Sidereal harmonics
Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2014 9:00 pm
Hello
(There's a chart near the end, if you'd rather start with that...)
In another thread, on number symbolism, the question of the best starting point for sidereal harmonic charts was raised. I'm not happy with using 0? Aries as a sidereal start, as it seems to me to be a borrowing from tropical. However, this is standard practice, in India as well as in the West, and Therese Hamilton has pointed to examples which support it, and showed how the H9 can sometimes produce significant conjunctions with radical positions, if the chart is reliable. If true, this would enable the zodiac placements to be effectively used in harmonics, whereas even in India, the divisional charts are often used more to look for conjunctions of planets, especially with the ascendant, i.e. as an aspectarium (in tight compartments, with wide orbs within each), and signs are often ignored.
Or the ascendant is simply carried over from the radix into the navamsa, which removes any aspectarian function with relation to the ascendant ("rasi tulya navamsa"). It is possible to force a version of this which respects the aspects by "fixing" the ascendant to be the same in radix and harmonic, as 0? Aries is in our software. The ayanamsa must be adjusted by the distance of the Asc from 0? Aries (the default baseline) divided (for the H9) by 9, so as to create a new temporary "mini-ascendant-based" chart which when multiplied by 9, will produce the original unadjusted ascendant (i.e. with untampered ayanamsa) and thus has the correct aspects (in H9, 40?) brought to the fore. This is just a way of getting round software limitations; it works technically (you can get the asendant to stay fixed and the correct harmonic aspects to be respected), and produces some interesting connections of the type Therese pointed out regarding the H9 of Ian Brady. It would seem to be in keeping with the Indian notion of the Lagna (cognate with English"link") as the "fixing, linking, attaching" point between the mundane sphere and the zodiac. The "rasi tulya navamsa", as practiced, looks rather like an easier corruption of this idea.
I decided to go back and re-read Addey (Harmonics in Astrology), and was reminded that he maintains that the zodiac is an aggregate of a probably infinite number of harmonics (the 12-fold division is in fact an H6 of the 360? circle, with each sign being half a cycle, and the harmonics we usually use are actually 6x whatever - the navamsa being in this sense a H54 of the whole circle).
Addey thus finds that various starting points can give significant results, as they all can represent different valid starts for the harmonic "waves". In the tropical zodiac, he finds the VP especially, and the other angles also, to be the most effective, but 0? of each 30? sign, and other points, could serve.
While favouring tropical, Addey recognises that sidereal harmonics must also exist, if we can find appropriate places to start the cyclebut insists that they must represent "the point where two great circles intersect, or some kindred factor". After the equinox points (intersection ecliptic/celestial equator), "the second such pair of points would be the intersection of the ecliptic with the plane of the galaxy".
He supports his preference for the VP (even in a sidereal zodiac) with an example (pp. 197-198, chapter on sidereal harmonics), using the VP on the date of the chart as the starting point for the "waves" of th 5th and 7th harmonics, but mapping them onto sidereal coordinates. He finds that this works, giving significant and coherent peaks and troughs (regarding professions for given birth placements of the Sun). This made me wonder if that isn't what Valens, for example, would have done - he used the VP as the start of the zodiac, but placed it at 8? Aries.
I tried this with a few charts, and the results seem more significant and appropriate than with the other starting points. It must be remembered that this does not mean simply doing a tropical harmonic by pressing a button and comparing it to a sidereal radix for the same birth/event data, as that would be working tropically with tropical placements, whereas this involves working with sidereal placements of chart factors and of the VP. Because software only gives the 0? Aries start as an option, we have to "trick" it into "fixing" the VP on the date in order to calculate the harmonic, just as in the example above, we fixed the ascendant and worked out a H9 in relation to that.
I decided to try it with an event chart which has a very accurate timing: the WTC attack. I've used the Krishnamurti ayanamsa, and Solar Fire. First I cast the base chart, for 8:46:30, the time the first plane struck the north tower (the earlier given time of 8:48 was later revised when checked). I noted the KM SVP on the date (6Pi13'15") and worked out how to to get that to fucntion as the base: just as 0? Aries does with our default harmonics, 6Pi13'15" must come up the same in H9 as in radix. Because it is a long way from 0? Aries (the calculation could also be done from 0? Leo or Sg, which also give 0? Aries navamsa, conventionally), it's easier to first work out how to force the program to give a 0 point at 0 Pisces: 3?20 back from 0? Aries, at 26?40 Pisces, i.e. the navamsa just before Aries. We then add 1/9th of 6?13'15", so that once the harmonic has multiplied it x9, it will be back to the true radix VP. So 26?40' + 41'28" = 27Pi21'28" : this is one of the three points in the zodiac that the program can use to calculate the harmonic from on 9/11, "as if" it was 0 Aries. So the SVP for 1900, in the SF preferences panel, has to be adjusted by adding 27Pi21'28 + the difference between the 2001 and the 1900 SVPs (as per Krushnamurti), i.e. subtract 6?13'15" and add 7?38'10" = 28?46'23". This is then to be used in the custom 1900 SVP line in SF preferences, but only to cast the chart to be used the generate the H9. The H9 is then compared to the original radix, and a number of interesting conjunctions and placement swaps turned up.
I then thought to compare this H9 to the various USA "birthcharts (4 July 1776) (this has been done extensively with the 9/11 radix), and things got even more interesting - the 2:13 AM chart, advocated e.g. by Anthony Louis (rectified by him to 2:13:48 LMT), fits very well indeed, much better than the Sibley 17:10 chart, or its rectification to 18:17 by a well known rectifier of American presidents. So here's a tri-wheel with Anthony Louis's USA chart in centre, WTC event in ring 2, and H9 worked out from the VP on 9/11 but mapped sidereally in ring 3. The VP is marked on the charts, and as 0? Aries would be in a conventional H9, remains the same, as it must, in radix and H9.
This is what Addey was proposing in his chapter on sidereal harmonics: "Not one of the Tropcial signs will produce such 'good' (i.e. significant) results [as the peaks and troughs in the sidereal mapping]. Yet the marking points for the harmonics involved are the cardinal points of the tropical zodiac, and this will happen again and again and indeed, tends to happen when odd-numbered harmonics are involved" (pp.197-198).
http://i62.tinypic.com/2wqriv9.jpg
For easy comparison between charts, I've used a 0? Aries house system (the only option available to keep things clear).
Starting from the US Asc, at 2? before Uranus, the WTC-H9 Moon is conjunct US Uranus (and WTC Uranus is conjunct USA Moon). WTC MC is conjunct US Sun. H9 Pluto conjunct WTC PF. WTC North Node conjunct US Mercury. H9 Jupiter (ruler of 8 for this USA chart, and often considered a strong malefic for Taurus Asc in Indian astrology) conjunct the conjuction Asc/Merc of WTC. H9 PF at 2?28' from US Pluto (cf. Pluto H9/PF WTC conjunction already mentioned). US South Node conjunct H9 Asc and Merc (these two are of course conjunct in WTC-H9, as they are very closely conjunct in radix WTC).
There's more if you allow a 2 or 3? or orb, of course. I found some of this quite impressive, and at least it's helped me make up my mind about the best USA birth chart, and convinced me that the H9 is indeed a powerful one, as the Indians maintain.
Graham
(There's a chart near the end, if you'd rather start with that...)
In another thread, on number symbolism, the question of the best starting point for sidereal harmonic charts was raised. I'm not happy with using 0? Aries as a sidereal start, as it seems to me to be a borrowing from tropical. However, this is standard practice, in India as well as in the West, and Therese Hamilton has pointed to examples which support it, and showed how the H9 can sometimes produce significant conjunctions with radical positions, if the chart is reliable. If true, this would enable the zodiac placements to be effectively used in harmonics, whereas even in India, the divisional charts are often used more to look for conjunctions of planets, especially with the ascendant, i.e. as an aspectarium (in tight compartments, with wide orbs within each), and signs are often ignored.
Or the ascendant is simply carried over from the radix into the navamsa, which removes any aspectarian function with relation to the ascendant ("rasi tulya navamsa"). It is possible to force a version of this which respects the aspects by "fixing" the ascendant to be the same in radix and harmonic, as 0? Aries is in our software. The ayanamsa must be adjusted by the distance of the Asc from 0? Aries (the default baseline) divided (for the H9) by 9, so as to create a new temporary "mini-ascendant-based" chart which when multiplied by 9, will produce the original unadjusted ascendant (i.e. with untampered ayanamsa) and thus has the correct aspects (in H9, 40?) brought to the fore. This is just a way of getting round software limitations; it works technically (you can get the asendant to stay fixed and the correct harmonic aspects to be respected), and produces some interesting connections of the type Therese pointed out regarding the H9 of Ian Brady. It would seem to be in keeping with the Indian notion of the Lagna (cognate with English"link") as the "fixing, linking, attaching" point between the mundane sphere and the zodiac. The "rasi tulya navamsa", as practiced, looks rather like an easier corruption of this idea.
I decided to go back and re-read Addey (Harmonics in Astrology), and was reminded that he maintains that the zodiac is an aggregate of a probably infinite number of harmonics (the 12-fold division is in fact an H6 of the 360? circle, with each sign being half a cycle, and the harmonics we usually use are actually 6x whatever - the navamsa being in this sense a H54 of the whole circle).
Addey thus finds that various starting points can give significant results, as they all can represent different valid starts for the harmonic "waves". In the tropical zodiac, he finds the VP especially, and the other angles also, to be the most effective, but 0? of each 30? sign, and other points, could serve.
While favouring tropical, Addey recognises that sidereal harmonics must also exist, if we can find appropriate places to start the cyclebut insists that they must represent "the point where two great circles intersect, or some kindred factor". After the equinox points (intersection ecliptic/celestial equator), "the second such pair of points would be the intersection of the ecliptic with the plane of the galaxy".
He supports his preference for the VP (even in a sidereal zodiac) with an example (pp. 197-198, chapter on sidereal harmonics), using the VP on the date of the chart as the starting point for the "waves" of th 5th and 7th harmonics, but mapping them onto sidereal coordinates. He finds that this works, giving significant and coherent peaks and troughs (regarding professions for given birth placements of the Sun). This made me wonder if that isn't what Valens, for example, would have done - he used the VP as the start of the zodiac, but placed it at 8? Aries.
I tried this with a few charts, and the results seem more significant and appropriate than with the other starting points. It must be remembered that this does not mean simply doing a tropical harmonic by pressing a button and comparing it to a sidereal radix for the same birth/event data, as that would be working tropically with tropical placements, whereas this involves working with sidereal placements of chart factors and of the VP. Because software only gives the 0? Aries start as an option, we have to "trick" it into "fixing" the VP on the date in order to calculate the harmonic, just as in the example above, we fixed the ascendant and worked out a H9 in relation to that.
I decided to try it with an event chart which has a very accurate timing: the WTC attack. I've used the Krishnamurti ayanamsa, and Solar Fire. First I cast the base chart, for 8:46:30, the time the first plane struck the north tower (the earlier given time of 8:48 was later revised when checked). I noted the KM SVP on the date (6Pi13'15") and worked out how to to get that to fucntion as the base: just as 0? Aries does with our default harmonics, 6Pi13'15" must come up the same in H9 as in radix. Because it is a long way from 0? Aries (the calculation could also be done from 0? Leo or Sg, which also give 0? Aries navamsa, conventionally), it's easier to first work out how to force the program to give a 0 point at 0 Pisces: 3?20 back from 0? Aries, at 26?40 Pisces, i.e. the navamsa just before Aries. We then add 1/9th of 6?13'15", so that once the harmonic has multiplied it x9, it will be back to the true radix VP. So 26?40' + 41'28" = 27Pi21'28" : this is one of the three points in the zodiac that the program can use to calculate the harmonic from on 9/11, "as if" it was 0 Aries. So the SVP for 1900, in the SF preferences panel, has to be adjusted by adding 27Pi21'28 + the difference between the 2001 and the 1900 SVPs (as per Krushnamurti), i.e. subtract 6?13'15" and add 7?38'10" = 28?46'23". This is then to be used in the custom 1900 SVP line in SF preferences, but only to cast the chart to be used the generate the H9. The H9 is then compared to the original radix, and a number of interesting conjunctions and placement swaps turned up.
I then thought to compare this H9 to the various USA "birthcharts (4 July 1776) (this has been done extensively with the 9/11 radix), and things got even more interesting - the 2:13 AM chart, advocated e.g. by Anthony Louis (rectified by him to 2:13:48 LMT), fits very well indeed, much better than the Sibley 17:10 chart, or its rectification to 18:17 by a well known rectifier of American presidents. So here's a tri-wheel with Anthony Louis's USA chart in centre, WTC event in ring 2, and H9 worked out from the VP on 9/11 but mapped sidereally in ring 3. The VP is marked on the charts, and as 0? Aries would be in a conventional H9, remains the same, as it must, in radix and H9.
This is what Addey was proposing in his chapter on sidereal harmonics: "Not one of the Tropcial signs will produce such 'good' (i.e. significant) results [as the peaks and troughs in the sidereal mapping]. Yet the marking points for the harmonics involved are the cardinal points of the tropical zodiac, and this will happen again and again and indeed, tends to happen when odd-numbered harmonics are involved" (pp.197-198).
For easy comparison between charts, I've used a 0? Aries house system (the only option available to keep things clear).
Starting from the US Asc, at 2? before Uranus, the WTC-H9 Moon is conjunct US Uranus (and WTC Uranus is conjunct USA Moon). WTC MC is conjunct US Sun. H9 Pluto conjunct WTC PF. WTC North Node conjunct US Mercury. H9 Jupiter (ruler of 8 for this USA chart, and often considered a strong malefic for Taurus Asc in Indian astrology) conjunct the conjuction Asc/Merc of WTC. H9 PF at 2?28' from US Pluto (cf. Pluto H9/PF WTC conjunction already mentioned). US South Node conjunct H9 Asc and Merc (these two are of course conjunct in WTC-H9, as they are very closely conjunct in radix WTC).
There's more if you allow a 2 or 3? or orb, of course. I found some of this quite impressive, and at least it's helped me make up my mind about the best USA birth chart, and convinced me that the H9 is indeed a powerful one, as the Indians maintain.
Graham
