Deductive Divination; Considerations before Judgement

~ Predictions on the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba ~

Estebon S.R. Duarte © 2014

Without making definitive statements on what is or isn’t a prediction, or trying to persuade or dissuade pro and antagonistic remarks on the topic, there is no argument against the fact that Astrology is a facet of Human culture and civilization that stimulates discussions about humanity and earthly affairs. And that is largely what we are engaging with, an ancient tradition that follows (precedes?) literate humans who reckon with numbers.

That being said, as Astrologers have shown varied opinions on what qualifies as prediction and to what extent prediction is even possible, Traditional Astrologers practice predictive astrology with purpose and sometimes have even stricter guidelines as to what is and is not a proper prediction. For the staunchest predictive astrologer may want to see the planetary arrangement used for the delineation and timing charts with exact intervals for possible timing of events referenced with quotes from the ancients. As research continues into both the historical use of astrology as well as its practitioners and participants, there is a pronounced difference between which ‘rules’ are promoted and practiced “faithfully” and delineation methodology that yields predictive results. Horary is a good example of how rules meet delineation toward the ultimate worth of a prognostication. Even the most particular ancient authors were prone to miscalculation as Ben Dykes points out in his evaluation of Masha’allah’s efforts;

“we must simply look at his own interpretive method to understand his astrology, and pretend the charts are accurate” (Astrology of the World II p.97).

Further considered is the value of the prognostication and wether it is preached for the choir (astrologers) or the masses (public readership). So when evaluating the USA Aries Ingress for 2014 (https://plus.google.com/+Organic-Astrology/posts/dFVCzhNcEdh) strides were made to pronounce judgement on the chart without “showing the work” of astrological determination and delineation. Thus the statement “Spending will increase, foreign investments will rise and we may see the embargo lifted from Cuba before next spring” is not a particular prediction for Cuba or Cubans. It has elements of predictive effort and may not just be a consideration before judgment. It is a part of the 2014 Ingress report for the United States and as such was not delineated as a physical event that will happen at a specific time which is why after downgrading the prognostication I left the embargo strikethrough for later discussion.

The announcement of a new relationship with Cuba was a proclamation made by the ruler of the US and is grouped with a delineation of the potential Lord of the Year (LOY) which in this chart was the difference between an exalted people and an exalted ruler.

Finances are a major topic of the 2014 Ingress. Jupiter rises in Cancer ruling the MC, the 9th and the 6th signs, The Sun is exalted in the 10th sign while ruling the 2nd.

In 2014 the US concerned itself with generating wealth were there was none before; Quantitative Easing, Record stock market numbers, producing oil domestically, burgeoning Cannabis Industries, with a ninth house component there must be a foreign business environment that has gone un-tapped or un-developed. To serve the received trine from Mercury to Jupiter it would have to be secret or suspect, though layered with commercial applications in the guise of Justice. The arrangement would also have to be counter status-quo (Mercury in Fall) and a grandiose gesture of goodwill (received by an exalted Jupiter), though ultimately productive and successful as the Lot of Fortune is with Mercury. Politics, posturing, and grandstanding with a definitive result. The closest foreign place where no current communicated source of opportunity exists for the United States is difficult to find in the modern age, Venezuela? Cuba?

While studying the rise of new rulership in Cuba under Raul Castro I noticed Libra, Venus, and Pisces as indicators of change, and if deductive divination were not enough evidence then I offer the water signs involved and a signification of island locales as the realm of Pisces if not so much Cancer.

With an amount of unchecked exuberance I wrote “the Embargo will be lifted”!!

These are the types of proclamations that make predictive astrologers’ results look unreliable.

Regardless, I wished to stand by predictions that I had spoke and I downgraded the prognostication to “trade restrictions” while leaving proof of my dubious claim on my WordPress blog (https://cosmophage.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/aries-ingress-usa-2014/). While the time between edits was a few hours, I knew the element I was delineating was opportunistic, magnanimous, and shrewdly economic (for reasons that may not be readily available right now) so there the testimonies toward judgement were there.

A timeline of events relating to trade stemming from the date of the embargo will show that in the last couple of decades so much back and forth allowances and exceptions have occurred to make the embargo look perhaps opaque (depending on particular perspective as it takes a uniquely ‘un-biased’ or perhaps naive stance to make proclamations about Cuba and Cubans). Regardless, to the Old Guard the Embargo is symbolic and 8 months ago it may have seemed a far-fetched prediction (does it still? The current administration has officially asked Congress to lift it).

So still the idea of “lifted trade restrictions” seemed lacking in any weight or sufficient detail, perhaps a safe prediction that could be explained by any exception or allowance to the rule. I could have added ‘travel’ to the restrictions lifted with mercury and ninth house indicating a pilgrimage element, and with Jupiter and Venus ruling the 9th there would be Catholics involved (apparently the Pope brokered this accord).

As I posted the 2014 USA Aries Ingress report first to Organic Astrology (www.organic-astrology.com scroll down) then to Google+ I realized that there should be something more to recognize that I really did believe the Embargo would be lifted before Spring (I just didn’t complete the Cuban ingress report to confirm with confidence), so when posting the report to my WordPress blog I finalized the effort as “significant trade restrictions will be lifted”. Real game-changer eh?

I recognized all of this as a completely haphazard approach to what I wanted to be a more in-depth prognostication, but with work still to be done on the Hybrid Solar Eclipse/Ebola paper discussed on Organic Astrology, I chose not to have my USA Ingress Report crowded with planetary arrangements and delineations for different countries, as well as the aforementioned attempt at a readable ingress report for both practitioner and participant.

Simple answer to determination and delineation?

In the USA chart an exalted rising Jupiter, Lord of the Asc/MC was receiving Mercury in Pisces/9th sign.

Why Cuba/Embargo?

9th/Pisces/Mercury (conjunct the POF). Mercury in Pisces participates with Venus as LOY when Raul Castro took office (Aries Ingress 2007) and the Sun was transiting Pisces when he gave his acceptance speech and was officially sworn in as “Ruler” of Cuba. Libra rises in the relevant Cuban ingress charts.

Astrology doesn’t have to be over-complicated or difficult, trust in simple delineations combined with proper significations, which will probably always be a source of disagreement. Now timing is another story still and all I can say is with the dynamic planetary arrangement, that some decree with initiating action would occur before the next Aries Ingress, I consulted no directions, though if you Profect the first house Jupiter and the Asc come to Mercury and the 9th/MC between Nov 21-Dec 21.

Should any staunch traditional practitioner of ancient horoscopy wish to complicate, prove or provoke the matter I invite you to the (partial) list of charts one could use as a beginning chart or relevant radix.

• Lunation Prior*Conj* 29 Pisces
• Aries Ingress 1958 (fixed chart) Revolutionary Socialists Take Control (January 1)
• Lunation Prior *Prev* 22 Pisces Total Lunar Eclipse March 13 1960
• Aries Ingress 1960 (fixed chart) Embargo
• Saturn/Jupiter Conj Feb 1961
• Lunation Prior*Prev*26Pisces
• Aries Ingress 1965 (fixed chart) Communist Party Established (October)
• Aries Ingress 2007 Rise of a new Ruler (movable)
• Feb 24 2008 Raul Castro Elected (5pm?local. AP report?)
• Lunation Prior*Prev*26Pisces/Virgo
• Aries Ingress 2014 (movable chart)
• Lunation Prior*
• Cancer Ingress 2014
• Lunation Prior*
• Libra Ingress 2014
• Lunation Prior* to Announcement
• US Relations Establishment Announced Dec 17 2014
• Lunation Prior*
• Capricorn Ingress 2014

Capricorn Ingress USA 2014

Capricorn Ingress 2014 Washington DC USA

December 21 2014 – March 21 2015

Lord of the Year:

Jupiter as the continued Lord of the Year (I was inclined to give LOY to the Sun in March, after further delineations of the year I submitted Jupiter in June) offers economic stimulation, the rise of the dollar, more confidence in investing and as we have seen the hyperinflation of the stock market, Jupiter is in the 2nd sign Leo.

Retrograde he promises more than will be delivered, as most money generated will find its way to foreign investors and markets.

Lady of the Chart:

Venus as the Lady of the Chart indicates a dignitary who will be showcased as she brokers some agreement or arrangement with/for the Administration.

Significator of the King:

The King deals with foreign foes and friends ruled by Capricorn. Human lives are lost on account of his decisions. Domestically an improved economy and initiated healthcare will be used to defend against the charges of social injustices and corruption in the land. More young men will be killed before spring.

The People:

The People seek to raise the bar on the Standard of Living. Not through excess, but through redefining wealth and luxury. Employment and wages will increase, though most likely serve foreign investment and profit. Domestically the People are initiating alternative means to raise the GDP. Consumer confidence will increase with spending in the retail sectors.

The Malefics:

Saturn and Mars have a tenuous situation worked out with reception by sign though are both square to each other and in an aggressive aspect with Jupiter, a square and opposition respectively.

Social disturbance and violent uprisings will be seen across the land. Disease increases in the north, some illness will reach high infection rates. Self-destructive behavior will rise among the youth and occult pleasures are sought after.

Lord of the Luminaries: Saturn and Jupiter.

The youth are anxious and hide their anxiety. Their education is interrupted by these anxieties. Violence in US schools is at a record level in 2014, this Ingress indicates that increase.

As the economy improves the countries’ wealth will become more unevenly distributed causing gaps in social awareness between rich and poor.

The US Firdar:

The United States had entered a particular nasty firdar cycle beginning 2008 when the Big Firdar was ruled by Scorpio and both the Middle and Small Firdar were ruled by the North Node (then South Node for the small firdar in 2011).

With Scorpio on the cusp of the 12^th house and the Nodes in the signs of their Fall in the US radix ingress (1789) there were indications of failure.

Now in 2014 the Firdar has moved rulership to Sagittarius (Jupiter/Big), Cancer (Jupiter/Middle), Saturn (Small).

The new firdar periods offer renewed opportunity and abundance for the USA, though in 2017 Saturn will hold dominance over the cycle until 2022 when Jupiter holds sway again.

Weather Report:

Record cold, with record dryness. Though climates seem temperate for Winter in most regions, above average Cold-and-or-Dry is coming before Spring. Bouts of rain and moisture cause more harm than good in drought stricken areas. The West will see tumultuous weather patterns that swing between extremities. The California drought will not see reprieve before Spring.

Ebola or Genocide? West Africa and the November 2013 Hybrid Solar Eclipse

Ebola or Genocide? West Africa and the Hybrid Eclipse of November 2013

Estebon Duarte 2014

In his Tetrabiblos Ptolemy laid out a methodology for analyzing eclipses within the ancient divinatory and omen traditions that has been considered both encyclopedic and scientific, underpinned by models of planetary theory and explanation that kept cosmologists and astrologers busy reading charts and predicting cycles; judicial, meteorological, and genethlialogical, for centuries beyond. This methodology and its lasting effect summarized for examination and application by Dr. Ben Dykes in his recent (2013) book, Astrology of the World I: The Ptolemaic Inheritance is a template for understanding and applying the originations and subsequent innovations Ptolemy inspired.

As pointed out by Dykes in his introduction to eclipses, ancient cultures have been done a disservice by being portrayed as fearful observers of celestial omen. Babylonian eclipse records describe these ‘omens’ were not only predicted, but useful for information as well.

By the time of Ptolemy (1st c.), astrology was a varied science in cultural practice and application. Eclipses were judged as weather indicators, as well as indicators of shifts in religion and politics, each with its own kind of ‘weather’.

In an effort to analyze the Hybrid Solar Eclipse of November 3 2013 within the perspective of “The Ptolemaic Inheritance” there are points unique to each eclipse reading that must be considered, including but not limited to;

• Length of the eclipse
• Horoscope chart for the middle point or maximum eclipse
• Path of visibility or totality of the eclipse
• Considerations before judgment, what does the eclipse portend?
• Localizations or considerations to localize the chart
• Timing techniques and relevant charts

When initially examining the charts relevant to the eclipse in November of 2013 I was drawn to the conflict in the Central African Republic (C.A.R) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.) for two reasons: First the path of observable totality was very thin owing to the hybrid nature of the eclipse, the eclipse hit landfall in Gabon and stretched across the Congo, DRC, Kenya and into Somalia. As testified conflict areas these seemed localized indicators of the eclipse in Scorpio attended by Saturn and Mars. Second, the eclipse of November 3 2013 was a part of Saros cycle 143, the previous eclipse in the cycle being October 2 1959, which drew a similar eclipse path from the United States to Africa and could be considered indicative of the Congo Crisis (as pointed out by Dykes).

While examining the relevant charts in late 2013 it seemed that the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction cycles would need to be considered for real judgment on political upheaval in West Africa (extending to the Eastern Coast) and while gathering research in February 2014 for that separate work the first indications of an Ebola breakout were being reported.

Horoscope Chart for November 3 2013 Hybrid Solar Eclipse – Greatest Eclipse Point – Atlantic Ocean

Using the horoscope chart drawn for the middle or actual conjunction of the Sun and Moon with the coordinates reported by Fred Espenak, NASA’s GSFC, (03 N 30, 11 W 41) calculated with Kairon astrology software for OSX gives a rising degree of 10 Aquarius, with the eclipse occurring at 11 Scorpio within 4 degrees of the MC at 16 Scorpio. Mercury and Saturn are with the conjunction (under the beams?) in Scorpio at 07 and 13 degrees respectively. The ruler of this stellia is Mars, in the 8^th sign Virgo (11 degrees), a human image on the house of death. Countries and cities with these signs and degrees prominent in the annual ingresses and relevant radix charts will be affected.

Of the configuration above, Sahl bin Bishr (c. 9^th century) had this to say (Astrology of the World I, p. 362);

“And if Mars was the ruler of the management of the eclipse and its bound, it perpetrates evil and corruption from dryness. And if his indication was in people…a disease from fever and heat, and the effusion of blood.”

Dykes summarized the breakdown of eclipse delineation and prediction when producing an example under Ptolemy’s instructions, following that template at the point of greatest eclipse on the path of totality the November 3 2013 eclipse lasted 5.4 hours. While not all of the eclipse was total, local obscuration was such that by tradition roughly 5 years 5 months will mark the timeline of the effects of the eclipse in those places where totality was achieved.

The eclipse is 5 degrees from the Midheaven and within the middle third of the heavens. As this arrangement is similar to the one provided by Dykes I quote him for clarity and brevity,

“According to Ptolemy’s instructions, the effects must begin within 1 year. Because the eclipse is near the Midheaven or in the middle third of heaven, then the effects should begin within 4-8 months (the middle third of one year), and the intensification of them should likewise be within the middle third of the total time indicated…”

Continuing with the November 2013 eclipse:

• Whatever the eclipse portends should begin to be manifest between March 3 2014 and July 3 2014
• The effects of the eclipse in those countries with affected ingress or radix charts should intensify within the second twenty-two month period, anytime between January 3 2016 and May 3 2016
• The residual effects of the eclipse will last for 5.4 years after the event, or between August 2019 and December 2019, and should begin to subside around twenty-two months prior; October 2017 – February 2018

Using this data to unpack the expanded points mentioned prior provides specific information for the delineation including countries affected and testimonies to look for in upcoming ingress and lunation charts.

The length of the eclipse and its formulated effect in years and months is well documented in the extant historical astrological traditions. While Ptolemy’s reported method allows countries away from the eclipse path to be affected by zodiacal sympathy with the eclipse astrological disposition, this chart is drawn for the middle point of the eclipse along its central path which was just miles from the Sierra Leone and Liberian coastlines in the Atlantic Ocean.

Eclipse Path of the Nov 3 2013 Hybrid Solar Eclipse including Greatest Eclipse Point

screenshot from “Ebola Outbreak: How the Virus Spread”. See the full interactive map at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/health-science-technology/ebola-outbreak/map-how-the-ebola-outbreak-spread-through-africa/

The similarities between eclipse path and epidemic dispersion are striking. If proximity of path were an indication of localization of events I would be lead to present Jacksonville Florida, Savannah Georgia, or Charleston South Carolina as likely places where Ebola cases would emerge in the United States.

However, with Dallas and New York as initially affected cities, localization of events may be more aligned with zodiacal sympathy. It could be stated that these potentially infectious carriers entered US ports (Washington DC and New York) within the slim path of visibility for an annual eclipse already in progress at sunrise, though the maximum eclipse (and thus timing chart) had happened prior to sunrise.

From Guinea, where the epidemic began, the eclipse view was total is some parts of the country. Using Conakry for the chart and a local eclipse length of 3.28 hours the timeline matches estimates promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO), West African health officials, and Doctors Without Borders. With a similar time frame for when the event should begin (within 4 months), the length of time between intensification and abatement of the effects is roughly 12 months. Following a schedule more like this;

• Whatever the eclipse portends should begin to be manifest between March 3 2014 and July 3 2014
• The effects of the eclipse in Guinea should intensify within the second twelve month period, anytime between March 3 2015 and July 3 2015
• The residual effects of the eclipse throughout the country will last for 3 years 3 months after the event, or between March 2017 and July 2017, and should begin to subside around twelve months prior; March 2016 – July 2016

Check back for localized Ingress charts and relevant transits for all Ebola affected countries…

Medieval Persian Astrology: The Part of the Unseen

Medieval Persian Astrology: The Part of the Unseen

This essay was first published in The Astrological Journal Vol 55 No 5 Sept/Oct 2013
as Third Prize Winner of the Young Astrologers Essay Contest Authored by Estebon Duarte AMA MACAA

Part of the Unseen_AA_Essay_July_2013PDF

http://www.organic-astrology.com

google.com/+EstebonDuarte