Solunars by Aldebaran Sidereal Academy

Last year, it became a big deal nationwide to celebrate June 19, 1865, the date that General Gordon Granger led 2,000 troops into Galveston, Texas and publicly proclaimed - usually said to be by reading aloud in many places, and probably at least in one place - six general orders, of which General Order No. 3 affirmed the Emancipation Proclamation over two years earlier and (among other things) declared all slaves freed.

I've read dozens of accounts to try to pin down a specific time for this (at another astrologer's request). There is no time recorded that I can find. However, a mid-morning time, perhaps around 9 AM (or maybe 10 AM), fits all the parameters. Gen. Granger's troops moved onto Galveston Island over a two-week period. The general himself arrived June 18. Original hand-written copies of his general orders bear the date of the 19th and were surely written that morning. On June 19, he led 2,000 troops into Galveston and, more or less at once, proceeded with reading his general orders (evidently, and logically, in numerical order). Sunrise was 5 AM so, with troops rising probably at sunrise, breakfast, organizing and mobilizing and mounting, and moving 2,000 troops into town in an orderly fashion, sounds like a 9 AM arrival. (Having set up a chart for that hour, I notice Mars had just rising and was exactly square MC: This sounds like 2,000 troops suddenly marching into a small town!)

The significance of Juneteenth - symbolically, and perhaps actually - centers on it being the final recorded event outlawing slavery in any part of the U.S. (since the G.O.s revoked Confederate rule and enforced the Emancipation Proclamation). This is also interpreted, therefore, as the first occasion when in U.S. history when all Americans were legally free.

I'm curious what the mundane charts look like for Galveston and, perhaps, beyond. First, here is how things looked for the town of Galveston that day. -- It looks like a lot of bad news for the town and one Mercury after another - easily the most common planet - showing the proclamations.

Year: Capsolar {+2}
If nothing else, anxiety, public reaction, and government presence.
Neptune on MC 0°59'
Sun and Mercury more widely foreground
-- Su/Me on Dsc 0°02'

Bridge (None.)

Quarter: Arisolar {+2}
A bad season for the town with Moon aspects consistent with a decisive piece of paper.
Saturn IC 1°58'
Sun widely foreground
Moon-Mercury op. 0°22'
Moon-Pluto op. 1°53'

Month: Caplunar (Dormant.) Moon-Saturn.

Week: Arilunar {+2}
(Again: The 6/18 ingress' main message is of an announcement - a communication - with a controlling, restricting hand that amounts to bad news consistent with terminating the historic way of life of the community.
Mercury on Asc 2°12'
Jupiter widely foreground
Moon-Saturn op. 0°48'

Day: Capsolar Quotidian {+2}
p Asc op. s Mars 0°32'
p EP-a op. t Mercury 0°00'
p MC op t Eris 1°15'

Day: Cansolar Quotidian & Transits {+2}
p Asc sq. p Pluto 0°46', sq. t Pluto 1°20'
------------------------------------
t Mercury sq. s Asc 0°26'

I ran the charts for Washington. Mostly they seemed to be talking about something else. (It was a busy time in Washington two months after Lincoln's murder and the war's end.) The charts are jumbled and hard to sort, but there is one sterling, remarkable showing as America's first day of universal freedom: The CapQ in Washington showed:

6°41' Gem - t Uranus
7°30' Vir - p MC

It's worth checking transits to the U.S. natal chart. Again, this was a complicated time, perhaps as complicated emotionally and by action as any modern period. Many important transits were coming and going through the spring. Here is what was exact:

t Jupiter sq. r Neptune 0°05'
t Mercury sqq. r Pluto 0°26'

Add:
p Venus sq. p Jupiter 0°12' sep. (the end of the war 2 months earlier, if nothing else)
p Venus conj. p Saturn 0°38' sep.

d Pluto sq. r Mercury 0°51' ap.
d Pluto ssq. r Uranus 0°29' ap.


Switching to the Boyd declaration of war chart, transits are:

t Pluto sqq. r Mars 0°05'
t Sun sq. r Mars 0°22'

This seems less fitting - the reverse of the event (especially since open conflict didn't result). (Solar Arcs and secondary progressions don't show anything.)