When EXACTLY was the SVP determined?

[Jim Eshelman]

It's well-known in Sidereal circles that Garth Allen (Donald Bradley) published his discovery of Sidereal solar and lunar ingresses, and his "rectification" of the Sidereal zodiac - the determination of the SVP - in the May, June, and July 1957 issues of American Astrology. I've long wondered, though, if that's just when he could get them in print and, perhaps, the work had been completed a year or two or three earlier. (A remark he makes in the series suggested that they had "comfortably worn" the new definition for a while.)

It occurred to me tonight that we can probably trace this in Cyril Fagan's writings, since his monthly "Solunars" column in AAM began in 1953. So I pulled out my bound photocopies of the first several years of Fagan's work and did some digging.

As late as the March 1957 issue of AAM, when he gave Benito Mussolini's horoscope, it is clear that he is still using the Hypsomatic Vernal Point (Spica at 29°00'00" Virgo). The same is true with Hitler's chart in the April 1957 issue: All planet positions are about 6' off from where modern calculations would give them. The transits for Paul Clancy's death, shown in the May '57 issue, are quite badly calculated, but where they are not way off (e.g., Sun is 0°31' as if an AM/PM mix-up occurred, which would also explain the 5° Moon error), the difference is about 6'. Same with Mrs. Clancy's SSR in the July 1957 issue, the very one in which Garth Allen's final article on the subject appeared. (Of course, these were written months before the issues came out.)

Finally, in the October 1957 issue, a new copy of Mrs. Clancy's chart appears with Sun at 2°19'39" Aries. This is 01" from the best modern calculations using the SVP. By that time, Fagan is using the SVP, in an issue that hit the stands 5 months after the first Bradley article on the discoveries.

CONCLUSION: Fagan didn't know about the new discovery until approximately the time is was published. (He could have been holding it back to not steal Bradley's thunder on the discovery, but he likely wouldn't have done that for a long time, like a year or two.)

There is a brief acknowledgement by Fagan:

Chart 1 is our editress' birth horoscope. It will be noted that the longitude of all the planets and cusps of the houses have been increased by 0°06'05' to accord with Mr. Garth Allen's remarkable discovery of the synetic vernal point (S.V.P.).

[Jim Eshelman]

I have all the intervening issues - August, September, and October, 1957 - and just flipped through to see if there was any other kind of congratulations or announcement, e.g., a letter in "Many Things." There was not. The few lines just quoted were the only public acknowledgement I've seen.

[Jupiter Sets at Dawn]

Would Bradley have checked out the SVP (and got it comfortably worn in) by calculating the Eye on the World columns and other such columns even if he was waiting on a three month slot to publish the research?

[Jim Eshelman]

Bradley's May 1957 Solar Return necessarily fell after all the work was over and the articles written - since they started appearing in the May 1957 issue which went on sale in April and was in editorial process for some number of months earlier.

Ah, but his 1956 SSR (set for Long Beach) does the job quite nicely. Its outstanding feature is transiting Uranus half a degree above Descendant. This surely described the event and feeling of his discovery of Sidereal ingresses and the ability to determine, for the first time in modern history, the boundaries of the zodiac.

Uranus and Ascendant square his natal Mercury - Uranus to Mercury is partile.

This is surely the SSR under which he made the discoveries. (It has other cool features such as a partile Sun-Pluto square.)

[Jim Eshelman]

Would Bradley have checked out the SVP (and got it comfortably worn in) by calculating the Eye on the World columns and other such columns even if he was waiting on a three month slot to publish the research?

I don't think so. He wasn't connected to the magazine until years later (other than as a contributor). I'd have to look back at the issues to see the byline of the U.S. correspondent at the time. Even in subsequent years, he seemed strangely awkward using Sidereal ingresses in his annual published forecasts, so I don't think he had gotten experience in it yet. A couple of big events that happened soon after the publication were jumped on as "our first chance to test the new tool."

And it's hard for me to believe, since he was in regular correspondence with Fagan, that he'd have held this back any length of time.

[Jim Eshelman]

I just realized - there was VERY LITTLE lead time in finalizing the articles. The magazine went on sale sometime in April 1957 and referenced the March 22, 1957 Daly City earthquake. That surely was a last-minute "Here, stick this extra paragraph in somehow please."

His November 12, 1956 SLR had Jupiter rising opposite his Uranus on Descendant. His ongoing progressed Sun-Uranus square was only 0°16' wide in mid-November (with an interesting progressed Mars trine natal Uranus 0°40').

[SteveS]

Jim wrote:

Ah, but his 1956 SSR (set for Long Beach, does the job quite nicely. Its outstanding feature is transiting Uranus half a degree above Descendant. This surely described the event and feeling of his discovery of Sidereal ingresses and the ability to determine, for the first time in modern history, the boundaries of the zodiac.
Uranus (and Ascendant) squares his natal Mercury - Uranus to Mercury is partile. This is surely the SSR under which he made the discoveries.

Bradley’s SVP discovery and rectification along with Fagan’s rediscovery of the ancient Sidereal Zodiac, the two most important discoveries in the field of modern astrology. If not for these discoveries this forum would not be possible.