section, I strongly recommend that readers
will find and download the computer planetarium SKYGLOBE in order to
view this chart and others, thereby exponentially increasing one's
astronomical and astrological savvy. SKYGLOBE's cursor when placed on
stars gives the English spelling of Greek alphabet letters designating
the stars. For that reason, this paper's ascii format which requires
spelling out the Greek letters in English is not a limitation, but a
facilitation.
In Greek literature Aquarius was the Water-pourer. A Stream of
stars from AQUARIUS' URN flows out on the eastern Horizon in the
horoscope of the Afghan Inauguration Ceremony. The Urn is chiefly
marked by the familiar "Y" formation of four stars--Gamma, Zeta (at the
the center of the "Y" at 14AQU09 8n47), Eta, and Pi. These four stars
are located at the center of Aquarius and are its essence. Aquarius is
located in the area including zodiacal Capricorn to Aries and extra-
zodiacal constellations which to ancient Egyptians was `the WATER' and
to Euphratean astronomy was `the Sea.'
R.H. Allen's Star Names cites many sources in various times and
cultures for constellations, such as Kircher who said Aquarius was the
Brachium beneficium, the Place of Good Fortune. Aquarius itself was
referred to as Water or as the Urn: the Egyptian Monius, Water; the
Akkadian Ku-ur-ku, the Seat of the Flowing Waters; the Babylonian Gu, a
Water-jar overflowing; the Roman Situla, a Well-bucket; the Arabian Al
Dalw, Well-bucket, and Al Biruni's Amphora, a Two-handled Wine-jar.
B.G. Walker's The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols & Sacred Objects
(p288) briefly summarizes Aquarius, partly as follows: "To the Greeks
...Aquarius was Hydrokhoos, the Water Pot. The Persians called it Dul,
the Water Pot. In Sanskrit it was Khumba, the Pot. But the Babylonians
named it Gula, the Goddess; and the Romans followed them by naming it
Juno. The traditional sign, however, signifies waves of water."
One school of ancient Stoic thought considered Water the Mother of
Elements, "especially the waters of the sea womb that was supposed to
have given birth to the earth and all that lived on it." (p.134,
Walker, ibid) "The 'Water of Life' was once identified with the cosmic
womb, 'the Deep' of many different creation myths. To Thales of
Miletus, water was the arche, the First Cause at the beginning of all
things....Water flowing in two--or sometimes in four--streams from the
Goddess at the time of creation was a common version of the Rivers of
Paradise symbol. The Goddess was shown holding either her own breasts,
or a jar with two streams." (p.356-7, Walker, ibid.)
Of course fish and any manner of sea creatures such as the
constellations Pisces, Pisces Australis--the Southern Fish, and Cetus--
the Sea Monster represent symbolic totems of Water, the Deep before
Time in the Water or Sea of Space, the creative matrix or womb of
celestial space and earth. The Sea is still She from which life is
thought to have come. Likewise a cup, vase, jar, or urn came to be
almost universally the symbol of water, an element of birth and
rebirth.
It is instructive to recall that for the ancient Egyptians whose
roots were matriarchal, all of the stars and constellations in the
Night Sky were incorporated into the celestial body of the Goddess Nut.
She was shown arched over the earth and touching the "ends of the
earth" with her toes and fingertips, and with her head toward the west.
At sunset the Sky Goddess Nut swallowed up the Sun on the western
horizon, the very Sun to which she gave birth at dawn. When the
patriarchal Greeks translated what they could learn of astronomy and
mythology from Egypt into their own mythology, there were only three
separate constellations left representing the unity of cosmic, creative
Nature--Cassiopeia, Andromeda, and Virgo. In number, only one more
than the Afghans were forced by international pressure to include in
their government.
The STREAM OF THE URN or the Pouring Forth of Water was considered
by some as a separate constellation in antiquity. (p.51, Allen, ibid)
The Stream was also similarly called the River of Aquarius and Cascade.
The Stream was sometimes represented as branching into two streams.
Lambda (16AQU50) the most prominent of the first stars in the Stream
and located about 1 degree from the ecliptic, is the ecliptic point of
divergence into 2 streams. Lambda was also called the Water or the
Outpouring, signifying that it was conceived of as a kind of creative
point within the constellation of the Water-pourer, and within the
whole area of the Water. "Upwelling or Outpouring" Water, and there
are several stars so named in the area of the Water, indicates a
creative source. The Deep (of the Water), another title indicating the
source, was existent before the Upwelling or Outpouring.
There are similar titles for Kappa Aquarius. It should be noted
that the star Kappa (14AQU41 4n06) marks the actual beginning of the
outflow since it is located the southern edge of the Urn near the
outflow. Kappa is Situla, and was also named the Outpouring of Wine,
and Urna; it is located above Lambda between the ecliptic and the Urn.
I specify that "Kappa" is Situla (p.54, Allen, ibid) because Cyril
Fagan's reference in The Symbolism of the Star Constellations to
Situla's longitude as that of Zeta (at the center of the "Y") was
incorrect.
From the ecliptically located Lambda--the Outpouring, one Stream
poured down through Tau1,2, Delta, and others into Fomalhaut, the Mouth
of the Southern Fish located below Aquarius. The second Stream
diverging from Lambda was shown pouring along the Ecliptic to Phi,
another ecliptic star, from where the Stream then turned downwards
through Chi, Psi1,2,3, Omega1,2, and others into the constellation the
River Eridanus, which constellation flows down to the Southern part of
the Celestial Sphere seeking the Southern Celestial Pole, and
ultimately the Southern Ecliptic Pole.
Time was a facet of the Flow of Creation, and so the Stream was
also the source of the River of Time, a very ancient metaphor. R.H.
Allen's Star Names (p.50) cites Manilius' ending lines (of about 2000
years ago) on Aquarius as "Sic profluit urna" which Spence translated,
"And so the urn flows on," adding, "...which seems to have been a
proverbial expression among the ancients taken from the ceaseless
flowing of this urn." This sounds similar to the saying, `and so it
goes,' but anciently this was in a definite context of the repeating,
eternal cycles in which the River ran.
Notably, the star Phi Aquarius, about 22 AQU & 1 south ecliptic
latitude, is rising on the horizon of the Afghan Inauguration Ceremony
whose purpose was its oaths of office. Between the stars Lambda and
Phi the Stream of the Urn flows along the plane of the Ecliptic, which
is at once the Earth's orbit and the "apparent" celestial path of the
Sun near which the other planets can be seen to move. That length of
the Ecliptic between Lambda and Phi, about 6 degrees, can be and is
represented astronomically also as a length of time. Aligned on the
eastern Horizon of this horoscope are Lambda and Phi, the latter
marking the Stream's pouring down from the Ecliptic past Cetus the Sea
Monster into the River Eridanus. Water poured out! May the waters of
heaven rain down the mountains of Afghanistan and fill its rivers.
Water raised in a cup "became the standard way of calling upon
deities to witness an oath, to hold the parties responsible for their
word. When two drank together from the cup first offered to heaven,
they became as one blood in the sight of God." (p.133, Walker, ibid.)
Similarly, water poured out after an oath for the deities in
acknowledgment of divinity and commitment was at the same time a
blessing to the Earth. For ancient Egypt, the full moon in Aquarius
marked the increased flow and innundation of the Nile, upon which event
was based the agricultural and economic life of Egypt, as well as its
religious mythology. Aquarius then and now pours forth the blessings
of heaven onto the earth, saying, `I am the River of your Soul carried
through Time.'
As Water represented the creative essence and source of life, it
was fitting to partake of that to affirm its essence in oneself in
communion as well as an oath to bind oneself to divine purpose. In
modern times, when several are gathered together, we still raise a
glass of wine as a toast, usually to indicate and consecrate well
wishes upon a special occasion. It has been said the Cup is offered
many times in one's life, but it is not always accepted. A horoscope
shows no mandate of heaven, but potential, archetypal energy with an
array of related characteristics, expressed according to individual
choice which may be perceived as vice or virtue, or both, according to
the context.
What Afghan Angel showed the way to Venus, I wondered? Is there a
star of its manifestation other than Venus? The following is not taken
from any specific astronomical measurement, but is a kind of intuitive
association, offered positively. The computer planetarium SKYGLOBE
shows the Celestial Sphere with the planets, stars, and constellations
on the mundane angles at any time and a several hundred places, and
therefore one can look at a particular chart on Skyglobe. I can
sometimes find a particular star for a particular person on the Great
Circles of the Meridian and Horizon which compose the mundane angles.
(Ortho-Bionomists call the "finding or focusing" technique Phase 7, or
"phasing it." In this, nothing astronomical is indicated.)
In the horoscope of the Afghan Inauguration, from the horizon due
south and looking upwards are constellations arrayed on the Great
Circle of the Meridian, overhead, and continuing to the northern
horizon: the Altar, the tail end of Scorpio, Ophiuchus-(Asclepios),
Hercules-(Heracles) directly overhead, Draco the Dragon, and the Little
Dipper or Lesser Bear.
It struck me that two constellations, the Altar and Scorpio,
between the southern horizon and the Midheaven at 28SCO27' provide an
ironic metaphor for the Afghan interim government. The top of Ara--the
Altar, as the Greek Aratos called it, or a Censer as indicated by
Proclus and Ptolemy, is nearly level with the horizon due south. The
wild and soaring beauty of the Afghan mountains have provided an altar
for tales of gods, even of flying Buddhas. The Altar's alpha & beta
stars outline one Flame on the Altar, the highest of which is Alpha @
00SAG12 nearly the same longitude as Venus 00SAG11; both stars are both
aligned very near the Meridian. [SKYGLOBE shows Alpha ARA's Right
Ascension as 17h 31' and Beta's R.A. as 17h 25']
There is an old Greek story about the Altar, that the smoke rising
from its two flames offered as incense to the deities rose up and
created the Milky Way. Another star (epsilon Al Bali in AQU) has a
name which is a variant of the name Flame, called the Swallower (as of
the Sacrifice) which indicates the divinity of the sacred Flame
swallowing up or consuming the sacrifice. Similarly there is the
"Sanskrit Agni, the god of fire....The most important of the [Hindu]
Vedic gods. Primarily the god of the altar fire, he yet represents a
trinity in which to earthly fire are joined the lightning and the sun.
As the altar fire, consuming the sacrifice, he is the mediator between
the gods and men among whom he dwells." (Webster's II)
Above the longest Flame of the Altar indicated by Ara's stars Alpha
and Beta, and also near the meridian are the stars in the Tail of
Scorpio, Lesath--the Sting and Shaula--Raised, referring to the
position of the Sting ready to strike. [Lesath's R.A. 17h 31' and
Shaula's R.A. 17h 33'] In many cultures of the old and new worlds,
Mother Scorpio was held to be the constellation that was the doorway of
death, the doorway by which souls left this plane and rose up through
the sky on the bridge of the Milky Way to be reborn in Taurus, the
constellation of fertility. This country's people have known death
more than most. The Sting above the Altar's Flame, both of which are
bridges to another sphere, echos the recent history of Afghanistan in
an image--an altar, not for the mediation of deity, but despoiled by
war and unholy carnage.
Yet, my attention was more drawn to the constellation Ophiuchus,
the Serpent-Holder, specifically to its alpha star RAS ALHAGUE 27SCO42
35n50, the Head of the Serpent-Holder, above the Midheaven near the
Meridian Circle. Ras alhague's Right Ascension is 17h 34' and Venus'
R.A. is 17h 37', indicating both culminate on the Meridian within 3
minutes of each other. The alpha star in some cultures epitomized the
constellation as a whole. Of Ophiuchus, R.H. Allen's STAR NAMES says,
"...the Serpent-holder generally was identified with [the Greek]
Asclepios, or Aesculapius, whom King James I described as 'a mediciner
after made a god,' with whose worship serpents were always associated
as symbols of prudence, renovation, wisdom and the power of discovering
healing herbs. Educated by his father Apollo [and therefore Ophiuchus-
Aeclepios is the son of a Sun God], or by the Centaur Chiron, Aeclepios
was the earliest of his profession [i.e., healing]."
Robert Graves's The Greek Myths, an excellent authority on
mythology, tells that the legendary Asclepios was so skilled in surgery
and the use of drugs, he was revered as the founder of medicine. He
was even supposed to have raised the dead, for which impiety Zeus
struck him dead, and later set his image holding a curative serpent in
the heavens where it is known to us as Ophiuchus. How the Afghans
need a healing savior, with literally millions dead from years of war
and poverty, and millions in refugee camps.
Regarding Ophiuchus' Alpha star, I believe the sapphire star
RAS ALHAGUE radiates a color and sense of spiritual transformation,
of the energetic hue to help unite disparate elements or entities, but
expressed through time and the working out of karma. Ultimately, the
quality of involvement in that karmic process is the measure of one's
reward. A good image which came to me for Ras alhague is the (Solar)
Wheel of Time with a sapphire star above it, pouring out its blue light
into the turning wheel below. This star indicates not just guidance
but also the power of transformation -- "if" that is sought.
*********************************************
Kay Cavender
File: Afghanistan Re-emerging
End of 2001
California, U.S.A.
********************************************
by Kay Cavender
THE AFGHAN SIGNING CEREMONY, HOPEFUL OF CHANGE
12-05-2001, Bonn, Germany 7e05 50n44,
10:05am to 10:19am, (GMT=9:05am +1 hr)
This event, the agreement as to Afghanistan's interim government,
took considerable international support and pressure to direct Afghan
conflicting factions. The last to sign was U.N. Special Envoy Lakhdar
Brahimi who had long worked for such an event. There were 30 seats
agreed upon for the interim Afghan government with 2 filled by women;
16 seats went to the Northern Alliance including 3 of the strongest
offices. Dr. Abdullah Abdullah of the Northern Alliance remained as
Foreign Affairs Minister, and Hamid Karzai of the southern Pastuns was
chosen as Interim Prime Minister. The same day in Afghanistan, U.S.
"friendly fire" killed 5 Afghans and 3 American Special Operations
members, with an unspecificed number of Afghans and 19 Americans
injured. With them at that time, Hamid Karzai was said to be wounded
although not seriously. Nevertheless, a consecration in blood.
One Afghan was quoted on TV coverage as saying that at best,
"Afghan politics is an agony." And yet, this unique event indicating
an abundance of hope! It was said there was "exuberance" among the
delegates, a collective high, even knowing they are supposed to
accomplish the absolutely impossible in 6 months, at which time a loya
jirga, a Council of Elders, is called to sit and choose a permanent and
stable government to assume office in about 2 years. Literally an
impossible dream. Camelot in Xanadu glimpsed behind opium smoke, which
crop, as broadcast on TV the last week of December, some Afghans still
insist they want to grow. This unawareness after the fall of the
Taliban which was the biggest heroine cartel on earth! "A savage
place! as holy and enchanted As e'er beneath a waning moon was
haunted..." (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
In a December 12th interview, Hamid Karzai spoke of the event as a
"new opportunity," one that they must grasp. He said they feel that
this is their moment. In these words, an astrologer hears a sense of
Uranus for that crucial moment of change. When asked how he ever
thought he could oppose the Taliban with no army, Karzai replied that
it was patriotism (a Jupiter theme) that motivated him. He said he had
only the knowledge that the Afghan people wanted the Taliban gone.
The angular planets tell a good part of the story: NEPtune, the
epitome of impossible ideals, is on the East Point, and URAnus, the
indicator of all that is new and unique, is on the Anti-Vertex.
JUPiter is DSCending (4+ degrees above the horizon), aspected by both
Sun and Moon for a triple emphasis on hope and optimism and patriotism.
Truly this agreement was an accomplishment. At the same time at Kabul
(69E13), JUPITER aspected by both lights was about 4-5 degrees west of
the IC, and approaching the IC. Thus that indication of hope runs
directly through Afghanistan.
Astrologers have noted for several decades that a President's natal
Venus can often be found where he makes peace and his natal Mars can
be found where he makes war. President G.W. Bush's natal Mars runs
locationally as Midheaven (M.C., Latin Medium Coeli) through
Afghanistan. And yet while taking Afghanistan apart to find Al Qaeda
terrorists, he has at the same time chosen to be putting it back
together. [GWB: July 6, 1946, 7:26am dest, New Haven, Conn 72w56
41n18]
Whatever one's political affiliation, it is fitting astrologically
to note that some of President G.W. Bush's natal planets are
significantly configured in the Afghan Signing Ceremony. Certainly
that event would not have been possible without the support of the
President of the U.S.A. In Germany, the event JUP 19GEMll is near the
event DSC, as well as near Kabul's IC. Because the same event JUP is
transiting conjunct GWB's natal SUN 19GEM47, GWB's natal SUN is also
angular in both the event chart and the Kabul locality chart. Moreover
at Kabul [2:05pm, or GMT+5 hrs], the DSC is 22VIR05 which is near GWB's
natal MOON 22VIR43 and natal JUP 24VIR09. Astrologically, where the
GWB's emotions are involved, there also is his sense of good will. The
event Moon 16CAN17 is near GWN's nMER 15CAN51 and nPLUTO 16CAN36, thus
focusing his mental attention as well. The President has personally
and politically extended considerable national help to Afghanistan,
acccording to his own lights. By Sun and Moon and Mercury--spiritual
center, soul, and mind, G.W. Bush has been involved. Call him a God
Father of that country's re-emergence.
Additionally, GWB has also brought to Afghan's plight his sense of
liberty and liberation, astrologically indicated by Uranus. Before
September 11th, the USA was already the primary contributor of food aid
to Afghanistan, giving some 80%! In addition to being the President of
the U.S.A. and thus Commander of the military which has liberated
Afghanistan from its Taliban government, G.W. Bush has helped bring
forth conditions through projects, legislation, and budgeting of
considerable, additional humanitarian aid, whereby there could be not
only a chance for survival for millions, but a true chance for change
in Afghanistan. Not the least of these is his emphasis on the rights
of women there. Uranus that planetary significator of revolution and
freedom which found prominence in the Afghan Signing Ceremony by
position on the (eastern) Anti-Vertex is interwoven through several key
events which Bush has promoted for Afghans.
Some examples which show URA either angular or significantly
aspected are as follows. GWB sponsored his wife Laura giving a
presidential radio address on the subject of women's treatment by the
Taliban, which was touted as being the first time a First Lady gave the
radio address, and therefore unique. In this November 17, 2001 radio
address from Crawford, TX @ 9:00am CST, "both" GWB's & Laura's natal
URANUS were angular on the event M.C. The radio address was followed
the day after and coordinated with British Prime Minister Tony Blair's
wife speaking on the same subject.
GWB has sponsored several programs for Afghans specifically
involving children In a speech beginning at 11:57am DEST on 10-12-2001
in D.C., he announced the American (Children's) Fund for Afghan
Children, whereby children were to raise or give $1 for the children of
Afghanistan; this event showed the TRansiting SUN, MOON & URA all
aspecting GWB's natal URA as well as his natal MOON & JUP (all aspects
within 3 degrees orb). Additionally, this event Moon 27CAN18 was
opposite the event URA 26CAP17.
In a speech beginning at 11:10am DEST on 10-25-2001 in D.C., he
announced the Friendship Through Education program accessible on the
internet. The event MOON was conjunct URANUS with both planets also
parallel in Altitude, thus doubling their potency.
At 11:45am EST on 12-12-2001 in D.C., GWB signed the Afghan Women
and Children Relief Act, which time showed his natal URANUS 25TAU10
near the event IC 22TAU04.
Even though liberated from the Taliban called the most oppressive
and brutal political regime on earth, the Afghans will not soon recover
internally, nor soon begin to comprehend or respond to the gift of
liberty. They have more urgent needs--survival. In order for the
several millions starving and mal-nourished Afghans to continue to
receive international aid even before reconstruction can begin, they
must have peace and a stable government to provide that.
*********************************************************************
THE AFGHAN INAUGURATION CEREMONY, STANDSTILL OF THE SPIRIT
AN INTERIM GOVERNMENT AND INTERIM PEACE
VENUS ON THE MIDHEAVEN
Mid-winter--the Solstice 12-22-2001; Kabul, Afghanistan 34n30
69e10; @ 11:50 am (GMT=6:50am +5hrs). Due to differences in
computer programs in calculating time zones, it may be easiest
to assume Kabul in the 5th time zone east (75e00) ahead of GMT.
You are the people.
You are this season's people--
There are no other people this season.
If you blow it, it's blown.
Stephen Gaskin, This Season's People
OF PEACE
CNN covered the Afghan Inauguration Ceremony which was scheduled to
begin at 11:30 am in Kabul, (GMT+5hrs). Astrologically at that time
the close angularity of Pluto on the MC and Mars ASCending would have
indicated a continuing disaster. It is against most imagining that
with such a devastatingly bloody history, the Afghans could have
started at any other time. I watched the proceedings saying, Wait!
Wait! Wait! Quite amazingly, they did. Only divine intervention
could explain it. An Angel of uncommon compassion must have heard,
intervened, and nudged the Wheel of Time. They delayed 20 minutes, and
VENUS came to the pinnacle of the day, the Midheaven. Less than 6
degrees away was the Sun at its standstill, a solstice of spirit, the
year's shortest day in the northern hemisphere. I marked the time the
meeting was begun with the chanting of a prayer from the Koran--at
11:50 am (GMT+5hrs for standard time).
While waiting, commentators said with trepidation that the Afghans
"must" get their tribes together, that they "must" cooperate, that they
"must" work together, knowing that any precedent the Afghans may have
had for peace has long been obliterated with violence and death.
Looming over the seated new representatives was an at least 8 foot
picture of their much revered Masud, the Northern Alliance leader who
was assassinated by Al Qaeda two days before September 11th under the
pretense of taking his picture.
The Afghan Inauguration Ceremony was, quite extraordinarily, a
peaceful passage of power, the first in 28 years, and the first in 23
terrible, interminable years of war--international and civil. There
were to be no guns (contradicting that, the necessity, the terrible
necessity, of armed security agents for persons such as American
General Tommy Franks and other national and international government
representatives). After Hamid Karzai spoke and took his oath of
office, he went to shake the hand of former Afghan President Rabinni,
who in turn embraced and kissed the new Interim Prime Minister Hamid
Karzai. A perfect gesture for Venus holding sway from the Midheaven.
Likely an extraordinary image for Afghans. I hoped mightily that they
really and truly want and choose peace, and that their purpose would
lead them to the right time.
As an entity--at that time, the Afghan representatives selected at
the Bonn Agreement were able to begin under the auspices of VENUS
coming to the MC within 2 degrees! That fact is hopeful and most
significant as an indication of their essential purpose. Further
increasing its potency, Venus (0SAG11), the significator of peace,
cooperation, art and beauty, is approaching the Moon's South Node
2SAG22'. And Venus is square the AQUarius Moon (29AQU20) and is the
strongest aspect to the Moon by aspect and orb. The heavens reflect
the Afghan accomplishment in holding their Inaugural Ceremony at that
moment.
The ASCendant is also in Aquarius, 23AQU49', giving a double
emphasis of Aquarius with intimations of universality, perfect
symbolism as a guide for the fiercely independent multi-tribal and
multi-ethnic entities which must work together. Aquarius has long
been reputed to give a sense of altruism, a sense of humanity's unity
without barrers of race or class, as well as being known for its
inventive and scientific thought. I quite believe that the Afghans
could not have begun at this time if they did not truly want peace,
and I extend to them as many have, sincere best wishes for that peace.
Equally, I do not believe that such an event means that cooperation
will persist. It could be shattered at any moment. A miraculous and
fragile peace. A shining event, perhaps only an interim event, but
miraculous in its calm. Among the over 2500 men seated in audience
there, tribal members who in the last month had been literally killing
each other sat together with tears streaming down their faces when
their national anthem was played. But yet, even with Venus presiding,
so few women were there; the cameras showed seats with only perhaps 10
to 20 women.
In this country where the men have killed their fellow men and
brutalized and killed their women, the men now resume playing their
bloody, `national' game played for 500 years--fighting on horseback for
the headless body of a goat or calf, all others beating the carrier of
the corpse back from the goal post, literally all against one--a
literal metaphor for their notion of cooperation. This sport is as
close to unity as they have come--all against one. This while the
women who have literally risked their lives to secretly educate their
daughters now rejoice that they may do so without pain of death.
VENUS's aspects, in addition to the square to the Moon--the strongest
or 1st level aspect, are 2nd level aspects to MARS/ASC & SATURN: post-
sextile (75d) MARS/ASC & post-quincunx (165d) SATURN; a euphemistic way
to state the negative expression of that combination is forced
conquest. Therefore the women still hidden under burkas fear exposure.
In search of a positive spin, speculatively VEN-MARS-SAT could
represent the forced stabilization of peace. (For the whole string of
planets with the Moon, see below under Quindecimus Orbs & Aspects.)
Hopeful little everyday events are reported, even of the Venusian
province of music, like one the last week of December in downtown Kabul
from a cassette store. It seems that hardly a month before under the
Taliban which banned music as well as any representation of the human
figure, the store owner sold only about 40 cassettes a week of the
Taliban's specified religious doctrine and Koranic verses. Now that
the `Taliban is out of the top 40,' the same owner says he is selling
from 5000 to 10,000 musical tapes a week. Their favorite--an Afghan
artist Farhad Daria, a man. May there be music in the air and dancing
in the streets!
Would it that Venus MC square the AQU MOON just beneath an AQU
ASCendant was all the story. It's not. There are other, very
powerful, conflicting configurations.
OF A STABLE PEACE AMIDST CONFLICT
One could hardly reckon this a true chart for this event unless
the considerable brutality and violence of various tribal groups is
astrologically represented. MARS ASCends, and it is quarti-sextile to
the AQU Moon, and further linked to the Moon by a parallel in
Declination (of about 1.5 degrees orb). But Mars is nearly 4 degrees
above the ASC, separating from the ASC, and therefore not as powerful
as Venus which is stronger, being only 2 degrees from the M.C. and by
an (eastern) approach to the M.C. (Pluto is about 7 degrees in R.A.
west of and separating from the M.C., and the Moon is mundanely about
7.5 degrees in Altitude below the ASC.)
The night before the Inauguration, the U.S. bombed about 13
vehicles carrying 50 to 65 `Taliban', which some Afghans later
protested were tribal elders, in all likelihood `Taliban & Elders' were
one and the same--traveling at night, on a back road, and shooting a
land-to-air missile at U.S. planes. Mars is not out of the picture.
At least 2 to 3 million are estimated still armed and dangerous;
banditry is the quickest means of earning a living in this totally
stricken country, for those who are trapped or for those who are in
their own country.
And so a peaceful passage of power and an interim government
protected from the surrounding fighting. But can power be stabilized
for the protection of the Afghans? Can the Afghans whose allegiances
are to warlords in the mode of the 12th century change to the 21st
century? These Afghans will not easily be separated from their guns
which are part of their manhood. Change versus necessity, or change as
necessity? Astrologically those issues could be conceptualized as
Uranus versus Saturn. Uranus itself, although semi-sextile the AQU
MOON, is not prominent in this chart, and even a double emphasis of
Aquarius in this event is not Uranus.
The needs of much of Afghanistan's people are starkly crucial in
terms of survival--unpolluted water and food and shelter. Those needs
can only be begin to be met by enormous international help for the next
decade, and that absolutely depends on a stable government, now still
threatened by--the armed ex-Taliban Afghans and the Anti-Taliban
Afghans, even presuming thousands of Al Qaeda terrorists will be dealt
with. Realistically, basic necessities represent the most significant
change they can accomplish in the next decade, if they can do that.
Astrologically, issues of survival and basic necessities have long been
understood as Saturn's province, and Saturn is not a strong theme. As
noted above, Saturn is in the string of planets aspecting both the MC
VENUS and the MOON, but SAT itself is not prominent otherwise.
The most stressful energy to the impossible task of the new Afghan
government is indicated by the Winter Solstice SUN and its aspect/s.
Solstice of course means standstill, and the Sun signifies one's
essence or character. The Solstice SUN 5SAG43 is near two other cosmic
angles: separating from the Galactic Equator 5SAG16 (intersection of
the Ecliptic), and approaching the SOLAR APEX 7SAG24 (intersection of
the Ecliptic). As can be seen on the computer planetarium SKYGLOBE,
the SUN is in a minefield of Messier Objects*: M20 Triffid Nebula
(29'x27' of arc), M21 Open Galactic Cluster (12' of arc), and M8 Lagoon
Nebula (90'x40' of arc). In this most potent area of Sagittarius, the
Sun indicates an overwhelming inclination for extreme autonomy and
self-determination. In the constellation Sagittarius, the Sun tends to
think oneself right and justified in whatever endeavor, even personally
mandated by God.
[*MESSIER numbers were assigned to various nebulous
celestial objects by 18th c. French astronomer Messier
in his catalog, including open & globular star clusters,
gaseous nebula, and galaxies. These numbers are still
used. Open star clusters are a type of galactic star
cluster confined to or near the plane of the Milky Way.
Globular star clusters are found in the halo surrounding
the nucleus of the Milky Way. Nebula, clouds of gases
and particles, are nurseries for stars being formed out
of the stuff of interstellar space. Galaxies are star
systems of various shapes, some analogous to the Milky
Way, to which our Sun belongs.]
Compounded with the Sun's overweening power is its aspect to
Pluto 20SCO56, itself on another cosmic angle, the SOLAR EQUATOR
(intersection with the Ecliptic at about 21 TAU & SCO). Pluto is
domineering and dictatorial and often takes whatever it is aspected
with `beyond beyond'. The Sagittarius Sun and Pluto linked by aspect
in no wise speak of cooperation, but are exquisitely appropriate for
the fierce competition of the Islamic tribal entities and ethnicities
which prefer to stand alone rather than together. It is one of the
most radical configurations. I fear that Gaskin's above admonition,
reminiscent of Pluto's singular focus, may reflect the keynote for this
interim government rather than Venus. Time will tell. Rather, the
Afghan's penchant for peace will be revealed in time. They who are the
people there.
QUINDECIMUS ORBS & ASPECTS
According to Quindecimus Orb&Aspects rating system, the strongest
aspects to the Moon and Sun are as follows below. As most agree, the
most powerful aspects are the conjunction, opposition and square. This
system for evaluating aspects considers all aspects within 15 degree
arcs including four formerly ignored aspects which are significantly of
second level power. These four occur on each side of the strongest
aspects: 15 degrees or quarti-sextile & 165 degrees or post-quincunx;
75 degrees or post-sextile and 105 degrees or pre-trine. The maximum
points in the rating system are 15 points. Aspects and orbs with
points less than 7 points tend to be marginal unless a planet is
angular. Usually I detail any angular planets before the aspects to
the lights, but below that is included in the summation.
AQU MOON -- square VEN/MC (13.3 pts); quarti-sextile MARS/ASC (12.6
pts); post-sextile SAT (12.1 pts); post-sextile MER (ll.7 pts); semi-
sextile URA (8.9 pts); pre-trine JUP (8.3 pts); & semi-square NEP (8.0
pts). The Moon is in the vicinity of the East Point and the Anti-
Vertex although not within 3 degrees orb of either.
SAG SUN/SOLSTICE/GALACTIC EQUATOR/SOLAR APEX -- quarti-sextile
PLU/SOLAR EQUATOR (13.5 pts); with a loose (3.5d orb) post-quincunx
aspect (or 165 degrees) to JUP.
This event will be an interesting astrological study regarding
which might be the most significant forces--planets on the MUNDANE
ANGLES VERSUS planets on the COSMIC ANGLES. Indeed this is the
essential question in interpretation posed by this chart and this
event. On the mundane angles are VENus MC & MARS ASC, both aspected by
the Moon, versus those on "cosmic" angles--the Sun and Pluto
(themselves in aspect in Celestial Longitude). The cosmic angles
(Great Circles intersecting the Ecliptic plane--itself a Great Circle)
include the Sun 5SAG44 on the Winter Solstice 5SAG16, on the Galactic
Equator 5SAG16, and near the Solar Apex 7SAG24, and at the same time in
aspect to PLUto on the Solar Equator intersection with the Ecliptic.
THE INTERIM DAMOCLES UNDER A SWORD SUSPENDED BY A HAIR
The legend of Damocles, perhaps from about 4th century B.C.,
illustrates the precariousness of royal or ruling rank, preserved only
by constant risk, as in a juggler's performance. Damocles was willing
to be chosen by the god-king as that king's surrogate as a sacrificial
victim. The name Damocles like that of Heracles meant either "glory of
the Lady" or "glory of the blood." (B.G. Walker, The Woman's Dictionary
of Symbols & Sacred Objects).
It is said that in Afghanistan the only person who doesn't want to
be king is the king. Interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai, blood
relative to the exiled king of Afghanistan in Italy, said that "If they
can deliver what they hope to, it would be a great day, but if not, it
will be oblivion." Simplicity, directness, and bravery. What a
razor's edge he knowingly walks. He could be killed at any time. He
must juggle the demands of his own countrymen against those of
international interests and particularly those of the United States.
The Afghans are not likely to betray to another nation the Taliban many
of whom are Pastun Afghans, and so they nestle the vipers to their own
breast.
Karzai's birthday will likely show that some of his planets are
significantly aspected and/or angular in these events. He is said to
be ideal for this time and office, having worked on ways to cooperate,
kindly and moderate in all his views, effective at expressing national
ideals, well educated and sophisticated, speaking excellent English, as
well as being a patriotic man of his own country. At the same time, he
comes across as decidedly resolute, perhaps natally Saturnine and/or
Plutonian. Nor would I be surprised to find Scorpio as his Sun or
Ascendant.
CNN cut into KARZAI'S SPEECH AT 1:26 PM while in progress (which
may not have been exactly the beginning, but likely within a minute or
so). This time gives MERcury about 5+ degrees past the MC, and JUPiter
about 3+ degrees past the IC. The MOON has moved just into Pisces.
This configuration is reminiscent of a key one in the Signing Ceremony
in Bonn, Germany (above) wherein JUP & MER were prominant: the angular
JUP was also angular (4+ degrees above the DSC), and the SUN (conjunct
MER) with both quincunx (150d) the DSC JUP.
Karzai is invited to Washington D.C. in February 2002. Can Karzai
convince G.W. Bush of his ability to lead? Hopefully Bush can impress
and direct him; the IC for Karzai's speech is about 20GEM and Bush's
natal Sun is 19GEM. Upon their working relationship depends the fate
of Karzai's country.
At the end of his speech Hamid KARZAI took his OATH AT 1:41 PM as
Interim Prime Minister (the ceremony lasted about 2 hours). At
Karzai's oath, no event planet is angular, although one of his natal
planets may be. Karzai swore in his CABINET AT 1:46 PM.
Karzai's speech was impressive. In previous times he had already
spoken of the primary need of Afghanistan for "peace and stability,"
which realization may also reflect his own astrological characteristics
as well as an acute awareness and assessment of Afghanistan. He faces
very difficult issues directly. He said, "Healing this war-torn
country will be a long journey." Karzai says they must open schools
and begin educating their young by spring which is their New Year. May
it be so! Another of his beginning announcements was that warlordism
must go, that it goes hand in hand with terrorism. With those words,
he's signed his death warrant. It will take a flock of angels to keep
him alive even until spring. In this case, the American Military may
be Karzai's best angel, Arch-angel Madimiel of the Celestial Sphere of
Mars in Marine garb, which all too many Afghan officials want out of
the country. Long may Karzai live long so the Afghans may prosper!
Disregarding the political reality, I refer to the Selected Poems
Of Thomas Merton for a poet's vision and prayer to express a wish for
Afghanistan. Merton, a Trappist Monk, could be in a cemetery and see
resurrection. Because of its history, too much of Afghanistan has been
made a cemetary, a burial of human lives, hopes, and spirit. What I
with my Moon and Neptune aligned with Afghan's borders really wish for
Afghanistan is that resurrection that the dedicated monk Merton saw.
From the end of Thomas Merton's "The Trappist Cemetery--Gethsemani":
Pray us a torrent of the seven spirits
That are our wine and stamina:
Because your work is not yet done.
But look: the valleys shine with promises
And every burning morning is a prophecy of Christ
Coming to raise and vindicate
Even our sorry flesh.
Then will your graves, Gethsemani, give up their angels,
Return them to their souls to learn
The songs and attitudes of glory.
Then will creation rise again like gold
Clean, from the furnace of your litanies:
The beasts and trees shall share your resurrection,
And a new world be born from these green tombs.
OF THE HORIZON AND MERIDIAN STARS
As a preface to this section, I strongly recommend that readers
will find and download the computer planetarium SKYGLOBE in order to
view this chart and others, thereby exponentially increasing one's
astronomical and astrological savvy. SKYGLOBE's cursor when placed on
stars gives the English spelling of Greek alphabet letters designating
the stars. For that reason, this paper's ascii format which requires
spelling out the Greek letters in English is not a limitation, but a
facilitation.
In Greek literature Aquarius was the Water-pourer. A Stream of
stars from AQUARIUS' URN flows out on the eastern Horizon in the
horoscope of the Afghan Inauguration Ceremony. The Urn is chiefly
marked by the familiar "Y" formation of four stars--Gamma, Zeta (at the
the center of the "Y" at 14AQU09 8n47), Eta, and Pi. These four stars
are located at the center of Aquarius and are its essence. Aquarius is
located in the area including zodiacal Capricorn to Aries and extra-
zodiacal constellations which to ancient Egyptians was `the WATER' and
to Euphratean astronomy was `the Sea.'
R.H. Allen's Star Names cites many sources in various times and
cultures for constellations, such as Kircher who said Aquarius was the
Brachium beneficium, the Place of Good Fortune. Aquarius itself was
referred to as Water or as the Urn: the Egyptian Monius, Water; the
Akkadian Ku-ur-ku, the Seat of the Flowing Waters; the Babylonian Gu, a
Water-jar overflowing; the Roman Situla, a Well-bucket; the Arabian Al
Dalw, Well-bucket, and Al Biruni's Amphora, a Two-handled Wine-jar.
B.G. Walker's The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols & Sacred Objects
(p288) briefly summarizes Aquarius, partly as follows: "To the Greeks
...Aquarius was Hydrokhoos, the Water Pot. The Persians called it Dul,
the Water Pot. In Sanskrit it was Khumba, the Pot. But the Babylonians
named it Gula, the Goddess; and the Romans followed them by naming it
Juno. The traditional sign, however, signifies waves of water."
One school of ancient Stoic thought considered Water the Mother of
Elements, "especially the waters of the sea womb that was supposed to
have given birth to the earth and all that lived on it." (p.134,
Walker, ibid) "The 'Water of Life' was once identified with the cosmic
womb, 'the Deep' of many different creation myths. To Thales of
Miletus, water was the arche, the First Cause at the beginning of all
things....Water flowing in two--or sometimes in four--streams from the
Goddess at the time of creation was a common version of the Rivers of
Paradise symbol. The Goddess was shown holding either her own breasts,
or a jar with two streams." (p.356-7, Walker, ibid.)
Of course fish and any manner of sea creatures such as the
constellations Pisces, Pisces Australis--the Southern Fish, and Cetus--
the Sea Monster represent symbolic totems of Water, the Deep before
Time in the Water or Sea of Space, the creative matrix or womb of
celestial space and earth. The Sea is still She from which life is
thought to have come. Likewise a cup, vase, jar, or urn came to be
almost universally the symbol of water, an element of birth and
rebirth.
It is instructive to recall that for the ancient Egyptians whose
roots were matriarchal, all of the stars and constellations in the
Night Sky were incorporated into the celestial body of the Goddess Nut.
She was shown arched over the earth and touching the "ends of the
earth" with her toes and fingertips, and with her head toward the west.
At sunset the Sky Goddess Nut swallowed up the Sun on the western
horizon, the very Sun to which she gave birth at dawn. When the
patriarchal Greeks translated what they could learn of astronomy and
mythology from Egypt into their own mythology, there were only three
separate constellations left representing the unity of cosmic, creative
Nature--Cassiopeia, Andromeda, and Virgo. In number, only one more
than the Afghans were forced by international pressure to include in
their government.
The STREAM OF THE URN or the Pouring Forth of Water was considered
by some as a separate constellation in antiquity. (p.51, Allen, ibid)
The Stream was also similarly called the River of Aquarius and Cascade.
The Stream was sometimes represented as branching into two streams.
Lambda (16AQU50) the most prominent of the first stars in the Stream
and located about 1 degree from the ecliptic, is the ecliptic point of
divergence into 2 streams. Lambda was also called the Water or the
Outpouring, signifying that it was conceived of as a kind of creative
point within the constellation of the Water-pourer, and within the
whole area of the Water. "Upwelling or Outpouring" Water, and there
are several stars so named in the area of the Water, indicates a
creative source. The Deep (of the Water), another title indicating the
source, was existent before the Upwelling or Outpouring.
There are similar titles for Kappa Aquarius. It should be noted
that the star Kappa (14AQU41 4n06) marks the actual beginning of the
outflow since it is located the southern edge of the Urn near the
outflow. Kappa is Situla, and was also named the Outpouring of Wine,
and Urna; it is located above Lambda between the ecliptic and the Urn.
I specify that "Kappa" is Situla (p.54, Allen, ibid) because Cyril
Fagan's reference in The Symbolism of the Star Constellations to
Situla's longitude as that of Zeta (at the center of the "Y") was
incorrect.
From the ecliptically located Lambda--the Outpouring, one Stream
poured down through Tau1,2, Delta, and others into Fomalhaut, the Mouth
of the Southern Fish located below Aquarius. The second Stream
diverging from Lambda was shown pouring along the Ecliptic to Phi,
another ecliptic star, from where the Stream then turned downwards
through Chi, Psi1,2,3, Omega1,2, and others into the constellation the
River Eridanus, which constellation flows down to the Southern part of
the Celestial Sphere seeking the Southern Celestial Pole, and
ultimately the Southern Ecliptic Pole.
Time was a facet of the Flow of Creation, and so the Stream was
also the source of the River of Time, a very ancient metaphor. R.H.
Allen's Star Names (p.50) cites Manilius' ending lines (of about 2000
years ago) on Aquarius as "Sic profluit urna" which Spence translated,
"And so the urn flows on," adding, "...which seems to have been a
proverbial expression among the ancients taken from the ceaseless
flowing of this urn." This sounds similar to the saying, `and so it
goes,' but anciently this was in a definite context of the repeating,
eternal cycles in which the River ran.
Notably, the star Phi Aquarius, about 22 AQU & 1 south ecliptic
latitude, is rising on the horizon of the Afghan Inauguration Ceremony
whose purpose was its oaths of office. Between the stars Lambda and
Phi the Stream of the Urn flows along the plane of the Ecliptic, which
is at once the Earth's orbit and the "apparent" celestial path of the
Sun near which the other planets can be seen to move. That length of
the Ecliptic between Lambda and Phi, about 6 degrees, can be and is
represented astronomically also as a length of time. Aligned on the
eastern Horizon of this horoscope are Lambda and Phi, the latter
marking the Stream's pouring down from the Ecliptic past Cetus the Sea
Monster into the River Eridanus. Water poured out! May the waters of
heaven rain down the mountains of Afghanistan and fill its rivers.
Water raised in a cup "became the standard way of calling upon
deities to witness an oath, to hold the parties responsible for their
word. When two drank together from the cup first offered to heaven,
they became as one blood in the sight of God." (p.133, Walker, ibid.)
Similarly, water poured out after an oath for the deities in
acknowledgment of divinity and commitment was at the same time a
blessing to the Earth. For ancient Egypt, the full moon in Aquarius
marked the increased flow and innundation of the Nile, upon which event
was based the agricultural and economic life of Egypt, as well as its
religious mythology. Aquarius then and now pours forth the blessings
of heaven onto the earth, saying, `I am the River of your Soul carried
through Time.'
As Water represented the creative essence and source of life, it
was fitting to partake of that to affirm its essence in oneself in
communion as well as an oath to bind oneself to divine purpose. In
modern times, when several are gathered together, we still raise a
glass of wine as a toast, usually to indicate and consecrate well
wishes upon a special occasion. It has been said the Cup is offered
many times in one's life, but it is not always accepted. A horoscope
shows no mandate of heaven, but potential, archetypal energy with an
array of related characteristics, expressed according to individual
choice which may be perceived as vice or virtue, or both, according to
the context.
What Afghan Angel showed the way to Venus, I wondered? Is there a
star of its manifestation other than Venus? The following is not taken
from any specific astronomical measurement, but is a kind of intuitive
association, offered positively. The computer planetarium SKYGLOBE
shows the Celestial Sphere with the planets, stars, and constellations
on the mundane angles at any time and a several hundred places, and
therefore one can look at a particular chart on Skyglobe. I can
sometimes find a particular star for a particular person on the Great
Circles of the Meridian and Horizon which compose the mundane angles.
(Ortho-Bionomists call the "finding or focusing" technique Phase 7, or
"phasing it." In this, nothing astronomical is indicated.)
In the horoscope of the Afghan Inauguration, from the horizon due
south and looking upwards are constellations arrayed on the Great
Circle of the Meridian, overhead, and continuing to the northern
horizon: the Altar, the tail end of Scorpio, Ophiuchus-(Asclepios),
Hercules-(Heracles) directly overhead, Draco the Dragon, and the Little
Dipper or Lesser Bear.
It struck me that two constellations, the Altar and Scorpio,
between the southern horizon and the Midheaven at 28SCO27' provide an
ironic metaphor for the Afghan interim government. The top of Ara--the
Altar, as the Greek Aratos called it, or a Censer as indicated by
Proclus and Ptolemy, is nearly level with the horizon due south. The
wild and soaring beauty of the Afghan mountains have provided an altar
for tales of gods, even of flying Buddhas. The Altar's alpha & beta
stars outline one Flame on the Altar, the highest of which is Alpha @
00SAG12 nearly the same longitude as Venus 00SAG11; both stars are both
aligned very near the Meridian. [SKYGLOBE shows Alpha ARA's Right
Ascension as 17h 31' and Beta's R.A. as 17h 25']
There is an old Greek story about the Altar, that the smoke rising
from its two flames offered as incense to the deities rose up and
created the Milky Way. Another star (epsilon Al Bali in AQU) has a
name which is a variant of the name Flame, called the Swallower (as of
the Sacrifice) which indicates the divinity of the sacred Flame
swallowing up or consuming the sacrifice. Similarly there is the
"Sanskrit Agni, the god of fire....The most important of the [Hindu]
Vedic gods. Primarily the god of the altar fire, he yet represents a
trinity in which to earthly fire are joined the lightning and the sun.
As the altar fire, consuming the sacrifice, he is the mediator between
the gods and men among whom he dwells." (Webster's II)
Above the longest Flame of the Altar indicated by Ara's stars Alpha
and Beta, and also near the meridian are the stars in the Tail of
Scorpio, Lesath--the Sting and Shaula--Raised, referring to the
position of the Sting ready to strike. [Lesath's R.A. 17h 31' and
Shaula's R.A. 17h 33'] In many cultures of the old and new worlds,
Mother Scorpio was held to be the constellation that was the doorway of
death, the doorway by which souls left this plane and rose up through
the sky on the bridge of the Milky Way to be reborn in Taurus, the
constellation of fertility. This country's people have known death
more than most. The Sting above the Altar's Flame, both of which are
bridges to another sphere, echos the recent history of Afghanistan in
an image--an altar, not for the mediation of deity, but despoiled by
war and unholy carnage.
Yet, my attention was more drawn to the constellation Ophiuchus,
the Serpent-Holder, specifically to its alpha star RAS ALHAGUE 27SCO42
35n50, the Head of the Serpent-Holder, above the Midheaven near the
Meridian Circle. Ras alhague's Right Ascension is 17h 34' and Venus'
R.A. is 17h 37', indicating both culminate on the Meridian within 3
minutes of each other. The alpha star in some cultures epitomized the
constellation as a whole. Of Ophiuchus, R.H. Allen's STAR NAMES says,
"...the Serpent-holder generally was identified with [the Greek]
Asclepios, or Aesculapius, whom King James I described as 'a mediciner
after made a god,' with whose worship serpents were always associated
as symbols of prudence, renovation, wisdom and the power of discovering
healing herbs. Educated by his father Apollo [and therefore Ophiuchus-
Aeclepios is the son of a Sun God], or by the Centaur Chiron, Aeclepios
was the earliest of his profession [i.e., healing]."
Robert Graves's The Greek Myths, an excellent authority on
mythology, tells that the legendary Asclepios was so skilled in surgery
and the use of drugs, he was revered as the founder of medicine. He
was even supposed to have raised the dead, for which impiety Zeus
struck him dead, and later set his image holding a curative serpent in
the heavens where it is known to us as Ophiuchus. How the Afghans
need a healing savior, with literally millions dead from years of war
and poverty, and millions in refugee camps.
Regarding Ophiuchus' Alpha star, I believe the sapphire star
RAS ALHAGUE radiates a color and sense of spiritual transformation,
of the energetic hue to help unite disparate elements or entities, but
expressed through time and the working out of karma. Ultimately, the
quality of involvement in that karmic process is the measure of one's
reward. A good image which came to me for Ras alhague is the (Solar)
Wheel of Time with a sapphire star above it, pouring out its blue light
into the turning wheel below. This star indicates not just guidance
but also the power of transformation -- "if" that is sought.
*********************************************
Kay Cavender
File: Afghanistan Re-emerging
End of 2001
California, U.S.A.
********************************************
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Heliacal Phenomena
[HELIACAL] Cyril Fagan. On Heliacal Phenomena ("First Light"
Appearances and Disappearances of Planets) in ancient Babylon & Egypt,
especially with regard to the First Crescent Moon, its primary
importance, & how to calculate it. Never before published FLIGHT OF
THE PHOENIX Tables for dating Distant Eras (revised Egyptian
Chronology); excerpts from 9/1958 "Solunars," A.A. On Heliacal
Phenomena and the Origin of the Exaltations or Hypsomata; excerpts from
6/1969 "Solunars." On the Origin of the Horoscope Form from the
Heliacal Rising of Sirius at Heliopolis in 2767 B.C., the inauguration
of Sothic Era as the earliest known horoscope; excerpts from 12/1961
"Solunars" and letter of 5/1966.
Cyril Fagan, "Solunars," A.A. (9/1958)
[HELIACAL PHENOMENA]
Babylonian Accuracy
If reference is made to the Egyptian Sothic Calendar for 2767 B.C.,
it will be found that the Greek name for the first month of the season
Shemu was Kaphon (Copic=Pachons). This was because the festival of Pa
Chons or Chronsu ("The New Moon") was celebrated during this month,
which tallied with the Julian year commencing March 13th. Pa Chons was
the god of the New Moon and in the monuments he was represented as
either a falcon-headed man wearing the solar disc and lunar crescent on
his head, or as a naked boy similarly crowned. This seems to prove
convincingly that the Egyptians celebrated the Neomenia or 1st New Moon
of the lunar year, which tallied with the Babylonian 1st Nisan, long
before the institution of their calendar of 360 days, plus 5 epagomenal
days, especially as their ideogram for a month was a representation of
a crescent moon!
Many hundreds of Babylonian cuneiform tablets of baked clay have
been excavated, which gave the dates of the first appearance of the
lunar crescent. Referring to these, Dr. J. K. Fotheringham of Oxford
University says "...Elaborate computations of the date of this
appearance have come down to us, and we are able to check Babylonian
lunar dates for predicted phenomena with sufficient frequency to know
the high accuracy with which the late Babylonians were able to predict
this phenomena. The late Babylonian ephemerides must in the nature of
the case have been regulated by predicted appearances..." And Karl
Schock declares "...I can say of the Babylonians, who were persistent
observers of the crescent during 3000 years, that not only their
observations but their computations for ephemerides are admirable...."
But while the Babylonians were able to predict with such marvelous
accuracy the dates on which the crescent moon would first become
visible in Babylon, the problem, even to this day, is one of the most
intricate exercises of positional astronomy, notwithstanding our
advanced mathematical technique. It is first essential to know the
precise time of the syzygies and in the Venus Tablets of Ammizaduga
(Oxford University Press, 1928) Schoch has published simple tables for
the computation, accurate to within five minutes of time, from 3508
B.C. to 1992 A.D. Before his lamentable death in 1929, Schock issued
privately even more accurate elements of the luminaries, and with these
James Hynes of Dublin has compiled more precise tables, permitting the
accurate calculation of the longitude and time of the conjunctions and
oppositions of the Sun and Moon for any date between 4000 B.C. and 2000
A.D.
Sighting Problems
To ascertain the date on which the crescent will become visible to
the sharp-sighted observer (weather permitting), it is necessary to
know the Altitude of the Moon over the western horizon at the moment of
sunset, for the 2nd day after the syzygy. This is dependent on the
season of year, the age of the Moon, and the azimuth difference between
the Sun and Moon. In the latitude of Babylon (N 32.30') if the azimuth
difference is zero, the Moon will need to have an altitude of 10.7
degrees before it can be spotted, but should the azimuth difference
amount to 19 degrees it can be seen when it is only 6.3 degrees above
the western horizon. But these values will differ for every degree of
geographical latitude. If the altitude is less than tabular
requirements, the Moon will not be seen until after sunset of the 3rd
day after the syzygy.
Given a set of heliacal table for the required latitude and a Sun-
date table, such as those compiled by Hynes, it is a very simple matter
to ascertain the date of the heliacal rising or setting of a planet or
fixed star, or the date of its acronychal rising or cosmic setting,
provided the arcus visionis is known. Or vice versa, if the date is
known to determine the value of the gamma. Since the time when Ptolemy
penned his famous ALMAGEST or "Great Work" it has been customary to
regard the visibility of a planet or fixed star as dependent on the
angular distance of the Sun below the horizon at the time of the rising
or setting of that planet or fixed star, and this angular distance is
known among astronomers by the Greek letter gamma. The minimum value
of gamma which will render a star visible is known as the arcus
visionis ("arc of vision").
The value of the 'arcus visionis' is in the first instance
determined empirically, that is, through direct observation by a team
of trained observers, for it is not only dependent on the magnitude of
the star or planet, the season, the azimuth difference of the Sun and
star, but on such local conditions as the terrain--whether hilly or
flat country, whether inland or on the coast, conditions of visibility
and the like. It may happen that two places may be situated on the
same parallel of geographical latitude but while the prevailing
conditions in respect of visibility in one may be excellent, in the
other they may be very poor indeed, and the values of the 'arcus
visionis' for both will be affected accordingly.
From the dates of heliacal risings, given on ancient monumental and
cuneiform inscriptions, Schock found that the mean gamma for Sirius at
heliacal rising at Babylon was 7.7 degrees and at Memphis in Egypt 8.8
degrees. At heliacal setting it was one degree less. This means that
the Sun must be approximately 44 degrees separated from the conjunction
of Sirius for the latter to be seen on the horizon at Babylon
immediately before sunrise. But once the 'arcus visionis' of a star is
known, magnitude and azimuth distance from the Sun is determined
empirically for any given place, then the 'arcus visionis' of all other
fixed stars and planets can be determined form the appropriate
trigonometical formulae.
Most of the great epochs and eras of antiquity were dated from the
heliacal rising of one or other of the fixed stars. The Harakhte era
began with the heliacal rising of Spica at Heliopolis on September 15,
3130 B.C. and the Sothic era with the heliacal rising of Sirius at
Heliopolis on July 16, 2767 B.C. The rainy season was ushered in at
the heliacal rising of the Hyades and the vine harvest at that of Tsha
Nefre, the "beautiful boy" or Bacchus, identified with Vindemiatrix in
Virgo 15 degrees 12'. The zodiacal exaltation degrees o the planets
(except Venus were the degrees of the zodiac in which they heliacally
rose or set during the lunar year 786-785 B.C. Thus, in that year
Jupiter set heliacally on June 22, 786 B.C. in Cancer 15d. Mercury set
heliacally in the east in Virgo 15d on September 13, 786 B.C., Saturn
set heliacally in the west on September 23, 786 B.C. in Libra 21d and
Mars rose heliacally in the east on January 30, 785 B.C. in Capricorn
28d. On New Year's Day of that year (1st Nisan) April 3, 786 B.C. at
midnight (because the Babylonian ephemerides were always computed for
this time) the Sun was in Aries 19d, the Moon in Taurus 3d and Venus in
Pisces 27d, which are their traditional exaltation degrees. This alone
demonstrates the immense importance that the ancient astrologers gave
to heliacal phenomena. All these longitudes are, of course, in terms
of the sidereal zodiac computed from Spica in Virgo 29d06'.
Dating Distant Eras
The omission of any reference to heliacal phenomena in any
astrological textbook suggests that it is of modern vintage. it is
true that Ptolemy does not specifically refer to such in his
TETRABIBLOS, although he dilates at length upon the subject in his
ALMAGEST. But Schock has demonstrated that Ptolemy's values for the
'arcus visionis' are impossible, even for Alexandria where visibility
is said to be very poor. Unfortunately these values appear to have
been translated to India and will be found in the Surya-Siddhanta, but
they are equally inapplicable to that continent....
To determine the 'arcus visionis' for a fixed star for any other
place it is necessary to have a team of sharp-eyed observers, capable
of recognizing the star, watching the unobstructed eastern horizon and
a locality where the darkness of the night sky is not destroyed by the
glow of neon lights or the like. From about a week or so before the
calculated time of heliacal rising at Babylon, the vigil should
commence, and the date noted on which the star is seen for a fleeting
moment in the early morning skies on the eastern horizon before
sunrise. Knowing the star's right ascension and declination, the
geographical latitude of the place and the longitude of the Sun, it is
a simple matter to compute the value of the gamma. This should be
repeated with other fixed stars of known magnitude, and from the data
so obtained the value of the 'arcus visionis' for a given magnitude and
azimuth distance, in respect of that locality, can be determined. As
conditions of visibility vary from day to day, these determinations
should be checked in the following year or two.
Knowing the Egyptian date for the heliacal rising of Sothis (Sirius)
the approximate Julian year can be determined almost at sight from the
following table, which has never been published before in any magazine
or textbook, academic or otherwise.
FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX
The approximate Julian years (1st of the tetraeteris) for the 1st
of each Egyptian month when Sirius rose heliacally at Heliopolis.
Season Month Coptic Name Cycles
1 Achet 1 Thoth 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
2 Achet 2 Phaophi -4224 -2768 -1312 + 144
3 Achet 3 Athyr -4104 -2648 -1192 + 264
4 Achet 4 Khoiak -3984 -2528 -1072 + 384
5 Pert 1 Tybi -3864 -2408 - 952 + 504
6 Pert 2 Mekhir -3748 -2288 - 832 + 620
7 Pert 3 Phamenoth -3628 -2168 - 712 + 740
8 Pert 4 Pharmouthi -3508 -2048 - 592 + 860
9 Shemu 1 Pachons -3388 -1932 - 476 + 980
10 Shemu 2 Payni -3268 -1812 - 354 +1096
11 Shemu 3 Epiphi -3148 -1692 - 236 +1216
12 Shemu 4 Mesore -3028 -1572 - 116 +1336
1st Epapomenal Day -2908 -1452 + 4 +1456
2nd Epagomenal Day -2788 -1332 + 124 +1576
3rd Epagomenal Day -2784 -1328 + 128 +1580
4th Epagomenal Day -2780 -1324 + 132 +1584
5th Epagomenal Day -2776 -1320 + 136 +1588
-2772 -1316 + 140 +1592
In the Ebers Papyrus it is recorded that in the 9th year of
Amenophis (Amenhotep) I, the "Festival of New Year's Day" was
celebrated in the 3rd month of Shemu, day 9, with the rising of Sirius.
What was the approximate year of rising, and the first year of
Amenophis I's reign? From general historical considerations it is
known that Amenophis I (18th dynasty) flourished during the 2nd
millennium B.C., so we enter the 2nd column of the above table and find
that Sirius rose heliacally in the tetraeteris (four-year period)
commencing -1572 (1573 B.C.) on the 1st of the 3rd Month of Shemu, (1st
Epiphi). Then:
Month Year
Shemu 3rd 1st day = -1572
Shemu 3rd 8x4 (tetraeteris) = + 32
-----
Shemu 3rd 9th day = -1540
Hence the rising of Sirius took place in one of the four years
commencing -1540 (1541 B.C.), so Amenophis I began his reign in one of
the four years beginning -1548 (1549 B.C.). To the Egyptologist and
historian this handy table should prove invaluable in accurately fixing
the chronology of Egypt. From it also can be obtained for any year
during the dynastic period, the Egyptian date on which Sirius rose.
In his chronology, Meyer gives Amenophis (or Amenhotep) I's first
year as 1557 B.C. Meyer based his well-known chronology of Egypt on
the recorded heliacal risings of Sirius. But at the time he compiled
it, the value of Sirius' 'arcus visionis' and the elements of the Sun
and Moon, in respect of ancient times, were inaccurate, so that his
chronology suffered in consequence. The following is Sewell's
amendment of Meyer's chronology which is now accepted as orthodox by
Egyptologists:
Dynasty Approx. year
Old Egyptian Archaic Period I 3188 B.C.
II "
Old Kingdom III 2815 "
(Pyramidic Period) IV 2690 "
V 2560 "
VI 2420 "
1st Intermediate Period VII 2394 "
VIII
IX 2240 "
X
Middle Kingdom XI 2132 "
XII 1990 "
2nd Intermediate Period XIII 1777 "
XIV 1740 "
XV
XVI
XVII
Late Egyptian New Kingdom XVIII 1573 "
XIX
XX 1220 "
Late Kingdom XXI 1090 "
XXII
XXIII
XXIV
XXV 715 "
Saite Period XXVI 663 "
Late Period XXVII 525 "
XXVIII
XXIX
XXX
XXXI
The accuracy of this and other Egyptian chronologies can now be
easily tested by the reader by means of "THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX'
TABLE, for all recorded Egyptian dates of the heliacal risings of
Sirius.
************
From DREIS' INDEX OF FAGAN'S "SOLUNARS," published 7/1953 to 3/1970 in
American Astrology, the following dates are given for discussion of
HELIACAL PHENOMENA. The pages listed are not the magazine pages, but
the pages of the article itself. 8/1958, p3,4,5,6; 6/1961, p3;
2/1964, p4; 3/1964, p1 (rising); 9/1967, p4; 10/1968, p3;
6/1969, p1;
*************
Cyril Fagan's "SOLUNARS...A STUDY OF THE SIDEREAL ZODIAC"
June 1969
[HELIACAL PHENOMENA & HYPSOMATA, THE EXALTATION ORIGINS]
Has the reader ever seen the ever-so-thin crescent of the Moon lying
close to the western horizon just after sunset? If so, he has
witnessed what was the most important celestial phenomenon in all
antiquity, namely the heliacal rising of the Moon in the west? The
chronology of Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, and other great nations of
remote antiquity were timed by such mensal recurring phenomena. What
modern calendars, almanacs and ephemerides style the New Moon is not
really such at all but is the syzygy or conjunction of the Sun and Moon
in the ecliptic, which always is invisible and usually occurs on the
penultimate day of the previous lunar month. Incidentally, this was
reckoned to be the most unlucky day of the month because on that day
eclipses of the Sun and Moon took place.
As the first day of the month began at sunset when the New Moon was
spotted, it was of the utmost importance that the phenomenon should not
be missed, so scribes would keep watch from the hilltops, the roofs of
temples and similar points of vantage, and would signal when the
crescent was seen. When the weather was adverse the date was
estimated. The lunar year began when the crescent was seen during the
month of Pakhon (Egyptian) or Nissanu (Babylonian).
To calculate the date of the true New Moon was at one time
considered quite a difficult feat. Very precise and accurate tables of
the syzygies are required, and up to the time of Karl Schoch (1873-
1929) of the Heidelberg University the existing table were only
accurate to the nearest hour. Tackling the problem Schoch produced
syzygy tables that were accurate to less than five minutes of time even
in remote antiquity. Then by auxiliary tables also produced by Schoch
it was possible to determine the date of the true New Moon for any date
in antiquity provided the 'Arcus Visionis' of the crescent was first
determined empirically because this differs according to the visibility
and other factors of the locality. Schoch's syzygy and auxiliary
tables for the latitude and climate of Babylon first appeared in The
Venus Tablets of Ammizaduga (Oxford University Press, 1928). Since
then they have been very much refined by means of Schoch's own
corrections by James Hynes of Dublin, Ireland. By means of Schoch's
tables it was possible to restore precisely much of the chronology of
the great nations of antiquity.
How many astrologers of today can precisely determine the date of
the true New Moon at their home towns? Have they ever tried? Have
they every attempted to determine, say, when Jupiter will first be seen
in the skies just before sunrise or when Venus will last be visible
just after sunset at their places of residence? Is there an astrologer
living other than James Hynes, an authority on such subjects, who is
prepared to deliver a well informed lecture on heliacal phenomena? Any
astrologer who is not familiar with heliacal and acronychal phenomena
is completely ignorant of astrology in remove antiquity which consisted
of nothing else. The most important annual events were linked with
heliacal phenomena. For instance, the Greeks saw in the heliacal
rising of the Hyades the beginning of the rainy season; the acronychal
rising of the Pleiades was synchronized with the Deluge and the true
All Soul's Day; the heliacal rising of Vindemiatrix ushered in the
grape harvest, while most important of all, the heliacal rising of
Sirius synchronized with the commencement of the Inundation.
RESOLUTION OF THE HYPSOMATA
Every student of astrology is familiar with the exaltation degrees
of the planets. They are given in almost every textbook and they
represent the oldest traditions in astrology. For the benefit of newer
readers they are herewith given once more and are as follows: Sun in
Aries 19 degrees; Moon in Taurus 3 degrees; Mercury in Virgo 15
degrees; Venus in Pisces 27 degrees; Mars in Capricorn 28 degrees;
Jupiter in Cancer 15 degrees; Saturn in Libra 21 degrees. The Greeks
called an exaltation degree 'hypsoma,' plural 'hypsomata.'
In the British Museum, London, there is a fragment from a large
cuneiform tablet written about the time of Nebuchadnezzar (747-434
B.C.). Here the legends of the twelve lunar months are rehearsed. The
commentary on the month Tammuz gives the valuable information that
Perseus and the Pleiades were the hypsoma of the Moon, Aries of the
Sun, Capricorn of Mars and Cancer of Jupiter. (Babylonian Menologies:
S. Langdon, London 1935). How did these exaltation degrees originate?
What do they represent? As Mercury's elongation from the Sun cannot
exceed 28 degrees (here it is 146 degrees) they cannot be longitudes of
the planets in any horoscope, or the like. The mystery of the origin
of the hypsomata has intrigued philosophers from the earliest times and
classical writers have not refrained from penning their speculation as
to their origin. Plutarch (Moralia I, 149a) refers to the Egyptians
saying the planets grow better or worse according to their Hypsomata
kai tapeinomata; while Pliny the Elder in his Historia Naturalis II,
13, seems to think the hypsomata were a 'suo centro apsides
altissimae.'
Down the long corridors of time, from the Greek period through the
Italian Renaissance to modern times, the problem of the hypsomata has
agitated many philosophical minds but evaded solution. Boll-Bezold-
Gundel (Sternglaube und Sterndeutung) and Bouche-Leclercq (L'Astrologie
Greque) agree that they are not apogees or perigees and as Dr. Herbert
Chatley adds, "no one seems to know what they are." However, the
problem was finally solved on May 14, 1949 when it was discovered by
the present writer that the 'hypsomata were the heliacal longitudes of
the planets for the lunar year commencing 1st Nissan, April 4, Julian,
786 B.C.' On this date the tropical longitudes of the Sun, Moon, and
Venus were Aries 5 degrees, Aries 15.6 degrees, and Pisces 12.9
degrees. On Sivan 21 (June 22) Jupiter set in the west heliacally in
Cancer 1.5 degrees; on Elul 15 (September 13) Mercury set in the east
heliacally in Libra 7.1 degrees; and on Shebat 6 (January 30, 785 B.C.)
Mars rose heliacally in Capricorn 13.5 degrees. Here it will be
noticed that the phenomenon alternates between the east and west
horizons.
The difference between the tropical longitudes and the traditional
hypsomatic degrees gives the sidereal longitude of the vernal point
(VP) for the epoch 786 B.C. thus:
Tropical Hypsoma VP
Sun 5.0 d. 19.0 d. 14.0
Moon 15.6 33.0 17.4
Mercury 150.8 165.0 14.2
Venus 342.9 357.0 14.1
Mars 283.5 298.0 14.5
Jupiter 91.5 105.0 13.5
Saturn 187.1 201.0 13.9
Mean value of VP for 786 B.C. 14.5
These amended values which differ slightly from those given in
Zodiacs Old and New (Llewellyn Publications 1950) are the result of
finer figuring and more critical translations of cuneiform records.
But here is must be stressed that they are derived from Schoch's
Heliacal Tables and his Arcus Visionis for Babylon on the tenatitive
assumption that the hypsomata were observed there. But such may not
have been the case. In the above named work, a plausible case was made
out that the phenomena was observed at Halakh, Assyria which is
disputed by Professor B. L. van der Waerden of the Mathematical
Institute of Zurich. They may have been observed in Egypt, Phoenicia,
or even in India. Being without positive historical records we simply
do not know. But if the phenomenon was not recorded in Babylon but in
some neighboring country then obviously the above values may differ by
a day or a degree either way. WHAT WE DO POSITIVELY KNOW IS THAT THE
HYPSOMATA RELATE TO THE YEAR 786 B.C. AND TO NO OTHER YEAR IN THE WHOLE
HISTORICAL PERIOD (4,000 B.C. TO THE PRESENT DAY); THAT THE EXALTATIONS
RELATED ONLY TO THE SIDEREAL ZODIAC; AND AT THE TIME OF THEIR
OCCURRENCE THE SIDEREAL LONGITUDE OF THE VERNAL POINT (AYANAMSHA) WAS
ABOUT 14 DEGREES.
In a letter to this writer, dated June 30, 1952, van der Waerden
advances cogent reasons for doubling that the longitude of the planets
at the date of the hypsomata were calculated by the Babylonians at that
time. He writes "The earliest known text in which entrances of the
planets into zodiacal signs are mentioned is VAT 4924 from the 5th year
of Darius II (420 B.C.) Degree are not mentioned; in fact they are
never mentioned in almanacs. Degrees are given only in computed lunar
and planetary tables from 100 to 300 of the Seleucid Era. The oldest
text comparable with NS (Normal Stars) almanacs is Strm. Kambys 400
(523 B.C.). It does not yet contain normal stars, but it gives
distances of planets to planets, and expressions like 'Saturn rose
heliacally east of Spica." In Sp II 901 (387 B.C.) the normal stars
appear for the first time. (Kugler: Sternkunde I, p. 71-81.) The
almanac CBS II 901 (425 B.C.) contains dates of heliacal risings and
settings. These five texts are all we have of the Persian time. All
in all, it seems extremely improbable that the Assyrians observed the
positions of the planets in 786 B.C. in signs and degrees. The only
possibility would be that Seleucid astronomers computed these positions
(retrospectively) and used them for their hypsoma theory. Besides,
whey should the Babylonian astrologers be interested in the
installation of Assyrian temples? The Babylonians were glad to get rid
of the Assyrian yoke in 612 B.C...."
But why should the Babylonians of the Seleucid period (312-64 B.C.)
want to compute the heliacal position of the planets for 786 B.C.? If
they did so, they must have been in possession of extraordinarily
accurate tables, or have been unusually competent mathematicians
comparable to the best we have today! The suggestion seems too far-
fetched and unconvincing. If, as van der Waerden contends, at the
period 786 B.C. the Babylonians did not think in degrees nor signs,
then it would appear that the hypsomata had their origin in Egypt. We
know that the Egyptians did think in signs and at least in pentades as
early as the 3rd millennium B.C. We also know that in Egypt in B.C.
786 the reign of Shashonk III, the last king of Dynasty XXII from
Bubastis, and that of Pedibaste, the first king of Dynasty XXIII from
Tanis overlapped, but for the rest history is silent. We simply lack
records.
The above reflections were stimulated by an excellent article in the
March '69 issue of our contemporary Horoscope, by our good friend LCDR
David Williams, entitled "The Constellations vs. the Zodiacal Signs."
Therein he states that there has been little agreement among
authorities as to when the first point of Aries actually coincided with
the beginning of the constellation Aries and in evidence he lists the
following tabulation:
Authority Date
Cheiro 388 B.C.
D. Davidson 317 B.C.
A. M. Harding 300 B.C.
Gerald Massey 255 B.C.
C. A. Jayne, Jr. 254 B.C.
Thierens 125 B.C.
Dane Rudhyar 97 B.C.
Paul Councel 0 A.D.
Cyril Fagan 220 A.D.
Sepharial 321 A.D.
Now let us note the following historical facts. In 1913, Weidner
found a cuneiform astronomical text which proved to be a Lunar
Computation Table after the system of the Babylonian astronomer
Naburiannu (epoch B.C. 500) for the New and Full Moons of B.C. 49-48.
In Naburiannu's system the sidereal longitude of the vernal point is
given as Aries 10 degrees. The German Jesuits Epping and Kugler
examined another Babylonian tablet of the year B.C. 103 bearing the
title Lunar Computation Table according to the System of Kidinnu (epoch
B.C. 373). In Kidinnu's system the sidereal longitude of the vernal
point is given as Aries 8 degrees (Kugler: Babylonische Mondrechung).
Van der Waerden defined the position of the origin of the Babylonian
zodiac by comparing it to the equinox of the year 101 B.C. (-100).
From several Babylonian lunar and planetary tables both Kugler and van
der Waerden obtained the following mean differences (VP).
Tables Years Difference
Lunar table Nr 93, system II -174 to -154 3.7
Lunar table Nr 272, system I -103 to -101 3.3
Jupiter tables, 1st kind -180 to - 90 4.2
Jupiter tables, 2nd kind -120 to -100 4.2
Jupiter tables, 3rd kind -120 to - 80 4.3
Babylonian Almanacs -210 to -160 3.5
Babylonian Almanacs -110 to - 60 5.3
"These values," states van der Waerden, "range from 3.3 to 5.3 which
means that the vernal point of -100 lies near 4.3 of the Babylonian
zodiac and Spica near 29 degrees Virgo with a possible deviation of 1
degree to either side. This result obtained several years ago is
strikingly confirmed by a Babylonian star catalogue recently published
by A. Sachs. Restricting ourselves to 5 entries that can be identified
with certainly, we find in this list the following longitudes. I have
added to the list two Jupiter longitudes drawn from the planetary table
and probably observed in the year 108 and 158 Seleucid Era which
commenced in 312 B.C."
Bab. Kugler
Text Star Name Long. Long. Diff.
BM 46083 Beta Virginis 151 147.6 3.4
Gamma " 166 161.2 4.8
Alpha Virginis 178 174.7 3.3
Alpha Librae 200 195.9 4.1
AO 6476 Beta Librae 205 200.2 4.8
Sp li 889 Jupiter 151.75 148.05 3.7
Jupiter 230.17 226.20 4.0
The mean difference is 4.1, the standard error of the single
observation being 0.6 Sonderabdruk aus Archiv fur Orientforschung, Band
XVI, Sweiter Teil, 1954. For the year -100 the Egyptian Berlin papyrus
(years -16 to +10) gives the differences of VP as 4.6 while the
Egyptian Strobart Tablets (years +70 to +131) give the VP as 5.1.
Should the reader take a sheet of graph paper and enter all these
findings, including that of the hypsomata, and taking as his
coordinates the year of the epoch and the longitude of the derived VP,
he will discover that the resultant "curve" is a perfectly straight
line! This clearly establishing the authenticity and historicity of
the hypsomata, which implies that all the other dates tabulated by
Commander Williams are false as they have no historicity of any
consequence to confirm their validity. The graph reproduced here is
taken from Zodiacs Old and New. [Below graph could only be
approximated in ascii text format.]
DIAGONAL LINE = SIDEREAL LONGITUDE OF THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOCTIAL
POINT MEASURED FROM SPICA IN 29 VIRGO 00'
Babylonian Planetary Texts (V.P. reduced to ecliptic of-100
by Van Der Waerden)
YEARS B.C. YEARS A.D.
-800 -700 -600 -500 -400 -300 -200 -100 -0 +100 +200
| | | | | | | | | | |
LIB 15__________________________________________________________
\
14___\ __13.8 LIB _________________________________________
S * Hypsomata B.C. 786
I 13________\ _______________________________________________
D \
E 12____________\ ___________________________________________
R \
E 11________________\ _______________________________________
A Naburiannu
L 10___________ 10 LIB * B.C. 500 ___________________________
\
L 9______________________ \ _________________________________
O Kidinnu
N 8__________________ 8 LIB * B.C. 373 ____________________
G
I 7_____________________________ \ __________________________
T \
U 6_________________________________ \ 5.3 LIB ____________
D \ * B.C. 116-60
E 5____________________________________ ___________________
4 LIB
4_____________ 4.2 LIB B.C. 160-130 *\ *Berlin Demotic
3.5 LIB B.C. 210-160 * \ Papyrus P8279
3___________________________________________ B.C. 15 - A.D. 11
\
2_________________________ 2 LIB A.D. 71-132 * ________
Strobart Egyptian \
1__________________________ Tables (Demotic) ______ \ ____
\
LIB 0______________________________________________________ \ _
\
VIR 29__________________________________________________________
VIR 28__________________________________________________________
| | | | | | | | | | |
-800 -700 -600 -500 -400 -300 -200 -100 -0 +100 +200
YEARS B.C. YEARS A.D.
When I was engaged on the solution of the mystery of the hypsomata,
following modern Hindu traditions I assumed that the fiducial star was
Spica in Libra 0 degrees. But the solution quickly proved that the
sidereal longitude of Spica was nearer to Virgo 29 degrees than to
Libra 0 degrees; a most unlikely longitude for a fiducial star. Virgo
29 degrees also was confirmed by van de Waerden in his examination of
Babylonian records. Constant readers of this magazine know that in
1957, by purely statistical methods, Garth Allen established that the
sidereal longitude of Spica was Virgo 29 degrees 06' 05"; a still more
unlikely longitude for a fiducial star. In more recent years it was
discovered that when Garth Allen's determination was referred to the
hypsomata epoch 876 B.C. it put the Bull's Eye (Aldebaran) precisely in
the mathematical center of Taurus (15 degrees 00' 00') clearly
demonstrating that the true zodiac commenced with Taurus 0 degrees and
not with Aries 0 degrees. THIS HISTORICITY OF THE HYPSOMATA ZERO YEAR,
NAMELY A.D. 220 IS AN ALL IMPORTANT FACTOR IN CONFIRMING THAT THE
SOLUTION HERE GIVEN OF THE HYPSOMATA IS THE CORRECT ONE.
This was the most momentous discovery--if it can be called such--
ever made in the long history of astrology. Its implications are far
reaching and revolutionary in the extreme. Although the details of
this were made public some 20 years ago in Zodiacs Old and New, only
recently are the inferences beginning to percolate the astrological
consciousness of the more far seeing of astrologers. In all
seriousness, no amount of rationalization will succeed in explaining it
away. Of course, because of vested interests, or of heavy commitment,
there are those who ostrich-like prefer to hide their heads in the sand
and refuse to see. But ultimately the resolution of the hypsomata will
prove to be the open sesame that will restore astrology to its original
honorable place in the councils of the great nations.
* * * * *
CYRIL FAGAN'S "SOLUNARS" 12/61 American Astrology
ORIGIN OF HOROSCOPE FORM
[HELIACAL RISING OF SIRIUS; OLDEST KNOWN HOROSCOPE 2767 B.C.]
Before beginning a delineation of an astrological chart we must
fully comprehend the meaning of the horoscope form itself and its
interpretation. The circular diagram is popular in the west today; but
strange to say, it is a comparative innovation, notwithstanding the
fact that the dome of the heavens is obviously circular. Up to the
19th century the square of rectangular shaped horoscope form was the
vogue, as it is still the vogue in India. In his letters to the
present writer, the Irish poet, W.B. Yeats, the Nobel prize winner for
literature (1923), always used the square-shaped horoscope form. Why
did the square-shaped form persist for so many centuries before it was
gradually supplanted by the circular design, and how did it originate?
The glib answer is, of course, that it was easier to draw. But is that
the only reason?
If the hieroglyphic inscriptions of ancient Egypt are examined it
will be found that from the most remote periods they invariably
inscribed in the form of square or rectangular patterns, and down the
corridors of time, there appears to be little or no deviation from this
rather rigid convention. The famous Egyptian star charts were all
square or rectangular in shape to conform to the general pattern of
hieroglyphic inscriptions. But these same celestial diagrams, as they
were termed by Egyptologists, were a source of puzzlement to them and
astronomers alike, because the orientation appeared to them to be all
wrong.
Referring to the Celestial Diagram found in the tomb of Senmut (cira
1500 B.C.) Professor Pogo writes: "...A characteristic feature of the
Senmut ceiling is the astronomically objectionable orientation of the
southern panel; it has to be inspected like the rest of the ceiling by
a person facing north, so that Orion appears east of Sirius. If
astronomical ceilings in sepulchral halls were originally an expansion
of the inside and outside decorations of sarcophagus lids, the reversed
orientation of the southern panel would be easy to account for.
Another explanation for the wrong orientation of the southern panel is
suggested by the possibility that it originated on a southern vertical
wall facing a northern vertical wall appropriately decorated with
representations of the "meridian cords" and the "mural dials" discussed
below; by moving such hypothetical mural panels to the ceiling, their
relative orientation could be preserved, as in the case of the Seti
monument, or else the orientation of the southern panel could be
sacrificed to "uniformity" as on the ceiling of Senmut and of the
Ramesseum..." (The astronomical ceiling decoration in the Tomb of
Senmut, --XVIIIth Dynasty: Isis 14, p.306).
Professor Pogo did not know, nor do Egyptologists in general know,
that these celestial diagrams, belonging to many different dynastic
periods, were nothing else than copies of the horoscope for the
inauguration of the Sothic Era at the heliacal rising of Sirius at
Heliopolis on July 16 (O.S.), 2767 B.C. (see January 1954 issue). This
was deemed to be a magical talisman insuring for the deceased longevity
in the Elysium Fields.
The orientation of these celestial diagrams was not wrong. It is
identical with the orientation of our modern horoscope forms, whether
square or circular; a fact which is a strong argument that it was the
Egyptians, and not the Babylonians, who invented astrology, as so
fondly argued by Assyriologists. The horoscope for the inauguration of
the Sothic Era is identical in form with that of the square horoscope
form. It antidates the first records of Babylonian astrology by over a
thousand years; and it is the oldest extant horoscope in the world.
South at Midheaven
When a modern horoscope form is seen for the first time, the
beholder, like Professor Pogo, is apt to exclaim "The orientation is
all wrong." This is because he is accustomed to see north at the top,
the south at the bottom, the east at the right and the west at the left
in all modern geographical maps. But to orientate our geographical
maps in this way is only a convention. In truth, there is no top or
bottom to the earth or for that matter for any of the celestial bodies.
The Egyptians always considered the south as being the top or upper
region, the north as the bottom or lower region, the east as being the
left and the west and being the right. The Egyptian for east is
'i3bt,' while that for left-hand is 'i3bi;' the Egyptian for west is
'imnt' and for right-hand 'wnmy,' both words having the same root. The
Egyptian for north was 'mht,' the root of which is 'mh' meaning "a
whip."
The same root occurs in the word 'mhnyt' - "the coiled one," meaning
a snake or serpent, and it is rather curious to find in the argot of
the southern states of the U.S.A., before the emancipation of the
slaves, that the whip was often referred to as the "snake.' In
Egyptian symbolism the ideogram of a snake or serpent indicated the
"winds" and that of the "whip" is here identified with the icy winds
that blow from the north, which metaphorically speaking, "whip the
backs of the Egyptians" when they blow, as the viewer of a horoscope is
always supposed to be facing due south, with his back to the north. So
positioned the east will be at his left and the west at his right. The
Egyptian for south was 'r-swt' - "the sedge plant," and the Egyptian
for Upper (southern) Egypt was 'sm'w,' the phonetics of which
incorporate the ideogram of a "sedge planet," while that for Lower
(northern) Egypt, i.e., the Land of the Delta, was 'mhr,' the phonetics
of which include the ideogram of the "whip."
When looking at a circular horoscope form it must be remembered that
the astrologer is trying to express diagrammatically in two dimensions
a three dimensional view, this view being taken in "the plane of the
vertical." The circle that surrounds the diagram represents the prime
vertical, which is a great circle of the sphere that rises due east
(extreme left-hand point of the circle), cuts through the Zenith, which
is that point in the heavens that is immediately overhead (extreme top
point of the circle), sets due west (extreme right-hand point), passes
through the Nadir, which is that point immediately opposite to the
Zenith (bottom part of circle) and then rises again due east.
Cusps and Angles
The horizontal line that stretches across the diagram from east to
west is the great circle of the rational horizon viewed edge-on, thus
appearing as only a line. The vertical line is the great circle of the
meridian, also viewed edge on. It rises due north of the horizon, cuts
through the prime vertical at the Zenith, again intersects the horizon,
this time due south, and again intersects the prime vertical at the
Nadir, to rise again at the north point of the horizon. These are the
three great primary or fundamental circles of the mundane sphere. The
twelve lines, looking like spokes of a wheel, represent the cusps
(edges) of the twelve mundane houses. They are known as secondary
circles or just secondaries.
* * * *
From Cyril Fagan's letter in "Many Things" A.A. 5/66
[HELIACAL RISING OF SIRIUS & OLDEST HOROSCOPE 2767 B.C.]
...Senmut's astronomical ceiling is nothing else but a copy of a
horoscope (as the legends, indeed, state) for THE HELIACAL RISING OF
SIRIUS ON NEW YEAR'S DAY of the common Egyptian calendar: an event
which can only recur for a tetraeteris (4 year period) about 1456
years!
Additional copies of the same horoscope were found in the two
temples of Rameses II at Abydos and at Madinat Habu; in the tombs of
Rameses VI, VII, IX at Thebes (c. 1150 B.C.) in the sarcophagus of
Prince Nectanebo, and in the coffin of Hor-nef-tef of the Saite period
(663-420 B.C.) and in the two tombs at Alfih of the Ptolemaic period
(305-30 B.C.) where they acted as talismans promising longevity in the
Elysian Fields.
These copies show a very rare quadruple conjunction of Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn and Venus (as Mars was identified with the evil god
Seth, for superstitious reasons in a few copies it was omitted), with
Venus, under its Pyramidic name of the Benu-bird or Bird of the
Inundation, risen in the east just above the Ascendant. Retrospective
calculation discloses that such a conjunction actually took place on
July 16 (O.S.) 2767 B.C. which happened to be New Year's Day of the
common Egyptian calendar, and incidentally midsummer day. On this date
Sirius rose heliacally at Heliopolis the Greenwich of Egypt! Note the
accompanying chart which is a copy of the oldest extant horoscope in
existence!
Sidereal Campanus: OLDEST HOROSCOPE July 16 O.S., 2767 B.C.
M.C. 10ARI37, llth 9TAU00, 12th 18GEM41, ASC 28CAN52, 2nd 26LEO59,
3rd 19VIR00, MARS 19CAN01, JUP 21CAN35, SAT 24CAN53, VEN 25CAN42,
SUN 10LEO34, MER 28LEO54, MOON 19AQU02
Apart from the above, the 63rd Tablet of the great Babylonian Enuma
Anu Enlil series gives the heliacal rising and settings in Nin-se-an-na
(Venus) in terms of the Babylonian months (not the zodiac, which was
unknown to the Babylonians at this period, not yet being imported from
Egypt) during 22 successive years in the reign of Ammisaduqa of the
First Babylonian Dynasty. There can be no question that Nin-se-an-na
is identical with Venus for the periodicity of its heliacal risings and
settings are the same as those of Venus, and for no other planet.
On the 1st Nisan, the first day of the Hypsomatic lunar year,
commencing April 4, 786 B.C. the triad comprising the Sun, Moon and
Venus were found precisely in their traditional degrees of their
exaltation! Apart from such considerations it is known that Babylonian
and Assyrian sanctuaries, dating from that of Enlil-Assur-Zikurrat in
2931 B.C. to Nabu's Temple in 606 B.C., whose foundation dates were
recorded, were oriented on the 1st Nisan of the foundation year, to the
Pedjeshes (an arc of a circle intersecting Benetnash and Spica), which
has been confirmed by the researches of Gunter-Martiny, P.V.
Neugebauer, Boker and others.
* * * *
Appearances and Disappearances of Planets) in ancient Babylon & Egypt,
especially with regard to the First Crescent Moon, its primary
importance, & how to calculate it. Never before published FLIGHT OF
THE PHOENIX Tables for dating Distant Eras (revised Egyptian
Chronology); excerpts from 9/1958 "Solunars," A.A. On Heliacal
Phenomena and the Origin of the Exaltations or Hypsomata; excerpts from
6/1969 "Solunars." On the Origin of the Horoscope Form from the
Heliacal Rising of Sirius at Heliopolis in 2767 B.C., the inauguration
of Sothic Era as the earliest known horoscope; excerpts from 12/1961
"Solunars" and letter of 5/1966.
Cyril Fagan, "Solunars," A.A. (9/1958)
[HELIACAL PHENOMENA]
Babylonian Accuracy
If reference is made to the Egyptian Sothic Calendar for 2767 B.C.,
it will be found that the Greek name for the first month of the season
Shemu was Kaphon (Copic=Pachons). This was because the festival of Pa
Chons or Chronsu ("The New Moon") was celebrated during this month,
which tallied with the Julian year commencing March 13th. Pa Chons was
the god of the New Moon and in the monuments he was represented as
either a falcon-headed man wearing the solar disc and lunar crescent on
his head, or as a naked boy similarly crowned. This seems to prove
convincingly that the Egyptians celebrated the Neomenia or 1st New Moon
of the lunar year, which tallied with the Babylonian 1st Nisan, long
before the institution of their calendar of 360 days, plus 5 epagomenal
days, especially as their ideogram for a month was a representation of
a crescent moon!
Many hundreds of Babylonian cuneiform tablets of baked clay have
been excavated, which gave the dates of the first appearance of the
lunar crescent. Referring to these, Dr. J. K. Fotheringham of Oxford
University says "...Elaborate computations of the date of this
appearance have come down to us, and we are able to check Babylonian
lunar dates for predicted phenomena with sufficient frequency to know
the high accuracy with which the late Babylonians were able to predict
this phenomena. The late Babylonian ephemerides must in the nature of
the case have been regulated by predicted appearances..." And Karl
Schock declares "...I can say of the Babylonians, who were persistent
observers of the crescent during 3000 years, that not only their
observations but their computations for ephemerides are admirable...."
But while the Babylonians were able to predict with such marvelous
accuracy the dates on which the crescent moon would first become
visible in Babylon, the problem, even to this day, is one of the most
intricate exercises of positional astronomy, notwithstanding our
advanced mathematical technique. It is first essential to know the
precise time of the syzygies and in the Venus Tablets of Ammizaduga
(Oxford University Press, 1928) Schoch has published simple tables for
the computation, accurate to within five minutes of time, from 3508
B.C. to 1992 A.D. Before his lamentable death in 1929, Schock issued
privately even more accurate elements of the luminaries, and with these
James Hynes of Dublin has compiled more precise tables, permitting the
accurate calculation of the longitude and time of the conjunctions and
oppositions of the Sun and Moon for any date between 4000 B.C. and 2000
A.D.
Sighting Problems
To ascertain the date on which the crescent will become visible to
the sharp-sighted observer (weather permitting), it is necessary to
know the Altitude of the Moon over the western horizon at the moment of
sunset, for the 2nd day after the syzygy. This is dependent on the
season of year, the age of the Moon, and the azimuth difference between
the Sun and Moon. In the latitude of Babylon (N 32.30') if the azimuth
difference is zero, the Moon will need to have an altitude of 10.7
degrees before it can be spotted, but should the azimuth difference
amount to 19 degrees it can be seen when it is only 6.3 degrees above
the western horizon. But these values will differ for every degree of
geographical latitude. If the altitude is less than tabular
requirements, the Moon will not be seen until after sunset of the 3rd
day after the syzygy.
Given a set of heliacal table for the required latitude and a Sun-
date table, such as those compiled by Hynes, it is a very simple matter
to ascertain the date of the heliacal rising or setting of a planet or
fixed star, or the date of its acronychal rising or cosmic setting,
provided the arcus visionis is known. Or vice versa, if the date is
known to determine the value of the gamma. Since the time when Ptolemy
penned his famous ALMAGEST or "Great Work" it has been customary to
regard the visibility of a planet or fixed star as dependent on the
angular distance of the Sun below the horizon at the time of the rising
or setting of that planet or fixed star, and this angular distance is
known among astronomers by the Greek letter gamma. The minimum value
of gamma which will render a star visible is known as the arcus
visionis ("arc of vision").
The value of the 'arcus visionis' is in the first instance
determined empirically, that is, through direct observation by a team
of trained observers, for it is not only dependent on the magnitude of
the star or planet, the season, the azimuth difference of the Sun and
star, but on such local conditions as the terrain--whether hilly or
flat country, whether inland or on the coast, conditions of visibility
and the like. It may happen that two places may be situated on the
same parallel of geographical latitude but while the prevailing
conditions in respect of visibility in one may be excellent, in the
other they may be very poor indeed, and the values of the 'arcus
visionis' for both will be affected accordingly.
From the dates of heliacal risings, given on ancient monumental and
cuneiform inscriptions, Schock found that the mean gamma for Sirius at
heliacal rising at Babylon was 7.7 degrees and at Memphis in Egypt 8.8
degrees. At heliacal setting it was one degree less. This means that
the Sun must be approximately 44 degrees separated from the conjunction
of Sirius for the latter to be seen on the horizon at Babylon
immediately before sunrise. But once the 'arcus visionis' of a star is
known, magnitude and azimuth distance from the Sun is determined
empirically for any given place, then the 'arcus visionis' of all other
fixed stars and planets can be determined form the appropriate
trigonometical formulae.
Most of the great epochs and eras of antiquity were dated from the
heliacal rising of one or other of the fixed stars. The Harakhte era
began with the heliacal rising of Spica at Heliopolis on September 15,
3130 B.C. and the Sothic era with the heliacal rising of Sirius at
Heliopolis on July 16, 2767 B.C. The rainy season was ushered in at
the heliacal rising of the Hyades and the vine harvest at that of Tsha
Nefre, the "beautiful boy" or Bacchus, identified with Vindemiatrix in
Virgo 15 degrees 12'. The zodiacal exaltation degrees o the planets
(except Venus were the degrees of the zodiac in which they heliacally
rose or set during the lunar year 786-785 B.C. Thus, in that year
Jupiter set heliacally on June 22, 786 B.C. in Cancer 15d. Mercury set
heliacally in the east in Virgo 15d on September 13, 786 B.C., Saturn
set heliacally in the west on September 23, 786 B.C. in Libra 21d and
Mars rose heliacally in the east on January 30, 785 B.C. in Capricorn
28d. On New Year's Day of that year (1st Nisan) April 3, 786 B.C. at
midnight (because the Babylonian ephemerides were always computed for
this time) the Sun was in Aries 19d, the Moon in Taurus 3d and Venus in
Pisces 27d, which are their traditional exaltation degrees. This alone
demonstrates the immense importance that the ancient astrologers gave
to heliacal phenomena. All these longitudes are, of course, in terms
of the sidereal zodiac computed from Spica in Virgo 29d06'.
Dating Distant Eras
The omission of any reference to heliacal phenomena in any
astrological textbook suggests that it is of modern vintage. it is
true that Ptolemy does not specifically refer to such in his
TETRABIBLOS, although he dilates at length upon the subject in his
ALMAGEST. But Schock has demonstrated that Ptolemy's values for the
'arcus visionis' are impossible, even for Alexandria where visibility
is said to be very poor. Unfortunately these values appear to have
been translated to India and will be found in the Surya-Siddhanta, but
they are equally inapplicable to that continent....
To determine the 'arcus visionis' for a fixed star for any other
place it is necessary to have a team of sharp-eyed observers, capable
of recognizing the star, watching the unobstructed eastern horizon and
a locality where the darkness of the night sky is not destroyed by the
glow of neon lights or the like. From about a week or so before the
calculated time of heliacal rising at Babylon, the vigil should
commence, and the date noted on which the star is seen for a fleeting
moment in the early morning skies on the eastern horizon before
sunrise. Knowing the star's right ascension and declination, the
geographical latitude of the place and the longitude of the Sun, it is
a simple matter to compute the value of the gamma. This should be
repeated with other fixed stars of known magnitude, and from the data
so obtained the value of the 'arcus visionis' for a given magnitude and
azimuth distance, in respect of that locality, can be determined. As
conditions of visibility vary from day to day, these determinations
should be checked in the following year or two.
Knowing the Egyptian date for the heliacal rising of Sothis (Sirius)
the approximate Julian year can be determined almost at sight from the
following table, which has never been published before in any magazine
or textbook, academic or otherwise.
FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX
The approximate Julian years (1st of the tetraeteris) for the 1st
of each Egyptian month when Sirius rose heliacally at Heliopolis.
Season Month Coptic Name Cycles
1 Achet 1 Thoth 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
2 Achet 2 Phaophi -4224 -2768 -1312 + 144
3 Achet 3 Athyr -4104 -2648 -1192 + 264
4 Achet 4 Khoiak -3984 -2528 -1072 + 384
5 Pert 1 Tybi -3864 -2408 - 952 + 504
6 Pert 2 Mekhir -3748 -2288 - 832 + 620
7 Pert 3 Phamenoth -3628 -2168 - 712 + 740
8 Pert 4 Pharmouthi -3508 -2048 - 592 + 860
9 Shemu 1 Pachons -3388 -1932 - 476 + 980
10 Shemu 2 Payni -3268 -1812 - 354 +1096
11 Shemu 3 Epiphi -3148 -1692 - 236 +1216
12 Shemu 4 Mesore -3028 -1572 - 116 +1336
1st Epapomenal Day -2908 -1452 + 4 +1456
2nd Epagomenal Day -2788 -1332 + 124 +1576
3rd Epagomenal Day -2784 -1328 + 128 +1580
4th Epagomenal Day -2780 -1324 + 132 +1584
5th Epagomenal Day -2776 -1320 + 136 +1588
-2772 -1316 + 140 +1592
In the Ebers Papyrus it is recorded that in the 9th year of
Amenophis (Amenhotep) I, the "Festival of New Year's Day" was
celebrated in the 3rd month of Shemu, day 9, with the rising of Sirius.
What was the approximate year of rising, and the first year of
Amenophis I's reign? From general historical considerations it is
known that Amenophis I (18th dynasty) flourished during the 2nd
millennium B.C., so we enter the 2nd column of the above table and find
that Sirius rose heliacally in the tetraeteris (four-year period)
commencing -1572 (1573 B.C.) on the 1st of the 3rd Month of Shemu, (1st
Epiphi). Then:
Month Year
Shemu 3rd 1st day = -1572
Shemu 3rd 8x4 (tetraeteris) = + 32
-----
Shemu 3rd 9th day = -1540
Hence the rising of Sirius took place in one of the four years
commencing -1540 (1541 B.C.), so Amenophis I began his reign in one of
the four years beginning -1548 (1549 B.C.). To the Egyptologist and
historian this handy table should prove invaluable in accurately fixing
the chronology of Egypt. From it also can be obtained for any year
during the dynastic period, the Egyptian date on which Sirius rose.
In his chronology, Meyer gives Amenophis (or Amenhotep) I's first
year as 1557 B.C. Meyer based his well-known chronology of Egypt on
the recorded heliacal risings of Sirius. But at the time he compiled
it, the value of Sirius' 'arcus visionis' and the elements of the Sun
and Moon, in respect of ancient times, were inaccurate, so that his
chronology suffered in consequence. The following is Sewell's
amendment of Meyer's chronology which is now accepted as orthodox by
Egyptologists:
Dynasty Approx. year
Old Egyptian Archaic Period I 3188 B.C.
II "
Old Kingdom III 2815 "
(Pyramidic Period) IV 2690 "
V 2560 "
VI 2420 "
1st Intermediate Period VII 2394 "
VIII
IX 2240 "
X
Middle Kingdom XI 2132 "
XII 1990 "
2nd Intermediate Period XIII 1777 "
XIV 1740 "
XV
XVI
XVII
Late Egyptian New Kingdom XVIII 1573 "
XIX
XX 1220 "
Late Kingdom XXI 1090 "
XXII
XXIII
XXIV
XXV 715 "
Saite Period XXVI 663 "
Late Period XXVII 525 "
XXVIII
XXIX
XXX
XXXI
The accuracy of this and other Egyptian chronologies can now be
easily tested by the reader by means of "THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX'
TABLE, for all recorded Egyptian dates of the heliacal risings of
Sirius.
************
From DREIS' INDEX OF FAGAN'S "SOLUNARS," published 7/1953 to 3/1970 in
American Astrology, the following dates are given for discussion of
HELIACAL PHENOMENA. The pages listed are not the magazine pages, but
the pages of the article itself. 8/1958, p3,4,5,6; 6/1961, p3;
2/1964, p4; 3/1964, p1 (rising); 9/1967, p4; 10/1968, p3;
6/1969, p1;
*************
Cyril Fagan's "SOLUNARS...A STUDY OF THE SIDEREAL ZODIAC"
June 1969
[HELIACAL PHENOMENA & HYPSOMATA, THE EXALTATION ORIGINS]
Has the reader ever seen the ever-so-thin crescent of the Moon lying
close to the western horizon just after sunset? If so, he has
witnessed what was the most important celestial phenomenon in all
antiquity, namely the heliacal rising of the Moon in the west? The
chronology of Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, and other great nations of
remote antiquity were timed by such mensal recurring phenomena. What
modern calendars, almanacs and ephemerides style the New Moon is not
really such at all but is the syzygy or conjunction of the Sun and Moon
in the ecliptic, which always is invisible and usually occurs on the
penultimate day of the previous lunar month. Incidentally, this was
reckoned to be the most unlucky day of the month because on that day
eclipses of the Sun and Moon took place.
As the first day of the month began at sunset when the New Moon was
spotted, it was of the utmost importance that the phenomenon should not
be missed, so scribes would keep watch from the hilltops, the roofs of
temples and similar points of vantage, and would signal when the
crescent was seen. When the weather was adverse the date was
estimated. The lunar year began when the crescent was seen during the
month of Pakhon (Egyptian) or Nissanu (Babylonian).
To calculate the date of the true New Moon was at one time
considered quite a difficult feat. Very precise and accurate tables of
the syzygies are required, and up to the time of Karl Schoch (1873-
1929) of the Heidelberg University the existing table were only
accurate to the nearest hour. Tackling the problem Schoch produced
syzygy tables that were accurate to less than five minutes of time even
in remote antiquity. Then by auxiliary tables also produced by Schoch
it was possible to determine the date of the true New Moon for any date
in antiquity provided the 'Arcus Visionis' of the crescent was first
determined empirically because this differs according to the visibility
and other factors of the locality. Schoch's syzygy and auxiliary
tables for the latitude and climate of Babylon first appeared in The
Venus Tablets of Ammizaduga (Oxford University Press, 1928). Since
then they have been very much refined by means of Schoch's own
corrections by James Hynes of Dublin, Ireland. By means of Schoch's
tables it was possible to restore precisely much of the chronology of
the great nations of antiquity.
How many astrologers of today can precisely determine the date of
the true New Moon at their home towns? Have they ever tried? Have
they every attempted to determine, say, when Jupiter will first be seen
in the skies just before sunrise or when Venus will last be visible
just after sunset at their places of residence? Is there an astrologer
living other than James Hynes, an authority on such subjects, who is
prepared to deliver a well informed lecture on heliacal phenomena? Any
astrologer who is not familiar with heliacal and acronychal phenomena
is completely ignorant of astrology in remove antiquity which consisted
of nothing else. The most important annual events were linked with
heliacal phenomena. For instance, the Greeks saw in the heliacal
rising of the Hyades the beginning of the rainy season; the acronychal
rising of the Pleiades was synchronized with the Deluge and the true
All Soul's Day; the heliacal rising of Vindemiatrix ushered in the
grape harvest, while most important of all, the heliacal rising of
Sirius synchronized with the commencement of the Inundation.
RESOLUTION OF THE HYPSOMATA
Every student of astrology is familiar with the exaltation degrees
of the planets. They are given in almost every textbook and they
represent the oldest traditions in astrology. For the benefit of newer
readers they are herewith given once more and are as follows: Sun in
Aries 19 degrees; Moon in Taurus 3 degrees; Mercury in Virgo 15
degrees; Venus in Pisces 27 degrees; Mars in Capricorn 28 degrees;
Jupiter in Cancer 15 degrees; Saturn in Libra 21 degrees. The Greeks
called an exaltation degree 'hypsoma,' plural 'hypsomata.'
In the British Museum, London, there is a fragment from a large
cuneiform tablet written about the time of Nebuchadnezzar (747-434
B.C.). Here the legends of the twelve lunar months are rehearsed. The
commentary on the month Tammuz gives the valuable information that
Perseus and the Pleiades were the hypsoma of the Moon, Aries of the
Sun, Capricorn of Mars and Cancer of Jupiter. (Babylonian Menologies:
S. Langdon, London 1935). How did these exaltation degrees originate?
What do they represent? As Mercury's elongation from the Sun cannot
exceed 28 degrees (here it is 146 degrees) they cannot be longitudes of
the planets in any horoscope, or the like. The mystery of the origin
of the hypsomata has intrigued philosophers from the earliest times and
classical writers have not refrained from penning their speculation as
to their origin. Plutarch (Moralia I, 149a) refers to the Egyptians
saying the planets grow better or worse according to their Hypsomata
kai tapeinomata; while Pliny the Elder in his Historia Naturalis II,
13, seems to think the hypsomata were a 'suo centro apsides
altissimae.'
Down the long corridors of time, from the Greek period through the
Italian Renaissance to modern times, the problem of the hypsomata has
agitated many philosophical minds but evaded solution. Boll-Bezold-
Gundel (Sternglaube und Sterndeutung) and Bouche-Leclercq (L'Astrologie
Greque) agree that they are not apogees or perigees and as Dr. Herbert
Chatley adds, "no one seems to know what they are." However, the
problem was finally solved on May 14, 1949 when it was discovered by
the present writer that the 'hypsomata were the heliacal longitudes of
the planets for the lunar year commencing 1st Nissan, April 4, Julian,
786 B.C.' On this date the tropical longitudes of the Sun, Moon, and
Venus were Aries 5 degrees, Aries 15.6 degrees, and Pisces 12.9
degrees. On Sivan 21 (June 22) Jupiter set in the west heliacally in
Cancer 1.5 degrees; on Elul 15 (September 13) Mercury set in the east
heliacally in Libra 7.1 degrees; and on Shebat 6 (January 30, 785 B.C.)
Mars rose heliacally in Capricorn 13.5 degrees. Here it will be
noticed that the phenomenon alternates between the east and west
horizons.
The difference between the tropical longitudes and the traditional
hypsomatic degrees gives the sidereal longitude of the vernal point
(VP) for the epoch 786 B.C. thus:
Tropical Hypsoma VP
Sun 5.0 d. 19.0 d. 14.0
Moon 15.6 33.0 17.4
Mercury 150.8 165.0 14.2
Venus 342.9 357.0 14.1
Mars 283.5 298.0 14.5
Jupiter 91.5 105.0 13.5
Saturn 187.1 201.0 13.9
Mean value of VP for 786 B.C. 14.5
These amended values which differ slightly from those given in
Zodiacs Old and New (Llewellyn Publications 1950) are the result of
finer figuring and more critical translations of cuneiform records.
But here is must be stressed that they are derived from Schoch's
Heliacal Tables and his Arcus Visionis for Babylon on the tenatitive
assumption that the hypsomata were observed there. But such may not
have been the case. In the above named work, a plausible case was made
out that the phenomena was observed at Halakh, Assyria which is
disputed by Professor B. L. van der Waerden of the Mathematical
Institute of Zurich. They may have been observed in Egypt, Phoenicia,
or even in India. Being without positive historical records we simply
do not know. But if the phenomenon was not recorded in Babylon but in
some neighboring country then obviously the above values may differ by
a day or a degree either way. WHAT WE DO POSITIVELY KNOW IS THAT THE
HYPSOMATA RELATE TO THE YEAR 786 B.C. AND TO NO OTHER YEAR IN THE WHOLE
HISTORICAL PERIOD (4,000 B.C. TO THE PRESENT DAY); THAT THE EXALTATIONS
RELATED ONLY TO THE SIDEREAL ZODIAC; AND AT THE TIME OF THEIR
OCCURRENCE THE SIDEREAL LONGITUDE OF THE VERNAL POINT (AYANAMSHA) WAS
ABOUT 14 DEGREES.
In a letter to this writer, dated June 30, 1952, van der Waerden
advances cogent reasons for doubling that the longitude of the planets
at the date of the hypsomata were calculated by the Babylonians at that
time. He writes "The earliest known text in which entrances of the
planets into zodiacal signs are mentioned is VAT 4924 from the 5th year
of Darius II (420 B.C.) Degree are not mentioned; in fact they are
never mentioned in almanacs. Degrees are given only in computed lunar
and planetary tables from 100 to 300 of the Seleucid Era. The oldest
text comparable with NS (Normal Stars) almanacs is Strm. Kambys 400
(523 B.C.). It does not yet contain normal stars, but it gives
distances of planets to planets, and expressions like 'Saturn rose
heliacally east of Spica." In Sp II 901 (387 B.C.) the normal stars
appear for the first time. (Kugler: Sternkunde I, p. 71-81.) The
almanac CBS II 901 (425 B.C.) contains dates of heliacal risings and
settings. These five texts are all we have of the Persian time. All
in all, it seems extremely improbable that the Assyrians observed the
positions of the planets in 786 B.C. in signs and degrees. The only
possibility would be that Seleucid astronomers computed these positions
(retrospectively) and used them for their hypsoma theory. Besides,
whey should the Babylonian astrologers be interested in the
installation of Assyrian temples? The Babylonians were glad to get rid
of the Assyrian yoke in 612 B.C...."
But why should the Babylonians of the Seleucid period (312-64 B.C.)
want to compute the heliacal position of the planets for 786 B.C.? If
they did so, they must have been in possession of extraordinarily
accurate tables, or have been unusually competent mathematicians
comparable to the best we have today! The suggestion seems too far-
fetched and unconvincing. If, as van der Waerden contends, at the
period 786 B.C. the Babylonians did not think in degrees nor signs,
then it would appear that the hypsomata had their origin in Egypt. We
know that the Egyptians did think in signs and at least in pentades as
early as the 3rd millennium B.C. We also know that in Egypt in B.C.
786 the reign of Shashonk III, the last king of Dynasty XXII from
Bubastis, and that of Pedibaste, the first king of Dynasty XXIII from
Tanis overlapped, but for the rest history is silent. We simply lack
records.
The above reflections were stimulated by an excellent article in the
March '69 issue of our contemporary Horoscope, by our good friend LCDR
David Williams, entitled "The Constellations vs. the Zodiacal Signs."
Therein he states that there has been little agreement among
authorities as to when the first point of Aries actually coincided with
the beginning of the constellation Aries and in evidence he lists the
following tabulation:
Authority Date
Cheiro 388 B.C.
D. Davidson 317 B.C.
A. M. Harding 300 B.C.
Gerald Massey 255 B.C.
C. A. Jayne, Jr. 254 B.C.
Thierens 125 B.C.
Dane Rudhyar 97 B.C.
Paul Councel 0 A.D.
Cyril Fagan 220 A.D.
Sepharial 321 A.D.
Now let us note the following historical facts. In 1913, Weidner
found a cuneiform astronomical text which proved to be a Lunar
Computation Table after the system of the Babylonian astronomer
Naburiannu (epoch B.C. 500) for the New and Full Moons of B.C. 49-48.
In Naburiannu's system the sidereal longitude of the vernal point is
given as Aries 10 degrees. The German Jesuits Epping and Kugler
examined another Babylonian tablet of the year B.C. 103 bearing the
title Lunar Computation Table according to the System of Kidinnu (epoch
B.C. 373). In Kidinnu's system the sidereal longitude of the vernal
point is given as Aries 8 degrees (Kugler: Babylonische Mondrechung).
Van der Waerden defined the position of the origin of the Babylonian
zodiac by comparing it to the equinox of the year 101 B.C. (-100).
From several Babylonian lunar and planetary tables both Kugler and van
der Waerden obtained the following mean differences (VP).
Tables Years Difference
Lunar table Nr 93, system II -174 to -154 3.7
Lunar table Nr 272, system I -103 to -101 3.3
Jupiter tables, 1st kind -180 to - 90 4.2
Jupiter tables, 2nd kind -120 to -100 4.2
Jupiter tables, 3rd kind -120 to - 80 4.3
Babylonian Almanacs -210 to -160 3.5
Babylonian Almanacs -110 to - 60 5.3
"These values," states van der Waerden, "range from 3.3 to 5.3 which
means that the vernal point of -100 lies near 4.3 of the Babylonian
zodiac and Spica near 29 degrees Virgo with a possible deviation of 1
degree to either side. This result obtained several years ago is
strikingly confirmed by a Babylonian star catalogue recently published
by A. Sachs. Restricting ourselves to 5 entries that can be identified
with certainly, we find in this list the following longitudes. I have
added to the list two Jupiter longitudes drawn from the planetary table
and probably observed in the year 108 and 158 Seleucid Era which
commenced in 312 B.C."
Bab. Kugler
Text Star Name Long. Long. Diff.
BM 46083 Beta Virginis 151 147.6 3.4
Gamma " 166 161.2 4.8
Alpha Virginis 178 174.7 3.3
Alpha Librae 200 195.9 4.1
AO 6476 Beta Librae 205 200.2 4.8
Sp li 889 Jupiter 151.75 148.05 3.7
Jupiter 230.17 226.20 4.0
The mean difference is 4.1, the standard error of the single
observation being 0.6 Sonderabdruk aus Archiv fur Orientforschung, Band
XVI, Sweiter Teil, 1954. For the year -100 the Egyptian Berlin papyrus
(years -16 to +10) gives the differences of VP as 4.6 while the
Egyptian Strobart Tablets (years +70 to +131) give the VP as 5.1.
Should the reader take a sheet of graph paper and enter all these
findings, including that of the hypsomata, and taking as his
coordinates the year of the epoch and the longitude of the derived VP,
he will discover that the resultant "curve" is a perfectly straight
line! This clearly establishing the authenticity and historicity of
the hypsomata, which implies that all the other dates tabulated by
Commander Williams are false as they have no historicity of any
consequence to confirm their validity. The graph reproduced here is
taken from Zodiacs Old and New. [Below graph could only be
approximated in ascii text format.]
DIAGONAL LINE = SIDEREAL LONGITUDE OF THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOCTIAL
POINT MEASURED FROM SPICA IN 29 VIRGO 00'
Babylonian Planetary Texts (V.P. reduced to ecliptic of-100
by Van Der Waerden)
YEARS B.C. YEARS A.D.
-800 -700 -600 -500 -400 -300 -200 -100 -0 +100 +200
| | | | | | | | | | |
LIB 15__________________________________________________________
\
14___\ __13.8 LIB _________________________________________
S * Hypsomata B.C. 786
I 13________\ _______________________________________________
D \
E 12____________\ ___________________________________________
R \
E 11________________\ _______________________________________
A Naburiannu
L 10___________ 10 LIB * B.C. 500 ___________________________
\
L 9______________________ \ _________________________________
O Kidinnu
N 8__________________ 8 LIB * B.C. 373 ____________________
G
I 7_____________________________ \ __________________________
T \
U 6_________________________________ \ 5.3 LIB ____________
D \ * B.C. 116-60
E 5____________________________________ ___________________
4 LIB
4_____________ 4.2 LIB B.C. 160-130 *\ *Berlin Demotic
3.5 LIB B.C. 210-160 * \ Papyrus P8279
3___________________________________________ B.C. 15 - A.D. 11
\
2_________________________ 2 LIB A.D. 71-132 * ________
Strobart Egyptian \
1__________________________ Tables (Demotic) ______ \ ____
\
LIB 0______________________________________________________ \ _
\
VIR 29__________________________________________________________
VIR 28__________________________________________________________
| | | | | | | | | | |
-800 -700 -600 -500 -400 -300 -200 -100 -0 +100 +200
YEARS B.C. YEARS A.D.
When I was engaged on the solution of the mystery of the hypsomata,
following modern Hindu traditions I assumed that the fiducial star was
Spica in Libra 0 degrees. But the solution quickly proved that the
sidereal longitude of Spica was nearer to Virgo 29 degrees than to
Libra 0 degrees; a most unlikely longitude for a fiducial star. Virgo
29 degrees also was confirmed by van de Waerden in his examination of
Babylonian records. Constant readers of this magazine know that in
1957, by purely statistical methods, Garth Allen established that the
sidereal longitude of Spica was Virgo 29 degrees 06' 05"; a still more
unlikely longitude for a fiducial star. In more recent years it was
discovered that when Garth Allen's determination was referred to the
hypsomata epoch 876 B.C. it put the Bull's Eye (Aldebaran) precisely in
the mathematical center of Taurus (15 degrees 00' 00') clearly
demonstrating that the true zodiac commenced with Taurus 0 degrees and
not with Aries 0 degrees. THIS HISTORICITY OF THE HYPSOMATA ZERO YEAR,
NAMELY A.D. 220 IS AN ALL IMPORTANT FACTOR IN CONFIRMING THAT THE
SOLUTION HERE GIVEN OF THE HYPSOMATA IS THE CORRECT ONE.
This was the most momentous discovery--if it can be called such--
ever made in the long history of astrology. Its implications are far
reaching and revolutionary in the extreme. Although the details of
this were made public some 20 years ago in Zodiacs Old and New, only
recently are the inferences beginning to percolate the astrological
consciousness of the more far seeing of astrologers. In all
seriousness, no amount of rationalization will succeed in explaining it
away. Of course, because of vested interests, or of heavy commitment,
there are those who ostrich-like prefer to hide their heads in the sand
and refuse to see. But ultimately the resolution of the hypsomata will
prove to be the open sesame that will restore astrology to its original
honorable place in the councils of the great nations.
* * * * *
CYRIL FAGAN'S "SOLUNARS" 12/61 American Astrology
ORIGIN OF HOROSCOPE FORM
[HELIACAL RISING OF SIRIUS; OLDEST KNOWN HOROSCOPE 2767 B.C.]
Before beginning a delineation of an astrological chart we must
fully comprehend the meaning of the horoscope form itself and its
interpretation. The circular diagram is popular in the west today; but
strange to say, it is a comparative innovation, notwithstanding the
fact that the dome of the heavens is obviously circular. Up to the
19th century the square of rectangular shaped horoscope form was the
vogue, as it is still the vogue in India. In his letters to the
present writer, the Irish poet, W.B. Yeats, the Nobel prize winner for
literature (1923), always used the square-shaped horoscope form. Why
did the square-shaped form persist for so many centuries before it was
gradually supplanted by the circular design, and how did it originate?
The glib answer is, of course, that it was easier to draw. But is that
the only reason?
If the hieroglyphic inscriptions of ancient Egypt are examined it
will be found that from the most remote periods they invariably
inscribed in the form of square or rectangular patterns, and down the
corridors of time, there appears to be little or no deviation from this
rather rigid convention. The famous Egyptian star charts were all
square or rectangular in shape to conform to the general pattern of
hieroglyphic inscriptions. But these same celestial diagrams, as they
were termed by Egyptologists, were a source of puzzlement to them and
astronomers alike, because the orientation appeared to them to be all
wrong.
Referring to the Celestial Diagram found in the tomb of Senmut (cira
1500 B.C.) Professor Pogo writes: "...A characteristic feature of the
Senmut ceiling is the astronomically objectionable orientation of the
southern panel; it has to be inspected like the rest of the ceiling by
a person facing north, so that Orion appears east of Sirius. If
astronomical ceilings in sepulchral halls were originally an expansion
of the inside and outside decorations of sarcophagus lids, the reversed
orientation of the southern panel would be easy to account for.
Another explanation for the wrong orientation of the southern panel is
suggested by the possibility that it originated on a southern vertical
wall facing a northern vertical wall appropriately decorated with
representations of the "meridian cords" and the "mural dials" discussed
below; by moving such hypothetical mural panels to the ceiling, their
relative orientation could be preserved, as in the case of the Seti
monument, or else the orientation of the southern panel could be
sacrificed to "uniformity" as on the ceiling of Senmut and of the
Ramesseum..." (The astronomical ceiling decoration in the Tomb of
Senmut, --XVIIIth Dynasty: Isis 14, p.306).
Professor Pogo did not know, nor do Egyptologists in general know,
that these celestial diagrams, belonging to many different dynastic
periods, were nothing else than copies of the horoscope for the
inauguration of the Sothic Era at the heliacal rising of Sirius at
Heliopolis on July 16 (O.S.), 2767 B.C. (see January 1954 issue). This
was deemed to be a magical talisman insuring for the deceased longevity
in the Elysium Fields.
The orientation of these celestial diagrams was not wrong. It is
identical with the orientation of our modern horoscope forms, whether
square or circular; a fact which is a strong argument that it was the
Egyptians, and not the Babylonians, who invented astrology, as so
fondly argued by Assyriologists. The horoscope for the inauguration of
the Sothic Era is identical in form with that of the square horoscope
form. It antidates the first records of Babylonian astrology by over a
thousand years; and it is the oldest extant horoscope in the world.
South at Midheaven
When a modern horoscope form is seen for the first time, the
beholder, like Professor Pogo, is apt to exclaim "The orientation is
all wrong." This is because he is accustomed to see north at the top,
the south at the bottom, the east at the right and the west at the left
in all modern geographical maps. But to orientate our geographical
maps in this way is only a convention. In truth, there is no top or
bottom to the earth or for that matter for any of the celestial bodies.
The Egyptians always considered the south as being the top or upper
region, the north as the bottom or lower region, the east as being the
left and the west and being the right. The Egyptian for east is
'i3bt,' while that for left-hand is 'i3bi;' the Egyptian for west is
'imnt' and for right-hand 'wnmy,' both words having the same root. The
Egyptian for north was 'mht,' the root of which is 'mh' meaning "a
whip."
The same root occurs in the word 'mhnyt' - "the coiled one," meaning
a snake or serpent, and it is rather curious to find in the argot of
the southern states of the U.S.A., before the emancipation of the
slaves, that the whip was often referred to as the "snake.' In
Egyptian symbolism the ideogram of a snake or serpent indicated the
"winds" and that of the "whip" is here identified with the icy winds
that blow from the north, which metaphorically speaking, "whip the
backs of the Egyptians" when they blow, as the viewer of a horoscope is
always supposed to be facing due south, with his back to the north. So
positioned the east will be at his left and the west at his right. The
Egyptian for south was 'r-swt' - "the sedge plant," and the Egyptian
for Upper (southern) Egypt was 'sm'w,' the phonetics of which
incorporate the ideogram of a "sedge planet," while that for Lower
(northern) Egypt, i.e., the Land of the Delta, was 'mhr,' the phonetics
of which include the ideogram of the "whip."
When looking at a circular horoscope form it must be remembered that
the astrologer is trying to express diagrammatically in two dimensions
a three dimensional view, this view being taken in "the plane of the
vertical." The circle that surrounds the diagram represents the prime
vertical, which is a great circle of the sphere that rises due east
(extreme left-hand point of the circle), cuts through the Zenith, which
is that point in the heavens that is immediately overhead (extreme top
point of the circle), sets due west (extreme right-hand point), passes
through the Nadir, which is that point immediately opposite to the
Zenith (bottom part of circle) and then rises again due east.
Cusps and Angles
The horizontal line that stretches across the diagram from east to
west is the great circle of the rational horizon viewed edge-on, thus
appearing as only a line. The vertical line is the great circle of the
meridian, also viewed edge on. It rises due north of the horizon, cuts
through the prime vertical at the Zenith, again intersects the horizon,
this time due south, and again intersects the prime vertical at the
Nadir, to rise again at the north point of the horizon. These are the
three great primary or fundamental circles of the mundane sphere. The
twelve lines, looking like spokes of a wheel, represent the cusps
(edges) of the twelve mundane houses. They are known as secondary
circles or just secondaries.
* * * *
From Cyril Fagan's letter in "Many Things" A.A. 5/66
[HELIACAL RISING OF SIRIUS & OLDEST HOROSCOPE 2767 B.C.]
...Senmut's astronomical ceiling is nothing else but a copy of a
horoscope (as the legends, indeed, state) for THE HELIACAL RISING OF
SIRIUS ON NEW YEAR'S DAY of the common Egyptian calendar: an event
which can only recur for a tetraeteris (4 year period) about 1456
years!
Additional copies of the same horoscope were found in the two
temples of Rameses II at Abydos and at Madinat Habu; in the tombs of
Rameses VI, VII, IX at Thebes (c. 1150 B.C.) in the sarcophagus of
Prince Nectanebo, and in the coffin of Hor-nef-tef of the Saite period
(663-420 B.C.) and in the two tombs at Alfih of the Ptolemaic period
(305-30 B.C.) where they acted as talismans promising longevity in the
Elysian Fields.
These copies show a very rare quadruple conjunction of Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn and Venus (as Mars was identified with the evil god
Seth, for superstitious reasons in a few copies it was omitted), with
Venus, under its Pyramidic name of the Benu-bird or Bird of the
Inundation, risen in the east just above the Ascendant. Retrospective
calculation discloses that such a conjunction actually took place on
July 16 (O.S.) 2767 B.C. which happened to be New Year's Day of the
common Egyptian calendar, and incidentally midsummer day. On this date
Sirius rose heliacally at Heliopolis the Greenwich of Egypt! Note the
accompanying chart which is a copy of the oldest extant horoscope in
existence!
Sidereal Campanus: OLDEST HOROSCOPE July 16 O.S., 2767 B.C.
M.C. 10ARI37, llth 9TAU00, 12th 18GEM41, ASC 28CAN52, 2nd 26LEO59,
3rd 19VIR00, MARS 19CAN01, JUP 21CAN35, SAT 24CAN53, VEN 25CAN42,
SUN 10LEO34, MER 28LEO54, MOON 19AQU02
Apart from the above, the 63rd Tablet of the great Babylonian Enuma
Anu Enlil series gives the heliacal rising and settings in Nin-se-an-na
(Venus) in terms of the Babylonian months (not the zodiac, which was
unknown to the Babylonians at this period, not yet being imported from
Egypt) during 22 successive years in the reign of Ammisaduqa of the
First Babylonian Dynasty. There can be no question that Nin-se-an-na
is identical with Venus for the periodicity of its heliacal risings and
settings are the same as those of Venus, and for no other planet.
On the 1st Nisan, the first day of the Hypsomatic lunar year,
commencing April 4, 786 B.C. the triad comprising the Sun, Moon and
Venus were found precisely in their traditional degrees of their
exaltation! Apart from such considerations it is known that Babylonian
and Assyrian sanctuaries, dating from that of Enlil-Assur-Zikurrat in
2931 B.C. to Nabu's Temple in 606 B.C., whose foundation dates were
recorded, were oriented on the 1st Nisan of the foundation year, to the
Pedjeshes (an arc of a circle intersecting Benetnash and Spica), which
has been confirmed by the researches of Gunter-Martiny, P.V.
Neugebauer, Boker and others.
* * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
What Age? (The Song Was Wrong)
[WHAT_AGE]? THE SONG WAS WRONG. "This is definitely NOT the dawning
of the Age of Aquarius, no matter what the song proclaims or
opportunistic astrologers may say." From that quintessential Aquarian
Moon Ascending himself, Garth Allen. Plus scholarly essays by Cyril
Fagan, May 1959 "Solunars - New Slant on 'Ages'." Essays from August,
September & October 1967 "Solunars" further discuss Equinoctial
Precession and/or Heliacal Phenomena as the marker of historical ages.
* * * *
Garth Allen, "What's All This About The Age of Aquarius"
SPICA, 4/1970
This is definitely not the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, no matter
what the song proclaims or opportunistic astrologers may say.
Scientifically and historically speaking, the Aquarian Age will
commence in the year 2376 A.D., over four centuries from now -- and you
may confidently dismiss as tommyrot anything you may have read or heard
to the contrary.
There are so many claims and counterclaims about this topic nowadays
that the man on the street cannot be blamed for believing there is a
"controversy" about the dating of the so-called Astrological Ages. But
there is no real controversy, nor can there be one legitimately, simply
because the astronomical facts are incontrovertible.
There may be a deplorable amount of misinformation going the rounds,
but not among people who know the pertinent facts and figures....But
sad to say, the old adage still applies, to wit, that a lie can circle
the world seven times while Truth is putting on her boots!
Those who publicly identify themselves as astrologers, and yet state
or imply that the Aquarian Age is soon to arrive, or is already upon
us, are evincing a mystifying defiance of the very first principles of
their "science." When questioned by someone who does know the ins and
outs of scholarly astrology (as something distinct from popular or
commercial astrology) these self-advertisers invariably reveal that
they really haven't the foggiest notion of what it is all about in the
first place!
You think this a drastic or unduly arrogant statement? Well,
consider the fact that what is meant by "Aquarius" in the term Age of
Aquarius has nothing whatever to do with the 'Sign' called "Aquarius"
apart from a mere similarity of names.
Anybody who represents himself as an authentic astrologer and yet
refers to people 'born under the Sign of Aquarius' as having some
connection with what is meant by the term "Aquarius" is in the sense of
an historical influence, is displaying a woeful ignorance of elementary
astrology (not to mention astronomy). To repeat: There is absolutely
no connection other than a homonymous one, between the apparent
interval from January 20th to February 18th and the imaginary
constellated figure of Aquarius the Waterbearer in the sky--the sector
in the heavens from which the Aquarian Age derives its name.
A highly publicized Hollywood astrologer, who happens to have been
born under Aquarius in the usually understood sense, claims that the
Aquarian Age commenced in 1904, oddly coincidental with his own
emergence on the world scene! Through such a claim, this pious but
well-heeled fellow reveals less knowledge of the parameters of the
celestial sphere than a Boy Scout has to know to earn his astronomy
merit badge.
The dating of the Aquarian Age is not a matter of opinion any more
than is the timing of an eclipse or a phase of the Moon. There is no
reasonable excuse for anybody, be he self-styled astrologer or
interested layman, to offer an opinion about it when all he has to do
is cite the physical and mathematical facts which are familiar to
anyone well versed in basic astronomy coupled with a nonromantic
history of the subject known as astrology.
So just what IS the Age of Aquarius, what determines it and why?
The answers are absurdly simple compared with the confusion, inaccurate
and occult tinged palaver about it that one is apt to read in the
popular press.
The reason this is CURRENTLY THE AGE OF PISCES is the fact that the
vernal equinox, marking the commencement of the spring season in the
northern hemisphere, occurs when the Sun crosses the equator while
apparently projected against the backdrop of the anciently defined
constellation of Pisces the Fishes. And to stress again the point this
is so crucial in connection with this subject, this Pisces, the starry
one, has nothing to do--apart from bearing the same name--with what is
generally meant by the "Sign of Pisces."
That's all there is to it. Starkly uncomplicated and easy for an
average intellect to grasp. We are now in the Age of Pisces merely
because since the year 220 A.D. the first moment of spring (in the
northern hemisphere only) finds the Sun within the boundaries of the
constellation of Pisces. Fully 406 from now, this annual event will
commence occurring when the Sun is situated within the boundaries of
the original limits of the constellation of Aquarius.
Each such Age lasts for over two millennia. The present one spans
2,156 years, whereas the previous Age of Aries covered 2,175 years,
and the Taurean Age before that stretched over 2,184 years. The
complete cycle lasts in the neighborhood of 26,000 years. The gradual
shifting of the vernal equinoctial point among the stars is due to a
precessional wobble in the orientation of the tilt of the Earth's axis
(not the tilt itself, by the way). It is purely a terrestrial
phenomenon, caused by known physical forces--chiefly solar and lunar
gravitational action on the Earth's equatorial budge, if you want to
get technical about it. It is a strictly a local mechanism, a fact
that shows how nutty are such published statements as "The solar system
is about to enter the Sign Aquarius" and "The world is now in the
domain of Aquarius and people born under Aquarius will come into
prominence."
Incidentally, in case you're wondering, there is no question,
either, about what the originally conceived boundaries of the dozen
zodiacal constellations actually were. In fact, archaeological and
antiquities studies of widely diversified sorts show a remarkable
consistency and stability in this regard--the fiducial or "marking
stars" of the original scheme of the zodiac are not seriously
questioned by those who specialize in the study of origins.
But carry the definition of Astrological Ages to its logical
conclusion and it grows to be more geographical than astrological! If
you are a native of Australia, say, or Argentina, and insist that there
is something magically special or "influential" about the mathematical
inauguration of the spring season, what we Northerners call the spring
equinox is really your autumnal equinox, and vice versa. You would be
fully justified in saying that we are presently in the Age of Virgo
and that the next Novus Ordo Seuclorum will be the Age of Leo! After
all, Virgo is opposite Pisces and Leo is opposite Aquarius and where
zodiacal Ages are concerned, by strictest definition, one set of
constellations would be as authentic as the other.
Now do you see why the currently faddish belief in those Ages has
little relevance to the facts of either astronomy or astrology?
Psychologists tell us that such dreamy anticipation of a happier
tomorrow is just the old Millennial hope of mankind reasserting itself
in a form more in keeping with the jargon of the Space Age. It is
characteristic of human nature to cleave to a Utopian vision of one
form or another. Without such reaffirmation of hope for a better
future, life on this troubled planet would hardly be worth enduring.
But one thing we shouldn't have to endure is the pseudoscientific
nonsense that has all but ruined the fascinating subject of astrology,
which itself is not hokey. There is nothing "ancient" about the belief
in Astrological Ages--in fact, the very earliest inklings of the idea
in astrology's prolific literature appeared in the late 19th century.
As a body of lore and analytical procedures, astrology is close to
5,000 years old, making these Ages something recent in its development.
The notion originated as a kind of modern compensation by
astrologers for the fact that the zodiac of Signs was gradually getting
out of step with the zodiac of constellations from which the names and
symbols for the Signs were inadvertently purloined during the centuries
when to think straight about anything was to woo the death penalty.
The effort to compensate for a past kingsized booboo, however, has got
out of hand. As a result of the errors and misstatements of publicity-
hungry type of soothsayers, the public at large has been led to believe
in tenets that are untrue to the point of being ridiculous. They even
have songs and suitably eerie electronic music about it. Scientific
astrologers--and there are such people, despite the impression one gets
from the popular media--march to a different drummer, and their
intellectual ears are tuned to the true music of the spheres.
* * * *
Cyril Fagan, May 1959, SOLUNARS - A Study of the Sidereal Zodiac
A NEW SLANT ON "AGES"
In a contemporary astrological journal the following passage occurs:
"...The ayanamsha for this--according to the theories of Mr. Cyril
Fagan--would have been approximately 17 degrees in the 15th century..."
This value of the ayanamsha (the ayanamsha being the difference between
360 degrees and the sidereal longitude of the vernal equinoctial point)
is not a theory, but a well-authenticated fact, confirmed by the
leading astro-chronologists in the world.
When toward the close of the 19th century the German Jesuit Fathers
Epping and Kugler succeeded in translating many Babylonian astronomical
records for varying dates in antiquity, inscribed in cuneiform
characters on the numerous excavated baked clay tablets, they
discovered to their surprise that the recorded longitudes of the fixed
stars and planets were not reckoned from the vernal equinoctial point
as they expected, which is a common practice today, but from different
points along the ecliptic path. (F. X. Kugler, Sternkunde U.
Sterndienst in Babel, 1907, S.S.B.) In his Planeten-Tafeln fur
Jedermann, Karl Schoch gives in table G, page 9, the Babylonian names
of the 12 zodiacal constellations according to Kugler. Commenting on
these Schoch says "...They are to be distinguished from the 12 zodiacal
signs each of which occupies 30 degrees of the ecliptic. From the year
-200 (i.e., 201 B.C.) to 0 the Babylonian signs extended along the
actual true ecliptic...that is, the sign of The Fishes (Zibbati) ran
from about 325.7 degrees to 355.7 degrees whereas we allot to this sign
the longitude 330 degrees to 360 degrees..." This means that according
to Kugler's preliminary findings, the Babylonians reckoned their
longitudes, between the years 201 B.C. and 1 B.C. from a point about
4.7 degrees to the east of the vernal equinoctial point which
constitutes Aries 0 degrees 0' of the present tropical zodiac.
Professor Otto Neugebauer of Brown University, Providence, in his
examination of the only two Egyptian manuscript ephemerides extant, the
Demotic Berlin Papyrus P .8279, which covers the years 16 B.C. to 11
A.D., and the years 71 A.D. to 132 A.D., and the Stobart tablets which
cover the years 9 A.D. to 17 A.D., found that they were each computed
in terms of a sidereal zodiac. He says "...This makes it very probable
that both texts are using a fixed origin for the division of the zodiac
into twelve signs, disregarding precession. If this be true, then the
list p. 230 shows the origin of this fixed zodiac at the beginning of
the Augustian time to be about four degrees in advance of the vernal
point--longitude 356 degrees..." In a footnote he adds, "...If may be
remarked that Kugler discovered that the Babylonian planetary texts,
which belong to the two last centuries B.C., use a vernal point about
five degrees in advance of the true vernal point (cf. e.g., Kugler SSB
I, p. 121, p. 173 and SSB II, p. 513 ff.) but this correspondence might
be purely accidental. There is no reason whatsoever to assume that
Babylonian astronomy took into account the precession of the equinoxes.
Schnabel's paper (Kidenas, Hipparch und die Entdeckung der Prezession
1927) can be disproved in every detail..." (Transactions of the
American Philosophical Society, XXXII, part II, January 1942.)
SCHOLARSHIP SETTLES MATTERS
Epping and Kugler examined a Babylonian tablet of the year 103 B.C.
bearing the title "Lunar Computation Table according to Kidinnu," and
discovered that the longitude of the vernal point was placed in Aries 8
degrees (Kugler: Babylonische Mondrechung). In 1913 Professor Weidner
found another astrological text which proved to be a Lunar Computation
Table after the system of Naburiannu for the New and Full Moons of B.C.
49-48. In Naburiannu's system the vernal point was placed in Aries 10
degrees. By a study of the position of the vernal point in the systems
of these two famous Babylonian astronomers, and of the difference
between the assumed lengths of the year and the true length of the
tropical year. Schnabel succeeded in ascertaining the dates for which
the positions of the equinox would be correct, obtaining for Naburiannu
the epoch 508 B.C. and for Kidinnu 379 B.C. To these Dr. J. K.
Fotheringham of Oxford University applied an acceleration, obtained
from the study of ancient eclipses, to the motions of the Sun, and
obtained the dates B.C. 500 and B.C. 373, respectively.
In May 1949 the present writer discovered that at their heliacal
phenomena all the planets known to the ancients, with the exception of
Venus, fell precisely into their traditional "exaltation degrees"
(Hypsomata) for the lunar year commencing April 4, 786 B.C., while the
longitudes of the Sun, Moon, and Venus exactly tallied with their
exaltation degrees on New Year's Day (1st Nisan), April 4, 786 B.C. if
the vernal point was placed in Aries 13.8 degrees. Graphing all these
values against the years assigned to them yielded a perfect straight
line running diagonally across the graph, proving conclusively that the
ancient Egyptians and Babylonians used a sidereal zodiac with its
fiducial star, Spica, being fixed in longitude 179.00 degrees or Virgo
29.00 degrees.
In his History of the Zodiac Professor B.L. van der Waerden of the
Mathematical Institute of Zurick has examined many other Babylonian
tables, such as those of Jupiter and some of the fixed stars, and
confirms the present writer's discovery that they were all computed in
terms of a sidereal zodiac with Spica in Virgo 29.00 degrees.
Subsequently he examined the papyrus from the John Rylands Library and
catalogued as P. Ryl 27. Professor O. Neugebauer had previously
studied the same Papyrus (The Astronomical Treatise P. Ryl 27,
Copenhagen, 1949). This treatise is a lunar table which covers the
second century A.D. and here again van der Waerden discovers that all
lunar positions were computed in terms of the same sidereal zodiac.
In these circumstances it is submitted that the sidereal longitudes
of the vernal point, computed from Spica in Virgo 29.00 degrees,
published in our vernal-point ephemerides are not theoretical. These
give the astronomically authentic values of the vernal point as known
to those who originated the zodiac and the science of astrology itself,
namely the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. As the result of
rigorous statistical investigation of solar and lunar ingress charts,
Garth Allen found that the value obtained from the ancient texts and
monumental records must be increased by 0 degrees 06'05" or 0.100.7
degrees, a correction rendered permissible by van de Waerden's value
for the "probable error" of plus or minus 0.3 degrees. In other words
the sidereal longitude of the vernal point must be computed from Spica
in Virgo 29d.06'05" disregarding its proper motion. For the epoch
1950.0 Garth Allen gives its mean sidereal longitude as Pisces
5d.57'28.65", making the corresponding mean ayanamsa 24d.02'31.36".
NEW SLANT ON "AGES"
Calculating from Garth Allen's Synetic Vernal Point values, it will
be found that the vernal equinoctial point, which is the "Aries 0
degrees" of the tropical zodiac, retrograded along the ecliptic path
into the end of the constellations as follows:--
Taurus 30 degrees 4147 B.C. approximately
Aries 30 1957 " "
Pisces 30 220 A.D. "
Aquarius 30 2377 " "
Therefore the so-called "Aquarian Age" will not commence until 2377
A.D. or another 418 hence. The notion that it commenced in 1844 A.D.
or that the Piscean Age began with the Dionysian date for the birth of
Christ has no foundation in the records of antiquity. The
retrogression of the vernal point into the tail end of a constellation
constituted only a theoretical beginning and in antiquity was quite
without significance. In his History of the Zodiac van de Waerden
points out that while the Babylonian astronomical tables were reliable
and accurate, a point also stressed by Karl Schoch, their dates for the
equinoxes and solstices were frequently in error by several days;
because they deemed them of little significance. Indeed this fact
alone testifies that they could not have used the tropical zodiac, and
yet we find modern astrologers attaching so much importance to the Sun
ingresses of the four cardinal signs (tropical)!
The true beginning of an Age was sought among the dates when the
crescent moon of the 1st Nisan, which commenced the ecclesiastical "New
Year's Day," was seen to fall consistently among the stars of the
constellation that indicated the "New Age." This crescent moon was
observed immediately after sunset of the first or second day following
the syzygy (conjunction of the Sun and Moon) According to the hour at
which it took place, and it constituted the true New Moon. Viewed in
this light it is apparent from the following brief list of the
approximate sidereal longitudes of the crescent that we are not yet of
the Arien Age and are in fact only beginning to enter the Piscian Age,
it being remembered that the era commences when the New Moon (crescent)
of Nisan is consistently seen to have entered the tail end (30 degrees)
of the constellation.
1ST NISAN BEGAN AT SUNSET IN BABYLON
Gregorian Longitude of New Moon
1957 April 1 Aries 01 degrees 48'
1958 March 21 Pisces 29 degrees 35'
1959 April 8 Pisces 29 degrees 21'
1960 March 28 Pisces 29 degrees 30'
In effect this means that during the last two thousand years or so,
the world has been living in the Iron Age of Aries, ruled by Mars, the
god of violence, wars and dictatorship. It is only now beginning to
enter the Piscian Age. It is customary for the modern astrologer to
refer to what he believes to be the passing "Piscian Age" as that of
Christ and his fishermen disciples, of baptism by water, the great
development in water and sea power and so forth. Oh, how easy it is
for the mind to beguile itself! Surely the dominant influence of the
last two millennia has been the rule of Mars with its crop of
dictators, sovereign governments and catastrophic world wars? The
vernal equinoctial point left the constellation Taurus about 1957 B.C.
when it entered that of Aries, yet we find the effigy and worship of
the Bull dominant in all the religious cults right down to the
beginning of the Christian era. This is probably because the true
Taurean Age did not end until about then. In the horoscope for the 1st
Nisan 786 B.C. when the exaltation degrees of the planets originated,
the crescent New Moon was in the 3rd degree of Taurus, and it is
probable that the true Arien age began to dawn about this period.
It must never be forgotten that the astronomy of antiquity was
visual. It is impossible to observe the constellation through which
the Sun was passing (except perhaps at a total eclipse of the Sun)
because of broad daylight, but it is always possible, weather
permitting, to note that in which the Moon is placed, provided it was
not under the beams of the Sun. Hence the New (crescent) and Full
Moons were the chief prophetic indices of the changing seasons and ages
and the passage of time generally. Indeed the Egyptian ideogram for a
month was the representation of the crescent Moon.
...The precession of the equinoxes, or more accurately the
regression of the equinoxes, is not caused by the Sun's proper motion
in space or around a great center, but by the slow retrograde motion of
the earth's axis, which describes a small circle having a radius of
23.5 degrees (technically known as the obliquity of the ecliptic)
around the poles of the circle of the ecliptic, the period being about
25,884 years. It is therefore entirely a terrestrial effect. This
precessional motion causes the vernal equinoctial point, which
constitutes the first degree of the sign Aries, to move backwards along
the ecliptic circle at the rate of one degree in approximately 72
years.
The motion can be likened to a railroad steam engine with eleven
carriages, or coaches, shunting perpetually backwards along a circular
track, the engine representing the sign Aries and the eleven carriages
the other eleven tropical signs. Far outside but surrounding the
circular railroad is the circle of the twelve zodiacal constellations
which, to all astrological intents and purposes, remain fixed.
Therefore in the course of a precessional cycle of 25,884 years, our
imaginary train will shunt backwards past each of the twelve zodiacal
constellations.
When astrologers talk of the beginning of the Aquarian Age what they
actually mean is that the bumper of our imaginary steam engine (Aries 0
degrees of the tropical signs) is beginning to pass the 30th degrees of
the constellation Aquarius; some 72 years later it will begin to pass
the 29th degree of the same constellation, and so on. Expressed more
technically it means that due to the conical movement of the earth's
axis around that of the ecliptic, the circle that constitutes the
twelve tropical signs is retrograding at the rate of one degree in
about 72 years with respect to the circle of the twelve zodiacal
constellations. About the year 2377 A.D. the commencement of the
tropical Aries (the vernal equinoctial point) will come into alignment
with the 30th degree of the constellation Aquarius, and this is what is
generally meant by the beginning of the Aquarian Age. But not a few
astrologers write that at the commencement of the Age "we will enter
the sign Aquarius." What is intended by the word "we" is not
clarified. Apparently they mean that the tropical sign Aries will
enter the tropical sign Aquarius, which is grotesque.
It is not generally understood that when a tropicalist--that is, an
adherent of the new or moving "zodiac" in popular use in the western
world and invented by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus about 139 B.C.--
writes about the influences of the Aquarian Age, he is interpreting
what he presumes to be the effects of the "constellation" Aquarius and
thereby, all unwittingly, confesses to his belief in the sidereal
zodiac, or ancient zodiac of the constellations. Invariably he
interprets the "constellation" Aquarius as if it were the "sign"
Aquarius and thereby falls foul of the homonymous fallacy. But if he
pins his faith exclusively to the new zodiac, then the Taurean, Arien,
Piscian and Aquarian eras can have no meaning at all for him, for they
are all sidereal!
The beginning of the season is dependent on the Sun's altitude,
which in its turn is dependent on its declination and no on its entry
into the four cardinal signs. If the latter was true then the Sun's
entry into the sign Cancer should be the Midsummer's Day all over the
world, which is NOT the case for in the southern hemisphere it marks
Midwinter's Day! It is ridiculous therefore to affirm that both
zodiacs have their uses. Any virtue found in the tropical zodiac is
solely due to the declination of the luminaries and not to the tropical
longitudes. To associate longitude and declination, as is the common
practice, is to associate two dissimilar co-ordinates, which is bad
mathematics.
The solar system--that is, our sun with its family of planets--does
not revolve around the fixed star Arcturus (Alpha Bootis) as stated [in
another current publication]. Arcturus is but another though much
greater sun than our own, and is situated 33 light years away. Our sun
Arcturus and over 100 million other fixed stars (suns) which composes
the mighty galactic system (Milky Way) are all revolving at different
speeds and in eccentric orbits around a common center, which is
situated about Sagittarius 0 degrees 43'; latitude 3 degrees south, and
which is some 24,400 light-years away from our sun. [Neil Michelsen's
The American Sidereal Ephemeris, 1981, gave those Galactic Center
coordinates as longitude 2SAG06' latitude 5S35'] ...The galactic
equator, where the majority of stars congregate, intersects the
ecliptic
at an inclination of 60 degrees 33' in Sagittarius 3 degrees 36', while
the pole of the system lies in Virgo 3 degrees 36', latitude 29n27.
[More current astronomical data may have revised these coordinates.]
In passing it may be noted that if the period of time necessary for
a complete revolution of our solar system...was only 25,884 years,
which means we spend 2,157 years under the influence of each sign (?
constellation) as stated by another author, then the various
constellations depicted in the ancient star atlases of Greece and Rome
would be completely unrecognizable by us today, to say nothing of
ancient horoscopes; for in a period of 2000 years our position in
regards to all the constellations would have changed completely and
they would form different signs and shapes in the heavens. The average
proper motion for the fixed stars amounts to one degree in about
120,000 years, and as our Sun is a fixed star it is obvious it has not
moved in its orbit around the galactic center, since the beginning of
the Christian era by more than 0 degrees 01' of arc, or having regard
to its motion around the galactic center by less than a third of this
value.
ASTROLOGY MUST HAVE INTEGRITY
It has been represented that some professional and newspaper
astrologers, being impressed by the success of the sidereal technique,
have adopted the same in their practices, but, in order to save loss of
face before their clients, still retain the new or tropical zodiac. In
computing solar and lunar returns and ingresses they add to the radical
planets the accrued precession--which is a form of canceling out the
effects of precession, that is always negative--and then compute the
required charts in terms of the tropical framework. Apart from the
obvious fraudulency of the procedure, it is necessary to emphasize that
the 'raison d'etre' of the tropical zodiac lies in its very
"tropicality," that is, in the fact that it is seasonal or
precessional. If precession is eliminated it ceases forthwith to be
tropical and becomes a quasi-sidereal zodiac with epoch as of the date
of birth, or date of ingress, as the case may be. Apart from being
thoroughly unscientific, such an unethical practice should, in the
general interests of astrology, be strongly discountenanced.
* * *
Cyril Fagan's 8/67 "SOLUNARS, A STUDY OF THE SIDEREAL ZODIAC"
[THE SIDEREAL ZODIAC, PRECESSION, & AGES]
REVIEWING THE SITUATION!
Every month for the past fourteen years, the superior merits of the
sidereal version of the zodiac have been explicated and extolled in this
column and yet, to judge by the letters constantly received, there still
appears to be many readers who are confused as to the raison d'etre for
the existence of any version other than the tropical or popular one. So
while what follows mainly is penned to expel such clouds of confusion
and to enlighten newcomers to these pages, the seasoned reader may find
much food for thought too.
It is first necessary to mention just a few technicalities but to
avoid adding to the existing confusion these will be made as simple as
possible. Now let us picture two hoops, like those children play with
but of gigantic size. Let us imagine that one of the hoops is a wooden
one with a broad rim while the other is of steel with a narrow rim. Let
us suppose that the steel hoop fits rather snugly inside the wooden one,
not on the flat, but at a more or less permanent angle of 23.5 degrees.
This angle is very important in what follows and is called the
"obliquity of the ecliptic" by astronomers.
Both hoops are so large that they extend indefinitely into outer
space. The wooden hoop with the broad rim is the circle of the zodiac.
It is divided into twelve equal parts called zodiacal constellations
each containing precisely 30 degrees. In the mathematical center of the
rim is another hoop but this time a very thin one. It is the earth's
path (orbit) around the Sun. It is called the "ecliptic," because
eclipses of the Sun or Moon occur should the Moon be on the ecliptic at
the time of a New or Full Moon. Up to the time of the discovery of
Pluto in 1930, the wooden rim was held to extend some 8 degrees on
either side of the ecliptic. Inside that wooden rim revolved the Moon
and planets around a central Sun. They never went outside its confines
(except Pluto). When precisely on the ecliptic they were said to be
devoid of latitude like the earth itself. But when situated at the
extremities of the rim they were at their maximum latitudes and were
said to be at their "bends"; the Moon, Venus and Saturn on such
occasions having the greatest latitude. When Pluto was discovered it
was found that, true to his escapist proclivity, on specified occasions
he broke bounds and wandered some 7 degrees beyond the confines of the
zodiacal rim.
At the moment our chief concern is with the thin steel hoop inside
the wooden one. Though dubbed the "celestial equator," be not deceived,
for it is only the earth's equator projected infinitely into outer
space. That is to say it lies in the same plane as the earth's equator.
Where the wooden and steel hoops intersect each other are known
respectively as the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. The words vernal and
autumnal mean spring and fall, and equinox means that when the Sun
(actually the earth) is at these points day and night are of equal
duration.
All might be well if the steel hoop elected to "stay put." But,
alas, owing to the combined gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon on
the earth's equatorial protuberance, the steel rim in the long, long ago
has been set in motion. To make matters worse, this motion is
"backwards" and it is of the upmost importance to remember this fact in
all that follows. The backward or retrograde motion was named by the
late Greek astronomers as the "precession of the equinoxes," but for our
purposes more approximately styled the "regression of the equinoxes."
The motion, being ecliptical, varies but it takes some 26,000 years
to complete the round of the wooden hoop, the present motion being 1
degree in 72.5 years. Seeing that the motion is perpetually retrograde,
it implies that these equinoctial points, every 2,170 years in the mean
will pass from one zodiacal constellation to the other but via the
backdoor, as it were. thus if at one particular period the vernal
equinox was in Capricorn 0 degrees then 72 years later it will be in
Sagittarius 29 degrees and 72 years after that in Sagittarius 28 degrees
and so on. Never, never do the equinoxes enter by the hall-door!
When the Sun apparently is in conjunction with the vernal equinox,
which usually occurs on March 21st of our Gregorian or modern calendar,
it is the first day of spring and when it is in conjunction with the
opposite, or fall point, usually on September 23rd, it is the first day
of autumn. Incidentally, the calendar, be it lunar or solar, is always
tropical or seasonal. Otherwise it would be useless for civil purposes.
Having assimilated and digested the foregoing, the astute reader will
be in a position to appreciate and evaluate what follows. In the summer
of 4153 B.C. the vernal equinox was in the first degree of Gemini, but
the next year, 4152 B.C., it had slipped quietly into 30th degree of
Taurus. Slowly retreating through that constellation it did not leave
it until some 2,197 years later, or to be more precise, in the spring of
1955 B.C. But those 2,197 years embraced the most momentous of all
years, for they saw the first pages of recorded history in the enacting.
It was during those years that the great nations of remote antiquity as
Egypt, Sumeria, Babylonia, Assyria arose and consolidated their power
and domination. It was during then that the might pyramids were built
and that the earliest events of the Old Testament occurred. Then too it
was that the great Biblical heroes were born. The estheticism and
intellectualism of Greece and the power and the rule of Rome were still
enshrouded in the far distant mists of futurity. Richard Hinckley Allen
in his "Star Names" (1899) writes: "This was the golden age of
astronomy; in all ancient zodiacs preserved to us, it (Taurus) began the
year. It is to this that Virgil alluded in the much quoted lines from
the 1st "Georgic" which May rendered:
When with golden hornes bright Taurus opes,
The yeare; and downward the crosse Dogstarre stoopes;
and the poet's description well agrees with mythology's idea of Europa's
bull, for he always was thus described, and snowy white in color...."
The lunar calendars of the ancient Semitic peoples, which among
others include the ancient Egyptians, the Akkadians (Assyro-
Babylonians), the Phoenicians, Moabites and Hebrews, made provision for
the annual celebration of two New Year days, the civil and the
ecclesiastical. The civil one was celebrated during the lunar month
Nisan. This was the first month of spring when the Sun was in
conjunction with the vernal equinox, equivalent to March 21st of our
modern calendar. The ecclesiastical one was celebrated during the month
of Teshrit when the Sun was in conjunction with the fall equinox,
equivalent to September 23rd, modern. All lunar calendars were from
time to time adjusted to accord with the seasons and hence were
tropical, seasonal and equinoctial as is our modern (solar) calendar
itself.
But the great point to note and never to forget is that during the
first two thousand years or so of recorded history, when the vernal
equinox was receding through it, Taurus was the first of the zodiacal
constellations and Aries the last! More than that Taurus not only was
the leader during this period of the seasons (tropical months) but was
for all time the captain of the zodiacal constellations. Even among the
Romans of the Aries age, Taurus was still hailed as "Princeps armenti,"
leader of the zodiacal herd!
A feature of the architecture and sculpture of the first two
millennia of the historical period, and indeed for many centuries later,
was the astonishing prevalence of colossal and massive monuments of
bulls. Who is not familiar with illustrations of the formidable
"lamassu" (winded human headed bull) from the palace of Sargon II of
Assyria at Dur Sharrukin, or that of the Egyptian Apis of Memphis, the
Minotaur of Crete down the corridors of time to the sacred white bull
attacked by the scorpion, and sacrificially slain by the Sun-god Mithra
of Iran. Mithraism was the only serious rival to the then nascent
Christianity.
In remote antiquity the symbol of the bull became synonymous with the
first, the leader. Thus the first letter of the Greek and other
alphabets, alpha or A is derived from the Hebrew Aleph, a bull.
Moreover, in the melothesia of this period Taurus ruled the head, Gemini
the neck, ending with Aires ruling the feet!
Contrary to those of the later-day Greeks, the zodiacal
constellations of the ancient Egyptians and Akkadians each comprised
precisely 30 degrees. But how were the boundaries of the first
constellation Taurus defined? The answer to this tells the story of the
finest achievement of positional astronomy and of astrology of modern
times. Briefly it may be summed up as follows. It is generally held in
the East that the confines of the leading constellation is usually
indicated by a pilot or marking star of adequate magnitude. Such a
marking star is technically termed its fiducial. In India, where their
zodiac, as now in the West, commences with Aries, there exists two
schools. One maintains that Zeta Piscium (Revati) marks the zero point
of the constellation Aries, while the other school is convinced that
Alpha Virginis (Spica, Chitra) marks the zero point of the constellation
Libra.
For centuries our good Hindu pundits have been at loggerheads over
this problem, and as yet are no nearer to a solution. Their problem is
complicated by the fact that as a body they are not prepared to accept
Simon Newcomb's constants for general precession nor the equatorial
coordinates of the official star lists issued from time to time by
western observatories. They argue that the star positions and constants
as given in such medieval works as the "Surya siddhanta" by their sacred
Rishis are good enough for them. In consequence, each Hindu astrologer
has his own method of deriving the ayanamsha (gap between the zodiacs)
from his own pet fiducial and by the looks of things, this stalemate is
likely to subsist for many generations to come.
In the "Paranatellonta of Aswini" (Astrological Magazine, Jan. and
Feb. 1952 issues, edited by B.V. Raman of Bangalore, India) it was
pointed out that while Chitra made a convenient marking star for
determining the beginning of the Sayana (tropical) zodiac in the 4th
century A.D. and Revati in the 6th century A.D., it was very doubtful if
they ever served as fiducials for the Nirayana or sidereal zodiac. It
never seems to have occurred to our esteemed Eastern confreres that the
fiducial star many not be at the beginning of a constellation. The
Yogatars (chief stars) of the 28 Hindu Nakshatras (Lunar Mansions) are
nearer the center than to the beginning.
When the mystery of the exaltation degrees of the planets was finally
solved in May 1949, it was found that in the sidereal zodiac of the
exaltation year, 786 B.C., Spica was in Virgo 29 degrees, a most awkward
and unlikely longitude for a prime fiducial star! The same sidereal
longitude for Spica was obtained by Professor B. L. van der Waerden from
an analysis of the lunar tables of the Babylonian astronomers Naburiannu
(B.C. 508) and Kidinnu (B.C. 379), from the Jupiter tablets, the
Babylonian almanacs and from a Babylonian star catalogue (Sonderabdruck
aus "Archiv fur Orientfors," Band II, Zweiter Teil).
Clearly then, Spica was not the original prime fiducial of the
sidereal version of the zodiac. Even if Revanti's sidereal longitude
turned out to be precisely Aries 0 degrees or Spica's Libra 0 degrees,
it still would be doubtful that either was the original fiducial, seeing
that Taurus and not Aries was the first of the zodiacal constellations,
so what fixed star or stars defined the frontiers of the sidereal
Taurus?
It was during this impasse that Garth Allen came to the rescue. He
reasoned that if there was any truth at all in sidereal astrology it
should be possible to determine by advanced statistical methods alone,
of which he is a past master, the precise sidereal longitude of the mean
vernal equinox for any given epoch without any appeal whatsoever to
fiducial stars. Having computed numerous solar and lunar ingresses and
the like for a wide variety of happenings such as meteorological
phenomena, natural catastrophes, fires, explosions, earthquakes,
accidents "et hoc genus omne," he discovered for the epoch 1950.0 that
Spica's mean sidereal longitude was only in error by 06'05", an
extraordinarily close approximation to the longitude Virgo 29 degrees,
00' obtained by the resolution of the Hypsomata. (See the May, June,
July 1957 and the August 1964 issues of this magazine). But Spica in
Virgo 29 degrees, 06' 05" is even less convincing as a fiducial star.
THE BULL'S EYE!
Now for the remarkable part of Garth Allen's discovery of which at
that time he was totally unaware. According to Professor P. V.
Neugebauer's authoritive "Sterntafeln (Tafeln zur astronomischen
Chronologie I. Leipzip 1912) for the year 786 B.C.--the golden year of
astrology--when the exaltation degrees of the planets in the zodiac
originated, we find the following positions, proper motions having been
fully allowed for:
Alpha Tauri (Aldebaran, The Bull's Eye)
RA 30.80 degrees, Declination +6.7l degrees
Alpha Scorpii (Antaras)
RA 207.37 degrees, Declination = 16.00 degrees
the obliquity of the ecliptic being 23.79 degrees. By trogometrical
reduction their respective tropical and sidereal longitudes are as
follows:
Aldebaran Antares
Tropical longitude 31.08 degrees 211.11 degrees
SVP for 786 B.C. 13.92 13.92
------------------------------
Sidereal longitudes 45.00 225.03
or Taurus 15 degrees 00' and Scorpio 15 degrees 03 respectively.
This puts Aldebaran in the precise mathematical center of the Bull
and Antares almost in the precise mathematical center of the Scorpion;
both fixed stars being of the first magnitude and in partile (precise)
mutual opposition. The Arabs called Aldebaran "Ain al Thaur," the
Greeks "Omma Bos" and the Romans "Oculus Tauri," all meaning the Bull's
Eye. To this day the world over, the term Bull's Eye implies the
mathematical center! In the Greco-Roman star atlases (c. 600 B.C.) only
the Bull's head and forelegs are depicted, thus putting the bull's Eye
in the dead center of that constellation. In the Egyptian Celestial
Diagrams, as they were called of the New Empire period (c. 1500 to 1200
B.C.) it was usual for the scribes to represent the stars by five-
pointed devices called determinatives, but in one of the Rameside
diagrams, Aldebaran is shown as an eight-pointed star of unusual
proportions! The Arabs also name Alpha Tauri as Al Debaran, commonly
but apparently wrongly translated the Follower.
In his Babylonian Menologies and Semitic Calendars (Oxford University
Press 1935), Professor S. Langdon says Aldebaran was known to the
Babylonians as Al-debaranu "the forecaster and writer" and as isu li-e
"Star of the Tablet." It was identified with Nabu (Nebo) the Babylonian
god of astrology, who wrote the fates of all men at the beginning of the
lunar year, which began in the month of Nisannu (Nisan) when the fine
thin crescent of the New-moon in the constellation Taurus was first seen
above the western horizon just before it set. Garth Allen's
computations have revealed to the whole astrological world that the
Bull's Eye was and still is the prime fiducial of the sidereal zodiac,
with Antares as second fiddle in the
heart of the Scorpion. So the aged-worn vexed Hindu problem of the
ayanamsha finally was solved once and for all even though the solution
is not accepted by those most concerned!
of the Age of Aquarius, no matter what the song proclaims or
opportunistic astrologers may say." From that quintessential Aquarian
Moon Ascending himself, Garth Allen. Plus scholarly essays by Cyril
Fagan, May 1959 "Solunars - New Slant on 'Ages'." Essays from August,
September & October 1967 "Solunars" further discuss Equinoctial
Precession and/or Heliacal Phenomena as the marker of historical ages.
* * * *
Garth Allen, "What's All This About The Age of Aquarius"
SPICA, 4/1970
This is definitely not the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, no matter
what the song proclaims or opportunistic astrologers may say.
Scientifically and historically speaking, the Aquarian Age will
commence in the year 2376 A.D., over four centuries from now -- and you
may confidently dismiss as tommyrot anything you may have read or heard
to the contrary.
There are so many claims and counterclaims about this topic nowadays
that the man on the street cannot be blamed for believing there is a
"controversy" about the dating of the so-called Astrological Ages. But
there is no real controversy, nor can there be one legitimately, simply
because the astronomical facts are incontrovertible.
There may be a deplorable amount of misinformation going the rounds,
but not among people who know the pertinent facts and figures....But
sad to say, the old adage still applies, to wit, that a lie can circle
the world seven times while Truth is putting on her boots!
Those who publicly identify themselves as astrologers, and yet state
or imply that the Aquarian Age is soon to arrive, or is already upon
us, are evincing a mystifying defiance of the very first principles of
their "science." When questioned by someone who does know the ins and
outs of scholarly astrology (as something distinct from popular or
commercial astrology) these self-advertisers invariably reveal that
they really haven't the foggiest notion of what it is all about in the
first place!
You think this a drastic or unduly arrogant statement? Well,
consider the fact that what is meant by "Aquarius" in the term Age of
Aquarius has nothing whatever to do with the 'Sign' called "Aquarius"
apart from a mere similarity of names.
Anybody who represents himself as an authentic astrologer and yet
refers to people 'born under the Sign of Aquarius' as having some
connection with what is meant by the term "Aquarius" is in the sense of
an historical influence, is displaying a woeful ignorance of elementary
astrology (not to mention astronomy). To repeat: There is absolutely
no connection other than a homonymous one, between the apparent
interval from January 20th to February 18th and the imaginary
constellated figure of Aquarius the Waterbearer in the sky--the sector
in the heavens from which the Aquarian Age derives its name.
A highly publicized Hollywood astrologer, who happens to have been
born under Aquarius in the usually understood sense, claims that the
Aquarian Age commenced in 1904, oddly coincidental with his own
emergence on the world scene! Through such a claim, this pious but
well-heeled fellow reveals less knowledge of the parameters of the
celestial sphere than a Boy Scout has to know to earn his astronomy
merit badge.
The dating of the Aquarian Age is not a matter of opinion any more
than is the timing of an eclipse or a phase of the Moon. There is no
reasonable excuse for anybody, be he self-styled astrologer or
interested layman, to offer an opinion about it when all he has to do
is cite the physical and mathematical facts which are familiar to
anyone well versed in basic astronomy coupled with a nonromantic
history of the subject known as astrology.
So just what IS the Age of Aquarius, what determines it and why?
The answers are absurdly simple compared with the confusion, inaccurate
and occult tinged palaver about it that one is apt to read in the
popular press.
The reason this is CURRENTLY THE AGE OF PISCES is the fact that the
vernal equinox, marking the commencement of the spring season in the
northern hemisphere, occurs when the Sun crosses the equator while
apparently projected against the backdrop of the anciently defined
constellation of Pisces the Fishes. And to stress again the point this
is so crucial in connection with this subject, this Pisces, the starry
one, has nothing to do--apart from bearing the same name--with what is
generally meant by the "Sign of Pisces."
That's all there is to it. Starkly uncomplicated and easy for an
average intellect to grasp. We are now in the Age of Pisces merely
because since the year 220 A.D. the first moment of spring (in the
northern hemisphere only) finds the Sun within the boundaries of the
constellation of Pisces. Fully 406 from now, this annual event will
commence occurring when the Sun is situated within the boundaries of
the original limits of the constellation of Aquarius.
Each such Age lasts for over two millennia. The present one spans
2,156 years, whereas the previous Age of Aries covered 2,175 years,
and the Taurean Age before that stretched over 2,184 years. The
complete cycle lasts in the neighborhood of 26,000 years. The gradual
shifting of the vernal equinoctial point among the stars is due to a
precessional wobble in the orientation of the tilt of the Earth's axis
(not the tilt itself, by the way). It is purely a terrestrial
phenomenon, caused by known physical forces--chiefly solar and lunar
gravitational action on the Earth's equatorial budge, if you want to
get technical about it. It is a strictly a local mechanism, a fact
that shows how nutty are such published statements as "The solar system
is about to enter the Sign Aquarius" and "The world is now in the
domain of Aquarius and people born under Aquarius will come into
prominence."
Incidentally, in case you're wondering, there is no question,
either, about what the originally conceived boundaries of the dozen
zodiacal constellations actually were. In fact, archaeological and
antiquities studies of widely diversified sorts show a remarkable
consistency and stability in this regard--the fiducial or "marking
stars" of the original scheme of the zodiac are not seriously
questioned by those who specialize in the study of origins.
But carry the definition of Astrological Ages to its logical
conclusion and it grows to be more geographical than astrological! If
you are a native of Australia, say, or Argentina, and insist that there
is something magically special or "influential" about the mathematical
inauguration of the spring season, what we Northerners call the spring
equinox is really your autumnal equinox, and vice versa. You would be
fully justified in saying that we are presently in the Age of Virgo
and that the next Novus Ordo Seuclorum will be the Age of Leo! After
all, Virgo is opposite Pisces and Leo is opposite Aquarius and where
zodiacal Ages are concerned, by strictest definition, one set of
constellations would be as authentic as the other.
Now do you see why the currently faddish belief in those Ages has
little relevance to the facts of either astronomy or astrology?
Psychologists tell us that such dreamy anticipation of a happier
tomorrow is just the old Millennial hope of mankind reasserting itself
in a form more in keeping with the jargon of the Space Age. It is
characteristic of human nature to cleave to a Utopian vision of one
form or another. Without such reaffirmation of hope for a better
future, life on this troubled planet would hardly be worth enduring.
But one thing we shouldn't have to endure is the pseudoscientific
nonsense that has all but ruined the fascinating subject of astrology,
which itself is not hokey. There is nothing "ancient" about the belief
in Astrological Ages--in fact, the very earliest inklings of the idea
in astrology's prolific literature appeared in the late 19th century.
As a body of lore and analytical procedures, astrology is close to
5,000 years old, making these Ages something recent in its development.
The notion originated as a kind of modern compensation by
astrologers for the fact that the zodiac of Signs was gradually getting
out of step with the zodiac of constellations from which the names and
symbols for the Signs were inadvertently purloined during the centuries
when to think straight about anything was to woo the death penalty.
The effort to compensate for a past kingsized booboo, however, has got
out of hand. As a result of the errors and misstatements of publicity-
hungry type of soothsayers, the public at large has been led to believe
in tenets that are untrue to the point of being ridiculous. They even
have songs and suitably eerie electronic music about it. Scientific
astrologers--and there are such people, despite the impression one gets
from the popular media--march to a different drummer, and their
intellectual ears are tuned to the true music of the spheres.
* * * *
Cyril Fagan, May 1959, SOLUNARS - A Study of the Sidereal Zodiac
A NEW SLANT ON "AGES"
In a contemporary astrological journal the following passage occurs:
"...The ayanamsha for this--according to the theories of Mr. Cyril
Fagan--would have been approximately 17 degrees in the 15th century..."
This value of the ayanamsha (the ayanamsha being the difference between
360 degrees and the sidereal longitude of the vernal equinoctial point)
is not a theory, but a well-authenticated fact, confirmed by the
leading astro-chronologists in the world.
When toward the close of the 19th century the German Jesuit Fathers
Epping and Kugler succeeded in translating many Babylonian astronomical
records for varying dates in antiquity, inscribed in cuneiform
characters on the numerous excavated baked clay tablets, they
discovered to their surprise that the recorded longitudes of the fixed
stars and planets were not reckoned from the vernal equinoctial point
as they expected, which is a common practice today, but from different
points along the ecliptic path. (F. X. Kugler, Sternkunde U.
Sterndienst in Babel, 1907, S.S.B.) In his Planeten-Tafeln fur
Jedermann, Karl Schoch gives in table G, page 9, the Babylonian names
of the 12 zodiacal constellations according to Kugler. Commenting on
these Schoch says "...They are to be distinguished from the 12 zodiacal
signs each of which occupies 30 degrees of the ecliptic. From the year
-200 (i.e., 201 B.C.) to 0 the Babylonian signs extended along the
actual true ecliptic...that is, the sign of The Fishes (Zibbati) ran
from about 325.7 degrees to 355.7 degrees whereas we allot to this sign
the longitude 330 degrees to 360 degrees..." This means that according
to Kugler's preliminary findings, the Babylonians reckoned their
longitudes, between the years 201 B.C. and 1 B.C. from a point about
4.7 degrees to the east of the vernal equinoctial point which
constitutes Aries 0 degrees 0' of the present tropical zodiac.
Professor Otto Neugebauer of Brown University, Providence, in his
examination of the only two Egyptian manuscript ephemerides extant, the
Demotic Berlin Papyrus P .8279, which covers the years 16 B.C. to 11
A.D., and the years 71 A.D. to 132 A.D., and the Stobart tablets which
cover the years 9 A.D. to 17 A.D., found that they were each computed
in terms of a sidereal zodiac. He says "...This makes it very probable
that both texts are using a fixed origin for the division of the zodiac
into twelve signs, disregarding precession. If this be true, then the
list p. 230 shows the origin of this fixed zodiac at the beginning of
the Augustian time to be about four degrees in advance of the vernal
point--longitude 356 degrees..." In a footnote he adds, "...If may be
remarked that Kugler discovered that the Babylonian planetary texts,
which belong to the two last centuries B.C., use a vernal point about
five degrees in advance of the true vernal point (cf. e.g., Kugler SSB
I, p. 121, p. 173 and SSB II, p. 513 ff.) but this correspondence might
be purely accidental. There is no reason whatsoever to assume that
Babylonian astronomy took into account the precession of the equinoxes.
Schnabel's paper (Kidenas, Hipparch und die Entdeckung der Prezession
1927) can be disproved in every detail..." (Transactions of the
American Philosophical Society, XXXII, part II, January 1942.)
SCHOLARSHIP SETTLES MATTERS
Epping and Kugler examined a Babylonian tablet of the year 103 B.C.
bearing the title "Lunar Computation Table according to Kidinnu," and
discovered that the longitude of the vernal point was placed in Aries 8
degrees (Kugler: Babylonische Mondrechung). In 1913 Professor Weidner
found another astrological text which proved to be a Lunar Computation
Table after the system of Naburiannu for the New and Full Moons of B.C.
49-48. In Naburiannu's system the vernal point was placed in Aries 10
degrees. By a study of the position of the vernal point in the systems
of these two famous Babylonian astronomers, and of the difference
between the assumed lengths of the year and the true length of the
tropical year. Schnabel succeeded in ascertaining the dates for which
the positions of the equinox would be correct, obtaining for Naburiannu
the epoch 508 B.C. and for Kidinnu 379 B.C. To these Dr. J. K.
Fotheringham of Oxford University applied an acceleration, obtained
from the study of ancient eclipses, to the motions of the Sun, and
obtained the dates B.C. 500 and B.C. 373, respectively.
In May 1949 the present writer discovered that at their heliacal
phenomena all the planets known to the ancients, with the exception of
Venus, fell precisely into their traditional "exaltation degrees"
(Hypsomata) for the lunar year commencing April 4, 786 B.C., while the
longitudes of the Sun, Moon, and Venus exactly tallied with their
exaltation degrees on New Year's Day (1st Nisan), April 4, 786 B.C. if
the vernal point was placed in Aries 13.8 degrees. Graphing all these
values against the years assigned to them yielded a perfect straight
line running diagonally across the graph, proving conclusively that the
ancient Egyptians and Babylonians used a sidereal zodiac with its
fiducial star, Spica, being fixed in longitude 179.00 degrees or Virgo
29.00 degrees.
In his History of the Zodiac Professor B.L. van der Waerden of the
Mathematical Institute of Zurick has examined many other Babylonian
tables, such as those of Jupiter and some of the fixed stars, and
confirms the present writer's discovery that they were all computed in
terms of a sidereal zodiac with Spica in Virgo 29.00 degrees.
Subsequently he examined the papyrus from the John Rylands Library and
catalogued as P. Ryl 27. Professor O. Neugebauer had previously
studied the same Papyrus (The Astronomical Treatise P. Ryl 27,
Copenhagen, 1949). This treatise is a lunar table which covers the
second century A.D. and here again van der Waerden discovers that all
lunar positions were computed in terms of the same sidereal zodiac.
In these circumstances it is submitted that the sidereal longitudes
of the vernal point, computed from Spica in Virgo 29.00 degrees,
published in our vernal-point ephemerides are not theoretical. These
give the astronomically authentic values of the vernal point as known
to those who originated the zodiac and the science of astrology itself,
namely the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. As the result of
rigorous statistical investigation of solar and lunar ingress charts,
Garth Allen found that the value obtained from the ancient texts and
monumental records must be increased by 0 degrees 06'05" or 0.100.7
degrees, a correction rendered permissible by van de Waerden's value
for the "probable error" of plus or minus 0.3 degrees. In other words
the sidereal longitude of the vernal point must be computed from Spica
in Virgo 29d.06'05" disregarding its proper motion. For the epoch
1950.0 Garth Allen gives its mean sidereal longitude as Pisces
5d.57'28.65", making the corresponding mean ayanamsa 24d.02'31.36".
NEW SLANT ON "AGES"
Calculating from Garth Allen's Synetic Vernal Point values, it will
be found that the vernal equinoctial point, which is the "Aries 0
degrees" of the tropical zodiac, retrograded along the ecliptic path
into the end of the constellations as follows:--
Taurus 30 degrees 4147 B.C. approximately
Aries 30 1957 " "
Pisces 30 220 A.D. "
Aquarius 30 2377 " "
Therefore the so-called "Aquarian Age" will not commence until 2377
A.D. or another 418 hence. The notion that it commenced in 1844 A.D.
or that the Piscean Age began with the Dionysian date for the birth of
Christ has no foundation in the records of antiquity. The
retrogression of the vernal point into the tail end of a constellation
constituted only a theoretical beginning and in antiquity was quite
without significance. In his History of the Zodiac van de Waerden
points out that while the Babylonian astronomical tables were reliable
and accurate, a point also stressed by Karl Schoch, their dates for the
equinoxes and solstices were frequently in error by several days;
because they deemed them of little significance. Indeed this fact
alone testifies that they could not have used the tropical zodiac, and
yet we find modern astrologers attaching so much importance to the Sun
ingresses of the four cardinal signs (tropical)!
The true beginning of an Age was sought among the dates when the
crescent moon of the 1st Nisan, which commenced the ecclesiastical "New
Year's Day," was seen to fall consistently among the stars of the
constellation that indicated the "New Age." This crescent moon was
observed immediately after sunset of the first or second day following
the syzygy (conjunction of the Sun and Moon) According to the hour at
which it took place, and it constituted the true New Moon. Viewed in
this light it is apparent from the following brief list of the
approximate sidereal longitudes of the crescent that we are not yet of
the Arien Age and are in fact only beginning to enter the Piscian Age,
it being remembered that the era commences when the New Moon (crescent)
of Nisan is consistently seen to have entered the tail end (30 degrees)
of the constellation.
1ST NISAN BEGAN AT SUNSET IN BABYLON
Gregorian Longitude of New Moon
1957 April 1 Aries 01 degrees 48'
1958 March 21 Pisces 29 degrees 35'
1959 April 8 Pisces 29 degrees 21'
1960 March 28 Pisces 29 degrees 30'
In effect this means that during the last two thousand years or so,
the world has been living in the Iron Age of Aries, ruled by Mars, the
god of violence, wars and dictatorship. It is only now beginning to
enter the Piscian Age. It is customary for the modern astrologer to
refer to what he believes to be the passing "Piscian Age" as that of
Christ and his fishermen disciples, of baptism by water, the great
development in water and sea power and so forth. Oh, how easy it is
for the mind to beguile itself! Surely the dominant influence of the
last two millennia has been the rule of Mars with its crop of
dictators, sovereign governments and catastrophic world wars? The
vernal equinoctial point left the constellation Taurus about 1957 B.C.
when it entered that of Aries, yet we find the effigy and worship of
the Bull dominant in all the religious cults right down to the
beginning of the Christian era. This is probably because the true
Taurean Age did not end until about then. In the horoscope for the 1st
Nisan 786 B.C. when the exaltation degrees of the planets originated,
the crescent New Moon was in the 3rd degree of Taurus, and it is
probable that the true Arien age began to dawn about this period.
It must never be forgotten that the astronomy of antiquity was
visual. It is impossible to observe the constellation through which
the Sun was passing (except perhaps at a total eclipse of the Sun)
because of broad daylight, but it is always possible, weather
permitting, to note that in which the Moon is placed, provided it was
not under the beams of the Sun. Hence the New (crescent) and Full
Moons were the chief prophetic indices of the changing seasons and ages
and the passage of time generally. Indeed the Egyptian ideogram for a
month was the representation of the crescent Moon.
...The precession of the equinoxes, or more accurately the
regression of the equinoxes, is not caused by the Sun's proper motion
in space or around a great center, but by the slow retrograde motion of
the earth's axis, which describes a small circle having a radius of
23.5 degrees (technically known as the obliquity of the ecliptic)
around the poles of the circle of the ecliptic, the period being about
25,884 years. It is therefore entirely a terrestrial effect. This
precessional motion causes the vernal equinoctial point, which
constitutes the first degree of the sign Aries, to move backwards along
the ecliptic circle at the rate of one degree in approximately 72
years.
The motion can be likened to a railroad steam engine with eleven
carriages, or coaches, shunting perpetually backwards along a circular
track, the engine representing the sign Aries and the eleven carriages
the other eleven tropical signs. Far outside but surrounding the
circular railroad is the circle of the twelve zodiacal constellations
which, to all astrological intents and purposes, remain fixed.
Therefore in the course of a precessional cycle of 25,884 years, our
imaginary train will shunt backwards past each of the twelve zodiacal
constellations.
When astrologers talk of the beginning of the Aquarian Age what they
actually mean is that the bumper of our imaginary steam engine (Aries 0
degrees of the tropical signs) is beginning to pass the 30th degrees of
the constellation Aquarius; some 72 years later it will begin to pass
the 29th degree of the same constellation, and so on. Expressed more
technically it means that due to the conical movement of the earth's
axis around that of the ecliptic, the circle that constitutes the
twelve tropical signs is retrograding at the rate of one degree in
about 72 years with respect to the circle of the twelve zodiacal
constellations. About the year 2377 A.D. the commencement of the
tropical Aries (the vernal equinoctial point) will come into alignment
with the 30th degree of the constellation Aquarius, and this is what is
generally meant by the beginning of the Aquarian Age. But not a few
astrologers write that at the commencement of the Age "we will enter
the sign Aquarius." What is intended by the word "we" is not
clarified. Apparently they mean that the tropical sign Aries will
enter the tropical sign Aquarius, which is grotesque.
It is not generally understood that when a tropicalist--that is, an
adherent of the new or moving "zodiac" in popular use in the western
world and invented by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus about 139 B.C.--
writes about the influences of the Aquarian Age, he is interpreting
what he presumes to be the effects of the "constellation" Aquarius and
thereby, all unwittingly, confesses to his belief in the sidereal
zodiac, or ancient zodiac of the constellations. Invariably he
interprets the "constellation" Aquarius as if it were the "sign"
Aquarius and thereby falls foul of the homonymous fallacy. But if he
pins his faith exclusively to the new zodiac, then the Taurean, Arien,
Piscian and Aquarian eras can have no meaning at all for him, for they
are all sidereal!
The beginning of the season is dependent on the Sun's altitude,
which in its turn is dependent on its declination and no on its entry
into the four cardinal signs. If the latter was true then the Sun's
entry into the sign Cancer should be the Midsummer's Day all over the
world, which is NOT the case for in the southern hemisphere it marks
Midwinter's Day! It is ridiculous therefore to affirm that both
zodiacs have their uses. Any virtue found in the tropical zodiac is
solely due to the declination of the luminaries and not to the tropical
longitudes. To associate longitude and declination, as is the common
practice, is to associate two dissimilar co-ordinates, which is bad
mathematics.
The solar system--that is, our sun with its family of planets--does
not revolve around the fixed star Arcturus (Alpha Bootis) as stated [in
another current publication]. Arcturus is but another though much
greater sun than our own, and is situated 33 light years away. Our sun
Arcturus and over 100 million other fixed stars (suns) which composes
the mighty galactic system (Milky Way) are all revolving at different
speeds and in eccentric orbits around a common center, which is
situated about Sagittarius 0 degrees 43'; latitude 3 degrees south, and
which is some 24,400 light-years away from our sun. [Neil Michelsen's
The American Sidereal Ephemeris, 1981, gave those Galactic Center
coordinates as longitude 2SAG06' latitude 5S35'] ...The galactic
equator, where the majority of stars congregate, intersects the
ecliptic
at an inclination of 60 degrees 33' in Sagittarius 3 degrees 36', while
the pole of the system lies in Virgo 3 degrees 36', latitude 29n27.
[More current astronomical data may have revised these coordinates.]
In passing it may be noted that if the period of time necessary for
a complete revolution of our solar system...was only 25,884 years,
which means we spend 2,157 years under the influence of each sign (?
constellation) as stated by another author, then the various
constellations depicted in the ancient star atlases of Greece and Rome
would be completely unrecognizable by us today, to say nothing of
ancient horoscopes; for in a period of 2000 years our position in
regards to all the constellations would have changed completely and
they would form different signs and shapes in the heavens. The average
proper motion for the fixed stars amounts to one degree in about
120,000 years, and as our Sun is a fixed star it is obvious it has not
moved in its orbit around the galactic center, since the beginning of
the Christian era by more than 0 degrees 01' of arc, or having regard
to its motion around the galactic center by less than a third of this
value.
ASTROLOGY MUST HAVE INTEGRITY
It has been represented that some professional and newspaper
astrologers, being impressed by the success of the sidereal technique,
have adopted the same in their practices, but, in order to save loss of
face before their clients, still retain the new or tropical zodiac. In
computing solar and lunar returns and ingresses they add to the radical
planets the accrued precession--which is a form of canceling out the
effects of precession, that is always negative--and then compute the
required charts in terms of the tropical framework. Apart from the
obvious fraudulency of the procedure, it is necessary to emphasize that
the 'raison d'etre' of the tropical zodiac lies in its very
"tropicality," that is, in the fact that it is seasonal or
precessional. If precession is eliminated it ceases forthwith to be
tropical and becomes a quasi-sidereal zodiac with epoch as of the date
of birth, or date of ingress, as the case may be. Apart from being
thoroughly unscientific, such an unethical practice should, in the
general interests of astrology, be strongly discountenanced.
* * *
Cyril Fagan's 8/67 "SOLUNARS, A STUDY OF THE SIDEREAL ZODIAC"
[THE SIDEREAL ZODIAC, PRECESSION, & AGES]
REVIEWING THE SITUATION!
Every month for the past fourteen years, the superior merits of the
sidereal version of the zodiac have been explicated and extolled in this
column and yet, to judge by the letters constantly received, there still
appears to be many readers who are confused as to the raison d'etre for
the existence of any version other than the tropical or popular one. So
while what follows mainly is penned to expel such clouds of confusion
and to enlighten newcomers to these pages, the seasoned reader may find
much food for thought too.
It is first necessary to mention just a few technicalities but to
avoid adding to the existing confusion these will be made as simple as
possible. Now let us picture two hoops, like those children play with
but of gigantic size. Let us imagine that one of the hoops is a wooden
one with a broad rim while the other is of steel with a narrow rim. Let
us suppose that the steel hoop fits rather snugly inside the wooden one,
not on the flat, but at a more or less permanent angle of 23.5 degrees.
This angle is very important in what follows and is called the
"obliquity of the ecliptic" by astronomers.
Both hoops are so large that they extend indefinitely into outer
space. The wooden hoop with the broad rim is the circle of the zodiac.
It is divided into twelve equal parts called zodiacal constellations
each containing precisely 30 degrees. In the mathematical center of the
rim is another hoop but this time a very thin one. It is the earth's
path (orbit) around the Sun. It is called the "ecliptic," because
eclipses of the Sun or Moon occur should the Moon be on the ecliptic at
the time of a New or Full Moon. Up to the time of the discovery of
Pluto in 1930, the wooden rim was held to extend some 8 degrees on
either side of the ecliptic. Inside that wooden rim revolved the Moon
and planets around a central Sun. They never went outside its confines
(except Pluto). When precisely on the ecliptic they were said to be
devoid of latitude like the earth itself. But when situated at the
extremities of the rim they were at their maximum latitudes and were
said to be at their "bends"; the Moon, Venus and Saturn on such
occasions having the greatest latitude. When Pluto was discovered it
was found that, true to his escapist proclivity, on specified occasions
he broke bounds and wandered some 7 degrees beyond the confines of the
zodiacal rim.
At the moment our chief concern is with the thin steel hoop inside
the wooden one. Though dubbed the "celestial equator," be not deceived,
for it is only the earth's equator projected infinitely into outer
space. That is to say it lies in the same plane as the earth's equator.
Where the wooden and steel hoops intersect each other are known
respectively as the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. The words vernal and
autumnal mean spring and fall, and equinox means that when the Sun
(actually the earth) is at these points day and night are of equal
duration.
All might be well if the steel hoop elected to "stay put." But,
alas, owing to the combined gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon on
the earth's equatorial protuberance, the steel rim in the long, long ago
has been set in motion. To make matters worse, this motion is
"backwards" and it is of the upmost importance to remember this fact in
all that follows. The backward or retrograde motion was named by the
late Greek astronomers as the "precession of the equinoxes," but for our
purposes more approximately styled the "regression of the equinoxes."
The motion, being ecliptical, varies but it takes some 26,000 years
to complete the round of the wooden hoop, the present motion being 1
degree in 72.5 years. Seeing that the motion is perpetually retrograde,
it implies that these equinoctial points, every 2,170 years in the mean
will pass from one zodiacal constellation to the other but via the
backdoor, as it were. thus if at one particular period the vernal
equinox was in Capricorn 0 degrees then 72 years later it will be in
Sagittarius 29 degrees and 72 years after that in Sagittarius 28 degrees
and so on. Never, never do the equinoxes enter by the hall-door!
When the Sun apparently is in conjunction with the vernal equinox,
which usually occurs on March 21st of our Gregorian or modern calendar,
it is the first day of spring and when it is in conjunction with the
opposite, or fall point, usually on September 23rd, it is the first day
of autumn. Incidentally, the calendar, be it lunar or solar, is always
tropical or seasonal. Otherwise it would be useless for civil purposes.
Having assimilated and digested the foregoing, the astute reader will
be in a position to appreciate and evaluate what follows. In the summer
of 4153 B.C. the vernal equinox was in the first degree of Gemini, but
the next year, 4152 B.C., it had slipped quietly into 30th degree of
Taurus. Slowly retreating through that constellation it did not leave
it until some 2,197 years later, or to be more precise, in the spring of
1955 B.C. But those 2,197 years embraced the most momentous of all
years, for they saw the first pages of recorded history in the enacting.
It was during those years that the great nations of remote antiquity as
Egypt, Sumeria, Babylonia, Assyria arose and consolidated their power
and domination. It was during then that the might pyramids were built
and that the earliest events of the Old Testament occurred. Then too it
was that the great Biblical heroes were born. The estheticism and
intellectualism of Greece and the power and the rule of Rome were still
enshrouded in the far distant mists of futurity. Richard Hinckley Allen
in his "Star Names" (1899) writes: "This was the golden age of
astronomy; in all ancient zodiacs preserved to us, it (Taurus) began the
year. It is to this that Virgil alluded in the much quoted lines from
the 1st "Georgic" which May rendered:
When with golden hornes bright Taurus opes,
The yeare; and downward the crosse Dogstarre stoopes;
and the poet's description well agrees with mythology's idea of Europa's
bull, for he always was thus described, and snowy white in color...."
The lunar calendars of the ancient Semitic peoples, which among
others include the ancient Egyptians, the Akkadians (Assyro-
Babylonians), the Phoenicians, Moabites and Hebrews, made provision for
the annual celebration of two New Year days, the civil and the
ecclesiastical. The civil one was celebrated during the lunar month
Nisan. This was the first month of spring when the Sun was in
conjunction with the vernal equinox, equivalent to March 21st of our
modern calendar. The ecclesiastical one was celebrated during the month
of Teshrit when the Sun was in conjunction with the fall equinox,
equivalent to September 23rd, modern. All lunar calendars were from
time to time adjusted to accord with the seasons and hence were
tropical, seasonal and equinoctial as is our modern (solar) calendar
itself.
But the great point to note and never to forget is that during the
first two thousand years or so of recorded history, when the vernal
equinox was receding through it, Taurus was the first of the zodiacal
constellations and Aries the last! More than that Taurus not only was
the leader during this period of the seasons (tropical months) but was
for all time the captain of the zodiacal constellations. Even among the
Romans of the Aries age, Taurus was still hailed as "Princeps armenti,"
leader of the zodiacal herd!
A feature of the architecture and sculpture of the first two
millennia of the historical period, and indeed for many centuries later,
was the astonishing prevalence of colossal and massive monuments of
bulls. Who is not familiar with illustrations of the formidable
"lamassu" (winded human headed bull) from the palace of Sargon II of
Assyria at Dur Sharrukin, or that of the Egyptian Apis of Memphis, the
Minotaur of Crete down the corridors of time to the sacred white bull
attacked by the scorpion, and sacrificially slain by the Sun-god Mithra
of Iran. Mithraism was the only serious rival to the then nascent
Christianity.
In remote antiquity the symbol of the bull became synonymous with the
first, the leader. Thus the first letter of the Greek and other
alphabets, alpha or A is derived from the Hebrew Aleph, a bull.
Moreover, in the melothesia of this period Taurus ruled the head, Gemini
the neck, ending with Aires ruling the feet!
Contrary to those of the later-day Greeks, the zodiacal
constellations of the ancient Egyptians and Akkadians each comprised
precisely 30 degrees. But how were the boundaries of the first
constellation Taurus defined? The answer to this tells the story of the
finest achievement of positional astronomy and of astrology of modern
times. Briefly it may be summed up as follows. It is generally held in
the East that the confines of the leading constellation is usually
indicated by a pilot or marking star of adequate magnitude. Such a
marking star is technically termed its fiducial. In India, where their
zodiac, as now in the West, commences with Aries, there exists two
schools. One maintains that Zeta Piscium (Revati) marks the zero point
of the constellation Aries, while the other school is convinced that
Alpha Virginis (Spica, Chitra) marks the zero point of the constellation
Libra.
For centuries our good Hindu pundits have been at loggerheads over
this problem, and as yet are no nearer to a solution. Their problem is
complicated by the fact that as a body they are not prepared to accept
Simon Newcomb's constants for general precession nor the equatorial
coordinates of the official star lists issued from time to time by
western observatories. They argue that the star positions and constants
as given in such medieval works as the "Surya siddhanta" by their sacred
Rishis are good enough for them. In consequence, each Hindu astrologer
has his own method of deriving the ayanamsha (gap between the zodiacs)
from his own pet fiducial and by the looks of things, this stalemate is
likely to subsist for many generations to come.
In the "Paranatellonta of Aswini" (Astrological Magazine, Jan. and
Feb. 1952 issues, edited by B.V. Raman of Bangalore, India) it was
pointed out that while Chitra made a convenient marking star for
determining the beginning of the Sayana (tropical) zodiac in the 4th
century A.D. and Revati in the 6th century A.D., it was very doubtful if
they ever served as fiducials for the Nirayana or sidereal zodiac. It
never seems to have occurred to our esteemed Eastern confreres that the
fiducial star many not be at the beginning of a constellation. The
Yogatars (chief stars) of the 28 Hindu Nakshatras (Lunar Mansions) are
nearer the center than to the beginning.
When the mystery of the exaltation degrees of the planets was finally
solved in May 1949, it was found that in the sidereal zodiac of the
exaltation year, 786 B.C., Spica was in Virgo 29 degrees, a most awkward
and unlikely longitude for a prime fiducial star! The same sidereal
longitude for Spica was obtained by Professor B. L. van der Waerden from
an analysis of the lunar tables of the Babylonian astronomers Naburiannu
(B.C. 508) and Kidinnu (B.C. 379), from the Jupiter tablets, the
Babylonian almanacs and from a Babylonian star catalogue (Sonderabdruck
aus "Archiv fur Orientfors," Band II, Zweiter Teil).
Clearly then, Spica was not the original prime fiducial of the
sidereal version of the zodiac. Even if Revanti's sidereal longitude
turned out to be precisely Aries 0 degrees or Spica's Libra 0 degrees,
it still would be doubtful that either was the original fiducial, seeing
that Taurus and not Aries was the first of the zodiacal constellations,
so what fixed star or stars defined the frontiers of the sidereal
Taurus?
It was during this impasse that Garth Allen came to the rescue. He
reasoned that if there was any truth at all in sidereal astrology it
should be possible to determine by advanced statistical methods alone,
of which he is a past master, the precise sidereal longitude of the mean
vernal equinox for any given epoch without any appeal whatsoever to
fiducial stars. Having computed numerous solar and lunar ingresses and
the like for a wide variety of happenings such as meteorological
phenomena, natural catastrophes, fires, explosions, earthquakes,
accidents "et hoc genus omne," he discovered for the epoch 1950.0 that
Spica's mean sidereal longitude was only in error by 06'05", an
extraordinarily close approximation to the longitude Virgo 29 degrees,
00' obtained by the resolution of the Hypsomata. (See the May, June,
July 1957 and the August 1964 issues of this magazine). But Spica in
Virgo 29 degrees, 06' 05" is even less convincing as a fiducial star.
THE BULL'S EYE!
Now for the remarkable part of Garth Allen's discovery of which at
that time he was totally unaware. According to Professor P. V.
Neugebauer's authoritive "Sterntafeln (Tafeln zur astronomischen
Chronologie I. Leipzip 1912) for the year 786 B.C.--the golden year of
astrology--when the exaltation degrees of the planets in the zodiac
originated, we find the following positions, proper motions having been
fully allowed for:
Alpha Tauri (Aldebaran, The Bull's Eye)
RA 30.80 degrees, Declination +6.7l degrees
Alpha Scorpii (Antaras)
RA 207.37 degrees, Declination = 16.00 degrees
the obliquity of the ecliptic being 23.79 degrees. By trogometrical
reduction their respective tropical and sidereal longitudes are as
follows:
Aldebaran Antares
Tropical longitude 31.08 degrees 211.11 degrees
SVP for 786 B.C. 13.92 13.92
------------------------------
Sidereal longitudes 45.00 225.03
or Taurus 15 degrees 00' and Scorpio 15 degrees 03 respectively.
This puts Aldebaran in the precise mathematical center of the Bull
and Antares almost in the precise mathematical center of the Scorpion;
both fixed stars being of the first magnitude and in partile (precise)
mutual opposition. The Arabs called Aldebaran "Ain al Thaur," the
Greeks "Omma Bos" and the Romans "Oculus Tauri," all meaning the Bull's
Eye. To this day the world over, the term Bull's Eye implies the
mathematical center! In the Greco-Roman star atlases (c. 600 B.C.) only
the Bull's head and forelegs are depicted, thus putting the bull's Eye
in the dead center of that constellation. In the Egyptian Celestial
Diagrams, as they were called of the New Empire period (c. 1500 to 1200
B.C.) it was usual for the scribes to represent the stars by five-
pointed devices called determinatives, but in one of the Rameside
diagrams, Aldebaran is shown as an eight-pointed star of unusual
proportions! The Arabs also name Alpha Tauri as Al Debaran, commonly
but apparently wrongly translated the Follower.
In his Babylonian Menologies and Semitic Calendars (Oxford University
Press 1935), Professor S. Langdon says Aldebaran was known to the
Babylonians as Al-debaranu "the forecaster and writer" and as isu li-e
"Star of the Tablet." It was identified with Nabu (Nebo) the Babylonian
god of astrology, who wrote the fates of all men at the beginning of the
lunar year, which began in the month of Nisannu (Nisan) when the fine
thin crescent of the New-moon in the constellation Taurus was first seen
above the western horizon just before it set. Garth Allen's
computations have revealed to the whole astrological world that the
Bull's Eye was and still is the prime fiducial of the sidereal zodiac,
with Antares as second fiddle in the
heart of the Scorpion. So the aged-worn vexed Hindu problem of the
ayanamsha finally was solved once and for all even though the solution
is not accepted by those most concerned!
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Re: What Age? (The Song Was Wrong)
(continued)
THE PASSOVER
In the year B.C. 1955 the vernal equinox softly passed over from
Taurus 1 degree into Aries 30 degrees and thus initiated into being the
great Aries age when the great Aries age when the "Golden Calf" doffed
his crown as the leader of the herd and handed it over to the Lamb.
From then until 216 A.D. Aries the Ram was to reign as supreme leader of
the zodiacal flock. But note in this historical changing of the guard
the vernal equinox entered Aires by its postern port, backdoor or
servant's entrance. As already stated it is vital that we understand
this, otherwise we will get confused and go astray. Surely it is
unnecessary to detail here the great historical events of the Arien age.
In all their richness and minutia they will be found in history and
reference books. Suffice it to say that this age witnessed the gradual
decline and extinction of the glory that was Egypt, Babylon and Assyria
and the coming into being of the elegance of Greece and the power of
Rome. It also witnessed the coming into being of Buddhism, Christianity
and Mithraism.
MODERNITY
In 216 A.D. when the power of Rome and the estheticism of Greece were
moribund, the vernal equinox slipped out of Aries, and the Ram glided
like a dewdrop into the vast seas of Pisces. In doing so, the Ram
surrendered its leadership to the Two Fishes. From 216 A.D. until 2376
A.D. the Fishes will lead the zodiacal herd, with Pisces in the
anatomical melothesia ruling the head and Aquarius the feet!
THE BLUNDER
What is his historically known as the "Late Classical Period"
embraces the few centuries immediately before and after the beginning of
the Christian Era, when the mean sidereal longitudes of the vernal
equinox were as follows:
200 B.C. Aries 5 degrees 50'
100 B.C. Aries 4 degrees 27'
1 B.C. Aries 3 degrees 04'
100 A.D. Aries 1 degree 41'
200 A.D. Aries 0 degrees 18'
300 A.D. Pisces 28 degrees 55'
Although the birth and death of Claudius Ptolemy are not recorded it
is known form his own Al Magest that he made observation of the heavens
between 127 and 151 A.D. when the average sidereal longitude of the
vernal equinox was Aries 1 degree 09'. Should Ptolemy be the author of
the Tetrabiblos (now much disputed), he was perfectly correct and in
order when he wrote "...For this reason although there is no natural
beginning of the zodiac, since it is a circle, they (Nechepso and
Petosiris?) assume that the sign which begins with the vernal equinox,
that of Aries, is the starting point of them all..." (Tetrabiblos I.
10 P. 61). When this was penned "...the sign that begins with the
vernal equinox..." was undoubtedly Aries as the above tabulation
indicates. But ARIES DID NOT BEGIN WITH THE VERNAL EQUINOX SOME THREE
THOUSAND YEARS BEFORE THEN NOR DOES IT BEGIN WITH ARIES NOW!
Today the tropical year commences with Pisces and in some four
hundred years or so hence it will begin with Aquarius. The blunder is
not Ptolemy's but that of his adoring fans of yesterday. Taking his
statements as eternal verities they "...forgot to put the zodiacal clock
back in A.D. 216..." and it has been in a deep freeze ever since! At
the ripe age of 2.170 years "the old lady" died in that year, but
unburied, her mummified remains are still in the cupboard.
Continued in 9/67 "Solunars"
* * * *
Cyril Fagan's 9/67 "SOLUNARS...A STUDY OF THE SIDEREAL ZODIAC"
The sole astrological raison d'etre for the existence of the modern
tropical version of the zodiac is apparently the authority of a
collection of books now issued in one volume, known to the Greeks as the
Tetrabiblos and the Romans as the Quadripartite, both words simply
meaning four books or parts. But who is the writer of these four books
on astrology? Fundamentally this question is quite irrelevant and of
small importance, for books should be appraised because of their
intrinsic worth, and not because of the authority of the writer. It has
been said that should the Pope write a book most orthodox Roman
Catholics will affect to read it but few of any other denomination. On
the other hand should the Chief Rabbi pen a work it will be devoured by
orthodox Jews but eschewed by the gentiles. But what transpires when a
serious work is published anonymously? How do the majority approach it,
if at all?
Reading a work of this kind implies that for the nonce we have to
think for ourselves and 'that' is too unthinkable for words! It indeed
is outrageous! It is nice and cosy to have others do our thinking for
us. Before we read a book we like to see what our favorite reviewer has
to say about it and it goes without saying that usually he is one of our
way of thinking, otherwise he would not be a favorite. Should he say
that the work is wonderful we will read it with avidity, but should it
be declared nonsense, why, forsooth, we will have none of it. Our minds
are so brainwashed by racial prejudices, by nationality, by tradition,
by custom, by public opinion, by creed and religious upbringing, that
few are capable of shedding this overwhelming miasma and thinking for
oneself! A genius simply is one who has liberated his mind from all
such impinging conditioning. But that requires immense moral courage
and the capacity to stand utterly alone against the taunts of the world.
Among ancient Greek astronomers, Claudius Ptolemy stands as one of
the greats of all times. Of the many works attributed to him first and
foremost is his Almagest (Al Magest), (Syntaxis Mathematica) in 13
books. This purely astronomical treatise is his greatest and most
famous work. But he also wrote on optics, music, geography and
chronology. In his translation from the Greek of the Tetrabiblos*
[Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, F. E. Robbins, Ph.D.,; Harvard University Press,
MCMXL.] F. E. Robbins, in his introduction, says "...the divine
Ptolemy he is called by Hephaestion of Thebes and the expression shows
the reverence accorded him fell little short of idolatry...." Of the
two astrological works also attributed to Ptolemy the Centiloquium is
"...generally thought to be spurious..." according to Robbins, but he
never questions the alleged authorship of the Tetrabiblos itself; and
for centuries Ptolemy has been generally recognized as its author.
Of course modern astronomers, having a very understandable contempt
for what passes as astrology today, and hating to be in any way
identified with it, tend to dissociate the names of the great
astronomers of the pat such as Claudius Ptolemy and Johann Kepler from
any connection with it, or else explain such association away on the
grounds of the struggle to survive financially. Naturally astronomers
of today cannot conceive that a man so intelligent as Ptolemy could
condescend to write such trash as the Tetrabiblos; and let us face up to
it that much which is in the work is just piffle. Among modern
astronomers who seem to question Ptolemy's authorship of the Tetrabiblos
is Dr. Otto Neugebauer, Professor of the History of Mathematics at Brown
University, who writes (June 8, 1951) "...In the Tetrabiblos we find
often different norms which do not agree with the Almagest (e.g., the
scheme for oblique ascensions)...." But for many centuries no student
of astrology would have dared to apply such higher criticism to the
works of the "divine Ptolemy! What he wrote was accepted without
question as the truth.
Today much the same attitude prevails in India. Regarded in much the
same light as the Tetrabiblos are the Hindu Siddhantas, although of
later date. No orthodox astrologer would dare to question their
accuracy. It is said that the devout Hindu astrologer regards these
sacred works with such a reverence that he goes through a ceremony of
prayer and purification before attempting to consult them.
Apart from Dr. Neugebauer's astute observation there is much in the
Tetrabiblos that belies its traditional authorship. The world first
gleaned about the phenomena of Precession from the Almagest, yet there
is not a single reference to such in the Tetrabiblos. Frequent
references are made in the latter to the effects of the fixed stars such
as "...the forward and the hinder parts of Aries, the Hyades, the
Pitcher, the hind parts of Leo and the face of Capricorn..." Since the
fixed stars that comprise these anatomical and other regions of the
zodiac are no longer there (in the tropical version of the zodiac), then
we can only conclude (a) that the writer knew nothing of precession, (b)
that he was not writing for posterity or (c) that the Tetrabiblos is a
treatise on Sidereal Astrology! What tropicalist can give the longitude
of the Pitcher of Aquarius or the face of Capricorn, to say nothing of
Cygnus, Aquila, the Dolphin and the Rudder of Argo--all of which figure
in the Tetrabiblos?
But when the author informs us in effect that the seasons are due to
the Sun's entry into the cardinal signs of the zodiac (Tetrabiblos
passim), then we seriously question whether he could be the same man who
penned the Geography. Yet believe it or not, to this very day most
tropicalists cleave to the same notion. In fact they consider it their
strongest argument in defense of the tropical zodiac! Surely if this
was true Uruguay would share the same seasons with Washington! But are
their season contemporaneous? When it is mid-summer in Washington is it
not midwinter in Uruguay? And when it is spring in Uruguay it is fall
in Washington which effectively demonstrates that the seasons are not
dependent on the Sun's entry into the tropical cardinal signs.
WHAT CAUSES THE SEASONS?
Any bright coed will tell us that the changing seasons are caused by
the altitude (height) of the Sun at 'southing.' The Sun is said to
'south' when it is precisely on the southern meridian or cusp of the
10th house. This happens every day a 'apparent' local noon (noon by the
sun dial which is true noon). This, of course, only applies to the
northern hemisphere. In the southern one at true noon the Sun is said
to 'north.'
The altitude of the Sun is a function of its declination and the co-
latitude of the locality. Colatitude = 90 degrees - the geographical
latitude, and the altitude is the algebraical sum of the declination and
the colatitude. The maximum and minimum declinations of the Sun (which
in its turn is a function of the obliquity of the celestial equator) at
the present time are plus and minus 23 degrees 27' respectively. On
midsummer's day in Washington D.C. the altitude of the Sun = 90
degrees - 38 degrees 53' + 23 degrees 27' = 74 degrees 34' while one the
same day in Uruguay it will only be 90 degrees - 32 degrees 20' - 23
degrees 27' = 34 degrees 13'. In the former case the Sun is only some
15 degrees from the zenith while in the latter case it is less than 30
degrees above the horizon at high noon. So the coming into being and
the passing away of the seasons have everything to do with the varying
altitude of the Sun and nothing whatsoever to do with zodiac, tropical
or sidereal!
As frequently stated in these pages, declinations (distances above or
below the equator) are a function of the obliquity of the ecliptic or to
give it its more correct patronymic, "obliquity of the equator." Had the
earth little or no obliquity like Jupiter (obliquity only 3 degrees)
then the earth would spin perpetually in the vertical to its orbit (that
is, having little or no wobble) thus obviating all seasons, the months
being more or less the same all the year round. The point to stress in
all this is that the seasons are purely a terrestrial effect entirely
dependent on the earth's wobble around the pole of the ecliptic, having
nothing whatsoever to do with the zodiacal signs or constellations.
But although independent of the celestial girdle, the seasons have an
ebullient life of their own, which we all recognize but erroneously
attribute to the stars! Among the different species of organic life,
who has not heard of the seasons of mating and parturition, every
species having their own particular periodicity; and in the vegetable
world who has not heard of the seasons for sowing and for reaping?
Biologists will have no difficulty in supplying facts and figures of
seasonal changes occurring with clocklike regularity in the organic
world especially that of insects and reptiles.
NUPTIALS OF SIDEREAL AND TROPICAL
From the very beginning of astrological history the ancients seemed
to have been thoroughly conversant with such facts. Matters
appertaining to the fixed stars and the movement of the planets, they
referred to the zodiacal constellations, but purely seasonal, fluvial
and biological changes to the months of their lunar calendar. Although
there is abundant textual evidence that it once existed, when Egyptian
history opens, their lunar calendar had already vanished in the veils of
antiquity. But among the Akkadian nations it existed to the very end
and it still survives in a modified form among the Jews and the Arabs.
The following tropical concordance for the year B.C. 786 should be
noted:
AKKADIAN HEBREW ROMAN IATROMATHEMATICA
I Nisannu Nisan Apr. 26 Head
II Airu Ayar Mar. 27 Neck
III Simanu Sivan May 25 Shoulders
IV Du'uzu Tammuz Jun. 24 Breasts
V Abu Ab Jul. 23 Heart
VI Ululu Elul Aug. 22 Bowels
VII Teshritu Teshrit Sep. 21 Buttocks
VIII Arakhsamma Arahsamma Oct. 20 Gentilia
IX Kislimu Kislev Nov. 19 Thighs
X Tebitu Tebit Dec. 18 Knees
XI Shabutu Shebat Jan. 16 Shins
XII Addaru Adar Feb. 15 Feet
Owing to the irregularities caused by a lunar calendar (synodic month
= 29.5306 days) necessitating repeated intercalulation to keep it in a
reasonable alignment with the solar calendar (modern Roman or Gregorian)
the mean tropical longitude of the Sun on the 1st Nisan was Aries 8
degrees. This was the "fixed" longitude of the vernal equinox in the
Greek zodiac in vogue during the classical period and attributed to the
Babylonian astronomer Kidenas (Kidinnu 379 B.C.). It was in vogue in
Egypt when the two temples in Denderah were dedicated in A.D. 17, at
which time Egypt was under the yoke of the Roman Empire. According to
Dr. Neugebauer, this version of the tropical zodiac, classified as
system B among the academicians "...is very frequently found in
astrological writings far into the Middle Ages..." **[Greek Horoscopes,
O. Neugebauer and H. B. Van Hoesen; The American Philosophical Society,
1959, p. 12].
It is, of course, characteristic of all Greek or tropical zodiacs--
and they had quite a few--that the vernal equinox is "fixed" (sic!) in a
certain degree of each particular zodiac. Because the equinoxes
'perpetually' rose due east and set due west, the Greeks apparently
assumed that they were "fixed" in the firmament for all time! and 'ipso
facto' were the fiducials of any zodiac!--a belief that persists among
tropicalists to this day. Hipparchus was alleged to have discovered the
phenomenon of precession in 139 B.C., although many astronomers are of
opinion that the Babylonian astronomers knew all about it many centuries
before that. But he and admirer Claudius Ptolemy took it for granted
that it was the fixed stars that precessed, 'never the equinoxes.' THIS
WAS, ALAS, THE GREAT BLUNDER OF GREEK ASTRONOMY AND ASTROLOGY.
The astronomical world had to wait until the Middle Ages for Leonardo
da Vinci (A.D. 1452-1543) and Galileo (A.D. 1564-1612) to discover that
the shoe was on the other foot and it was this discovery that did
irreparable harm to the cause of astrology, more especially to the Greek
version. While the majority of intelligent astronomers changed over to
the new mode of thinking, astrologers of the medieval ages, and they
included many clerics true to Rome in their ranks, elected to stay put.
Because of this split, at this period astronomy and astrology gradually
parted company the the breach has never healed.
For purposes of measuring stellar distances in right ascension and
declination, Hipparchus found it convenient to consider the vernal
equinox as being in Aries 0 degrees. Seizing on this idea, Posedonius
and his pupil Geminius, whom the Greek scholar Dr. Walter Koch of
Germany dates as B.C. 80, 70 respectively, 'invented' the modern version
of the tropical zodiac. As this version was adopted by Ptolemy in his
Al Magest and by the author of the Tetrabiblos, it was perhaps assumed
that Ptolemy also penned the latter. But how many astrologers today
realize THAT THE MODERN VERSION OF THE TROPICAL ZODIAC HAD NO EXISTENCE
PRIOR TO POSEDONIUS AND HIS PROPAGANDIST GEMINIUS? That it existed
before Sargon of Agade (B.C. 2359-2304) is one of those scientific
fictions that the Honorable Emmiline Plunkett of the Biblical Society
delighted to ventilate. Unfortunately like certain esotericists, she
believed in her own fantasies and succeeded in making others believe in
them too. Is it not ironical that while the hallowed aphorisms of the
Tetrabiblos have been repudiated by most modern astrologers they still
cleave to its author's dicta that the zodiac commences with the vernal
equinox in the beginning of Aries?
That the Akkadians considered the lunar months, had an astrology of
their own completely independent of any version of the zodiac is
demonstrated by the following excerpt, picked at random, from "The Venus
Tablets of Ammisaduqua," A Babylonian king who reigned about the 17th
century B.C.: "...If on the 7th of Ulul Venus appeared in the west, the
harvest of the land will be successful; the heart of the land will be
happy. Until the 11th of Ayar she will stand in the west and on the
12th Ayar she will disappear, and, having remained absent 7 days in the
sky, Venus will shine forth in the east on the 19th Ayar; hostilities
will be in the land..."
This, of course is a recital of HELIACAL phenomena; which was the
usual way the ancients interpreted their astrology. Briefly, it says
that Venus, as Vesper the evening star will be seen on the western
horizon about sunset during the lunar months of Ulul and Ayar. On the
12th Ayar, coming too close to the setting Sun, she will disappear from
sight (heliacally set). After being absent from the night skies for
seven days she will suddenly reappear again just before sunrise, but
this time in the east. This reappearance for a brief moment before the
Sun rises is known as her HELIACAL rising [heliacal = near the sun].
Then a morning star, Venus is known as Lucifer (light-bearer). However,
the point to stress in all of this is that Venus' HELIACAL PHENOMENA is
astrologically interpreted in terms of lunar months, that is tropically,
no references, good, bad or indifferent being made to constellations or
signs of the zodiac. The Babylonians first referred to the zodiac in
their great 'mul APIN' tablets circa 900 B.C.
CALENDAR ENIGMA
The lunar, and later the solar, months appear to have been initially
designated numerically. It is understood that the Akkadian Nisannu and
Teshritu literally mean the 1st and 7th months respectively. This is a
matter for Hebrew scholars to confirm or deny. The months of the common
Egyptian calendar, which were once lunar were identified by season and
numbers. Copts of the late period identified them by names, but by then
they had long ceased to be lunar. Remnants of this numerical
nomenclature are still seen in our own Roman (solar) calendar--
September, October, November and December literally meaning the 7th,
8th, 9th and 10th months respectively. But alas emperors, kings and
governments have played Old Harry with calendars through he pages of
history. To honor Julius Caesar the original 5th month was named July
and to honor his nephew, the Emperor Augustus, the 6th month was styled
August.
As the Latin names tell us September was once the 7th month of the
year, implying that March, the month of the vernal equinox was the 1st,
which is a fact. March 25th (Lady's day) was the original New Year Day
of the Julian calendar. In the defective Julian calendar the Sun was in
conjunction with the vernal equinox in the 2nd century B.C. when Julius
Caesar was born! A bull of Pope Gregory XIII promulgated on February
24, 1582 commanded the adoption by Christians of an amended Julian
calendar (now recognized as the Gregorian or New Style, N.S., calendar)
and altering New Year Day from March 25 to January 1. January 1 was the
New Year Day of the Spanish era, reckoned from January 1, 38 B.C. which
was in force in the Visigothic kingdoms of Spain and Gaul. In this way
was the original calendaric fitness of things corrupted!
In the circular and rectangular zodiacs of Denderah the student
acquainted with even an elementary knowledge of Egyptology, especially
of Demotic, can easily identify no less than seven New Year Days. But
strange as it may seem these do not contradict each other. Each has a
purpose and significance. But to coin a new word from the earliest of
times, the terrological New Year Day commenced with the date of the
vernal equinox. Virtually all the old authors seem to agree that the
seasonal year commenced with the 1st day of spring. This was reckoned
the 1st day of the ecclesiastical New Year while the day of the autumnal
equinox was recognized as the 1st day of the secular or civil New Year.
Evidently for reasons of arithmetical convenience, in prehistoric times
the Egyptians had rejected the lunar calendar in favor of a solar
calendar of 365 days without any provision for the intercalation of an
extra day in leap years. In consequence their New Year Day (1st Thoth)
took about 118 years in the mean to retrograde through a constellation.
Probably the first to recognize this fact was Dr. Otto Neugebauer.
In Papyrus P. 8279, the Strobart Tablets, the Calendar of Dionysius,
Ostra D 521, and Papyrus Carlsburg 9, he had noticed a peculiar notation
where the sings of the zodiac had been assigned numbers differing
according to the date of the text. "...This..." he writes "...seems to
indicate clearly that the tendency to correlate the counting of the
zodiacal signs with the Sun's position on New Year Day existed during
the Demotic period...." ***[Egyptian Planetary Texts, O. Neugebauer:
The American Philosophical Society, 1942.] [Note also that
'constellations' and 'signs' were used interchangeably.]
The following is an extract from a Table correlating the Julian
equivalent with New Year Day (1st Thoth) of the constellations.
B.C. 994 = Aries 30 degrees
B.C. 872 = Pisces 30 "
B.C. 753 = Aquarius 30 "
B.C. 635 = Capricorn 30 "
B.C. 520 = Sagittarius 30 "
B.C. 405 = Scorpio 30 "
B.C. 291 = Libra 30 "
B.C. 175 = Virgo 30 "
B.C. 57 = Leo 30 "
A.D. 62 = Cancer 30 "
A.D. 183 = Gemini 30 "
A.D. 305 = Taurus 30 "
A.D. 428 = Aries 30 "
The circular zodiac of Denderah, now housed in the Louvre, Paris
shows a very big lion leading the zodiacal herd. Reference to the above
Table indicates that the Egyptian New Year Day (1st Thoth) occurred in
the constellation Leo between the years 57 B.C. and 62 A.D. Hence these
zodiacs were designed and engraved at some time between these years or
1200 years (or multiples of 1200 years) earlier. As the cartouches of
the Roman Emperors, Tiberius and Caligula, were found in the temples it
is obvious that these temples were built during the Roman ascendancy.
The position of the planets in the rectangular zodiac gives the precise
date as April 17, 17 A.D.
In an analogous way the lunar and solar calendars were correlated
with the zodiacal constellations in a manner more or less as follows:
TAUREAN ARIEN PISCEAN AQUARIAN TROP. IATROMATHEMATICA
AGE AGE AGE AGE MTHS.
B.C.4139 B.C.1953 A.D.220 A.D.2375
Taurus Aries Pisces Aquarius Mar. Caput,facies,oculi,aures
(Head, face, eyes, ears)
Gemini Taurus Aries Pisces Apr. Collom,cervex,gutter,vox
(neck,nape,throat,voice)
Cancer Gemini Taurus Aries May Humeri,branci
(Shoulders,arms)
Leo Cancer Gemini Taurus Jun. Pulmones,pectus,mammillae
(Lungs,chest,breast)
Virgo Leo Cancer Gemini Jul. Diaphragma,stomachus,cor
(Diaphragm,stomach,heart)
Libra Virgo Leo Cancer Aug. Ventar,intestia,mesentarium
(Abdomen,intestines,mesentery)
Scorpio Libra Virgo Leo Sep. Nates,umbilicus,lumbi,renes
(Buttocks,navel,loins,kidney)
Sagitt. Scorpio Libra Virgo Oct. Genitalia,vescia
(Generative organs,bladder)
Capri. Sagitt. Scorpio Libra Nov. Coxa,femora,femur
(Hips,thighs,thigh bone)
Aquarius Capri. Sagitt. Scorpio Dec. Genua
(Knees)
Pisces Aquarius Capri. Sagitt. Jan. Tibiae
(Shins)
Aries Pisces Aquarius Capri. Feb. Pes
(Feet)
*************************************
Continued in 10/67 Solunars
Cyril Fagan's 10/67 "SOLUNARS...A STUDY OF THE SIDEREAL ZODIAC"
The interesting TABLE [above] that was presented last month informs
us that the vernal equinox, leader of the MICROcosm (the seasonal months
of the year) retrograded into the 30th degree of Taurus about B.C. 4139
and did not vacate that constellation until about B.C. 1953. During its
sojourn therein, Taurus became the captain of the zodiacal herd and the
first of the zodiacal constellations in the MACROcosm (great universe).
Long after Taurus ceased to be 'de facto' leader of the zodiac, it was
still hailed as 'Princeps armenti.' We previously have discussed this
in detail.
During its own era Taurus held dominion over the "head, face, eyes
and ears" of the Microcosmic man. The Greek word 'Iatromathematica'
means the astrology of healing. In classical times one who could
compute a horoscope was known as a mathematician. In fact that was the
original meaning of the term. An 'Iatromathematician' was one capable
of computing the Hora (ascending degree) of a decumbiture and diagnosing
it. The anatomical parts listed there, and copied from an ancient Latin
legend, are those of the calendaric (MICROCOSMIC) man. These anatomical
divisions must NOT be confused with those of the Macrocosmic man nor
with those achronycally assigned with the twelve loci (houses) beginning
with Libra ruling the "head."
This Table makes it abundantly clear that since A.D. 220 Aries ceased
to be the first sign of the zodiac, its leadership being supplanted by
Pisces. Since that year Pisces held dominion over the 'head, face,
eyes, and ears" and Aquarius over the "feet." In some 400 years from
now, as already state over and over, THE AQUARIAN ERA will be ushered in
when Aquarius will become the first zodiacal constellation.
On a summer evening by the seaside one can see the gradual going down
of the Sun in the west until it disappears below the horizon, leaving a
vivid impression that, as always, the earth has stood still while the
solar orb rolled down the slopes of heaven in the sea! But the
impression is only an optical illusion. The fact is, the Sun has not
moved at all but, in its daily rotation from west to east, the earth has
caused the horizon to gradually tilt up until it meets the Sun. In the
same way in looking at this Table one gets a strong impression that
while the calendar and it months appear to be immovable the zodiacal
constellations are sliding backwards. THIS MOTION IS PRECESSION, BUT IT
IS THE MONTHS THAT ARE MOVING AND NOT THE FIXED STARS, WHICH COMPRISE
THE CONSTELLATIONS.
We know that March 21/22 in the modern calendar was, is, and always
will be the date of the vernal equinox. Just as the vernal equinox is
fixed in Aries 0 degrees of the modern tropical zodiac, so is it
fixed as March 21/22 in solar calendar. But we know from any modern
work on astronomy that the VERNAL EQUINOX IS PERPETUALLY SLIPPING
BACKWARDS ALONG THE ECLIPTIC AT THE RATE OF ONE DEGREE IN ABOUT 71-1/2
YEARS. Therefore it follows, as night must follow day, the tropical
zodiac and our calendar are also slipping backwards against the
background of the fixed zodiacal constellations. In short the tropical
zodiac and the calendar are basically identical, differing only in
numeration and nomenclature. Therefore the tropical version of the
zodiac is superfluous! To say that a baby was born on May 1, 1967 and
to say that the Sun was in the 11th degree of the tropical Taurus is to
say the same thing in different words. For in the tropical zodiac
(allowing for the intercalation of a leap day) the sun will always be in
the 11th degree of tropical Taurus on May 1st of any Gregorian year!
The reader may have noticed that the dates for the beginning of the
four astrological ages as given in the foregoing TABLE differ slightly
from those given in the August issue. The dates given in the latter
were based on the mean value of the S.V.P. for the equinox of 1950.0
determined statistically by Garth Allen. Being a mathematical
abstraction such a point has neither substance nor proper motion. It is
a point on the ecliptic but a highly valuable one in synchronizing
solunar charts for modern times. Whether it would have the same
criteria for the epoch -3,000.0 or +3,000.0 we have, at present, no
means of knowing. But it unmistakenly demonstrated that Aldebaran, the
Bull's Eye, was precisely in the mathematical center of the
constellation Taurus in the Hypsomatic year B.C. 786, leaving little
doubt that this star in Taurus 15 degrees 00'00" was the original
fiducial or marking star of the sidereal (nirayana) zodiac. But, unlike
the SVP, Aldebaran has substance and proper motion; and the dates given
in the aforementioned TABLE are computed from Aldebaran rather than the
S.V.P. But the difference is purely academic.
Putting for all centuries, Aldebaran sidereally in Taurus 15 degrees
00'00" plus Spica and Antares in the following sidereal longitudes:
SPICA ANTARES
B.C. 4000 Virgo 29 degrees 13' Scorpio 15 degrees 07'
" 3000 Virgo 29 " 11' Scorpio 15 " 05'
" 2000 Virgo 29 " 10' Scorpio 15 " 04'
" 1000 Virgo 29 " 08' Scorpio 15 " 02'
A.D. 0 Virgo 29 " 07' Scorpio 15 " 01'
" 1000 Virgo 29 " 05' Scorpio 14 " 59'
" 2000 Virgo 29 " 04' Scorpio 14 " 59'
But Garth Allen still feels that the true fiducial is to be found in
our own solar system. His astonishing discovery that the sidereal
longitude of the solar APEX--not yet determined by astronomers--accords
with his S.V.P. is worth much consideration. (Details will be found in
the August 1960 issue of this magazine.)
DATING THE AGES
While the dates previously given for the commencement of the
astrological eras are mathematically and theoretically correct, they
need not be taken that seriously! Why? Because, as repeatedly stated
on these pages, astrology in remote antiquity was naked-eye astronomy.
Because of brilliant sunlight, the ancients could not tell what
constellation the Sun was in; all they could see was blue sky
unrelieved by a single star. While the Sun's position among the fixed
stars can be inferred, it could not be 'seen.' When the ancients
referred to the New Moon--the most important of all their astronomical
phenomena as it commenced the first day of their lunar months, as it did
the first day of their lunar year--they referred to the fine thin sickle
of the lunar crescent that became visible every 29th or 30th day on the
western horizon about half an hour after sunset for a short time
before it too disappeared below the horizon. When spotted by acute-eyed
observers from vantage positions in the turrets on top of temples or
from the hilltops, it would be seen against the background of the
already darkening skies, when the principal bright stars also could be
discerned and easily identified. Hence at a glance they could see the
Moon's position among the asterisms, when the month or the year began
which it always did at the first hour of 'sunset.'
Today, what is universally given in the press, in calendars, in
almanacs and astrological ephemerides, to say nothing of astrological
textbooks, as the date and time of the New Moon is not the New Moon at
all, but is the date and time of the 'syzygies' of the Sun and Moon.
"SYZYGY' is a Greek word meaning a mutual conjunction or opposition of
two heavenly bodies in the ecliptic; but its use is usually restricted
to the luminaries. When the Moon overtakes the Sun and conjoins it, it
is normally invisible. Its silhouette may be seen when there is an
eclipse of the Sun. Eclipses of the Sun and Moon can only occur on the
dates of their syzygies, and in remote antiquity the conjunction syzygy
occurred on the last day or penultimate day of the dying lunar month.
It would appear that the Greek author or authors of the Al Magest and
of the Tetrabiblos are responsible for leading the modern world astray
on this vital subject. In the Tetrabiblos the conjunction (syzygy) of
the luminaries is very explicitly termed the New Moon and the Neomenia
(New Moon) of the year was termed the syzygy that occurred nearest the
vernal equinox. Ptolemy's definition of the New Moon totally disagrees
with the textual records of remote antiquity. In his astronomical and
calendarial table (Venus Table of Ammizaduga, Oxford University Press,
1928), Carl Schoch, the great astronomer and mathematician, writes
"...Particularly attention is given (here) to the most important
phenomenon, the appearance of the crescent (i.e., the HELIACAL rising of
the Moon in the evening) namely the first moment after the New Moon when
the fine small lunar crescent becomes visible in the evening to sharp-
sighted man. 'This moment was the beginning of a new month to most
ancient oriental peoples, especially the Babylonians'...I can say of the
Babylonians, who were persistent observers of the crescent during 3000
years, that not only their observations but their computations for
ephemerides are admirable...."
Being only a mathematical abstraction, the point of the vernal
equinox cannot be 'seen' retrograding along the path of the zodiac at
the rate of one degree in about 71-1/2 years. The ancients of course
knew the precise east and west points of the horizon at their
observatories. In his Mathematics for the Millions, Hogben illustrates
some of the gimmicks the ancients used for determining such points.
They also knew those points on the horizon where the rising or setting
Sun was at its greatest and least declination (midsummer and midwinter
points respectively), the position of such tropical and equinoctial
points on the horizon remaining seemingly constant for vast stretches of
time. When a star rose due east and set due west, it would be precisely
on the celestial equator and, like the equinoctial points, be devoid of
declination. Should it have been noticed that an ecliptic fixed star
(one without latitude) say, in the constellation Pisces rose due east
and set due west, then they might infer that the vernal equinox had
retrograded into the constellation Pisces and that the Piscean era had
already begun. But there is no evidence in the annals of antiquity that
this was their mode of reasoning at all! Such is just pure assumption
on the part of we moderns conditioned by a tropical background.
Astronomers are of the opinion that our forebears did not even know of
the regressive movement of the cardines (equinoctial and solstitial
points). From the archives of antiquity we know that their New Year Day
(1st Nisan) used to occur in the constellation Taurus and passed into
that of Aries.
But how did they know this happened, and when did it happen? Being
mindful that the astronomy of remote antiquity was visual, the
astronomers of yore only regarded the actual appearances and
disappearances of the gods (stars) from the night skies as being
meaningful and significant. While abstract mathematical concepts
appealed to Greek intelligentsia, such had little or no meaning for the
Egyptians and Akkadians. So how did they know when the new era had
commenced? The obvious and simple answer is, when the Neomenia (New
Moon of the 1st Nisan) was first seen among the fixed stars that
composed the constellation Aries. At such a transition the crescent
would be seen in or about the 30th degree of Aries (not its 1st degree),
because the vernal equinox is perpetually retrograding. When the New
Moon of antiquity was first spotted it could have been from 18 to 40
degrees distant from the Sun, such distance being termed its
'elongation.' Should the Sun be in Aquarius the New Moon might well be
in Pisces or even Aries when seen! The precise value of the elongation
depends on a number of variables such as geographical latitude, season
of the year, Moon's latitude, and prevailing conditions of visibility.
For the latitudes of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Neomenia first became
visible after sunset of the first or second day following the syzygy;
more rarely on the 3rd day.
To compute the elements of a Neomenia was one of the most difficult
feats of positional astronomy, because of the number of variables
involved. A New Moon spotted at sunset in Babylon may not have been
seen in Alexandria until the sunset of the next day, when it would have
increased its longitude by some 13 degrees. In the appendix to the
Venus Tablets of Ammizaduga, Schoch has complied marvelously simple
tables for computing the date and time of a syzygy back to 3508 B.C.,
the maximum error being only plus or minus 5 minutes of time! He has
also given additional tables for ascertaining the probable date of the
first appearance of the crescent Moon for Babylon. Since these tables
appeared in 1928, they have been much improved upon by James Hynes of
Dublin, Ireland. James Hynes has computed tables of the appearance of
the crescent for all latitudes between 0 and 60 degrees, which are also
useful in calculating the dates of the heliacal risings and settings of
the fixed stars and planets. But marvelous as they are, they are of
little values unless one first know the 'arcus visionis' (arc of vision)
of the Moon, planets and fixed stars fro the place of residence or
observation as the case may be. As this arc differs from place to place
(even if such are situated on the same parallel of latitude) in the
first instance they must be determined empirically for each separate
locality. Moreover, owing to the incommensurability of the lunar with
the solar year, the dates of any two consecutive lunations do not follow
each other in regular sequence but, like an erratic pendulum, swing
backward and forward from date to date of the solar calendar, already
knocked out of synchronicity because of too frequent, unsystematic
intercalations.
WAS B.C. 786 THE BEGINNING OF THE ARIEN AGE?
The traditional exaltation degree (Hypsoma) of the Moon is Taurus 3
degrees. Should the reader refer to his copy of Zodiacs Old and New, p.
19, he will observe that the Moon's 'actual' sidereal longitude at the
time of its first appearance about sunset of 1st Nisan (April 3-4, 786
B.C. OS) was Aries 29.4 degrees! THAT IS, IT HAD ENTERED THE TAIL END
OF THE CONSTELLATION ARIES! If it can be mathematically demonstrated
that this was the first occasion it did so during the present
precessional cycle, some 25,900 years, then it might well be that 786
B.C. was the first year of the new Arien age! Should such be the case,
then little wonder that the heliacal longitudes of the Sun, Moon and
planets for that memorable year should be regarded as their exaltation
degrees. Would it be that another epoch-making discovery has been made?
Or is this only a most unusual coincidence?
According to Carl Schoch, the mean tropical longitude of the Sun on
1st Nisan was Aries 8 degrees, the minimum Pisces 23 degrees and the
maximum Aries 23 degrees. On the 1st Nisan 786 B.C. the tropical
longitude of the Sun was Aries 5 degrees. So there is a probability
that the New Moon of Nisan entered Aries before this year. The Metonic
cycle informs us that the syzygy of the luminaries recurs on the same
Julian date every 19 years with an error of minus 1.5 hours. Provided
the Babylonian (now the Jewish) calendar has not suffered any untoward
intercalation of a 2nd Adar or a 2nd Ulul, and that the coordinates of
ancient Babylon be taken as the place of observation, it should not be
too difficult to ascertain if such is the case. But such research is
time and labor consuming. Perhaps that astronomical wizard of Dublin,
James Hynes, can think of a short cut to achieving this! What if we are
still in the Arien age, not yet having entered that of Pisces, let alone
Aquarius! This thought induced the writer to do some impetuous
figuring. For the current year (1967) the lunation (syzygy) of Nisan
occurred on April 9th at 10:21 P.M. GMT, and in Babylon (32N30, 44E36)
the crescent became visible at local sunset of the next day, when its
sidereal longitude was, forsooth, Aries 3 degrees 50'. From this it
would appear that we are still in the Kali Yuga ("Iron Age") of Mars,
the ruler of Aries! But this may only be a backward--albeit retrograde
-- swing of the lunation pendulum. There may have been an earlier
forward thrust that brought us right into the tail end of the Piscean
era. From this it looks as if we shall have to wait another two
thousand years for the Aquarian age to put in an appearance! But until
we busy ourselves with copious calculations, we shall not know.
* * * *
THE PASSOVER
In the year B.C. 1955 the vernal equinox softly passed over from
Taurus 1 degree into Aries 30 degrees and thus initiated into being the
great Aries age when the great Aries age when the "Golden Calf" doffed
his crown as the leader of the herd and handed it over to the Lamb.
From then until 216 A.D. Aries the Ram was to reign as supreme leader of
the zodiacal flock. But note in this historical changing of the guard
the vernal equinox entered Aires by its postern port, backdoor or
servant's entrance. As already stated it is vital that we understand
this, otherwise we will get confused and go astray. Surely it is
unnecessary to detail here the great historical events of the Arien age.
In all their richness and minutia they will be found in history and
reference books. Suffice it to say that this age witnessed the gradual
decline and extinction of the glory that was Egypt, Babylon and Assyria
and the coming into being of the elegance of Greece and the power of
Rome. It also witnessed the coming into being of Buddhism, Christianity
and Mithraism.
MODERNITY
In 216 A.D. when the power of Rome and the estheticism of Greece were
moribund, the vernal equinox slipped out of Aries, and the Ram glided
like a dewdrop into the vast seas of Pisces. In doing so, the Ram
surrendered its leadership to the Two Fishes. From 216 A.D. until 2376
A.D. the Fishes will lead the zodiacal herd, with Pisces in the
anatomical melothesia ruling the head and Aquarius the feet!
THE BLUNDER
What is his historically known as the "Late Classical Period"
embraces the few centuries immediately before and after the beginning of
the Christian Era, when the mean sidereal longitudes of the vernal
equinox were as follows:
200 B.C. Aries 5 degrees 50'
100 B.C. Aries 4 degrees 27'
1 B.C. Aries 3 degrees 04'
100 A.D. Aries 1 degree 41'
200 A.D. Aries 0 degrees 18'
300 A.D. Pisces 28 degrees 55'
Although the birth and death of Claudius Ptolemy are not recorded it
is known form his own Al Magest that he made observation of the heavens
between 127 and 151 A.D. when the average sidereal longitude of the
vernal equinox was Aries 1 degree 09'. Should Ptolemy be the author of
the Tetrabiblos (now much disputed), he was perfectly correct and in
order when he wrote "...For this reason although there is no natural
beginning of the zodiac, since it is a circle, they (Nechepso and
Petosiris?) assume that the sign which begins with the vernal equinox,
that of Aries, is the starting point of them all..." (Tetrabiblos I.
10 P. 61). When this was penned "...the sign that begins with the
vernal equinox..." was undoubtedly Aries as the above tabulation
indicates. But ARIES DID NOT BEGIN WITH THE VERNAL EQUINOX SOME THREE
THOUSAND YEARS BEFORE THEN NOR DOES IT BEGIN WITH ARIES NOW!
Today the tropical year commences with Pisces and in some four
hundred years or so hence it will begin with Aquarius. The blunder is
not Ptolemy's but that of his adoring fans of yesterday. Taking his
statements as eternal verities they "...forgot to put the zodiacal clock
back in A.D. 216..." and it has been in a deep freeze ever since! At
the ripe age of 2.170 years "the old lady" died in that year, but
unburied, her mummified remains are still in the cupboard.
Continued in 9/67 "Solunars"
* * * *
Cyril Fagan's 9/67 "SOLUNARS...A STUDY OF THE SIDEREAL ZODIAC"
The sole astrological raison d'etre for the existence of the modern
tropical version of the zodiac is apparently the authority of a
collection of books now issued in one volume, known to the Greeks as the
Tetrabiblos and the Romans as the Quadripartite, both words simply
meaning four books or parts. But who is the writer of these four books
on astrology? Fundamentally this question is quite irrelevant and of
small importance, for books should be appraised because of their
intrinsic worth, and not because of the authority of the writer. It has
been said that should the Pope write a book most orthodox Roman
Catholics will affect to read it but few of any other denomination. On
the other hand should the Chief Rabbi pen a work it will be devoured by
orthodox Jews but eschewed by the gentiles. But what transpires when a
serious work is published anonymously? How do the majority approach it,
if at all?
Reading a work of this kind implies that for the nonce we have to
think for ourselves and 'that' is too unthinkable for words! It indeed
is outrageous! It is nice and cosy to have others do our thinking for
us. Before we read a book we like to see what our favorite reviewer has
to say about it and it goes without saying that usually he is one of our
way of thinking, otherwise he would not be a favorite. Should he say
that the work is wonderful we will read it with avidity, but should it
be declared nonsense, why, forsooth, we will have none of it. Our minds
are so brainwashed by racial prejudices, by nationality, by tradition,
by custom, by public opinion, by creed and religious upbringing, that
few are capable of shedding this overwhelming miasma and thinking for
oneself! A genius simply is one who has liberated his mind from all
such impinging conditioning. But that requires immense moral courage
and the capacity to stand utterly alone against the taunts of the world.
Among ancient Greek astronomers, Claudius Ptolemy stands as one of
the greats of all times. Of the many works attributed to him first and
foremost is his Almagest (Al Magest), (Syntaxis Mathematica) in 13
books. This purely astronomical treatise is his greatest and most
famous work. But he also wrote on optics, music, geography and
chronology. In his translation from the Greek of the Tetrabiblos*
[Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, F. E. Robbins, Ph.D.,; Harvard University Press,
MCMXL.] F. E. Robbins, in his introduction, says "...the divine
Ptolemy he is called by Hephaestion of Thebes and the expression shows
the reverence accorded him fell little short of idolatry...." Of the
two astrological works also attributed to Ptolemy the Centiloquium is
"...generally thought to be spurious..." according to Robbins, but he
never questions the alleged authorship of the Tetrabiblos itself; and
for centuries Ptolemy has been generally recognized as its author.
Of course modern astronomers, having a very understandable contempt
for what passes as astrology today, and hating to be in any way
identified with it, tend to dissociate the names of the great
astronomers of the pat such as Claudius Ptolemy and Johann Kepler from
any connection with it, or else explain such association away on the
grounds of the struggle to survive financially. Naturally astronomers
of today cannot conceive that a man so intelligent as Ptolemy could
condescend to write such trash as the Tetrabiblos; and let us face up to
it that much which is in the work is just piffle. Among modern
astronomers who seem to question Ptolemy's authorship of the Tetrabiblos
is Dr. Otto Neugebauer, Professor of the History of Mathematics at Brown
University, who writes (June 8, 1951) "...In the Tetrabiblos we find
often different norms which do not agree with the Almagest (e.g., the
scheme for oblique ascensions)...." But for many centuries no student
of astrology would have dared to apply such higher criticism to the
works of the "divine Ptolemy! What he wrote was accepted without
question as the truth.
Today much the same attitude prevails in India. Regarded in much the
same light as the Tetrabiblos are the Hindu Siddhantas, although of
later date. No orthodox astrologer would dare to question their
accuracy. It is said that the devout Hindu astrologer regards these
sacred works with such a reverence that he goes through a ceremony of
prayer and purification before attempting to consult them.
Apart from Dr. Neugebauer's astute observation there is much in the
Tetrabiblos that belies its traditional authorship. The world first
gleaned about the phenomena of Precession from the Almagest, yet there
is not a single reference to such in the Tetrabiblos. Frequent
references are made in the latter to the effects of the fixed stars such
as "...the forward and the hinder parts of Aries, the Hyades, the
Pitcher, the hind parts of Leo and the face of Capricorn..." Since the
fixed stars that comprise these anatomical and other regions of the
zodiac are no longer there (in the tropical version of the zodiac), then
we can only conclude (a) that the writer knew nothing of precession, (b)
that he was not writing for posterity or (c) that the Tetrabiblos is a
treatise on Sidereal Astrology! What tropicalist can give the longitude
of the Pitcher of Aquarius or the face of Capricorn, to say nothing of
Cygnus, Aquila, the Dolphin and the Rudder of Argo--all of which figure
in the Tetrabiblos?
But when the author informs us in effect that the seasons are due to
the Sun's entry into the cardinal signs of the zodiac (Tetrabiblos
passim), then we seriously question whether he could be the same man who
penned the Geography. Yet believe it or not, to this very day most
tropicalists cleave to the same notion. In fact they consider it their
strongest argument in defense of the tropical zodiac! Surely if this
was true Uruguay would share the same seasons with Washington! But are
their season contemporaneous? When it is mid-summer in Washington is it
not midwinter in Uruguay? And when it is spring in Uruguay it is fall
in Washington which effectively demonstrates that the seasons are not
dependent on the Sun's entry into the tropical cardinal signs.
WHAT CAUSES THE SEASONS?
Any bright coed will tell us that the changing seasons are caused by
the altitude (height) of the Sun at 'southing.' The Sun is said to
'south' when it is precisely on the southern meridian or cusp of the
10th house. This happens every day a 'apparent' local noon (noon by the
sun dial which is true noon). This, of course, only applies to the
northern hemisphere. In the southern one at true noon the Sun is said
to 'north.'
The altitude of the Sun is a function of its declination and the co-
latitude of the locality. Colatitude = 90 degrees - the geographical
latitude, and the altitude is the algebraical sum of the declination and
the colatitude. The maximum and minimum declinations of the Sun (which
in its turn is a function of the obliquity of the celestial equator) at
the present time are plus and minus 23 degrees 27' respectively. On
midsummer's day in Washington D.C. the altitude of the Sun = 90
degrees - 38 degrees 53' + 23 degrees 27' = 74 degrees 34' while one the
same day in Uruguay it will only be 90 degrees - 32 degrees 20' - 23
degrees 27' = 34 degrees 13'. In the former case the Sun is only some
15 degrees from the zenith while in the latter case it is less than 30
degrees above the horizon at high noon. So the coming into being and
the passing away of the seasons have everything to do with the varying
altitude of the Sun and nothing whatsoever to do with zodiac, tropical
or sidereal!
As frequently stated in these pages, declinations (distances above or
below the equator) are a function of the obliquity of the ecliptic or to
give it its more correct patronymic, "obliquity of the equator." Had the
earth little or no obliquity like Jupiter (obliquity only 3 degrees)
then the earth would spin perpetually in the vertical to its orbit (that
is, having little or no wobble) thus obviating all seasons, the months
being more or less the same all the year round. The point to stress in
all this is that the seasons are purely a terrestrial effect entirely
dependent on the earth's wobble around the pole of the ecliptic, having
nothing whatsoever to do with the zodiacal signs or constellations.
But although independent of the celestial girdle, the seasons have an
ebullient life of their own, which we all recognize but erroneously
attribute to the stars! Among the different species of organic life,
who has not heard of the seasons of mating and parturition, every
species having their own particular periodicity; and in the vegetable
world who has not heard of the seasons for sowing and for reaping?
Biologists will have no difficulty in supplying facts and figures of
seasonal changes occurring with clocklike regularity in the organic
world especially that of insects and reptiles.
NUPTIALS OF SIDEREAL AND TROPICAL
From the very beginning of astrological history the ancients seemed
to have been thoroughly conversant with such facts. Matters
appertaining to the fixed stars and the movement of the planets, they
referred to the zodiacal constellations, but purely seasonal, fluvial
and biological changes to the months of their lunar calendar. Although
there is abundant textual evidence that it once existed, when Egyptian
history opens, their lunar calendar had already vanished in the veils of
antiquity. But among the Akkadian nations it existed to the very end
and it still survives in a modified form among the Jews and the Arabs.
The following tropical concordance for the year B.C. 786 should be
noted:
AKKADIAN HEBREW ROMAN IATROMATHEMATICA
I Nisannu Nisan Apr. 26 Head
II Airu Ayar Mar. 27 Neck
III Simanu Sivan May 25 Shoulders
IV Du'uzu Tammuz Jun. 24 Breasts
V Abu Ab Jul. 23 Heart
VI Ululu Elul Aug. 22 Bowels
VII Teshritu Teshrit Sep. 21 Buttocks
VIII Arakhsamma Arahsamma Oct. 20 Gentilia
IX Kislimu Kislev Nov. 19 Thighs
X Tebitu Tebit Dec. 18 Knees
XI Shabutu Shebat Jan. 16 Shins
XII Addaru Adar Feb. 15 Feet
Owing to the irregularities caused by a lunar calendar (synodic month
= 29.5306 days) necessitating repeated intercalulation to keep it in a
reasonable alignment with the solar calendar (modern Roman or Gregorian)
the mean tropical longitude of the Sun on the 1st Nisan was Aries 8
degrees. This was the "fixed" longitude of the vernal equinox in the
Greek zodiac in vogue during the classical period and attributed to the
Babylonian astronomer Kidenas (Kidinnu 379 B.C.). It was in vogue in
Egypt when the two temples in Denderah were dedicated in A.D. 17, at
which time Egypt was under the yoke of the Roman Empire. According to
Dr. Neugebauer, this version of the tropical zodiac, classified as
system B among the academicians "...is very frequently found in
astrological writings far into the Middle Ages..." **[Greek Horoscopes,
O. Neugebauer and H. B. Van Hoesen; The American Philosophical Society,
1959, p. 12].
It is, of course, characteristic of all Greek or tropical zodiacs--
and they had quite a few--that the vernal equinox is "fixed" (sic!) in a
certain degree of each particular zodiac. Because the equinoxes
'perpetually' rose due east and set due west, the Greeks apparently
assumed that they were "fixed" in the firmament for all time! and 'ipso
facto' were the fiducials of any zodiac!--a belief that persists among
tropicalists to this day. Hipparchus was alleged to have discovered the
phenomenon of precession in 139 B.C., although many astronomers are of
opinion that the Babylonian astronomers knew all about it many centuries
before that. But he and admirer Claudius Ptolemy took it for granted
that it was the fixed stars that precessed, 'never the equinoxes.' THIS
WAS, ALAS, THE GREAT BLUNDER OF GREEK ASTRONOMY AND ASTROLOGY.
The astronomical world had to wait until the Middle Ages for Leonardo
da Vinci (A.D. 1452-1543) and Galileo (A.D. 1564-1612) to discover that
the shoe was on the other foot and it was this discovery that did
irreparable harm to the cause of astrology, more especially to the Greek
version. While the majority of intelligent astronomers changed over to
the new mode of thinking, astrologers of the medieval ages, and they
included many clerics true to Rome in their ranks, elected to stay put.
Because of this split, at this period astronomy and astrology gradually
parted company the the breach has never healed.
For purposes of measuring stellar distances in right ascension and
declination, Hipparchus found it convenient to consider the vernal
equinox as being in Aries 0 degrees. Seizing on this idea, Posedonius
and his pupil Geminius, whom the Greek scholar Dr. Walter Koch of
Germany dates as B.C. 80, 70 respectively, 'invented' the modern version
of the tropical zodiac. As this version was adopted by Ptolemy in his
Al Magest and by the author of the Tetrabiblos, it was perhaps assumed
that Ptolemy also penned the latter. But how many astrologers today
realize THAT THE MODERN VERSION OF THE TROPICAL ZODIAC HAD NO EXISTENCE
PRIOR TO POSEDONIUS AND HIS PROPAGANDIST GEMINIUS? That it existed
before Sargon of Agade (B.C. 2359-2304) is one of those scientific
fictions that the Honorable Emmiline Plunkett of the Biblical Society
delighted to ventilate. Unfortunately like certain esotericists, she
believed in her own fantasies and succeeded in making others believe in
them too. Is it not ironical that while the hallowed aphorisms of the
Tetrabiblos have been repudiated by most modern astrologers they still
cleave to its author's dicta that the zodiac commences with the vernal
equinox in the beginning of Aries?
That the Akkadians considered the lunar months, had an astrology of
their own completely independent of any version of the zodiac is
demonstrated by the following excerpt, picked at random, from "The Venus
Tablets of Ammisaduqua," A Babylonian king who reigned about the 17th
century B.C.: "...If on the 7th of Ulul Venus appeared in the west, the
harvest of the land will be successful; the heart of the land will be
happy. Until the 11th of Ayar she will stand in the west and on the
12th Ayar she will disappear, and, having remained absent 7 days in the
sky, Venus will shine forth in the east on the 19th Ayar; hostilities
will be in the land..."
This, of course is a recital of HELIACAL phenomena; which was the
usual way the ancients interpreted their astrology. Briefly, it says
that Venus, as Vesper the evening star will be seen on the western
horizon about sunset during the lunar months of Ulul and Ayar. On the
12th Ayar, coming too close to the setting Sun, she will disappear from
sight (heliacally set). After being absent from the night skies for
seven days she will suddenly reappear again just before sunrise, but
this time in the east. This reappearance for a brief moment before the
Sun rises is known as her HELIACAL rising [heliacal = near the sun].
Then a morning star, Venus is known as Lucifer (light-bearer). However,
the point to stress in all of this is that Venus' HELIACAL PHENOMENA is
astrologically interpreted in terms of lunar months, that is tropically,
no references, good, bad or indifferent being made to constellations or
signs of the zodiac. The Babylonians first referred to the zodiac in
their great 'mul APIN' tablets circa 900 B.C.
CALENDAR ENIGMA
The lunar, and later the solar, months appear to have been initially
designated numerically. It is understood that the Akkadian Nisannu and
Teshritu literally mean the 1st and 7th months respectively. This is a
matter for Hebrew scholars to confirm or deny. The months of the common
Egyptian calendar, which were once lunar were identified by season and
numbers. Copts of the late period identified them by names, but by then
they had long ceased to be lunar. Remnants of this numerical
nomenclature are still seen in our own Roman (solar) calendar--
September, October, November and December literally meaning the 7th,
8th, 9th and 10th months respectively. But alas emperors, kings and
governments have played Old Harry with calendars through he pages of
history. To honor Julius Caesar the original 5th month was named July
and to honor his nephew, the Emperor Augustus, the 6th month was styled
August.
As the Latin names tell us September was once the 7th month of the
year, implying that March, the month of the vernal equinox was the 1st,
which is a fact. March 25th (Lady's day) was the original New Year Day
of the Julian calendar. In the defective Julian calendar the Sun was in
conjunction with the vernal equinox in the 2nd century B.C. when Julius
Caesar was born! A bull of Pope Gregory XIII promulgated on February
24, 1582 commanded the adoption by Christians of an amended Julian
calendar (now recognized as the Gregorian or New Style, N.S., calendar)
and altering New Year Day from March 25 to January 1. January 1 was the
New Year Day of the Spanish era, reckoned from January 1, 38 B.C. which
was in force in the Visigothic kingdoms of Spain and Gaul. In this way
was the original calendaric fitness of things corrupted!
In the circular and rectangular zodiacs of Denderah the student
acquainted with even an elementary knowledge of Egyptology, especially
of Demotic, can easily identify no less than seven New Year Days. But
strange as it may seem these do not contradict each other. Each has a
purpose and significance. But to coin a new word from the earliest of
times, the terrological New Year Day commenced with the date of the
vernal equinox. Virtually all the old authors seem to agree that the
seasonal year commenced with the 1st day of spring. This was reckoned
the 1st day of the ecclesiastical New Year while the day of the autumnal
equinox was recognized as the 1st day of the secular or civil New Year.
Evidently for reasons of arithmetical convenience, in prehistoric times
the Egyptians had rejected the lunar calendar in favor of a solar
calendar of 365 days without any provision for the intercalation of an
extra day in leap years. In consequence their New Year Day (1st Thoth)
took about 118 years in the mean to retrograde through a constellation.
Probably the first to recognize this fact was Dr. Otto Neugebauer.
In Papyrus P. 8279, the Strobart Tablets, the Calendar of Dionysius,
Ostra D 521, and Papyrus Carlsburg 9, he had noticed a peculiar notation
where the sings of the zodiac had been assigned numbers differing
according to the date of the text. "...This..." he writes "...seems to
indicate clearly that the tendency to correlate the counting of the
zodiacal signs with the Sun's position on New Year Day existed during
the Demotic period...." ***[Egyptian Planetary Texts, O. Neugebauer:
The American Philosophical Society, 1942.] [Note also that
'constellations' and 'signs' were used interchangeably.]
The following is an extract from a Table correlating the Julian
equivalent with New Year Day (1st Thoth) of the constellations.
B.C. 994 = Aries 30 degrees
B.C. 872 = Pisces 30 "
B.C. 753 = Aquarius 30 "
B.C. 635 = Capricorn 30 "
B.C. 520 = Sagittarius 30 "
B.C. 405 = Scorpio 30 "
B.C. 291 = Libra 30 "
B.C. 175 = Virgo 30 "
B.C. 57 = Leo 30 "
A.D. 62 = Cancer 30 "
A.D. 183 = Gemini 30 "
A.D. 305 = Taurus 30 "
A.D. 428 = Aries 30 "
The circular zodiac of Denderah, now housed in the Louvre, Paris
shows a very big lion leading the zodiacal herd. Reference to the above
Table indicates that the Egyptian New Year Day (1st Thoth) occurred in
the constellation Leo between the years 57 B.C. and 62 A.D. Hence these
zodiacs were designed and engraved at some time between these years or
1200 years (or multiples of 1200 years) earlier. As the cartouches of
the Roman Emperors, Tiberius and Caligula, were found in the temples it
is obvious that these temples were built during the Roman ascendancy.
The position of the planets in the rectangular zodiac gives the precise
date as April 17, 17 A.D.
In an analogous way the lunar and solar calendars were correlated
with the zodiacal constellations in a manner more or less as follows:
TAUREAN ARIEN PISCEAN AQUARIAN TROP. IATROMATHEMATICA
AGE AGE AGE AGE MTHS.
B.C.4139 B.C.1953 A.D.220 A.D.2375
Taurus Aries Pisces Aquarius Mar. Caput,facies,oculi,aures
(Head, face, eyes, ears)
Gemini Taurus Aries Pisces Apr. Collom,cervex,gutter,vox
(neck,nape,throat,voice)
Cancer Gemini Taurus Aries May Humeri,branci
(Shoulders,arms)
Leo Cancer Gemini Taurus Jun. Pulmones,pectus,mammillae
(Lungs,chest,breast)
Virgo Leo Cancer Gemini Jul. Diaphragma,stomachus,cor
(Diaphragm,stomach,heart)
Libra Virgo Leo Cancer Aug. Ventar,intestia,mesentarium
(Abdomen,intestines,mesentery)
Scorpio Libra Virgo Leo Sep. Nates,umbilicus,lumbi,renes
(Buttocks,navel,loins,kidney)
Sagitt. Scorpio Libra Virgo Oct. Genitalia,vescia
(Generative organs,bladder)
Capri. Sagitt. Scorpio Libra Nov. Coxa,femora,femur
(Hips,thighs,thigh bone)
Aquarius Capri. Sagitt. Scorpio Dec. Genua
(Knees)
Pisces Aquarius Capri. Sagitt. Jan. Tibiae
(Shins)
Aries Pisces Aquarius Capri. Feb. Pes
(Feet)
*************************************
Continued in 10/67 Solunars
Cyril Fagan's 10/67 "SOLUNARS...A STUDY OF THE SIDEREAL ZODIAC"
The interesting TABLE [above] that was presented last month informs
us that the vernal equinox, leader of the MICROcosm (the seasonal months
of the year) retrograded into the 30th degree of Taurus about B.C. 4139
and did not vacate that constellation until about B.C. 1953. During its
sojourn therein, Taurus became the captain of the zodiacal herd and the
first of the zodiacal constellations in the MACROcosm (great universe).
Long after Taurus ceased to be 'de facto' leader of the zodiac, it was
still hailed as 'Princeps armenti.' We previously have discussed this
in detail.
During its own era Taurus held dominion over the "head, face, eyes
and ears" of the Microcosmic man. The Greek word 'Iatromathematica'
means the astrology of healing. In classical times one who could
compute a horoscope was known as a mathematician. In fact that was the
original meaning of the term. An 'Iatromathematician' was one capable
of computing the Hora (ascending degree) of a decumbiture and diagnosing
it. The anatomical parts listed there, and copied from an ancient Latin
legend, are those of the calendaric (MICROCOSMIC) man. These anatomical
divisions must NOT be confused with those of the Macrocosmic man nor
with those achronycally assigned with the twelve loci (houses) beginning
with Libra ruling the "head."
This Table makes it abundantly clear that since A.D. 220 Aries ceased
to be the first sign of the zodiac, its leadership being supplanted by
Pisces. Since that year Pisces held dominion over the 'head, face,
eyes, and ears" and Aquarius over the "feet." In some 400 years from
now, as already state over and over, THE AQUARIAN ERA will be ushered in
when Aquarius will become the first zodiacal constellation.
On a summer evening by the seaside one can see the gradual going down
of the Sun in the west until it disappears below the horizon, leaving a
vivid impression that, as always, the earth has stood still while the
solar orb rolled down the slopes of heaven in the sea! But the
impression is only an optical illusion. The fact is, the Sun has not
moved at all but, in its daily rotation from west to east, the earth has
caused the horizon to gradually tilt up until it meets the Sun. In the
same way in looking at this Table one gets a strong impression that
while the calendar and it months appear to be immovable the zodiacal
constellations are sliding backwards. THIS MOTION IS PRECESSION, BUT IT
IS THE MONTHS THAT ARE MOVING AND NOT THE FIXED STARS, WHICH COMPRISE
THE CONSTELLATIONS.
We know that March 21/22 in the modern calendar was, is, and always
will be the date of the vernal equinox. Just as the vernal equinox is
fixed in Aries 0 degrees of the modern tropical zodiac, so is it
fixed as March 21/22 in solar calendar. But we know from any modern
work on astronomy that the VERNAL EQUINOX IS PERPETUALLY SLIPPING
BACKWARDS ALONG THE ECLIPTIC AT THE RATE OF ONE DEGREE IN ABOUT 71-1/2
YEARS. Therefore it follows, as night must follow day, the tropical
zodiac and our calendar are also slipping backwards against the
background of the fixed zodiacal constellations. In short the tropical
zodiac and the calendar are basically identical, differing only in
numeration and nomenclature. Therefore the tropical version of the
zodiac is superfluous! To say that a baby was born on May 1, 1967 and
to say that the Sun was in the 11th degree of the tropical Taurus is to
say the same thing in different words. For in the tropical zodiac
(allowing for the intercalation of a leap day) the sun will always be in
the 11th degree of tropical Taurus on May 1st of any Gregorian year!
The reader may have noticed that the dates for the beginning of the
four astrological ages as given in the foregoing TABLE differ slightly
from those given in the August issue. The dates given in the latter
were based on the mean value of the S.V.P. for the equinox of 1950.0
determined statistically by Garth Allen. Being a mathematical
abstraction such a point has neither substance nor proper motion. It is
a point on the ecliptic but a highly valuable one in synchronizing
solunar charts for modern times. Whether it would have the same
criteria for the epoch -3,000.0 or +3,000.0 we have, at present, no
means of knowing. But it unmistakenly demonstrated that Aldebaran, the
Bull's Eye, was precisely in the mathematical center of the
constellation Taurus in the Hypsomatic year B.C. 786, leaving little
doubt that this star in Taurus 15 degrees 00'00" was the original
fiducial or marking star of the sidereal (nirayana) zodiac. But, unlike
the SVP, Aldebaran has substance and proper motion; and the dates given
in the aforementioned TABLE are computed from Aldebaran rather than the
S.V.P. But the difference is purely academic.
Putting for all centuries, Aldebaran sidereally in Taurus 15 degrees
00'00" plus Spica and Antares in the following sidereal longitudes:
SPICA ANTARES
B.C. 4000 Virgo 29 degrees 13' Scorpio 15 degrees 07'
" 3000 Virgo 29 " 11' Scorpio 15 " 05'
" 2000 Virgo 29 " 10' Scorpio 15 " 04'
" 1000 Virgo 29 " 08' Scorpio 15 " 02'
A.D. 0 Virgo 29 " 07' Scorpio 15 " 01'
" 1000 Virgo 29 " 05' Scorpio 14 " 59'
" 2000 Virgo 29 " 04' Scorpio 14 " 59'
But Garth Allen still feels that the true fiducial is to be found in
our own solar system. His astonishing discovery that the sidereal
longitude of the solar APEX--not yet determined by astronomers--accords
with his S.V.P. is worth much consideration. (Details will be found in
the August 1960 issue of this magazine.)
DATING THE AGES
While the dates previously given for the commencement of the
astrological eras are mathematically and theoretically correct, they
need not be taken that seriously! Why? Because, as repeatedly stated
on these pages, astrology in remote antiquity was naked-eye astronomy.
Because of brilliant sunlight, the ancients could not tell what
constellation the Sun was in; all they could see was blue sky
unrelieved by a single star. While the Sun's position among the fixed
stars can be inferred, it could not be 'seen.' When the ancients
referred to the New Moon--the most important of all their astronomical
phenomena as it commenced the first day of their lunar months, as it did
the first day of their lunar year--they referred to the fine thin sickle
of the lunar crescent that became visible every 29th or 30th day on the
western horizon about half an hour after sunset for a short time
before it too disappeared below the horizon. When spotted by acute-eyed
observers from vantage positions in the turrets on top of temples or
from the hilltops, it would be seen against the background of the
already darkening skies, when the principal bright stars also could be
discerned and easily identified. Hence at a glance they could see the
Moon's position among the asterisms, when the month or the year began
which it always did at the first hour of 'sunset.'
Today, what is universally given in the press, in calendars, in
almanacs and astrological ephemerides, to say nothing of astrological
textbooks, as the date and time of the New Moon is not the New Moon at
all, but is the date and time of the 'syzygies' of the Sun and Moon.
"SYZYGY' is a Greek word meaning a mutual conjunction or opposition of
two heavenly bodies in the ecliptic; but its use is usually restricted
to the luminaries. When the Moon overtakes the Sun and conjoins it, it
is normally invisible. Its silhouette may be seen when there is an
eclipse of the Sun. Eclipses of the Sun and Moon can only occur on the
dates of their syzygies, and in remote antiquity the conjunction syzygy
occurred on the last day or penultimate day of the dying lunar month.
It would appear that the Greek author or authors of the Al Magest and
of the Tetrabiblos are responsible for leading the modern world astray
on this vital subject. In the Tetrabiblos the conjunction (syzygy) of
the luminaries is very explicitly termed the New Moon and the Neomenia
(New Moon) of the year was termed the syzygy that occurred nearest the
vernal equinox. Ptolemy's definition of the New Moon totally disagrees
with the textual records of remote antiquity. In his astronomical and
calendarial table (Venus Table of Ammizaduga, Oxford University Press,
1928), Carl Schoch, the great astronomer and mathematician, writes
"...Particularly attention is given (here) to the most important
phenomenon, the appearance of the crescent (i.e., the HELIACAL rising of
the Moon in the evening) namely the first moment after the New Moon when
the fine small lunar crescent becomes visible in the evening to sharp-
sighted man. 'This moment was the beginning of a new month to most
ancient oriental peoples, especially the Babylonians'...I can say of the
Babylonians, who were persistent observers of the crescent during 3000
years, that not only their observations but their computations for
ephemerides are admirable...."
Being only a mathematical abstraction, the point of the vernal
equinox cannot be 'seen' retrograding along the path of the zodiac at
the rate of one degree in about 71-1/2 years. The ancients of course
knew the precise east and west points of the horizon at their
observatories. In his Mathematics for the Millions, Hogben illustrates
some of the gimmicks the ancients used for determining such points.
They also knew those points on the horizon where the rising or setting
Sun was at its greatest and least declination (midsummer and midwinter
points respectively), the position of such tropical and equinoctial
points on the horizon remaining seemingly constant for vast stretches of
time. When a star rose due east and set due west, it would be precisely
on the celestial equator and, like the equinoctial points, be devoid of
declination. Should it have been noticed that an ecliptic fixed star
(one without latitude) say, in the constellation Pisces rose due east
and set due west, then they might infer that the vernal equinox had
retrograded into the constellation Pisces and that the Piscean era had
already begun. But there is no evidence in the annals of antiquity that
this was their mode of reasoning at all! Such is just pure assumption
on the part of we moderns conditioned by a tropical background.
Astronomers are of the opinion that our forebears did not even know of
the regressive movement of the cardines (equinoctial and solstitial
points). From the archives of antiquity we know that their New Year Day
(1st Nisan) used to occur in the constellation Taurus and passed into
that of Aries.
But how did they know this happened, and when did it happen? Being
mindful that the astronomy of remote antiquity was visual, the
astronomers of yore only regarded the actual appearances and
disappearances of the gods (stars) from the night skies as being
meaningful and significant. While abstract mathematical concepts
appealed to Greek intelligentsia, such had little or no meaning for the
Egyptians and Akkadians. So how did they know when the new era had
commenced? The obvious and simple answer is, when the Neomenia (New
Moon of the 1st Nisan) was first seen among the fixed stars that
composed the constellation Aries. At such a transition the crescent
would be seen in or about the 30th degree of Aries (not its 1st degree),
because the vernal equinox is perpetually retrograding. When the New
Moon of antiquity was first spotted it could have been from 18 to 40
degrees distant from the Sun, such distance being termed its
'elongation.' Should the Sun be in Aquarius the New Moon might well be
in Pisces or even Aries when seen! The precise value of the elongation
depends on a number of variables such as geographical latitude, season
of the year, Moon's latitude, and prevailing conditions of visibility.
For the latitudes of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Neomenia first became
visible after sunset of the first or second day following the syzygy;
more rarely on the 3rd day.
To compute the elements of a Neomenia was one of the most difficult
feats of positional astronomy, because of the number of variables
involved. A New Moon spotted at sunset in Babylon may not have been
seen in Alexandria until the sunset of the next day, when it would have
increased its longitude by some 13 degrees. In the appendix to the
Venus Tablets of Ammizaduga, Schoch has complied marvelously simple
tables for computing the date and time of a syzygy back to 3508 B.C.,
the maximum error being only plus or minus 5 minutes of time! He has
also given additional tables for ascertaining the probable date of the
first appearance of the crescent Moon for Babylon. Since these tables
appeared in 1928, they have been much improved upon by James Hynes of
Dublin, Ireland. James Hynes has computed tables of the appearance of
the crescent for all latitudes between 0 and 60 degrees, which are also
useful in calculating the dates of the heliacal risings and settings of
the fixed stars and planets. But marvelous as they are, they are of
little values unless one first know the 'arcus visionis' (arc of vision)
of the Moon, planets and fixed stars fro the place of residence or
observation as the case may be. As this arc differs from place to place
(even if such are situated on the same parallel of latitude) in the
first instance they must be determined empirically for each separate
locality. Moreover, owing to the incommensurability of the lunar with
the solar year, the dates of any two consecutive lunations do not follow
each other in regular sequence but, like an erratic pendulum, swing
backward and forward from date to date of the solar calendar, already
knocked out of synchronicity because of too frequent, unsystematic
intercalations.
WAS B.C. 786 THE BEGINNING OF THE ARIEN AGE?
The traditional exaltation degree (Hypsoma) of the Moon is Taurus 3
degrees. Should the reader refer to his copy of Zodiacs Old and New, p.
19, he will observe that the Moon's 'actual' sidereal longitude at the
time of its first appearance about sunset of 1st Nisan (April 3-4, 786
B.C. OS) was Aries 29.4 degrees! THAT IS, IT HAD ENTERED THE TAIL END
OF THE CONSTELLATION ARIES! If it can be mathematically demonstrated
that this was the first occasion it did so during the present
precessional cycle, some 25,900 years, then it might well be that 786
B.C. was the first year of the new Arien age! Should such be the case,
then little wonder that the heliacal longitudes of the Sun, Moon and
planets for that memorable year should be regarded as their exaltation
degrees. Would it be that another epoch-making discovery has been made?
Or is this only a most unusual coincidence?
According to Carl Schoch, the mean tropical longitude of the Sun on
1st Nisan was Aries 8 degrees, the minimum Pisces 23 degrees and the
maximum Aries 23 degrees. On the 1st Nisan 786 B.C. the tropical
longitude of the Sun was Aries 5 degrees. So there is a probability
that the New Moon of Nisan entered Aries before this year. The Metonic
cycle informs us that the syzygy of the luminaries recurs on the same
Julian date every 19 years with an error of minus 1.5 hours. Provided
the Babylonian (now the Jewish) calendar has not suffered any untoward
intercalation of a 2nd Adar or a 2nd Ulul, and that the coordinates of
ancient Babylon be taken as the place of observation, it should not be
too difficult to ascertain if such is the case. But such research is
time and labor consuming. Perhaps that astronomical wizard of Dublin,
James Hynes, can think of a short cut to achieving this! What if we are
still in the Arien age, not yet having entered that of Pisces, let alone
Aquarius! This thought induced the writer to do some impetuous
figuring. For the current year (1967) the lunation (syzygy) of Nisan
occurred on April 9th at 10:21 P.M. GMT, and in Babylon (32N30, 44E36)
the crescent became visible at local sunset of the next day, when its
sidereal longitude was, forsooth, Aries 3 degrees 50'. From this it
would appear that we are still in the Kali Yuga ("Iron Age") of Mars,
the ruler of Aries! But this may only be a backward--albeit retrograde
-- swing of the lunation pendulum. There may have been an earlier
forward thrust that brought us right into the tail end of the Piscean
era. From this it looks as if we shall have to wait another two
thousand years for the Aquarian age to put in an appearance! But until
we busy ourselves with copious calculations, we shall not know.
* * * *
Jim Eshelman
www.jeshelman.com
www.jeshelman.com
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Ayanamnsa
[AYANAMSA] Ayanamsa and Garth Allen's Synetic Vernal Point: "The
synetic fiducial point was not contrived by whim on the basis of a few
score "examples," liberally larded with cultural preconceptions of
musty scriptural allusions." "It owes its existence to the outcome of
painstaking and massive scientific research and not to some sorry
passage from relic literature preserved on boundary stones or palm
leaves or tomb walls." Plus Gary Duncan's "Historical Notes" on the
development of Sidereal Astrology and Allen's research with the SVP.
* * * *
Garth Allen, "How to Unvex a Vexed Question!" 8/64 A.A.
It was bound to happen, sooner or later, that the validity of the
Synetic Vernal Point would be challenged by those who owe their
allegiance to some other "ayanamsa" for chauvinistic rather than
scientific reasons.
The Hindu word 'ayanamsa' is the term applied to the arc of ecliptic
longitude that separates, at any given date, the point called "zero
degrees Aries" in the tropical zodiac from its counterpart, zero
degrees Aries in the sidereal zodiac. Sidereally persuaded astrologers
of the western hemisphere, representing the "Fagan school" of
conviction, generally use the standard value of 24d02'31.36." for the
astronomical beginning o the year 1950. That is to say, at the epoch
1950.0 we assume that the mean sidereal longitude of the vernal
equinoctial point was at 5d57'28.64" of the constellation Pisces.
For other dates and times, this value is continuously altered to
keep abreast of the precessional shift, in the amount of about 50.26
seconds of arc per year. In addition, this mean or average value is
appropriately amended to account for nutational displacements of the
actual point. Nutation is a minor oscillation of true figure back and
forth over the mean figure.
Astrological practice of scholarly merit demands the use of the true
value of the ayanamsa when dealing with zodiacal position in exacting
seconds or arc, such as the Sun's longitude. The correctness of the
timing of a solar return, or a solar ingress, for instance, depends
critically upon a to-the-second determination of solar longitude.
One of the most astonishing statements we have ever read in the
astrological press--which press has a penchant for outlandishly
illogical material--has the following to say, among other remarkable
things:
"One final word of warning to the unwary student. Some astrologers
of the West have published tables and values of the Ayanamsa purported
to be correct to the hundredth part of a second arc. This is all
eyewash and clearly meant for propaganda purposes. Nobody can
determine the value to that degree of exactness and even if they could,
values tabulated at ten-day intervals, would, for technical reasons, be
quite valueless. So the student should not think that because there is
a 'show' of precision, the figures are any more precise or reliable
than, say, the figures given in other publications."
This excerpt is a paragraph from an article in the symposium series
titled "The Vexed question of Ayanamsa" carried in the leading journal
of Hindu astrology, its September 1962 issue. Because that same author
illustrated his dissertation with solar ingress charts preceding
natural disasters, the unwary student has a right to question how in
heaven's name those charts were calculated without the use of
astronomically dictated precision. Hundredths of second are not
necessary, of course, but formula-based computations offer this
precision and guarantee a correctly rounded-off value when rounding off
is desirable.
Every difference of ten seconds of arc in solar longitude, as of an
ayanamsa itself, means a four-minute error in the correct time of a
solar ingress. Every four minutes of time change the cusps of a chart
by one degree of zodiacal longitude. No wonder, that the "examples" of
ingresses used for calamitous events did not bother, in their
delineations, with that most central precept of workable astrology--the
significance of the Midheaven and Ascendant cusps as point and not
broad areas. We begin to see the light upon examining the example
delineations, such as the one for the "Aries ingress" preceding the
June 15, 1896 earthquake and tsunami that hit Sanriku, Japan.
The key configuration cited was the Neptune-Pluto compunction which
lingered within a five-degree orb for fully ten years toward the close
of the nineteenth century! "Pluto, planet of quakes and destruction,
is conjunct Neptune, planet of water and waves, in the first house."
Sounds good, but for some odd reason a published scientific catalogue
of the history of seismic waves shows a below average incidence of
these events during the decade when the Neptune-Pluto conjunction was
in operation. The 8th-house "lord" and a parallel of declination were
also mentioned in the analysis, but these are hardly worthy of
rebutting comment. We'll also withhold comment on the accompanying
Navamsa maps, inasmuch as these are obviously incalculable apart from
precisely-timed chart moments and, or course, computation of solar
ingresses is an exacting procedure.
But enough of such piecemeal haggling. Let us get to the core of
the matter, which is the question of comparative validity of the
synetic versus other feasible sidereal "fiducial points."
First off, we legitimately resent the effort to drag the synetic
vernal point into a controversy involving the company of these other
claimants, for this resounding reason: The SVP is not at all in the
same class with these other "determinations." It is of an entirely
different species. It owes its existence to the outcome of painstaking
and massive scientific research and not to some sorry passage from
relic literature preserved on boundary stones or palm leaves or tomb
walls.
Even so, it was probably inevitable, in view of the nature of the
typical astrological mind, for this fact to be soon forgotten, or else
not realized in the first place. Let us nip this thing in the bud
right now, before it balloons into an international argument
reminiscent of the perennial ferment over house-division systems. The
synetic fiducial point was not contrived by whim on the basis of a few
score "examples," liberally larded with cultural preconceptions of
musty scriptural allusions.
You people who want to go on arguing about different ayanamsas can
do so, all you please--but after the facts are faced up to, keep the
synetic determination out of your quarrels!
These quarrels are remindful of the endless attempts by
Fundamentalist theologians, within the countless denominations of
Christendom, to affix beforehand the date of the Second Advent and "the
end of the world." Every few years, century after century, some Bible
scholar will come forth with another prediction, couched in quotations
from ancient scrolls and usually keyed to number mysticism, often with
something supplementary of seemingly tangible nature, like a Great
Pyramid time scale or some such gimmick. Meanwhile, the world goes on
and on, blithely unaware that it should have engulfed itself in flames
at least a hundred times, "according to the Book."
Several things, judging from contemporary literature on the subject,
characterize the "ayanamsa controversy." Chief among these is
ignorance of the subject being dealt with, such as precession. We have
not seen thus far, for instance, a correct handling of the annual
precession rate, and if so simple a matter as arithmetical calculation
of this value (as a rate, not an amount--a big different) for any year
is beyond the ability of a thesis-writing astrologer, one can only
question his authoritativeness where the subject of precession is
concerned. Come to think of it, what else but ineptness could be
expected of a mind which gives equal weight of consideration to the
statements of sixth-century copyists and twentieth-century astronomers?
There is an unbridgeable distance between a conclusion stemming from
apotheosis and one arrived at through coldly objective science.
Another thing, in some ways even more surprising, considering the
background of the reason why there is an ayanamsa in the first place,
is the apparently automatic assumption that there are two "zodiacs" of
concurrent validity, after all. At least, there seems no other way to
interpret efforts to ascertain the date "when the two zodiacs
coincided."
Even worse, from the scientific point of view, are the attempts to
link this epoch of coincidence with some mechanistic phenomena, such as
synchronizing of "both" Aries ingresses or a unique stellar situation
like a star's conjunction with a tropical colure on the celestial
sphere. If there had been an eventuality of universal significance
marking the transition of "ages," that pivotal event would be quite
obvious and of unarguable magnitude.
Recently in the April 1964 issue of SPICA, our esteemed Indian
correspondent S. Rajagopala Iyer, commenced a series of commentary
articles in which he elicits his reasons for continuing to use the
ayanamsa on which Lahiri's Ephemeris is based. This endeavor commands
our respect and attention because it represents an earnest, honest
effort to ferret out the facts on the basis of observation rather than
ethnic favoritism.
Lahiri's value is essentially, though not precisely, the "Spica
reckoning" originally adopted by Fagan on the reasonable grounds that
it was the best one available at the time. A few years later, after
his monumental achievement of solving the age-old enigma of the list of
planetary exaltation degrees, Fagan's own findings forced him to switch
from considering Spica as the marking star for 0 degrees Libra to its
more logical office as defining 29 degrees Virgo. (Would that other
"veteran" astrologers had the intellectual integrity to willingly alter
their views in accordance with new and better information!)
The synetic vernal point is merely a refinement of the true point
for which the bright first-magnitude star Alpha Virginis was the
closest practical approximation. Obviously, no single star, no matter
how prominent in the sky, could possibly be the sole determinator of
the zodiac as a cosmic structure. We all knew that the true point of
29d00'00" Virgo lies very close to the ecliptic longitude of the star
Spica. The only known method through which the true value could be
pinpointed by "astrological observation" was the concept of solar and
lunar ingresses. This fiducial of "Spica plus one degree" for defining
0 degrees Libra was christened the HYPSOMATIC AYANAMSA to distinguish
it from the Spica one previously used, which orientally is called the
"Chitra ayanamsa," after the star's Hindu name.
Amending the hypsomatic value was simply a matter of narrowing down
which minute and second of arc in the neighborhood of the presumed
value gave the best results on a statistical basis. It took literally
hundreds of historical events, almost all of them geographically
localized disasters, to nail down the likeliest value.
At long last it became clear that ingresses calculated for an
ayanamsa six minutes and five seconds of arc further along the ecliptic
than the hypsomatic figure being used gave the best results in the
light of actual cases considered in the aggregate. That is, the
Synetic Vernal Point places Spica, at the epoch of 1950.0, in 29d06'05"
rather than 29d00'00" of the constellation Virgo.
It is important to keep in mind that any ayanamsa, true of false,
could be used for personalized horoscopy on a sidereal basis, without
affecting the moments of, say, one's solar and lunar returns, or
progressions--so long as astronomically correct precessional rates are
made use of in the ayanamsa's computation. But mundane astrological
charts require exactitude of the true ayanamsa's value for any date in
question. To illustrate, the 0d06'05" correction adopted means a
difference of about two and a half hours in the timing of a solar
ingress--more than 35 degrees difference in the cusp of a mundane
chart. Lunar ingresses of the cardinal constellations, on the other
hand, are displaced only three degrees or so by the changeover from the
Hypsomatic to the Synetic value.
Our worthy Eastern colleague, Rajagopala Iyer, is approaching the
matter in terms of those few instances in the annals of Western
sidereal astrology where an apparent failure of a synetic-based ingress
was admittedly noted. These disappointments do occur occasionally, and
we agree that the right way to respond to the situation is to search
for the reasons behind the seeming miscues. After all, it is this very
fact-finding attitude towards things astrological that sparked and
nourished the growth of the Western sidereal movement to begin with.
Our reservations about the single case by single case approach,
however, are embodied in the question: How many times have you worked
with erroneous birth data and found admirably apt indices for
everything that happened in the native's lifetime? We've all had this
jarring experience many times in our professional careers, the
explanation being that we have so many techniques in modern astrology
to draw upon, it is easy to find appropriate planetary "contacts" for
anything and everything, by one method or another. Give me some false
data, for instance, telling me that the native was born within 15
minutes of the specified time, and that he broke his leg in his 23rd
year of life and, by gum, the chances are good that I'll be able to
find a "convincing" configuration, progression, transit, key cycle,
revolution, direction or Dasa that is appropriate to what happened--and
with multiple confirmations, too, making everybody cluck about how
marvelous astrology is.
Each of us, as conscientious astrologers, must be our own mental
watchdogs, ever alert to the dangers of our endless, habitual toying
and toiling with charts and numbers and symbols and systems. Too many
times we have found that somebody was really born in 1923 and not 1924;
or a rural doctor mistakenly wrote P.M. instead of A.M. on a birth
certificate; or someone who arrived on these shores as a child from
eastern Europe was still using the Old Style birthdate written on his
original passport; or a birth hour should rightly have been recorded in
daylight-saving time--and so forth. But even though the information
was seriously in error, the gears of the chartwork seemed to click off
just fine.
The point we are getting at here is that a randomly invented, wholly
groundless ayanamsa will yield highly "significant" ingress charts for
a majority of events. Yes, we said majority, and meant it. A phony
vernal point will "work" so well, so much of the time, that at first
glance any value your might fabricate on the spur of the moment has a
good prospect of seeming like a major astrological "discovery."
If you are reluctant to believe this, take the first telephone
number having six digits in your local directory and con yourself into
considering it to be the genuine ayanamsa in degrees, minutes and
seconds, for any event you want to "study."
The odds are surely better than 50-50 that by your third ingress
chart for the event, using this fake ayanamsa, pretending it to be
real, you'll come up with a persuasively "accurate" horoscopic picture
of the event. If the event is a catastrophe, there are enough malefics
in the sky, and more than enough square aspects within reach of at
least one of your two, three, four or more sets of angular cusps to
fill the bill and produce a "triumph" for the ersatz ayanamsa employed.
But is it science? That's the big question, and on this question
hangs the whole disposition of astrology's worth-whileness.
And now for the proof of the pudding that we have been leading up
to, even though it was necessary to risk shaking the faith of newcomer
students in the process. There is scientific truth in astrology. And
there are overwhelming, unquestionable scientific proofs that, despite
the weaknesses in our present-day astrological practices, planetary,
zodiacal and cuspal influences do exist--with full force too.
As for the synetic vernal point, proving its authenticity is almost
too easy. And we can thank the Creator for decreeing the laws of
statistical probability when He put the universe together and flipped
the On switch. certainly, we admit that many ingress charts based
on the SVP fail to seem "earthquake-prone" when geared to the time
and place a big tremor actually took place. But that is just the
point. Using the synetic value, for the 13 greatest earthquakes that
occurred in the world since 1900, Saturn is within two degrees of
conjunction or square the meridian of the epicenters seven times
oftener than "chance" would tend to allow. Mars is found in these
critical small-orbed zones five times oftener than could occur by
coincidence; Uranus three times oftener and Pluto twice oftener. The
Chitra or Spica ayanamsa, by dazzling contrast, yields quite normal
expectancies and therefore cannot be genuine.
These high-frequency counts apply to both the solar and lunar
cardinal ingresses preceding the disasters. Moreover, Saturn and Mars
are found conjunct or square the meridional cusp line of the progressed
solar ingress charts three times oftener than they could if the synetic
vernal point were not "the real McCoy."
We could cite numerous other ratios showing the high rating of
statistical significance attained by application of the SVP value--
levels which cannot possibly be arrived at by fictitious ayanamsas
(which otherwise perform so beautifully in single-case studies). Take
any published list of a given type of disaster, say airplane crashes or
a nation's most damaging tornadoes, and tabulate the angular
propinquities of the malefic planets in two sets, the synetic and the
Lahiri frameworks. Honest evaluation of the cross-compared sets will
quickly settle the issue that may have been bugging you. The truth
remains, that the "search for the true vernal point" commenced with a
massive compilation of ingress charts based on the original Spica
ayanamsa--and the Spica maps en masse clearly called for a wholesale
"correction" to make them truly meaningful in accordance with the
doctrine of angularity.
Of course, we could have selected, say 25 of the 100 worst-tornado
charts, based on the list of historic twisters given in the World
Almanac, and confidently "demonstrated" the efficacy of the Spica or
hypsomatic fiducials. Dido, for train wrecks or coal-mine disasters.
But this would not be science--it would be a defending of a mental
commitment or professional posture. To save face is usually to
sacrifice facts.
The illustration herewith is the upshot of it all, the only single
"proof" which tells the ayanamsa story without any ifs or buts in the
telling. A few years ago, a team of scientists at a major university
undertook to look into "unorthodox" means of weather forecasting and
includedin their mass-data anaylses certain claims of what we call
astrometeorology. These men are our personal friends and we have been
'au courant' of their work all along. We finally prevailed
sufficiently on their curiosity that they experimented with the
Jupiter-rainfall correlation we reported on in the pages of "Your
Powwow Corner" back in 1957. We found, you will recall, a
mathematically abnormal tendency for Jupiter to be on an angle at the
moment of the Caplunar ingresses covering dates and places of record-
breaking amounts of rain.
In view of professional and institutional considerations, we are
requested to divulge only a bare minimum of information about this
project. Permission to publish an adaptation of one of the diagrams,
and tell its content, however, has been cordially granted, in the
mutual hope that it will nip in the bud this growing threat of a
"controversy" over the synetic fiducial.
The diagram simply consists of the quadrant frequency of Jupiter's
distribution at the moments of the synetic lunar ingresses of
Capricornus preceding th twelve dates over the past century on which
maximum 24-hour downpours of precipitation were recorded at every
functioning weather-observing station in the continental United States.
The grand total of events amounts to--hold your breath--fully 49,576
items in all. The complete information as to date, place and amount
for each of 49,576 separte record entreis has been officially published
y the U.S. Weather Bureau, so there can have been no "doctoring" of the
raw data to yield the result that can be seen in the illustration--and
marveled at.
GRAPH: On left from bottom to top, standard deviations from -25 to 0
to +25. On bottom, Quadrants superposed Measuring Eastward from
Midheaven 0 to 90 (to 0) degrees. Angular Cusps using SYNETIC Ayanamsa
show near +25 standard deviation. The negative peak is between -20 &
-25 for 45 degress eastward from Midheaven. And Angular Cusps using
CHITRA Ayanamsa show near -5 standard deviation.
The abscissa of the graph is in units of standard deviation.
Statistical significance commences at the two-unit level, at which the
odds arc 20 to 1 against the proposition that the deviation occurred
only fortuitously. The odds are around 10,000 to one at four standard
deviations. At six units the chances against mere coincidence become
incalculably large, running into the billions.
As you can observe for yourself, the departure from mathematical
"normalcy of occurrence" skyrockets into the trillions and zillions
again the premise of pure coincidence. Scientifically, this is
incontestable proof that the astrological claim concerning the
influence of lunar ingresses--the one into Capricornus, at any rate--it
true. Needless to mention, this finding and others like it have caused
considerable excitement over the "potential possibilities" among
scientists who are privy to it--but it is obvious why we cannot dwell
on this particular phase of the matter for the time being.
How ironic it is, that these research findings should have their
first public disclosure in form of an effort to enlighten siderealists
about a fundamental property of their own zodiac! We have been saving
this material, for a long time now, against the day it would be needed
to (a) squelch so-called scientific deriders of astrology, and/or (b)
demonstrate to tropical astrologers that there is something solid to
astrology after all, thus allaying their unspoken fears.
You people who are entertaining other ayanamsas must now face the
issue raised by this and other equally revealing displays of evidence
which underscore the reality of the SVP. That issue is, to put it
bluntly, the glaring fact that either the synetic vernal point is
pretty close to being 'right on the nose," or else is some 3 degrees
wrong, three degrees being the minimum error which these irrefutable
statistics will permit to exist.
That is, if the fundamental principle behind astrology in regard to
angularity of planetary position for appropriate events is true, and if
the SVP is more than a few seconds "wrong," the only possible
alternative is that the true ayanamsa is far enough away from the
synetic point that this same Jupiter-rainfall curve can be reasonably
duplicated only by at least a three-degree displacement of the actual
figure.
In summary, let us say that the Synetic Vernal Point conceivably
could be wrong. But if it is, it is wrong by a hell of an amount and
not by just one or two degrees! Using the median amount of daily
motion of the Moon as the criterion for spacing, we have marked arrows
on the graph showing the contrasting positions of the angular cusps
(quadrants being successively superposed) for the synetic versus the
expectations from use of the Lahiri fiducial.
Note how closely the SVP Jupiter distribution peaks out near the
lines of the angular cusps themselves, with least frequency falling
just 45 degrees from the angles. If my faith in astrological verities
were in the least diminished proper to this knowledge, though of course
it wasn't these scientific facts would have restored it to full bloom.
How about you pumpers for other ayanamsas, with whom I now conclude my
first and last argument on this particular subject? Here's a faith
restorer. Help yourself.
* * * *
In the mid-70's in southern California, there was a strong
organization supporting teaching, registry, and publication of sidereal
materials called R.O.S.A., The Registry of Sidereal Astrologers. Due
to the untimely death of one of its founders and mainstays, it is no
longer operational. Below are excerpts from an essay by Gary Duncan, a
member of ROSA, both for its summation of the development of Sidereal
astrology and of Garth Allen's work on the SVP. Gary Duncan, now
deceased, was known to be a brilliant mathematician and worked for a
time at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasendena.
Gary Duncan, "Some Historical Notes," THE CONSTELLATIONS, 8/1975.
Sidereal astrology has evolved to its present state from the
pioneering efforts of a small group of which this author was
privileged to be a member. Although the general readership will
immediately recognize the names of Cyril Fagan and Donald Bradley
(Garth Allen), my name may not be as familiar. Anonymity was respected
at my request since, for reasons which will be made clear below, I did
not wish to have my name widely publicized. As the sole survivor of
the original trio, however, it is necessary to uncover certain facts
heretofore deliberately withheld from the public.
President of the Irish Astrological Society and a frequent
contributor to English and Indian astrological publications, Cyril
Fagan was better known to his European audience than to those of us in
the continental United States. Siderealists owe a heavy debt of
gratitude to a few Tropicalists for their efforts in introducing the
work of Fagan to the U.S. audience. It may come as a shock to many
Sidereal readers to learn that (of course) Fagan, Bradley and myself
were all strong Tropicalists before we were introduced to Sidereal
methods. It may come as a second jolt to learn that many of the
revered "names" among Tropical astrologers were instrumental in the
introduction and promotion of Sidereal techniques in this country.
We may begin with the efforts of Ernest Grant, founder and first
president of the American Federation of Astrologers (AFA), and later
its Executive Secretary. In the latter role, he served as the editor
of their monthly publication. It was through the mimeographed pages of
this communique that Ernest introduced the works of Cyril Fagan. One
such major work dealt with the recommended use of the Campanus division
of the sky into the familiar "houses" and with the simultaneous use of
the "mundoscope." This work made use of the term "domification" which
frightened away some of the small group that had managed to survive the
trigonometric formulae and examples.
But it was with Fagan's other major work that the efforts of Ernest
Grant are to be held in the highest esteem. Serving in his role as
Editor, Ernest published the "Incidents and Accidents of Astrology" by
Fagan as a monthly series introducing Sidereal astrology in 1947-8.
Grant did so under the most severe criticism (and threats of
"impeachment"). In the classic role of an editor he attempted to bring
new and interesting material to the eyes of his public, while holding
at bay a snarling and highly vocal constituency which clearly did not
wish to allow any publication efforts that might "rock the boat." On
more than one occasion he must have had to come to grips with strong
political and economical pressures which threatened the continuance of
his role with the AFA. But, Ernest survived all these pressures and
the American astrological community was exposed to the intensive,
evangelical writings of "that Irishman."
It was shortly before this time that Edna Scott (President of the
AFA) and Llewellyn George (then the "dean" of American astrologers) had
sponsored my membership into the AFA. Known to all of his friends as
"L.G." the efforts of the latter constitute a legend. As owner-
publisher of Llewellyn Publications, he was well known for his annual
publication, the Moon Sign Book, and for his Astrological Bulletina
(which changed its publication schedule several times during its
lifetime). Most students have his A to Z Horoscope Maker and
Delineator on their bookshelves, and a large number in the astrological
community have studied his various correspondence courses. It is to
L.G. that the second debt is due for the promotion of Sidereal methods.
When Llewellyn asked me to meet with Don Bradley, it represented a
clear departure both from his own rules and from the expressed wishes
of Bradley. L.G. had hired Don to help him with both the chores of an
editor for most of the publications which were issued from the
Llewellyn press, and to author a series of articles, pamphlets, and
major works under both his own name and under a number of pseudonyms.
Bradley was best known to his readership at that time for his periodic
writing on "Happenings in the U.S. Horoscope." A sheltered recluse, he
shunned public gatherings and avoided any and all visitors to his
home/office. Llewellyn not only respected this desire for privacy, he
strongly enforced it. Inquiries made through his publication office,
or directed to him personally at social gatherings, were routinely
(although always politely) declined to avoid any introduction with
Bradley. However, Llewellyn first suggested that he wished Bradley and
I to meet, stating that he felt it "essential" that our meeting take
place at the earliest opportunity.
Looking back with fond memories, my respect for the deep insight
which Llewellyn showed in dealing with intimate personal relations in
all those who called him friend, I am included to believe that he
arranged our first meeting with an uncanny preknowledge of the
subsequent events which would result from it. He was father to many,
friend to all. Less the commercial businessman than the patron to
those who might enrich the body of astrological knowledge, Llewellyn
served in all these roles in his relation to Don Bradley.
My meeting with Bradley stands as one of the events of importance in
both our lives; for from that first session, major changes in the
direction of our individual efforts as well as those of the
astrological community derive. We were both acquainted with the
efforts of Choisnard and Gauquelin (in French) and others on the
European continent who were attempting to use statistical methods to
establish certain astrological fundamentals. We both felt that the
attempts were inconclusive and lacked certain mathematical
sophistication. Although most interesting to astrologers, they were
not in a form acceptable to the scientific community. Bradley wished
to undertake some project which might present the astrological
viewpoint in an acceptable, definitive manner, and felt that some
statistical approach would best serve this end. My mathematical skills
included statistical methods and a cursory knowledge of Calculus,
although my physical age placed me at the Junior High School level.
Bradley was knowledgeable in the formulae of plane trigonometry and was
skilled i the use of the desk calculator, but was acquainted with
neither statistical methods nor the higher mathematics. Together we
set about formulating a plan which might serve as a model for later
work in the field of astrology.
A three-year effort culminated in the publication of Profession and
Birthdate, which gave a statistical analysis of the birthdates of 2492
ordained eminent clergymen taken from Who's Who in America. In the
Acknowledgments section of that volume, this author's contribution is
credited (under another name, Neil Block) for his "valuable
mathematical advice." Formulation of the mathematical model and the
method of deriving the probability tables was supplied by this writer,
while Bradley performed the data gathering, transcription, computation
of planetary positions, and the final data reductions.
The three-year effort which was required to complete this major work
taxed the patience of all parties concerned. Bradley copied each
birthdate onto a separate 3"x5" slip of paper, maintaining the lot in a
large cardboard box. Constant fear gripped us when anyone moved into
close proximity of "THE BOX," lest some accident should spoil the
project. This fear persisted until the last slip was written, the
dates were sorted to chronological sequence, and the aggregate was
copied into a bound record book--in preparation for the next step which
began the work with the ephemeris. During this lengthy interval,
several tests were applied which gave peculiar results and set the two
of us on our guard against making premature judgements regarding the
ultimate outcome of the experiment.
It came as somewhat of a shock, however, when the initial data
reduction of the solar longitudes showed no preference for the Tropical
signs of Sagittarius or Pisces. And, when the Chi-square test showed
that the Tropical coordinate system lacked the strength of several
other choices--although it was not as bad as still other choices would
be--we knew our thinking needed to be re-examined. Certainly the works
of Fagan were well-known to us both at that time. But it was not until
the statistical results of the clergymen study were known that Bradley
and I were faced with making a revolutionary change in our fundamental
methods. Up to that time, we had accepted the writings of Fagan as
"just more Hindu astrology." Our Indian friends may now smile at that
offhand dismissal, but should realize that the lack of sufficient
mathematical rigor in Hindu methods lies at its root. Although our
correspondence with Fagan had already established a close bond between
the three of us, it was (up to that time) limited mostly to the
historical foundations of our science and to the attempts to decode
certain Egyptian hieroglyphics which resisted investigation.
If the name of Cyril Fagan were never remembered for his
astrological contributions, he still deserves universal acknowledgment
as one of the greatest detectives of two millennia. His discovery, on
1949 May 14, of the true meaning of the EXALTATION degrees of the
planets ranks as one of the most exciting discoveries of this century.
Even Claudius Ptolemy was unable to give a plausible explanation as to
why the planets were said to be "exalted" in specific degrees of the
zodiac. Fagan was able to show that in the year B.C. 786 THE PLANETS
OCCUPIED THEIR STATED POSITIONS-- WITHIN ONE DEGREE--EITHER AT THE
BEGINNING OF THE FIRST MONTH OF THAT YEAR, OR ON THE DATES WHEN THE
RESPECTIVE PLANET BECAME A MORNING OR EVENING STAR. This discovery was
initially based on the assignment of the star Spica (Alpha Virginis) to
the value Libra 0d 00'00" in a non-rotating (fixed) coordinate system,
but forced a later revision of this position to Virgo 29d 00'00". It
ha subsequently been revised by Bradley to a value independent of the
bright star Spica, and is currently known as the SVP (Synetic Vernal
Point). For Fagan's monumental detective work in the discovery of the
true meaning of the Exaltations (Hypsoma in Greek), on two occasions
prior to Fagan's demise this author requested that the AFA honor this
man with some kind of special citation. Fagan had already received the
highest award the AFA has to bestow--he was named a "fellow" of the
AFA--but it seemed appropriate to this writer that he should be cited
for this special contribution, without regard for its implications on
behalf of the Sidereal viewpoint. On both occasions, the matter was
postponed, and Cyril died without receiving the praise rightfully due
him not only from the astrological world, but also from works in
ancient literature and Egyptology.
In view of the mounting historical evidence piled on us by the
public and private writings of Cyril Fagan, and by his most convincing
articles advocating the use of the Solar and Lunar Returns as reliable
predictive tools, Bradley and I had reached a point where the selection
between the use of the popular rotating coordinate system (Tropical) or
some non-rotating coordinate system was rapidly nearing a critical
point. When the clergymen study showed that the Tropical system was
not satisfactory, we were faced with a choice which could no longer be
postponed, and which taxed our sincerity as scientific investigators.
We had carefully analyzed a sufficient sample to clearly answer the
question using acceptable statistical methods. The results were not as
had been expected. As scientists, we were obliged to discard less
satisfactory methods (the Tropical frame) in favor of techniques which
were unfamiliar but which had demonstrated a definite superiority to
their standard Tropical counterparts.
It was, therefore, with some reluctance that these findings were
brought to the attention of Llewellyn George--whose financial support
had paid for all of Bradley's work during the three-year effort. Let
the reader mark well my next statement. Considering that Llewellyn's
entire publication efforts had been based on the promotion of Tropical
astrology (especially his successful annual Moon Sign Book), and that
nearly a lifetime had been dedicated to the promotion of Tropical
astrology, it must have come as a grave shock to realize that his own
efforts had given birth to a movement which might erode the very
cornerstone of his business, which might overhaul his beloved science
of astrology to such an extent that it might emerge as a totally
unfamiliar discipline.
Still, the warm-hearted, generous man he was would not permit such
personal disaster to stand in the way of scientific progress. So,
investing his personal funds, rather than those of his publishing firm,
he financed three publications as the initial efforts of the Llewellyn
Foundation for Astrological Research, in which Bradley was entitled as
its Research Director. These publications were: #1, Professions and
Birthdate (Bradley); #2 Zodiacs Old and New (Fagan); and #3 Solar and
Lunar Returns (Bradley).
At this point, a word should be said concerning the second and third
publications of the Llewellyn Foundation, and about that organization
itself. It was at the urging of Bradley and myself that Llewellyn
agreed to undertake the publication of Fagan's Zodiacs Old and New.
(It was also published in London by Anscombe.) The third document,
Solar and Lunar Returns by Bradley, was offered to serve as a
complement for the other two. Thus, the first established a
statistical groundwork, the second revealed the historical evidence,
and the third served as a practical "cook-book" for the use of Sidereal
techniques. The Forward by Llewellyn George in Solar and lunar Returns
merits reading by all students of astrology.
[The Forward begins with the quote: "To stop short in any research
that bids fair to widen the gates of knowledge, to recoil from fear of
difficulty or adverse criticism, is to bring reproach upon science." -
-Sir William Crooks]
When the 1950 National Convention of the American Federation of
Astrologers was held at the Hotel Biltmore in Los Angeles, Llewellyn
George forcibly brought to the attention of the entire astrological
world the upsetting evidence of these new discoveries with the joint
publication of the above three documents. From the podium, he
admonished his audience concerning his own "conversion" to Sidereal
methods, directing them to do likewise, and suggesting that those
interested in conversing on the subject might do so with Bradley and
this author who were available in the lobby of the hotel at the
Llewellyn book counter--where they might also examine the three major
documents which represented the first publication efforts of the
Llewellyn Foundation for Astrological Research.
That the astrological world failed to heed this sage advice from
their dean is a well-known fact, although the scientific community and
the younger members of the astrological fraternity seem to be
increasingly aware of the superiority of Sidereal methods.
Unfortunately, the presence of that lovable old man was taken from us
shortly thereafter. His wife, known to only a very few, had been
confined to her home as an invalid for many years. Her condition
worsened and became critical. After her death, Llewellyn's health
seemed to gradually diminish. He fought back with a tenacity that
pervaded his entire life, but eventually passed onto his eternal
reward. He died not a rich man in the sense of physical wealth, but
the legacy he left through hs contributions in the field of astrology
will never be forgotten. Among the riches we all share are not only
his own writings, but the writings of many others; without the personal
encouragement and financial support of Llewellyn George much of the
work now treasured by both Tropical and Sidereal astrologers alike
might never have seen publication. Remember, all this was done by a
man acknowledged by his peers as the unchallenged leader of Tropical
astrology.
We must, of course, recognize the contributions of James Hynes who
provided Fagan with numerous mathematical tables and computations to
assist in the calculation of ancient horoscopes. It is not known at
this writing just when Hynes first became associated with Fagan, or
made his first contributions. Perhaps some of our English friends can
supply us with historical information. Likewise, the efforts of Rupert
Gleadow are not known in correct historical sequence. We would greatly
appreciative of any knowldege received on this matter.
When scientific minds gather together, the exchanged of ideas is not
always without pain. Sharp disagreements separated the views of Fagan
and Gleadow cncerning the origin of the earliest astrological sources.
Gleadow presented powerful historical evidence to support his thesis
that sources other than Egyptian were responsible fo much that Fagan
credited to the astrologers of the lands of the pyramids. Fagan argued
that only in Egypt could the naming of the constellations coincide with
the appearance of the Full Moon in synchronism with the annual rise and
fall of the Nile River. To the mind of this author, Fagan's evidence
is over-whelming on this point--in spite of the fact that virtually no
historical records exist which serve to credit the antiquity of the
naming of the constellatons to the Egyptian camp. The movement of a
certain astrological library from the capitol city to the new
astrological temple (university) of Nineva was another point of
disagreement between these two men. Gleadow's education at Winchester
and at Trinity College, Oxford, demands that his views be given a
careful and ocnsiderate audience. He writes with the authority of a
men well-versed in his field, and as one whose arguments are fortified
with sound reason and physical evidence.
Many of these views will not be likely settled without our lifetime.
But the healthy--even heated--exchange of ideas serves to enrich our
science. Ideally the arguments are advanced by each side in defense or
opposition to a viewpoint taken by another, and ideally the battles are
not directed against the personality of an individual. Thus, within
the scientific community, its members must "agree to disagree
peacefully," without personal attacks. In such a spirit, the rough
edges are honed from preliminary theories, and the establishment of
fundamental scientific principles emerges.
During my early years in association with Bradley, numerous
technical considerations came under close scrutiny. The use of the
mundoscope (an integral part of the Campanus house system) was tried in
a variety of applications, including rectification. My first
computation of a complete Campanus tables of house (from equator to
pole) was performed by hand calcuation, using a table of logarithms,
during 1948. Later efforts yielded over six different forms of the
Campanus tables for our common use; these computations were performed
on electronic computers.
My efforts were directed to the use of digital computers as the
means for solving the future needs of astrologers, both for
computations and research efforts. Bradley geared his efforts to the
improvement of the delineative art. We jointly studied many possible
coordinate schemes which might ultimately serve as an improvement to
those then (and now) in use. There was the choice of a fundamental
starting point along the ecliptic circle, if one choose to use this
circle as the fundamental plane of reference.
But we considered other planes of reference. The so-called
Invariable Plane of the Solar System, which is determined by the total
angular momentum vector of all the planets, comets, and other moving
bodies within our Solar System. It differs from the ecliptic by only a
few degrees. Also studied was the possible use of the Galactic Plane
(the plane of our own Milky Way galaxy). Extensive counts of stars and
graphs of same by groupings according to their visual magnitudes were
performed, with the aid of my computer programs. These investigations
were undertaken in an attempt to determine a reason for the particular
choice of the origin of the Sidereal zodiac which had its roots in some
kind of physical phenomenon. We both agreed that the ecliptic plane
represented a reasonable choice, and that some determination of the
"best" fiducial point could be made--once the proper experiment was
defined. We reasoned that the final determination would likely be one
which was not dependent upon a particular star (then Spica was the
official marking star), but which would probably represent some kind of
"average" based on all the stars, or at least on those near the
ecliptic or galactic planes.
...
There may be those who will not understand my desire to maintain a
position of "silent partner" during those early days. I ask them to
consider the case of Hugh Rice, the astronomer, who made material
contribution to the computational art within astrology. For many years
he supplied American Astrology Magazine with extensive computations
giving ephemeris calculations , an aspectarian, and a Placidian table
of houses. He was hounded to his death (literally) by relentless
efforts of his astronomical associates who first sought to have him
discharged from his employment with the planetarium and attempted his
ouster with national and international scientific organizations. His
ultimate death was a direct result mounted by his peer group. Attempts
to change his name on the American Astrology Tables of Houses and with
American Astrology to obvious variations of his given name only met
with increased pressure. He had given Bradley much special attention
in acquainting him with some of the techniques used in solving
transcendental equations (required for the Placidian house system and
in sub-tabulation techniques). These methods were especially important
during this period, as all our calculations were then performed with
desk calculators.
My own work carried me into the field of Computer Sciences,
specializing in the branch of astronomy known as Celestial Mechanics.
By developing the computer programs which permitted the positions of
the Sun, Moon, and planets to be computed for any specified date, this
writer became responsible for the fundamental ephemerides used by all
NASA agencies. For many years, the "nautical almanacs" issued by the
governments of the major powers did and will use the computer programs
written by this author, or later improvements based on them. The
Synodic Ephemeris used by Bradley and his co-workers on the rainfall
research was supplied by me. Only a few of Bradley's associates knew
of its source.
From 1949 until 1951, Sidereal classes were given by this author at
various locations in Los Angels, usually in private homes. In 1948 the
first use of IBM equipment was employed by this writer for astrological
calculations. In 1951, the first computation of an aspectarian (for
The Astrological Bulletina) was performed in San Bernardino using IBM
machines. In 1953, the first Sidereal calculations were executed in
Santa Monica when this writer computed the first personal aspectarians
and all the moments of Solar and Lunar Returns for Bradley, Fagan and
himself. Other efforts included the computation of New and Full Moon
charts for the period 1962-1970 as a gift for the AFA. Numerous
computer experiments were performed leading to the development of
sophisticated programs which permit the computation of ephemerides or
single chart calculations for any time and place, and for the
statistical reduction of massive astrological studies.
The 1953 JULY issue of American Astrology carried the firs article
of the series entitled "Solunars" by Cyril Fagan. This series
persisted until his death on 1970 JAN 04. Again the efforts of one
with heavy investments in Tropical astrology to present controversial
material were met with loud cries from their supporters. Threats to
cancel subscriptions greeted Joanne Clancy, the editor of American
Astrology, when she elected to publish Fagan's work. The heavy
investment and dedication of many years of her husband, Paul Clancy,
and of her own toil were at stake. But, some kind of electricity
accompanied this publication. A growing readership rallied to support
her bold venture, and a spark of new life was breathed into the
astrological readership. While sample delineations of Mrs. Clancy's
chart served to acquaint both the readership and the editor of that
leading astrological publication, the space also permitted the
presentation of multitude of sample charts (largely Solar and Lunar
Returns) and offered a medium for the presentation of some of the more
advanced topics which had commanded the attention of leading Sidereal
astrologers in their mutual correspondence. The readers were exposed
to a variety of charts including converse and direct, Kinetic, Anlunar,
Quarti- and Demi-lunars, and Quarti- and Demi-solars, and a wide
variety of progression methods of these and other charts. The
presentation of variations on Quotidians used both mean and apparent
rates. We are all in Joanne's debt for her steadfast support of both
Fagan's and Bradley's work.
The close alliance of Cyril Fagan and Brigadier Roy Firebrace saw
the publication of a series of booklets under their names and was
accompanied with the publication of the first Sidereal quarterly,
SPICA. Mary Austin served this effort in more ways than may ever be
fully known, and many publications under the "Moray Series" label have
felt the help of her gentle hand. Perhaps some of our English friends
will be kind enough to fill us in with some of the history of this
particular period.
With the death of Llewellyn George, the dream that the Llewellyn
Foundation for Astrological Research would evolve into a viable entity
vanished. No strong financial arrangements had been made for its
continuance, and Bradley, Fagan, and this writer were the only original
members of the group who remained. Without adequate funding, no means
were available to pursue the original goals. Bradley moved to New York
and wrote for American Astrology.
The opportunity to work on a meteorology project under a grant from
the National Science Foundation brought him to the campus of New York
University. While his research into rainfall data was published under
the name of Bradley, his writings for American Astrology were
delighting readers under the name of Garth Allen. The untimely death
of the professor charged with the administration of funds for the NSF
grant caused the rainfall project to lose its major investigator,
Donald Bradley. Lacking the "union ticket" of a formal degree of any
kind, Don was unable to assume the role of administrator of funding for
a continuance of the project. We may give thanks that Albert Einstein
was not similarly treated for his inability to pass high school
mathematics examinations!
The most productive periods in Don's life, as well as my own, have
seemingly occurred when we were both under the greatest strain. It was
during one such "down" period of Bradley that I urged him to begin this
writing of some kind of booklet which set forth the principles of depth
psychology as applied to astrology. For many years, we had discussed
the writings of Freud, Jung, and others and had long felt the need that
many of these basic principles be introduced into the basic
astrological literature. The deep, penetrating powers which Bradley
brought to this topic and his gift with the English language made him
the only logical candidate to write this material. The result was
published as the "Taking the Kid Gloves Off Astrology" series on the
planets in American Astrology. Later attempts to interest him in
completing this series to include sections of the Sun and Moon were to
no avail. He began several times to formulate the general approach
which he might use; but unless this material was preserved among his
papers, his notes on the subject may never be published.
While Bradley worked on the east coast, this writer moved to the
Pasadena area in California. An article appeared in the "Many Things"
section of American Astrology, requesting persons interested in forming
a Sidereal astrologers' study group to contact Richard Adler in Los
Angeles. Upon doing so, the group asked me to serve as their teacher
and we began to hold sessions at the YWCA in Pasadena. Members of that
group included Gene Lockhart and Phyllis Kneip. We became known as the
Sidereal Astrologers' Guild. After nearly a year's stay at the
Pasadena location, the group moved to anew facility provided by Phyllis
Kneip in Hollywood. After this the writer moved to St. Paul; Phyllis
continued the efforts which is now know as the Sidereal School of
Astrology. John Mazurek established a Sidereal School of Astrology in
San Francisco in 1965 and has been teaching continuously since that
date.
Many readers of the Moon Sign Book during 1965-66 did not realize
that this Tropical publication contained many maps of the world and
U.S. which were based on Sidereal methods. As editor during this
period, I was able to make use of certain geodetic mappings based on
the CAPsolar and CAPlunar Sidereal charts. Garth Allen first displayed
the method which had been developed by the two of us during the years
when he lived in Long Beach, and during our frequent telephone
conversations since those days. The early efforts had suffered from
the lack of a suitable predictive chart to use for mundane predictions.
Discovery of the importance of the CAPsolar and CAPlunar charts closed
that gap; it remained only for us to apply the geodetic mapping
technique developed earlier. Readers may find it interesting to
procure a copy of the 1966 Moon Sign Book to view these charts which
were not only computed using an electronic computer, but were drawn
entirely under computer control maps and planetary lines included.
Bradley and I did not agree on all matters. One topic which served
to bedevil us still, and which looms as a nasty spectre over the most
recent determination of the SVP, is concerned with the use of
geocentric latitude versus geographic latitude. Bradley chose to use
the former for reasons which were, to this author, totally unjustified.
unfortunately, the evidence and logic support the use of geographic
latitude, in my opinion. The ramification of this statement may not be
immediately apparent to the reader.
Final determination of the value assigned to the SVP, or Synetic
Vernal Point (for the epoch 1950.0) rests in the use of certain mundane
charts, the progressions of same, and upon their erection for specific
locations upon the surface of the Earth. In several critical areas,
planetary positions near the horizon are used and the chart "rectified"
by adjusting the value of the SVP in order to bring about exact
conjunction with the desired angle. The reader will appreciate that
several factors will affect this calculation. The specific value for
the terrestrial latitude was used--whether or not parallax factors were
used, whether height above or below sea level was considered both for
parallax effects and for "dip" of the horizon, whether refraction of
light due to the Earth's atmosphere was considered, and whether light-
time aberrations was included. Most of these effects were ignored. If
any or all are included the value assigned to the SVP will be
immediately affected. It remains for future generations to re-examine
the calculations leading to the determination of the SVP in light of
these considerations and to formulate and additional experiments which
may be necessary to make further refinements in this area....
Since the early work on the 2492 clergymen, no less than 49 other
statistical studies have been performed for most of which this writer
was the principle member of the team which collected the data, or
guided the actions of other groups, or served to perform all
computations and statistical reductions. The smaller studies have been
reported in the pages of SPICA or American Astrology. Several large
studies have not yet been published. This author's studies of 6281
professional baseball players and 8928 U.S. congressmen represent two
such efforts, the latter being the largest statistical study yet
undertaken. Readers who wish to avail themselves of the published
results of these studies are advised that they will be released by the
Duncan Foundation for Astrological Research. It is of fundamental
importance that Sidereal astrologers acquaint themselves with such
statistical material, as the collection constitutes the only basis for
comparisons between the Tropical, Sidereal, and other systems. Only by
such means are we able to improve our knowledge regarding the
individual planetary effects....
* * * * *
synetic fiducial point was not contrived by whim on the basis of a few
score "examples," liberally larded with cultural preconceptions of
musty scriptural allusions." "It owes its existence to the outcome of
painstaking and massive scientific research and not to some sorry
passage from relic literature preserved on boundary stones or palm
leaves or tomb walls." Plus Gary Duncan's "Historical Notes" on the
development of Sidereal Astrology and Allen's research with the SVP.
* * * *
Garth Allen, "How to Unvex a Vexed Question!" 8/64 A.A.
It was bound to happen, sooner or later, that the validity of the
Synetic Vernal Point would be challenged by those who owe their
allegiance to some other "ayanamsa" for chauvinistic rather than
scientific reasons.
The Hindu word 'ayanamsa' is the term applied to the arc of ecliptic
longitude that separates, at any given date, the point called "zero
degrees Aries" in the tropical zodiac from its counterpart, zero
degrees Aries in the sidereal zodiac. Sidereally persuaded astrologers
of the western hemisphere, representing the "Fagan school" of
conviction, generally use the standard value of 24d02'31.36." for the
astronomical beginning o the year 1950. That is to say, at the epoch
1950.0 we assume that the mean sidereal longitude of the vernal
equinoctial point was at 5d57'28.64" of the constellation Pisces.
For other dates and times, this value is continuously altered to
keep abreast of the precessional shift, in the amount of about 50.26
seconds of arc per year. In addition, this mean or average value is
appropriately amended to account for nutational displacements of the
actual point. Nutation is a minor oscillation of true figure back and
forth over the mean figure.
Astrological practice of scholarly merit demands the use of the true
value of the ayanamsa when dealing with zodiacal position in exacting
seconds or arc, such as the Sun's longitude. The correctness of the
timing of a solar return, or a solar ingress, for instance, depends
critically upon a to-the-second determination of solar longitude.
One of the most astonishing statements we have ever read in the
astrological press--which press has a penchant for outlandishly
illogical material--has the following to say, among other remarkable
things:
"One final word of warning to the unwary student. Some astrologers
of the West have published tables and values of the Ayanamsa purported
to be correct to the hundredth part of a second arc. This is all
eyewash and clearly meant for propaganda purposes. Nobody can
determine the value to that degree of exactness and even if they could,
values tabulated at ten-day intervals, would, for technical reasons, be
quite valueless. So the student should not think that because there is
a 'show' of precision, the figures are any more precise or reliable
than, say, the figures given in other publications."
This excerpt is a paragraph from an article in the symposium series
titled "The Vexed question of Ayanamsa" carried in the leading journal
of Hindu astrology, its September 1962 issue. Because that same author
illustrated his dissertation with solar ingress charts preceding
natural disasters, the unwary student has a right to question how in
heaven's name those charts were calculated without the use of
astronomically dictated precision. Hundredths of second are not
necessary, of course, but formula-based computations offer this
precision and guarantee a correctly rounded-off value when rounding off
is desirable.
Every difference of ten seconds of arc in solar longitude, as of an
ayanamsa itself, means a four-minute error in the correct time of a
solar ingress. Every four minutes of time change the cusps of a chart
by one degree of zodiacal longitude. No wonder, that the "examples" of
ingresses used for calamitous events did not bother, in their
delineations, with that most central precept of workable astrology--the
significance of the Midheaven and Ascendant cusps as point and not
broad areas. We begin to see the light upon examining the example
delineations, such as the one for the "Aries ingress" preceding the
June 15, 1896 earthquake and tsunami that hit Sanriku, Japan.
The key configuration cited was the Neptune-Pluto compunction which
lingered within a five-degree orb for fully ten years toward the close
of the nineteenth century! "Pluto, planet of quakes and destruction,
is conjunct Neptune, planet of water and waves, in the first house."
Sounds good, but for some odd reason a published scientific catalogue
of the history of seismic waves shows a below average incidence of
these events during the decade when the Neptune-Pluto conjunction was
in operation. The 8th-house "lord" and a parallel of declination were
also mentioned in the analysis, but these are hardly worthy of
rebutting comment. We'll also withhold comment on the accompanying
Navamsa maps, inasmuch as these are obviously incalculable apart from
precisely-timed chart moments and, or course, computation of solar
ingresses is an exacting procedure.
But enough of such piecemeal haggling. Let us get to the core of
the matter, which is the question of comparative validity of the
synetic versus other feasible sidereal "fiducial points."
First off, we legitimately resent the effort to drag the synetic
vernal point into a controversy involving the company of these other
claimants, for this resounding reason: The SVP is not at all in the
same class with these other "determinations." It is of an entirely
different species. It owes its existence to the outcome of painstaking
and massive scientific research and not to some sorry passage from
relic literature preserved on boundary stones or palm leaves or tomb
walls.
Even so, it was probably inevitable, in view of the nature of the
typical astrological mind, for this fact to be soon forgotten, or else
not realized in the first place. Let us nip this thing in the bud
right now, before it balloons into an international argument
reminiscent of the perennial ferment over house-division systems. The
synetic fiducial point was not contrived by whim on the basis of a few
score "examples," liberally larded with cultural preconceptions of
musty scriptural allusions.
You people who want to go on arguing about different ayanamsas can
do so, all you please--but after the facts are faced up to, keep the
synetic determination out of your quarrels!
These quarrels are remindful of the endless attempts by
Fundamentalist theologians, within the countless denominations of
Christendom, to affix beforehand the date of the Second Advent and "the
end of the world." Every few years, century after century, some Bible
scholar will come forth with another prediction, couched in quotations
from ancient scrolls and usually keyed to number mysticism, often with
something supplementary of seemingly tangible nature, like a Great
Pyramid time scale or some such gimmick. Meanwhile, the world goes on
and on, blithely unaware that it should have engulfed itself in flames
at least a hundred times, "according to the Book."
Several things, judging from contemporary literature on the subject,
characterize the "ayanamsa controversy." Chief among these is
ignorance of the subject being dealt with, such as precession. We have
not seen thus far, for instance, a correct handling of the annual
precession rate, and if so simple a matter as arithmetical calculation
of this value (as a rate, not an amount--a big different) for any year
is beyond the ability of a thesis-writing astrologer, one can only
question his authoritativeness where the subject of precession is
concerned. Come to think of it, what else but ineptness could be
expected of a mind which gives equal weight of consideration to the
statements of sixth-century copyists and twentieth-century astronomers?
There is an unbridgeable distance between a conclusion stemming from
apotheosis and one arrived at through coldly objective science.
Another thing, in some ways even more surprising, considering the
background of the reason why there is an ayanamsa in the first place,
is the apparently automatic assumption that there are two "zodiacs" of
concurrent validity, after all. At least, there seems no other way to
interpret efforts to ascertain the date "when the two zodiacs
coincided."
Even worse, from the scientific point of view, are the attempts to
link this epoch of coincidence with some mechanistic phenomena, such as
synchronizing of "both" Aries ingresses or a unique stellar situation
like a star's conjunction with a tropical colure on the celestial
sphere. If there had been an eventuality of universal significance
marking the transition of "ages," that pivotal event would be quite
obvious and of unarguable magnitude.
Recently in the April 1964 issue of SPICA, our esteemed Indian
correspondent S. Rajagopala Iyer, commenced a series of commentary
articles in which he elicits his reasons for continuing to use the
ayanamsa on which Lahiri's Ephemeris is based. This endeavor commands
our respect and attention because it represents an earnest, honest
effort to ferret out the facts on the basis of observation rather than
ethnic favoritism.
Lahiri's value is essentially, though not precisely, the "Spica
reckoning" originally adopted by Fagan on the reasonable grounds that
it was the best one available at the time. A few years later, after
his monumental achievement of solving the age-old enigma of the list of
planetary exaltation degrees, Fagan's own findings forced him to switch
from considering Spica as the marking star for 0 degrees Libra to its
more logical office as defining 29 degrees Virgo. (Would that other
"veteran" astrologers had the intellectual integrity to willingly alter
their views in accordance with new and better information!)
The synetic vernal point is merely a refinement of the true point
for which the bright first-magnitude star Alpha Virginis was the
closest practical approximation. Obviously, no single star, no matter
how prominent in the sky, could possibly be the sole determinator of
the zodiac as a cosmic structure. We all knew that the true point of
29d00'00" Virgo lies very close to the ecliptic longitude of the star
Spica. The only known method through which the true value could be
pinpointed by "astrological observation" was the concept of solar and
lunar ingresses. This fiducial of "Spica plus one degree" for defining
0 degrees Libra was christened the HYPSOMATIC AYANAMSA to distinguish
it from the Spica one previously used, which orientally is called the
"Chitra ayanamsa," after the star's Hindu name.
Amending the hypsomatic value was simply a matter of narrowing down
which minute and second of arc in the neighborhood of the presumed
value gave the best results on a statistical basis. It took literally
hundreds of historical events, almost all of them geographically
localized disasters, to nail down the likeliest value.
At long last it became clear that ingresses calculated for an
ayanamsa six minutes and five seconds of arc further along the ecliptic
than the hypsomatic figure being used gave the best results in the
light of actual cases considered in the aggregate. That is, the
Synetic Vernal Point places Spica, at the epoch of 1950.0, in 29d06'05"
rather than 29d00'00" of the constellation Virgo.
It is important to keep in mind that any ayanamsa, true of false,
could be used for personalized horoscopy on a sidereal basis, without
affecting the moments of, say, one's solar and lunar returns, or
progressions--so long as astronomically correct precessional rates are
made use of in the ayanamsa's computation. But mundane astrological
charts require exactitude of the true ayanamsa's value for any date in
question. To illustrate, the 0d06'05" correction adopted means a
difference of about two and a half hours in the timing of a solar
ingress--more than 35 degrees difference in the cusp of a mundane
chart. Lunar ingresses of the cardinal constellations, on the other
hand, are displaced only three degrees or so by the changeover from the
Hypsomatic to the Synetic value.
Our worthy Eastern colleague, Rajagopala Iyer, is approaching the
matter in terms of those few instances in the annals of Western
sidereal astrology where an apparent failure of a synetic-based ingress
was admittedly noted. These disappointments do occur occasionally, and
we agree that the right way to respond to the situation is to search
for the reasons behind the seeming miscues. After all, it is this very
fact-finding attitude towards things astrological that sparked and
nourished the growth of the Western sidereal movement to begin with.
Our reservations about the single case by single case approach,
however, are embodied in the question: How many times have you worked
with erroneous birth data and found admirably apt indices for
everything that happened in the native's lifetime? We've all had this
jarring experience many times in our professional careers, the
explanation being that we have so many techniques in modern astrology
to draw upon, it is easy to find appropriate planetary "contacts" for
anything and everything, by one method or another. Give me some false
data, for instance, telling me that the native was born within 15
minutes of the specified time, and that he broke his leg in his 23rd
year of life and, by gum, the chances are good that I'll be able to
find a "convincing" configuration, progression, transit, key cycle,
revolution, direction or Dasa that is appropriate to what happened--and
with multiple confirmations, too, making everybody cluck about how
marvelous astrology is.
Each of us, as conscientious astrologers, must be our own mental
watchdogs, ever alert to the dangers of our endless, habitual toying
and toiling with charts and numbers and symbols and systems. Too many
times we have found that somebody was really born in 1923 and not 1924;
or a rural doctor mistakenly wrote P.M. instead of A.M. on a birth
certificate; or someone who arrived on these shores as a child from
eastern Europe was still using the Old Style birthdate written on his
original passport; or a birth hour should rightly have been recorded in
daylight-saving time--and so forth. But even though the information
was seriously in error, the gears of the chartwork seemed to click off
just fine.
The point we are getting at here is that a randomly invented, wholly
groundless ayanamsa will yield highly "significant" ingress charts for
a majority of events. Yes, we said majority, and meant it. A phony
vernal point will "work" so well, so much of the time, that at first
glance any value your might fabricate on the spur of the moment has a
good prospect of seeming like a major astrological "discovery."
If you are reluctant to believe this, take the first telephone
number having six digits in your local directory and con yourself into
considering it to be the genuine ayanamsa in degrees, minutes and
seconds, for any event you want to "study."
The odds are surely better than 50-50 that by your third ingress
chart for the event, using this fake ayanamsa, pretending it to be
real, you'll come up with a persuasively "accurate" horoscopic picture
of the event. If the event is a catastrophe, there are enough malefics
in the sky, and more than enough square aspects within reach of at
least one of your two, three, four or more sets of angular cusps to
fill the bill and produce a "triumph" for the ersatz ayanamsa employed.
But is it science? That's the big question, and on this question
hangs the whole disposition of astrology's worth-whileness.
And now for the proof of the pudding that we have been leading up
to, even though it was necessary to risk shaking the faith of newcomer
students in the process. There is scientific truth in astrology. And
there are overwhelming, unquestionable scientific proofs that, despite
the weaknesses in our present-day astrological practices, planetary,
zodiacal and cuspal influences do exist--with full force too.
As for the synetic vernal point, proving its authenticity is almost
too easy. And we can thank the Creator for decreeing the laws of
statistical probability when He put the universe together and flipped
the On switch. certainly, we admit that many ingress charts based
on the SVP fail to seem "earthquake-prone" when geared to the time
and place a big tremor actually took place. But that is just the
point. Using the synetic value, for the 13 greatest earthquakes that
occurred in the world since 1900, Saturn is within two degrees of
conjunction or square the meridian of the epicenters seven times
oftener than "chance" would tend to allow. Mars is found in these
critical small-orbed zones five times oftener than could occur by
coincidence; Uranus three times oftener and Pluto twice oftener. The
Chitra or Spica ayanamsa, by dazzling contrast, yields quite normal
expectancies and therefore cannot be genuine.
These high-frequency counts apply to both the solar and lunar
cardinal ingresses preceding the disasters. Moreover, Saturn and Mars
are found conjunct or square the meridional cusp line of the progressed
solar ingress charts three times oftener than they could if the synetic
vernal point were not "the real McCoy."
We could cite numerous other ratios showing the high rating of
statistical significance attained by application of the SVP value--
levels which cannot possibly be arrived at by fictitious ayanamsas
(which otherwise perform so beautifully in single-case studies). Take
any published list of a given type of disaster, say airplane crashes or
a nation's most damaging tornadoes, and tabulate the angular
propinquities of the malefic planets in two sets, the synetic and the
Lahiri frameworks. Honest evaluation of the cross-compared sets will
quickly settle the issue that may have been bugging you. The truth
remains, that the "search for the true vernal point" commenced with a
massive compilation of ingress charts based on the original Spica
ayanamsa--and the Spica maps en masse clearly called for a wholesale
"correction" to make them truly meaningful in accordance with the
doctrine of angularity.
Of course, we could have selected, say 25 of the 100 worst-tornado
charts, based on the list of historic twisters given in the World
Almanac, and confidently "demonstrated" the efficacy of the Spica or
hypsomatic fiducials. Dido, for train wrecks or coal-mine disasters.
But this would not be science--it would be a defending of a mental
commitment or professional posture. To save face is usually to
sacrifice facts.
The illustration herewith is the upshot of it all, the only single
"proof" which tells the ayanamsa story without any ifs or buts in the
telling. A few years ago, a team of scientists at a major university
undertook to look into "unorthodox" means of weather forecasting and
includedin their mass-data anaylses certain claims of what we call
astrometeorology. These men are our personal friends and we have been
'au courant' of their work all along. We finally prevailed
sufficiently on their curiosity that they experimented with the
Jupiter-rainfall correlation we reported on in the pages of "Your
Powwow Corner" back in 1957. We found, you will recall, a
mathematically abnormal tendency for Jupiter to be on an angle at the
moment of the Caplunar ingresses covering dates and places of record-
breaking amounts of rain.
In view of professional and institutional considerations, we are
requested to divulge only a bare minimum of information about this
project. Permission to publish an adaptation of one of the diagrams,
and tell its content, however, has been cordially granted, in the
mutual hope that it will nip in the bud this growing threat of a
"controversy" over the synetic fiducial.
The diagram simply consists of the quadrant frequency of Jupiter's
distribution at the moments of the synetic lunar ingresses of
Capricornus preceding th twelve dates over the past century on which
maximum 24-hour downpours of precipitation were recorded at every
functioning weather-observing station in the continental United States.
The grand total of events amounts to--hold your breath--fully 49,576
items in all. The complete information as to date, place and amount
for each of 49,576 separte record entreis has been officially published
y the U.S. Weather Bureau, so there can have been no "doctoring" of the
raw data to yield the result that can be seen in the illustration--and
marveled at.
GRAPH: On left from bottom to top, standard deviations from -25 to 0
to +25. On bottom, Quadrants superposed Measuring Eastward from
Midheaven 0 to 90 (to 0) degrees. Angular Cusps using SYNETIC Ayanamsa
show near +25 standard deviation. The negative peak is between -20 &
-25 for 45 degress eastward from Midheaven. And Angular Cusps using
CHITRA Ayanamsa show near -5 standard deviation.
The abscissa of the graph is in units of standard deviation.
Statistical significance commences at the two-unit level, at which the
odds arc 20 to 1 against the proposition that the deviation occurred
only fortuitously. The odds are around 10,000 to one at four standard
deviations. At six units the chances against mere coincidence become
incalculably large, running into the billions.
As you can observe for yourself, the departure from mathematical
"normalcy of occurrence" skyrockets into the trillions and zillions
again the premise of pure coincidence. Scientifically, this is
incontestable proof that the astrological claim concerning the
influence of lunar ingresses--the one into Capricornus, at any rate--it
true. Needless to mention, this finding and others like it have caused
considerable excitement over the "potential possibilities" among
scientists who are privy to it--but it is obvious why we cannot dwell
on this particular phase of the matter for the time being.
How ironic it is, that these research findings should have their
first public disclosure in form of an effort to enlighten siderealists
about a fundamental property of their own zodiac! We have been saving
this material, for a long time now, against the day it would be needed
to (a) squelch so-called scientific deriders of astrology, and/or (b)
demonstrate to tropical astrologers that there is something solid to
astrology after all, thus allaying their unspoken fears.
You people who are entertaining other ayanamsas must now face the
issue raised by this and other equally revealing displays of evidence
which underscore the reality of the SVP. That issue is, to put it
bluntly, the glaring fact that either the synetic vernal point is
pretty close to being 'right on the nose," or else is some 3 degrees
wrong, three degrees being the minimum error which these irrefutable
statistics will permit to exist.
That is, if the fundamental principle behind astrology in regard to
angularity of planetary position for appropriate events is true, and if
the SVP is more than a few seconds "wrong," the only possible
alternative is that the true ayanamsa is far enough away from the
synetic point that this same Jupiter-rainfall curve can be reasonably
duplicated only by at least a three-degree displacement of the actual
figure.
In summary, let us say that the Synetic Vernal Point conceivably
could be wrong. But if it is, it is wrong by a hell of an amount and
not by just one or two degrees! Using the median amount of daily
motion of the Moon as the criterion for spacing, we have marked arrows
on the graph showing the contrasting positions of the angular cusps
(quadrants being successively superposed) for the synetic versus the
expectations from use of the Lahiri fiducial.
Note how closely the SVP Jupiter distribution peaks out near the
lines of the angular cusps themselves, with least frequency falling
just 45 degrees from the angles. If my faith in astrological verities
were in the least diminished proper to this knowledge, though of course
it wasn't these scientific facts would have restored it to full bloom.
How about you pumpers for other ayanamsas, with whom I now conclude my
first and last argument on this particular subject? Here's a faith
restorer. Help yourself.
* * * *
In the mid-70's in southern California, there was a strong
organization supporting teaching, registry, and publication of sidereal
materials called R.O.S.A., The Registry of Sidereal Astrologers. Due
to the untimely death of one of its founders and mainstays, it is no
longer operational. Below are excerpts from an essay by Gary Duncan, a
member of ROSA, both for its summation of the development of Sidereal
astrology and of Garth Allen's work on the SVP. Gary Duncan, now
deceased, was known to be a brilliant mathematician and worked for a
time at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasendena.
Gary Duncan, "Some Historical Notes," THE CONSTELLATIONS, 8/1975.
Sidereal astrology has evolved to its present state from the
pioneering efforts of a small group of which this author was
privileged to be a member. Although the general readership will
immediately recognize the names of Cyril Fagan and Donald Bradley
(Garth Allen), my name may not be as familiar. Anonymity was respected
at my request since, for reasons which will be made clear below, I did
not wish to have my name widely publicized. As the sole survivor of
the original trio, however, it is necessary to uncover certain facts
heretofore deliberately withheld from the public.
President of the Irish Astrological Society and a frequent
contributor to English and Indian astrological publications, Cyril
Fagan was better known to his European audience than to those of us in
the continental United States. Siderealists owe a heavy debt of
gratitude to a few Tropicalists for their efforts in introducing the
work of Fagan to the U.S. audience. It may come as a shock to many
Sidereal readers to learn that (of course) Fagan, Bradley and myself
were all strong Tropicalists before we were introduced to Sidereal
methods. It may come as a second jolt to learn that many of the
revered "names" among Tropical astrologers were instrumental in the
introduction and promotion of Sidereal techniques in this country.
We may begin with the efforts of Ernest Grant, founder and first
president of the American Federation of Astrologers (AFA), and later
its Executive Secretary. In the latter role, he served as the editor
of their monthly publication. It was through the mimeographed pages of
this communique that Ernest introduced the works of Cyril Fagan. One
such major work dealt with the recommended use of the Campanus division
of the sky into the familiar "houses" and with the simultaneous use of
the "mundoscope." This work made use of the term "domification" which
frightened away some of the small group that had managed to survive the
trigonometric formulae and examples.
But it was with Fagan's other major work that the efforts of Ernest
Grant are to be held in the highest esteem. Serving in his role as
Editor, Ernest published the "Incidents and Accidents of Astrology" by
Fagan as a monthly series introducing Sidereal astrology in 1947-8.
Grant did so under the most severe criticism (and threats of
"impeachment"). In the classic role of an editor he attempted to bring
new and interesting material to the eyes of his public, while holding
at bay a snarling and highly vocal constituency which clearly did not
wish to allow any publication efforts that might "rock the boat." On
more than one occasion he must have had to come to grips with strong
political and economical pressures which threatened the continuance of
his role with the AFA. But, Ernest survived all these pressures and
the American astrological community was exposed to the intensive,
evangelical writings of "that Irishman."
It was shortly before this time that Edna Scott (President of the
AFA) and Llewellyn George (then the "dean" of American astrologers) had
sponsored my membership into the AFA. Known to all of his friends as
"L.G." the efforts of the latter constitute a legend. As owner-
publisher of Llewellyn Publications, he was well known for his annual
publication, the Moon Sign Book, and for his Astrological Bulletina
(which changed its publication schedule several times during its
lifetime). Most students have his A to Z Horoscope Maker and
Delineator on their bookshelves, and a large number in the astrological
community have studied his various correspondence courses. It is to
L.G. that the second debt is due for the promotion of Sidereal methods.
When Llewellyn asked me to meet with Don Bradley, it represented a
clear departure both from his own rules and from the expressed wishes
of Bradley. L.G. had hired Don to help him with both the chores of an
editor for most of the publications which were issued from the
Llewellyn press, and to author a series of articles, pamphlets, and
major works under both his own name and under a number of pseudonyms.
Bradley was best known to his readership at that time for his periodic
writing on "Happenings in the U.S. Horoscope." A sheltered recluse, he
shunned public gatherings and avoided any and all visitors to his
home/office. Llewellyn not only respected this desire for privacy, he
strongly enforced it. Inquiries made through his publication office,
or directed to him personally at social gatherings, were routinely
(although always politely) declined to avoid any introduction with
Bradley. However, Llewellyn first suggested that he wished Bradley and
I to meet, stating that he felt it "essential" that our meeting take
place at the earliest opportunity.
Looking back with fond memories, my respect for the deep insight
which Llewellyn showed in dealing with intimate personal relations in
all those who called him friend, I am included to believe that he
arranged our first meeting with an uncanny preknowledge of the
subsequent events which would result from it. He was father to many,
friend to all. Less the commercial businessman than the patron to
those who might enrich the body of astrological knowledge, Llewellyn
served in all these roles in his relation to Don Bradley.
My meeting with Bradley stands as one of the events of importance in
both our lives; for from that first session, major changes in the
direction of our individual efforts as well as those of the
astrological community derive. We were both acquainted with the
efforts of Choisnard and Gauquelin (in French) and others on the
European continent who were attempting to use statistical methods to
establish certain astrological fundamentals. We both felt that the
attempts were inconclusive and lacked certain mathematical
sophistication. Although most interesting to astrologers, they were
not in a form acceptable to the scientific community. Bradley wished
to undertake some project which might present the astrological
viewpoint in an acceptable, definitive manner, and felt that some
statistical approach would best serve this end. My mathematical skills
included statistical methods and a cursory knowledge of Calculus,
although my physical age placed me at the Junior High School level.
Bradley was knowledgeable in the formulae of plane trigonometry and was
skilled i the use of the desk calculator, but was acquainted with
neither statistical methods nor the higher mathematics. Together we
set about formulating a plan which might serve as a model for later
work in the field of astrology.
A three-year effort culminated in the publication of Profession and
Birthdate, which gave a statistical analysis of the birthdates of 2492
ordained eminent clergymen taken from Who's Who in America. In the
Acknowledgments section of that volume, this author's contribution is
credited (under another name, Neil Block) for his "valuable
mathematical advice." Formulation of the mathematical model and the
method of deriving the probability tables was supplied by this writer,
while Bradley performed the data gathering, transcription, computation
of planetary positions, and the final data reductions.
The three-year effort which was required to complete this major work
taxed the patience of all parties concerned. Bradley copied each
birthdate onto a separate 3"x5" slip of paper, maintaining the lot in a
large cardboard box. Constant fear gripped us when anyone moved into
close proximity of "THE BOX," lest some accident should spoil the
project. This fear persisted until the last slip was written, the
dates were sorted to chronological sequence, and the aggregate was
copied into a bound record book--in preparation for the next step which
began the work with the ephemeris. During this lengthy interval,
several tests were applied which gave peculiar results and set the two
of us on our guard against making premature judgements regarding the
ultimate outcome of the experiment.
It came as somewhat of a shock, however, when the initial data
reduction of the solar longitudes showed no preference for the Tropical
signs of Sagittarius or Pisces. And, when the Chi-square test showed
that the Tropical coordinate system lacked the strength of several
other choices--although it was not as bad as still other choices would
be--we knew our thinking needed to be re-examined. Certainly the works
of Fagan were well-known to us both at that time. But it was not until
the statistical results of the clergymen study were known that Bradley
and I were faced with making a revolutionary change in our fundamental
methods. Up to that time, we had accepted the writings of Fagan as
"just more Hindu astrology." Our Indian friends may now smile at that
offhand dismissal, but should realize that the lack of sufficient
mathematical rigor in Hindu methods lies at its root. Although our
correspondence with Fagan had already established a close bond between
the three of us, it was (up to that time) limited mostly to the
historical foundations of our science and to the attempts to decode
certain Egyptian hieroglyphics which resisted investigation.
If the name of Cyril Fagan were never remembered for his
astrological contributions, he still deserves universal acknowledgment
as one of the greatest detectives of two millennia. His discovery, on
1949 May 14, of the true meaning of the EXALTATION degrees of the
planets ranks as one of the most exciting discoveries of this century.
Even Claudius Ptolemy was unable to give a plausible explanation as to
why the planets were said to be "exalted" in specific degrees of the
zodiac. Fagan was able to show that in the year B.C. 786 THE PLANETS
OCCUPIED THEIR STATED POSITIONS-- WITHIN ONE DEGREE--EITHER AT THE
BEGINNING OF THE FIRST MONTH OF THAT YEAR, OR ON THE DATES WHEN THE
RESPECTIVE PLANET BECAME A MORNING OR EVENING STAR. This discovery was
initially based on the assignment of the star Spica (Alpha Virginis) to
the value Libra 0d 00'00" in a non-rotating (fixed) coordinate system,
but forced a later revision of this position to Virgo 29d 00'00". It
ha subsequently been revised by Bradley to a value independent of the
bright star Spica, and is currently known as the SVP (Synetic Vernal
Point). For Fagan's monumental detective work in the discovery of the
true meaning of the Exaltations (Hypsoma in Greek), on two occasions
prior to Fagan's demise this author requested that the AFA honor this
man with some kind of special citation. Fagan had already received the
highest award the AFA has to bestow--he was named a "fellow" of the
AFA--but it seemed appropriate to this writer that he should be cited
for this special contribution, without regard for its implications on
behalf of the Sidereal viewpoint. On both occasions, the matter was
postponed, and Cyril died without receiving the praise rightfully due
him not only from the astrological world, but also from works in
ancient literature and Egyptology.
In view of the mounting historical evidence piled on us by the
public and private writings of Cyril Fagan, and by his most convincing
articles advocating the use of the Solar and Lunar Returns as reliable
predictive tools, Bradley and I had reached a point where the selection
between the use of the popular rotating coordinate system (Tropical) or
some non-rotating coordinate system was rapidly nearing a critical
point. When the clergymen study showed that the Tropical system was
not satisfactory, we were faced with a choice which could no longer be
postponed, and which taxed our sincerity as scientific investigators.
We had carefully analyzed a sufficient sample to clearly answer the
question using acceptable statistical methods. The results were not as
had been expected. As scientists, we were obliged to discard less
satisfactory methods (the Tropical frame) in favor of techniques which
were unfamiliar but which had demonstrated a definite superiority to
their standard Tropical counterparts.
It was, therefore, with some reluctance that these findings were
brought to the attention of Llewellyn George--whose financial support
had paid for all of Bradley's work during the three-year effort. Let
the reader mark well my next statement. Considering that Llewellyn's
entire publication efforts had been based on the promotion of Tropical
astrology (especially his successful annual Moon Sign Book), and that
nearly a lifetime had been dedicated to the promotion of Tropical
astrology, it must have come as a grave shock to realize that his own
efforts had given birth to a movement which might erode the very
cornerstone of his business, which might overhaul his beloved science
of astrology to such an extent that it might emerge as a totally
unfamiliar discipline.
Still, the warm-hearted, generous man he was would not permit such
personal disaster to stand in the way of scientific progress. So,
investing his personal funds, rather than those of his publishing firm,
he financed three publications as the initial efforts of the Llewellyn
Foundation for Astrological Research, in which Bradley was entitled as
its Research Director. These publications were: #1, Professions and
Birthdate (Bradley); #2 Zodiacs Old and New (Fagan); and #3 Solar and
Lunar Returns (Bradley).
At this point, a word should be said concerning the second and third
publications of the Llewellyn Foundation, and about that organization
itself. It was at the urging of Bradley and myself that Llewellyn
agreed to undertake the publication of Fagan's Zodiacs Old and New.
(It was also published in London by Anscombe.) The third document,
Solar and Lunar Returns by Bradley, was offered to serve as a
complement for the other two. Thus, the first established a
statistical groundwork, the second revealed the historical evidence,
and the third served as a practical "cook-book" for the use of Sidereal
techniques. The Forward by Llewellyn George in Solar and lunar Returns
merits reading by all students of astrology.
[The Forward begins with the quote: "To stop short in any research
that bids fair to widen the gates of knowledge, to recoil from fear of
difficulty or adverse criticism, is to bring reproach upon science." -
-Sir William Crooks]
When the 1950 National Convention of the American Federation of
Astrologers was held at the Hotel Biltmore in Los Angeles, Llewellyn
George forcibly brought to the attention of the entire astrological
world the upsetting evidence of these new discoveries with the joint
publication of the above three documents. From the podium, he
admonished his audience concerning his own "conversion" to Sidereal
methods, directing them to do likewise, and suggesting that those
interested in conversing on the subject might do so with Bradley and
this author who were available in the lobby of the hotel at the
Llewellyn book counter--where they might also examine the three major
documents which represented the first publication efforts of the
Llewellyn Foundation for Astrological Research.
That the astrological world failed to heed this sage advice from
their dean is a well-known fact, although the scientific community and
the younger members of the astrological fraternity seem to be
increasingly aware of the superiority of Sidereal methods.
Unfortunately, the presence of that lovable old man was taken from us
shortly thereafter. His wife, known to only a very few, had been
confined to her home as an invalid for many years. Her condition
worsened and became critical. After her death, Llewellyn's health
seemed to gradually diminish. He fought back with a tenacity that
pervaded his entire life, but eventually passed onto his eternal
reward. He died not a rich man in the sense of physical wealth, but
the legacy he left through hs contributions in the field of astrology
will never be forgotten. Among the riches we all share are not only
his own writings, but the writings of many others; without the personal
encouragement and financial support of Llewellyn George much of the
work now treasured by both Tropical and Sidereal astrologers alike
might never have seen publication. Remember, all this was done by a
man acknowledged by his peers as the unchallenged leader of Tropical
astrology.
We must, of course, recognize the contributions of James Hynes who
provided Fagan with numerous mathematical tables and computations to
assist in the calculation of ancient horoscopes. It is not known at
this writing just when Hynes first became associated with Fagan, or
made his first contributions. Perhaps some of our English friends can
supply us with historical information. Likewise, the efforts of Rupert
Gleadow are not known in correct historical sequence. We would greatly
appreciative of any knowldege received on this matter.
When scientific minds gather together, the exchanged of ideas is not
always without pain. Sharp disagreements separated the views of Fagan
and Gleadow cncerning the origin of the earliest astrological sources.
Gleadow presented powerful historical evidence to support his thesis
that sources other than Egyptian were responsible fo much that Fagan
credited to the astrologers of the lands of the pyramids. Fagan argued
that only in Egypt could the naming of the constellations coincide with
the appearance of the Full Moon in synchronism with the annual rise and
fall of the Nile River. To the mind of this author, Fagan's evidence
is over-whelming on this point--in spite of the fact that virtually no
historical records exist which serve to credit the antiquity of the
naming of the constellatons to the Egyptian camp. The movement of a
certain astrological library from the capitol city to the new
astrological temple (university) of Nineva was another point of
disagreement between these two men. Gleadow's education at Winchester
and at Trinity College, Oxford, demands that his views be given a
careful and ocnsiderate audience. He writes with the authority of a
men well-versed in his field, and as one whose arguments are fortified
with sound reason and physical evidence.
Many of these views will not be likely settled without our lifetime.
But the healthy--even heated--exchange of ideas serves to enrich our
science. Ideally the arguments are advanced by each side in defense or
opposition to a viewpoint taken by another, and ideally the battles are
not directed against the personality of an individual. Thus, within
the scientific community, its members must "agree to disagree
peacefully," without personal attacks. In such a spirit, the rough
edges are honed from preliminary theories, and the establishment of
fundamental scientific principles emerges.
During my early years in association with Bradley, numerous
technical considerations came under close scrutiny. The use of the
mundoscope (an integral part of the Campanus house system) was tried in
a variety of applications, including rectification. My first
computation of a complete Campanus tables of house (from equator to
pole) was performed by hand calcuation, using a table of logarithms,
during 1948. Later efforts yielded over six different forms of the
Campanus tables for our common use; these computations were performed
on electronic computers.
My efforts were directed to the use of digital computers as the
means for solving the future needs of astrologers, both for
computations and research efforts. Bradley geared his efforts to the
improvement of the delineative art. We jointly studied many possible
coordinate schemes which might ultimately serve as an improvement to
those then (and now) in use. There was the choice of a fundamental
starting point along the ecliptic circle, if one choose to use this
circle as the fundamental plane of reference.
But we considered other planes of reference. The so-called
Invariable Plane of the Solar System, which is determined by the total
angular momentum vector of all the planets, comets, and other moving
bodies within our Solar System. It differs from the ecliptic by only a
few degrees. Also studied was the possible use of the Galactic Plane
(the plane of our own Milky Way galaxy). Extensive counts of stars and
graphs of same by groupings according to their visual magnitudes were
performed, with the aid of my computer programs. These investigations
were undertaken in an attempt to determine a reason for the particular
choice of the origin of the Sidereal zodiac which had its roots in some
kind of physical phenomenon. We both agreed that the ecliptic plane
represented a reasonable choice, and that some determination of the
"best" fiducial point could be made--once the proper experiment was
defined. We reasoned that the final determination would likely be one
which was not dependent upon a particular star (then Spica was the
official marking star), but which would probably represent some kind of
"average" based on all the stars, or at least on those near the
ecliptic or galactic planes.
...
There may be those who will not understand my desire to maintain a
position of "silent partner" during those early days. I ask them to
consider the case of Hugh Rice, the astronomer, who made material
contribution to the computational art within astrology. For many years
he supplied American Astrology Magazine with extensive computations
giving ephemeris calculations , an aspectarian, and a Placidian table
of houses. He was hounded to his death (literally) by relentless
efforts of his astronomical associates who first sought to have him
discharged from his employment with the planetarium and attempted his
ouster with national and international scientific organizations. His
ultimate death was a direct result mounted by his peer group. Attempts
to change his name on the American Astrology Tables of Houses and with
American Astrology to obvious variations of his given name only met
with increased pressure. He had given Bradley much special attention
in acquainting him with some of the techniques used in solving
transcendental equations (required for the Placidian house system and
in sub-tabulation techniques). These methods were especially important
during this period, as all our calculations were then performed with
desk calculators.
My own work carried me into the field of Computer Sciences,
specializing in the branch of astronomy known as Celestial Mechanics.
By developing the computer programs which permitted the positions of
the Sun, Moon, and planets to be computed for any specified date, this
writer became responsible for the fundamental ephemerides used by all
NASA agencies. For many years, the "nautical almanacs" issued by the
governments of the major powers did and will use the computer programs
written by this author, or later improvements based on them. The
Synodic Ephemeris used by Bradley and his co-workers on the rainfall
research was supplied by me. Only a few of Bradley's associates knew
of its source.
From 1949 until 1951, Sidereal classes were given by this author at
various locations in Los Angels, usually in private homes. In 1948 the
first use of IBM equipment was employed by this writer for astrological
calculations. In 1951, the first computation of an aspectarian (for
The Astrological Bulletina) was performed in San Bernardino using IBM
machines. In 1953, the first Sidereal calculations were executed in
Santa Monica when this writer computed the first personal aspectarians
and all the moments of Solar and Lunar Returns for Bradley, Fagan and
himself. Other efforts included the computation of New and Full Moon
charts for the period 1962-1970 as a gift for the AFA. Numerous
computer experiments were performed leading to the development of
sophisticated programs which permit the computation of ephemerides or
single chart calculations for any time and place, and for the
statistical reduction of massive astrological studies.
The 1953 JULY issue of American Astrology carried the firs article
of the series entitled "Solunars" by Cyril Fagan. This series
persisted until his death on 1970 JAN 04. Again the efforts of one
with heavy investments in Tropical astrology to present controversial
material were met with loud cries from their supporters. Threats to
cancel subscriptions greeted Joanne Clancy, the editor of American
Astrology, when she elected to publish Fagan's work. The heavy
investment and dedication of many years of her husband, Paul Clancy,
and of her own toil were at stake. But, some kind of electricity
accompanied this publication. A growing readership rallied to support
her bold venture, and a spark of new life was breathed into the
astrological readership. While sample delineations of Mrs. Clancy's
chart served to acquaint both the readership and the editor of that
leading astrological publication, the space also permitted the
presentation of multitude of sample charts (largely Solar and Lunar
Returns) and offered a medium for the presentation of some of the more
advanced topics which had commanded the attention of leading Sidereal
astrologers in their mutual correspondence. The readers were exposed
to a variety of charts including converse and direct, Kinetic, Anlunar,
Quarti- and Demi-lunars, and Quarti- and Demi-solars, and a wide
variety of progression methods of these and other charts. The
presentation of variations on Quotidians used both mean and apparent
rates. We are all in Joanne's debt for her steadfast support of both
Fagan's and Bradley's work.
The close alliance of Cyril Fagan and Brigadier Roy Firebrace saw
the publication of a series of booklets under their names and was
accompanied with the publication of the first Sidereal quarterly,
SPICA. Mary Austin served this effort in more ways than may ever be
fully known, and many publications under the "Moray Series" label have
felt the help of her gentle hand. Perhaps some of our English friends
will be kind enough to fill us in with some of the history of this
particular period.
With the death of Llewellyn George, the dream that the Llewellyn
Foundation for Astrological Research would evolve into a viable entity
vanished. No strong financial arrangements had been made for its
continuance, and Bradley, Fagan, and this writer were the only original
members of the group who remained. Without adequate funding, no means
were available to pursue the original goals. Bradley moved to New York
and wrote for American Astrology.
The opportunity to work on a meteorology project under a grant from
the National Science Foundation brought him to the campus of New York
University. While his research into rainfall data was published under
the name of Bradley, his writings for American Astrology were
delighting readers under the name of Garth Allen. The untimely death
of the professor charged with the administration of funds for the NSF
grant caused the rainfall project to lose its major investigator,
Donald Bradley. Lacking the "union ticket" of a formal degree of any
kind, Don was unable to assume the role of administrator of funding for
a continuance of the project. We may give thanks that Albert Einstein
was not similarly treated for his inability to pass high school
mathematics examinations!
The most productive periods in Don's life, as well as my own, have
seemingly occurred when we were both under the greatest strain. It was
during one such "down" period of Bradley that I urged him to begin this
writing of some kind of booklet which set forth the principles of depth
psychology as applied to astrology. For many years, we had discussed
the writings of Freud, Jung, and others and had long felt the need that
many of these basic principles be introduced into the basic
astrological literature. The deep, penetrating powers which Bradley
brought to this topic and his gift with the English language made him
the only logical candidate to write this material. The result was
published as the "Taking the Kid Gloves Off Astrology" series on the
planets in American Astrology. Later attempts to interest him in
completing this series to include sections of the Sun and Moon were to
no avail. He began several times to formulate the general approach
which he might use; but unless this material was preserved among his
papers, his notes on the subject may never be published.
While Bradley worked on the east coast, this writer moved to the
Pasadena area in California. An article appeared in the "Many Things"
section of American Astrology, requesting persons interested in forming
a Sidereal astrologers' study group to contact Richard Adler in Los
Angeles. Upon doing so, the group asked me to serve as their teacher
and we began to hold sessions at the YWCA in Pasadena. Members of that
group included Gene Lockhart and Phyllis Kneip. We became known as the
Sidereal Astrologers' Guild. After nearly a year's stay at the
Pasadena location, the group moved to anew facility provided by Phyllis
Kneip in Hollywood. After this the writer moved to St. Paul; Phyllis
continued the efforts which is now know as the Sidereal School of
Astrology. John Mazurek established a Sidereal School of Astrology in
San Francisco in 1965 and has been teaching continuously since that
date.
Many readers of the Moon Sign Book during 1965-66 did not realize
that this Tropical publication contained many maps of the world and
U.S. which were based on Sidereal methods. As editor during this
period, I was able to make use of certain geodetic mappings based on
the CAPsolar and CAPlunar Sidereal charts. Garth Allen first displayed
the method which had been developed by the two of us during the years
when he lived in Long Beach, and during our frequent telephone
conversations since those days. The early efforts had suffered from
the lack of a suitable predictive chart to use for mundane predictions.
Discovery of the importance of the CAPsolar and CAPlunar charts closed
that gap; it remained only for us to apply the geodetic mapping
technique developed earlier. Readers may find it interesting to
procure a copy of the 1966 Moon Sign Book to view these charts which
were not only computed using an electronic computer, but were drawn
entirely under computer control maps and planetary lines included.
Bradley and I did not agree on all matters. One topic which served
to bedevil us still, and which looms as a nasty spectre over the most
recent determination of the SVP, is concerned with the use of
geocentric latitude versus geographic latitude. Bradley chose to use
the former for reasons which were, to this author, totally unjustified.
unfortunately, the evidence and logic support the use of geographic
latitude, in my opinion. The ramification of this statement may not be
immediately apparent to the reader.
Final determination of the value assigned to the SVP, or Synetic
Vernal Point (for the epoch 1950.0) rests in the use of certain mundane
charts, the progressions of same, and upon their erection for specific
locations upon the surface of the Earth. In several critical areas,
planetary positions near the horizon are used and the chart "rectified"
by adjusting the value of the SVP in order to bring about exact
conjunction with the desired angle. The reader will appreciate that
several factors will affect this calculation. The specific value for
the terrestrial latitude was used--whether or not parallax factors were
used, whether height above or below sea level was considered both for
parallax effects and for "dip" of the horizon, whether refraction of
light due to the Earth's atmosphere was considered, and whether light-
time aberrations was included. Most of these effects were ignored. If
any or all are included the value assigned to the SVP will be
immediately affected. It remains for future generations to re-examine
the calculations leading to the determination of the SVP in light of
these considerations and to formulate and additional experiments which
may be necessary to make further refinements in this area....
Since the early work on the 2492 clergymen, no less than 49 other
statistical studies have been performed for most of which this writer
was the principle member of the team which collected the data, or
guided the actions of other groups, or served to perform all
computations and statistical reductions. The smaller studies have been
reported in the pages of SPICA or American Astrology. Several large
studies have not yet been published. This author's studies of 6281
professional baseball players and 8928 U.S. congressmen represent two
such efforts, the latter being the largest statistical study yet
undertaken. Readers who wish to avail themselves of the published
results of these studies are advised that they will be released by the
Duncan Foundation for Astrological Research. It is of fundamental
importance that Sidereal astrologers acquaint themselves with such
statistical material, as the collection constitutes the only basis for
comparisons between the Tropical, Sidereal, and other systems. Only by
such means are we able to improve our knowledge regarding the
individual planetary effects....
* * * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Unveiling a New Tool
[INGRESS] "Unveiling a New Tool - Entering a New Era in Mundane
Forecasting." THE CAPRICORN SUN AND MOON INGRESS. Garth Allen's (May,
June, July 1957 in American Astrology) report on his early
research with solar and lunar Ingress charts in the cardinal
constellations, which led to his discovery of the SVP or Synetic Vernal
Point correction of 6'5" to the fiducial SPICA in 29 Virgo, and which
also led to his concept of the APEX. Choice description of the
application of Solar and Lunar Ingress charts to great calamities as
earthquakes, fires, explosions, accidents, shipwrecks, etc. showing the
efficacy of CAPRICORN Ingresses above the others. Allen's uncanny 1957
speculations became demonstrated S.O.P. - viz, on planets' cadency from
the angles as limiting their effect and/or planets' mundane proximity
to locality angles as intensifying. At the end, note his thoughtful
suggestions for the application of CAPsolar & CAPlunar Ingresses to
personal return charts and further research, and for what became
AstroCartoGraphy.
* * * *
Garth Allen's UNVEILING A NEW TOOL, 5/1957, A.A.
..Entering a New Era in Mundane Forecasting..
"One question that must occur is that if the revolutions should be
worked for the sidereal zodiac, so ought ingresses. That is to say,
one should take the time that the Sun enters the cardinal constella-
tions, instead of its entry into the signs. But the usual ingresses
have proved themselves, time and again, to be valid, and it must remain
for the advocates of the sidereal zodiac to demonstrate that theirs are
better. Such a demonstration would, to my mind, be more conclusive
than many personal returns, because the times of the ingresses and the
subsequent events are on record. If these new ingresses are better,
then the sooner this is proved and acknowledged, the happier it will be
for all of us."
--Charles E. O. Carter, Editorial, "Astrology," Autumn 1949.
In the years since England's finest astrological mind penned the
particular editorial from which we quote, the question he raised has
been gnawing away at our intellectual vitals. His proposition was so
fairly stated that the subject of Mundane Astrology has become almost a
gadfly to advocates of the sidereal zodiac....
We knew intuitively that Carter must be right because the
superiority of the personal sidereal revolutions has been established
by comparative statistics of such caliber that some advocates of the
tropical zodiac have been citing this same material to scientific
outsiders as proof that astrology in general is now on a scientific
footing and easily provable. We were convinced of the rightness of his
idea, that is, but confess to having done little or nothing about it
until recently. The purely individual branch of inquiry has kept us so
adventurously preoccupied, we kept postponing the investigation in the
hope that some "George" somewhere would do it. We finally decided to
take up the gauntlet ourselves and see if there really was gold in
"them thar starfields" from the Mundane point of view. It wasn't
wholly a blind plunge into unfamiliar terrain, as we had often made
notes among these lines which indicted where to stat the search for a
workable sidereal approach to Mundane interpretation--if there was one.
Quite naturally, the ingresses were our primary concern, and our
notes regularly pointed out a peculiar sensitivity of the 23rd and 24th
degrees of the signs, or, simply, the areas known to contain the
dividing lines between the constellations. The best example we
observed was the fact that Mars was stationary around the 24th degree
of the sign Capricorn during much of August 1939. using the longitude
of the vernal point with the star Spica as fiducial, which is the best
determinant of the zodiac's confines in popular use to date, we were
impressed by a striking relationship between the moon and Mars in the
four "cardinal ingresses" during the lunar month climaxed by the
outbreak of World War II.
On August 6, 1939, the Moon and Mars were square by 1d3' at the time
of the Moon's entry into sidereal Aries, a la the Spica-based zodiac.
A week later on August 13th, the Moon and Mars were in opposition by
0d42' during the Cancer incursion. On August 19th, only 0d05'
separated a perfect square of the moon and Mars at the time of the
lunar passage into Libra. To cap the series, on August 26th when the
Moon entered Capricorn, the Moon and Mars were only 0d02' from a
partile conjunction on the threshold of the constellation that is the
exaltation of the god of war. Before this final lunar week was over,
World War II had flared into grim reality! To our knowledge a similar
series with comparable war potential has not occurred in modern times.
But even this astonishing situation is not the whole story inasmuch as
there had been a conjunction of the Moon and Mars within a degree of
being exact at the time of the Sun's ingress of sidereal Capricorn
earlier that year. And when one realizes that in the sidereal Cancer
ingress, taking place in July 1939, there was a close opposition of the
Moon and Mars, the picture becomes fabulous, to rework that lately
overworked adjective.
The standard Aries Ingress of 1939 also contained a remarkable war-
potential, inasmuch as Mars was only 0d07' from a perfect square of the
Sun, with the Moon close enough to the Sun to further spark the
configuration. The 1939 Vernal Equinox has always been the touchstone
of our personal belief in the validity of charts cast for crossings of
the colures. The reader will notice that our published "sidereal world
forecasts" in the past have been based simply on a siderealized version
of the same charts used by tropical astrologers. A new era in Mundane
forecasting is now dawning for all with the putting to use of the new
tool being unveiled in this report.
Research projects of various sorts along with other lines than the
Mundane very clearly supported Cyril Fagan's contention that the zodiac
with Spica marking Virgo 29 degrees was correct or so very nearly the
truth that it seemed futile to entertain other suggested frameworks.
If Spica does not designate precisely 29d00'00" of Virgo, it is obvious
that Spica does fall within a fraction of a degree of that point. But
an even more certain certainty is the physical impossibility that the
apparent body of any particular star can literally represent any
universal zero-point. Individual stars are practical reference points
and can be used as proxies for cosmic division, but not single heavenly
body can have absolutely no proper motion and retain zero latitude for
all time. Still, such bright stars as those used by astrology's
originators are found to be such handy markers in the sky that modern
students have no alternative than to adopt the Spica fiducial as a
tentative standard for all practical purposes. Meanwhile, our private
conviction had been that it might be generations before an improvement
of this value could be expected, if--and this was a big if--the idea of
a purely sidereal based Mundane Astrology turned out to be just wishful
thinking. The refinement was inevitable, the facts at hand insisted,
but it would probably not be made within our lifetime. Not unless...
not unless the sidereal ingresses did turn out to be 'radical" moments.
Random experiments with the solar ingresses in terms of the vernal
point ordinarily used, however, got us nowhere. The aspects seemed
fitting, but the cuspal contacts which logic demanded exist just didn't
exist. Later on in our search the reason for this cleared up, for an
adjustment of about two and a half hours solved the problem. This
adjustment was not arrived at though, by tinkering with the solar
charts. It was through study of the LUNAR INGRESSES that we found the
answer, and the puzzle of the solars automatically solved itself!
SIX MINUTES--TO A MIRACLE!
Following the course suggested by our notebook with such situations
as those Moon-Mars patterns in the 1939 skies and using the Spica
fiducial for lack of anything better to work with, it took only a few
sample mundane charts--the Moon's cardinal ingresses for various
historic events--to prove that Carter's "so ought ingresses" was truly
an accurate guess if not psychic foresight. To shorten a long story,
we found that the Moon's entries into the cardinal constellations
(Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn) produced charts which were often
uncanny in their symbolic description of mundane affairs of the periods
and places for which they were calculated. After having accumulated
quite a batch of experimental lunar ingress maps for momentous events
of every kind ranging from tornadoes to assassinations, from
conflagrations to royal weddings, we could see that only a minor
displacement of a few minutes of arc in the Moon's longitude would
yield awesomely perfect angular contracts in many cases and improved
the "symbolic pictures" in many other instances.
The ingresses with Spica at 29d00' Virgo seemed to be occurring a
few minutes of time later than they should be. They were highly
appropriate but the appropriateness could be improved upon. The charts
as they stood were a "good fit" and not at all annoying like the Sun's
cardinal ingresses, which were decidedly out of kilter when it came to
the all important matter of cuspal contacts. We had so many lunar
charts suggesting that they needed only slight amendment, however, that
the sensible procedure was to determine what particular position of the
Moon would eliminate the bulk of the minor displacements that were
evident. This correction, clearly, would give us a starting point for
tacking the more intricate problem of the solars. A correction was
readily arrived at; all we had to do was push the Moon back about six
minutes of arc, and behold, the shoe immediately fitted. We've worn it
comfortably ever since.
The Moon's contact of 29d54' of the mutable constellations of the
Spica defined zodiac, therefore, represents the Moon's contact with
0d00' of the cardinal constellations of the genuine sidereal zodiac.
This is now so certain that the discovery means that, probably for the
first time in the history of man, we know where the Creator's zodiac
has its natural divisions. The clincher in making this discovery was
the remarkable similarity between the lunar Capricorn ingresses
covering the dates and places of the two most devastating volcanic
eruptions of modern times. In fact, even before the statistical
averaging was called for, our original choice of 29d54' as the true
reference point resulted from two simple calculations which deserve
description here.
The Krakatau eruption, at Lat. 6s10, Long. 105e26, on August 27,
1883, 3:00 A.M., GMT, claimed at least 30,000 lives. On the date of
the Moon's Capricorn ingress prior to the catastrophe Saturn was on the
Ascendant 'in mundo' of the volcano when the sidereal time was
10:21:08, which equates to 5:42:17 A.M., GMT, on August 16, 1883. At
this moment the Moon was 23d07' of the tropical sign Capricorn. In
terms of Fagan's Spica based zodiac, the vernal point was 6d47' Pisces,
so the equivalent position of the Moon was 29d54' of the constellation
Sagittarius.
Though its destructive perimeter was smaller, the eruption of Mount
Pelee on May 8, 1902 took as great, if not a great toll, of lives than
the Krakatau explosion. The monstrous blast took place when it was
11:57 A.M. at Greenwich, and six minutes later more than 30,000
residents of St. Pierre, Martinique, were dead. At 14d51 North and
61d10' West, Saturn was in exact mundo conjunction with the Ascendant
as a sidereal time of 1:36:28, when it was 3:14:34 P.M. in Greenwich on
April 29, 1902. The Moon at this moment was 23d23' of the tropical
sign Capricorn. Since the vernal point was then 6d31' Pisces, this
means that the Moon was at 29d54' Sagittarius--in exact agreement with
the Krakatau case for an identical astronomical circumstance! Needless
to say, similar checks made averaged out to the same reference point--
progressively different in terms of tropical longitude but consistently
within a minute or so of 29d54' when the Spica based equivalents were
found.
A refinement of the new-found value, to seconds of arc, is
necessary, inasmuch as the moment of the solar ingress is shifted about
a half-minute of time for every difference of one second of arc....
Angular cusps of the solar ingresses are very solar ingresses are very
sensitive to malefic transits, as witness their synchronization with
tragic happenings. Following this cue to correct our charts,
tentatively cast for 29d54'00" pending refinement, we found from
inspect of ephemeris positions for the hours of 27 major catastrophes
of the past that an average displacement of ten minutes of time would
yield the desired correction. But when it became conspicuous that the
dating of events was a matter of progression via the "Quotidian rate,"
we were provided with a means to pinpoint exact sidereal times. This
process soon led to the realization that only a two-minute difference
sufficed. In other words, only a 5' correction of the 29d54'00" value
was called for. Further research may alter this correction slightly
but until statistics split this astronomical hair for us, we are
settling on a vernal point increased by 0d06'05" over the Spica one.
We have a list of the times of all Capricorn ingresses back to 1820,
based on this determination and hope to make it available to all
interested. As critical times are all-important, most students and
tropical fans will no doubt wish to study these same data in a more
familiar zodiacal backdrop. By rights, all mundane charts should be
cast in the form of "mundoscopes," and the question of zodiacs does not
impinge upon mundoscopy--fortunately for all of us!
STEPPING UP AND OVERLAPPING
Early in our evaluations of a wide variety of charts we had noticed
a persistent tendency for the Capricorn and Cancer lunar ingresses to
carry more weight than the Aries and Libra charts. Getting down to
brass tactics on this one, we decided to calculate the four preceding
ingresses for each date and place at which something of great moment
had occurred. This confirmed the suspicion that the Capricorn and
Cancer charts were stronger than the other two. Then a process of
separation proved that the Capricorn charts had it all over the Cancer
charts, implying that the Capricorn charts were comparable in their
impact with personal "conjunction lunar returns," the Cancer charts
seeming to act like demi-lunar returns. As we shall see, this rule
holds true for the solar ingresses, too, in which the Capricorn ingress
stands out as a "master chart" for the whole year. It is as though the
other ingresses are clinchers and timers, helping to narrow down the
periods in which a series of stresses are most likely to precipitate as
the event itself. Moreover, the cusps of the Capricorn charts are
painfully sensitive to subsequent transits, often dating exactly the
major event of the period in question. A rough rule we have devised to
accord with the facts as we have found them is that there is a 4-1-2-1
ration involved in estimating the power of the four cardinal points,
Capricorn being twice as strong as Cancer and Cancer being about twice
as significant as Aries and Libra.
Although weekly "stepping up" is characteristic of lunars, as
witness the August 1939 series, do not get the impression that a single
chart for a given week is not wholly self-contained, for there is
sufficient proof that each wheel is radical in itself. Our mass of
data suggests that it is always worth-while, in fact, advisable, to
study a given event in the light of the "chain of charts" leading up to
it, with emphasis on the Capricorn and Cancer charts, in that order.
Still, the immediate lunar is usually so lucid, alone considered, that
prior links in the chain may be thought of as auxiliaries or backdrops.
To illustrate our point, we drew up all the pertinent ingresses for the
126 worst coal mine disasters in U.S. history, using a list published
by the government's Bureau of Mines. Even though about half of these
occurred in weeks covered by lunar entries into Aries and Libra, there
was a special "badness" about the preceding Capricorn and Cancer
charts. Nevertheless, and this we want to emphasize, those mine
disasters occurring after Aries and Libra ingresses hold their own,
chartwise, without need for a supporting Capricorn or Cancer pattern.
Using just the preceding lunar ingress, no matter which cardinal
point happened to be involved, a simple tally shows that 14 of the 126
mine disasters occurred with Saturn within 1d 40' of an angular cusp,
by straight ecliptic reckoning. This means that if astrological
influences are a grand delusion, according to probability theory there
should be 4.71, or close to 5, rather than 14 of the 126 charts with
Saturn so precariously mounted in the wheels. Since the standard
deviation is 2.13 and the excess over mean expectancy is 9.29, the test
ratio amounts to a boisterous 4.36, much too big to be dismissed as a
mere coincidence. Scientifically, a ratio only half this size would be
enough to give a skeptic pause, since a ratio of 3.89 marks the 10,000
to 1 level of significance while 4.42 means that the odds are 100,000
to 1 against chance being an explanation for the high number. As our
actual ratio is very close to the 100,000 to 1 level, it is safe to
declare that the weekly Moon charts are radical in themselves. For the
record, with this article is a list of the dates and places of the 14
mine disasters for which Saturn was within a hundred minutes or arc of
an angular cusp at the moment of the Moon's last preceding entry into a
cardinal constellation. Note that the list includes the worst mine
disaster in American history, that of the Monongah, West Virginia
tragedy which snuffed out 361 lives.
Lunar Ingresses and 14 Coal Mine Disasters
Event Date Mine Site Deaths Ingress Saturn's Position
5-23-1899 Cumnock, N.C. 39 Libra 1d 15' West of M.C.
5-27-1901 Dayton, Tenn. 20 Cancer 0d 04' Below ASC.
7-10-1902 Johnstown, Pa. 112 Cancer 0d 46' West of M.C.
2-20-1905 Virginia City, Ala. 108 Cancer 1d 35' East of I.C.
3-18-1905 Red Ash, Va. 24 Cancer 0d 33' West of M.C.
1-4-1906 Coaldale, W. Va. 22 Aries 1d 26' Below ASC.
1-29-1907 Stuart, Va. 84 Cancer 1d 30' East of I.C.
12-1-1907 Fayette City, Pa. 34 Libra 0d 56' East of M.C.
12-6-1907 Monongah, W. Va. 361 Libra 1d 21' East of M.C.
1-10-1909 Ziegler, Ill. 26 Cancer 0d 42' Under DESC.
3-20-1912 McCurtain, Okla. 73 Aries 1d 26' West of M.C.
3-28-1924 Yukon, W. Va. 24 Capricrn 0d 47' Above ASC.
3-16-1940 St. Clairsville, O. 72 Aries 0d 40' Above DESC.
12-26-1945 Pineville, Ky. 24 Cancer 1d 40' Below ASC.
A HISTORY OF "WORSTS"
The most "surefire" way to prove or disprove the worth of any
proposed system is to test it by means of the most outstanding events
in given categories. One has only to compute the ingress figures for
such whopping big events as the Halifax explosion, the Texas City
disaster, the Chicago fire and the San Francisco catastrophe, to
appreciate the clarity and unassailability of the sidereal system.
Even more conclusive than single examples, of course, are groups of
charts having something in common, such as a series we have compiled on
the 40 worst railroad wrecks in our nation's history, or another, that
of the most tragic fires on record. The marvel of the sidereal
approach is the manner in which the basic precepts of astrology are
shown in operation at full throttle. The basic precepts to which we
refer are the predominance of the angular cusps and the fidelity of
planetary natures--precepts all but forgotten nowadays in this era of
grab bag delineations where anything goes in the way of acceptable
explanations as long as it sounds astrological. By fidelity is meant
symbolic appropriateness of the astrological patterns. It is not
enough to point out the numerous bad aspects involved in a situation,
for astrology rises or falls with the fitness of the symbolism
entailed. The planetary design in a chart must jibe with the event,
else the interpretive frame of reference is not a valid one. In actual
practice, the play of malefics typifies unfortunate events of any kind
and the exercising of the benefics is typical of welcome developments,
so the arenas of planetary action are really quite simple to identify.
The limitation on space for illustrations is always a problem for a
writer with a passion to teach and it has been a tough decision to
select just four lunar ingresses to use as eye-catchers in this
particular articles. "Historical worsts" are clearly our best bets, so
we will by-pass examples of happier events even though it is a
temptation to exhibit such superb charts as the Capricorn entry of
November 9, 1918, 7:36 P.M. GMT, which draped Jupiter, trine the sun
and Venus, across the horizon of the Western Front.
Terminology is also a problem, so for the sake of brevity and easy
identification we are calling the various lunar ingresses by quickly
understood names, i.e., "Arilunar" for the Aries ingress, "Canlunar"
for the Cancer one, and then "Liblunar" and "Caplunar." When we treat
the more overriding solar ingresses, the same labeling device will come
into use, the charts being called the "Arisolar," the "Cansolar," the
"Libsolar" and the "Capsolar." then there is the confusion regarding
which reckoning of the vernal point is being referred to. So for the
time being we wish to call the "new" and true vernal point by the
qualifying term 'synetic' to distinguish it from the Spica based value
in current use. The word synetic has a flavor which hints grandly of
the 'togetherness' which is the very essence of astrology. The synetic
vernal point has the distinction of being the only one discovered and
established exclusively through observational methods. It would
probably never have come to light were it not for the groundwork laid
by Cyril Fagan which showed clearly where to build our observation
tower.
FIGURE 1. THE MOON'S LIBRA INGRESS PRECEDING AMERICA'S MORST COAL MINE
DISASTER (omitted in ascii format): MC 25AQU56; ASC 16GEM27; Saturn
27AQU11, Pluto 0GEM28rx; Neptune 20GEM55rx; Jupiter 20CAN09rx; Moon
0LIB00, Mercury 25LIB02, Sun 15SCO12, Venus 4SAG56, Uranus 17SAG27.
FIGURE 2. THE MOON'S CAPRICORN INGRESS PRECEDING AMERICA'S WORST TRAIN
WRECK: MC 27VIR50; ASC 7SAG37; Mars 7VIR32, Moon 0CAP0, Uranus
3AQU53rx, Venus 2TAU33, Jupiter 2GEM31, Mercury 8GEM41, Sun 10GEM00,
Pluto 11GEM20, Neptune 12CAN0, Saturn 18CAN48.
FIGURE 3. THE MOON'S ARIES INGRESS PRCEDING THE IROQUOIS THEATER FIRE.
MC 9SCO55; ASC 19CAP38; Uranus 3SAG00, Sun 12SAG20, Mercury 01CAP16,
Saturn 14CAP14, Mars 19CAP18, Jupiter 23AQU51, Moon 0ARI00, Pluto
25TAU55rx, Neptune 11GEM06rx, Venus 27LIB54.
FIGURE 4. THE MOON'S CANCER INGRESS PRECEDING THE CONWAY THEATER FIRE.
MC 14CAN37; ASC 8LIB36; Moon 0CAN00, Uranus 1LEO43rx, Mars 10LIB06,
Venus 13LIB06, Mercury 19SCO30, Sun 19SCO35, Jupiter 19SCO48,
Saturn 9AQU08, Neptune 9ARI53rx, Pluto 0TAU13rx.
Figure 1 is the Liblunar for the locality of Monongah covering the
week of the most terrible mine disaster on record. It is so vicious a
chart as to be self-explanatory, what with Saturn on the Meridian,
explosive Uranus on the Descendant and Neptune rising.
The worse railroad accident in American history took a toll of 101
lives at Nashville, Tennessee, under the Caplunar of Figure 2. Note
the symbolic aptness of Mercury, the primary planet of locomotion, on
the Descendant and closely squared by Mars, among other telltale items.
Mercury prominent and afflicted is typical of travel tragedies of all
kinds.
Figures 3 and 4 are the lunar ingress preceding the two worst
theater fires in national history, the Arilunar covering the 602-death
Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago (Dec. 30, 1903) and the Canlunar prior
to the Conway Theater conflagration in Brooklyn (Dec. 5, 1876) in which
289 patrons perished. These charts are loaded with indications of the
tragedies, but the coincidence that Mars was on the Ascendants of both
localities is virtually fantastic. Our collection of sidereal ingress
charts for "worst fires" has Mars conjunct an angle so often that we
are easily convinced that this discovery will rapidly become one of the
basic tools of Mundane Astrology.
The industrious student will quickly see the merit in this discovery
by casting, say, just the Caplunars for events of his own choosing.
Capsule preview of the next installment of this report: The secret of
actual dating of events lies in the Sun's Capricorn Ingress. Lucid as
the lunars usually are by themselves, they cannot hold a candle to the
effectiveness of the solar ingresses, as we shall prove. In Mr.
Carter's wise words, "If these new ingresses are better, then the
sooner this is proved and acknowledged, the happier it will be for all
of us." Therefore, our first "mundane prediction" is to confidently
forecast an increase in happiness for the whole astrological world.
**********
Section 2: June 1957, Garth Allen, UNVEILING A NEW TOOL
...Entering a New Era in Mundane Forecasting...
Last month we gave a summary of how we tested Charles E. O.
Carter's proposition and found it rewarding beyond all expectations.
In fact, there were moments when we were emotionally moved by the sheer
bigness of what we learned. It was clear from the outset that this new
revelation was no mere "interesting sidelight," potentially worth only
an article or two in the astrological press. The utter directness of
the sidereal ingresses, the purity of their indications, is a guarantee
that the field of Mundane Astrology is entering a new era.
The first major fact that our investigation ferreted out was the
efficacy of the Moon's ingresses of the cardinal constellations. A
belief in Lunar ingresses in tropical astrology has never got off the
ground, to our knowledge, or we would have heard or read about them by
now. In professional circles there seems to be almost as much confusion
as canonized knowledge in connection with Solar ingresses, when the
subject is looked at in the light of differences between attitude and
activity. After almost half a century of writing and publishing
Mundane forecasts based on tropical ingresses, Llewellyn George stated
he was convinced that the Aries ingress had influence over only the
three Spring months, so that all four of the seasonal maps boasted
equal importance. In effect, at one whack by the best known Mundane
specialist of the twentieth century, the prestige of the Aries ingress
in standard astrology was reduced by 75%!
In recent years the January issues of astrological magazines have
been carrying forecasts of world conditions for the coming year based
on the Winter Solstice chart which is seemingly supplanting the Aries
figure as a basic "world horoscope." And not long ago one such cover-
featured forecast stemmed from a chart cast for the stroke of standard
time midnight on New York's Day at the nation's capital, it being read
somewhat like a horary figure in answer to the question, "What will
this year bring?" There have also been zealous supporters of the
classical Neomenia, the first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox, among
them the late and great Elizabeth Aldrich, but there is a drastic
departure between the ancient and modern concepts of the lunation. A
spotcheck through periodicals on hand shows that less than half of the
featured "world forecasts" in the past ten years have actually been
based on the Aires Ingress chart. It would seem that the present
writer, an avid Siderealist, has more faith in the primary tool of
tropical Mundane Astrology than most Mundane representatives.
PARADE OF PROOF
What is probably the most basic tenet of Mundane Astrology, upheld
throughout history and echoed by every text, is a rule bluntly worded
this way in Manly Hall's Astrology Keywords: "A general calamity never
afflicts any people but that Saturn denotes it." The truth of this
precept is borne out so much more vividly by the sidereal ingress
charts than by methods heretofore advanced that there is hardly any
comparison. In the sidereal Mundane system the rule means just what it
says without need for mental figure skating to lace the proper network
of correspondence together. The succession of great calamities in
human history is a continuous dramatization of this rule. One has only
to cast the 1923 Capsolar chart for Tokyo, seeing Saturn on the
Midheaven, to appreciate the claim. On September 1, 1923, when
transiting Saturn moved to partile conjunction with the meridian, the
most famous earthquake of modern times took a toll of 143,000 lives in
Tokyo and its environs. Another outstanding example is the position of
Saturn on the 1914 Capsolar Ascendant of Avezzano, Italy. The Avezzano
earthquake with its death toll of 39,000 is an important case from the
technical point of view, since the temblor struck on the very last day
of the sidereal year (January 13, 1915), to corroborate what so much
other evidence indicates about the Capricorn ingresses.
The Capricorn chart, endless data proves to our astonishment, is the
master chart of the entire year for any locality, just as the Caplunar
is a master chart for the whole sidereal month. Why this should be so
we do not know, but the facts are incontestable and must be reported,
and acted upon without adulteration by preconceptions we might have
had. We are obligated to believe an impressive parade of proof that,
so far as mundane affairs are concerned, the Capricorn ingresses wield
the baton. It might be said, rather facetiously, that the discovery of
the true "mundane year" results in a kind of "lame duck amendment" for
astrology!
What is surely one of the most incredible coincidences in
astrological history is the situation involving the placements of
Saturn in the Capricorn charts for the Krakatau and Mont Pelee
catastrophes touched on in last month's article. At the very minute of
the Moon's entry into sidereal Capricorn in both cases, Saturn was
exactly on the western horizon of the volcanos to the exact minute of
arc. But the coincidence does not end there. The other half of the
story is the Sun's Capricorn ingress charts for the years in question.
Transiting Saturn, on the very dates of the eruptions, was on an
angular cusp in the Capsolar maps--on the Ascendant of Mont Pelee and
on the Midheaven of Krakatau! This is amazing only because such
wondrous astrological performance is not commonly met with in systems
previously used.
"ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE"
Yes, Saturn indeed denotes calamity, both the Solar and Lunar
ingresses for calamitous events of all kinds testifying to this truth.
Take the Moon's entry into Capricorn on November 19, 1917, 9:30 AM,
GMT, for an impressive example. At 63d 35' west longitude the
Midheaven was 20CAN41'. Saturn was 20CAN54'. The bitter cold on the
morning of December 6th in a port city called Halifax was terrible even
for Nova Scotia winters. Out in the Narrows, a waterway linking
Halifax Harbor and Bedford Basin, a freighter rammed into a munitions
laden vessel at approximately 8:30 AM, Atlantic Standard Time. Tanks
of benzine stowed on the main deck of the Mont Blanc caught fire. At
just 9:06 AM occurred one of the worst man-blamed disasters on record.
The gigantic explosion of the munitions ship killed a total of 1,266
people on shore, injured more than 6,000 and left 25,000 homeless in
frigid weather.
The Halifax disaster would have been worth citing had Saturn been a
full five or more degrees from the Caplunar Midheaven. But as you can
see the meridian conjunction was exact. There's more to the Halifax
story than this Moon ingress, for the Solar chart is also eloquent. On
the day of the disaster the transiting Moon was conjunct Mars in the
Capsolar midheaven, both square the transiting Sun, and the progressed
Capsolar is one of the many examples of the way in which the quotidian
rate of progression accurately dates the fulfillment of a radical
indication. At the Capricorn ingress, Mars at 10CAP10' opposed Neptune
at 10CAN11'. On December 6th, almost eleven months later, progression
brought this opposition to alignment with the meridian of Halifax
itself. With the Caplunar so perilous at the same time, "all hell
broke loose."
The Sun's entry into any of the four cardinal constellations
produces a radical chart, but it appears that only the Capsolar wheel
can be progressed. The reader will recall the rough rule we framed in
last month's article to the effect that there seems to be a 4-l-2-1
ratio in the relative strengths of the four cardinal points, Capricorn
being twice as potent as Cancer and Cancer having twice the impact of
Aries and Libra. Moreover, we are certain that each chart is
influential for the full cycle it inaugurates. This need not be viewed
as a complication so far as the art of delineation is concerned, for we
have reason to believe that for general purposes the work involved in
religiously casting all possible charts in a sequence is often more
bother than it is worth. Having all the minor charts available for
detailed reference is, or course, desirable in every instance, and far
be it from us to encourage slothfulness in study habits. (The most
popular coordinates with many of astrology's fans are "lassitude and
loungetude"!)
The Capricorn charts stand out head and shoulders over all the
others. For example, the horrible Ohio prison fire of 1930 as very
clearly depicted in every ingress chart applying to the data and
locality, but the Capsolar chart does it so spectacularly, and dates
the tragedy so exactly, the other maps seem to be but verification of
the pattern. Experiment has shown this to be the usual state of
affairs so that the degree of importance a student can attach to the
individual links in a "chain of charts" is a matter of scholarship and
thoroughness of approach. The angular cusps of the Sun's Cancer
Ingress appear to be almost as sensitive to transits as the angles of
the Capsolar chart, particularly where natural disasters, earthquakes,
tidal waves, tornadoes and the like, are concerned. But only the
Capricorn charts are "progressable," or at least that is what we have
concluded thus far in our study. Any chart that is radical remains
sensitive to transiting influences until its cycle elapses.
Overshadowing and overwhelming all the "static radicals," however, is
the Capricorn ingress with its ceaseless dynamics.
Every horoscope contains twelve responsible points in addition to
the house cusps--ten planets and those points on the ecliptic which are
just ninety degrees from the Midheaven and Ascendant, the latter being
called the Nonagesimal. In the lunar ingresses for disastrous fires,
by way of example, if Mars is not in the immediate foreground, chances
are you'll find it exactly conjunct or opposite the Nonagesimal where
it is square both the Ascendant and Descendant. For events of colossal
consequence like seismic upheavals, Saturn is apt to be exactly square
the meridian if it is not conjunct an angular cusp itself. This is
illustrated perfectly by the 1900 Capsolar for Galveston, Texas--the
year and site for the greatest single disaster ever to strike the
United States. The hurricane whipped tidal wave that swept over
Galveston the evening of September 8th, reaching its peak of fury at
about 7:45 PM CST took more than 6,000 lives and seriously injured
twice that number. The Cancer ingress is vivid enough, alone
considered, showing Neptune exactly on Galveston's Ascendant in close
opposition to setting Saturn, both in mundo square to the Moon in
Aquarius ("the Deluge") at the Midheaven. The Moon in "the
constellation of the waves" was closely square Pluto, which is
interesting because Pluto signifies superlatives and unprecedented
quantities. It is the symbolically perfect Saturn-Neptune opposition
that rivets our curiosity most since nothing in astrology could better
describe the vengeance of Poseidon! The Capricorn ingress occurred
January 13, 1900, 10:44 pm GMT, with 23:56:40 as the sidereal time in
Galveston. The following tells its own story:
Galveston Midheaven 5PIS45
Transiting Saturn 5SAG07
Transiting Neptune 5GEM46
UNISON OF FORCES
The actual date of an event is predetermined by the progression of
the Capsolar chart via the quotidian rate, to be defined and discussed
shortly. Outstanding events are mirrored in several ways, however, and
it is often a question as to what particular configuration in a chorus
of possibilities actually screamed the loudest. Take the famous
unsolved mystery of the Wall Street bomb of September 16, 1920, as a
case in point. Again every chart concerned is pregnant with
significance and could be offered as the cause of the episode. New
York was suffering an adverse Capsolar as it was, what with Saturn
conjunct its Ascendant. When the Moon entered Capricorn prior to the
event, Mars was in the exact degree on the Descendant of Manhattan.
Just one minute past noon on September 16th, with Mars having moved up
to the meridian of the Capsolar, squaring Saturn in the Ascendant, 39
persons died and 400 were maimed or injured in a blast that rocked the
financial district. The deaths and damage resulted from flying clouds
of shrapnel for the murderer had covered his wagon load of dynamite
with 500 pounds of broken sash weights. Every chart pertinent to this
events glitters with appropriate indications of the detonation and it
would have been theoretically possible to have predicted a crisis of
malefic influences for the New York area by any of a number of ways.
Most events are precipitated by a similar unison of forces. Once in
a while, however, you'll find what apparently is an astrological lone
wolf--a single, acutely powerful circumstance synchronizing with a
particular happening. A good example of "lonewolfery" of this type is
the way in which Mars, quite free of qualifying or reinforcing aspects,
will transit an angular cusp for a locality and give every fireman in
town a good workout. It takes more than this to provoke an event of
the first magnitude, however. Transiting Mars was conjunct the
Capsolar Descendant of Boston the night of November 28, 1942, which is
enough to worry any fire department. But the Capsolar chart itself
shows Saturn right on Boston's Ascendant for the year, so the transit
of Mars to the horizon also became a brutal opposition to the ingress
Saturn. The holocaust at the Coconut Grove night club, starting about
9:30 pm, killed 491 patrons in all. At this hour, incidentally,
transiting Venus and Saturn were only 0 degrees 10' from exact
opposition in Boston's foreground ("misfortune for merrymakers"), as
though to echo the warning of the ingress itself which showed rising
Saturn only 0d35' from a square to Venus in 27CAP12'. The degree is
mentioned because it is the precise "throne of Mars" in classical
astrology! At the hour of the fire the Moon was conjoining Boston's
5th house cusp while forming a zodiacal T-square with transiting Mars
and ingress Saturn.
Let's get right on to the most fascinating feature of all, the
progression of the Capricorn ingress. The method is so simple that
even those students who bemoan their lack of a knack for mathematics
can handle the simple addition and subtraction involved with no trouble
at all. The rate of progression, which changes the cusps of a chart by
about a degree per day during the year, is what Fagan dubbed the "Q2"
to distinguish it from "Q1" which is identical with what is widely
called the birth diurnal system. The letter Q is simply the
abbreviation for quotidian, a word that means "daily." The Q2 is
merely the birth diurnal rate of "turning the wheel" with a slight
adjustment of ten seconds of time per hour of change in the right
ascension of the mean Sun. The gimmick is more difficult to define in
words than to sue in actual practice. The right ascension of the mean
Sun is nothing more nor less than the sidereal time given in the
ephemeris which, as you know,, increases by 3 minutes and 57 seconds
every day. On casting a chart of any kind, always make a special note
of the position of the R.A.M.S., thinking of it as a celestial body
that moves ahead at the steady rate of 0:03:57 per day. For every hour
of time shown by a clock, the R.A.M.S. moves ahead about 10 seconds.
Well, the sidereal time of the progressed Capsolar chart for any
date and hour of the year is found by adding to the sidereal time of
the year's chart the difference between the transiting R.A.M.S. and the
radical R.A.M.S. at the time of the ingress, and then adding a little
correction of 10 seconds for each hour of this difference. The more
fastidious student, of course, wishes to use the more exact value of
9.856 seconds per hour, for the fact that the correction is not
precisely 10.000 seconds means a tiny accumulated error of 3 full
seconds at the end of the year, not enough to fuss about but enough to
irk a scientific critic!
BOMBAY'S "DAY TO REMEMBER"
The Bombay disaster of April 14, 1944, equaled if not rivaled the
tragic devastation of the better-known Halifax explosion. Even in time
of international peace, Bombay's waterfront is the hub of busy merchant
marine traffic and trade. With the advent of war its harbor bristled
with maritime and military activity. Because of its strategic position
and excellent harbor facilities, Bombay became the pivot for Allied
shipping and naval operations in the East. The fateful afternoon of
April 14th was hotter and more sultry than usual even for the humid
atmosphere that is peculiarly oppressive the year around in this
seaport metropolis of the oriental tropics. Bombay is the principal
navigational center of western India, a city of over one million
people congested into the 33 square miles of Bombay Island which rises
from the water just off the shore of Konkan.
Twenty-one cargo, munitions and naval vessels were berthed along its
docks in a comparatively small area not exceeding a half mile in
length. Many of these ships were engaged in the loading and unloading
of explosives and fuel, cotton and other supplies essential to warfare.
Fire broke out, cause unknown, in a hold stored with bales of Karachi
cotton on board a British explosives laden vessel. The huge ship was
moored alongside a pier in approximately the middle of the area
occupied by the other ships. The exact time that the fire started
remains undecided but records show that the Bombay fire department
received the first alarm at 2:18 pm. A fire-fighting brigade was
dispatched to the pier where firemen, sailors and longshoremen battled
the blaze for almost two hours.
Suddenly, a four minutes past four o'clock a cataclysmic explosion
occurred which devastated the entire area, causing untold destruction
and unnumbered deaths. Fires broke out in nearby warehouses and dock
sheds already wrecked by concussion. Rallying to the emergency, the
Bombay police, volunteering civilians and authorized militia rushed to
the harbor basin to aid in evacuating the wounded survivors and to
curtail the rampant fires which were fast reaching conflagration
proportions. The city populace became panic-stricken when the fearsome
detonation rocked downtown buildings, shattered windows and scattered
fires in the residential and business districts.
But Bombay's more appalling tragedy was yet to come. Hundreds of
more self-composed individuals thronged into the danger vicinity--the
inevitable flock of curious spectators. Some thirty minutes after the
first rending explosion, the second occurred with such fury and
intensity as to dwarf the initial blast. The entire waterfront was
reduced to a holocaust of blazing shambles. Vessels proximate to the
exploding one were actually lifted from the water and crashed against
each other and the docks. A pier railway train was blown into
splintering warehouses. In the two explosions of the Bombay disaster,
an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 persons lost their lives and the injury
casualties mounted, to become countless. Property damages have been
estimated to exceed 1 billion dollars and perhaps reach the billion and
a half mark. Fires continued to rage uncontrolled for as long as seven
days after the catastrophe.
Forecasting." THE CAPRICORN SUN AND MOON INGRESS. Garth Allen's (May,
June, July 1957 in American Astrology) report on his early
research with solar and lunar Ingress charts in the cardinal
constellations, which led to his discovery of the SVP or Synetic Vernal
Point correction of 6'5" to the fiducial SPICA in 29 Virgo, and which
also led to his concept of the APEX. Choice description of the
application of Solar and Lunar Ingress charts to great calamities as
earthquakes, fires, explosions, accidents, shipwrecks, etc. showing the
efficacy of CAPRICORN Ingresses above the others. Allen's uncanny 1957
speculations became demonstrated S.O.P. - viz, on planets' cadency from
the angles as limiting their effect and/or planets' mundane proximity
to locality angles as intensifying. At the end, note his thoughtful
suggestions for the application of CAPsolar & CAPlunar Ingresses to
personal return charts and further research, and for what became
AstroCartoGraphy.
* * * *
Garth Allen's UNVEILING A NEW TOOL, 5/1957, A.A.
..Entering a New Era in Mundane Forecasting..
"One question that must occur is that if the revolutions should be
worked for the sidereal zodiac, so ought ingresses. That is to say,
one should take the time that the Sun enters the cardinal constella-
tions, instead of its entry into the signs. But the usual ingresses
have proved themselves, time and again, to be valid, and it must remain
for the advocates of the sidereal zodiac to demonstrate that theirs are
better. Such a demonstration would, to my mind, be more conclusive
than many personal returns, because the times of the ingresses and the
subsequent events are on record. If these new ingresses are better,
then the sooner this is proved and acknowledged, the happier it will be
for all of us."
--Charles E. O. Carter, Editorial, "Astrology," Autumn 1949.
In the years since England's finest astrological mind penned the
particular editorial from which we quote, the question he raised has
been gnawing away at our intellectual vitals. His proposition was so
fairly stated that the subject of Mundane Astrology has become almost a
gadfly to advocates of the sidereal zodiac....
We knew intuitively that Carter must be right because the
superiority of the personal sidereal revolutions has been established
by comparative statistics of such caliber that some advocates of the
tropical zodiac have been citing this same material to scientific
outsiders as proof that astrology in general is now on a scientific
footing and easily provable. We were convinced of the rightness of his
idea, that is, but confess to having done little or nothing about it
until recently. The purely individual branch of inquiry has kept us so
adventurously preoccupied, we kept postponing the investigation in the
hope that some "George" somewhere would do it. We finally decided to
take up the gauntlet ourselves and see if there really was gold in
"them thar starfields" from the Mundane point of view. It wasn't
wholly a blind plunge into unfamiliar terrain, as we had often made
notes among these lines which indicted where to stat the search for a
workable sidereal approach to Mundane interpretation--if there was one.
Quite naturally, the ingresses were our primary concern, and our
notes regularly pointed out a peculiar sensitivity of the 23rd and 24th
degrees of the signs, or, simply, the areas known to contain the
dividing lines between the constellations. The best example we
observed was the fact that Mars was stationary around the 24th degree
of the sign Capricorn during much of August 1939. using the longitude
of the vernal point with the star Spica as fiducial, which is the best
determinant of the zodiac's confines in popular use to date, we were
impressed by a striking relationship between the moon and Mars in the
four "cardinal ingresses" during the lunar month climaxed by the
outbreak of World War II.
On August 6, 1939, the Moon and Mars were square by 1d3' at the time
of the Moon's entry into sidereal Aries, a la the Spica-based zodiac.
A week later on August 13th, the Moon and Mars were in opposition by
0d42' during the Cancer incursion. On August 19th, only 0d05'
separated a perfect square of the moon and Mars at the time of the
lunar passage into Libra. To cap the series, on August 26th when the
Moon entered Capricorn, the Moon and Mars were only 0d02' from a
partile conjunction on the threshold of the constellation that is the
exaltation of the god of war. Before this final lunar week was over,
World War II had flared into grim reality! To our knowledge a similar
series with comparable war potential has not occurred in modern times.
But even this astonishing situation is not the whole story inasmuch as
there had been a conjunction of the Moon and Mars within a degree of
being exact at the time of the Sun's ingress of sidereal Capricorn
earlier that year. And when one realizes that in the sidereal Cancer
ingress, taking place in July 1939, there was a close opposition of the
Moon and Mars, the picture becomes fabulous, to rework that lately
overworked adjective.
The standard Aries Ingress of 1939 also contained a remarkable war-
potential, inasmuch as Mars was only 0d07' from a perfect square of the
Sun, with the Moon close enough to the Sun to further spark the
configuration. The 1939 Vernal Equinox has always been the touchstone
of our personal belief in the validity of charts cast for crossings of
the colures. The reader will notice that our published "sidereal world
forecasts" in the past have been based simply on a siderealized version
of the same charts used by tropical astrologers. A new era in Mundane
forecasting is now dawning for all with the putting to use of the new
tool being unveiled in this report.
Research projects of various sorts along with other lines than the
Mundane very clearly supported Cyril Fagan's contention that the zodiac
with Spica marking Virgo 29 degrees was correct or so very nearly the
truth that it seemed futile to entertain other suggested frameworks.
If Spica does not designate precisely 29d00'00" of Virgo, it is obvious
that Spica does fall within a fraction of a degree of that point. But
an even more certain certainty is the physical impossibility that the
apparent body of any particular star can literally represent any
universal zero-point. Individual stars are practical reference points
and can be used as proxies for cosmic division, but not single heavenly
body can have absolutely no proper motion and retain zero latitude for
all time. Still, such bright stars as those used by astrology's
originators are found to be such handy markers in the sky that modern
students have no alternative than to adopt the Spica fiducial as a
tentative standard for all practical purposes. Meanwhile, our private
conviction had been that it might be generations before an improvement
of this value could be expected, if--and this was a big if--the idea of
a purely sidereal based Mundane Astrology turned out to be just wishful
thinking. The refinement was inevitable, the facts at hand insisted,
but it would probably not be made within our lifetime. Not unless...
not unless the sidereal ingresses did turn out to be 'radical" moments.
Random experiments with the solar ingresses in terms of the vernal
point ordinarily used, however, got us nowhere. The aspects seemed
fitting, but the cuspal contacts which logic demanded exist just didn't
exist. Later on in our search the reason for this cleared up, for an
adjustment of about two and a half hours solved the problem. This
adjustment was not arrived at though, by tinkering with the solar
charts. It was through study of the LUNAR INGRESSES that we found the
answer, and the puzzle of the solars automatically solved itself!
SIX MINUTES--TO A MIRACLE!
Following the course suggested by our notebook with such situations
as those Moon-Mars patterns in the 1939 skies and using the Spica
fiducial for lack of anything better to work with, it took only a few
sample mundane charts--the Moon's cardinal ingresses for various
historic events--to prove that Carter's "so ought ingresses" was truly
an accurate guess if not psychic foresight. To shorten a long story,
we found that the Moon's entries into the cardinal constellations
(Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn) produced charts which were often
uncanny in their symbolic description of mundane affairs of the periods
and places for which they were calculated. After having accumulated
quite a batch of experimental lunar ingress maps for momentous events
of every kind ranging from tornadoes to assassinations, from
conflagrations to royal weddings, we could see that only a minor
displacement of a few minutes of arc in the Moon's longitude would
yield awesomely perfect angular contracts in many cases and improved
the "symbolic pictures" in many other instances.
The ingresses with Spica at 29d00' Virgo seemed to be occurring a
few minutes of time later than they should be. They were highly
appropriate but the appropriateness could be improved upon. The charts
as they stood were a "good fit" and not at all annoying like the Sun's
cardinal ingresses, which were decidedly out of kilter when it came to
the all important matter of cuspal contacts. We had so many lunar
charts suggesting that they needed only slight amendment, however, that
the sensible procedure was to determine what particular position of the
Moon would eliminate the bulk of the minor displacements that were
evident. This correction, clearly, would give us a starting point for
tacking the more intricate problem of the solars. A correction was
readily arrived at; all we had to do was push the Moon back about six
minutes of arc, and behold, the shoe immediately fitted. We've worn it
comfortably ever since.
The Moon's contact of 29d54' of the mutable constellations of the
Spica defined zodiac, therefore, represents the Moon's contact with
0d00' of the cardinal constellations of the genuine sidereal zodiac.
This is now so certain that the discovery means that, probably for the
first time in the history of man, we know where the Creator's zodiac
has its natural divisions. The clincher in making this discovery was
the remarkable similarity between the lunar Capricorn ingresses
covering the dates and places of the two most devastating volcanic
eruptions of modern times. In fact, even before the statistical
averaging was called for, our original choice of 29d54' as the true
reference point resulted from two simple calculations which deserve
description here.
The Krakatau eruption, at Lat. 6s10, Long. 105e26, on August 27,
1883, 3:00 A.M., GMT, claimed at least 30,000 lives. On the date of
the Moon's Capricorn ingress prior to the catastrophe Saturn was on the
Ascendant 'in mundo' of the volcano when the sidereal time was
10:21:08, which equates to 5:42:17 A.M., GMT, on August 16, 1883. At
this moment the Moon was 23d07' of the tropical sign Capricorn. In
terms of Fagan's Spica based zodiac, the vernal point was 6d47' Pisces,
so the equivalent position of the Moon was 29d54' of the constellation
Sagittarius.
Though its destructive perimeter was smaller, the eruption of Mount
Pelee on May 8, 1902 took as great, if not a great toll, of lives than
the Krakatau explosion. The monstrous blast took place when it was
11:57 A.M. at Greenwich, and six minutes later more than 30,000
residents of St. Pierre, Martinique, were dead. At 14d51 North and
61d10' West, Saturn was in exact mundo conjunction with the Ascendant
as a sidereal time of 1:36:28, when it was 3:14:34 P.M. in Greenwich on
April 29, 1902. The Moon at this moment was 23d23' of the tropical
sign Capricorn. Since the vernal point was then 6d31' Pisces, this
means that the Moon was at 29d54' Sagittarius--in exact agreement with
the Krakatau case for an identical astronomical circumstance! Needless
to say, similar checks made averaged out to the same reference point--
progressively different in terms of tropical longitude but consistently
within a minute or so of 29d54' when the Spica based equivalents were
found.
A refinement of the new-found value, to seconds of arc, is
necessary, inasmuch as the moment of the solar ingress is shifted about
a half-minute of time for every difference of one second of arc....
Angular cusps of the solar ingresses are very solar ingresses are very
sensitive to malefic transits, as witness their synchronization with
tragic happenings. Following this cue to correct our charts,
tentatively cast for 29d54'00" pending refinement, we found from
inspect of ephemeris positions for the hours of 27 major catastrophes
of the past that an average displacement of ten minutes of time would
yield the desired correction. But when it became conspicuous that the
dating of events was a matter of progression via the "Quotidian rate,"
we were provided with a means to pinpoint exact sidereal times. This
process soon led to the realization that only a two-minute difference
sufficed. In other words, only a 5' correction of the 29d54'00" value
was called for. Further research may alter this correction slightly
but until statistics split this astronomical hair for us, we are
settling on a vernal point increased by 0d06'05" over the Spica one.
We have a list of the times of all Capricorn ingresses back to 1820,
based on this determination and hope to make it available to all
interested. As critical times are all-important, most students and
tropical fans will no doubt wish to study these same data in a more
familiar zodiacal backdrop. By rights, all mundane charts should be
cast in the form of "mundoscopes," and the question of zodiacs does not
impinge upon mundoscopy--fortunately for all of us!
STEPPING UP AND OVERLAPPING
Early in our evaluations of a wide variety of charts we had noticed
a persistent tendency for the Capricorn and Cancer lunar ingresses to
carry more weight than the Aries and Libra charts. Getting down to
brass tactics on this one, we decided to calculate the four preceding
ingresses for each date and place at which something of great moment
had occurred. This confirmed the suspicion that the Capricorn and
Cancer charts were stronger than the other two. Then a process of
separation proved that the Capricorn charts had it all over the Cancer
charts, implying that the Capricorn charts were comparable in their
impact with personal "conjunction lunar returns," the Cancer charts
seeming to act like demi-lunar returns. As we shall see, this rule
holds true for the solar ingresses, too, in which the Capricorn ingress
stands out as a "master chart" for the whole year. It is as though the
other ingresses are clinchers and timers, helping to narrow down the
periods in which a series of stresses are most likely to precipitate as
the event itself. Moreover, the cusps of the Capricorn charts are
painfully sensitive to subsequent transits, often dating exactly the
major event of the period in question. A rough rule we have devised to
accord with the facts as we have found them is that there is a 4-1-2-1
ration involved in estimating the power of the four cardinal points,
Capricorn being twice as strong as Cancer and Cancer being about twice
as significant as Aries and Libra.
Although weekly "stepping up" is characteristic of lunars, as
witness the August 1939 series, do not get the impression that a single
chart for a given week is not wholly self-contained, for there is
sufficient proof that each wheel is radical in itself. Our mass of
data suggests that it is always worth-while, in fact, advisable, to
study a given event in the light of the "chain of charts" leading up to
it, with emphasis on the Capricorn and Cancer charts, in that order.
Still, the immediate lunar is usually so lucid, alone considered, that
prior links in the chain may be thought of as auxiliaries or backdrops.
To illustrate our point, we drew up all the pertinent ingresses for the
126 worst coal mine disasters in U.S. history, using a list published
by the government's Bureau of Mines. Even though about half of these
occurred in weeks covered by lunar entries into Aries and Libra, there
was a special "badness" about the preceding Capricorn and Cancer
charts. Nevertheless, and this we want to emphasize, those mine
disasters occurring after Aries and Libra ingresses hold their own,
chartwise, without need for a supporting Capricorn or Cancer pattern.
Using just the preceding lunar ingress, no matter which cardinal
point happened to be involved, a simple tally shows that 14 of the 126
mine disasters occurred with Saturn within 1d 40' of an angular cusp,
by straight ecliptic reckoning. This means that if astrological
influences are a grand delusion, according to probability theory there
should be 4.71, or close to 5, rather than 14 of the 126 charts with
Saturn so precariously mounted in the wheels. Since the standard
deviation is 2.13 and the excess over mean expectancy is 9.29, the test
ratio amounts to a boisterous 4.36, much too big to be dismissed as a
mere coincidence. Scientifically, a ratio only half this size would be
enough to give a skeptic pause, since a ratio of 3.89 marks the 10,000
to 1 level of significance while 4.42 means that the odds are 100,000
to 1 against chance being an explanation for the high number. As our
actual ratio is very close to the 100,000 to 1 level, it is safe to
declare that the weekly Moon charts are radical in themselves. For the
record, with this article is a list of the dates and places of the 14
mine disasters for which Saturn was within a hundred minutes or arc of
an angular cusp at the moment of the Moon's last preceding entry into a
cardinal constellation. Note that the list includes the worst mine
disaster in American history, that of the Monongah, West Virginia
tragedy which snuffed out 361 lives.
Lunar Ingresses and 14 Coal Mine Disasters
Event Date Mine Site Deaths Ingress Saturn's Position
5-23-1899 Cumnock, N.C. 39 Libra 1d 15' West of M.C.
5-27-1901 Dayton, Tenn. 20 Cancer 0d 04' Below ASC.
7-10-1902 Johnstown, Pa. 112 Cancer 0d 46' West of M.C.
2-20-1905 Virginia City, Ala. 108 Cancer 1d 35' East of I.C.
3-18-1905 Red Ash, Va. 24 Cancer 0d 33' West of M.C.
1-4-1906 Coaldale, W. Va. 22 Aries 1d 26' Below ASC.
1-29-1907 Stuart, Va. 84 Cancer 1d 30' East of I.C.
12-1-1907 Fayette City, Pa. 34 Libra 0d 56' East of M.C.
12-6-1907 Monongah, W. Va. 361 Libra 1d 21' East of M.C.
1-10-1909 Ziegler, Ill. 26 Cancer 0d 42' Under DESC.
3-20-1912 McCurtain, Okla. 73 Aries 1d 26' West of M.C.
3-28-1924 Yukon, W. Va. 24 Capricrn 0d 47' Above ASC.
3-16-1940 St. Clairsville, O. 72 Aries 0d 40' Above DESC.
12-26-1945 Pineville, Ky. 24 Cancer 1d 40' Below ASC.
A HISTORY OF "WORSTS"
The most "surefire" way to prove or disprove the worth of any
proposed system is to test it by means of the most outstanding events
in given categories. One has only to compute the ingress figures for
such whopping big events as the Halifax explosion, the Texas City
disaster, the Chicago fire and the San Francisco catastrophe, to
appreciate the clarity and unassailability of the sidereal system.
Even more conclusive than single examples, of course, are groups of
charts having something in common, such as a series we have compiled on
the 40 worst railroad wrecks in our nation's history, or another, that
of the most tragic fires on record. The marvel of the sidereal
approach is the manner in which the basic precepts of astrology are
shown in operation at full throttle. The basic precepts to which we
refer are the predominance of the angular cusps and the fidelity of
planetary natures--precepts all but forgotten nowadays in this era of
grab bag delineations where anything goes in the way of acceptable
explanations as long as it sounds astrological. By fidelity is meant
symbolic appropriateness of the astrological patterns. It is not
enough to point out the numerous bad aspects involved in a situation,
for astrology rises or falls with the fitness of the symbolism
entailed. The planetary design in a chart must jibe with the event,
else the interpretive frame of reference is not a valid one. In actual
practice, the play of malefics typifies unfortunate events of any kind
and the exercising of the benefics is typical of welcome developments,
so the arenas of planetary action are really quite simple to identify.
The limitation on space for illustrations is always a problem for a
writer with a passion to teach and it has been a tough decision to
select just four lunar ingresses to use as eye-catchers in this
particular articles. "Historical worsts" are clearly our best bets, so
we will by-pass examples of happier events even though it is a
temptation to exhibit such superb charts as the Capricorn entry of
November 9, 1918, 7:36 P.M. GMT, which draped Jupiter, trine the sun
and Venus, across the horizon of the Western Front.
Terminology is also a problem, so for the sake of brevity and easy
identification we are calling the various lunar ingresses by quickly
understood names, i.e., "Arilunar" for the Aries ingress, "Canlunar"
for the Cancer one, and then "Liblunar" and "Caplunar." When we treat
the more overriding solar ingresses, the same labeling device will come
into use, the charts being called the "Arisolar," the "Cansolar," the
"Libsolar" and the "Capsolar." then there is the confusion regarding
which reckoning of the vernal point is being referred to. So for the
time being we wish to call the "new" and true vernal point by the
qualifying term 'synetic' to distinguish it from the Spica based value
in current use. The word synetic has a flavor which hints grandly of
the 'togetherness' which is the very essence of astrology. The synetic
vernal point has the distinction of being the only one discovered and
established exclusively through observational methods. It would
probably never have come to light were it not for the groundwork laid
by Cyril Fagan which showed clearly where to build our observation
tower.
FIGURE 1. THE MOON'S LIBRA INGRESS PRECEDING AMERICA'S MORST COAL MINE
DISASTER (omitted in ascii format): MC 25AQU56; ASC 16GEM27; Saturn
27AQU11, Pluto 0GEM28rx; Neptune 20GEM55rx; Jupiter 20CAN09rx; Moon
0LIB00, Mercury 25LIB02, Sun 15SCO12, Venus 4SAG56, Uranus 17SAG27.
FIGURE 2. THE MOON'S CAPRICORN INGRESS PRECEDING AMERICA'S WORST TRAIN
WRECK: MC 27VIR50; ASC 7SAG37; Mars 7VIR32, Moon 0CAP0, Uranus
3AQU53rx, Venus 2TAU33, Jupiter 2GEM31, Mercury 8GEM41, Sun 10GEM00,
Pluto 11GEM20, Neptune 12CAN0, Saturn 18CAN48.
FIGURE 3. THE MOON'S ARIES INGRESS PRCEDING THE IROQUOIS THEATER FIRE.
MC 9SCO55; ASC 19CAP38; Uranus 3SAG00, Sun 12SAG20, Mercury 01CAP16,
Saturn 14CAP14, Mars 19CAP18, Jupiter 23AQU51, Moon 0ARI00, Pluto
25TAU55rx, Neptune 11GEM06rx, Venus 27LIB54.
FIGURE 4. THE MOON'S CANCER INGRESS PRECEDING THE CONWAY THEATER FIRE.
MC 14CAN37; ASC 8LIB36; Moon 0CAN00, Uranus 1LEO43rx, Mars 10LIB06,
Venus 13LIB06, Mercury 19SCO30, Sun 19SCO35, Jupiter 19SCO48,
Saturn 9AQU08, Neptune 9ARI53rx, Pluto 0TAU13rx.
Figure 1 is the Liblunar for the locality of Monongah covering the
week of the most terrible mine disaster on record. It is so vicious a
chart as to be self-explanatory, what with Saturn on the Meridian,
explosive Uranus on the Descendant and Neptune rising.
The worse railroad accident in American history took a toll of 101
lives at Nashville, Tennessee, under the Caplunar of Figure 2. Note
the symbolic aptness of Mercury, the primary planet of locomotion, on
the Descendant and closely squared by Mars, among other telltale items.
Mercury prominent and afflicted is typical of travel tragedies of all
kinds.
Figures 3 and 4 are the lunar ingress preceding the two worst
theater fires in national history, the Arilunar covering the 602-death
Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago (Dec. 30, 1903) and the Canlunar prior
to the Conway Theater conflagration in Brooklyn (Dec. 5, 1876) in which
289 patrons perished. These charts are loaded with indications of the
tragedies, but the coincidence that Mars was on the Ascendants of both
localities is virtually fantastic. Our collection of sidereal ingress
charts for "worst fires" has Mars conjunct an angle so often that we
are easily convinced that this discovery will rapidly become one of the
basic tools of Mundane Astrology.
The industrious student will quickly see the merit in this discovery
by casting, say, just the Caplunars for events of his own choosing.
Capsule preview of the next installment of this report: The secret of
actual dating of events lies in the Sun's Capricorn Ingress. Lucid as
the lunars usually are by themselves, they cannot hold a candle to the
effectiveness of the solar ingresses, as we shall prove. In Mr.
Carter's wise words, "If these new ingresses are better, then the
sooner this is proved and acknowledged, the happier it will be for all
of us." Therefore, our first "mundane prediction" is to confidently
forecast an increase in happiness for the whole astrological world.
**********
Section 2: June 1957, Garth Allen, UNVEILING A NEW TOOL
...Entering a New Era in Mundane Forecasting...
Last month we gave a summary of how we tested Charles E. O.
Carter's proposition and found it rewarding beyond all expectations.
In fact, there were moments when we were emotionally moved by the sheer
bigness of what we learned. It was clear from the outset that this new
revelation was no mere "interesting sidelight," potentially worth only
an article or two in the astrological press. The utter directness of
the sidereal ingresses, the purity of their indications, is a guarantee
that the field of Mundane Astrology is entering a new era.
The first major fact that our investigation ferreted out was the
efficacy of the Moon's ingresses of the cardinal constellations. A
belief in Lunar ingresses in tropical astrology has never got off the
ground, to our knowledge, or we would have heard or read about them by
now. In professional circles there seems to be almost as much confusion
as canonized knowledge in connection with Solar ingresses, when the
subject is looked at in the light of differences between attitude and
activity. After almost half a century of writing and publishing
Mundane forecasts based on tropical ingresses, Llewellyn George stated
he was convinced that the Aries ingress had influence over only the
three Spring months, so that all four of the seasonal maps boasted
equal importance. In effect, at one whack by the best known Mundane
specialist of the twentieth century, the prestige of the Aries ingress
in standard astrology was reduced by 75%!
In recent years the January issues of astrological magazines have
been carrying forecasts of world conditions for the coming year based
on the Winter Solstice chart which is seemingly supplanting the Aries
figure as a basic "world horoscope." And not long ago one such cover-
featured forecast stemmed from a chart cast for the stroke of standard
time midnight on New York's Day at the nation's capital, it being read
somewhat like a horary figure in answer to the question, "What will
this year bring?" There have also been zealous supporters of the
classical Neomenia, the first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox, among
them the late and great Elizabeth Aldrich, but there is a drastic
departure between the ancient and modern concepts of the lunation. A
spotcheck through periodicals on hand shows that less than half of the
featured "world forecasts" in the past ten years have actually been
based on the Aires Ingress chart. It would seem that the present
writer, an avid Siderealist, has more faith in the primary tool of
tropical Mundane Astrology than most Mundane representatives.
PARADE OF PROOF
What is probably the most basic tenet of Mundane Astrology, upheld
throughout history and echoed by every text, is a rule bluntly worded
this way in Manly Hall's Astrology Keywords: "A general calamity never
afflicts any people but that Saturn denotes it." The truth of this
precept is borne out so much more vividly by the sidereal ingress
charts than by methods heretofore advanced that there is hardly any
comparison. In the sidereal Mundane system the rule means just what it
says without need for mental figure skating to lace the proper network
of correspondence together. The succession of great calamities in
human history is a continuous dramatization of this rule. One has only
to cast the 1923 Capsolar chart for Tokyo, seeing Saturn on the
Midheaven, to appreciate the claim. On September 1, 1923, when
transiting Saturn moved to partile conjunction with the meridian, the
most famous earthquake of modern times took a toll of 143,000 lives in
Tokyo and its environs. Another outstanding example is the position of
Saturn on the 1914 Capsolar Ascendant of Avezzano, Italy. The Avezzano
earthquake with its death toll of 39,000 is an important case from the
technical point of view, since the temblor struck on the very last day
of the sidereal year (January 13, 1915), to corroborate what so much
other evidence indicates about the Capricorn ingresses.
The Capricorn chart, endless data proves to our astonishment, is the
master chart of the entire year for any locality, just as the Caplunar
is a master chart for the whole sidereal month. Why this should be so
we do not know, but the facts are incontestable and must be reported,
and acted upon without adulteration by preconceptions we might have
had. We are obligated to believe an impressive parade of proof that,
so far as mundane affairs are concerned, the Capricorn ingresses wield
the baton. It might be said, rather facetiously, that the discovery of
the true "mundane year" results in a kind of "lame duck amendment" for
astrology!
What is surely one of the most incredible coincidences in
astrological history is the situation involving the placements of
Saturn in the Capricorn charts for the Krakatau and Mont Pelee
catastrophes touched on in last month's article. At the very minute of
the Moon's entry into sidereal Capricorn in both cases, Saturn was
exactly on the western horizon of the volcanos to the exact minute of
arc. But the coincidence does not end there. The other half of the
story is the Sun's Capricorn ingress charts for the years in question.
Transiting Saturn, on the very dates of the eruptions, was on an
angular cusp in the Capsolar maps--on the Ascendant of Mont Pelee and
on the Midheaven of Krakatau! This is amazing only because such
wondrous astrological performance is not commonly met with in systems
previously used.
"ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE"
Yes, Saturn indeed denotes calamity, both the Solar and Lunar
ingresses for calamitous events of all kinds testifying to this truth.
Take the Moon's entry into Capricorn on November 19, 1917, 9:30 AM,
GMT, for an impressive example. At 63d 35' west longitude the
Midheaven was 20CAN41'. Saturn was 20CAN54'. The bitter cold on the
morning of December 6th in a port city called Halifax was terrible even
for Nova Scotia winters. Out in the Narrows, a waterway linking
Halifax Harbor and Bedford Basin, a freighter rammed into a munitions
laden vessel at approximately 8:30 AM, Atlantic Standard Time. Tanks
of benzine stowed on the main deck of the Mont Blanc caught fire. At
just 9:06 AM occurred one of the worst man-blamed disasters on record.
The gigantic explosion of the munitions ship killed a total of 1,266
people on shore, injured more than 6,000 and left 25,000 homeless in
frigid weather.
The Halifax disaster would have been worth citing had Saturn been a
full five or more degrees from the Caplunar Midheaven. But as you can
see the meridian conjunction was exact. There's more to the Halifax
story than this Moon ingress, for the Solar chart is also eloquent. On
the day of the disaster the transiting Moon was conjunct Mars in the
Capsolar midheaven, both square the transiting Sun, and the progressed
Capsolar is one of the many examples of the way in which the quotidian
rate of progression accurately dates the fulfillment of a radical
indication. At the Capricorn ingress, Mars at 10CAP10' opposed Neptune
at 10CAN11'. On December 6th, almost eleven months later, progression
brought this opposition to alignment with the meridian of Halifax
itself. With the Caplunar so perilous at the same time, "all hell
broke loose."
The Sun's entry into any of the four cardinal constellations
produces a radical chart, but it appears that only the Capsolar wheel
can be progressed. The reader will recall the rough rule we framed in
last month's article to the effect that there seems to be a 4-l-2-1
ratio in the relative strengths of the four cardinal points, Capricorn
being twice as potent as Cancer and Cancer having twice the impact of
Aries and Libra. Moreover, we are certain that each chart is
influential for the full cycle it inaugurates. This need not be viewed
as a complication so far as the art of delineation is concerned, for we
have reason to believe that for general purposes the work involved in
religiously casting all possible charts in a sequence is often more
bother than it is worth. Having all the minor charts available for
detailed reference is, or course, desirable in every instance, and far
be it from us to encourage slothfulness in study habits. (The most
popular coordinates with many of astrology's fans are "lassitude and
loungetude"!)
The Capricorn charts stand out head and shoulders over all the
others. For example, the horrible Ohio prison fire of 1930 as very
clearly depicted in every ingress chart applying to the data and
locality, but the Capsolar chart does it so spectacularly, and dates
the tragedy so exactly, the other maps seem to be but verification of
the pattern. Experiment has shown this to be the usual state of
affairs so that the degree of importance a student can attach to the
individual links in a "chain of charts" is a matter of scholarship and
thoroughness of approach. The angular cusps of the Sun's Cancer
Ingress appear to be almost as sensitive to transits as the angles of
the Capsolar chart, particularly where natural disasters, earthquakes,
tidal waves, tornadoes and the like, are concerned. But only the
Capricorn charts are "progressable," or at least that is what we have
concluded thus far in our study. Any chart that is radical remains
sensitive to transiting influences until its cycle elapses.
Overshadowing and overwhelming all the "static radicals," however, is
the Capricorn ingress with its ceaseless dynamics.
Every horoscope contains twelve responsible points in addition to
the house cusps--ten planets and those points on the ecliptic which are
just ninety degrees from the Midheaven and Ascendant, the latter being
called the Nonagesimal. In the lunar ingresses for disastrous fires,
by way of example, if Mars is not in the immediate foreground, chances
are you'll find it exactly conjunct or opposite the Nonagesimal where
it is square both the Ascendant and Descendant. For events of colossal
consequence like seismic upheavals, Saturn is apt to be exactly square
the meridian if it is not conjunct an angular cusp itself. This is
illustrated perfectly by the 1900 Capsolar for Galveston, Texas--the
year and site for the greatest single disaster ever to strike the
United States. The hurricane whipped tidal wave that swept over
Galveston the evening of September 8th, reaching its peak of fury at
about 7:45 PM CST took more than 6,000 lives and seriously injured
twice that number. The Cancer ingress is vivid enough, alone
considered, showing Neptune exactly on Galveston's Ascendant in close
opposition to setting Saturn, both in mundo square to the Moon in
Aquarius ("the Deluge") at the Midheaven. The Moon in "the
constellation of the waves" was closely square Pluto, which is
interesting because Pluto signifies superlatives and unprecedented
quantities. It is the symbolically perfect Saturn-Neptune opposition
that rivets our curiosity most since nothing in astrology could better
describe the vengeance of Poseidon! The Capricorn ingress occurred
January 13, 1900, 10:44 pm GMT, with 23:56:40 as the sidereal time in
Galveston. The following tells its own story:
Galveston Midheaven 5PIS45
Transiting Saturn 5SAG07
Transiting Neptune 5GEM46
UNISON OF FORCES
The actual date of an event is predetermined by the progression of
the Capsolar chart via the quotidian rate, to be defined and discussed
shortly. Outstanding events are mirrored in several ways, however, and
it is often a question as to what particular configuration in a chorus
of possibilities actually screamed the loudest. Take the famous
unsolved mystery of the Wall Street bomb of September 16, 1920, as a
case in point. Again every chart concerned is pregnant with
significance and could be offered as the cause of the episode. New
York was suffering an adverse Capsolar as it was, what with Saturn
conjunct its Ascendant. When the Moon entered Capricorn prior to the
event, Mars was in the exact degree on the Descendant of Manhattan.
Just one minute past noon on September 16th, with Mars having moved up
to the meridian of the Capsolar, squaring Saturn in the Ascendant, 39
persons died and 400 were maimed or injured in a blast that rocked the
financial district. The deaths and damage resulted from flying clouds
of shrapnel for the murderer had covered his wagon load of dynamite
with 500 pounds of broken sash weights. Every chart pertinent to this
events glitters with appropriate indications of the detonation and it
would have been theoretically possible to have predicted a crisis of
malefic influences for the New York area by any of a number of ways.
Most events are precipitated by a similar unison of forces. Once in
a while, however, you'll find what apparently is an astrological lone
wolf--a single, acutely powerful circumstance synchronizing with a
particular happening. A good example of "lonewolfery" of this type is
the way in which Mars, quite free of qualifying or reinforcing aspects,
will transit an angular cusp for a locality and give every fireman in
town a good workout. It takes more than this to provoke an event of
the first magnitude, however. Transiting Mars was conjunct the
Capsolar Descendant of Boston the night of November 28, 1942, which is
enough to worry any fire department. But the Capsolar chart itself
shows Saturn right on Boston's Ascendant for the year, so the transit
of Mars to the horizon also became a brutal opposition to the ingress
Saturn. The holocaust at the Coconut Grove night club, starting about
9:30 pm, killed 491 patrons in all. At this hour, incidentally,
transiting Venus and Saturn were only 0 degrees 10' from exact
opposition in Boston's foreground ("misfortune for merrymakers"), as
though to echo the warning of the ingress itself which showed rising
Saturn only 0d35' from a square to Venus in 27CAP12'. The degree is
mentioned because it is the precise "throne of Mars" in classical
astrology! At the hour of the fire the Moon was conjoining Boston's
5th house cusp while forming a zodiacal T-square with transiting Mars
and ingress Saturn.
Let's get right on to the most fascinating feature of all, the
progression of the Capricorn ingress. The method is so simple that
even those students who bemoan their lack of a knack for mathematics
can handle the simple addition and subtraction involved with no trouble
at all. The rate of progression, which changes the cusps of a chart by
about a degree per day during the year, is what Fagan dubbed the "Q2"
to distinguish it from "Q1" which is identical with what is widely
called the birth diurnal system. The letter Q is simply the
abbreviation for quotidian, a word that means "daily." The Q2 is
merely the birth diurnal rate of "turning the wheel" with a slight
adjustment of ten seconds of time per hour of change in the right
ascension of the mean Sun. The gimmick is more difficult to define in
words than to sue in actual practice. The right ascension of the mean
Sun is nothing more nor less than the sidereal time given in the
ephemeris which, as you know,, increases by 3 minutes and 57 seconds
every day. On casting a chart of any kind, always make a special note
of the position of the R.A.M.S., thinking of it as a celestial body
that moves ahead at the steady rate of 0:03:57 per day. For every hour
of time shown by a clock, the R.A.M.S. moves ahead about 10 seconds.
Well, the sidereal time of the progressed Capsolar chart for any
date and hour of the year is found by adding to the sidereal time of
the year's chart the difference between the transiting R.A.M.S. and the
radical R.A.M.S. at the time of the ingress, and then adding a little
correction of 10 seconds for each hour of this difference. The more
fastidious student, of course, wishes to use the more exact value of
9.856 seconds per hour, for the fact that the correction is not
precisely 10.000 seconds means a tiny accumulated error of 3 full
seconds at the end of the year, not enough to fuss about but enough to
irk a scientific critic!
BOMBAY'S "DAY TO REMEMBER"
The Bombay disaster of April 14, 1944, equaled if not rivaled the
tragic devastation of the better-known Halifax explosion. Even in time
of international peace, Bombay's waterfront is the hub of busy merchant
marine traffic and trade. With the advent of war its harbor bristled
with maritime and military activity. Because of its strategic position
and excellent harbor facilities, Bombay became the pivot for Allied
shipping and naval operations in the East. The fateful afternoon of
April 14th was hotter and more sultry than usual even for the humid
atmosphere that is peculiarly oppressive the year around in this
seaport metropolis of the oriental tropics. Bombay is the principal
navigational center of western India, a city of over one million
people congested into the 33 square miles of Bombay Island which rises
from the water just off the shore of Konkan.
Twenty-one cargo, munitions and naval vessels were berthed along its
docks in a comparatively small area not exceeding a half mile in
length. Many of these ships were engaged in the loading and unloading
of explosives and fuel, cotton and other supplies essential to warfare.
Fire broke out, cause unknown, in a hold stored with bales of Karachi
cotton on board a British explosives laden vessel. The huge ship was
moored alongside a pier in approximately the middle of the area
occupied by the other ships. The exact time that the fire started
remains undecided but records show that the Bombay fire department
received the first alarm at 2:18 pm. A fire-fighting brigade was
dispatched to the pier where firemen, sailors and longshoremen battled
the blaze for almost two hours.
Suddenly, a four minutes past four o'clock a cataclysmic explosion
occurred which devastated the entire area, causing untold destruction
and unnumbered deaths. Fires broke out in nearby warehouses and dock
sheds already wrecked by concussion. Rallying to the emergency, the
Bombay police, volunteering civilians and authorized militia rushed to
the harbor basin to aid in evacuating the wounded survivors and to
curtail the rampant fires which were fast reaching conflagration
proportions. The city populace became panic-stricken when the fearsome
detonation rocked downtown buildings, shattered windows and scattered
fires in the residential and business districts.
But Bombay's more appalling tragedy was yet to come. Hundreds of
more self-composed individuals thronged into the danger vicinity--the
inevitable flock of curious spectators. Some thirty minutes after the
first rending explosion, the second occurred with such fury and
intensity as to dwarf the initial blast. The entire waterfront was
reduced to a holocaust of blazing shambles. Vessels proximate to the
exploding one were actually lifted from the water and crashed against
each other and the docks. A pier railway train was blown into
splintering warehouses. In the two explosions of the Bombay disaster,
an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 persons lost their lives and the injury
casualties mounted, to become countless. Property damages have been
estimated to exceed 1 billion dollars and perhaps reach the billion and
a half mark. Fires continued to rage uncontrolled for as long as seven
days after the catastrophe.
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Re: Unveiling a New Tool
(continued)
ABOMINABLE CHARTS
FIGURE 1. PROGRESSED CAPSOLAR BOMBAY, INDIA, APRIL 14, 1944, 4:04 PM
IST: Inner circle = CAP Ingress planets: Mars 11TAU04, Uranus
11TAU13rx, Saturn 26TAU54rx, Pluto 13CAN57rx, Jupiter 1LEO27rx, Moon
22LEO17, Neptune 10VIR17rx, Venus 24SCO27, Mercury 16SAG24, Sun 0CAP00.
[NEP IC and MER DES on progressed angles] Outer circle = planets at
time of first explosion: MC 6PIS24; ASC 14GEM07; Venus 10PIS55, Sun
0ARI25, Mercury 19ARI36, Uranus 12TAU28, Saturn 28TAU18, Mars 14GEM52,
Pluto 12CAN27rx, Jupiter 23CAN05, Neptune 8VIR21rx, Moon 8SAG21. [VEN
MC, MARS ASC, NEP IC]
We think that Figure 1, which is the progressed Capsolar otherwise
known as the quotidian, for the Bombay disaster is self-explanatory.
The planets in the inner circle are positions at the moment of the
Capricorn ingress and the outer circle shows the planets as of the
minute of the first big explosion. The first blast took place at the
very minute the Moon and Neptune were completing their zodiacal square
in the sky, which is interesting since the square falls in the
immediate foreground of the Quotidian for Bombay. The student can find
the "static radical" cusps of the ingress chart itself, the latitude
being 18d 57' North and the Sidereal Time, 18:04:36. He'll find that
transits to the Capsolar cusps themselves are enough to "account for"
the disaster. The Quotidian also dated it exactly, as witness the
astounding placement of transiting Mars in the very degree on Bombay's
Ascendant!
FIGURE 2. PROGRESSED CAPSOLAR. COLUMBUS, OHIO, APRIL 21, 1930, 5:20 PM
EST. MC4PIS04; ASC 23GEM01; Inner circle = Capsolar Planets: Uranus
14PIS03, Jupiter 13TAU04rx, Pluto 24GEM40rx, Moon 28GEM54, Neptune
9LEO25rx, Saturn 11SAG33, Mars 18SAG30, Venus 24SAG28, Sun 0CAP00,
Mercury 14CAP17rx. [PLU ASC, VEN DSC, Mars DSC loose]. Outer circle =
planets for Ohio Penitentiary Fire: Mars 4PIS05, Uranus 18PIS43, Sun
7ARI18, Venus 25ARI43, Mercury 26ARI16, Jupiter 21TAU45, Pluto
23GEM46rx, Neptune 7LEO09rx, Saturn 18SAG07, Moon 18CAP18. [MARS MC,
PLU ASC, SAT DSC loose,]
Consider now Figure 2 which is as abominable a chart as could be
imagined. It is the quotidian for 5:20 pm EST, April 21, 1930, for
Columbus, Ohio, the hour of the shocking Ohio Penitentiary fire which
burned 320 trapped men to death. Again the chart needs no commentary
to persuade the reader that the discovery of the sidereal ingresses is
a milestone in astrology's advancement.
FIGURE 3. PROGRESSED CAPSOLAR. NEW LONDON, TEXAS, MARCH 18, 1937,
3:05 PM CST: MC 6SCO54; ASC 21CAP49; Inner circle = Capsolar planets:
Jupiter 15SAG58, Sun 0CAP00, Mercury 1CAP11rx, Moon 21CAP00, Venus
15AQU34, Saturn 24AQU34, Uranus 11ARI45, Pluto 3CAN52rx, Neptune
24LEO57rx, Mars 10LIB43. [MOON ASC, NEP DSC] Outer circle = planets
for New London School disaster: Mars 7SCO48, Jupiter 28SAG38, Mercury
27AQU52, Saturn 1PIS41, Sun 4PIS00, Venus 10ARI28, Uranus 3ARI25, Moon
26TAU05, Pluto 2CAN44rx, Neptune 23LEO26rx. [MARS MC, NEP DSC]
Look at Figure 3 and see the same culmination of transiting Mars in
the Quotidian of another place at the moment of another historic
tragedy. The place: New London, Texas. The time: 3:05 pm CST, March
18, 1937. The New London School disaster is still too gruesome a
national memory to need description. This quotidian is bad enough but
digest this fact: The Capsolar itself for New London had a sidereal
time of 11:43:42--placing 1VIR41' on the Midheaven. At the time of the
disaster, transiting Saturn was 1PIS41', exactly on New London's
Midheaven while Mars in the quotidian was hovering overhead.
So far all our charts have been given in zodiacal terms for
convenience, whereas it is a known fact, to us a least, that to be
strictly scientific, all charts should be calculated in their
mundoscope frames of reference if the true geometric relationships of
the planets to a particular place on the Earth's surface are to be
appreciated. The adoption of mundoscopy does not saddle astrology with
as many complications as one might think at first for its advantages
far outweigh the little extra work that is called for. when planets
have more than a couple of degrees of latitude away from the ecliptic,
the purely zodiacal version of a chart cannot take account of the
departures. We'll go further into this matter if readers and students
generally want more light and "do it yourself" instructions.
Meanwhile, to prove how simple and startlingly clear a mundoscope
can be, our fourth illustration is the quotidian for the time of the
great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. In a mundoscope the house are
each exactly thirty degrees in breadth. In view of the fact that the
Capsolar progress about a degree every day, we know you'll agree that
Figure 4 is breathtaking for its lucidity and the way it timed the
disturbances exactly. Even the ensuing Great Fire which gutted the
whole of downtown San Francisco is unmistakably represented.
FIGURE 4. MUNDOSCOPE PROGRESSED CAPSOLAR, SAN FRANCISCO, APRIL 18,
1906, 5:13 AM PST: (MUNDOSCOPE of 30 degrees each house: MC 0
degrees, ASC 90 degrees, IC 180 degrees, DSC 270 degrees.) Inner
circle = Capsolar planets. 0-30: Mercury 23d24'; 30-60: Uranus 0d30',
Venus 16d46', Sun 25d29'; 60-90: Saturn 24d58'; 90-120: Mars 1d00';
120-150: Jupiter 20d12'; 180-210: Pluto 2d22'; 210-240: Neptune 4d23';
240-270: Moon 29d58'. [MARS ASC, PLU IC, MOON DSC] Outer circle =
progressed planets. 30-60: Uranus 5d11'; 60-90: Moon 24d11'; 90-120:
Saturn 0d38', Mercury 12d43', Sun 23d25'; 120-150: Venus 5d37', Mars
14d55'; 150-180: Jupiter 4d58'; 180-210: Pluto 1d40'; 210-240: Neptune
3d12'. [SAT ASC, PLU IC]
Section 3: July 1957, Garth Allen, UNVEILING A NEW TOOL
...Entering A New Era in Mundane Forecasting...
The discovery that the Sidereal ingresses do work has raised the
curtain on vast new vistas for astrological exploration. For one
thing, the development of a method for the prediction of earthquakes
now looms as a distinct possibility. What limited charting of past
earthquakes we have done so far has been so impressive that we hope
there are many students who will apply their talents to this special
field of inquiry so that a list of "certainties" might ultimately be
drawn up and form the basis for what could be called astro-seismology.
By certainties we mean the drawing of precepts concerning factors which
have been found to repeat so often in the chart work of past earthquake
activity that the repetition can hardly be written off as coincidence.
Already, this soon after the pivotal discovery of the legitimacy of
Sidereal Ingresses, such precepts have come to light. The reader will
recall the fourth illustration in last month's article, a quotidian
mundoscope for the moment of the great San Francisco upheaval of 1906,
how that transiting Saturn was within a degree of the horizon. There
were numerous other eye-catching features of equal importance in this
chart, of course, but our concern of the moment is to test this
singular circumstance--transiting Saturn conjunct a quotidian angle--to
see if it was a chance occurrence. If it was pure coincidence, it will
not be in evidence often enough in the charts of other major
earthquakes to have countered the rules of probability.
CHAMPION EARTHQUAKES
The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey recently released to the press a
brief list of what scientists consider to have been the greatest
earthquakes in history, fifteen of which have taken place in the last
hundred years. These were only the whoppers, the world champion
shakeups of all time. One on the list was the Krakatau catastrophe,
which we have already discussed, so let us drop it from our array.
Four others on the list were not geographically identified other than
as to continent, so it is not possible to chart them for the time
being. This leaves us a test sample of ten dates and places, including
the famous San Francisco temblor.
FIGURE 1. COMPOSITE CHART FOR THREE GREAT EARTHQUAKES SHOWING
PROXIMITY OF SATURN TO QUOTIDIAN ANGLES OF THE LOCALITIES ON FATEFUL
DATES. MC 28VIR37 - Saturn 28VIR45; ASC 13PIS05 - Saturn 11PIS24;
DSC 23ARI30 - Saturn 24ARI25. (In tropical longitudes)
For the convenience of the average reader not yet able to handle
sidereal calculations with ease, we are retaining the zodiacal
positions shown in Figure 1 in tropical longitude. This chart is a
composite one, its Ascendant being that for the San Francisco quotidian
shown last month in mundoscope form. Here, incidentally is sterling
proof of the value of expressing points in any chart as positions along
the prime vertical. Compare the mundoscope position in last month's
chart with the equivalent ecliptic position used here--Saturn is 1d41
above Ascendant by longitude, but is 0d38' under the Ascendant by
mundane calculations. Also note this clincher: Saturn was applying to
a conjunction of ingress Mars on the Ascendant by only 0d22' when the
quake set off the fire that burned most to the city to the ground. By
contrast, the zodiacal difference between the malefics was 2d18'.
Quite as impressive is the quotidian Descendant for the date and
epicenter of the terrible Erzingan, Turkey Earthquake of December 27,
1939, with its official death toll of 23,000 although news chronologies
continue to carry the figure 50,000. The tropical longitude of the
Descendant and Saturn are indicated in our composite chart. Compare
the fact that the ecliptic distance of Saturn from the cusp is 0d55'
with the fact that calculation places the actual mundane position of
the planet at 270d 02' from the upper meridian, or just 0d02' above the
horizon at Erzingan! It is obvious that one of the greatest single
improvements in astrological methods will be remedying distortions
caused by latitude of positions in horoscopy. To depict a chart in
easy-to-read mundoscope terms is the solution.
The third facet of our composite chart, its Midheaven, is the
quotidian circumstance of the earthquake that enveloped Manila on June
3, 1868. Some 10,000 persons perished in this calamity, familiar to
many students as one of the late L. Edward Johndro's prize
illustrations in THE EARTH AND THE HEAVENS. Incidentally, Johndro was
truly one of Sidereal Astrology's Johnny Appleseeds; were he still with
us in the flesh there is no question but that he would be an
enthusiastic front-runner in behalf of the Sidereal school. Again we
see transiting Saturn precariously close to an angle of the quotidian
chart for the locality on the exact date of an historic catastrophe.
Surely, such repetition of the same malevolent feature cannot be
dismissed as coincidence by the skeptic. Had our test sample been many
times bigger than it is, the three recurrences would still represent a
serious enough violation of the law of averages to dispel any doubt as
to the validity of our method.
Naturally, in astrology a single factor is never sufficient by
itself to spark a major event--hence the need for continuous research,
for continuous sorting, sifting, weighing and testing of all possible
factors until the "certainties" come to light as codified precepts. In
the study of earthquakes, the role of SATURN is unquestionable, a
certainty of the first order. URANUS and PLUTO also appear to pull
rank on the other planets where seismic disturbances are concerned, and
we have many Lunar ingress charts for earthquakes showing Mars on the
angle. The part played by Mars is probably more scenic than germane
but we cannot be sure until research isolates its chief duties in this
regard. Mars symbolizes fire, fright and pain, or in one word from the
purely humanized point of view, adrenalin. Those of you who have
experienced a sizeable earthquake will appreciate our choice of
adrenalin as Mars most effective keyword.
The newspaper played up an anecdotal item in the reporting of the
April 13, 1949 tremor that jiggled the Northwest, rather strongly
exciting the Seattle area at 11:56 AM PST. Seems as how a college
professor had just finished explaining to his class why the area was
virtually immune to an earthquake of consequence when the shaking
started. The Northwest quake was no "great shakes" as historic
earthquakes go, but did enough minor damage over a wide swath to rank
as the years's best in the west. Astrologically it was a Uranian
affair through and through, for Uranus was exactly on the Descendant of
the Caplunar chart for the period, exactly on the Ascendant of the
Cansolar chart for the year, exactly square the Midheaven of the
Capsolar chart for the year, and was exactly on the Nadir of the
quotidian for the day of the event itself--in short, an astonishing a
display of Uranian contacts as one could ever run across. Just the
same, Saturn was really the ring-master of the Uranian circus,
transiting at the Nadir for the preceding Cancer Ingress.
ON THE RIGHT TRACK
Here we see a situation that would ordinarily be noticed, remarked
about, and then let pass were it not for the fact that a similar setup
is known to have prevailed where other West Coast earthquakes were
concerned. In fact, Southern California's two worst earthquakes of
modern times--the Long Beach one of 1933 and Tehachapi's 1952
nightmare--synchronized with identical performances by Saturn and
Uranus. All the contacts involved were within a degree of exact phase.
At long Beach on March 10, 1933 at 5:15 PM PST, Saturn had been
transiting the Descendant of the Cansolar chart of the period. The
quake struck when the quotidian Nadir had moved around to a conjunction
with transiting Uranus, the epicenter being offshore at Newport Beach.
The epicenter of the Tehachapi disturbance was ten miles south of that
stricken town. The quake occurred at 3:52 AM PST on July 21, 1952,
with Saturn transiting the Capricorn Ingress Ascendant and Uranus
conjunct the Nadir of the quotidian chart! Notice the repetition of
pattern: Saturn crossing the horizon of a Sidereal Solar Ingress map
and Uranus crossing the meridian of the quotidian map in each instance.
We have not as yet undertaken an exhaustive study of earthquakes in
the light of mundane Astrology's newly unveiled tool, but hope that by
citing the foregoing examples we have whetted the interest of many
students in this subject. Perhaps we have already unearthed a few
preliminary rules, among them those just indicated and such guesses as
the Uranus in the foreground of Lunar ingress is a condition of
earthquakes that might hold up under statistical analysis. That we are
on the right track was just corroborated by the recent San Francisco
quiverings, the scariest of which rocked the Bay area at about 11:45 AM
PST, March 22, 1957. Four days earlier a considerable jolt caused
scattered damage in Ventura and Oxnard down the coast, and San Diegans
reported minor shocks this same week. Uranus as usual was in the
immediate foreground of California's Caplunar, with Mars in the exact
degree of San Francisco's Ascendant where it guaranteed an
overproduction of adrenalin in the population. The immediate Lunar
ingress, however, spelled it out in the unmistakable language of
astrology at its simplest; Saturn was exactly conjunct the Nadir of the
great San Andreas fault. And what is more, the quotidian for the San
Francisco area that day had Pluto on an angle 'in mundo,' repeating a
feature in the quotidian of the 1906 shock!
MARS, A REAL SCORCHER
The transit of Mars in the immediate foreground of the Capsolar
quotidian is undoubtedly one of the chief indicators of disasters,
particularly of the fiery and explosive type. The record of past
performance by this one configuration is so amazing that henceforth
mundane forecasts published for advance periods will hardly be complete
without a description of the geographic areas to be affected by such
influences. Our first three illustrations in last month's article, you
will remember, were the quotidians for three of the worst public
tragedies in modern history, viz., the Bombay waterfront holocaust of
1944, the Ohio prison fire of 1930, and the Texas school disaster of
1937. Because the closeness of Mars to an angular point in each of
these cases, the three examples alone would be justification for
listing the circumstance as another astrological certainty.
Comparative rarity of this circumstance--transiting Mars conjunct a
quotidian angular cusp--makes its high incidence in disaster statistics
even more provocative. The quotidian chart for any given locality
makes one full revolution in the course of a sidereal year, which means
that all radical planets at the time of the ingress are carried over
all four of the angular cusps in the subsequent twelve months. Every
such passage has recognizable mundane effects, but it takes a compact
of several more unique factors to actually bring about a momentous
event. Transiting Mars, however, sweeps our roughly half of the zodiac
in a year's time, which slows considerably its average rate of motion
relative to the moving quotidian cusps.
Subsequently, for most localities, Mars can make only two contacts
with the angular cusps in a year's time. In some regions, it is
possible to have three actual contacts with the angles before the
sidereal year expires. When Mars is within orb of such cuspal
conjunctions, the general area is dangerously exposed to the likelihood
of serious fires and appalling public tragedies. The closer the
contact, the greater the danger. And if malefics hound the angles of
the current Lunar ingress figures, or the quotidian transit is
reinforced by a similar adverse pattern in the static framework of the
Solar ingresses, the possibility of a conflagration of some sort
becomes a virtual inevitability.
FIGURE 2. COMPOSITE CHART FOR FOUR GREAT FIRE DISASTERS SHOWING
PROXIMITY OF MARS TO QUOTIDIAN ANGLES OF THE LOCALITIES ON FATEFUL
DATES. MC 21SAG17 - Mars 22SAG59; ASC 23VIR44 - Mars 23VIR30; IC
5SCO35 - Mars 5SCO35; DSC 9AQU17 - Mars 8AQU40. (Tropical longitudes.)
Bearing in mind the examples already used so far in this series,
inspect Figure 2 which is another combination wheel showing transiting
Mars conjunct the respective angles of the quotidians for famous fires
and fiery blasts of the past. Again for the convenience of most
readers, and those newer students who want to retrace our examples via
the standard material at their disposal, the longitudes given in the
chart are Tropical. The Ascendant of this chart is for the
geographical latitude description in the World Almanac news chronology:
"Nearly every home and building in South Amboy was wrecked or damaged
May 19, 1950 when 4 barges loaded with 467 tons of ammunition blew up
at the Pennsylvania Railroad docks, showering the town with thousands
of antipersonnel bombs. Thirty persons were killed; 350 injured; only
4 bodies were recovered....Gov. Driscoll declared martial law and 500
Army troops from Fort Monmouth evacuated most of the residents....Two
days later, fire in a chemical planet 100 yards away set off 100 drums
of phosphorus which again rocked the blast area and detonated 100 mines
floating in Raritan Bay." This is about as Martian an experience as a
town of 9,000 citizens could conceivably undergo! And Mars was right
in there to the hilt!
The Nadir of Figure 2 is that for Cleveland, Ohio on October 21,
1944, when a series of liquid gas tank explosions killed at least 135
persons, the exact number having never been ascertained because the
incineration was so complete. Wartime 1944 in the United States was a
year of tragic accidents and dreadful fires, the Sidereal ingresses for
the dates and sites, strewn from Port Chicago, California to a circus
ground in Hartford, Connecticut, calling the lethal turns accurately in
every case.
Though not the worst in American history, the flash fire in the
Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York on March 25, 1911 is
surely one of the most notorious. Out of the public and official
indignation that waxed so hotly after expose of the conditions under
which this fire was possible, grew many of our most far-reaching labor
reform laws. No less than 145 employees, most of them women met their
deaths in this inferno, a needless mass sacrifice often said to be
commemorated by the modern union label. The astrology of the disaster
is clear-cut; a major contributing cause was the transit of Mars over
the Quotidian horizon of Manhattan.
The Midheaven of our illustration shows the proximity of Mars tot he
Quotidian meridian of Atlanta, Georgia the night of December 7, 1946
when the most disastrous hotel fire in our country's history engulfed
the 15-story Winecoff Hotel, killing 121 guests trapped on upper
floors. It is difficult to comprehend the horror of this event even
after seeing newsfilm clips of people choosing to leap to their deaths
rather than roast alive. In the 1946 Capsolar chart Mars and Saturn
were closely conjunct and opposed to the Sun in Atlanta's immediate
foreground. It took the Quotidian to focus the incendiary rays of Mars
on the area, aided and abetted by an obviously fire-prone Lunar
ingress.
SOCIO-POLITICAL EFFECTS
Our three-part progress report so far has only briefly or indirectly
touched on the vital matter of socio-political effects of the Sidereal
ingresses, and readers are no doubt wondering if our new mundane tool
enables us to predetermine trends and eventualities of this nature
with the same accuracy it has in connection with disasters and
geophysical affairs. In plainer words, do they pre-shadow wars,
revolutions, deaths of public leaders, economic crises and the like?
The answer is an unqualified, resounding Yes, but woe to the writer who
bursts into print with confidential worded "rules" based on scattered
examples of isolated cases which seem to ring true, only to fall down
when given the statistical treatment. Astrological literature is
already riddled with endless notions originating in inspired
imaginations rather than verifiable reality, a cute example being
"Aquarius rules stairways" based on the resemblance of that sign's
symbol, when tilted, to flights of steps! Now, Aquarius might very
definitely rule stairways, just as Cancer might very well rule crab
apples, but if astrology is to deserve the title of science, let us
have sounder reasons than magical associations for the ideas we put
forth.
In months to come we plan to give our readers complete reports on
the ingress statistics pertaining to such subjects as outbreaks of war,
assassinations, changes of administration and governmental coups, and
financial panics. Also in the immediate future if the demand for such
labor-saving study material is great enough to warrant the project, we
will publish a complete volume of the elements of all the Solar and
Lunar ingresses of the four cardinal constellations over at least a
sixty-year period. Already available to students is a complete
ephemeris of the synetic vernal point, calculated to tenths of seconds
of arc for every ten-day interval between 1881 and 1960, with tables
showing how to reckon the exact time of any date from 1760 to 2000 A.D.
This ephemeris enables one to find the exact time of any of the Solar
or Lunar ingresses with the same ease by which the Tropical ingresses
are calculable.
One of the outstanding merits of the Sidereal approach is the way in
which the traditional concepts of astrology--via basic planetary
concepts in astrology--via basic planetary symbolism on which there is
universal agreement among the several schools of though--are
demonstrated to be true. The simplicity of the demonstration is the
thing to marvel at; meetings of heads of state, as with Eisenhower and
Macmillan at Bermuda, for a recent example, occur when the ingresses
show Jupiter right on an angular cusp at the conference place. An
airplane crashes headlong into a skyscraper: Mercury is rising in
square to Mars. A dam burst and flood waters wash a town and its
people into oblivion when a quadruple conjunction of the Sun, Neptune,
Pluto and Mars crowds the Nadir of the ill-fated valley.
The Sun is extremely emblematic of authority and political
figureheads. So it is no surprise that Sun-Saturn angular formations
in the ingresses, often supported by an ominous Neptune, are
characteristic of charts spanning periods marked by the deaths of
national leaders. It is startling to observe how effectively the
planet Mars becomes intertwined in the pattern in cases of
assassinations as contrasted with natural demise. Siderealists have
been criticized occasionally for evincing so much enthusiasm in behalf
of their findings and methods. This enthusiasm, admittedly, is
difficult to restrain in view of such astonishing Sidereal charts as
those covering the deaths of American Presidents and European
sovereigns in the past. As student of astrology can't help being
enthusiastic about an astrological concept which has no trouble
regularly throwing Sun-Saturn formations into the immediate foreground
of places where and when the deaths of Presidents and Kings occur!
PERSONAL OVERTONES!
The corollary to be drawn up from all the evidence is: planetary
influences for given times and localities are mainly regulated by and
filtered through the foreground of the celestial sphere as defined by
the Solar and Lunar ingresses of the [classical] cardinal
constellations of the zodiac. But to what degree this means a
qualifying factor on transiting influences where the individual
horoscope is concerned remains to be seen. There is no doubt in my
mind, after inspection of the charts applying to deaths of national
figureheads, coronations and public festivities, and so on, that the
charts of the individuals in question were very definitely affected.
For instance, Presidents of nations do not get murdered unless their
personal horoscopes, mainly via their Solunars, reflect it; astrology
itself would be a farce were this no so. And yet the Sidereal
ingresses also show this eventuality, often with an explicitness of
planetary symbolism that could hardly be improved upon theoretically.
Therefore, we are forced to conclude that the mundane atmosphere, has a
literal modifying effect on private, or rather, personal lives. This
is what mundane Astrology has long maintained by inference and
innuendo. Public figures are a special breed, true, but they survive
horrible patterns in their personal charts with nothing more drastic
happening than catching a cold, just as they pass through remarkably
fortunate periods with little more glory in than a new suit--just as we
all do. Perhaps the mundane framework at the time is a prohibitive,
limiting element in people's lives, whether they are listed in the
social register or not.
A good way to test this would be to scrutinize the mundane backdrop
of our personal horoscopic disappointments, a subject not often brought
up openly. We've all experienced disappointment when some suspicious
configuration in our charts failed to measure up to what we had looked
forward to, treating us to a bottle of pop when the very least we had
expected was a case of champagne. Then there are times when a
seemingly trivial transit will go hogwild in heaping blessings on us,
far out of proportion to what we could have anticipated in our most
optimistic moments. Perhaps the secret of these strange, sporadic
modifications and amplifications lies in the proximity of the
transiting bodies concerned to the place one happens to be at the time.
Maybe the reason Jupiter failed to work for you as fully as expected
was that he was hampered from doing so, restrained from "vibrating at
full blast," by being cadent (or doubly cadent, or triply cadent, as
the case may be from the charts in current operation) for your locality
during the partile phase of his transit. Or maybe that minor aspect of
Venus behaved so beautifully in your behalf because Venus was able, at
the time, via her mundane proximity to you, to turn on all her charms,
thus magnifying an otherwise second-rate transit.
This is just dreamy theorizing, of course, a form of thinking out
loud on the writer's part, but the possibility should be explored. The
idea began to jell when the writer chanced to notice that the degree
holding his natal Jupiter was on the quotidian Midheaven of his
hometown on the day many years ago which he still considers the
happiest day of his life. If this means anything....the tieup between
personal and purely impersonal mundane charts could go a long way
toward accounting for what skeptics think of as one of astrology's
weakest points--the advance evaluations of the strength of any
influence.
In winding this report up, the thought also occurs that a most
effective means of using the Sidereal charts as predictive instruments
for published mundane forecasts would be through simplified
geographical maps showing the zones on the Earth's surface where
planetary impulses are heavily concentrated during any given period.
For the ingresses themselves as radical epochs, the zones of such maps
would be "fixed" for the period in question. Special maps for
continental or national regions could easily be designed so that the
paths of moving bodies, particularly that of transiting Mars in
relation to the quotidian circles, can be represented on a time scale
given the dates when the planet passes over the horizons and meridians
of cities and places of particular interest like fault lines and
defense installations! This is just a suggestion; the vital thing
right now is to continue vigorous research, forming our concepts and
precepts from observation rather than from what just seems logical.
* * * *
ABOMINABLE CHARTS
FIGURE 1. PROGRESSED CAPSOLAR BOMBAY, INDIA, APRIL 14, 1944, 4:04 PM
IST: Inner circle = CAP Ingress planets: Mars 11TAU04, Uranus
11TAU13rx, Saturn 26TAU54rx, Pluto 13CAN57rx, Jupiter 1LEO27rx, Moon
22LEO17, Neptune 10VIR17rx, Venus 24SCO27, Mercury 16SAG24, Sun 0CAP00.
[NEP IC and MER DES on progressed angles] Outer circle = planets at
time of first explosion: MC 6PIS24; ASC 14GEM07; Venus 10PIS55, Sun
0ARI25, Mercury 19ARI36, Uranus 12TAU28, Saturn 28TAU18, Mars 14GEM52,
Pluto 12CAN27rx, Jupiter 23CAN05, Neptune 8VIR21rx, Moon 8SAG21. [VEN
MC, MARS ASC, NEP IC]
We think that Figure 1, which is the progressed Capsolar otherwise
known as the quotidian, for the Bombay disaster is self-explanatory.
The planets in the inner circle are positions at the moment of the
Capricorn ingress and the outer circle shows the planets as of the
minute of the first big explosion. The first blast took place at the
very minute the Moon and Neptune were completing their zodiacal square
in the sky, which is interesting since the square falls in the
immediate foreground of the Quotidian for Bombay. The student can find
the "static radical" cusps of the ingress chart itself, the latitude
being 18d 57' North and the Sidereal Time, 18:04:36. He'll find that
transits to the Capsolar cusps themselves are enough to "account for"
the disaster. The Quotidian also dated it exactly, as witness the
astounding placement of transiting Mars in the very degree on Bombay's
Ascendant!
FIGURE 2. PROGRESSED CAPSOLAR. COLUMBUS, OHIO, APRIL 21, 1930, 5:20 PM
EST. MC4PIS04; ASC 23GEM01; Inner circle = Capsolar Planets: Uranus
14PIS03, Jupiter 13TAU04rx, Pluto 24GEM40rx, Moon 28GEM54, Neptune
9LEO25rx, Saturn 11SAG33, Mars 18SAG30, Venus 24SAG28, Sun 0CAP00,
Mercury 14CAP17rx. [PLU ASC, VEN DSC, Mars DSC loose]. Outer circle =
planets for Ohio Penitentiary Fire: Mars 4PIS05, Uranus 18PIS43, Sun
7ARI18, Venus 25ARI43, Mercury 26ARI16, Jupiter 21TAU45, Pluto
23GEM46rx, Neptune 7LEO09rx, Saturn 18SAG07, Moon 18CAP18. [MARS MC,
PLU ASC, SAT DSC loose,]
Consider now Figure 2 which is as abominable a chart as could be
imagined. It is the quotidian for 5:20 pm EST, April 21, 1930, for
Columbus, Ohio, the hour of the shocking Ohio Penitentiary fire which
burned 320 trapped men to death. Again the chart needs no commentary
to persuade the reader that the discovery of the sidereal ingresses is
a milestone in astrology's advancement.
FIGURE 3. PROGRESSED CAPSOLAR. NEW LONDON, TEXAS, MARCH 18, 1937,
3:05 PM CST: MC 6SCO54; ASC 21CAP49; Inner circle = Capsolar planets:
Jupiter 15SAG58, Sun 0CAP00, Mercury 1CAP11rx, Moon 21CAP00, Venus
15AQU34, Saturn 24AQU34, Uranus 11ARI45, Pluto 3CAN52rx, Neptune
24LEO57rx, Mars 10LIB43. [MOON ASC, NEP DSC] Outer circle = planets
for New London School disaster: Mars 7SCO48, Jupiter 28SAG38, Mercury
27AQU52, Saturn 1PIS41, Sun 4PIS00, Venus 10ARI28, Uranus 3ARI25, Moon
26TAU05, Pluto 2CAN44rx, Neptune 23LEO26rx. [MARS MC, NEP DSC]
Look at Figure 3 and see the same culmination of transiting Mars in
the Quotidian of another place at the moment of another historic
tragedy. The place: New London, Texas. The time: 3:05 pm CST, March
18, 1937. The New London School disaster is still too gruesome a
national memory to need description. This quotidian is bad enough but
digest this fact: The Capsolar itself for New London had a sidereal
time of 11:43:42--placing 1VIR41' on the Midheaven. At the time of the
disaster, transiting Saturn was 1PIS41', exactly on New London's
Midheaven while Mars in the quotidian was hovering overhead.
So far all our charts have been given in zodiacal terms for
convenience, whereas it is a known fact, to us a least, that to be
strictly scientific, all charts should be calculated in their
mundoscope frames of reference if the true geometric relationships of
the planets to a particular place on the Earth's surface are to be
appreciated. The adoption of mundoscopy does not saddle astrology with
as many complications as one might think at first for its advantages
far outweigh the little extra work that is called for. when planets
have more than a couple of degrees of latitude away from the ecliptic,
the purely zodiacal version of a chart cannot take account of the
departures. We'll go further into this matter if readers and students
generally want more light and "do it yourself" instructions.
Meanwhile, to prove how simple and startlingly clear a mundoscope
can be, our fourth illustration is the quotidian for the time of the
great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. In a mundoscope the house are
each exactly thirty degrees in breadth. In view of the fact that the
Capsolar progress about a degree every day, we know you'll agree that
Figure 4 is breathtaking for its lucidity and the way it timed the
disturbances exactly. Even the ensuing Great Fire which gutted the
whole of downtown San Francisco is unmistakably represented.
FIGURE 4. MUNDOSCOPE PROGRESSED CAPSOLAR, SAN FRANCISCO, APRIL 18,
1906, 5:13 AM PST: (MUNDOSCOPE of 30 degrees each house: MC 0
degrees, ASC 90 degrees, IC 180 degrees, DSC 270 degrees.) Inner
circle = Capsolar planets. 0-30: Mercury 23d24'; 30-60: Uranus 0d30',
Venus 16d46', Sun 25d29'; 60-90: Saturn 24d58'; 90-120: Mars 1d00';
120-150: Jupiter 20d12'; 180-210: Pluto 2d22'; 210-240: Neptune 4d23';
240-270: Moon 29d58'. [MARS ASC, PLU IC, MOON DSC] Outer circle =
progressed planets. 30-60: Uranus 5d11'; 60-90: Moon 24d11'; 90-120:
Saturn 0d38', Mercury 12d43', Sun 23d25'; 120-150: Venus 5d37', Mars
14d55'; 150-180: Jupiter 4d58'; 180-210: Pluto 1d40'; 210-240: Neptune
3d12'. [SAT ASC, PLU IC]
Section 3: July 1957, Garth Allen, UNVEILING A NEW TOOL
...Entering A New Era in Mundane Forecasting...
The discovery that the Sidereal ingresses do work has raised the
curtain on vast new vistas for astrological exploration. For one
thing, the development of a method for the prediction of earthquakes
now looms as a distinct possibility. What limited charting of past
earthquakes we have done so far has been so impressive that we hope
there are many students who will apply their talents to this special
field of inquiry so that a list of "certainties" might ultimately be
drawn up and form the basis for what could be called astro-seismology.
By certainties we mean the drawing of precepts concerning factors which
have been found to repeat so often in the chart work of past earthquake
activity that the repetition can hardly be written off as coincidence.
Already, this soon after the pivotal discovery of the legitimacy of
Sidereal Ingresses, such precepts have come to light. The reader will
recall the fourth illustration in last month's article, a quotidian
mundoscope for the moment of the great San Francisco upheaval of 1906,
how that transiting Saturn was within a degree of the horizon. There
were numerous other eye-catching features of equal importance in this
chart, of course, but our concern of the moment is to test this
singular circumstance--transiting Saturn conjunct a quotidian angle--to
see if it was a chance occurrence. If it was pure coincidence, it will
not be in evidence often enough in the charts of other major
earthquakes to have countered the rules of probability.
CHAMPION EARTHQUAKES
The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey recently released to the press a
brief list of what scientists consider to have been the greatest
earthquakes in history, fifteen of which have taken place in the last
hundred years. These were only the whoppers, the world champion
shakeups of all time. One on the list was the Krakatau catastrophe,
which we have already discussed, so let us drop it from our array.
Four others on the list were not geographically identified other than
as to continent, so it is not possible to chart them for the time
being. This leaves us a test sample of ten dates and places, including
the famous San Francisco temblor.
FIGURE 1. COMPOSITE CHART FOR THREE GREAT EARTHQUAKES SHOWING
PROXIMITY OF SATURN TO QUOTIDIAN ANGLES OF THE LOCALITIES ON FATEFUL
DATES. MC 28VIR37 - Saturn 28VIR45; ASC 13PIS05 - Saturn 11PIS24;
DSC 23ARI30 - Saturn 24ARI25. (In tropical longitudes)
For the convenience of the average reader not yet able to handle
sidereal calculations with ease, we are retaining the zodiacal
positions shown in Figure 1 in tropical longitude. This chart is a
composite one, its Ascendant being that for the San Francisco quotidian
shown last month in mundoscope form. Here, incidentally is sterling
proof of the value of expressing points in any chart as positions along
the prime vertical. Compare the mundoscope position in last month's
chart with the equivalent ecliptic position used here--Saturn is 1d41
above Ascendant by longitude, but is 0d38' under the Ascendant by
mundane calculations. Also note this clincher: Saturn was applying to
a conjunction of ingress Mars on the Ascendant by only 0d22' when the
quake set off the fire that burned most to the city to the ground. By
contrast, the zodiacal difference between the malefics was 2d18'.
Quite as impressive is the quotidian Descendant for the date and
epicenter of the terrible Erzingan, Turkey Earthquake of December 27,
1939, with its official death toll of 23,000 although news chronologies
continue to carry the figure 50,000. The tropical longitude of the
Descendant and Saturn are indicated in our composite chart. Compare
the fact that the ecliptic distance of Saturn from the cusp is 0d55'
with the fact that calculation places the actual mundane position of
the planet at 270d 02' from the upper meridian, or just 0d02' above the
horizon at Erzingan! It is obvious that one of the greatest single
improvements in astrological methods will be remedying distortions
caused by latitude of positions in horoscopy. To depict a chart in
easy-to-read mundoscope terms is the solution.
The third facet of our composite chart, its Midheaven, is the
quotidian circumstance of the earthquake that enveloped Manila on June
3, 1868. Some 10,000 persons perished in this calamity, familiar to
many students as one of the late L. Edward Johndro's prize
illustrations in THE EARTH AND THE HEAVENS. Incidentally, Johndro was
truly one of Sidereal Astrology's Johnny Appleseeds; were he still with
us in the flesh there is no question but that he would be an
enthusiastic front-runner in behalf of the Sidereal school. Again we
see transiting Saturn precariously close to an angle of the quotidian
chart for the locality on the exact date of an historic catastrophe.
Surely, such repetition of the same malevolent feature cannot be
dismissed as coincidence by the skeptic. Had our test sample been many
times bigger than it is, the three recurrences would still represent a
serious enough violation of the law of averages to dispel any doubt as
to the validity of our method.
Naturally, in astrology a single factor is never sufficient by
itself to spark a major event--hence the need for continuous research,
for continuous sorting, sifting, weighing and testing of all possible
factors until the "certainties" come to light as codified precepts. In
the study of earthquakes, the role of SATURN is unquestionable, a
certainty of the first order. URANUS and PLUTO also appear to pull
rank on the other planets where seismic disturbances are concerned, and
we have many Lunar ingress charts for earthquakes showing Mars on the
angle. The part played by Mars is probably more scenic than germane
but we cannot be sure until research isolates its chief duties in this
regard. Mars symbolizes fire, fright and pain, or in one word from the
purely humanized point of view, adrenalin. Those of you who have
experienced a sizeable earthquake will appreciate our choice of
adrenalin as Mars most effective keyword.
The newspaper played up an anecdotal item in the reporting of the
April 13, 1949 tremor that jiggled the Northwest, rather strongly
exciting the Seattle area at 11:56 AM PST. Seems as how a college
professor had just finished explaining to his class why the area was
virtually immune to an earthquake of consequence when the shaking
started. The Northwest quake was no "great shakes" as historic
earthquakes go, but did enough minor damage over a wide swath to rank
as the years's best in the west. Astrologically it was a Uranian
affair through and through, for Uranus was exactly on the Descendant of
the Caplunar chart for the period, exactly on the Ascendant of the
Cansolar chart for the year, exactly square the Midheaven of the
Capsolar chart for the year, and was exactly on the Nadir of the
quotidian for the day of the event itself--in short, an astonishing a
display of Uranian contacts as one could ever run across. Just the
same, Saturn was really the ring-master of the Uranian circus,
transiting at the Nadir for the preceding Cancer Ingress.
ON THE RIGHT TRACK
Here we see a situation that would ordinarily be noticed, remarked
about, and then let pass were it not for the fact that a similar setup
is known to have prevailed where other West Coast earthquakes were
concerned. In fact, Southern California's two worst earthquakes of
modern times--the Long Beach one of 1933 and Tehachapi's 1952
nightmare--synchronized with identical performances by Saturn and
Uranus. All the contacts involved were within a degree of exact phase.
At long Beach on March 10, 1933 at 5:15 PM PST, Saturn had been
transiting the Descendant of the Cansolar chart of the period. The
quake struck when the quotidian Nadir had moved around to a conjunction
with transiting Uranus, the epicenter being offshore at Newport Beach.
The epicenter of the Tehachapi disturbance was ten miles south of that
stricken town. The quake occurred at 3:52 AM PST on July 21, 1952,
with Saturn transiting the Capricorn Ingress Ascendant and Uranus
conjunct the Nadir of the quotidian chart! Notice the repetition of
pattern: Saturn crossing the horizon of a Sidereal Solar Ingress map
and Uranus crossing the meridian of the quotidian map in each instance.
We have not as yet undertaken an exhaustive study of earthquakes in
the light of mundane Astrology's newly unveiled tool, but hope that by
citing the foregoing examples we have whetted the interest of many
students in this subject. Perhaps we have already unearthed a few
preliminary rules, among them those just indicated and such guesses as
the Uranus in the foreground of Lunar ingress is a condition of
earthquakes that might hold up under statistical analysis. That we are
on the right track was just corroborated by the recent San Francisco
quiverings, the scariest of which rocked the Bay area at about 11:45 AM
PST, March 22, 1957. Four days earlier a considerable jolt caused
scattered damage in Ventura and Oxnard down the coast, and San Diegans
reported minor shocks this same week. Uranus as usual was in the
immediate foreground of California's Caplunar, with Mars in the exact
degree of San Francisco's Ascendant where it guaranteed an
overproduction of adrenalin in the population. The immediate Lunar
ingress, however, spelled it out in the unmistakable language of
astrology at its simplest; Saturn was exactly conjunct the Nadir of the
great San Andreas fault. And what is more, the quotidian for the San
Francisco area that day had Pluto on an angle 'in mundo,' repeating a
feature in the quotidian of the 1906 shock!
MARS, A REAL SCORCHER
The transit of Mars in the immediate foreground of the Capsolar
quotidian is undoubtedly one of the chief indicators of disasters,
particularly of the fiery and explosive type. The record of past
performance by this one configuration is so amazing that henceforth
mundane forecasts published for advance periods will hardly be complete
without a description of the geographic areas to be affected by such
influences. Our first three illustrations in last month's article, you
will remember, were the quotidians for three of the worst public
tragedies in modern history, viz., the Bombay waterfront holocaust of
1944, the Ohio prison fire of 1930, and the Texas school disaster of
1937. Because the closeness of Mars to an angular point in each of
these cases, the three examples alone would be justification for
listing the circumstance as another astrological certainty.
Comparative rarity of this circumstance--transiting Mars conjunct a
quotidian angular cusp--makes its high incidence in disaster statistics
even more provocative. The quotidian chart for any given locality
makes one full revolution in the course of a sidereal year, which means
that all radical planets at the time of the ingress are carried over
all four of the angular cusps in the subsequent twelve months. Every
such passage has recognizable mundane effects, but it takes a compact
of several more unique factors to actually bring about a momentous
event. Transiting Mars, however, sweeps our roughly half of the zodiac
in a year's time, which slows considerably its average rate of motion
relative to the moving quotidian cusps.
Subsequently, for most localities, Mars can make only two contacts
with the angular cusps in a year's time. In some regions, it is
possible to have three actual contacts with the angles before the
sidereal year expires. When Mars is within orb of such cuspal
conjunctions, the general area is dangerously exposed to the likelihood
of serious fires and appalling public tragedies. The closer the
contact, the greater the danger. And if malefics hound the angles of
the current Lunar ingress figures, or the quotidian transit is
reinforced by a similar adverse pattern in the static framework of the
Solar ingresses, the possibility of a conflagration of some sort
becomes a virtual inevitability.
FIGURE 2. COMPOSITE CHART FOR FOUR GREAT FIRE DISASTERS SHOWING
PROXIMITY OF MARS TO QUOTIDIAN ANGLES OF THE LOCALITIES ON FATEFUL
DATES. MC 21SAG17 - Mars 22SAG59; ASC 23VIR44 - Mars 23VIR30; IC
5SCO35 - Mars 5SCO35; DSC 9AQU17 - Mars 8AQU40. (Tropical longitudes.)
Bearing in mind the examples already used so far in this series,
inspect Figure 2 which is another combination wheel showing transiting
Mars conjunct the respective angles of the quotidians for famous fires
and fiery blasts of the past. Again for the convenience of most
readers, and those newer students who want to retrace our examples via
the standard material at their disposal, the longitudes given in the
chart are Tropical. The Ascendant of this chart is for the
geographical latitude description in the World Almanac news chronology:
"Nearly every home and building in South Amboy was wrecked or damaged
May 19, 1950 when 4 barges loaded with 467 tons of ammunition blew up
at the Pennsylvania Railroad docks, showering the town with thousands
of antipersonnel bombs. Thirty persons were killed; 350 injured; only
4 bodies were recovered....Gov. Driscoll declared martial law and 500
Army troops from Fort Monmouth evacuated most of the residents....Two
days later, fire in a chemical planet 100 yards away set off 100 drums
of phosphorus which again rocked the blast area and detonated 100 mines
floating in Raritan Bay." This is about as Martian an experience as a
town of 9,000 citizens could conceivably undergo! And Mars was right
in there to the hilt!
The Nadir of Figure 2 is that for Cleveland, Ohio on October 21,
1944, when a series of liquid gas tank explosions killed at least 135
persons, the exact number having never been ascertained because the
incineration was so complete. Wartime 1944 in the United States was a
year of tragic accidents and dreadful fires, the Sidereal ingresses for
the dates and sites, strewn from Port Chicago, California to a circus
ground in Hartford, Connecticut, calling the lethal turns accurately in
every case.
Though not the worst in American history, the flash fire in the
Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York on March 25, 1911 is
surely one of the most notorious. Out of the public and official
indignation that waxed so hotly after expose of the conditions under
which this fire was possible, grew many of our most far-reaching labor
reform laws. No less than 145 employees, most of them women met their
deaths in this inferno, a needless mass sacrifice often said to be
commemorated by the modern union label. The astrology of the disaster
is clear-cut; a major contributing cause was the transit of Mars over
the Quotidian horizon of Manhattan.
The Midheaven of our illustration shows the proximity of Mars tot he
Quotidian meridian of Atlanta, Georgia the night of December 7, 1946
when the most disastrous hotel fire in our country's history engulfed
the 15-story Winecoff Hotel, killing 121 guests trapped on upper
floors. It is difficult to comprehend the horror of this event even
after seeing newsfilm clips of people choosing to leap to their deaths
rather than roast alive. In the 1946 Capsolar chart Mars and Saturn
were closely conjunct and opposed to the Sun in Atlanta's immediate
foreground. It took the Quotidian to focus the incendiary rays of Mars
on the area, aided and abetted by an obviously fire-prone Lunar
ingress.
SOCIO-POLITICAL EFFECTS
Our three-part progress report so far has only briefly or indirectly
touched on the vital matter of socio-political effects of the Sidereal
ingresses, and readers are no doubt wondering if our new mundane tool
enables us to predetermine trends and eventualities of this nature
with the same accuracy it has in connection with disasters and
geophysical affairs. In plainer words, do they pre-shadow wars,
revolutions, deaths of public leaders, economic crises and the like?
The answer is an unqualified, resounding Yes, but woe to the writer who
bursts into print with confidential worded "rules" based on scattered
examples of isolated cases which seem to ring true, only to fall down
when given the statistical treatment. Astrological literature is
already riddled with endless notions originating in inspired
imaginations rather than verifiable reality, a cute example being
"Aquarius rules stairways" based on the resemblance of that sign's
symbol, when tilted, to flights of steps! Now, Aquarius might very
definitely rule stairways, just as Cancer might very well rule crab
apples, but if astrology is to deserve the title of science, let us
have sounder reasons than magical associations for the ideas we put
forth.
In months to come we plan to give our readers complete reports on
the ingress statistics pertaining to such subjects as outbreaks of war,
assassinations, changes of administration and governmental coups, and
financial panics. Also in the immediate future if the demand for such
labor-saving study material is great enough to warrant the project, we
will publish a complete volume of the elements of all the Solar and
Lunar ingresses of the four cardinal constellations over at least a
sixty-year period. Already available to students is a complete
ephemeris of the synetic vernal point, calculated to tenths of seconds
of arc for every ten-day interval between 1881 and 1960, with tables
showing how to reckon the exact time of any date from 1760 to 2000 A.D.
This ephemeris enables one to find the exact time of any of the Solar
or Lunar ingresses with the same ease by which the Tropical ingresses
are calculable.
One of the outstanding merits of the Sidereal approach is the way in
which the traditional concepts of astrology--via basic planetary
concepts in astrology--via basic planetary symbolism on which there is
universal agreement among the several schools of though--are
demonstrated to be true. The simplicity of the demonstration is the
thing to marvel at; meetings of heads of state, as with Eisenhower and
Macmillan at Bermuda, for a recent example, occur when the ingresses
show Jupiter right on an angular cusp at the conference place. An
airplane crashes headlong into a skyscraper: Mercury is rising in
square to Mars. A dam burst and flood waters wash a town and its
people into oblivion when a quadruple conjunction of the Sun, Neptune,
Pluto and Mars crowds the Nadir of the ill-fated valley.
The Sun is extremely emblematic of authority and political
figureheads. So it is no surprise that Sun-Saturn angular formations
in the ingresses, often supported by an ominous Neptune, are
characteristic of charts spanning periods marked by the deaths of
national leaders. It is startling to observe how effectively the
planet Mars becomes intertwined in the pattern in cases of
assassinations as contrasted with natural demise. Siderealists have
been criticized occasionally for evincing so much enthusiasm in behalf
of their findings and methods. This enthusiasm, admittedly, is
difficult to restrain in view of such astonishing Sidereal charts as
those covering the deaths of American Presidents and European
sovereigns in the past. As student of astrology can't help being
enthusiastic about an astrological concept which has no trouble
regularly throwing Sun-Saturn formations into the immediate foreground
of places where and when the deaths of Presidents and Kings occur!
PERSONAL OVERTONES!
The corollary to be drawn up from all the evidence is: planetary
influences for given times and localities are mainly regulated by and
filtered through the foreground of the celestial sphere as defined by
the Solar and Lunar ingresses of the [classical] cardinal
constellations of the zodiac. But to what degree this means a
qualifying factor on transiting influences where the individual
horoscope is concerned remains to be seen. There is no doubt in my
mind, after inspection of the charts applying to deaths of national
figureheads, coronations and public festivities, and so on, that the
charts of the individuals in question were very definitely affected.
For instance, Presidents of nations do not get murdered unless their
personal horoscopes, mainly via their Solunars, reflect it; astrology
itself would be a farce were this no so. And yet the Sidereal
ingresses also show this eventuality, often with an explicitness of
planetary symbolism that could hardly be improved upon theoretically.
Therefore, we are forced to conclude that the mundane atmosphere, has a
literal modifying effect on private, or rather, personal lives. This
is what mundane Astrology has long maintained by inference and
innuendo. Public figures are a special breed, true, but they survive
horrible patterns in their personal charts with nothing more drastic
happening than catching a cold, just as they pass through remarkably
fortunate periods with little more glory in than a new suit--just as we
all do. Perhaps the mundane framework at the time is a prohibitive,
limiting element in people's lives, whether they are listed in the
social register or not.
A good way to test this would be to scrutinize the mundane backdrop
of our personal horoscopic disappointments, a subject not often brought
up openly. We've all experienced disappointment when some suspicious
configuration in our charts failed to measure up to what we had looked
forward to, treating us to a bottle of pop when the very least we had
expected was a case of champagne. Then there are times when a
seemingly trivial transit will go hogwild in heaping blessings on us,
far out of proportion to what we could have anticipated in our most
optimistic moments. Perhaps the secret of these strange, sporadic
modifications and amplifications lies in the proximity of the
transiting bodies concerned to the place one happens to be at the time.
Maybe the reason Jupiter failed to work for you as fully as expected
was that he was hampered from doing so, restrained from "vibrating at
full blast," by being cadent (or doubly cadent, or triply cadent, as
the case may be from the charts in current operation) for your locality
during the partile phase of his transit. Or maybe that minor aspect of
Venus behaved so beautifully in your behalf because Venus was able, at
the time, via her mundane proximity to you, to turn on all her charms,
thus magnifying an otherwise second-rate transit.
This is just dreamy theorizing, of course, a form of thinking out
loud on the writer's part, but the possibility should be explored. The
idea began to jell when the writer chanced to notice that the degree
holding his natal Jupiter was on the quotidian Midheaven of his
hometown on the day many years ago which he still considers the
happiest day of his life. If this means anything....the tieup between
personal and purely impersonal mundane charts could go a long way
toward accounting for what skeptics think of as one of astrology's
weakest points--the advance evaluations of the strength of any
influence.
In winding this report up, the thought also occurs that a most
effective means of using the Sidereal charts as predictive instruments
for published mundane forecasts would be through simplified
geographical maps showing the zones on the Earth's surface where
planetary impulses are heavily concentrated during any given period.
For the ingresses themselves as radical epochs, the zones of such maps
would be "fixed" for the period in question. Special maps for
continental or national regions could easily be designed so that the
paths of moving bodies, particularly that of transiting Mars in
relation to the quotidian circles, can be represented on a time scale
given the dates when the planet passes over the horizons and meridians
of cities and places of particular interest like fault lines and
defense installations! This is just a suggestion; the vital thing
right now is to continue vigorous research, forming our concepts and
precepts from observation rather than from what just seems logical.
* * * *
Jim Eshelman
www.jeshelman.com
www.jeshelman.com
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Rainfall...
[RAINFALL 1 & 2] Crashing the Atmospheric Science Barrier! Vintage
Garth Allen reporting on his statistical studies in atmospheric science
- the Moon's domination of rainfall, plus Jupiter's angularity, which
findings defined the significance of angular planets (as opposed to
those midway between the cusps), and Jupiter's conjunction with the
galactic center during sidereal lunar ingresses. Allen exalts in
trouncing on establishment thinking, which like the poor is still with
us. As a quintessential Aquarian thinker (Moon ASC in AQU, URA sextile
his SUN, his work in this breakthrough statistical study certainly
opened the way for many followup books on the Moon's influence.
Students of symbolism will appreciate the synchronicity of the
inconstancy of the weather as literally dominated by our Moon and the
inconstancy of one's emotions, a primary association of the Moon in
interpretation. As well, under his name Donald Bradley, Profession and
Birth Date, A Statistical Analysis of Planetary Positions At the
Birthdates of 2492 Eminent Clergymen published in 1950, showed the
validity of the 12 constellation divisions of the zodiac.
The articles below summarize Allen's findings previous to his longer
articles in July & August 1968 in [RAINFALL2].
* * * * *
Garth Allen, "Your Powwow Corner," A. A. 9/57
JUPITER THE RAINMAKER, PLUVIUS RESTORED
...A thunderhead, bristling with lightning, has been Jupiter's
classical symbol from the very dawn of mythology. In fact, Jupiter's
full classical name is Jupiter Pluvius--Jupiter the Rainmaker.
The connection of the planet Jupiter with rain has been germane to
astrology for countless centuries until, and oddly, this last one.
Astrological literature of the past century shows a decided deemphasis
on the pluvial aspects of Jupiter's nature. Many standard sources
bypass this old tenet completely and others cite it mainly as a
sidelight in keeping with the growth motif which Jupiter represents.
This is in sharp contrast to the fact that it is somewhat rare to run
across references to Jupiter in earlier literature which fail to link
this planet with the phenomenon of rain. The great planet is
invariably said to be "warm and moist" in all texts, ancient and
modern, but the implications have changed considerably as time has
passed; even your present writer wrote off the "warm and moist" quality
as having real meaning only in the depth psychological sense. One
reason for the shift, quite naturally, has been Jupiter's latter-day
displacement as the regent of watery Pisces, and his confinement to
Sagittarius, a fiery sign in the modern elemental scheme (a scheme that
really doesn't hold water anyway).
The chief reason for our deliberate forgetfulness where a literal
acceptance of Jupiter's classical powers was concerned is truly to the
credit of modern astrologers. This reason was that there was no
reason, apparently, for continuing to repeat a precept which did not
seem to be justifying itself in actual practice. Jupiter the
Rainmaker? True in a symbolic sense, we said. True as a basic
expression of Jupiter's productiveness, his harvest of abundance and
symbolic showers of blessings. Otherwise, there was not astrological
procedure in use which actually produced facts and figures worth
displaying as examples of a literal application of the old rule.
The most authoritative text on astro-meteorology mentions Jupiter in
connection with fine growing weather and makes a passing remark about
summer showers, but generally discards any coupling of Jupiter with
heavy precipitation. Such a deemphasis is, as we said, to the credit
of modern mundane astrologers for it would have been "more wrong" for
them to have kept parroting an old saw for no observable reason other
than that it was a time-hallowed belief. They have been "more right"
because there has been no chart method in currency which gave evidence
in favor of the old belief. The tired old nineteenth-century mundane
textbook that is still used widely in delineating lunation charts, for
lack of anything else to quote from, has Jupiter in the 4th house
signifying generous rainfall, but that's about the limit to modern
recognition of his rainy disposition.
"Then came the dawn," the dawn of Mundane Astrology's new era,
inaugurated by the revelation of the validity of solar and lunar
ingresses in the sidereal zodiac. One of the many revolutionary
contributions which our new mathematical tool has made to the science
of astrology has been the full-panoplied restoration of Jupiter to his
cumulonimbus throne! The ancient belief in Jupiter's rainmaking
capacity, all but scratched as folklore in present-day astrology, has
suddenly re-emerged on the modern scene as scientific truth. Once
again it has become clear that the fundamentals of astrology were
formulated in early times, not through animistic, magical association
but through intelligent, evaluative observation.
It was visually automatic for students to try their hands at seeing
just what the sidereal ingresses might have to offer the subject of
astro-meteorology. Golden veins of great promise were exposed almost
everywhere the picks of serious students struck experimentally. The
sidereal zodiac was proving to be the true Mother Lode of astrology its
champions have been claiming, and many of its most hard-boiled but
sincere critics have openly expressed amazement at the excellence of
the assay samples yielded by just their trial diggings. And from
outside the fold of astrology itself has rung the most meaningful voice
of all--the conclusion by an accredited scientist at one of the
nation's famous research centers that "This can change everything!" in
the way of science's attitude toward astrology.
Most Vital Discovery
The most vital of all the astro-meteorological discoveries thus far
has been the performance of Jupiter in the LUNAR INGRESS charts for
localities at which the greatest rainstorms on official record have
taken place. While sifting past news chronologies for data about
events of various kinds, mostly disastrous in nature, for later
exhaustive statistical analysis, we chanced to note a seemingly minor
entry for June 3, 1950. The item read: "A 14.21 inch rainfall flooded
Galveston, Texas, inundating the business section."
For a change of pace and subject matter, we casually checked on the
immediate lunar ingress for Galveston, in this case the Moon's entry
into Libra. There was Jupiter on the Midheaven in close square to the
Sun. From previous chartings we had already decided that Neptune was
the primary "flood planet" and this situation was annoying. The mental
emergency created by this big fat Jupiterian configuration was soon
over, however, when we plotted the lunar ingresses for other torrential
downpours on record. The statistics as to the action of Sun-Jupiter
formations, by virtue of proximity to the angles of closeness to exact
aspect, have turned out to be one of the most astonishing arrays of
facts and figures yet realized in the course of astrological research.
But Jupiter, old Pluvius himself, can stand alone where this matter
of "heavy precipitation" is concerned. So one of the big projects
underway at present is the statistical treatment of Jupiter's mundane
placement in the Caplunar ingress charts covering the dates and places
of the greatest amounts of rainfall in 24 hour periods according to the
records of the U.S. Weather Bureau. The official records, up through
1950 and listing the monthly all time highs for each of the 7,335
standard observing stations scattered over the United States, were
published as a public service by our government. Twelve readings are
given for each station, one for each month of the year, with the amount
of precipitation, either as rain or snow equated to its rain equivalent
and the date it was recorded. This enable one to study the 12 historic
highs for any particular station of interest, such as one's own city,
and also eliminates the skewing effect on statistics of seasonal
variations.
The heaviest single downpour in 24 hours was logged as 7.31 inches
on August 11, 1928. A simple calculation of the Moon's Capricorn
ingress prior to this date proves that Jupiter was conjunct
Washington's Midheaven. What is even more impressive is the oddity
that two of the historic monthly highs, records for the months of April
and May, which still hold, were chalked up from two separate storms
occurring within the same sidereal month and thereby falling under the
same Caplunar chart! These two extremes were recorded on April 25,
1889 and on May 7, 1889 and have not been equaled or bettered in all
the decades since. This Moon entered Capricorn at 9:41 A.M., GMT on
April 21, 1889 when the sidereal time at Washington was 6:33:23. Check
on this and you'll find that the tropical M.C. at the nation's capitol
was 7d 40' Cancer--with Jupiter at 8d 15' Capricorn! Amazing, you say?
When you busy yourself with the sidereal zodiac, amazement becomes so
common a reaction one soon gets used to it.
Even before we obtained the complete official records, we had
computed the mundane positions of Jupiter at the moments of the
Caplunars geared to New York City for the dates of Manhattan's heaviest
downfalls in history. The figure reproduced here shows the actual
positions of Jupiter as refereed to New York's prime vertical in the
twelve ingress charts.
JUPITER'S CAPLUNAR POSITIONS:
New York City's Twelve Heaviest rain Downpours in a Century: [Graph
Data in terms of 30 degree segments from 0 to 360 degrees]
near 0 degrees - Jupiter at 29.35', 00.29', 01.56';
near 60 degrees - Jupiter at 8.58';
near 90 degrees - Jupiter at 27.01', 02.25', 14.28';
near 120 degrees - Jupiter at 05.08', 05.12';
near 180 degrees - Jupiter at 26.42';
near 300 degrees - Jupiter at 13.40', 15.00';
Notice that six of the twelve positions are in close proximity to the
[30 degree sections] angles. If you know your math you'll appreciate
the unusualness of this distribution, how that it could hardly have
happened by chance alone even once in millions of samples of twelve
each. Those three instances of conjunction with New York's Midheaven,
incidentally, were the three heaviest of the twelve downpours, which is
quite a coincidence. The technically minded reader will be interested
to know that the deviation ratio for these three Midheaven contacts is
5.94, meaning that the odds are many millions to one against it being
purely fortuitous arrangement. Incidentally, a scientific byproduct of
these and other studies is the assurance that the "ayanamsa" marked by
the synetic vernal point, as we have determined it, is the best
determination so far. Even a slight departure from the adopted value
takes the precision out of the statistical results obtained by strictly
observational studies. The centuries-old search is over!
* * * *
Garth Allen, THE MOON AND TEMPESTS, 2/65 A.A.
Well, they've gone and done it again. The scientists, I mean. Once
again they have "tekeled" one of the major branches of astrological
study, namely astrometeorology, in regard to extra-terrestrial
influences on the weather phenomena of hurricanes. Tekel is a good
word, coming as it does from the handwriting on the wall which Daniel
interpreted to mean, "You are weighed in the balances and found
wanting."
...Tropical storms whip themselves into hurricane spirals much
oftener around the dates of New and Full Moon than around the dates of
the quarter phases. In fact, the pattern is so distinct when the
statistics of all North Atlantic hurricane activity are plotted on a
lunar time scale, meteorologists are unabashedly marveling over their
past failure to notice the anomalous situation.
...The evolution of tropical cyclones into full-blown hurricanes
near the dates of lunar syzygy is only part of the story. There is a
pronounced lunar-distance factor in the picture too.
The scientists expressed surprise that the times of most frequent
occurrence were dates when the Moon was halfway between perigee and
apogee rather than when the tidal or gravitational influence of the
Moon was greatest or least. In other words, maximum disturbance took
place when the tidal pull was undergoing its greatest rate of change,
either accelerating or decelerating, and not when the force itself was
maximal or minimal.
Least frequency was observed in the three days centered on the
second day after apogee, the Moon's greatest distance from Earth during
its 27.55-day cycle of varying distance. The points of highest
frequency, it is provocative to note, occur 90 degrees before and after
this low point.
After the revelations in 1962 that the Moon has a profound effect on
everyday weather conditions, especially on rainfall intensity, dozens
of research centers have been pursuing the subject on a full-time
basis. The December 1964 issue of "Analog" magazine carries a splendid
article giving a rundown on this area of investigation, and duly takes
note of the inevitable astrological backdrop of the story. The only
sorry note about it all stems from our deep impression that the
business of astrometeorologists is to detect and study connections
between weather phenomena and heavenly bodies.
According to recently published scientific papers, the weather
researchers are fast refining their knowledge about the way the Moon's
relationship with precipitation works in the continental United States.
(Other clime and continents have their own peculiar "lunar rainfall
curves" and it is important to keep in mind that what has been found
true for temperate-zone North American weather does not necessarily
hold true for other land masses and latitudes.) For one thing, by way
of illustration, the Moon's local meridional distance or hour angle is
relation to the hour of the day has been found to be an important
factor in triggering off the "lunar rain."
Furthermore, the magnitude of the lunar distance from Earth and the
Moon's lunar effect is tied in directly with both closeness to the
ecliptic plane (and therefore relatively near the Nodes). The chances
for a heavy rain on the third, fourth or fifth day after New moon are
greatly enhanced if the Moon is on the perigee side of its mean orbit
and is within a couple of days of conjuncting the Ascending Node.
For rains on the third to fifth days after Full Moon, proximity to
the Descending Node plus lunar closeness to the Earth are the
probability determinants. Studies of the history of rainfall at 100
American cities show that during the ten percent of the time that these
three factors, the Moon's phase, nearness to perigee, and closeness to
Nodes, are acting in unison, heavy downpours are over four times
likelier than at other times.
Sounds simple and logical enough, but in vain do we look for even an
inkling of these scientifically established facts in the literature of
astrometeorology. It may be pleaded that astrology is primarily a
matter of forecasting by means of charts cast for fixed moments, such
as ingresses or lunar phases, and therefore the more fluid-in-time type
of eventuality is not easily coped with. If this argument really held
water, however, we would have to scrap more than 90 percent of all
pages of an astrological periodical.
What will the fact-finding nonastrologers come up with next? A lot
of remarkable things are in the works, we are told. Things like the
fact that, since the Weather Bureau began keeping detailed records,
there have been three times as many tornadoes in the U.S. during the
three days following Full Moon as during the three days preceding Full
Moon. Little bombs like that, dropped into the lap of astrometeorology
--are guaranteed to awaken it from its tropical slumber.
* * * * continued in [RAINFALL2] * * * *
Garth Allen reporting on his statistical studies in atmospheric science
- the Moon's domination of rainfall, plus Jupiter's angularity, which
findings defined the significance of angular planets (as opposed to
those midway between the cusps), and Jupiter's conjunction with the
galactic center during sidereal lunar ingresses. Allen exalts in
trouncing on establishment thinking, which like the poor is still with
us. As a quintessential Aquarian thinker (Moon ASC in AQU, URA sextile
his SUN, his work in this breakthrough statistical study certainly
opened the way for many followup books on the Moon's influence.
Students of symbolism will appreciate the synchronicity of the
inconstancy of the weather as literally dominated by our Moon and the
inconstancy of one's emotions, a primary association of the Moon in
interpretation. As well, under his name Donald Bradley, Profession and
Birth Date, A Statistical Analysis of Planetary Positions At the
Birthdates of 2492 Eminent Clergymen published in 1950, showed the
validity of the 12 constellation divisions of the zodiac.
The articles below summarize Allen's findings previous to his longer
articles in July & August 1968 in [RAINFALL2].
* * * * *
Garth Allen, "Your Powwow Corner," A. A. 9/57
JUPITER THE RAINMAKER, PLUVIUS RESTORED
...A thunderhead, bristling with lightning, has been Jupiter's
classical symbol from the very dawn of mythology. In fact, Jupiter's
full classical name is Jupiter Pluvius--Jupiter the Rainmaker.
The connection of the planet Jupiter with rain has been germane to
astrology for countless centuries until, and oddly, this last one.
Astrological literature of the past century shows a decided deemphasis
on the pluvial aspects of Jupiter's nature. Many standard sources
bypass this old tenet completely and others cite it mainly as a
sidelight in keeping with the growth motif which Jupiter represents.
This is in sharp contrast to the fact that it is somewhat rare to run
across references to Jupiter in earlier literature which fail to link
this planet with the phenomenon of rain. The great planet is
invariably said to be "warm and moist" in all texts, ancient and
modern, but the implications have changed considerably as time has
passed; even your present writer wrote off the "warm and moist" quality
as having real meaning only in the depth psychological sense. One
reason for the shift, quite naturally, has been Jupiter's latter-day
displacement as the regent of watery Pisces, and his confinement to
Sagittarius, a fiery sign in the modern elemental scheme (a scheme that
really doesn't hold water anyway).
The chief reason for our deliberate forgetfulness where a literal
acceptance of Jupiter's classical powers was concerned is truly to the
credit of modern astrologers. This reason was that there was no
reason, apparently, for continuing to repeat a precept which did not
seem to be justifying itself in actual practice. Jupiter the
Rainmaker? True in a symbolic sense, we said. True as a basic
expression of Jupiter's productiveness, his harvest of abundance and
symbolic showers of blessings. Otherwise, there was not astrological
procedure in use which actually produced facts and figures worth
displaying as examples of a literal application of the old rule.
The most authoritative text on astro-meteorology mentions Jupiter in
connection with fine growing weather and makes a passing remark about
summer showers, but generally discards any coupling of Jupiter with
heavy precipitation. Such a deemphasis is, as we said, to the credit
of modern mundane astrologers for it would have been "more wrong" for
them to have kept parroting an old saw for no observable reason other
than that it was a time-hallowed belief. They have been "more right"
because there has been no chart method in currency which gave evidence
in favor of the old belief. The tired old nineteenth-century mundane
textbook that is still used widely in delineating lunation charts, for
lack of anything else to quote from, has Jupiter in the 4th house
signifying generous rainfall, but that's about the limit to modern
recognition of his rainy disposition.
"Then came the dawn," the dawn of Mundane Astrology's new era,
inaugurated by the revelation of the validity of solar and lunar
ingresses in the sidereal zodiac. One of the many revolutionary
contributions which our new mathematical tool has made to the science
of astrology has been the full-panoplied restoration of Jupiter to his
cumulonimbus throne! The ancient belief in Jupiter's rainmaking
capacity, all but scratched as folklore in present-day astrology, has
suddenly re-emerged on the modern scene as scientific truth. Once
again it has become clear that the fundamentals of astrology were
formulated in early times, not through animistic, magical association
but through intelligent, evaluative observation.
It was visually automatic for students to try their hands at seeing
just what the sidereal ingresses might have to offer the subject of
astro-meteorology. Golden veins of great promise were exposed almost
everywhere the picks of serious students struck experimentally. The
sidereal zodiac was proving to be the true Mother Lode of astrology its
champions have been claiming, and many of its most hard-boiled but
sincere critics have openly expressed amazement at the excellence of
the assay samples yielded by just their trial diggings. And from
outside the fold of astrology itself has rung the most meaningful voice
of all--the conclusion by an accredited scientist at one of the
nation's famous research centers that "This can change everything!" in
the way of science's attitude toward astrology.
Most Vital Discovery
The most vital of all the astro-meteorological discoveries thus far
has been the performance of Jupiter in the LUNAR INGRESS charts for
localities at which the greatest rainstorms on official record have
taken place. While sifting past news chronologies for data about
events of various kinds, mostly disastrous in nature, for later
exhaustive statistical analysis, we chanced to note a seemingly minor
entry for June 3, 1950. The item read: "A 14.21 inch rainfall flooded
Galveston, Texas, inundating the business section."
For a change of pace and subject matter, we casually checked on the
immediate lunar ingress for Galveston, in this case the Moon's entry
into Libra. There was Jupiter on the Midheaven in close square to the
Sun. From previous chartings we had already decided that Neptune was
the primary "flood planet" and this situation was annoying. The mental
emergency created by this big fat Jupiterian configuration was soon
over, however, when we plotted the lunar ingresses for other torrential
downpours on record. The statistics as to the action of Sun-Jupiter
formations, by virtue of proximity to the angles of closeness to exact
aspect, have turned out to be one of the most astonishing arrays of
facts and figures yet realized in the course of astrological research.
But Jupiter, old Pluvius himself, can stand alone where this matter
of "heavy precipitation" is concerned. So one of the big projects
underway at present is the statistical treatment of Jupiter's mundane
placement in the Caplunar ingress charts covering the dates and places
of the greatest amounts of rainfall in 24 hour periods according to the
records of the U.S. Weather Bureau. The official records, up through
1950 and listing the monthly all time highs for each of the 7,335
standard observing stations scattered over the United States, were
published as a public service by our government. Twelve readings are
given for each station, one for each month of the year, with the amount
of precipitation, either as rain or snow equated to its rain equivalent
and the date it was recorded. This enable one to study the 12 historic
highs for any particular station of interest, such as one's own city,
and also eliminates the skewing effect on statistics of seasonal
variations.
The heaviest single downpour in 24 hours was logged as 7.31 inches
on August 11, 1928. A simple calculation of the Moon's Capricorn
ingress prior to this date proves that Jupiter was conjunct
Washington's Midheaven. What is even more impressive is the oddity
that two of the historic monthly highs, records for the months of April
and May, which still hold, were chalked up from two separate storms
occurring within the same sidereal month and thereby falling under the
same Caplunar chart! These two extremes were recorded on April 25,
1889 and on May 7, 1889 and have not been equaled or bettered in all
the decades since. This Moon entered Capricorn at 9:41 A.M., GMT on
April 21, 1889 when the sidereal time at Washington was 6:33:23. Check
on this and you'll find that the tropical M.C. at the nation's capitol
was 7d 40' Cancer--with Jupiter at 8d 15' Capricorn! Amazing, you say?
When you busy yourself with the sidereal zodiac, amazement becomes so
common a reaction one soon gets used to it.
Even before we obtained the complete official records, we had
computed the mundane positions of Jupiter at the moments of the
Caplunars geared to New York City for the dates of Manhattan's heaviest
downfalls in history. The figure reproduced here shows the actual
positions of Jupiter as refereed to New York's prime vertical in the
twelve ingress charts.
JUPITER'S CAPLUNAR POSITIONS:
New York City's Twelve Heaviest rain Downpours in a Century: [Graph
Data in terms of 30 degree segments from 0 to 360 degrees]
near 0 degrees - Jupiter at 29.35', 00.29', 01.56';
near 60 degrees - Jupiter at 8.58';
near 90 degrees - Jupiter at 27.01', 02.25', 14.28';
near 120 degrees - Jupiter at 05.08', 05.12';
near 180 degrees - Jupiter at 26.42';
near 300 degrees - Jupiter at 13.40', 15.00';
Notice that six of the twelve positions are in close proximity to the
[30 degree sections] angles. If you know your math you'll appreciate
the unusualness of this distribution, how that it could hardly have
happened by chance alone even once in millions of samples of twelve
each. Those three instances of conjunction with New York's Midheaven,
incidentally, were the three heaviest of the twelve downpours, which is
quite a coincidence. The technically minded reader will be interested
to know that the deviation ratio for these three Midheaven contacts is
5.94, meaning that the odds are many millions to one against it being
purely fortuitous arrangement. Incidentally, a scientific byproduct of
these and other studies is the assurance that the "ayanamsa" marked by
the synetic vernal point, as we have determined it, is the best
determination so far. Even a slight departure from the adopted value
takes the precision out of the statistical results obtained by strictly
observational studies. The centuries-old search is over!
* * * *
Garth Allen, THE MOON AND TEMPESTS, 2/65 A.A.
Well, they've gone and done it again. The scientists, I mean. Once
again they have "tekeled" one of the major branches of astrological
study, namely astrometeorology, in regard to extra-terrestrial
influences on the weather phenomena of hurricanes. Tekel is a good
word, coming as it does from the handwriting on the wall which Daniel
interpreted to mean, "You are weighed in the balances and found
wanting."
...Tropical storms whip themselves into hurricane spirals much
oftener around the dates of New and Full Moon than around the dates of
the quarter phases. In fact, the pattern is so distinct when the
statistics of all North Atlantic hurricane activity are plotted on a
lunar time scale, meteorologists are unabashedly marveling over their
past failure to notice the anomalous situation.
...The evolution of tropical cyclones into full-blown hurricanes
near the dates of lunar syzygy is only part of the story. There is a
pronounced lunar-distance factor in the picture too.
The scientists expressed surprise that the times of most frequent
occurrence were dates when the Moon was halfway between perigee and
apogee rather than when the tidal or gravitational influence of the
Moon was greatest or least. In other words, maximum disturbance took
place when the tidal pull was undergoing its greatest rate of change,
either accelerating or decelerating, and not when the force itself was
maximal or minimal.
Least frequency was observed in the three days centered on the
second day after apogee, the Moon's greatest distance from Earth during
its 27.55-day cycle of varying distance. The points of highest
frequency, it is provocative to note, occur 90 degrees before and after
this low point.
After the revelations in 1962 that the Moon has a profound effect on
everyday weather conditions, especially on rainfall intensity, dozens
of research centers have been pursuing the subject on a full-time
basis. The December 1964 issue of "Analog" magazine carries a splendid
article giving a rundown on this area of investigation, and duly takes
note of the inevitable astrological backdrop of the story. The only
sorry note about it all stems from our deep impression that the
business of astrometeorologists is to detect and study connections
between weather phenomena and heavenly bodies.
According to recently published scientific papers, the weather
researchers are fast refining their knowledge about the way the Moon's
relationship with precipitation works in the continental United States.
(Other clime and continents have their own peculiar "lunar rainfall
curves" and it is important to keep in mind that what has been found
true for temperate-zone North American weather does not necessarily
hold true for other land masses and latitudes.) For one thing, by way
of illustration, the Moon's local meridional distance or hour angle is
relation to the hour of the day has been found to be an important
factor in triggering off the "lunar rain."
Furthermore, the magnitude of the lunar distance from Earth and the
Moon's lunar effect is tied in directly with both closeness to the
ecliptic plane (and therefore relatively near the Nodes). The chances
for a heavy rain on the third, fourth or fifth day after New moon are
greatly enhanced if the Moon is on the perigee side of its mean orbit
and is within a couple of days of conjuncting the Ascending Node.
For rains on the third to fifth days after Full Moon, proximity to
the Descending Node plus lunar closeness to the Earth are the
probability determinants. Studies of the history of rainfall at 100
American cities show that during the ten percent of the time that these
three factors, the Moon's phase, nearness to perigee, and closeness to
Nodes, are acting in unison, heavy downpours are over four times
likelier than at other times.
Sounds simple and logical enough, but in vain do we look for even an
inkling of these scientifically established facts in the literature of
astrometeorology. It may be pleaded that astrology is primarily a
matter of forecasting by means of charts cast for fixed moments, such
as ingresses or lunar phases, and therefore the more fluid-in-time type
of eventuality is not easily coped with. If this argument really held
water, however, we would have to scrap more than 90 percent of all
pages of an astrological periodical.
What will the fact-finding nonastrologers come up with next? A lot
of remarkable things are in the works, we are told. Things like the
fact that, since the Weather Bureau began keeping detailed records,
there have been three times as many tornadoes in the U.S. during the
three days following Full Moon as during the three days preceding Full
Moon. Little bombs like that, dropped into the lap of astrometeorology
--are guaranteed to awaken it from its tropical slumber.
* * * * continued in [RAINFALL2] * * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Rainfall (continued)
[RAINFALL 2] Crashing the Atmospheric Science Barrier! Vintage Garth
Allen reporting on his statistical studies in atmospheric science- the
Moon's domination of rainfall, plus Jupiter's angularity, which
findings defined the significance of angular planets (as opposed to
those midway between the cusps), and Jupiter's conjunction with the
galactic center during sidereal lunar ingresses. Allen exalts in
trouncing on establishment thinking, which like the poor is still with
us. As a quintessential Aquarian thinker (Moon ASC in AQU, URA sextile
his SUN, his work in this breakthrough statistical study certainly
opened the way for many followup books on the Moon's influence.
Students of symbolism will appreciate the synchronicity of the
inconstancy of the weather as literally dominated by our Moon and the
inconstancy of one's emotions, a primary association of the Moon in
interpretation. As well, under his name Donald Bradley, Profession and
Birth Date, A Statistical Analysis of Planetary Positions At the
Birthdates of 2492 Eminent Clergymen published in 1950, showed the
validity of the 12 constellation divisions of the zodiac.
* * *
Garth Allen, 7/68 A.A.
CRASHING THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE BARRIER, Part I
The astounding, excitable, mysterious, predicable raindrop!
The great granddaddy of all downpours, according to Genesis 7:11,
commenced "in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month."
Scriptural dates are, or course, in terms of the Semitic lunar calendar
which numbers dates from the day or so following astronomical New Moon.
The first day of a Hebrew lunar month began, on the average, about 1-
1/2 days after a conjunction of the Sun and Moon (so that,
incidentally, "unlucky" eclipses would fall on the last day of the
month, thereby making manmade superstition and Godmade nature seem to
agree). Now, 1.5 plus 17 divided by 29.53 days (the length of a
lunation) means that the cloudburst famed in mythology began on the
eighteenth day of the synodical month, or ratiowise, after about 62.6%
of the 29.53 days had elapsed. More familiarly to students of
astrology, this is the same as saying that the deluge was unleashed
when the Sun and Moon were close to 225 degrees apart in the sky, or 45
degrees past the lineup called Full Moon.
No matter whether Noah's deluge was a myth or not, research in
recent years, at the purely scientific level, has revealed that heavy
rains in the northern hemisphere do indeed tend to occur about eighteen
days after a New Moon. It seems that the fact the bible specified a
lunar date, equivalent to defining a particular phase of the Moon,
preserved, in virtually every literate Christian and Jewish household,
a tenet of ancient weather lore founded on observation of a natural
atmospheric rhythm.
Even so, knowledge of this phenomenon was apparently lost to later
cultures, for not even the meagerly-surviving traditions of astrology
really perpetuated such precepts. And, even sadder to say, astrologers
who have devoted literally decades of their lives to the creation and
improvement of what is called astrometeorology, were so busy with their
charts and their musty old books and their preconceptions that they
failed to notice what was going on outside their windows.
They need not be any more ashamed of this, however, than the
professional meteorologists at weather headquarters in our nation's
capital. Apparently they also were too preoccupied with toeing the
textual line to be aware of the easily demonstrable fact that, year in
and year out, the number of afternoon thunderstorms hitting the
District of Columbia in the week following the Full Moon was 'triple'
the number that occurred in the week before full Moon!
Yes, three times as many. And you should have seen the blushes, and
heard the fidgety excuses, in meteorological circles when the simple,
unduckable facts and figures were pointed out to them. Local weather
records were so immediately accessible, all along, a simple counting of
thunderstorms in two categories, "Week before Full Moon" and "Week
after Full Moon," would not have taken more than an hour out of any of
their professional careers. It seems to have been asking too much for
any of our government scientists to have done a little independent
thinking about, or even accidental playing around with, actual rather
than theoretical data.
Even the most elementary sources of officially published rainfall
information had apparently gone unstudied. The best proof of such an
embarrassing situation was the fact that the widely distributed volume
cataloging the dates and amounts of maximum precipitation at every
weather-recording station in the United States was all that was needed
to disclose the relationship between daily weather activity and the
position of the Moon. Yet, the very existence of this government-
printed book, compiled by the U.S. Weather Bureau's department of
hydrology, was unknown for almost a decade after publication to their
office of meteorological statistics! (A similar circumstance prevails
in the astrological profession, so is readily understandable. Most
practitioners of astrology are so busy being astrologers and mouthing
the same old quasi astrological drivel, they are often oblivious to
what the actual horoscope of people and the heavens above are trying to
tell them. They can speak familiarly about worlds that do not exist,
despite not being able to tell Castor from Pollux in the sky, and then
expect to be respected for their opinions about the celestial sphere
and the structure of the universe.)
That always-handy catalog of rainfall records, for instance, could
be used to compile, in a matter of minutes, a list of, say, the
rainiest days in our nation's history. Since the government had taken
over the military's weather-monitoring duties shortly after the Civil
War, over seven thousand rain-recording stations had operated for ten
or more years, and a total of 1,544 observation stations had been in
full-time use for 50 or more continuous years including the half-
century from 1900 through 1949. The 1900-1949 interval at these 1,544
key geographical points because of its accurately detailed records,
became the basis for numerous scientific studies of the fascinating way
extraterrestrial factors influence everyday weather.
It turned out that there were just 185 dates, in the first half of
the 20th century, on which the greatest amount of rain fell in any 24-
hour period, at ten or more (and as many as 49) localities. These 185
dates without question represent the "wettest" days experienced by the
nation as a whole over a 50-year span. Startlingly simple though
making and studying such a list of 185 items may seem, such a basic and
forthright procedure for the evaluation of time-dependent forces acting
on large-scale weather activity was seemingly beyond the grasp or
ability of the 3,000 scientific researchers who--the nation was
repeatedly assured by officers of both the U.S. Weather Bureau and the
American Meteorological Society--were engaged full-time in the pursuit
of every feasible explanation for the causes of "vagaries of weather."
The Establishment Went Gulp!
When the 185 rainiest dates are plotted in terms of the Moon's phase
on each date, a startling picture emerges--a picture that at first made
the scientific hierarchy gulp and look the other way in hopes that it
would all go away before any congressman noticed. The highest peak, at
about the fourth day after Full Moon, had over three times the
frequency of the third day after First Quarter, and the same pattern
shaped up in relation to New Moon and the weeks before and after--all a
stunning violation of probability. There was a clear-cut 14.765-day
cycle operating in rainfall over the continent, in spite of the
declaration in every approved textbook of meteorology that lunar
influences on weather are physically impossible. In fact, it appeared
that meteorology's authorities were uncertain about everything else,
characteristically hedging after statement made, except for one idea.
They were absolutely adamant that the Moon could not possibly be a
weather factor. The unanimity of agreement on that score was touching.
And absurd.
The truth of the matter could have been ascertained in less than a
single afternoon's figurework by anyone with a flair for arithmetic and
modicum of curiosity about nature, let alone any professional
atmospheric scientist. But again we must remind the reader that people
who are constantly preoccupied by 'both' daily weather and the Moon--
meaning astrologues themselves--are even more culpable in this respect.
After all, it was the business of astrometeorologists to know all about
these things, and to find out when they didn't know.
FIGURE 1 [Omitted]. HOW THE MOON'S PHASE RELATES TO U.S. RAINFALL.
The astonishing relationship between phases of the Moon and intensity
of rainfall over North America is a fact demonstrable by even the
simplest compilation of official weather statistics. Yet is was not
faced up to by the scientific establishment until recently. Shades of
Galileo, Darwin and Pasteur!
Figure 1 tells the whole story, in even clearer fashion than the
"wettest day" count, of the distribution of the dozen (monthly)
excessively rainy days at each of the 1,544 recording centers in the
continental network, in terms of the Moon's relationship to the Sun, a
grand total of 16,056 individual readings. (Twelve times 1,544 is
18,528, so that 2,472 records were achieved prior to 1900; needless to
say, these 19th-century dates also show the lunar effect with equal
clarity, though they are not incorporated into the graph for scientific
reasons.) Bear in mind that the dates given in the official logs are
those for the termination of the 24-hour period of maximum
precipitation, so the true peaks in Figure 1, in order to coincide
centrally with actual falling of the rain, fall slightly to the left.
When this average adjustment is made, lo and behold, the two point
of most intense downpour in the United States coincide exactly with the
Moon being 45 degrees and 225 degrees (or 135 degrees by shortest-route
measure) from the Sun. It is important that the reader does not
prematurely presume, from this astonishing state of affairs, that the
astrological aspects of semi-square and sesqui-quadrate have been
validated by scientific research. This may indeed by the case, but
scientifically speaking, the 45 and 135 degree configurations owe their
"aspectivity" to the fact that these points define the relationship of
least relatedness--and thereby are reversive aspects rather than
aspects in the usual sense.
It is shown in tidal theory, for instance, that when the Sun or Moon
is directly over a point on the Earth's surface, and the other luminary
is at right angles to the zenith body, hence overhead at a point 90
degrees away, the point undergoing the greatest 'horizontal' tidal
stress is not under either of the luninaries by rather halfway between.
The two points under the Sun and Moon are under vertical stresses, but
the greatest "side pull" is felt at places 45 degrees between. Those
readers with keen instincts about dynamic and spacial relationships
will have no trouble visualizing why this is so; the rest will have to
take our word for it or re-enroll in school.
The 'piece de resistance' of all the clinching evidence that the
Moon exercises regulatory control over weather variations is a graph of
total precipitation amounts measured daily at 100 local Weather Bureau
offices over a 63-year span. Simply adding up the total amount of
water precipitated at each of these hundred locations on each day of
the lunar month yields a graph which proves that the Moon's phase alone
accounts for 20% of all the moisture observed. (When the Moon's lati-
tude is taken into account, as we shall presently see, the lunar effect
accounts for close to 65% of all variation. No wonder the atmospheric
sciences Establishment went Gulp! when the facts were faced.)
How a Raindrop Gets That Way
The sharpness of the peaks in the dead centers of the first and
third weeks of the synodical month suggests, however, not so much a
tidal mechanism at work (though one is unavoidable in the physical
sense) as an "explanation" for the Moon-rainfall connection, as an
electrical mechanism. If gravitation were the key to the riddle, the
statistical peaks would likelier be mounds, not shaftlike points, on
the graph.
It has also been shown by physicists interested in the why and
wherefore of the lunar effect on precipitation phenomena that the
rising and falling of air densities and heights due to lunisolar tidal
forces cannot account, directly at any rate, for the observed results.
Some scientists thought that perhaps the Moon caused an up-down and
cold-warm mixing of air layers by atmospheric tidal action, which would
have been a pretty good idea if it were not for the fact that such a
biweekly movement or pulsation of air masses has not been observed (and
the observing programs are quite efficient--meteorologists seem to be
better bookkeepers than thinkers).
For a bunch of H2O molecules to get together as a mass heavy enough
to fall downward is not as simple a matter as you might suppose.
Raindrops are known to require some kind of microscopic nucleus to
which water molecules can adhere in order for the raindrop to form.
Dust particles, salt crystals from marine air, fine-grain meteoric
debris, ad infinitum and a dash of silver iodide, and the like, are
typical materials believed to aid and abet the nucleating or raindrop-
forming process. (To digress for a moment, you can safely dispense
with the meteor-dust hypothesis of rainfall advanced a few years ago by
an Australian scientist, since it now turns out that the squiggles and
peaks in his world-rainfall charts are directly accountable for by the
Moon! This was the same fellow, by the way, who was so eager to climb
aboard the lunar-rainfall bandwagon, by confirming American research
results, that he and his coworkers failed to notice that the graphic
picture for the southern hemisphere as a whole is 'exactly the reverse'
of that for the northern hemisphere--no wonder his colleagues have
learned to be leery of other claims from the same source.)
But again there is a credibility gap between theory and observation
simply because it is physically unsound to expect a given volume of air
to furnish the sort and number of nuclei accounting for an extensive,
prolonged downpour. It can rain heavily for days at a time at a single
locality, and certainly strains the credulity to accept the standard
notions about dust and other aerosol particles being continuously fed
back into the atmosphere in order for the rain to continue forming and
failing.
Here is where a theory that electrically charged particles in the
air can act as precipitation nuclei comes to the rescue. It was shown
a few years back that the lines of force of the basic earth-air
electrical current extend far out into space and do not terminate at
cloudtop levels as was formerly supposed (and hence so stated in
meteorology textbooks, those paragons of reliable information). Ions
in the atmosphere, possibly of argon if not of the more abundant gases
that make up our air, acting as attractants for water molecules, would
indeed solve the problem of quantitative feed-in nucleates fro the
continuous production of raindrops.
Moreover, each complete spherule or bag of water forming a raindrop
develops its own electrical field through friction wit the air through
which it falls. The falling through air itself causes the outer layer
of the charged drop to evaporate. As the drop evaporates, at the same
time picking up charge through air friction, the water molecules torn
away are also electrically charged and therefore attract ions (or
argon?) of opposite charge which are already ubiquitous in the
surrounding air, and the raindrop-forming cycle completes itself again,
on and on until the available energies have spent themselves at the
given time and place.
There is no problem of nucleus supply if the precipitation process
is basically one of ionization. Just how lunisolar forces are involved
in the electrical hypothesis is not clear at the present time, but that
the idea is in keeping with the laws of physics is not seriously
questioned by anyone familiar with the subject. A theory of
fluctuation ion concentration in the air involving lunar factors does
not seem as farfetched now as it did a few years ago when the truth
about the Moon-weather situation hit Establishment-approved meteorology
between it myopic eyes.
No matter what the chemical or physical identity of most raindrop
nuclei prove to be, the fact remains that the number of these particles
in any given volume of air fluctuates wildly from day to day. A spin-
off project from the research we are discussing was the discovery that
nucleus concentrations at various places round the world undergo
quantitative wavering in step with lunar periodicity. This revelation
ties in nicely with our electrical theory of precipitation. Even the
man who invented the contraption called an ice nucleus concentration
cloud chamber, which is used to keep track of the relative number of
such particles in the air, admits that he has no idea what the nuclei
his counter counts might be made of. Ideas abound, of course, but the
real nature of rain particulates remains a mystery. Oddly enough--or
come to think of it, characteristically enough--it apparently occurred
to atmospheric scientists that this very elusiveness (by virtue of
chemical inertness, and hence undetectability by ordinary devices) of
the problem is the key to its solution. Time will tell, of course,
whether our ion hypothesis holds water or not, if you'll pardon the
pun.
A Wrench in the Rainmaker
A word of caution is called for at this point. Readers should not
take the surface message of Figure 1 too literally, because there is so
much more to the story than a simple one-for-one relationship between
lunar phase and precipitation. In fact, the Moon's phase is only one
of several ingredients in the showery cake, and not even the most
important of the several cosmic ingredients, at that.
For one thing, the pattern shown applies only to the continental
U.S. and it should not be extrapolated to the rest of the world. In
fact, various regions in our own country have their own peculiar
patterns, so that all the graph depicts is the general picture of North
America smoothed out by averaging. Various parts of Europe have their
own indigenous patterns, created by differing climatic regimes,
prevailing winds, terrain peculiarities, etc.
We already mentioned the reversal of the phase effect in the
southern hemisphere. When the statistics for Australia, New Zealand,
four Argentine and two South African stations are combined, the
resulting graph correlates almost perfectly in a negative way, i.e.,
the peaks are at 135 and 315 degrees from New Moon, with the troughs in
the middle of the first and third lunar weeks. Reversal of the effect
is due, of course, to the fact that the global circulation of the
atmosphere in the southern hemisphere is the mirror image of the
pattern north of the equator.
It has also been found that the Moon's varying distance from Earth
is a potent factor in weather changes. Interestingly, the atmosphere
appears to be most sensitive to unsettling when the Moon is midway
between perigee (its closest approach) and apogee (its farthest
distance) either coming or going. Much more research will be needed
before the reason why the greatest rate-of change of lunar distance,
rather than the distance itself is so important (though here again our
basic electrical theory ties in).
FIGURE 2 [Omitted]. LUNAR NODES AND RAINFALL shows the Draconitic
month elapsed at point of great rainfall is slightly past half near the
South Node.
The biggest wrench in the rainmaking machinery, however, is the
Moon's latitude with respect to the ecliptic, or what is effectively
the same thing, the Moon's relation to its own nodes! This is chiefly
why we warned against taking an oversimplified approach to the Moon-
weather association--it is far more complex than two dimensional graphs
would suggest.
The lunar nodes are found to wield a controlling power over the
behavior of the Moon-phase mechanism and, in fact, the phase may not
even "work" toward rain-making if the nodes forbid it. The
implications of Figure 2 are even more staggering than the meaning of
the curve in Figure 1.
The synodical month, which is the time between two successive New
Moons, lasts 29.53 days, on the average, while the Moon's circuit of
the zodiac takes 27.32 days. But because the Moon's nodes are in
perpetual retrograde migration, the nodical month (traditionally called
the draconitic month) is only 27.21 days long. When the Moon is at its
ascending node, it is crossing the ecliptic from south to north
latitude; the descending node marks the crossing from north to south.
It is vital to point out, by the way, that the draconitic influence
holds true uniformly throughout all parts of the 18.61 year revolution
cycle of the nodes, more familiar to sky observers and tide calculators
as the extreme-declination cycle. The draconitic effect is noticeably
stronger in years of low sunspot activity, but again this does to imply
an innate strengthening of the influence, which in years of great solar
activity is merely being statistically masked by greater Sun-caused
turbulence.
The nodes themselves, of course, have no intrinsic influential power
of their own. What happens is that the Moon's passage through the
plane of the Earth's orbit causes some kind of excitation of the
magnetosphere and, consequently, the atmosphere (via ionization?).
This nodical effect is also explainable in terms of an electrical
concept in which the plane of the Earth's orbit acts as though it were
a charged sheet or ring, suggestive of the particulate ring around
Saturn. (Saturn's ring, you see, is no more than eight inches thick,
hence the word sheet in discussing such planes in space.) This
lamination of the Earth's spatial environment is essentially
independent of the more publicized Van Allen radiation-belt system.
Exactly how shock waves from the Moon's oblique plunge through the
electrified sheet can cause moisture in the atmosphere to condense into
rain is something to grapple with, but it does occur (and we think we
know, generally, how it occurs). What is more, precipitation is only
one result of the meeting of Moon with ecliptic. It is now known that
outbursts of solar corpuscular radiation headed Earthward are
significantly modified or enhanced, as the case may be, by this same
nodical effect.
Just how great is the draconitic effect on weather can be
appreciated from the relative magnitude of the peaks in Figure 2.
There were just 800 consecutive draconitic months between December 32,
1899 and August 8, 1959. The single day of greatest rainfall in each
27.21-day interval was picked from the hundred-cities index of daily
precipitation already referred to. This yielded 800 separate dates of
widespread rainfall, which are plotted in terms of their position with
regard to the Moon's nodical ascension.
FIGURE 3 [Omitted]. PHASES AND NODES TOGETHER.
The draconitic effect is even more impressive than the stunning
Moon-phase effect. The node-plus-phase partnerships becomes
understandable when plotted three-dimensionally, as in Figure 3, which
is a greatly simplified version of a master plotting of all daily
rainfalls at 100 cities for 63 continuous years--a grand total of
23,011 separate figures. The gray areas are the contours marking
above-average activity, and the black areas are the places of peak
precipitation. It is seen at once that there are times, right in the
middle of the normally dry second and fourth weeks of the lunar month,
when the descending node can trigger rain of cats-and-dogs amplitude
over vast areas.
When the synodical month was considered by itself, the Moon seemed
to have in the neighborhood of a 20% control over rainfall. But when
the nodical month is taken into account, it becomes obvious that well
over 60% of all rainfall activity in the United States is monitored by
lunar factors! Add to this the factor of periodic atmospheric
instability caused by the lunar distance cycle (the anomalistic month
of 27.55 days) and the reality of the Moons' 'domination' of Earth's
weather becomes too obvious to dodge--though many meteorologists are
still trying their damnedest to dodge it. Surprised at this figure?
You ain't heard nothing yet.
Next month we'll spring some really kingsize surprises on our
astrology-minded readers as we continue our report on these astounding
findings of modern science--discoveries which are still little known to
the laymen because so many high and mighty figures in the scientific
world have been embarrassed by them and they feel it's best not to call
attention to that fact. Furthermore, the Establishment takes good care
of its own interests by exercising enormous control over all phases of
reporting unorthodox matters at the popular level. They even dictate
the terminology to be used in writing scientific papers lest and
outsider gets the 'right' idea.
CRASHING THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE BARRIER, Part II, 8/68 A.A.
Continuing last month's surprising, mind-opening research report.
Searching for links between weather and astronomical factors is
nothing new--astrologers have ben doing it for ages. It is just that,
until recently, they haven't been doing very well at it. Most old
textbooks on astrology have their customary section on astro-
meteorology, but that was just the trouble. The few modern efforts in
this field suffered the blight and burden of proceeding on the
assumption that there was something in the old literature worth
believing.
Only a few intellects of the caliber of a George J. McCormack, a
Francis Socey or an Ernest Wykes, broke through the stupid stereotypes
of "traditional astrology," which was really traditional at all, to
seek 'through study' to establish workable precepts for weather
prediction based on astrological principles. These hardy pioneers of
research into extraterrestrial influences on earth's atmosphere are the
praiseworthy bridges spanning the void between the hokum and
Renaissance astrology with its signs and house and superstitious
blather, and the development of a scientifically acceptable concept of
practical astrology.
The future of astrology as a science or as a pseudoscience depends
upon which side of the chasm the majority of working astrologers prefer
to stand. Astrology as a whole will remain classed as a pseudoscience
by the scientific community until the bulk of its advocates stop react-
ing to elementary facts like Major Hoople ahemming and spluttering
before his reality-minded Martha. It is so very easy to be correctly
informed that why so many people succeed for so long in dodging the
truth is one of the most marvelous of the negative marvels of human
nature.
Speaking of Hooplesque splutter reminds us of a similar response in
academic circles when the truth about astronomical links with day to
day weather conditions was revealed and repeatedly verified at their
own level! There were even several attempts, by teams of qualified
experts, to disproved the validity of the research results by 'faking'
statistical evidence to the contrary. Yes, there were actual frauds
committed, in the form of seemingly competent technical papers, by
"established authorities," but these attempts were nipped in the bud,
just short of publication in the most prestigious of science journals
by wary referees and suspicious editors who knew a pretense when they
saw one. The bluff of a few textbook authors and symposium-loving
department heads had been called. Facts were facts and it was ways of
thinking, not the structure of the universe, which needed to change
accordingly. There is now very little stigma connected with research
activities along these "unorthodox" lines.
There is little stigma but, then again, a lot of resistance remains
among those who just cannot believe that they and their instructors
could have been so wrong. Such attitudes are typical of those who are
careerists in science rather than scientists themselves. The truth
about the Moon's geophysical effects is now basic, but howls of protest
still attend mention of the over-whelming evidence that the major
planets also have a powerful influence over atmospheric eventualities.
The scientific field has no trouble facing up to the implications of
the histogram given in Figure 5, which show the distribution of
hurricane-formation in relation to lunar phases.
FIGURE 5 [Omitted]. THE LINK BETWEEN HURRICANE FORMATION AND THE
PHASES OF THE MOON shows a peak at and around the New and Full Moon.
It so happens that about twice as many tropical storms have whirled
to hurricane intensity on the three days centered at New and full Moon
as on the three days following the quarter phases. Another hurricane-
abetting lunar factor is a striking preference for the midway pints
between apogee and perigee, which are the extremes of distance between
the moon and its parent Earth. Being physically accountable for, such
findings area readily accepted by science since they seem clearly
connected with the phenomenon of atmospheric tides.
The Moon and Sun unavoidably raise tides in the air just as they do
in the sea and the land through gravitational action on the rotating
spheroidal mass which is our home planet. There is nothing very
mysterious about the process and surely the tidal mechanism is not
honestly to be classed as "astrological" in nature. It is only when
the physical rules seem to be broken or ignored by some phenomenon that
a paraphysical origin or truly astrological factor may be suspected.
And there are scads of instances known, but not bruited about, by
science where this definition is met.
A dilly of a case in point has to do with the genuine involvement of
the other planets in oceanic tides--an involvement that any and all
physical principles and tidal mathematics insist would be too miniscule
to detect in tide records. That venerable volume of approved
summaries, Van Norstrand's' Scientific Encyclopedic recognized the
validity of the massive work done on this perplexing, lawbreaking
effect, with the statement under the heading of Tides, "Detailed har-
monic analysis of the observed tides having indicated the presence of
tidal forces due to the attractions of several of the major planets."
As a rule, the rank and file of science careerists swallow hard and
do their predictable Major Hoople bit whenever this matter is brought
up, because the "known" laws of physics dictate that even if all the
planets were geocentrically lined up, the combined tidal pull on the
Earth could not be greater than one part in many thousandths of the
Moon's pull. So until somebody comes up with dynamic explanation that
does not violate established rules or natural laws, the consensus among
scientists is that it is best to play down the whole question for the
time being. If they ignore the facts and figures long enough and in
unshaken unison, maybe the problem will just disappear of its own
accord, and then not need solving.
They're not off the hook, however, simply because the quantity and
quality of evidence in favor of sizable interplanetary reactions is
constantly growing. This is accomplished because there are at least a
few research workers who won't go along with the posture of the
reference-listing crowd as a whole, who won't let up in the quest of
causal explanations until the correct ones are found.
Atmospheric tides at low altitudes are admittedly difficult to
detect, but at high rarified levels become appreciable, and many miles
high, at radio-reflecting layers of the atmosphere, the tidal fluctua-
tions become enormous. This logical circumstance has been known now
for almost half a century and if meteorologists generally had only been
logical in their thinking decades ago, the true facts about lunar
effects on weather could have been recognized much earlier than was the
case.
Which brings us to another wrench-tossing episode in our narrative.
This wrench in the Establishment machinery is the now conspicuous
discovery that even where atmospheric tides are concerned there exists
a wide reach between observed facts and theoretical expectations.
Whenever the 'hourly' data of any weather parameter other than air
pressure, such as rainfall, are analyzed after removal of the known
variables such as seasonal variation and climatic regime, for any
specific geographical area, the picture that emerges is definitely not
"tidal" in structure. Surely, if the lunar effect on precipitation is
primarily tidal, there should be a distinct showing of a 12.5-hour and
25-hour recurrence of peaks in activity. But thus far no such
periodicity has asserted its presence in the records for a weather
event other than barometric readings. Obviously, some mechanism other
than tides is at the bottom of the mystery. Plotting of lunar hour
angles for the hours of all precipitation over many years in any given
area typically produces a one-peak, one-trough graph, whereas there
should be two peaks and two troughs were tidal theory to be vindicated.
What is more, the position of the single lunar-hour peak varies
considerably from locality to locality, and since the atmosphere should
behave more homogeneously than ocean waters, the peak differences are
hardly to be accounted for in the same way differing times for high and
low tides along coastlines are explained.
For example, the highest frequency of precipitation in the city of
St. Louis coincides with the two or three hours the Moon is approaching
upper culmination (or in astrological jargon, with the moon in the 10th
house of the ambient). New York City's crest, by wide contrast, comes
in the two hours or so after low culmination (roughly the 3rd house).
It is clear then, from the wide variability of the Moon's hour angle
(or house position) that the lunar tide in the atmosphere is not a very
reliable determinant of rainfall except for a specific locality for
which the preferred hour angles have been statistically ascertained.
Studies of hourly records of many American stations show that the
amplitude of the range from peak to rough in the lunar hour-angle curve
is about a 15% effect at most. The lunar tide is 'always' evident in
any precipitation history of ten year's extent or longer (and usually
one year's tabulations will suffice to indicate the basic pattern for a
locality).
A Mathematical Monster
But is it really a tide in the classical physical sense of the word?
A mere glance at any lunar hour-angle curve for any American city would
instantly suggest that to use the term tide in this connection is a
mistake. A two-peak tidal wave is barely perceptible, if at all, in
any such graph we have seen, and in every case one peak dominates the
scene. (A tidal or lunar "day" averages 1.0350501 civil days, or
clockwise, 24h 50m 28.3s, and the convention is to consider low
culmination -- conjunction with the 4th house cusp, in other words --as
the starting moment of the lunar day.)
FIGURE 6 [Omitted]. RAINFALL ACTIVITY AND HOUR ANGLE OF JUPITER. In
N.Y.C. it rained during 7,908 of 105,192 consecutive hours (1949-1960).
Rainy hours have a distinct preference for Jupiter's lower culmination.
For another blockbuster, then, we offer Figure 6 for your
consideration. As its legend indicates, this is a plotting of New York
city's total precipitation, per hour for 12 years, the approximate
length of Jupiter's revolution (so that all hourly positions with
respect to the solar hour are effectively equalized). The implications
of this one diagram alone are staggering. The curve resembles lunar
hour-angle curves with respect to having one crest and one trough in
violation of tidal theory. But the amplitude of the curve from highest
to lowest frequency, is 48.5%, over three times the amplitude of the
lunar curve for Manhattan, which is 14.6% for the same dozen years of
hourly data!
What manner of mathematical monster is this? Jupiter's "tide" at
ground level is triple the strength of the moon's? Exhaustive study of
many farflung places reveals the same phenomenon, the same puzzling
defiance of everything the physics texts would lead us to expect. The
hak-ahem-er-egad-Marthas can be heard everywhere in the ivory towers of
Establishment-approved research. Just as planetary effects show up in
marine tide analyses, when they hadn't ought to according to the sacred
equations, so planetary effects reveal themselves in commonplace
weather figures--only more so, and to a degree that is embarrassing to
the executive suites of Big Science.
Upon the emergence in recent years of such facts as these, the
institutional gears meshed frantically toward what they call "handling
the matter," giving the Establishment time to coin new phrases and
acronyms that would mask the true meaning of facts from the public and
from popular writers who might be brazen enough to call a spade a
spade, or a Jupiter a Jupiter when Jupiter is meant. At the risk of
sounding trite, it seems that what we have here is a deliberate failure
to communicate.
At first, thinking hard abut possible solutions to the Jupiter
riddle led to a surmise that the true cause for the 26-month cycle in
tropical stratospheric winds might have given rise to an "alias effect"
in temperate-zone weather phenomena. That is, because Jupiter's
synodic period is about 13 months, and is known that high-altitude
winds in the tropics blow eastward for 13 months, and then westward for
the same length of time, a significantly new link in global weather
patterning may have been inadvertently uncovered--and that it really
isn't Jupiter's hour angle at all but alternating 13-month preferences
for certain times of the solar day. In other words, the same curve
might be approximated if for much of one 13-month period, to prefer the
hours following midnight, or some such half-day switch in behavior.
It was a splendid idea. If true, it alone could represent a genuine
new contribution to meteorology at both practical and theoretical
levels, a kind of minor breakthrough that wouldn't cause any department
heads any embarrassment since nothing akin to astrology was really
involved.
But as it turned out, the idea had more splendor than substance. No
such action was detected when the hourly data were examined in detail.
Jupiter's meridian distance, or position around the east-west circle of
the sky, was an influential factor operating 'independently' of civil
time and solar time. Furthermore, it does so independently of
locality, unlike lunar and solar hour angles which are almost
erratically different in the geographical context. (For a good
example, you readers in the Missouri Valley states--Nebraska, Kansas,
Iowa and Missouri--are only too familiar with the past-midnight storms
that are typical of your area, whereas these are relatively rare events
elsewhere. Therefore it is not surprising that rainfall patterns vary
so much regionally in terms of preferred lunar and solar hour angles.)
In North American, and probably elsewhere, there is a distinct
preference for precipitation with Jupiter beneath the horizon, and a
decided statistical shortage of rainfall in the three or so hours after
Jupiter has passed the upper meridian (or Midheaven, as astrologers
say).
Big Things are Brewing
And this is only the beginning of the Jupiter story we have to tell
in summary from here. The Jupiter wave--a better term than Jupiter
tide--is an everyday reality, but therein lies the rub. It is so
continually functioning in daily weather that it is useful in only a
minor way for the purpose of weather forecasting. The chief benefit
from the existence of the Jupiter wave has been to make the atmospheric
sciences people who know about it more cautious about dismissing other
unconventional theories of what goes into the making of weather.
Jupiter's wave is of only piffling consequence compared to the
effectuality of astronomical weather effects within the frame of
reference of 'the zodiac.'
... By far the largest of the computer-based projects have been
those tackling the complex question of astrometeorological influences.
Vast amounts of detailed weather data for hundreds of localities,
having to do with the main ingredients of the weather brew (precipita-
tion, temperature, cyclones and such) have been fed in, digested and
analyzed for possible links with things astronomical. The programs
developed for these assaults on mountains of technicalities are incred-
ibly complicated--and deadly effective for the purpose for which they
were designed. Many of astrology's most commonly taken for granted
tenets have fallen by the wayside, but that was only to be expected
since even noncomputerized objective studies have a way of doing this.
Ninety years of New and Full Moon charts, equated to whichever
locality was in question, have been chewed up and spewed out by the
machines as being almost worthless for weather prediction when
interpreted in the way customarily taught by standard "authorities."
They prove to be valid instruments, nevertheless, when viewed as
analytical frameworks for temperature and air-movement studies. Even
so, the measures of significance are disappointingly small, even mar-
ginal, and not at all of the power to affect regional weather that we
have believed would show up in the investigation of lunar-phase charts.
The Sun's colure crossings, the equinox and solstice charts beloved
of modern astrologers who praise Kepler but ignore what he had to say,
fare appreciably better than lunar syzygies as weather indicators for
the season following. But only temperature trends, weather toward or
against normal expectancies for the three months concerned, seem to be
significantly influenced by the solar tropical ingresses. No studies
that we know of were made of progressions of the tropical ingresses, in
connection with the dates of unusual weather events, so it would be
unwise to downgrade this type of chart until its depths have been
adequately probed. Still for any of the standard sort of
astrometeorology chart, when something "significant" was encountered,
the measure of significance was uniformly small. Seldom was there
anything potent enough to violate random probabilities beyond the 5% or
20-to-1 level of significance.
Tropicopenia and its Cure
In summary, then, we can pronounce the traditional tools of
astrometeorology, the lunation and seasonal charts, moderately useful
for weather diagnosis, though not to the extent we would have liked.
'Tropicopenia,' that prevalent malaise of modern astrology, definable
as typical weakness of test results yielded by studies based upon
tropical frames of reference, once again--though this time on a grand
scale--asserted its endemic presence.
FIGURE 7 [Omitted]. PRECIPITATION IN NEW YORK CITY IN TERMS OF
JUPITER'S GEOGRAPHICAL UPPER CULMINATION IN CAPLUNARS COVERING 1,202
CONSECUTIVE SIDEREAL MONTHS (1871-1960).
The picture is vastly different, stunningly so, when the same
information is analyzed within the framework of the zodiac. And what
is more, even those who regularly use the zodiac as the basis for their
practical application of astrology have been dazzled, delighted, by the
new things they learned that they hadn't quite anticipated.
Veteran readers of this magazine will remember the item we reported
in the September 1957 issue regarding the oddity that Jupiter was
closely conjunct New York City's CAPLUNAR meridian four out of the 12
times of greatest downpour in Weather Bureau annals. This circumstance
was noted in connection with record-breaking amounts of rain elsewhere
as well. The scientific team which had dealt with the so-called
standard tools of astrology, so disappointingly, decided that it might
be worth while to test the claims of this siderealist writer since
here, at last, was a specific astrometeorological claim made without
hedging. (It is amazing how elusive a representative astrologer's
English can be when definite test-worthy remarks are being sought.)
The matter was tackled from several different angles, all with
sensational, vindicative results. Take Figure 7, for instance. This
shows one way the claim was tested by using New York City's rainfall
data for 1,202 consecutive sidereal months. Each sidereal month of
27.3 2 days, plus or minus 5 hours, was taken as being inaugurated by
the Moon's contact with 0d00'00" of the constellation CAPRICORN--
mundane astrology's master point. Eleven-degree lunes of geographic
longitude are here employed for diagrammatic advantage, to illustrate
how that, when Jupiter was on the Midheaven of any place west of El
Paso' meridian, New York experienced less than average rainfall in the
ensuing sidereal month. With Jupiter culminating over the Midwest,
precipitation was somewhat above normal.
However, when old Jupiter Pluvius, the Rainmaker, was on the
Midheaven anywhere between 73 and 84 degrees West, Manhattan was
drenched by an average of 41.3% more moisture than normal! For the
student reader, this is to say that Jupiter sponsors heavy
precipitation when chartwise the great planet occupies the zone between
10 degrees west and 1 degree east of the 10th house cusp!
How reliable, for practical forecasting, this circumstance might be
is indicated by the fact that this one astrological factor alone
"worked" 74% of the time. That is, Jupiter occupied that zone just 35
times in the last 90 years 1871-1960. In nine instances the total
precipitation was less than the median amount for those same calendar
dates, whereas 26 times out of the 35, the rainfall was greater than
the 90-year median amount. In none of the nine below-average instances
was recorded total very much below average: none of the sidereal months
was what people would call a dry spell.
How's This for Mind Boggling?
Single-station studies of the foregoing kind invariably tell the
same impressive story. But it was not until one sees the total picture
for rainfall over the entire continental U.S. that the mind boggles at
the facts and their implications. Figure 8 shows what we mean by mind-
boggling statistics. Here is proof, not just evidence of astrology's
conceptual validity.
FIGURE 8 [Omitted]. COMPLETE U.S. RAINFALL HISTORY, 1871-1951, IN
TERMS OF JUPITER'S HOUR ANGLE AT COMMENCEMENT OF EVERY SIDEREAL MONTH.
JUPITER'S MERIDIAN DISTANCE IN CAPRICORN LUNAR INGRESSES PRECEDING
49,576 MAXIMUM PRECIPITATION RECORDS shows highest peak at M.C., then
slightly following the DESC., then at the I.C., with the smallest peak
at the ASC.
The meridional distance of Jupiter at the CAPLUNAR INGRESS moments
preceding the 12 dates of heaviest rainfall at each of thousands of
rain-recording stations strewn across the nation--a total of 49,576
precipitation maxima--are calculated and plotted as running sums. Not
only does Jupiter prefer the upper-culminating region, but a striking
90 degree wave in its distribution exists! Any student of astrology
can recognize the pattern; the peaks are in the angular-cusp regions
basic in any horoscope. Jupiter plays out his classical Pluvius role
when near the Ascendant, Nadir and Descendant as well. When the
quadrants are superposed, with exacting probabilities taken account of,
the violation of "normalcy" reaches the jarring figure of close to 15
standard deviations. Three SD's would do, and four would suffice to
establish the effect as a fact of nature, as an exiting anomaly. To
express 15 standard deviations as odds against it all being
coincidental would be a rather silly exercise in writing strings of
zeroes; in fact, the probability function hasn't even been calculated
for levels beyond the sixth or seventh SD. As one noted mathematician
stated openly at a professional seminar convened to discuss this very
matter. "Ratios this size mean that it is not a statistical fact we
are dealing with, but a physical law."
But Jupiter isn't the whole story, not by a long shot. All of the
planets were dealt with equally and neutrally. Another pro-
precipitation factor, not surprisingly, is the Moon itself in LUNAR
INGRESS charts, though only when it is within orb of conjunction with
the lower meridian (the 4th cusp in astrology).
FIGURE 9 [Omitted]. VENUS COMBINED WITH JUPITER shows graph with
one peak, that of the upper meridian. The tendency of both anciently
"moist" planets to favor the Midheaven of sidereal ingress charts when
the ensuing month is abnormally "wet" is a scientific fact, not merely
an astrological claim.
Of even more importance is the performance of Venus, which turned
out to be quite as conducive to rain as Jupiter. In fact, when Venus'
meridian distance is plotted in the same way Jupiter's was in such
graphs as Figure 8, one sharp peak occurs which crests exactly at the
very degree on the Midheaven. Figure 9 shows Venus and Jupiter moving
totals along the uppermost third of the Caplunar charts from approxi-
mately just before the 8th cusp eastward to about the 12 house cusp.
To astrological research weary of finding only small deviations
hardly worth bothering about, such graphs as we are exhibiting here are
surely refreshing relief from the blah feeling symptomatic of
tropicopenia. Not only are the sidereal LUNAR INGRESSES a basic
instruments for weather prediction, they prove that forces legitimately
describable as astrological do indeed exist in nature. That is, a
gravitational or tidal effect, or one due to solar corpuscles, for
example, is not rightly astrological in essence even if it is extra-
terrestrial." What 'is' astrological is the dividing line between
zodiacal divisions.
FIGURE 10 [Omitted]. THE BIGGEST SURPRISE OF ALL. Anomalies in the
distribution of ingress sidereal times for excessive rainfall periods
proved to be due to a preference of the Midheaven for the GALACTIC
CENTER.
What is astrological is the potency of the heavenly layout at a
singular moment of time to wield influence over eventualities long
after the key moment is past. What is astrological is the fact that
the Moon, Venus and Jupiter are "pro-moisture" when conjunct an angular
cusp. What is astrological is the preference of the Sun, Mars and
Saturn for the cadent areas of the horoscopic environment during wet
spells. For countless centuries these trios of planetary bodies have
been classified as "wet" and "dry" influences in astrology. Modern
scientific methods have accomplished the same taxonomy, to the surprise
of even siderealists who are accustomed to astrological procedure that
actually 'work.'
There's even more for us all to learn about interactions between
cosmic and terrestrial environments. Consider Figure 10 as an
illustration that no school of astrological though yet knows it all
even if one school does happen to be lightyears ahead of the rest.
Here we have a literal nose-count of sidereal times of the CAPLUNAR
charts involved in the planet-distribution study just described. The
totals are given in terms of three-degree lunes or zones of right
ascension on the Midheaven, with no overlapping of sums such as are
used in the moving-total method When the histogram is corrected for
probabilities, the meaningfulness of the figures is even further
enhanced. Even in the raw as shown here they show a strange clustering
of sidereal times toward a single right ascension in the sky. The
significance of this position probably wouldn't occur to most
astrologers at first, though many a gradeschool astronomy hobbyist
would spot it immediately. The center of our galaxy lies at 266
degrees! For some mysterious reason, the greatest concentration of
stellar substance and energy on the celestial sphere--the very core of
our sky-encircling Milky Way system, has what can honestly be called an
astrological influence! Surely there is no other explanation than that
the second or third degree of the constellation Sagittarius is a
"rainmaking" sponsor, just as it is the most intense radiation source
on the whole celestial sphere.
There are so many other things we'd like to tell you, so many
wondrous new findings that could be illustrated and oohed over by
astrology's fans. And new ideas about how specific astrological
influences, such as those we've been describing, might operate in a
physical sense.... Meanwhile, we trust that the readership has been
given new hope that objective research is able to vindicate rather than
embarrass astrologers, as has too often been the case. And finally, we
do trust that many of you got the most important point of all--that the
zodiac does exist in physical fact, not just on paper as an abstraction
that can be bent to the will of the believer. To many this will come
as a big relief.
Another thing to this project's credit is that it killed off the
absurd habit of scientists to ignore an egg in hand if the hen that
laid it is nowhere to be seen. The core idea of astrology has been
proved right as rain. Possible causes for effects all around us come
by the skyful!
* * * *
Allen reporting on his statistical studies in atmospheric science- the
Moon's domination of rainfall, plus Jupiter's angularity, which
findings defined the significance of angular planets (as opposed to
those midway between the cusps), and Jupiter's conjunction with the
galactic center during sidereal lunar ingresses. Allen exalts in
trouncing on establishment thinking, which like the poor is still with
us. As a quintessential Aquarian thinker (Moon ASC in AQU, URA sextile
his SUN, his work in this breakthrough statistical study certainly
opened the way for many followup books on the Moon's influence.
Students of symbolism will appreciate the synchronicity of the
inconstancy of the weather as literally dominated by our Moon and the
inconstancy of one's emotions, a primary association of the Moon in
interpretation. As well, under his name Donald Bradley, Profession and
Birth Date, A Statistical Analysis of Planetary Positions At the
Birthdates of 2492 Eminent Clergymen published in 1950, showed the
validity of the 12 constellation divisions of the zodiac.
* * *
Garth Allen, 7/68 A.A.
CRASHING THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE BARRIER, Part I
The astounding, excitable, mysterious, predicable raindrop!
The great granddaddy of all downpours, according to Genesis 7:11,
commenced "in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month."
Scriptural dates are, or course, in terms of the Semitic lunar calendar
which numbers dates from the day or so following astronomical New Moon.
The first day of a Hebrew lunar month began, on the average, about 1-
1/2 days after a conjunction of the Sun and Moon (so that,
incidentally, "unlucky" eclipses would fall on the last day of the
month, thereby making manmade superstition and Godmade nature seem to
agree). Now, 1.5 plus 17 divided by 29.53 days (the length of a
lunation) means that the cloudburst famed in mythology began on the
eighteenth day of the synodical month, or ratiowise, after about 62.6%
of the 29.53 days had elapsed. More familiarly to students of
astrology, this is the same as saying that the deluge was unleashed
when the Sun and Moon were close to 225 degrees apart in the sky, or 45
degrees past the lineup called Full Moon.
No matter whether Noah's deluge was a myth or not, research in
recent years, at the purely scientific level, has revealed that heavy
rains in the northern hemisphere do indeed tend to occur about eighteen
days after a New Moon. It seems that the fact the bible specified a
lunar date, equivalent to defining a particular phase of the Moon,
preserved, in virtually every literate Christian and Jewish household,
a tenet of ancient weather lore founded on observation of a natural
atmospheric rhythm.
Even so, knowledge of this phenomenon was apparently lost to later
cultures, for not even the meagerly-surviving traditions of astrology
really perpetuated such precepts. And, even sadder to say, astrologers
who have devoted literally decades of their lives to the creation and
improvement of what is called astrometeorology, were so busy with their
charts and their musty old books and their preconceptions that they
failed to notice what was going on outside their windows.
They need not be any more ashamed of this, however, than the
professional meteorologists at weather headquarters in our nation's
capital. Apparently they also were too preoccupied with toeing the
textual line to be aware of the easily demonstrable fact that, year in
and year out, the number of afternoon thunderstorms hitting the
District of Columbia in the week following the Full Moon was 'triple'
the number that occurred in the week before full Moon!
Yes, three times as many. And you should have seen the blushes, and
heard the fidgety excuses, in meteorological circles when the simple,
unduckable facts and figures were pointed out to them. Local weather
records were so immediately accessible, all along, a simple counting of
thunderstorms in two categories, "Week before Full Moon" and "Week
after Full Moon," would not have taken more than an hour out of any of
their professional careers. It seems to have been asking too much for
any of our government scientists to have done a little independent
thinking about, or even accidental playing around with, actual rather
than theoretical data.
Even the most elementary sources of officially published rainfall
information had apparently gone unstudied. The best proof of such an
embarrassing situation was the fact that the widely distributed volume
cataloging the dates and amounts of maximum precipitation at every
weather-recording station in the United States was all that was needed
to disclose the relationship between daily weather activity and the
position of the Moon. Yet, the very existence of this government-
printed book, compiled by the U.S. Weather Bureau's department of
hydrology, was unknown for almost a decade after publication to their
office of meteorological statistics! (A similar circumstance prevails
in the astrological profession, so is readily understandable. Most
practitioners of astrology are so busy being astrologers and mouthing
the same old quasi astrological drivel, they are often oblivious to
what the actual horoscope of people and the heavens above are trying to
tell them. They can speak familiarly about worlds that do not exist,
despite not being able to tell Castor from Pollux in the sky, and then
expect to be respected for their opinions about the celestial sphere
and the structure of the universe.)
That always-handy catalog of rainfall records, for instance, could
be used to compile, in a matter of minutes, a list of, say, the
rainiest days in our nation's history. Since the government had taken
over the military's weather-monitoring duties shortly after the Civil
War, over seven thousand rain-recording stations had operated for ten
or more years, and a total of 1,544 observation stations had been in
full-time use for 50 or more continuous years including the half-
century from 1900 through 1949. The 1900-1949 interval at these 1,544
key geographical points because of its accurately detailed records,
became the basis for numerous scientific studies of the fascinating way
extraterrestrial factors influence everyday weather.
It turned out that there were just 185 dates, in the first half of
the 20th century, on which the greatest amount of rain fell in any 24-
hour period, at ten or more (and as many as 49) localities. These 185
dates without question represent the "wettest" days experienced by the
nation as a whole over a 50-year span. Startlingly simple though
making and studying such a list of 185 items may seem, such a basic and
forthright procedure for the evaluation of time-dependent forces acting
on large-scale weather activity was seemingly beyond the grasp or
ability of the 3,000 scientific researchers who--the nation was
repeatedly assured by officers of both the U.S. Weather Bureau and the
American Meteorological Society--were engaged full-time in the pursuit
of every feasible explanation for the causes of "vagaries of weather."
The Establishment Went Gulp!
When the 185 rainiest dates are plotted in terms of the Moon's phase
on each date, a startling picture emerges--a picture that at first made
the scientific hierarchy gulp and look the other way in hopes that it
would all go away before any congressman noticed. The highest peak, at
about the fourth day after Full Moon, had over three times the
frequency of the third day after First Quarter, and the same pattern
shaped up in relation to New Moon and the weeks before and after--all a
stunning violation of probability. There was a clear-cut 14.765-day
cycle operating in rainfall over the continent, in spite of the
declaration in every approved textbook of meteorology that lunar
influences on weather are physically impossible. In fact, it appeared
that meteorology's authorities were uncertain about everything else,
characteristically hedging after statement made, except for one idea.
They were absolutely adamant that the Moon could not possibly be a
weather factor. The unanimity of agreement on that score was touching.
And absurd.
The truth of the matter could have been ascertained in less than a
single afternoon's figurework by anyone with a flair for arithmetic and
modicum of curiosity about nature, let alone any professional
atmospheric scientist. But again we must remind the reader that people
who are constantly preoccupied by 'both' daily weather and the Moon--
meaning astrologues themselves--are even more culpable in this respect.
After all, it was the business of astrometeorologists to know all about
these things, and to find out when they didn't know.
FIGURE 1 [Omitted]. HOW THE MOON'S PHASE RELATES TO U.S. RAINFALL.
The astonishing relationship between phases of the Moon and intensity
of rainfall over North America is a fact demonstrable by even the
simplest compilation of official weather statistics. Yet is was not
faced up to by the scientific establishment until recently. Shades of
Galileo, Darwin and Pasteur!
Figure 1 tells the whole story, in even clearer fashion than the
"wettest day" count, of the distribution of the dozen (monthly)
excessively rainy days at each of the 1,544 recording centers in the
continental network, in terms of the Moon's relationship to the Sun, a
grand total of 16,056 individual readings. (Twelve times 1,544 is
18,528, so that 2,472 records were achieved prior to 1900; needless to
say, these 19th-century dates also show the lunar effect with equal
clarity, though they are not incorporated into the graph for scientific
reasons.) Bear in mind that the dates given in the official logs are
those for the termination of the 24-hour period of maximum
precipitation, so the true peaks in Figure 1, in order to coincide
centrally with actual falling of the rain, fall slightly to the left.
When this average adjustment is made, lo and behold, the two point
of most intense downpour in the United States coincide exactly with the
Moon being 45 degrees and 225 degrees (or 135 degrees by shortest-route
measure) from the Sun. It is important that the reader does not
prematurely presume, from this astonishing state of affairs, that the
astrological aspects of semi-square and sesqui-quadrate have been
validated by scientific research. This may indeed by the case, but
scientifically speaking, the 45 and 135 degree configurations owe their
"aspectivity" to the fact that these points define the relationship of
least relatedness--and thereby are reversive aspects rather than
aspects in the usual sense.
It is shown in tidal theory, for instance, that when the Sun or Moon
is directly over a point on the Earth's surface, and the other luminary
is at right angles to the zenith body, hence overhead at a point 90
degrees away, the point undergoing the greatest 'horizontal' tidal
stress is not under either of the luninaries by rather halfway between.
The two points under the Sun and Moon are under vertical stresses, but
the greatest "side pull" is felt at places 45 degrees between. Those
readers with keen instincts about dynamic and spacial relationships
will have no trouble visualizing why this is so; the rest will have to
take our word for it or re-enroll in school.
The 'piece de resistance' of all the clinching evidence that the
Moon exercises regulatory control over weather variations is a graph of
total precipitation amounts measured daily at 100 local Weather Bureau
offices over a 63-year span. Simply adding up the total amount of
water precipitated at each of these hundred locations on each day of
the lunar month yields a graph which proves that the Moon's phase alone
accounts for 20% of all the moisture observed. (When the Moon's lati-
tude is taken into account, as we shall presently see, the lunar effect
accounts for close to 65% of all variation. No wonder the atmospheric
sciences Establishment went Gulp! when the facts were faced.)
How a Raindrop Gets That Way
The sharpness of the peaks in the dead centers of the first and
third weeks of the synodical month suggests, however, not so much a
tidal mechanism at work (though one is unavoidable in the physical
sense) as an "explanation" for the Moon-rainfall connection, as an
electrical mechanism. If gravitation were the key to the riddle, the
statistical peaks would likelier be mounds, not shaftlike points, on
the graph.
It has also been shown by physicists interested in the why and
wherefore of the lunar effect on precipitation phenomena that the
rising and falling of air densities and heights due to lunisolar tidal
forces cannot account, directly at any rate, for the observed results.
Some scientists thought that perhaps the Moon caused an up-down and
cold-warm mixing of air layers by atmospheric tidal action, which would
have been a pretty good idea if it were not for the fact that such a
biweekly movement or pulsation of air masses has not been observed (and
the observing programs are quite efficient--meteorologists seem to be
better bookkeepers than thinkers).
For a bunch of H2O molecules to get together as a mass heavy enough
to fall downward is not as simple a matter as you might suppose.
Raindrops are known to require some kind of microscopic nucleus to
which water molecules can adhere in order for the raindrop to form.
Dust particles, salt crystals from marine air, fine-grain meteoric
debris, ad infinitum and a dash of silver iodide, and the like, are
typical materials believed to aid and abet the nucleating or raindrop-
forming process. (To digress for a moment, you can safely dispense
with the meteor-dust hypothesis of rainfall advanced a few years ago by
an Australian scientist, since it now turns out that the squiggles and
peaks in his world-rainfall charts are directly accountable for by the
Moon! This was the same fellow, by the way, who was so eager to climb
aboard the lunar-rainfall bandwagon, by confirming American research
results, that he and his coworkers failed to notice that the graphic
picture for the southern hemisphere as a whole is 'exactly the reverse'
of that for the northern hemisphere--no wonder his colleagues have
learned to be leery of other claims from the same source.)
But again there is a credibility gap between theory and observation
simply because it is physically unsound to expect a given volume of air
to furnish the sort and number of nuclei accounting for an extensive,
prolonged downpour. It can rain heavily for days at a time at a single
locality, and certainly strains the credulity to accept the standard
notions about dust and other aerosol particles being continuously fed
back into the atmosphere in order for the rain to continue forming and
failing.
Here is where a theory that electrically charged particles in the
air can act as precipitation nuclei comes to the rescue. It was shown
a few years back that the lines of force of the basic earth-air
electrical current extend far out into space and do not terminate at
cloudtop levels as was formerly supposed (and hence so stated in
meteorology textbooks, those paragons of reliable information). Ions
in the atmosphere, possibly of argon if not of the more abundant gases
that make up our air, acting as attractants for water molecules, would
indeed solve the problem of quantitative feed-in nucleates fro the
continuous production of raindrops.
Moreover, each complete spherule or bag of water forming a raindrop
develops its own electrical field through friction wit the air through
which it falls. The falling through air itself causes the outer layer
of the charged drop to evaporate. As the drop evaporates, at the same
time picking up charge through air friction, the water molecules torn
away are also electrically charged and therefore attract ions (or
argon?) of opposite charge which are already ubiquitous in the
surrounding air, and the raindrop-forming cycle completes itself again,
on and on until the available energies have spent themselves at the
given time and place.
There is no problem of nucleus supply if the precipitation process
is basically one of ionization. Just how lunisolar forces are involved
in the electrical hypothesis is not clear at the present time, but that
the idea is in keeping with the laws of physics is not seriously
questioned by anyone familiar with the subject. A theory of
fluctuation ion concentration in the air involving lunar factors does
not seem as farfetched now as it did a few years ago when the truth
about the Moon-weather situation hit Establishment-approved meteorology
between it myopic eyes.
No matter what the chemical or physical identity of most raindrop
nuclei prove to be, the fact remains that the number of these particles
in any given volume of air fluctuates wildly from day to day. A spin-
off project from the research we are discussing was the discovery that
nucleus concentrations at various places round the world undergo
quantitative wavering in step with lunar periodicity. This revelation
ties in nicely with our electrical theory of precipitation. Even the
man who invented the contraption called an ice nucleus concentration
cloud chamber, which is used to keep track of the relative number of
such particles in the air, admits that he has no idea what the nuclei
his counter counts might be made of. Ideas abound, of course, but the
real nature of rain particulates remains a mystery. Oddly enough--or
come to think of it, characteristically enough--it apparently occurred
to atmospheric scientists that this very elusiveness (by virtue of
chemical inertness, and hence undetectability by ordinary devices) of
the problem is the key to its solution. Time will tell, of course,
whether our ion hypothesis holds water or not, if you'll pardon the
pun.
A Wrench in the Rainmaker
A word of caution is called for at this point. Readers should not
take the surface message of Figure 1 too literally, because there is so
much more to the story than a simple one-for-one relationship between
lunar phase and precipitation. In fact, the Moon's phase is only one
of several ingredients in the showery cake, and not even the most
important of the several cosmic ingredients, at that.
For one thing, the pattern shown applies only to the continental
U.S. and it should not be extrapolated to the rest of the world. In
fact, various regions in our own country have their own peculiar
patterns, so that all the graph depicts is the general picture of North
America smoothed out by averaging. Various parts of Europe have their
own indigenous patterns, created by differing climatic regimes,
prevailing winds, terrain peculiarities, etc.
We already mentioned the reversal of the phase effect in the
southern hemisphere. When the statistics for Australia, New Zealand,
four Argentine and two South African stations are combined, the
resulting graph correlates almost perfectly in a negative way, i.e.,
the peaks are at 135 and 315 degrees from New Moon, with the troughs in
the middle of the first and third lunar weeks. Reversal of the effect
is due, of course, to the fact that the global circulation of the
atmosphere in the southern hemisphere is the mirror image of the
pattern north of the equator.
It has also been found that the Moon's varying distance from Earth
is a potent factor in weather changes. Interestingly, the atmosphere
appears to be most sensitive to unsettling when the Moon is midway
between perigee (its closest approach) and apogee (its farthest
distance) either coming or going. Much more research will be needed
before the reason why the greatest rate-of change of lunar distance,
rather than the distance itself is so important (though here again our
basic electrical theory ties in).
FIGURE 2 [Omitted]. LUNAR NODES AND RAINFALL shows the Draconitic
month elapsed at point of great rainfall is slightly past half near the
South Node.
The biggest wrench in the rainmaking machinery, however, is the
Moon's latitude with respect to the ecliptic, or what is effectively
the same thing, the Moon's relation to its own nodes! This is chiefly
why we warned against taking an oversimplified approach to the Moon-
weather association--it is far more complex than two dimensional graphs
would suggest.
The lunar nodes are found to wield a controlling power over the
behavior of the Moon-phase mechanism and, in fact, the phase may not
even "work" toward rain-making if the nodes forbid it. The
implications of Figure 2 are even more staggering than the meaning of
the curve in Figure 1.
The synodical month, which is the time between two successive New
Moons, lasts 29.53 days, on the average, while the Moon's circuit of
the zodiac takes 27.32 days. But because the Moon's nodes are in
perpetual retrograde migration, the nodical month (traditionally called
the draconitic month) is only 27.21 days long. When the Moon is at its
ascending node, it is crossing the ecliptic from south to north
latitude; the descending node marks the crossing from north to south.
It is vital to point out, by the way, that the draconitic influence
holds true uniformly throughout all parts of the 18.61 year revolution
cycle of the nodes, more familiar to sky observers and tide calculators
as the extreme-declination cycle. The draconitic effect is noticeably
stronger in years of low sunspot activity, but again this does to imply
an innate strengthening of the influence, which in years of great solar
activity is merely being statistically masked by greater Sun-caused
turbulence.
The nodes themselves, of course, have no intrinsic influential power
of their own. What happens is that the Moon's passage through the
plane of the Earth's orbit causes some kind of excitation of the
magnetosphere and, consequently, the atmosphere (via ionization?).
This nodical effect is also explainable in terms of an electrical
concept in which the plane of the Earth's orbit acts as though it were
a charged sheet or ring, suggestive of the particulate ring around
Saturn. (Saturn's ring, you see, is no more than eight inches thick,
hence the word sheet in discussing such planes in space.) This
lamination of the Earth's spatial environment is essentially
independent of the more publicized Van Allen radiation-belt system.
Exactly how shock waves from the Moon's oblique plunge through the
electrified sheet can cause moisture in the atmosphere to condense into
rain is something to grapple with, but it does occur (and we think we
know, generally, how it occurs). What is more, precipitation is only
one result of the meeting of Moon with ecliptic. It is now known that
outbursts of solar corpuscular radiation headed Earthward are
significantly modified or enhanced, as the case may be, by this same
nodical effect.
Just how great is the draconitic effect on weather can be
appreciated from the relative magnitude of the peaks in Figure 2.
There were just 800 consecutive draconitic months between December 32,
1899 and August 8, 1959. The single day of greatest rainfall in each
27.21-day interval was picked from the hundred-cities index of daily
precipitation already referred to. This yielded 800 separate dates of
widespread rainfall, which are plotted in terms of their position with
regard to the Moon's nodical ascension.
FIGURE 3 [Omitted]. PHASES AND NODES TOGETHER.
The draconitic effect is even more impressive than the stunning
Moon-phase effect. The node-plus-phase partnerships becomes
understandable when plotted three-dimensionally, as in Figure 3, which
is a greatly simplified version of a master plotting of all daily
rainfalls at 100 cities for 63 continuous years--a grand total of
23,011 separate figures. The gray areas are the contours marking
above-average activity, and the black areas are the places of peak
precipitation. It is seen at once that there are times, right in the
middle of the normally dry second and fourth weeks of the lunar month,
when the descending node can trigger rain of cats-and-dogs amplitude
over vast areas.
When the synodical month was considered by itself, the Moon seemed
to have in the neighborhood of a 20% control over rainfall. But when
the nodical month is taken into account, it becomes obvious that well
over 60% of all rainfall activity in the United States is monitored by
lunar factors! Add to this the factor of periodic atmospheric
instability caused by the lunar distance cycle (the anomalistic month
of 27.55 days) and the reality of the Moons' 'domination' of Earth's
weather becomes too obvious to dodge--though many meteorologists are
still trying their damnedest to dodge it. Surprised at this figure?
You ain't heard nothing yet.
Next month we'll spring some really kingsize surprises on our
astrology-minded readers as we continue our report on these astounding
findings of modern science--discoveries which are still little known to
the laymen because so many high and mighty figures in the scientific
world have been embarrassed by them and they feel it's best not to call
attention to that fact. Furthermore, the Establishment takes good care
of its own interests by exercising enormous control over all phases of
reporting unorthodox matters at the popular level. They even dictate
the terminology to be used in writing scientific papers lest and
outsider gets the 'right' idea.
CRASHING THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE BARRIER, Part II, 8/68 A.A.
Continuing last month's surprising, mind-opening research report.
Searching for links between weather and astronomical factors is
nothing new--astrologers have ben doing it for ages. It is just that,
until recently, they haven't been doing very well at it. Most old
textbooks on astrology have their customary section on astro-
meteorology, but that was just the trouble. The few modern efforts in
this field suffered the blight and burden of proceeding on the
assumption that there was something in the old literature worth
believing.
Only a few intellects of the caliber of a George J. McCormack, a
Francis Socey or an Ernest Wykes, broke through the stupid stereotypes
of "traditional astrology," which was really traditional at all, to
seek 'through study' to establish workable precepts for weather
prediction based on astrological principles. These hardy pioneers of
research into extraterrestrial influences on earth's atmosphere are the
praiseworthy bridges spanning the void between the hokum and
Renaissance astrology with its signs and house and superstitious
blather, and the development of a scientifically acceptable concept of
practical astrology.
The future of astrology as a science or as a pseudoscience depends
upon which side of the chasm the majority of working astrologers prefer
to stand. Astrology as a whole will remain classed as a pseudoscience
by the scientific community until the bulk of its advocates stop react-
ing to elementary facts like Major Hoople ahemming and spluttering
before his reality-minded Martha. It is so very easy to be correctly
informed that why so many people succeed for so long in dodging the
truth is one of the most marvelous of the negative marvels of human
nature.
Speaking of Hooplesque splutter reminds us of a similar response in
academic circles when the truth about astronomical links with day to
day weather conditions was revealed and repeatedly verified at their
own level! There were even several attempts, by teams of qualified
experts, to disproved the validity of the research results by 'faking'
statistical evidence to the contrary. Yes, there were actual frauds
committed, in the form of seemingly competent technical papers, by
"established authorities," but these attempts were nipped in the bud,
just short of publication in the most prestigious of science journals
by wary referees and suspicious editors who knew a pretense when they
saw one. The bluff of a few textbook authors and symposium-loving
department heads had been called. Facts were facts and it was ways of
thinking, not the structure of the universe, which needed to change
accordingly. There is now very little stigma connected with research
activities along these "unorthodox" lines.
There is little stigma but, then again, a lot of resistance remains
among those who just cannot believe that they and their instructors
could have been so wrong. Such attitudes are typical of those who are
careerists in science rather than scientists themselves. The truth
about the Moon's geophysical effects is now basic, but howls of protest
still attend mention of the over-whelming evidence that the major
planets also have a powerful influence over atmospheric eventualities.
The scientific field has no trouble facing up to the implications of
the histogram given in Figure 5, which show the distribution of
hurricane-formation in relation to lunar phases.
FIGURE 5 [Omitted]. THE LINK BETWEEN HURRICANE FORMATION AND THE
PHASES OF THE MOON shows a peak at and around the New and Full Moon.
It so happens that about twice as many tropical storms have whirled
to hurricane intensity on the three days centered at New and full Moon
as on the three days following the quarter phases. Another hurricane-
abetting lunar factor is a striking preference for the midway pints
between apogee and perigee, which are the extremes of distance between
the moon and its parent Earth. Being physically accountable for, such
findings area readily accepted by science since they seem clearly
connected with the phenomenon of atmospheric tides.
The Moon and Sun unavoidably raise tides in the air just as they do
in the sea and the land through gravitational action on the rotating
spheroidal mass which is our home planet. There is nothing very
mysterious about the process and surely the tidal mechanism is not
honestly to be classed as "astrological" in nature. It is only when
the physical rules seem to be broken or ignored by some phenomenon that
a paraphysical origin or truly astrological factor may be suspected.
And there are scads of instances known, but not bruited about, by
science where this definition is met.
A dilly of a case in point has to do with the genuine involvement of
the other planets in oceanic tides--an involvement that any and all
physical principles and tidal mathematics insist would be too miniscule
to detect in tide records. That venerable volume of approved
summaries, Van Norstrand's' Scientific Encyclopedic recognized the
validity of the massive work done on this perplexing, lawbreaking
effect, with the statement under the heading of Tides, "Detailed har-
monic analysis of the observed tides having indicated the presence of
tidal forces due to the attractions of several of the major planets."
As a rule, the rank and file of science careerists swallow hard and
do their predictable Major Hoople bit whenever this matter is brought
up, because the "known" laws of physics dictate that even if all the
planets were geocentrically lined up, the combined tidal pull on the
Earth could not be greater than one part in many thousandths of the
Moon's pull. So until somebody comes up with dynamic explanation that
does not violate established rules or natural laws, the consensus among
scientists is that it is best to play down the whole question for the
time being. If they ignore the facts and figures long enough and in
unshaken unison, maybe the problem will just disappear of its own
accord, and then not need solving.
They're not off the hook, however, simply because the quantity and
quality of evidence in favor of sizable interplanetary reactions is
constantly growing. This is accomplished because there are at least a
few research workers who won't go along with the posture of the
reference-listing crowd as a whole, who won't let up in the quest of
causal explanations until the correct ones are found.
Atmospheric tides at low altitudes are admittedly difficult to
detect, but at high rarified levels become appreciable, and many miles
high, at radio-reflecting layers of the atmosphere, the tidal fluctua-
tions become enormous. This logical circumstance has been known now
for almost half a century and if meteorologists generally had only been
logical in their thinking decades ago, the true facts about lunar
effects on weather could have been recognized much earlier than was the
case.
Which brings us to another wrench-tossing episode in our narrative.
This wrench in the Establishment machinery is the now conspicuous
discovery that even where atmospheric tides are concerned there exists
a wide reach between observed facts and theoretical expectations.
Whenever the 'hourly' data of any weather parameter other than air
pressure, such as rainfall, are analyzed after removal of the known
variables such as seasonal variation and climatic regime, for any
specific geographical area, the picture that emerges is definitely not
"tidal" in structure. Surely, if the lunar effect on precipitation is
primarily tidal, there should be a distinct showing of a 12.5-hour and
25-hour recurrence of peaks in activity. But thus far no such
periodicity has asserted its presence in the records for a weather
event other than barometric readings. Obviously, some mechanism other
than tides is at the bottom of the mystery. Plotting of lunar hour
angles for the hours of all precipitation over many years in any given
area typically produces a one-peak, one-trough graph, whereas there
should be two peaks and two troughs were tidal theory to be vindicated.
What is more, the position of the single lunar-hour peak varies
considerably from locality to locality, and since the atmosphere should
behave more homogeneously than ocean waters, the peak differences are
hardly to be accounted for in the same way differing times for high and
low tides along coastlines are explained.
For example, the highest frequency of precipitation in the city of
St. Louis coincides with the two or three hours the Moon is approaching
upper culmination (or in astrological jargon, with the moon in the 10th
house of the ambient). New York City's crest, by wide contrast, comes
in the two hours or so after low culmination (roughly the 3rd house).
It is clear then, from the wide variability of the Moon's hour angle
(or house position) that the lunar tide in the atmosphere is not a very
reliable determinant of rainfall except for a specific locality for
which the preferred hour angles have been statistically ascertained.
Studies of hourly records of many American stations show that the
amplitude of the range from peak to rough in the lunar hour-angle curve
is about a 15% effect at most. The lunar tide is 'always' evident in
any precipitation history of ten year's extent or longer (and usually
one year's tabulations will suffice to indicate the basic pattern for a
locality).
A Mathematical Monster
But is it really a tide in the classical physical sense of the word?
A mere glance at any lunar hour-angle curve for any American city would
instantly suggest that to use the term tide in this connection is a
mistake. A two-peak tidal wave is barely perceptible, if at all, in
any such graph we have seen, and in every case one peak dominates the
scene. (A tidal or lunar "day" averages 1.0350501 civil days, or
clockwise, 24h 50m 28.3s, and the convention is to consider low
culmination -- conjunction with the 4th house cusp, in other words --as
the starting moment of the lunar day.)
FIGURE 6 [Omitted]. RAINFALL ACTIVITY AND HOUR ANGLE OF JUPITER. In
N.Y.C. it rained during 7,908 of 105,192 consecutive hours (1949-1960).
Rainy hours have a distinct preference for Jupiter's lower culmination.
For another blockbuster, then, we offer Figure 6 for your
consideration. As its legend indicates, this is a plotting of New York
city's total precipitation, per hour for 12 years, the approximate
length of Jupiter's revolution (so that all hourly positions with
respect to the solar hour are effectively equalized). The implications
of this one diagram alone are staggering. The curve resembles lunar
hour-angle curves with respect to having one crest and one trough in
violation of tidal theory. But the amplitude of the curve from highest
to lowest frequency, is 48.5%, over three times the amplitude of the
lunar curve for Manhattan, which is 14.6% for the same dozen years of
hourly data!
What manner of mathematical monster is this? Jupiter's "tide" at
ground level is triple the strength of the moon's? Exhaustive study of
many farflung places reveals the same phenomenon, the same puzzling
defiance of everything the physics texts would lead us to expect. The
hak-ahem-er-egad-Marthas can be heard everywhere in the ivory towers of
Establishment-approved research. Just as planetary effects show up in
marine tide analyses, when they hadn't ought to according to the sacred
equations, so planetary effects reveal themselves in commonplace
weather figures--only more so, and to a degree that is embarrassing to
the executive suites of Big Science.
Upon the emergence in recent years of such facts as these, the
institutional gears meshed frantically toward what they call "handling
the matter," giving the Establishment time to coin new phrases and
acronyms that would mask the true meaning of facts from the public and
from popular writers who might be brazen enough to call a spade a
spade, or a Jupiter a Jupiter when Jupiter is meant. At the risk of
sounding trite, it seems that what we have here is a deliberate failure
to communicate.
At first, thinking hard abut possible solutions to the Jupiter
riddle led to a surmise that the true cause for the 26-month cycle in
tropical stratospheric winds might have given rise to an "alias effect"
in temperate-zone weather phenomena. That is, because Jupiter's
synodic period is about 13 months, and is known that high-altitude
winds in the tropics blow eastward for 13 months, and then westward for
the same length of time, a significantly new link in global weather
patterning may have been inadvertently uncovered--and that it really
isn't Jupiter's hour angle at all but alternating 13-month preferences
for certain times of the solar day. In other words, the same curve
might be approximated if for much of one 13-month period, to prefer the
hours following midnight, or some such half-day switch in behavior.
It was a splendid idea. If true, it alone could represent a genuine
new contribution to meteorology at both practical and theoretical
levels, a kind of minor breakthrough that wouldn't cause any department
heads any embarrassment since nothing akin to astrology was really
involved.
But as it turned out, the idea had more splendor than substance. No
such action was detected when the hourly data were examined in detail.
Jupiter's meridian distance, or position around the east-west circle of
the sky, was an influential factor operating 'independently' of civil
time and solar time. Furthermore, it does so independently of
locality, unlike lunar and solar hour angles which are almost
erratically different in the geographical context. (For a good
example, you readers in the Missouri Valley states--Nebraska, Kansas,
Iowa and Missouri--are only too familiar with the past-midnight storms
that are typical of your area, whereas these are relatively rare events
elsewhere. Therefore it is not surprising that rainfall patterns vary
so much regionally in terms of preferred lunar and solar hour angles.)
In North American, and probably elsewhere, there is a distinct
preference for precipitation with Jupiter beneath the horizon, and a
decided statistical shortage of rainfall in the three or so hours after
Jupiter has passed the upper meridian (or Midheaven, as astrologers
say).
Big Things are Brewing
And this is only the beginning of the Jupiter story we have to tell
in summary from here. The Jupiter wave--a better term than Jupiter
tide--is an everyday reality, but therein lies the rub. It is so
continually functioning in daily weather that it is useful in only a
minor way for the purpose of weather forecasting. The chief benefit
from the existence of the Jupiter wave has been to make the atmospheric
sciences people who know about it more cautious about dismissing other
unconventional theories of what goes into the making of weather.
Jupiter's wave is of only piffling consequence compared to the
effectuality of astronomical weather effects within the frame of
reference of 'the zodiac.'
... By far the largest of the computer-based projects have been
those tackling the complex question of astrometeorological influences.
Vast amounts of detailed weather data for hundreds of localities,
having to do with the main ingredients of the weather brew (precipita-
tion, temperature, cyclones and such) have been fed in, digested and
analyzed for possible links with things astronomical. The programs
developed for these assaults on mountains of technicalities are incred-
ibly complicated--and deadly effective for the purpose for which they
were designed. Many of astrology's most commonly taken for granted
tenets have fallen by the wayside, but that was only to be expected
since even noncomputerized objective studies have a way of doing this.
Ninety years of New and Full Moon charts, equated to whichever
locality was in question, have been chewed up and spewed out by the
machines as being almost worthless for weather prediction when
interpreted in the way customarily taught by standard "authorities."
They prove to be valid instruments, nevertheless, when viewed as
analytical frameworks for temperature and air-movement studies. Even
so, the measures of significance are disappointingly small, even mar-
ginal, and not at all of the power to affect regional weather that we
have believed would show up in the investigation of lunar-phase charts.
The Sun's colure crossings, the equinox and solstice charts beloved
of modern astrologers who praise Kepler but ignore what he had to say,
fare appreciably better than lunar syzygies as weather indicators for
the season following. But only temperature trends, weather toward or
against normal expectancies for the three months concerned, seem to be
significantly influenced by the solar tropical ingresses. No studies
that we know of were made of progressions of the tropical ingresses, in
connection with the dates of unusual weather events, so it would be
unwise to downgrade this type of chart until its depths have been
adequately probed. Still for any of the standard sort of
astrometeorology chart, when something "significant" was encountered,
the measure of significance was uniformly small. Seldom was there
anything potent enough to violate random probabilities beyond the 5% or
20-to-1 level of significance.
Tropicopenia and its Cure
In summary, then, we can pronounce the traditional tools of
astrometeorology, the lunation and seasonal charts, moderately useful
for weather diagnosis, though not to the extent we would have liked.
'Tropicopenia,' that prevalent malaise of modern astrology, definable
as typical weakness of test results yielded by studies based upon
tropical frames of reference, once again--though this time on a grand
scale--asserted its endemic presence.
FIGURE 7 [Omitted]. PRECIPITATION IN NEW YORK CITY IN TERMS OF
JUPITER'S GEOGRAPHICAL UPPER CULMINATION IN CAPLUNARS COVERING 1,202
CONSECUTIVE SIDEREAL MONTHS (1871-1960).
The picture is vastly different, stunningly so, when the same
information is analyzed within the framework of the zodiac. And what
is more, even those who regularly use the zodiac as the basis for their
practical application of astrology have been dazzled, delighted, by the
new things they learned that they hadn't quite anticipated.
Veteran readers of this magazine will remember the item we reported
in the September 1957 issue regarding the oddity that Jupiter was
closely conjunct New York City's CAPLUNAR meridian four out of the 12
times of greatest downpour in Weather Bureau annals. This circumstance
was noted in connection with record-breaking amounts of rain elsewhere
as well. The scientific team which had dealt with the so-called
standard tools of astrology, so disappointingly, decided that it might
be worth while to test the claims of this siderealist writer since
here, at last, was a specific astrometeorological claim made without
hedging. (It is amazing how elusive a representative astrologer's
English can be when definite test-worthy remarks are being sought.)
The matter was tackled from several different angles, all with
sensational, vindicative results. Take Figure 7, for instance. This
shows one way the claim was tested by using New York City's rainfall
data for 1,202 consecutive sidereal months. Each sidereal month of
27.3 2 days, plus or minus 5 hours, was taken as being inaugurated by
the Moon's contact with 0d00'00" of the constellation CAPRICORN--
mundane astrology's master point. Eleven-degree lunes of geographic
longitude are here employed for diagrammatic advantage, to illustrate
how that, when Jupiter was on the Midheaven of any place west of El
Paso' meridian, New York experienced less than average rainfall in the
ensuing sidereal month. With Jupiter culminating over the Midwest,
precipitation was somewhat above normal.
However, when old Jupiter Pluvius, the Rainmaker, was on the
Midheaven anywhere between 73 and 84 degrees West, Manhattan was
drenched by an average of 41.3% more moisture than normal! For the
student reader, this is to say that Jupiter sponsors heavy
precipitation when chartwise the great planet occupies the zone between
10 degrees west and 1 degree east of the 10th house cusp!
How reliable, for practical forecasting, this circumstance might be
is indicated by the fact that this one astrological factor alone
"worked" 74% of the time. That is, Jupiter occupied that zone just 35
times in the last 90 years 1871-1960. In nine instances the total
precipitation was less than the median amount for those same calendar
dates, whereas 26 times out of the 35, the rainfall was greater than
the 90-year median amount. In none of the nine below-average instances
was recorded total very much below average: none of the sidereal months
was what people would call a dry spell.
How's This for Mind Boggling?
Single-station studies of the foregoing kind invariably tell the
same impressive story. But it was not until one sees the total picture
for rainfall over the entire continental U.S. that the mind boggles at
the facts and their implications. Figure 8 shows what we mean by mind-
boggling statistics. Here is proof, not just evidence of astrology's
conceptual validity.
FIGURE 8 [Omitted]. COMPLETE U.S. RAINFALL HISTORY, 1871-1951, IN
TERMS OF JUPITER'S HOUR ANGLE AT COMMENCEMENT OF EVERY SIDEREAL MONTH.
JUPITER'S MERIDIAN DISTANCE IN CAPRICORN LUNAR INGRESSES PRECEDING
49,576 MAXIMUM PRECIPITATION RECORDS shows highest peak at M.C., then
slightly following the DESC., then at the I.C., with the smallest peak
at the ASC.
The meridional distance of Jupiter at the CAPLUNAR INGRESS moments
preceding the 12 dates of heaviest rainfall at each of thousands of
rain-recording stations strewn across the nation--a total of 49,576
precipitation maxima--are calculated and plotted as running sums. Not
only does Jupiter prefer the upper-culminating region, but a striking
90 degree wave in its distribution exists! Any student of astrology
can recognize the pattern; the peaks are in the angular-cusp regions
basic in any horoscope. Jupiter plays out his classical Pluvius role
when near the Ascendant, Nadir and Descendant as well. When the
quadrants are superposed, with exacting probabilities taken account of,
the violation of "normalcy" reaches the jarring figure of close to 15
standard deviations. Three SD's would do, and four would suffice to
establish the effect as a fact of nature, as an exiting anomaly. To
express 15 standard deviations as odds against it all being
coincidental would be a rather silly exercise in writing strings of
zeroes; in fact, the probability function hasn't even been calculated
for levels beyond the sixth or seventh SD. As one noted mathematician
stated openly at a professional seminar convened to discuss this very
matter. "Ratios this size mean that it is not a statistical fact we
are dealing with, but a physical law."
But Jupiter isn't the whole story, not by a long shot. All of the
planets were dealt with equally and neutrally. Another pro-
precipitation factor, not surprisingly, is the Moon itself in LUNAR
INGRESS charts, though only when it is within orb of conjunction with
the lower meridian (the 4th cusp in astrology).
FIGURE 9 [Omitted]. VENUS COMBINED WITH JUPITER shows graph with
one peak, that of the upper meridian. The tendency of both anciently
"moist" planets to favor the Midheaven of sidereal ingress charts when
the ensuing month is abnormally "wet" is a scientific fact, not merely
an astrological claim.
Of even more importance is the performance of Venus, which turned
out to be quite as conducive to rain as Jupiter. In fact, when Venus'
meridian distance is plotted in the same way Jupiter's was in such
graphs as Figure 8, one sharp peak occurs which crests exactly at the
very degree on the Midheaven. Figure 9 shows Venus and Jupiter moving
totals along the uppermost third of the Caplunar charts from approxi-
mately just before the 8th cusp eastward to about the 12 house cusp.
To astrological research weary of finding only small deviations
hardly worth bothering about, such graphs as we are exhibiting here are
surely refreshing relief from the blah feeling symptomatic of
tropicopenia. Not only are the sidereal LUNAR INGRESSES a basic
instruments for weather prediction, they prove that forces legitimately
describable as astrological do indeed exist in nature. That is, a
gravitational or tidal effect, or one due to solar corpuscles, for
example, is not rightly astrological in essence even if it is extra-
terrestrial." What 'is' astrological is the dividing line between
zodiacal divisions.
FIGURE 10 [Omitted]. THE BIGGEST SURPRISE OF ALL. Anomalies in the
distribution of ingress sidereal times for excessive rainfall periods
proved to be due to a preference of the Midheaven for the GALACTIC
CENTER.
What is astrological is the potency of the heavenly layout at a
singular moment of time to wield influence over eventualities long
after the key moment is past. What is astrological is the fact that
the Moon, Venus and Jupiter are "pro-moisture" when conjunct an angular
cusp. What is astrological is the preference of the Sun, Mars and
Saturn for the cadent areas of the horoscopic environment during wet
spells. For countless centuries these trios of planetary bodies have
been classified as "wet" and "dry" influences in astrology. Modern
scientific methods have accomplished the same taxonomy, to the surprise
of even siderealists who are accustomed to astrological procedure that
actually 'work.'
There's even more for us all to learn about interactions between
cosmic and terrestrial environments. Consider Figure 10 as an
illustration that no school of astrological though yet knows it all
even if one school does happen to be lightyears ahead of the rest.
Here we have a literal nose-count of sidereal times of the CAPLUNAR
charts involved in the planet-distribution study just described. The
totals are given in terms of three-degree lunes or zones of right
ascension on the Midheaven, with no overlapping of sums such as are
used in the moving-total method When the histogram is corrected for
probabilities, the meaningfulness of the figures is even further
enhanced. Even in the raw as shown here they show a strange clustering
of sidereal times toward a single right ascension in the sky. The
significance of this position probably wouldn't occur to most
astrologers at first, though many a gradeschool astronomy hobbyist
would spot it immediately. The center of our galaxy lies at 266
degrees! For some mysterious reason, the greatest concentration of
stellar substance and energy on the celestial sphere--the very core of
our sky-encircling Milky Way system, has what can honestly be called an
astrological influence! Surely there is no other explanation than that
the second or third degree of the constellation Sagittarius is a
"rainmaking" sponsor, just as it is the most intense radiation source
on the whole celestial sphere.
There are so many other things we'd like to tell you, so many
wondrous new findings that could be illustrated and oohed over by
astrology's fans. And new ideas about how specific astrological
influences, such as those we've been describing, might operate in a
physical sense.... Meanwhile, we trust that the readership has been
given new hope that objective research is able to vindicate rather than
embarrass astrologers, as has too often been the case. And finally, we
do trust that many of you got the most important point of all--that the
zodiac does exist in physical fact, not just on paper as an abstraction
that can be bent to the will of the believer. To many this will come
as a big relief.
Another thing to this project's credit is that it killed off the
absurd habit of scientists to ignore an egg in hand if the hen that
laid it is nowhere to be seen. The core idea of astrology has been
proved right as rain. Possible causes for effects all around us come
by the skyful!
* * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Apex
**************** COSMIC DIVISIONS - ASTRONOMY ****************
[APEX] As published in American Astrology 1959-1972, a collection
of Garth Allen's letters and essays on the APEX OF SUN'S WAY, the
direction in which the Sun is traveling in the universe. This
collection contains Allen's thinking on the Solar Apex as a possible
astronomical fiducial (a standard of reference, as for measuring) for
the Sidereal Zodiac, which would be in addition to the fixed stars as
fiducials. (See Allen's 8/60 "Another Milestone," as well as his 3/71
and 3/72 essays. See also related file [4SPHERES] for astronomical
notes related to APEX.)
However, [in 1997] it came to my attention that the "new" Apex
position in Professors A. N. Vyssotsky and Peter van de Kamp's
research, upon which Allen based his thinking, was in ERROR. In this
regard, see the 11/10/97 post at the beginning of the file [APEX] from
Ken Irving, Editor of American Astrology Magazine, who was good enough
to write me on this matter, and gave permission to use his letter.
Additionally, I wrote to the publisher of the yearly Astronomical
Calendar, astronomer Guy Ottewell, Dept. of Physics, Furman University
in South Carolina, who said according to his knowledge, the Solar Apex
was the classical one.
The final 3 essays in this file include reports (one by Cyril
Fagan) of Allen's statistical studies on the 12 divisions of the
constellations, which of themselves are sufficient to indicate the
validity of the 12 divisions.
* * * * * * * *
NOTES on the APEX of the Sun's Way (the direction in the heavens
in which Sun is traveling in the universe). Garth Allen's attempt to
find an astronomical framework for the division of the Sidereal
Zodiac's constellations at Capricorn was certainly worthy. Using the
Solar Apex coordinates based on Professors Vyssotsky and van de Kamp's
faulty research in the late 60's on a "new" Solar Apex, Allen attempted
to envision the connection between our Solar System and the rest of the
universe. Information then on the Solar Apex position (as to where it
crosses the ecliptic plane) from Professors V & V's research indicated
a mean longitude position near 0 degrees Capricorn in the Sidereal
Zodiac; this position is now known to be in error (see letter from Ken
Irving below). The position was seen by Allen as an validation of the
SZ Capricorn Ingress, but that data was incorrect. [See file INGRESS]
That error means the Sidereal Capricorn Ingress is not marked by
astronomical phenonema such as the Solar Apex or the winter solstice.
(Tropical 0 degrees Capricorn does however indicate the winter
solstice. To add to the confusion, ironically in the Sidereal Zodiac
the Solar Apex at 7SAG is only about 2 degrees away from the winter
solstice at 5SAG.) That error also means that the chapter on the Apex
in Fagan's last book Astrological Origins is incorrect, as well as
Fagan's & Firebrace's section on the Apex (p5) in The Primer of
Sidereal Astrology. Unfortunately as Irving pointed out, Allen's
failure to follow up on the research cast a large shadow on the
credibility of his work and others, as well as causing confusion. Yet
and still, concerning the question of what constitutes the divisions of
the constellations, Allen was one person in his time who did address an
important question astronomically and philosophically.
Regarding a natural division of the zodiac, it should be noted that
modern calculation of the mean equator of our home Milky Way Galaxy is
near the division between the anciently conceived Taurus and Gemini and
their opposites--Scorpio and Sagittarius of the Sidereal Zodiac. If
one connects by a line the alpha (00SAG12 26s36) and beta stars
indicating the Flame on the Altar, located in the Milky Way below
Sagittarius, one sees a line indicating an approximate parallel of our
Galaxy's equator. Yes, that is "zero" Sagittarius! The Greeks who
conceived the constellations as we know them, as based on other ancient
zodiacs, considered the Altar an important constellation. This is
another example of a division indicated by marking stars.
So why this file on the Solar Apex? Even though Allen's theory was
not correctly based, his thinking was quite insightful. If the basic
data had been correct, Allen's Apex theory would have been a mainstay.
What was the crux of it? By reference to the Earth's Equatorial
System, a first step in observational astronomy is to establish the
north pole. A perpendicular line can be drawn from the North Pole down
to the plane of the horizon, continuing in a circle through the South
Pole, around the celestial sphere through the zenith and back to the
North Pole, thus generating the local north-south Meridian Circle which
establishes the Earth's directional orientation, which directions are
specific to the earth only. By analogy Allen thought that the APEX
(the direction the Sun is traveling in the universe) gave a kind of
pole/pointer, from which a line can be drawn down to and across the
ecliptic plane, establishing a "cosmic" direction in the heavens. The
Solar Apex crossing at the Ecliptic plane is one factor marking the
direction in the heavens along which our sun and its solar system are
moving. (However, these astronomical functions--earth's north pole and
the solar apex--are not an exact analogy as regards their function.) To
restate the error: Allen's theory was based on an incorrect coordinate
(about 0 Capricorn of the SZ) for the Solar Apex.
The actual APEX position is still thought to be the classic one,
near Nu Hercules, and indicated by Sidereal Zodiac coordinates of
7SAG24 ecliptic longitude 53n26 ecliptic latitude, a considerably
"extra" zodiacal position. The crossing of our Earth's orbit around
our Sun with our Sun's orbit around our Milky Way Galaxy constitutes a
powerful cosmic intersection. Research and publication of same on the
yearly return of the 'apparent' Sun to the actual Solar Apex at 7SAG24
remains to be accomplished.
* * * * * * * * *
11/10/97 POST FROM KEN IRVING, EDITOR, AMERICAN ASTROLOGY:
"Re Garth Allen's use of the Solar Apex as an SVP fiducial, all
of Allen's speculation on the apex is based on a value later identified
as erroneous by one of its own proponents. Allen, in his inimitable
style, never gave a precise reference for the so-called Vyssotsky/Van
de Kamp apex, but about twenty years ago, I managed to track down the
original report in the University of Arizona science library. I have
long since lost the original reference, but recall it as one in a
series of reports on various astronomical subjects from the Leander
McCormick Observatory at the University of Virginia. There is in fact a
report by V and V, and it does in fact give the value for the apex
listed by Allen.
HOWEVER (and this is, indeed, a big HOWEVER), in a later report
(which I think was by Vyssotsky and Emma T. R. Williams), this earlier
value is definitely identified as a serious mistake, and the adjusted
value is very close to that which one will find listed in most
astronomical references - and nowhere near any identifiable point in
the Fagan/Allen zodiac. I should also add that BOTH reports were
published several years before he first wrote about the apex, so he
should have known better, especially since he was an amateur
astronomer. I think I may have dealt with this in American Astrology,
perhaps in "Many Things," but it would have been some time ago. I no
longer have access to a library which has this information, but I
suggest that those who do check me (and Allen) out on this before
buying into his flawed theory."
Kenneth Irving
P.O. Box 140713
Staten Island, NY 10314-0713
718-720-9341 voice/fax
"Planetos" - http://members.aol.com/kirving
********************************************************************
* * * *
Both Fagan's PRIMER OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY and his ASTROLOGICAL
ORIGINS reference Allen's APEX concept. From the PRIMER:
Together with its planetary escort, the Sun is swirling at the rate
of 375 million miles a year and at a radius of some 30,000 'light-
years' from the centre of our City-Universe; it is estimated some
220,000,000 years will pass before the completion of the circuit. The
direction in the Galaxy taken by the Sun is known as the "Solar Apex."
The astrological world is greatly indebted to Garth Allen for bringing
to its notice the latest determination of the position of this point in
space made by two professors, A.N. Vyssotsky and Peter van de Kamp...
With regard to epoch, 1950.0 they located it in: R.A. 19h 00m plus or
minus a maximum error of six minutes, Decl N 36d00' plus or minus a
maximum error of 1d30'. 1950.0 mean obliquity of the ecliptic
23d26'45".
If we reduce these tropical co-ordinates to those of the sidereal
zodiac, it will be found that the minimum longitude is Sagittarius
26d38', and mean Sagittarius 29d24'; maximum Capricorn is 2d35'; mean
latitude is N 58d14'. In short, the sidereal ongitude of the mean
position of th Apex lies a little over half a degree from Capricorn 0
of the ancient Egypto-babylonian zodiac! These seems little doubt
that, when astronomers eventually succeed in determining the position
of the Apex with greater precision, their result will be found to tally
closely, if not precisely, with the longitude of Capricorn 0 degrees as
computed from Garth Allen's work, "S.V.P. Ephemeris."
Astrologically speaking, this is one of the most important
determinations of modern times. Why? Because it indubitably suggests
that the zodiac of ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Chaldea and India
had its fiducial in only one fixed star, namely, 'the Sun, itself,' and
not in any of its neighbors in the Galaxy. This seem all the more
certain when it is remembered that no fixed star of any magnitude
marked the commencement of any one of the four 'cardinal'
constellations.
* * * *
Garth Allen, "Your Corner," A.A. 12/59
ABOUT ORBITRY...
The Space Age is now well into its third year, counting from the
epoch of Sputnik I's first whoosh around the earth. At this writing,
no less than nine artificial satellites are making their effortless
rounds, while here on the surface the average grandmother and typical
fourth-grader, and all of us in between, have already become used to
the mechanics and terminology of at least elementary astronautics.
"ORBIT" used to be a word with the ring of remoteness to it; now it is
one of the commonest words in our small-talk vocabularies in the
breakfast nook and at the office water-cooler. Nowadays the man and
woman on the street know that the orbit of a satellite is fixed in
space and the reason why it passes over virtually every place below in
predictable succession is that the earth is turning beneath the orbit -
-and not the other way around. In fact, if there were no imbalances in
masses involved to "perturb" the orbit and make it shift in small
amounts, the orbit would be rigidly aligned in space for all time. In
other words, the first principle of orbitry is that any orbit in space
is "sidereal."
We are wondering to what depth the implications of this simplest of
astronomical facts have penetrated the thinking processes of
astrological students. If the zodiac is an eternal verity and has no
physical mass, it cannot be affected by perturbations, so must
logically be fixed in space, in rigid alignment with the stellar
backdrop of the celestial sphere. Give this a good thinking-over, this
law that alignments in space are necessarily sidereal and that shifting
of numerical values in orbits are essentially secondary, local and
physical. And the next time you spy the twinkle of an artificial
satellite racing across the dome of the sky, knowing that it is obeying
cosmic law and maintaining its original relationship to the starry
universe, while you were only accidentally shuttled beneath it by
virtue of the earth's rotation, ask yourself if your astrological
concepts are in keeping with the facts. Don't try to rationalize your
"established convictions" by thinking in terms of interlinking rings
and "Nature's rhythms," and so on, because that would be like trotting
out the casualty list to prove that television wrestling is on the
level. Is your zodiac a natural or a seeming thing? Is the
fundamental plane you conceive of only an illusion of the same kind
that makes you think of the artificial satellite as visiting your area
rather than the truth, that you are visiting its area?
* * *
Garth Allen, "Many Things," A.A. 3/60
The sun's apparent annual path around the celestial sphere is the
ecliptic, so the sun has no latitude in the sense the other planets
have. The ecliptic is not a belt in the sky, but an imaginary line.
The zodiac is traditionally associated with the neighborhood of this
line, leading to the common misbelief that the zodiac is a belt some 16
degrees wide. The width of this belt is quite arbitrary for zodiacal
longitude applies to the entire sphere from ecliptic pole to ecliptic
pole.
It appears that you have confused heliocentric orbiting of the
planets with geocentric phenomena. The planets cross the plane of our
ecliptic twice during their heliocentric cycles of revolution, these
crossing points being the planetary nodes. Geocentrically, these
crossings appear to take place at random around the zodiac; they are
not really random, but there seems to be no consistency between the
date of crossing and position in longitude, though there are repeating
cycles, i.e., Mercury's pattern repeats in 13 years. Astrologically,
therefore, the events could not represent sameness of the influence.
Distance apparently is not a vital factor in astrology, but this is
not surprising in the light of the Theory of Relativity. The key
proposition of relativity is that light reaches an observer at the same
speed, no matter what the speed, either toward or away from the source
of light, of the observer! This is opposed to all common sense and
experience, but this proposition has been proved to be a basic law of
the universe. That influential bodies in astrology, of differing
masses and distances, seem to have equal intensity and significances,
is therefore no more implausible than the same-velocity characteristic
of light. It is hard to believe, but true!
* * * *
Garth Allen, "Your Corner," A.A. 5/60
Getting the Message
Though we have long harped on the theme that the standard zodiac is
a purely terrestrial affair, not existing in space and surely not
adaptable to a heliocentric scheme (which has been done, strangely
enough, to the point where a tropical-heliocentric zodiac represents
one of modern astrology's "schools"), the simple astronomical truth
just doesn't seem to be grasped by most students. It is to be lamented
that the average devotee of our subject carries in his mind a blurry
picture of a great solar system encompassing zodiacal fence with
sharply defined posts commencing with one marked by the classical Aires
symbol. We are entering the space age and soon there will be human
beings detached from their home planet, circulating in regions where
tropical coordinates will have no meaning whatever. Are space
travelers to be zodiacless? Of course not, for the natural zodiac is a
celestial frame of reference completely independent of Earthbound
calendaric peculiarities.
Only weeks after Sputnik I had the world in a lather of excitement,
a bevy of scientists, members of the American Geophysical Union,
converged on the joint campuses of the Harvard College Observatory and
the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, for a Conference on
Contemporary Geodesy. While space navigation was not on the agenda of
the meeting, the matter inevitably came up. Having read the papers and
the recorded notes of the discussions, I was impressed by the
similarity of the problem of an astronautical reference system to this
matter of the tropical zodiac's nonexistence in outer space. Away from
the Earth there is no right ascension, declination, or tropical
longitude, which calls for a purely sidereal reference point--the stars
are always there.
The Air Force's Directorate of Operations, Missile Branch, Mr.
Claude F. Gilchrist, remarked during one session: "We cannot use
celestial latitude and longitude since the vernal equinox is inherent
to the position of the Earth and would be of little use when we are
millions of miles from the Earth. We then must adopt another zero
point for outer space. I just wondered how much thought you had given
to this." MIT's Walter Wrigley responded with "The reference would
probably be Sun-centered with a major star-oriented reference." The
missile specialist countered, "One suggestion would be to adopt the
ecliptic as the plane of reference and the star Regulus as the zero
point. Regulus is only slightly inclined to the ecliptic and satisfies
the condition for a fixed point."
In the time since, astronautics has developed at an amazingly rapid
clip to become a major concern of the public and of the world's
governments. In a recent technical release the USAF outlines the issue
of the problem of reference points in considerable detail, and we quote
at length, knowing the subject to be of deep interest to astrological
students:
"From the viewpoint of an inhabitant of the Earth, attached to this
planet and navigating solely on the ground, sea, or in the thin layer
of air forming the atmosphere which rotates with the Earth in space, a
co-ordinate reference system (either rectangular or polar) attached to
the Earth is fully satisfactory. The situation is radically changed,
however, when it is planned to navigate the vehicle in outer space.
First, and quite obviously, a co-ordinate system with respect to which
a vehicle's positions and velocities will be measured must be
completely detached from the Earth's surface. Furthermore, a co-
ordinate reference system adequate for space navigation must be of the
so-called inertial type--that is, it must be non-rotating and
nonaccelerating....
"A necessity for stellar reference points in space arises from the
imperfections of the basic inertial device, the gyroscope. The
gyroscope is the only fully practical instrument which permits direct
and independent stabilization in inertial space and theoretically, if
perfect, would suffice to establish an inertial co-ordinate reference
system for a space vehicle. The imperfections of the gyroscope are due
to so-called 'drift,' that is, gradual wandering of the spin axis in
space under the influence of various spurious turning moments or
torques. These torques acting on the gyroscope result primarily from
minute unbalances coupled with forces due to accelerations acting on
the instrument....A nonrotating co-ordinate system is required for
space navigation...."
If you followed all that, you got the message! Notice that the
whole issue is identical with the astrological problem of the zodiacs.
It's all there, including the artificialness of a perspective based on
the action of PRECESSION. The tropical zodiac is purely Earth-based
and has a strictly spurious "drift" called precession, which is just a
local effect caused by the fact that the Sun, Moon and planets do not
lie in the plane of the Earth's equator. Positions referred to this
spurious movement have no relationship to anything extant in creation.
The infinitely surrounding universe is not beholden to, or amenable to
logical division by, anything so trivial as the tinker-toy system based
upon seasonal orientations. Now as long as everything in astrology
that has "influence" is apart from the Earth, any natural zodiac cannot
possibly be defined by local reference points. It seems that the boys
in training for Project Mercury know more about the essentials of
horoscopy than those who claim the art as their own! If the zodiac
exists in the cosmos "it must be nonrotating and nonaccelerating." Get
the message now?
* * *
GARTH ALLEN, "Your Corner." A.A. 5/63
It just struck us: When astronauts finally set foot on the Moon's
surface, what new gimmicks will arise to affect their personal
horoscopes? Horoscopewise, will the planet Earth represent a new
influential fearture and the Moon, "Luna Firma" under their feet, cease
to have its usual significance? There surely won't be a tropical
zodiac "up there" since you have to be on the Earth's surface to have
the tropical zodiac "exist" at all, even mathematically. The sidereal
zodiac, of course, will be there in all its power and glory, with
nothing diminished and nothing "displace." But will our boys
experience Terra Returns in lieu of Lunar Returns? Imagine trying to
cpy with a Demi-Terra. Astronomically, there is no real problem in all
this--unless you are still thinking in tropical terms, when the move to
the Moon poses real troubles. But then there are real troubles for the
tropical scheme here on Earth, too. Think about this.
* * *
GARTH ALLEN, "Your Corner," A.A. 8/60
ANOTHER MILESTONE
It is the fate of any writer that readers generally seldom agree
with him about the evaluation of a written contribution. Around once a
year [this column] comes forth with something this writer considers
momentous in the advancement of astrology as a science, because it
solves a major problem in theory or represents a significant discovery
having practical use. Sometimes it even hurts that "nobody" seems to
have noticed a thing, while readers by the droves think something of
space-filling lighter vein is Simply Wonderful and they go out of
their way to let us know they liked it. Well, here's a piece that
yours truly considers the MOST VALUABLE development in many a moon,
perhaps in years.
In the roughly fifteen years since the search for the dynamic basis
originally underlying the science of astrology, we have known that the
framework was sidereal, that is astronomical and not geographical.
During all this time, we have made remarkable progress toward an
astrological reconstruction, thanks primarily to Cyril Fagan, but we
have always been handicapped by a lack of something natural which we
could point to as the mainspring of the zodiacal circuit. We latched
merrily onto the Spica ultraviolet nebula, because its discovery by
rocket astronomy gave the boundary of 0 degrees Libra a physical
uniqueness in the sky.
And now, finally, modern astronomy has been overhauling many of its
own constants and come up with an astounding fact--that the position of
the SOLAR APEX in the sky is several degrees of declination, and an
hour of right ascension "off" of where the textbooks have placed it for
almost a century! Scientists have not actually been "wrong" because
for decades they have known that the true Apex was quite removed from
the position being used, so they called it the "classical Apex,"
meaning that it was more traditional than actual. The classical Apex
was located through study of the relative motions of stars near the
neighborhood of the solar system in space. But the Galaxy contains
more than a billion stars and the determination had been based only
upon a few hundred near-by stars. Recently, the results of a new study
of 18,000 telescopic stars were published, settling once and for all,
within one and a half degrees on the celestial sphere, where this
pivotal point really lies.
The scholarly among our readers will appreciate the feelings we had
when we "astrologized" this point and, wonder of wonders, its ecliptic
longitude for the epoch 1950.0 fell at 24 degrees of the tropical sign
Capricorn!
That one sentence was worth setting off as a whole paragraph. Just
think this over. THE MOST BASIC ASTRONOMICAL POINT IN THE ENTIRE
HEAVENS "JUST HAPPENS" TO HAVE 0 DEGREES SIDEREAL CAPRICORN AS ITS
ECLIPTIC LONGITUDE. At long last the sidereal zodiac has been provided
with an incontrovertible fiducial that exists both mechanically and
dynamically in the universe as the primum mobile of our galactic
existence. The very structure and rotation of our Galaxy turns out to
be the key to the zodiacal concept and in a very literal, physical
sense.
What gives the Solar Apex this distinction? Why is it so important?
For the benefit of students and readers not quite hep to astronomy,
we'll try to demonstrate the answers.
Figure 3 [OMITTED]: The Earth's orbit through space is a
corkscrew motion.
We are so accustomed to visualizing the Earth's orbit around the Sun
as a flat ellipse on paper that we often forget that the path of our
planet through space is in reality a kind of gigantic corkscrew.
Figure 3 makes this easy to understand, illustrating the fact that in
the year's time it takes the Earth to move around the Sun once (roughly
Pi times 2 times 93 million miles, or 584 million miles per
revolution), the Sun itself has forged on through space, revolving
around the center of our galaxy a distance of 375 million miles, which
means that every day we are 375 million miles away from where we were
just one year ago even though we are again in the very same degree of
longitude, and likewise the Sun, that we occupied 365 1/4 days back.
We spiral through space to keep pace with the Sun. And the direction
the Sun is moving is called the Solar Apex. The opposite point on the
celestial sphere, away from which we are moving, is called the Antapex.
How this direction is ascertained is apple-pie easy, theoretically,
for it is a simple matter of watching other objects apparently move in
relationship to our own motion. The difficulty, in actual practice, of
locating the Apex exactly was because stars are all at varying
distances and the rate of their shift against the background of each
other is a matter of distance. When you drive your car down the
highway the near-by telephone poles, billboards and buildings zip by
fast while structures a block away on either side seem to pass more
slowly, while distant hills barely budge. Yet all these things are
moving relative to your car.
In the old days when astronomers did not have the equipment blessing
their efforts nowadays, they made their estimates of the position of
the Apex only from telephone poles, as it were. With all the
technological advances of recent years they were able to tackle the
Apex problem more accurately--using the country-side as a whole. Old
astronomy books, therefore, place the "Standard Apex of the Sun's Way"
at right ascension 18h 0m, north declination 30d. Medium old books
list it at 18h 04m and variously 30d, 31d or 34d north declination. It
was Benjamine Boss of star-catalog fame who pushed it several degrees
north of its classical declination. Then, as now, the coordinates of
the Apex remain in round numbers, as degrees, because the specific
point is actually indeterminate.
Through the massive research of Professors A. N. Vyssotsky and Peter
van de Kamp, the radically changed position turns out to be 19h 0m,
plus or minus a tenth of an hour or 6 minutes (in arc, 1-1/2 degrees),
36 degrees north, plus or minus 1-1/2 degrees. As you can see, there
is still a margin for error because the precise point is undetectable
for geometrical reasons. (Most stellar shifts in a year's time amount
to mere thousandths of a second of arc, and these microscopic streaks
are projected, from all parts of the sky, to their general juncture in
the Apex region. Naturally, working with such tiny values is maddening
and only a "statistical" value, based upon averages, is achievable.)
Figure 4 [OMITTED]: The stars en masse appear to diverge
away from the Apex and converge toward the Antapex.
The practical effect of solar movement toward the Apex is shown in
figure 4, and we have taken the liberty of entering the sidereal
zodiac's lines marking 0d Cancer and Capricorn to dramatize the fact
that the principal motion of the solar system is geared to the true
zodiac, after all. The stars' shifts are exaggerated for graphic
purposes, of course, but you can see that as the Sun and its family of
planets move through space toward the Apex, the stars appear to be
shooting away from the point we are headed for. Similarly, the stars
all over the sky appear to verge toward the Antapex. In a circle 90
degrees from these axial points, the shifts are longest, which is why
it is easiest to measure these arcs that are farthest from the points
of Apex and Antapex where the stars seem hardly to move at all (the old
railroad-track illusion, caused by perspective and distance).
Figure 5 [OMITTED]: The Cygnus-Lyra Region of the sky showing
how the longitude of the SOLAR APEX coincides with 0 Capricorn
of the sidereal zodiac.
The last figure, 5, is a star map for the Apex region of the sky
occupied by the familiar constellations Lyra and Cygnus and the bright
stars Vega, Deneb and Albireo. The circled area is the established
place of the Apex with its possible margin for error (1-1/2 degrees).
Naturally, as with anything celestial, the coordinates of the Apex are
subject to precessional change, which means the point is "fixed" to all
intents and purposes among the stars. Across the diagram we have drawn
the line of 0 degrees Capricorn in the sidereal zodiac. Measurement
shows this line to pierce the Apex circle and cross the Vyssotsky
center within less than a degree! This can hardly be a "coincidence."
Astrology finally has something literally cosmic to go on now for we
have found the long-sought "missing link" that puts the true zodiac on
physical footing. For the benefit of serious students we have computed
the exact 1950.0 right ascensions of the line of 0d00'00" Capricorn for
every degree of declination within 4 degrees of Vyssotsky's declination
of the Apex, as follows:
1950.0 EQUATORIAL EQUIVALENTS OF THE GREAT-CIRCLE LINE
DEFINING SYNETIC LONGITUDE 270d00'00".00
North Right Ascension
Declination Time ARC
d ' " h m s d ' "
32 00 00.00 19 07 27.305 286 51 49.57
33 00 00.00 19 06 33.098 286 38 16.47
34 00 00.00 19 05 37.402 286 24 21.03
35 00 00.00 19 04 40.123 286 10 01.84
36 00 00.00 19 03 41.162 285 55 17.43
37 00 00.00 19 02 40.412 285 40 06.18
38 00 00.00 19 01 37.763 285 24 26.35
39 00 00.00 19 00 33.072 285 08 16.08
40 00 00.00 18 59 26.233 284 51 33.49
Assuming that the Apex is precisely at 36d north declination (which
it cannot possibly be for obvious reasons, even if precession were not
a fact), the difference of 221.162 seconds in right ascension equates
to an actual great-circle arc of 0d32'29".34, hardly more than half a
degree! This finding surely represents the most startling development
on the astrological scene in years. When Cyril Fagan dug up the Spica
fiducial, then improved it via discovering the rationale of the
exaltation degrees, followed by revelation of further improvement that
led to coinage of the term synetic longitude, we had nothing more to go
on than that the "thing" worked and made sense out of the hodge podge
of astrological lore.
And again we face the apparent enigma of ancient adeptness: How did
astrology's founders, without real instrumentation that we know of,
discern the true skeleton of zodiacal organization in the sky, when
even modern scientists had to await the middle of the twentieth century
before they were able to pinpoint the Apex? The answer, quite
automatically, is that astrology was founded upon observation of
astrological effects and our forebears discovered the coordinates of
the zodiac in much the same manner we tracked down the synetic vernal
point, to wit, through study of actual observed effects. Take careful
note of the fact that the bulk of the opposition to sidereal astrology
nowadays comes from people who do not, because they will not, and are
provocatively frank in not wanting to, study actual cases. They prefer
to believe, and oppose.
* * *
Garth Allen, "Your Corner," A.A. 2/61
NATURE'S GEOMETRY
Ever hear of a terella? Neither had we until we braved the
formidably technical pages of the 56 scientific papers bound together
as a book named Electromagnetic Phenomena in Cosmical Physics. With
financial help from UNESCO, the International Astronomical Union was
able to publish the full set of papers presented during the several
sessions of the last world-wide contention of astronomers in 1956. The
IAU Symposium on Electromagnetic Phenomena in Cosmical Physics was held
in Sweden as one of six different conclaves devoted to various
subjects.
One of the papers described laboratory experiments with a terella.
Well, a terella turns out to be a metal ball used as a model of the
planet Earth. The experiments showed how neatly such a model actually
duplicates the known natural reactions of the Earth to internal electro
-magnetism and external radiation forces. Photographs of the terella
taken in the light of its own glow-patterns impressively illustrate the
characteristic seasonal changes in auroral activity, proving the
eccentricity of the auroral zones to be a result of the obliquity of
the ecliptic. There is also a diurnal variation in the frequency of
auroras which the mental ball faithfully reproduces.
Such demonstrations are of interest to astrologers chiefly for what
light they may shed on the problems of planetary influences. The
terella stunt, for a good example, proves that it would be an error to
try to causally connect seasonal patterns with the tropical zodiac
framework, or the sidereal for that matter, unless astrological
concepts are given a drastic overhaul. The reason: the Earth's
magnetic field is not aligned with the standard geographical coordinate
system, but with geomagnetic latitudes and longitudes which differ
considerably from their geographical counterparts. Perhaps one day a
form of magnetic-field astrology will come into use, though not in our
lifetimes, and when it does, it will bear little or no resemblance to
present-day horoscopy.
Other revelations in that same volume, however, are more immediately
helpful to our present understanding of astrology. Papers 36 through
40, each by a different scientist, are awesomely to the point. To give
you an idea of their topics, and perhaps whet the curiosity of the
brainier sort of reader, consider these titles: The 27-Day Variation
in Cosmic Ray Intensity and in Geomagnetic Activity; Correlation
between Cosmic Ray Intensity and Geomagnetic Activity; Solar Production
and Modulation of Cosmic Rays, and Their Propagation Through
Interplanetary Space; The Anisotropy of Primary Cosmic Radiation and
the Electromagnetic State in Interplanetary Space; Separation of
Extraterrestrial Variations in Cosmic Ray Intensity and Atmospheric
Effects.
Forbidding titles, true, but what each exposition is trying to put
across can be grasped by the nontechnical reader who reads slowly and
carefully. What they all boil down to is that there definitely are
interlinking geometric phenomenal fields through which forces
(influences, to you) are propagated through space from one body to
another, all hooked up with a backdrop field to which all the lesser
fields are subordinate. This is the interstellar field, aligned with
the universe of stars and having natural coordinates arising from the
galactic layout. In plainer words, the structure of all radiative
activity in space is sidereal. There is not scientific evidence of any
kind, not even when it comes to study of seasonal effects, for a
tropical-based system of reference. To scientifically-mined students
of astrology, of course, this is no surprise. No particle, plasma,
beam or "vibration" of extra-terrestrial origin can possibly "know
about" the tropical zodiac until its strikes the Earth and look back,
as it were, for the tropical zodiac is a purely man-made scheme of
things.
Guess where on the celestial sphere physicists found the lines of
magnetic force to be emanating from? Yes, just ninety degrees from the
SOLAR APEX--at that point in great-circle square aspect from both the
center of the Galaxy and the Apex! Readers will recall that in a
recent installment of [Your Powwow Corner] we proved that the position
of the Solar Apex agrees exactly with the fiducial point of the
sidereal zodiac. Now scientists come up with the fact that serves as
another missing link in celestial geometrics. Lo and behold, Fagan's
reconstructed zodiac is independently given all-out corroboration by
scientists to whom the very word zodiac is apt to require a cuss for an
adjective.
Where to get hold of Symposium No. 6 of the IAU? It sells for
$10.00 through the publisher, Cambridge University Press, whose
American branch office is at 32 East 57th St., New York 22, N.Y. We
doubt, however, that many astrologers will want to part with half a
sawbuck for something that is guaranteed to puncture any and all
equinoctial balloons. Not even those effects known to be of a seasonal
nature, and hence apparently tied in with the global gimmick that gives
rise to the equinoxes and solstices, have any real connection with the
geometric scheme that has come to be accepted as the zodiac.
* * *
"Many Things," American Astrology 3/71
[Regarding the commonest misunderstanding about the sidereal
zodiac.] The term constellation is used by an astrologer only to
distinguish the dozen zodiacal zones, which are all exactly 30 degrees
of longitude in width, from the word sign which through broad usage has
come to be more closely associated with the tropical scheme (even
though the word sign itself is clearly sidereal in derivation!)
Sidereally speaking, a sign is a great lune representing one-twelfth of
the entire celestial sphere, with the horns of the lune converging at
the ecliptic poles--and therefore has nothing directly to do with the
classical star-outlined figure straddling the ecliptic which gave the
zone its name.
Modern astronomers have allocated various areas on the celestial
sphere to "constellations" roughly grouped according to tradition but
using the equatorial system for their boundaries; right ascension and
declination are more convenient coordinates for astronomical purposes.
In this nonastrological set-up, the modern boundaries of Ophiuchus and
Cetus do protrude into what is called the "zodiacal belt" even though,
as far as astrologers are concerned, the zodiac should never be thought
of as a belt or band of discrete width centered on the ecliptic. For
instance, no matter how far from the ecliptic they may be, each of the
stars of the Little Dipper--including Polaris itself--has a zodiacal
longitude and latitude, expressible in either tropical or sidereal
terms.
To repeat for emphasis, the 12 zones of the sidereal zodiac are
each 30 degrees in extent and are absolutely independent of the
individual stars and the artifices of star lore. The FIDUCIAL LINE,
technically speaking, is determined by a perpendicular drawn to the
ecliptic from the SOLAR APEX in absolute space; it is only a welcome
happenstance that certain of the brighter stars have longitudes close
to convenient divisions in the sidereal signs, such as Aldebaran at 15
degrees Taurus, Antares at 15 degrees Scorpio, Alcyone and Regulus at 5
degrees of Taurus and Leo respectively, and the traditional "tail
stars" in the last two degrees of the sidereal divisions they belong
to.
* * *
"Many Things - Research Dept.(G. Allen)," A.A. 3/72
A question from a reader dated Nov. 21, 1971: In your Many Things
for 12/71, you comment that "no single star, owing to proper motion,
could possibly be the sole determinant of the sidereal zodiac. In
fact, the stars and traditional constellations are not at all
germane to the structure of the sidereal zodiac." ...Just what does
determine the sidereal zodiac?
COMMENT: The simplest, most basic things are often the most
difficult to describe in elementary terms, but we'll try. Let's start
with the PHYSICS OF THE PENDULUM. The reason the swinging-plane of a
pendulum gradually rotates as the hours of a day pass by is that its
mass in motion is beholden to the rest of the universe and not to the
immediate environment or to you, the observer of the phenomenon. The
friction-free pendulum keeps swinging in the same direction, with
respect to the stars in their entirety, and the apparent rotation of
this direction is due to the turning of the Earth on its axis. The
pendulum ignores terrestrial rotation in favor of the totality of mass
within the whole universe.
In fact, anything and everything in motion moves within the frame of
reference of the universe as a whole. There are now thousands of
artificial satellites revolving around the Earth. If one of them, for
example, is seen to pass overhead, a couple of hours later it will
cross your sky considerably to the west of the zenith. It hasn't
changed the plane in which it revolves, but you on the Earth's surface
have changed position with respect to the body's orbital plane. Within
our Machian cosmos, anything and everything in motion moves only in
terms of sidereal space, by which is meant the total distribution of
matter throughout the continuum of the universe. When you twirl an
object on a string around your head, the centrifugal pull away from
you, more intense the faster the motion, is the net result of all the
matter in existence tugging at the object from all directions.
Take a toy gyroscope and hold it while it is spinning. It will
fiercely resist any of your efforts to shift its angular position,
because it is directionally locked to all the stars and galaxies
existing throughout space-time. Gyrocompasses in modern aircraft and
ocean-going vessels keep perfect track of directions free of even
magnetic interference by virtue of this same sidereal principle. No
object in space, no pebble and no planet, knows anything about the
vernal equinox, for instance, or any other imaginary parameter of the
ambient. All existence is geared to the sidereal universe. This is
why it is meaningless to describe a planet's period of revolution
around the Sun in other than sidereal terms. And this is why we state
that the zodiac exists in space-time independently of individual stars,
and certainly independently of cultural artifices like constellation-
visualizing. The divisions of the sidereal zodiac are similar to the
planes of crystallization within a mineral--from every point of
observation within the crystal the directional planes are the same to
the observer who always seems to be at the center of the molecular
lattice.
The artifices of ancient culture provide us with handy names and
definitions of the structure and functions of the zodiac as used in
astrology. But the zodiac would still be there whether or not there
was a human being around to label its parts and interpret its contents.
And the zodiac would still be there, quite intact as the natural
"grain" of space-time, even it there weren't a single star outside the
solar system bright enough to be visible here, let alone bright enough
to earn a name and accumulate a traditional significance.
For all practical purposes, however, one may legitimately refer to
constellations when speaking of the sectors of the sidereal zodiac--but
these are not to be taken literally as the classical figures. It has
been established beyond question that the civilizations which
originated the zodiacal concept considered the divisions of the zodiac
to be exactly 30 degrees (or six pentades) in width, and that these
divisions themselves, rather than the happenstance star arrangements
within them, are the astrologically viable signs. Knowledge along this
line is so readily accessible, it is a mystery why there are so many
astrological writers and "teachers" who continue to exhibit ignorance
by confusing what is popularly called "constellations," as reorganized
by the International Astronomical Union into meaningless areas bounded
by right ascension and declination, with the astrologically valid
structuring of the celestial sphere. It is not a question of
differences of opinion; it is a matter of knowing what one is talking
about.
From astrology's earliest formalizations, the conspicuous groups of
the brighter stars which have visual appeal have not been essential to
the actual makeup of the zodiac. The manner in which the sky was
anciently divided alone proves this. This is why we deplored the
widespread amount of misinformation one can encounter in connection
with this subject--even some of the most enthusiastic devotees of
sidereal astrology tend to think of their zodiac more in terms of
nighttime vistas and Renaissance woodcuts than in terms of astronomical
and historical realities.
The fixed stars are not really fixed, of course, and earn that
adjective only by dint of the slowness with which they move against the
infinite backdrop. They have small motions of their own as well as
apparent motions dictated by the solar system's own movement around the
galactic center. The point on the celestial sphere toward which we are
being carried is called the APEX OF THE SUN'S WAY. The Apex may be
crucial in any ultimate definition of just what the zodiac is and why.
How important the Apex is can be appreciated by a little mental
exercise. Imagine having a wide-angle camera that takes a picture of
the night sky centered on the Apex once every 100 years. Take one
photograph every century for millions of years, and then project them
rapidly in sequence as a motion picture. On the screen you would see
what resembles a meteor shower with the stars apparently shooting out
of the apical radiant. Viewing the film would give the sensation of
riding a topless elevator through ever-changing starfields. A similar
string of pictures of the Anti-apex, the opposite pivot on the
celestial sphere, would look like a remote point of convergence for the
shooting stars--a backward view fro the rising elevator. So you see,
the individual stars come and go, and their patterns keep changing with
time, but the overall framework of sidereal space remains intact.
It is not known for certain, at this stage of astrology's
development, if the axis of the spherical sidereal zodiac is exactly or
only nearly parallel to the direction of the Apex. However, a
perpendicular dropped from this point on the celestial sphere to the
plane of the ecliptic (and to the invariable plane of the solar system,
within reasonable limits) appears to define the point and plane of 0
degrees Capricorn. If so, then the sidereal zodiac is spatially local
and is being continuously generated by the Sun's tunneling through
space. (Don't let the idea of a local system disturb you; by contrast,
the tropical zodiac is so much more localized that it momentarily
ceases to exist for anyone who jumps one inch off the Earth's surface!)
But even if restricted to local parameters, the fact remains that the
components of any and all motions within this great "zodiacal cell,"
whose nucleus is the solar system, are oriented sidereally--it couldn't
be otherwise. In fact, that simple phrase says it best in answer to
all questions regarding the zodiac--that is, it couldn't be otherwise.
**********************************************************************
Cyril Fagan, "Solunars," A. A. August 1956
COSMIC DIVISION?
Is the division of the zodiacal circle into twelve equal
constellations artificial--a mere schematic convenience--or is it
natural and cosmic in character? We are, of course, aware that the
zodiac was divided into twelve unequal constellations in the Graeco-
Roman star maps of the late period, and modified versions of these are
reproduced in modern star atlases. But the zodiac was always divided
into twelve equal constellations by the Babylonians and Egyptians as
abundantly testified by the numerous cuneiform and demotic texts that
have been preserved. In antiquity the year was lunar, and in a solar
year there are twelve lunar months with eleven days remaining over, and
it is generally held that the zodiac was duodenarly divided to
approximate the twelve months of the lunar year, and that such a
division was a mere schematic convenience having no intrinsic
astronomical or astrological basis.
The credit of scientifically establishing that the duodenary
division is, in fact truly cosmic in character, not mere schematism,
rests with Donald A. Bradley, who in his Profession and Birthdate
statistically demonstrates such to be the case. In his review of
Bradley's book, Peter Roberts, himself an able statistician, remarks,
"Mr. Bradley...employs an interesting statistical technique to find
simultaneously whether there is a duodenary cycle of distribution among
the 360 degree length of the ecliptic and if this is so, the position
of the starting point for each 30 degree interval which gives rise to
the greatest disparity, with a chance distribution. The first part of
this test is tantamount to asking whether there are twelve signs: and
the answer is very satisfactorily in accord with astrological
tradition. It emerges that the arrangement of twelve 30 degree
intervals yields a better interpretation of the results, than say,
seven signs of 41.3/7 degrees or thirteen signs of 27.9/13 degrees.
This result is, I think, of tremendous importance. However confident
we may feel of the validity of traditional astrology, a carefully
conducted test of this character is most necessary and alone suffices
to disturb the less bigoted skeptics..." Bradley, himself, writes of
his results: "The implications are startling; the 30 degree
fundamental interval has successfully passed the test of significance.
One peak and one trough is in evidence, with the peak itself far
exceeding the .05 and .01 levels, approaching the .00l mark with the
trough dropping low beneath the necessary .05 line....The peak of
influence found is the seventh degree of the tropical signs! and...it
is astonishing to say the least, that the constellation center at 7d
58' of the tropical signs..."
So in this remarkable brochure, which should be in the hands of all
earnest students of astrology, Bradley not merely demonstrates that the
duodenary division of the zodiac is a fact in nature, but also that the
troughs of the distribution synchronize with the beginnings of the
ancient Babylonian constellations, while the peaks with their centers.
In short, Bradley is the first investigator, using scientifically
approved statistical methods, to demonstrate the verity of the Sidereal
zodiac.
* * *
Garth Allen, "Your Corner," A.A. February 1960
THERE IS A WAY
There is a way--a simple, obvious way--to win for astrology the
respect of the rational professions, both religious and scientific, and
to once and for all make official efforts to suppress horoscopy a thing
of the past. This way is merely to prove that astrology is a sound
concept, verifiable by both scientific test and personal experience.
There is a fly in the ointment here, though, so far as the vast
majority in our field are concerned. Enough genuine research has
already been racked up in modern astrology to represent a solid core of
evidence that our science is valid. This appreciable progress has been
achieved despite the henhouse din and demand that astrology be kept oh-
so-folksy at the public level. If such research has been accomplished,
what then is wrong? The answer is simple: The facts that have been
garnered so far, while clearly proving the existence of zodiacal and
planetary influences, have a flavoring that is distasteful to many who
class themselves as professional practitioners.
It seems that the findings have proved something more than they
should rightfully have proved, and that unwelcome revelation is the
necessity for a wholesale reformation of concept and working-base.
This state of affairs has, of course, been unpalatable to the pros who
have reacted to the disclosures with a more unscientific attitude than
they justly accuse the skeptics of having. This reaction has kept
astrology in a kind of limbo that permits the suppression campaigns to
wax hotly and, sad to say, successfully. Every inch of ground gained
by these campaigns is an indictment of every "qualified" astrologer who
read a genuine research report, went to bed and woke the next morning
without altering what he had believed two days before.
The basis of astrology is so easy to prove sound that it has always
struck yours truly as ridiculous that my colleague's eyes glaze over
confusedly when the subject or research is brought up. This is
strange, because every few weeks we run across batches of data which
consistently furnish the needed ammunition. For instance, on the heels
of last month's statistical array of prize fighters' birthdates, we
were furnished by Rupert Gleadow with a tabulation of the Sun's degree
frequencies on the birthdates of no less than 7,354 British physicians.
The stream of workable data is slow but continuous and, what is more,
reliable. There's no real shortage of raw information to subject to
either statistical or individual analysis. Lack of usable material
cannot be used as an excuse for failure to help the cause of
astrology's respectability.
The very first premise on which all of astrology rests is the
existence of the zodiac. By zodiac we mean a division of celestial
longitude into twelve equal sectors which act as modulators on
planetary influences. There is a remarkably easy method for
ascertaining the existence of such a twelvefold compartmentalizing of
the celestial sphere. Regular readers of this department are already
familiar with the technique, or at least it final stages, and anybody
versed in statistical methodology automatically knows the how and why
of it. It is called the chi-square test and there is not one single
science where learning it can be avoided at the college level, if a
degree is to be earned. You need not be college-educated to master it,
either, for all you have to have is a dollar and a free evening and the
gumption to put both to good use.
It was a mental thrill to us when Mr. Gleadow kindly supplied us
with the degree-frequency list because samples as large as 7,354 items
for a single category--in this case, the medical profession--are rarely
come by. Not being a mathematics enthusiast by temperament, Rupert
Gleadow had not himself given the array a statistical treatment and was
probably unaware of what would emerge from one. What emerged was proof
of the existence of the zodiac--pure, unadulterated proof of the kind
that scientists respect.
The rub is that the zodiac it proved doesn't jibe with the divisions
of the sky which our professionals insist it should. And guess where
this literally existing zodiac falls? Yep, right where the sidereal
astrologers say it does. The "heretics," as a prominent British
astrologer of tropical persuasion recently described siderealists, have
again been proved right--as per usual in the history of any science.
It doesn't take much gray matter to appreciate the message in the
accompanying diagram. As with the other now-familiar graphs of the
chi-square test, the values marked are for thirty different theoretical
zodiacs, each with "signs" having centers at successively numbered
degrees of the so-called standard tropical zodiac. The center of the
graph, at the line marked 15 degrees, represents the doctor's Sun-sign
distribution as ordinarily conceived.
SCIENTIFIC THEORY REQUIRES THAT IF A TWELVEFOLD DIVISION OF THE
ECLIPTIC is VALID, A GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF ALL POSSIBLE DIVISIONS
IN NATURAL SEQUENCE WILL SHOW ONE GENERAL CREST OF HIGH VALUES AND ONE
GENERAL TROUGH. If the peak of the variations falls in significantly
high regions, and the dip in a mathematically insignificant area, the
test validates the authenticity of the system of divisions originally
used which, in this case, is the "zodiac." The validation stems from
the fact that the element of chance is reasonably ruled out as an
acceptable cause for the variations observed.
Study the illustration--it is an inspiring demonstration of the
reality of the sidereal zodiac. As for the tropical: Sorry, fellows--
like many another such test, it falls only accidentally between the
peak and trough. But then, in no real astrological test that we have
knowledge of has it ever been otherwise.
[Graph Omitted: Natal Suns of 7,354 Medics. Chi-Square Values of
Each of Thirty Hypothetical Zodiacs]
The chi-square test by itself does not directly answer the question
whether the true zodiac is off by 6 or 7 degrees from the centers of
the "signs" of the tropical division, or by its sign-complement of 23
or 24 degrees in the other direction. This is where subjective
treatment must be resorted to. As with our pugilists last month, this
is only too easy for the medics. The division of the tropical zodiac
with the very lowest number of doctors' births is the sign Sagittarius-
-traditionally the physician's sign in astrological history! (This is
reminiscent of the fact that the tropical sign with the fewest prize-
fighters is Scorpio, traditionally the fightingest of all the signs.)
This writer finds it difficult to accuse astronomers and priests of
unreasoning prejudice in pronouncing astrology to be rubbish, when the
most elementary of "standard" astrology's precepts fall flat in a nose-
count.
By shifting the twelve sections so that the tradition commences to
justify itself and genuine astrology is vindicated, it becomes apparent
that the true [sidereal] zodiac is 23 or 24 degrees out of step with
the conventional [tropical] one--the one that causes all the trouble
because it causes so little of anything else. Such statements arouse
protests galore among those who are most to blame for the predicament
modern astrology finds itself in from time to time--at the mercy of
those star witnesses for the prosecution to whom our "science" is so
senile it doesn't have enough intellectual appeal to warrant honest
investigation. * * *
[APEX] As published in American Astrology 1959-1972, a collection
of Garth Allen's letters and essays on the APEX OF SUN'S WAY, the
direction in which the Sun is traveling in the universe. This
collection contains Allen's thinking on the Solar Apex as a possible
astronomical fiducial (a standard of reference, as for measuring) for
the Sidereal Zodiac, which would be in addition to the fixed stars as
fiducials. (See Allen's 8/60 "Another Milestone," as well as his 3/71
and 3/72 essays. See also related file [4SPHERES] for astronomical
notes related to APEX.)
However, [in 1997] it came to my attention that the "new" Apex
position in Professors A. N. Vyssotsky and Peter van de Kamp's
research, upon which Allen based his thinking, was in ERROR. In this
regard, see the 11/10/97 post at the beginning of the file [APEX] from
Ken Irving, Editor of American Astrology Magazine, who was good enough
to write me on this matter, and gave permission to use his letter.
Additionally, I wrote to the publisher of the yearly Astronomical
Calendar, astronomer Guy Ottewell, Dept. of Physics, Furman University
in South Carolina, who said according to his knowledge, the Solar Apex
was the classical one.
The final 3 essays in this file include reports (one by Cyril
Fagan) of Allen's statistical studies on the 12 divisions of the
constellations, which of themselves are sufficient to indicate the
validity of the 12 divisions.
* * * * * * * *
NOTES on the APEX of the Sun's Way (the direction in the heavens
in which Sun is traveling in the universe). Garth Allen's attempt to
find an astronomical framework for the division of the Sidereal
Zodiac's constellations at Capricorn was certainly worthy. Using the
Solar Apex coordinates based on Professors Vyssotsky and van de Kamp's
faulty research in the late 60's on a "new" Solar Apex, Allen attempted
to envision the connection between our Solar System and the rest of the
universe. Information then on the Solar Apex position (as to where it
crosses the ecliptic plane) from Professors V & V's research indicated
a mean longitude position near 0 degrees Capricorn in the Sidereal
Zodiac; this position is now known to be in error (see letter from Ken
Irving below). The position was seen by Allen as an validation of the
SZ Capricorn Ingress, but that data was incorrect. [See file INGRESS]
That error means the Sidereal Capricorn Ingress is not marked by
astronomical phenonema such as the Solar Apex or the winter solstice.
(Tropical 0 degrees Capricorn does however indicate the winter
solstice. To add to the confusion, ironically in the Sidereal Zodiac
the Solar Apex at 7SAG is only about 2 degrees away from the winter
solstice at 5SAG.) That error also means that the chapter on the Apex
in Fagan's last book Astrological Origins is incorrect, as well as
Fagan's & Firebrace's section on the Apex (p5) in The Primer of
Sidereal Astrology. Unfortunately as Irving pointed out, Allen's
failure to follow up on the research cast a large shadow on the
credibility of his work and others, as well as causing confusion. Yet
and still, concerning the question of what constitutes the divisions of
the constellations, Allen was one person in his time who did address an
important question astronomically and philosophically.
Regarding a natural division of the zodiac, it should be noted that
modern calculation of the mean equator of our home Milky Way Galaxy is
near the division between the anciently conceived Taurus and Gemini and
their opposites--Scorpio and Sagittarius of the Sidereal Zodiac. If
one connects by a line the alpha (00SAG12 26s36) and beta stars
indicating the Flame on the Altar, located in the Milky Way below
Sagittarius, one sees a line indicating an approximate parallel of our
Galaxy's equator. Yes, that is "zero" Sagittarius! The Greeks who
conceived the constellations as we know them, as based on other ancient
zodiacs, considered the Altar an important constellation. This is
another example of a division indicated by marking stars.
So why this file on the Solar Apex? Even though Allen's theory was
not correctly based, his thinking was quite insightful. If the basic
data had been correct, Allen's Apex theory would have been a mainstay.
What was the crux of it? By reference to the Earth's Equatorial
System, a first step in observational astronomy is to establish the
north pole. A perpendicular line can be drawn from the North Pole down
to the plane of the horizon, continuing in a circle through the South
Pole, around the celestial sphere through the zenith and back to the
North Pole, thus generating the local north-south Meridian Circle which
establishes the Earth's directional orientation, which directions are
specific to the earth only. By analogy Allen thought that the APEX
(the direction the Sun is traveling in the universe) gave a kind of
pole/pointer, from which a line can be drawn down to and across the
ecliptic plane, establishing a "cosmic" direction in the heavens. The
Solar Apex crossing at the Ecliptic plane is one factor marking the
direction in the heavens along which our sun and its solar system are
moving. (However, these astronomical functions--earth's north pole and
the solar apex--are not an exact analogy as regards their function.) To
restate the error: Allen's theory was based on an incorrect coordinate
(about 0 Capricorn of the SZ) for the Solar Apex.
The actual APEX position is still thought to be the classic one,
near Nu Hercules, and indicated by Sidereal Zodiac coordinates of
7SAG24 ecliptic longitude 53n26 ecliptic latitude, a considerably
"extra" zodiacal position. The crossing of our Earth's orbit around
our Sun with our Sun's orbit around our Milky Way Galaxy constitutes a
powerful cosmic intersection. Research and publication of same on the
yearly return of the 'apparent' Sun to the actual Solar Apex at 7SAG24
remains to be accomplished.
* * * * * * * * *
11/10/97 POST FROM KEN IRVING, EDITOR, AMERICAN ASTROLOGY:
"Re Garth Allen's use of the Solar Apex as an SVP fiducial, all
of Allen's speculation on the apex is based on a value later identified
as erroneous by one of its own proponents. Allen, in his inimitable
style, never gave a precise reference for the so-called Vyssotsky/Van
de Kamp apex, but about twenty years ago, I managed to track down the
original report in the University of Arizona science library. I have
long since lost the original reference, but recall it as one in a
series of reports on various astronomical subjects from the Leander
McCormick Observatory at the University of Virginia. There is in fact a
report by V and V, and it does in fact give the value for the apex
listed by Allen.
HOWEVER (and this is, indeed, a big HOWEVER), in a later report
(which I think was by Vyssotsky and Emma T. R. Williams), this earlier
value is definitely identified as a serious mistake, and the adjusted
value is very close to that which one will find listed in most
astronomical references - and nowhere near any identifiable point in
the Fagan/Allen zodiac. I should also add that BOTH reports were
published several years before he first wrote about the apex, so he
should have known better, especially since he was an amateur
astronomer. I think I may have dealt with this in American Astrology,
perhaps in "Many Things," but it would have been some time ago. I no
longer have access to a library which has this information, but I
suggest that those who do check me (and Allen) out on this before
buying into his flawed theory."
Kenneth Irving
P.O. Box 140713
Staten Island, NY 10314-0713
718-720-9341 voice/fax
"Planetos" - http://members.aol.com/kirving
********************************************************************
* * * *
Both Fagan's PRIMER OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY and his ASTROLOGICAL
ORIGINS reference Allen's APEX concept. From the PRIMER:
Together with its planetary escort, the Sun is swirling at the rate
of 375 million miles a year and at a radius of some 30,000 'light-
years' from the centre of our City-Universe; it is estimated some
220,000,000 years will pass before the completion of the circuit. The
direction in the Galaxy taken by the Sun is known as the "Solar Apex."
The astrological world is greatly indebted to Garth Allen for bringing
to its notice the latest determination of the position of this point in
space made by two professors, A.N. Vyssotsky and Peter van de Kamp...
With regard to epoch, 1950.0 they located it in: R.A. 19h 00m plus or
minus a maximum error of six minutes, Decl N 36d00' plus or minus a
maximum error of 1d30'. 1950.0 mean obliquity of the ecliptic
23d26'45".
If we reduce these tropical co-ordinates to those of the sidereal
zodiac, it will be found that the minimum longitude is Sagittarius
26d38', and mean Sagittarius 29d24'; maximum Capricorn is 2d35'; mean
latitude is N 58d14'. In short, the sidereal ongitude of the mean
position of th Apex lies a little over half a degree from Capricorn 0
of the ancient Egypto-babylonian zodiac! These seems little doubt
that, when astronomers eventually succeed in determining the position
of the Apex with greater precision, their result will be found to tally
closely, if not precisely, with the longitude of Capricorn 0 degrees as
computed from Garth Allen's work, "S.V.P. Ephemeris."
Astrologically speaking, this is one of the most important
determinations of modern times. Why? Because it indubitably suggests
that the zodiac of ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Chaldea and India
had its fiducial in only one fixed star, namely, 'the Sun, itself,' and
not in any of its neighbors in the Galaxy. This seem all the more
certain when it is remembered that no fixed star of any magnitude
marked the commencement of any one of the four 'cardinal'
constellations.
* * * *
Garth Allen, "Your Corner," A.A. 12/59
ABOUT ORBITRY...
The Space Age is now well into its third year, counting from the
epoch of Sputnik I's first whoosh around the earth. At this writing,
no less than nine artificial satellites are making their effortless
rounds, while here on the surface the average grandmother and typical
fourth-grader, and all of us in between, have already become used to
the mechanics and terminology of at least elementary astronautics.
"ORBIT" used to be a word with the ring of remoteness to it; now it is
one of the commonest words in our small-talk vocabularies in the
breakfast nook and at the office water-cooler. Nowadays the man and
woman on the street know that the orbit of a satellite is fixed in
space and the reason why it passes over virtually every place below in
predictable succession is that the earth is turning beneath the orbit -
-and not the other way around. In fact, if there were no imbalances in
masses involved to "perturb" the orbit and make it shift in small
amounts, the orbit would be rigidly aligned in space for all time. In
other words, the first principle of orbitry is that any orbit in space
is "sidereal."
We are wondering to what depth the implications of this simplest of
astronomical facts have penetrated the thinking processes of
astrological students. If the zodiac is an eternal verity and has no
physical mass, it cannot be affected by perturbations, so must
logically be fixed in space, in rigid alignment with the stellar
backdrop of the celestial sphere. Give this a good thinking-over, this
law that alignments in space are necessarily sidereal and that shifting
of numerical values in orbits are essentially secondary, local and
physical. And the next time you spy the twinkle of an artificial
satellite racing across the dome of the sky, knowing that it is obeying
cosmic law and maintaining its original relationship to the starry
universe, while you were only accidentally shuttled beneath it by
virtue of the earth's rotation, ask yourself if your astrological
concepts are in keeping with the facts. Don't try to rationalize your
"established convictions" by thinking in terms of interlinking rings
and "Nature's rhythms," and so on, because that would be like trotting
out the casualty list to prove that television wrestling is on the
level. Is your zodiac a natural or a seeming thing? Is the
fundamental plane you conceive of only an illusion of the same kind
that makes you think of the artificial satellite as visiting your area
rather than the truth, that you are visiting its area?
* * *
Garth Allen, "Many Things," A.A. 3/60
The sun's apparent annual path around the celestial sphere is the
ecliptic, so the sun has no latitude in the sense the other planets
have. The ecliptic is not a belt in the sky, but an imaginary line.
The zodiac is traditionally associated with the neighborhood of this
line, leading to the common misbelief that the zodiac is a belt some 16
degrees wide. The width of this belt is quite arbitrary for zodiacal
longitude applies to the entire sphere from ecliptic pole to ecliptic
pole.
It appears that you have confused heliocentric orbiting of the
planets with geocentric phenomena. The planets cross the plane of our
ecliptic twice during their heliocentric cycles of revolution, these
crossing points being the planetary nodes. Geocentrically, these
crossings appear to take place at random around the zodiac; they are
not really random, but there seems to be no consistency between the
date of crossing and position in longitude, though there are repeating
cycles, i.e., Mercury's pattern repeats in 13 years. Astrologically,
therefore, the events could not represent sameness of the influence.
Distance apparently is not a vital factor in astrology, but this is
not surprising in the light of the Theory of Relativity. The key
proposition of relativity is that light reaches an observer at the same
speed, no matter what the speed, either toward or away from the source
of light, of the observer! This is opposed to all common sense and
experience, but this proposition has been proved to be a basic law of
the universe. That influential bodies in astrology, of differing
masses and distances, seem to have equal intensity and significances,
is therefore no more implausible than the same-velocity characteristic
of light. It is hard to believe, but true!
* * * *
Garth Allen, "Your Corner," A.A. 5/60
Getting the Message
Though we have long harped on the theme that the standard zodiac is
a purely terrestrial affair, not existing in space and surely not
adaptable to a heliocentric scheme (which has been done, strangely
enough, to the point where a tropical-heliocentric zodiac represents
one of modern astrology's "schools"), the simple astronomical truth
just doesn't seem to be grasped by most students. It is to be lamented
that the average devotee of our subject carries in his mind a blurry
picture of a great solar system encompassing zodiacal fence with
sharply defined posts commencing with one marked by the classical Aires
symbol. We are entering the space age and soon there will be human
beings detached from their home planet, circulating in regions where
tropical coordinates will have no meaning whatever. Are space
travelers to be zodiacless? Of course not, for the natural zodiac is a
celestial frame of reference completely independent of Earthbound
calendaric peculiarities.
Only weeks after Sputnik I had the world in a lather of excitement,
a bevy of scientists, members of the American Geophysical Union,
converged on the joint campuses of the Harvard College Observatory and
the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, for a Conference on
Contemporary Geodesy. While space navigation was not on the agenda of
the meeting, the matter inevitably came up. Having read the papers and
the recorded notes of the discussions, I was impressed by the
similarity of the problem of an astronautical reference system to this
matter of the tropical zodiac's nonexistence in outer space. Away from
the Earth there is no right ascension, declination, or tropical
longitude, which calls for a purely sidereal reference point--the stars
are always there.
The Air Force's Directorate of Operations, Missile Branch, Mr.
Claude F. Gilchrist, remarked during one session: "We cannot use
celestial latitude and longitude since the vernal equinox is inherent
to the position of the Earth and would be of little use when we are
millions of miles from the Earth. We then must adopt another zero
point for outer space. I just wondered how much thought you had given
to this." MIT's Walter Wrigley responded with "The reference would
probably be Sun-centered with a major star-oriented reference." The
missile specialist countered, "One suggestion would be to adopt the
ecliptic as the plane of reference and the star Regulus as the zero
point. Regulus is only slightly inclined to the ecliptic and satisfies
the condition for a fixed point."
In the time since, astronautics has developed at an amazingly rapid
clip to become a major concern of the public and of the world's
governments. In a recent technical release the USAF outlines the issue
of the problem of reference points in considerable detail, and we quote
at length, knowing the subject to be of deep interest to astrological
students:
"From the viewpoint of an inhabitant of the Earth, attached to this
planet and navigating solely on the ground, sea, or in the thin layer
of air forming the atmosphere which rotates with the Earth in space, a
co-ordinate reference system (either rectangular or polar) attached to
the Earth is fully satisfactory. The situation is radically changed,
however, when it is planned to navigate the vehicle in outer space.
First, and quite obviously, a co-ordinate system with respect to which
a vehicle's positions and velocities will be measured must be
completely detached from the Earth's surface. Furthermore, a co-
ordinate reference system adequate for space navigation must be of the
so-called inertial type--that is, it must be non-rotating and
nonaccelerating....
"A necessity for stellar reference points in space arises from the
imperfections of the basic inertial device, the gyroscope. The
gyroscope is the only fully practical instrument which permits direct
and independent stabilization in inertial space and theoretically, if
perfect, would suffice to establish an inertial co-ordinate reference
system for a space vehicle. The imperfections of the gyroscope are due
to so-called 'drift,' that is, gradual wandering of the spin axis in
space under the influence of various spurious turning moments or
torques. These torques acting on the gyroscope result primarily from
minute unbalances coupled with forces due to accelerations acting on
the instrument....A nonrotating co-ordinate system is required for
space navigation...."
If you followed all that, you got the message! Notice that the
whole issue is identical with the astrological problem of the zodiacs.
It's all there, including the artificialness of a perspective based on
the action of PRECESSION. The tropical zodiac is purely Earth-based
and has a strictly spurious "drift" called precession, which is just a
local effect caused by the fact that the Sun, Moon and planets do not
lie in the plane of the Earth's equator. Positions referred to this
spurious movement have no relationship to anything extant in creation.
The infinitely surrounding universe is not beholden to, or amenable to
logical division by, anything so trivial as the tinker-toy system based
upon seasonal orientations. Now as long as everything in astrology
that has "influence" is apart from the Earth, any natural zodiac cannot
possibly be defined by local reference points. It seems that the boys
in training for Project Mercury know more about the essentials of
horoscopy than those who claim the art as their own! If the zodiac
exists in the cosmos "it must be nonrotating and nonaccelerating." Get
the message now?
* * *
GARTH ALLEN, "Your Corner." A.A. 5/63
It just struck us: When astronauts finally set foot on the Moon's
surface, what new gimmicks will arise to affect their personal
horoscopes? Horoscopewise, will the planet Earth represent a new
influential fearture and the Moon, "Luna Firma" under their feet, cease
to have its usual significance? There surely won't be a tropical
zodiac "up there" since you have to be on the Earth's surface to have
the tropical zodiac "exist" at all, even mathematically. The sidereal
zodiac, of course, will be there in all its power and glory, with
nothing diminished and nothing "displace." But will our boys
experience Terra Returns in lieu of Lunar Returns? Imagine trying to
cpy with a Demi-Terra. Astronomically, there is no real problem in all
this--unless you are still thinking in tropical terms, when the move to
the Moon poses real troubles. But then there are real troubles for the
tropical scheme here on Earth, too. Think about this.
* * *
GARTH ALLEN, "Your Corner," A.A. 8/60
ANOTHER MILESTONE
It is the fate of any writer that readers generally seldom agree
with him about the evaluation of a written contribution. Around once a
year [this column] comes forth with something this writer considers
momentous in the advancement of astrology as a science, because it
solves a major problem in theory or represents a significant discovery
having practical use. Sometimes it even hurts that "nobody" seems to
have noticed a thing, while readers by the droves think something of
space-filling lighter vein is Simply Wonderful and they go out of
their way to let us know they liked it. Well, here's a piece that
yours truly considers the MOST VALUABLE development in many a moon,
perhaps in years.
In the roughly fifteen years since the search for the dynamic basis
originally underlying the science of astrology, we have known that the
framework was sidereal, that is astronomical and not geographical.
During all this time, we have made remarkable progress toward an
astrological reconstruction, thanks primarily to Cyril Fagan, but we
have always been handicapped by a lack of something natural which we
could point to as the mainspring of the zodiacal circuit. We latched
merrily onto the Spica ultraviolet nebula, because its discovery by
rocket astronomy gave the boundary of 0 degrees Libra a physical
uniqueness in the sky.
And now, finally, modern astronomy has been overhauling many of its
own constants and come up with an astounding fact--that the position of
the SOLAR APEX in the sky is several degrees of declination, and an
hour of right ascension "off" of where the textbooks have placed it for
almost a century! Scientists have not actually been "wrong" because
for decades they have known that the true Apex was quite removed from
the position being used, so they called it the "classical Apex,"
meaning that it was more traditional than actual. The classical Apex
was located through study of the relative motions of stars near the
neighborhood of the solar system in space. But the Galaxy contains
more than a billion stars and the determination had been based only
upon a few hundred near-by stars. Recently, the results of a new study
of 18,000 telescopic stars were published, settling once and for all,
within one and a half degrees on the celestial sphere, where this
pivotal point really lies.
The scholarly among our readers will appreciate the feelings we had
when we "astrologized" this point and, wonder of wonders, its ecliptic
longitude for the epoch 1950.0 fell at 24 degrees of the tropical sign
Capricorn!
That one sentence was worth setting off as a whole paragraph. Just
think this over. THE MOST BASIC ASTRONOMICAL POINT IN THE ENTIRE
HEAVENS "JUST HAPPENS" TO HAVE 0 DEGREES SIDEREAL CAPRICORN AS ITS
ECLIPTIC LONGITUDE. At long last the sidereal zodiac has been provided
with an incontrovertible fiducial that exists both mechanically and
dynamically in the universe as the primum mobile of our galactic
existence. The very structure and rotation of our Galaxy turns out to
be the key to the zodiacal concept and in a very literal, physical
sense.
What gives the Solar Apex this distinction? Why is it so important?
For the benefit of students and readers not quite hep to astronomy,
we'll try to demonstrate the answers.
Figure 3 [OMITTED]: The Earth's orbit through space is a
corkscrew motion.
We are so accustomed to visualizing the Earth's orbit around the Sun
as a flat ellipse on paper that we often forget that the path of our
planet through space is in reality a kind of gigantic corkscrew.
Figure 3 makes this easy to understand, illustrating the fact that in
the year's time it takes the Earth to move around the Sun once (roughly
Pi times 2 times 93 million miles, or 584 million miles per
revolution), the Sun itself has forged on through space, revolving
around the center of our galaxy a distance of 375 million miles, which
means that every day we are 375 million miles away from where we were
just one year ago even though we are again in the very same degree of
longitude, and likewise the Sun, that we occupied 365 1/4 days back.
We spiral through space to keep pace with the Sun. And the direction
the Sun is moving is called the Solar Apex. The opposite point on the
celestial sphere, away from which we are moving, is called the Antapex.
How this direction is ascertained is apple-pie easy, theoretically,
for it is a simple matter of watching other objects apparently move in
relationship to our own motion. The difficulty, in actual practice, of
locating the Apex exactly was because stars are all at varying
distances and the rate of their shift against the background of each
other is a matter of distance. When you drive your car down the
highway the near-by telephone poles, billboards and buildings zip by
fast while structures a block away on either side seem to pass more
slowly, while distant hills barely budge. Yet all these things are
moving relative to your car.
In the old days when astronomers did not have the equipment blessing
their efforts nowadays, they made their estimates of the position of
the Apex only from telephone poles, as it were. With all the
technological advances of recent years they were able to tackle the
Apex problem more accurately--using the country-side as a whole. Old
astronomy books, therefore, place the "Standard Apex of the Sun's Way"
at right ascension 18h 0m, north declination 30d. Medium old books
list it at 18h 04m and variously 30d, 31d or 34d north declination. It
was Benjamine Boss of star-catalog fame who pushed it several degrees
north of its classical declination. Then, as now, the coordinates of
the Apex remain in round numbers, as degrees, because the specific
point is actually indeterminate.
Through the massive research of Professors A. N. Vyssotsky and Peter
van de Kamp, the radically changed position turns out to be 19h 0m,
plus or minus a tenth of an hour or 6 minutes (in arc, 1-1/2 degrees),
36 degrees north, plus or minus 1-1/2 degrees. As you can see, there
is still a margin for error because the precise point is undetectable
for geometrical reasons. (Most stellar shifts in a year's time amount
to mere thousandths of a second of arc, and these microscopic streaks
are projected, from all parts of the sky, to their general juncture in
the Apex region. Naturally, working with such tiny values is maddening
and only a "statistical" value, based upon averages, is achievable.)
Figure 4 [OMITTED]: The stars en masse appear to diverge
away from the Apex and converge toward the Antapex.
The practical effect of solar movement toward the Apex is shown in
figure 4, and we have taken the liberty of entering the sidereal
zodiac's lines marking 0d Cancer and Capricorn to dramatize the fact
that the principal motion of the solar system is geared to the true
zodiac, after all. The stars' shifts are exaggerated for graphic
purposes, of course, but you can see that as the Sun and its family of
planets move through space toward the Apex, the stars appear to be
shooting away from the point we are headed for. Similarly, the stars
all over the sky appear to verge toward the Antapex. In a circle 90
degrees from these axial points, the shifts are longest, which is why
it is easiest to measure these arcs that are farthest from the points
of Apex and Antapex where the stars seem hardly to move at all (the old
railroad-track illusion, caused by perspective and distance).
Figure 5 [OMITTED]: The Cygnus-Lyra Region of the sky showing
how the longitude of the SOLAR APEX coincides with 0 Capricorn
of the sidereal zodiac.
The last figure, 5, is a star map for the Apex region of the sky
occupied by the familiar constellations Lyra and Cygnus and the bright
stars Vega, Deneb and Albireo. The circled area is the established
place of the Apex with its possible margin for error (1-1/2 degrees).
Naturally, as with anything celestial, the coordinates of the Apex are
subject to precessional change, which means the point is "fixed" to all
intents and purposes among the stars. Across the diagram we have drawn
the line of 0 degrees Capricorn in the sidereal zodiac. Measurement
shows this line to pierce the Apex circle and cross the Vyssotsky
center within less than a degree! This can hardly be a "coincidence."
Astrology finally has something literally cosmic to go on now for we
have found the long-sought "missing link" that puts the true zodiac on
physical footing. For the benefit of serious students we have computed
the exact 1950.0 right ascensions of the line of 0d00'00" Capricorn for
every degree of declination within 4 degrees of Vyssotsky's declination
of the Apex, as follows:
1950.0 EQUATORIAL EQUIVALENTS OF THE GREAT-CIRCLE LINE
DEFINING SYNETIC LONGITUDE 270d00'00".00
North Right Ascension
Declination Time ARC
d ' " h m s d ' "
32 00 00.00 19 07 27.305 286 51 49.57
33 00 00.00 19 06 33.098 286 38 16.47
34 00 00.00 19 05 37.402 286 24 21.03
35 00 00.00 19 04 40.123 286 10 01.84
36 00 00.00 19 03 41.162 285 55 17.43
37 00 00.00 19 02 40.412 285 40 06.18
38 00 00.00 19 01 37.763 285 24 26.35
39 00 00.00 19 00 33.072 285 08 16.08
40 00 00.00 18 59 26.233 284 51 33.49
Assuming that the Apex is precisely at 36d north declination (which
it cannot possibly be for obvious reasons, even if precession were not
a fact), the difference of 221.162 seconds in right ascension equates
to an actual great-circle arc of 0d32'29".34, hardly more than half a
degree! This finding surely represents the most startling development
on the astrological scene in years. When Cyril Fagan dug up the Spica
fiducial, then improved it via discovering the rationale of the
exaltation degrees, followed by revelation of further improvement that
led to coinage of the term synetic longitude, we had nothing more to go
on than that the "thing" worked and made sense out of the hodge podge
of astrological lore.
And again we face the apparent enigma of ancient adeptness: How did
astrology's founders, without real instrumentation that we know of,
discern the true skeleton of zodiacal organization in the sky, when
even modern scientists had to await the middle of the twentieth century
before they were able to pinpoint the Apex? The answer, quite
automatically, is that astrology was founded upon observation of
astrological effects and our forebears discovered the coordinates of
the zodiac in much the same manner we tracked down the synetic vernal
point, to wit, through study of actual observed effects. Take careful
note of the fact that the bulk of the opposition to sidereal astrology
nowadays comes from people who do not, because they will not, and are
provocatively frank in not wanting to, study actual cases. They prefer
to believe, and oppose.
* * *
Garth Allen, "Your Corner," A.A. 2/61
NATURE'S GEOMETRY
Ever hear of a terella? Neither had we until we braved the
formidably technical pages of the 56 scientific papers bound together
as a book named Electromagnetic Phenomena in Cosmical Physics. With
financial help from UNESCO, the International Astronomical Union was
able to publish the full set of papers presented during the several
sessions of the last world-wide contention of astronomers in 1956. The
IAU Symposium on Electromagnetic Phenomena in Cosmical Physics was held
in Sweden as one of six different conclaves devoted to various
subjects.
One of the papers described laboratory experiments with a terella.
Well, a terella turns out to be a metal ball used as a model of the
planet Earth. The experiments showed how neatly such a model actually
duplicates the known natural reactions of the Earth to internal electro
-magnetism and external radiation forces. Photographs of the terella
taken in the light of its own glow-patterns impressively illustrate the
characteristic seasonal changes in auroral activity, proving the
eccentricity of the auroral zones to be a result of the obliquity of
the ecliptic. There is also a diurnal variation in the frequency of
auroras which the mental ball faithfully reproduces.
Such demonstrations are of interest to astrologers chiefly for what
light they may shed on the problems of planetary influences. The
terella stunt, for a good example, proves that it would be an error to
try to causally connect seasonal patterns with the tropical zodiac
framework, or the sidereal for that matter, unless astrological
concepts are given a drastic overhaul. The reason: the Earth's
magnetic field is not aligned with the standard geographical coordinate
system, but with geomagnetic latitudes and longitudes which differ
considerably from their geographical counterparts. Perhaps one day a
form of magnetic-field astrology will come into use, though not in our
lifetimes, and when it does, it will bear little or no resemblance to
present-day horoscopy.
Other revelations in that same volume, however, are more immediately
helpful to our present understanding of astrology. Papers 36 through
40, each by a different scientist, are awesomely to the point. To give
you an idea of their topics, and perhaps whet the curiosity of the
brainier sort of reader, consider these titles: The 27-Day Variation
in Cosmic Ray Intensity and in Geomagnetic Activity; Correlation
between Cosmic Ray Intensity and Geomagnetic Activity; Solar Production
and Modulation of Cosmic Rays, and Their Propagation Through
Interplanetary Space; The Anisotropy of Primary Cosmic Radiation and
the Electromagnetic State in Interplanetary Space; Separation of
Extraterrestrial Variations in Cosmic Ray Intensity and Atmospheric
Effects.
Forbidding titles, true, but what each exposition is trying to put
across can be grasped by the nontechnical reader who reads slowly and
carefully. What they all boil down to is that there definitely are
interlinking geometric phenomenal fields through which forces
(influences, to you) are propagated through space from one body to
another, all hooked up with a backdrop field to which all the lesser
fields are subordinate. This is the interstellar field, aligned with
the universe of stars and having natural coordinates arising from the
galactic layout. In plainer words, the structure of all radiative
activity in space is sidereal. There is not scientific evidence of any
kind, not even when it comes to study of seasonal effects, for a
tropical-based system of reference. To scientifically-mined students
of astrology, of course, this is no surprise. No particle, plasma,
beam or "vibration" of extra-terrestrial origin can possibly "know
about" the tropical zodiac until its strikes the Earth and look back,
as it were, for the tropical zodiac is a purely man-made scheme of
things.
Guess where on the celestial sphere physicists found the lines of
magnetic force to be emanating from? Yes, just ninety degrees from the
SOLAR APEX--at that point in great-circle square aspect from both the
center of the Galaxy and the Apex! Readers will recall that in a
recent installment of [Your Powwow Corner] we proved that the position
of the Solar Apex agrees exactly with the fiducial point of the
sidereal zodiac. Now scientists come up with the fact that serves as
another missing link in celestial geometrics. Lo and behold, Fagan's
reconstructed zodiac is independently given all-out corroboration by
scientists to whom the very word zodiac is apt to require a cuss for an
adjective.
Where to get hold of Symposium No. 6 of the IAU? It sells for
$10.00 through the publisher, Cambridge University Press, whose
American branch office is at 32 East 57th St., New York 22, N.Y. We
doubt, however, that many astrologers will want to part with half a
sawbuck for something that is guaranteed to puncture any and all
equinoctial balloons. Not even those effects known to be of a seasonal
nature, and hence apparently tied in with the global gimmick that gives
rise to the equinoxes and solstices, have any real connection with the
geometric scheme that has come to be accepted as the zodiac.
* * *
"Many Things," American Astrology 3/71
[Regarding the commonest misunderstanding about the sidereal
zodiac.] The term constellation is used by an astrologer only to
distinguish the dozen zodiacal zones, which are all exactly 30 degrees
of longitude in width, from the word sign which through broad usage has
come to be more closely associated with the tropical scheme (even
though the word sign itself is clearly sidereal in derivation!)
Sidereally speaking, a sign is a great lune representing one-twelfth of
the entire celestial sphere, with the horns of the lune converging at
the ecliptic poles--and therefore has nothing directly to do with the
classical star-outlined figure straddling the ecliptic which gave the
zone its name.
Modern astronomers have allocated various areas on the celestial
sphere to "constellations" roughly grouped according to tradition but
using the equatorial system for their boundaries; right ascension and
declination are more convenient coordinates for astronomical purposes.
In this nonastrological set-up, the modern boundaries of Ophiuchus and
Cetus do protrude into what is called the "zodiacal belt" even though,
as far as astrologers are concerned, the zodiac should never be thought
of as a belt or band of discrete width centered on the ecliptic. For
instance, no matter how far from the ecliptic they may be, each of the
stars of the Little Dipper--including Polaris itself--has a zodiacal
longitude and latitude, expressible in either tropical or sidereal
terms.
To repeat for emphasis, the 12 zones of the sidereal zodiac are
each 30 degrees in extent and are absolutely independent of the
individual stars and the artifices of star lore. The FIDUCIAL LINE,
technically speaking, is determined by a perpendicular drawn to the
ecliptic from the SOLAR APEX in absolute space; it is only a welcome
happenstance that certain of the brighter stars have longitudes close
to convenient divisions in the sidereal signs, such as Aldebaran at 15
degrees Taurus, Antares at 15 degrees Scorpio, Alcyone and Regulus at 5
degrees of Taurus and Leo respectively, and the traditional "tail
stars" in the last two degrees of the sidereal divisions they belong
to.
* * *
"Many Things - Research Dept.(G. Allen)," A.A. 3/72
A question from a reader dated Nov. 21, 1971: In your Many Things
for 12/71, you comment that "no single star, owing to proper motion,
could possibly be the sole determinant of the sidereal zodiac. In
fact, the stars and traditional constellations are not at all
germane to the structure of the sidereal zodiac." ...Just what does
determine the sidereal zodiac?
COMMENT: The simplest, most basic things are often the most
difficult to describe in elementary terms, but we'll try. Let's start
with the PHYSICS OF THE PENDULUM. The reason the swinging-plane of a
pendulum gradually rotates as the hours of a day pass by is that its
mass in motion is beholden to the rest of the universe and not to the
immediate environment or to you, the observer of the phenomenon. The
friction-free pendulum keeps swinging in the same direction, with
respect to the stars in their entirety, and the apparent rotation of
this direction is due to the turning of the Earth on its axis. The
pendulum ignores terrestrial rotation in favor of the totality of mass
within the whole universe.
In fact, anything and everything in motion moves within the frame of
reference of the universe as a whole. There are now thousands of
artificial satellites revolving around the Earth. If one of them, for
example, is seen to pass overhead, a couple of hours later it will
cross your sky considerably to the west of the zenith. It hasn't
changed the plane in which it revolves, but you on the Earth's surface
have changed position with respect to the body's orbital plane. Within
our Machian cosmos, anything and everything in motion moves only in
terms of sidereal space, by which is meant the total distribution of
matter throughout the continuum of the universe. When you twirl an
object on a string around your head, the centrifugal pull away from
you, more intense the faster the motion, is the net result of all the
matter in existence tugging at the object from all directions.
Take a toy gyroscope and hold it while it is spinning. It will
fiercely resist any of your efforts to shift its angular position,
because it is directionally locked to all the stars and galaxies
existing throughout space-time. Gyrocompasses in modern aircraft and
ocean-going vessels keep perfect track of directions free of even
magnetic interference by virtue of this same sidereal principle. No
object in space, no pebble and no planet, knows anything about the
vernal equinox, for instance, or any other imaginary parameter of the
ambient. All existence is geared to the sidereal universe. This is
why it is meaningless to describe a planet's period of revolution
around the Sun in other than sidereal terms. And this is why we state
that the zodiac exists in space-time independently of individual stars,
and certainly independently of cultural artifices like constellation-
visualizing. The divisions of the sidereal zodiac are similar to the
planes of crystallization within a mineral--from every point of
observation within the crystal the directional planes are the same to
the observer who always seems to be at the center of the molecular
lattice.
The artifices of ancient culture provide us with handy names and
definitions of the structure and functions of the zodiac as used in
astrology. But the zodiac would still be there whether or not there
was a human being around to label its parts and interpret its contents.
And the zodiac would still be there, quite intact as the natural
"grain" of space-time, even it there weren't a single star outside the
solar system bright enough to be visible here, let alone bright enough
to earn a name and accumulate a traditional significance.
For all practical purposes, however, one may legitimately refer to
constellations when speaking of the sectors of the sidereal zodiac--but
these are not to be taken literally as the classical figures. It has
been established beyond question that the civilizations which
originated the zodiacal concept considered the divisions of the zodiac
to be exactly 30 degrees (or six pentades) in width, and that these
divisions themselves, rather than the happenstance star arrangements
within them, are the astrologically viable signs. Knowledge along this
line is so readily accessible, it is a mystery why there are so many
astrological writers and "teachers" who continue to exhibit ignorance
by confusing what is popularly called "constellations," as reorganized
by the International Astronomical Union into meaningless areas bounded
by right ascension and declination, with the astrologically valid
structuring of the celestial sphere. It is not a question of
differences of opinion; it is a matter of knowing what one is talking
about.
From astrology's earliest formalizations, the conspicuous groups of
the brighter stars which have visual appeal have not been essential to
the actual makeup of the zodiac. The manner in which the sky was
anciently divided alone proves this. This is why we deplored the
widespread amount of misinformation one can encounter in connection
with this subject--even some of the most enthusiastic devotees of
sidereal astrology tend to think of their zodiac more in terms of
nighttime vistas and Renaissance woodcuts than in terms of astronomical
and historical realities.
The fixed stars are not really fixed, of course, and earn that
adjective only by dint of the slowness with which they move against the
infinite backdrop. They have small motions of their own as well as
apparent motions dictated by the solar system's own movement around the
galactic center. The point on the celestial sphere toward which we are
being carried is called the APEX OF THE SUN'S WAY. The Apex may be
crucial in any ultimate definition of just what the zodiac is and why.
How important the Apex is can be appreciated by a little mental
exercise. Imagine having a wide-angle camera that takes a picture of
the night sky centered on the Apex once every 100 years. Take one
photograph every century for millions of years, and then project them
rapidly in sequence as a motion picture. On the screen you would see
what resembles a meteor shower with the stars apparently shooting out
of the apical radiant. Viewing the film would give the sensation of
riding a topless elevator through ever-changing starfields. A similar
string of pictures of the Anti-apex, the opposite pivot on the
celestial sphere, would look like a remote point of convergence for the
shooting stars--a backward view fro the rising elevator. So you see,
the individual stars come and go, and their patterns keep changing with
time, but the overall framework of sidereal space remains intact.
It is not known for certain, at this stage of astrology's
development, if the axis of the spherical sidereal zodiac is exactly or
only nearly parallel to the direction of the Apex. However, a
perpendicular dropped from this point on the celestial sphere to the
plane of the ecliptic (and to the invariable plane of the solar system,
within reasonable limits) appears to define the point and plane of 0
degrees Capricorn. If so, then the sidereal zodiac is spatially local
and is being continuously generated by the Sun's tunneling through
space. (Don't let the idea of a local system disturb you; by contrast,
the tropical zodiac is so much more localized that it momentarily
ceases to exist for anyone who jumps one inch off the Earth's surface!)
But even if restricted to local parameters, the fact remains that the
components of any and all motions within this great "zodiacal cell,"
whose nucleus is the solar system, are oriented sidereally--it couldn't
be otherwise. In fact, that simple phrase says it best in answer to
all questions regarding the zodiac--that is, it couldn't be otherwise.
**********************************************************************
Cyril Fagan, "Solunars," A. A. August 1956
COSMIC DIVISION?
Is the division of the zodiacal circle into twelve equal
constellations artificial--a mere schematic convenience--or is it
natural and cosmic in character? We are, of course, aware that the
zodiac was divided into twelve unequal constellations in the Graeco-
Roman star maps of the late period, and modified versions of these are
reproduced in modern star atlases. But the zodiac was always divided
into twelve equal constellations by the Babylonians and Egyptians as
abundantly testified by the numerous cuneiform and demotic texts that
have been preserved. In antiquity the year was lunar, and in a solar
year there are twelve lunar months with eleven days remaining over, and
it is generally held that the zodiac was duodenarly divided to
approximate the twelve months of the lunar year, and that such a
division was a mere schematic convenience having no intrinsic
astronomical or astrological basis.
The credit of scientifically establishing that the duodenary
division is, in fact truly cosmic in character, not mere schematism,
rests with Donald A. Bradley, who in his Profession and Birthdate
statistically demonstrates such to be the case. In his review of
Bradley's book, Peter Roberts, himself an able statistician, remarks,
"Mr. Bradley...employs an interesting statistical technique to find
simultaneously whether there is a duodenary cycle of distribution among
the 360 degree length of the ecliptic and if this is so, the position
of the starting point for each 30 degree interval which gives rise to
the greatest disparity, with a chance distribution. The first part of
this test is tantamount to asking whether there are twelve signs: and
the answer is very satisfactorily in accord with astrological
tradition. It emerges that the arrangement of twelve 30 degree
intervals yields a better interpretation of the results, than say,
seven signs of 41.3/7 degrees or thirteen signs of 27.9/13 degrees.
This result is, I think, of tremendous importance. However confident
we may feel of the validity of traditional astrology, a carefully
conducted test of this character is most necessary and alone suffices
to disturb the less bigoted skeptics..." Bradley, himself, writes of
his results: "The implications are startling; the 30 degree
fundamental interval has successfully passed the test of significance.
One peak and one trough is in evidence, with the peak itself far
exceeding the .05 and .01 levels, approaching the .00l mark with the
trough dropping low beneath the necessary .05 line....The peak of
influence found is the seventh degree of the tropical signs! and...it
is astonishing to say the least, that the constellation center at 7d
58' of the tropical signs..."
So in this remarkable brochure, which should be in the hands of all
earnest students of astrology, Bradley not merely demonstrates that the
duodenary division of the zodiac is a fact in nature, but also that the
troughs of the distribution synchronize with the beginnings of the
ancient Babylonian constellations, while the peaks with their centers.
In short, Bradley is the first investigator, using scientifically
approved statistical methods, to demonstrate the verity of the Sidereal
zodiac.
* * *
Garth Allen, "Your Corner," A.A. February 1960
THERE IS A WAY
There is a way--a simple, obvious way--to win for astrology the
respect of the rational professions, both religious and scientific, and
to once and for all make official efforts to suppress horoscopy a thing
of the past. This way is merely to prove that astrology is a sound
concept, verifiable by both scientific test and personal experience.
There is a fly in the ointment here, though, so far as the vast
majority in our field are concerned. Enough genuine research has
already been racked up in modern astrology to represent a solid core of
evidence that our science is valid. This appreciable progress has been
achieved despite the henhouse din and demand that astrology be kept oh-
so-folksy at the public level. If such research has been accomplished,
what then is wrong? The answer is simple: The facts that have been
garnered so far, while clearly proving the existence of zodiacal and
planetary influences, have a flavoring that is distasteful to many who
class themselves as professional practitioners.
It seems that the findings have proved something more than they
should rightfully have proved, and that unwelcome revelation is the
necessity for a wholesale reformation of concept and working-base.
This state of affairs has, of course, been unpalatable to the pros who
have reacted to the disclosures with a more unscientific attitude than
they justly accuse the skeptics of having. This reaction has kept
astrology in a kind of limbo that permits the suppression campaigns to
wax hotly and, sad to say, successfully. Every inch of ground gained
by these campaigns is an indictment of every "qualified" astrologer who
read a genuine research report, went to bed and woke the next morning
without altering what he had believed two days before.
The basis of astrology is so easy to prove sound that it has always
struck yours truly as ridiculous that my colleague's eyes glaze over
confusedly when the subject or research is brought up. This is
strange, because every few weeks we run across batches of data which
consistently furnish the needed ammunition. For instance, on the heels
of last month's statistical array of prize fighters' birthdates, we
were furnished by Rupert Gleadow with a tabulation of the Sun's degree
frequencies on the birthdates of no less than 7,354 British physicians.
The stream of workable data is slow but continuous and, what is more,
reliable. There's no real shortage of raw information to subject to
either statistical or individual analysis. Lack of usable material
cannot be used as an excuse for failure to help the cause of
astrology's respectability.
The very first premise on which all of astrology rests is the
existence of the zodiac. By zodiac we mean a division of celestial
longitude into twelve equal sectors which act as modulators on
planetary influences. There is a remarkably easy method for
ascertaining the existence of such a twelvefold compartmentalizing of
the celestial sphere. Regular readers of this department are already
familiar with the technique, or at least it final stages, and anybody
versed in statistical methodology automatically knows the how and why
of it. It is called the chi-square test and there is not one single
science where learning it can be avoided at the college level, if a
degree is to be earned. You need not be college-educated to master it,
either, for all you have to have is a dollar and a free evening and the
gumption to put both to good use.
It was a mental thrill to us when Mr. Gleadow kindly supplied us
with the degree-frequency list because samples as large as 7,354 items
for a single category--in this case, the medical profession--are rarely
come by. Not being a mathematics enthusiast by temperament, Rupert
Gleadow had not himself given the array a statistical treatment and was
probably unaware of what would emerge from one. What emerged was proof
of the existence of the zodiac--pure, unadulterated proof of the kind
that scientists respect.
The rub is that the zodiac it proved doesn't jibe with the divisions
of the sky which our professionals insist it should. And guess where
this literally existing zodiac falls? Yep, right where the sidereal
astrologers say it does. The "heretics," as a prominent British
astrologer of tropical persuasion recently described siderealists, have
again been proved right--as per usual in the history of any science.
It doesn't take much gray matter to appreciate the message in the
accompanying diagram. As with the other now-familiar graphs of the
chi-square test, the values marked are for thirty different theoretical
zodiacs, each with "signs" having centers at successively numbered
degrees of the so-called standard tropical zodiac. The center of the
graph, at the line marked 15 degrees, represents the doctor's Sun-sign
distribution as ordinarily conceived.
SCIENTIFIC THEORY REQUIRES THAT IF A TWELVEFOLD DIVISION OF THE
ECLIPTIC is VALID, A GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF ALL POSSIBLE DIVISIONS
IN NATURAL SEQUENCE WILL SHOW ONE GENERAL CREST OF HIGH VALUES AND ONE
GENERAL TROUGH. If the peak of the variations falls in significantly
high regions, and the dip in a mathematically insignificant area, the
test validates the authenticity of the system of divisions originally
used which, in this case, is the "zodiac." The validation stems from
the fact that the element of chance is reasonably ruled out as an
acceptable cause for the variations observed.
Study the illustration--it is an inspiring demonstration of the
reality of the sidereal zodiac. As for the tropical: Sorry, fellows--
like many another such test, it falls only accidentally between the
peak and trough. But then, in no real astrological test that we have
knowledge of has it ever been otherwise.
[Graph Omitted: Natal Suns of 7,354 Medics. Chi-Square Values of
Each of Thirty Hypothetical Zodiacs]
The chi-square test by itself does not directly answer the question
whether the true zodiac is off by 6 or 7 degrees from the centers of
the "signs" of the tropical division, or by its sign-complement of 23
or 24 degrees in the other direction. This is where subjective
treatment must be resorted to. As with our pugilists last month, this
is only too easy for the medics. The division of the tropical zodiac
with the very lowest number of doctors' births is the sign Sagittarius-
-traditionally the physician's sign in astrological history! (This is
reminiscent of the fact that the tropical sign with the fewest prize-
fighters is Scorpio, traditionally the fightingest of all the signs.)
This writer finds it difficult to accuse astronomers and priests of
unreasoning prejudice in pronouncing astrology to be rubbish, when the
most elementary of "standard" astrology's precepts fall flat in a nose-
count.
By shifting the twelve sections so that the tradition commences to
justify itself and genuine astrology is vindicated, it becomes apparent
that the true [sidereal] zodiac is 23 or 24 degrees out of step with
the conventional [tropical] one--the one that causes all the trouble
because it causes so little of anything else. Such statements arouse
protests galore among those who are most to blame for the predicament
modern astrology finds itself in from time to time--at the mercy of
those star witnesses for the prosecution to whom our "science" is so
senile it doesn't have enough intellectual appeal to warrant honest
investigation. * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Re: Apex
Garth Allen, "Your Corner," A.A. January 1960
IN THIS CORNER
DOWN FOR THE COUNT: ...The table herewith shows the individual
degree frequencies of the Sun's placement at Greenwich noon for every
boxer in the Boxing Encyclopedia whose birthdate was given, a total of
1,113 men in all. The framework here is entirely tropical and the
degrees are used as spaces and not points. That is, the degree called
1d is the space between 0d00' and 0d59' of each sign, and so on. The
table that everybody is interested in, though, is the following tally
of the actual numbers born under the twelve signs and the twelve
constellations.
NATAL SUNS OF 1,113 PUGILISTS Tropical Sidereal
Aries 97 95
Taurus 102 97
Gemini 95 102
Cancer 94 88
Leo 86 76
Virgo 76 100
Libra 105 74
Scorpio 72 90
Sagittarius 96 97
Capricorn 92 95
Aquarius 108 95
Pisces 90 104
The three highest in the tropical series are Aquarius, Libra and
Taurus, Hey, what's Libra doing in there? The lowest is Sco--is
Scorpio!? And by a statistically significant ratio, too. In fact, the
only "critical ration" that is scientifically significant in the whole
shebang of both zodiacs in this shortage of fighters born under
tropical Scorpio!
SCORPIO THE SCRAPPER: It doesn't take much gray matter to see that
something is terribly wrong here, and to appreciate the utter failure
of the tropical system in this distribution alone. Libra one of the
leaders and Scorpio the scarcest of the lot! Again we see that
whenever an actual test is conducted, the sidereal comes out ahead when
the ballots are counted. In the sidereal division of the ecliptic the
lowest rating is Libra, in truth the least violence-prone of the
zodiacal groups. Runner-up for lowest score is Leo, which sidereally
is held to be a mild-mannered constellation or, as Manilius himself
wrote it, "But plain and honest, in all their thoughts sincere; pure as
the sun, and like the water clear." Evidently the crudity of the
boxing game is not attractive to Leonians....
Of all the signs, Scorpio is perennially caricatured as "the
scrapper of the zodiac," the born fighter, of unparalleled courage to
the point of scorning pain if a prize or cause is at stake, and on and
on with similar stock phrases. One would suppose that, if astrology as
taught is true, the sign Scorpio would be prominently represented in
the fighting profession. But it doesn't even approach its rightful
share, its "average" expectancy. On the other hand, its celestial
neighbor Libra is right in there punching.
Now let's not hear any talk that the "natural 7th sign" accords with
the "natural 7th house," and the 7th is the house of war, and war is
fighting, so Libra is a natural fighting sign, ad nauseam. What
happened to "partnership, matrimony, union"? The whole structure of
astrological doctrine and history is flatly opposed to such a modernly-
evolved scheme to make discrepancies otherwise make sense. This house-
sign swapping is of recent vintage and in astrology's vast literature
there is not one shred of justification for it. Either the zodiacal
divisions stand as represented or they don't. Are fighters essentially
Martian or Venusian? The question is that simple.
THE POLLUX FRATERNITY: With mixed emotions I point with pride born
of suspicions confirmed, to sidereal Gemini's showing. In case after
case we find that the ancient myths contain literal truths. Pollux,
the god of boxing, is one of the constellated Twins. It may or may not
mean anything that of the total 102 Geminian pugilists, 59 were born
with the Sun in the last half of the constellation, against 43 in the
first half--enough of a different to warrant investigation. As for
Virgo's high frequency, the ancient harping on the them that Virgo is
the "bravest" of the constellations (vide both Fagan and Dr.
Neugebauer) seems to settle the issue. Physical agility and
fearlessness are the two traits ascribed most often to Mercurian types
in astrology's source materials.
Highest number of boxers in the sidereal sequence, not so deep a
mystery as one might suppose upon realization that the sidereal concept
of Pisces is a far cry from the clammy-handed, soulful-eyed stereotype
in tropical astrology Pisces can be a real devil, hence its
consignment to pitchfork-welding Neptune. The legend of imps and
demons is directly connected with Neptune-Pisces symbolism. In
Manilius' famous old poem, which we often find quotable, war is
mentioned only three times, one of which is in his Pisces section: "To
fight at sea, to stain the waves with blood, whilst war lies floating
on the unstable flood." In fact, it is only under Pisces that he
mentions bloodletting in battle, which is certainly provocative,
because his other references to war speak rather of the excitement,
clangor and plunder. In any case, the sidereal distribution makes
astrological sense, whereas the tropical distribution contradicts
"established" tropical theory. Par for the course, eh what?
[Omitted: Table of Degree Frequencies of Natal Suns:
1,113 Prizefighters and FIG 1: Natal Signs of 1,113 Boxers in
12 Divisions of Both Zodiacs]
A FEW STEPS FURTHER: ...let us now take this chance to illustrate
the practical value and vitality of such statistics to learn something
useful. Too often we are content to note the highs and lows in a
series and let it go at that, and thereby usually miss much that the
figures teach us if we only go a few steps further in analysis. For
example, in the table of degree frequencies, observe that the greatest
clustering of births occurred with the Sun between 19d and 25d of
tropical Aquarius. When we find such a concentration (twice the
normally expected number), it is always well to check for any possible
fixed-star influence. In this case we find something even more
interesting, for this flurry of births of prize fighters centers on the
27th and 28th degrees of sidereal Capricornus, which you should
automatically recognize as the implicit "throne of Mars"--the ancient
exaltation degree of the warrior planet!...
* * * * * *
IN THIS CORNER
DOWN FOR THE COUNT: ...The table herewith shows the individual
degree frequencies of the Sun's placement at Greenwich noon for every
boxer in the Boxing Encyclopedia whose birthdate was given, a total of
1,113 men in all. The framework here is entirely tropical and the
degrees are used as spaces and not points. That is, the degree called
1d is the space between 0d00' and 0d59' of each sign, and so on. The
table that everybody is interested in, though, is the following tally
of the actual numbers born under the twelve signs and the twelve
constellations.
NATAL SUNS OF 1,113 PUGILISTS Tropical Sidereal
Aries 97 95
Taurus 102 97
Gemini 95 102
Cancer 94 88
Leo 86 76
Virgo 76 100
Libra 105 74
Scorpio 72 90
Sagittarius 96 97
Capricorn 92 95
Aquarius 108 95
Pisces 90 104
The three highest in the tropical series are Aquarius, Libra and
Taurus, Hey, what's Libra doing in there? The lowest is Sco--is
Scorpio!? And by a statistically significant ratio, too. In fact, the
only "critical ration" that is scientifically significant in the whole
shebang of both zodiacs in this shortage of fighters born under
tropical Scorpio!
SCORPIO THE SCRAPPER: It doesn't take much gray matter to see that
something is terribly wrong here, and to appreciate the utter failure
of the tropical system in this distribution alone. Libra one of the
leaders and Scorpio the scarcest of the lot! Again we see that
whenever an actual test is conducted, the sidereal comes out ahead when
the ballots are counted. In the sidereal division of the ecliptic the
lowest rating is Libra, in truth the least violence-prone of the
zodiacal groups. Runner-up for lowest score is Leo, which sidereally
is held to be a mild-mannered constellation or, as Manilius himself
wrote it, "But plain and honest, in all their thoughts sincere; pure as
the sun, and like the water clear." Evidently the crudity of the
boxing game is not attractive to Leonians....
Of all the signs, Scorpio is perennially caricatured as "the
scrapper of the zodiac," the born fighter, of unparalleled courage to
the point of scorning pain if a prize or cause is at stake, and on and
on with similar stock phrases. One would suppose that, if astrology as
taught is true, the sign Scorpio would be prominently represented in
the fighting profession. But it doesn't even approach its rightful
share, its "average" expectancy. On the other hand, its celestial
neighbor Libra is right in there punching.
Now let's not hear any talk that the "natural 7th sign" accords with
the "natural 7th house," and the 7th is the house of war, and war is
fighting, so Libra is a natural fighting sign, ad nauseam. What
happened to "partnership, matrimony, union"? The whole structure of
astrological doctrine and history is flatly opposed to such a modernly-
evolved scheme to make discrepancies otherwise make sense. This house-
sign swapping is of recent vintage and in astrology's vast literature
there is not one shred of justification for it. Either the zodiacal
divisions stand as represented or they don't. Are fighters essentially
Martian or Venusian? The question is that simple.
THE POLLUX FRATERNITY: With mixed emotions I point with pride born
of suspicions confirmed, to sidereal Gemini's showing. In case after
case we find that the ancient myths contain literal truths. Pollux,
the god of boxing, is one of the constellated Twins. It may or may not
mean anything that of the total 102 Geminian pugilists, 59 were born
with the Sun in the last half of the constellation, against 43 in the
first half--enough of a different to warrant investigation. As for
Virgo's high frequency, the ancient harping on the them that Virgo is
the "bravest" of the constellations (vide both Fagan and Dr.
Neugebauer) seems to settle the issue. Physical agility and
fearlessness are the two traits ascribed most often to Mercurian types
in astrology's source materials.
Highest number of boxers in the sidereal sequence, not so deep a
mystery as one might suppose upon realization that the sidereal concept
of Pisces is a far cry from the clammy-handed, soulful-eyed stereotype
in tropical astrology Pisces can be a real devil, hence its
consignment to pitchfork-welding Neptune. The legend of imps and
demons is directly connected with Neptune-Pisces symbolism. In
Manilius' famous old poem, which we often find quotable, war is
mentioned only three times, one of which is in his Pisces section: "To
fight at sea, to stain the waves with blood, whilst war lies floating
on the unstable flood." In fact, it is only under Pisces that he
mentions bloodletting in battle, which is certainly provocative,
because his other references to war speak rather of the excitement,
clangor and plunder. In any case, the sidereal distribution makes
astrological sense, whereas the tropical distribution contradicts
"established" tropical theory. Par for the course, eh what?
[Omitted: Table of Degree Frequencies of Natal Suns:
1,113 Prizefighters and FIG 1: Natal Signs of 1,113 Boxers in
12 Divisions of Both Zodiacs]
A FEW STEPS FURTHER: ...let us now take this chance to illustrate
the practical value and vitality of such statistics to learn something
useful. Too often we are content to note the highs and lows in a
series and let it go at that, and thereby usually miss much that the
figures teach us if we only go a few steps further in analysis. For
example, in the table of degree frequencies, observe that the greatest
clustering of births occurred with the Sun between 19d and 25d of
tropical Aquarius. When we find such a concentration (twice the
normally expected number), it is always well to check for any possible
fixed-star influence. In this case we find something even more
interesting, for this flurry of births of prize fighters centers on the
27th and 28th degrees of sidereal Capricornus, which you should
automatically recognize as the implicit "throne of Mars"--the ancient
exaltation degree of the warrior planet!...
* * * * * *
Jim Eshelman
www.jeshelman.com
www.jeshelman.com
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Sidereal Astrology Publishing Firsts
This introduction to file [FIRST] in the archive Sidereal.zip includes a chronology of publishing "firsts" in Sidereal Astrology, especially by Cyril Fagan, the founder of modern Western Sidereal Astrology. This reflects an attempt to document and collect beginning writings in Sidereal Astrology. Contributions or corrections are appreciated. Email Kay Cavender at [wdgw87d@prodigy.com]
SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY PUBLISHING "FIRSTS"
On FEBRUARY 17, 1944, Cyril Fagan first accepted the truth of Sidereal Astrology and within a week 'invented' the Sidereal Lunar Return, as reported by Brigadier R. C. Firebrace in his "Farewell to Cyril Fagan," April 1970 SPICA. On APRIL 30, 1944, Fagan reported he first accepted the Sidereal Solar Return (viz. Fagan, April 1968 Spica). In 1947, possibly July*, Cyril Fagan first published on the Sidereal Zodiac in the USA in his 10-part series "THE INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS OF ASTROLOGY" in the AFA BULLETIN under editorship of Ernest Grant, the founder and first president of the AFA. In this series, Fagan announced the star constellation origin of the zodiac, as well as championing the solar and lunar returns in the Sidereal Zodiac. By the time of this series, he considered the Sidereal origins of the zodiac a fact accomplished, and his focus was on sorting out delineation
techniques.
[*The AFA has recently verified that August 1947 AFA Bulletin has Part 2 of Fagan's 10 part series "The Incidents and Accidents of Astrology" wherein Fagan first published on the SZ in the USA. This implies that "Part 1" (if published consecutively, without division) would have been in the JULY 18, 1947 issue. Because the AFA Bulletins were published on the lunation (new moon), by pushing the envelope one might further infer a time of 04:15 AM GMT when the Sun and Moon were conjunct in Sidereal 00CAN42' which could be cast for Fagan's birth and location Dublin 6w15 53n21, as well as for Washington D.C. where the American Federation of Astrologers was then located. [U.S. Capitol is 77w00'35.7" and 38n53'20.4"]
In 1947, Fagan also produced the first research paper for the AFA, Research Bulletin #1, "THE FUNDAMENTALS OF HOUSE DIVISION." Cyril Fagan also published the first Sidereal Ephemerides, 1947 and 1948.
There were 3 years between 1944 and 1947, and Fagan was a prolific thinker and writer at his peak. Because Fagan often published simultaneously in several places, he likely published abroad in Europe and India on the Sidereal Zodiac before 1947. In Part 9, June 7, 1948 of his 10 part AFA BULLETIN series, Fagan refers to a letter from Rupert Gleadow dated February 19, 1947, congratulating him on Part 8 "on the magnificent mystery revolution No. V (one of CF's mystery Solars or Lunars) which is terrific." Thus Fagan was already circulating the transcript well before it saw its first American
publication in the (possibly *July 18) 1947 AFA Bulletin.
In JULY 1950 American Astrology in the first essay therein on Sidereal Astrology, Rupert Gleadow refers to his own publication in (the then defunct) October 1948 "ASTROLOGICAL BULLETIN" of Bournemouth, England about a month before the American Presidential election, wherein Gleadow said he made a "completely categoric prediction" on the basis of the Solar Returns for President Truman's election. Fagan may have published in the same above source as Gleadow, or Dr. B. V. Raman's THE ASTROLOGICAL MAGAZINE in India, or others. For instance, WORLD ASTROLOGY, June 1940, Vol.4, No. 6, on its title page lists "Cyril Fagan, President, Irish Astrological Society, Dublin, Ireland" as one of the Board of Advisory Editors. These sources are not readily available in the United States but might be located abroad.
However, most probably Fagan would have published something in the prestigious Theosophical Society in Dublin, out of which he founded the
Irish Astrological Society in 1922, and which (T.S.) was the premises for the IAS meetings. The IAS was supported by his friend William Butler Yeats, Nobel Poet Laureate. Fagan said that he "taught Yeats astrology in his living room."
Fagan said to me with Pauline in the room smiling and agreeing with him, that on MAY 14, 1949, he made his greatest discovery -- that of the origins of the HYPSOMATA or Exaltation degrees while dancing with his wife Pauline. One might suppose the time was evening. In 1950 Fagan published ZODIACS OLD AND NEW with his discoveries in archaeoastronomy, especially of the Exaltation origins as recorded in 786 B.C. in Babylon under Assyria. There was both an English and an American publication of ZODIACS, with additional text in the American publication. During this time he lived in Dublin. Notably Fagan also received recognition for this work presented to, I believe he said, the Royal Society and British Academy in London.
In AUGUST 1950 American Astrology, Rupert Gleadow published a most lucid essay "THE ZODIAC IN THE ANCIENT WORLD" (below) on the origins of
the 'first' astrology as anchored to the stars, not to the equinoxes. Gleadow was a history and language scholar who translated from original sources in classical Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphics. Gleadow's was the first actual first essay in American Astrology (JULY 1950) on Sidereal Astrology and was entitled "How To Predict--The Sidereal Method of the Ancients" on the superior use of the Sidereal Solar Return with presidential elections and President Truman.
The same July 1950 issue of American Astrology "Many Things" column included Fagan's letter on Solar Returns [see file SOLAR100] dated May 21, 1950, titled "Solar Revolution." Fagan used the same quote in this letter also in the earlier 1947-8 AFA series. However, after this time Fagan had a correspondence for several months with the Editor of American Astrology "too voluminous to include" as to the validity of the Sidereal Zodiac, some of which as reported in the column "Many Things" beginning in January 1951. Fagan convinced Editor Clancy.
Another major siderealist, Donald Bradley, or Garth Allen as he was known astrologically, who was Research Director of The Llewellyn Foundation for Astrological Research in Los Angeles, was also convinced before 1950 of the efficacy of the Sidereal Zodiac. Neil Llewellyn Block or Gary Duncan as he was known astrologically was an associate of Bradley's and collaborated with him on the research for Bradley/Allen's PROFESSION AND BIRTHDATE, a statistical analysis of planetary positions at the birthdates of 2492 eminent clergyman. According to Gary Duncan's "Some Historical Notes" in the first CONSTELLATIONS of August 1975, they worked on the data for some three years prior to that time, and they had approached that data scientifically as statisticians. Duncan says that it was due to their work with the clergy's birthdata that they were forced to realize the Tropical Zodiac was not signficant statistically. "It came as a shock, however, when the initial data reduction of the solar longitudes showed no preference for the Tropical
signs of Sagittarius or Pisces. And, when the Chi-square test showed that the Tropical coordinate system lacked the strength of several other choices...we knew our thinking needed to be re-examined. Certainly the works of Fagan were well known to us both at that time, but it was not until the statistical results of the clergyman study were known that Bradley and I were faced with making a revolutionary change in our fundamental methods." Duncan says that they had also corresponded with Fagan. Duncan's essay is included in Sidereal.zip, file [AYANAMSA].
Donald Bradley's SOLAR AND LUNAR RETURNS was also published in 1950, which included a complete ephemeris of the Vernal Point 1849 to 1960 and incorporated Fagan's concepts with respect to the Solar and Lunar Returns in the Sidereal Zodiac. This astrological treatise was significant for many reasons, but one of them was Bradley's very clear focus on LOCALITY ANGLES AND CHARTS. By page 14, Bradley says, "All transits are referred to the nativity equated to the locality rather than to the birthplace, unless no change of residence or position has taken place." This book prominantly featured examples of events indicated as signficant because of the locality angles, which became a staple of Western Sidereal Astrology. (Bradley as Garth Allen wrote for nearly 20 years for American Astrology as well.)
Brigadier R. C. Firebrace in London followed suit with the application of locality angles in his research reported in SPICA. In Volume 1, No 2, JANUARY 1962 SPICA, Firebrace presented an essay on "The Capricorn Ingress" which featured a world map showing where the planets were angular over the whole world, with the planetary Meridians in drawn blue (MC-IC), and the planetary Horizons drawn in red (Ascendant-Descendant). This locality map was drawn by and had a copyright by Mary Austin, the Associate Editor of SPICA, and was the first sidereal publication of a world map showing locality angles.
Gary Duncan, an important statistical research astrologer of this century and an associate of Garth Allen, became convinced of the validity of the Sidereal Zodiac because of his statistical research. According to a memorial essay by Michael Erlewine On Matrix Space website, Duncan helped develop "advanced lunar equations used by NASA for space work while working at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena" and he was proud "that he was the first astrologer to produce astro-geography maps on a computer in the 1950's." Duncan's astro-geography maps were later published in Llewellyn's MOON SIGN BOOK in 1966. According to Duncan's essay "Some Historical Notes" published in the first issue of R.O.S.A.'s CONSTELLATIONS, August 1975, he supplied the Synodic Ephemeris used by Donald Bradley/Garth Allen and his co-workers on rainfall research.
Tropicalist Jim Lewis, who in 1975 created the computer service Astro*Carto*Graphy to show where natal planets were angular over the whole world, studied with Donald A. Bradley and dedicated his book in 1976 on angular planets called ASTRO*CARTO*GRAPHY to Bradley. Lewis' work on Astro*Carto*Graphy earned him the Marc Edmund Jones Award for the outstanding contribution to astrology, but the concept came from and was first used by siderealists.
In JULY 1953 American Astrology, Cyril Fagan's first essay in his 17 year "SOLUNARS" series (below) dealt with Tropical vs. Sidereal Solunars again in terms of "the incidents and accidents of astrology," the same theme as his first SZ series. This first "Solunars" essay was a reprint from 1953 issue Annual Number of The Astrological Magazine of Bangalore, India, as were the next three issues of "Solunars," September through November 1953. August 1953 was the only skipped issue of 200 consecutive "Solunars" from July 1953 through March 1970, nearly 17 years.
(Fagan's very first essay in American Astrology on "The Horoscope of Jesus Christ" was published in April 1953, as republished from its precursor, THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ASTROLOGY, Winter Issue, 1937. In his essay, Christ's chart was in the Tropical Zodiac framework, which was then off only a few degrees from the Sidereal Zodiac. Subtracting SPICA's positions as calculated by Fagan for then--25VIRGO55', from now--29VIRGO06' with Garth Allen's 06'05" SVP correction, gives 3d 11' difference in the zodiacs for Christ's time, which difference did not exist for the ancients since their astrology was sidereal. Another extraordinary research paper by Fagan titled "THE EMPEROR NERO" was published before the above in 1936 Autumn Edition of The American Journal of Astrology, and was of course then also in the Tropical measurement of the zodiac.
One might say that the first SOLUNARS essays written 'specifically' for American Astrology were in December 1953 and January 1954; these were rewritten from Fagan's ZODIACS OLD AND NEW. The topic was Fagan's identification of 'first' ancient calendar dates which are dependant on reading the ancient Egyptian decans as PENTADS (as 5 day divisions, another of CF's significant discoveries). These FIRST calendar dates were:
the HARAKHTE EPOCH, for the moment of Spica's heliacal rising
at Heliopolis (later determined to occur not in September, but)
on July 15, 3130 B.C., which was New Year's Day of The Ancients;
and the SOTHIC EPOCH, July 16 (O.S.) 2767 B.C., the horoscope for
the moment of Sirius' heliacal rising at Heliopolis, New Year's
Day.
Fagan also published the January 1954 SOLUNARS issue on the Sothic Cycle simultaneously in Professor B.V. Raman's ASTROLOGICAL MAGAZINE, Bangalore, India under the title "The Most Ancient Horoscope in the World." (viz. Fagan, "Solunars," 7/1969 A.A.).
Of the latter SOTHIC EPOCH, Fagan says (in 7/1969 American Astrology under the heading "Tomb of Imhotep") that this beginning of the Sothic Cycle is enshrined as the World's Most Ancient Horoscope (another 'first'): "Inscribed in hieroglyphic characters on the walls of Egyptian death chambers a mysterious chart of the heavens was frequently found....Many such were found in royal tombs and in those of high officials of different dynasties. Although differing in decorative details all copies were essentially the same....In short, they were copies of the horoscope for the beginning of a Sothic Cycle (Sothis, Greek for Sirius)....Styling copies of the diagrams as "Charts of Eternity" and deeming them to have magical properties, the Egyptians inscribed them on tomb walls as talismans to insure for the deceased an eternity of happiness in the afterworld." These topics are also
presented in Fagan's posthumous 1971 ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS.
It should be noted also that Fagan also wrote another unique series under the name I. COWLEY in American Astrology (February 1966 - March 1970) using the Lunar Return on "THE PRESIDENT'S OUTLOOK." Brigadier R. C. Firebrace credited Fagan with 'inventing' the Lunar Return. In April 1978 SPICA, Fagan specifically addressed the modus operandi of "Interpreting The Lunar Return." As examples of key points he emphasized on the Lunar, Fagan says, "Moreover as the chart is purely mundane in character, zodiacal (ecliptical) aspects do not apply in it at all. But as the mundane conjunction and opposition more or less tally with their zodiacal counterparts, these latter may be taken into consideration as well as the zodiacal square when it approximates in value to its mundane equivalent." "As the Moon is the prime significator in the Solar Return so is the Sun the prime signifiator in the Lunar Return. Close mundane aspects of the current (transiting) planets to the Sun should be considered as being angular."
Concerning astrological references to Fagan's life, the October 1956 "MANY THINGS" column in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY consisted of Fagan's responses to questions. These include several of the few specific references about Fagan by Fagan in American Astrology. Regarding the founding of the Irish Astrological Society in 1922 and later of his acceptance of the Sidereal Zodiac in 1944, he says, "...for in regard to transits to the Midheaven and Ascendant, transits 'in mundo' are alone valid. When in 1922 Uranus transited in opposition to my natal Ascendant, the IRISH ASTROLOGICAL SOCIETY was founded, and I had the honor to be elected its first president; and the transit of Uranus over my Midheaven in 1944 synchronized with the discovery of the ancient Egypto-Babylonian zodiac...." (Regarding the inauguration of the Irish Astrological Society, in his 8/1966 "Solunars," Fagan mentions the inauguration date as February 7, 1922, apparent noon at Dublin.)
Also in October 1956 "MANY THINGS," in regard to his beginning experience with astrology in 1916, and referring to his prophecy (14 years ahead of time) made at the IAS in 1923 regarding who would be crowned king, Fagan says: "...The effects of the fixed stars that compose the constellations may be considered statically, because they are relatively static; but to comprehend the influences of the planets, they must be thought of in terms that rightly apply to them, namely dynamically. They signify processes, movement, action, challenge and response, the mutations of consciousness that "...arise and pass away..." Thus Venus signifies the movement of affection, Mars of passion, Neptune of entrancement and so forth. My experience, which dates from the beginning of 1916, when E.S.C. [author of the letter to whom Fagan was responding] was still an infant in arms, demonstrated to me that directions to the conjunction, square or opposition of Jupiter synchronized with increased status, honors, emoluments, distinctions, the winning of prizes, the conferring of academic degrees and the like, precisely as taught by the ancient masters; but I cannot recall a
single case where they tallied with distant travel, unless directions to the Moon were also involved. The prophecy made at a public lecture, held in September 1923, under the auspices of the Irish Astrological Society, with the late Dr. W. B. Yeats (Nobel Prize) in the chair, that the, then, Duke of York would be crowned King of England in the summer of 1937, was based on the direction of the Sun to the opposition of Jupiter retrograde."
* * * * *
Included in this file [FIRST], Rupert Gleadow's 1950 and Cyril Fagan's 1953 "first" essays in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY, respectively on star constellation origins and on Solunars, are still interesting and instructive. Many of the delineation ideas which were clarified and should have been discarded are still with us--"good and bad" aspects, signs and their element associations, horary house rulerships, etc.
One primary question about Fagan's thinking: besides the Solunars (Solar and Lunar Returns) as predictive tools, what particular issue "FIRST" convinced Fagan of the validity of the Sidereal Zodiac? A subject dealt with in Fagan's first series in the 1947-8 AFA BULLETIN suggests itself. PART 8 of "The INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS OF ASTROLOGY" deals with and is titled "THE AYANAMSHA." Fagan's beginning definition: "Ayanamsha, i.e., the number of degrees of the ecliptic that separate the regressing vernal equinox from the first point of ASVINI--the first asterism of the Hindu Zodiac--at any given time." According to his references, Fagan had been intensively researching this topic about the same time as he accepted the Sidereal zodiac. For example, in Part 8 of his first SZ series, Fagan has a specific reference to Robert DeLuce's article in the "APRIL 1944" AFA Bulletin also titled "Ayanamsha" for the calculation of the Ayanamsha due to Spica's (Alpha Virginis) vs. Revati's (Zeta Piscium) ecliptic position.
Fagan's Part 8: "THE AYANAMSHA" is below. Also below, Fagan's later 1952 AFA essay "THE AQUARIAN AGE" adds significant conclusions to the argument over the marking place of the Hindu lunar asterisms. One may suppose in a general way that in addition to precession, every other answer in Sidereal Astrology involves SPICA. See also related files [WHAT_AGE] and [AYANAMSA]. The issue is precession--a matter of astronomical fact.
* * * * * *
THE ZODIAC IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
Rupert Gleadow, M.A. (Oxon)
August 1950, American Astrology
Astrologers often claim for their science a fabulous antiquity; but
as a matter of fact very little is known about astrology of more than
two thousand years ago. The only ancient textbook most astrologers
have read is Claudius Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, which is no older than
1800 years. This, of course, is because no other is available to the
general public. Manilius has not been translated into English since
the eighteenth century, and Manetho as a rule has not even been heard
of.
Now when we claim that astrology is ancient, we imply that the
astrology of the ancients was in most ways similar to our own. This
however is not always true. Most modern astrologers, for example,
believe that squares and oppositions can only produce "bad" (i.e.
uncomfortable) effects, and that trines and sextiles can only produce
comfortable effects. This is contrary to much of the ancient
teachings, besides being, in my opinion, contrary to experience.
Ptolemy makes it quite clear (Book III, chapter 10) that a man can be
killed by the "good" aspect of a malefic and saved by the "bad" aspect
of a benefic. And the Michigan Papyrus says expressly that the
benefics are more potent in square and opposition.
Nor do the ancients all agree with us in the attribution of the
signs to the elements. Ptolemy makes Capricorn a marine sign, and
Virgo winged, both of which qualities are now ignored. Hephaestion
gives as earthy signs Aries, Taurus, Scorpio, and Sagittarius, while
Rhetorius makes the watery signs extend from the middle of Capricorn to
the end of Pisces, Cancer being attributed to both water and earth, and
Virgo to air on account of her wings. So altogether we must not be
surprised if we find ancient astrologers disagreeing at times with
modern practice.
It may, however, come as rather a shock to discover that they
disagree with us over the zodiac itself! Ptolemy, it is true, does not
overty do so, and I shall therefore leave him to the last; but the
statements of other ancient writers are categoric.
MANETHO
Manetho, an astrologer and friend of Ptolemy, was born in Alexandria
in A.D. 80. He wrote a work on astrology in Greek verse which has come
down to us intact, and he defines the summer solstice in the following
terms (Book II. lines 77-82): "The circle that turns the season of
fiery summer is described in the sky by the all-seeing sun in its
course upon the eighth degree of Cancer."
So the summer solstice does not occur at the Sun's entrance into
Cancer! At least, not according to Manetho. Let us see what other
ancient writers can tell us.
MANILIUS
Manilius, who lived perhaps a century earlier, concludes the third
book of his poem Astronomicon with this passage: "So one degree in
tropical signs is to be distinguished, which moves the world and alters
the seasons....Some place this power in the eighth degree, others
prefer the tenth, and there has even been a writer who has allotted to
the first degree the alteration and shortening of days."
Worse and worse! For, according to Manilius, nobody really knew
where the solstice fell! And the same impression of doubt is given by
Achilles Tatius (Isag. in Arat. 23): "Some place the tropic near the
beginning of Cancer, others around the eighth degree, others around the
twelfth, and others around the fifteenth." The elder Pliny too, in his
Natural History (XVIII, 59) speaks to much the same effect.
COLUMELLA
A more reasoned account is given by Columella, who wrote on
gardening about A.D. 60. He says (De Re Rustica IX, 14, 12): "Winter
begins about 8 days before the first of January, in the eighth degree
of Capricorn." (According to us winter does indeed begin about eight
days before the first of January, but not in the eighth degree of
Capricorn!) He proceeds: "I am not unaware of the argument of
Hipparchus, according to which the solstices and equinoxes take place
not in the eighth but in the first degrees of signs; but in this rural
study I follow the calendars of Eudoxus and Meton and the ancient
astrologers, which fit in with the public festivals, because that
opinion was held by the farmers of old time and is better known, and
also because the subtlety of Hipparchus is not needed in the supposedly
rougher science of the countryside."
From these various quotations one things emerges very plainly. To
the Greek and Roman astrologers it was a very difficult problem to
decide where exactly the solstices and equinoxes did fall. And if you
cannot locate your equinox, you cannot use it as a fixed point from
which to measure your zodiac. In other words, you must catch your hare
before you cook it.
The ancients, therefore did not use the modern zodiac defined by the
equinoxes. I am aware that this revelation will come as a shock to
those astrologers who like to believe that the ancients knew a great
deal more than we do. That cannot be helped. The modern student's
wish to believe cannot be weighed in the balance against the formal
statements of Manilius, Achilles Tatius, and Columella. The question
is, therefore, what Zodiac did the ancients use?
The general consensus of opinion in the second century A.D. seems to
have been that the equinoxes and solstices fell in the eighth degrees
of the Ram, the Crab, the Scales, and the Goat. This arrangement is
what is usually meant by the term "the Hellenistic Zodiac," and it
implies a zodiac defined, like ours, by the position of the vernal
equinox, but with a difference of eight degrees in all its
measurements.
But one can hardly imagine that the zodiac was traditionally defined
as beginning eight degrees east of a point which most astrologers were
incapable of locating! That would be absurd. And if we say that it
was so defined, how can we explain the contradictory traditions that
the equinoxes fell in the first, eighth, tenth, twelfth, and even
fifteenth degrees? No, the theory that the ancients measured the
zodiac from the equinoxes simply will not stand up. They must
therefore have had some other point of reference. What was it?
The notion that the zodiac was originally measured from an invisible
point like the equinox, which can only be found by year-long and very
delicate observations and calculations, makes it necessary to suppose
that astrology was invented suddenly among a people already proficient
in astronomy. But is it not far more likely that it grew up gradually
with astronomy itself? And is it not perfectly obvious that, until a
high degree of sophistication has been obtained, all measurements in
the sky are bound to be made from some visible fixed point, namely a
star, and not from an invisible point? We still speak of the stars as
fixed, and the ancients, as is well known, used them extensively for
timing the operations of their agriculture. It was by the fixed stars,
and not by the erratic Moon,, their undependable calendar, or the
uncertain season, that they knew how soon to sow their spring corn or
winter wheat. It is therefore not in the least degree probable that
they would have complicated their astrology by referring it, not to the
reliable stars, but to an invisible moving point.
Thus ancient records tell us that the zodiac was not measured from
the equinox, and reason tells us why not. Reason tells us, moreover,
that it must have been measured from a star. But what star?
Oddly enough, none of the Greek or Roman writers mentions the
fiducial star. Possibly they thought the equinox was as good a
fiducial point as any. For it did not occur to most of them to imagine
that the equinox itself could be on the move. And the proof is, that
the location of the equinoxes in the eighth degrees, which as we saw
was generally accepted in the second century A.D., was about 500 years
out of date! This determination of the place of the equinox had been
made about 350 B.C. by a Babylonian astronomer called Kidinnu, or in
Greek Cidenas; people simply assumed that what had been right for
Cidenas would go on being right for them. They were wrong.
To astrologers, of course, the position of the equinox did not
matter. They observed visible bodies, not invisible points, and their
ephemerides, of which several have survived to this day, are calculated
by reference to the fixed stars. But what fixed stars? Obviously the
brightest and most convenient ones, in other words the brightest stars
in the ecliptic belt. These are: Aldebaran in the Bull, Regulus in
the Lion, Spica Virginis, and the Scorpion's Heart (Antares). To
rediscover the zodiac of the ancients, then, all we need do is to find
out the degrees in which they placed one or more of these stars. This
sounds like a difficult job, but it can be done. One proceeds as
follows:
We know that Kidinnu located the equinox in 8 Aries in or about 350
B.C. His predecessor Naburiannu located it in 10 Aries in or about 500
B.C.; and as it moves 2 degrees in 144 years, the pair of them are
agreed. These are the oldest reliable statements to which we can go
back. At the other end of our period, there exist in the Catalogus
Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum several horoscopes calculated by the
Byzantine astrologer Palchus about 475 A.D. If we re-calculate these
by our modern zodiac, we find the positions of the planets average
consistently three degrees less than the positions given by Palchus.
This shows, not that Palchus was inaccurate, but that he was using a
fiducial point some three degrees west of the equinox; in other words,
he was using a zodiac in which the vernal equinox happened of fall in
27 Pisces.
But besides NABURIANNU, KIDINNU, and PALCHUS, we have some ancient
ephemerides covering part of the first and second centuries, and in
these again the positions given for the planets are consistently just
so much out that we cannot only calculate the difference between their
fiducial and the equinox, but can also see this interval slowly
diminishing with the passage of time.
ANCIENT RECORDS
Now let us put together the statements of all these ancient records,
and see what we find. Since the equinox moves one degree in 72 years,
we can work out the following table:
SIDEREAL LONGITUDE
DATE OF EQUINOX ANCIENT RECORDS
507 B.C. 10 Aries As stated by Naburiannu about 500 B.C.
363 B.C. 8 Aries As stated by Kidinnu about 350 B.C.
219 B.C. 6 Aries
75 B.C. 4 Aries Berlin Papyrus P8279 gives 4 Aries for 30 B.C.
3 B.C. 3 Aries
69 A.D. 2 Aries Stobart Tablets give 2 Aries for A.D. 71
213 A.D. 0 Aries
429 A.D. 27 Pisces As used by Palchus about A.D. 475.
It can be seen that throughout these thousand years the same zodiac
was being used, within a margin of error of well under one degree! We
can therefore discover the zodiac of the ancients by calculating the
longitude of our four fixed stars in this zodiac, and the conclusion
which emerges is as follows: that Aldebaran marked the 15th degree of
Taurus; that Regulus marked 5 degrees Leo; that Spica marked the end
(29 degrees) of Virgo; and that Antares marked the heart (15 degrees)
of the Scorpion.
So now we know what the original zodiac was like. It was measured
from the fixed stars, primarily from Spica, and consisted of twelve
constellations of 30 degrees each, through which the tropics and
equinoxes moved slowly backwards. I must add that this discovery was
made by Mr. Cyril Fagan of Ireland and is explained in his book ZODIACS
OLD AND NEW.
Now although the preceding arguments are sound and, in my opinion,
irrefutable, they do lead us to a hard and horny problem. How did it
come about that Ptolemy in his Tetrabiblos expressly set out to measure
the zodiac from the equinox? Fortunately he gives us his reason; and I
have never met any astrologer who took it seriously. In fact it simply
does not hold water. His reason is (Book I, Chapter 22): "The
following, however, upon which it is worth while to dwell, we shall not
pass by, namely, that it is reasonable to reckon the beginnings of the
signs also from the equinoxes and solstices, partly because the writers
make this quite clear, and particularly because from our previous
demonstrations we observe that their natures, and familiarities take
their cause from the solsticial and equinoctial starting-places, and
from not other source." But this is only true if and insofar as the
cardinal quality of the cardinal signs is in fact derived from their
relation to the Sun's four cardinal points. But is it really? And
surely Ptolemy' argument would apply more strongly if the turning-
points fell in the middles of the signs! So the argument proves
nothing at all.
Furthermore, Ptolemy's reason for making Aries the first sign is
(Book I, Chapter 10) that it corresponds to the moist time of year and
is therefore analogous to youth in animals and plants. If this is to
have any reference to astrology, and not merely to the seasons, it
demands that Aries should be the most moist of signs. But Ptolemy
makes it hot, fiery, and dry!
Now we can easily tell that Ptolemy was brought up on the older
sidereal zodiac and really thought in those terms. He speaks
consistently of such things as "the sting of Scorpio" (III, 12), "the
eyes of Cancer" (I, 9), "The face of Capricorn" (IV, 5), and the north
and southern parts of all the signs (II, 11). Further he says (I, 14):
that "signs equidistant from the same equinoctial sign" (NB. not from
the equinox!) "ascend in equal periods of time." But this is only true
if the equinox is in the middle of a sign! So here Ptolemy has slipped
up and allowed a piece of ancient lore (as given for example in the
Michigan Papyrus) to creep in where he ought to have rejected it.
So Ptolemy's reason for measuring the zodiac from the equinox boils
down to this: that the idea had been suggested by Hipparchus, who
noticed that the equinox was getting very close to the beginning of
Aries, and that it appealed to Ptolemy's systematizing mind as a nice,
tidy, symmetrical arrangement.
It can now be seen why, in spite of the title of this article, I
have so far made no allusion to ancient Indian records. The Indians
have always used the sidereal zodiac of the ancients, and many of them
still measure it from Spica.
So the original zodiac, the zodiac to which Ptolemy's aphorisms were
intended to apply, was not the zodiac most astrologers use today. And
that leads us to one final question--what are we going to do about it?
*****************************
************
September 1950, American Astrology: MICHIGAN ASTROLOGICAL PAPYRUS
Translation and Commentary by Rupert Gleadow, M.A. (Oxon), and October
1950, American Astrology: MICHIGAN ASTROLOGICAL PAPYRUS, CONCLUSION,
Translation and Conclusion by Rupert Gleadow, M.A. (Oxon).
************
THE SIDEREAL ZODIAC, ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
November 1950, American Astrology
Rupert Gleadow, M.A. (Oxon)
In my preceding articles I have shown that the original zodiac, in
terms of which astrology was developed, was rather naturally measured,
not from an invisible moving point like our modern zodiac, but from a
fixed star. To the modern bookish astrologer who has all his
measurements served up to him in an ephemeris this may possibly seem
odd; but to anyone who looks at the sky and is accustomed to make his
measurements for himself, be he an ancient Phoenician sailor or a
modern patrol in the Sahara, the only possible starting-point is
something which he can see--in other words, a star.
The zodiac, then, as originally devised, was measured from the fixed
stars Spica, Antares, Regulus and Aldebaran. And it may be that this
original zodiac will even now given us better results. At any rate it
is only natural to wish to experiment with it, and I intend therefore
to point out some of the differences between it and the ordinary
zodiac.
The modern zodiac as commonly used is a tropical zodiac, that is to
say, it is measured from the tropical and equinoctial points; Cancer is
a name given to the first 30 degrees after the summer solstice, instead
of the summer solstice falling in so-many degrees of Cancer. The
fiducial or measuring-point of this zodiac is the vernal equinox, which
is by definition always on the equator; and this is very convenient
because it means that each degree of this zodiac remains always at a
fixed distance from the equator, and therefore all tables of houses for
it will remain valid indefinitely so long as the obliquity of the
ecliptic does not sensibly change....
The zodiac of the ancients was a sidereal zodiac, that is to say, it
was based on the apparent revolutions of the fixed stars (ignoring
"proper motion") and accordingly in it the fixed stars are fixed. For
that reason it has also been called the fixed zodiac. But
correspondingly it has the disadvantage that its fiducials, which can
be easily seen on any starry night, do not remain at a fixed distance
from the equator; and consequently the right ascension and declination
of each degree is always gradually changing, and a table of houses does
not remain valid very long. In fact in the sidereal zodiac a table of
houses must be calculated for some definite year, and it will then be
correct to within thirty seconds for 36 years before or after. Tables
of houses for the sidereal zodiac are usually calculated for 1940
because at that date the difference between the sidereal and tropical
zodiacs was exactly 24 degrees; but these tables can quite well be used
for 1840 by adding 1d 23' to the readings.
It not infrequently happens, however, that the experimenter is
without a sidereal table of houses for the latitude he requires. In
that case he simply looks up the cusps in the ordinary tropical table
of houses and then makes a correction according to the date. The
correction for January 1, 1950, for instance, is - 24 degrees, 8' 36";
and this is usually applied by adding its arithmetical complement (30
degrees - 24d 8' 36" = 5d 51' 24") and then deducting a whole sign.
Should the midheaven, for example, fall in 18d 53' Gemini of the
tropical zodiac (TZ), by adding 5d 51' and subtracting a sign, we find
it in 24d 44' Taurus of the sidereal zodiac (SZ). Thus a whole
horoscope can be easily converted by putting each planet and cusp into
the preceding sign and then increasing its longitude by whatever the
amount may be for the year in question; but so long as the difference
between the two zodiacs is 24 degrees, planets and cusps in the last 6
degrees of any sign will remain in the same sign.
Next, it is advisable to remember that solar and lunar returns will
always occur 'later' in the sidereal zodiac. The reason for this is
that in the tropical zodiac the fiducial is moving backwards at the
rate of 50" per year, while the planets are moving forward; the two
will therefore meet sooner than they would if they had a fiducial which
remained in the same place. This backward movement is known as the
Precession of the Equinoxes.
The amount of difference in time between a solar return in the
tropical and one in the sidereal zodiac is approximately 20 minutes for
every year of the native's age; for it takes the sun about 20 minutes
to go 50" of arc, and the distance to be made up increases by 50' per
year. At the age of eighteen, therefore, the difference in time
between the two revolutions will be about 6 hours; and the age of 36 it
will be about 12 hours; and at the age of 72 a whole day....This means
that throughout adult life the angular planets in the two charts will
be different.
SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY PUBLISHING "FIRSTS"
On FEBRUARY 17, 1944, Cyril Fagan first accepted the truth of Sidereal Astrology and within a week 'invented' the Sidereal Lunar Return, as reported by Brigadier R. C. Firebrace in his "Farewell to Cyril Fagan," April 1970 SPICA. On APRIL 30, 1944, Fagan reported he first accepted the Sidereal Solar Return (viz. Fagan, April 1968 Spica). In 1947, possibly July*, Cyril Fagan first published on the Sidereal Zodiac in the USA in his 10-part series "THE INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS OF ASTROLOGY" in the AFA BULLETIN under editorship of Ernest Grant, the founder and first president of the AFA. In this series, Fagan announced the star constellation origin of the zodiac, as well as championing the solar and lunar returns in the Sidereal Zodiac. By the time of this series, he considered the Sidereal origins of the zodiac a fact accomplished, and his focus was on sorting out delineation
techniques.
[*The AFA has recently verified that August 1947 AFA Bulletin has Part 2 of Fagan's 10 part series "The Incidents and Accidents of Astrology" wherein Fagan first published on the SZ in the USA. This implies that "Part 1" (if published consecutively, without division) would have been in the JULY 18, 1947 issue. Because the AFA Bulletins were published on the lunation (new moon), by pushing the envelope one might further infer a time of 04:15 AM GMT when the Sun and Moon were conjunct in Sidereal 00CAN42' which could be cast for Fagan's birth and location Dublin 6w15 53n21, as well as for Washington D.C. where the American Federation of Astrologers was then located. [U.S. Capitol is 77w00'35.7" and 38n53'20.4"]
In 1947, Fagan also produced the first research paper for the AFA, Research Bulletin #1, "THE FUNDAMENTALS OF HOUSE DIVISION." Cyril Fagan also published the first Sidereal Ephemerides, 1947 and 1948.
There were 3 years between 1944 and 1947, and Fagan was a prolific thinker and writer at his peak. Because Fagan often published simultaneously in several places, he likely published abroad in Europe and India on the Sidereal Zodiac before 1947. In Part 9, June 7, 1948 of his 10 part AFA BULLETIN series, Fagan refers to a letter from Rupert Gleadow dated February 19, 1947, congratulating him on Part 8 "on the magnificent mystery revolution No. V (one of CF's mystery Solars or Lunars) which is terrific." Thus Fagan was already circulating the transcript well before it saw its first American
publication in the (possibly *July 18) 1947 AFA Bulletin.
In JULY 1950 American Astrology in the first essay therein on Sidereal Astrology, Rupert Gleadow refers to his own publication in (the then defunct) October 1948 "ASTROLOGICAL BULLETIN" of Bournemouth, England about a month before the American Presidential election, wherein Gleadow said he made a "completely categoric prediction" on the basis of the Solar Returns for President Truman's election. Fagan may have published in the same above source as Gleadow, or Dr. B. V. Raman's THE ASTROLOGICAL MAGAZINE in India, or others. For instance, WORLD ASTROLOGY, June 1940, Vol.4, No. 6, on its title page lists "Cyril Fagan, President, Irish Astrological Society, Dublin, Ireland" as one of the Board of Advisory Editors. These sources are not readily available in the United States but might be located abroad.
However, most probably Fagan would have published something in the prestigious Theosophical Society in Dublin, out of which he founded the
Irish Astrological Society in 1922, and which (T.S.) was the premises for the IAS meetings. The IAS was supported by his friend William Butler Yeats, Nobel Poet Laureate. Fagan said that he "taught Yeats astrology in his living room."
Fagan said to me with Pauline in the room smiling and agreeing with him, that on MAY 14, 1949, he made his greatest discovery -- that of the origins of the HYPSOMATA or Exaltation degrees while dancing with his wife Pauline. One might suppose the time was evening. In 1950 Fagan published ZODIACS OLD AND NEW with his discoveries in archaeoastronomy, especially of the Exaltation origins as recorded in 786 B.C. in Babylon under Assyria. There was both an English and an American publication of ZODIACS, with additional text in the American publication. During this time he lived in Dublin. Notably Fagan also received recognition for this work presented to, I believe he said, the Royal Society and British Academy in London.
In AUGUST 1950 American Astrology, Rupert Gleadow published a most lucid essay "THE ZODIAC IN THE ANCIENT WORLD" (below) on the origins of
the 'first' astrology as anchored to the stars, not to the equinoxes. Gleadow was a history and language scholar who translated from original sources in classical Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphics. Gleadow's was the first actual first essay in American Astrology (JULY 1950) on Sidereal Astrology and was entitled "How To Predict--The Sidereal Method of the Ancients" on the superior use of the Sidereal Solar Return with presidential elections and President Truman.
The same July 1950 issue of American Astrology "Many Things" column included Fagan's letter on Solar Returns [see file SOLAR100] dated May 21, 1950, titled "Solar Revolution." Fagan used the same quote in this letter also in the earlier 1947-8 AFA series. However, after this time Fagan had a correspondence for several months with the Editor of American Astrology "too voluminous to include" as to the validity of the Sidereal Zodiac, some of which as reported in the column "Many Things" beginning in January 1951. Fagan convinced Editor Clancy.
Another major siderealist, Donald Bradley, or Garth Allen as he was known astrologically, who was Research Director of The Llewellyn Foundation for Astrological Research in Los Angeles, was also convinced before 1950 of the efficacy of the Sidereal Zodiac. Neil Llewellyn Block or Gary Duncan as he was known astrologically was an associate of Bradley's and collaborated with him on the research for Bradley/Allen's PROFESSION AND BIRTHDATE, a statistical analysis of planetary positions at the birthdates of 2492 eminent clergyman. According to Gary Duncan's "Some Historical Notes" in the first CONSTELLATIONS of August 1975, they worked on the data for some three years prior to that time, and they had approached that data scientifically as statisticians. Duncan says that it was due to their work with the clergy's birthdata that they were forced to realize the Tropical Zodiac was not signficant statistically. "It came as a shock, however, when the initial data reduction of the solar longitudes showed no preference for the Tropical
signs of Sagittarius or Pisces. And, when the Chi-square test showed that the Tropical coordinate system lacked the strength of several other choices...we knew our thinking needed to be re-examined. Certainly the works of Fagan were well known to us both at that time, but it was not until the statistical results of the clergyman study were known that Bradley and I were faced with making a revolutionary change in our fundamental methods." Duncan says that they had also corresponded with Fagan. Duncan's essay is included in Sidereal.zip, file [AYANAMSA].
Donald Bradley's SOLAR AND LUNAR RETURNS was also published in 1950, which included a complete ephemeris of the Vernal Point 1849 to 1960 and incorporated Fagan's concepts with respect to the Solar and Lunar Returns in the Sidereal Zodiac. This astrological treatise was significant for many reasons, but one of them was Bradley's very clear focus on LOCALITY ANGLES AND CHARTS. By page 14, Bradley says, "All transits are referred to the nativity equated to the locality rather than to the birthplace, unless no change of residence or position has taken place." This book prominantly featured examples of events indicated as signficant because of the locality angles, which became a staple of Western Sidereal Astrology. (Bradley as Garth Allen wrote for nearly 20 years for American Astrology as well.)
Brigadier R. C. Firebrace in London followed suit with the application of locality angles in his research reported in SPICA. In Volume 1, No 2, JANUARY 1962 SPICA, Firebrace presented an essay on "The Capricorn Ingress" which featured a world map showing where the planets were angular over the whole world, with the planetary Meridians in drawn blue (MC-IC), and the planetary Horizons drawn in red (Ascendant-Descendant). This locality map was drawn by and had a copyright by Mary Austin, the Associate Editor of SPICA, and was the first sidereal publication of a world map showing locality angles.
Gary Duncan, an important statistical research astrologer of this century and an associate of Garth Allen, became convinced of the validity of the Sidereal Zodiac because of his statistical research. According to a memorial essay by Michael Erlewine On Matrix Space website, Duncan helped develop "advanced lunar equations used by NASA for space work while working at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena" and he was proud "that he was the first astrologer to produce astro-geography maps on a computer in the 1950's." Duncan's astro-geography maps were later published in Llewellyn's MOON SIGN BOOK in 1966. According to Duncan's essay "Some Historical Notes" published in the first issue of R.O.S.A.'s CONSTELLATIONS, August 1975, he supplied the Synodic Ephemeris used by Donald Bradley/Garth Allen and his co-workers on rainfall research.
Tropicalist Jim Lewis, who in 1975 created the computer service Astro*Carto*Graphy to show where natal planets were angular over the whole world, studied with Donald A. Bradley and dedicated his book in 1976 on angular planets called ASTRO*CARTO*GRAPHY to Bradley. Lewis' work on Astro*Carto*Graphy earned him the Marc Edmund Jones Award for the outstanding contribution to astrology, but the concept came from and was first used by siderealists.
In JULY 1953 American Astrology, Cyril Fagan's first essay in his 17 year "SOLUNARS" series (below) dealt with Tropical vs. Sidereal Solunars again in terms of "the incidents and accidents of astrology," the same theme as his first SZ series. This first "Solunars" essay was a reprint from 1953 issue Annual Number of The Astrological Magazine of Bangalore, India, as were the next three issues of "Solunars," September through November 1953. August 1953 was the only skipped issue of 200 consecutive "Solunars" from July 1953 through March 1970, nearly 17 years.
(Fagan's very first essay in American Astrology on "The Horoscope of Jesus Christ" was published in April 1953, as republished from its precursor, THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ASTROLOGY, Winter Issue, 1937. In his essay, Christ's chart was in the Tropical Zodiac framework, which was then off only a few degrees from the Sidereal Zodiac. Subtracting SPICA's positions as calculated by Fagan for then--25VIRGO55', from now--29VIRGO06' with Garth Allen's 06'05" SVP correction, gives 3d 11' difference in the zodiacs for Christ's time, which difference did not exist for the ancients since their astrology was sidereal. Another extraordinary research paper by Fagan titled "THE EMPEROR NERO" was published before the above in 1936 Autumn Edition of The American Journal of Astrology, and was of course then also in the Tropical measurement of the zodiac.
One might say that the first SOLUNARS essays written 'specifically' for American Astrology were in December 1953 and January 1954; these were rewritten from Fagan's ZODIACS OLD AND NEW. The topic was Fagan's identification of 'first' ancient calendar dates which are dependant on reading the ancient Egyptian decans as PENTADS (as 5 day divisions, another of CF's significant discoveries). These FIRST calendar dates were:
the HARAKHTE EPOCH, for the moment of Spica's heliacal rising
at Heliopolis (later determined to occur not in September, but)
on July 15, 3130 B.C., which was New Year's Day of The Ancients;
and the SOTHIC EPOCH, July 16 (O.S.) 2767 B.C., the horoscope for
the moment of Sirius' heliacal rising at Heliopolis, New Year's
Day.
Fagan also published the January 1954 SOLUNARS issue on the Sothic Cycle simultaneously in Professor B.V. Raman's ASTROLOGICAL MAGAZINE, Bangalore, India under the title "The Most Ancient Horoscope in the World." (viz. Fagan, "Solunars," 7/1969 A.A.).
Of the latter SOTHIC EPOCH, Fagan says (in 7/1969 American Astrology under the heading "Tomb of Imhotep") that this beginning of the Sothic Cycle is enshrined as the World's Most Ancient Horoscope (another 'first'): "Inscribed in hieroglyphic characters on the walls of Egyptian death chambers a mysterious chart of the heavens was frequently found....Many such were found in royal tombs and in those of high officials of different dynasties. Although differing in decorative details all copies were essentially the same....In short, they were copies of the horoscope for the beginning of a Sothic Cycle (Sothis, Greek for Sirius)....Styling copies of the diagrams as "Charts of Eternity" and deeming them to have magical properties, the Egyptians inscribed them on tomb walls as talismans to insure for the deceased an eternity of happiness in the afterworld." These topics are also
presented in Fagan's posthumous 1971 ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS.
It should be noted also that Fagan also wrote another unique series under the name I. COWLEY in American Astrology (February 1966 - March 1970) using the Lunar Return on "THE PRESIDENT'S OUTLOOK." Brigadier R. C. Firebrace credited Fagan with 'inventing' the Lunar Return. In April 1978 SPICA, Fagan specifically addressed the modus operandi of "Interpreting The Lunar Return." As examples of key points he emphasized on the Lunar, Fagan says, "Moreover as the chart is purely mundane in character, zodiacal (ecliptical) aspects do not apply in it at all. But as the mundane conjunction and opposition more or less tally with their zodiacal counterparts, these latter may be taken into consideration as well as the zodiacal square when it approximates in value to its mundane equivalent." "As the Moon is the prime significator in the Solar Return so is the Sun the prime signifiator in the Lunar Return. Close mundane aspects of the current (transiting) planets to the Sun should be considered as being angular."
Concerning astrological references to Fagan's life, the October 1956 "MANY THINGS" column in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY consisted of Fagan's responses to questions. These include several of the few specific references about Fagan by Fagan in American Astrology. Regarding the founding of the Irish Astrological Society in 1922 and later of his acceptance of the Sidereal Zodiac in 1944, he says, "...for in regard to transits to the Midheaven and Ascendant, transits 'in mundo' are alone valid. When in 1922 Uranus transited in opposition to my natal Ascendant, the IRISH ASTROLOGICAL SOCIETY was founded, and I had the honor to be elected its first president; and the transit of Uranus over my Midheaven in 1944 synchronized with the discovery of the ancient Egypto-Babylonian zodiac...." (Regarding the inauguration of the Irish Astrological Society, in his 8/1966 "Solunars," Fagan mentions the inauguration date as February 7, 1922, apparent noon at Dublin.)
Also in October 1956 "MANY THINGS," in regard to his beginning experience with astrology in 1916, and referring to his prophecy (14 years ahead of time) made at the IAS in 1923 regarding who would be crowned king, Fagan says: "...The effects of the fixed stars that compose the constellations may be considered statically, because they are relatively static; but to comprehend the influences of the planets, they must be thought of in terms that rightly apply to them, namely dynamically. They signify processes, movement, action, challenge and response, the mutations of consciousness that "...arise and pass away..." Thus Venus signifies the movement of affection, Mars of passion, Neptune of entrancement and so forth. My experience, which dates from the beginning of 1916, when E.S.C. [author of the letter to whom Fagan was responding] was still an infant in arms, demonstrated to me that directions to the conjunction, square or opposition of Jupiter synchronized with increased status, honors, emoluments, distinctions, the winning of prizes, the conferring of academic degrees and the like, precisely as taught by the ancient masters; but I cannot recall a
single case where they tallied with distant travel, unless directions to the Moon were also involved. The prophecy made at a public lecture, held in September 1923, under the auspices of the Irish Astrological Society, with the late Dr. W. B. Yeats (Nobel Prize) in the chair, that the, then, Duke of York would be crowned King of England in the summer of 1937, was based on the direction of the Sun to the opposition of Jupiter retrograde."
* * * * *
Included in this file [FIRST], Rupert Gleadow's 1950 and Cyril Fagan's 1953 "first" essays in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY, respectively on star constellation origins and on Solunars, are still interesting and instructive. Many of the delineation ideas which were clarified and should have been discarded are still with us--"good and bad" aspects, signs and their element associations, horary house rulerships, etc.
One primary question about Fagan's thinking: besides the Solunars (Solar and Lunar Returns) as predictive tools, what particular issue "FIRST" convinced Fagan of the validity of the Sidereal Zodiac? A subject dealt with in Fagan's first series in the 1947-8 AFA BULLETIN suggests itself. PART 8 of "The INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS OF ASTROLOGY" deals with and is titled "THE AYANAMSHA." Fagan's beginning definition: "Ayanamsha, i.e., the number of degrees of the ecliptic that separate the regressing vernal equinox from the first point of ASVINI--the first asterism of the Hindu Zodiac--at any given time." According to his references, Fagan had been intensively researching this topic about the same time as he accepted the Sidereal zodiac. For example, in Part 8 of his first SZ series, Fagan has a specific reference to Robert DeLuce's article in the "APRIL 1944" AFA Bulletin also titled "Ayanamsha" for the calculation of the Ayanamsha due to Spica's (Alpha Virginis) vs. Revati's (Zeta Piscium) ecliptic position.
Fagan's Part 8: "THE AYANAMSHA" is below. Also below, Fagan's later 1952 AFA essay "THE AQUARIAN AGE" adds significant conclusions to the argument over the marking place of the Hindu lunar asterisms. One may suppose in a general way that in addition to precession, every other answer in Sidereal Astrology involves SPICA. See also related files [WHAT_AGE] and [AYANAMSA]. The issue is precession--a matter of astronomical fact.
* * * * * *
THE ZODIAC IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
Rupert Gleadow, M.A. (Oxon)
August 1950, American Astrology
Astrologers often claim for their science a fabulous antiquity; but
as a matter of fact very little is known about astrology of more than
two thousand years ago. The only ancient textbook most astrologers
have read is Claudius Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, which is no older than
1800 years. This, of course, is because no other is available to the
general public. Manilius has not been translated into English since
the eighteenth century, and Manetho as a rule has not even been heard
of.
Now when we claim that astrology is ancient, we imply that the
astrology of the ancients was in most ways similar to our own. This
however is not always true. Most modern astrologers, for example,
believe that squares and oppositions can only produce "bad" (i.e.
uncomfortable) effects, and that trines and sextiles can only produce
comfortable effects. This is contrary to much of the ancient
teachings, besides being, in my opinion, contrary to experience.
Ptolemy makes it quite clear (Book III, chapter 10) that a man can be
killed by the "good" aspect of a malefic and saved by the "bad" aspect
of a benefic. And the Michigan Papyrus says expressly that the
benefics are more potent in square and opposition.
Nor do the ancients all agree with us in the attribution of the
signs to the elements. Ptolemy makes Capricorn a marine sign, and
Virgo winged, both of which qualities are now ignored. Hephaestion
gives as earthy signs Aries, Taurus, Scorpio, and Sagittarius, while
Rhetorius makes the watery signs extend from the middle of Capricorn to
the end of Pisces, Cancer being attributed to both water and earth, and
Virgo to air on account of her wings. So altogether we must not be
surprised if we find ancient astrologers disagreeing at times with
modern practice.
It may, however, come as rather a shock to discover that they
disagree with us over the zodiac itself! Ptolemy, it is true, does not
overty do so, and I shall therefore leave him to the last; but the
statements of other ancient writers are categoric.
MANETHO
Manetho, an astrologer and friend of Ptolemy, was born in Alexandria
in A.D. 80. He wrote a work on astrology in Greek verse which has come
down to us intact, and he defines the summer solstice in the following
terms (Book II. lines 77-82): "The circle that turns the season of
fiery summer is described in the sky by the all-seeing sun in its
course upon the eighth degree of Cancer."
So the summer solstice does not occur at the Sun's entrance into
Cancer! At least, not according to Manetho. Let us see what other
ancient writers can tell us.
MANILIUS
Manilius, who lived perhaps a century earlier, concludes the third
book of his poem Astronomicon with this passage: "So one degree in
tropical signs is to be distinguished, which moves the world and alters
the seasons....Some place this power in the eighth degree, others
prefer the tenth, and there has even been a writer who has allotted to
the first degree the alteration and shortening of days."
Worse and worse! For, according to Manilius, nobody really knew
where the solstice fell! And the same impression of doubt is given by
Achilles Tatius (Isag. in Arat. 23): "Some place the tropic near the
beginning of Cancer, others around the eighth degree, others around the
twelfth, and others around the fifteenth." The elder Pliny too, in his
Natural History (XVIII, 59) speaks to much the same effect.
COLUMELLA
A more reasoned account is given by Columella, who wrote on
gardening about A.D. 60. He says (De Re Rustica IX, 14, 12): "Winter
begins about 8 days before the first of January, in the eighth degree
of Capricorn." (According to us winter does indeed begin about eight
days before the first of January, but not in the eighth degree of
Capricorn!) He proceeds: "I am not unaware of the argument of
Hipparchus, according to which the solstices and equinoxes take place
not in the eighth but in the first degrees of signs; but in this rural
study I follow the calendars of Eudoxus and Meton and the ancient
astrologers, which fit in with the public festivals, because that
opinion was held by the farmers of old time and is better known, and
also because the subtlety of Hipparchus is not needed in the supposedly
rougher science of the countryside."
From these various quotations one things emerges very plainly. To
the Greek and Roman astrologers it was a very difficult problem to
decide where exactly the solstices and equinoxes did fall. And if you
cannot locate your equinox, you cannot use it as a fixed point from
which to measure your zodiac. In other words, you must catch your hare
before you cook it.
The ancients, therefore did not use the modern zodiac defined by the
equinoxes. I am aware that this revelation will come as a shock to
those astrologers who like to believe that the ancients knew a great
deal more than we do. That cannot be helped. The modern student's
wish to believe cannot be weighed in the balance against the formal
statements of Manilius, Achilles Tatius, and Columella. The question
is, therefore, what Zodiac did the ancients use?
The general consensus of opinion in the second century A.D. seems to
have been that the equinoxes and solstices fell in the eighth degrees
of the Ram, the Crab, the Scales, and the Goat. This arrangement is
what is usually meant by the term "the Hellenistic Zodiac," and it
implies a zodiac defined, like ours, by the position of the vernal
equinox, but with a difference of eight degrees in all its
measurements.
But one can hardly imagine that the zodiac was traditionally defined
as beginning eight degrees east of a point which most astrologers were
incapable of locating! That would be absurd. And if we say that it
was so defined, how can we explain the contradictory traditions that
the equinoxes fell in the first, eighth, tenth, twelfth, and even
fifteenth degrees? No, the theory that the ancients measured the
zodiac from the equinoxes simply will not stand up. They must
therefore have had some other point of reference. What was it?
The notion that the zodiac was originally measured from an invisible
point like the equinox, which can only be found by year-long and very
delicate observations and calculations, makes it necessary to suppose
that astrology was invented suddenly among a people already proficient
in astronomy. But is it not far more likely that it grew up gradually
with astronomy itself? And is it not perfectly obvious that, until a
high degree of sophistication has been obtained, all measurements in
the sky are bound to be made from some visible fixed point, namely a
star, and not from an invisible point? We still speak of the stars as
fixed, and the ancients, as is well known, used them extensively for
timing the operations of their agriculture. It was by the fixed stars,
and not by the erratic Moon,, their undependable calendar, or the
uncertain season, that they knew how soon to sow their spring corn or
winter wheat. It is therefore not in the least degree probable that
they would have complicated their astrology by referring it, not to the
reliable stars, but to an invisible moving point.
Thus ancient records tell us that the zodiac was not measured from
the equinox, and reason tells us why not. Reason tells us, moreover,
that it must have been measured from a star. But what star?
Oddly enough, none of the Greek or Roman writers mentions the
fiducial star. Possibly they thought the equinox was as good a
fiducial point as any. For it did not occur to most of them to imagine
that the equinox itself could be on the move. And the proof is, that
the location of the equinoxes in the eighth degrees, which as we saw
was generally accepted in the second century A.D., was about 500 years
out of date! This determination of the place of the equinox had been
made about 350 B.C. by a Babylonian astronomer called Kidinnu, or in
Greek Cidenas; people simply assumed that what had been right for
Cidenas would go on being right for them. They were wrong.
To astrologers, of course, the position of the equinox did not
matter. They observed visible bodies, not invisible points, and their
ephemerides, of which several have survived to this day, are calculated
by reference to the fixed stars. But what fixed stars? Obviously the
brightest and most convenient ones, in other words the brightest stars
in the ecliptic belt. These are: Aldebaran in the Bull, Regulus in
the Lion, Spica Virginis, and the Scorpion's Heart (Antares). To
rediscover the zodiac of the ancients, then, all we need do is to find
out the degrees in which they placed one or more of these stars. This
sounds like a difficult job, but it can be done. One proceeds as
follows:
We know that Kidinnu located the equinox in 8 Aries in or about 350
B.C. His predecessor Naburiannu located it in 10 Aries in or about 500
B.C.; and as it moves 2 degrees in 144 years, the pair of them are
agreed. These are the oldest reliable statements to which we can go
back. At the other end of our period, there exist in the Catalogus
Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum several horoscopes calculated by the
Byzantine astrologer Palchus about 475 A.D. If we re-calculate these
by our modern zodiac, we find the positions of the planets average
consistently three degrees less than the positions given by Palchus.
This shows, not that Palchus was inaccurate, but that he was using a
fiducial point some three degrees west of the equinox; in other words,
he was using a zodiac in which the vernal equinox happened of fall in
27 Pisces.
But besides NABURIANNU, KIDINNU, and PALCHUS, we have some ancient
ephemerides covering part of the first and second centuries, and in
these again the positions given for the planets are consistently just
so much out that we cannot only calculate the difference between their
fiducial and the equinox, but can also see this interval slowly
diminishing with the passage of time.
ANCIENT RECORDS
Now let us put together the statements of all these ancient records,
and see what we find. Since the equinox moves one degree in 72 years,
we can work out the following table:
SIDEREAL LONGITUDE
DATE OF EQUINOX ANCIENT RECORDS
507 B.C. 10 Aries As stated by Naburiannu about 500 B.C.
363 B.C. 8 Aries As stated by Kidinnu about 350 B.C.
219 B.C. 6 Aries
75 B.C. 4 Aries Berlin Papyrus P8279 gives 4 Aries for 30 B.C.
3 B.C. 3 Aries
69 A.D. 2 Aries Stobart Tablets give 2 Aries for A.D. 71
213 A.D. 0 Aries
429 A.D. 27 Pisces As used by Palchus about A.D. 475.
It can be seen that throughout these thousand years the same zodiac
was being used, within a margin of error of well under one degree! We
can therefore discover the zodiac of the ancients by calculating the
longitude of our four fixed stars in this zodiac, and the conclusion
which emerges is as follows: that Aldebaran marked the 15th degree of
Taurus; that Regulus marked 5 degrees Leo; that Spica marked the end
(29 degrees) of Virgo; and that Antares marked the heart (15 degrees)
of the Scorpion.
So now we know what the original zodiac was like. It was measured
from the fixed stars, primarily from Spica, and consisted of twelve
constellations of 30 degrees each, through which the tropics and
equinoxes moved slowly backwards. I must add that this discovery was
made by Mr. Cyril Fagan of Ireland and is explained in his book ZODIACS
OLD AND NEW.
Now although the preceding arguments are sound and, in my opinion,
irrefutable, they do lead us to a hard and horny problem. How did it
come about that Ptolemy in his Tetrabiblos expressly set out to measure
the zodiac from the equinox? Fortunately he gives us his reason; and I
have never met any astrologer who took it seriously. In fact it simply
does not hold water. His reason is (Book I, Chapter 22): "The
following, however, upon which it is worth while to dwell, we shall not
pass by, namely, that it is reasonable to reckon the beginnings of the
signs also from the equinoxes and solstices, partly because the writers
make this quite clear, and particularly because from our previous
demonstrations we observe that their natures, and familiarities take
their cause from the solsticial and equinoctial starting-places, and
from not other source." But this is only true if and insofar as the
cardinal quality of the cardinal signs is in fact derived from their
relation to the Sun's four cardinal points. But is it really? And
surely Ptolemy' argument would apply more strongly if the turning-
points fell in the middles of the signs! So the argument proves
nothing at all.
Furthermore, Ptolemy's reason for making Aries the first sign is
(Book I, Chapter 10) that it corresponds to the moist time of year and
is therefore analogous to youth in animals and plants. If this is to
have any reference to astrology, and not merely to the seasons, it
demands that Aries should be the most moist of signs. But Ptolemy
makes it hot, fiery, and dry!
Now we can easily tell that Ptolemy was brought up on the older
sidereal zodiac and really thought in those terms. He speaks
consistently of such things as "the sting of Scorpio" (III, 12), "the
eyes of Cancer" (I, 9), "The face of Capricorn" (IV, 5), and the north
and southern parts of all the signs (II, 11). Further he says (I, 14):
that "signs equidistant from the same equinoctial sign" (NB. not from
the equinox!) "ascend in equal periods of time." But this is only true
if the equinox is in the middle of a sign! So here Ptolemy has slipped
up and allowed a piece of ancient lore (as given for example in the
Michigan Papyrus) to creep in where he ought to have rejected it.
So Ptolemy's reason for measuring the zodiac from the equinox boils
down to this: that the idea had been suggested by Hipparchus, who
noticed that the equinox was getting very close to the beginning of
Aries, and that it appealed to Ptolemy's systematizing mind as a nice,
tidy, symmetrical arrangement.
It can now be seen why, in spite of the title of this article, I
have so far made no allusion to ancient Indian records. The Indians
have always used the sidereal zodiac of the ancients, and many of them
still measure it from Spica.
So the original zodiac, the zodiac to which Ptolemy's aphorisms were
intended to apply, was not the zodiac most astrologers use today. And
that leads us to one final question--what are we going to do about it?
*****************************
************
September 1950, American Astrology: MICHIGAN ASTROLOGICAL PAPYRUS
Translation and Commentary by Rupert Gleadow, M.A. (Oxon), and October
1950, American Astrology: MICHIGAN ASTROLOGICAL PAPYRUS, CONCLUSION,
Translation and Conclusion by Rupert Gleadow, M.A. (Oxon).
************
THE SIDEREAL ZODIAC, ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
November 1950, American Astrology
Rupert Gleadow, M.A. (Oxon)
In my preceding articles I have shown that the original zodiac, in
terms of which astrology was developed, was rather naturally measured,
not from an invisible moving point like our modern zodiac, but from a
fixed star. To the modern bookish astrologer who has all his
measurements served up to him in an ephemeris this may possibly seem
odd; but to anyone who looks at the sky and is accustomed to make his
measurements for himself, be he an ancient Phoenician sailor or a
modern patrol in the Sahara, the only possible starting-point is
something which he can see--in other words, a star.
The zodiac, then, as originally devised, was measured from the fixed
stars Spica, Antares, Regulus and Aldebaran. And it may be that this
original zodiac will even now given us better results. At any rate it
is only natural to wish to experiment with it, and I intend therefore
to point out some of the differences between it and the ordinary
zodiac.
The modern zodiac as commonly used is a tropical zodiac, that is to
say, it is measured from the tropical and equinoctial points; Cancer is
a name given to the first 30 degrees after the summer solstice, instead
of the summer solstice falling in so-many degrees of Cancer. The
fiducial or measuring-point of this zodiac is the vernal equinox, which
is by definition always on the equator; and this is very convenient
because it means that each degree of this zodiac remains always at a
fixed distance from the equator, and therefore all tables of houses for
it will remain valid indefinitely so long as the obliquity of the
ecliptic does not sensibly change....
The zodiac of the ancients was a sidereal zodiac, that is to say, it
was based on the apparent revolutions of the fixed stars (ignoring
"proper motion") and accordingly in it the fixed stars are fixed. For
that reason it has also been called the fixed zodiac. But
correspondingly it has the disadvantage that its fiducials, which can
be easily seen on any starry night, do not remain at a fixed distance
from the equator; and consequently the right ascension and declination
of each degree is always gradually changing, and a table of houses does
not remain valid very long. In fact in the sidereal zodiac a table of
houses must be calculated for some definite year, and it will then be
correct to within thirty seconds for 36 years before or after. Tables
of houses for the sidereal zodiac are usually calculated for 1940
because at that date the difference between the sidereal and tropical
zodiacs was exactly 24 degrees; but these tables can quite well be used
for 1840 by adding 1d 23' to the readings.
It not infrequently happens, however, that the experimenter is
without a sidereal table of houses for the latitude he requires. In
that case he simply looks up the cusps in the ordinary tropical table
of houses and then makes a correction according to the date. The
correction for January 1, 1950, for instance, is - 24 degrees, 8' 36";
and this is usually applied by adding its arithmetical complement (30
degrees - 24d 8' 36" = 5d 51' 24") and then deducting a whole sign.
Should the midheaven, for example, fall in 18d 53' Gemini of the
tropical zodiac (TZ), by adding 5d 51' and subtracting a sign, we find
it in 24d 44' Taurus of the sidereal zodiac (SZ). Thus a whole
horoscope can be easily converted by putting each planet and cusp into
the preceding sign and then increasing its longitude by whatever the
amount may be for the year in question; but so long as the difference
between the two zodiacs is 24 degrees, planets and cusps in the last 6
degrees of any sign will remain in the same sign.
Next, it is advisable to remember that solar and lunar returns will
always occur 'later' in the sidereal zodiac. The reason for this is
that in the tropical zodiac the fiducial is moving backwards at the
rate of 50" per year, while the planets are moving forward; the two
will therefore meet sooner than they would if they had a fiducial which
remained in the same place. This backward movement is known as the
Precession of the Equinoxes.
The amount of difference in time between a solar return in the
tropical and one in the sidereal zodiac is approximately 20 minutes for
every year of the native's age; for it takes the sun about 20 minutes
to go 50" of arc, and the distance to be made up increases by 50' per
year. At the age of eighteen, therefore, the difference in time
between the two revolutions will be about 6 hours; and the age of 36 it
will be about 12 hours; and at the age of 72 a whole day....This means
that throughout adult life the angular planets in the two charts will
be different.
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Re: Sidereal Astrology Publishing Firsts
TIMING OF PLANETS
But solar and lunar returns are not the only phenomena which differ
between the two zodiacs. There is also a perceptible difference in the
timing of the slower transits. To give an example, the present Duke of
Windsor was born with Jupiter in 18.23 Gemini tropical, and on the date
of his abdication Neptune was transiting in square to his natal Jupiter
in 18.56 Virgo tropical, the Sun being on the final afternoon in 18d
30' Sagittarius. In the sidereal zodiac, however, the natal Jupiter
was in 25.01 Taurus, and the transiting Neptune in 24.59 Leo, only 2
minutes of arc from the perfect square and therefore measuring much
more closely to the date.
The two zodiacs coincided in A.D. 213, that being the year when the
equinox precessed back to the beginning of the ancient constellation
Aries; and the marking-stars of the ancients then had the same
longitude in both zodiacs. The difference between the two zodiacs has
of course been growing ever since, and amounted to exactly 23 degrees
in 1868, and exactly 24 degrees in 1940. This means that all persons
having their Sun, Moon or Ascendant in the first 23 or 24 degrees of a
sign of the Tropical Zodiac have them in the preceding constellation of
the sidereal zodiac. At first, of course, this seems intolerable to
most of us, because we wildly assume that the sidereal Leo has just
about the same characteristics and tropical Leo, and we say to
ourselves: "I have always been Virgo, I cannot suddenly become Leo."
But this line of argument is what is known as the Homonymous Fallacy.
It consists in assuming that two things which bear the same name must
also have the same nature--in other words, that the sidereal Leo must
have the same characteristics as the tropical Leo. This assumption is
quite unjustified. The characters of the tropical signs have been
derived very largely from experience, and there is no excuse for trying
to glue them on to the constellations. In a future articles I shall
discuss what the ancient writers have to say about character and the
constellations; and it will be seen that the characters of the
constellations are not at all the same as those of the signs.
If we observe the sky at night we can see the sidereal zodiac above
us. It is true that the constellations do not all look equally large,
although the astrologers of old made all twelve of them 30 degrees in
length. None the less in terms of the sidereal zodiac the Bull's eye
and horns are in the Bull and not, as the tropical zodiac makes out, in
the Twins; and a planet seen between the claws of the Scorpion [in the
sidereal zodiac] is actually in Scorpio instead of being labelled
"Sagittarius." By this method one can actually see the Moon's sign-
position instead of having to work it out from an ephemeris.
PTOLEMY
The man chiefly responsible for abandoning the original zodiac was
Claudius Ptolemy; and we should never guess his reasons, so it is
fortunate that he gives them. To begin with, he maintains that
childhood exceeds in moisture, youth in heat, maturity in dryness, and
old age in cold; and since this is analogous to the four seasons of
spring, summer, autumn and winter, it therefore follows that the zodiac
must begin with the beginning of spring. But this is no more than an
agreeable comparison; it cannot be taken as a serious argument, more
especially since it does not work out; for if spring really exceeds in
moisture, it must follow that Aries is the most moist of all the signs.
But Ptolemy ignores this point, and calls Aries hot and dry!
After this frankly egregious beginning, his reason for measuring the
signs from the actual solstices and equinoxes is even more problematic.
We find it in Book I of the Tetrabiblos, chapters 11 and 22. In one
place he says of the signs that "their more general temperaments are
each analogous to the seasons that take place in them," and in the
other "their natures, powers, and familiarities take their cause from
the solsticial and equinoctial starting-places, 'and from no other
source'." (Robbins' translation, my italics.)
This can only mean that the character of [the tropical sign] Aries
is derived simply and solely from the fact that it immediately follows
the vernal equinox, and that the figure of the Ram, the rulership of
Mars, and the attribution to cardinal fire, are mere descriptions
having no influence at all on the actual nature of the sign. In a
similar way the character of [the tropical sign] Taurus must depend
solely on the fact that it lies half way between the vernal equinox and
the summer solstice.
Frankly, these are not arguments which anyone can now take
seriously. In fact nobody does take them seriously. If we believe in
the tropical zodiac we do so on the basis of our own experience and not
because of what Ptolemy said. But the fact is that, as we now see,
Ptolemy, who launched the tropical zodiac, did so for reasons which we
can only consider totally inadequate, namely because a nice tidy scheme
appealed to his nice tidy mind. If we have minds like Ptolemy we shall
probably want to stick to the tropical zodiac; but, if we do, let us
remember how shakey are its foundations both historically and
theoretically. It may have worked well for some time, but who knows if
the original zodiac may not work better?
Another difference between the two zodiacs is in the attribution of
three signs to each of the four elements. This piece of schematism is
just the sort of thing that appealed to Ptolemy; but before his time
the attributions were different and rather uncertain. They were based
on what one can only call a principle of common sense, according to
which the Crab, the Sea-Goat's tail, the Waterman, and the Fishes, were
all signs of water, Leo was fiery as being the sign of the Sun, Virgo
was airy of account of her wings, and earth included such terrestrial
creatures as the Ram, the Bull, the Scorpion, the equine half of
Sagittarius, and the terrestrial foreparts of the Goat. Regarding
Gemini, Libra and the rest of Sagittarius there seems to have been some
doubt.
It will be seen, therefore, that the original zodiac of the ancients
differed from the modern zodiac in three ways: first, it was measured
from the stars instead of the tropics, and so tables of houses do not
remain constant; secondly, although the rulerships and exaltations are
the same, the natures of the constellations are not the same as those
of the signs of the same name, and their influence on character and
temperament is different; and thirdly, the predictive methods are
different, the revolutions of Sun and Moon occurring later and being
more expressive, and the slower transits being also affected.
"But the highest of all learning is the knowledge of the
stars. To trace their course is to untangle the threads
of the mystery of life from beginning to end. If we could
follow them perfectly, nothing would be hidden from us."
Henry Van Dyke
* * * *
****************************************
July 1953 American Astrology, by Cyril Fagan,
SOLUNARS, A MODERN APPROACH TO AN ANCIENT METHOD
(Reprint from 1953 Annual Issue of
The Astrological Magazine of Bangalore, India)
The astrological chart of the nativity, frequently referred to as
the geniture, can be likened to a germinating seed. In the course of
time a seed will break through the soil and produce its foliage,
flowers and fruit. Such internal growth is but an extension of the
seed itself and "incidental" to it: for the promise of the future plant
was already hidden in the seed. But the growth and well-being of the
plant can be affected from outside sources. It can be trampled
underfoot by animal or man, uprooted before it has time to put forth
its flower, withered for want of rain, blighted by disease and
otherwise at the mercy of the elements. These effects not being
inherent in its growth or foreordained in the seed are termed
"accidents." The "incidents" being subjective, are astrologically
indicated by Primary and Secondary Directions, by lunar progressions
and in Hindu astrology by the Dasa and Antardasa planetary periods;
while the "accidents," being objective, are denoted by the celestial
changes occurring in the ambient, that is by transits and transit-
charts, such as 'solunars' (i.e., solar and lunar revolutions or
returns).
If we would understand astrology aright these "incidents" and
"accidents" must be clearly differentiated. For example, if in his
24th year an individual becomes insane as a result of a hereditary
taint, this would be an "incident" in his life and hence would be
revealed in the directions in force at the time. But if an otherwise
healthy individual is knocked down by an automobile and so injured as
to impair his sanity, this would be an "accident" and would be
indicated in the current solunar returns, or in other transit-charts,
but it would not be shown in directions or progressions--primary or
secondary, direct or converse. Of course there are times where
incidents may occasion accidents, as when, for example, an elderly
lady, enfeebled by age, loses her nerve in traffic and gets killed. In
this case we should expect to find an interaction between transits and
progressions. The common notion that all that can befall one is
decreed in the geniture and its progressions is contradicted by the
facts of experience and by common sense. Epidemics, earthquakes, wars
and so forth are usually predictable from various mundane charts, which
are nothing else but transit-charts. If some 10,000 people should be
killed as the result of an earthquake, predicted from a solar eclipse
(a transit), then it would be absurd to look to these people's
directions or progressions to account for their untimely end when the
obvious cause of their death was that very eclipse which must have
fallen on some vulnerable spot in their natal themes.
TROPICAL VERSUS SIDEREAL SOLUNARS
Why have solunars fallen into disuse today? True, their method of
computation is included in most of the standard text-books on
astrology; but for all that they are only accorded a subsidiary place
in the prophetic art with merely perfunctory attention. Scan through
the leading astrological magazines and rarely will one find an allusion
to them, or in general they never figure in annual or monthly
forecasts. Why then are they so neglected in modern times? Obviously
because they have not been found reliable.
The failure of solunars to fulfil expectations is due to the
following causes:
(A) In ancient time, down to as late as the 5th century A.D., all
revolutions were computed in terms of the fixed or sidereal zodiac,
which is not affected by precession; whereas in modern times these
returns are computed with reference to the tropical zodiac invented in
error by Hipparchus about B.C. 139 and which the author of the
Tetrabiblos (2nd century A.D.) strove to popularize. It was the
tragedy of the Greek genius that it could never divest itself of the
conviction that the equinoctial points, which perpetually rose and set
due east and west respectively were 'fixed absolutely' in space; hence
their invention of a 'series' of tropical zodiacs. Had they suspected
otherwise, they would have discovered that the earth itself was moving.
In the Cleostratus version the vernal point is believed to have been
'fixed' in Aries 12 degrees, in that according to Naburiannu ("System
No. 2") in Aries 10 degrees in the Callippic or Hellenistic version,
according to Kidinnu ("System No. 1") in Aries 8 degrees, while
Hipparchus fixed it absolutley in Aries 0 degrees (its true position
being then Aries 4d 51').
(B) Solunars, being adjuncts to the geniture, should be judged by
the unalloyed rules of Genethliacs and not be medieval or modern text-
book astrology, which is an incoherent jumble of genethliacal and
horary aphorisms, with the latter predominating.
With regard to (A) all astrologers are aware that the solar
revolution (or return) is a figure of the heavens struck for the moment
the Sun returns to the place in the heavens it occupied at birth, and
which occurs annually about the time of the birthday anniversary. Now
if the Sun was in precise conjunction with a fixed star at birth it
should always be in precise conjunction with the same fixed star at
every successive solar return. (As a fixed star, by virtue of its
proper motion, on the average moves 1 degree in about 120,000 years,
its motion during one's life span would be so small as to be
negligible.) Suppose, for example, an individual was born on August
22, 1900 at 0:38 a.m. G.M.T., the tropical longitude of the Sun would
then be 148d 26' and hence in exact conjunction with Regulus (Alpha
Leonis), whose tropical longitude for that year was also 148d 26'.
According to the method of calculating solar returns in common use, the
50th solar return would occur on August 22, 2950 at 2:31 a.m. G.M.T.
when the Sun's tropical longitude would again be 148d 26'. But in 1950
Regulus' tropical longitude was 149d 06' and hence the Sun would not be
in exact conjunction with Regulus until August 22, 0:03pm G.M.T. or 17
1/2 hours later! This illustration completely exposes the fallacy of
the modern method of computing solar and lunar returns.
Tropical Sidereal
Sun's longitude 188d 55' 30" 165d 54' 37"
Moon's longitude 139 56' 116d 55'
D H M S
Tropical solar return 1947 October 2 23 44 57
Sidereal solar return 1947 October 4 2 16 05
Difference in time = 26h 31m 1 2 31 08
Tropical lunar return 1948 January 26 15 31
Sidereal lunar return 1948 January 27 7 52
Difference in time = 16h 21m 16 21
TIME DIFFERENCE
The time difference between the tropical and sidereal method of
calculating these returns as roughly in proportion to the age of the
native. This is best illustrated by reference to the tropical and
sidereal solunars preceding the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, given
below.
We thus see that Gandhi's tropical solar and lunar returns, covering
the date of his assassination January 30, 1948, occurred 26h 31m and
16h 21m respectively too early; little wonder therefore that solunars
have fallen into disrepute.
Some thoughtful astrologers, being mindful of this anomaly, have
tried to effect a compromise by applying precision, equivalent to the
native's age to the tropical longitude of the Sun at birth and
computing the solar return for this new position. While this
undoubtedly produces a makeshift solar return approximating in time (no
allowance being made for the effects of solar and lunar mutation) with
that of the sidereal return, the procedure is astronomically untenable.
The 'raison d'etre' of the tropical system lies in the fact that it is
'inviolably precessional' because its fiducials are vernal and autumnal
points, which are continuous shifting 'backwards' among the zodiacal
constellations at the rate of 1 degrees in approximately 71.6 years. In
relation to the fixed stars precession is therefore a negative term and
to add precession to the Sun's natal position is to cancel altogether
the effects of the accrued precession, and thereby convert the Sun's
position into a quasi-fixed longitude, which violates the integrity of
the tropical system, while conceding that of the sidereal.
In the prophetic art of antiquity pride of place was given to the
Solunars and all forecasts that have been so sensationally fulfilled as
to cause the fame of the Chaldeans to spread far and wide in the old
world and to induce even the Emperors of Imperial Rome to study
astrology were based on such figures, and not on progressions. Hermes
in his De Revolutionibus Nativitatum as cited by Bouche-Leclerc
(L.Astrologie Grecque, Paris 1899) says:
"The Babylonians, Persians, Indians and Egyptians, both kings and
private persons, undertook nothing in any year without examining their
revolutions: and if they found the year good they set to work,
otherwise they refrained. The kings examined the nativities of their
generals and observed their revolutions and if they found that for one
of them the return indicated power and victory they sent him against
the enemy, otherwise they left him aside. And they observed the
genitures not only of their generals but of ambassadors to see if their
anniversary (solar return) indicated a successful result. If it
signified prosperity they sent for them, but if not they appointed
instead others whose anniversary did presage success. In the same
manner kings and citizens chose food, drink, medicine; bought, sold and
did everything according to their returns: and they used these things
and left aside those likely to be hurtful that year. They deduced from
their own nativities and those of others and acted accordingly....So
the study of revolutions is very useful and expedient...."
From this it will be seen that the delineation of revolutions not
only took pride of place in the predictive art of antiquity but it was
given attention that has no parallel in the astrology of today.
A ROYAL "INCIDENT"
Physical disintegration consequent on constitutional delicacy is an
"incident" and is therefore predictable from directions. Most
astrologers are aware that the measure of death, especially that to old
age, is the primary direction of the ascendant to the conjunction or
oppostion of the radical Saturn. This is splendidly exemplified in the
case of Queen Mary who, according to the official bulletin, was born at
Kensington Palace, London, Latitude 51N30'20" (Geocentric = 51N19'02"),
Longitude 0W12'45" on Sunday May 26, 1867 at 11:59pm GMT.
QUEEN MARY: May 26, 1867, 11:59pm GMT, Latitude 51N30', Longitude
0W21'. MC 12SCO32; ASC 13CAP10; Jupiter 13AQU03, Moon 15AQU23,
Neptune 21PIS23, Venus 10ARI26, Pluto 22ARI21, Mercury 6TAU22, SUN
12TAU12'45" (and angular on IC), Uranus 13GEM38, Mars 22CAN28, North
Node 26LEO41, Saturn 26LIB41.
Her birth must have been remarkably closely timed for had she
arrived one minute later it would have occurred on Monday May 27th!
The Queen died in her sleep at Marlboro House, London, on Tuesday,
March 24, 1953 at 10:30pm GMT. Saturn's declination was 15S20'20"
therefore its semi-arc, computed for the geocentric latitude of the
birthplace was 69d 57'55". Its R.A. ws 227d 56'00' and the R.A. of MC
243d 37'00". The orthodox or Ptolemaic art (1 degree = 1 year of life)
= 85d 50' while the mean arc (59" 08" = l year of life) = 84d 36'.
(a) Asc. conjoined Saturn in zodiaco converse = 83d 57'.
(b) Asc. conjoined Saturn in mundo converse = 85d 39'.
Geographical latitude gives the arc as 85d 30'.
A rectification of only minus 44 seconds in time to the recorded
birthtime 11:59 (i.e. 11:58:16) would make (b) EXACT; a rectification
that would 'increase' the time of birth by more than one minute is
hardly permissable as it would make the Queen's birth occur on the next
day. From this case the following conclusions may reasonably be
deduced:
(1) that Primary Directions of the angles are effective.
(2) that directions of the Asc. to Saturn are Anaeretic
(destructive).
(3) that the true "arc of direction" is the Ptolemaic.
(4) that directions must be made "in mundo" and not "in zodiaco."
(5) that the semi-arc must be computed for the geocentric latitude
of birth.
Such a rigorous test is ony possible in the case of a person
advanced in age and whose birth-time was precisely recorded. Hence its
importance. Not only does it uphold the "Classical Tradition"--which
will gladden the hearts of Countess Wasilko and her confreres of the
Austrian Astrological Society--but is a complete vindication of
astrology in general.
************************************
****************************************
"THE INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS OF ASTROLOGY"
PART 8 (of 10) "THE AYANAMSHA"
Cyril Fagan, FAFA,
AFA Bulletin, April 9, 1948
Ayanamsha, i.e., the number of degrees of the ecliptic that separate
the regressing vernal equinox from the first point of ASVINI--the first
asterism of the Hindu Zodiac--at any given time.
Most readers of the AFA BULLETIN know that before the introduction
of the Egyptian Zodiac into India, the ecliptic circle of the Hindu
heavens was divided into 27 lunar asterisms, called NAKSHATRAS, each
containing 13d 20', approximately equivalent to the mean daily motion
of the Moon, and commencing with the asterism Asvini. To each
nakshatra was allotted a fixed star, called its YOGATARA or junction-
star. While many of these junction-stars were zodiacal, others were
not. In several of the Hindu siddhantas (or ancient books of
astrology), the distances of many of these yogataras from the
commencement of their asterisms are given, notably in the Pancha-
siddhanta, edited by Vahara Mihara, and in the Surya-siddhanta. The
complete list of the nakshatras and their yogataras, given on page 78
of the FIXED ZODIAC EPHEMERIS for 1948 is derived from the later work.
Opinions differ among Hindu scholars as to the identities of several of
these junction stars.
A peculiarity of ancient Hindu astrology is that measurements are
expressed in DHRUVAKS (polar longitudes) and VIKSHEPAS (polar
latitudes). The polar longitude is the distance of a celestial body's
circle of declination (which is a great circle of the sphere and must
not be confused with a parallel of declination, which is a small circle
of the sphere cutting the former at right angles) from the first point
of Asvini measured along the ecliptic; while its polar latitude is the
distance of the body, above or below the ecliptic, measured along its
circle of declination.
Unfortunately, for many years Hindu opinion has been sharply
divided as to what constitutes the true starting point of the their
nakshatras and later of their zodiac. Chapter and verse from their
revered siddhantas have been cited time and again in support of the
rival claims of the fixed star Revati - which Indian scholars (with
some dissentients) identify with ZETA PISCIUM (a small star of the 5th
magnitude in the constellation Pisces and almost exactly on the
ecliptic circle) - and Chitra or SPICA (a brilliant star of the 1st
magnitude, situated in the constellation Virgo and about two degrees
below the ecliptic circle). In support of their convictions frequent
appeals have been made to the yogatara lists in the Pancha, Surya and
other siddhantas. The position is complicated by the fact that the
dates of these lists are also matters of dispute, while no little doubt
exists as to the identity of many of the junction-stars, despite the
fact that their dhruvaks and vikshepas are given. Moreover, several of
the yogataras in one list do not tally as regards position or latitudes
with stars of the same asterisms in other lists.
Robert DeLuce, MAFA, well known to readers of the AFA BULLETIN and
a recognised authority on Hindu Jyotisha (astrology), points out that
the data respecting the two yogataras of Pushya and Aslesha given in
the Pancha-siddhanta (acknowledged to be at least several centuries
older than the 'modern' version of the Surya-siddhanta) is widely
divergent from the data given in the Surya-siddhanta list, and
therefore these cannot be identical. Having regard to their dhruvaks
and vikshepas, Mr. DeLuce suggests that in the Panch-siddhanta list,
these should be identified with Mu and Delta Cancri, respectively,
which seems reasonable. In this connection, attention is directed to
Mr. DeLuce's thoughtful and informative article on the same subject
which appeared in the AFA BULLETIN for April 1944. [!!!]
Although this problem has been ventilated by Mr. DeLuce himself in
the AFA BULLETIN (ibid) and by Prof. R. Krishnamurti, Messrs. S.R. Kar,
R. V. Vaidya and others in the pages of the THE ASTROLOGER'S MAGAZINE,
edited by Dr. Raman of Bangalore, it may not be inopportune to consider
the problem afresh and the questions that arise therefrom. Let us
examine the seven yogataras given by Vahara Mihira in his Pancha-
siddhanta. As the table given on page 3 of his article on the
Ayanamsha was defective, Mr. DeLuce, in correspondence, kindly amended
it to read as follows:
(a) (b) (c) (d)
Identified Nakshatra DHRUVAKA VIKSHEPA
Yogatara Position (Polar (Polar
Longitude) Latitude)
1. Alcyone 6d Krittika 32d 40' 3N10'
2. Aldebaran 8d Rohini 48d 00' 4S59'
3. Pollux 8d Punarvasu 88d 00' 7N15'
4. Mu Cancri 4d Pushya 97d 20' 3N10'
5. Delta Cancri 1d Aslesha 107d 40' 0N54'
6. Regulus 6d Magha 126d 00' 0 00'
7. Spica 7-1/2d Chitra 180d 50' 2S43'
We are indebted to Prof. R. Krishnamurti (ASTROLOGERS' MAGAZINE,
October 1947, p.637) for the following formula which enables us to
determine ecliptic longitude in the fixed zodiac, i.e., from the first
point of Asvini, given polar longitude and polar latitude:
cos polar long. tan polar lat.
Tan d = --------------------------------
cos polar long. plus cot obliquity of ecliptic
where "d" is the difference between polar and ecliptic longitude. If
polar longitude falls between 90d and 270d and polar latitude is north,
"d" must be deducted from polar longitude to obtain ecliptic longitude
in the fixed zodiac; but if polar latitude is south, it must be added.
If polar longitude falls between 270 degrees and 90 degrees and polar
latitude is north, "d" must be added to polar longitude, but if south,
it must be subtracted.
(e) (f) (g) (h)
Calculated Fixed Zodiac Moving Zodiac Indicated
Value of "d" Longitude Longitude for Ayanamsha
1920 for 1920
1. +1d 05' 33d 45' 58d 52' 25d 07'
2. -1d 24' 46d 36' 68d 40' 22d 04'
3. +0d 07' 88d 07' 112d 07' 24d 00'
4. -0d 11' 97d 09' 117d 33' 20d 24'
5. -0d 07' 107d 33' 127d 36' 20d 03
6. 0 00 126d 00' 148d 43' 22d 43'
7. +0d 52' 181d 43' 202d 43' 21d 01'
--------
Mean value of indicated ayanamsha . . . . . 22d 12'
Spica's ayanamsha for 1920 . . . . . . . . 22d 43'
--------
Difference only . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0d 31'
Revati's ayanamsha for 1920 . . . . . . . . 18d 45'
Difference as much as . . . . . . . . . . 3d 37' !!!
(Spica's polar ayanamsha for 1920 . . . . . 21d 55'
Revati's polar ayanamsha for 1920 . . . . 18d 51')
By adding or deducting, as indicated, "d" to the polar longitudes
in column (c), the fixed zodiac longitudes in column (f) were obtained;
and if these are deducted from the longitudes of the fixed stars in the
moving zodiac for the epoch 1920 (g), the difference will be the
indicated ecliptic ayanamsha for that year (h). Of these seven
junction-stars the lowest value of ayanamsha is 20d 03' which is still
greater by 1d 18' over that due to Revati (18d 45'), while the highest
value falls short by 2d 21' of the ayanamsha 27d 28' computed for the
beginning of the Vikrama era (autumn equinox B.C. 57) stated to be
established by King Vikramaditya of Ujjain when the vernal-point was
supposed to be identical with the first point of Asvini or beginning of
Aries (i.e., the zero-regressional year). The mean ayanamsha, as can
be seen, is within half a degree of SPICA'S true ecliptic ayanamsha.
Indeed, REGULUS, which is almost on the ecliptic circle enjoys an
ayanamsha identical with the latter. It is clear therefore that this
table indicates that SPICA was the true marking star. [!!!]
Prof. P.S. Sastri and others (including Mr. DeLuce have produced
evidence to prove that Vahara Mihara, who edited the BRIHAT SAMHITA and
the PANCHA-SIDDHANTA was "one of the nine jewels that graced the court
of King Vikramaditya" and, therefore, must have lived in the first
century B.C. and not, as commonly supposed, in the 5th century A.D.
(Salivahama era). Now the "Brihat Samhita" has frequently been cited
to prove that in Vahara's time the summer solstice was in the beginning
of the constellation Cancer, and the winter in that of Capricorn (vide,
Sepharial's SCIENCE OF FOREKNOWLEDGE, p.69), and this has led many
scholars to believe that the Vikrama era was established to commemorate
the fact that the fixed and moving zodiacs coincided at this period.
Hence, some scholars have computed their ayanamshas from the beginning
of the Vikrama era despite the fact that not one of the yogatara lists
lend any support. But Prof. Sastri (ASTROLOGERS' MAGAZINE, 1947
January, p.48) points out that this is a misreading and that
Bhattotpada, in his commentary on the Pancha-siddhanta shows that
Vahara Mihara meant that "in his time" the Sun's southern course
(Dakshinayana) commenced when it was at the end of the nakshatra
Purnarvasu, that is, in Cancer 3d 20', but that in the time of the
Maharishis Garga and Parasa, it was in the middle of the nakshatra
Aslesha, that is, in Cancer 23d 20'. Reference to Table IV of THE
FIXED ZODIAC EPHEMERIS FOR 1948 shows that the summer solstice was in
Cancer 3d 20' in A.D. 44 and in Cancer 23d 20' in B.C. 1396, thus
confirming that Vahara Mihara flourished about the time of Manilius,
and a generation or two before Claudius Ptolemy and the pseudo-Manetho.
Hence, the theory that the two zodiacs coincided at the beginning of
the Christian era collapses.
The foregoing makes it clear that Chitra (SPICA) must have been the
origin-star of the Hindu zodiac for if Revati is taken as marking the
beginning of Asvini, then the summer solstice would not be in Cancer 3d
20' until A.D. 331, a period that agrees with neither datings in terms
of the Vikrama or the Salivahana eras.
From the evidence of "The Egyptian Planetary Ephemerides" for B.C
16 to A.D. 11 (Demotic Berlin Papyrus P. 8279) and those for A.D. 71 to
A.D. 132 (Stobat Demotic Tablets) as well as the Babylonian ephemerides
for the last two centuries B.C., discovered by Father Kugler, S.J.
(Sternkunde u. Sterndienst in Babel), we know beyond all shadow of
doubt that at the beginning of the Christian era the summer and winter
solstices were in the 4th degree of Cancer and Capricorn, respectively,
and as there is no reason to suppose that the zodiac of India differed
in any degree from that of Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, China or of the
Hebrews, we must conclude that Chitra (SPICA) was the true marking star
of the earliest Hindus.
One would expect to find in the other siddhantas confirmation of
the positions of the yogataras as given in the Pancha-siddhanta, but,
for some inexplicable reason, this, unfortunately, is far from being
the case. For example, in the Surya, Soma, Vriddha-Vasishtha, and
Brahma siddhanta, SPICA's polar longitude is given as 'precisely' Libra
0d 00' with polar latitude S 2 degrees. This suggests that as far as
these four siddhantas are concerned the ayanamsha was measured in
polar, rather than ecliptic longitude. It would be, indeed, strange,
if it were otherwise, seeing that the positions of all the yogataras
are recorded in this manner. The corresponding position of SPICA,
measured in ecliptic degrees would be Libra 0d 48'. At the same time
the position of Revati i the Surya, Vriddha-Vasishtah and Brahma
siddhantas is given as Aries 0d 00' with zero polar latitude, thus
making the polar distance them 'exactly' 180 degrees, lending colour to
the opinion that originally Revati was but the opposition-point to
SPICA, and only a mathematical abstraction. This opinion was
strengthened by the fact that the ecliptic difference between SPICA and
Zeta Piscium - identified with Revati - is 176d 02', revealing the
large error of 3d 12'! The Pitamaha siddhanta, however, gives SPICA's
polar longitude as Libra 3d and its latitude as S 2d, and the polar
longitude of Revati (here obviously identified with Zeta Piscium) as
Pisces 29d 50'. As the corresponding ecliptic longitude of SPICA is
Libra 3d 32', the distance between them becomes 176d 18', which is
close to the true value, hence this siddhanta definitely favors Revati
(the star), as the beginning of Asvini. The date or period of this
siddhanta is unknown to the writer. The other siddhantas are equivocal
and ambiguous. Attention is drawn to the fact that in the Pancha
siddhanta the position of Regulus - a star of the 1st magnitude and
almost exactly on the ecliptic circle - is given as Leo 6d, which is
precisely its position in the SPICA zodiac. Yet in the Araya-Bhattya
and Lallya siddhantas, it is given as Leo 8d, while in the Pitamaha,
Surya, Soma, Vriddha-Vasishtah, Brahma and Prahma-Gupta siddhantas, it
is given as Leo 9d (vide, VEXED QUESTION OF THE AYANAMSHA by Mr. Susil
Kumar Kar in ASTROLOGERS' MAGAZINE, 1947 April).
R. V. Vaidya in his interesting contribution to THE ASTROLOGERS'
MAGAZINE for January 1948, on the "Junction-stars in the Surya-
siddhanta," ventures to determine the mean value of the ayansmsha for
A.D. 1945 from the positions of the yogataras as listed in that work.
As was to be expected, he was up against the usual inconsistencies and,
in regard to several found it expedient to substitute other stars for
those commonly accepted and for the most cogent reasons. In other
cases he questions the correctness of the positions (Liptika) and is
forced to suggest, and adopt, alternative renderings. From this list
as thus amended he derives the mean value of the ayanamsha (ecliptical)
as 20d 27', and the zero-regressional year as A.D. 469. Needless to
say, his findings are substantially at variance with those of Mr. Kumar
Kar, Mr. Narain Roa and others. But assuming his amendments are
justified, it remains an incontrovertible fact that as Revati's true
ecliptic ayanamsha for 1945 was 19d 06' 23" and SPICA's 23d 04' 25",
this value and that of Mr. Kumar Kar (1900--19d 19') must be erroneous.
And this leads me to the signficant part of this paper. The
calculation of the ayanamsha due to Revati's (Zeta Piscium) or SPICA's
(Alpha virginis) ecliptic (or polar) position can be computed direct
from the Nautical Almanac or similar official publication, with the
highest degree of accuracy by anyone who is capable of converting right
ascension and declination into geocentric longitude, quite regardless
of ancient tables or of the date of the zero-regressional year. If the
polar ayanamsha is required, it can be computed from the following
formula:
cot. polar longitude = cot. R.A. cos obliquity of ecliptic
But if a polar ayanamsha is deemed to be the correct measure, then,
to be consistent, the position of the Moon and planets must also be
expressed in a like manner which will alter their ephemeral positions
considerably; a change hardly likely to be welcomed by the majority of
our modern compilers of Panchangas (Hindu Ephemerides).
For the year 1883 Revati's true ayanamsha was 18d 14'28" (polar
ayanamsha = 18d 20') and SPICA's 22d 12'32" (polar ayanamsha = 21d
23'), yet for that year the estimates fo the following authorities,
cited by Robert DeLuce in his AYANAMSHA (AFA BULLETIN, 1944 April)
were:
1. Bombay Almanac 18d14'20"
2. Mr. Vijayaraghavula of Madras 18d25'25"
3. Mr. Chidambarem Aiyer 20d24'24"
4. Siddhanta Almanac 20d46'15"
5. Benares Almanac 21d58'29"
6. Madras Almanac 22d02'39"
7. Smamikannu's INDIAN EPHEMERIS 22d06'31"
8. Vadha Almanac 22d41'44"
----------
Mean of #3 to #8, inclusive 21d40 00" 21d40'00"
Spica's true ayan. for 1883 22d12'32 Revati's ayan. 18d14'28"
---------- ---------
Difference only 0d 32'32" Differs as
much as 3d25'32"
Whatever case is made for Revati as marking the beginning of Asvini,
it is apparent (with the exception of 1 and 2, which doubtlessly
computed their ayanamsha with some regard to Revati's factual position)
that these ayanamsha approximate much more closely to SPICA than to
Revati; and the situation today differs but little from that of 1883.
Of what avail is it to assert that Revati is the marking-star when in
fact the published ayanamshas diverge as much as 3 or 4 degrees from
its true astronomical value? For the year 1947 Revati's mean
ayanamsha, at the beginning of the year, was 19d 08'04" which means
that Ravi (the Sun) entered Asvini (Aries) on Wednesday, April 9th,
whereas the majority of Panchangas agree in giving the date of the
Sun's ingress as April 14th, a difference of 5 days!!! But if Chitra
(SPICA) is accepted as the Hindu "sothis", then its ayanamsha, 23d
06'06", gives the correct data of entry of the Sun into Asvini as April
14th, at 3:00 a.m., Indian Standard Time. THE ASTROLOGERS' MAGAZINE
EPHEMERIS for April 1947, compiled by L. Narain Roa, gives the time of
entry as 2:39 a.m., I.S.T. April 14th, indicating ONLY A DIFFERENCE OF
0h 21m! It is therefore abundantly clear that SPICA was 'de facto' the
real marking-star.
This is amply testified by the fact that Mr. Roa in his excellent
article "Ayanamsha - No Longer a Speculation" (ASTROLOGERS' MAGAZINE,
1947, January) gives, for January 1, 1947, the value as 23d 05'39",
while that due to SPICA's factual position is 23d 06'06", a difference
of only 0d 00'27"!!! At the same time he gives the zero-regressional
year as A.D. 291, which compared with that of SPICA, A.D. 285, gives
only a difference of 6 years! Moreover for the summer solstice for the
same year Prof. Sastri gives the ayanamsha as 23d 05'29"! Others who
have adopted an ayanamsha agreeing closely with SPICA's true value are
Prof. Rajkumar Sen, Prof. Radhaballava Jyotisirtha, Mr. Ketker and F.
C. Dutt.
This confusion in regard to the ayanamsha is caused by the fact
that in remote antiquity the Hindus, like the Egyptians, Babylonians,
Assyrians, and Chinese began their sacerdotal and civil years at the
acronychal (evening) and heliacal (morning) rising of Chitra (SPICA),
respectively; the precursors of the Feast of the Passover (Easter) and
of the Tabernacles. In Egypt frequent reference is made to two
distinct years, the well-known sothic year which commenced about the
middle of July with the heliacal rising of Sothis (Sirius), and the
"Year of the Ancients" which began with the heliacal rising of Menat
(SPICA). Thus, it is recorded in the Calendar of Esneh, of the time of
Ptolemy Euergetes II, that the beginning of "The Year of the Ancients"
fell on 9 Thoth (of the ordinary or wandering calendar), and another
New Year's Day fell on 26 Payne (EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY, Duncan
Macnaughton). Calculation shows that the former date occurred on
September 30, B.C. 118, which was the precise date of Menat's heliacal
rising, while the latter fell on July 13th of the year following, which
was the date of Sirius' heliacal rising. Moreover, the position of the
planets in the celestial diagram of the high priest Keter tally with
October 4, A.D. 93, which was also the date of Menat's heliacal rising.
Like the Babylonians, whom Karl Schoch assures us were persistent
and accurate observers of the heliacal and acronychal risings of the
stars for 3000 years, the Hindus in those bye-gone times depended on
naked-eye observations for their determinations. As no stars are
visible when the Sun is shining (with rare exceptions) all observations
must be made between sunset and sunrise. It would be impossible to
OBSERVE that the Sun had entered this or that nakshatra or was in
conjunction with this or that yogatara. The acronychal co-rising of
Spica at sunset (i.e., its ecliptical opposition to the Sun) may have
been computed but it could never be observed by the unaided eye
(although Sir Norman Lockyer in his DAWN OF ASTRONOMY maintained that
each Egyptian temple was orientated to the rising of a particular fixed
star, which owing to its darkened interiors and its long telescopic
construction, could be seen in broad daylight flooding the high altar
with its silvery light as it rose in the East). Consequently the Hindu
years began when Chitra (SPICA) was VISIBLE on Lanka's (Ujjain)
horizon, immediately after sunset (acronychal rising) or when it was
first VISIBLE at dawn (heliacal rising).
(Part VIII, together with the Mystery Solar Returns will be
continued in the next issue of the AFA Bulletin.)
***************************
[NOTE: Below Excerpt from Fagan's later essay "The Aquarian Age"
indicates his further conclusions on the subject of the Ayanamsha and
the Hindu asterisms. The essay in full follows this excerpt.]
Excerpt from
Cyril Fagan, FAFA, "THE AQUARIAN AGE," AFA BULLETIN,
Sep 1, 1951, Vol. 13, No. 9.
"Contrary to common opinion neither Chitra (SPICA) or Revati (ZETA
PISCIUM) were the fiducial of the Hindu Nirayana (Sidereal) zodiac.
The position of the yogataras in the Siddhanta lists are expressed in
meridian longitudes and latitudes and in terms of the Sayana (Tropical
zodiac. The degree of the ecliptic that simultaneously culminated with
a fixed star was the Dhruvak of the latter, and the distance of the
star from the ecliptic measured along the meridian circle at its
culmination was its Vikshepa. When the Dhruvaks and Vikshepas of the
various Siddhanta lists are reduced trigometrically to R.A. and
declination, they give a date, according to the year of compilation, in
or around 500 A.D. Revati was just a convenient star that happened at
this period to mark the beginning of the Sayana (tropical) zodiac (A.D.
575) and of the commencement in Saka 455 (523 A.D.) of the surya-
siddhanta and Arya-siddhanta solar years. From many beautiful slokas
in the Rig Veda, it is obvious that the true fiducial of the Hindu
Nakshatras of the late period was the paranatellonta of Aswini
(Sharatan), and calculation proves, for the latitude of Ujjain, that
its zero-year was 210 A.D. As the zero-year of the Egypto-Babylonian
zodiac was 213 A.D., it is apparent that the Hindu nakshatras and the
Near Eastern zodiac, at the beginning of the Christian era, had the
same starting point....
************************************
Cyril Fagan, FAFA, "THE AQUARIAN AGE," AFA BULLETIN,
September 1, 1951, Vol. 13, No. 9.
With reference to the article under the above caption from the pen
of our esteemed colleague Robert DeLuce, FAFA, that appeared in the May
1951 issue of the AFA BULLETIN, may I hasten to offer that the true
historical date of the entry of the vernal-point into the constellation
Pisces - THE ZERO YEAR - is no longer a matter for conjecture. It can
be derived, with the greatest assurance of authenticity, from the
monumental and textual records of ancient Egypt and Babylonia. These
historical details are set out in ZODIACS, OLD AND NEW (Llewellyn
Publications, Ltd) but as Mr. DeLuce did not refer to this conclusive
evidence, it is presumed he has not read the book. For the benefit of
those who have not yet procured a copy I shall summarize the evidence
as follows:
(a) The mean sidereal longitude of the vernal-point was Aries 13.8
degrees for the Babylonian year commencing April 4th (1st Nisan) 786
B.C., the only year in which the planets were in their 'exact'
exaltation degrees at their heliacal phenomena, and during which the
famous temple and college of astrology at Kalakh, dedicated to Nabu,
was inaugurated.
(b) In the luni-solar tables ("System No. 2") inscribed in
cuneiform characters on baked clay tablets, of the Babylonian
astronomer Naburiannu, compiled in 500 B.C., the longitude of the
vernal point is given as Aries 10 degrees.
(c) In the similar tables (System No. 1") of the Babylonian
astronomer Kiddinnu, compiled in 373 B.C., the sidereal longitude of
the vernal-point is given as Aries 8 degrees.
(d) The mean sidereal longitude of the vernal-point (equated to the
equinox of 100 B.C.) in the Neo-Babylonian Planetary Texts for the
years 210-60 B.C. was Aries 4.3 degrees.
(e) In the Egyptian (Demotic) Planetary Tablets, catalogued as
"Berlin Papyrus P 8279," which cover (with gaps) the years 17 B.C. to
11 A.D., the position of the vernal-point at the commencement of the
reign of Augustus was Aries 4 degrees.
(f) In the Stobart (Demotic) Planetary Tablets, covering (with
gaps) 17 A.D. to 132 A.D., the sidereal longitude of the vernal-point
is given as Aries 2 degrees, decreasing with time.
If the reader takes a sheet of square-ruled paper and graphs these
values he will discover that the resulting 'curve' is almost a
faultless straight line sweeping diagonally across the sheet, and
indicating 213 A.D. as the Zero-Year, or that in which the vernal-point
retrograded into the end of the constellation Pisces. [See below.]
'Inter alia' this curve proves that SPICA (Menyet = "the Peg") was the
fiducial in Virgo 29 degrees. Consequently the spring-point will not
recede into the constellation Aquarius until 2369 A.D., which,
theoretically, marks the beginning of the "Aquarian Age."
[Following GRAPH copied from ZODIACS, OLD AND NEW. Note that "ascii
text may distort the graph form.]
DIAGONAL LINE = SIDEREAL LONGITUDE OF THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOCTIAL
POINT MEASURED FROM SPICA IN 29 VIRGO 00'
Babylonian Planetary Texts (V.P. reduced to ecliptic of-100
by Van Der Waerden)
YEARS B.C. YEARS A.D.
-800 -700 -600 -500 -400 -300 -200 -100 -0 +100 +200
| | | | | | | | | | |
LIB 15__________________________________________________________
\
14___\ __13.8 LIB _________________________________________
S * Hypsomata B.C. 786
I 13________\ _______________________________________________
D \
E 12____________\ ___________________________________________
R \
E 11________________\ _______________________________________
A Naburiannu
L 10___________ 10 LIB * B.C. 500 ___________________________
\
L 9______________________ \ _________________________________
O Kidinnu
N 8__________________ 8 LIB * B.C. 373 ____________________
G
I 7_____________________________ \ __________________________
T \
U 6_________________________________ \ 5.3 LIB ____________
D \ * B.C. 116-60
E 5____________________________________ ___________________
4 LIB
4_____________ 4.2 LIB B.C. 160-130 *\ *Berlin Demotic
3.5 LIB B.C. 210-160 * \ Papyrus P8279
3___________________________________________ B.C. 15 - A.D. 11
\
2_________________________ 2 LIB A.D. 71-132 * ________
Strobart Egyptian \
1__________________________ Tables (Demotic) ______ \ ____
\
LIB 0______________________________________________________ \ _
\
VIR 29__________________________________________________________
VIR 28__________________________________________________________
| | | | | | | | | | |
-800 -700 -600 -500 -400 -300 -200 -100 -0 +100 +200
YEARS B.C. YEARS A.D.
Seeing that the zodiac was of Egyptian, and not Hebrew, origin
(opp. cit. p.39, et. seq.) it is not understood why the Piscean Age
should necessarily commence with the Dionysian date for the birth of
Christ. It would be just as logical to assume that it commenced with
the birth of Gautama, the Buddha, some 500 years before Christ, and
whose religion is today the largest in the world, or, even with
Mahomet, born some 500 years after Christ. Surely it is no credit to
the lowly Nazarene to record that "His Age" witnessed the evolution of
the bow and arrow to the atomic bomb?
It is a fallacy to assume that the theoretical beginnings of
astronomical eras should necessarily coincide with the commencement of
ecclesiastical or civil eras. Like the colours of the rainbow, no
drastic demarcation lines divide one era from another. The regression
of the vernal-point into the tail-end of a constellation constituted
only a theoretical beginning, and in antiquity was without importance.
The true beginning of an Age was sought among the dates when the
crescent-moon of 1st Nisan (Easter), which commenced the ecclesiastical
"New Year's Day," was seen to fall among the stars of the constellation
that indicated the "New Age." This crescent moon was observed
immediately after sunset on the first or second day following the
syzygy (conjunction of the Sun and Moon) according to the hour at which
this took place. Viewed in this light it is apparent from the
following brief list of the approximate sidereal longitude of the
crescent as compared with the sidereal longitude of the vernal-point
itself, Pisces 5d 50' (1951) that we have a very long way to go before
it can be said that the "Aquarian Age" has commenced. The list reveals
that we are not yet even in the middle of the Piscean Age (sic!), let
alone near its termination, which will occur when the longitude of the
crescent is Pisces 0d 00'.
Sidereal longitude Sidereal long. (approx)
of SYZYGY of Crescent of 1st Nisan.
1948 March 10 Aquarius 27d 06' Pisces 18d 51'
1949 March 29 Pisces 15d 28' Pisces 27d 42'
1950 March 18 Pisces 3d 19' Pisces 16d 43'
1951 March 7 Aquarius 22d 19' Pisces 17d 03'
1952 March 25 Pisces 10d 57' Pisces 23d 41'
1953 March 15 Pisces 0d 23' Pisces 19d 51'
There appears to be an unsuspected justification for identifying
the constellation Aquarius with the "son of Man" (Matt. 26, 30), that
is one born of 'mortal parents.' In the corrupt and fanciful Graeco-
Roman star atlases of the late period, to which Mr. DeLuce refers, and
which have created so much unnecessary confusion, this constellation
was represented by a bearded man, reclining naked beside "Fluvius
Aquarii," but in the earlier Greek version Aquarius was personified by
Ganymede, the most beautiful boy born of 'moral parents' and the cup-
bearer and favorite of Zeus, the God-father (op. cit p. 40). The
archetype, however, was that of Hap (or Hapuy = the two Haps), the
naked boygod of the Nile, who is depicted pouring the waters of the
Nile, from his two urns, on to the two lands (Upper and Lower) of
Egypt; because when this constellation was seen to rise immediately
after sunset, the Nile overflowed its banks and the annual innundations
of Egypt commenced.
As the Babylonian zodiac was not introduced into Greece by
Cleostratus of Tenedos until the middle of the 6th century B.C., when
the vernal-point was in Aries 12 degrees, Graeco-Roman star atlases are
of comparatively late date. Their division of the zodiac into twelve
'unequal' parts is due to Hellenistic license and ignorance. And
examination of the Neo-Babylonian and Egyptian ephemerides show that
each zodiacal constellation was rigorously 30 degrees in longitude and
this is abundantly confirmed from the longitudes of the "exaltation
degrees" of the planets for the Hypsomatic year 786-85 B.C. Hence it
is futile to search in these Graeco-Roman star-atlases among the
inconspicuous stars between Pisces and Aries for the initial point of
the Sidereal zodiac. The Egyptian and Babylonian zodiac was not
measured from any star in Aries or Pisces but from SPICA in Virgo 29
degrees, ALDEBARAN in Taurus 15 degrees, ANTARES in Scorpio 15 degrees,
TSHA NEFRE "The Beautiful Boy" (VINDEMIATRIX) in Virgo 15 degrees, the
PLEIADES in Taurus 5 degrees, and REGULUS in Leo 5 degrees, the
longitudes of which were originally fixed in relationship to the
Pedjeshes or "Stretched cord" [op. cit. p. 25 - ZODIACS OLD AND NEW]
Contrary to common opinion neither Chitra (SPICA) or Revati (ZETA
PISCIUM) were the fiducial of the Hindu Nirayana (Sidereal) zodiac.
The position of the yogataras in the Siddhanta lists are expressed in
meridian longitudes and latitudes and in terms of the Sayana (Tropical
zodiac. The degree of the ecliptic that simultaneously culminated with
a fixed star was the Dhruvak of the latter, and the distance of the
star from the ecliptic measured along the meridian circle at its
culmination was its Vikshepa. When the Dhruvaks and Vikshepas of the
various Siddhanta lists are reduced trigometrically to R.A. and
declination, they give a date, according to the year of compilation, in
or around 500 A.D. Revati was just a convenient star that happened at
this period to mark the beginning of the Sayana (tropical) zodiac (A.D.
575) and of the commencement in Saka 455 (523 A.D.) of the surya-
siddhanta and Arya-siddhanta solar years. From many beautiful slokas
in the Rig Veda, it is obvious that the true fiducial of the Hindu
Nakshatras of the late period was the paranatellonta of Aswini
(Sharatan), and calculation proves, for the latitude of Ujjain, that
its zero-year was 210 A.D. As the zero-year of the Egypto-Babylonian
zodiac was 213 A.D., it is apparent that the Hindu nakshatras and the
Near Eastern zodiac, at the beginning of the Christian era, had the
same starting point.
It must be remembered that when we refer to the "Aquarian Age" we
are talking in terms of the 'sidereal' zodiac and to identify the
observed influences of the sign Aquarius with the constellation
Aquarius is to be guilty of the homonymous error [to mistake similar
names for similar natures]....
The Aquarian Age...theoretically will be ushered in in 2369 A.D.
[as derived from]...the records of ancient Egypt and Babylon.
*******************
But solar and lunar returns are not the only phenomena which differ
between the two zodiacs. There is also a perceptible difference in the
timing of the slower transits. To give an example, the present Duke of
Windsor was born with Jupiter in 18.23 Gemini tropical, and on the date
of his abdication Neptune was transiting in square to his natal Jupiter
in 18.56 Virgo tropical, the Sun being on the final afternoon in 18d
30' Sagittarius. In the sidereal zodiac, however, the natal Jupiter
was in 25.01 Taurus, and the transiting Neptune in 24.59 Leo, only 2
minutes of arc from the perfect square and therefore measuring much
more closely to the date.
The two zodiacs coincided in A.D. 213, that being the year when the
equinox precessed back to the beginning of the ancient constellation
Aries; and the marking-stars of the ancients then had the same
longitude in both zodiacs. The difference between the two zodiacs has
of course been growing ever since, and amounted to exactly 23 degrees
in 1868, and exactly 24 degrees in 1940. This means that all persons
having their Sun, Moon or Ascendant in the first 23 or 24 degrees of a
sign of the Tropical Zodiac have them in the preceding constellation of
the sidereal zodiac. At first, of course, this seems intolerable to
most of us, because we wildly assume that the sidereal Leo has just
about the same characteristics and tropical Leo, and we say to
ourselves: "I have always been Virgo, I cannot suddenly become Leo."
But this line of argument is what is known as the Homonymous Fallacy.
It consists in assuming that two things which bear the same name must
also have the same nature--in other words, that the sidereal Leo must
have the same characteristics as the tropical Leo. This assumption is
quite unjustified. The characters of the tropical signs have been
derived very largely from experience, and there is no excuse for trying
to glue them on to the constellations. In a future articles I shall
discuss what the ancient writers have to say about character and the
constellations; and it will be seen that the characters of the
constellations are not at all the same as those of the signs.
If we observe the sky at night we can see the sidereal zodiac above
us. It is true that the constellations do not all look equally large,
although the astrologers of old made all twelve of them 30 degrees in
length. None the less in terms of the sidereal zodiac the Bull's eye
and horns are in the Bull and not, as the tropical zodiac makes out, in
the Twins; and a planet seen between the claws of the Scorpion [in the
sidereal zodiac] is actually in Scorpio instead of being labelled
"Sagittarius." By this method one can actually see the Moon's sign-
position instead of having to work it out from an ephemeris.
PTOLEMY
The man chiefly responsible for abandoning the original zodiac was
Claudius Ptolemy; and we should never guess his reasons, so it is
fortunate that he gives them. To begin with, he maintains that
childhood exceeds in moisture, youth in heat, maturity in dryness, and
old age in cold; and since this is analogous to the four seasons of
spring, summer, autumn and winter, it therefore follows that the zodiac
must begin with the beginning of spring. But this is no more than an
agreeable comparison; it cannot be taken as a serious argument, more
especially since it does not work out; for if spring really exceeds in
moisture, it must follow that Aries is the most moist of all the signs.
But Ptolemy ignores this point, and calls Aries hot and dry!
After this frankly egregious beginning, his reason for measuring the
signs from the actual solstices and equinoxes is even more problematic.
We find it in Book I of the Tetrabiblos, chapters 11 and 22. In one
place he says of the signs that "their more general temperaments are
each analogous to the seasons that take place in them," and in the
other "their natures, powers, and familiarities take their cause from
the solsticial and equinoctial starting-places, 'and from no other
source'." (Robbins' translation, my italics.)
This can only mean that the character of [the tropical sign] Aries
is derived simply and solely from the fact that it immediately follows
the vernal equinox, and that the figure of the Ram, the rulership of
Mars, and the attribution to cardinal fire, are mere descriptions
having no influence at all on the actual nature of the sign. In a
similar way the character of [the tropical sign] Taurus must depend
solely on the fact that it lies half way between the vernal equinox and
the summer solstice.
Frankly, these are not arguments which anyone can now take
seriously. In fact nobody does take them seriously. If we believe in
the tropical zodiac we do so on the basis of our own experience and not
because of what Ptolemy said. But the fact is that, as we now see,
Ptolemy, who launched the tropical zodiac, did so for reasons which we
can only consider totally inadequate, namely because a nice tidy scheme
appealed to his nice tidy mind. If we have minds like Ptolemy we shall
probably want to stick to the tropical zodiac; but, if we do, let us
remember how shakey are its foundations both historically and
theoretically. It may have worked well for some time, but who knows if
the original zodiac may not work better?
Another difference between the two zodiacs is in the attribution of
three signs to each of the four elements. This piece of schematism is
just the sort of thing that appealed to Ptolemy; but before his time
the attributions were different and rather uncertain. They were based
on what one can only call a principle of common sense, according to
which the Crab, the Sea-Goat's tail, the Waterman, and the Fishes, were
all signs of water, Leo was fiery as being the sign of the Sun, Virgo
was airy of account of her wings, and earth included such terrestrial
creatures as the Ram, the Bull, the Scorpion, the equine half of
Sagittarius, and the terrestrial foreparts of the Goat. Regarding
Gemini, Libra and the rest of Sagittarius there seems to have been some
doubt.
It will be seen, therefore, that the original zodiac of the ancients
differed from the modern zodiac in three ways: first, it was measured
from the stars instead of the tropics, and so tables of houses do not
remain constant; secondly, although the rulerships and exaltations are
the same, the natures of the constellations are not the same as those
of the signs of the same name, and their influence on character and
temperament is different; and thirdly, the predictive methods are
different, the revolutions of Sun and Moon occurring later and being
more expressive, and the slower transits being also affected.
"But the highest of all learning is the knowledge of the
stars. To trace their course is to untangle the threads
of the mystery of life from beginning to end. If we could
follow them perfectly, nothing would be hidden from us."
Henry Van Dyke
* * * *
****************************************
July 1953 American Astrology, by Cyril Fagan,
SOLUNARS, A MODERN APPROACH TO AN ANCIENT METHOD
(Reprint from 1953 Annual Issue of
The Astrological Magazine of Bangalore, India)
The astrological chart of the nativity, frequently referred to as
the geniture, can be likened to a germinating seed. In the course of
time a seed will break through the soil and produce its foliage,
flowers and fruit. Such internal growth is but an extension of the
seed itself and "incidental" to it: for the promise of the future plant
was already hidden in the seed. But the growth and well-being of the
plant can be affected from outside sources. It can be trampled
underfoot by animal or man, uprooted before it has time to put forth
its flower, withered for want of rain, blighted by disease and
otherwise at the mercy of the elements. These effects not being
inherent in its growth or foreordained in the seed are termed
"accidents." The "incidents" being subjective, are astrologically
indicated by Primary and Secondary Directions, by lunar progressions
and in Hindu astrology by the Dasa and Antardasa planetary periods;
while the "accidents," being objective, are denoted by the celestial
changes occurring in the ambient, that is by transits and transit-
charts, such as 'solunars' (i.e., solar and lunar revolutions or
returns).
If we would understand astrology aright these "incidents" and
"accidents" must be clearly differentiated. For example, if in his
24th year an individual becomes insane as a result of a hereditary
taint, this would be an "incident" in his life and hence would be
revealed in the directions in force at the time. But if an otherwise
healthy individual is knocked down by an automobile and so injured as
to impair his sanity, this would be an "accident" and would be
indicated in the current solunar returns, or in other transit-charts,
but it would not be shown in directions or progressions--primary or
secondary, direct or converse. Of course there are times where
incidents may occasion accidents, as when, for example, an elderly
lady, enfeebled by age, loses her nerve in traffic and gets killed. In
this case we should expect to find an interaction between transits and
progressions. The common notion that all that can befall one is
decreed in the geniture and its progressions is contradicted by the
facts of experience and by common sense. Epidemics, earthquakes, wars
and so forth are usually predictable from various mundane charts, which
are nothing else but transit-charts. If some 10,000 people should be
killed as the result of an earthquake, predicted from a solar eclipse
(a transit), then it would be absurd to look to these people's
directions or progressions to account for their untimely end when the
obvious cause of their death was that very eclipse which must have
fallen on some vulnerable spot in their natal themes.
TROPICAL VERSUS SIDEREAL SOLUNARS
Why have solunars fallen into disuse today? True, their method of
computation is included in most of the standard text-books on
astrology; but for all that they are only accorded a subsidiary place
in the prophetic art with merely perfunctory attention. Scan through
the leading astrological magazines and rarely will one find an allusion
to them, or in general they never figure in annual or monthly
forecasts. Why then are they so neglected in modern times? Obviously
because they have not been found reliable.
The failure of solunars to fulfil expectations is due to the
following causes:
(A) In ancient time, down to as late as the 5th century A.D., all
revolutions were computed in terms of the fixed or sidereal zodiac,
which is not affected by precession; whereas in modern times these
returns are computed with reference to the tropical zodiac invented in
error by Hipparchus about B.C. 139 and which the author of the
Tetrabiblos (2nd century A.D.) strove to popularize. It was the
tragedy of the Greek genius that it could never divest itself of the
conviction that the equinoctial points, which perpetually rose and set
due east and west respectively were 'fixed absolutely' in space; hence
their invention of a 'series' of tropical zodiacs. Had they suspected
otherwise, they would have discovered that the earth itself was moving.
In the Cleostratus version the vernal point is believed to have been
'fixed' in Aries 12 degrees, in that according to Naburiannu ("System
No. 2") in Aries 10 degrees in the Callippic or Hellenistic version,
according to Kidinnu ("System No. 1") in Aries 8 degrees, while
Hipparchus fixed it absolutley in Aries 0 degrees (its true position
being then Aries 4d 51').
(B) Solunars, being adjuncts to the geniture, should be judged by
the unalloyed rules of Genethliacs and not be medieval or modern text-
book astrology, which is an incoherent jumble of genethliacal and
horary aphorisms, with the latter predominating.
With regard to (A) all astrologers are aware that the solar
revolution (or return) is a figure of the heavens struck for the moment
the Sun returns to the place in the heavens it occupied at birth, and
which occurs annually about the time of the birthday anniversary. Now
if the Sun was in precise conjunction with a fixed star at birth it
should always be in precise conjunction with the same fixed star at
every successive solar return. (As a fixed star, by virtue of its
proper motion, on the average moves 1 degree in about 120,000 years,
its motion during one's life span would be so small as to be
negligible.) Suppose, for example, an individual was born on August
22, 1900 at 0:38 a.m. G.M.T., the tropical longitude of the Sun would
then be 148d 26' and hence in exact conjunction with Regulus (Alpha
Leonis), whose tropical longitude for that year was also 148d 26'.
According to the method of calculating solar returns in common use, the
50th solar return would occur on August 22, 2950 at 2:31 a.m. G.M.T.
when the Sun's tropical longitude would again be 148d 26'. But in 1950
Regulus' tropical longitude was 149d 06' and hence the Sun would not be
in exact conjunction with Regulus until August 22, 0:03pm G.M.T. or 17
1/2 hours later! This illustration completely exposes the fallacy of
the modern method of computing solar and lunar returns.
Tropical Sidereal
Sun's longitude 188d 55' 30" 165d 54' 37"
Moon's longitude 139 56' 116d 55'
D H M S
Tropical solar return 1947 October 2 23 44 57
Sidereal solar return 1947 October 4 2 16 05
Difference in time = 26h 31m 1 2 31 08
Tropical lunar return 1948 January 26 15 31
Sidereal lunar return 1948 January 27 7 52
Difference in time = 16h 21m 16 21
TIME DIFFERENCE
The time difference between the tropical and sidereal method of
calculating these returns as roughly in proportion to the age of the
native. This is best illustrated by reference to the tropical and
sidereal solunars preceding the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, given
below.
We thus see that Gandhi's tropical solar and lunar returns, covering
the date of his assassination January 30, 1948, occurred 26h 31m and
16h 21m respectively too early; little wonder therefore that solunars
have fallen into disrepute.
Some thoughtful astrologers, being mindful of this anomaly, have
tried to effect a compromise by applying precision, equivalent to the
native's age to the tropical longitude of the Sun at birth and
computing the solar return for this new position. While this
undoubtedly produces a makeshift solar return approximating in time (no
allowance being made for the effects of solar and lunar mutation) with
that of the sidereal return, the procedure is astronomically untenable.
The 'raison d'etre' of the tropical system lies in the fact that it is
'inviolably precessional' because its fiducials are vernal and autumnal
points, which are continuous shifting 'backwards' among the zodiacal
constellations at the rate of 1 degrees in approximately 71.6 years. In
relation to the fixed stars precession is therefore a negative term and
to add precession to the Sun's natal position is to cancel altogether
the effects of the accrued precession, and thereby convert the Sun's
position into a quasi-fixed longitude, which violates the integrity of
the tropical system, while conceding that of the sidereal.
In the prophetic art of antiquity pride of place was given to the
Solunars and all forecasts that have been so sensationally fulfilled as
to cause the fame of the Chaldeans to spread far and wide in the old
world and to induce even the Emperors of Imperial Rome to study
astrology were based on such figures, and not on progressions. Hermes
in his De Revolutionibus Nativitatum as cited by Bouche-Leclerc
(L.Astrologie Grecque, Paris 1899) says:
"The Babylonians, Persians, Indians and Egyptians, both kings and
private persons, undertook nothing in any year without examining their
revolutions: and if they found the year good they set to work,
otherwise they refrained. The kings examined the nativities of their
generals and observed their revolutions and if they found that for one
of them the return indicated power and victory they sent him against
the enemy, otherwise they left him aside. And they observed the
genitures not only of their generals but of ambassadors to see if their
anniversary (solar return) indicated a successful result. If it
signified prosperity they sent for them, but if not they appointed
instead others whose anniversary did presage success. In the same
manner kings and citizens chose food, drink, medicine; bought, sold and
did everything according to their returns: and they used these things
and left aside those likely to be hurtful that year. They deduced from
their own nativities and those of others and acted accordingly....So
the study of revolutions is very useful and expedient...."
From this it will be seen that the delineation of revolutions not
only took pride of place in the predictive art of antiquity but it was
given attention that has no parallel in the astrology of today.
A ROYAL "INCIDENT"
Physical disintegration consequent on constitutional delicacy is an
"incident" and is therefore predictable from directions. Most
astrologers are aware that the measure of death, especially that to old
age, is the primary direction of the ascendant to the conjunction or
oppostion of the radical Saturn. This is splendidly exemplified in the
case of Queen Mary who, according to the official bulletin, was born at
Kensington Palace, London, Latitude 51N30'20" (Geocentric = 51N19'02"),
Longitude 0W12'45" on Sunday May 26, 1867 at 11:59pm GMT.
QUEEN MARY: May 26, 1867, 11:59pm GMT, Latitude 51N30', Longitude
0W21'. MC 12SCO32; ASC 13CAP10; Jupiter 13AQU03, Moon 15AQU23,
Neptune 21PIS23, Venus 10ARI26, Pluto 22ARI21, Mercury 6TAU22, SUN
12TAU12'45" (and angular on IC), Uranus 13GEM38, Mars 22CAN28, North
Node 26LEO41, Saturn 26LIB41.
Her birth must have been remarkably closely timed for had she
arrived one minute later it would have occurred on Monday May 27th!
The Queen died in her sleep at Marlboro House, London, on Tuesday,
March 24, 1953 at 10:30pm GMT. Saturn's declination was 15S20'20"
therefore its semi-arc, computed for the geocentric latitude of the
birthplace was 69d 57'55". Its R.A. ws 227d 56'00' and the R.A. of MC
243d 37'00". The orthodox or Ptolemaic art (1 degree = 1 year of life)
= 85d 50' while the mean arc (59" 08" = l year of life) = 84d 36'.
(a) Asc. conjoined Saturn in zodiaco converse = 83d 57'.
(b) Asc. conjoined Saturn in mundo converse = 85d 39'.
Geographical latitude gives the arc as 85d 30'.
A rectification of only minus 44 seconds in time to the recorded
birthtime 11:59 (i.e. 11:58:16) would make (b) EXACT; a rectification
that would 'increase' the time of birth by more than one minute is
hardly permissable as it would make the Queen's birth occur on the next
day. From this case the following conclusions may reasonably be
deduced:
(1) that Primary Directions of the angles are effective.
(2) that directions of the Asc. to Saturn are Anaeretic
(destructive).
(3) that the true "arc of direction" is the Ptolemaic.
(4) that directions must be made "in mundo" and not "in zodiaco."
(5) that the semi-arc must be computed for the geocentric latitude
of birth.
Such a rigorous test is ony possible in the case of a person
advanced in age and whose birth-time was precisely recorded. Hence its
importance. Not only does it uphold the "Classical Tradition"--which
will gladden the hearts of Countess Wasilko and her confreres of the
Austrian Astrological Society--but is a complete vindication of
astrology in general.
************************************
****************************************
"THE INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS OF ASTROLOGY"
PART 8 (of 10) "THE AYANAMSHA"
Cyril Fagan, FAFA,
AFA Bulletin, April 9, 1948
Ayanamsha, i.e., the number of degrees of the ecliptic that separate
the regressing vernal equinox from the first point of ASVINI--the first
asterism of the Hindu Zodiac--at any given time.
Most readers of the AFA BULLETIN know that before the introduction
of the Egyptian Zodiac into India, the ecliptic circle of the Hindu
heavens was divided into 27 lunar asterisms, called NAKSHATRAS, each
containing 13d 20', approximately equivalent to the mean daily motion
of the Moon, and commencing with the asterism Asvini. To each
nakshatra was allotted a fixed star, called its YOGATARA or junction-
star. While many of these junction-stars were zodiacal, others were
not. In several of the Hindu siddhantas (or ancient books of
astrology), the distances of many of these yogataras from the
commencement of their asterisms are given, notably in the Pancha-
siddhanta, edited by Vahara Mihara, and in the Surya-siddhanta. The
complete list of the nakshatras and their yogataras, given on page 78
of the FIXED ZODIAC EPHEMERIS for 1948 is derived from the later work.
Opinions differ among Hindu scholars as to the identities of several of
these junction stars.
A peculiarity of ancient Hindu astrology is that measurements are
expressed in DHRUVAKS (polar longitudes) and VIKSHEPAS (polar
latitudes). The polar longitude is the distance of a celestial body's
circle of declination (which is a great circle of the sphere and must
not be confused with a parallel of declination, which is a small circle
of the sphere cutting the former at right angles) from the first point
of Asvini measured along the ecliptic; while its polar latitude is the
distance of the body, above or below the ecliptic, measured along its
circle of declination.
Unfortunately, for many years Hindu opinion has been sharply
divided as to what constitutes the true starting point of the their
nakshatras and later of their zodiac. Chapter and verse from their
revered siddhantas have been cited time and again in support of the
rival claims of the fixed star Revati - which Indian scholars (with
some dissentients) identify with ZETA PISCIUM (a small star of the 5th
magnitude in the constellation Pisces and almost exactly on the
ecliptic circle) - and Chitra or SPICA (a brilliant star of the 1st
magnitude, situated in the constellation Virgo and about two degrees
below the ecliptic circle). In support of their convictions frequent
appeals have been made to the yogatara lists in the Pancha, Surya and
other siddhantas. The position is complicated by the fact that the
dates of these lists are also matters of dispute, while no little doubt
exists as to the identity of many of the junction-stars, despite the
fact that their dhruvaks and vikshepas are given. Moreover, several of
the yogataras in one list do not tally as regards position or latitudes
with stars of the same asterisms in other lists.
Robert DeLuce, MAFA, well known to readers of the AFA BULLETIN and
a recognised authority on Hindu Jyotisha (astrology), points out that
the data respecting the two yogataras of Pushya and Aslesha given in
the Pancha-siddhanta (acknowledged to be at least several centuries
older than the 'modern' version of the Surya-siddhanta) is widely
divergent from the data given in the Surya-siddhanta list, and
therefore these cannot be identical. Having regard to their dhruvaks
and vikshepas, Mr. DeLuce suggests that in the Panch-siddhanta list,
these should be identified with Mu and Delta Cancri, respectively,
which seems reasonable. In this connection, attention is directed to
Mr. DeLuce's thoughtful and informative article on the same subject
which appeared in the AFA BULLETIN for April 1944. [!!!]
Although this problem has been ventilated by Mr. DeLuce himself in
the AFA BULLETIN (ibid) and by Prof. R. Krishnamurti, Messrs. S.R. Kar,
R. V. Vaidya and others in the pages of the THE ASTROLOGER'S MAGAZINE,
edited by Dr. Raman of Bangalore, it may not be inopportune to consider
the problem afresh and the questions that arise therefrom. Let us
examine the seven yogataras given by Vahara Mihira in his Pancha-
siddhanta. As the table given on page 3 of his article on the
Ayanamsha was defective, Mr. DeLuce, in correspondence, kindly amended
it to read as follows:
(a) (b) (c) (d)
Identified Nakshatra DHRUVAKA VIKSHEPA
Yogatara Position (Polar (Polar
Longitude) Latitude)
1. Alcyone 6d Krittika 32d 40' 3N10'
2. Aldebaran 8d Rohini 48d 00' 4S59'
3. Pollux 8d Punarvasu 88d 00' 7N15'
4. Mu Cancri 4d Pushya 97d 20' 3N10'
5. Delta Cancri 1d Aslesha 107d 40' 0N54'
6. Regulus 6d Magha 126d 00' 0 00'
7. Spica 7-1/2d Chitra 180d 50' 2S43'
We are indebted to Prof. R. Krishnamurti (ASTROLOGERS' MAGAZINE,
October 1947, p.637) for the following formula which enables us to
determine ecliptic longitude in the fixed zodiac, i.e., from the first
point of Asvini, given polar longitude and polar latitude:
cos polar long. tan polar lat.
Tan d = --------------------------------
cos polar long. plus cot obliquity of ecliptic
where "d" is the difference between polar and ecliptic longitude. If
polar longitude falls between 90d and 270d and polar latitude is north,
"d" must be deducted from polar longitude to obtain ecliptic longitude
in the fixed zodiac; but if polar latitude is south, it must be added.
If polar longitude falls between 270 degrees and 90 degrees and polar
latitude is north, "d" must be added to polar longitude, but if south,
it must be subtracted.
(e) (f) (g) (h)
Calculated Fixed Zodiac Moving Zodiac Indicated
Value of "d" Longitude Longitude for Ayanamsha
1920 for 1920
1. +1d 05' 33d 45' 58d 52' 25d 07'
2. -1d 24' 46d 36' 68d 40' 22d 04'
3. +0d 07' 88d 07' 112d 07' 24d 00'
4. -0d 11' 97d 09' 117d 33' 20d 24'
5. -0d 07' 107d 33' 127d 36' 20d 03
6. 0 00 126d 00' 148d 43' 22d 43'
7. +0d 52' 181d 43' 202d 43' 21d 01'
--------
Mean value of indicated ayanamsha . . . . . 22d 12'
Spica's ayanamsha for 1920 . . . . . . . . 22d 43'
--------
Difference only . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0d 31'
Revati's ayanamsha for 1920 . . . . . . . . 18d 45'
Difference as much as . . . . . . . . . . 3d 37' !!!
(Spica's polar ayanamsha for 1920 . . . . . 21d 55'
Revati's polar ayanamsha for 1920 . . . . 18d 51')
By adding or deducting, as indicated, "d" to the polar longitudes
in column (c), the fixed zodiac longitudes in column (f) were obtained;
and if these are deducted from the longitudes of the fixed stars in the
moving zodiac for the epoch 1920 (g), the difference will be the
indicated ecliptic ayanamsha for that year (h). Of these seven
junction-stars the lowest value of ayanamsha is 20d 03' which is still
greater by 1d 18' over that due to Revati (18d 45'), while the highest
value falls short by 2d 21' of the ayanamsha 27d 28' computed for the
beginning of the Vikrama era (autumn equinox B.C. 57) stated to be
established by King Vikramaditya of Ujjain when the vernal-point was
supposed to be identical with the first point of Asvini or beginning of
Aries (i.e., the zero-regressional year). The mean ayanamsha, as can
be seen, is within half a degree of SPICA'S true ecliptic ayanamsha.
Indeed, REGULUS, which is almost on the ecliptic circle enjoys an
ayanamsha identical with the latter. It is clear therefore that this
table indicates that SPICA was the true marking star. [!!!]
Prof. P.S. Sastri and others (including Mr. DeLuce have produced
evidence to prove that Vahara Mihara, who edited the BRIHAT SAMHITA and
the PANCHA-SIDDHANTA was "one of the nine jewels that graced the court
of King Vikramaditya" and, therefore, must have lived in the first
century B.C. and not, as commonly supposed, in the 5th century A.D.
(Salivahama era). Now the "Brihat Samhita" has frequently been cited
to prove that in Vahara's time the summer solstice was in the beginning
of the constellation Cancer, and the winter in that of Capricorn (vide,
Sepharial's SCIENCE OF FOREKNOWLEDGE, p.69), and this has led many
scholars to believe that the Vikrama era was established to commemorate
the fact that the fixed and moving zodiacs coincided at this period.
Hence, some scholars have computed their ayanamshas from the beginning
of the Vikrama era despite the fact that not one of the yogatara lists
lend any support. But Prof. Sastri (ASTROLOGERS' MAGAZINE, 1947
January, p.48) points out that this is a misreading and that
Bhattotpada, in his commentary on the Pancha-siddhanta shows that
Vahara Mihara meant that "in his time" the Sun's southern course
(Dakshinayana) commenced when it was at the end of the nakshatra
Purnarvasu, that is, in Cancer 3d 20', but that in the time of the
Maharishis Garga and Parasa, it was in the middle of the nakshatra
Aslesha, that is, in Cancer 23d 20'. Reference to Table IV of THE
FIXED ZODIAC EPHEMERIS FOR 1948 shows that the summer solstice was in
Cancer 3d 20' in A.D. 44 and in Cancer 23d 20' in B.C. 1396, thus
confirming that Vahara Mihara flourished about the time of Manilius,
and a generation or two before Claudius Ptolemy and the pseudo-Manetho.
Hence, the theory that the two zodiacs coincided at the beginning of
the Christian era collapses.
The foregoing makes it clear that Chitra (SPICA) must have been the
origin-star of the Hindu zodiac for if Revati is taken as marking the
beginning of Asvini, then the summer solstice would not be in Cancer 3d
20' until A.D. 331, a period that agrees with neither datings in terms
of the Vikrama or the Salivahana eras.
From the evidence of "The Egyptian Planetary Ephemerides" for B.C
16 to A.D. 11 (Demotic Berlin Papyrus P. 8279) and those for A.D. 71 to
A.D. 132 (Stobat Demotic Tablets) as well as the Babylonian ephemerides
for the last two centuries B.C., discovered by Father Kugler, S.J.
(Sternkunde u. Sterndienst in Babel), we know beyond all shadow of
doubt that at the beginning of the Christian era the summer and winter
solstices were in the 4th degree of Cancer and Capricorn, respectively,
and as there is no reason to suppose that the zodiac of India differed
in any degree from that of Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, China or of the
Hebrews, we must conclude that Chitra (SPICA) was the true marking star
of the earliest Hindus.
One would expect to find in the other siddhantas confirmation of
the positions of the yogataras as given in the Pancha-siddhanta, but,
for some inexplicable reason, this, unfortunately, is far from being
the case. For example, in the Surya, Soma, Vriddha-Vasishtha, and
Brahma siddhanta, SPICA's polar longitude is given as 'precisely' Libra
0d 00' with polar latitude S 2 degrees. This suggests that as far as
these four siddhantas are concerned the ayanamsha was measured in
polar, rather than ecliptic longitude. It would be, indeed, strange,
if it were otherwise, seeing that the positions of all the yogataras
are recorded in this manner. The corresponding position of SPICA,
measured in ecliptic degrees would be Libra 0d 48'. At the same time
the position of Revati i the Surya, Vriddha-Vasishtah and Brahma
siddhantas is given as Aries 0d 00' with zero polar latitude, thus
making the polar distance them 'exactly' 180 degrees, lending colour to
the opinion that originally Revati was but the opposition-point to
SPICA, and only a mathematical abstraction. This opinion was
strengthened by the fact that the ecliptic difference between SPICA and
Zeta Piscium - identified with Revati - is 176d 02', revealing the
large error of 3d 12'! The Pitamaha siddhanta, however, gives SPICA's
polar longitude as Libra 3d and its latitude as S 2d, and the polar
longitude of Revati (here obviously identified with Zeta Piscium) as
Pisces 29d 50'. As the corresponding ecliptic longitude of SPICA is
Libra 3d 32', the distance between them becomes 176d 18', which is
close to the true value, hence this siddhanta definitely favors Revati
(the star), as the beginning of Asvini. The date or period of this
siddhanta is unknown to the writer. The other siddhantas are equivocal
and ambiguous. Attention is drawn to the fact that in the Pancha
siddhanta the position of Regulus - a star of the 1st magnitude and
almost exactly on the ecliptic circle - is given as Leo 6d, which is
precisely its position in the SPICA zodiac. Yet in the Araya-Bhattya
and Lallya siddhantas, it is given as Leo 8d, while in the Pitamaha,
Surya, Soma, Vriddha-Vasishtah, Brahma and Prahma-Gupta siddhantas, it
is given as Leo 9d (vide, VEXED QUESTION OF THE AYANAMSHA by Mr. Susil
Kumar Kar in ASTROLOGERS' MAGAZINE, 1947 April).
R. V. Vaidya in his interesting contribution to THE ASTROLOGERS'
MAGAZINE for January 1948, on the "Junction-stars in the Surya-
siddhanta," ventures to determine the mean value of the ayansmsha for
A.D. 1945 from the positions of the yogataras as listed in that work.
As was to be expected, he was up against the usual inconsistencies and,
in regard to several found it expedient to substitute other stars for
those commonly accepted and for the most cogent reasons. In other
cases he questions the correctness of the positions (Liptika) and is
forced to suggest, and adopt, alternative renderings. From this list
as thus amended he derives the mean value of the ayanamsha (ecliptical)
as 20d 27', and the zero-regressional year as A.D. 469. Needless to
say, his findings are substantially at variance with those of Mr. Kumar
Kar, Mr. Narain Roa and others. But assuming his amendments are
justified, it remains an incontrovertible fact that as Revati's true
ecliptic ayanamsha for 1945 was 19d 06' 23" and SPICA's 23d 04' 25",
this value and that of Mr. Kumar Kar (1900--19d 19') must be erroneous.
And this leads me to the signficant part of this paper. The
calculation of the ayanamsha due to Revati's (Zeta Piscium) or SPICA's
(Alpha virginis) ecliptic (or polar) position can be computed direct
from the Nautical Almanac or similar official publication, with the
highest degree of accuracy by anyone who is capable of converting right
ascension and declination into geocentric longitude, quite regardless
of ancient tables or of the date of the zero-regressional year. If the
polar ayanamsha is required, it can be computed from the following
formula:
cot. polar longitude = cot. R.A. cos obliquity of ecliptic
But if a polar ayanamsha is deemed to be the correct measure, then,
to be consistent, the position of the Moon and planets must also be
expressed in a like manner which will alter their ephemeral positions
considerably; a change hardly likely to be welcomed by the majority of
our modern compilers of Panchangas (Hindu Ephemerides).
For the year 1883 Revati's true ayanamsha was 18d 14'28" (polar
ayanamsha = 18d 20') and SPICA's 22d 12'32" (polar ayanamsha = 21d
23'), yet for that year the estimates fo the following authorities,
cited by Robert DeLuce in his AYANAMSHA (AFA BULLETIN, 1944 April)
were:
1. Bombay Almanac 18d14'20"
2. Mr. Vijayaraghavula of Madras 18d25'25"
3. Mr. Chidambarem Aiyer 20d24'24"
4. Siddhanta Almanac 20d46'15"
5. Benares Almanac 21d58'29"
6. Madras Almanac 22d02'39"
7. Smamikannu's INDIAN EPHEMERIS 22d06'31"
8. Vadha Almanac 22d41'44"
----------
Mean of #3 to #8, inclusive 21d40 00" 21d40'00"
Spica's true ayan. for 1883 22d12'32 Revati's ayan. 18d14'28"
---------- ---------
Difference only 0d 32'32" Differs as
much as 3d25'32"
Whatever case is made for Revati as marking the beginning of Asvini,
it is apparent (with the exception of 1 and 2, which doubtlessly
computed their ayanamsha with some regard to Revati's factual position)
that these ayanamsha approximate much more closely to SPICA than to
Revati; and the situation today differs but little from that of 1883.
Of what avail is it to assert that Revati is the marking-star when in
fact the published ayanamshas diverge as much as 3 or 4 degrees from
its true astronomical value? For the year 1947 Revati's mean
ayanamsha, at the beginning of the year, was 19d 08'04" which means
that Ravi (the Sun) entered Asvini (Aries) on Wednesday, April 9th,
whereas the majority of Panchangas agree in giving the date of the
Sun's ingress as April 14th, a difference of 5 days!!! But if Chitra
(SPICA) is accepted as the Hindu "sothis", then its ayanamsha, 23d
06'06", gives the correct data of entry of the Sun into Asvini as April
14th, at 3:00 a.m., Indian Standard Time. THE ASTROLOGERS' MAGAZINE
EPHEMERIS for April 1947, compiled by L. Narain Roa, gives the time of
entry as 2:39 a.m., I.S.T. April 14th, indicating ONLY A DIFFERENCE OF
0h 21m! It is therefore abundantly clear that SPICA was 'de facto' the
real marking-star.
This is amply testified by the fact that Mr. Roa in his excellent
article "Ayanamsha - No Longer a Speculation" (ASTROLOGERS' MAGAZINE,
1947, January) gives, for January 1, 1947, the value as 23d 05'39",
while that due to SPICA's factual position is 23d 06'06", a difference
of only 0d 00'27"!!! At the same time he gives the zero-regressional
year as A.D. 291, which compared with that of SPICA, A.D. 285, gives
only a difference of 6 years! Moreover for the summer solstice for the
same year Prof. Sastri gives the ayanamsha as 23d 05'29"! Others who
have adopted an ayanamsha agreeing closely with SPICA's true value are
Prof. Rajkumar Sen, Prof. Radhaballava Jyotisirtha, Mr. Ketker and F.
C. Dutt.
This confusion in regard to the ayanamsha is caused by the fact
that in remote antiquity the Hindus, like the Egyptians, Babylonians,
Assyrians, and Chinese began their sacerdotal and civil years at the
acronychal (evening) and heliacal (morning) rising of Chitra (SPICA),
respectively; the precursors of the Feast of the Passover (Easter) and
of the Tabernacles. In Egypt frequent reference is made to two
distinct years, the well-known sothic year which commenced about the
middle of July with the heliacal rising of Sothis (Sirius), and the
"Year of the Ancients" which began with the heliacal rising of Menat
(SPICA). Thus, it is recorded in the Calendar of Esneh, of the time of
Ptolemy Euergetes II, that the beginning of "The Year of the Ancients"
fell on 9 Thoth (of the ordinary or wandering calendar), and another
New Year's Day fell on 26 Payne (EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY, Duncan
Macnaughton). Calculation shows that the former date occurred on
September 30, B.C. 118, which was the precise date of Menat's heliacal
rising, while the latter fell on July 13th of the year following, which
was the date of Sirius' heliacal rising. Moreover, the position of the
planets in the celestial diagram of the high priest Keter tally with
October 4, A.D. 93, which was also the date of Menat's heliacal rising.
Like the Babylonians, whom Karl Schoch assures us were persistent
and accurate observers of the heliacal and acronychal risings of the
stars for 3000 years, the Hindus in those bye-gone times depended on
naked-eye observations for their determinations. As no stars are
visible when the Sun is shining (with rare exceptions) all observations
must be made between sunset and sunrise. It would be impossible to
OBSERVE that the Sun had entered this or that nakshatra or was in
conjunction with this or that yogatara. The acronychal co-rising of
Spica at sunset (i.e., its ecliptical opposition to the Sun) may have
been computed but it could never be observed by the unaided eye
(although Sir Norman Lockyer in his DAWN OF ASTRONOMY maintained that
each Egyptian temple was orientated to the rising of a particular fixed
star, which owing to its darkened interiors and its long telescopic
construction, could be seen in broad daylight flooding the high altar
with its silvery light as it rose in the East). Consequently the Hindu
years began when Chitra (SPICA) was VISIBLE on Lanka's (Ujjain)
horizon, immediately after sunset (acronychal rising) or when it was
first VISIBLE at dawn (heliacal rising).
(Part VIII, together with the Mystery Solar Returns will be
continued in the next issue of the AFA Bulletin.)
***************************
[NOTE: Below Excerpt from Fagan's later essay "The Aquarian Age"
indicates his further conclusions on the subject of the Ayanamsha and
the Hindu asterisms. The essay in full follows this excerpt.]
Excerpt from
Cyril Fagan, FAFA, "THE AQUARIAN AGE," AFA BULLETIN,
Sep 1, 1951, Vol. 13, No. 9.
"Contrary to common opinion neither Chitra (SPICA) or Revati (ZETA
PISCIUM) were the fiducial of the Hindu Nirayana (Sidereal) zodiac.
The position of the yogataras in the Siddhanta lists are expressed in
meridian longitudes and latitudes and in terms of the Sayana (Tropical
zodiac. The degree of the ecliptic that simultaneously culminated with
a fixed star was the Dhruvak of the latter, and the distance of the
star from the ecliptic measured along the meridian circle at its
culmination was its Vikshepa. When the Dhruvaks and Vikshepas of the
various Siddhanta lists are reduced trigometrically to R.A. and
declination, they give a date, according to the year of compilation, in
or around 500 A.D. Revati was just a convenient star that happened at
this period to mark the beginning of the Sayana (tropical) zodiac (A.D.
575) and of the commencement in Saka 455 (523 A.D.) of the surya-
siddhanta and Arya-siddhanta solar years. From many beautiful slokas
in the Rig Veda, it is obvious that the true fiducial of the Hindu
Nakshatras of the late period was the paranatellonta of Aswini
(Sharatan), and calculation proves, for the latitude of Ujjain, that
its zero-year was 210 A.D. As the zero-year of the Egypto-Babylonian
zodiac was 213 A.D., it is apparent that the Hindu nakshatras and the
Near Eastern zodiac, at the beginning of the Christian era, had the
same starting point....
************************************
Cyril Fagan, FAFA, "THE AQUARIAN AGE," AFA BULLETIN,
September 1, 1951, Vol. 13, No. 9.
With reference to the article under the above caption from the pen
of our esteemed colleague Robert DeLuce, FAFA, that appeared in the May
1951 issue of the AFA BULLETIN, may I hasten to offer that the true
historical date of the entry of the vernal-point into the constellation
Pisces - THE ZERO YEAR - is no longer a matter for conjecture. It can
be derived, with the greatest assurance of authenticity, from the
monumental and textual records of ancient Egypt and Babylonia. These
historical details are set out in ZODIACS, OLD AND NEW (Llewellyn
Publications, Ltd) but as Mr. DeLuce did not refer to this conclusive
evidence, it is presumed he has not read the book. For the benefit of
those who have not yet procured a copy I shall summarize the evidence
as follows:
(a) The mean sidereal longitude of the vernal-point was Aries 13.8
degrees for the Babylonian year commencing April 4th (1st Nisan) 786
B.C., the only year in which the planets were in their 'exact'
exaltation degrees at their heliacal phenomena, and during which the
famous temple and college of astrology at Kalakh, dedicated to Nabu,
was inaugurated.
(b) In the luni-solar tables ("System No. 2") inscribed in
cuneiform characters on baked clay tablets, of the Babylonian
astronomer Naburiannu, compiled in 500 B.C., the longitude of the
vernal point is given as Aries 10 degrees.
(c) In the similar tables (System No. 1") of the Babylonian
astronomer Kiddinnu, compiled in 373 B.C., the sidereal longitude of
the vernal-point is given as Aries 8 degrees.
(d) The mean sidereal longitude of the vernal-point (equated to the
equinox of 100 B.C.) in the Neo-Babylonian Planetary Texts for the
years 210-60 B.C. was Aries 4.3 degrees.
(e) In the Egyptian (Demotic) Planetary Tablets, catalogued as
"Berlin Papyrus P 8279," which cover (with gaps) the years 17 B.C. to
11 A.D., the position of the vernal-point at the commencement of the
reign of Augustus was Aries 4 degrees.
(f) In the Stobart (Demotic) Planetary Tablets, covering (with
gaps) 17 A.D. to 132 A.D., the sidereal longitude of the vernal-point
is given as Aries 2 degrees, decreasing with time.
If the reader takes a sheet of square-ruled paper and graphs these
values he will discover that the resulting 'curve' is almost a
faultless straight line sweeping diagonally across the sheet, and
indicating 213 A.D. as the Zero-Year, or that in which the vernal-point
retrograded into the end of the constellation Pisces. [See below.]
'Inter alia' this curve proves that SPICA (Menyet = "the Peg") was the
fiducial in Virgo 29 degrees. Consequently the spring-point will not
recede into the constellation Aquarius until 2369 A.D., which,
theoretically, marks the beginning of the "Aquarian Age."
[Following GRAPH copied from ZODIACS, OLD AND NEW. Note that "ascii
text may distort the graph form.]
DIAGONAL LINE = SIDEREAL LONGITUDE OF THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOCTIAL
POINT MEASURED FROM SPICA IN 29 VIRGO 00'
Babylonian Planetary Texts (V.P. reduced to ecliptic of-100
by Van Der Waerden)
YEARS B.C. YEARS A.D.
-800 -700 -600 -500 -400 -300 -200 -100 -0 +100 +200
| | | | | | | | | | |
LIB 15__________________________________________________________
\
14___\ __13.8 LIB _________________________________________
S * Hypsomata B.C. 786
I 13________\ _______________________________________________
D \
E 12____________\ ___________________________________________
R \
E 11________________\ _______________________________________
A Naburiannu
L 10___________ 10 LIB * B.C. 500 ___________________________
\
L 9______________________ \ _________________________________
O Kidinnu
N 8__________________ 8 LIB * B.C. 373 ____________________
G
I 7_____________________________ \ __________________________
T \
U 6_________________________________ \ 5.3 LIB ____________
D \ * B.C. 116-60
E 5____________________________________ ___________________
4 LIB
4_____________ 4.2 LIB B.C. 160-130 *\ *Berlin Demotic
3.5 LIB B.C. 210-160 * \ Papyrus P8279
3___________________________________________ B.C. 15 - A.D. 11
\
2_________________________ 2 LIB A.D. 71-132 * ________
Strobart Egyptian \
1__________________________ Tables (Demotic) ______ \ ____
\
LIB 0______________________________________________________ \ _
\
VIR 29__________________________________________________________
VIR 28__________________________________________________________
| | | | | | | | | | |
-800 -700 -600 -500 -400 -300 -200 -100 -0 +100 +200
YEARS B.C. YEARS A.D.
Seeing that the zodiac was of Egyptian, and not Hebrew, origin
(opp. cit. p.39, et. seq.) it is not understood why the Piscean Age
should necessarily commence with the Dionysian date for the birth of
Christ. It would be just as logical to assume that it commenced with
the birth of Gautama, the Buddha, some 500 years before Christ, and
whose religion is today the largest in the world, or, even with
Mahomet, born some 500 years after Christ. Surely it is no credit to
the lowly Nazarene to record that "His Age" witnessed the evolution of
the bow and arrow to the atomic bomb?
It is a fallacy to assume that the theoretical beginnings of
astronomical eras should necessarily coincide with the commencement of
ecclesiastical or civil eras. Like the colours of the rainbow, no
drastic demarcation lines divide one era from another. The regression
of the vernal-point into the tail-end of a constellation constituted
only a theoretical beginning, and in antiquity was without importance.
The true beginning of an Age was sought among the dates when the
crescent-moon of 1st Nisan (Easter), which commenced the ecclesiastical
"New Year's Day," was seen to fall among the stars of the constellation
that indicated the "New Age." This crescent moon was observed
immediately after sunset on the first or second day following the
syzygy (conjunction of the Sun and Moon) according to the hour at which
this took place. Viewed in this light it is apparent from the
following brief list of the approximate sidereal longitude of the
crescent as compared with the sidereal longitude of the vernal-point
itself, Pisces 5d 50' (1951) that we have a very long way to go before
it can be said that the "Aquarian Age" has commenced. The list reveals
that we are not yet even in the middle of the Piscean Age (sic!), let
alone near its termination, which will occur when the longitude of the
crescent is Pisces 0d 00'.
Sidereal longitude Sidereal long. (approx)
of SYZYGY of Crescent of 1st Nisan.
1948 March 10 Aquarius 27d 06' Pisces 18d 51'
1949 March 29 Pisces 15d 28' Pisces 27d 42'
1950 March 18 Pisces 3d 19' Pisces 16d 43'
1951 March 7 Aquarius 22d 19' Pisces 17d 03'
1952 March 25 Pisces 10d 57' Pisces 23d 41'
1953 March 15 Pisces 0d 23' Pisces 19d 51'
There appears to be an unsuspected justification for identifying
the constellation Aquarius with the "son of Man" (Matt. 26, 30), that
is one born of 'mortal parents.' In the corrupt and fanciful Graeco-
Roman star atlases of the late period, to which Mr. DeLuce refers, and
which have created so much unnecessary confusion, this constellation
was represented by a bearded man, reclining naked beside "Fluvius
Aquarii," but in the earlier Greek version Aquarius was personified by
Ganymede, the most beautiful boy born of 'moral parents' and the cup-
bearer and favorite of Zeus, the God-father (op. cit p. 40). The
archetype, however, was that of Hap (or Hapuy = the two Haps), the
naked boygod of the Nile, who is depicted pouring the waters of the
Nile, from his two urns, on to the two lands (Upper and Lower) of
Egypt; because when this constellation was seen to rise immediately
after sunset, the Nile overflowed its banks and the annual innundations
of Egypt commenced.
As the Babylonian zodiac was not introduced into Greece by
Cleostratus of Tenedos until the middle of the 6th century B.C., when
the vernal-point was in Aries 12 degrees, Graeco-Roman star atlases are
of comparatively late date. Their division of the zodiac into twelve
'unequal' parts is due to Hellenistic license and ignorance. And
examination of the Neo-Babylonian and Egyptian ephemerides show that
each zodiacal constellation was rigorously 30 degrees in longitude and
this is abundantly confirmed from the longitudes of the "exaltation
degrees" of the planets for the Hypsomatic year 786-85 B.C. Hence it
is futile to search in these Graeco-Roman star-atlases among the
inconspicuous stars between Pisces and Aries for the initial point of
the Sidereal zodiac. The Egyptian and Babylonian zodiac was not
measured from any star in Aries or Pisces but from SPICA in Virgo 29
degrees, ALDEBARAN in Taurus 15 degrees, ANTARES in Scorpio 15 degrees,
TSHA NEFRE "The Beautiful Boy" (VINDEMIATRIX) in Virgo 15 degrees, the
PLEIADES in Taurus 5 degrees, and REGULUS in Leo 5 degrees, the
longitudes of which were originally fixed in relationship to the
Pedjeshes or "Stretched cord" [op. cit. p. 25 - ZODIACS OLD AND NEW]
Contrary to common opinion neither Chitra (SPICA) or Revati (ZETA
PISCIUM) were the fiducial of the Hindu Nirayana (Sidereal) zodiac.
The position of the yogataras in the Siddhanta lists are expressed in
meridian longitudes and latitudes and in terms of the Sayana (Tropical
zodiac. The degree of the ecliptic that simultaneously culminated with
a fixed star was the Dhruvak of the latter, and the distance of the
star from the ecliptic measured along the meridian circle at its
culmination was its Vikshepa. When the Dhruvaks and Vikshepas of the
various Siddhanta lists are reduced trigometrically to R.A. and
declination, they give a date, according to the year of compilation, in
or around 500 A.D. Revati was just a convenient star that happened at
this period to mark the beginning of the Sayana (tropical) zodiac (A.D.
575) and of the commencement in Saka 455 (523 A.D.) of the surya-
siddhanta and Arya-siddhanta solar years. From many beautiful slokas
in the Rig Veda, it is obvious that the true fiducial of the Hindu
Nakshatras of the late period was the paranatellonta of Aswini
(Sharatan), and calculation proves, for the latitude of Ujjain, that
its zero-year was 210 A.D. As the zero-year of the Egypto-Babylonian
zodiac was 213 A.D., it is apparent that the Hindu nakshatras and the
Near Eastern zodiac, at the beginning of the Christian era, had the
same starting point.
It must be remembered that when we refer to the "Aquarian Age" we
are talking in terms of the 'sidereal' zodiac and to identify the
observed influences of the sign Aquarius with the constellation
Aquarius is to be guilty of the homonymous error [to mistake similar
names for similar natures]....
The Aquarian Age...theoretically will be ushered in in 2369 A.D.
[as derived from]...the records of ancient Egypt and Babylon.
*******************
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Egyptian
[EGYPTIAN] A companion file to Cyril Fagan's writing in
[ORIGINS1], on the Naming of the Constellations. Even though
the original Egyptian and Babylonian astrology were sidereal in
framework, the Egyptian wandering calendar was tropical. Most of the
icons we have come to know for the "signs" (Taurus, Gemini, etc) were
originally connected with the Egyptian wandering calendar and mistaken
by later Greek culture as constellations. According to Fagan, these
months were named according to the seasonal and agricultural events
that took place when the Moon rose in the constellations in Egypt.
In his explanation of the Egyptian "sign" name origins as well as
the hieroglyphic ideograms for those seasonal months, Fagan's early
writing completely divorces the icons of the signs taken from the
ancient Egyptian (tropical) calendar (as bullish for Taurus, fishy for
Pisces, etc.,) in favor of a definition of the constellations based on
empirical observation and reference to the ruling planets and
Exaltation degrees, the latter of which were recorded in and valid only
in the constellations.
See especially the last file, Fagan's June 1961 "SOLUNARS" with the
section on Egyptian Beliefs. Another related file is DISCREPANCIES in
Names and Symbols in file [DISCREP] in archive Sidereal.zip.
It should be noted the there are other historical scholars who cite
ancient sources indicating the archaic antiquity of the constellations
regardless of the Egyptian calendars.
* * * *
JUNE 1959 American Astrology
"Many Things" - Cyril Fagan Letter
NAMES AND LABELS
By way of clarification, let us suppose that there lived in the 3rd
century A.D., two competent astrologers, with a wide experience of
human character, one living in Greece and the other in India, and that
they recorded their impressions on the character of the people born
during, say, the first half of November. Allowing for the difference
due to racial conditioning, their delineations, when compared, would be
found to be substantially the same, would they not? Both of them would
label these people Scorpians, for during the 3rd century A.D. not only
did the two zodiacs tally, but the Julian and Gregorian (modern)
calendars also tallied; a coincidence that is worth noting. Now let us
suppose that the same two astrologers were living today, and that they
recorded their impressions of the character of the people also born
during the first half of November. When these records are compared
would they not also prove to be substantially the same, with this
difference that the Greek, about the middle of the 6th century B.C.
being an adherent of the new or tropical zodiac, which is precessional,
would continue to label them Scorpians, while the Indian, being an
adherent of the old or sidereal (Nirayana) zodiac, which is not
precessional, would label them Librans. Provided the delineations were
based on pure empiricism, i.e., on direct experience, and not on the
supposed attributes of the Scorpion or the Scales, they would be more
or less identical.
Siderealists do not quarrel with such 'bona fides' delineations.
They must be identical for both zodiacs for the same periods of time of
the Gregorian calendar; otherwise astrology would be largely falsified.
Their quarrel is with the labels. As will be seen the label has no
astrological significance in itself, being merely fluvial and pastoral,
but by implication it has significance in that the label Libra implies
that Venus is the ruling planet, while the label Scorpio implies that
it is Mars. What the astrologers have got to determine, regardless of
the label, is whether the general character of the people and their
predilections, born in modern times, during th first half of November,
conform more to the attributes of Venus or Mars. Siderealists,
unhesitatingly, say Venus, thus implying that the correct label is
Libra.
When the delineations of the 3rd century A.D., for the first half
of November, are compared with the delineations for the same period of
the year in modern times, they will be found to be substantially
different. Why? According to the adherents of the modern [Tropical]
zodiac, there should be no marked difference between them at all; the
Sun's "phase" in respect of the vernal equinox being the same! But
they are different! The characters of those born during the first half
of November of the 3rd century A.D. are conspicuously martial; while
the character of those born during the first half of present century
are manifestly venereal. This is not a theory; one has only to study
the character delineations of the zodiacal signs, as given in the works
of such classical authors as Manilius (who flourished during the reigns
of the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius), Firmicus Maternus, Manetho and
others and compare them with modern delineations, to be aware of the
lack of conformity.
The cause, of course, lies in the phenomena of precession. Our
modern calendar is tropical, with the vernal-equinoctial point
permanently dated for March 21st. Being tropical, it is receding at
the rate of one degree in about 72 years in respect of the zodiacal
constellations, so that the Sun's position on, say, November 1, 1959,
will not be in the same position in the heavens as it was on, say,
November 1, 220 A.D. On the latter date it was in the sidereal
longitude Scorpio 8d 42' and on the former Libra 13d 38' at midnight
(GMT). It is, therefore, obvious that it is not the Sun's "phase"
(elongation) in respect of the vernal point--which is a mere
mathematical abstraction--that "conditions" the Sun, but its apparent
position in the star-fields of the constellations: hence the difference
in the delineations.
As already explained in the Solunar series, the representations of
the twelve zodiacal constellations are only Egyptian heiroglyphic
ideograms, indicating the fluvial and pastoral events that occurred
from month to month in Egypt--and in Egypt only--when the constellatons
rose immediately after sunset. It is, therefore, apparent that they
cannot have any astrological signficance whatsoever. To liken those
born when the Sun was passing through the sidereal or tropical Aries to
"gamboling, upspringing rams," or those born under Taurus to "stolid
bulls" and so forth, is just sheer fanciful nonsense, which, alas, is
just as prevalent today as it was in the classical period, to the
enduring discredit of the science.
If the delineations of the twelve zodiacal signs, as given in our
popular textbooks and magazines are carefully scrutinized, they will be
found to be a concoction of (a) modern empirical observations and (b)
the supposed significances of the associated zodiacal symbols. Insofar
as they are based on authentic empirical research they are applicable
to both the tropical and sidereal zodiacs, for the same dates of the
year. But when they are intermingled with the fanciful meaning given
to the zodiacal labels, they cease to be applicable to either the
tropical or sidereal zodiacs. As Rupert Gleadow would succinctly put
it "...The sign Scorpio is only the constellation Libra misnamed..."
The "...actual astronomical constellations..." are the modern
astronomical versions of the Greek constellation figures, which were of
unequal length. According to Dr. J. K. Fotheringham of Oxford
University they were introduced into Greece by Cleostratus of Tendos.
But the original and much more ancient Egyptian and Babylonian zodiacal
constellations were each precisely 30 degrees in longitude. A
complicated mind, functioning in the field of the obtuse, anticipates a
complicated solution, and when it gets it, it is gratified. But,
although profound, truth is simple. The merits of the Egyptian
duodenary division of the fixed zodiac have yet to be assayed by the
astrological world, and cannot be dismissed as being "really too
crudely simple," as witness the statistical findings of Donald A.
Bradley in his PROFESSION AND BIRTHDATE (Llewellyn Publications, Ltd.,
California).
It is fully agreed that after a brief acquaintance it is possible to
guess correctly both the Ascendant and Sun-sign of an acquaintance; but
this does not detract from the fact that wrong lables are being used
most of the time.
Chapters on how to compute the solar return in terms of the new
[Tropical] zodiac will be found in most standard textbooks of this and
the previous century, and were even known to Kepler and Tycho Brahe.
They are therefore not new. A few articles have appeared, many years
ago, in the pages of Modern Astrology edited by Alan Leo, on the
calculation of lunar returns, but again in terms of the new zodiac;
while to this day, almost every astrological magazine publishes
annually the horoscope for the Sun's ingress into Aries, also in terms
of the new zodiac. What is claimed to be original is the computation
of solar and lunar returns in terms of the old or sidereal zodiac. For
a man of, say 60 years of age, the difference in time betweenthe
tropical and sidereal versions of the solar return can exceed 21 hours,
witha consequent difference in the longitude of the Moon and the
mundane positions of the planets, the sidereal yielding a distinctly
different interpretation to that of the tropical version.
*******
From Cyril Fagan's 3/56 and 2/72 "SOLUNARS"
EGYPTIAN ROOTS
Egyptian texts on astronomy and astrology, whether written in
hieroglyphics, hieratic or demotic, abound in the use of cryptograms to
indicate the zodiacal constellations, planets, their positions and
configurations, and to one not conversant with astrological symbolism
in its original form they can be completely mystifying.
For example Mercury was frequently represented by a band of string,
which was used to bind papyrus books. This symbol is quite
appropriate, seeing that books of all descriptions come under the
dominion of Mercury. Most astrologers incorrectly assume that the
well-known glyph for what is now the eighth constellation represents "a
scorpion." It is, in fact, the demotic ideogram for "a cobra," and
what is taken to be the point of the "sting" is actually the cobra's
head, which faces to the right, as Egyptian script was usually read
from right to left. The serpent was the Egyptian symbol for storms and
gales, which became prevalent when this constellation rose at sunset.
But the majority of these cryptograms take the form of homophones; a
homophone being one of two or more ideograms showing entirely different
representations but having similar sound values. In short, a homophone
is merely a rebus on the on the original word. In some tests, for
example, Venus is represented by the numeral 9, usually depicted by
nine dots arranged in the form of a rectangle. Now the phonetics for 9
are the same as those for "one that shines," namely the planet Venus,
but differently arranged. For another example, the phonetics for
"twins" are the same as those for "brothers," while those for Pisces
are also the phonetics for "a pair of soles" and "a pair sandals,"
which partly explain the development of the association of the feet
with this constellation.
Both the constellation Leo and the planet Mars were symbolized by
the ideogram of "a knife," which is probably due to the fact that Mars
rose in Leo at the time of the inauguration of the Harakhte (Mars) era,
September 15, 3030 B.C. In sculpture the god Harakhte is represented
by the human-headed lion know as the Sphinx. To the stargazer the
constellation of Leo is noteworthy for its conspicuous "sickle" formed
by its leading stars, and to this day it is symbolized by the device of
a sickle, wrongly thought to be that of a lion's tail. The Egyptian
for "sickle" happens to be similar to the phonetics for "a lion," and
so for probably euphemistic and calligraphic reasons the ideogram for a
lion was substituted for that of a sickle to identify this
constellation. In short, the symbol for a lion is merely a charade for
that of the sickle.
The absurdity, therefore, of attributing lion-like qualities to one
born under the "sickle" constellation is too obvious to stress. Yet no
small part of Ptolemaic astrology is based on nothing more tangible
than homophonic similarities. Incidentally, this fact is one of the
strongest arguments that astrology originated with the Egyptians and
not the Babylonians. TO ERECT AN INTERPRETATIVE EDIFICE ON A SYMBOL,
BEFORE THE SYMBOL'S ORIGIN IS KNOWN, IS SURELY THE HEIGHT OF FOLLY.
In the zodiac from the Temple of Khunum at Esneh (137 B.C.) the
"sickle" is personified by the goddess Satis. In her hand she holds a
knife, sicklewise, over her head, while her right hand grasps a set of
arrows. These arrows represent the conspicuous swarm of shooting
stars, known as the Leonids, that are still seen to this day, darting
in all directions from the radiant point situated near the center of
the Sickle. The Leonids are one of several meteoric showers and
certainly the most spectacular of them all when they intensify at
intervals of 33 years when the Earth passes through the densest part of
the stream.
As certain meteoric streams and comets have identical orbits, like
those of the Orionids and Halley's Comet, it is now believed that
meteor showers are streams of cometary particles which follow the
associated comet's elliptical or parabolic path in the solar system.
Only the showers that actually pass through the Earth's orbit are seen,
and then only when the Earth is moving through the swarm. The stream
of the Leonids cuts the Earth's path at about Aries 28 degrees,
heliocentrically speaking, and hence they become conspicuous about
November 15th when the Sun's apparent sidereal longitude is Libra 28
deg. While some meteoric showers famed in the past seem to have
vanished, it is interesting to note that the Leonids were known to the
Egyptians over 2,000 years ago. The sidereal longitude of the present
radiant point is about Leo 2d17', still within the "Sickle of Leo," and
it is not surprising to find that some of the world's most meteoric
characters, like Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte, were born
when the Sun was in conjunction with this point. It is worth noting
that these two most famous conquerors in history were born with the Sun
in the same degree, sidereally speaking, whereas in the tropical zodiac
the natal Suns of Alexander and Napoleon are separated by nearly 30d.!
Degree Symbolism
This brings up the whole problem of the symbols attached to each
degree of the zodiac.... Symbols have been allotted to the zodiacal
degrees by a variety of methods, the most common being based on
unadulterated schematism, having no natural or astronomical content
whatsoever. In this method a zodiacal constellation or sign--it does
not matter which--is divided into a number of small divisions, each
subdivision being identified with a planet or a microzodiacal sign....
To make any claims to validity, such a system must be anchored to
the sidereal zodiac, for in terms of the tropical zodiac, it would be
quite meaningless. If it can be established that any degree of the
zodiac does emit a distinct and unique influence, then the influence
could only be due to a fixed star or group of fixed stars, both visible
and invisible, that lie as a backdrop to that degree. In itself a
zodiacal degree is a mere mathematical abstraction, and obviously can
emit no such influence whatsoever....
The symbolical degrees of antiquity were, for the most part, based
on the paranatellonta of the fixed stars, and several lists of the
latter, such as those of Aratus, Hyginus, Manilius and Firmicus, have
come down to us. These relate only to the rising degrees of the
zodiacs, and are only true for the geographical latitude for which they
were computed, and then only for a limited time because the rising and
setting of the stars are affected by precession, despite the fact that
their longitudes may be expressed in terms of the sidereal zodiac....
How did the astrologers of antiquity discover so correctly the
influences of the planets? How did they ascertain that Mercury was the
significator of words, penmanship, and accountancy, seeing that their
ephemerides of this planet were so defective, because of the proximity
to the Sun. How did they discover that Venus was the significator of
love, Mars of war, Jupiter of joy, and Saturn of sorrow. Was their
knowledge the fruit of many thousands of years of tedious empirical
research, or had they a more direct approach?
....
While we can afford to take Simplicius' statement in his commentary
of the De Caelo of Aristotle (that he had heard the Egyptians possessed
written observations of the stars extending over no less than 630,000
years, and that the Babylonians possessed them for 1,444,000 years)
with a grain of salt, it is nevertheless true that a large quantity of
observation tablets with their omens were found in Ashurbanipal's
library at Nineveh and elsewhere. But there is nothing in these
Babylonian tablets which would lead us to believe that the astrology of
Manetho and Ptolemy, was derived from them. Unfortunately, our
knowledge of ancient Egyptian astrology is deduced solely form the
monuments and the few texts that have survived destruction. Of the
Heliopolian library nothing remains, and the famous library of
Alexandria, which was so severely damaged in 48 B.C. when Julius Caeser
was besieged in that city, was ruthlessly destroyed, with all its
precious contents, in 641 A.D.
* * * * * *
Cyril Fagan's June 1961 "SOLUNARS, A Study of the Sidereal Zodiac"
Unquestionably the greatest tragedy of our science is that modern
astrologers are not historically-minded. If they were astrology would
be spared the blunders, piled on blunders, that keep recurring daily.
It is not that we astrologers are devoid of intelligence, but we are
considerably handicapped in that we lack a knowledge of the historical
background, which is essential to a true understanding of our art,
otherwise we will continue to grope blindly in the dark. If astrology
as a science is to take its rightful place as an academy of earning, no
effort should be spared to have authentic ckpies of all the most
ancient works, and records on the subject gathered together and housed
in a suitable building. Experts should be commissioned to translate,
collate and subject them to scholarly criticism, and such should be
published in English and made available to all earnest students.
To achieve this, considerable funds would be needed, but the
interest in the subject is so deep and universal that one feels certain
that if a right start were made the necessary endowments would soon
become available, provided such a project were organized on sound lines
and freed of all traces of partisanship. But who will undertake this
worthy task?
If astrologers only knew the primordial history of their subject;
the way, for instance, the signs of the zodiac got their names and
symbols, they would hesitate twice before claiming to see unmistakable
bovine characteristics in those born in the month of May or a feline
disposition in those born during August, nor would they be so quick to
classify Pisces as a bicorporal and Aquarius as an airy sign. Those
who are acquainted with the rudiments of Egyptology know that the
popular astrological symbols have been derived from Egyptian
hieroglyphic, hieratic, or demotic ideograms. Thus the well-known
symbols for the Sun, Moon, Libra and Aquarius are to be found in the
most hieroglyphic texts, but there is nothing in Sumerian or Akkadian
cuneiform characters even remotely resembling them.
The astrological glyph for Libra is usually regarded as being a
representation of the beam of a balance and hence the name Libra
("Balance") is given to this constellation. But this is not the case.
The glyph is a demotic ideogram depicting the Sun rising over the
horizon. Known as 'Akhet,' which means "the place on the horizon where
the sun rises," identifies Libra as the first of the constellations.
In its hieroglyphic form it shows the sun rising between two hills on
the eastern Egyptian horizon. So instead of the constellation
representing the delicate and unstable scales it symbolizes the very
solid hilltips ofthe eatern skyline of Egypt. Because, in modern
times, the 6th zodiacal sign, Pisces, is shown by a representation of
two fish with their tails tied together by a cord, this constellation
has been classed as dual or bicorporal.
If the reader refers to pentade No. 15 shown on the frontispiece of
ZODIACS OLD AND NEW, he will find Pisces illustrated by two fish
bearing the legend 'Khonuy.' But the dual representation here is an
Egyptian grammatical construction known as the 'nisbe-form,' meaning
"the pentade that belongs to the fish..." (singular), just as the
ideograms of two horizons, two towns, and so forth simply mean "he who
belongs to, or is related to, the horizon of the town," as the case may
be. A glance at the frontispiece will show that many pentades take
this nisbe-form and therefore they do not signify duality. Hence
Pisces originally only symbolized one fish and is not dual or
bicorporal. Because of Pisces' dominion over the womb, several ancient
authors attributed the birth of twins--the "two fish"--to it; but oddly
enough not to Gemini!
EGYPTIAN BELIEFS
To the Egyptian priesthood all the stars personified gods or
goddesses and the patterns formed by them in the sky were deemed so
sacred that for profane hands to copy them was a sacrilege fraught with
the most dire consequences. To obviate this difficulty in
communication, they had recourse to a rebus; that is, in place of the
original symbol they substituted an entirely different one, but having
the same phonetic intonation. Rebuses are quite common in Egyptian
astronomical inscriptions. Thus in the Egyptian planetary texts the
planet Venus was indicated by an ideogram of three rows of 3's,
arranged to form a square and totaling 9, which mystified Egyptologists
of the early days, leading them to think there were some occult
connection between this number and the planet Venus. But the number 9
is only a rebus for Venus for the phonetics for 9 is 'pesed ju' which
happens also to mean the "brilliant one," namely Venus, and also the
"crescent new-moon."
The anterior part of the constellation Leo is conspicuous for a
cluster of stars which form a resemblance to a "sickle" and in current
astronomical literature it is often referred to as the "Sickle of Leo."
The Egyptian phonetics for "sickle" is 'ma' and for a "lion" 'maa,' so
to indicate this constellation the rebus of a lion was substituted for
the sickle, and so the symbol of a lion has stuck to it ever since.
Incidentally the phonetics for "sight" is 'mau' and in his AEGYPTICA,
Manetho assures us that the lion is remarkable for his astonishing
sight! But the starry sickly also appeared to some Egyptians as
resembling 'nem' a "butcher's knife," and in the planetary texts both
the constellation Leo and the planet Mars are indicated by just such an
ideogram.
On September 15, 3130 B.C. at the helical rising of Spica in
Heliopolis, the Harakhte (Mars) era began; at which time Mars was in
conjunction with Denebola ("Lion's tail"), then a star of the first
magnitude, in the constellation of Leo. On the monuments the regent of
the constellation Taurus is shown by 'Kauy,' the nisbe-form of 'Ka,'
the ideogram of which depicts a pair of raised human arms, flexed at
right angles at the elbows, in the act of supplication. At death the
corpse was represented by 'Khat,' the oxyphynchus-fish; the astral
remains or ghost by 'Ba,' the jabiru or ba-bird, which was capable of
external manifestation and the divine spirit or intelligence by 'Ka' as
described above.
But as the 'Ka' of this constellation must never be directly
invoked by the laity, its ideogram was replaced by the rebus of the
male generative organ or by the rebus of a bull, the phonetics of both
being 'Ka.' In short the original symbol for Taurus was 'Ka,'
"Intelligence." In planetary texts Taurus is frequently indicated by
the ideogram of a phallus or by that of a bull, but never by that of
the 'Ka.'
If the reader again refers to the frontispiece of ZODIACS OLD AND
NEW, he will see that pentades Nos. 24, 25 and 26 also in the
constellation Taurus, show in nisbe-form a representation of the
crested ibis (Ibis comata). The phonetics for this bird is 'Akh' which
mean "blessed one," "glorification," "sunshine," etc., an allusion to
the fact that at the beginning of the lunar year (Easter-time) in the
3rd millennia B.C. the sun on "New Year's Day" (Babylonian--1st Nisan)
ascended in the constellation Taurus. But the phonetic 'Akh'
(masculine) and "Akhet'(feminine) are also those for the ideogram for
Libra, which signified the "New Year's Day" of the ancient sidereal
year, when Spica rose heliacally in this constellation.
Readers will now discern the folly of attributing the qualities of
the king of the jungle to those born when the Sun was in Leo: one
would be as much justified in attributing to them the qualites of a
"butcher's knife," whatever they may be. Equally fatuous is it to
interpret the rest of the zodiacal symbols too literally.
To the Egyptians and the Babylonians the zodiac was "the path of the
moon." It was the latter day Greeks who made it solar, thereby turning
zodiacal symbolism topsy-turvy. The naming of the constellations had
nothing whatsoever to do with the Sun's entry into them. On the
contrary, they were named in acordance with the annual events that took
place in ancient Egypt, during the months when they first became
visible at nightfall, that is immediately after sunset, when the first
hour of the night began; and the stars that first became visible were
those that rose in the east, i.e., crossed the Ascendant. During
daylight the stars could not be seen. It was not possible to
observation the constellaton that held the Sun, because of the
brilliancy of its light. But it was always possible to see the Moon
gliding through the constellations at night when she was visible.
When a zodiacal constellation was observed ascending above the
eastern horizon immediately after sunset, the sun itself, was obviously
in the opposite constellation that had jus set, and which was
invisible. Thus should the stars of Virgo rise at nightfall, naturally
the sun would be in the opposte constellation, Pisces. Technically
this is know as the acronychal ("nightfall") rising of Virgo. Viewed
heliocentrically the earth would always be in the constellation that
rose at sunset, as would also be the Full Moon.
To this day in India the months are named after the zodiacal
constellations that rise after sunset. Thus the month 'Caitra,' named
after 'Citra' ("Spica") in virgo, commences about March 14th, at which
day the Sun enters the opposite constellation, Pisces. The stars of
the harvest constellation, Virgo, rose after sunset in Egypt during the
month of February (Sun in Pisces); and it was during this month that
the Egyptian harvest commenced, and the ripe grain gathered by the
maidens working in the fields. Hence its name and glyph of a "sheaf of
wheat and sickle." The "Harvest Moon" was the Full Moon of Virgo which
fell in conjunction with Spica, the "Ear of Wheat." The fact that this
constellation rose acronychally during the harvesting season in Egypt
proves, in itself, that it was the Egyptians, and no other nation, for
among none of the great peoples of the ancient world did harvesting
commence so extra-ordinary early in the year.
During midsummer (Sun in Cancer) the Sun attained its highest
elevation, like a goat perched on the mountain-top, and in the Denderah
circular zodiac the summer solstice is represented by a hawk (Horus)
perched on top of a papyrus-pole. At the same time the Nile began to
flood again, the waters becoming once more plentiful with fish. So the
stars that rose at nightfall during this month were identified with a
goat (Capricorn) and it was given the tail of a fish. Bonfires were
lit on th hills and the summer festivities began with the rising of the
Full Moon; the Full Moon being, of course, in Capricorn.
The pastoral Pan and the Satyrs have always been associated with
midsummer. Being the hottest month it was for this reason considered
the most lecherous, and in classical literature lechery was attributed
to the goat. On the other hand, during midwinter (Sun in Capricorn)
the Sun appeared so close to the horizon as to seem like a celestial
eetle or a crab crawling around on the sands. So the stars that rose
at eventide were identified with the Scarabaeus or Crab (Cancer).
Conspicuous among the were Praesepe, the "Manger" and the two Aselli
"Asses," which figure so prominently in Christian festivities.
Youth and Summer
Aquarius the "Water-bearer" was so named by the Egyptians because
when it was seen to rise immediately after sunset during the month of
July, the waters of the rive Nile had risen so high as to overflow
their banks and flood the lands. Hence Aquarius was the sign of the
Great Egyptian Inundations. During the following month, at the
vespertine rising of Pisces, Egypt was so covered with water as to turn
it into a vast sea, brimful of fish. In our modern star maps, Aquarius
is pictorially represented by whitehaired old Father Winter pouring
water from an urn; a thoroughly meaningless symbol, apropos of nothing.
Originally it portrayed Hapy, the naked boy-god of the Nile pouring the
swollen waters of the river from his two urns (nisbe-form) on to the
lands of Egypt. In later times, the Romans simply called it 'Amphora,'
the "Urn," but tje Greeks identified it with GAnymede, the cup-bearer
and favorite of Zeus, and the most beautiful boy, born or mortal
parents. It is a sign of youth and summer and ot of wintry old age.
An exlanation as to how the rest of the zodiacal signs got their
symbols and names will be found in ZODIACS OLD AND NEW. The vespertine
rising of Virgo during February during the harvesting season and the
evening rising of Aquarius during July when the inundation began makes
it absolutely certain that ti was the Egyptians who names the zodiacal
signs. (The Tigris and the Euphrates overflowed their banks in March.)
In the star maps Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces and Aries (under Aries
lurked Ceturs, the sea-months) are represented as being amphibious or
entirely aquatic in form, and these four signs rose acronychally [at
nighttime] during the summer months of June, July, August and September
whenthe Nile was in full spate.
The Egyptian harvest and the rise, overlfowing and fall of the
Nile, and the events contingent on them happen every year about the
same Gregorian month, the same today as they did in remote antiquity.
That is to say they are SEASONAL, AND HENCE PURELY TROPICAL, being
solely due to the tilt of the earth's axis and Egypt's peculiar
geographical position in regard to the river Nile, whose waters are due
to the descent of rain on the Ethiopian mountains. Like all seasonal
events, they have nothing to do with the influences of the fixed stars
or constellations. The fixed stars to all intents and purposes remain
fixed, but the seasonals and the Gregorian calendar keep moving
backwards in mutual space.
In the form we now know it, the zodiac was devolved from the
pentades in the first millennium B.C., or perhaps earlier. Then the
Full Moon in Virgo heralded the harvest and that in Aquarius the
inundatin. But, because of the effects of precession, it is now the
Full Moon in Leo and Capricorn respectively that signal these events.
From these facts we learn the following:
(a) that the familiar names and signs of the zodiac are only proper to
the tropical zodiac.
(b) that they were named and identified in accordance with the
seasonal events that took place in Egypt at the time of their
acronychal [nighttime] risings.
(c) that these zodiacal names and symbols have no astrological
significance whatsoever.
(d) that the signs of the sidereal zodiac are [from ancient
history] without names and symbols although for modern convenience
those of the Egyptian tropical zodiac are applied to them.
When in the 6th century B.C. Cleostratus of Tenedos nailed the
Egypian zodiac firmly to the fixed stars of the Hellenic firmament, he
unwittingly made a cardinal mistake, because being tropical the
Egyptian [calendar] could not be fixed to any fixed stars, and its
signs, being Egyptian ideograms were interchangable with those of
others and their positions and forms varied. Moreover the twelve signs
of the Egyptian zodiac were rigorously of equal length [in contrast
with the unequal constellations of the Greco-Roman scheme].
At the beginning of the Christian era, when astrology flourished in
Greece, it made little difference, for both zodias tallied about 220
A.D. But the position is very different today where there is a
disparity of 24 degrees between them. It has already been demonstated
that the exaltation of the planets applied only to the sidereal zodiac;
the same is equally true of the rulerships, and the zodiacal character
delineations, as recorded in ancient times are also sidereal. But when
these became intermingled with the imagined influence of the Crab, the
Lion or the Scorpion, they went completely astray.
When one studies the delineations of ancient Egyptian (demotic) and
Babylonian horoscopes one is struck by the complete absence of zodiacal
aspects between the planets; only the paranatellonta being mentioned,
but planetary aspects in their abundance are to be found in the
interpretation of Greek horoscopes, making it appear that aspects are a
Greek innovation, possibly attributable to Aristotle, who was addicted
to this form of schematicism.
Claudius Ptolemy (2nd century A.D.) writing about the rulership of
the signs says: "Since of the twelve signs the most northern, which
are closer than the others to our zenith and therefore more productive
of heat and warmth, are Cancer and Leo, they assign these to the
greatest and most powerful heavenly bodies, that is the luminaries, as
house, Leo, which is masculine to the Sun and Cancer feminine to the
Moon..." (Ptolemy: TETRABIBLOS I, 17, p.79, Harvard University Press.)
Even the beginner in astrology knows that in the tropical zodiac, the
most northern signs are Gemini and Cancer--not Cancer and Leo--the most
northern point being Gemini 30 degrees or Cancer 0 degrees. Moreover
in the tropical zodiac it must always be the same. But it is otherwise
in the sidereal zodiac. About 1953 B.C. the summer solstice occurred
when the Sun was in Cancer 30 degrees or Leo 0 degrees when it was at
its most northern point. This, with many other passages in the
Tetrabiblos, clearly indicates that Ptolemy's astrology was essentially
sidereal. It would also seem to imply the theory as to the rulerships
of the signs by the planets was formulated about the 2nd millennia B.C.
* * * *
[ORIGINS1], on the Naming of the Constellations. Even though
the original Egyptian and Babylonian astrology were sidereal in
framework, the Egyptian wandering calendar was tropical. Most of the
icons we have come to know for the "signs" (Taurus, Gemini, etc) were
originally connected with the Egyptian wandering calendar and mistaken
by later Greek culture as constellations. According to Fagan, these
months were named according to the seasonal and agricultural events
that took place when the Moon rose in the constellations in Egypt.
In his explanation of the Egyptian "sign" name origins as well as
the hieroglyphic ideograms for those seasonal months, Fagan's early
writing completely divorces the icons of the signs taken from the
ancient Egyptian (tropical) calendar (as bullish for Taurus, fishy for
Pisces, etc.,) in favor of a definition of the constellations based on
empirical observation and reference to the ruling planets and
Exaltation degrees, the latter of which were recorded in and valid only
in the constellations.
See especially the last file, Fagan's June 1961 "SOLUNARS" with the
section on Egyptian Beliefs. Another related file is DISCREPANCIES in
Names and Symbols in file [DISCREP] in archive Sidereal.zip.
It should be noted the there are other historical scholars who cite
ancient sources indicating the archaic antiquity of the constellations
regardless of the Egyptian calendars.
* * * *
JUNE 1959 American Astrology
"Many Things" - Cyril Fagan Letter
NAMES AND LABELS
By way of clarification, let us suppose that there lived in the 3rd
century A.D., two competent astrologers, with a wide experience of
human character, one living in Greece and the other in India, and that
they recorded their impressions on the character of the people born
during, say, the first half of November. Allowing for the difference
due to racial conditioning, their delineations, when compared, would be
found to be substantially the same, would they not? Both of them would
label these people Scorpians, for during the 3rd century A.D. not only
did the two zodiacs tally, but the Julian and Gregorian (modern)
calendars also tallied; a coincidence that is worth noting. Now let us
suppose that the same two astrologers were living today, and that they
recorded their impressions of the character of the people also born
during the first half of November. When these records are compared
would they not also prove to be substantially the same, with this
difference that the Greek, about the middle of the 6th century B.C.
being an adherent of the new or tropical zodiac, which is precessional,
would continue to label them Scorpians, while the Indian, being an
adherent of the old or sidereal (Nirayana) zodiac, which is not
precessional, would label them Librans. Provided the delineations were
based on pure empiricism, i.e., on direct experience, and not on the
supposed attributes of the Scorpion or the Scales, they would be more
or less identical.
Siderealists do not quarrel with such 'bona fides' delineations.
They must be identical for both zodiacs for the same periods of time of
the Gregorian calendar; otherwise astrology would be largely falsified.
Their quarrel is with the labels. As will be seen the label has no
astrological significance in itself, being merely fluvial and pastoral,
but by implication it has significance in that the label Libra implies
that Venus is the ruling planet, while the label Scorpio implies that
it is Mars. What the astrologers have got to determine, regardless of
the label, is whether the general character of the people and their
predilections, born in modern times, during th first half of November,
conform more to the attributes of Venus or Mars. Siderealists,
unhesitatingly, say Venus, thus implying that the correct label is
Libra.
When the delineations of the 3rd century A.D., for the first half
of November, are compared with the delineations for the same period of
the year in modern times, they will be found to be substantially
different. Why? According to the adherents of the modern [Tropical]
zodiac, there should be no marked difference between them at all; the
Sun's "phase" in respect of the vernal equinox being the same! But
they are different! The characters of those born during the first half
of November of the 3rd century A.D. are conspicuously martial; while
the character of those born during the first half of present century
are manifestly venereal. This is not a theory; one has only to study
the character delineations of the zodiacal signs, as given in the works
of such classical authors as Manilius (who flourished during the reigns
of the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius), Firmicus Maternus, Manetho and
others and compare them with modern delineations, to be aware of the
lack of conformity.
The cause, of course, lies in the phenomena of precession. Our
modern calendar is tropical, with the vernal-equinoctial point
permanently dated for March 21st. Being tropical, it is receding at
the rate of one degree in about 72 years in respect of the zodiacal
constellations, so that the Sun's position on, say, November 1, 1959,
will not be in the same position in the heavens as it was on, say,
November 1, 220 A.D. On the latter date it was in the sidereal
longitude Scorpio 8d 42' and on the former Libra 13d 38' at midnight
(GMT). It is, therefore, obvious that it is not the Sun's "phase"
(elongation) in respect of the vernal point--which is a mere
mathematical abstraction--that "conditions" the Sun, but its apparent
position in the star-fields of the constellations: hence the difference
in the delineations.
As already explained in the Solunar series, the representations of
the twelve zodiacal constellations are only Egyptian heiroglyphic
ideograms, indicating the fluvial and pastoral events that occurred
from month to month in Egypt--and in Egypt only--when the constellatons
rose immediately after sunset. It is, therefore, apparent that they
cannot have any astrological signficance whatsoever. To liken those
born when the Sun was passing through the sidereal or tropical Aries to
"gamboling, upspringing rams," or those born under Taurus to "stolid
bulls" and so forth, is just sheer fanciful nonsense, which, alas, is
just as prevalent today as it was in the classical period, to the
enduring discredit of the science.
If the delineations of the twelve zodiacal signs, as given in our
popular textbooks and magazines are carefully scrutinized, they will be
found to be a concoction of (a) modern empirical observations and (b)
the supposed significances of the associated zodiacal symbols. Insofar
as they are based on authentic empirical research they are applicable
to both the tropical and sidereal zodiacs, for the same dates of the
year. But when they are intermingled with the fanciful meaning given
to the zodiacal labels, they cease to be applicable to either the
tropical or sidereal zodiacs. As Rupert Gleadow would succinctly put
it "...The sign Scorpio is only the constellation Libra misnamed..."
The "...actual astronomical constellations..." are the modern
astronomical versions of the Greek constellation figures, which were of
unequal length. According to Dr. J. K. Fotheringham of Oxford
University they were introduced into Greece by Cleostratus of Tendos.
But the original and much more ancient Egyptian and Babylonian zodiacal
constellations were each precisely 30 degrees in longitude. A
complicated mind, functioning in the field of the obtuse, anticipates a
complicated solution, and when it gets it, it is gratified. But,
although profound, truth is simple. The merits of the Egyptian
duodenary division of the fixed zodiac have yet to be assayed by the
astrological world, and cannot be dismissed as being "really too
crudely simple," as witness the statistical findings of Donald A.
Bradley in his PROFESSION AND BIRTHDATE (Llewellyn Publications, Ltd.,
California).
It is fully agreed that after a brief acquaintance it is possible to
guess correctly both the Ascendant and Sun-sign of an acquaintance; but
this does not detract from the fact that wrong lables are being used
most of the time.
Chapters on how to compute the solar return in terms of the new
[Tropical] zodiac will be found in most standard textbooks of this and
the previous century, and were even known to Kepler and Tycho Brahe.
They are therefore not new. A few articles have appeared, many years
ago, in the pages of Modern Astrology edited by Alan Leo, on the
calculation of lunar returns, but again in terms of the new zodiac;
while to this day, almost every astrological magazine publishes
annually the horoscope for the Sun's ingress into Aries, also in terms
of the new zodiac. What is claimed to be original is the computation
of solar and lunar returns in terms of the old or sidereal zodiac. For
a man of, say 60 years of age, the difference in time betweenthe
tropical and sidereal versions of the solar return can exceed 21 hours,
witha consequent difference in the longitude of the Moon and the
mundane positions of the planets, the sidereal yielding a distinctly
different interpretation to that of the tropical version.
*******
From Cyril Fagan's 3/56 and 2/72 "SOLUNARS"
EGYPTIAN ROOTS
Egyptian texts on astronomy and astrology, whether written in
hieroglyphics, hieratic or demotic, abound in the use of cryptograms to
indicate the zodiacal constellations, planets, their positions and
configurations, and to one not conversant with astrological symbolism
in its original form they can be completely mystifying.
For example Mercury was frequently represented by a band of string,
which was used to bind papyrus books. This symbol is quite
appropriate, seeing that books of all descriptions come under the
dominion of Mercury. Most astrologers incorrectly assume that the
well-known glyph for what is now the eighth constellation represents "a
scorpion." It is, in fact, the demotic ideogram for "a cobra," and
what is taken to be the point of the "sting" is actually the cobra's
head, which faces to the right, as Egyptian script was usually read
from right to left. The serpent was the Egyptian symbol for storms and
gales, which became prevalent when this constellation rose at sunset.
But the majority of these cryptograms take the form of homophones; a
homophone being one of two or more ideograms showing entirely different
representations but having similar sound values. In short, a homophone
is merely a rebus on the on the original word. In some tests, for
example, Venus is represented by the numeral 9, usually depicted by
nine dots arranged in the form of a rectangle. Now the phonetics for 9
are the same as those for "one that shines," namely the planet Venus,
but differently arranged. For another example, the phonetics for
"twins" are the same as those for "brothers," while those for Pisces
are also the phonetics for "a pair of soles" and "a pair sandals,"
which partly explain the development of the association of the feet
with this constellation.
Both the constellation Leo and the planet Mars were symbolized by
the ideogram of "a knife," which is probably due to the fact that Mars
rose in Leo at the time of the inauguration of the Harakhte (Mars) era,
September 15, 3030 B.C. In sculpture the god Harakhte is represented
by the human-headed lion know as the Sphinx. To the stargazer the
constellation of Leo is noteworthy for its conspicuous "sickle" formed
by its leading stars, and to this day it is symbolized by the device of
a sickle, wrongly thought to be that of a lion's tail. The Egyptian
for "sickle" happens to be similar to the phonetics for "a lion," and
so for probably euphemistic and calligraphic reasons the ideogram for a
lion was substituted for that of a sickle to identify this
constellation. In short, the symbol for a lion is merely a charade for
that of the sickle.
The absurdity, therefore, of attributing lion-like qualities to one
born under the "sickle" constellation is too obvious to stress. Yet no
small part of Ptolemaic astrology is based on nothing more tangible
than homophonic similarities. Incidentally, this fact is one of the
strongest arguments that astrology originated with the Egyptians and
not the Babylonians. TO ERECT AN INTERPRETATIVE EDIFICE ON A SYMBOL,
BEFORE THE SYMBOL'S ORIGIN IS KNOWN, IS SURELY THE HEIGHT OF FOLLY.
In the zodiac from the Temple of Khunum at Esneh (137 B.C.) the
"sickle" is personified by the goddess Satis. In her hand she holds a
knife, sicklewise, over her head, while her right hand grasps a set of
arrows. These arrows represent the conspicuous swarm of shooting
stars, known as the Leonids, that are still seen to this day, darting
in all directions from the radiant point situated near the center of
the Sickle. The Leonids are one of several meteoric showers and
certainly the most spectacular of them all when they intensify at
intervals of 33 years when the Earth passes through the densest part of
the stream.
As certain meteoric streams and comets have identical orbits, like
those of the Orionids and Halley's Comet, it is now believed that
meteor showers are streams of cometary particles which follow the
associated comet's elliptical or parabolic path in the solar system.
Only the showers that actually pass through the Earth's orbit are seen,
and then only when the Earth is moving through the swarm. The stream
of the Leonids cuts the Earth's path at about Aries 28 degrees,
heliocentrically speaking, and hence they become conspicuous about
November 15th when the Sun's apparent sidereal longitude is Libra 28
deg. While some meteoric showers famed in the past seem to have
vanished, it is interesting to note that the Leonids were known to the
Egyptians over 2,000 years ago. The sidereal longitude of the present
radiant point is about Leo 2d17', still within the "Sickle of Leo," and
it is not surprising to find that some of the world's most meteoric
characters, like Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte, were born
when the Sun was in conjunction with this point. It is worth noting
that these two most famous conquerors in history were born with the Sun
in the same degree, sidereally speaking, whereas in the tropical zodiac
the natal Suns of Alexander and Napoleon are separated by nearly 30d.!
Degree Symbolism
This brings up the whole problem of the symbols attached to each
degree of the zodiac.... Symbols have been allotted to the zodiacal
degrees by a variety of methods, the most common being based on
unadulterated schematism, having no natural or astronomical content
whatsoever. In this method a zodiacal constellation or sign--it does
not matter which--is divided into a number of small divisions, each
subdivision being identified with a planet or a microzodiacal sign....
To make any claims to validity, such a system must be anchored to
the sidereal zodiac, for in terms of the tropical zodiac, it would be
quite meaningless. If it can be established that any degree of the
zodiac does emit a distinct and unique influence, then the influence
could only be due to a fixed star or group of fixed stars, both visible
and invisible, that lie as a backdrop to that degree. In itself a
zodiacal degree is a mere mathematical abstraction, and obviously can
emit no such influence whatsoever....
The symbolical degrees of antiquity were, for the most part, based
on the paranatellonta of the fixed stars, and several lists of the
latter, such as those of Aratus, Hyginus, Manilius and Firmicus, have
come down to us. These relate only to the rising degrees of the
zodiacs, and are only true for the geographical latitude for which they
were computed, and then only for a limited time because the rising and
setting of the stars are affected by precession, despite the fact that
their longitudes may be expressed in terms of the sidereal zodiac....
How did the astrologers of antiquity discover so correctly the
influences of the planets? How did they ascertain that Mercury was the
significator of words, penmanship, and accountancy, seeing that their
ephemerides of this planet were so defective, because of the proximity
to the Sun. How did they discover that Venus was the significator of
love, Mars of war, Jupiter of joy, and Saturn of sorrow. Was their
knowledge the fruit of many thousands of years of tedious empirical
research, or had they a more direct approach?
....
While we can afford to take Simplicius' statement in his commentary
of the De Caelo of Aristotle (that he had heard the Egyptians possessed
written observations of the stars extending over no less than 630,000
years, and that the Babylonians possessed them for 1,444,000 years)
with a grain of salt, it is nevertheless true that a large quantity of
observation tablets with their omens were found in Ashurbanipal's
library at Nineveh and elsewhere. But there is nothing in these
Babylonian tablets which would lead us to believe that the astrology of
Manetho and Ptolemy, was derived from them. Unfortunately, our
knowledge of ancient Egyptian astrology is deduced solely form the
monuments and the few texts that have survived destruction. Of the
Heliopolian library nothing remains, and the famous library of
Alexandria, which was so severely damaged in 48 B.C. when Julius Caeser
was besieged in that city, was ruthlessly destroyed, with all its
precious contents, in 641 A.D.
* * * * * *
Cyril Fagan's June 1961 "SOLUNARS, A Study of the Sidereal Zodiac"
Unquestionably the greatest tragedy of our science is that modern
astrologers are not historically-minded. If they were astrology would
be spared the blunders, piled on blunders, that keep recurring daily.
It is not that we astrologers are devoid of intelligence, but we are
considerably handicapped in that we lack a knowledge of the historical
background, which is essential to a true understanding of our art,
otherwise we will continue to grope blindly in the dark. If astrology
as a science is to take its rightful place as an academy of earning, no
effort should be spared to have authentic ckpies of all the most
ancient works, and records on the subject gathered together and housed
in a suitable building. Experts should be commissioned to translate,
collate and subject them to scholarly criticism, and such should be
published in English and made available to all earnest students.
To achieve this, considerable funds would be needed, but the
interest in the subject is so deep and universal that one feels certain
that if a right start were made the necessary endowments would soon
become available, provided such a project were organized on sound lines
and freed of all traces of partisanship. But who will undertake this
worthy task?
If astrologers only knew the primordial history of their subject;
the way, for instance, the signs of the zodiac got their names and
symbols, they would hesitate twice before claiming to see unmistakable
bovine characteristics in those born in the month of May or a feline
disposition in those born during August, nor would they be so quick to
classify Pisces as a bicorporal and Aquarius as an airy sign. Those
who are acquainted with the rudiments of Egyptology know that the
popular astrological symbols have been derived from Egyptian
hieroglyphic, hieratic, or demotic ideograms. Thus the well-known
symbols for the Sun, Moon, Libra and Aquarius are to be found in the
most hieroglyphic texts, but there is nothing in Sumerian or Akkadian
cuneiform characters even remotely resembling them.
The astrological glyph for Libra is usually regarded as being a
representation of the beam of a balance and hence the name Libra
("Balance") is given to this constellation. But this is not the case.
The glyph is a demotic ideogram depicting the Sun rising over the
horizon. Known as 'Akhet,' which means "the place on the horizon where
the sun rises," identifies Libra as the first of the constellations.
In its hieroglyphic form it shows the sun rising between two hills on
the eastern Egyptian horizon. So instead of the constellation
representing the delicate and unstable scales it symbolizes the very
solid hilltips ofthe eatern skyline of Egypt. Because, in modern
times, the 6th zodiacal sign, Pisces, is shown by a representation of
two fish with their tails tied together by a cord, this constellation
has been classed as dual or bicorporal.
If the reader refers to pentade No. 15 shown on the frontispiece of
ZODIACS OLD AND NEW, he will find Pisces illustrated by two fish
bearing the legend 'Khonuy.' But the dual representation here is an
Egyptian grammatical construction known as the 'nisbe-form,' meaning
"the pentade that belongs to the fish..." (singular), just as the
ideograms of two horizons, two towns, and so forth simply mean "he who
belongs to, or is related to, the horizon of the town," as the case may
be. A glance at the frontispiece will show that many pentades take
this nisbe-form and therefore they do not signify duality. Hence
Pisces originally only symbolized one fish and is not dual or
bicorporal. Because of Pisces' dominion over the womb, several ancient
authors attributed the birth of twins--the "two fish"--to it; but oddly
enough not to Gemini!
EGYPTIAN BELIEFS
To the Egyptian priesthood all the stars personified gods or
goddesses and the patterns formed by them in the sky were deemed so
sacred that for profane hands to copy them was a sacrilege fraught with
the most dire consequences. To obviate this difficulty in
communication, they had recourse to a rebus; that is, in place of the
original symbol they substituted an entirely different one, but having
the same phonetic intonation. Rebuses are quite common in Egyptian
astronomical inscriptions. Thus in the Egyptian planetary texts the
planet Venus was indicated by an ideogram of three rows of 3's,
arranged to form a square and totaling 9, which mystified Egyptologists
of the early days, leading them to think there were some occult
connection between this number and the planet Venus. But the number 9
is only a rebus for Venus for the phonetics for 9 is 'pesed ju' which
happens also to mean the "brilliant one," namely Venus, and also the
"crescent new-moon."
The anterior part of the constellation Leo is conspicuous for a
cluster of stars which form a resemblance to a "sickle" and in current
astronomical literature it is often referred to as the "Sickle of Leo."
The Egyptian phonetics for "sickle" is 'ma' and for a "lion" 'maa,' so
to indicate this constellation the rebus of a lion was substituted for
the sickle, and so the symbol of a lion has stuck to it ever since.
Incidentally the phonetics for "sight" is 'mau' and in his AEGYPTICA,
Manetho assures us that the lion is remarkable for his astonishing
sight! But the starry sickly also appeared to some Egyptians as
resembling 'nem' a "butcher's knife," and in the planetary texts both
the constellation Leo and the planet Mars are indicated by just such an
ideogram.
On September 15, 3130 B.C. at the helical rising of Spica in
Heliopolis, the Harakhte (Mars) era began; at which time Mars was in
conjunction with Denebola ("Lion's tail"), then a star of the first
magnitude, in the constellation of Leo. On the monuments the regent of
the constellation Taurus is shown by 'Kauy,' the nisbe-form of 'Ka,'
the ideogram of which depicts a pair of raised human arms, flexed at
right angles at the elbows, in the act of supplication. At death the
corpse was represented by 'Khat,' the oxyphynchus-fish; the astral
remains or ghost by 'Ba,' the jabiru or ba-bird, which was capable of
external manifestation and the divine spirit or intelligence by 'Ka' as
described above.
But as the 'Ka' of this constellation must never be directly
invoked by the laity, its ideogram was replaced by the rebus of the
male generative organ or by the rebus of a bull, the phonetics of both
being 'Ka.' In short the original symbol for Taurus was 'Ka,'
"Intelligence." In planetary texts Taurus is frequently indicated by
the ideogram of a phallus or by that of a bull, but never by that of
the 'Ka.'
If the reader again refers to the frontispiece of ZODIACS OLD AND
NEW, he will see that pentades Nos. 24, 25 and 26 also in the
constellation Taurus, show in nisbe-form a representation of the
crested ibis (Ibis comata). The phonetics for this bird is 'Akh' which
mean "blessed one," "glorification," "sunshine," etc., an allusion to
the fact that at the beginning of the lunar year (Easter-time) in the
3rd millennia B.C. the sun on "New Year's Day" (Babylonian--1st Nisan)
ascended in the constellation Taurus. But the phonetic 'Akh'
(masculine) and "Akhet'(feminine) are also those for the ideogram for
Libra, which signified the "New Year's Day" of the ancient sidereal
year, when Spica rose heliacally in this constellation.
Readers will now discern the folly of attributing the qualities of
the king of the jungle to those born when the Sun was in Leo: one
would be as much justified in attributing to them the qualites of a
"butcher's knife," whatever they may be. Equally fatuous is it to
interpret the rest of the zodiacal symbols too literally.
To the Egyptians and the Babylonians the zodiac was "the path of the
moon." It was the latter day Greeks who made it solar, thereby turning
zodiacal symbolism topsy-turvy. The naming of the constellations had
nothing whatsoever to do with the Sun's entry into them. On the
contrary, they were named in acordance with the annual events that took
place in ancient Egypt, during the months when they first became
visible at nightfall, that is immediately after sunset, when the first
hour of the night began; and the stars that first became visible were
those that rose in the east, i.e., crossed the Ascendant. During
daylight the stars could not be seen. It was not possible to
observation the constellaton that held the Sun, because of the
brilliancy of its light. But it was always possible to see the Moon
gliding through the constellations at night when she was visible.
When a zodiacal constellation was observed ascending above the
eastern horizon immediately after sunset, the sun itself, was obviously
in the opposite constellation that had jus set, and which was
invisible. Thus should the stars of Virgo rise at nightfall, naturally
the sun would be in the opposte constellation, Pisces. Technically
this is know as the acronychal ("nightfall") rising of Virgo. Viewed
heliocentrically the earth would always be in the constellation that
rose at sunset, as would also be the Full Moon.
To this day in India the months are named after the zodiacal
constellations that rise after sunset. Thus the month 'Caitra,' named
after 'Citra' ("Spica") in virgo, commences about March 14th, at which
day the Sun enters the opposite constellation, Pisces. The stars of
the harvest constellation, Virgo, rose after sunset in Egypt during the
month of February (Sun in Pisces); and it was during this month that
the Egyptian harvest commenced, and the ripe grain gathered by the
maidens working in the fields. Hence its name and glyph of a "sheaf of
wheat and sickle." The "Harvest Moon" was the Full Moon of Virgo which
fell in conjunction with Spica, the "Ear of Wheat." The fact that this
constellation rose acronychally during the harvesting season in Egypt
proves, in itself, that it was the Egyptians, and no other nation, for
among none of the great peoples of the ancient world did harvesting
commence so extra-ordinary early in the year.
During midsummer (Sun in Cancer) the Sun attained its highest
elevation, like a goat perched on the mountain-top, and in the Denderah
circular zodiac the summer solstice is represented by a hawk (Horus)
perched on top of a papyrus-pole. At the same time the Nile began to
flood again, the waters becoming once more plentiful with fish. So the
stars that rose at nightfall during this month were identified with a
goat (Capricorn) and it was given the tail of a fish. Bonfires were
lit on th hills and the summer festivities began with the rising of the
Full Moon; the Full Moon being, of course, in Capricorn.
The pastoral Pan and the Satyrs have always been associated with
midsummer. Being the hottest month it was for this reason considered
the most lecherous, and in classical literature lechery was attributed
to the goat. On the other hand, during midwinter (Sun in Capricorn)
the Sun appeared so close to the horizon as to seem like a celestial
eetle or a crab crawling around on the sands. So the stars that rose
at eventide were identified with the Scarabaeus or Crab (Cancer).
Conspicuous among the were Praesepe, the "Manger" and the two Aselli
"Asses," which figure so prominently in Christian festivities.
Youth and Summer
Aquarius the "Water-bearer" was so named by the Egyptians because
when it was seen to rise immediately after sunset during the month of
July, the waters of the rive Nile had risen so high as to overflow
their banks and flood the lands. Hence Aquarius was the sign of the
Great Egyptian Inundations. During the following month, at the
vespertine rising of Pisces, Egypt was so covered with water as to turn
it into a vast sea, brimful of fish. In our modern star maps, Aquarius
is pictorially represented by whitehaired old Father Winter pouring
water from an urn; a thoroughly meaningless symbol, apropos of nothing.
Originally it portrayed Hapy, the naked boy-god of the Nile pouring the
swollen waters of the river from his two urns (nisbe-form) on to the
lands of Egypt. In later times, the Romans simply called it 'Amphora,'
the "Urn," but tje Greeks identified it with GAnymede, the cup-bearer
and favorite of Zeus, and the most beautiful boy, born or mortal
parents. It is a sign of youth and summer and ot of wintry old age.
An exlanation as to how the rest of the zodiacal signs got their
symbols and names will be found in ZODIACS OLD AND NEW. The vespertine
rising of Virgo during February during the harvesting season and the
evening rising of Aquarius during July when the inundation began makes
it absolutely certain that ti was the Egyptians who names the zodiacal
signs. (The Tigris and the Euphrates overflowed their banks in March.)
In the star maps Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces and Aries (under Aries
lurked Ceturs, the sea-months) are represented as being amphibious or
entirely aquatic in form, and these four signs rose acronychally [at
nighttime] during the summer months of June, July, August and September
whenthe Nile was in full spate.
The Egyptian harvest and the rise, overlfowing and fall of the
Nile, and the events contingent on them happen every year about the
same Gregorian month, the same today as they did in remote antiquity.
That is to say they are SEASONAL, AND HENCE PURELY TROPICAL, being
solely due to the tilt of the earth's axis and Egypt's peculiar
geographical position in regard to the river Nile, whose waters are due
to the descent of rain on the Ethiopian mountains. Like all seasonal
events, they have nothing to do with the influences of the fixed stars
or constellations. The fixed stars to all intents and purposes remain
fixed, but the seasonals and the Gregorian calendar keep moving
backwards in mutual space.
In the form we now know it, the zodiac was devolved from the
pentades in the first millennium B.C., or perhaps earlier. Then the
Full Moon in Virgo heralded the harvest and that in Aquarius the
inundatin. But, because of the effects of precession, it is now the
Full Moon in Leo and Capricorn respectively that signal these events.
From these facts we learn the following:
(a) that the familiar names and signs of the zodiac are only proper to
the tropical zodiac.
(b) that they were named and identified in accordance with the
seasonal events that took place in Egypt at the time of their
acronychal [nighttime] risings.
(c) that these zodiacal names and symbols have no astrological
significance whatsoever.
(d) that the signs of the sidereal zodiac are [from ancient
history] without names and symbols although for modern convenience
those of the Egyptian tropical zodiac are applied to them.
When in the 6th century B.C. Cleostratus of Tenedos nailed the
Egypian zodiac firmly to the fixed stars of the Hellenic firmament, he
unwittingly made a cardinal mistake, because being tropical the
Egyptian [calendar] could not be fixed to any fixed stars, and its
signs, being Egyptian ideograms were interchangable with those of
others and their positions and forms varied. Moreover the twelve signs
of the Egyptian zodiac were rigorously of equal length [in contrast
with the unequal constellations of the Greco-Roman scheme].
At the beginning of the Christian era, when astrology flourished in
Greece, it made little difference, for both zodias tallied about 220
A.D. But the position is very different today where there is a
disparity of 24 degrees between them. It has already been demonstated
that the exaltation of the planets applied only to the sidereal zodiac;
the same is equally true of the rulerships, and the zodiacal character
delineations, as recorded in ancient times are also sidereal. But when
these became intermingled with the imagined influence of the Crab, the
Lion or the Scorpion, they went completely astray.
When one studies the delineations of ancient Egyptian (demotic) and
Babylonian horoscopes one is struck by the complete absence of zodiacal
aspects between the planets; only the paranatellonta being mentioned,
but planetary aspects in their abundance are to be found in the
interpretation of Greek horoscopes, making it appear that aspects are a
Greek innovation, possibly attributable to Aristotle, who was addicted
to this form of schematicism.
Claudius Ptolemy (2nd century A.D.) writing about the rulership of
the signs says: "Since of the twelve signs the most northern, which
are closer than the others to our zenith and therefore more productive
of heat and warmth, are Cancer and Leo, they assign these to the
greatest and most powerful heavenly bodies, that is the luminaries, as
house, Leo, which is masculine to the Sun and Cancer feminine to the
Moon..." (Ptolemy: TETRABIBLOS I, 17, p.79, Harvard University Press.)
Even the beginner in astrology knows that in the tropical zodiac, the
most northern signs are Gemini and Cancer--not Cancer and Leo--the most
northern point being Gemini 30 degrees or Cancer 0 degrees. Moreover
in the tropical zodiac it must always be the same. But it is otherwise
in the sidereal zodiac. About 1953 B.C. the summer solstice occurred
when the Sun was in Cancer 30 degrees or Leo 0 degrees when it was at
its most northern point. This, with many other passages in the
Tetrabiblos, clearly indicates that Ptolemy's astrology was essentially
sidereal. It would also seem to imply the theory as to the rulerships
of the signs by the planets was formulated about the 2nd millennia B.C.
* * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Astrological Origins - Preface Notes
ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS - PREFACE NOTES: This file [ORIGINS1] PART I:
contains excerpts on the first of two important facets of Cyril Fagan's
research on the origins of astrology. First, in PART I: from Cyril
Fagan's 1971 ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, the earliest historical naming of
the constellations in ancient Egypt is set forth; Fagan sees the
Egyptian as the prototypic and original zodiac. At this time, circa
3000 B.C., the spring equinox occurred in Taurus, although the Egyptian
astronomical quartering of the heavens was not dependent on the
equinox. Also in other cultures from which we also have records, whose
New Years were also oriented to the first crescent Moon after the
equinox in Taurus, Taurus appeared as leading the zodiac. It is
important to note that Fagan honored that historical evidence since it
was obviously the historical record. But for the ancient Egyptians to
have reached their advanced culture and extraordinary astronomical
understanding, one must assume several thousands of years of previous
history. What did the Egyptians know and when did they know it? Over
the years in his articles, Fagan does not always make the distinction
between the historical equinoctial leader Taurus, and the original 12
constellation divisions.
At end of this file, see letters by Fagan (8/67, 4/68) and Allen
(11/59) on the naming of the constellations. These underscore Fagan's
very powerful argument, in spite of lack of specific historic records,
that only in Egypt could the naming of the constellations coincide with
the annual rise and fall of the Nile River, upon which Egypt's
livelihood depended, in synchronism with the appearance of the Full
Moon.
Second, see file [ORIGINS2] PART II: from his earlier book ZODIACS
OLD AND NEW, 1951, there is included a summary and selected excerpts of
Fagan's research on the basics of ancient Egypt's astronomical
orientation and quartering of the heavens, which, it is important to
specify, did NOT depend on the occurrence of the equinoxes in any
constellation. Such orientation was connected with the Prime Meridian
Circle running from the then pole star Thuban to SPICA, the "Peg Star"
on the ecliptic, which Great Circle was at right angles to SIRIUS, one
of the most, if not the most important Egyptian calendar star besides
SPICA. Fagan found evidence of the Egyptian quartering of the heavens
previous to the occurrence of the Taurean Age, which preceded the Arien
Age, which preceded the current Piscean Age.
That there are 12 psychological groups has been verified by
Donald Bradley's statistical analysis of planetary positions in the
birthdates of 2,492 eminent clergyment in his 1950 PROFESSION AND BIRTH
DATE, and in several follow-up studies.
* * * * * * * * *
PART I: Excerpts from Cyril Fagan's ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, 1971
"NAMING THE ZODIACAL CONSTELLATIONS"
We will never understand how and why the zodiacal constellations got
their popular glyphs and names unless we constantly bear in mind, as I
have so often stated in all my writings, that in ancient times in the
Near East, the day of twenty four hours began at sunset, as it still
does with the Hebrew and Islamic peoples; and as it did with the
Florentines, Bohemians and Czechs up to comparatively modern times.
Eve commenced with sunset and it marked the first hour of the day of
twenty four hours. Eve, the rib of Adam, is of course the name of the
thin crescent of the New Moon seen immediately after sunset and which
marked the commencement of the first hour of the new lunar month as
well as the first day of the new lunar year, lst Pakhon (Greek); lst
Chonsu (Coptic); lst Nisannu (Babylonian); but these lunar months must
not be confused with like names occurring in the common Egyptian
calendar.
The planets that rose at this breathtaking moment of sunset, weaved
the fortunes of the day, as the faithful in mute adoration caressed the
earth. Before they inclined upward to their culmination, these eastern
stars were for that particular moment of time the true birth stars.
They were indicative of the physical person of the native and not those
which clothed the setting Sun in the diametrically opposite
constellation. In short, anciently one was considered to be born under
those fixed stars and planets (if any) that crossed the eastern horizon
at the precise moment of one's birth. As stated elsewhere, the degree
of the ecliptic that transited the eastern horizon at this particular
moment constituted one's horoscope, also known as the Hora, or
Ascendant. In all matters of life and death, sickness, physical
injury, and health generally, this point, or its progressed or
quotidian positions, must be involved directly or by configuration,
because it alone symbolizes the physical body of the native.
Furthermore, we must never overlook the fact that ancient Egyptian
and Babylonian astronomy and astrology were observational and lunar.
They devolved on what was seen by the unaided sight. The unseen, no
matter how realistic, was rigorously excluded. When these astronomers
referred to the New Moon, for instance, in all cases they referred to
the first appearance of the fine, thin lunar crescent as first observed
in the west after sunset. They never meant the so-called syzygy, or
conjunction of the Sun and the Moon. This also is invisible except at
the eclipses. In the lunar months of antiquity the astronomical New
Moon, invariably a day of evil omen because on this day eclipses of the
Sun can occur, marked the last or the penultimate day of the preceding
lunar month.
When the astronomers of Egypt and Babylon referred to the tropics of
Capricorn and Cancer, they most certainly were not talking about the
Sun in these constellations. Has anyone ever seen the fixed stars of
any constellation when the Sun was shining within it? Of course not,
How could he? So in all such references these astronomers had in mind
the Full Moon. In fact, the Full Moon day for most people of antiquity
was the most important and often the most sacred day fo the lunar
month. Frequently it was a day of festivities. It usually commenced
at eve of the 14th day of the lunar month as did the Pasch or Passover.
Hence, for these people of antiquity, the tropic of Capricorn denoted
midsummer and the tropic of Cancer denoted midwinter. In
short, Egypto-Babylonian astronomy may aptly be called Full Moon
astronomy.
In their desire to appear highly intellectual, scientific and mathe-
matical, the Greeks, probably about the time of Alexander the Great,
adopted the solar nomenclature, thereby turning ancient zodiacal
symbolism topsy turvy and making it sheer nonsense. In direct
violation of natural symbolism, these Greeks interpreted the tropic of
Cancer as denoting midsummer and the tropic of Capricorn as denoting
midwinter!
Now let us find out how and why the zodiacal constellations got
their glyphs and names. In the long history of Egypt, the great annual
event was, of course, the overflow of the river Nile--the longest river
in the world. Every summer when this occurred, almost the whole of
ancient Egypt was so covered with water as to be turned into a vast
lake or sea. But far from being an annual calamity, it was the
greatest of blessings as the rising waters from the distant Ethiopian
highlands carried down thousands of tons of fertilizing silt and spread
it all over the land! Without this the Egyptians could not have
survived, as their land was intrinsically barren. Naturally, there-
fore, it was of vital importance to know precisely when this inundation
would happen. It would have been disastrous if such should have caught
the people unawares and unprepared. The ancient common calendar of 365
days, without any provision for a leap year day, could not really be of
help. While this was useful about the 3rd millennia B.C., it ceased to
tally with the seasonal year in the 2nd and 1st millennia B.C. The
Nilometers were only of service when the waters had commenced to rise,
which was then too late. So perforce, they had to rely on the stars to
give them the earliest warnings.
They discovered that a certain group of fixed stars seemingly always
rose above the eastern horizon immediately after sunset when the
inundation commenced. So they identified these particular stars with
Hapi, the naked boy-god of the river Nile. They noticed, too, that
when the Moon became full among the stars, the inundation was upon
them. This was because the Full Moon rises simultaneously with the
setting of the Sun, for at Full Moons the Moon is always diametrically
in opposition to the Sun. So weeks ahead it could be estimated when
the Moon would be full among the stars and thus, well in advance, the
date of the overflow could be predicted and the necessary preparations
made.
Any astute student of astrology will instantly notice that the stars
of Hapi, subsequently identified by the Romans as Aquarius, the water
bearer, solely because of their rising at sunset which is the time when
the fixed stars first become visible in the night skies, synchronized
with the overflow of the Nile. But these stars rise everywhere in the
world once every day, but such risings do not tally with the flooding
of great rivers. In ancient Egypt alone, the flooding of the Nile only
occurred when the star of Aquarius rose immediately after sunset. This
implies that the Sun was in the opposite constellation Leo. There is
no record from the old world that any great river commenced to overflow
its banks and turn the surrounding land into a vast lake when the Sun
was in tropical Leo (July). The Tigris overflowed its banks at the
beginning of March (Gregorian), attaining maximum flooding about May
10th; while the Euphrates rose in the middle of March and reached its
highest level towards the close of May. (Maspero: Dawn of
Civilization, p 549). There is no evidence that the Indus, Ganges, or
any other great rivers of India annually overflowed their banks and
swamped the land on anything like the scale the Nile swamped Egypt
during the summer months. In spite of these facts, some devout Hindus
never tire of reiterating their claim that the ancient Aryavarta
(India) was the cradle of astrology.
RISE AND FALL OF THE NILE
Lest it be assumed that the acronychal (sunset) rising of the
constellation Aquarius at the commencement of the inundation was a mere
coincidence, as some contend, let us cast an eye on the diagram of the
glyph showing the rise and fall of the Nile. Copied from a similar
diagram (Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 16, pp. 452-453, 1962) it
represents graphically in millions of cubic feet per day, the average
rise of the Nile for every month of the Gregorian calendar for the
years 1870-1952, but transposed to the year 200 A.D. when (a) the
sidereal and tropical versions of the zodiac and (b) the Julian and
Gregorian calendars coincided. The common calendar at the bottom of
the diagram gives the actual degrees of the zodiac on the eastern
horizon at the actual (cosmical) moment of sunset. It should be noted
that while 200 A.D. is a leap year in the Julian calendar, it is not so
in the Gregorian. Here, 200 A.D. is treated as being Gregorian for the
sake of convenience. To obtain the acronychal equivalent merely add
about 7 degrees to the cosmic longitudes, because stars of the first
magnitude do not become visible to the unaided sight until the Sun has
dropped by this amount below the western horizon, or about half an hour
after apparent (true) sunset. Thus, on January 1st the stars of the
12th degree of Cancer will be on the Ascendant at the actual moment of
sunset, but because of sunlight they will not be visible. The first to
appear, if of the first magnitude, will be those about Cancer 19
degrees in mundo. In respect to the sidereal version of the zodiac,
these longitudes decrease with time at the mean rate of 13.8 degrees
every one thousand years. From the year 800 B.C, the cosmical longi-
tude would be about Cancer 26.5 degrees, and the acronychal about Leo 4
degrees. IATROMATHEMATICA
Every student of astrology is familiar with the fact that the
popular Duodennary or twelve-fold division of the mundane sphere is
divided into twelve equal divisions of time running counterclockwise.
The Hora or Ascendant was known as the Alpheta or Giver of Life,
because it was at this point of the mundane sphere that the Sun, the
symbol of life, rose above the horizon (sunrise); while the Descendant
or cusp of the 7th house was recognized as the Anaereta or Destroyer of
Life, because at this point the Sun set below the horizon and sank into
Duat or the Underworld, such setting being regarded as its death.
From the remotest times the 1st mundane house was given dominion
over the head; the 2nd over the neck and throat; the 3rd over the
shoulders and arms, and so on. In their inordinate worship of
schematism, believing such to be scientific, the Greek astronomers made
the signs of the zodiac synchronize with this Duodennary arrangement of
the houses commencing Aries with the 1st house, Taurus with the 2nd,
and so on. To this day solar synchronicity is the popular vogue among
tropical astrologers.
This arrangement implies that the day of twenty four hours commences
at sunrise--which we know is not the case. In pre-Greek or lunar
astrology, the anatomical dominions of the signs of the zodiac were
diametrically opposite to the modern notation. For instance, during
the Aries Age, that is, the period between B.C. 1955 and A.D. 221, when
the Neomenia or 1st New Moon of the lunar year occurred in the con-
stellation Aries, the anatomical dominion of the zodiacal constella-
tion ran more or less as follows:
Held dominion over:
Libra head, face, eyes and ears
Scorpio neck, throat and voice
Sagittarius shoulders and arms
Capricorn breasts, chest and lungs
Aquarius heart and diaphragm
Pisces` stomach, abdomen and navel
Aries buttocks, loins and kidneys
Taurus generative organs (phallas)
Gemini hips and thighs
Cancer knees and joints
Leo shins
Virgo feet
In considering the origin of the popular glyphs and names of the
zodiacal constellations, one must always bear in mind the above
zodiacal melothesia, or distribution of parts of the body to the
zodiacal constellations. During the Taurus Age, B.C. 4152 to B.C.
1955, Scorpio held dominion over the head and the other constellations
followed in sequence; while during the present or Pisces Age, A.D. 221
to A.D. 2376, Virgo holds dominion over the head, Libra the throat, and
so on in sequence. CAPRICORN: Scanning the graph of the rise and fall
of the Nile we find that the river is at it lowest level when
Sagittarius, the mounted archer, rose at sunset and at some places was
actually fordable by cavalry. The river began to swell with water when
Capricorn rose at eventide, that is about May-June. On the ancient
monuments, Capricorn is depicted as half-goat and half-fish. Its
acronychal rising coincided with midsummer when the Sun attained it
greatest altitude at southing, symbolized by the giddy goat climbing to
the peak of the mountain. Naturally, it was the hottest time of the
year, and around the effigy of the goat the Greeks of later times
weaved their inevitable myths. According to them, the infant Zeus
(Jupiter) was suckled by the goat-nymph Amalthaea on the island of
Crete. When Zeus became Father-of-the Gods, in gratitude he set
Amalthaea's image among the stars as the constellation Capricorn. To
this day, the she-goat is frequently alluded to as the nanny-goat and
babies' nurses are known as nannies.
In the above melothesia, it will be noticed that Capricorn held
dominion over the breasts and adjoining parts of the body, probably
extending to the armpits. In this respect, the odor which emanated
from under the armpits was known to the Romans as Capra, a she-goat.
According to the Greeks, the horned and cloven Pan the god of flocks
and shepherds, and the pastoral divinity of summer, was the foster
brother of Amalthaea (Capricorn). The Greek Sileni and Satyros with
their horns and cloven heels were associated with Capricorn. When the
Full Moon was in Capricorn (midsummer) they were given to excessive
revelry. Indulging in an extravagance of wine drinking, they were
addicted to all forms of sensual pleasure, no matter how gross, and no
mortal was safe in their company, whence the medical term satyriasis.
At this time of the year, with the rising waters of the Nile, fish
once again became abundant. As a nemonic, the Egyptian scribes affixed
the ideogram of a fish to the tail of the goat, the omen reading "when
this constellation rises at eve, or when the Moon becomes full in it,
there will be Sun above and fish below in Eqypt." This simple calendar
of acronychal phenomena, graphically illustrated by ideograms
(hieroglyphics) is what we today recognize as the ancient zodiac. It
was intended for the use of the fluvial and agricultural communities of
Egypt and it is devoid of any mysterious implications. But those who
had a hankering for mystery invested the simple names and symbols of
the constellation with a mysterius occult meaning that they simply did
not possess.
Adjacent to Capricorn are the constellations Knm.t the Vulture
(Altair) or Eagle (Aquila), and Stwy (Shetyu) the Tortoise (Lyra).
Perched high in his eyrie, the eagle also symbolized the maximum
elevation attained by the Sun at the summer solstice. In the circular
zodiac of Denderah, as already stated, the summer solstice is
represented by a crown hawk, Horus, the "Sun," perched n the top of a
papyrus pole. When a tortoise was seized, the eagle would drop it from
a great height so as to break its shell; and in Egypt, the "Tortoise"
(Lyra) was near the zenith at its culmination.
In modern astrology, it is a common error to associate the eagle
with Scorpio. Scorpio represnts Serpens, the serpent, but in ancient
symbolism both the eagle and the vulture were antiscions of Capricorn.
AQUARIUS: This particular constellation of fixed stars was identified
by the Greeks as Ganymede, the most beautiful boy born of mortal
parents (Homil, Clement 5, 17: Erathosh, 26, 30). According to one
legend, Zeus, taking the form of an eagle (Aquila), carried the boy off
from Mount Ida and made him his favorite. As cup-bearer to the gods,
he personified the "fountain" of the Nile and caused that river to
overflow its banks annually (Pindar frag. 282): Ganymede thus becomes
identified with Hapi, the god of the Nile.
Incidentally, Antinous, another youth famous for his beauty, was
associated with the constellation Aquila and with the Nile. He was the
minion of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. When Antinous was drowned in the
Nile in A.D. 130, the grief of the Emperor knew no bounds. He enrolled
him among the gods, caused numerous statues of him to be made, founded
the Eqyptian city fo Antinopolis in his honor, and erected a temple to
him at Mamtinea. Finally, in A.D. 132, he placed him in the starry
skies right below the constellation of the Eagle. Antinous thus gives
his name to Eta Aquilae in the sidereal longitude Capricorn 5 degrees
36 minutes and latitude 21 N 32. The Romans, of course, styled
Ganymede Aquarius, the water-bearer, and gave it dominion over all
large rivers and the like. Most appropriately, tm3.t (Themat) the
"river," is one of several pentades that tally with the constellation
Aquarius.
Yet the Eqyptians of the Pyramidic period made another far reaching
discovery. They noticed that the beginning of the inundation seemed to
tally with the heliacal rising of the brightest star in the heavens,
namely Sirius. This occurred annually about July 16th, Julian. So,
the beginning of the Sothic (Sirius) year began with the heliacal
rising of this star and with the acronychal sunset rising of the con-
stellation Aquarius, at which time the inundation was well under way.
PISCES: The oldest known so-called decan lists were found on coffin
lids as Asyut, which Eygptoligists assign to the 1Xth and Xth
Heracleopolite dynasties, circa 2300 B.C. One of these decans shows a
device of two fishes with the legend hnwy (khonuy). Treated as a
pentade it synchronizes snugly and nicely with the constellation
Pisces. Khonuy (Pisces) rose a sunset during August, when the Sun was
in the opposite constellation, Virgo. At this time the inundation was
so excessive as to turn almost the whole of Egypt into a sea, abounding
in fish and river life with shipping as the only means of transport.
Obviously, therefore, the Egyptians could estimate the date many months
in advance when the Moon would become full in Pisces, and when fish
plus other marine life would be swimming freely over their pastures and
tilled lands. Naturally, therefore, by means of the grammatical device
of dual fish, they indicated that this group of fixed stars "belonged
to" (the month of) the fish. Precisely the same group of stars is
known today as Pisces.
Preceding Khonuy are a group of pentades falling in the
constellation Aquarius and having the ideogram of three jars in a
stand. This is a syllabic for knt.t (khentet) which means "he who is
in front." This refers to the Full Moon in Aquarius which occurred at
the inauguration of the Sothic Cycle and which led the planetary
procession reading from west to east. In some celestial diagrams this
is illustrated by the pictogram of the disc of a Full Moon in the
middle of a boat, which bears the legend hr ib wi3 (her yeb weya) which
means "(He who is) in the middle of the boat." It should be noted,
however, that the scribes were not always scrupulous in putting these
pentades in their proper sequences, especially as they thought they
would never be seen by living eye again. When compared, decan lists
often show considerable variations in this respect.
ARIES: As we have seen, the pictograph of a ram seems to have been
used by the Eqyptians as a sort of a zodical road sign to indicate
something significant. In the later period such were used as the
places "from whence the winds blew" or to mark where the zodiacal
constellations commenced. In the Pyramidic period, the culmination of
the sr Ram and sr.t Ewe pentades, which in the aggregate constituted
the constellation Aries, heralded the rising of Sirius, the Star of
Eqypt. So these sheep stars constituted a very useful zodiacal traffic
signal for them. To the religious minded Eqyptian priests it was of
the utmost importance to know well in advance the moment Sirius would
rise.
Sr.t (Aries) rose acronychally during the month of September (Sun in
Libra). This was the month of the autumnal equinox when the inundation
was at its highest. Associated with Aries is Cetus, the Sea Monster.
The waters of the Nile were now so high that crocodiles and hippopotami
swam over the erstwhile pastures. But in those pastures that remained
dry, the ewes were separated from the rams at this period. In the
decan lists and in the circular zodiac of Denderah, the ram is shown in
a position of repose, indicative of sunset. It is depicted facing back
to front in order of the constellations with its tail foremost and its
head rearmost. It has been suggested that its position of repose was
possibly due to the fact that it was kept in its pen as the inundation
was then at its greatest.
The lunar regent of this month (Athyr) was Hathor, the cow-headed
goddess. Hathor literally means "House of Horus" (The Sun) or "the
visible heavens." In the great temple of Hathor at Denderah, the
massive head of the goddess marks the eastern horizon or place of the
Ascendant.
The Sumerians called this constellation hun.ga and the Babylonians
agaru, both words meaning a "hired laborer" (Langdon: Babylonian
Menologies, p. 3) a fact that strongly militates against the view that
the zodiac originated in Babylon. Pliny (11, 31) suggests that it was
Cleostratus of Tenedos who introduced both Aries and Sagittarius into
the Greek zodiac towards the close of the 6th century B.C. In the
demotic texts Aries is represented by the determinative for a hide, dhr
(deher), which exhibits a long tail. The Greeks identified Aries with
the Golden Fleece which was suspended in the grove of Ares (Mars) in
Colchis and was guarded day and night by a dragon (Cetus) until it was
captured by Jason. It was the last of the zodiacal constellations.
TAURUS: Taurus, the Bull, rose at eve during the lunar month of Khoiak
(October). Not only was this the month in which the cattle were
coupled, but the waters of the Nile had so far receded as to permit the
oxen to be yoked and the land to be plowed. Thus, this constellation
gets its name. The constellation melothesia table informs us that
Taurus holds dominion over the generative organs of both sexes. Now
the Eqyptian phonetics for a bull is k3 (ka), byt k3 also is the
Eqyptian for a phallus. The table shows us that Taurus holds dominion
over the phallus, thus clearly proving that the Eqyptian astrologers
read such acronychally and not as in Greek astrology which puts the
phallus under Scropio. But in Eqyptian, k3 also meant the soul, and
in several murals in the temples of Denderah, the soul (k3), in the
form of the b3 (Ba-bird) is seen leaving the body at death via the
phallus! Nowadays one rarely refers to an ox, but much more commonly
to a bull or a cow, which are connotations of gender but not of genus.
Taurus was held to be the most fertile of all the zodiacal constel-
lations for which reason it was regarded in high esteem and much
revered. When the Full Moon occurred in Taurus, the Sun was, of
course, in the opposite constellation, Scorpio.
In the decan lists from Asyut, three pentades which ended Aries and
commenced Taurus were known to the Eqyptians as 3hwy (Akhuy), the
"shining ones," because about the Pyramidic period, the Sun rose in one
or other of them on New Year's Day of the lunar calendar. In other
words, they marked the place of the vernal equinox, Taurus 11 degrees,
12 minutes, B.C. 2767. The feminine form of Akhu, namely Akhot, means
the "place of sunrise," or the Ascendant.
GEMINI: Gemini, the Twins, rose at eve during the lunar month Tybi
when the Sun was in the opposite constellation, Sagittarius. The
constellation was probably named because of its brilliant twin stars
which the Romans knew as Castor and Pollux. The Egyptians knew them as
the air-god Shu and his wife and sister Tefnut, the lion-hearted
goddess of the Sun's heat. In the Babylonian mul-APIN tablet, this
constellation is known as Mash. tab. ba. gal. gal. and Mash. tab. tur.
tur., the Great Twins and Little Twins, respectively. The Chief
agricultural pursuit was the sowing of seeds and the sending of sheep
and horses to pasture. With the acronychal rising of Gemini, birds of
passage took their departure.
The regent of Tybi was Min, the ithypallic god of Panopolis and
Koptos. On the monuments he is depicted naked and standing erect.
Crowned with the lofty plumes of Amun, he holds on high a flagellum in
the act of striking. He was the Egyptian god of procreation. Below
Taurus and Gemini shines the glory of the southern skies S3h (sah), the
"Toe," but known to us as the mighty constellation Orion. In the
celestial diagrams Sah is shown as a human figure, wearing the hdt
(hedjet) or white crown of the south and standing in his boat welcoming
the rising of Isis-Sirius, who issues at his toe! The Babylonians knew
this constellation as sib.zi.an.na, the True Shepherd of the Sky.
CANCER: Cancer, the Crab rose after dusk during the lunar month of
Mekhir (Sun in Capricorn). This was the month of the winter solstice
when the Sun had sunk to its lowest elevation (declination). From the
date of the summer solstice the Sun had been declining (dying!), but on
midwinter's day--Christmas Day in the 2nd century B.C.--it commenced to
increase its declination again, and its altitude at local noon. This
turning point was hailed as the resurrection or birth of the Sun and
was celebrated by all nations in antiquity with festivities and
rejoicing. In the Eqyptian zodiacs, the constellation is represented
by the scarabaeus (Scarabaeus sacer) which lays its eggs in a ball of
dung which it compacts by pushing the pellet uphill on the sandy slopes
in the hot sunshine and allowing it to roll backwards again. This
pushing is done with the hind legs. This beetle became the symbol of
Kheper, the god of creation, rebirth, resurrection and transformation;
and the ball of dung became the symbol of the Sun.
At the winter solstice, like a crab walking sideways, the Sun crept
around an arc of the horizon, never attaining to any great altitude,
before it finally set. In Egyptian, Babylonian and Mithraic religions
the date of the winter solstice was celebrated as the birth of the Sun,
in Christianity as the birth of Christ. The constellation Cancer con-
tains the remarkable star cluster Praesepe (Cancer 13 degrees), the
"crib" or "manger" and the two Aselli or "asses" (Cancer 14 degrees and
15 degrees), which rose acronychally during this Christmas month, re-
calling the crib and asses in the stable in Bethlehem. Praesepe also
was known as the beehive" and in Egypt the lunar month Mekhir was noted
for the swarming of bees and for the sowing of seeds. It also was the
lambing season and the time when the fields were fertilzied with
manure.
LEO: The constellation Leo rose at eve during the lunar month of
Phamenoth (Sun in Aquarius). The most conspicuous feature of this
great constellation is a brilliant group of star known as the Sickle or
Sickle of Leo. The Eqyptian phonetics for a sickle are m3 (Ma). The
same phonetics form the root name for a lion m3i (May), so it is
obvious that the symbol of a lion is only a homophone or rebus for a
sickle. Egyptian astronomical and religious texts abound in the use of
similar homophones, when for superstitious reasons the scribes were
adverse to using the original names. This very fact alone attests that
it was the Egyptians who invented the zodiac and gave the zodiacal
constellations their names; for in what other great nation of antiquity
were the phonetics for a sickle and a lion identical?
In the Graeco-Roman atlases the stars which compose the conspicuous
Sickle of Leo are embraced in that constellation and thus extend it
some seven degrees in excess of the normal thirty. But in the Egyptian
zodiac they were known as the "Bow Stars" and were included in the
constellation Cancer. Both the "Bow" and "Arrow" (Sirius) rose
simultaneously in Egypt during the dynastic period. The Bow stars were
personified by the goddess Satis, who is represented holding a bow and
arrow. In the circular zodiac of Denderah she is seen shooting an
arrow beneath the lion, while in the Esna zodiac she walks before the
lion holding in her right hand a reed sicklewise above her head while
carrying her bow and arrows in her other hand. Incidentally, the
famous shower of shooting stars observed about November 15 of any year,
and known as the Leonids, diverge from a radiant point within the
Sickle. Its approximate position is Leo 2 degrees 17 minutes at
latitude 9 N 51. Immediately underneath the "Bow" are the "Stars of
the Waters." These include the brilliant star of the first magnitude,
Canopus (pilot of the Argo, which carried the heroes to Colchie in
search of the Golden Fleece), personified by Satis' companion Anqet,
goddess of the Inundation, because Canopus rose heliacally in Egypt
when the inundation was in full flood. In the circular zodiac of
Denderah, Anqet will be seen seated behind Satis, and holding in each
hand a water vase (cf. Hapi and his water jar).
It will be noticed that there is an unmistakable resemblance between
the shape of the Eqyptian Sickle and the hind leg of a lion! The same
shape will be seen on the legs of royal chairs and thrones and also on
the prow of Egyptian ships.
VIRGO: The harvest constellation Virgo, the "Maid," rose after sunset
in the lunar month Pharmouthi (Sun in Pisces). The first part of the
month was devoted to flower planting; but with the acronychal rising of
Spica, "the ear of corn," the harvest began. This period tallied with
the month of February-March, Gregorian. The records attest that with-
out question this was the time of harvesting in ancient Egypt. But was
it also the time of harvesting for any other great nations of
antiquity? Records also prove that the usual time of harvesting was in
the fall and certainly not in the early spring. This fact alone will
demonstate once again that it was the Egyptians who invented the
zodiac. The Full Moon of the lunar month Pharmouthi, which would fall
in propinquity to the "Ear of Corn" (Spica), was known as the Harvest
Moon.
The constellation Virgo contains an important star known to the
Egyptians of Ramesside times as t3.nfr (tsha-nefre), "the beautiful or
good boy" which the Egyptians of the late period identified with their
infant Horus in the arms of his mother Isis. The Greeks called this
star Protrygeter, the "first fruit picker" and the Romans called it
Vindemiatrix, the "grape-gatherer," or Ampelos, the favorite of
Bacchus. Ampelos is represented as an infant boy holding a grape, in
the arms of his mother Erigone (born in the morning), because the
heliacal rising of Ampelos ushered in the grape harvest.
In the Magian version of the Sphere Barbarica, written by Teukros of
Babylon, the ascension of the constellation Virgo is described thus,
"Next there ariseth the first decan of Virgo, the adra nedefa, pure
virgin. She holds in her hand two ears of corn (Spica) and a child on
her arm. She feedeth him and giveth him suck. She bringeth up the
child in a place that is called Abrie (Hebrew-land) and the child's
name is called 'Isu' (Jesus)..."
In the zodiac on the main porch of the church of Notre Dame in
Paris, the constellation Virgo is represented by the Virgin-Mother and
Child. In Titus Andronicus, Act IV, Scene 3, Shakespeare speaks of an
arrow being shot up to heaven to the "good boy in Virgo's lap." The
sidereal longitude of Tsha Nefre is Virgo 15 degrees 06 minutes and
latitude 16 N 11.
LIBRA: The constellation Libra, the Scales, rose at dusk during the
lunar month of Pakhons when the Sun was in the opposite constellation,
Aries. The greek words Pa Khons, or the Coptic Pa Chons, literally
mean "the traveler of the night skies." Chonsu is generally
represented on the monuments as a handsome boy (Khensu.p.khard) "Chonsu
the Child," bearing the symbol of the New Moon on his head, and wearing
the lock of hair of youth, and all the appurtenances of divinity and
royalty. In assigning Chonsu to the month when the Sun was in Aries,
the Egyptians make this New Moon identical with the Paschal (Easter) or
first New Moon of the ecclesiastical lunar New Year. The first of the
lunar Pachons would tally with the first Nisannu, Babylonian and the
first Nisan, Jewish. During the historic period, that is since about
4,000 B.C., there is no documentary evidence that the Egyptian people
ever used any calendar other than their common one, comprising twelve
months of precisely thirty days with five added days at the end of each
year, without any provision for a leap-year day, but this has already
been explained elsewhere.
In this statement, we are not including the late period when the
Egypto-Greeks tried to have different calendars adopted. But the mere
fact that Chonsu tallies with the Paschal New Moon suggests that in the
prehistoric period, that is before 4,000 B.C., it was the vogue with
the common Egyptian folk, before being replaced by the common calendar.
However, there is evidence to believe that for religious purposes in
the temples, the lunar calendar was observed during the historic
period.
When the Paschal New Moon is first seen, it, like any other New
Moon, first appears just above the western horizon. Simultaneously,
the constellation Libra rises in the east. So, from the point of view
of the mundane houses (divisions of time) during the Arian Age, Libra
becomes the first of the constellations.... So Libra occupies the
first house commencing with the Ascendant (eastern horizon). Every
astrologer must know that sunrise occurs on the Ascendant and nowhere
else. The common glyph for Libra is not as is commonly believed, the
representation of the beam of a scales, but is a very ancient Egyptian
ideogram, 3h.t (Akhet), which depicts the Sun in the process of rising
over the hilltops, and which translated reads "the place where the Sun
rises," meaning, of course, the Ascendant. Thus, unmistakably, Libra
became associated with the first house and not with the seventh.
Incident-ally, during this lunar month the Egyptian harvest was
weighed, stored and sold.
SCORPIO: The evening rising of the constellation Scorpio occurred
during the lunar month of Payni with the Sun was in Taurus. The
Egyptians of the Pyramidic period identified the Scorpion with Srkt,
the scorpion-goddess Serket, or to give her full Pyramidic name,
Srkt.htw, which translated means "she-who-relieves-the-windpipe" (Pyr.
606; PSBA 39, 34). According to our constellation melothesia table,
this immediately identifies Scorpio with the second mundane house. In
modern conventional astrology, the windpipe comes under the dominion of
Taurus!
It would appear that the Egyptians also identified this
constellation with Serpens, the serpent, the stars of which intermingle
with those of the Scorpion. In Egyptian symbolism, the serpent always
has been associated with the winds. The evening rising of Scorpio
ushered in the deadly Khamsin (Arabic--50 days wind) bringing with it
pestilential hot sandstorms from the Sahara and hordes of scorpions to
infest the land. This was the most parched, oppressive and sickening
month of the year and frequently brought plague or similar contagion.
It was during this month that the waters of the Nile were at their
lowest and arid death stalked the land. In symbolism, Scorpio, the
snake sign par excellence, is an airy sign.
SAGITTARIUS: With the abatement of the Khamsin, the Nile more easily
fordable, and the harvest finally secure, the acronychal rising of
Sagittarius, the soldier archer, in the lunar month of Epiph when the
Sun was in Gemini, found the Egyptian army prepared to set out on
foreign expeditions. In the representations of Sagittarius, the strong
arms pulling the bow are the most marked feature; and the third mundane
house is credited with holding dominion over the shoulders and arms.
Our particular Island Universe, known as the Galaxy or Milky Way,
comprises all of the known fixed stars and millions that are as yet
unknown. But it does not comprise spiral and other nebulae which are
other Island Universes in space; and there are millions of them! The
center of our Island Universe is situated in Sagittarius 2 degrees 05
minutes, latitude south 5 degrees 32 minutes.
The examination of any popular Graeco-Roman star atlas will show
that the four successive constellations, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces
and Aries, are represented as being amphibious if not entirely aquatic
in form. Capricorn appears as a horned goat complete with fish's tail;
Aquarius is but the Greek variant for Hapi, the god of the Nile; at the
feet of the chained Andromeda swim the tethered fish (Pisces); while
below the reposing ram lurks Cetus, the sea monster. These four con-
stellations rose acronychally during the summer months of the Eqyptian
Inundation, when the Nile overflowed its banks and turned the land into
a sea. This is yet another pointer to the fact that it was the
Egyptians who named the constellations and not the Babylonians as is
commonly supposed. The representations of the zodiacal and other
constellations are but ideograms, differing but little from those which
compose Egyptian hieroglyphic writings. In the unrolling papyrus of
the eastern skies, the whole story of the Inundation can be read at
dusk in the rising of these four constellations. Their symbolism fits
only Egypt, for she alone of all the nations of antiquity suffered the
annual transformation of her countryside into an immense lake during
the four months when these constellations rose at eve.
* * *
Cyril Fagan, Letter in 'Many Things,' A.A. 8/67
Ethos and Origins
Was it necessary to major as a high priest in astronomy to note that
every time the Moon was full amidst the stars of that constellation
subsequently yclepted Virgo by the Romans, harvesting in ancient Egypt
was in full sway? Could not the untutored camel-boy watering his
dromedary by the banks of the Nile notice every time the Full Moon
occulted the "Ear of Corn" the rich fruits of the earth were being
gathered? Did it require great erudition on the part of the farmers to
identify this particular star field with the harvesting season? Yet
the Moon only became full in Virgo in very early spring which was the
harvesting season of ancient Egypt but of no other nation of antiquity.
In itself, this single fact is adequate evidence that the Egyptians
named this zodiacal constellation and, by implication, the other eleven
to boot! This conclusion is sustained by the fact that many zodiacal
and planetary glyphs in common use today are Egyptian hieroglyphics
that were in vogue in the pre-Pyramidic period! They are not to be
found in Akkadian cuneiform wedges or Sumerian script. The zodiac was
acknowledged by the Egyptian eons before the latter-day esotericism was
spawned, and which was repudiated by the Tathagata as the "closed fist"
leading to confusion instead of truth "...to a jungle, a wilderness, a
puppet-show, a writhing and a fetter, coupled with suffering and
despair..."
When New Year's Day of the common Egyptian calendar (1st Thoth) fell
in any zodiacal constellation, that particular constellation was
deified as leader of the stellar host. On the average the 1st Thoth
took 118 years to retrograde through a zodiacal constellation. But it
is a fallacy to assume that all celestial rams, bulls and scorpions are
necessarily identical with the zodiacal constellations of the same
name. Thus Mshtyw ("Ox's Foreleg") is the constellation Ursa Major
while Capricorn is simply indicated by the Old Empire demotic Ab ("A
Horn") and Taurus by 'rt ("Bull's jawbone"). The opinions of Kepler
and Sir Isaac Newton as to the origin of the zodiac can be
discountenanced as Jean Francois Champollion had not then succeeded in
translating the Rosetta Stone. Such are the facts of antiquity; and
facts require no theory for their sustenance nor faith for their
acceptance!
Cyril Fagan, "Many Things," A.A. 4/68
[Origin of the Zodiac]
...Two years later (1951) appeared "Zodiacs, Old and New," wherein
it was shown, among other things, that Kugler, Epping, and Schoch
stumbled against the sidereal zodiac of the Egyptians and the
Babylonians but failed to recognize the fact. This led to considerable
correspondence between Van der Waerden, Boker, Weidner, Rehm, Eisler
and others on the one part and James Hynes and myself on the other.
The upshot of this correspondence led to the publication of The
History of the Zodiac (illustrated and in English) by Van der Waerden
(Archiv fur Orientforschung, Band XVI, Zweiter Teil). Treating of the
"Limiting Point of Signs" he writes, "Since Hipparchus we are wont to
identify the beginning point of the sign Aries with the spring point.
However, we must not stick to this. In Babylonian and early Greek
astronomy the beginning points of the signs are rigidly connected, not
with the equinoxes, but with the fixed stars. (Italics Van der
Waerdens'!) For Babylonian astronomy this was first proved by Kugler
from Lunar Tables, and planetary tables confirm it ..."
From this it will be seen that Van der Waerden, making a seeming
volte face, had altered his opinion as given in "The Thirty-six Stars."
Furthermore, he makes it clear that the modern version of the tropical
zodiac, with the vernal point "fixed" in Aries 0 degrees of the signs,
is no earlier than the Greek astronomer Hipparchus (circa 139 B.C.)
who, after he had been credited with having discovered the phenomenon
of precession, invented it for the purposes of computing the position
of the fixed stars in right ascension and declination. But it was left
to Posidonius and Geminius in the 1st century B.C. to systematize this
modern version of the tropical zodiac (vide A. Bouche-Le-clercq,
L'Astrologie Grecque, Paris 1899).
To assume, therefore, that it existed prior to the 1st century B.C.
is a very common and deeply entrenched error among astrologers. It was
completely unknown to the Egyptians and Babylonians even though their
lunar calendars were seasonal.
Perhaps the root of the confusion lies in the use of the word
'signs.' When astronomers, such a Schnabel, Rehm and Neugebauer talk
of zodiacal constellations they usually have in mind the Greco-Roman
constellations (circa 600 B.C.), which are of unequal length, ill-
defined and hence useless for purposes of fine measurement. They
distinguish between two types of "signs" of equal length, the fixed and
the tropical, the fixed signs being identified with those of Babylon.
Eastern and western siderealists, on the other hand, while ignoring the
Greco-Roman version of the zodiac, term the "fixed" signs of Egypt and
Babylon zodiacal constellations.
The Greeks, who alone invented tropical zodiacs, had many versions.
Pliny the Elder, who flourished between 23 and 79 A.D. writes, "All
these seasons, too, commence at the eighth degree of the signs of the
zodiac. The winter solstice begins at the eighth degree of Capricorn,
the eighth day before the Kalends of January in general; the vernal
equinox at the eighth degree of Aries; the summer solstice at the
eighth degree of Cancer and the autumnal equinox at the eighth degree
of Libra" (Natural History, Bk. XVIII, Chapter 59, Bohn Classical
Library, Vol. IV, pp. 78-79). Columella (60 A.D.) says, "...Winter,
which begins about eight days before 1st January in the eighth degree
of Capricorn...and I am not deceived by Hipparchus's argument which
teaches that the solstices and the equinoxes happen not in the eighth
but in the first degree of the signs. In this rustic science I follow
the Fastus of Eudoxus and Meton and the ancient astronomers which fit
the public festivals" (Columella IX 14, 12). Achilles Tatius (3rd
century A.D.) states, "Some place the tropics in the beginning, others
the eighth degree, others about the twelfth and others about the
fifteenth" (Isag. 23). Manilius, Censorius and Manetho write much the
same thing.
Hipparchus' reform in the 2nd century B.C., which Posidonius and
Geminius systematized in the 1st century B.C., apparently did not catch
on for many centuries thereafter. As shown by O. Neugebauer and H.B.
van Hoeson in Greek Horoscopes (American Philosophical Society,
Philadelphia 1959), even after Claudius Ptolemy adopted the vernal
point as the fiducial for his star catalogue in the Almagest, about 140
A.D., astrologers continued to cast charts with the vernal point
displaced several degrees from Aries 0 degrees. Horoscopes cast by
Palchus late in the 5th century A.D. "place his zero point of
longitudes close to Aries 3 degrees of the modern norm" (p. 187). In
fact, pages 179-190 of Greek Horoscopes show that, of the 180
horoscopes preserved, only seven cases provide degrees, or degrees and
minutes, permitting a direct comparison with modern computation. These
charts span the period from 50 to 160 A.D., two or more centuries after
Hipparchus, and yet not one of them uses the vernal point as its
fiducial, nor, for that matter, are System A or B the basis for the
longitudes used. Graphic plotting of longitudes against dates shows
clearly that even late Greek astrologers did not generally accept the
vernal point as Aries 0 degrees.
In his History (p. 129) Van der Waerden shows that the original
Babylonian zodiac, like that of ancient India, began with mul-MUL
(Pleiades) in the constellation Taurus and ended with mul-HUNGA
("Hireling"), there being no Aries in this zodiac. How then can it be
argued that the zodiac commenced with the vernal point in Aries 0
degrees?
In the Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol VI, No. 2, Professor S.
Sachs of Brown University published six Babylonian horoscopes, the
earliest of which is dated April 29, 410 B.C. This is believed to be
the earliest genethliacal horoscope extant. These six charts were
examined in the June 1956 issue of this magazine and were proved to
have been computed in the sidereal zodiac. But the earliest Katarche
chart extant is the Egyptian horoscope for the inauguration of the
Sothic era, July 16 (O.S.), 2767 B.C. (vide "Zodiacs of Egypt", p. 40
et seq., The Symbolism of the Constellations). Needless to say, it was
calculated in the sidereal. In his History Van der Waerden
demonstrates that in the Egyptian and Babylonian zodiacs Spica was
fixed in Virgo 29 degrees, which puts Aldebaran, the "Bulls Eye", in
Taurus 15degrees00' which star is now recognized as being the original
fiducial of the sidereal zodiac (vide August 1967 issue).
* * *
Garth Allen "Your Corner," A. A. 11/59
History Speaks
By far the past year's most exciting new book, from an astrologer's
standpoint, is Greek Horoscopes just published this past summer by The
American Philosophical Society, Independence Square, Philadelphia.
This large, attractive volume is obtainable for the startlingly low
price of $6.00, so no student of astrology's colorful history need do
without it. Its authors are O. Neugebauer and H.B. Van Hoesen, both
well known in their fields of mathematics and antiquities. Dr.
Neugebauer, whose name has popped up in Fagan's "Solunars" series from
time to time, is the world's foremost authority on the History of
Mathematics, the subject of her permanent professorship at Brown
University. Dr. Van Hoesen is director of Brown University Library and
specializes in studies of papyri--in fact, he was editor of the first
volume of papyrus reproductions in Princeton's famous Collection
publications.
Between them these scholars brought together, with full translations
and recalculations, every single know Greek horoscope that has survived
from ancient times--over 200 precious relics of an age when astrology
commanded the respect of intellectuals and potentates alike. The test
of each is given in the original Greek followed by a literal
translation, a commentary, and a comparison of the given horoscope
elements with modern computations of planetary positions. What a rich,
wonderful lode of information for the twentieth-century student of
astrology to appreciate and explore!
After all, there is hardly a basic tenet of modern astrology which
was originated later than the decline of Imperial Rome. Oh, there have
been scores of blithering idiots who kept adding imaginary rules and
precepts to astrological literature in the centuries since, and in
recent generations, they've added to the pile by the guildful, but
there has been very little that is truly fundamental in all these
innovations. ....
If asked to name the one single thing that is the astrological
field's direst need, some would expect me to chirp in reply that it is
a switchover to the sidereal concept, or maybe "research," or a
respectable academic status, and so forth. Actually the answer is that
our profession's greatest shortcoming is lack of knowledge about the
history of our subject. All these other desirable objectives would be
met as a matter of course if astrologers would only acquaint themselves
with the facts concerning astrology's development.
Botched-up Versions
Regular readers of these outpourings already know what's coming:
Yes, the contents of Greek Horoscopes prove that what Cyril Fagan has
been telling us all these years is true, and correct down to the last
detail. What is more, not only was hellenistic astrology based solely
upon a botched-up version of the Egypto-Babylonian sidereal zodiac, all
the rules of horoscopy as compiled by Ptolemy himself were essentially
sidereal. There's no arguing about it, and no bona fide use can be
made of known history to support the contention that it was Ptolemy's
vernal-based concept that made order out of previous astrological
chaos. On the contrary, Ptolemy's notion was the beginning of the end
for genuine astrology. All the well-thought-out protestations of the
contrary won't actually change the recorded sequence of historic
developments. The facts are so damaging to the equinox-marked
"zodiac," little wonder the silence on the question at standardized
organizational levels.
The reconstructed dates of the Greek horoscopes show, among other
things, that even after Ptolemy had become entrenched as a textual
authority, prominent astrologers continued to set up charts on the
basis of vernal points placed elsewhere than "Zero Aries." Dr.
Neugebauer shows clearly that all the historical and astronomical facts
Fagan has been bluntly laying on the line, all along, are accurate.
Most of the early Greek horoscopes are based upon vernal-point
positions imported from Babylonian tables at various times, each
getting inadvertently "stuck" at that degree because the Greeks were
unaware of precessional movement or, if they were aware of it, like
their modern counterparts too lazy or habituated to bother about doing
thing the right way. The most widely used vernal-point positions were
Aries 10 deg and Aries 8 deg, called System A and System B by Dr.
Neugebauer.
Some Knew All Along
But even as late as the end of the fourth century, 240 years later
than Ptolemy, we find that such astrologers as Hephaestion place
Aldebaran at 15 degrees Taurus and Regulus at 5 degrees Leo--exactly
their sidereal positions!--which proves that there were some Empire
scientists who were aware of the real state of affairs. Another thing
of vast significance: Despite the premise the Brown University
professors used, to the effect that if a horoscope was not calculated
for the zodiacs of Systems A or B, it was cast in terms of Ptolemy's
tropical zodiac, of the 41 charts with dates ranging from 54 A.D. to
157 A.D., there is a systematic average discrepancy of plus 4 deg--just
the value of Fagan's vernal point around the beginning of the Christian
era!
This obviously means that there as a continuous awareness that the
rigidity of the Systems A and B zodiacs was fallacious. The largest
single block of surviving ancient horoscope is that of Vettius Valens
whose collection of charts range through the years 37 A.D. to 188 A.D.
Discussing the basis of their calculations, Dr. Neugebauer writes,
"...the deviations in the texts from Vettius Valens decrease
continually at a rate corresponding to precession. This shows that the
longitudes in Vettius Valens are sidereal longitudes whereas the later
authors operated with tropical longitudes, obviously following the norm
adopted by Ptolemy and Theon." So it seems that even thought the
zodiac kept getting stuck at various points due to the stupidity of
most of the Greek copycats of Babylonia's science, there were some
pretty bright boys all along the way who knew what they were doing!
Clever, Those Ayrabs
One of the many interesting things one notes in the translated texts
of these old chart descriptions and delineations is the absences of any
of this modern superstition about the badness of squares and
oppositions and the goodness of trines and sextiles. Instead, we read
the phrase "in dominant aspect" where a square is involved. And in one
of the texts, a horary analysis, the main reason for prediction a happy
outcome for an apparently worrisome situation is that the Moon is
square Jupiter! Another thing worth noting is the frequent important
attached to the "Parts" or "Lots"--leading us to wonder who in the
dickens started called them "Arabian Parts," anyway! Islamic astrology
didn't gather steam until the Christian religion succeeded in blowing
out the light of every brain in the empire. During the thousand years
of European darkness, when death was the penalty for thinking, the
Arabians preserved and rewrote much of the Greeks' astrological
material. It is a misnomer, though, to believe that the Part of
Fortune, or those of Love or Necessity or Basis, and so on, are of
Arabian origin.
* * *
Letter in "Many Things," American Astrology 7/57
A Unique Irish Zodiac, County Down, Ireland
[from Colin J. Robb]
In the library of Basel there is a most curious zodiac known as the
Irish Zodiac depicted on an age-browned parchment. It was drawn by
some ecclesiastical scribe and combines astronomy, astrology and
Christian art in its depictions. The signs commence with Libra,
instead of Aries at the bottom and the figure is St. Michael who as
Libra weighs the good and evil actions of the dead. A similar
depiction of the Archangel may be seen in various examples of
ecclesiastical art in Ireland including Kildare Cathedral.
The Scorpion comes next as a fanciful figure with two snake-like
heads as common to ancient Irish ribbon ornament. Sagittarius has a
human head and the cloven hoof of the devil, while the Goat has unusual
mops of hair. Aquarius is attired for a dip in the water and carries
with him a curious musical instrument and inscribed beside him are the
words Leprosus Lunaris, or Lunar Leper. Pisces is in this case but one
fish, agreeing with the ancient Babylonian sign, named "The Fish of
Era."
Aries and Taurus are in the conventional forms, though rather stiff
and wooden-like. The Twins wear Irish kilts or safrons and the Crab
and the Lion are not too unusual. The heathen Virgo has become the
Blessed Virgin with a long plait of hair bearing an immense ear of
corn, the fruit of the womb, surmounted by a cross. The central
divisions of the Zodiac contain the predictions in the Gaelic. For
Virgo, or the Virgin we translate the inscription: "In Virgo they who
shall be born are likely to live; he who takes to his bed is quickly
healed and his naval and stomach suffer most; he who takes to flight
you shall not discover; he who is in chains shall not be loosed."
This ancient manuscript inscribed in the Irish characters is more
than unique in the story of the Zodiacal Circle.
* *
contains excerpts on the first of two important facets of Cyril Fagan's
research on the origins of astrology. First, in PART I: from Cyril
Fagan's 1971 ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, the earliest historical naming of
the constellations in ancient Egypt is set forth; Fagan sees the
Egyptian as the prototypic and original zodiac. At this time, circa
3000 B.C., the spring equinox occurred in Taurus, although the Egyptian
astronomical quartering of the heavens was not dependent on the
equinox. Also in other cultures from which we also have records, whose
New Years were also oriented to the first crescent Moon after the
equinox in Taurus, Taurus appeared as leading the zodiac. It is
important to note that Fagan honored that historical evidence since it
was obviously the historical record. But for the ancient Egyptians to
have reached their advanced culture and extraordinary astronomical
understanding, one must assume several thousands of years of previous
history. What did the Egyptians know and when did they know it? Over
the years in his articles, Fagan does not always make the distinction
between the historical equinoctial leader Taurus, and the original 12
constellation divisions.
At end of this file, see letters by Fagan (8/67, 4/68) and Allen
(11/59) on the naming of the constellations. These underscore Fagan's
very powerful argument, in spite of lack of specific historic records,
that only in Egypt could the naming of the constellations coincide with
the annual rise and fall of the Nile River, upon which Egypt's
livelihood depended, in synchronism with the appearance of the Full
Moon.
Second, see file [ORIGINS2] PART II: from his earlier book ZODIACS
OLD AND NEW, 1951, there is included a summary and selected excerpts of
Fagan's research on the basics of ancient Egypt's astronomical
orientation and quartering of the heavens, which, it is important to
specify, did NOT depend on the occurrence of the equinoxes in any
constellation. Such orientation was connected with the Prime Meridian
Circle running from the then pole star Thuban to SPICA, the "Peg Star"
on the ecliptic, which Great Circle was at right angles to SIRIUS, one
of the most, if not the most important Egyptian calendar star besides
SPICA. Fagan found evidence of the Egyptian quartering of the heavens
previous to the occurrence of the Taurean Age, which preceded the Arien
Age, which preceded the current Piscean Age.
That there are 12 psychological groups has been verified by
Donald Bradley's statistical analysis of planetary positions in the
birthdates of 2,492 eminent clergyment in his 1950 PROFESSION AND BIRTH
DATE, and in several follow-up studies.
* * * * * * * * *
PART I: Excerpts from Cyril Fagan's ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, 1971
"NAMING THE ZODIACAL CONSTELLATIONS"
We will never understand how and why the zodiacal constellations got
their popular glyphs and names unless we constantly bear in mind, as I
have so often stated in all my writings, that in ancient times in the
Near East, the day of twenty four hours began at sunset, as it still
does with the Hebrew and Islamic peoples; and as it did with the
Florentines, Bohemians and Czechs up to comparatively modern times.
Eve commenced with sunset and it marked the first hour of the day of
twenty four hours. Eve, the rib of Adam, is of course the name of the
thin crescent of the New Moon seen immediately after sunset and which
marked the commencement of the first hour of the new lunar month as
well as the first day of the new lunar year, lst Pakhon (Greek); lst
Chonsu (Coptic); lst Nisannu (Babylonian); but these lunar months must
not be confused with like names occurring in the common Egyptian
calendar.
The planets that rose at this breathtaking moment of sunset, weaved
the fortunes of the day, as the faithful in mute adoration caressed the
earth. Before they inclined upward to their culmination, these eastern
stars were for that particular moment of time the true birth stars.
They were indicative of the physical person of the native and not those
which clothed the setting Sun in the diametrically opposite
constellation. In short, anciently one was considered to be born under
those fixed stars and planets (if any) that crossed the eastern horizon
at the precise moment of one's birth. As stated elsewhere, the degree
of the ecliptic that transited the eastern horizon at this particular
moment constituted one's horoscope, also known as the Hora, or
Ascendant. In all matters of life and death, sickness, physical
injury, and health generally, this point, or its progressed or
quotidian positions, must be involved directly or by configuration,
because it alone symbolizes the physical body of the native.
Furthermore, we must never overlook the fact that ancient Egyptian
and Babylonian astronomy and astrology were observational and lunar.
They devolved on what was seen by the unaided sight. The unseen, no
matter how realistic, was rigorously excluded. When these astronomers
referred to the New Moon, for instance, in all cases they referred to
the first appearance of the fine, thin lunar crescent as first observed
in the west after sunset. They never meant the so-called syzygy, or
conjunction of the Sun and the Moon. This also is invisible except at
the eclipses. In the lunar months of antiquity the astronomical New
Moon, invariably a day of evil omen because on this day eclipses of the
Sun can occur, marked the last or the penultimate day of the preceding
lunar month.
When the astronomers of Egypt and Babylon referred to the tropics of
Capricorn and Cancer, they most certainly were not talking about the
Sun in these constellations. Has anyone ever seen the fixed stars of
any constellation when the Sun was shining within it? Of course not,
How could he? So in all such references these astronomers had in mind
the Full Moon. In fact, the Full Moon day for most people of antiquity
was the most important and often the most sacred day fo the lunar
month. Frequently it was a day of festivities. It usually commenced
at eve of the 14th day of the lunar month as did the Pasch or Passover.
Hence, for these people of antiquity, the tropic of Capricorn denoted
midsummer and the tropic of Cancer denoted midwinter. In
short, Egypto-Babylonian astronomy may aptly be called Full Moon
astronomy.
In their desire to appear highly intellectual, scientific and mathe-
matical, the Greeks, probably about the time of Alexander the Great,
adopted the solar nomenclature, thereby turning ancient zodiacal
symbolism topsy turvy and making it sheer nonsense. In direct
violation of natural symbolism, these Greeks interpreted the tropic of
Cancer as denoting midsummer and the tropic of Capricorn as denoting
midwinter!
Now let us find out how and why the zodiacal constellations got
their glyphs and names. In the long history of Egypt, the great annual
event was, of course, the overflow of the river Nile--the longest river
in the world. Every summer when this occurred, almost the whole of
ancient Egypt was so covered with water as to be turned into a vast
lake or sea. But far from being an annual calamity, it was the
greatest of blessings as the rising waters from the distant Ethiopian
highlands carried down thousands of tons of fertilizing silt and spread
it all over the land! Without this the Egyptians could not have
survived, as their land was intrinsically barren. Naturally, there-
fore, it was of vital importance to know precisely when this inundation
would happen. It would have been disastrous if such should have caught
the people unawares and unprepared. The ancient common calendar of 365
days, without any provision for a leap year day, could not really be of
help. While this was useful about the 3rd millennia B.C., it ceased to
tally with the seasonal year in the 2nd and 1st millennia B.C. The
Nilometers were only of service when the waters had commenced to rise,
which was then too late. So perforce, they had to rely on the stars to
give them the earliest warnings.
They discovered that a certain group of fixed stars seemingly always
rose above the eastern horizon immediately after sunset when the
inundation commenced. So they identified these particular stars with
Hapi, the naked boy-god of the river Nile. They noticed, too, that
when the Moon became full among the stars, the inundation was upon
them. This was because the Full Moon rises simultaneously with the
setting of the Sun, for at Full Moons the Moon is always diametrically
in opposition to the Sun. So weeks ahead it could be estimated when
the Moon would be full among the stars and thus, well in advance, the
date of the overflow could be predicted and the necessary preparations
made.
Any astute student of astrology will instantly notice that the stars
of Hapi, subsequently identified by the Romans as Aquarius, the water
bearer, solely because of their rising at sunset which is the time when
the fixed stars first become visible in the night skies, synchronized
with the overflow of the Nile. But these stars rise everywhere in the
world once every day, but such risings do not tally with the flooding
of great rivers. In ancient Egypt alone, the flooding of the Nile only
occurred when the star of Aquarius rose immediately after sunset. This
implies that the Sun was in the opposite constellation Leo. There is
no record from the old world that any great river commenced to overflow
its banks and turn the surrounding land into a vast lake when the Sun
was in tropical Leo (July). The Tigris overflowed its banks at the
beginning of March (Gregorian), attaining maximum flooding about May
10th; while the Euphrates rose in the middle of March and reached its
highest level towards the close of May. (Maspero: Dawn of
Civilization, p 549). There is no evidence that the Indus, Ganges, or
any other great rivers of India annually overflowed their banks and
swamped the land on anything like the scale the Nile swamped Egypt
during the summer months. In spite of these facts, some devout Hindus
never tire of reiterating their claim that the ancient Aryavarta
(India) was the cradle of astrology.
RISE AND FALL OF THE NILE
Lest it be assumed that the acronychal (sunset) rising of the
constellation Aquarius at the commencement of the inundation was a mere
coincidence, as some contend, let us cast an eye on the diagram of the
glyph showing the rise and fall of the Nile. Copied from a similar
diagram (Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 16, pp. 452-453, 1962) it
represents graphically in millions of cubic feet per day, the average
rise of the Nile for every month of the Gregorian calendar for the
years 1870-1952, but transposed to the year 200 A.D. when (a) the
sidereal and tropical versions of the zodiac and (b) the Julian and
Gregorian calendars coincided. The common calendar at the bottom of
the diagram gives the actual degrees of the zodiac on the eastern
horizon at the actual (cosmical) moment of sunset. It should be noted
that while 200 A.D. is a leap year in the Julian calendar, it is not so
in the Gregorian. Here, 200 A.D. is treated as being Gregorian for the
sake of convenience. To obtain the acronychal equivalent merely add
about 7 degrees to the cosmic longitudes, because stars of the first
magnitude do not become visible to the unaided sight until the Sun has
dropped by this amount below the western horizon, or about half an hour
after apparent (true) sunset. Thus, on January 1st the stars of the
12th degree of Cancer will be on the Ascendant at the actual moment of
sunset, but because of sunlight they will not be visible. The first to
appear, if of the first magnitude, will be those about Cancer 19
degrees in mundo. In respect to the sidereal version of the zodiac,
these longitudes decrease with time at the mean rate of 13.8 degrees
every one thousand years. From the year 800 B.C, the cosmical longi-
tude would be about Cancer 26.5 degrees, and the acronychal about Leo 4
degrees. IATROMATHEMATICA
Every student of astrology is familiar with the fact that the
popular Duodennary or twelve-fold division of the mundane sphere is
divided into twelve equal divisions of time running counterclockwise.
The Hora or Ascendant was known as the Alpheta or Giver of Life,
because it was at this point of the mundane sphere that the Sun, the
symbol of life, rose above the horizon (sunrise); while the Descendant
or cusp of the 7th house was recognized as the Anaereta or Destroyer of
Life, because at this point the Sun set below the horizon and sank into
Duat or the Underworld, such setting being regarded as its death.
From the remotest times the 1st mundane house was given dominion
over the head; the 2nd over the neck and throat; the 3rd over the
shoulders and arms, and so on. In their inordinate worship of
schematism, believing such to be scientific, the Greek astronomers made
the signs of the zodiac synchronize with this Duodennary arrangement of
the houses commencing Aries with the 1st house, Taurus with the 2nd,
and so on. To this day solar synchronicity is the popular vogue among
tropical astrologers.
This arrangement implies that the day of twenty four hours commences
at sunrise--which we know is not the case. In pre-Greek or lunar
astrology, the anatomical dominions of the signs of the zodiac were
diametrically opposite to the modern notation. For instance, during
the Aries Age, that is, the period between B.C. 1955 and A.D. 221, when
the Neomenia or 1st New Moon of the lunar year occurred in the con-
stellation Aries, the anatomical dominion of the zodiacal constella-
tion ran more or less as follows:
Held dominion over:
Libra head, face, eyes and ears
Scorpio neck, throat and voice
Sagittarius shoulders and arms
Capricorn breasts, chest and lungs
Aquarius heart and diaphragm
Pisces` stomach, abdomen and navel
Aries buttocks, loins and kidneys
Taurus generative organs (phallas)
Gemini hips and thighs
Cancer knees and joints
Leo shins
Virgo feet
In considering the origin of the popular glyphs and names of the
zodiacal constellations, one must always bear in mind the above
zodiacal melothesia, or distribution of parts of the body to the
zodiacal constellations. During the Taurus Age, B.C. 4152 to B.C.
1955, Scorpio held dominion over the head and the other constellations
followed in sequence; while during the present or Pisces Age, A.D. 221
to A.D. 2376, Virgo holds dominion over the head, Libra the throat, and
so on in sequence. CAPRICORN: Scanning the graph of the rise and fall
of the Nile we find that the river is at it lowest level when
Sagittarius, the mounted archer, rose at sunset and at some places was
actually fordable by cavalry. The river began to swell with water when
Capricorn rose at eventide, that is about May-June. On the ancient
monuments, Capricorn is depicted as half-goat and half-fish. Its
acronychal rising coincided with midsummer when the Sun attained it
greatest altitude at southing, symbolized by the giddy goat climbing to
the peak of the mountain. Naturally, it was the hottest time of the
year, and around the effigy of the goat the Greeks of later times
weaved their inevitable myths. According to them, the infant Zeus
(Jupiter) was suckled by the goat-nymph Amalthaea on the island of
Crete. When Zeus became Father-of-the Gods, in gratitude he set
Amalthaea's image among the stars as the constellation Capricorn. To
this day, the she-goat is frequently alluded to as the nanny-goat and
babies' nurses are known as nannies.
In the above melothesia, it will be noticed that Capricorn held
dominion over the breasts and adjoining parts of the body, probably
extending to the armpits. In this respect, the odor which emanated
from under the armpits was known to the Romans as Capra, a she-goat.
According to the Greeks, the horned and cloven Pan the god of flocks
and shepherds, and the pastoral divinity of summer, was the foster
brother of Amalthaea (Capricorn). The Greek Sileni and Satyros with
their horns and cloven heels were associated with Capricorn. When the
Full Moon was in Capricorn (midsummer) they were given to excessive
revelry. Indulging in an extravagance of wine drinking, they were
addicted to all forms of sensual pleasure, no matter how gross, and no
mortal was safe in their company, whence the medical term satyriasis.
At this time of the year, with the rising waters of the Nile, fish
once again became abundant. As a nemonic, the Egyptian scribes affixed
the ideogram of a fish to the tail of the goat, the omen reading "when
this constellation rises at eve, or when the Moon becomes full in it,
there will be Sun above and fish below in Eqypt." This simple calendar
of acronychal phenomena, graphically illustrated by ideograms
(hieroglyphics) is what we today recognize as the ancient zodiac. It
was intended for the use of the fluvial and agricultural communities of
Egypt and it is devoid of any mysterious implications. But those who
had a hankering for mystery invested the simple names and symbols of
the constellation with a mysterius occult meaning that they simply did
not possess.
Adjacent to Capricorn are the constellations Knm.t the Vulture
(Altair) or Eagle (Aquila), and Stwy (Shetyu) the Tortoise (Lyra).
Perched high in his eyrie, the eagle also symbolized the maximum
elevation attained by the Sun at the summer solstice. In the circular
zodiac of Denderah, as already stated, the summer solstice is
represented by a crown hawk, Horus, the "Sun," perched n the top of a
papyrus pole. When a tortoise was seized, the eagle would drop it from
a great height so as to break its shell; and in Egypt, the "Tortoise"
(Lyra) was near the zenith at its culmination.
In modern astrology, it is a common error to associate the eagle
with Scorpio. Scorpio represnts Serpens, the serpent, but in ancient
symbolism both the eagle and the vulture were antiscions of Capricorn.
AQUARIUS: This particular constellation of fixed stars was identified
by the Greeks as Ganymede, the most beautiful boy born of mortal
parents (Homil, Clement 5, 17: Erathosh, 26, 30). According to one
legend, Zeus, taking the form of an eagle (Aquila), carried the boy off
from Mount Ida and made him his favorite. As cup-bearer to the gods,
he personified the "fountain" of the Nile and caused that river to
overflow its banks annually (Pindar frag. 282): Ganymede thus becomes
identified with Hapi, the god of the Nile.
Incidentally, Antinous, another youth famous for his beauty, was
associated with the constellation Aquila and with the Nile. He was the
minion of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. When Antinous was drowned in the
Nile in A.D. 130, the grief of the Emperor knew no bounds. He enrolled
him among the gods, caused numerous statues of him to be made, founded
the Eqyptian city fo Antinopolis in his honor, and erected a temple to
him at Mamtinea. Finally, in A.D. 132, he placed him in the starry
skies right below the constellation of the Eagle. Antinous thus gives
his name to Eta Aquilae in the sidereal longitude Capricorn 5 degrees
36 minutes and latitude 21 N 32. The Romans, of course, styled
Ganymede Aquarius, the water-bearer, and gave it dominion over all
large rivers and the like. Most appropriately, tm3.t (Themat) the
"river," is one of several pentades that tally with the constellation
Aquarius.
Yet the Eqyptians of the Pyramidic period made another far reaching
discovery. They noticed that the beginning of the inundation seemed to
tally with the heliacal rising of the brightest star in the heavens,
namely Sirius. This occurred annually about July 16th, Julian. So,
the beginning of the Sothic (Sirius) year began with the heliacal
rising of this star and with the acronychal sunset rising of the con-
stellation Aquarius, at which time the inundation was well under way.
PISCES: The oldest known so-called decan lists were found on coffin
lids as Asyut, which Eygptoligists assign to the 1Xth and Xth
Heracleopolite dynasties, circa 2300 B.C. One of these decans shows a
device of two fishes with the legend hnwy (khonuy). Treated as a
pentade it synchronizes snugly and nicely with the constellation
Pisces. Khonuy (Pisces) rose a sunset during August, when the Sun was
in the opposite constellation, Virgo. At this time the inundation was
so excessive as to turn almost the whole of Egypt into a sea, abounding
in fish and river life with shipping as the only means of transport.
Obviously, therefore, the Egyptians could estimate the date many months
in advance when the Moon would become full in Pisces, and when fish
plus other marine life would be swimming freely over their pastures and
tilled lands. Naturally, therefore, by means of the grammatical device
of dual fish, they indicated that this group of fixed stars "belonged
to" (the month of) the fish. Precisely the same group of stars is
known today as Pisces.
Preceding Khonuy are a group of pentades falling in the
constellation Aquarius and having the ideogram of three jars in a
stand. This is a syllabic for knt.t (khentet) which means "he who is
in front." This refers to the Full Moon in Aquarius which occurred at
the inauguration of the Sothic Cycle and which led the planetary
procession reading from west to east. In some celestial diagrams this
is illustrated by the pictogram of the disc of a Full Moon in the
middle of a boat, which bears the legend hr ib wi3 (her yeb weya) which
means "(He who is) in the middle of the boat." It should be noted,
however, that the scribes were not always scrupulous in putting these
pentades in their proper sequences, especially as they thought they
would never be seen by living eye again. When compared, decan lists
often show considerable variations in this respect.
ARIES: As we have seen, the pictograph of a ram seems to have been
used by the Eqyptians as a sort of a zodical road sign to indicate
something significant. In the later period such were used as the
places "from whence the winds blew" or to mark where the zodiacal
constellations commenced. In the Pyramidic period, the culmination of
the sr Ram and sr.t Ewe pentades, which in the aggregate constituted
the constellation Aries, heralded the rising of Sirius, the Star of
Eqypt. So these sheep stars constituted a very useful zodiacal traffic
signal for them. To the religious minded Eqyptian priests it was of
the utmost importance to know well in advance the moment Sirius would
rise.
Sr.t (Aries) rose acronychally during the month of September (Sun in
Libra). This was the month of the autumnal equinox when the inundation
was at its highest. Associated with Aries is Cetus, the Sea Monster.
The waters of the Nile were now so high that crocodiles and hippopotami
swam over the erstwhile pastures. But in those pastures that remained
dry, the ewes were separated from the rams at this period. In the
decan lists and in the circular zodiac of Denderah, the ram is shown in
a position of repose, indicative of sunset. It is depicted facing back
to front in order of the constellations with its tail foremost and its
head rearmost. It has been suggested that its position of repose was
possibly due to the fact that it was kept in its pen as the inundation
was then at its greatest.
The lunar regent of this month (Athyr) was Hathor, the cow-headed
goddess. Hathor literally means "House of Horus" (The Sun) or "the
visible heavens." In the great temple of Hathor at Denderah, the
massive head of the goddess marks the eastern horizon or place of the
Ascendant.
The Sumerians called this constellation hun.ga and the Babylonians
agaru, both words meaning a "hired laborer" (Langdon: Babylonian
Menologies, p. 3) a fact that strongly militates against the view that
the zodiac originated in Babylon. Pliny (11, 31) suggests that it was
Cleostratus of Tenedos who introduced both Aries and Sagittarius into
the Greek zodiac towards the close of the 6th century B.C. In the
demotic texts Aries is represented by the determinative for a hide, dhr
(deher), which exhibits a long tail. The Greeks identified Aries with
the Golden Fleece which was suspended in the grove of Ares (Mars) in
Colchis and was guarded day and night by a dragon (Cetus) until it was
captured by Jason. It was the last of the zodiacal constellations.
TAURUS: Taurus, the Bull, rose at eve during the lunar month of Khoiak
(October). Not only was this the month in which the cattle were
coupled, but the waters of the Nile had so far receded as to permit the
oxen to be yoked and the land to be plowed. Thus, this constellation
gets its name. The constellation melothesia table informs us that
Taurus holds dominion over the generative organs of both sexes. Now
the Eqyptian phonetics for a bull is k3 (ka), byt k3 also is the
Eqyptian for a phallus. The table shows us that Taurus holds dominion
over the phallus, thus clearly proving that the Eqyptian astrologers
read such acronychally and not as in Greek astrology which puts the
phallus under Scropio. But in Eqyptian, k3 also meant the soul, and
in several murals in the temples of Denderah, the soul (k3), in the
form of the b3 (Ba-bird) is seen leaving the body at death via the
phallus! Nowadays one rarely refers to an ox, but much more commonly
to a bull or a cow, which are connotations of gender but not of genus.
Taurus was held to be the most fertile of all the zodiacal constel-
lations for which reason it was regarded in high esteem and much
revered. When the Full Moon occurred in Taurus, the Sun was, of
course, in the opposite constellation, Scorpio.
In the decan lists from Asyut, three pentades which ended Aries and
commenced Taurus were known to the Eqyptians as 3hwy (Akhuy), the
"shining ones," because about the Pyramidic period, the Sun rose in one
or other of them on New Year's Day of the lunar calendar. In other
words, they marked the place of the vernal equinox, Taurus 11 degrees,
12 minutes, B.C. 2767. The feminine form of Akhu, namely Akhot, means
the "place of sunrise," or the Ascendant.
GEMINI: Gemini, the Twins, rose at eve during the lunar month Tybi
when the Sun was in the opposite constellation, Sagittarius. The
constellation was probably named because of its brilliant twin stars
which the Romans knew as Castor and Pollux. The Egyptians knew them as
the air-god Shu and his wife and sister Tefnut, the lion-hearted
goddess of the Sun's heat. In the Babylonian mul-APIN tablet, this
constellation is known as Mash. tab. ba. gal. gal. and Mash. tab. tur.
tur., the Great Twins and Little Twins, respectively. The Chief
agricultural pursuit was the sowing of seeds and the sending of sheep
and horses to pasture. With the acronychal rising of Gemini, birds of
passage took their departure.
The regent of Tybi was Min, the ithypallic god of Panopolis and
Koptos. On the monuments he is depicted naked and standing erect.
Crowned with the lofty plumes of Amun, he holds on high a flagellum in
the act of striking. He was the Egyptian god of procreation. Below
Taurus and Gemini shines the glory of the southern skies S3h (sah), the
"Toe," but known to us as the mighty constellation Orion. In the
celestial diagrams Sah is shown as a human figure, wearing the hdt
(hedjet) or white crown of the south and standing in his boat welcoming
the rising of Isis-Sirius, who issues at his toe! The Babylonians knew
this constellation as sib.zi.an.na, the True Shepherd of the Sky.
CANCER: Cancer, the Crab rose after dusk during the lunar month of
Mekhir (Sun in Capricorn). This was the month of the winter solstice
when the Sun had sunk to its lowest elevation (declination). From the
date of the summer solstice the Sun had been declining (dying!), but on
midwinter's day--Christmas Day in the 2nd century B.C.--it commenced to
increase its declination again, and its altitude at local noon. This
turning point was hailed as the resurrection or birth of the Sun and
was celebrated by all nations in antiquity with festivities and
rejoicing. In the Eqyptian zodiacs, the constellation is represented
by the scarabaeus (Scarabaeus sacer) which lays its eggs in a ball of
dung which it compacts by pushing the pellet uphill on the sandy slopes
in the hot sunshine and allowing it to roll backwards again. This
pushing is done with the hind legs. This beetle became the symbol of
Kheper, the god of creation, rebirth, resurrection and transformation;
and the ball of dung became the symbol of the Sun.
At the winter solstice, like a crab walking sideways, the Sun crept
around an arc of the horizon, never attaining to any great altitude,
before it finally set. In Egyptian, Babylonian and Mithraic religions
the date of the winter solstice was celebrated as the birth of the Sun,
in Christianity as the birth of Christ. The constellation Cancer con-
tains the remarkable star cluster Praesepe (Cancer 13 degrees), the
"crib" or "manger" and the two Aselli or "asses" (Cancer 14 degrees and
15 degrees), which rose acronychally during this Christmas month, re-
calling the crib and asses in the stable in Bethlehem. Praesepe also
was known as the beehive" and in Egypt the lunar month Mekhir was noted
for the swarming of bees and for the sowing of seeds. It also was the
lambing season and the time when the fields were fertilzied with
manure.
LEO: The constellation Leo rose at eve during the lunar month of
Phamenoth (Sun in Aquarius). The most conspicuous feature of this
great constellation is a brilliant group of star known as the Sickle or
Sickle of Leo. The Eqyptian phonetics for a sickle are m3 (Ma). The
same phonetics form the root name for a lion m3i (May), so it is
obvious that the symbol of a lion is only a homophone or rebus for a
sickle. Egyptian astronomical and religious texts abound in the use of
similar homophones, when for superstitious reasons the scribes were
adverse to using the original names. This very fact alone attests that
it was the Egyptians who invented the zodiac and gave the zodiacal
constellations their names; for in what other great nation of antiquity
were the phonetics for a sickle and a lion identical?
In the Graeco-Roman atlases the stars which compose the conspicuous
Sickle of Leo are embraced in that constellation and thus extend it
some seven degrees in excess of the normal thirty. But in the Egyptian
zodiac they were known as the "Bow Stars" and were included in the
constellation Cancer. Both the "Bow" and "Arrow" (Sirius) rose
simultaneously in Egypt during the dynastic period. The Bow stars were
personified by the goddess Satis, who is represented holding a bow and
arrow. In the circular zodiac of Denderah she is seen shooting an
arrow beneath the lion, while in the Esna zodiac she walks before the
lion holding in her right hand a reed sicklewise above her head while
carrying her bow and arrows in her other hand. Incidentally, the
famous shower of shooting stars observed about November 15 of any year,
and known as the Leonids, diverge from a radiant point within the
Sickle. Its approximate position is Leo 2 degrees 17 minutes at
latitude 9 N 51. Immediately underneath the "Bow" are the "Stars of
the Waters." These include the brilliant star of the first magnitude,
Canopus (pilot of the Argo, which carried the heroes to Colchie in
search of the Golden Fleece), personified by Satis' companion Anqet,
goddess of the Inundation, because Canopus rose heliacally in Egypt
when the inundation was in full flood. In the circular zodiac of
Denderah, Anqet will be seen seated behind Satis, and holding in each
hand a water vase (cf. Hapi and his water jar).
It will be noticed that there is an unmistakable resemblance between
the shape of the Eqyptian Sickle and the hind leg of a lion! The same
shape will be seen on the legs of royal chairs and thrones and also on
the prow of Egyptian ships.
VIRGO: The harvest constellation Virgo, the "Maid," rose after sunset
in the lunar month Pharmouthi (Sun in Pisces). The first part of the
month was devoted to flower planting; but with the acronychal rising of
Spica, "the ear of corn," the harvest began. This period tallied with
the month of February-March, Gregorian. The records attest that with-
out question this was the time of harvesting in ancient Egypt. But was
it also the time of harvesting for any other great nations of
antiquity? Records also prove that the usual time of harvesting was in
the fall and certainly not in the early spring. This fact alone will
demonstate once again that it was the Egyptians who invented the
zodiac. The Full Moon of the lunar month Pharmouthi, which would fall
in propinquity to the "Ear of Corn" (Spica), was known as the Harvest
Moon.
The constellation Virgo contains an important star known to the
Egyptians of Ramesside times as t3.nfr (tsha-nefre), "the beautiful or
good boy" which the Egyptians of the late period identified with their
infant Horus in the arms of his mother Isis. The Greeks called this
star Protrygeter, the "first fruit picker" and the Romans called it
Vindemiatrix, the "grape-gatherer," or Ampelos, the favorite of
Bacchus. Ampelos is represented as an infant boy holding a grape, in
the arms of his mother Erigone (born in the morning), because the
heliacal rising of Ampelos ushered in the grape harvest.
In the Magian version of the Sphere Barbarica, written by Teukros of
Babylon, the ascension of the constellation Virgo is described thus,
"Next there ariseth the first decan of Virgo, the adra nedefa, pure
virgin. She holds in her hand two ears of corn (Spica) and a child on
her arm. She feedeth him and giveth him suck. She bringeth up the
child in a place that is called Abrie (Hebrew-land) and the child's
name is called 'Isu' (Jesus)..."
In the zodiac on the main porch of the church of Notre Dame in
Paris, the constellation Virgo is represented by the Virgin-Mother and
Child. In Titus Andronicus, Act IV, Scene 3, Shakespeare speaks of an
arrow being shot up to heaven to the "good boy in Virgo's lap." The
sidereal longitude of Tsha Nefre is Virgo 15 degrees 06 minutes and
latitude 16 N 11.
LIBRA: The constellation Libra, the Scales, rose at dusk during the
lunar month of Pakhons when the Sun was in the opposite constellation,
Aries. The greek words Pa Khons, or the Coptic Pa Chons, literally
mean "the traveler of the night skies." Chonsu is generally
represented on the monuments as a handsome boy (Khensu.p.khard) "Chonsu
the Child," bearing the symbol of the New Moon on his head, and wearing
the lock of hair of youth, and all the appurtenances of divinity and
royalty. In assigning Chonsu to the month when the Sun was in Aries,
the Egyptians make this New Moon identical with the Paschal (Easter) or
first New Moon of the ecclesiastical lunar New Year. The first of the
lunar Pachons would tally with the first Nisannu, Babylonian and the
first Nisan, Jewish. During the historic period, that is since about
4,000 B.C., there is no documentary evidence that the Egyptian people
ever used any calendar other than their common one, comprising twelve
months of precisely thirty days with five added days at the end of each
year, without any provision for a leap-year day, but this has already
been explained elsewhere.
In this statement, we are not including the late period when the
Egypto-Greeks tried to have different calendars adopted. But the mere
fact that Chonsu tallies with the Paschal New Moon suggests that in the
prehistoric period, that is before 4,000 B.C., it was the vogue with
the common Egyptian folk, before being replaced by the common calendar.
However, there is evidence to believe that for religious purposes in
the temples, the lunar calendar was observed during the historic
period.
When the Paschal New Moon is first seen, it, like any other New
Moon, first appears just above the western horizon. Simultaneously,
the constellation Libra rises in the east. So, from the point of view
of the mundane houses (divisions of time) during the Arian Age, Libra
becomes the first of the constellations.... So Libra occupies the
first house commencing with the Ascendant (eastern horizon). Every
astrologer must know that sunrise occurs on the Ascendant and nowhere
else. The common glyph for Libra is not as is commonly believed, the
representation of the beam of a scales, but is a very ancient Egyptian
ideogram, 3h.t (Akhet), which depicts the Sun in the process of rising
over the hilltops, and which translated reads "the place where the Sun
rises," meaning, of course, the Ascendant. Thus, unmistakably, Libra
became associated with the first house and not with the seventh.
Incident-ally, during this lunar month the Egyptian harvest was
weighed, stored and sold.
SCORPIO: The evening rising of the constellation Scorpio occurred
during the lunar month of Payni with the Sun was in Taurus. The
Egyptians of the Pyramidic period identified the Scorpion with Srkt,
the scorpion-goddess Serket, or to give her full Pyramidic name,
Srkt.htw, which translated means "she-who-relieves-the-windpipe" (Pyr.
606; PSBA 39, 34). According to our constellation melothesia table,
this immediately identifies Scorpio with the second mundane house. In
modern conventional astrology, the windpipe comes under the dominion of
Taurus!
It would appear that the Egyptians also identified this
constellation with Serpens, the serpent, the stars of which intermingle
with those of the Scorpion. In Egyptian symbolism, the serpent always
has been associated with the winds. The evening rising of Scorpio
ushered in the deadly Khamsin (Arabic--50 days wind) bringing with it
pestilential hot sandstorms from the Sahara and hordes of scorpions to
infest the land. This was the most parched, oppressive and sickening
month of the year and frequently brought plague or similar contagion.
It was during this month that the waters of the Nile were at their
lowest and arid death stalked the land. In symbolism, Scorpio, the
snake sign par excellence, is an airy sign.
SAGITTARIUS: With the abatement of the Khamsin, the Nile more easily
fordable, and the harvest finally secure, the acronychal rising of
Sagittarius, the soldier archer, in the lunar month of Epiph when the
Sun was in Gemini, found the Egyptian army prepared to set out on
foreign expeditions. In the representations of Sagittarius, the strong
arms pulling the bow are the most marked feature; and the third mundane
house is credited with holding dominion over the shoulders and arms.
Our particular Island Universe, known as the Galaxy or Milky Way,
comprises all of the known fixed stars and millions that are as yet
unknown. But it does not comprise spiral and other nebulae which are
other Island Universes in space; and there are millions of them! The
center of our Island Universe is situated in Sagittarius 2 degrees 05
minutes, latitude south 5 degrees 32 minutes.
The examination of any popular Graeco-Roman star atlas will show
that the four successive constellations, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces
and Aries, are represented as being amphibious if not entirely aquatic
in form. Capricorn appears as a horned goat complete with fish's tail;
Aquarius is but the Greek variant for Hapi, the god of the Nile; at the
feet of the chained Andromeda swim the tethered fish (Pisces); while
below the reposing ram lurks Cetus, the sea monster. These four con-
stellations rose acronychally during the summer months of the Eqyptian
Inundation, when the Nile overflowed its banks and turned the land into
a sea. This is yet another pointer to the fact that it was the
Egyptians who named the constellations and not the Babylonians as is
commonly supposed. The representations of the zodiacal and other
constellations are but ideograms, differing but little from those which
compose Egyptian hieroglyphic writings. In the unrolling papyrus of
the eastern skies, the whole story of the Inundation can be read at
dusk in the rising of these four constellations. Their symbolism fits
only Egypt, for she alone of all the nations of antiquity suffered the
annual transformation of her countryside into an immense lake during
the four months when these constellations rose at eve.
* * *
Cyril Fagan, Letter in 'Many Things,' A.A. 8/67
Ethos and Origins
Was it necessary to major as a high priest in astronomy to note that
every time the Moon was full amidst the stars of that constellation
subsequently yclepted Virgo by the Romans, harvesting in ancient Egypt
was in full sway? Could not the untutored camel-boy watering his
dromedary by the banks of the Nile notice every time the Full Moon
occulted the "Ear of Corn" the rich fruits of the earth were being
gathered? Did it require great erudition on the part of the farmers to
identify this particular star field with the harvesting season? Yet
the Moon only became full in Virgo in very early spring which was the
harvesting season of ancient Egypt but of no other nation of antiquity.
In itself, this single fact is adequate evidence that the Egyptians
named this zodiacal constellation and, by implication, the other eleven
to boot! This conclusion is sustained by the fact that many zodiacal
and planetary glyphs in common use today are Egyptian hieroglyphics
that were in vogue in the pre-Pyramidic period! They are not to be
found in Akkadian cuneiform wedges or Sumerian script. The zodiac was
acknowledged by the Egyptian eons before the latter-day esotericism was
spawned, and which was repudiated by the Tathagata as the "closed fist"
leading to confusion instead of truth "...to a jungle, a wilderness, a
puppet-show, a writhing and a fetter, coupled with suffering and
despair..."
When New Year's Day of the common Egyptian calendar (1st Thoth) fell
in any zodiacal constellation, that particular constellation was
deified as leader of the stellar host. On the average the 1st Thoth
took 118 years to retrograde through a zodiacal constellation. But it
is a fallacy to assume that all celestial rams, bulls and scorpions are
necessarily identical with the zodiacal constellations of the same
name. Thus Mshtyw ("Ox's Foreleg") is the constellation Ursa Major
while Capricorn is simply indicated by the Old Empire demotic Ab ("A
Horn") and Taurus by 'rt ("Bull's jawbone"). The opinions of Kepler
and Sir Isaac Newton as to the origin of the zodiac can be
discountenanced as Jean Francois Champollion had not then succeeded in
translating the Rosetta Stone. Such are the facts of antiquity; and
facts require no theory for their sustenance nor faith for their
acceptance!
Cyril Fagan, "Many Things," A.A. 4/68
[Origin of the Zodiac]
...Two years later (1951) appeared "Zodiacs, Old and New," wherein
it was shown, among other things, that Kugler, Epping, and Schoch
stumbled against the sidereal zodiac of the Egyptians and the
Babylonians but failed to recognize the fact. This led to considerable
correspondence between Van der Waerden, Boker, Weidner, Rehm, Eisler
and others on the one part and James Hynes and myself on the other.
The upshot of this correspondence led to the publication of The
History of the Zodiac (illustrated and in English) by Van der Waerden
(Archiv fur Orientforschung, Band XVI, Zweiter Teil). Treating of the
"Limiting Point of Signs" he writes, "Since Hipparchus we are wont to
identify the beginning point of the sign Aries with the spring point.
However, we must not stick to this. In Babylonian and early Greek
astronomy the beginning points of the signs are rigidly connected, not
with the equinoxes, but with the fixed stars. (Italics Van der
Waerdens'!) For Babylonian astronomy this was first proved by Kugler
from Lunar Tables, and planetary tables confirm it ..."
From this it will be seen that Van der Waerden, making a seeming
volte face, had altered his opinion as given in "The Thirty-six Stars."
Furthermore, he makes it clear that the modern version of the tropical
zodiac, with the vernal point "fixed" in Aries 0 degrees of the signs,
is no earlier than the Greek astronomer Hipparchus (circa 139 B.C.)
who, after he had been credited with having discovered the phenomenon
of precession, invented it for the purposes of computing the position
of the fixed stars in right ascension and declination. But it was left
to Posidonius and Geminius in the 1st century B.C. to systematize this
modern version of the tropical zodiac (vide A. Bouche-Le-clercq,
L'Astrologie Grecque, Paris 1899).
To assume, therefore, that it existed prior to the 1st century B.C.
is a very common and deeply entrenched error among astrologers. It was
completely unknown to the Egyptians and Babylonians even though their
lunar calendars were seasonal.
Perhaps the root of the confusion lies in the use of the word
'signs.' When astronomers, such a Schnabel, Rehm and Neugebauer talk
of zodiacal constellations they usually have in mind the Greco-Roman
constellations (circa 600 B.C.), which are of unequal length, ill-
defined and hence useless for purposes of fine measurement. They
distinguish between two types of "signs" of equal length, the fixed and
the tropical, the fixed signs being identified with those of Babylon.
Eastern and western siderealists, on the other hand, while ignoring the
Greco-Roman version of the zodiac, term the "fixed" signs of Egypt and
Babylon zodiacal constellations.
The Greeks, who alone invented tropical zodiacs, had many versions.
Pliny the Elder, who flourished between 23 and 79 A.D. writes, "All
these seasons, too, commence at the eighth degree of the signs of the
zodiac. The winter solstice begins at the eighth degree of Capricorn,
the eighth day before the Kalends of January in general; the vernal
equinox at the eighth degree of Aries; the summer solstice at the
eighth degree of Cancer and the autumnal equinox at the eighth degree
of Libra" (Natural History, Bk. XVIII, Chapter 59, Bohn Classical
Library, Vol. IV, pp. 78-79). Columella (60 A.D.) says, "...Winter,
which begins about eight days before 1st January in the eighth degree
of Capricorn...and I am not deceived by Hipparchus's argument which
teaches that the solstices and the equinoxes happen not in the eighth
but in the first degree of the signs. In this rustic science I follow
the Fastus of Eudoxus and Meton and the ancient astronomers which fit
the public festivals" (Columella IX 14, 12). Achilles Tatius (3rd
century A.D.) states, "Some place the tropics in the beginning, others
the eighth degree, others about the twelfth and others about the
fifteenth" (Isag. 23). Manilius, Censorius and Manetho write much the
same thing.
Hipparchus' reform in the 2nd century B.C., which Posidonius and
Geminius systematized in the 1st century B.C., apparently did not catch
on for many centuries thereafter. As shown by O. Neugebauer and H.B.
van Hoeson in Greek Horoscopes (American Philosophical Society,
Philadelphia 1959), even after Claudius Ptolemy adopted the vernal
point as the fiducial for his star catalogue in the Almagest, about 140
A.D., astrologers continued to cast charts with the vernal point
displaced several degrees from Aries 0 degrees. Horoscopes cast by
Palchus late in the 5th century A.D. "place his zero point of
longitudes close to Aries 3 degrees of the modern norm" (p. 187). In
fact, pages 179-190 of Greek Horoscopes show that, of the 180
horoscopes preserved, only seven cases provide degrees, or degrees and
minutes, permitting a direct comparison with modern computation. These
charts span the period from 50 to 160 A.D., two or more centuries after
Hipparchus, and yet not one of them uses the vernal point as its
fiducial, nor, for that matter, are System A or B the basis for the
longitudes used. Graphic plotting of longitudes against dates shows
clearly that even late Greek astrologers did not generally accept the
vernal point as Aries 0 degrees.
In his History (p. 129) Van der Waerden shows that the original
Babylonian zodiac, like that of ancient India, began with mul-MUL
(Pleiades) in the constellation Taurus and ended with mul-HUNGA
("Hireling"), there being no Aries in this zodiac. How then can it be
argued that the zodiac commenced with the vernal point in Aries 0
degrees?
In the Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol VI, No. 2, Professor S.
Sachs of Brown University published six Babylonian horoscopes, the
earliest of which is dated April 29, 410 B.C. This is believed to be
the earliest genethliacal horoscope extant. These six charts were
examined in the June 1956 issue of this magazine and were proved to
have been computed in the sidereal zodiac. But the earliest Katarche
chart extant is the Egyptian horoscope for the inauguration of the
Sothic era, July 16 (O.S.), 2767 B.C. (vide "Zodiacs of Egypt", p. 40
et seq., The Symbolism of the Constellations). Needless to say, it was
calculated in the sidereal. In his History Van der Waerden
demonstrates that in the Egyptian and Babylonian zodiacs Spica was
fixed in Virgo 29 degrees, which puts Aldebaran, the "Bulls Eye", in
Taurus 15degrees00' which star is now recognized as being the original
fiducial of the sidereal zodiac (vide August 1967 issue).
* * *
Garth Allen "Your Corner," A. A. 11/59
History Speaks
By far the past year's most exciting new book, from an astrologer's
standpoint, is Greek Horoscopes just published this past summer by The
American Philosophical Society, Independence Square, Philadelphia.
This large, attractive volume is obtainable for the startlingly low
price of $6.00, so no student of astrology's colorful history need do
without it. Its authors are O. Neugebauer and H.B. Van Hoesen, both
well known in their fields of mathematics and antiquities. Dr.
Neugebauer, whose name has popped up in Fagan's "Solunars" series from
time to time, is the world's foremost authority on the History of
Mathematics, the subject of her permanent professorship at Brown
University. Dr. Van Hoesen is director of Brown University Library and
specializes in studies of papyri--in fact, he was editor of the first
volume of papyrus reproductions in Princeton's famous Collection
publications.
Between them these scholars brought together, with full translations
and recalculations, every single know Greek horoscope that has survived
from ancient times--over 200 precious relics of an age when astrology
commanded the respect of intellectuals and potentates alike. The test
of each is given in the original Greek followed by a literal
translation, a commentary, and a comparison of the given horoscope
elements with modern computations of planetary positions. What a rich,
wonderful lode of information for the twentieth-century student of
astrology to appreciate and explore!
After all, there is hardly a basic tenet of modern astrology which
was originated later than the decline of Imperial Rome. Oh, there have
been scores of blithering idiots who kept adding imaginary rules and
precepts to astrological literature in the centuries since, and in
recent generations, they've added to the pile by the guildful, but
there has been very little that is truly fundamental in all these
innovations. ....
If asked to name the one single thing that is the astrological
field's direst need, some would expect me to chirp in reply that it is
a switchover to the sidereal concept, or maybe "research," or a
respectable academic status, and so forth. Actually the answer is that
our profession's greatest shortcoming is lack of knowledge about the
history of our subject. All these other desirable objectives would be
met as a matter of course if astrologers would only acquaint themselves
with the facts concerning astrology's development.
Botched-up Versions
Regular readers of these outpourings already know what's coming:
Yes, the contents of Greek Horoscopes prove that what Cyril Fagan has
been telling us all these years is true, and correct down to the last
detail. What is more, not only was hellenistic astrology based solely
upon a botched-up version of the Egypto-Babylonian sidereal zodiac, all
the rules of horoscopy as compiled by Ptolemy himself were essentially
sidereal. There's no arguing about it, and no bona fide use can be
made of known history to support the contention that it was Ptolemy's
vernal-based concept that made order out of previous astrological
chaos. On the contrary, Ptolemy's notion was the beginning of the end
for genuine astrology. All the well-thought-out protestations of the
contrary won't actually change the recorded sequence of historic
developments. The facts are so damaging to the equinox-marked
"zodiac," little wonder the silence on the question at standardized
organizational levels.
The reconstructed dates of the Greek horoscopes show, among other
things, that even after Ptolemy had become entrenched as a textual
authority, prominent astrologers continued to set up charts on the
basis of vernal points placed elsewhere than "Zero Aries." Dr.
Neugebauer shows clearly that all the historical and astronomical facts
Fagan has been bluntly laying on the line, all along, are accurate.
Most of the early Greek horoscopes are based upon vernal-point
positions imported from Babylonian tables at various times, each
getting inadvertently "stuck" at that degree because the Greeks were
unaware of precessional movement or, if they were aware of it, like
their modern counterparts too lazy or habituated to bother about doing
thing the right way. The most widely used vernal-point positions were
Aries 10 deg and Aries 8 deg, called System A and System B by Dr.
Neugebauer.
Some Knew All Along
But even as late as the end of the fourth century, 240 years later
than Ptolemy, we find that such astrologers as Hephaestion place
Aldebaran at 15 degrees Taurus and Regulus at 5 degrees Leo--exactly
their sidereal positions!--which proves that there were some Empire
scientists who were aware of the real state of affairs. Another thing
of vast significance: Despite the premise the Brown University
professors used, to the effect that if a horoscope was not calculated
for the zodiacs of Systems A or B, it was cast in terms of Ptolemy's
tropical zodiac, of the 41 charts with dates ranging from 54 A.D. to
157 A.D., there is a systematic average discrepancy of plus 4 deg--just
the value of Fagan's vernal point around the beginning of the Christian
era!
This obviously means that there as a continuous awareness that the
rigidity of the Systems A and B zodiacs was fallacious. The largest
single block of surviving ancient horoscope is that of Vettius Valens
whose collection of charts range through the years 37 A.D. to 188 A.D.
Discussing the basis of their calculations, Dr. Neugebauer writes,
"...the deviations in the texts from Vettius Valens decrease
continually at a rate corresponding to precession. This shows that the
longitudes in Vettius Valens are sidereal longitudes whereas the later
authors operated with tropical longitudes, obviously following the norm
adopted by Ptolemy and Theon." So it seems that even thought the
zodiac kept getting stuck at various points due to the stupidity of
most of the Greek copycats of Babylonia's science, there were some
pretty bright boys all along the way who knew what they were doing!
Clever, Those Ayrabs
One of the many interesting things one notes in the translated texts
of these old chart descriptions and delineations is the absences of any
of this modern superstition about the badness of squares and
oppositions and the goodness of trines and sextiles. Instead, we read
the phrase "in dominant aspect" where a square is involved. And in one
of the texts, a horary analysis, the main reason for prediction a happy
outcome for an apparently worrisome situation is that the Moon is
square Jupiter! Another thing worth noting is the frequent important
attached to the "Parts" or "Lots"--leading us to wonder who in the
dickens started called them "Arabian Parts," anyway! Islamic astrology
didn't gather steam until the Christian religion succeeded in blowing
out the light of every brain in the empire. During the thousand years
of European darkness, when death was the penalty for thinking, the
Arabians preserved and rewrote much of the Greeks' astrological
material. It is a misnomer, though, to believe that the Part of
Fortune, or those of Love or Necessity or Basis, and so on, are of
Arabian origin.
* * *
Letter in "Many Things," American Astrology 7/57
A Unique Irish Zodiac, County Down, Ireland
[from Colin J. Robb]
In the library of Basel there is a most curious zodiac known as the
Irish Zodiac depicted on an age-browned parchment. It was drawn by
some ecclesiastical scribe and combines astronomy, astrology and
Christian art in its depictions. The signs commence with Libra,
instead of Aries at the bottom and the figure is St. Michael who as
Libra weighs the good and evil actions of the dead. A similar
depiction of the Archangel may be seen in various examples of
ecclesiastical art in Ireland including Kildare Cathedral.
The Scorpion comes next as a fanciful figure with two snake-like
heads as common to ancient Irish ribbon ornament. Sagittarius has a
human head and the cloven hoof of the devil, while the Goat has unusual
mops of hair. Aquarius is attired for a dip in the water and carries
with him a curious musical instrument and inscribed beside him are the
words Leprosus Lunaris, or Lunar Leper. Pisces is in this case but one
fish, agreeing with the ancient Babylonian sign, named "The Fish of
Era."
Aries and Taurus are in the conventional forms, though rather stiff
and wooden-like. The Twins wear Irish kilts or safrons and the Crab
and the Lion are not too unusual. The heathen Virgo has become the
Blessed Virgin with a long plait of hair bearing an immense ear of
corn, the fruit of the womb, surmounted by a cross. The central
divisions of the Zodiac contain the predictions in the Gaelic. For
Virgo, or the Virgin we translate the inscription: "In Virgo they who
shall be born are likely to live; he who takes to his bed is quickly
healed and his naval and stomach suffer most; he who takes to flight
you shall not discover; he who is in chains shall not be loosed."
This ancient manuscript inscribed in the Irish characters is more
than unique in the story of the Zodiacal Circle.
* *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Astrological Origins Part III
[ORIGIN3a] and [ORIGIN3b]: Astrological Origins Part III: Abridged
excerpts from Rupert Gleadow's THE ORIGIN OF THE ZODIAC, 1968,
specifically with reference to the origin of DECANS-which-were-PENTADS,
and EXALTATIONS [see file HELIACAL], both Fagan's discoveries, and the
naming of the constellations. Whereas Fagan concentrates on what he
saw as the prototypical seeds of the original zodiac in Egypt,
Gleadow's approach is to survey the historical diffusion, interaction,
and evolution of astrological concepts in ancient cultures. Although
he differs with Fagan in his approach and in the interpretation of some
of Fagan's findings, Gleadow credits Fagan in a chapter on the
rediscovery of the ancient zodiac: "This is, however is a relatively
recent discovery, and the credit for it belongs to an Irishman named
Cyril Fagan, who first published his findings in 1947. His reasoning
collided head-on with the habits and beliefs of astrologers, who for
some fifteen hundred years had been quite happily using a zodiac
measured from the equinox."
File [ORIGIN3a]: In Chapter 12, The Horoscope of Eternity, Gleadow
gives a fascinating overview of the Egyptian Calendar, and then covers
Fagan's discovery of the DECANS, which were PENTADS or 5 degree
divisions, more extensively than did Fagan in his ZODIACS OLD AND NEW.
Gleadow also recognizes the the Egyptian "straight line from Arcturus
to SPICA as the original measuring point of the zodiac." He disagrees
with the Egyptian zodiac as an anciently established concept, but
acknowledges the origin of the DECANS/PENTADS as Egyptian, which he
says such were not divisions of the zodiac, but were measuring points
similar to lunar asterisms as markers of the moon's path. This is may
be a scholarly moot point since many scholars generally agree that moon
watching must have been the first germ of any astronomical observation
anywhere. Gleadow makes many important points, one of them--the
celestial equator's inconstancy causes changes of the DECAN/PENTADS
rising over centuries (and which inconsistency is also is a factor in
precession). This is the reason Fagan abandoned the Pentads as
indicating the essential meaning of the constellations although Fagan
sites the Pentads in Astrological Origins in his chapter on "Naming the
Constellations." On other points of interpretation (such as the lesser
one of identification of the Meta-decans), Gleadow disagrees with
Fagan, and presents his own views.
Further, regarding the DECAN/PENTADS, Gleadow discusses the Egyptian
worldview as it applied to their astrology. For example, the Egyptians
were not oriented to divination; their view was to the absolute
immanence of the ideal eternal in the temporal. "The magical influence
of the hour...would not lie on one horizon to the exclusion of the
other, but would be characteristic of that moment, at which when a
certain star rises, another certain star necessarily sets. From the
magical point of view, therefore, the hour...[of whatever asterism
named] could well control both horizons at once." Gleadow uses a most
wonderful phrase to refer to this: "The Moment of the Horizon!" In the
Egyptian concept of the magical influence of the hour, (i.e., what
celestial influence was on the Horizon as indicated by both the
Ascendant position and its corresponding opposite Descendant position),
Gleadow says the Egyptians were the source of Plato's doctrine that
'each sign had its ruling god and the later astrological doctrine that
each sign had its ruling planet.' Gleadow sees the Egyptian worldview
as more akin to what might be suggested in Jung's Synchronicity, rather
than to Babylonian divination.
Chapter 12, The Horoscope of Eternity, also cites the importance of
the Heliacal Rising of Sirius in the Egyptian Calendar as their
'eternity connection.' "Since the rising of Sothis seems to have been
to the Egyptians the only important astronomical moment, this will
doubtless have been the origin of the astrological notion that certain
celestial moments are more important than others, and also that the
decan/pentads represent the condition of the sky at the particular
moment of the 'horoscope of eternity,' that is to say, of taking up
residence in eternity." One of Gleadow's final comments is that "all
Egyptian horoscope-charts are diagrams of the heliacal rising of
Sirius..." and that "Nothing was predicted from them either in this
world or the next, but each one was the moment of a Sacred Marriage of
Isis and Osiris; and this, in the simultaneous rising every eight years
of Sirius and Venus, was the moment when the ideal touched the real."
Again, the Moment of the Horizon!
File [ORIGIN3b] PART III: In Chapter 13, The Naming of the
Constellations, Gleadow begins with the philosophic and Jungian concept
of Synchronicity. In a charming story of a possible conversation
between an Egyptian priest and an Assyrian priest, he points out that,
unlike the Babylonians, the Egyptians had a philosophic lack of
orientation to divination. To a certain extent, Gleadow associates the
divinatory usage of the zodiac as part of the zodiac as we know it,
which is a main point in his notation of a later rather than earlier
origin. Gleadow says, "This suggests that the first notion of
astrology as we know it was begotten on Babylon by Egypt between the
seventh and fifth centuries, and the zodiac itself, as a calendrical
device, was of similar origin but may be a little older."
Most importantly, he discusses Fagan's discovery of the EXALTATIONS
and as well adds points of his own. The Exaltations are the heliacal
appearances and disappearances of the planets in the year 786 B.C.,
which commemorate extraordinary and unique astronomical phenonmena.
The EXALTATION'S (Hypsomata's) historical significance and implications
for astrology is set forth below by Fagan (5/1956 "Solunars").
Although the major conclusions and focus of Gleadow's history are
significantly dependent on Fagan's discoveries as to the origins,
Gleadow is an outstanding historical scholar in his own right.
Examination and debate can bring about clarification. Among Gleadow's
concluding comments, "This first zodiac, of course, cannot have been
tropical. It was not supposed to be either tropical or sidereal, but
was simply assumed to be both at once....That the first zodiac can only
have been measured from the stars was not only inevitable but also a
fact--although, of course, it was no sooner invented than it was
thought to be tropical and used as such."
* * *
*
*
MAY 1956 AMERICAN ASTROLOGY
Cyril Fagan's "Solunars"
[Exaltation-Hypsomata]
*
...It is, of course, common knowledge that the Chaldeans--an
ancient Semetic tribe, which originally inhabited the lands about the
estuaries of the Tigris and Euphrates--gradually became the dominant
people in Babylonia winning renown in the old world for their mastery
of Babylonain astrology, so much so that Chaldean became a synonym for
an astrologer.
The astrology of Ptolemy's TETRABIBLOS, Manetho's APOTELESMATICA,
Manilius' ASTRONOMICON and Firmicus' MATHESEOS, with its copious
aphorisms as to dignities, exaltations, rulerships, signatures,
influences and rules, which form the bedrock of medieval and modern
testbooks, was almost wholly derived from Babylonian and Egyptian
sources. If these aphorisms are to have any validity, they must
obviously be related to the zodiac wherein they were originally framed.
Hence it is of prime importance to ascertain what, in fact, was the
zodiac of the ancient astrologers of Babylon and Uruk. Hitherto it has
been taken for granted that the Babylonian zodiac was identical with
that in common use today, namely the tropical or moving zodiac, which
takes its beginning from the vernal equinoctial point (V.P.) designated
Areis 0 degrees....
The discovery of the date and origin of the exaltation degrees of
the planets, known to the Greeks as the Hypsomata, decisively
establishes that the Babylonian zodiac was sidereal as the following
remarkable tabulation confirms:
Event: Installation of Nabu, the great Babylonian god of astrology
in his new temple at Neneveh, during the reign of Adad-Nirari III (809-
782 B.C.) in the Babylonian year commencing 1st Nisan at sunset, April
3, 786 B.C. (Julian). 1st Nisan was the Babylonian New Year's Day.
It will be noticed that in the sidereal zodiac all the planets are
in their exact exaltation degrees, the Moon alone showing the small
deviation of -3.3 degrees. The tabulation establishes the following
fundamental facts:
(a) The 12 zodiacal constellations were known in the 8th century B.C.
(b) The Babylonians used a sidereal zodiac.
(c) Longitudes were measured from the Pleiades in Taurus 5 degrees,
Aldebaran in Taurus 15 degrees, Regulus in Leo 5 degrees, Spica in
Virgo 29 degrees, or Antares in Scorpio 15 degrees, but not from
the vernal equinoctial point.
(d) The zodiacal constellations were of strictly equal lengths, there
being 30 degrees to each constellation. The Babylonian
constellations thus differed from the Graeco-Roman constellations
of the late period, which were all of unequal length. It is the
Graeco-Roman zodiacal constellations that illustrate our modern
"Star Atlases," and which have created so much confusion.
(e) The exaltation degrees relate to the sidereal and not to
the tropical zodiac.
(f) In A.D. 213 the sidereal longitude of the vernal-point
(V.P) was zero, when both the sidereal and tropical zodiacs
coincided. The Almagest and Tetrabiblos were written less than 100
years before this date, hence to all intents and purposes Claudius
Ptolemy's zodiac was sidereal, at the time these works were
written.
(g) On January l, 1954, the sidereal longitude of the vernal
point had retrograded to Pisces 5 degrees 48 minutes (335 degrees
48'), hence the true "ayanamsha" (i.e. 360 degrees - 335 degrees
48') is now 24 degrees 12', which must be deducted from all
tropical longitudes to reduce them to their sidereal equivalents.
(h) Because the planetary exaltation degrees (Hypsomata) are integral
to the Babylonian zodiac, the latter has been designated the
Hypsomatic zodiac.
The sidereal longitude of the vernal point, Aries 13.80 degrees for
the year 786 B.C. was obtained by deducting the tropical longitudes
from the traditional exaltation degrees and adjusting the mean value
with that obtained from the position of the vernal point in the luni-
solar tablets of Naburiannu and Kidinnu and the Babylonian almanacs of
the Seleucid period (312-64 B.C.). Calculation discloses that the
autumnal point, Libra 13.80 degrees, was 14.80 degrees to the eat of
Spica, hence Spica's sidereal longitude was Virgo 29.00 degrees.
[NOTE: this was written before Garth Allen's SVP correction to Virgo.]
this fact enabled me to compute the following sidereal longitudes of
the vernal point for the years stated:
Vernal Point
B.C. 1001 Aries 16.76 degrees
" 901 " 15.38
" 801 " 14.01
" 701 " 12.63
" 601 " 11.24
" 501 " 9.86
" 401 " 8.48
" 301 " 7.09
" 201 " 5.71
" 101 " 4.33
" 1 " 2.95
A.D. 100 " 1.57
" 200 " 0.19
" 300 Pisces 28.80
The V.P. for any intervening year between the above century
longitudes can be obtained by simple interpolation. Multiplying the
decimal of a degree by 60 reduces it to minutes of arc: thus 0.80
degrees x 60 = 0d48'. A tropical longitude can be converted into is
sidereal equivalent by merely adding the V.P. for the year.
* * * * *
[ORIGIN3a] Rupert Gleadow's THE ORIGIN OF THE ZODIAC
Chapter 12 - The Horoscope of Eternity
When Julius Caesar decided to give the Romans a new calendar, the
expert whom he chose to design it was an Egyptian--though probably of
Greek descent--Sosigenes of Alexandria. This was because the Egyptians
possessed the only wholly reliable calendar known to the ancient world.
The Babylonians had a higher reputation as astronomers, and took more
notice of celestial happenings; but their calendar was lunar and
hopelessly erratic. Already in 488 B.C., when Darius I wanted to
provide a better calendar for Persia, he had adopted the Egyptians
system just as it stood.
The ancient Greeks, and after them the Romans, had great respect for
the wisdom of the Egyptians; but modern professors have almost no idea
in what that wisdom consisted. This is because learning is static and
consists largely of information, while wisdom is dynamic and requires
mastery of the art of life. Wisdom therefore is not the same as the
ability to reason, and in any case the Greeks did not learn that from
Egypt. Genuine wisdom cannot be written, nor congealed into aphorisms
and avuncular advice. Being concerned with the problem of how to live,
it is naturally apt to be religious, and the wisdom of the Egyptians
was the ultimate driving force behind the Mystery Religions; for they
were all studies in the art of living. Man is always trying to get
life under control, and among his methods of doing so are system, rule,
legislation, dogma, and punishment. But the wise man does not try to
get life under control; he adapts himself and swims with the stream
instead of angrily trying to dam it.
Where wisdom and knowledge meet is in the solving of problems; and
one problem for which the Egyptians alone of the ancient nations had
found a reliable solution was the organization of their calendar.
Modern scientists consider that the year should correspond as closely
as possible to the period of the earth's revolution about the sun; and
this is contrived in the Gregorian calendar by the insertion of a leap-
year once in four year, with an exception in centennial years and an
exception against the exception in millennial years. But whether the
year 10,000 will be a leap year nobody yet knows, and so by Egyptians
standards the Gregorian calendar is irregular.
(i) THE CALENDRICAL BASIS
In the ideal Egyptian calendar no irregularity was permitted. There
were no leap years. Twelve months of thirty days each were followed,
or preceded, by five days called 'epagomenal', and that was all.
The Egyptian year, therefore, was about a quarter of a day short,
and in consequence its relationship to the seasons was not constant: it
lost a day in four years, a month in about 120 years, and a whole year
in fourteen and a half centuries. That is to say, 1,460 Gregorian
years are equal to 1,461 Egyptian years, and after that time the
Egyptian New Year's Day returns to its starting-point.
This return of their New Year's Day to its proper place was always
important to the Egyptians, indeed it was the linch-pin of their whole
astronomical system. Their agricultural year began with the rising of
the Nile; but the inundation could be early or late, deep or shallow,
depending on the melting of the snows in Abyssinia and Central Africa.
Between A.D. 1873 and 1904 the interval between two successive risings
varied from 336 to 415 days.1 It must therefore have been a great
convenience when the innundation could be predicted and anchored to a
regular astronomical phenomenon. This phenomenon we know to have been
the Heliacal rising of Sirius.
The heliacal rising of a bright star such as Sirius, or of a planet,
was a beautiful as well as an important occasion to those who first
noticed these things. When a bright star can be seen in the west soon
after sunset, each evening it shines lower and lower in the solar haze,
until finally it can be seen no more. This is called its heliacal
setting. Being now so close to the sun, it remains invisible for a
period which the Egyptians averaged at seventy days, although it varies
with the star's declination and latitude of the place. At Babylon, for
example, Sirius is absent sixty-nine days, but Spica, being farther
north, only thirty-six.2
Then, when the sun has passed a little farther on in the zodiac, one
morning when the sky towards dawn has lost its darkness and the earth
seems lit but empty, awaiting the sun, in the glow of the east appears
a twinkling point between gold and silver which was not there the day
before. This is the return of the star; and if it pre-signifies the
rise of the Nile, the return of the flood and of all green things and
crops, then it will be very important and well watched.
In a clear climate, with no street-lighting and no industrial smoke,
and where dawn is the most comfortable and convenient hour to rise from
bed, a survey of the half-lit sky is easily made, and the re-appearance
of a star well known, but absent for the last month or two, is a
practical guide.
This heliacal rising of Sirius is the origin of the legend of the
phoenix, for the explanation which connects it with the 'anting' of
birds, and their occasional love of playing with fire, is unconvincing
because it bears no reference to Heliopolis.3 The legend tells that
there is only one phoenix, and that at the end of its life it returns
to its birthplace, which is the 'Arabian Desert' between the Nile and
the Red Sea. There it burns itself to death, and a new phoenix arises
from the ashes of the old. Really the fire in which the phoenix dies
is the glow of dawn. It is born in the "Arabian Desert', because that
is the eastern horizon of Egypt, and the length of its life is 1,460
years, which is 4 times 365. The event was known as 'the return of the
phoenix to Heliopolis', and was commemorated by Antoninus Pius with a
special issue of coins....This not only shows the respect in which the
Romans held the Egyptian calendar, but also gives us a basic date for
computing Egyptian eras.
Antoninus issued his coins, with the word AION meaning Era, about
A.D. 139, and Censorinus, writing in A.D. 238, states that 99 years
earlier the Egyptian New year's Day had fallen on July 21st. This
therefore will be the date of the Phoenix Era, and if we count back in
periods of 1,460 years we shall find the Birth of the Phoenix occurring
within four years of 1320 and 2780 B.C, In fact, or course, the length
of the solar year is not exactly 365 1/4 days, but 365.2422; nor is the
length of the Phoenix Period constant--according to Petrie4 it
decreased from 1,466 years about 600 B.C. to 1,448 about A.d. 2000, and
should average 1,508. Nevertheless, the Egyptian calendar must
certainly have been inaugurated on its New Year's Day, and since it
existed long before 1320 the most probable date is about 2780.
The Phoenix Ear which fell about 1320 is known as the Era of
Menophres, and the name is generally thought to be that of the king in
whose reign it happened, Menphre Ramesses I, who reigned only 16
months. Before that the cycle takes us back to the reign of Zoser at
the end of the Third Dynasty; and this explains the amazing reputation
of his chief minister, Imhotep, who was the architect of the first of
the large pyramids, the Step Pyramid of Saqqarah, and later was deified
as the healing god of Memphis. Imhotep is known to have been an
astronomer as well as an architect and physician, and it seems at
present not very likely that the Sothic calendar was devised 1,460
years earlier again. That would have been about 4240 B.C., 1,000 years
before the First Dynasty; and the mention of the five epagomenal days
in the Pyramid Tests does not actually prove this.
Because it rotated slowly through the seasons, the Egyptian calendar
has been called The Wandering Calendar. Even so it was vastly superior
to the lunar calendars of antiquity; for the prime purpose of a
calendar is agricultural, and in order to keep those lunar calendars in
time with the seasons and extra month was interpolated by proclamation
whenever needed. In consequence the accurate computation of dates is
impossible, whether backwards or forwards. The only exception is the
Muslim calendar, in which no epagomenal months are allowed, and in
consequence that calendar too rotates through the seasons, losing about
11 days each year, whereas the Egyptian lost only one day in four
years.
The Egyptian too had its disadvantage: the festivals of the gods
rotated through the seasons regardless of suitability. The change
amounted to only about a fortnight in a lifetime, and the Egyptians had
long accepted this when, in 238 B.C., Ptolemy III published the Decree
of Canopus, by which in every fourth year a sixth epagomenal day was
added. This spoilt the beauty of the system, and now one has to know
that the extra day was used only between 238 and 57 B.C., after which
it was very properly suppressed....
Nowadays Sirius rises in Egypt in the middle of August, far too late
to be of any use in agriculture; but throughout dynastic times it did
conveniently precede the rising of the Nile.
In the present century, as Petrie remarked,5 the Egyptians have had
four calendars in use at the same time. These are the official Muslim
lunar calendar; the Gregorian, imported from Europe; the Alexandrian,
of the Coptic Church; and the agricultural festivals still attached to
the names of the Coptic months.
In ancient times likewise the Egyptians had more than one
calendar....
In the XII Dynasty the 'opening of the year' was apparently the
actual rising of Sirius, and the 'beginning of the year' was the next
new moon,8 but later the terminology became confused.
But though the ideal year retrogressed steadily through the seasons,
Sirius did not rise on the same day in all parts of the country, and
for this reason it was found more practical to date the official
calendar from the first new month thereafter. And the Egyptians did
not count their months from the appearance of the new crescent, as in
most other countries, but from the invisibility of the moon. This is
why we are told in the 'dramatic text' from the cenotaph of Sety I at
Abydos: 'Horus provides himself with his two eyes on the second day of
the month.'9 The 'short year' and the 'long year' will then be
alternative lunar years, according as the year had contained thirteen
or fourteen new moons.
Now the zodiac, like the Egyptian agricultural year, is a calendar
fastened to an astronomical reference-point called its fiducial. But
the fiducial of the zodiac is not Sirius because Sirius lies too far to
the south, outside the ecliptical belt. Is there, despite this
difference, some connection?
(ii) THE ZODIACS OF DENDERAH
Several representations of the zodiac were discovered in Egypt when
Napoleon invaded the country in 1798, and pictures of them were
published in his enormous Description of l'Egypte.10 At first, of
course, they were taken to be amazingly ancient, and the most famous
among them is the circular zodiac of Denderah, now in the Louvre, but
originally a ceiling in the temple of Hat-Hor, goddess of heaven and
also of love and joy....
The Crab, the most northerly of the twelve, is a very round-bodied
object not far from the diagram's center, and immediately over the
Lion's head. A goddess holds the Lion by the tail, and behind her
stands Isis with her ear of corn; this of course is Virgo with the star
Spica. Harpocrates in the disk of the sun is represented on top of the
Scales, but the lion below him has nothing to do with Leo of the
zodiac. Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Capricorn, being farther south, lie
near the outer circle of figures, which represent the decans.
This outer circle is not, oddly enough, intended to be aligned with
the zodiac and constellations, and therefore the disk with eight
decapitated figures, to be found beneath the Water-bearer, does not
signify the moon eight days old. A little farther on in this third
figure behind them is a child on a lotus flower. Both of these are
calendrical indications, and so is the hawk on top of the papyrus
column, which marks the summer solstice. Beyond it is Sirius,
represented as a cow lying in a boat; and the royal figure on the other
side of it, under the Bull's hoofs, is Orion.
In the center are the circumpolar constellations. The Wain or
Dipper had always been thought of as a bull's foreleg, which was a
common sight on the altar of sacrifice, and it is sometimes drawn with
a bull's head at the broader end. It is held in leash by a
hippopotamus-goddess who often has a crocodile on her back, but her
hands rests on Menat, the Mooring-Peg, and this is the straight line
from Arcturus to Spica, the original measuring-point of the zodiac.
(see Cyril Fagan's Zodiacs Old & New, file [ASTRORI2] Part II)
The other northerly constellations include a lion and also Selket
the scorpion-goddess, who is not, however, in the place of our Scorpio.
And it is odd that on the oblong zodiac of Denderah the Foreleg and the
Hippo-goddess are figures between the southerly constellations
Sagittarius and Capricorn, whereas at Edfu they appear just to the
right of Sirius and Orion, apparently on the opposite side of the sky.
This shows how Egyptian diagrams cannot be taken literally and applied
to the sky like transfers.
The oblong zodiac of Denderah was carved on the ceiling of the
portico. It is over sixty feet long, and each half is twelve feet
wide. There are two registers, running one above the other along the
body of Nut the sky-goddess, who is dressed in a design of ripples.
The lower register shows the decans as human and animal-headed figures
in boats (since the Egyptian gods always used boats to cross the sky),
and beside them are written their names and a rough design of two or
three stars to help recognition. The upper register gives the signs of
the zodiac and various other constellations, the planets, and the hours
of the day, each drawn as a woman with a star over her head.
When it became possible to read the inscriptions on the walls of the
temple of Denderah, it turned out to have been built in the reign of
the Roman emperor Tiberius. The actual date has been computed by Mr.
Fagan to be the evening of April 16th Julian, A.D. 17, and the oblong
zodiac contains, according to him, four different New year's Days. The
new moon of April 17th is shown on the back of the Bull, and this is
the Babylonian 1st Nisan. The Sothic New Year occurred on July 19th,
the year of the Wandering Calendar began on August 19th, and finally
the 'New Year's Day of the Ancients' with the heliacal rising of Spica
on October 5th. The vernal equinox is shown by the baboon of Thoth
following the Ram. The planets on the circular zodiac are rather small
and in the signs of their exaltations, which gives no clue to the date,
but in the oblong diagram they are in their zodiacal positions.
...The Egyptians considered the first sign of the zodiac to be that
which rose heliacally on New Year's Day, hence the 'first' sign changed
about every 112 years, and in a retrograde direction. The 'first' sign
actually changed from Virgo to Leo in the first century B.C., and the
Esna zodiacs must be within 117 years previous to that change. Mr.
Fagan has given their exact date as September 16th, 137 B.C.11
Thus by Egyptian standards none of these four zodiacs is at all
old....And this makes it extremely unlikely that the zodiac was known
to the Egyptians of dynastic times; for no culture has left more
abundant monuments in record of its beliefs. The zodiac may nave a
connection with Egyptian astronomy none the less.
(iii) THE DECANS
There is a tradition, both in India and the West, that each sign of
the zodiac may be divided into three segments of 10 degrees each called
decanates or decans. To astrologers, this subdivision was useless
unless the decans could be distinguished in character, and there were
devised several methods of doing this. One was to allot the first
decanate of a sign to the pure influence of that sign, and the other
two to the two others signs of the same element, earth, air, fire or
water. This system was used by Varaha Mihira, but cannot be older than
Claudius Ptolemy because he first regularized the allocation of the
elements to the signs. It never became very popular, indeed Hindu
astrologers were so little impressed by it that they invented
subdivisions of signs by 9 and 12, called navamsas and dwadashamshas.
Manilius allotted the decans to the signs in straightforward order,
so that the three decans of Aries were ruled by Aries, Taurus, and
Gemini, those of Taurus by Cancer, Leo, and Virgo, and so forth.
Another attempt to control the decanates gave them ruling planets,
beginning with Mars for the first decanate of Aries and continuing in
the 'Chaldean' order, which is not that preferred by the Babylonians,
but is the order of speed of movement--Saturn Jupiter Mars Sun Venus
Mercury Moon--until Mars again ruled the last decanate of Pisces. This
arrangement was traditionally called (for instance by Lilly in the
seventeenth century) the 'Egyptian' system, and indeed it is found in
Teucros; but the name only shows a last faint realization that there
ought to be an Egyptian system; for the decans are of Egyptian origin.
The arrangement whereby the first and last of them are ruled by Mars
is obviously factitious... For the Egyptians the beginning and end of
the cycle was the first decan of Cancer, because this was the meridian
longitude of Sirius. Originally, however, the decans not divisions of
the zodiac at all. That is what they later became, and as such they
can be seen arranged around the edge of the circular zodiac of
Denderah. But they go back to the third millennium.
It is not possible to draw up a single authentic list of the 36
decans, for the Egyptian lists vary, and over thirty are known, form
the Tenth Dynasty to Roman times. Some of the older asterisms either
went out of use or were renamed, which was natural enough; not all the
lists were copied accurately; and since the celestial equator is not
constant it is even possible for decans to change their order of rising
over a long enough period.17 They were evidently selected from
constellations already formulated all over the sky, and it was likely
that in different parts of the country different stars would be chosen.
This explains why so many decans are named as the beginning, middle, or
end of various larger constellations. The list of them printed on
Table 21 (excluded) ... runs to a total of over forty. It could be
extended considerably by taking account of all the variants found in
and out of Egypt; for as Gundel showed, the lore of the decans survived
into far more recent times than we should expect and in doing so
developed all kinds of fantasies and divagations....
If we now turn back to the original Egyptian list, as written in
hieroglyphs, we notice three water-pots in a rack, a pair of fishes,
and a sheep. They occur in that order, and roughly the same distance
apart. Can they have anything to do with the Urn, the Fishes, and the
Ram, three successive signs of the Hellenistic zodiac?...
Not only were the decans in late times 10 degree segments of the
ecliptic; so early as the Eleventh Dynasty, about 2000 B.C.> on the
coffins of Tefabi and Khiti,21 we find the first decan, Kenmut,
following the last, which is Sirius, so they appear to form a complete
circle. But it does not follow that they were already at that date
arranged along the ecliptic, nor that they represented equal divisions
of space. Before jumping to conclusions we have to explain the
standard form of Egyptian celestial diagram, which occurs at all
periods from the Eleventh Dynasty to Roman times, and which nearly
twenty examples are now known.22
... Now we have to remember constantly that Egyptian celestial
diagrams are neither scientific observation nor literal-minded
representational art. Comparisons make it plain that the figures were
often arranged to suit the artist, and not in the style of a map;
discrepancies must be regarded as normal, nor is there any difficulty
in finding definite mistakes. It is therefore essential to realize
what the Egyptians were about in making these diagrams. They were
never intended for use on earth in any case: they were designed to
help the deceased in finding his way to the sky after death, when he
would join the Sun in His boat as He crosses heaven and the underworld.
The standard diagram has therefore quite justly been called 'The
Horoscope of Eternity.'...
(iv) THE STANDARD DIAGRAM
In the middle of this diagram Sirius appears in a boat, sometimes in
the form of a resting cow, but more often as Isis standing. To her
right Orion may appear in another boat, in the form of a king running;
but since he is always included among the decans his boat may be
omitted. Sometimes he lies in it,23 face up or face down, because that
was the attitude in which he rose, and for that matter still
rises....From here to the right the picture lists the names of the
decans, sometimes with a rough diagram of their appearance.
More importantly, we find to the left of Sirius two or three of the
planets, which will always be Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, next Two
Turtles, then about five names of obscure meaning called Meta-decans,
then Mercury, and finally a large heron, which is 'Venus the bennu-bird
of Osiris.'
One must not imagine that because Sirius is enthroned in the middle
of the diagram she is on the midheaven; quite the contrary, she is on
the eastern horizon. And the decans to her right, as well as the
planets and meta-decan on her left, are not a chart so much as simply a
catalogue.
Why then did the diagram take this form? Why is Venus always
represented so large, and on the extreme left? What are the meta-
decans? And why are the directions of Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter
usually but not always stated? For the answer to the first of these
questions we re indebted to Mr. Fagan; some of the others will be
answered here for the first time.
The importance of Sirius is well known: its rising marked the New
Year. Hence the original of all these diagrams must have represent the
sky at dawn on New Year's Day, and therefore most probably at the
inauguration of the Sothic calendar. Having realized this, Mr. Fagan
calculated that the only possible date was 2767 B.C.24 As can be seen
from Plate 23, the appearance of the sky at that moment was extra-
ordinary. It showed a close conjunction of no less than four planets
all within 7 degrees of each other, rising on the eastern horizon at
the same moment as Sirius, while the Moon, just past the full, was
declining in the south-west. Such a quadruple conjunction on the
Ascendant on the day of Sirius' rising may never have occurred since.
And furthermore the date was that of the summer solstice.
This very striking combination of phenomena cannot have filed to
impress the Egyptians of the time of Zoser. Not only was it memorable
in itself, falling on the one day of perfect harmony in the Wandering
Calendar; dawn is also the natural opportunity for the decreased to
catch the Sun's boat and sail to heaven. So it is not surprising that
the event should have been perpetuated, both as the fixed point of the
calendar and also as the beginning of life in the world to come.
This explains why the planets are all grouped together at the left
of Sirius; indeed the repeated mention in the Pyramid texts25 of 'those
four youths who sit on the eastern side of the sky' may be a
reminiscence of this event. The Pyramid texts make Horus the ferryman
of the sky, and that is why the planets, sometimes including Venus, are
identified with him. There is also the oft-repeated statement: 'He
ascends to heaven among the imperishable stars, his sister is Sothis,
his guide is the Morning Star.'
The Morning Star is feminine in the Pyramid texts, except when
identified with Horus... enormous importance attached to Venus in these
diagrams. She [Venus] is always drawn very large, and on the extreme
left, probably because on that morning in Heliopolis she rose last, at
the same moment as Sirius. She takes the form of a heron because that
is the bird of the inundation; when the Nile begins to flood, the
herons leave the restricted bed and fly all over the country fishing in
the canals and fields.
Accepting this, we can explain the meta-decans. They are so called
because they come after the decans in the left upper corner of the
diagram. Various suggestions have been made to account for them....
Mr. Fagan took the meta-decans to be the stars in the Sickle of Leo
which rose in the north-east about the same time as Sirius in the
south-east, and this is not far off the mark. In fact, however, Sirius
and Venus in 2767 were on the horizon simultaneously, and their
distance apart in azimuth, that is to say along the horizon, was no
less than 55 degrees. The planets Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter were, as
we already know, included in this space, so the meta-decan also would
naturally belong to it.
The first of them is the Two Turtles. The Turtle was a symbol of
drought and an enemy of the Sun-god; it is sometimes shown being
speared by one of the gods in the solar barque. The two must therefore
represent some pair of stars which rise when the Niles is at its
lowest, in the last month before the rising of Sirius....The third
possibility is the two Aselli, which lie very close together in the
constellation of the Crab, and in those times rose nineteen and fifteen
days before Sirius. These Turtles are then probably the first hard-
shelled creatures to be associated with what later became the
constellation of the Crab.
After the Two Turtles the second meta-decan is called nesru....Nesru
is said to be an island where the sun is born, but its standard
determinative is a picture of a fire. As a meta-decan, therefore, it
most probably means 'the glow of dawn', and in that case it is not an
asterism.
The third meta-decan is called shesep or shespet, and this can mean
either a rectangle or light, more probably the latter, for we shall
meet this word again in a mysterious text from Abydos.
The fourth is variously spelt as 'Abesh,' Abshes, Ipsedj or Ipdjes,
and is followed by a fifth called Sobshosen. ...so what are they doing
here on the eastern horizon? We shall see later.
The last meta-decan is called wash-neter, which ought to mean
'divine power and glory'; and perhaps this is just what it does mean,
alluding to the approach of the sun. In Greek times the word meant a
palanquin, which has somewhat the same suggestion: 'Here comes the
king'....
THE NUT DIAGRAM
In none of these diagrams is the moon so much as mentioned, although
they were all diagrams, or horoscopes, for the rising of Sirius, and in
three of the six she is visible. The reason is that the diagrams were
all for New Year's Day, and the Egyptian year effectively began not on
the date of Sirius' heliacal rising, which would have given slightly
different dates for different part of the country, but at the following
new moon. Actually there is an inconspicuous moon on the haunch of Nut
in the key diagram from Abydos, shown in Plate 18 [not reproduced]. No
inscription is attached to it, but close by is the brief notice:
[hieroglyphics meaning] 'eastern horizon,' and not far away is the
decan of Orion's foot. The moon therefore should be rising. In shape
she looks like a new crescent, but this is impossible, since new moon
does not cross the eastern horizon until the sun is already up.
Besides, if the moon by Orion's foot were new, Sirius would be
invisible....
Since the sun appears three or four times, this must be a composite
diagram, like the circular zodiac of Denderah. To which sun, then, is
the moon to be related?...
If...we relate the moon to the unrisen sun in the form of the scarab
flying up Nut's thigh, then this is also partly (being composite) a
dawn chart for New Year's Day, and in that case the decans of Orion and
Sirius were indeed seen above the eastern horizon where they are drawn.
The decans next to the setting sun are unimportant, being invisible.
In the horoscopes dawn was the operative hour, and the date was the
day of the moon's invisibility. But the old moon is never seen in the
evening, hence the day for this purpose must have begun at dawn, and
the last day of the old year was the last day on which the old crescent
was seen before sunrise. The day on which it failed to appear was New
Year's Day. Hence the importance of observing the crescent moon in the
east, and hence the crescent on Nut's haunch. In drawing it as a new
crescent the artist has strictly perpetrated something impossible; but
had he drawn it as an old crescent the diagram would have represented
the last day of the old year and not the first of the new. This
explains why he turned it round and drew the impossible; and after all
the invisible moon is a 'new moon' and used as such, so there was some
reason for drawing it that way round. Possibly the importance of the
setting sun is because the day in the temple calendar, as opposed to
the civil calendar, began at sunset....
(vii) DECANS OR PENTADS?
In late times the thirty-six decans were a complete circle of
asterisms, each 10 degrees long; Sirius headed the list in the first
decanate of Cancer, the forefeet of Sagittarius were placed 'in the
middle of the boat,' and the last decan, at the end of Gemini, was
called 'phuhor', meaning 'end of the sky'. Even so early as the
Eleventh Dynasty the 'diagonal calendars' on coffins show the decan
making a complete circle of 360 degrees. On the coffins of Khiti and
Tefabi the columns are headed 'first ten days', 'middle ten days', and
'last ten days', and after Sirius, normally at that period the last
decan, the circle continues directly with Kenmut, which is the usual
beginning.
Now we have already seen that three constellations of the zodiac may
have had an Egyptian origin, namely Gemini, Leo, and Cancer; the
Egyptian names of these constellations were the Two Stars, the Lion,
and Stars of the Water, also known as the two Turtles; but their
Babylonian names were the Great Twins, the Great Dog, and Allul (an
unidentified water-creature). The question now arises, may any other
constellations of the zodiac have had an Egyptian origin? Among the
Egyptian constellations are three names which make one wonder, but the
problem remains, do they occur in the right positions? These name are
the Fish, the Sheep, and the Water-pots or Jar-stand. If we accept the
placing of these constellations according to the Greco-Roman scheme
whereby the decans are all 10 degrees long, agreeing with the opinion
of most modern astronomers and Indian astrologers, then these
constellations cannot have anything to do with the zodiac, for the Fish
fall in Scorpio, the Sheep in Capricorn, and the Water-pots in Libra.
But if we take it that the so-called decans were originally divisions
of the ecliptic 5 degrees long, then the Sheep falls on Aries the Ram,
the Fish on our modern Fishes, and the Water-pots or Jar-stand on what
the Greeks called the Urn, and we call Aquarius.
We ought therefore to consider whether the decans should be regarded
as 10 degree spaces, as the Greeks and Romans took them to be, or
simply five spaces. For this latter possibility, revolutionary though
it may sound, nine arguments have been advanced by Mr. Cyril Fagan, and
to these nine, three more can now be added. The arguments are as
follows:
1. On the Nut diagram (Plate 18 not included) the whole of the 36
decans are represented on the body of the sky-goddess, as if they were
all above the horizon at the same time. The first decan, 'beginning of
Kenmut', is at the base of her neck, quite close to the inscription
'Western horizon', and near the last an inscription expressly states
'Eastern horizon'. We know that the Egyptians always had 36 decans;
any semi-circle measures 180 degrees, and 36 divided into 180 gives 5
degrees.
2. This list of decans is divided in the middle by the inscription
over the head of Shu, which ought to indicate the south point.
Seventeen decans are shown east of his head and twenty to the west, and
allowing 5 degrees per decan this accurately corresponds to the
obliquity of the arc of the zodiac visible when Sirius rose.
3. The Pleiades and Hyades are placed 9 and 11 decans distant from
Sirius, making respectively 90 and 110 degrees, but their actual
distances in meridian longitude in 2767 were 47 and 59 degrees, almost
exactly half as much.
4. Orion is not infrequently allotted four decans, or 40 degrees of
space, and yet the maximum extent of this constellation is little over
20 degrees.
5. In the Ramesseum the whole of the 36 decans are allotted to the
last 5-1/2 months of the Sothic year, making six to each month instead
of three.
6. On the Denderah zodiac, under the constellation Pisces is found a
disk with a human figure holding a pig by its hind foot. The same
picture has been found on a Mesopotamian clay tablet of the third
century, where it falls between the Pleiades and the Bull.*
[*Illustrated in Langdon, Semitic Mythology, Fig. 92 on p. 305.] It
does not therefore refer to the region of Pisces, but to the decan
Akhui, the Two Spirits, which is seen below it and corresponds, as a
pentad, to some part of Taurus.
7. The disk containing eight captives, which is so conspicuous in
the Denderah circle, has no explanation if it falls at the end of
Capricorn, by the pentad arrangement belongs to Aries and marks the
eighth degree, which was the equinox of the Hellenistic zodiac.
8. Still on the same zodiac, the decan 'Heads of the Two Souls',
marking one of the cardinal points, is placed underneath Pisces, where
it has no particular significance; but in 2767 B.C. this pentad marked
the Spring Point.
9. The Egyptian word for 'five' was drawn with a picture of a five-
pointed star, which was also the ideogram for 'star'.
10. The conspicuous absence from the decan-list of the Lion's head
and tail, the Beautiful Boy, Spica, the Hippopotamus, and the Giant is
easily explained by supposing that the Egyptians used different stars,
or the same stars under different names. But that is a mere guess, and
an equally good guess would be that the half of the sky which the
decans cover did not include those constellations--in fact they were
under the earth when Sirius rose.
ll. The Nut diagram gives the dates in the Egyptian calendar for the
evening southing and setting, and the heliacal rising, of several
decans. Since these dates are astronomically impossible, it does not
much matter that they fill a whole circle instead of a half, but the
one point where they may touch reality is at their beginning. The
first of the list of decans in point of time is not Sobshosen, whose
name is written on Nut's breasts, nor yet Ipsedj and the Pregnant One,
which appear on her forearms, but 'under the Foreleg of Kenmut', which
is placed behind the heels of Shu. Its culmination at dusk is given
for the 6th day of the fourth month of inundation, which then fell
about October 11th Gregorian, so the sidereal longitude of Kenmut would
be near the beginning of Aquarius. Its evening setting, 90 days later,
falls at the same sidereal times as the rising of Sirius, which puts it
close to the end of Capricorn. its heliacal rising, of course, does to
fit, but none the less we have two further pieces of evidence that
Kenmut sets when Sirius rises, and hence the decans only occupy 180
degrees. Kenmut, in fact, takes the place of our constellation of the
Eagle, and may mean Vulture or, since is has a foreleg, the Ape.
12. The Egyptians paid considerable attention to the constellations
of the Ram and the Boat, both of which are made especially conspicuous
in several of the diagrams. In Greek times the Ram fell in Capricorn,
and the Boat under the forefeet of Sagittarius, but when Sirius rises
Sagittarius is under the earth, so it seems odd to draw an especially
handsome picture of it!
The Ram is several times drawn with five stars along its back and
four on its belly, and this does partly agree with Capricorn, whose
back has a straight line of stars. But Senmut makes the Pleiades egg-
shaped and gives the Hyades twice too many stars, and both of them can
bee seen at the right...in the shape of a lop-sided V and a cow's ear.
The Ramesseum schematizes Gemini and the upper half of Orion as two
stars, then many, then two, then three; also it turns the Boat into
something only a firework display could equal. I never expected,
therefore, to identify the Boat, when suddenly I saw it staring up at
me from the precessional globe in the Science Museum.
The boat in which a god crossed the sky or processed through a town
would have a high straight prow and an equally high but bent stern,
with a rectangular cabin or shrine amidships. And a very conspicuous
rectangular constellation for which the Egyptians must surely have had
a name was the Square of Pegasus. The resemblance is so striking that
it is hard to doubt.
But if the Boat is the Square of Pegasus, then the Egyptian Two
Fishes, just underneath it, fall on our Pisces; the Egyptian Sheep on
Aries the Ram, which in any case, as we know, was not a Babylonian
constellation; and the Egyptian Water-pots coincide with Aquarius,
which the Greeks and Romans simply called the Urn. The Babylonian
names of the constellations Pisces, Aquarius, and Aries were not by any
means those to which we are accustomed, but were GU.LA (name of a
goddess); Kun (the tail) and Anunitum (female dweller in heaven); and
the Hireling.
(viii) THE MYSTERIOUS TEXT FROM ABYDOS
But if the decans are only 5 degrees each, the problem remains, what
happens in the other half of the sky? The Ramesseum implies that it
merely had no decans. Mr. Fagan suggests that those six months were
omitted in order to avoid bad weather in the afterlife. This is
conceivable, but not very likely, since it would mean a year with no
harvest time. There remains another possibility.
The mysterious text from Abydos contains the expression, literally
translated: 'As the time Head of Goose its two horizons.' And once
again we must realize that in a non-materialist culture the apparent
effects of forces receive far more attention than the shape of objects
just as the impact of an actor or speaker is far more important that
the shape of his face. The magical influence of the hour called the
Goose's Head would not lie on one horizon to the exclusion of the
other, but would be characteristic of that moment, at which when a
certain star rises another certain star necessarily sets. From...point
of view, therefore, the hour of the Goose's Head could well control
both horizons at once.
But at that rate the hour of Kenmut would always follow the hour of
Sirius, and we need not feel puzzled because half of the circle has
been omitted....
...But there is another reason why no more decans were needed to
fill out the other half of the sky, and this is that in Dynastic times
the Egyptians already knew what happened under the earth; there was
subterranean landscape through which the sun passed and which was
described in the Book of Gates. Hence the stars passed through it too,
and the presence of stars beneath the earth never became a living idea
to the Egyptians until the Alexandrian period, when the function of the
decans had been forgotten and they were inflated to cover 360 degrees
and allotted to the zodiac at the rate of 10 degrees each. Since all
Egyptian charts were drawn for the rising of Sothis, the lower half of
the celestial circle was never shown and there was not call to devise
decans for it.
The Goose's Head, however, is of particular importance because
throughout Dynastic times it culminated when Sirius rose. Hence Smed-
sert, the divider of the Sheep, which occurs among the decans must
originally have occupied the meridian, the halfway point, just as the
similar word Smedet means the halfway point of the moon, Full Moon Day.
Not infrequently the decans have the names of presiding gods
attached to them. It is not clear on what principle these rulerships
were allotted, but certainly this the root of Plato's doctrine that
each sign had its ruling god, and thus, of the later astrological
doctrine, that each sign has its ruling planet. It also explains the
alternation of the Ram and Goose in the constellation Aries, and
reveals the fallacy of supposing that the only origin of the names of
the constellations was a fancied resemblance to a physical object.27
The Egyptians did not believe that kickable objects were the only
reality; indeed they would have called that notion not just a fallacy,
but a demonstrable untruth. For to them, as to all peoples for whom
the reality of experience has not been killed by argument, both gods
and men were powers which act in a characteristic way, and the purpose
of understanding either was to cope with whatever kind of force each
one of them could bring to bear. For in every one of us still dwells,
under the conscious surface, the savagery of Mars, the justice of
Ma'et, and the elemental terrors and joys of Hat-hor.
If the decans had ever in dynastic times covered the whole circle,
it would have been a constant sight for the Egyptians to see only half
of them at any one time, and at least one monument might have survived
showing only half the decans. But this has not happened, and before
Roman times no such possibility is even hinted at. At Abydos the
decans stretch from Nut's head to her hind-quarters, and all thirty-six
of them are shown as if composed in this space. Since the Rising of
Sothis seems to have been to the Egyptians the only important
astronomical moment, this will doubtless have been the origin of the
astrological notion that certain celestial moments are more important
than others, and also that the decans represent the condition of the
sky at the particular moment of the 'horoscope of eternity', that is to
say, of taking up residence in eternity.
It must not be supposed that each decan comprised two opposite
spaces of 5 degrees each; that would be to attribute to the Egyptians
modern notions of accuracy and literal-mindedness. In dynastic times
the invisible stars would not be important. Just as Horus, and later
Mars, was called 'Horus of the Two Horizons', and as is shown by the
constant use of the dual in such phrases as 'the two sons of the
Sheep', so each asterism would have its two moments when it was 'lord
of the horizon' and therefore lord of the hour, and this would make it
unnecessary to have 36 more asterisms to fill up the other half of the
sky. For with 180 degrees allotted to the pentads there would always
be some know asterism on one horizon or the other, just as, in a
horoscope, if one knows the Ascendant, one does not need to be told the
Descendant as well.
As shapes, a ram and a goose are not alike, but Goose and Ram were
the two sacred animals of the god Amun of Thebes, hence they
represented to the Egyptians the same divine Power; and also, if the
Egyptians had invented the zodiac, the ruling Power of Aries would not
have been Mars, but Amun, the Hidden One, the Unknown God to whom St.
Paul found an altar in Athens and whom the Egyptians had known two
thousand years before Moses.
Since all Egyptian horoscope-charts are diagrams of the heliacal
rising of Sirius, it seem that the large heron drawn on them is not
just traditional decoration, but represents an actual observation of
Venus rising. Thus Sirius represents Isis, and Venus, which is always
represented as a bennu-bird or heron, represents Osiris, who
incidentally is also represented by the constellation Orion. So these
astronomical diagrams with planets may justly be called horoscopes
because they are observed celestial moments, which is what a horoscope
is. Nothing was predicted from them either n this world or the next,
but each one was the moment of a Sacred marriage of Isis and Osiris;
and this, in the simultaneous rising every eight years of Sirius and
Venus, was the moment when the ideal touched the real.
Much more could be said, of course, about Egyptian astronomy. Three
hundred and sixty-three years before the invention of the Sothic
calendar there may have been a Horakhti calendar, and the date of its
inauguration would be September 15th, 3130 B.C.28 At that period the
traditional ideogram of a cow in a boat, with a star between its horns,
would have meant the heliacal rising of Spica, not of Sirius, and
drawings of it have been found from the reign of King Djer early in the
First Dynasty.29 Again, the remarkable orientation of various pyramids
would not have been possible without accurate observation of the
transits of the stars, and this probably began with another kind of the
First Dynasty, Semerkhet, whose name apparently means 'the man with the
astronomer's staff'.
* * *
excerpts from Rupert Gleadow's THE ORIGIN OF THE ZODIAC, 1968,
specifically with reference to the origin of DECANS-which-were-PENTADS,
and EXALTATIONS [see file HELIACAL], both Fagan's discoveries, and the
naming of the constellations. Whereas Fagan concentrates on what he
saw as the prototypical seeds of the original zodiac in Egypt,
Gleadow's approach is to survey the historical diffusion, interaction,
and evolution of astrological concepts in ancient cultures. Although
he differs with Fagan in his approach and in the interpretation of some
of Fagan's findings, Gleadow credits Fagan in a chapter on the
rediscovery of the ancient zodiac: "This is, however is a relatively
recent discovery, and the credit for it belongs to an Irishman named
Cyril Fagan, who first published his findings in 1947. His reasoning
collided head-on with the habits and beliefs of astrologers, who for
some fifteen hundred years had been quite happily using a zodiac
measured from the equinox."
File [ORIGIN3a]: In Chapter 12, The Horoscope of Eternity, Gleadow
gives a fascinating overview of the Egyptian Calendar, and then covers
Fagan's discovery of the DECANS, which were PENTADS or 5 degree
divisions, more extensively than did Fagan in his ZODIACS OLD AND NEW.
Gleadow also recognizes the the Egyptian "straight line from Arcturus
to SPICA as the original measuring point of the zodiac." He disagrees
with the Egyptian zodiac as an anciently established concept, but
acknowledges the origin of the DECANS/PENTADS as Egyptian, which he
says such were not divisions of the zodiac, but were measuring points
similar to lunar asterisms as markers of the moon's path. This is may
be a scholarly moot point since many scholars generally agree that moon
watching must have been the first germ of any astronomical observation
anywhere. Gleadow makes many important points, one of them--the
celestial equator's inconstancy causes changes of the DECAN/PENTADS
rising over centuries (and which inconsistency is also is a factor in
precession). This is the reason Fagan abandoned the Pentads as
indicating the essential meaning of the constellations although Fagan
sites the Pentads in Astrological Origins in his chapter on "Naming the
Constellations." On other points of interpretation (such as the lesser
one of identification of the Meta-decans), Gleadow disagrees with
Fagan, and presents his own views.
Further, regarding the DECAN/PENTADS, Gleadow discusses the Egyptian
worldview as it applied to their astrology. For example, the Egyptians
were not oriented to divination; their view was to the absolute
immanence of the ideal eternal in the temporal. "The magical influence
of the hour...would not lie on one horizon to the exclusion of the
other, but would be characteristic of that moment, at which when a
certain star rises, another certain star necessarily sets. From the
magical point of view, therefore, the hour...[of whatever asterism
named] could well control both horizons at once." Gleadow uses a most
wonderful phrase to refer to this: "The Moment of the Horizon!" In the
Egyptian concept of the magical influence of the hour, (i.e., what
celestial influence was on the Horizon as indicated by both the
Ascendant position and its corresponding opposite Descendant position),
Gleadow says the Egyptians were the source of Plato's doctrine that
'each sign had its ruling god and the later astrological doctrine that
each sign had its ruling planet.' Gleadow sees the Egyptian worldview
as more akin to what might be suggested in Jung's Synchronicity, rather
than to Babylonian divination.
Chapter 12, The Horoscope of Eternity, also cites the importance of
the Heliacal Rising of Sirius in the Egyptian Calendar as their
'eternity connection.' "Since the rising of Sothis seems to have been
to the Egyptians the only important astronomical moment, this will
doubtless have been the origin of the astrological notion that certain
celestial moments are more important than others, and also that the
decan/pentads represent the condition of the sky at the particular
moment of the 'horoscope of eternity,' that is to say, of taking up
residence in eternity." One of Gleadow's final comments is that "all
Egyptian horoscope-charts are diagrams of the heliacal rising of
Sirius..." and that "Nothing was predicted from them either in this
world or the next, but each one was the moment of a Sacred Marriage of
Isis and Osiris; and this, in the simultaneous rising every eight years
of Sirius and Venus, was the moment when the ideal touched the real."
Again, the Moment of the Horizon!
File [ORIGIN3b] PART III: In Chapter 13, The Naming of the
Constellations, Gleadow begins with the philosophic and Jungian concept
of Synchronicity. In a charming story of a possible conversation
between an Egyptian priest and an Assyrian priest, he points out that,
unlike the Babylonians, the Egyptians had a philosophic lack of
orientation to divination. To a certain extent, Gleadow associates the
divinatory usage of the zodiac as part of the zodiac as we know it,
which is a main point in his notation of a later rather than earlier
origin. Gleadow says, "This suggests that the first notion of
astrology as we know it was begotten on Babylon by Egypt between the
seventh and fifth centuries, and the zodiac itself, as a calendrical
device, was of similar origin but may be a little older."
Most importantly, he discusses Fagan's discovery of the EXALTATIONS
and as well adds points of his own. The Exaltations are the heliacal
appearances and disappearances of the planets in the year 786 B.C.,
which commemorate extraordinary and unique astronomical phenonmena.
The EXALTATION'S (Hypsomata's) historical significance and implications
for astrology is set forth below by Fagan (5/1956 "Solunars").
Although the major conclusions and focus of Gleadow's history are
significantly dependent on Fagan's discoveries as to the origins,
Gleadow is an outstanding historical scholar in his own right.
Examination and debate can bring about clarification. Among Gleadow's
concluding comments, "This first zodiac, of course, cannot have been
tropical. It was not supposed to be either tropical or sidereal, but
was simply assumed to be both at once....That the first zodiac can only
have been measured from the stars was not only inevitable but also a
fact--although, of course, it was no sooner invented than it was
thought to be tropical and used as such."
* * *
*
*
MAY 1956 AMERICAN ASTROLOGY
Cyril Fagan's "Solunars"
[Exaltation-Hypsomata]
*
...It is, of course, common knowledge that the Chaldeans--an
ancient Semetic tribe, which originally inhabited the lands about the
estuaries of the Tigris and Euphrates--gradually became the dominant
people in Babylonia winning renown in the old world for their mastery
of Babylonain astrology, so much so that Chaldean became a synonym for
an astrologer.
The astrology of Ptolemy's TETRABIBLOS, Manetho's APOTELESMATICA,
Manilius' ASTRONOMICON and Firmicus' MATHESEOS, with its copious
aphorisms as to dignities, exaltations, rulerships, signatures,
influences and rules, which form the bedrock of medieval and modern
testbooks, was almost wholly derived from Babylonian and Egyptian
sources. If these aphorisms are to have any validity, they must
obviously be related to the zodiac wherein they were originally framed.
Hence it is of prime importance to ascertain what, in fact, was the
zodiac of the ancient astrologers of Babylon and Uruk. Hitherto it has
been taken for granted that the Babylonian zodiac was identical with
that in common use today, namely the tropical or moving zodiac, which
takes its beginning from the vernal equinoctial point (V.P.) designated
Areis 0 degrees....
The discovery of the date and origin of the exaltation degrees of
the planets, known to the Greeks as the Hypsomata, decisively
establishes that the Babylonian zodiac was sidereal as the following
remarkable tabulation confirms:
Event: Installation of Nabu, the great Babylonian god of astrology
in his new temple at Neneveh, during the reign of Adad-Nirari III (809-
782 B.C.) in the Babylonian year commencing 1st Nisan at sunset, April
3, 786 B.C. (Julian). 1st Nisan was the Babylonian New Year's Day.
It will be noticed that in the sidereal zodiac all the planets are
in their exact exaltation degrees, the Moon alone showing the small
deviation of -3.3 degrees. The tabulation establishes the following
fundamental facts:
(a) The 12 zodiacal constellations were known in the 8th century B.C.
(b) The Babylonians used a sidereal zodiac.
(c) Longitudes were measured from the Pleiades in Taurus 5 degrees,
Aldebaran in Taurus 15 degrees, Regulus in Leo 5 degrees, Spica in
Virgo 29 degrees, or Antares in Scorpio 15 degrees, but not from
the vernal equinoctial point.
(d) The zodiacal constellations were of strictly equal lengths, there
being 30 degrees to each constellation. The Babylonian
constellations thus differed from the Graeco-Roman constellations
of the late period, which were all of unequal length. It is the
Graeco-Roman zodiacal constellations that illustrate our modern
"Star Atlases," and which have created so much confusion.
(e) The exaltation degrees relate to the sidereal and not to
the tropical zodiac.
(f) In A.D. 213 the sidereal longitude of the vernal-point
(V.P) was zero, when both the sidereal and tropical zodiacs
coincided. The Almagest and Tetrabiblos were written less than 100
years before this date, hence to all intents and purposes Claudius
Ptolemy's zodiac was sidereal, at the time these works were
written.
(g) On January l, 1954, the sidereal longitude of the vernal
point had retrograded to Pisces 5 degrees 48 minutes (335 degrees
48'), hence the true "ayanamsha" (i.e. 360 degrees - 335 degrees
48') is now 24 degrees 12', which must be deducted from all
tropical longitudes to reduce them to their sidereal equivalents.
(h) Because the planetary exaltation degrees (Hypsomata) are integral
to the Babylonian zodiac, the latter has been designated the
Hypsomatic zodiac.
The sidereal longitude of the vernal point, Aries 13.80 degrees for
the year 786 B.C. was obtained by deducting the tropical longitudes
from the traditional exaltation degrees and adjusting the mean value
with that obtained from the position of the vernal point in the luni-
solar tablets of Naburiannu and Kidinnu and the Babylonian almanacs of
the Seleucid period (312-64 B.C.). Calculation discloses that the
autumnal point, Libra 13.80 degrees, was 14.80 degrees to the eat of
Spica, hence Spica's sidereal longitude was Virgo 29.00 degrees.
[NOTE: this was written before Garth Allen's SVP correction to Virgo.]
this fact enabled me to compute the following sidereal longitudes of
the vernal point for the years stated:
Vernal Point
B.C. 1001 Aries 16.76 degrees
" 901 " 15.38
" 801 " 14.01
" 701 " 12.63
" 601 " 11.24
" 501 " 9.86
" 401 " 8.48
" 301 " 7.09
" 201 " 5.71
" 101 " 4.33
" 1 " 2.95
A.D. 100 " 1.57
" 200 " 0.19
" 300 Pisces 28.80
The V.P. for any intervening year between the above century
longitudes can be obtained by simple interpolation. Multiplying the
decimal of a degree by 60 reduces it to minutes of arc: thus 0.80
degrees x 60 = 0d48'. A tropical longitude can be converted into is
sidereal equivalent by merely adding the V.P. for the year.
* * * * *
[ORIGIN3a] Rupert Gleadow's THE ORIGIN OF THE ZODIAC
Chapter 12 - The Horoscope of Eternity
When Julius Caesar decided to give the Romans a new calendar, the
expert whom he chose to design it was an Egyptian--though probably of
Greek descent--Sosigenes of Alexandria. This was because the Egyptians
possessed the only wholly reliable calendar known to the ancient world.
The Babylonians had a higher reputation as astronomers, and took more
notice of celestial happenings; but their calendar was lunar and
hopelessly erratic. Already in 488 B.C., when Darius I wanted to
provide a better calendar for Persia, he had adopted the Egyptians
system just as it stood.
The ancient Greeks, and after them the Romans, had great respect for
the wisdom of the Egyptians; but modern professors have almost no idea
in what that wisdom consisted. This is because learning is static and
consists largely of information, while wisdom is dynamic and requires
mastery of the art of life. Wisdom therefore is not the same as the
ability to reason, and in any case the Greeks did not learn that from
Egypt. Genuine wisdom cannot be written, nor congealed into aphorisms
and avuncular advice. Being concerned with the problem of how to live,
it is naturally apt to be religious, and the wisdom of the Egyptians
was the ultimate driving force behind the Mystery Religions; for they
were all studies in the art of living. Man is always trying to get
life under control, and among his methods of doing so are system, rule,
legislation, dogma, and punishment. But the wise man does not try to
get life under control; he adapts himself and swims with the stream
instead of angrily trying to dam it.
Where wisdom and knowledge meet is in the solving of problems; and
one problem for which the Egyptians alone of the ancient nations had
found a reliable solution was the organization of their calendar.
Modern scientists consider that the year should correspond as closely
as possible to the period of the earth's revolution about the sun; and
this is contrived in the Gregorian calendar by the insertion of a leap-
year once in four year, with an exception in centennial years and an
exception against the exception in millennial years. But whether the
year 10,000 will be a leap year nobody yet knows, and so by Egyptians
standards the Gregorian calendar is irregular.
(i) THE CALENDRICAL BASIS
In the ideal Egyptian calendar no irregularity was permitted. There
were no leap years. Twelve months of thirty days each were followed,
or preceded, by five days called 'epagomenal', and that was all.
The Egyptian year, therefore, was about a quarter of a day short,
and in consequence its relationship to the seasons was not constant: it
lost a day in four years, a month in about 120 years, and a whole year
in fourteen and a half centuries. That is to say, 1,460 Gregorian
years are equal to 1,461 Egyptian years, and after that time the
Egyptian New Year's Day returns to its starting-point.
This return of their New Year's Day to its proper place was always
important to the Egyptians, indeed it was the linch-pin of their whole
astronomical system. Their agricultural year began with the rising of
the Nile; but the inundation could be early or late, deep or shallow,
depending on the melting of the snows in Abyssinia and Central Africa.
Between A.D. 1873 and 1904 the interval between two successive risings
varied from 336 to 415 days.1 It must therefore have been a great
convenience when the innundation could be predicted and anchored to a
regular astronomical phenomenon. This phenomenon we know to have been
the Heliacal rising of Sirius.
The heliacal rising of a bright star such as Sirius, or of a planet,
was a beautiful as well as an important occasion to those who first
noticed these things. When a bright star can be seen in the west soon
after sunset, each evening it shines lower and lower in the solar haze,
until finally it can be seen no more. This is called its heliacal
setting. Being now so close to the sun, it remains invisible for a
period which the Egyptians averaged at seventy days, although it varies
with the star's declination and latitude of the place. At Babylon, for
example, Sirius is absent sixty-nine days, but Spica, being farther
north, only thirty-six.2
Then, when the sun has passed a little farther on in the zodiac, one
morning when the sky towards dawn has lost its darkness and the earth
seems lit but empty, awaiting the sun, in the glow of the east appears
a twinkling point between gold and silver which was not there the day
before. This is the return of the star; and if it pre-signifies the
rise of the Nile, the return of the flood and of all green things and
crops, then it will be very important and well watched.
In a clear climate, with no street-lighting and no industrial smoke,
and where dawn is the most comfortable and convenient hour to rise from
bed, a survey of the half-lit sky is easily made, and the re-appearance
of a star well known, but absent for the last month or two, is a
practical guide.
This heliacal rising of Sirius is the origin of the legend of the
phoenix, for the explanation which connects it with the 'anting' of
birds, and their occasional love of playing with fire, is unconvincing
because it bears no reference to Heliopolis.3 The legend tells that
there is only one phoenix, and that at the end of its life it returns
to its birthplace, which is the 'Arabian Desert' between the Nile and
the Red Sea. There it burns itself to death, and a new phoenix arises
from the ashes of the old. Really the fire in which the phoenix dies
is the glow of dawn. It is born in the "Arabian Desert', because that
is the eastern horizon of Egypt, and the length of its life is 1,460
years, which is 4 times 365. The event was known as 'the return of the
phoenix to Heliopolis', and was commemorated by Antoninus Pius with a
special issue of coins....This not only shows the respect in which the
Romans held the Egyptian calendar, but also gives us a basic date for
computing Egyptian eras.
Antoninus issued his coins, with the word AION meaning Era, about
A.D. 139, and Censorinus, writing in A.D. 238, states that 99 years
earlier the Egyptian New year's Day had fallen on July 21st. This
therefore will be the date of the Phoenix Era, and if we count back in
periods of 1,460 years we shall find the Birth of the Phoenix occurring
within four years of 1320 and 2780 B.C, In fact, or course, the length
of the solar year is not exactly 365 1/4 days, but 365.2422; nor is the
length of the Phoenix Period constant--according to Petrie4 it
decreased from 1,466 years about 600 B.C. to 1,448 about A.d. 2000, and
should average 1,508. Nevertheless, the Egyptian calendar must
certainly have been inaugurated on its New Year's Day, and since it
existed long before 1320 the most probable date is about 2780.
The Phoenix Ear which fell about 1320 is known as the Era of
Menophres, and the name is generally thought to be that of the king in
whose reign it happened, Menphre Ramesses I, who reigned only 16
months. Before that the cycle takes us back to the reign of Zoser at
the end of the Third Dynasty; and this explains the amazing reputation
of his chief minister, Imhotep, who was the architect of the first of
the large pyramids, the Step Pyramid of Saqqarah, and later was deified
as the healing god of Memphis. Imhotep is known to have been an
astronomer as well as an architect and physician, and it seems at
present not very likely that the Sothic calendar was devised 1,460
years earlier again. That would have been about 4240 B.C., 1,000 years
before the First Dynasty; and the mention of the five epagomenal days
in the Pyramid Tests does not actually prove this.
Because it rotated slowly through the seasons, the Egyptian calendar
has been called The Wandering Calendar. Even so it was vastly superior
to the lunar calendars of antiquity; for the prime purpose of a
calendar is agricultural, and in order to keep those lunar calendars in
time with the seasons and extra month was interpolated by proclamation
whenever needed. In consequence the accurate computation of dates is
impossible, whether backwards or forwards. The only exception is the
Muslim calendar, in which no epagomenal months are allowed, and in
consequence that calendar too rotates through the seasons, losing about
11 days each year, whereas the Egyptian lost only one day in four
years.
The Egyptian too had its disadvantage: the festivals of the gods
rotated through the seasons regardless of suitability. The change
amounted to only about a fortnight in a lifetime, and the Egyptians had
long accepted this when, in 238 B.C., Ptolemy III published the Decree
of Canopus, by which in every fourth year a sixth epagomenal day was
added. This spoilt the beauty of the system, and now one has to know
that the extra day was used only between 238 and 57 B.C., after which
it was very properly suppressed....
Nowadays Sirius rises in Egypt in the middle of August, far too late
to be of any use in agriculture; but throughout dynastic times it did
conveniently precede the rising of the Nile.
In the present century, as Petrie remarked,5 the Egyptians have had
four calendars in use at the same time. These are the official Muslim
lunar calendar; the Gregorian, imported from Europe; the Alexandrian,
of the Coptic Church; and the agricultural festivals still attached to
the names of the Coptic months.
In ancient times likewise the Egyptians had more than one
calendar....
In the XII Dynasty the 'opening of the year' was apparently the
actual rising of Sirius, and the 'beginning of the year' was the next
new moon,8 but later the terminology became confused.
But though the ideal year retrogressed steadily through the seasons,
Sirius did not rise on the same day in all parts of the country, and
for this reason it was found more practical to date the official
calendar from the first new month thereafter. And the Egyptians did
not count their months from the appearance of the new crescent, as in
most other countries, but from the invisibility of the moon. This is
why we are told in the 'dramatic text' from the cenotaph of Sety I at
Abydos: 'Horus provides himself with his two eyes on the second day of
the month.'9 The 'short year' and the 'long year' will then be
alternative lunar years, according as the year had contained thirteen
or fourteen new moons.
Now the zodiac, like the Egyptian agricultural year, is a calendar
fastened to an astronomical reference-point called its fiducial. But
the fiducial of the zodiac is not Sirius because Sirius lies too far to
the south, outside the ecliptical belt. Is there, despite this
difference, some connection?
(ii) THE ZODIACS OF DENDERAH
Several representations of the zodiac were discovered in Egypt when
Napoleon invaded the country in 1798, and pictures of them were
published in his enormous Description of l'Egypte.10 At first, of
course, they were taken to be amazingly ancient, and the most famous
among them is the circular zodiac of Denderah, now in the Louvre, but
originally a ceiling in the temple of Hat-Hor, goddess of heaven and
also of love and joy....
The Crab, the most northerly of the twelve, is a very round-bodied
object not far from the diagram's center, and immediately over the
Lion's head. A goddess holds the Lion by the tail, and behind her
stands Isis with her ear of corn; this of course is Virgo with the star
Spica. Harpocrates in the disk of the sun is represented on top of the
Scales, but the lion below him has nothing to do with Leo of the
zodiac. Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Capricorn, being farther south, lie
near the outer circle of figures, which represent the decans.
This outer circle is not, oddly enough, intended to be aligned with
the zodiac and constellations, and therefore the disk with eight
decapitated figures, to be found beneath the Water-bearer, does not
signify the moon eight days old. A little farther on in this third
figure behind them is a child on a lotus flower. Both of these are
calendrical indications, and so is the hawk on top of the papyrus
column, which marks the summer solstice. Beyond it is Sirius,
represented as a cow lying in a boat; and the royal figure on the other
side of it, under the Bull's hoofs, is Orion.
In the center are the circumpolar constellations. The Wain or
Dipper had always been thought of as a bull's foreleg, which was a
common sight on the altar of sacrifice, and it is sometimes drawn with
a bull's head at the broader end. It is held in leash by a
hippopotamus-goddess who often has a crocodile on her back, but her
hands rests on Menat, the Mooring-Peg, and this is the straight line
from Arcturus to Spica, the original measuring-point of the zodiac.
(see Cyril Fagan's Zodiacs Old & New, file [ASTRORI2] Part II)
The other northerly constellations include a lion and also Selket
the scorpion-goddess, who is not, however, in the place of our Scorpio.
And it is odd that on the oblong zodiac of Denderah the Foreleg and the
Hippo-goddess are figures between the southerly constellations
Sagittarius and Capricorn, whereas at Edfu they appear just to the
right of Sirius and Orion, apparently on the opposite side of the sky.
This shows how Egyptian diagrams cannot be taken literally and applied
to the sky like transfers.
The oblong zodiac of Denderah was carved on the ceiling of the
portico. It is over sixty feet long, and each half is twelve feet
wide. There are two registers, running one above the other along the
body of Nut the sky-goddess, who is dressed in a design of ripples.
The lower register shows the decans as human and animal-headed figures
in boats (since the Egyptian gods always used boats to cross the sky),
and beside them are written their names and a rough design of two or
three stars to help recognition. The upper register gives the signs of
the zodiac and various other constellations, the planets, and the hours
of the day, each drawn as a woman with a star over her head.
When it became possible to read the inscriptions on the walls of the
temple of Denderah, it turned out to have been built in the reign of
the Roman emperor Tiberius. The actual date has been computed by Mr.
Fagan to be the evening of April 16th Julian, A.D. 17, and the oblong
zodiac contains, according to him, four different New year's Days. The
new moon of April 17th is shown on the back of the Bull, and this is
the Babylonian 1st Nisan. The Sothic New Year occurred on July 19th,
the year of the Wandering Calendar began on August 19th, and finally
the 'New Year's Day of the Ancients' with the heliacal rising of Spica
on October 5th. The vernal equinox is shown by the baboon of Thoth
following the Ram. The planets on the circular zodiac are rather small
and in the signs of their exaltations, which gives no clue to the date,
but in the oblong diagram they are in their zodiacal positions.
...The Egyptians considered the first sign of the zodiac to be that
which rose heliacally on New Year's Day, hence the 'first' sign changed
about every 112 years, and in a retrograde direction. The 'first' sign
actually changed from Virgo to Leo in the first century B.C., and the
Esna zodiacs must be within 117 years previous to that change. Mr.
Fagan has given their exact date as September 16th, 137 B.C.11
Thus by Egyptian standards none of these four zodiacs is at all
old....And this makes it extremely unlikely that the zodiac was known
to the Egyptians of dynastic times; for no culture has left more
abundant monuments in record of its beliefs. The zodiac may nave a
connection with Egyptian astronomy none the less.
(iii) THE DECANS
There is a tradition, both in India and the West, that each sign of
the zodiac may be divided into three segments of 10 degrees each called
decanates or decans. To astrologers, this subdivision was useless
unless the decans could be distinguished in character, and there were
devised several methods of doing this. One was to allot the first
decanate of a sign to the pure influence of that sign, and the other
two to the two others signs of the same element, earth, air, fire or
water. This system was used by Varaha Mihira, but cannot be older than
Claudius Ptolemy because he first regularized the allocation of the
elements to the signs. It never became very popular, indeed Hindu
astrologers were so little impressed by it that they invented
subdivisions of signs by 9 and 12, called navamsas and dwadashamshas.
Manilius allotted the decans to the signs in straightforward order,
so that the three decans of Aries were ruled by Aries, Taurus, and
Gemini, those of Taurus by Cancer, Leo, and Virgo, and so forth.
Another attempt to control the decanates gave them ruling planets,
beginning with Mars for the first decanate of Aries and continuing in
the 'Chaldean' order, which is not that preferred by the Babylonians,
but is the order of speed of movement--Saturn Jupiter Mars Sun Venus
Mercury Moon--until Mars again ruled the last decanate of Pisces. This
arrangement was traditionally called (for instance by Lilly in the
seventeenth century) the 'Egyptian' system, and indeed it is found in
Teucros; but the name only shows a last faint realization that there
ought to be an Egyptian system; for the decans are of Egyptian origin.
The arrangement whereby the first and last of them are ruled by Mars
is obviously factitious... For the Egyptians the beginning and end of
the cycle was the first decan of Cancer, because this was the meridian
longitude of Sirius. Originally, however, the decans not divisions of
the zodiac at all. That is what they later became, and as such they
can be seen arranged around the edge of the circular zodiac of
Denderah. But they go back to the third millennium.
It is not possible to draw up a single authentic list of the 36
decans, for the Egyptian lists vary, and over thirty are known, form
the Tenth Dynasty to Roman times. Some of the older asterisms either
went out of use or were renamed, which was natural enough; not all the
lists were copied accurately; and since the celestial equator is not
constant it is even possible for decans to change their order of rising
over a long enough period.17 They were evidently selected from
constellations already formulated all over the sky, and it was likely
that in different parts of the country different stars would be chosen.
This explains why so many decans are named as the beginning, middle, or
end of various larger constellations. The list of them printed on
Table 21 (excluded) ... runs to a total of over forty. It could be
extended considerably by taking account of all the variants found in
and out of Egypt; for as Gundel showed, the lore of the decans survived
into far more recent times than we should expect and in doing so
developed all kinds of fantasies and divagations....
If we now turn back to the original Egyptian list, as written in
hieroglyphs, we notice three water-pots in a rack, a pair of fishes,
and a sheep. They occur in that order, and roughly the same distance
apart. Can they have anything to do with the Urn, the Fishes, and the
Ram, three successive signs of the Hellenistic zodiac?...
Not only were the decans in late times 10 degree segments of the
ecliptic; so early as the Eleventh Dynasty, about 2000 B.C.> on the
coffins of Tefabi and Khiti,21 we find the first decan, Kenmut,
following the last, which is Sirius, so they appear to form a complete
circle. But it does not follow that they were already at that date
arranged along the ecliptic, nor that they represented equal divisions
of space. Before jumping to conclusions we have to explain the
standard form of Egyptian celestial diagram, which occurs at all
periods from the Eleventh Dynasty to Roman times, and which nearly
twenty examples are now known.22
... Now we have to remember constantly that Egyptian celestial
diagrams are neither scientific observation nor literal-minded
representational art. Comparisons make it plain that the figures were
often arranged to suit the artist, and not in the style of a map;
discrepancies must be regarded as normal, nor is there any difficulty
in finding definite mistakes. It is therefore essential to realize
what the Egyptians were about in making these diagrams. They were
never intended for use on earth in any case: they were designed to
help the deceased in finding his way to the sky after death, when he
would join the Sun in His boat as He crosses heaven and the underworld.
The standard diagram has therefore quite justly been called 'The
Horoscope of Eternity.'...
(iv) THE STANDARD DIAGRAM
In the middle of this diagram Sirius appears in a boat, sometimes in
the form of a resting cow, but more often as Isis standing. To her
right Orion may appear in another boat, in the form of a king running;
but since he is always included among the decans his boat may be
omitted. Sometimes he lies in it,23 face up or face down, because that
was the attitude in which he rose, and for that matter still
rises....From here to the right the picture lists the names of the
decans, sometimes with a rough diagram of their appearance.
More importantly, we find to the left of Sirius two or three of the
planets, which will always be Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, next Two
Turtles, then about five names of obscure meaning called Meta-decans,
then Mercury, and finally a large heron, which is 'Venus the bennu-bird
of Osiris.'
One must not imagine that because Sirius is enthroned in the middle
of the diagram she is on the midheaven; quite the contrary, she is on
the eastern horizon. And the decans to her right, as well as the
planets and meta-decan on her left, are not a chart so much as simply a
catalogue.
Why then did the diagram take this form? Why is Venus always
represented so large, and on the extreme left? What are the meta-
decans? And why are the directions of Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter
usually but not always stated? For the answer to the first of these
questions we re indebted to Mr. Fagan; some of the others will be
answered here for the first time.
The importance of Sirius is well known: its rising marked the New
Year. Hence the original of all these diagrams must have represent the
sky at dawn on New Year's Day, and therefore most probably at the
inauguration of the Sothic calendar. Having realized this, Mr. Fagan
calculated that the only possible date was 2767 B.C.24 As can be seen
from Plate 23, the appearance of the sky at that moment was extra-
ordinary. It showed a close conjunction of no less than four planets
all within 7 degrees of each other, rising on the eastern horizon at
the same moment as Sirius, while the Moon, just past the full, was
declining in the south-west. Such a quadruple conjunction on the
Ascendant on the day of Sirius' rising may never have occurred since.
And furthermore the date was that of the summer solstice.
This very striking combination of phenomena cannot have filed to
impress the Egyptians of the time of Zoser. Not only was it memorable
in itself, falling on the one day of perfect harmony in the Wandering
Calendar; dawn is also the natural opportunity for the decreased to
catch the Sun's boat and sail to heaven. So it is not surprising that
the event should have been perpetuated, both as the fixed point of the
calendar and also as the beginning of life in the world to come.
This explains why the planets are all grouped together at the left
of Sirius; indeed the repeated mention in the Pyramid texts25 of 'those
four youths who sit on the eastern side of the sky' may be a
reminiscence of this event. The Pyramid texts make Horus the ferryman
of the sky, and that is why the planets, sometimes including Venus, are
identified with him. There is also the oft-repeated statement: 'He
ascends to heaven among the imperishable stars, his sister is Sothis,
his guide is the Morning Star.'
The Morning Star is feminine in the Pyramid texts, except when
identified with Horus... enormous importance attached to Venus in these
diagrams. She [Venus] is always drawn very large, and on the extreme
left, probably because on that morning in Heliopolis she rose last, at
the same moment as Sirius. She takes the form of a heron because that
is the bird of the inundation; when the Nile begins to flood, the
herons leave the restricted bed and fly all over the country fishing in
the canals and fields.
Accepting this, we can explain the meta-decans. They are so called
because they come after the decans in the left upper corner of the
diagram. Various suggestions have been made to account for them....
Mr. Fagan took the meta-decans to be the stars in the Sickle of Leo
which rose in the north-east about the same time as Sirius in the
south-east, and this is not far off the mark. In fact, however, Sirius
and Venus in 2767 were on the horizon simultaneously, and their
distance apart in azimuth, that is to say along the horizon, was no
less than 55 degrees. The planets Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter were, as
we already know, included in this space, so the meta-decan also would
naturally belong to it.
The first of them is the Two Turtles. The Turtle was a symbol of
drought and an enemy of the Sun-god; it is sometimes shown being
speared by one of the gods in the solar barque. The two must therefore
represent some pair of stars which rise when the Niles is at its
lowest, in the last month before the rising of Sirius....The third
possibility is the two Aselli, which lie very close together in the
constellation of the Crab, and in those times rose nineteen and fifteen
days before Sirius. These Turtles are then probably the first hard-
shelled creatures to be associated with what later became the
constellation of the Crab.
After the Two Turtles the second meta-decan is called nesru....Nesru
is said to be an island where the sun is born, but its standard
determinative is a picture of a fire. As a meta-decan, therefore, it
most probably means 'the glow of dawn', and in that case it is not an
asterism.
The third meta-decan is called shesep or shespet, and this can mean
either a rectangle or light, more probably the latter, for we shall
meet this word again in a mysterious text from Abydos.
The fourth is variously spelt as 'Abesh,' Abshes, Ipsedj or Ipdjes,
and is followed by a fifth called Sobshosen. ...so what are they doing
here on the eastern horizon? We shall see later.
The last meta-decan is called wash-neter, which ought to mean
'divine power and glory'; and perhaps this is just what it does mean,
alluding to the approach of the sun. In Greek times the word meant a
palanquin, which has somewhat the same suggestion: 'Here comes the
king'....
THE NUT DIAGRAM
In none of these diagrams is the moon so much as mentioned, although
they were all diagrams, or horoscopes, for the rising of Sirius, and in
three of the six she is visible. The reason is that the diagrams were
all for New Year's Day, and the Egyptian year effectively began not on
the date of Sirius' heliacal rising, which would have given slightly
different dates for different part of the country, but at the following
new moon. Actually there is an inconspicuous moon on the haunch of Nut
in the key diagram from Abydos, shown in Plate 18 [not reproduced]. No
inscription is attached to it, but close by is the brief notice:
[hieroglyphics meaning] 'eastern horizon,' and not far away is the
decan of Orion's foot. The moon therefore should be rising. In shape
she looks like a new crescent, but this is impossible, since new moon
does not cross the eastern horizon until the sun is already up.
Besides, if the moon by Orion's foot were new, Sirius would be
invisible....
Since the sun appears three or four times, this must be a composite
diagram, like the circular zodiac of Denderah. To which sun, then, is
the moon to be related?...
If...we relate the moon to the unrisen sun in the form of the scarab
flying up Nut's thigh, then this is also partly (being composite) a
dawn chart for New Year's Day, and in that case the decans of Orion and
Sirius were indeed seen above the eastern horizon where they are drawn.
The decans next to the setting sun are unimportant, being invisible.
In the horoscopes dawn was the operative hour, and the date was the
day of the moon's invisibility. But the old moon is never seen in the
evening, hence the day for this purpose must have begun at dawn, and
the last day of the old year was the last day on which the old crescent
was seen before sunrise. The day on which it failed to appear was New
Year's Day. Hence the importance of observing the crescent moon in the
east, and hence the crescent on Nut's haunch. In drawing it as a new
crescent the artist has strictly perpetrated something impossible; but
had he drawn it as an old crescent the diagram would have represented
the last day of the old year and not the first of the new. This
explains why he turned it round and drew the impossible; and after all
the invisible moon is a 'new moon' and used as such, so there was some
reason for drawing it that way round. Possibly the importance of the
setting sun is because the day in the temple calendar, as opposed to
the civil calendar, began at sunset....
(vii) DECANS OR PENTADS?
In late times the thirty-six decans were a complete circle of
asterisms, each 10 degrees long; Sirius headed the list in the first
decanate of Cancer, the forefeet of Sagittarius were placed 'in the
middle of the boat,' and the last decan, at the end of Gemini, was
called 'phuhor', meaning 'end of the sky'. Even so early as the
Eleventh Dynasty the 'diagonal calendars' on coffins show the decan
making a complete circle of 360 degrees. On the coffins of Khiti and
Tefabi the columns are headed 'first ten days', 'middle ten days', and
'last ten days', and after Sirius, normally at that period the last
decan, the circle continues directly with Kenmut, which is the usual
beginning.
Now we have already seen that three constellations of the zodiac may
have had an Egyptian origin, namely Gemini, Leo, and Cancer; the
Egyptian names of these constellations were the Two Stars, the Lion,
and Stars of the Water, also known as the two Turtles; but their
Babylonian names were the Great Twins, the Great Dog, and Allul (an
unidentified water-creature). The question now arises, may any other
constellations of the zodiac have had an Egyptian origin? Among the
Egyptian constellations are three names which make one wonder, but the
problem remains, do they occur in the right positions? These name are
the Fish, the Sheep, and the Water-pots or Jar-stand. If we accept the
placing of these constellations according to the Greco-Roman scheme
whereby the decans are all 10 degrees long, agreeing with the opinion
of most modern astronomers and Indian astrologers, then these
constellations cannot have anything to do with the zodiac, for the Fish
fall in Scorpio, the Sheep in Capricorn, and the Water-pots in Libra.
But if we take it that the so-called decans were originally divisions
of the ecliptic 5 degrees long, then the Sheep falls on Aries the Ram,
the Fish on our modern Fishes, and the Water-pots or Jar-stand on what
the Greeks called the Urn, and we call Aquarius.
We ought therefore to consider whether the decans should be regarded
as 10 degree spaces, as the Greeks and Romans took them to be, or
simply five spaces. For this latter possibility, revolutionary though
it may sound, nine arguments have been advanced by Mr. Cyril Fagan, and
to these nine, three more can now be added. The arguments are as
follows:
1. On the Nut diagram (Plate 18 not included) the whole of the 36
decans are represented on the body of the sky-goddess, as if they were
all above the horizon at the same time. The first decan, 'beginning of
Kenmut', is at the base of her neck, quite close to the inscription
'Western horizon', and near the last an inscription expressly states
'Eastern horizon'. We know that the Egyptians always had 36 decans;
any semi-circle measures 180 degrees, and 36 divided into 180 gives 5
degrees.
2. This list of decans is divided in the middle by the inscription
over the head of Shu, which ought to indicate the south point.
Seventeen decans are shown east of his head and twenty to the west, and
allowing 5 degrees per decan this accurately corresponds to the
obliquity of the arc of the zodiac visible when Sirius rose.
3. The Pleiades and Hyades are placed 9 and 11 decans distant from
Sirius, making respectively 90 and 110 degrees, but their actual
distances in meridian longitude in 2767 were 47 and 59 degrees, almost
exactly half as much.
4. Orion is not infrequently allotted four decans, or 40 degrees of
space, and yet the maximum extent of this constellation is little over
20 degrees.
5. In the Ramesseum the whole of the 36 decans are allotted to the
last 5-1/2 months of the Sothic year, making six to each month instead
of three.
6. On the Denderah zodiac, under the constellation Pisces is found a
disk with a human figure holding a pig by its hind foot. The same
picture has been found on a Mesopotamian clay tablet of the third
century, where it falls between the Pleiades and the Bull.*
[*Illustrated in Langdon, Semitic Mythology, Fig. 92 on p. 305.] It
does not therefore refer to the region of Pisces, but to the decan
Akhui, the Two Spirits, which is seen below it and corresponds, as a
pentad, to some part of Taurus.
7. The disk containing eight captives, which is so conspicuous in
the Denderah circle, has no explanation if it falls at the end of
Capricorn, by the pentad arrangement belongs to Aries and marks the
eighth degree, which was the equinox of the Hellenistic zodiac.
8. Still on the same zodiac, the decan 'Heads of the Two Souls',
marking one of the cardinal points, is placed underneath Pisces, where
it has no particular significance; but in 2767 B.C. this pentad marked
the Spring Point.
9. The Egyptian word for 'five' was drawn with a picture of a five-
pointed star, which was also the ideogram for 'star'.
10. The conspicuous absence from the decan-list of the Lion's head
and tail, the Beautiful Boy, Spica, the Hippopotamus, and the Giant is
easily explained by supposing that the Egyptians used different stars,
or the same stars under different names. But that is a mere guess, and
an equally good guess would be that the half of the sky which the
decans cover did not include those constellations--in fact they were
under the earth when Sirius rose.
ll. The Nut diagram gives the dates in the Egyptian calendar for the
evening southing and setting, and the heliacal rising, of several
decans. Since these dates are astronomically impossible, it does not
much matter that they fill a whole circle instead of a half, but the
one point where they may touch reality is at their beginning. The
first of the list of decans in point of time is not Sobshosen, whose
name is written on Nut's breasts, nor yet Ipsedj and the Pregnant One,
which appear on her forearms, but 'under the Foreleg of Kenmut', which
is placed behind the heels of Shu. Its culmination at dusk is given
for the 6th day of the fourth month of inundation, which then fell
about October 11th Gregorian, so the sidereal longitude of Kenmut would
be near the beginning of Aquarius. Its evening setting, 90 days later,
falls at the same sidereal times as the rising of Sirius, which puts it
close to the end of Capricorn. its heliacal rising, of course, does to
fit, but none the less we have two further pieces of evidence that
Kenmut sets when Sirius rises, and hence the decans only occupy 180
degrees. Kenmut, in fact, takes the place of our constellation of the
Eagle, and may mean Vulture or, since is has a foreleg, the Ape.
12. The Egyptians paid considerable attention to the constellations
of the Ram and the Boat, both of which are made especially conspicuous
in several of the diagrams. In Greek times the Ram fell in Capricorn,
and the Boat under the forefeet of Sagittarius, but when Sirius rises
Sagittarius is under the earth, so it seems odd to draw an especially
handsome picture of it!
The Ram is several times drawn with five stars along its back and
four on its belly, and this does partly agree with Capricorn, whose
back has a straight line of stars. But Senmut makes the Pleiades egg-
shaped and gives the Hyades twice too many stars, and both of them can
bee seen at the right...in the shape of a lop-sided V and a cow's ear.
The Ramesseum schematizes Gemini and the upper half of Orion as two
stars, then many, then two, then three; also it turns the Boat into
something only a firework display could equal. I never expected,
therefore, to identify the Boat, when suddenly I saw it staring up at
me from the precessional globe in the Science Museum.
The boat in which a god crossed the sky or processed through a town
would have a high straight prow and an equally high but bent stern,
with a rectangular cabin or shrine amidships. And a very conspicuous
rectangular constellation for which the Egyptians must surely have had
a name was the Square of Pegasus. The resemblance is so striking that
it is hard to doubt.
But if the Boat is the Square of Pegasus, then the Egyptian Two
Fishes, just underneath it, fall on our Pisces; the Egyptian Sheep on
Aries the Ram, which in any case, as we know, was not a Babylonian
constellation; and the Egyptian Water-pots coincide with Aquarius,
which the Greeks and Romans simply called the Urn. The Babylonian
names of the constellations Pisces, Aquarius, and Aries were not by any
means those to which we are accustomed, but were GU.LA (name of a
goddess); Kun (the tail) and Anunitum (female dweller in heaven); and
the Hireling.
(viii) THE MYSTERIOUS TEXT FROM ABYDOS
But if the decans are only 5 degrees each, the problem remains, what
happens in the other half of the sky? The Ramesseum implies that it
merely had no decans. Mr. Fagan suggests that those six months were
omitted in order to avoid bad weather in the afterlife. This is
conceivable, but not very likely, since it would mean a year with no
harvest time. There remains another possibility.
The mysterious text from Abydos contains the expression, literally
translated: 'As the time Head of Goose its two horizons.' And once
again we must realize that in a non-materialist culture the apparent
effects of forces receive far more attention than the shape of objects
just as the impact of an actor or speaker is far more important that
the shape of his face. The magical influence of the hour called the
Goose's Head would not lie on one horizon to the exclusion of the
other, but would be characteristic of that moment, at which when a
certain star rises another certain star necessarily sets. From...point
of view, therefore, the hour of the Goose's Head could well control
both horizons at once.
But at that rate the hour of Kenmut would always follow the hour of
Sirius, and we need not feel puzzled because half of the circle has
been omitted....
...But there is another reason why no more decans were needed to
fill out the other half of the sky, and this is that in Dynastic times
the Egyptians already knew what happened under the earth; there was
subterranean landscape through which the sun passed and which was
described in the Book of Gates. Hence the stars passed through it too,
and the presence of stars beneath the earth never became a living idea
to the Egyptians until the Alexandrian period, when the function of the
decans had been forgotten and they were inflated to cover 360 degrees
and allotted to the zodiac at the rate of 10 degrees each. Since all
Egyptian charts were drawn for the rising of Sothis, the lower half of
the celestial circle was never shown and there was not call to devise
decans for it.
The Goose's Head, however, is of particular importance because
throughout Dynastic times it culminated when Sirius rose. Hence Smed-
sert, the divider of the Sheep, which occurs among the decans must
originally have occupied the meridian, the halfway point, just as the
similar word Smedet means the halfway point of the moon, Full Moon Day.
Not infrequently the decans have the names of presiding gods
attached to them. It is not clear on what principle these rulerships
were allotted, but certainly this the root of Plato's doctrine that
each sign had its ruling god, and thus, of the later astrological
doctrine, that each sign has its ruling planet. It also explains the
alternation of the Ram and Goose in the constellation Aries, and
reveals the fallacy of supposing that the only origin of the names of
the constellations was a fancied resemblance to a physical object.27
The Egyptians did not believe that kickable objects were the only
reality; indeed they would have called that notion not just a fallacy,
but a demonstrable untruth. For to them, as to all peoples for whom
the reality of experience has not been killed by argument, both gods
and men were powers which act in a characteristic way, and the purpose
of understanding either was to cope with whatever kind of force each
one of them could bring to bear. For in every one of us still dwells,
under the conscious surface, the savagery of Mars, the justice of
Ma'et, and the elemental terrors and joys of Hat-hor.
If the decans had ever in dynastic times covered the whole circle,
it would have been a constant sight for the Egyptians to see only half
of them at any one time, and at least one monument might have survived
showing only half the decans. But this has not happened, and before
Roman times no such possibility is even hinted at. At Abydos the
decans stretch from Nut's head to her hind-quarters, and all thirty-six
of them are shown as if composed in this space. Since the Rising of
Sothis seems to have been to the Egyptians the only important
astronomical moment, this will doubtless have been the origin of the
astrological notion that certain celestial moments are more important
than others, and also that the decans represent the condition of the
sky at the particular moment of the 'horoscope of eternity', that is to
say, of taking up residence in eternity.
It must not be supposed that each decan comprised two opposite
spaces of 5 degrees each; that would be to attribute to the Egyptians
modern notions of accuracy and literal-mindedness. In dynastic times
the invisible stars would not be important. Just as Horus, and later
Mars, was called 'Horus of the Two Horizons', and as is shown by the
constant use of the dual in such phrases as 'the two sons of the
Sheep', so each asterism would have its two moments when it was 'lord
of the horizon' and therefore lord of the hour, and this would make it
unnecessary to have 36 more asterisms to fill up the other half of the
sky. For with 180 degrees allotted to the pentads there would always
be some know asterism on one horizon or the other, just as, in a
horoscope, if one knows the Ascendant, one does not need to be told the
Descendant as well.
As shapes, a ram and a goose are not alike, but Goose and Ram were
the two sacred animals of the god Amun of Thebes, hence they
represented to the Egyptians the same divine Power; and also, if the
Egyptians had invented the zodiac, the ruling Power of Aries would not
have been Mars, but Amun, the Hidden One, the Unknown God to whom St.
Paul found an altar in Athens and whom the Egyptians had known two
thousand years before Moses.
Since all Egyptian horoscope-charts are diagrams of the heliacal
rising of Sirius, it seem that the large heron drawn on them is not
just traditional decoration, but represents an actual observation of
Venus rising. Thus Sirius represents Isis, and Venus, which is always
represented as a bennu-bird or heron, represents Osiris, who
incidentally is also represented by the constellation Orion. So these
astronomical diagrams with planets may justly be called horoscopes
because they are observed celestial moments, which is what a horoscope
is. Nothing was predicted from them either n this world or the next,
but each one was the moment of a Sacred marriage of Isis and Osiris;
and this, in the simultaneous rising every eight years of Sirius and
Venus, was the moment when the ideal touched the real.
Much more could be said, of course, about Egyptian astronomy. Three
hundred and sixty-three years before the invention of the Sothic
calendar there may have been a Horakhti calendar, and the date of its
inauguration would be September 15th, 3130 B.C.28 At that period the
traditional ideogram of a cow in a boat, with a star between its horns,
would have meant the heliacal rising of Spica, not of Sirius, and
drawings of it have been found from the reign of King Djer early in the
First Dynasty.29 Again, the remarkable orientation of various pyramids
would not have been possible without accurate observation of the
transits of the stars, and this probably began with another kind of the
First Dynasty, Semerkhet, whose name apparently means 'the man with the
astronomer's staff'.
* * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Astrological Origins Part 3B
[ORIGIN3a] and [ORIGIN3b]: Astrological Origins Part III: Abridged
excerpts from Rupert Gleadow's THE ORIGIN OF THE ZODIAC, 1968,
specifically with reference to the origin of DECANS-which-were-PENTADS,
and EXALTATIONS [see file HELIACAL], both Fagan's discoveries, and the
naming of the constellations. Whereas Fagan concentrates on what he
saw as the prototypical seeds of the original zodiac in Egypt,
Gleadow's approach is to survey the historical diffusion, interaction,
and evolution of astrological concepts in ancient cultures. Although
he differs with Fagan in his approach and in the interpretation of some
of Fagan's findings, Gleadow credits Fagan in a chapter on the
rediscovery of the ancient zodiac: "This is, however is a relatively
recent discovery, and the credit for it belongs to an Irishman named
Cyril Fagan, who first published his findings in 1947. His reasoning
collided head-on with the habits and beliefs of astrologers, who for
some fifteen hundred years had been quite happily using a zodiac
measured from the equinox."
File [ORIGIN3a]: In Chapter 12, The Horoscope of Eternity, Gleadow
gives a fascinating overview of the Egyptian Calendar, and then covers
Fagan's discovery of the DECANS, which were PENTADS or 5 degree
divisions, more extensively than did Fagan in his ZODIACS OLD AND NEW.
Gleadow also recognizes the the Egyptian "straight line from Arcturus
to SPICA as the original measuring point of the zodiac." He disagrees
with the Egyptian zodiac as an anciently established concept, but
acknowledges the origin of the DECANS/PENTADS as Egyptian, which he
says such were not divisions of the zodiac, but were measuring points
similar to lunar asterisms as markers of the moon's path. This is may
be a scholarly moot point since many scholars generally agree that moon
watching must have been the first germ of any astronomical observation
anywhere. Gleadow makes many important points, one of them--the
celestial equator's inconstancy causes changes of the DECAN/PENTADS
rising over centuries (and which inconsistency is also is a factor in
precession). This is the reason Fagan abandoned the Pentads as
indicating the essential meaning of the constellations although Fagan
sites the Pentads in Astrological Origins in his chapter on "Naming the
Constellations." On other points of interpretation (such as the lesser
one of identification of the Meta-decans), Gleadow disagrees with
Fagan, and presents his own views.
Further, regarding the DECAN/PENTADS, Gleadow discusses the Egyptian
worldview as it applied to their astrology. For example, the Egyptians
were not oriented to divination; their view was to the absolute
immanence of the ideal eternal in the temporal. "The magical influence
of the hour...would not lie on one horizon to the exclusion of the
other, but would be characteristic of that moment, at which when a
certain star rises, another certain star necessarily sets. From the
magical point of view, therefore, the hour...[of whatever asterism
named] could well control both horizons at once." Gleadow uses a most
wonderful phrase to refer to this: "The Moment of the Horizon!" In the
Egyptian concept of the magical influence of the hour, (i.e., what
celestial influence was on the Horizon as indicated by both the
Ascendant position and its corresponding opposite Descendant position),
Gleadow says the Egyptians were the source of Plato's doctrine that
'each sign had its ruling god and the later astrological doctrine that
each sign had its ruling planet.' Gleadow sees the Egyptian worldview
as more akin to what might be suggested in Jung's Synchronicity, rather
than to Babylonian divination.
Chapter 12, The Horoscope of Eternity, also cites the importance of
the Heliacal Rising of Sirius in the Egyptian Calendar as their
'eternity connection.' "Since the rising of Sothis seems to have been
to the Egyptians the only important astronomical moment, this will
doubtless have been the origin of the astrological notion that certain
celestial moments are more important than others, and also that the
decan/pentads represent the condition of the sky at the particular
moment of the 'horoscope of eternity,' that is to say, of taking up
residence in eternity." One of Gleadow's final comments is that "all
Egyptian horoscope-charts are diagrams of the heliacal rising of
Sirius..." and that "Nothing was predicted from them either in this
world or the next, but each one was the moment of a Sacred Marriage of
Isis and Osiris; and this, in the simultaneous rising every eight years
of Sirius and Venus, was the moment when the ideal touched the real."
Again, the Moment of the Horizon!
File [ORIGIN3b] PART III: In Chapter 13, The Naming of the
Constellations, Gleadow begins with the philosophic and Jungian concept
of Synchronicity. In a charming story of a possible conversation
between an Egyptian priest and an Assyrian priest, he points out that,
unlike the Babylonians, the Egyptians had a philosophic lack of
orientation to divination. To a certain extent, Gleadow associates the
divinatory usage of the zodiac as part of the zodiac as we know it,
which is a main point in his notation of a later rather than earlier
origin. Gleadow says, "This suggests that the first notion of
astrology as we know it was begotten on Babylon by Egypt between the
seventh and fifth centuries, and the zodiac itself, as a calendrical
device, was of similar origin but may be a little older."
Most importantly, he discusses Fagan's discovery of the EXALTATIONS
and as well adds points of his own. The Exaltations are the heliacal
appearances and disappearances of the planets in the year 786 B.C.,
which commemorate extraordinary and unique astronomical phenonmena.
The EXALTATION'S (Hypsomata's) historical significance and implications
for astrology is set forth below by Fagan (5/1956 "Solunars").
Although the major conclusions and focus of Gleadow's history are
significantly dependent on Fagan's discoveries as to the origins,
Gleadow is an outstanding historical scholar in his own right.
Examination and debate can bring about clarification. Among Gleadow's
concluding comments, "This first zodiac, of course, cannot have been
tropical. It was not supposed to be either tropical or sidereal, but
was simply assumed to be both at once....That the first zodiac can only
have been measured from the stars was not only inevitable but also a
fact--although, of course, it was no sooner invented than it was
thought to be tropical and used as such."
* * *
*
*
*
*
MAY 1956 AMERICAN ASTROLOGY
Cyril Fagan's "Solunars"
[Exaltations - Hypsomata]
...It is, of course, common knowledge that the Chaldeans--an
ancient Semetic tribe, which originally inhabited the lands about the
estuaries of the Tigris and Euphrates--gradually became the dominant
people in Babylonia winning renown in the old world for their mastery
of Babylonain astrology, so much so that Chaldean became a synonym for
an astrologer.
The astrology of Ptolemy's TETRABIBLOS, Manetho's APOTELESMATICA,
Manilius' ASTRONOMICON and Firmicus' MATHESEOS, with its copious
aphorisms as to dignities, exaltations, rulerships, signatures,
influences and rules, which form the bedrock of medieval and modern
testbooks, was almost wholly derived from Babylonian and Egyptian
sources. If these aphorisms are to have any validity, they must
obviously be related to the zodiac wherein they were originally framed.
Hence it is of prime importance to ascertain what, in fact, was the
zodiac of the ancient astrologers of Babylon and Uruk. Hitherto it has
been taken for granted that the Babylonian zodiac was identical with
that in common use today, namely the tropical or moving zodiac, which
takes its beginning from the vernal equinoctial point (V.P.) designated
Areis 0 degrees....
The discovery of the date and origin of the exaltation degrees of
the planets, known to the Greeks as the Hypsomata, decisively
establishes that the Babylonian zodiac was sidereal as the following
remarkable tabulation confirms:
Event: Installation of Nabu, the great Babylonian god of astrology
in his new temple at Neneveh, during the reign of Adad-Nirari III (809-
782 B.C.) in the Babylonian year commencing 1st Nisan at sunset, April
3, 786 B.C. (Julian). 1st Nisan was the Babylonian New Year's Day.
It will be noticed that in the sidereal zodiac all the planets are
in their exact exaltation degrees, the Moon alone showing the small
deviation of -3.3 degrees. The tabulation establishes the following
fundamental facts:
(a) The 12 zodiacal constellations were known in the 8th century B.C.
(b) The Babylonians used a sidereal zodiac.
(c) Longitudes were measured from the Pleiades in Taurus 5 degrees,
Aldebaran in Taurus 15 degrees, Regulus in Leo 5 degrees, Spica in
Virgo 29 degrees, or Antares in Scorpio 15 degrees, but not from
the vernal equinoctial point.
(d) The zodiacal constellations were of strictly equal lengths, there
being 30 degrees to each constellation. The Babylonian
constellations thus differed from the Graeco-Roman constellations
of the late period, which were all of unequal length. It is the
Graeco-Roman zodiacal constellations that illustrate our modern
"Star Atlases," and which have created so much confusion.
(e) The exaltation degrees relate to the sidereal and not to
the tropical zodiac.
(f) In A.D. 213 the sidereal longitude of the vernal-point
(V.P) was zero, when both the sidereal and tropical zodiacs
coincided. The Almagest and Tetrabiblos were written less than 100
years before this date, hence to all intents and purposes Claudius
Ptolemy's zodiac was sidereal, at the time these works were
written.
(g) On January l, 1954, the sidereal longitude of the vernal
point had retrograded to Pisces 5 degrees 48 minutes (335 degrees
48'), hence the true "ayanamsha" (i.e. 360 degrees - 335 degrees
48') is now 24 degrees 12', which must be deducted from all
tropical longitudes to reduce them to their sidereal equivalents.
(h) Because the planetary exaltation degrees (Hypsomata) are integral
to the Babylonian zodiac, the latter has been designated the
Hypsomatic zodiac.
The sidereal longitude of the vernal point, Aries 13.80 degrees for
the year 786 B.C. was obtained by deducting the tropical longitudes
from the traditional exaltation degrees and adjusting the mean value
with that obtained from the position of the vernal point in the luni-
solar tablets of Naburiannu and Kidinnu and the Babylonian almanacs of
the Seleucid period (312-64 B.C.). Calculation discloses that the
autumnal point, Libra 13.80 degrees, was 14.80 degrees to the eat of
Spica, hence Spica's sidereal longitude was Virgo 29.00 degrees.
[NOTE: this was written before Garth Allen's SVP correction to Virgo.]
this fact enabled me to compute the following sidereal longitudes of
the vernal point for the years stated:
Vernal Point
B.C. 1001 Aries 16.76 degrees
" 901 " 15.38
" 801 " 14.01
" 701 " 12.63
" 601 " 11.24
" 501 " 9.86
" 401 " 8.48
" 301 " 7.09
" 201 " 5.71
" 101 " 4.33
" 1 " 2.95
A.D. 100 " 1.57
" 200 " 0.19
" 300 Pisces 28.80
The V.P. for any intervening year between the above century
longitudes can be obtained by simple interpolation. Multiplying the
decimal of a degree by 60 reduces it to minutes of arc: thus 0.80
degrees x 60 = 0d48'. A tropical longitude can be converted into is
sidereal equivalent by merely adding the V.P. for the year.
* * * * *
[ORIGIN3b] Rupert Gleadow's THE ORIGIN OF THE ZODIAC
Chapter 13: The Naming of the Constellations
The origin of an idea is naturally hard to trace; it appears to
spring full-grown like Athena from the head of Zeus. But when Athena
was called on to create she produced an olive-tree out of the earth;
and the study of human intuition shows that there is normally some soil
in which the idea has grown. Its genesis, like that of anything else,
is by conflation: the meeting and mating of two old and known ideas
produces one which is new.
The zodiac grew up, and must have grown up, as a device for
measuring time. Only later did it come to be used for divination, and
later still for the analysis of character. But divination is not and
never has been based on cause and effect. The principle, which has
been best explained by Jung and Pauli,1 is synchronicity, or the
interpretation of signs occurring simultaneously. Divination is a
matter of signs, not causes, and the ancients did not supposed there to
be any mysterious causative influence of the stars. It is therefore a
waste of time for either astrologers or their enemies to try to
establish or disprove the existence of such an influence.
The Babylonians were deeply addicted to taking omens, and in
particular to observing them in the sky. This is one half of
astrological practice. But their method was basically empirical; they
expected a similar sign in heaven to be followed by a similar event on
earth in virtue of correspondence between heaven and earth, not in
consequence of any cause. And, most important, they did not time their
omens very closely. The occurrence of a halo round the moon and
enclosing Venus would have two different significations according as it
appeared in the west or east, and possibly according to the width of
the conjunction; but it was only expected to foretell one event in the
near but not precise future, and it was not taken as a significant
moment from which the future should be counted. This, which is the
other half of astrological practice, was unknown to the Babylonians in
the second millennium.
The Egyptians, on the other hand, were not given to celestial
divination. Next to telling the time at night and the seasons of the
year, their chief interest in the stars was in learning how the soul
could ascend to heaven and join the Sun in His boat. They did,
however, believe in lucky and unlucky days, and each hour of the day or
night had its tutelary spirit, whose name was known. It was inevitable
some hours, and later some ruling spirits or some groups of stars,
should be regarded as more favorable than others. The same idea could
have arisen equally well in Babylon.
In addition, the Egyptians possessed two calendars which were far
superior to anything known to the Babylonians; and because one of them
rotated through the seasons there there occurred once in fifteen
centuries an epochal beginning-point when the first day of the
Wandering Calendar returned to its ideal position in the Sothic
Calendar. Thus the recurrence of epochal dates was part of Egyptian
culture in a way that it could not be in Babylon. Furthermore, the
Egyptians had a traditional celestial diagram which they copied from
century to century, and although it was more traditional than
contemporary it did represent a particular moment from which time was
counted. Thus it is not unfair to say that the first horoscope ever
drawn was, so far as we know, that of the Phoenix Era of 2767 B.C.
The Egyptians will not have made any predictions from this
horoscope, nor was it drawn in terms of the zodiac; but when the
Assyrians conquered Egypt in 671 B.C., or even through cultural contact
in the previous century, there was likely to occur a conflation of
influences from which both the zodiac and the notion of astrological
prediction could arise. The evidence for this is in the timing.
... After all, when Babylonian priests were brought to Egypt in the
train of Esarhaddon, and after some years discovered the unchanging
Sothic calendar had the Horoscope of Eternity, their first question
might naturally have been: 'And what did you predict from that
celestial event?' The Egyptian priest would have blinked before
answering: 'We did not predict anything.' At which the Assyrian
priest's jaw would have dropped. Fancy missing such a wonderful
opportunity! I do not suggest that this little romance at Heliopolis
actually occurred; but it could have done: place, time and climate of
thought converged.
That was in the seventh century B.C. No direct evidence has
survived for the use of the zodiac in predication before the fifth
century, and in Egypt before the third.4 But Proclus, writing of the
philosopher Theophrastus, Aristotle's immediate successor who died
about 288 B.C., says that 'the most extraordinary thing of his age was
the lore of the Chaldeans, who foretold not only events of public
interest but even the lives and deaths of individuals.5' So astrology
as an effective technique invaded Greece in the latter half of the
fourth century. To have reached such a stage of development there must
already have been behind it a hundred years of practice. This suggests
that the first notion of astrology as we know it was begotten on
Babylon by Egypt between the seventh and fifth centuries...
Thus the zodiac certainly existed before 500 B.C. But the
conflation of Egyptian and Babylonian astronomy need not have waited
until the Persian occupation of Egypt, which lasted from 525, under
Cambyses, to 405. Nor is it likely to be the result of the brief
occupation by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon in 567. The Assyrian
conquest and occupation lasted from 671 till 610, and the astronomical
library of Nabu was transferred from Calah to Nineveh by Asshurbanipal,
who reigned from 668 to 626. Astronomy was a great interest at the
Assyrian court, and at the same time the fashion ran strongly towards
Egyptian art, which was imitated and sold in great quantity to the
Assyrians by Phoenician artists.10
This takes us back as far as the seventh century B.C. To carry the
argument further we shall have to look to the exaltations of the
planets. Traditionally each planet is 'exalted' in a certain degree of
the zodiac, and has its fall in the opposite degree. Astrologers have
naturally assumed that each was especially strong or weak in those
degrees or signs containing them. Their origin, however, remained a
mystery, since they cannot be explained by juggling with the planets'
nodes, aphelions, or epicycles, or their proximity to the zenith.
The word translated 'exaltations' means in fact 'hiding-places', and
the hiding-places of a planet are obviously those parts of the zodiac
in which it is invisible, and especially the degree in which it
disappears from view into the sun's rays at heliacal setting and the
degree of its reappearance at heliacal rising. The same is true of the
moon, and is proved by the distance of the moon's 'hiding-place' from
the sun's, 14 degrees, which is a typical elongation for a new
crescent. Since these phenomena change their positions every time they
occur, we are evidently faced by an historical date, and there can be
no doubt whatever that this date is 786-785 B.C. As for the sun having
a hiding-place, it emerges from darkness at dawn on New Year's Day.
Until the zodiac drew attention to the position of planets in
constellations, the chief focus of interest in them was their heliacal
disappearance and reappearances, and in 786 all the planets had
heliacal phenomena in or very near the degrees of their exaltations--an
event so improbable that it cannot plausibly be ascribed to chance.
TABLE 23 - EXALTATIONS OF THE PLANETS
Exaltation I
Nisan = April 4th, 786 = New Year's Day
May 10th Venus heliacally set east in 9 CAN
Jun 22nd Jupiter " set 15 CAN 15 CAN
Jul 24th Venus " rose west in 18 VIR
Jul 30th Jupiter " rose west 21 CAN Aug 25th Mars
" set in 11 PIS Sep 14th Mercury " set east in
16 VIR 15 VIR
Sep 23rd Saturn " set west in 21 LIB 19 LIB
Oct 27th Saturn " rose east in 26 LIB
Feb 4th 785, Mars " rose east in 1 AQU 27 CAP
The positions of Sun, Moon, and Venus are for New Year's day:
Sun 19 ARI 19 ARI
Moon 29 ARI 3 TAU
Venus 26 PIS 27 PIS
(Mercury's 13 other phenomena omitted)
The year 786 B.C. saw the opening in Calah of the new temple of Nabu
(Nebo), the god of writing associated with the planet Mercury. This is
the origin of Mercury's connection with writing, wisdom, commerce, and
all similar subjects. The Egyptian god of writing and wisdom, Thoth-
Tahuti or Hermes Trismegistos, was not associated with the planet
Mercury until astrology was in full sail across the Hellenistic world;
for Thoth as god of time-measurement was a moon-god. He readily became
director-general of celestial happenings, as he was of the weighing of
the soul before Osiris, but there was no Egyptian reason to associate
him with Mercury.
There are two slight weaknesses in this argument. The heliacal
risings and settings are not as close together as they might have been;
and also some are risings and others settings. This apparently
haphazard selection may leave us unconvinced that the coincidence is
not an accident.
But the exaltations are not and cannot be the horoscope for the
foundation or opening of the temple of Nabu, for Mercury cannot be in
Virgo while the Sun is in Aries. They are simply heliacal phenomena
recorded in that year; and since they are not those closest to a given
date, and since they include an arbitrary mixture of settings and
risings, it becomes probably that they were not observed and catalogued
at the time, but were looked up in the temple records when the priest-
hood conceived the notion that they might be especially important. But
what could have given them that idea?
It is a curious thing about Egyptian astronomy that we often find
the year treated as of 360 days, the 5 epagomenae being ignored. If we
could believe that by 'days' the Egyptians meant 'degrees' they would
be using our system. And there is an extant text which says: 'A temple
day is 1/360 of a temple year.11 This is not an astronomical text at
all; on the contrary, by 'a day' it means a day's rations. But it
exemplifies once more the Egyptian habit of dividing the circle of the
year into 360 parts.
When Assyrian priests came to Egypt and compared notes with their
Egyptian colleagues, as they would naturally do, not begin monotheists,
they might easily think, if the esoteric lore were not full explained
to them, that the Egyptians divided the circle into 360 equal parts.
Thus the ideal circle of days invented by the Egyptians for use in the
afterlife would have become a real circle of new and convenient
degrees. This is possible even if a year of 360 days was used in the
mulAPIN tablets.
And similarly when the Assyrians met the Horoscope of Eternity and
realized that it was drawn for the beginning of an era, they would be
likely to return home and look up the records to see what they could do
in the same line. They could not choose a more significant epoch than
the foundation of the temple of their own god of astronomy. And
because the Egyptians mentioned planets in the west and south as well
as the east, they would think it natural to make a mixture of heliacal
settings and risings. If this hypothesis be correct, then the
exaltations were an Assyrian imitation of the Horoscope of Eternity,
not observed at the time but looked up in the records, and thus perhaps
a century or more later than 786 B.C. For almost a century scholars
have said that the zodiac was of Babylonian origin and left it at that;
it now seems more probable that it was the product of interaction
between Babylon, Egypt, and Assyria...
* * * * * * *
excerpts from Rupert Gleadow's THE ORIGIN OF THE ZODIAC, 1968,
specifically with reference to the origin of DECANS-which-were-PENTADS,
and EXALTATIONS [see file HELIACAL], both Fagan's discoveries, and the
naming of the constellations. Whereas Fagan concentrates on what he
saw as the prototypical seeds of the original zodiac in Egypt,
Gleadow's approach is to survey the historical diffusion, interaction,
and evolution of astrological concepts in ancient cultures. Although
he differs with Fagan in his approach and in the interpretation of some
of Fagan's findings, Gleadow credits Fagan in a chapter on the
rediscovery of the ancient zodiac: "This is, however is a relatively
recent discovery, and the credit for it belongs to an Irishman named
Cyril Fagan, who first published his findings in 1947. His reasoning
collided head-on with the habits and beliefs of astrologers, who for
some fifteen hundred years had been quite happily using a zodiac
measured from the equinox."
File [ORIGIN3a]: In Chapter 12, The Horoscope of Eternity, Gleadow
gives a fascinating overview of the Egyptian Calendar, and then covers
Fagan's discovery of the DECANS, which were PENTADS or 5 degree
divisions, more extensively than did Fagan in his ZODIACS OLD AND NEW.
Gleadow also recognizes the the Egyptian "straight line from Arcturus
to SPICA as the original measuring point of the zodiac." He disagrees
with the Egyptian zodiac as an anciently established concept, but
acknowledges the origin of the DECANS/PENTADS as Egyptian, which he
says such were not divisions of the zodiac, but were measuring points
similar to lunar asterisms as markers of the moon's path. This is may
be a scholarly moot point since many scholars generally agree that moon
watching must have been the first germ of any astronomical observation
anywhere. Gleadow makes many important points, one of them--the
celestial equator's inconstancy causes changes of the DECAN/PENTADS
rising over centuries (and which inconsistency is also is a factor in
precession). This is the reason Fagan abandoned the Pentads as
indicating the essential meaning of the constellations although Fagan
sites the Pentads in Astrological Origins in his chapter on "Naming the
Constellations." On other points of interpretation (such as the lesser
one of identification of the Meta-decans), Gleadow disagrees with
Fagan, and presents his own views.
Further, regarding the DECAN/PENTADS, Gleadow discusses the Egyptian
worldview as it applied to their astrology. For example, the Egyptians
were not oriented to divination; their view was to the absolute
immanence of the ideal eternal in the temporal. "The magical influence
of the hour...would not lie on one horizon to the exclusion of the
other, but would be characteristic of that moment, at which when a
certain star rises, another certain star necessarily sets. From the
magical point of view, therefore, the hour...[of whatever asterism
named] could well control both horizons at once." Gleadow uses a most
wonderful phrase to refer to this: "The Moment of the Horizon!" In the
Egyptian concept of the magical influence of the hour, (i.e., what
celestial influence was on the Horizon as indicated by both the
Ascendant position and its corresponding opposite Descendant position),
Gleadow says the Egyptians were the source of Plato's doctrine that
'each sign had its ruling god and the later astrological doctrine that
each sign had its ruling planet.' Gleadow sees the Egyptian worldview
as more akin to what might be suggested in Jung's Synchronicity, rather
than to Babylonian divination.
Chapter 12, The Horoscope of Eternity, also cites the importance of
the Heliacal Rising of Sirius in the Egyptian Calendar as their
'eternity connection.' "Since the rising of Sothis seems to have been
to the Egyptians the only important astronomical moment, this will
doubtless have been the origin of the astrological notion that certain
celestial moments are more important than others, and also that the
decan/pentads represent the condition of the sky at the particular
moment of the 'horoscope of eternity,' that is to say, of taking up
residence in eternity." One of Gleadow's final comments is that "all
Egyptian horoscope-charts are diagrams of the heliacal rising of
Sirius..." and that "Nothing was predicted from them either in this
world or the next, but each one was the moment of a Sacred Marriage of
Isis and Osiris; and this, in the simultaneous rising every eight years
of Sirius and Venus, was the moment when the ideal touched the real."
Again, the Moment of the Horizon!
File [ORIGIN3b] PART III: In Chapter 13, The Naming of the
Constellations, Gleadow begins with the philosophic and Jungian concept
of Synchronicity. In a charming story of a possible conversation
between an Egyptian priest and an Assyrian priest, he points out that,
unlike the Babylonians, the Egyptians had a philosophic lack of
orientation to divination. To a certain extent, Gleadow associates the
divinatory usage of the zodiac as part of the zodiac as we know it,
which is a main point in his notation of a later rather than earlier
origin. Gleadow says, "This suggests that the first notion of
astrology as we know it was begotten on Babylon by Egypt between the
seventh and fifth centuries, and the zodiac itself, as a calendrical
device, was of similar origin but may be a little older."
Most importantly, he discusses Fagan's discovery of the EXALTATIONS
and as well adds points of his own. The Exaltations are the heliacal
appearances and disappearances of the planets in the year 786 B.C.,
which commemorate extraordinary and unique astronomical phenonmena.
The EXALTATION'S (Hypsomata's) historical significance and implications
for astrology is set forth below by Fagan (5/1956 "Solunars").
Although the major conclusions and focus of Gleadow's history are
significantly dependent on Fagan's discoveries as to the origins,
Gleadow is an outstanding historical scholar in his own right.
Examination and debate can bring about clarification. Among Gleadow's
concluding comments, "This first zodiac, of course, cannot have been
tropical. It was not supposed to be either tropical or sidereal, but
was simply assumed to be both at once....That the first zodiac can only
have been measured from the stars was not only inevitable but also a
fact--although, of course, it was no sooner invented than it was
thought to be tropical and used as such."
* * *
*
*
*
*
MAY 1956 AMERICAN ASTROLOGY
Cyril Fagan's "Solunars"
[Exaltations - Hypsomata]
...It is, of course, common knowledge that the Chaldeans--an
ancient Semetic tribe, which originally inhabited the lands about the
estuaries of the Tigris and Euphrates--gradually became the dominant
people in Babylonia winning renown in the old world for their mastery
of Babylonain astrology, so much so that Chaldean became a synonym for
an astrologer.
The astrology of Ptolemy's TETRABIBLOS, Manetho's APOTELESMATICA,
Manilius' ASTRONOMICON and Firmicus' MATHESEOS, with its copious
aphorisms as to dignities, exaltations, rulerships, signatures,
influences and rules, which form the bedrock of medieval and modern
testbooks, was almost wholly derived from Babylonian and Egyptian
sources. If these aphorisms are to have any validity, they must
obviously be related to the zodiac wherein they were originally framed.
Hence it is of prime importance to ascertain what, in fact, was the
zodiac of the ancient astrologers of Babylon and Uruk. Hitherto it has
been taken for granted that the Babylonian zodiac was identical with
that in common use today, namely the tropical or moving zodiac, which
takes its beginning from the vernal equinoctial point (V.P.) designated
Areis 0 degrees....
The discovery of the date and origin of the exaltation degrees of
the planets, known to the Greeks as the Hypsomata, decisively
establishes that the Babylonian zodiac was sidereal as the following
remarkable tabulation confirms:
Event: Installation of Nabu, the great Babylonian god of astrology
in his new temple at Neneveh, during the reign of Adad-Nirari III (809-
782 B.C.) in the Babylonian year commencing 1st Nisan at sunset, April
3, 786 B.C. (Julian). 1st Nisan was the Babylonian New Year's Day.
It will be noticed that in the sidereal zodiac all the planets are
in their exact exaltation degrees, the Moon alone showing the small
deviation of -3.3 degrees. The tabulation establishes the following
fundamental facts:
(a) The 12 zodiacal constellations were known in the 8th century B.C.
(b) The Babylonians used a sidereal zodiac.
(c) Longitudes were measured from the Pleiades in Taurus 5 degrees,
Aldebaran in Taurus 15 degrees, Regulus in Leo 5 degrees, Spica in
Virgo 29 degrees, or Antares in Scorpio 15 degrees, but not from
the vernal equinoctial point.
(d) The zodiacal constellations were of strictly equal lengths, there
being 30 degrees to each constellation. The Babylonian
constellations thus differed from the Graeco-Roman constellations
of the late period, which were all of unequal length. It is the
Graeco-Roman zodiacal constellations that illustrate our modern
"Star Atlases," and which have created so much confusion.
(e) The exaltation degrees relate to the sidereal and not to
the tropical zodiac.
(f) In A.D. 213 the sidereal longitude of the vernal-point
(V.P) was zero, when both the sidereal and tropical zodiacs
coincided. The Almagest and Tetrabiblos were written less than 100
years before this date, hence to all intents and purposes Claudius
Ptolemy's zodiac was sidereal, at the time these works were
written.
(g) On January l, 1954, the sidereal longitude of the vernal
point had retrograded to Pisces 5 degrees 48 minutes (335 degrees
48'), hence the true "ayanamsha" (i.e. 360 degrees - 335 degrees
48') is now 24 degrees 12', which must be deducted from all
tropical longitudes to reduce them to their sidereal equivalents.
(h) Because the planetary exaltation degrees (Hypsomata) are integral
to the Babylonian zodiac, the latter has been designated the
Hypsomatic zodiac.
The sidereal longitude of the vernal point, Aries 13.80 degrees for
the year 786 B.C. was obtained by deducting the tropical longitudes
from the traditional exaltation degrees and adjusting the mean value
with that obtained from the position of the vernal point in the luni-
solar tablets of Naburiannu and Kidinnu and the Babylonian almanacs of
the Seleucid period (312-64 B.C.). Calculation discloses that the
autumnal point, Libra 13.80 degrees, was 14.80 degrees to the eat of
Spica, hence Spica's sidereal longitude was Virgo 29.00 degrees.
[NOTE: this was written before Garth Allen's SVP correction to Virgo.]
this fact enabled me to compute the following sidereal longitudes of
the vernal point for the years stated:
Vernal Point
B.C. 1001 Aries 16.76 degrees
" 901 " 15.38
" 801 " 14.01
" 701 " 12.63
" 601 " 11.24
" 501 " 9.86
" 401 " 8.48
" 301 " 7.09
" 201 " 5.71
" 101 " 4.33
" 1 " 2.95
A.D. 100 " 1.57
" 200 " 0.19
" 300 Pisces 28.80
The V.P. for any intervening year between the above century
longitudes can be obtained by simple interpolation. Multiplying the
decimal of a degree by 60 reduces it to minutes of arc: thus 0.80
degrees x 60 = 0d48'. A tropical longitude can be converted into is
sidereal equivalent by merely adding the V.P. for the year.
* * * * *
[ORIGIN3b] Rupert Gleadow's THE ORIGIN OF THE ZODIAC
Chapter 13: The Naming of the Constellations
The origin of an idea is naturally hard to trace; it appears to
spring full-grown like Athena from the head of Zeus. But when Athena
was called on to create she produced an olive-tree out of the earth;
and the study of human intuition shows that there is normally some soil
in which the idea has grown. Its genesis, like that of anything else,
is by conflation: the meeting and mating of two old and known ideas
produces one which is new.
The zodiac grew up, and must have grown up, as a device for
measuring time. Only later did it come to be used for divination, and
later still for the analysis of character. But divination is not and
never has been based on cause and effect. The principle, which has
been best explained by Jung and Pauli,1 is synchronicity, or the
interpretation of signs occurring simultaneously. Divination is a
matter of signs, not causes, and the ancients did not supposed there to
be any mysterious causative influence of the stars. It is therefore a
waste of time for either astrologers or their enemies to try to
establish or disprove the existence of such an influence.
The Babylonians were deeply addicted to taking omens, and in
particular to observing them in the sky. This is one half of
astrological practice. But their method was basically empirical; they
expected a similar sign in heaven to be followed by a similar event on
earth in virtue of correspondence between heaven and earth, not in
consequence of any cause. And, most important, they did not time their
omens very closely. The occurrence of a halo round the moon and
enclosing Venus would have two different significations according as it
appeared in the west or east, and possibly according to the width of
the conjunction; but it was only expected to foretell one event in the
near but not precise future, and it was not taken as a significant
moment from which the future should be counted. This, which is the
other half of astrological practice, was unknown to the Babylonians in
the second millennium.
The Egyptians, on the other hand, were not given to celestial
divination. Next to telling the time at night and the seasons of the
year, their chief interest in the stars was in learning how the soul
could ascend to heaven and join the Sun in His boat. They did,
however, believe in lucky and unlucky days, and each hour of the day or
night had its tutelary spirit, whose name was known. It was inevitable
some hours, and later some ruling spirits or some groups of stars,
should be regarded as more favorable than others. The same idea could
have arisen equally well in Babylon.
In addition, the Egyptians possessed two calendars which were far
superior to anything known to the Babylonians; and because one of them
rotated through the seasons there there occurred once in fifteen
centuries an epochal beginning-point when the first day of the
Wandering Calendar returned to its ideal position in the Sothic
Calendar. Thus the recurrence of epochal dates was part of Egyptian
culture in a way that it could not be in Babylon. Furthermore, the
Egyptians had a traditional celestial diagram which they copied from
century to century, and although it was more traditional than
contemporary it did represent a particular moment from which time was
counted. Thus it is not unfair to say that the first horoscope ever
drawn was, so far as we know, that of the Phoenix Era of 2767 B.C.
The Egyptians will not have made any predictions from this
horoscope, nor was it drawn in terms of the zodiac; but when the
Assyrians conquered Egypt in 671 B.C., or even through cultural contact
in the previous century, there was likely to occur a conflation of
influences from which both the zodiac and the notion of astrological
prediction could arise. The evidence for this is in the timing.
... After all, when Babylonian priests were brought to Egypt in the
train of Esarhaddon, and after some years discovered the unchanging
Sothic calendar had the Horoscope of Eternity, their first question
might naturally have been: 'And what did you predict from that
celestial event?' The Egyptian priest would have blinked before
answering: 'We did not predict anything.' At which the Assyrian
priest's jaw would have dropped. Fancy missing such a wonderful
opportunity! I do not suggest that this little romance at Heliopolis
actually occurred; but it could have done: place, time and climate of
thought converged.
That was in the seventh century B.C. No direct evidence has
survived for the use of the zodiac in predication before the fifth
century, and in Egypt before the third.4 But Proclus, writing of the
philosopher Theophrastus, Aristotle's immediate successor who died
about 288 B.C., says that 'the most extraordinary thing of his age was
the lore of the Chaldeans, who foretold not only events of public
interest but even the lives and deaths of individuals.5' So astrology
as an effective technique invaded Greece in the latter half of the
fourth century. To have reached such a stage of development there must
already have been behind it a hundred years of practice. This suggests
that the first notion of astrology as we know it was begotten on
Babylon by Egypt between the seventh and fifth centuries...
Thus the zodiac certainly existed before 500 B.C. But the
conflation of Egyptian and Babylonian astronomy need not have waited
until the Persian occupation of Egypt, which lasted from 525, under
Cambyses, to 405. Nor is it likely to be the result of the brief
occupation by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon in 567. The Assyrian
conquest and occupation lasted from 671 till 610, and the astronomical
library of Nabu was transferred from Calah to Nineveh by Asshurbanipal,
who reigned from 668 to 626. Astronomy was a great interest at the
Assyrian court, and at the same time the fashion ran strongly towards
Egyptian art, which was imitated and sold in great quantity to the
Assyrians by Phoenician artists.10
This takes us back as far as the seventh century B.C. To carry the
argument further we shall have to look to the exaltations of the
planets. Traditionally each planet is 'exalted' in a certain degree of
the zodiac, and has its fall in the opposite degree. Astrologers have
naturally assumed that each was especially strong or weak in those
degrees or signs containing them. Their origin, however, remained a
mystery, since they cannot be explained by juggling with the planets'
nodes, aphelions, or epicycles, or their proximity to the zenith.
The word translated 'exaltations' means in fact 'hiding-places', and
the hiding-places of a planet are obviously those parts of the zodiac
in which it is invisible, and especially the degree in which it
disappears from view into the sun's rays at heliacal setting and the
degree of its reappearance at heliacal rising. The same is true of the
moon, and is proved by the distance of the moon's 'hiding-place' from
the sun's, 14 degrees, which is a typical elongation for a new
crescent. Since these phenomena change their positions every time they
occur, we are evidently faced by an historical date, and there can be
no doubt whatever that this date is 786-785 B.C. As for the sun having
a hiding-place, it emerges from darkness at dawn on New Year's Day.
Until the zodiac drew attention to the position of planets in
constellations, the chief focus of interest in them was their heliacal
disappearance and reappearances, and in 786 all the planets had
heliacal phenomena in or very near the degrees of their exaltations--an
event so improbable that it cannot plausibly be ascribed to chance.
TABLE 23 - EXALTATIONS OF THE PLANETS
Exaltation I
Nisan = April 4th, 786 = New Year's Day
May 10th Venus heliacally set east in 9 CAN
Jun 22nd Jupiter " set 15 CAN 15 CAN
Jul 24th Venus " rose west in 18 VIR
Jul 30th Jupiter " rose west 21 CAN Aug 25th Mars
" set in 11 PIS Sep 14th Mercury " set east in
16 VIR 15 VIR
Sep 23rd Saturn " set west in 21 LIB 19 LIB
Oct 27th Saturn " rose east in 26 LIB
Feb 4th 785, Mars " rose east in 1 AQU 27 CAP
The positions of Sun, Moon, and Venus are for New Year's day:
Sun 19 ARI 19 ARI
Moon 29 ARI 3 TAU
Venus 26 PIS 27 PIS
(Mercury's 13 other phenomena omitted)
The year 786 B.C. saw the opening in Calah of the new temple of Nabu
(Nebo), the god of writing associated with the planet Mercury. This is
the origin of Mercury's connection with writing, wisdom, commerce, and
all similar subjects. The Egyptian god of writing and wisdom, Thoth-
Tahuti or Hermes Trismegistos, was not associated with the planet
Mercury until astrology was in full sail across the Hellenistic world;
for Thoth as god of time-measurement was a moon-god. He readily became
director-general of celestial happenings, as he was of the weighing of
the soul before Osiris, but there was no Egyptian reason to associate
him with Mercury.
There are two slight weaknesses in this argument. The heliacal
risings and settings are not as close together as they might have been;
and also some are risings and others settings. This apparently
haphazard selection may leave us unconvinced that the coincidence is
not an accident.
But the exaltations are not and cannot be the horoscope for the
foundation or opening of the temple of Nabu, for Mercury cannot be in
Virgo while the Sun is in Aries. They are simply heliacal phenomena
recorded in that year; and since they are not those closest to a given
date, and since they include an arbitrary mixture of settings and
risings, it becomes probably that they were not observed and catalogued
at the time, but were looked up in the temple records when the priest-
hood conceived the notion that they might be especially important. But
what could have given them that idea?
It is a curious thing about Egyptian astronomy that we often find
the year treated as of 360 days, the 5 epagomenae being ignored. If we
could believe that by 'days' the Egyptians meant 'degrees' they would
be using our system. And there is an extant text which says: 'A temple
day is 1/360 of a temple year.11 This is not an astronomical text at
all; on the contrary, by 'a day' it means a day's rations. But it
exemplifies once more the Egyptian habit of dividing the circle of the
year into 360 parts.
When Assyrian priests came to Egypt and compared notes with their
Egyptian colleagues, as they would naturally do, not begin monotheists,
they might easily think, if the esoteric lore were not full explained
to them, that the Egyptians divided the circle into 360 equal parts.
Thus the ideal circle of days invented by the Egyptians for use in the
afterlife would have become a real circle of new and convenient
degrees. This is possible even if a year of 360 days was used in the
mulAPIN tablets.
And similarly when the Assyrians met the Horoscope of Eternity and
realized that it was drawn for the beginning of an era, they would be
likely to return home and look up the records to see what they could do
in the same line. They could not choose a more significant epoch than
the foundation of the temple of their own god of astronomy. And
because the Egyptians mentioned planets in the west and south as well
as the east, they would think it natural to make a mixture of heliacal
settings and risings. If this hypothesis be correct, then the
exaltations were an Assyrian imitation of the Horoscope of Eternity,
not observed at the time but looked up in the records, and thus perhaps
a century or more later than 786 B.C. For almost a century scholars
have said that the zodiac was of Babylonian origin and left it at that;
it now seems more probable that it was the product of interaction
between Babylon, Egypt, and Assyria...
* * * * * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Bibliography of Sidereal Astrology
[SOURCES] SZ Bibliography; also includes the Introduction to
[FIRST] A Chronology of SZ Publishing Firsts.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WESTERN SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY
A bibliography is a list of pertinant sources on a particular
subject, usually as documentation added to a research paper or
book; as such it is limited and not a complete list. In this case
however, this bibliography is an attempt to list those who made a
written contribution to Western Sidereal Astrology, whether large
or small. Vedic or Hindu astrology is another branch even though
the zodiac used is sidereal. With the compilation of these names,
it is recognized that significant work by many persons is not
listed because they didn't leave a paper trail, especially those
who were and are teachers, lecturers, organizers, researchers, and
professional astrologers. However, written essays and books are
the means by which information is mainly transmitted, and a
bibliography is important to preserving concepts in Sidereal
Astrology. The list is not complete as we do not have access to
all the material published nor the time to exhaustively find and
collect it. The website listings by Jack Contreras is a service
and resource given of his own time and expense for the benefit of
students of Sidereal Astrology. Additions and corrections to this
list will be appreciated--Email Kay Cavender at
[wdgw87d@prodigy.com]
Although in its beginnings, there is now an attempt to collect
and preserve the original work of the pioneer siderealists with
the establishment of ARCHIVES in Ireland and the USA. This is
necessary in order to insure that efforts of those who developed
Sidereal Astrology will not be lost, but passed on for present and
future students. Since Cyril Fagan first realized the truth of
the Sidereal Zodiac in 1944, over 50 years ago, Sidereal Astrology
for the most part has appealed only to a small group of those who
have the perception and/or the intelligence to understand it--the
'intelligentsia' in astrology is a word which applies. Sidereal
Astrology requires the help of any interested parties for its
preservation. For those who may wish to contribute books, see the
ARCHIVE addresses at the end.
* * * * * *
Garth Allen (Donald A. Bradley), TAKING THE KID GLOVES OFF
ASTROLOGY, Clancy Publications, Tucson, AZ, 1975.
Garth Allen's essays and columns were published in AMERICAN
ASTROLOGY MAGAZINE, Clancy Publications, New York and Tucson, AZ.,
from June 1955 through November 1975, A TWENTY YEAR RECORD, and
his essays were re-published after his death as late as June 1982.
Allen's columns:
* "Your Powwow Corner"
* "Perspectives In the Sidereal"
* "Many Things Research Department"
Garth Allen's essays in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY DIGEST: "What's
Ahead For the World?" - Years 1957 through 1974 (?)
THE ASTRO-GRAPHICS SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS 1981-1985, Astro-
Graphics Services Inc., Orleans, MA, 1981.
Arthur H. Blackwell, RETORT ( To Colin James III 'The
Relative Strength of Signs and Planets'), 1978.
Jeri Blake:
* WHEN PRESIDENTS DIE, DOUBLEO Publications, New York, NY, 1980.
* PORTFOLIO OF NOTABLE EARTHQUAKES, " " " ?
Helen M. Boyd, THE TRUE HOROSCOPE OF THE UNITED STATES, ASI
Publishers, New York, NY, 1975.
Donald A. Bradley (Garth Allen):
* THE PARALLAX PROBLEM, Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN,
1947.
* SOLAR AND LUNAR RETURNS, Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN,
1948.
* PROFESSION AND BIRTHDATE A Statistical Analysis of Planetary
Positions At The Birthdates of 2492 Eminent Clergymen, Llewellyn
Foundation for Astrological Research, Los Angeles, CA, 1975.
* "Faith Is Not A Sometimes Thing," American Astrology, Clancy
Publications, Tucson, AZ, December 1975.
Robert Copriviza, COPRIVIZA'S CAMPANUS TABLES, 197?
I. Cowley (Cyril Fagan), "THE PRESIDENT'S OUTLOOK," American
Astrology Magazine, Clancy Publications, Tucson, AZ, February 1966
- March 1970. [A FOUR YEAR SERIES specifically on the Lunar
Return and President Johnson.]
James Dreis, THE JAMES DREIS SOLUNARS INDEX, Solunar Research
Publications, Bay City, MI, 1978.
James A. Eshelman:
* THE SIDEREAL HANDBOOK, Stymie Publications, Anaheim, CA, 1975.
* INTERPRETING SOLAR RETURNS, Astro-Analytics Publications, Van
Nuys, CA, 1979.
* HOROSCOPE CALCULATION, AFA Inc., Tempe, AZ, 1980.
James A. Eshelman and Tom Stanton:
THE NEW INSTANT ASTROLOGER, The Astro Press, Los Angeles, CA,
1976.
Cyril Fagan:
* ZODIACS OLD AND NEW, Llewellyn Foundation for Astrological
Research, Los Angeles, CA, 1950. (Also published in Britain)
* ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN,
1971.
* THE SOLUNARS HANDBOOK, Clancy Publications, Tucson, AZ, 1976.
* THE SYMBOLISM OF THE STAR CONSTELLATIONS, Moray Press, London,
1962.
* 1948 FIXED ZODIAC EPHEMERIS, Ernest Grant, Publisher,
National Astrological Library, Washington D.C. [This was of
course the first sidereal ephemeris published.]
* "SOLUNARS," American Astrology Magazine, Clancy Publications,
New York, NY and Tucson, AZ, July 1953 to March 1970.
[A SEVENTEEN YEAR SERIES OF 200 ESSAYS. Fagan's "SOLUNARS" were
republished continuously after his death through June 1978, and
intermittently up to as late as November 1979, and February
1980. During these 17 years, Fagan also wrote letters to "Many
Things" column in American Astrology.]
* "The Emperor Nero," The American Journal of Astrology
(Quarterly), Clancy Publications, New York, NY, Autumn 1936.
* "Horoscope Of Jesus Christ," The American Journal of Astrology
(Quarterly), Clancy Publications, New York, NY, Winter 1937.
(Republished in American Astrology Magazine in April 1953, and
in the December 1976 and January 1977.
* "Letters From Cyril," (donated by Ferde Malenke), The
Siderealist, Sidereal Registry and Exchange, Endwell, NY,
Spring 1979.
Fagan's essays in the AFA BULLETIN:
* THE FUNDAMENTALS OF HOUSE DIVISION Research Bulletin #1, 1947.
[This was the first research paper ever done for the AFA.]
* "The Incidents And Accidents Of Astrology," Parts 1 - 10, July
1947 - July 1948 [This series included his first published
essays on Sidereal Astrology in the USA]
* "The Aquarian Age," September 1, 1951.
* "Fiducial Stars," Part I - IV, May - Aug 1952.
* "Sudden Death By Accident," February 1951.
Fagan's essays in SPICA, A REVIEW OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY:
Oct 1961 "Interpretation Of Zodiacal Constellations"
Jan 1962 "Interpretation Of Zodiacal Constellations"
Apr 1962 "Interpretation Of Zodiacal Constellations"
Jul 1962 "Interpretation Of Zodiacal Constellations" (GEM & CAN)
Jan 1964 "Mundane House Division"
Apr 1966 "Topocentric System Of Houses"
Jul 1966 "Neo-Bija & 'Measure Of Time' Table"
Apr 1967 "Quasi-Fixed Tropical Zodiac"
Oct 1967 "A Mathematical 'Bull's Eye'"
Oct 1967 "Neo-PSSR"
Jul 1968 "Additional Notes On Calculation Of Neo-PSSR"
Jul 1968 "First Of Zodiacal Constellations"
Jan 1969 "The Novien"
Jul 1970 "The Sidereal Zodiac"
Apr 1971 "Queen's Mundoscope" (written 1965)
Brigadier Roy C. Firebrace, Cyril Fagan, and Mary Austin
* THE MORAY SERIES, London:
* BOOK 1: PRIMER OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY, Fagan & Firebrace
(also re-published by Littlejohn Publications, Isabelle, MO.)
* BOOK 2: WARS IN THE SIDEREAL, Firebrace
* BOOK 3: NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASTROLOGY, Firebrace
* BOOK 4: TERTIARY DIRECTIONS ?
* BOOK 5: SIDEREAL CALCULATION TABLES, Austin
* BOOK 6: ?
* BOOK 7: JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES, Firebrace
Brigadier Roy C. Firebrace, Editor, SPICA: A REVIEW OF
SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY (Quarterly), Vol. 1, No. 1, October 1961
through October 1974.
[A THIRTEEN YEAR PUBLICATION! During that time, Firebrace wrote
the Editorials as well as columns called "For New Students,"
"Thoughts On Astrology," and other essays. Firebrace also
contributed to American Astrology ("Birth of A Nation," July 1963)
and other magazines.]
After Firebrace's death, two more issues of SPICA were
published by ROSA through Nerak Enterprises, Orange, CA, in
October 1974 and January 1976.
Rupert Gleadow:
* THE ORIGIN OF THE ZODIAC Jonathan Cape LTD, London, UK, 1965
* THE ZODIAC REVEALED, Wilshire Book Co., North Hollywood, CA,
1972. (Also published as YOUR CHARACTER IN THE ZODIAC)
Gleadow's essays in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY MAGAZINE:
July 1950, "How To Predict--The Sidereal Method Of The Ancients"
August 1950, "The Zodiac In The Ancient World"
September 1950, (Translation of) "Michigan Astrological Papyrus"
October 1950, (Translation of) "Michigan Astrological Papyrus"
November 1950, "The Sidereal Zodiac"
January 1951, "The Reign Of King Baldwin Of Belgium"
June 1951, "The Future of China"
July 1951, "What's Next In Europe?"
March 1952, "Exalted Planets"
July 1952, "Conventions--Will Nomination Of Eisenhower Mean War?"
October 1952, "Our Next Presidest"
February 1953, "The Next Four Years (Inauguration Of Eisenhower)"
July 1955, "Can There Be Peace Over China?"
July 1957, "Comparisons Are Not Odorous"
April 1958, "Will Nixon Be Next?"
September 1958, "Future Of General De Gaulle"
January 1959, "Comparison Leads To Progress"
February 1959, "Princess Margaret"
March 1959, "What's Ahead For The Soviet Union?"
March 1960, "French Fifth Republic"
April 1960, "Future Of Japan In The 60's"
July 1960, "Thrasyllus, Ancient Astrologer"
August 1960, "Tony Marries The Princess"
February 1961, "The Way The World Goes"
March 1961, "Age Of Violent Conflict"
April 1961, "Age Of Common Sense"
August 1961, "Man Into Space"
December 1961, "Who Would Want To Be King?"
Gleadow's Essays in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY DIGEST:
"Accurate Predictions" 1968
"Thrasyllus" 1982
"The Age of Common Sense" 1983
Troy Allen Grossman, SEXASCOPES OF THE PRESIDENTS, DOUB LEO
Publications, New York, NY, 1980.
James Hynes, SYNETIC VERNAL POINT TABLES, Registry Of
Sidereal Astrologers, Placentia, CA, 1976.
Flemming Lee, YOUR HIDDEN HOROSCOPE (?)
Frances Littlejohn:
* SIMPLIFIED ASTROLOGY, Littlejohn Publications, Isabelle, MO,
1961.
* THE DUODENARY SYSTEM, Littlejohn Publications, Isabelle, MO,
(?)
* "The President's Stars," American Astrology Magazine,
Clancy Publications, Tucson, AZ., May 1972 - April 1973.
Gene Lockhart:
* LOCKHART'S SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS 1921-1959, Gene Lockhart Copyright
1974, USA.
* LOCKHART'S SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus
and Pluto, 1900-1999, (probably published by ROSA ?)
* SYNETIC VERNAL POINT EPHEMERIS 1800-1880, (?)
* 1977 SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS, (?)
Janice Mackey, Katherine Clark, Allen Gilchrist (Hugh
Jeffcoat) & Charles Dorminy, CONTEMPORARY SIDEREAL HOROSCOPES,
BOOK 1, Sidereal Research Publications, San Francisco, CA, 1976
John Mazurek:
* AN INTRODUCTION TO LUNAR MANSIONS, S.F. School of Sidereal
Astrology, San Francisco, CA, 1974.
* THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, S.F. School of Sidereal
Astrology, San Francisco, CA, 1974.
Neil F. Michelson,
* THE AMERICAN SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS 1976-2000, Astro-Computing
Service, San Diego, CA, 1981.
* THE AMERICAN SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS 2001-2025, Astro-Computing
Service, San Diego, CA, 1981.
Mike Magee, TANTRIC ASTROLOGY: A MANUAL OF SIDEREAL
ASTROLOGY, Sothis Publishing, United Kingdom, 1995.
OMEGA SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS, 1970 through 1980 (individual
years), Omega Associates, Chicago, IL.
Richard J. Ostrander: S.C.A.S.A. NEWSLETTERS #1-43, W.S.A.
RESEARCH, Yucaipa, CA., 1987-1991.
Carl Stahl, Solunar Research Publications, Bay City, MI:
* STAHL'S SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS FOR 1914
* STAHL'S SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS FOR 1919
* STAHL'S SIDEREAL EPHEMERIDE FOR 1960 - 1969 (individual years)
* STAHL'S OCTOSCOPE TABLE OF HOUSES
* STAHL'S TABLES OF ASCENSIONAL DIFFERENCES
* STAHL-ALLEN EPHEMERIS OF THE SYNETIC VERNAL POINT (1881 - 2000)
* THOUGHTS ON SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY, 1973.
* SOLUNAR RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS NEWSLETTER, Bay City, MI,
(?) 1973- (?) 1975.
* BEGINNER'S MANUAL OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY:
* BOOK I: INSTRUCTIONS FOR SETTING UP CHARTS, 1963, and revised
1969 with corrected S.V.P.
* BOOK II: NATAL INTERPRETATION, 1973.
* BOOK III: PROGRESSIONS, 1976.
Peter Stapleton:
* SIDEREAL TABLE OF HOUSES, La Casa Publications, Monrovia, CA,
1976.
* SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY, La Casa Publications, Monrovia, CA, 197?
* TRANSITS FOR EVERYDAY LIVING, La Casa Publications,
Monrovia, CA, 197?
* INSTANT ASTROLOGER, La Casa Publications, Monrovia, CA, 197?
Karen Wilkerson, Joan G. Piszek, James A. Eshelman, Editors:
* THE REGISTRY OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGERS, ROSA, Placentia, CA, 1975
[ROSA Founders & Directors: Joan G. Piszek & Karen Wilkerson;
Financial Manager, Stanley R. Piszek;
Ambassadors: Arthur H. Blackwell, Carol Lynne Conrad, Phyllis J.
Kneip, John Mazurek, Carl Stahl;
Consultants: Richard Adler, David Bennett, Kay M. Cavender,
Robert C. Donat, James Eshelman, Larry Herring, James Hynes, Hugh
Jeffcoat, K. M. Kharagat, Thomas Kushner, Frances Littlejohn,
Alexander Marr, Richard Murakami, Bob Paige, Willard Robinson,
Peter Stapleton, Tom Stanton, Frances Stearns.]
John Van Zandt, WORLD SIDEREAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION
NEWSLETTER, Highland Park, MI., Sept 1982 - June 1988 (20 issues)
* * * *
OTHER HELPFUL SOURCES:
Richard Hinckley Allen, STAR NAMES THEIR LORE AND MEANING,
Dover Publications Inc., New York, NY, 1963. (First published in
1899)
Vivian E. Robson BSc, THE FIXED STARS & CONSTELLATIONS IN
ASTROLOGY, Aquarian Press, London, 1969. (First published 1923)
* * * *
BOOKS PUBLISHED IN FRENCH:
Maurice Nouvel, LE VRAI ZODIAQUE EST SIDERAL. PARDES. 1991.
(Statistics comparing the two zodiacs).
Maurice Nouvel, LA STATISTIQUE AU SECOURS DE L'ASTROLOGIE.
(Statistics)
Denis Laboure, INITIATION A L'ASTROLOGIE SIDERALE. PARDES.
1986 (Textbook in the Fagan lineage).
Denis Laboure et Chantal Etienne, PREDIRE PAR LES REVOLUTIONS
SOLAIRES ET LUNAIRES. PARDES. 1988. (Sidereal solar and lunar
returns).
Atalane, LES NOEUDS DE LA LUNE, CLEF DE L'INTERPRETATION
ASTROLOGIQUE. LE ROCHER. 1987. (Reading the Moon's nodes in the
sidereal zodiac).
Wachsmuth, CIEL DE NAISSANCE ET CIEL DE MORT. TRIADES.
1976. Translated from German. (Comparison of the position of
planets in the birthchart and at the time of the death in the
sidereal framework. Anthroposophic style).
Jean Paul Besle, LA ROULETTE COSMIQUE. 1993. (Comparison of
the winning numbers at the national "loto" for 16 years and the
astrological positions at the time of the "tirage").
Dorsan, RETOUR AU ZODIAQUE DES ETOILES. DERVY. 1980.
(Popular presentation of the sidereal zodiac to the astrological
world)
* * * *
For the following Sidereal magazines, THE CONSTELLATIONS and THE SIDEREALIST, the authors listed were those who contributed more than once as specifically Sidereal Astrology writers in order
to keep the list manageable. Should anyone want to contribute a complete list of specifically SZ writers in alphabetic order, which means reading all the essays, I should be very glad to add them.
THE CONSTELLATIONS (Quarterly), Joan Piszek and Karen Wilkerson, Editors, Registry of Sidereal Astrology (ROSA), Monrovia, CA, 6 issues: Vol. 1, No. 1 (August 1975) through Nos. 9 & 10 combined (Fall 1977).
Writers: Anna-Kria, David Bennett, Arthur Blackwell, Jeri Blake, Jonnie Drapier, Gary Duncan, James A. Eshelman, John Hammelton, Andrew B. Howard (aka James A. Eshelman), James Hynes, K. M. Kharagat, Gene Lockhart, Rick Manning, John Mazurek, Don McIntosh, J. Paul Morris, Buz Overbeck, Joan Piszek, Willard Robinson, Carl Stahl, Peter Stapleton, James Valliere, John Van Zandt, Karen Wilkerson, Charles Zemont.
THE SIDEREALIST (Quarterly)., Norman Wm. Bones, Editor, Sidereal Registry and Exchange, Endwell, NY, Jan 1979 Vol. 1, No. 1 through Vol. 2, No. 2 in 1982 (6 issues).
Writers: Anna-Kria, Jeri Blake, Norman Wm. Bones, Kenneth Bowser, Lee Chapman, Sue Clay, James A. Eshelman, Robert Hurst Granite (aka Bert Bliss), Wilford H. Graves Jr., David Henry, Roscoe Hope (aka Paul Schure), James Hynes, William James, Royale Jills, Alexander Marr, Margaret Millard M.D., Buz Overbeck, Farrel L. Pyle, Carl Stahl, Teresa Weed, Thomas E. Wilson.
SPICA, A REVIEW OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY (Quarterly), Brigadier Roy C. Firebrace, Editor and Publisher; Mary Austin, Assistant Editor; London, October 1961-October 1974.
1960s Writers: Mary Austin, Helen Boyd, Esther Cleps, Cyril Fagan, Brigadier Roy C. Firebrace, Rupert Gleadow, Martin Harvey, Sri Rajagopala Iyer, Roger Jacobson, Chester Kemp, K. M. Kharagat, Frances Littlejohn, M.D. Monroe Mackenzie, Dorothy Mang-Lopez, Alexander Marr, Ella McMurray, Clifford L. Miller, Richard Murakami, Alfred Musselwhite, B. Neuman, Tom Oshta, Rick Ostrander, Robert W. Schefke, Carl Stahl, George Whitworth.
1970s Writers: Mary Austin, Arthur Blackwell, Helen Boyd, Kay Cavender, Esther Cleps, G.D. Crawford, Robert Donath, James A. Eshelman, Cyril Fagan, Brigadier Roy C. Firebrace, Rupert Gleadow, James Hynes, Chester Kemp, Barbara Herbert-Holmes, K. M. Kharagat, Thomas Kushner, Frances Littlejohn, Alexander Marr, Margaret Millard M.D., Richard Murakami, Tom Oshta, James Valliere, Marsha Valliere, David E. Whorten MAFA, Paul Cranfield Wing, Daman Xavier MAFA.
SPICA, A REVIEW OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY, Editors Karen Wilkerson and Joan G. Piszek, Nerak Enterprises, Orange, CA, Two Issues: October 1975 and January 1976.
Writers: Mary Austin, Robert C. Donat, Gary Duncan, James A. Eshelman, Barbara A. Jordison, Alexander Marr, Stella Mooney, Joan Piszek, J. E. Sunley, Karen Wilkerson.
* * * *
Sidereal Astrology Writers who contributed essays and/or
columns in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY MAGAZINE for the following decades.
Names in capital letters indicate continuous columns. Those who
sent letters to "Many Things" are regrettably not listed even
though some letters could have been featured as essays.
1950s: GARTH ALLEN, CYRIL FAGAN, Rupert Gleadow, Sri
Rajagopala Iyer, RICHARD MURAKAMI (Research Mathematican for "Many
Things"), G.C. Nixon, Rona de Thyge.
1960s: GARTH ALLEN, I. COWLEY, CYRIL FAGAN, Brigadier Roy C.
Firebrace, Rupert Gleadow, Sri Rajagopala Iyer, RICHARD MURAKAMI
(Research Mathematician for "Many Things"), A. Musselwhite, Rona
de Thyge.
1970s: Paul Albertson, GARTH ALLEN, Arthur Blackwell, David
Bennett, Jeri Blake, LEE CHAPMAN, I. COWLEY, James A. Eshelman,
CYRIL FAGAN, Rupert Gleadow, James Jason Frances, David Henry,
Roscoe Hope, KENNETH IRVING, John Kahila, P.P. Ketan, FRANCIS
LITTLEJOHN, GENE LOCKHARD, Margaret Millard M.D., Dr. William R.
Nethercut, Rick Ostrander, Farrel L. Pyle, L. NORMAN SMITH, N.
Smythe, Gloria Woodcock.
1980s: Arthur Blackwell, KEN BOWSER, LEE CHAPMAN, GARY
DUNCAN, James A. Eshelman, Bert Fannin, James Jason Francis,
I. Galleher, David Henry, Roscoe Hope, KENNETH IRVING, Caroline
Mattingly, Rick Ostrander, Farrel Pyle.
1990s: Robert Baumgartner, Ken Bowser, LEE CHAPMAN, Joan B.
Layne, Gary Noel, Rick Ostrander, VIVIAN QUICK.
[Kenneth Bowser & Bert Fannin have also written for The
Mountain Astrologer.]
**************
SZ ARCHIVES: An attempt to accumulate, document, and
preserve beginning writings in Sidereal Astrology both in Ireland
and the United States is being organized as the Cyril Fagan
Archive in Ireland and the Sidereal Astrology Archive in the USA;
both groups will share information on and writing by Cyril Fagan.
Any information and books to help put together the early concepts
and history will be greatly appreciated.
The CYRIL FAGAN ARCHIVE is being organized in Ireland by Bill
Sheeran, Editor of REALTA, Irish Astrological Association.
Documentation and contributions of Cyril Fagan's writings or
correspondence would be greatly appreciated, as well as specific
biographical information on Cyril Fagan.
THE CYRIL FAGAN ARCHIVE
c/o Bill Sheeran
The Liffey Arts Research Center
Victoria Bridge
Naas
Co. Kildare
Ireland
Email: [larc@iol.ie]
Similarly in the United States, THE SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY
ARCHIVE, USA is being organized by Ken Bowser. Documentation and
contributions of any Sidereal Astrology writing as well as
information on any authors will be gratefully accepted.
THE SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY ARCHIVE, USA
c/o Ken Bowser,
Email: [KBOWSER@delphi.com]
***************
Compiled by Kay Cavender
Copyright 1998 Jack S. Contreras.
Used by Permission of Jack S. Contreras.
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
This introduction to file [FIRST] in the archive Sidereal.zip includes a chronology of publishing "firsts" in Sidereal Astrology, especially by Cyril Fagan, the founder of modern Western Sidereal Astrology. This reflects an attempt to document and collect beginning writings in Sidereal Astrology.
SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY PUBLISHING "FIRSTS"
On FEBRUARY 17, 1944, Cyril Fagan first accepted the truth of Sidereal Astrology and within a week 'invented' the Sidereal Lunar Return, as reported by Brigadier R. C. Firebrace in his "Farewell
to Cyril Fagan," April 1970 SPICA. On APRIL 30, 1944, Fagan reported he first accepted the Sidereal Solar Return (viz. Fagan, April 1968 Spica). In 1947, possibly July*, Cyril Fagan first published on the Sidereal Zodiac in the USA in his 10 part series "THE INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS OF ASTROLOGY" in the AFA BULLETIN under editorship of Ernest Grant, the founder and first president of the AFA. In this series, Fagan announced the star constellation origin of the zodiac, as well as championing the
solar and lunar returns in the Sidereal Zodiac. By the time of this series, he considered the Sidereal origins of the zodiac a fact accomplished, and his focus was on sorting out delineation techniques.
[*The AFA has recently verified that August 1947 AFA Bulletin has Part 2 of Fagan's 10 part series "The Incidents and Accidents of Astrology" wherein Fagan first published on the SZ in the USA.
This implies that "Part 1" (if published consecutively, without division) would have been in the JULY 18, 1947 issue. Because the AFA Bulletins were published on the lunation (new moon), by pushing the envelope one might further infer a time of 04:15 AM GMT when the Sun and Moon were conjunct in Sidereal 00CAN42' which could be cast for Fagan's birth and location Dublin 6w15 53n21, as
well as for Washington D.C. where the American Federation of Astrologers was then located. [U.S. Capitol is 77w00'35.7" and 38n53'20.4"]
In 1947, Fagan also produced the first research paper for the AFA, Research Bulletin #1, "THE FUNDAMENTALS OF HOUSE DIVISION." Cyril Fagan also published the first Sidereal Ephemerides, 1947
and 1948.
There were 3 years between 1944 and 1947, and Fagan was a prolific thinker and writer at his peak. Because Fagan often published simultaneously in several places, he likely published abroad in Europe and India on the Sidereal Zodiac before 1947. In Part 9, June 7, 1948 of his 10 part AFA BULLETIN series, Fagan refers to a letter from Rupert Gleadow dated February 19, 1947, congratulating him on Part 8 "on the magnificent mystery revolution No. V (one of CF's mystery Solars or Lunars) which is terrific." Thus Fagan was already circulating the transcript well before it saw its first American publication in the (possibly *July 18) 1947 AFA Bulletin.
In JULY 1950 American Astrology, in the first essay therein on Sidereal Astrology, Rupert Gleadow refers to his own publication in (the then defunct) October 1948 "ASTROLOGICAL BULLETIN" of Bournemouth, England about a month before the American Presidential election, wherein Gleadow said he made a "completely categoric prediction" on the basis of the Solar Returns for President Truman's election. Fagan may have published in the same above source as Gleadow, or Dr. B. V. Raman's THE ASTROLOGICAL MAGAZINE in India, or others. For instance, WORLD ASTROLOGY, June
1940, Vol.4, No. 6, on its title page lists "Cyril Fagan, President, Irish Astrological Society, Dublin, Ireland" as one of the Board of Advisory Editors. These sources are not readily available in the United States but might be located abroad.
However, most probably Fagan would have published something in the prestigious Theosophical Society in Dublin, out of which he founded the Irish Astrological Society in 1922, and which (T.S.)
was the premises for the IAS meetings. The IAS was supported by his friend William Butler Yeats, Nobel Poet Laureate. Fagan said that he "taught Yeats astrology in his living room."
Fagan said to me with Pauline in the room smiling and agreeing with him, that on MAY 14, 1949, he made his greatest discovery--that of the origins of the HYPSOMATA or Exaltation degrees while dancing with his wife Pauline. One might suppose the time was evening. In 1950 Fagan published ZODIACS OLD AND NEW with his discoveries in archaeoastronomy, especially of the Exaltation origins as recorded in 786 B.C. in Babylon under Assyria. There was both an English and an American publication of ZODIACS, with additional text in the American publication. During this time he lived in Dublin. Notably Fagan also received recognition for this work presented to, I believe he said, the
Royal Society and British Academy in London.
In AUGUST 1950 American Astrology, Rupert Gleadow published a most lucid essay "THE ZODIAC IN THE ANCIENT WORLD" (below) on the origins of the 'first' astrology as anchored to the stars, not to
the equinoxes. Gleadow was a history and language scholar who translated from original sources in classical Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphics. Gleadow's was the first actual 'first' essay in American Astrology (JULY 1950) on Sidereal Astrology and was entitled "How To Predict--The Sidereal Method of the Ancients" on the superior use of the Sidereal Solar Return with presidential elections and President Truman.
The same July 1950 issue of American Astrology "Many Things" column included Fagan's letter on Solar Returns [see file SOLAR100] dated May 21, 1950, titled "Solar Revolution." Fagan used the same quote in this letter also in the earlier 1947-8 AFA series. However, after this time Fagan had a correspondence for several months with the Editor of American Astrology "too voluminous to include" as to the validity of the Sidereal Zodiac, some of which as reported in the column "Many Things" beginning in January 1951. Fagan convinced Editor Clancy.
Another major siderealist, Donald Bradley, or Garth Allen as he was known astrologically, who was Research Director of The Llewellyn Foundation for Astrological Research in Los Angeles, was also convinced before 1950 of the efficacy of the Sidereal Zodiac. Gary Duncan was an associate of Bradley's and collaborated with him on the research for Bradley/Allen's PROFESSION AND BIRTHDATE,
A Statistical Analysis of Planetary Positions At The Birthdates of 2492 Eminent Clergyman. According to Gary Duncan's "Some Historical Notes" in the first CONSTELLATIONS of August 1975, they worked on the data for some three years prior to that time, and they had approached that data scientifically as statisticians. Duncan says that it was due to their work with the clergy's birthdata that they were forced to realize the Tropical Zodiac was not significant statistically. "It came as a shock, however, when the initial data reduction of the solar longitudes showed no preference for the Tropical signs of Sagittarius or Pisces. And, when the Chi-square test showed that the Tropical coordinate system lacked the strength of several other choices...we knew our thinking needed to be re-examined. Certainly the works of Fagan were well known to us both at that time, but it was not until the statistical results of the clergyman study were known that Bradley and I were faced with making a revolutionary change in our fundamental methods." Duncan says that they had also corresponded
with Fagan. Duncan's essay is included in Sidereal.zip, file [AYANAMSA].
Donald Bradley's SOLAR AND LUNAR RETURNS was also published in 1950, which included a complete ephemeris of the Vernal Point 1849 to 1960 and incorporated Fagan's concepts with respect to the Solar and Lunar Returns in the Sidereal Zodiac. This astrological treatise was significant for many reasons, but one of them was Bradley's very clear focus on LOCALITY ANGLES AND CHARTS. By page 14, Bradley says, "All transits are referred to the nativity equated to the locality rather than to the birthplace, unless no change of residence or position has taken place." This book prominently featured examples of events indicated as significant because of the locality angles, which became a staple of Western Sidereal Astrology. (Bradley as Garth Allen wrote for nearly 20 years for American Astrology as well.)
Brigadier R. C. Firebrace in London followed suit with the locality angles in his research reported in SPICA. In Volume 1, No. 2, JANUARY 1962 SPICA, Editor Firebrace presented an essay on "The Capricorn Ingress" which featured a world map showing where the planets were angular over the whole world, with the planetary Meridians in drawn blue (MC-IC), and the planetary Horizons drawn
in red (Ascendant-Descendant). This locality map was drawn by and had a copyright by Mary Austin, the Associate Editor of SPICA, and was the first sidereal publication of a world map showing locality angles.
Gary Duncan, an important statistical research astrologer of this century and an associate of Garth Allen, became convinced of the validity of the Sidereal Zodiac because of his statistical research. According to a memorial essay by Michael Erlewine On Matrix Space website, Duncan helped develop "advanced lunar equations used by NASA for space work while working at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena" and he was proud "that he was the first astrologer to produce astro-geography maps on a computer in the 1950's." Duncan's astro-geography maps were later published in Llewellyn's MOON SIGN BOOK in 1966. According to Duncan's essay "Some Historical Notes" published in the first issue of R.O.S.A.'s CONSTELLATIONS, August 1975, he supplied the Synodic Ephemeris used by Donald Bradley/Garth Allen and his co-workers on rainfall research.
Tropicalist Jim Lewis, who in 1975 created the computer service Astro*Carto*Graphy to show where natal planets were angular over the whole world, studied with Donald A. Bradley and dedicated his book in 1976 on angular planets called ASTRO*CARTO*GRAPHY to Bradley. Lewis' work on Astro*Carto*Graphy earned him the Marc Edmund Jones Award for the outstanding contribution to astrology, but the concept came from siderealists and was first used by siderealists.
In JULY 1953 American Astrology, Cyril Fagan's first essay in his 17 year "SOLUNARS" series (below) dealt with Tropical vs. Sidereal Solunars again in terms of "the incidents and accidents of astrology," the same theme as his first SZ series. This first "Solunars" essay was a reprint from 1953 issue Annual Number of The Astrological Magazine of Bangalore, India, as were the next three issues of "Solunars," September through November 1953. August 1953 was the only skipped issue of 200 consecutive "Solunars" from July 1953 through March 1970, nearly 17 years.
(Fagan's very first essay in American Astrology on "The Horoscope of Jesus Christ" was published in April 1953, as republished from its precursor, THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ASTROLOGY, Winter Issue, 1937. In his essay, Christ's chart was in the Tropical Zodiac framework, which was then off only a few degrees from the Sidereal Zodiac. Subtracting SPICA's positions as calculated by Fagan for then--25VIRGO55', from now--29VIRGO06' with Garth Allen's 06'05" SVP correction, gives 3°11' difference
in the zodiacs for Christ's time, which difference did not exist for the ancients since their astrology was sidereal. Another extraordinary research paper by Fagan titled "THE EMPEROR NERO" was published before the above in 1936 Autumn Edition of The American Journal of Astrology, and was of course then also in the Tropical measurement of the zodiac.
One might say that the first SOLUNARS essays written 'specifically' for American Astrology were in December 1953 and January 1954; these were rewritten from Fagan's ZODIACS OLD AND NEW. The topic was Fagan's identification of 'first' ancient calendar dates which are dependent on reading the ancient Egyptian decans as PENTADS (as 5 day divisions, another of CF's significant discoveries). These FIRST calendar dates were:
the HARAKHTE EPOCH, for the moment of Spica's heliacal rising
at Heliopolis (later determined to occur not in September, but)
on July 15, 3130 B.C., which was New Year's Day of The Ancients;
and the SOTHIC EPOCH, July 16 (O.S.) 2767 B.C., the horoscope
for the moment of Sirius' heliacal rising at Heliopolis, New Year's Day.
Fagan also published the January 1954 SOLUNARS issue on the Sothic Cycle simultaneously in Professor B.V. Raman's ASTROLOGICAL MAGAZINE, Bangalore, India under the title "The Most Ancient
Horoscope in the World." (viz. Fagan, "Solunars," 7/1969 A.A.).
Of the latter SOTHIC EPOCH, Fagan says (in 7/1969 American Astrology under the heading "Tomb of Imhotep") that this beginning of the Sothic Cycle is enshrined as the World's Most Ancient
Horoscope (another 'first'): "Inscribed in hieroglyphic characters on the walls of Egyptian death chambers a mysterious chart of the heavens was frequently found....Many such were found in royal tombs and in those of high officials of different dynasties. Although differing in decorative details all copies were essentially the same....In short, they were copies of the horoscope for the beginning of a Sothic Cycle (Sothis, Greek for Sirius)....Styling copies of the diagrams as "Charts of Eternity"
and deeming them to have magical properties, the Egyptians inscribed them on tomb walls as talismans to insure for the deceased an eternity of happiness in the afterworld." These topics are also presented in Fagan's posthumous 1971 ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS.
It should be noted also that Fagan also wrote another unique series under the name I. COWLEY in American Astrology (February 1966 - March 1970) using the Lunar Return on "THE PRESIDENT'S
OUTLOOK." Brigadier R. C. Firebrace credited Fagan with 'inventing' the Lunar Return. In April 1978 SPICA, Fagan specifically addressed the modus operandi of "Interpreting The Lunar Return." As examples of key points he emphasized on the Lunar, Fagan says, "Moreover as the chart is purely mundane in character, zodiacal (ecliptical) aspects do not apply in it at all. But as the mundane conjunction and opposition more or less tally with their zodiacal counterparts, these latter may be taken into consideration as well as the zodiacal square when it approximates in value to its mundane equivalent." "As the Moon is the prime significator in the Solar Return so is the Sun the prime
significator in the Lunar Return. Close mundane aspects of the current (transiting) planets to the Sun should be considered as being angular."
Concerning astrological references to Fagan's life, the October 1956 "MANY THINGS" column in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY consisted of Fagan's responses to questions. These include several of the
few specific references about Fagan by Fagan in American Astrology. Regarding the founding of the Irish Astrological Society in 1922 and later of his acceptance of the Sidereal Zodiac in 1944, he says, "...for in regard to transits to the Midheaven and Ascendant, transits 'in mundo' are alone valid. When in 1922 Uranus transited in opposition to my natal Ascendant, the IRISH ASTROLOGICAL SOCIETY was founded, and I had the honor to be elected its first president; and the transit of Uranus over my Midheaven in 1944 synchronized with the discovery of the ancient Egypto-Babylonian zodiac...." (Regarding the inauguration of the Irish Astrological Society, in his 8/1966 "Solunars," Fagan mentions the inauguration date as February 7, 1922, apparent noon at Dublin.)
Also in October 1956 "MANY THINGS," in regard to his beginning experience with astrology in 1916, and referring to his prophecy (14 years ahead of time) made at the IAS in 1923 regarding who would be crowned king, Fagan says: "...The effects of the fixed stars that compose the constellations may be considered statically, because they are relatively static; but to comprehend the influences of the planets, they must be thought of in terms that rightly apply to them, namely dynamically. They signify processes, movement, action, challenge and response, the mutations of consciousness that "...arise and pass away..." Thus Venus signifies the movement of affection, Mars of passion, Neptune of entrancement and so forth. My experience, which dates from the beginning of 1916, when E.S.C. [author of the letter to whom Fagan was responding] was still an infant in arms, demonstrated to me that directions to the conjunction, square or opposition of Jupiter synchronized with increased status, honors, emoluments, distinctions, the winning of prizes, the conferring of academic degrees and the like, precisely as taught by the ancient masters; but I cannot recall a single case where they tallied with distant travel, unless directions to the Moon were also involved. The prophecy made at a public lecture, held in September 1923, under the auspices of the Irish Astrological Society, with the late Dr. W. B. Yeats (Nobel Prize) in the chair, that the, then, Duke of
York would be crowned King of England in the summer of 1937, was based on the direction of the Sun to the opposition of Jupiter retrograde."
* * * * *
Included in this file [FIRST], Rupert Gleadow's 1950 and Cyril Fagan's 1953 "first" essays in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY, respectively on star constellation origins and on Solunars, are still interesting
and instructive. Many of the delineation ideas which were clarified and should have been discarded are still with us--"good and bad" aspects, signs and their element associations, horary house rulerships, etc.
One primary question about Fagan's thinking: besides the
Solunars (Solar and Lunar Returns) as predictive tools, what
particular issue "FIRST" convinced Fagan of the validity of the
Sidereal Zodiac? A subject dealt with in Fagan's first series in
the 1947-8 AFA BULLETIN suggests itself. PART 8 of "The INCIDENTS
AND ACCIDENTS OF ASTROLOGY" deals with and is titled "THE
AYANAMSHA." Fagan's beginning definition: "Ayanamsha, i.e., the
number of degrees of the ecliptic that separate the regressing
vernal equinox from the first point of ASVINI--the first asterism
of the Hindu Zodiac--at any given time." According to his
references, Fagan had been intensively researching this topic
about the same time as he accepted the Sidereal zodiac. For
example, in Part 8 of his first SZ series, Fagan has a specific
reference to Robert DeLuce's article in the "APRIL 1944" AFA
Bulletin also titled "Ayanamsha" for the calculation of the
Ayanamsha due to Spica's (Alpha Virginis) vs. Revati's (Zeta
Piscium) ecliptic position.
Fagan's Part 8: "THE AYANAMSHA" is below. Also below, Fagan's
later 1952 AFA essay "THE AQUARIAN AGE" adds significant
conclusions to the argument over the marking place of the Hindu
lunar asterisms. One may suppose in a general way that in
addition to precession, every other answer in Sidereal Astrology
involves SPICA.
See also related files [WHAT_AGE] and [AYANAMSA]. The issue
is--precession--a matter of astronomical fact.
* * * * * *
[FIRST] A Chronology of SZ Publishing Firsts.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WESTERN SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY
A bibliography is a list of pertinant sources on a particular
subject, usually as documentation added to a research paper or
book; as such it is limited and not a complete list. In this case
however, this bibliography is an attempt to list those who made a
written contribution to Western Sidereal Astrology, whether large
or small. Vedic or Hindu astrology is another branch even though
the zodiac used is sidereal. With the compilation of these names,
it is recognized that significant work by many persons is not
listed because they didn't leave a paper trail, especially those
who were and are teachers, lecturers, organizers, researchers, and
professional astrologers. However, written essays and books are
the means by which information is mainly transmitted, and a
bibliography is important to preserving concepts in Sidereal
Astrology. The list is not complete as we do not have access to
all the material published nor the time to exhaustively find and
collect it. The website listings by Jack Contreras is a service
and resource given of his own time and expense for the benefit of
students of Sidereal Astrology. Additions and corrections to this
list will be appreciated--Email Kay Cavender at
[wdgw87d@prodigy.com]
Although in its beginnings, there is now an attempt to collect
and preserve the original work of the pioneer siderealists with
the establishment of ARCHIVES in Ireland and the USA. This is
necessary in order to insure that efforts of those who developed
Sidereal Astrology will not be lost, but passed on for present and
future students. Since Cyril Fagan first realized the truth of
the Sidereal Zodiac in 1944, over 50 years ago, Sidereal Astrology
for the most part has appealed only to a small group of those who
have the perception and/or the intelligence to understand it--the
'intelligentsia' in astrology is a word which applies. Sidereal
Astrology requires the help of any interested parties for its
preservation. For those who may wish to contribute books, see the
ARCHIVE addresses at the end.
* * * * * *
Garth Allen (Donald A. Bradley), TAKING THE KID GLOVES OFF
ASTROLOGY, Clancy Publications, Tucson, AZ, 1975.
Garth Allen's essays and columns were published in AMERICAN
ASTROLOGY MAGAZINE, Clancy Publications, New York and Tucson, AZ.,
from June 1955 through November 1975, A TWENTY YEAR RECORD, and
his essays were re-published after his death as late as June 1982.
Allen's columns:
* "Your Powwow Corner"
* "Perspectives In the Sidereal"
* "Many Things Research Department"
Garth Allen's essays in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY DIGEST: "What's
Ahead For the World?" - Years 1957 through 1974 (?)
THE ASTRO-GRAPHICS SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS 1981-1985, Astro-
Graphics Services Inc., Orleans, MA, 1981.
Arthur H. Blackwell, RETORT ( To Colin James III 'The
Relative Strength of Signs and Planets'), 1978.
Jeri Blake:
* WHEN PRESIDENTS DIE, DOUBLEO Publications, New York, NY, 1980.
* PORTFOLIO OF NOTABLE EARTHQUAKES, " " " ?
Helen M. Boyd, THE TRUE HOROSCOPE OF THE UNITED STATES, ASI
Publishers, New York, NY, 1975.
Donald A. Bradley (Garth Allen):
* THE PARALLAX PROBLEM, Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN,
1947.
* SOLAR AND LUNAR RETURNS, Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN,
1948.
* PROFESSION AND BIRTHDATE A Statistical Analysis of Planetary
Positions At The Birthdates of 2492 Eminent Clergymen, Llewellyn
Foundation for Astrological Research, Los Angeles, CA, 1975.
* "Faith Is Not A Sometimes Thing," American Astrology, Clancy
Publications, Tucson, AZ, December 1975.
Robert Copriviza, COPRIVIZA'S CAMPANUS TABLES, 197?
I. Cowley (Cyril Fagan), "THE PRESIDENT'S OUTLOOK," American
Astrology Magazine, Clancy Publications, Tucson, AZ, February 1966
- March 1970. [A FOUR YEAR SERIES specifically on the Lunar
Return and President Johnson.]
James Dreis, THE JAMES DREIS SOLUNARS INDEX, Solunar Research
Publications, Bay City, MI, 1978.
James A. Eshelman:
* THE SIDEREAL HANDBOOK, Stymie Publications, Anaheim, CA, 1975.
* INTERPRETING SOLAR RETURNS, Astro-Analytics Publications, Van
Nuys, CA, 1979.
* HOROSCOPE CALCULATION, AFA Inc., Tempe, AZ, 1980.
James A. Eshelman and Tom Stanton:
THE NEW INSTANT ASTROLOGER, The Astro Press, Los Angeles, CA,
1976.
Cyril Fagan:
* ZODIACS OLD AND NEW, Llewellyn Foundation for Astrological
Research, Los Angeles, CA, 1950. (Also published in Britain)
* ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN,
1971.
* THE SOLUNARS HANDBOOK, Clancy Publications, Tucson, AZ, 1976.
* THE SYMBOLISM OF THE STAR CONSTELLATIONS, Moray Press, London,
1962.
* 1948 FIXED ZODIAC EPHEMERIS, Ernest Grant, Publisher,
National Astrological Library, Washington D.C. [This was of
course the first sidereal ephemeris published.]
* "SOLUNARS," American Astrology Magazine, Clancy Publications,
New York, NY and Tucson, AZ, July 1953 to March 1970.
[A SEVENTEEN YEAR SERIES OF 200 ESSAYS. Fagan's "SOLUNARS" were
republished continuously after his death through June 1978, and
intermittently up to as late as November 1979, and February
1980. During these 17 years, Fagan also wrote letters to "Many
Things" column in American Astrology.]
* "The Emperor Nero," The American Journal of Astrology
(Quarterly), Clancy Publications, New York, NY, Autumn 1936.
* "Horoscope Of Jesus Christ," The American Journal of Astrology
(Quarterly), Clancy Publications, New York, NY, Winter 1937.
(Republished in American Astrology Magazine in April 1953, and
in the December 1976 and January 1977.
* "Letters From Cyril," (donated by Ferde Malenke), The
Siderealist, Sidereal Registry and Exchange, Endwell, NY,
Spring 1979.
Fagan's essays in the AFA BULLETIN:
* THE FUNDAMENTALS OF HOUSE DIVISION Research Bulletin #1, 1947.
[This was the first research paper ever done for the AFA.]
* "The Incidents And Accidents Of Astrology," Parts 1 - 10, July
1947 - July 1948 [This series included his first published
essays on Sidereal Astrology in the USA]
* "The Aquarian Age," September 1, 1951.
* "Fiducial Stars," Part I - IV, May - Aug 1952.
* "Sudden Death By Accident," February 1951.
Fagan's essays in SPICA, A REVIEW OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY:
Oct 1961 "Interpretation Of Zodiacal Constellations"
Jan 1962 "Interpretation Of Zodiacal Constellations"
Apr 1962 "Interpretation Of Zodiacal Constellations"
Jul 1962 "Interpretation Of Zodiacal Constellations" (GEM & CAN)
Jan 1964 "Mundane House Division"
Apr 1966 "Topocentric System Of Houses"
Jul 1966 "Neo-Bija & 'Measure Of Time' Table"
Apr 1967 "Quasi-Fixed Tropical Zodiac"
Oct 1967 "A Mathematical 'Bull's Eye'"
Oct 1967 "Neo-PSSR"
Jul 1968 "Additional Notes On Calculation Of Neo-PSSR"
Jul 1968 "First Of Zodiacal Constellations"
Jan 1969 "The Novien"
Jul 1970 "The Sidereal Zodiac"
Apr 1971 "Queen's Mundoscope" (written 1965)
Brigadier Roy C. Firebrace, Cyril Fagan, and Mary Austin
* THE MORAY SERIES, London:
* BOOK 1: PRIMER OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY, Fagan & Firebrace
(also re-published by Littlejohn Publications, Isabelle, MO.)
* BOOK 2: WARS IN THE SIDEREAL, Firebrace
* BOOK 3: NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASTROLOGY, Firebrace
* BOOK 4: TERTIARY DIRECTIONS ?
* BOOK 5: SIDEREAL CALCULATION TABLES, Austin
* BOOK 6: ?
* BOOK 7: JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES, Firebrace
Brigadier Roy C. Firebrace, Editor, SPICA: A REVIEW OF
SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY (Quarterly), Vol. 1, No. 1, October 1961
through October 1974.
[A THIRTEEN YEAR PUBLICATION! During that time, Firebrace wrote
the Editorials as well as columns called "For New Students,"
"Thoughts On Astrology," and other essays. Firebrace also
contributed to American Astrology ("Birth of A Nation," July 1963)
and other magazines.]
After Firebrace's death, two more issues of SPICA were
published by ROSA through Nerak Enterprises, Orange, CA, in
October 1974 and January 1976.
Rupert Gleadow:
* THE ORIGIN OF THE ZODIAC Jonathan Cape LTD, London, UK, 1965
* THE ZODIAC REVEALED, Wilshire Book Co., North Hollywood, CA,
1972. (Also published as YOUR CHARACTER IN THE ZODIAC)
Gleadow's essays in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY MAGAZINE:
July 1950, "How To Predict--The Sidereal Method Of The Ancients"
August 1950, "The Zodiac In The Ancient World"
September 1950, (Translation of) "Michigan Astrological Papyrus"
October 1950, (Translation of) "Michigan Astrological Papyrus"
November 1950, "The Sidereal Zodiac"
January 1951, "The Reign Of King Baldwin Of Belgium"
June 1951, "The Future of China"
July 1951, "What's Next In Europe?"
March 1952, "Exalted Planets"
July 1952, "Conventions--Will Nomination Of Eisenhower Mean War?"
October 1952, "Our Next Presidest"
February 1953, "The Next Four Years (Inauguration Of Eisenhower)"
July 1955, "Can There Be Peace Over China?"
July 1957, "Comparisons Are Not Odorous"
April 1958, "Will Nixon Be Next?"
September 1958, "Future Of General De Gaulle"
January 1959, "Comparison Leads To Progress"
February 1959, "Princess Margaret"
March 1959, "What's Ahead For The Soviet Union?"
March 1960, "French Fifth Republic"
April 1960, "Future Of Japan In The 60's"
July 1960, "Thrasyllus, Ancient Astrologer"
August 1960, "Tony Marries The Princess"
February 1961, "The Way The World Goes"
March 1961, "Age Of Violent Conflict"
April 1961, "Age Of Common Sense"
August 1961, "Man Into Space"
December 1961, "Who Would Want To Be King?"
Gleadow's Essays in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY DIGEST:
"Accurate Predictions" 1968
"Thrasyllus" 1982
"The Age of Common Sense" 1983
Troy Allen Grossman, SEXASCOPES OF THE PRESIDENTS, DOUB LEO
Publications, New York, NY, 1980.
James Hynes, SYNETIC VERNAL POINT TABLES, Registry Of
Sidereal Astrologers, Placentia, CA, 1976.
Flemming Lee, YOUR HIDDEN HOROSCOPE (?)
Frances Littlejohn:
* SIMPLIFIED ASTROLOGY, Littlejohn Publications, Isabelle, MO,
1961.
* THE DUODENARY SYSTEM, Littlejohn Publications, Isabelle, MO,
(?)
* "The President's Stars," American Astrology Magazine,
Clancy Publications, Tucson, AZ., May 1972 - April 1973.
Gene Lockhart:
* LOCKHART'S SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS 1921-1959, Gene Lockhart Copyright
1974, USA.
* LOCKHART'S SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus
and Pluto, 1900-1999, (probably published by ROSA ?)
* SYNETIC VERNAL POINT EPHEMERIS 1800-1880, (?)
* 1977 SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS, (?)
Janice Mackey, Katherine Clark, Allen Gilchrist (Hugh
Jeffcoat) & Charles Dorminy, CONTEMPORARY SIDEREAL HOROSCOPES,
BOOK 1, Sidereal Research Publications, San Francisco, CA, 1976
John Mazurek:
* AN INTRODUCTION TO LUNAR MANSIONS, S.F. School of Sidereal
Astrology, San Francisco, CA, 1974.
* THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, S.F. School of Sidereal
Astrology, San Francisco, CA, 1974.
Neil F. Michelson,
* THE AMERICAN SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS 1976-2000, Astro-Computing
Service, San Diego, CA, 1981.
* THE AMERICAN SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS 2001-2025, Astro-Computing
Service, San Diego, CA, 1981.
Mike Magee, TANTRIC ASTROLOGY: A MANUAL OF SIDEREAL
ASTROLOGY, Sothis Publishing, United Kingdom, 1995.
OMEGA SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS, 1970 through 1980 (individual
years), Omega Associates, Chicago, IL.
Richard J. Ostrander: S.C.A.S.A. NEWSLETTERS #1-43, W.S.A.
RESEARCH, Yucaipa, CA., 1987-1991.
Carl Stahl, Solunar Research Publications, Bay City, MI:
* STAHL'S SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS FOR 1914
* STAHL'S SIDEREAL EPHEMERIS FOR 1919
* STAHL'S SIDEREAL EPHEMERIDE FOR 1960 - 1969 (individual years)
* STAHL'S OCTOSCOPE TABLE OF HOUSES
* STAHL'S TABLES OF ASCENSIONAL DIFFERENCES
* STAHL-ALLEN EPHEMERIS OF THE SYNETIC VERNAL POINT (1881 - 2000)
* THOUGHTS ON SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY, 1973.
* SOLUNAR RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS NEWSLETTER, Bay City, MI,
(?) 1973- (?) 1975.
* BEGINNER'S MANUAL OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY:
* BOOK I: INSTRUCTIONS FOR SETTING UP CHARTS, 1963, and revised
1969 with corrected S.V.P.
* BOOK II: NATAL INTERPRETATION, 1973.
* BOOK III: PROGRESSIONS, 1976.
Peter Stapleton:
* SIDEREAL TABLE OF HOUSES, La Casa Publications, Monrovia, CA,
1976.
* SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY, La Casa Publications, Monrovia, CA, 197?
* TRANSITS FOR EVERYDAY LIVING, La Casa Publications,
Monrovia, CA, 197?
* INSTANT ASTROLOGER, La Casa Publications, Monrovia, CA, 197?
Karen Wilkerson, Joan G. Piszek, James A. Eshelman, Editors:
* THE REGISTRY OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGERS, ROSA, Placentia, CA, 1975
[ROSA Founders & Directors: Joan G. Piszek & Karen Wilkerson;
Financial Manager, Stanley R. Piszek;
Ambassadors: Arthur H. Blackwell, Carol Lynne Conrad, Phyllis J.
Kneip, John Mazurek, Carl Stahl;
Consultants: Richard Adler, David Bennett, Kay M. Cavender,
Robert C. Donat, James Eshelman, Larry Herring, James Hynes, Hugh
Jeffcoat, K. M. Kharagat, Thomas Kushner, Frances Littlejohn,
Alexander Marr, Richard Murakami, Bob Paige, Willard Robinson,
Peter Stapleton, Tom Stanton, Frances Stearns.]
John Van Zandt, WORLD SIDEREAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION
NEWSLETTER, Highland Park, MI., Sept 1982 - June 1988 (20 issues)
* * * *
OTHER HELPFUL SOURCES:
Richard Hinckley Allen, STAR NAMES THEIR LORE AND MEANING,
Dover Publications Inc., New York, NY, 1963. (First published in
1899)
Vivian E. Robson BSc, THE FIXED STARS & CONSTELLATIONS IN
ASTROLOGY, Aquarian Press, London, 1969. (First published 1923)
* * * *
BOOKS PUBLISHED IN FRENCH:
Maurice Nouvel, LE VRAI ZODIAQUE EST SIDERAL. PARDES. 1991.
(Statistics comparing the two zodiacs).
Maurice Nouvel, LA STATISTIQUE AU SECOURS DE L'ASTROLOGIE.
(Statistics)
Denis Laboure, INITIATION A L'ASTROLOGIE SIDERALE. PARDES.
1986 (Textbook in the Fagan lineage).
Denis Laboure et Chantal Etienne, PREDIRE PAR LES REVOLUTIONS
SOLAIRES ET LUNAIRES. PARDES. 1988. (Sidereal solar and lunar
returns).
Atalane, LES NOEUDS DE LA LUNE, CLEF DE L'INTERPRETATION
ASTROLOGIQUE. LE ROCHER. 1987. (Reading the Moon's nodes in the
sidereal zodiac).
Wachsmuth, CIEL DE NAISSANCE ET CIEL DE MORT. TRIADES.
1976. Translated from German. (Comparison of the position of
planets in the birthchart and at the time of the death in the
sidereal framework. Anthroposophic style).
Jean Paul Besle, LA ROULETTE COSMIQUE. 1993. (Comparison of
the winning numbers at the national "loto" for 16 years and the
astrological positions at the time of the "tirage").
Dorsan, RETOUR AU ZODIAQUE DES ETOILES. DERVY. 1980.
(Popular presentation of the sidereal zodiac to the astrological
world)
* * * *
For the following Sidereal magazines, THE CONSTELLATIONS and THE SIDEREALIST, the authors listed were those who contributed more than once as specifically Sidereal Astrology writers in order
to keep the list manageable. Should anyone want to contribute a complete list of specifically SZ writers in alphabetic order, which means reading all the essays, I should be very glad to add them.
THE CONSTELLATIONS (Quarterly), Joan Piszek and Karen Wilkerson, Editors, Registry of Sidereal Astrology (ROSA), Monrovia, CA, 6 issues: Vol. 1, No. 1 (August 1975) through Nos. 9 & 10 combined (Fall 1977).
Writers: Anna-Kria, David Bennett, Arthur Blackwell, Jeri Blake, Jonnie Drapier, Gary Duncan, James A. Eshelman, John Hammelton, Andrew B. Howard (aka James A. Eshelman), James Hynes, K. M. Kharagat, Gene Lockhart, Rick Manning, John Mazurek, Don McIntosh, J. Paul Morris, Buz Overbeck, Joan Piszek, Willard Robinson, Carl Stahl, Peter Stapleton, James Valliere, John Van Zandt, Karen Wilkerson, Charles Zemont.
THE SIDEREALIST (Quarterly)., Norman Wm. Bones, Editor, Sidereal Registry and Exchange, Endwell, NY, Jan 1979 Vol. 1, No. 1 through Vol. 2, No. 2 in 1982 (6 issues).
Writers: Anna-Kria, Jeri Blake, Norman Wm. Bones, Kenneth Bowser, Lee Chapman, Sue Clay, James A. Eshelman, Robert Hurst Granite (aka Bert Bliss), Wilford H. Graves Jr., David Henry, Roscoe Hope (aka Paul Schure), James Hynes, William James, Royale Jills, Alexander Marr, Margaret Millard M.D., Buz Overbeck, Farrel L. Pyle, Carl Stahl, Teresa Weed, Thomas E. Wilson.
SPICA, A REVIEW OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY (Quarterly), Brigadier Roy C. Firebrace, Editor and Publisher; Mary Austin, Assistant Editor; London, October 1961-October 1974.
1960s Writers: Mary Austin, Helen Boyd, Esther Cleps, Cyril Fagan, Brigadier Roy C. Firebrace, Rupert Gleadow, Martin Harvey, Sri Rajagopala Iyer, Roger Jacobson, Chester Kemp, K. M. Kharagat, Frances Littlejohn, M.D. Monroe Mackenzie, Dorothy Mang-Lopez, Alexander Marr, Ella McMurray, Clifford L. Miller, Richard Murakami, Alfred Musselwhite, B. Neuman, Tom Oshta, Rick Ostrander, Robert W. Schefke, Carl Stahl, George Whitworth.
1970s Writers: Mary Austin, Arthur Blackwell, Helen Boyd, Kay Cavender, Esther Cleps, G.D. Crawford, Robert Donath, James A. Eshelman, Cyril Fagan, Brigadier Roy C. Firebrace, Rupert Gleadow, James Hynes, Chester Kemp, Barbara Herbert-Holmes, K. M. Kharagat, Thomas Kushner, Frances Littlejohn, Alexander Marr, Margaret Millard M.D., Richard Murakami, Tom Oshta, James Valliere, Marsha Valliere, David E. Whorten MAFA, Paul Cranfield Wing, Daman Xavier MAFA.
SPICA, A REVIEW OF SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY, Editors Karen Wilkerson and Joan G. Piszek, Nerak Enterprises, Orange, CA, Two Issues: October 1975 and January 1976.
Writers: Mary Austin, Robert C. Donat, Gary Duncan, James A. Eshelman, Barbara A. Jordison, Alexander Marr, Stella Mooney, Joan Piszek, J. E. Sunley, Karen Wilkerson.
* * * *
Sidereal Astrology Writers who contributed essays and/or
columns in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY MAGAZINE for the following decades.
Names in capital letters indicate continuous columns. Those who
sent letters to "Many Things" are regrettably not listed even
though some letters could have been featured as essays.
1950s: GARTH ALLEN, CYRIL FAGAN, Rupert Gleadow, Sri
Rajagopala Iyer, RICHARD MURAKAMI (Research Mathematican for "Many
Things"), G.C. Nixon, Rona de Thyge.
1960s: GARTH ALLEN, I. COWLEY, CYRIL FAGAN, Brigadier Roy C.
Firebrace, Rupert Gleadow, Sri Rajagopala Iyer, RICHARD MURAKAMI
(Research Mathematician for "Many Things"), A. Musselwhite, Rona
de Thyge.
1970s: Paul Albertson, GARTH ALLEN, Arthur Blackwell, David
Bennett, Jeri Blake, LEE CHAPMAN, I. COWLEY, James A. Eshelman,
CYRIL FAGAN, Rupert Gleadow, James Jason Frances, David Henry,
Roscoe Hope, KENNETH IRVING, John Kahila, P.P. Ketan, FRANCIS
LITTLEJOHN, GENE LOCKHARD, Margaret Millard M.D., Dr. William R.
Nethercut, Rick Ostrander, Farrel L. Pyle, L. NORMAN SMITH, N.
Smythe, Gloria Woodcock.
1980s: Arthur Blackwell, KEN BOWSER, LEE CHAPMAN, GARY
DUNCAN, James A. Eshelman, Bert Fannin, James Jason Francis,
I. Galleher, David Henry, Roscoe Hope, KENNETH IRVING, Caroline
Mattingly, Rick Ostrander, Farrel Pyle.
1990s: Robert Baumgartner, Ken Bowser, LEE CHAPMAN, Joan B.
Layne, Gary Noel, Rick Ostrander, VIVIAN QUICK.
[Kenneth Bowser & Bert Fannin have also written for The
Mountain Astrologer.]
**************
SZ ARCHIVES: An attempt to accumulate, document, and
preserve beginning writings in Sidereal Astrology both in Ireland
and the United States is being organized as the Cyril Fagan
Archive in Ireland and the Sidereal Astrology Archive in the USA;
both groups will share information on and writing by Cyril Fagan.
Any information and books to help put together the early concepts
and history will be greatly appreciated.
The CYRIL FAGAN ARCHIVE is being organized in Ireland by Bill
Sheeran, Editor of REALTA, Irish Astrological Association.
Documentation and contributions of Cyril Fagan's writings or
correspondence would be greatly appreciated, as well as specific
biographical information on Cyril Fagan.
THE CYRIL FAGAN ARCHIVE
c/o Bill Sheeran
The Liffey Arts Research Center
Victoria Bridge
Naas
Co. Kildare
Ireland
Email: [larc@iol.ie]
Similarly in the United States, THE SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY
ARCHIVE, USA is being organized by Ken Bowser. Documentation and
contributions of any Sidereal Astrology writing as well as
information on any authors will be gratefully accepted.
THE SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY ARCHIVE, USA
c/o Ken Bowser,
Email: [KBOWSER@delphi.com]
***************
Compiled by Kay Cavender
Copyright 1998 Jack S. Contreras.
Used by Permission of Jack S. Contreras.
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
This introduction to file [FIRST] in the archive Sidereal.zip includes a chronology of publishing "firsts" in Sidereal Astrology, especially by Cyril Fagan, the founder of modern Western Sidereal Astrology. This reflects an attempt to document and collect beginning writings in Sidereal Astrology.
SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY PUBLISHING "FIRSTS"
On FEBRUARY 17, 1944, Cyril Fagan first accepted the truth of Sidereal Astrology and within a week 'invented' the Sidereal Lunar Return, as reported by Brigadier R. C. Firebrace in his "Farewell
to Cyril Fagan," April 1970 SPICA. On APRIL 30, 1944, Fagan reported he first accepted the Sidereal Solar Return (viz. Fagan, April 1968 Spica). In 1947, possibly July*, Cyril Fagan first published on the Sidereal Zodiac in the USA in his 10 part series "THE INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS OF ASTROLOGY" in the AFA BULLETIN under editorship of Ernest Grant, the founder and first president of the AFA. In this series, Fagan announced the star constellation origin of the zodiac, as well as championing the
solar and lunar returns in the Sidereal Zodiac. By the time of this series, he considered the Sidereal origins of the zodiac a fact accomplished, and his focus was on sorting out delineation techniques.
[*The AFA has recently verified that August 1947 AFA Bulletin has Part 2 of Fagan's 10 part series "The Incidents and Accidents of Astrology" wherein Fagan first published on the SZ in the USA.
This implies that "Part 1" (if published consecutively, without division) would have been in the JULY 18, 1947 issue. Because the AFA Bulletins were published on the lunation (new moon), by pushing the envelope one might further infer a time of 04:15 AM GMT when the Sun and Moon were conjunct in Sidereal 00CAN42' which could be cast for Fagan's birth and location Dublin 6w15 53n21, as
well as for Washington D.C. where the American Federation of Astrologers was then located. [U.S. Capitol is 77w00'35.7" and 38n53'20.4"]
In 1947, Fagan also produced the first research paper for the AFA, Research Bulletin #1, "THE FUNDAMENTALS OF HOUSE DIVISION." Cyril Fagan also published the first Sidereal Ephemerides, 1947
and 1948.
There were 3 years between 1944 and 1947, and Fagan was a prolific thinker and writer at his peak. Because Fagan often published simultaneously in several places, he likely published abroad in Europe and India on the Sidereal Zodiac before 1947. In Part 9, June 7, 1948 of his 10 part AFA BULLETIN series, Fagan refers to a letter from Rupert Gleadow dated February 19, 1947, congratulating him on Part 8 "on the magnificent mystery revolution No. V (one of CF's mystery Solars or Lunars) which is terrific." Thus Fagan was already circulating the transcript well before it saw its first American publication in the (possibly *July 18) 1947 AFA Bulletin.
In JULY 1950 American Astrology, in the first essay therein on Sidereal Astrology, Rupert Gleadow refers to his own publication in (the then defunct) October 1948 "ASTROLOGICAL BULLETIN" of Bournemouth, England about a month before the American Presidential election, wherein Gleadow said he made a "completely categoric prediction" on the basis of the Solar Returns for President Truman's election. Fagan may have published in the same above source as Gleadow, or Dr. B. V. Raman's THE ASTROLOGICAL MAGAZINE in India, or others. For instance, WORLD ASTROLOGY, June
1940, Vol.4, No. 6, on its title page lists "Cyril Fagan, President, Irish Astrological Society, Dublin, Ireland" as one of the Board of Advisory Editors. These sources are not readily available in the United States but might be located abroad.
However, most probably Fagan would have published something in the prestigious Theosophical Society in Dublin, out of which he founded the Irish Astrological Society in 1922, and which (T.S.)
was the premises for the IAS meetings. The IAS was supported by his friend William Butler Yeats, Nobel Poet Laureate. Fagan said that he "taught Yeats astrology in his living room."
Fagan said to me with Pauline in the room smiling and agreeing with him, that on MAY 14, 1949, he made his greatest discovery--that of the origins of the HYPSOMATA or Exaltation degrees while dancing with his wife Pauline. One might suppose the time was evening. In 1950 Fagan published ZODIACS OLD AND NEW with his discoveries in archaeoastronomy, especially of the Exaltation origins as recorded in 786 B.C. in Babylon under Assyria. There was both an English and an American publication of ZODIACS, with additional text in the American publication. During this time he lived in Dublin. Notably Fagan also received recognition for this work presented to, I believe he said, the
Royal Society and British Academy in London.
In AUGUST 1950 American Astrology, Rupert Gleadow published a most lucid essay "THE ZODIAC IN THE ANCIENT WORLD" (below) on the origins of the 'first' astrology as anchored to the stars, not to
the equinoxes. Gleadow was a history and language scholar who translated from original sources in classical Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphics. Gleadow's was the first actual 'first' essay in American Astrology (JULY 1950) on Sidereal Astrology and was entitled "How To Predict--The Sidereal Method of the Ancients" on the superior use of the Sidereal Solar Return with presidential elections and President Truman.
The same July 1950 issue of American Astrology "Many Things" column included Fagan's letter on Solar Returns [see file SOLAR100] dated May 21, 1950, titled "Solar Revolution." Fagan used the same quote in this letter also in the earlier 1947-8 AFA series. However, after this time Fagan had a correspondence for several months with the Editor of American Astrology "too voluminous to include" as to the validity of the Sidereal Zodiac, some of which as reported in the column "Many Things" beginning in January 1951. Fagan convinced Editor Clancy.
Another major siderealist, Donald Bradley, or Garth Allen as he was known astrologically, who was Research Director of The Llewellyn Foundation for Astrological Research in Los Angeles, was also convinced before 1950 of the efficacy of the Sidereal Zodiac. Gary Duncan was an associate of Bradley's and collaborated with him on the research for Bradley/Allen's PROFESSION AND BIRTHDATE,
A Statistical Analysis of Planetary Positions At The Birthdates of 2492 Eminent Clergyman. According to Gary Duncan's "Some Historical Notes" in the first CONSTELLATIONS of August 1975, they worked on the data for some three years prior to that time, and they had approached that data scientifically as statisticians. Duncan says that it was due to their work with the clergy's birthdata that they were forced to realize the Tropical Zodiac was not significant statistically. "It came as a shock, however, when the initial data reduction of the solar longitudes showed no preference for the Tropical signs of Sagittarius or Pisces. And, when the Chi-square test showed that the Tropical coordinate system lacked the strength of several other choices...we knew our thinking needed to be re-examined. Certainly the works of Fagan were well known to us both at that time, but it was not until the statistical results of the clergyman study were known that Bradley and I were faced with making a revolutionary change in our fundamental methods." Duncan says that they had also corresponded
with Fagan. Duncan's essay is included in Sidereal.zip, file [AYANAMSA].
Donald Bradley's SOLAR AND LUNAR RETURNS was also published in 1950, which included a complete ephemeris of the Vernal Point 1849 to 1960 and incorporated Fagan's concepts with respect to the Solar and Lunar Returns in the Sidereal Zodiac. This astrological treatise was significant for many reasons, but one of them was Bradley's very clear focus on LOCALITY ANGLES AND CHARTS. By page 14, Bradley says, "All transits are referred to the nativity equated to the locality rather than to the birthplace, unless no change of residence or position has taken place." This book prominently featured examples of events indicated as significant because of the locality angles, which became a staple of Western Sidereal Astrology. (Bradley as Garth Allen wrote for nearly 20 years for American Astrology as well.)
Brigadier R. C. Firebrace in London followed suit with the locality angles in his research reported in SPICA. In Volume 1, No. 2, JANUARY 1962 SPICA, Editor Firebrace presented an essay on "The Capricorn Ingress" which featured a world map showing where the planets were angular over the whole world, with the planetary Meridians in drawn blue (MC-IC), and the planetary Horizons drawn
in red (Ascendant-Descendant). This locality map was drawn by and had a copyright by Mary Austin, the Associate Editor of SPICA, and was the first sidereal publication of a world map showing locality angles.
Gary Duncan, an important statistical research astrologer of this century and an associate of Garth Allen, became convinced of the validity of the Sidereal Zodiac because of his statistical research. According to a memorial essay by Michael Erlewine On Matrix Space website, Duncan helped develop "advanced lunar equations used by NASA for space work while working at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena" and he was proud "that he was the first astrologer to produce astro-geography maps on a computer in the 1950's." Duncan's astro-geography maps were later published in Llewellyn's MOON SIGN BOOK in 1966. According to Duncan's essay "Some Historical Notes" published in the first issue of R.O.S.A.'s CONSTELLATIONS, August 1975, he supplied the Synodic Ephemeris used by Donald Bradley/Garth Allen and his co-workers on rainfall research.
Tropicalist Jim Lewis, who in 1975 created the computer service Astro*Carto*Graphy to show where natal planets were angular over the whole world, studied with Donald A. Bradley and dedicated his book in 1976 on angular planets called ASTRO*CARTO*GRAPHY to Bradley. Lewis' work on Astro*Carto*Graphy earned him the Marc Edmund Jones Award for the outstanding contribution to astrology, but the concept came from siderealists and was first used by siderealists.
In JULY 1953 American Astrology, Cyril Fagan's first essay in his 17 year "SOLUNARS" series (below) dealt with Tropical vs. Sidereal Solunars again in terms of "the incidents and accidents of astrology," the same theme as his first SZ series. This first "Solunars" essay was a reprint from 1953 issue Annual Number of The Astrological Magazine of Bangalore, India, as were the next three issues of "Solunars," September through November 1953. August 1953 was the only skipped issue of 200 consecutive "Solunars" from July 1953 through March 1970, nearly 17 years.
(Fagan's very first essay in American Astrology on "The Horoscope of Jesus Christ" was published in April 1953, as republished from its precursor, THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ASTROLOGY, Winter Issue, 1937. In his essay, Christ's chart was in the Tropical Zodiac framework, which was then off only a few degrees from the Sidereal Zodiac. Subtracting SPICA's positions as calculated by Fagan for then--25VIRGO55', from now--29VIRGO06' with Garth Allen's 06'05" SVP correction, gives 3°11' difference
in the zodiacs for Christ's time, which difference did not exist for the ancients since their astrology was sidereal. Another extraordinary research paper by Fagan titled "THE EMPEROR NERO" was published before the above in 1936 Autumn Edition of The American Journal of Astrology, and was of course then also in the Tropical measurement of the zodiac.
One might say that the first SOLUNARS essays written 'specifically' for American Astrology were in December 1953 and January 1954; these were rewritten from Fagan's ZODIACS OLD AND NEW. The topic was Fagan's identification of 'first' ancient calendar dates which are dependent on reading the ancient Egyptian decans as PENTADS (as 5 day divisions, another of CF's significant discoveries). These FIRST calendar dates were:
the HARAKHTE EPOCH, for the moment of Spica's heliacal rising
at Heliopolis (later determined to occur not in September, but)
on July 15, 3130 B.C., which was New Year's Day of The Ancients;
and the SOTHIC EPOCH, July 16 (O.S.) 2767 B.C., the horoscope
for the moment of Sirius' heliacal rising at Heliopolis, New Year's Day.
Fagan also published the January 1954 SOLUNARS issue on the Sothic Cycle simultaneously in Professor B.V. Raman's ASTROLOGICAL MAGAZINE, Bangalore, India under the title "The Most Ancient
Horoscope in the World." (viz. Fagan, "Solunars," 7/1969 A.A.).
Of the latter SOTHIC EPOCH, Fagan says (in 7/1969 American Astrology under the heading "Tomb of Imhotep") that this beginning of the Sothic Cycle is enshrined as the World's Most Ancient
Horoscope (another 'first'): "Inscribed in hieroglyphic characters on the walls of Egyptian death chambers a mysterious chart of the heavens was frequently found....Many such were found in royal tombs and in those of high officials of different dynasties. Although differing in decorative details all copies were essentially the same....In short, they were copies of the horoscope for the beginning of a Sothic Cycle (Sothis, Greek for Sirius)....Styling copies of the diagrams as "Charts of Eternity"
and deeming them to have magical properties, the Egyptians inscribed them on tomb walls as talismans to insure for the deceased an eternity of happiness in the afterworld." These topics are also presented in Fagan's posthumous 1971 ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS.
It should be noted also that Fagan also wrote another unique series under the name I. COWLEY in American Astrology (February 1966 - March 1970) using the Lunar Return on "THE PRESIDENT'S
OUTLOOK." Brigadier R. C. Firebrace credited Fagan with 'inventing' the Lunar Return. In April 1978 SPICA, Fagan specifically addressed the modus operandi of "Interpreting The Lunar Return." As examples of key points he emphasized on the Lunar, Fagan says, "Moreover as the chart is purely mundane in character, zodiacal (ecliptical) aspects do not apply in it at all. But as the mundane conjunction and opposition more or less tally with their zodiacal counterparts, these latter may be taken into consideration as well as the zodiacal square when it approximates in value to its mundane equivalent." "As the Moon is the prime significator in the Solar Return so is the Sun the prime
significator in the Lunar Return. Close mundane aspects of the current (transiting) planets to the Sun should be considered as being angular."
Concerning astrological references to Fagan's life, the October 1956 "MANY THINGS" column in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY consisted of Fagan's responses to questions. These include several of the
few specific references about Fagan by Fagan in American Astrology. Regarding the founding of the Irish Astrological Society in 1922 and later of his acceptance of the Sidereal Zodiac in 1944, he says, "...for in regard to transits to the Midheaven and Ascendant, transits 'in mundo' are alone valid. When in 1922 Uranus transited in opposition to my natal Ascendant, the IRISH ASTROLOGICAL SOCIETY was founded, and I had the honor to be elected its first president; and the transit of Uranus over my Midheaven in 1944 synchronized with the discovery of the ancient Egypto-Babylonian zodiac...." (Regarding the inauguration of the Irish Astrological Society, in his 8/1966 "Solunars," Fagan mentions the inauguration date as February 7, 1922, apparent noon at Dublin.)
Also in October 1956 "MANY THINGS," in regard to his beginning experience with astrology in 1916, and referring to his prophecy (14 years ahead of time) made at the IAS in 1923 regarding who would be crowned king, Fagan says: "...The effects of the fixed stars that compose the constellations may be considered statically, because they are relatively static; but to comprehend the influences of the planets, they must be thought of in terms that rightly apply to them, namely dynamically. They signify processes, movement, action, challenge and response, the mutations of consciousness that "...arise and pass away..." Thus Venus signifies the movement of affection, Mars of passion, Neptune of entrancement and so forth. My experience, which dates from the beginning of 1916, when E.S.C. [author of the letter to whom Fagan was responding] was still an infant in arms, demonstrated to me that directions to the conjunction, square or opposition of Jupiter synchronized with increased status, honors, emoluments, distinctions, the winning of prizes, the conferring of academic degrees and the like, precisely as taught by the ancient masters; but I cannot recall a single case where they tallied with distant travel, unless directions to the Moon were also involved. The prophecy made at a public lecture, held in September 1923, under the auspices of the Irish Astrological Society, with the late Dr. W. B. Yeats (Nobel Prize) in the chair, that the, then, Duke of
York would be crowned King of England in the summer of 1937, was based on the direction of the Sun to the opposition of Jupiter retrograde."
* * * * *
Included in this file [FIRST], Rupert Gleadow's 1950 and Cyril Fagan's 1953 "first" essays in AMERICAN ASTROLOGY, respectively on star constellation origins and on Solunars, are still interesting
and instructive. Many of the delineation ideas which were clarified and should have been discarded are still with us--"good and bad" aspects, signs and their element associations, horary house rulerships, etc.
One primary question about Fagan's thinking: besides the
Solunars (Solar and Lunar Returns) as predictive tools, what
particular issue "FIRST" convinced Fagan of the validity of the
Sidereal Zodiac? A subject dealt with in Fagan's first series in
the 1947-8 AFA BULLETIN suggests itself. PART 8 of "The INCIDENTS
AND ACCIDENTS OF ASTROLOGY" deals with and is titled "THE
AYANAMSHA." Fagan's beginning definition: "Ayanamsha, i.e., the
number of degrees of the ecliptic that separate the regressing
vernal equinox from the first point of ASVINI--the first asterism
of the Hindu Zodiac--at any given time." According to his
references, Fagan had been intensively researching this topic
about the same time as he accepted the Sidereal zodiac. For
example, in Part 8 of his first SZ series, Fagan has a specific
reference to Robert DeLuce's article in the "APRIL 1944" AFA
Bulletin also titled "Ayanamsha" for the calculation of the
Ayanamsha due to Spica's (Alpha Virginis) vs. Revati's (Zeta
Piscium) ecliptic position.
Fagan's Part 8: "THE AYANAMSHA" is below. Also below, Fagan's
later 1952 AFA essay "THE AQUARIAN AGE" adds significant
conclusions to the argument over the marking place of the Hindu
lunar asterisms. One may suppose in a general way that in
addition to precession, every other answer in Sidereal Astrology
involves SPICA.
See also related files [WHAT_AGE] and [AYANAMSA]. The issue
is--precession--a matter of astronomical fact.
* * * * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Taurus
[TAURUS] Below, see sections from Cyril Fagan's ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS
and ZODIACS OLD AND NEW for historical information on the original
Egyptian zodiac to distinquish between
<A> the occurrence of the (precessing/changing) equinoxes as when in
Taurus (Taurean Era), and
<B> the original divisions of the zodiac, 0 LIB-ARI, 0 CAP-CAN.
When writing, Fagan does not make this distinction clear, although it
would be clear to a few scholars who had the same encyclopedic
background he did.
* * * *
EXCERPTS on STAR CONSTELLATION TAURUS
Cyril Fagan, ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, 1971
"Stella Dominatrix"
...The remarkable thing to note about these lunar mansions is that in
remote antiquity the Arabic and Indian versions commenced with the
asterism of Pleiades at the beginning of the constellation TAURUS,
while the Chinese began with Spica. Thus the Arabic manzils began with
Al Thurayya, "The Many Little Ones," the Hindu nakshatras with
Krittika, "General of Celestial Armies," while the Chinese sieux
commenced with Kio, "The Spike" or Spica. It would appear that at a
later date the Chinese sieux commenced with Mao, "The Constellation,"
which was their asterism for the Pleiades (vide R.H. Allen: Star Names
and Vivian Robson: The Fixed Stars and Constellations.)
These asterisms were immediately followed by the manzil AL Dabaran
an Arabic word that mean "The Follower." But Professor S. Langdon
demurs. He writes, "...al-dabaranu surely means 'the writer' or 'the
forecaster; and not 'the one who follows after,' the meaning commonly
given in English lexicons 'because it follows the Pleiades' i.e., rises
after Pleiades" and refers to the fact that in the Cuneiform Tablets in
the British Museum, Aldebaran is styled isu li-e, Star of the Tablet.
(Babylonian Menologies and the Semitic Calendars, 1935)
As already stated, Garth Allen's decisive and historical
determination of the mean sidereal longitude of the vernal point for
the epoch 1950.0 puts Adebaran, for the epoch 786 B.C., the year of the
Hyposomata, in the precise mathematical center of the constellation
TAURUS, and Antares almost in the precise mathematical center of the
opposite constellation Scorpio (actually 15deg02'). Both stars are of
the first magnitude and ecliptically they are in partile opposition to
one another. The Arabs called Aldebaran 'Ain al Thaur, the Greeks
'Omma Boos and the Romans Oculus Tauri, all meaning "the Bull's Eye."
In the Greco-Roman star atlases (c.600 B.C.) only the bull's head and
forelegs are depicted, thus putting the Bull's Eye in the dead center
of that constellation. To this day the expression "Bull's Eye" means
the mathematical center. In the Egyptian Celestial Diagrams, as they
are called, of the New Empire (c.1500-1200 B.C.), it was usual for the
scribes to represent the star by five-pointed devices classified as
determinatives, but in one of the Ramesside diagrams Aldebaran is shown
as an eight-pointed star of unusual proportions. In the classical
period it was known to the Romans as Stella Dominatrix, "The Master
Star," not because of its brilliance--Sirius and Canopus far outshone
it--but because, in Taurus 15 00' 00", it became the master key star of
the zodiac; otherwise known as the zodiac's master fiducial,
determinative, or marking star. In antiquity all ecliptical longitudes
were measured from it or from its opposite, Antares in Scorpio, and its
position shows that the oldest and hence authentic zodiac began with
Taurus 0deg00', at the beginning of the asterism which contained the
Pleiades....
* * * *
Cyril Fagan, ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, 1971
"Bull's Eye Astrology"
Assuming that Aldebaran in the mathematical center of the
constellation Taurus was the original and hence authentic determinant
of the sidereal zodiac, then calculation discloses that the mean vernal
point retrograded into the 30th degree of this constellation in April
4152 B.C. when, theoretically, the Taurean Age began. By an
astonishing coincidence it almost simultaneously came to the precise
conjunction with Gamma Tauri, a star of the third magnitude, at the tip
of the Bull's South Horn. This star was known to the Chinese by the
suggestive title Tien Kwan, the "Heavenly Gate," and to the Arabs as Al
Hecka the "Driver." The actual date of the conjunction was 4151 B.C.,
and hence there was just a year between the two phenomena, which is
remarkably close. Slowly retreating through that constellation, the
vernal equinoctial point, forming its ecliptic conjunction with
Aldebaran itself in 3058 B.C., did not leave it until 1955 B.C. when it
entered the 30th degree of Aries....But the great point to note and
remember is that during the first two thousand years or so of recorded
history, when the vernal equinox was receding through it, Taurus was
the first of the zodiacal constellations and Aries the last!.... among
the Romans of the Aries age (1955 B.C. to 221 A.D.) when the vernal
point was gliding backwards through that constellation, Taurus was
still hailed as Princeps armenti or leader of the zodiacal herd!
* * *
[NOTE: Above, in ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, Fagan talks of the key
constellation marking stars as the empirical standard; and particularly
he talks of earliest records of the the star "Bull's Eye" in the exact
middle of Taurus, which was the "zodiacal leader" of the constellations
when the equinoxes occurred in Taurus. Earliest "recorded" history
from which we have evidence comes from this equinoctial epoch, the
Taurean Age. Of course, there were many key stars throughout the whole
heavenly sphere, which had different associations. Please see
following sections from Cyril Fagan's earlier ZODIACS OLD AND NEW for
historical information on the original Egyptian zodiac to distinquish
between
<A> the occurrence of the (precessing/changing) equinoxes as when in
Taurus (Taurean Era), and
<B> the original divisions of the zodiac, 0 LIB-ARI, 0 CAP-CAN.
When writing, Fagan does not make this distinction clear, although it
would be clear to a few scholars who had the same encyclopedic
background he did.
* * * *
Cyril Fagan, ZODIACS OLD AND NEW, 1951
"The Premier constellation"
[P. 29] Because the new-moon of Nisan, which commenced the New
Year, was seen among the stars of Aries from B.C. 2000 to early
Christian times, this constellation was assumed to be the first of the
twelve. But this was not always the case. For some 2000 years prior
to this, the Neomenia appeared among the stars of Taurus when it was
considered as the premier constellation. It was during this Taurean
era that the Kali-Yuga commenced. Then the nakshatra (Hindu lunar
mansion) Kritika, having the Pleiades (Taurus 5 degrees) as its
yogatara (chief star) was the first of the 28 lunar asterisms. But
when the Neomenia fell in the beginning of Aries the nakshatra Asvini
with Sharatan (Aries 9 degrees) as its yogatara, became the leader.
Since the beginning of the Christian era the Neomenia, or new-moon
of Easter (crescent), has been falling in the constellation Pisces, and
will continue to do so for another 500 years. HENCE PISCES IS NOW THE
LEADING CONSTELLATION. About A.D. 2369 the spring-point will recede
into the end of Aquarius when the Aquarian age will commence.
A similar situation existed in regard to Egyptian astronomy. The
native year, being one of 365 days, without any provision for the
intercalation of a leap-day, could not keep in step with either the
sidereal or tropical year, but receded one day (or one degree) in every
four years. In consequence the sidereal longitude of the sun on New
Year's Day (1st Thoth) changed constellations once every 118 or 120
years. In the year A.D. 17 when the Denderah zodiacs were designed,
the sun was in Leo on the 1st Thoth, so that the Lion was then
considered by the Egyptians as being the first of the constellations,
and it is so shown in the circular zodiac. But in 137 when the Esneh
calendar was framed, the sun was in Libra 5 on the 1st Thoth, hence
Libra was then considered the first of the constellations. (See O.
Neugebauer, Egyptian Planetary Texts, in transactions of the American
Philosophical Society, 32, 1942, p 246.) But Virgo was the leading
sign of the Esneh zodiacs, for in both it was the first to rise. This
fact is symbolised by the figure of a female sphinx having the head and
breasts of a woman (Virgo) and the hinderparts and tail of a lion (Leo)
denoting that the zodiac commenced with Virgo and ended with Leo. From
about 116 B.C. to the beginning of the Christian era the Sun was in the
constellation Virgo on the 1st Thoth.
.... The vernal-equinox did not leave the constellation Taurus
until 1963 B.C. when it regressed into the 30th degree of the
constellation Aries (not coming to its beginning until 213 A.D.) BUT
THE MONUMENTS PRIOR TO THAT TIME SHOW THE ZODIAC TERMINATING WITH THE
MIDNIGHT CULMINATION OF SPICA AND BENETNASCH--"THE STRETCHED CORD"--
when the Sun was in the last degree of sidereal Pisces. The inclusion
of the ideogram for linking the final pentade (No 18) of the
constellation Pisces in the dekan-list from the IX and X Heracleopolite
dynasty coffin-lids (circa 2300 B.C.) ...[occurs] at least as early as
the Middle Empire.... Incidentally this confirms the sidereal origin
of the zodiac and shows that its initial point was determined quite
independently of "Aries 0 degrees" of the tropical zodiac....
[p. 15] In the famous Theban star-calendars of the Ramesside kings
(20th Dynasty) Arcturus and Spica form the constellation MENYET, the
"Mooring Peg," with the point or Spike in Spica. In all the celestial
diagrams from the XVIII dynasty down to Roman times that adorn the
inside of the Coffin lids or the ceilings of sarcophagi, Isis, the
mother of the gods, is shown as an erect female hippopatamus, styled
Hesamut, "Mother of the Cord." In her hands she holds Menyet, the
"Mooring Peg," to which is attached a cord stretching from Aka, the
"hoof" of Meskhetyew, the "Bull's Foreleg." This constellation is
identical with Ursa Major, "Great Bear," and the "hoof" star is
Benetnasch (Eta Ursae Majoris). In B.C. 2791 Benetnasch and Spica
formed their conjunction in right ascension 9h. 18m. 32s., culminating
at apparent midnight on March 1st when the Sun entered the
constellation Sr.t (Seret) the "Sheep" (Aries). Benetnasch's
declination was then N 74D 54' and Spica's N 14D 19', a difference of
over 60 degrees, hence an arc of a great circle of the sphere passing
through them and produced in both directions divided the heavens into
two equal parts, cutting through Thuban (Alpha Draconis) THE THEN POLE
STAR, and at right angles to Sirius. According to the generally
accepted chronology this was the time of the IV dynasty, the age of
Sneferu, Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus, the great pyramid-builders.
One of the most important ceremonies in the foundation of Egyptian
temples was known as Pedjeshes (Pedj--"to stretch," Shes--"a cord")
and it forms the subject of one of the chief monumental ornaments in
the temples of Abydos, Heliopolis, Denderah, and Edfu. The reigning
pharaoh and a priestess personifying Seshat, the goddess of writing,
proceeded to the site, each armed with a golden mallet and a PEG
connected by a cord to another PEG. Seshat having driven her peg home
at the previously prepared spot, the king directed his gaze to the
constellation of the Bull's Foreleg (this constellation is identical
with Ursa Major, "Great Bear," and the "hoof" star is Benetnasch, Eta
Ursae majoris). Having aligned the cord to the "hoof" and Spica as
seen through the visor formed by Seshat's curious headdress, he raised
his mallet and drove the peg home, thus marking the position of the
axis of the future temple.
As a result of his review of Dr. Gunter-Martiny's work on the survey
of Assyrian sancturies, Professor P. V. Neugebauer, (Observatory at the
Rechen-Institut in Berlin-Dahlem), discovered that all Assyrian
Temples, from B.C. 2930 to B.C. 603, whose foundation dates were
recorded, were ORIENTED AT DAWN ON 1ST NISAN TO THE POINT OF
INTERSECTION WITH THE HORIZON OF A GREAT CIRCLE OF THE SPHERE, PASSING
THROUGH BENETNASCH AND SPICA, exactly the same circle that figures in
the Egyptian ceremony of the Pedjeshes. There can therefore be no
doubt that for the ancient peoples of Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria,
Spica was their chief marking-star....
(p. 18) Spica in Libra 0d0' or in Virgo 29d0'
When I first discovered that Spica was the original fiducial or
marking star of the ancient zodiac, I naturally assumed that it was
placed diametrically opposite to the initial point of the zodiac, Aries
0.0 degrees, that is, in Libra 0D 0' (180 degrees) especially so as in
the Soma, Surya, Vriddha-Vasishta and Brahma siddhantas--the ancient
Sanscrit works on astronomy--the longitude of Chitra (Spica) is given
as 180 degrees--albeit these were expressed in polar longitudes.
The graph [not reprinted on wordprocessor] however, makes it clear
that the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians considered Spica as being in
Virgo 29.0 degrees and not in Libra 0.0 degrees. This accords better
with tradition which always associated the "Spike of Corn" as being in
the agricultural Virgo. Nowhere in the literature of antiquity is
Spica associated with Libra.
Oddly enough the Egyptians did not consider mnit (Menyet) the
"Mooring-Peg" as beginning the zodiac, BUT AS ENDING IT. Having
crossed the celestial Nile, the boats of the planetary gods were
brought to rest and moored to the "peg." The root mn (men) means "to
be at rest" "to be secure" "to be immovable" "to be motionless (as in
death)." The west was called Amentet, the "place of rest or death,"
"the hidden place," and the portal to the Duat or Underworld.
It is only necessary to deduct precisely one degree from all
longitudes computed from Spica in Libra 0.0 degrees to reduce them to
the hypsomatic zodiac (Spica in Virgo 29.0 degrees).
* * *
NOTE: Regarding the division of the star constellation zodiac into 4
quarters at 0 degrees LIBRA-ARIES and 0 degrees CANCER-CAPRICORN:
Fagan's ZODIACS OLD AND NEW, a study in archaeoastronomy written prior
to 1951, generally accords with Garth Allen's statistical work done
with CAPLUNARS (or the LUNAR CAPRICORN INGRESS) for earthquakes and
other disasters. Allen found a correction of 06'05" to be added to the
fiducial stars, thus correcting the sidereal framework by that
amount, as to the Spica fiducial at 29 Virgo, which gives 29VIR06'05"
See file called [APEX] for Cyril Fagan's 8/56 Essay called "Cosmic
Division" in his Solunars series in American Astrology. In that essay,
he makes reference to other of Garth Allen's statistic studies
validating the natural cosmic division of the star constellation zodiac
known to the Babylonians and Egyptians.
* * * *
* * * * * * *
* * * * * * *
______________________________________________________________________
CYRIL FAGAN [May 22, 1896, Dublin, IRE., 12:25 pm = data given by
Pauline Fagan to Kay Cavender as the data Cyril used]
Fagan's biography from a bookcover: Born into a well-known medical
family in Dublin, Ireland, Cyril Fagan was educated at Belvedere and
Castleknock Colleges. Prevented from following in the family tradition
through almost totally impaired hearing since childhood, he turned his
acutely enquiring mind to other things, many and varied, finally
deciding to make the betterment of the subject he loved the most
astrology, his life's work.
Dissatisfied with all available material on the subject, he decided
to set out and find the answers for himself. He combed the libraries
of many of the capitals of Europe and soon concluded that a working
knowledge of astronomy and Egyptology was essential if the embryo of
astrology was to be unearthed. These he mastered alone as he had done
everything else. He has lived in many places over the years including
Wales, London, Spain, Morocco, and the USA, and has traveled throughout
most of Europe and some of Canada.
Works include Astrological Origins; Zodiacs, Old and New; A Primer
of Sidereal Astrology; Symbolism of the Constellations; and a monthly
contribution to American Astrology, "Solunars." See also articles in
American Astrology under his pseudonym, Ian Cowley.
Cyril Fagan was President/Founder of the Irish Astrological Society,
and a Fellow of the American Federation of Astrologers; a Fellow of the
Federation of British Astrologers; and a Komandoro of the Universal
Order of Antares (Trieste).
The most momentous and revolutionary astrological discovery of all
time was made in 1948 by Cyril Fagan, the well-known astrologer and
Egyptian scholar. He discovered that the historical exaltation degrees
of the zodiac originated in 786 B.C. and that all these degrees were
expressed in terms of the zodiac of the constellations and not of the
signs. This led him into a whole series of further discoveries which
are equally important to the archeologist, the chronologist, the
historian, and the astrologer.
First and foremost, he found that the so-called Egyptian decans were
in fact pentades or 5-day star groups, a discovery that immediately led
to the identification of most of them. He also solved the precise date
of the Inauguration of the famous Sothic Cycle as well as dating the
zodiacs of Esna and Denderah.
OTHER SIDEREALISTS:
RUPERT GLEADOW (data from inside of his book he autographed; and I
suspect MER culminates rather than SUN): 22 NOV 1909, 11:55 am,
Leicester, England.
BRIGADIER ROY C. FIREBRACE (publisher of SPICA, A SIDEREAL JOURNAL)
(sent to me by Brigadier Firebrace): 16 AUG 1889; 5:00 pm InterColonial
or Atlantic time (-4h 14' 20"); Halifax, Nova Scotia 63w35, 44n38'
GARTH ALLEN (Donald Bradley): (from American Astrology): 16 MAY
1925; 2:04 am CST; 40n21' 97w35' Nebraska
and ZODIACS OLD AND NEW for historical information on the original
Egyptian zodiac to distinquish between
<A> the occurrence of the (precessing/changing) equinoxes as when in
Taurus (Taurean Era), and
<B> the original divisions of the zodiac, 0 LIB-ARI, 0 CAP-CAN.
When writing, Fagan does not make this distinction clear, although it
would be clear to a few scholars who had the same encyclopedic
background he did.
* * * *
EXCERPTS on STAR CONSTELLATION TAURUS
Cyril Fagan, ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, 1971
"Stella Dominatrix"
...The remarkable thing to note about these lunar mansions is that in
remote antiquity the Arabic and Indian versions commenced with the
asterism of Pleiades at the beginning of the constellation TAURUS,
while the Chinese began with Spica. Thus the Arabic manzils began with
Al Thurayya, "The Many Little Ones," the Hindu nakshatras with
Krittika, "General of Celestial Armies," while the Chinese sieux
commenced with Kio, "The Spike" or Spica. It would appear that at a
later date the Chinese sieux commenced with Mao, "The Constellation,"
which was their asterism for the Pleiades (vide R.H. Allen: Star Names
and Vivian Robson: The Fixed Stars and Constellations.)
These asterisms were immediately followed by the manzil AL Dabaran
an Arabic word that mean "The Follower." But Professor S. Langdon
demurs. He writes, "...al-dabaranu surely means 'the writer' or 'the
forecaster; and not 'the one who follows after,' the meaning commonly
given in English lexicons 'because it follows the Pleiades' i.e., rises
after Pleiades" and refers to the fact that in the Cuneiform Tablets in
the British Museum, Aldebaran is styled isu li-e, Star of the Tablet.
(Babylonian Menologies and the Semitic Calendars, 1935)
As already stated, Garth Allen's decisive and historical
determination of the mean sidereal longitude of the vernal point for
the epoch 1950.0 puts Adebaran, for the epoch 786 B.C., the year of the
Hyposomata, in the precise mathematical center of the constellation
TAURUS, and Antares almost in the precise mathematical center of the
opposite constellation Scorpio (actually 15deg02'). Both stars are of
the first magnitude and ecliptically they are in partile opposition to
one another. The Arabs called Aldebaran 'Ain al Thaur, the Greeks
'Omma Boos and the Romans Oculus Tauri, all meaning "the Bull's Eye."
In the Greco-Roman star atlases (c.600 B.C.) only the bull's head and
forelegs are depicted, thus putting the Bull's Eye in the dead center
of that constellation. To this day the expression "Bull's Eye" means
the mathematical center. In the Egyptian Celestial Diagrams, as they
are called, of the New Empire (c.1500-1200 B.C.), it was usual for the
scribes to represent the star by five-pointed devices classified as
determinatives, but in one of the Ramesside diagrams Aldebaran is shown
as an eight-pointed star of unusual proportions. In the classical
period it was known to the Romans as Stella Dominatrix, "The Master
Star," not because of its brilliance--Sirius and Canopus far outshone
it--but because, in Taurus 15 00' 00", it became the master key star of
the zodiac; otherwise known as the zodiac's master fiducial,
determinative, or marking star. In antiquity all ecliptical longitudes
were measured from it or from its opposite, Antares in Scorpio, and its
position shows that the oldest and hence authentic zodiac began with
Taurus 0deg00', at the beginning of the asterism which contained the
Pleiades....
* * * *
Cyril Fagan, ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, 1971
"Bull's Eye Astrology"
Assuming that Aldebaran in the mathematical center of the
constellation Taurus was the original and hence authentic determinant
of the sidereal zodiac, then calculation discloses that the mean vernal
point retrograded into the 30th degree of this constellation in April
4152 B.C. when, theoretically, the Taurean Age began. By an
astonishing coincidence it almost simultaneously came to the precise
conjunction with Gamma Tauri, a star of the third magnitude, at the tip
of the Bull's South Horn. This star was known to the Chinese by the
suggestive title Tien Kwan, the "Heavenly Gate," and to the Arabs as Al
Hecka the "Driver." The actual date of the conjunction was 4151 B.C.,
and hence there was just a year between the two phenomena, which is
remarkably close. Slowly retreating through that constellation, the
vernal equinoctial point, forming its ecliptic conjunction with
Aldebaran itself in 3058 B.C., did not leave it until 1955 B.C. when it
entered the 30th degree of Aries....But the great point to note and
remember is that during the first two thousand years or so of recorded
history, when the vernal equinox was receding through it, Taurus was
the first of the zodiacal constellations and Aries the last!.... among
the Romans of the Aries age (1955 B.C. to 221 A.D.) when the vernal
point was gliding backwards through that constellation, Taurus was
still hailed as Princeps armenti or leader of the zodiacal herd!
* * *
[NOTE: Above, in ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, Fagan talks of the key
constellation marking stars as the empirical standard; and particularly
he talks of earliest records of the the star "Bull's Eye" in the exact
middle of Taurus, which was the "zodiacal leader" of the constellations
when the equinoxes occurred in Taurus. Earliest "recorded" history
from which we have evidence comes from this equinoctial epoch, the
Taurean Age. Of course, there were many key stars throughout the whole
heavenly sphere, which had different associations. Please see
following sections from Cyril Fagan's earlier ZODIACS OLD AND NEW for
historical information on the original Egyptian zodiac to distinquish
between
<A> the occurrence of the (precessing/changing) equinoxes as when in
Taurus (Taurean Era), and
<B> the original divisions of the zodiac, 0 LIB-ARI, 0 CAP-CAN.
When writing, Fagan does not make this distinction clear, although it
would be clear to a few scholars who had the same encyclopedic
background he did.
* * * *
Cyril Fagan, ZODIACS OLD AND NEW, 1951
"The Premier constellation"
[P. 29] Because the new-moon of Nisan, which commenced the New
Year, was seen among the stars of Aries from B.C. 2000 to early
Christian times, this constellation was assumed to be the first of the
twelve. But this was not always the case. For some 2000 years prior
to this, the Neomenia appeared among the stars of Taurus when it was
considered as the premier constellation. It was during this Taurean
era that the Kali-Yuga commenced. Then the nakshatra (Hindu lunar
mansion) Kritika, having the Pleiades (Taurus 5 degrees) as its
yogatara (chief star) was the first of the 28 lunar asterisms. But
when the Neomenia fell in the beginning of Aries the nakshatra Asvini
with Sharatan (Aries 9 degrees) as its yogatara, became the leader.
Since the beginning of the Christian era the Neomenia, or new-moon
of Easter (crescent), has been falling in the constellation Pisces, and
will continue to do so for another 500 years. HENCE PISCES IS NOW THE
LEADING CONSTELLATION. About A.D. 2369 the spring-point will recede
into the end of Aquarius when the Aquarian age will commence.
A similar situation existed in regard to Egyptian astronomy. The
native year, being one of 365 days, without any provision for the
intercalation of a leap-day, could not keep in step with either the
sidereal or tropical year, but receded one day (or one degree) in every
four years. In consequence the sidereal longitude of the sun on New
Year's Day (1st Thoth) changed constellations once every 118 or 120
years. In the year A.D. 17 when the Denderah zodiacs were designed,
the sun was in Leo on the 1st Thoth, so that the Lion was then
considered by the Egyptians as being the first of the constellations,
and it is so shown in the circular zodiac. But in 137 when the Esneh
calendar was framed, the sun was in Libra 5 on the 1st Thoth, hence
Libra was then considered the first of the constellations. (See O.
Neugebauer, Egyptian Planetary Texts, in transactions of the American
Philosophical Society, 32, 1942, p 246.) But Virgo was the leading
sign of the Esneh zodiacs, for in both it was the first to rise. This
fact is symbolised by the figure of a female sphinx having the head and
breasts of a woman (Virgo) and the hinderparts and tail of a lion (Leo)
denoting that the zodiac commenced with Virgo and ended with Leo. From
about 116 B.C. to the beginning of the Christian era the Sun was in the
constellation Virgo on the 1st Thoth.
.... The vernal-equinox did not leave the constellation Taurus
until 1963 B.C. when it regressed into the 30th degree of the
constellation Aries (not coming to its beginning until 213 A.D.) BUT
THE MONUMENTS PRIOR TO THAT TIME SHOW THE ZODIAC TERMINATING WITH THE
MIDNIGHT CULMINATION OF SPICA AND BENETNASCH--"THE STRETCHED CORD"--
when the Sun was in the last degree of sidereal Pisces. The inclusion
of the ideogram for linking the final pentade (No 18) of the
constellation Pisces in the dekan-list from the IX and X Heracleopolite
dynasty coffin-lids (circa 2300 B.C.) ...[occurs] at least as early as
the Middle Empire.... Incidentally this confirms the sidereal origin
of the zodiac and shows that its initial point was determined quite
independently of "Aries 0 degrees" of the tropical zodiac....
[p. 15] In the famous Theban star-calendars of the Ramesside kings
(20th Dynasty) Arcturus and Spica form the constellation MENYET, the
"Mooring Peg," with the point or Spike in Spica. In all the celestial
diagrams from the XVIII dynasty down to Roman times that adorn the
inside of the Coffin lids or the ceilings of sarcophagi, Isis, the
mother of the gods, is shown as an erect female hippopatamus, styled
Hesamut, "Mother of the Cord." In her hands she holds Menyet, the
"Mooring Peg," to which is attached a cord stretching from Aka, the
"hoof" of Meskhetyew, the "Bull's Foreleg." This constellation is
identical with Ursa Major, "Great Bear," and the "hoof" star is
Benetnasch (Eta Ursae Majoris). In B.C. 2791 Benetnasch and Spica
formed their conjunction in right ascension 9h. 18m. 32s., culminating
at apparent midnight on March 1st when the Sun entered the
constellation Sr.t (Seret) the "Sheep" (Aries). Benetnasch's
declination was then N 74D 54' and Spica's N 14D 19', a difference of
over 60 degrees, hence an arc of a great circle of the sphere passing
through them and produced in both directions divided the heavens into
two equal parts, cutting through Thuban (Alpha Draconis) THE THEN POLE
STAR, and at right angles to Sirius. According to the generally
accepted chronology this was the time of the IV dynasty, the age of
Sneferu, Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus, the great pyramid-builders.
One of the most important ceremonies in the foundation of Egyptian
temples was known as Pedjeshes (Pedj--"to stretch," Shes--"a cord")
and it forms the subject of one of the chief monumental ornaments in
the temples of Abydos, Heliopolis, Denderah, and Edfu. The reigning
pharaoh and a priestess personifying Seshat, the goddess of writing,
proceeded to the site, each armed with a golden mallet and a PEG
connected by a cord to another PEG. Seshat having driven her peg home
at the previously prepared spot, the king directed his gaze to the
constellation of the Bull's Foreleg (this constellation is identical
with Ursa Major, "Great Bear," and the "hoof" star is Benetnasch, Eta
Ursae majoris). Having aligned the cord to the "hoof" and Spica as
seen through the visor formed by Seshat's curious headdress, he raised
his mallet and drove the peg home, thus marking the position of the
axis of the future temple.
As a result of his review of Dr. Gunter-Martiny's work on the survey
of Assyrian sancturies, Professor P. V. Neugebauer, (Observatory at the
Rechen-Institut in Berlin-Dahlem), discovered that all Assyrian
Temples, from B.C. 2930 to B.C. 603, whose foundation dates were
recorded, were ORIENTED AT DAWN ON 1ST NISAN TO THE POINT OF
INTERSECTION WITH THE HORIZON OF A GREAT CIRCLE OF THE SPHERE, PASSING
THROUGH BENETNASCH AND SPICA, exactly the same circle that figures in
the Egyptian ceremony of the Pedjeshes. There can therefore be no
doubt that for the ancient peoples of Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria,
Spica was their chief marking-star....
(p. 18) Spica in Libra 0d0' or in Virgo 29d0'
When I first discovered that Spica was the original fiducial or
marking star of the ancient zodiac, I naturally assumed that it was
placed diametrically opposite to the initial point of the zodiac, Aries
0.0 degrees, that is, in Libra 0D 0' (180 degrees) especially so as in
the Soma, Surya, Vriddha-Vasishta and Brahma siddhantas--the ancient
Sanscrit works on astronomy--the longitude of Chitra (Spica) is given
as 180 degrees--albeit these were expressed in polar longitudes.
The graph [not reprinted on wordprocessor] however, makes it clear
that the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians considered Spica as being in
Virgo 29.0 degrees and not in Libra 0.0 degrees. This accords better
with tradition which always associated the "Spike of Corn" as being in
the agricultural Virgo. Nowhere in the literature of antiquity is
Spica associated with Libra.
Oddly enough the Egyptians did not consider mnit (Menyet) the
"Mooring-Peg" as beginning the zodiac, BUT AS ENDING IT. Having
crossed the celestial Nile, the boats of the planetary gods were
brought to rest and moored to the "peg." The root mn (men) means "to
be at rest" "to be secure" "to be immovable" "to be motionless (as in
death)." The west was called Amentet, the "place of rest or death,"
"the hidden place," and the portal to the Duat or Underworld.
It is only necessary to deduct precisely one degree from all
longitudes computed from Spica in Libra 0.0 degrees to reduce them to
the hypsomatic zodiac (Spica in Virgo 29.0 degrees).
* * *
NOTE: Regarding the division of the star constellation zodiac into 4
quarters at 0 degrees LIBRA-ARIES and 0 degrees CANCER-CAPRICORN:
Fagan's ZODIACS OLD AND NEW, a study in archaeoastronomy written prior
to 1951, generally accords with Garth Allen's statistical work done
with CAPLUNARS (or the LUNAR CAPRICORN INGRESS) for earthquakes and
other disasters. Allen found a correction of 06'05" to be added to the
fiducial stars, thus correcting the sidereal framework by that
amount, as to the Spica fiducial at 29 Virgo, which gives 29VIR06'05"
See file called [APEX] for Cyril Fagan's 8/56 Essay called "Cosmic
Division" in his Solunars series in American Astrology. In that essay,
he makes reference to other of Garth Allen's statistic studies
validating the natural cosmic division of the star constellation zodiac
known to the Babylonians and Egyptians.
* * * *
* * * * * * *
* * * * * * *
______________________________________________________________________
CYRIL FAGAN [May 22, 1896, Dublin, IRE., 12:25 pm = data given by
Pauline Fagan to Kay Cavender as the data Cyril used]
Fagan's biography from a bookcover: Born into a well-known medical
family in Dublin, Ireland, Cyril Fagan was educated at Belvedere and
Castleknock Colleges. Prevented from following in the family tradition
through almost totally impaired hearing since childhood, he turned his
acutely enquiring mind to other things, many and varied, finally
deciding to make the betterment of the subject he loved the most
astrology, his life's work.
Dissatisfied with all available material on the subject, he decided
to set out and find the answers for himself. He combed the libraries
of many of the capitals of Europe and soon concluded that a working
knowledge of astronomy and Egyptology was essential if the embryo of
astrology was to be unearthed. These he mastered alone as he had done
everything else. He has lived in many places over the years including
Wales, London, Spain, Morocco, and the USA, and has traveled throughout
most of Europe and some of Canada.
Works include Astrological Origins; Zodiacs, Old and New; A Primer
of Sidereal Astrology; Symbolism of the Constellations; and a monthly
contribution to American Astrology, "Solunars." See also articles in
American Astrology under his pseudonym, Ian Cowley.
Cyril Fagan was President/Founder of the Irish Astrological Society,
and a Fellow of the American Federation of Astrologers; a Fellow of the
Federation of British Astrologers; and a Komandoro of the Universal
Order of Antares (Trieste).
The most momentous and revolutionary astrological discovery of all
time was made in 1948 by Cyril Fagan, the well-known astrologer and
Egyptian scholar. He discovered that the historical exaltation degrees
of the zodiac originated in 786 B.C. and that all these degrees were
expressed in terms of the zodiac of the constellations and not of the
signs. This led him into a whole series of further discoveries which
are equally important to the archeologist, the chronologist, the
historian, and the astrologer.
First and foremost, he found that the so-called Egyptian decans were
in fact pentades or 5-day star groups, a discovery that immediately led
to the identification of most of them. He also solved the precise date
of the Inauguration of the famous Sothic Cycle as well as dating the
zodiacs of Esna and Denderah.
OTHER SIDEREALISTS:
RUPERT GLEADOW (data from inside of his book he autographed; and I
suspect MER culminates rather than SUN): 22 NOV 1909, 11:55 am,
Leicester, England.
BRIGADIER ROY C. FIREBRACE (publisher of SPICA, A SIDEREAL JOURNAL)
(sent to me by Brigadier Firebrace): 16 AUG 1889; 5:00 pm InterColonial
or Atlantic time (-4h 14' 20"); Halifax, Nova Scotia 63w35, 44n38'
GARTH ALLEN (Donald Bradley): (from American Astrology): 16 MAY
1925; 2:04 am CST; 40n21' 97w35' Nebraska
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Leo
CYRIL FAGAN:
Among historians, it is common knowledge that the Sun-King's obsession for palace building - a characteristic of affluent Leonians - was so voracious that he depleted the national coffers, thus paving the way for the French Revolution, verily "eating his funeral and spending his grave" (Manilius - about the beginning of Christian era at court of Emperors Augustus and Tiberius). If Louis XIV was merely "...a glorified civil servant, very exact and keen on detail..." how come it that in his masterly design of the Palace of Versailles he overlooked making any provision for heating? Could a civil servant exclaim: "L'etat c'est moi..." and mean it? Surely this is a monarchy and no king can afford to shirk it however irksome. To this day British monarchy dread the arrival of the "Red Despatch Boxes." The fact that they must be attended to by the Sovereign does not make him a native of Gemini or Virgo. The king does many other important things besides paper work such as ceremonial parades and inspections, reviewing troops etc., which do not come under the tutelage of the Mercurial signs.
LOUIS XIV, The Sun King: September 5, 1638 (N.S.); 11:11 A.M. LMT. 2E05, 48N54.
[Positions updated with modern calculations. But note that the time usually given is 11:22. I've recalculated for the time Fagan gave, 11:11, which also matches the angles he gave within close tolerances. - JAE]
MC 10°30 Leo; XI 3°59' Virgo; XII 26°56' Virgo
Asc 25°22' Libra; II 2°48' Sagittarius; III 10°03' Capricorn
Pluto 10°44’ Taurus; Venus 14°17' Can; Moon 15°54’ Cancer; Sun 23°04’ Leo; Mercury 4°16’ Virgo; Uranus 1°38’ Libra; Jupiter 12°59’ Libra; Neptune 28°53’ Libra; Mars 5°46’ Sagittarius; Saturn 11°17’ Capricorn. [Neptune 2°03' below Asc, Pluto 5°06' above Dsc - JAE]
"...The royal gift-giving, easygoing Leo of tradition..." is as Rupert Gleadow would say, the constellation Cancer called by another name! Cancer, the exaltation of the bountiful Jupiter, is ruled by the sympathetic and maternal Moon. It is noted as being the most generous of all the constellations, especially to its own relations. For this reason it has often been accused of nepotism. The tropical Leo is only the constellation Cancer misnamed. Between this partial delineation of the tropical Leo and that of sidereal Leo by Manilius, there is an irreconcilable difference.
[Notice the extreme DIGNITY in this chart. Sun is in royal Leo, it's own sign. Moon is at home in Cancer, in the degree of Jupiter's exaltation, conjunct Venus and square Jupiter. Mercury is home and exalted in Virgo. Saturn is at home in Capricorn. In terms of something epochal, Pluto, which Fagan thought was 8° later, is exactly square MC and also (as the mundoscope shows) close to the horizon - so that an epoch-defining Neptune-Pluto mundane opposition crosses the horizon. This aspect embodies Louis' other famous line, "After me, the deluge!" - JAE]
Among historians, it is common knowledge that the Sun-King's obsession for palace building - a characteristic of affluent Leonians - was so voracious that he depleted the national coffers, thus paving the way for the French Revolution, verily "eating his funeral and spending his grave" (Manilius - about the beginning of Christian era at court of Emperors Augustus and Tiberius). If Louis XIV was merely "...a glorified civil servant, very exact and keen on detail..." how come it that in his masterly design of the Palace of Versailles he overlooked making any provision for heating? Could a civil servant exclaim: "L'etat c'est moi..." and mean it? Surely this is a monarchy and no king can afford to shirk it however irksome. To this day British monarchy dread the arrival of the "Red Despatch Boxes." The fact that they must be attended to by the Sovereign does not make him a native of Gemini or Virgo. The king does many other important things besides paper work such as ceremonial parades and inspections, reviewing troops etc., which do not come under the tutelage of the Mercurial signs.
LOUIS XIV, The Sun King: September 5, 1638 (N.S.); 11:11 A.M. LMT. 2E05, 48N54.
[Positions updated with modern calculations. But note that the time usually given is 11:22. I've recalculated for the time Fagan gave, 11:11, which also matches the angles he gave within close tolerances. - JAE]
MC 10°30 Leo; XI 3°59' Virgo; XII 26°56' Virgo
Asc 25°22' Libra; II 2°48' Sagittarius; III 10°03' Capricorn
Pluto 10°44’ Taurus; Venus 14°17' Can; Moon 15°54’ Cancer; Sun 23°04’ Leo; Mercury 4°16’ Virgo; Uranus 1°38’ Libra; Jupiter 12°59’ Libra; Neptune 28°53’ Libra; Mars 5°46’ Sagittarius; Saturn 11°17’ Capricorn. [Neptune 2°03' below Asc, Pluto 5°06' above Dsc - JAE]
"...The royal gift-giving, easygoing Leo of tradition..." is as Rupert Gleadow would say, the constellation Cancer called by another name! Cancer, the exaltation of the bountiful Jupiter, is ruled by the sympathetic and maternal Moon. It is noted as being the most generous of all the constellations, especially to its own relations. For this reason it has often been accused of nepotism. The tropical Leo is only the constellation Cancer misnamed. Between this partial delineation of the tropical Leo and that of sidereal Leo by Manilius, there is an irreconcilable difference.
[Notice the extreme DIGNITY in this chart. Sun is in royal Leo, it's own sign. Moon is at home in Cancer, in the degree of Jupiter's exaltation, conjunct Venus and square Jupiter. Mercury is home and exalted in Virgo. Saturn is at home in Capricorn. In terms of something epochal, Pluto, which Fagan thought was 8° later, is exactly square MC and also (as the mundoscope shows) close to the horizon - so that an epoch-defining Neptune-Pluto mundane opposition crosses the horizon. This aspect embodies Louis' other famous line, "After me, the deluge!" - JAE]
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Virgo
Please see following sections from Cyril Fagan's Astrological Origins and Zodiacs Old and New for historical information on the original Egyptian zodiac to distinguish between
<A> the occurrence of the (precessing/changing) equinoxes as when in Taurus (Taurean Era), and
<B> the original divisions of the zodiac, 0 LIB-ARI, 0 CAP-CAN.
When writing, Fagan does not make this distinction clear, although it would be clear to a few scholars who had the same encyclopedic background he did.
Cyril Fagan, ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, 1971
"Stella Dominatrix"
...The remarkable thing to note about these lunar mansions is that in
remote antiquity the Arabic and Indian versions commenced with the
asterism of Pleiades at the beginning of the constellation TAURUS,
while the Chinese began with Spica. Thus the Arabic manzils began with
Al Thurayya, "The Many Little Ones," the Hindu nakshatras with
Krittika, "General of Celestial Armies," while the Chinese sieux
commenced with Kio, "The Spike" or Spica. It would appear that at a
later date the Chinese sieux commenced with Mao, "The Constellation,"
which was their asterism for the Pleiades (vide R.H. Allen: Star Names
and Vivian Robson: The Fixed Stars and Constellations.)
These asterisms were immediately followed by the manzil AL Dabaran
an Arabic word that mean "The Follower." But Professor S. Langdon
demurs. He writes, "...al-dabaranu surely means 'the writer' or 'the
forecaster; and not 'the one who follows after,' the meaning commonly
given in English lexicons 'because it follows the Pleiades' i.e., rises
after Pleiades" and refers to the fact that in the Cuneiform Tablets in
the British Museum, Aldebaran is styled isu li-e, Star of the Tablet.
(Babylonian Menologies and the Semitic Calendars, 1935)
As already stated, Garth Allen's decisive and historical
determination of the mean sidereal longitude of the vernal point for
the epoch 1950.0 puts Adebaran, for the epoch 786 B.C., the year of the
Hyposomata, in the precise mathematical center of the constellation
TAURUS, and Antares almost in the precise mathematical center of the
opposite constellation Scorpio (actually 15deg02'). Both stars are of
the first magnitude and ecliptically they are in partile opposition to
one another. The Arabs called Aldebaran 'Ain al Thaur, the Greeks
'Omma Boos and the Romans Oculus Tauri, all meaning "the Bull's Eye."
In the Greco-Roman star atlases (c.600 B.C.) only the bull's head and
forelegs are depicted, thus putting the Bull's Eye in the dead center
of that constellation. To this day the expression "Bull's Eye" means
the mathematical center. In the Egyptian Celestial Diagrams, as they
are called, of the New Empire (c.1500-1200 B.C.), it was usual for the
scribes to represent the star by five-pointed devices classified as
determinatives, but in one of the Ramesside diagrams Aldebaran is shown
as an eight-pointed star of unusual proportions. In the classical
period it was known to the Romans as Stella Dominatrix, "The Master
Star," not because of its brilliance--Sirius and Canopus far outshone
it--but because, in Taurus 15 00' 00", it became the master key star of
the zodiac; otherwise known as the zodiac's master fiducial,
determinative, or marking star. In antiquity all ecliptical longitudes
were measured from it or from its opposite, Antares in Scorpio, and its
position shows that the oldest and hence authentic zodiac began with
Taurus 0deg00', at the beginning of the asterism which contained the
Pleiades....
* * * *
Cyril Fagan, ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, 1971
"Bull's Eye Astrology"
Assuming that Aldebaran in the mathematical center of the
constellation Taurus was the original and hence authentic determinant
of the sidereal zodiac, then calculation discloses that the mean vernal
point retrograded into the 30th degree of this constellation in April
4152 B.C. when, theoretically, the Taurean Age began. By an
astonishing coincidence it almost simultaneously came to the precise
conjunction with Gamma Tauri, a star of the third magnitude, at the tip
of the Bull's South Horn. This star was known to the Chinese by the
suggestive title Tien Kwan, the "Heavenly Gate," and to the Arabs as Al
Hecka the "Driver." The actual date of the conjunction was 4151 B.C.,
and hence there was just a year between the two phenomena, which is
remarkably close. Slowly retreating through that constellation, the
vernal equinoctial point, forming its ecliptic conjunction with
Aldebaran itself in 3058 B.C., did not leave it until 1955 B.C. when it
entered the 30th degree of Aries....But the great point to note and
remember is that during the first two thousand years or so of recorded
history, when the vernal equinox was receding through it, Taurus was
the first of the zodiacal constellations and Aries the last!.... among
the Romans of the Aries age (1955 B.C. to 221 A.D.) when the vernal
point was gliding backwards through that constellation, Taurus was
still hailed as Princeps armenti or leader of the zodiacal herd!
* * *
[NOTE: Above, in ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, Fagan talks of the key
constellation marking stars as the empirical standard; and particularly
he talks of earliest records of the the star "Bull's Eye" in the exact
middle of Taurus, which was the "zodiacal leader" of the constellations
when the equinoxes occurred in Taurus. Earliest "recorded" history
from which we have evidence comes from this equinoctial epoch, the
Taurean Age. Of course, there were many key stars throughout the whole
heavenly sphere, which had different associations. Please see
following sections from Cyril Fagan's earlier ZODIACS OLD AND NEW for
historical information on the original Egyptian zodiac to distinquish
between
<A> the occurrence of the (precessing/changing) equinoxes as when in
Taurus (Taurean Era), and
<B> the original divisions of the zodiac, 0 LIB-ARI, 0 CAP-CAN.
When writing, Fagan does not make this distinction clear, although it
would be clear to a few scholars who had the same encyclopedic
background he did.
* * * *
Cyril Fagan, ZODIACS OLD AND NEW, 1951
"The Premier constellation"
[P. 29] Because the new-moon of Nisan, which commenced the New
Year, was seen among the stars of Aries from B.C. 2000 to early
Christian times, this constellation was assumed to be the first of the
twelve. But this was not always the case. For some 2000 years prior
to this, the Neomenia appeared among the stars of Taurus when it was
considered as the premier constellation. It was during this Taurean
era that the Kali-Yuga commenced. Then the nakshatra (Hindu lunar
mansion) Kritika, having the Pleiades (Taurus 5 degrees) as its
yogatara (chief star) was the first of the 28 lunar asterisms. But
when the Neomenia fell in the beginning of Aries the nakshatra Asvini
with Sharatan (Aries 9 degrees) as its yogatara, became the leader.
Since the beginning of the Christian era the Neomenia, or new-moon
of Easter (crescent), has been falling in the constellation Pisces, and
will continue to do so for another 500 years. HENCE PISCES IS NOW THE
LEADING CONSTELLATION. About A.D. 2369 the spring-point will recede
into the end of Aquarius when the Aquarian age will commence.
A similar situation existed in regard to Egyptian astronomy. The
native year, being one of 365 days, without any provision for the
intercalation of a leap-day, could not keep in step with either the
sidereal or tropical year, but receded one day (or one degree) in every
four years. In consequence the sidereal longitude of the sun on New
Year's Day (1st Thoth) changed constellations once every 118 or 120
years. In the year A.D. 17 when the Denderah zodiacs were designed,
the sun was in Leo on the 1st Thoth, so that the Lion was then
considered by the Egyptians as being the first of the constellations,
and it is so shown in the circular zodiac. But in 137 when the Esneh
calendar was framed, the sun was in Libra 5 on the 1st Thoth, hence
Libra was then considered the first of the constellations. (See O.
Neugebauer, Egyptian Planetary Texts, in transactions of the American
Philosophical Society, 32, 1942, p 246.) But Virgo was the leading
sign of the Esneh zodiacs, for in both it was the first to rise. This
fact is symbolised by the figure of a female sphinx having the head and
breasts of a woman (Virgo) and the hinderparts and tail of a lion (Leo)
denoting that the zodiac commenced with Virgo and ended with Leo. From
about 116 B.C. to the beginning of the Christian era the Sun was in the
constellation Virgo on the 1st Thoth.
.... The vernal-equinox did not leave the constellation Taurus
until 1963 B.C. when it regressed into the 30th degree of the
constellation Aries (not coming to its beginning until 213 A.D.) BUT
THE MONUMENTS PRIOR TO THAT TIME SHOW THE ZODIAC TERMINATING WITH THE
MIDNIGHT CULMINATION OF SPICA AND BENETNASCH--"THE STRETCHED CORD"--
when the Sun was in the last degree of sidereal Pisces. The inclusion
of the ideogram for linking the final pentade (No 18) of the
constellation Pisces in the dekan-list from the IX and X Heracleopolite
dynasty coffin-lids (circa 2300 B.C.) ...[occurs] at least as early as
the Middle Empire.... Incidentally this confirms the sidereal origin
of the zodiac and shows that its initial point was determined quite
independently of "Aries 0 degrees" of the tropical zodiac....
[p. 15] In the famous Theban star-calendars of the Ramesside kings
(20th Dynasty) Arcturus and Spica form the constellation MENYET, the
"Mooring Peg," with the point or Spike in Spica. In all the celestial
diagrams from the XVIII dynasty down to Roman times that adorn the
inside of the Coffin lids or the ceilings of sarcophagi, Isis, the
mother of the gods, is shown as an erect female hippopatamus, styled
Hesamut, "Mother of the Cord." In her hands she holds Menyet, the
"Mooring Peg," to which is attached a cord stretching from Aka, the
"hoof" of Meskhetyew, the "Bull's Foreleg." This constellation is
identical with Ursa Major, "Great Bear," and the "hoof" star is
Benetnasch (Eta Ursae Majoris). In B.C. 2791 Benetnasch and Spica
formed their conjunction in right ascension 9h. 18m. 32s., culminating
at apparent midnight on March 1st when the Sun entered the
constellation Sr.t (Seret) the "Sheep" (Aries). Benetnasch's
declination was then N 74D 54' and Spica's N 14D 19', a difference of
over 60 degrees, hence an arc of a great circle of the sphere passing
through them and produced in both directions divided the heavens into
two equal parts, cutting through Thuban (Alpha Draconis) THE THEN POLE
STAR, and at right angles to Sirius. According to the generally
accepted chronology this was the time of the IV dynasty, the age of
Sneferu, Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus, the great pyramid-builders.
One of the most important ceremonies in the foundation of Egyptian
temples was known as Pedjeshes (Pedj--"to stretch," Shes--"a cord")
and it forms the subject of one of the chief monumental ornaments in
the temples of Abydos, Heliopolis, Denderah, and Edfu. The reigning
pharaoh and a priestess personifying Seshat, the goddess of writing,
proceeded to the site, each armed with a golden mallet and a PEG
connected by a cord to another PEG. Seshat having driven her peg home
at the previously prepared spot, the king directed his gaze to the
constellation of the Bull's Foreleg (this constellation is identical
with Ursa Major, "Great Bear," and the "hoof" star is Benetnasch, Eta
Ursae majoris). Having aligned the cord to the "hoof" and Spica as
seen through the visor formed by Seshat's curious headdress, he raised
his mallet and drove the peg home, thus marking the position of the
axis of the future temple.
As a result of his review of Dr. Gunter-Martiny's work on the survey
of Assyrian sancturies, Professor P. V. Neugebauer, (Observatory at the
Rechen-Institut in Berlin-Dahlem), discovered that all Assyrian
Temples, from B.C. 2930 to B.C. 603, whose foundation dates were
recorded, were ORIENTED AT DAWN ON 1ST NISAN TO THE POINT OF
INTERSECTION WITH THE HORIZON OF A GREAT CIRCLE OF THE SPHERE, PASSING
THROUGH BENETNASCH AND SPICA, exactly the same circle that figures in
the Egyptian ceremony of the Pedjeshes. There can therefore be no
doubt that for the ancient peoples of Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria,
Spica was their chief marking-star....
(p. 18) Spica in Libra 0d0' or in Virgo 29d0'
When I first discovered that Spica was the original fiducial or
marking star of the ancient zodiac, I naturally assumed that it was
placed diametrically opposite to the initial point of the zodiac, Aries
0.0 degrees, that is, in Libra 0D 0' (180 degrees) especially so as in
the Soma, Surya, Vriddha-Vasishta and Brahma siddhantas--the ancient
Sanscrit works on astronomy--the longitude of Chitra (Spica) is given
as 180 degrees--albeit these were expressed in polar longitudes.
The graph [not reprinted on wordprocessor] however, makes it clear
that the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians considered Spica as being in
Virgo 29.0 degrees and not in Libra 0.0 degrees. This accords better
with tradition which always associated the "Spike of Corn" as being in
the agricultural Virgo. Nowhere in the literature of antiquity is
Spica associated with Libra.
Oddly enough the Egyptians did not consider mnit (Menyet) the
"Mooring-Peg" as beginning the zodiac, BUT AS ENDING IT. Having
crossed the celestial Nile, the boats of the planetary gods were
brought to rest and moored to the "peg." The root mn (men) means "to
be at rest" "to be secure" "to be immovable" "to be motionless (as in
death)." The west was called Amentet, the "place of rest or death,"
"the hidden place," and the portal to the Duat or Underworld.
It is only necessary to deduct precisely one degree from all
longitudes computed from Spica in Libra 0.0 degrees to reduce them to
the hypsomatic zodiac (Spica in Virgo 29.0 degrees).
* * *
NOTE: Regarding the division of the star constellation zodiac: Fagan's
ZODIACS OLD AND NEW, a study in archaeoastronomy written prior to 1951,
accords with Garth Allen's discovery and statistical validation (done
with CAPLUNARS of earthquakes and other disasters) that the longitude
of the APEX of the Sun's Way occurs at 0 Capricorn as a FIDUCIAL of the
constellation boundaries. (viz. the Fagan-Allen Ayanamsha, the S.V.P.
or Synetic Vernal Point correction of Spica to 29VIR06'05"). Hence,
the quartering of the star constellation zodiac would occur at 0 Libra
and 0 Aries. (Garth Allen also reported the then current astronomical
finding of a radio source at 0 Libra, see file [VIRGO].)
Regarding the APEX, consider this analogy: a line dropped
longitudinally from the APEX to the ecliptic plane, divides the
ecliptic plane of our solar system in relation to sidereal space - just
as when a line dropped from the North Pole star down to the horizon
defines the (North-South) Meridian as the primary direction for Earth
in relation to the solar system (i.e., North-South, East-West).
See file called [APEX] for Cyril Fagan's 8/56 Essay called "Cosmic
Division" in his Solunars series in American Astrology. In that essay,
he makes reference to other of Garth Allen's statistic studies
validating the natural cosmic division of the star constellation zodiac
known to the Babylonians and Egyptians.
* * * *
<A> the occurrence of the (precessing/changing) equinoxes as when in Taurus (Taurean Era), and
<B> the original divisions of the zodiac, 0 LIB-ARI, 0 CAP-CAN.
When writing, Fagan does not make this distinction clear, although it would be clear to a few scholars who had the same encyclopedic background he did.
Cyril Fagan, ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, 1971
"Stella Dominatrix"
...The remarkable thing to note about these lunar mansions is that in
remote antiquity the Arabic and Indian versions commenced with the
asterism of Pleiades at the beginning of the constellation TAURUS,
while the Chinese began with Spica. Thus the Arabic manzils began with
Al Thurayya, "The Many Little Ones," the Hindu nakshatras with
Krittika, "General of Celestial Armies," while the Chinese sieux
commenced with Kio, "The Spike" or Spica. It would appear that at a
later date the Chinese sieux commenced with Mao, "The Constellation,"
which was their asterism for the Pleiades (vide R.H. Allen: Star Names
and Vivian Robson: The Fixed Stars and Constellations.)
These asterisms were immediately followed by the manzil AL Dabaran
an Arabic word that mean "The Follower." But Professor S. Langdon
demurs. He writes, "...al-dabaranu surely means 'the writer' or 'the
forecaster; and not 'the one who follows after,' the meaning commonly
given in English lexicons 'because it follows the Pleiades' i.e., rises
after Pleiades" and refers to the fact that in the Cuneiform Tablets in
the British Museum, Aldebaran is styled isu li-e, Star of the Tablet.
(Babylonian Menologies and the Semitic Calendars, 1935)
As already stated, Garth Allen's decisive and historical
determination of the mean sidereal longitude of the vernal point for
the epoch 1950.0 puts Adebaran, for the epoch 786 B.C., the year of the
Hyposomata, in the precise mathematical center of the constellation
TAURUS, and Antares almost in the precise mathematical center of the
opposite constellation Scorpio (actually 15deg02'). Both stars are of
the first magnitude and ecliptically they are in partile opposition to
one another. The Arabs called Aldebaran 'Ain al Thaur, the Greeks
'Omma Boos and the Romans Oculus Tauri, all meaning "the Bull's Eye."
In the Greco-Roman star atlases (c.600 B.C.) only the bull's head and
forelegs are depicted, thus putting the Bull's Eye in the dead center
of that constellation. To this day the expression "Bull's Eye" means
the mathematical center. In the Egyptian Celestial Diagrams, as they
are called, of the New Empire (c.1500-1200 B.C.), it was usual for the
scribes to represent the star by five-pointed devices classified as
determinatives, but in one of the Ramesside diagrams Aldebaran is shown
as an eight-pointed star of unusual proportions. In the classical
period it was known to the Romans as Stella Dominatrix, "The Master
Star," not because of its brilliance--Sirius and Canopus far outshone
it--but because, in Taurus 15 00' 00", it became the master key star of
the zodiac; otherwise known as the zodiac's master fiducial,
determinative, or marking star. In antiquity all ecliptical longitudes
were measured from it or from its opposite, Antares in Scorpio, and its
position shows that the oldest and hence authentic zodiac began with
Taurus 0deg00', at the beginning of the asterism which contained the
Pleiades....
* * * *
Cyril Fagan, ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, 1971
"Bull's Eye Astrology"
Assuming that Aldebaran in the mathematical center of the
constellation Taurus was the original and hence authentic determinant
of the sidereal zodiac, then calculation discloses that the mean vernal
point retrograded into the 30th degree of this constellation in April
4152 B.C. when, theoretically, the Taurean Age began. By an
astonishing coincidence it almost simultaneously came to the precise
conjunction with Gamma Tauri, a star of the third magnitude, at the tip
of the Bull's South Horn. This star was known to the Chinese by the
suggestive title Tien Kwan, the "Heavenly Gate," and to the Arabs as Al
Hecka the "Driver." The actual date of the conjunction was 4151 B.C.,
and hence there was just a year between the two phenomena, which is
remarkably close. Slowly retreating through that constellation, the
vernal equinoctial point, forming its ecliptic conjunction with
Aldebaran itself in 3058 B.C., did not leave it until 1955 B.C. when it
entered the 30th degree of Aries....But the great point to note and
remember is that during the first two thousand years or so of recorded
history, when the vernal equinox was receding through it, Taurus was
the first of the zodiacal constellations and Aries the last!.... among
the Romans of the Aries age (1955 B.C. to 221 A.D.) when the vernal
point was gliding backwards through that constellation, Taurus was
still hailed as Princeps armenti or leader of the zodiacal herd!
* * *
[NOTE: Above, in ASTROLOGICAL ORIGINS, Fagan talks of the key
constellation marking stars as the empirical standard; and particularly
he talks of earliest records of the the star "Bull's Eye" in the exact
middle of Taurus, which was the "zodiacal leader" of the constellations
when the equinoxes occurred in Taurus. Earliest "recorded" history
from which we have evidence comes from this equinoctial epoch, the
Taurean Age. Of course, there were many key stars throughout the whole
heavenly sphere, which had different associations. Please see
following sections from Cyril Fagan's earlier ZODIACS OLD AND NEW for
historical information on the original Egyptian zodiac to distinquish
between
<A> the occurrence of the (precessing/changing) equinoxes as when in
Taurus (Taurean Era), and
<B> the original divisions of the zodiac, 0 LIB-ARI, 0 CAP-CAN.
When writing, Fagan does not make this distinction clear, although it
would be clear to a few scholars who had the same encyclopedic
background he did.
* * * *
Cyril Fagan, ZODIACS OLD AND NEW, 1951
"The Premier constellation"
[P. 29] Because the new-moon of Nisan, which commenced the New
Year, was seen among the stars of Aries from B.C. 2000 to early
Christian times, this constellation was assumed to be the first of the
twelve. But this was not always the case. For some 2000 years prior
to this, the Neomenia appeared among the stars of Taurus when it was
considered as the premier constellation. It was during this Taurean
era that the Kali-Yuga commenced. Then the nakshatra (Hindu lunar
mansion) Kritika, having the Pleiades (Taurus 5 degrees) as its
yogatara (chief star) was the first of the 28 lunar asterisms. But
when the Neomenia fell in the beginning of Aries the nakshatra Asvini
with Sharatan (Aries 9 degrees) as its yogatara, became the leader.
Since the beginning of the Christian era the Neomenia, or new-moon
of Easter (crescent), has been falling in the constellation Pisces, and
will continue to do so for another 500 years. HENCE PISCES IS NOW THE
LEADING CONSTELLATION. About A.D. 2369 the spring-point will recede
into the end of Aquarius when the Aquarian age will commence.
A similar situation existed in regard to Egyptian astronomy. The
native year, being one of 365 days, without any provision for the
intercalation of a leap-day, could not keep in step with either the
sidereal or tropical year, but receded one day (or one degree) in every
four years. In consequence the sidereal longitude of the sun on New
Year's Day (1st Thoth) changed constellations once every 118 or 120
years. In the year A.D. 17 when the Denderah zodiacs were designed,
the sun was in Leo on the 1st Thoth, so that the Lion was then
considered by the Egyptians as being the first of the constellations,
and it is so shown in the circular zodiac. But in 137 when the Esneh
calendar was framed, the sun was in Libra 5 on the 1st Thoth, hence
Libra was then considered the first of the constellations. (See O.
Neugebauer, Egyptian Planetary Texts, in transactions of the American
Philosophical Society, 32, 1942, p 246.) But Virgo was the leading
sign of the Esneh zodiacs, for in both it was the first to rise. This
fact is symbolised by the figure of a female sphinx having the head and
breasts of a woman (Virgo) and the hinderparts and tail of a lion (Leo)
denoting that the zodiac commenced with Virgo and ended with Leo. From
about 116 B.C. to the beginning of the Christian era the Sun was in the
constellation Virgo on the 1st Thoth.
.... The vernal-equinox did not leave the constellation Taurus
until 1963 B.C. when it regressed into the 30th degree of the
constellation Aries (not coming to its beginning until 213 A.D.) BUT
THE MONUMENTS PRIOR TO THAT TIME SHOW THE ZODIAC TERMINATING WITH THE
MIDNIGHT CULMINATION OF SPICA AND BENETNASCH--"THE STRETCHED CORD"--
when the Sun was in the last degree of sidereal Pisces. The inclusion
of the ideogram for linking the final pentade (No 18) of the
constellation Pisces in the dekan-list from the IX and X Heracleopolite
dynasty coffin-lids (circa 2300 B.C.) ...[occurs] at least as early as
the Middle Empire.... Incidentally this confirms the sidereal origin
of the zodiac and shows that its initial point was determined quite
independently of "Aries 0 degrees" of the tropical zodiac....
[p. 15] In the famous Theban star-calendars of the Ramesside kings
(20th Dynasty) Arcturus and Spica form the constellation MENYET, the
"Mooring Peg," with the point or Spike in Spica. In all the celestial
diagrams from the XVIII dynasty down to Roman times that adorn the
inside of the Coffin lids or the ceilings of sarcophagi, Isis, the
mother of the gods, is shown as an erect female hippopatamus, styled
Hesamut, "Mother of the Cord." In her hands she holds Menyet, the
"Mooring Peg," to which is attached a cord stretching from Aka, the
"hoof" of Meskhetyew, the "Bull's Foreleg." This constellation is
identical with Ursa Major, "Great Bear," and the "hoof" star is
Benetnasch (Eta Ursae Majoris). In B.C. 2791 Benetnasch and Spica
formed their conjunction in right ascension 9h. 18m. 32s., culminating
at apparent midnight on March 1st when the Sun entered the
constellation Sr.t (Seret) the "Sheep" (Aries). Benetnasch's
declination was then N 74D 54' and Spica's N 14D 19', a difference of
over 60 degrees, hence an arc of a great circle of the sphere passing
through them and produced in both directions divided the heavens into
two equal parts, cutting through Thuban (Alpha Draconis) THE THEN POLE
STAR, and at right angles to Sirius. According to the generally
accepted chronology this was the time of the IV dynasty, the age of
Sneferu, Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus, the great pyramid-builders.
One of the most important ceremonies in the foundation of Egyptian
temples was known as Pedjeshes (Pedj--"to stretch," Shes--"a cord")
and it forms the subject of one of the chief monumental ornaments in
the temples of Abydos, Heliopolis, Denderah, and Edfu. The reigning
pharaoh and a priestess personifying Seshat, the goddess of writing,
proceeded to the site, each armed with a golden mallet and a PEG
connected by a cord to another PEG. Seshat having driven her peg home
at the previously prepared spot, the king directed his gaze to the
constellation of the Bull's Foreleg (this constellation is identical
with Ursa Major, "Great Bear," and the "hoof" star is Benetnasch, Eta
Ursae majoris). Having aligned the cord to the "hoof" and Spica as
seen through the visor formed by Seshat's curious headdress, he raised
his mallet and drove the peg home, thus marking the position of the
axis of the future temple.
As a result of his review of Dr. Gunter-Martiny's work on the survey
of Assyrian sancturies, Professor P. V. Neugebauer, (Observatory at the
Rechen-Institut in Berlin-Dahlem), discovered that all Assyrian
Temples, from B.C. 2930 to B.C. 603, whose foundation dates were
recorded, were ORIENTED AT DAWN ON 1ST NISAN TO THE POINT OF
INTERSECTION WITH THE HORIZON OF A GREAT CIRCLE OF THE SPHERE, PASSING
THROUGH BENETNASCH AND SPICA, exactly the same circle that figures in
the Egyptian ceremony of the Pedjeshes. There can therefore be no
doubt that for the ancient peoples of Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria,
Spica was their chief marking-star....
(p. 18) Spica in Libra 0d0' or in Virgo 29d0'
When I first discovered that Spica was the original fiducial or
marking star of the ancient zodiac, I naturally assumed that it was
placed diametrically opposite to the initial point of the zodiac, Aries
0.0 degrees, that is, in Libra 0D 0' (180 degrees) especially so as in
the Soma, Surya, Vriddha-Vasishta and Brahma siddhantas--the ancient
Sanscrit works on astronomy--the longitude of Chitra (Spica) is given
as 180 degrees--albeit these were expressed in polar longitudes.
The graph [not reprinted on wordprocessor] however, makes it clear
that the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians considered Spica as being in
Virgo 29.0 degrees and not in Libra 0.0 degrees. This accords better
with tradition which always associated the "Spike of Corn" as being in
the agricultural Virgo. Nowhere in the literature of antiquity is
Spica associated with Libra.
Oddly enough the Egyptians did not consider mnit (Menyet) the
"Mooring-Peg" as beginning the zodiac, BUT AS ENDING IT. Having
crossed the celestial Nile, the boats of the planetary gods were
brought to rest and moored to the "peg." The root mn (men) means "to
be at rest" "to be secure" "to be immovable" "to be motionless (as in
death)." The west was called Amentet, the "place of rest or death,"
"the hidden place," and the portal to the Duat or Underworld.
It is only necessary to deduct precisely one degree from all
longitudes computed from Spica in Libra 0.0 degrees to reduce them to
the hypsomatic zodiac (Spica in Virgo 29.0 degrees).
* * *
NOTE: Regarding the division of the star constellation zodiac: Fagan's
ZODIACS OLD AND NEW, a study in archaeoastronomy written prior to 1951,
accords with Garth Allen's discovery and statistical validation (done
with CAPLUNARS of earthquakes and other disasters) that the longitude
of the APEX of the Sun's Way occurs at 0 Capricorn as a FIDUCIAL of the
constellation boundaries. (viz. the Fagan-Allen Ayanamsha, the S.V.P.
or Synetic Vernal Point correction of Spica to 29VIR06'05"). Hence,
the quartering of the star constellation zodiac would occur at 0 Libra
and 0 Aries. (Garth Allen also reported the then current astronomical
finding of a radio source at 0 Libra, see file [VIRGO].)
Regarding the APEX, consider this analogy: a line dropped
longitudinally from the APEX to the ecliptic plane, divides the
ecliptic plane of our solar system in relation to sidereal space - just
as when a line dropped from the North Pole star down to the horizon
defines the (North-South) Meridian as the primary direction for Earth
in relation to the solar system (i.e., North-South, East-West).
See file called [APEX] for Cyril Fagan's 8/56 Essay called "Cosmic
Division" in his Solunars series in American Astrology. In that essay,
he makes reference to other of Garth Allen's statistic studies
validating the natural cosmic division of the star constellation zodiac
known to the Babylonians and Egyptians.
* * * *
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Aries
Cyril Fagan, THE SYMBOLISM OF THE CONSTELLATIONS, 1962
SUN IN ARIES: Apr 14 - May 14
Aries, the last of the twelve zodiacal constellations, is aptly depicted on ancient Egyptian star maps as a reposing ram....We find that on the zodiac in the Ptolemaic Temple of Khnum at Essneh (September 26, 137 B.C.) and on the two zodiacs in the Temples of Hathor and Osiris at Denderah (April 17, A.D. 17), Aries is represented by a "ram couchant," that is, in a state of repose or sleep with Aten, the disc of the Sun, above him. It is the only zodiacal constellation so represented, and in Egyptian symbolism, signified sunset, thus identifying Aries with the descendant or cusp of the 7th house....As to the dominion of the 7th House, the Arabian astrologers, Aedila, Alcabitius, and Morbecca, as well as all the noteworthy medieval writers, concur that it is the house of war, battle, strife, enmity, duels, encounters with thieves, lawsuits, pleas, fines, and all contentions; oppositions, contrariness, and things opposed, agreeing with the influence of warlike Aries. But since the Greeks, astrologically speaking 'turned the zodiac upside-down,'putting Libra on the cusp of the 7th house, the latter has become the house of marriage, unions, partner in marriage, because the rule of Libra is Venus. This is just one instance of the many glaring contradictions abounding in astrology which must be resolved by astrologers before any real headway can be made in the science - if science it is!...
The Neomenia, or the first new moon of the lunar year (which at sunset of the 1st Nisan of the Babylonian calendar, marked the beginning of the day and of the year), occurred when the fine, thin crescent Moon, or "Adams' Rib," was first sighted above the western horizon, when the Sun had just set in the constellation Aries, and the crescent was in Taurus, their exaltation signs respectively. Aries is the diurnal house of Mars, whose astrological symbol is the hieratic ideogram for Khopet, signifying "death," and, according to Claudius Ptolemy the anaereta, or place of death, was the degree of the zodiac on the western horizon. The demotic name for Aries was Pa Yesu, "the Fleece," the determinative 'dhr' representing "a hide."
SUN IN ARIES: Apr 14 - May 14
Aries, the last of the twelve zodiacal constellations, is aptly depicted on ancient Egyptian star maps as a reposing ram....We find that on the zodiac in the Ptolemaic Temple of Khnum at Essneh (September 26, 137 B.C.) and on the two zodiacs in the Temples of Hathor and Osiris at Denderah (April 17, A.D. 17), Aries is represented by a "ram couchant," that is, in a state of repose or sleep with Aten, the disc of the Sun, above him. It is the only zodiacal constellation so represented, and in Egyptian symbolism, signified sunset, thus identifying Aries with the descendant or cusp of the 7th house....As to the dominion of the 7th House, the Arabian astrologers, Aedila, Alcabitius, and Morbecca, as well as all the noteworthy medieval writers, concur that it is the house of war, battle, strife, enmity, duels, encounters with thieves, lawsuits, pleas, fines, and all contentions; oppositions, contrariness, and things opposed, agreeing with the influence of warlike Aries. But since the Greeks, astrologically speaking 'turned the zodiac upside-down,'putting Libra on the cusp of the 7th house, the latter has become the house of marriage, unions, partner in marriage, because the rule of Libra is Venus. This is just one instance of the many glaring contradictions abounding in astrology which must be resolved by astrologers before any real headway can be made in the science - if science it is!...
The Neomenia, or the first new moon of the lunar year (which at sunset of the 1st Nisan of the Babylonian calendar, marked the beginning of the day and of the year), occurred when the fine, thin crescent Moon, or "Adams' Rib," was first sighted above the western horizon, when the Sun had just set in the constellation Aries, and the crescent was in Taurus, their exaltation signs respectively. Aries is the diurnal house of Mars, whose astrological symbol is the hieratic ideogram for Khopet, signifying "death," and, according to Claudius Ptolemy the anaereta, or place of death, was the degree of the zodiac on the western horizon. The demotic name for Aries was Pa Yesu, "the Fleece," the determinative 'dhr' representing "a hide."
-
Jim Eshelman
- Are You Sirius?
- Posts: 19062
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 12:40 pm
Re: Kay Cavender archives
Phew... (and that's just the first stage).
The site was gifted with a collection of articles and organized notes from Siderealist Kay Cavender. I have copied them above, but this is just the beginning of making them available.
It will take me weeks... more likely months... to get these into a truly accessible, readable form. For one, every article is in 80-character lines with paragraphing appropriate to a 1980's era text file. I have to manually delete all the carriage returns (thousands of them) to turn them into flowing text, break apart the paragraphs, and do some other minimal formatting to make them more readable.
With this, I am embarrassed to say that, along with the gratitude I feel for Kay's long work and sharing, I also feel a burden in all of this and a dread that it will take me away from months of original, productive work. Nonetheless, I strongly feel we owe it to those who have come before to respect their work through its preservation.
Additionally, I have to make decision about what to do with the many whole articles reproduced from elsewhere - material the rights to which are owned by others. (When I started copying these files into this thread, I thought they were all Kay's original work.) I probably will go back and delete those portions that are simply whole reproductions of full articles in this category out of respect for the rights holders. However, in the meantime, I've copied all of it here, thus preserving what was passed to me.
Anyway, the thread is open for your discussion.
The site was gifted with a collection of articles and organized notes from Siderealist Kay Cavender. I have copied them above, but this is just the beginning of making them available.
It will take me weeks... more likely months... to get these into a truly accessible, readable form. For one, every article is in 80-character lines with paragraphing appropriate to a 1980's era text file. I have to manually delete all the carriage returns (thousands of them) to turn them into flowing text, break apart the paragraphs, and do some other minimal formatting to make them more readable.
With this, I am embarrassed to say that, along with the gratitude I feel for Kay's long work and sharing, I also feel a burden in all of this and a dread that it will take me away from months of original, productive work. Nonetheless, I strongly feel we owe it to those who have come before to respect their work through its preservation.
Additionally, I have to make decision about what to do with the many whole articles reproduced from elsewhere - material the rights to which are owned by others. (When I started copying these files into this thread, I thought they were all Kay's original work.) I probably will go back and delete those portions that are simply whole reproductions of full articles in this category out of respect for the rights holders. However, in the meantime, I've copied all of it here, thus preserving what was passed to me.
Anyway, the thread is open for your discussion.
Jim Eshelman
www.jeshelman.com
www.jeshelman.com
Re: Kay Cavender archives
Enjoying these posts very much Jim. I have always been starved for all the Fagan/Allen material I have missed in my life by being a late student to Sidereal Astrology---thanks 
Re: Kay Cavender archives
Jim...
There are no words that can express the deep and heartfelt thankfulness I have for your efforts in preserving 'works' provided to us by Kay...
I understand your concern for the 'rights' of writers.... Deleting whole reproductions of full articles provided by Kay may not be of benefit to anyone.
I pray she is well!
There are no words that can express the deep and heartfelt thankfulness I have for your efforts in preserving 'works' provided to us by Kay...
I understand your concern for the 'rights' of writers.... Deleting whole reproductions of full articles provided by Kay may not be of benefit to anyone.
I pray she is well!