INTRODUCTION
One of the most valued
objects in my rather modest astrological library is a little
booklet, called “Geodetic
Equivalents”, by Sepharial, published by the American
Federation of Astrologers, year unknown. For me, when I happened
upon it in an astrological bookshop, it meant an introduction
to the strangest and most irrational branch of astrology that
I work with. There are stranger branches but I don’t
believe in them and don’t use them. Whenever I occupy
myself with mundane astrology however, I always take a sneaky
view of the geodetic equivalent for the horoscope I’m
studying.
In
case you don’t know what it’s all about: in the
technique of geodetic equivalents a horoscope is cast for a place
on earth in the regular way except that the sidereal time for
that place is fixed and directly depends on the local latitude.
Take the number of degrees and minutes of a place east of Greenwich
and you have the longitude of the local geodetic MC in degrees
from the point 0 Aries. For a place west of Greenwich, deduct
the local longitude from 360. Thus, Paris is situated at 2.20
east longitude, which gives it a geodetic MC of 2 Aries 20.Then
for the local latitude calculate the other cusps in the usual
way and you have the geodetic equivalent. The equivalent of what?
Usually of a “real” horoscope you calculated earlier,
with a correct real sidereal time.
STATING
OUR THESIS
I
will now state the rules of the game as I have learned to apply
them in order to get the most interesting results:
- A
mundane geodetic horoscope usually is cast for the moment when
an astrological phenomenon (an eclipse, ingress, stationary
position or planetary conjunction), occurs as the last preceding
one of its kind. In this study we will limit ourselves to stationary
positions of planets, shortly stations.
- Such
a horoscope, most often calculated for a country’s
capital, is supposed to give information for the period of
time until such a phenomenon occurs again.
- Within
this horoscope, the position of the stationary planet involved
(the relevant one) gives the most interesting information,
usually by being conjunct or in a square to an angular cusp
with a maximum orb of say two up to two and a half. Angular
positions
of other planets may give secondary information, just like
mundane positions. By secondary I mean their information
is not enough
to make the horoscope tally, but if there is another indication
that does, then secondary indications may be helpful.
- Since
the sidereal time is fixed, not only regular cusps are always
the same for one place but mundane cusps are
too. The
only variable data are regular (zodiacal) and mundane positions
of planets.
- Important: since the sidereal time is fixed, the time for a geodetic horoscope
does not have to be very exact
for even
a
deviation of an hour will only result in the moon’s
position being off by half a degree and the sun and the
planets far less.
Let us take as an example the last time when Pluto became stationary
(direct) before the Nazi Germans invaded the Netherlands, May
1940. This astrological phenomenon happened April 13th 1940,
GMT 3.15 01, and the regular horoscope is like this:
where Pluto does not give any interesting indication for the
largest catastrophe since ages that was to take place in the
Netherlands, whilst the geodetic equivalent is like this:
This chart shows Pluto at no more than four minutes of arc from
the ascendant. A secondary indication is mundane Pluto in nine,
with an orb of less than half a degree conjunct to Mercury. This
would be hardly interesting if Mercury were not the ruler of
twelfth (secret enemies. The invasion happened most treacherously
without preceding declaration of war). Another applicable secondary
indication is mundane Mars conjunct to cusp eight.
In
case you wonder how exact is the time calculated for Pluto’s
becoming stationary, a) for the twentieth century and later these
times certainly are exact b) remember that even a deviation of
an hour of time does not matter very much.
CONSIDERATIONS
So now you know the trick. It is in fact very simple but certainly
rather implausible. Why would there exist an earthly zodiac,
equivalent to the astronomical one? Why should the starting point
for this geodetic zodiac happen to coincide with man defined
zero degrees of longitude at Greenwich observatory? Or, to paraphrase
Baigent c.s. (p.294): if this is true, then God must be an Englishman.
And yet I think the results of this strange method cannot be
simply put aside without further study.
There
is, however, at least one nasty problem within this theory.
Those with a technical turn of
mind have often remarked that
it is illogical to simply convert the local longitude to zodiacal
longitude on the MC. The local longitude should be considered
the right ascension of the local MC and accordingly converted.
This may give deviations varying from virtually nothing to almost
two degrees. I have found cases that give the best results for
the approach by longitude and cases that support the view by
R.A. (a majority, I suppose). But I realize that the real question
should not be: what method gives the most accurate results (less
deviations) but: what method gives the most hits, given a certain
orb. This is definitely not the same. Thus, the example above
with Amsterdam longitude based gave an orb of four minutes of
arc. If we accept only R.A. based cases, the orb is 1 degree
12 minutes of arc – considerably larger but still within
orb.
In other words, it all depends on whether you accept orbs up
to two, two and a half degrees so that you can allow yourself
to use only one method, (R.A., I suppose), or prefer narrower
orbs each time in combination with which of the two methods give
the most accurate result. In this article I have, after much
deliberation, chosen for the first approach so I limit myself
to R.A. based geodetic equivalents if they are within orbs, even
if longitude based calculations give a more accurate result.
PEARL
HARBOR
The
uncanny thing is, one gets the impression that geodetic horoscopes,
at least for stations, give as much fitting results
as regular ones. Baigent c.s., clearly embarrassed with this
irrational technique, tried to disprove it (p. 206) by showing
there are no applicable geodetic indications for the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7th 1941. What the authors actually
mean is that the local geodetic cusps were not activated by any
transits at the time. But they did not see that the last preceding
stationary position of Mars was
on November 10th, which gives a geodetic horoscope (R.A. based):
- Mars
square to the ascendant, orb less than half a degree.
Now, if (like me) you prefer cases with conjunctions to cusps
to cases with squares, I have a surprise for you. This case was
Mars stationary turning to direct, which means Mars turned to
retrograde not long before, to be exact on September 6th 1941
and the R.A.-geodetic (R.A. based) equivalent of this station
for Pearl Harbor was
giving Mars at 6 minutes from the IC. Besides of this, mundane
Pluto is conjunct to the M.C.
What we may have overlooked until now is that Pearl Harbor is
not the capital of the USA. Turning back to Mars stationary position
on November 10th 1941, we may calculate an R.A. based geodetical
horoscope for Washington:
with Mars in a square to the MC/IC-axis, orb less than one degree.
The
earlier date, September 6th, gives the following result for
Washington (R.A. based):
Mars is on the ascendant, just within orb (2 degrees 23 minutes).
The longitude based orb is far smaller, but we agreed to use
only R.A. based ones.
This
is a pattern I regularly meet: when a planet’s last
preceding station before an event is going direct, as much or
more information is given by the preceding station (going retrograde).
Somehow, a retrograde station seems not to lose its influence
by the next station that will always be direct. I have called
this the Skipping Rule and we will meet more cases in this article.
I have found no cases of the reverse (stationary planet turning
to retrograde, more information given by preceding direct station),
which is reassuring, for the distance in time from a planet becoming
retrograde to becoming direct again is usually far shorter than
the reverse.
The
results for Washington are the same as for Pearl Harbor since
the axis MC-IC for Pearl Harbor is
almost the same as the
axis Asc-Desc for Washington. This gives a link: Washington could
not get involved into war without Pearl Harbor being attacked
(one wonders how this is nowadays? Or a sceptic might suggest
that both stations of Mars related to Washington only and that
it is purely coincidental that Pearl Harbor’s geodetic
IC coincides with Washington’s geodetic ascendant.)
ENGLAND
AT WAR
It is a pity that Baigent c.s. as it seems overlooked a then
recent impressive case of geodetic astrology that should appeal
to British researchers especially. Their book is from 1984, and
on May 11th 1982 Mars was stationary in the geodetic IC of London
:
I
saw this in my ephemeris about one year earlier and I was perplexed.
This could only mean that Great Britain was to be
at war in 1982, which I thought, impossible and a refutation
of the whole theory of geodetic equivalents. And what happened?
The Falkland war broke out! Since then I have great trust in using geodetic equivalents.
This is the more an interesting case since a regular horoscope
for the same phenomenon for the opponent (Buenos Aires) shows
Mars less than one and half a degree from the ascendant:
even stressed by the mundane ascendant, that happens to be almost
conjunct to the regular ascendant.
THE
BOMB
There
is one more subject in Baigent (p.296) that needs discussion:
The atom bomb. The authors note that
Hiroshima has its geodetic
MC (longitude based) at 12 Leo 28. When the atom bomb fell Pluto
was at 9 Leo 58 and the sun at 13 Leo 09. The authors consider
this a good example of a positive case that can always be found
to support any thesis. The truth is far more subtle however.
Pluto’s last station (direct going) before the Bomb fell
was april 20th 1945 at 7 Leo 54, which was just 24 minutes of
arc from Nagasaki’s M.C, R.A. based:
For Hiroshima the best we can get from this station is a conjunction
with the geodetic longitude based MC:
with an orb of two degrees and seven minutes which is just within
orbs and we would have to do with that if we could not take resource
to the Skipping Rule: the last time Pluto became retrograde was
November 11th 1944 at 10 Leo 16, and for Hiroshima this gives
the following geodetic horoscope (R.A.based):
Showing Pluto at 15 minutes of arc in the MC. Uranus, also often
linked with the nuclear bomb, had its mundane position in the
ascendant.
So both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were rather exactly indicated
(R.A. based) by the two last stations of Pluto before the bomb
fell.
THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR II
The last time Mars was stationary before the beginning of this
war was August 23rd 1939 which at first sight does not give any
interesting geodetic indication. But this was a direct station
and if we apply our Skipping Rule we can look at this horoscope
as well:
June 22nd 1939, Mars is less than one and a half degree from
the geodetic (R.A.) descendant for Berlin.
For Paris the case of Mars station on August 23rd mentioned
above gives a conjunction to the R.A. based geodetic descendant
with an orb of 2 degrees and 20 minutes:
It is just within orbs.
It is tantalizing that for London the same calculation gives
an orb of 2 degrees 33 minutes which falls just outside the orb
I use. The same with a regular horoscope for this station for
Warszaw, capital of attacked Poland:
where Mars is conjunct to the descendant with 2 degrees 44 minutes.
I might have to redefine my maximum orbs.
THE
END OF WORLD WAR II
Based
on our study above, the German attack and the total collapse
of the Netherlands were indicated by
stationary Pluto on the
Amsterdam geodetic ascendant, April 13th 1940. Most satisfying,
the final German collapse in 1945 was indicated in the same way
by Pluto becoming direct on April 20th (Hitler’s last anniversary,
by the way):
positioned at hardly one degree from the geodetic ascendant
(R.A.)
Before WW II ended, the Dutch had to go through a winter of
starvation, Hunger Winter as we call it. In the half of the country
that had not yet been liberated, thousands of people died from
hunger and cold, people were fighting in the streets for food
and farmers got rich by selling food at extortionate prices.
The planet that rules this situation of lack of food is of course
Saturn, and the last time it was stationary before the end of
the war was March 5th 1945, which gives the following geodetic
(R.A. based) horoscope:
From
relevant Saturn we see a square to the MC (one and half a degree
orb) and its mundane position
is conjunct to cusp nine,
indicating the source of the problem. Further, Mars is conjunct
to cusp eight, together with mundane Uranus ruler of eight, and
mundane Pluto is conjunct to the MC so there is no lack of lethal
indications. Very nice is Saturn’s zodiacal position in
Cancer, traditionally the sign of Holland (and of the stomach).
Almost 30 years later this situation was somehow repeated. September
1973, the Yom Kippur War broke out between Israel and its Arabian
neighbours, and the Dutch especially made no secret of their
sympathy for the Israeli side. This resulted in an Arabian boycott
of the Netherlands. Oil supply was limited and lack of petrol
and other oil products are also an issue. The situation was very
threatening and I vividly remember our then Prime Minister, Joop
den Uyl making a most serious speech on TV. He explained to his
people that the good times from before this war were never to
return again. Sadly, we all nodded in assent before our television
sets. To start with, a prohibition was proclaimed on tanking
petrol on Sundays and later on driving cars on Sundays too. Petrol
was rationed. In about a month or six weeks it was all over,
although this was never officially stated by the government.
Everyone knew it although it was not published or mentioned on
any news for fear of openly offending the Arabian countries.
Saturn became retrograde October 17th 1973 and the corresponding
geodetic (R.A. based) horoscope for Amsterdam (see chart below):
where we see, just like 30 years before, Saturn in 4 Cancer
in twelve, square to the Amsterdam MC (orb 37 minutes of arc),
in mundane conjunction to cusp nine. The lack of oil for the
Netherlands is indicated by Pluto being square to Saturn and
conjunct to the Amsterdam IC (orb 20 minutes of arc). In a trine
to this Pluto we see Jupiter in Aquarius at the descendant, probably
indicating the benefic outcome of this storm in a teacup.
In case you have a doubt whether indeed Saturn square to Pluto
meant lack of oil (many astrologers think oil is ruled by Neptune),
I draw your attention to as far as I know the first oil crisis
in history, during the Suez Crisis, autumn 1956. The ephemeris
for October 1956 is shown below:
shows the two planets were in a square on October 7, 1956. Later
oil crises showed the tendency to coincide with unlucky aspects
between Saturn and Pluto as well, but this is not within the
scope of this article.
THE
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
Due to deviating calendars, the Russian October Revolution (in
spite of its name took place in what we call November 1917),
the most probable station of Uranus to study is the direct one
on October 30th 1917 GMT 10.31. This chart gives an interesting
regular horoscope:
with Uranus square to the MC, and geodetically (longitude) the
same station puts
Uranus
just within two degrees from the descendant. Remember that
Petrograd (“Sankt Peterburg”)
was the capital of imperial Russia, not Moscow. Interestingly,
Uranus was also
in Aquarius, the traditional sign of Russia.
This is one case where geodetic based on longitude gives an
acceptable orb and based on R.A. not (more than three degrees
off). But we may apply our Skipping Rule once more, for Uranus
last preceding retrograde station on May 29th gives the following
regular horoscope :
Uranus at the MC (orb less than two degrees), and the following
geodetic one (R.A. based):
Uranus is positioned at 39 minutes of arc from the descendant.
This
revolution developed into Stalinistic terror, collapsing with
Stalin’s death on March 5th 1953. Just like the end
of Hitler’s rulership this was indicated by Pluto’s
direct station at the geodetic ascendant (R.A. for Moscow), on
November 24th 1952:
Pluto is less than half a degree in the ascendant.
The adversaries of the geodetic theory may explain how coincidental
it is that both great dictatorships of twentieth century
Europe should end with the same indication: as if after
Hitler’s
death, indicated by Pluto on Berlin’s ascendant, Stalin
had waited for this planet, travelling to Moscow, to die.
THE
END OF THE SOVIET UNION
Somewhere in the beginning of the eighties I noticed that
July 20th 1988 Pluto was to have an R.A. station in Moscow’s
geodetic IC with an orb of only 22 minutes.
From this, I concluded that Soviet power was to collapse by
the end of the eighties. The actual fall came a year later than
I expected but I comforted myself with the thought that the Soviet
Union had been tumbling down like Jericho for years before 1989.
Anyway, my unpublished forecast was better (and earlier) than
that of most Kremlin watchers.
With this I leave the reader and let them conclude for themselves
whether the theory of geodetic equivalents is worthwhile for
further investigation or not. I certainly will not state that
there is a one to one relationship between geodetic phenomena
and clearly corresponding events but then, what astrological
rule can be said to always tally ? POST
SCRIPTUM ON THE SKIPPING RULE
Maybe we don’t need the Skipping Rule at all. Possibly,
we humans (or at least your reporter) are wrong in considering
all stationary positions of one kind, whether the planet turns
to retrograde or to direct. Nature might see them as phenomena
as different from each other as ingresses from eclipses, which
would explain all cases where we need the Skipping Rule.
References:
Baigent M., Campion N. and Harvey, C. : Mundane Astrology, An
Introduction to the Astrology of Nations and Groups, Aquarian
Press, Wellingborough, 1984
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