The Controversial U.S. Natal Chart

by Marilyn Muir, LPMAFA

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The most accurate chart for the Declaration of Independence had been in question for ever so long. One researcher compared the four most likely candidates to a number of historically important events, beginning with several from the Colonial era in the 1700s. One chart seemed to stand out. This current study was done to validate that result and further substantiate it by comparing it to a multitude of presidential-type data such as birth dates, inaugural data and various progressions. The theory was that more direct degree links amongst the data should be found for one of the four charts, as the results did indeed demonstrate. 

Introduction

During the political theater of the 2008 US presidential election, an enormous amount of research was performed, not only on the election and candidates for that election, but on the country itself and the various astrological charts that were available for the Declaration of Independence. There were several choices with strong support and astrological backup from highly regarded astrologers, each well-presented, documented and fervently believed in by their supporters. The final four that formed the basis for this study are shown in the spreadsheet below.

The choice for this particular research was begun by studying the history and timeline of the events that separated what was known as the Colonies from their English parentage. Those were times of great controversy and angst, with pros and cons from both sides of the pond, each with a compelling story.

The final chart selection was the original Virgo rising chart presented and documented by Michael Munkasey. The major events chosen for his study were duplicated in this study, thus further validating his work. To further substantiate the basis for the Virgo rising chart, this new study differed by including the inaugurations, progressions and presidential comparisons.

The charts of the 431 presidents to date were cast, rectifying where necessary, and compared to the four charts. Then, all the progressions to the chosen US chart were cast for the inauguration of each of those presidents as well as all the inauguration charts, including 2009. Many comparisons were made such as president to his inauguration day to president and his inauguration day to the US birth chart.2

As an aside, from this data it can honestly be stated that there seem to be no accidents in the choice of the president to fulfill the needs of our developing country. Even those presidencies that did not seem to work out well appeared at the time that they held office to fit the needs of the country.  Sometimes good people appeared to be elected— sometimes good teachers.

Methodology

The historical data used in both studies is listed below. These events began in 1773 and were completed in 1789. Complete chart information of these events is located at the end of this paper. To read all the charts at one time, they were transferred to a spreadsheet (Table 1), so that the comparisons would only have to be done once. It was firmly believed that direct degree links must exist between charts for resonance.

  • The Boston Tea Party3
  • The First Continental Congress
  • Declaration of War against Britain
  • The various Declaration of Independence charts (to select the core chart)
  • The adoption, ratification and signing of the Articles of Confederation
  • The formal British surrender in France of the US Revolutionary War
  • The modification to the non-workable Articles of Confederation which we call the US Constitution, ratification and adoption
  • The actual beginning of the US constitutional government without a sworn-in president
  • The actual swearing in and inauguration of George Washington as first US President

The four charts were so close in date that many of the positions were the same, with the exception of the MC, Asc and Moon. It was on these three positions that attention was focused. The choice of an astrology computer program was Graphics Astrology IO Edition; the charts were set in the tropical zodiac, using the Placidus house system. The standard thirteen points used were: Sun, Moon, the eight planets, Asc, MC, and N Node. Unless otherwise noted, a 1º orb was used and the emphasis was on hard aspects, the conjunction and opposition, as this was revolution and war.

The Virgo rising chart hosted 11º46´ on the Asc, 08 Gemini 52 on the MC, with Uranus conjunct at 08 Gemini 54; the Moon was at 22 Aquarius 36. In addition, Neptune in the first at 22 Virgo 24 was in a tight square to Mars at 21 Gemini 09 in the 10th. Listed below are the close contacts from the multiple events to 9º, 12º and 21 – 22.5º mutable. The other specific contact was the Moon ranging from 18º to 27º+ Aquarius across the four charts in question, and in the Virgo rising chart at 22.5º Aquarius. Only the data for the Virgo rising chart will be shown below.  However, the same positions for the other three charts can be seen in Table 1.

  • Boston Tea Party:
    MC, 12 Gemini 32; Asc, 15 Virgo 14; Neptune, 20 Virgo 33;
    Sun, 25 Sagittarius 37; Saturn, 25 Virgo 50; N Node, 26 Virgo 52R
  • First Continental Congress:
    Sun, 13 Virgo 02; Moon, 07 Virgo 44 (Total Solar Eclipse); N Node, 13 Virgo 04 Rx; Saturn, 27 Virgo 15 
  • Continental Congress declares war on Britain:
    Jupiter, 09 Gemini 36; Uranus, 04 Gemini 54; Neptune, 20 Virgo 17;
    MC, 26 Gemini 02; Asc, 26 Virgo 32; Mars, 27 Virgo 22
  • Adoption of the Articles of Confederation:
    Moon, 04 Gemini 02 (wide); Uranus, 14 Gemini 04 Rx;
    Neptune, 28 Virgo 43 (wide)
  • Signing and ratification of Articles of Confederation
    MC, 8 Pisces 11; Sun, 11 Pisces 33;
    Mercury, 20 Pisces 57; Saturn, 19 Sagittarius 16; Uranus, 24 Gemini 24 Rx
  • Formal British surrender:
    MC, 09 Virgo 13; Moon, 09 Gemini 26; Venus, 10 Virgo 00;
    Mars, 22 Virgo 54; Jupiter, 21 Sagittarius 50; Saturn, 25 Sagittarius 18
  • Adoption of the US Constitution: Asc, 02 Sagittarius 24; Moon, 04 Sagittarius 55 (both wide); Mercury, 11 Virgo 35; MC, 17 Virgo 46; Venus, 16 Virgo 34 (both wide); Sun, 24 Virgo 39; Jupiter, 25 Gemini 21
  • US Constitutional Government begins (seating of Congress):
    MC, 10 Virgo 53; Sun, 14 Pisces 06; Saturn, 13 Pisces 35;
    Moon, 4 Gemini 52 (wide); Mercury, 22 Pisces 47 Rx
  • Inauguration of George Washington nearly two months after intended date:
    MC, 08 Gemini 00; Asc, 11 Virgo 10; Saturn, 20 Pisces 03
  • First Continental Congress:
    Mercury, 25 Leo 06
  • Continental Congress declares war on Britain:
    Venus, 26 Leo 13; N Node, 25 Leo 31 Rx
  • Adopted Articles of Confederation:
    Sun, 23 Scorpio 51; Jupiter, 25 Leo 45
  • Sign/ratify Articles of Confederation:
    Moon, 21 Taurus 43; Jupiter, 27 Scorpio 12 (wide)
  • Formal British surrender:
    Asc, 21 Scorpio 16
  • US Constitutional Government begins:
    Venus, 21 Aquarius 30; Pluto, 18 Aquarius 02; (wide) Asc, 26 Scorpio 55;
    Mars, 28 Aquarius 43 (wide)
  • Inauguration of George Washington:
    Pluto, 19 Aquarius 07; N Node, 28 Scorpio 34 (wide)

An interesting example of events that contributed to the founding of our country was the inauguration of our first President, George Washington. Congress was seated and the U.S. government as then known, began legally at noon on March 4, 1789 in New York City. The first president was due to be sworn in at that same time, but had yet to arrive.  In 1789, travel was arduous and lengthy, commonly by horseback. It took President Washington six weeks to make the trip to New York City for the inauguration to finally occur on April 30, 1789 at 1:48:30 pm LMT. Even so, how could Washington be referred to as President before that date? According to the Constitution of the US, he officially became president at noon on March 4th; all that was missing was his taking the oath of office at a public ceremony. The presidential power had already passed to him at noon on March 4, 1789.

Also interesting was the resonance between these three – the seating of Congress, the first inauguration and the Virgo rising chart. The MC for the seating of Congress was 10 Virgo 53; the Sun was at 14 Pisces 06; Saturn at 13 Pisces 35; Mercury at 22 Pisces 47 Rx; Venus at 21 Aquarius 30; and Jupiter at 19 Cancer 58 Rx; all in close proximity to the degrees in the Virgo rising chart.

When George Washington was sworn in as President six weeks later, 08º Gemini was on the MC, 11 Virgo 10 was on the Asc, the Moon was at 16 Cancer 45, then Mars at 13 Aries 34, Jupiter at 22 Cancer 55, and Saturn at 20 Pisces 03; again, all in close proximity to the Virgo rising chart and in amazing proximity to the seating of Congress chart.

The MC for the seating of Congress was 10 Virgo 53, while the Asc for the Virgo rising chart was 11 Virgo 46 and the Asc for the oath of office for the presidency was 11 Virgo 10. How could it get any closer? That was resonance!

As if that were not enough, Washington’s inauguration MC was 08 Gemini 00, less than a degree from the Virgo rising chart’s MC and Uranus, and the Moon at 04 Gemini 52 (although wide) in the chart of the seating of Congress.

Although the above events were further reasoning behind the choice of the Virgo rising chart, much more was learned in this process.

The Presidents’ Charts

When the presidents’ individual charts were cast, controversy abounded. Information from the 1700s obviously was not easy to obtain, verify or trust. There were multiples of choices with rectification attempts from many knowledgeable astrologers. A great effort was made to work with accurate charts, but for many years, rectification tended to be an educated guess. Once satisfied with the individual charts, the first ten of the 43 presidents were compared to the four speculative U.S. charts, looking for commonalities — and again the conclusion was that the Virgo rising chart provided the best results. Aside from common degrees among the charts, the chart indications were so strong that it was easy to see the connections from chart to chart.

A list was made of the thirteen positions on a spreadsheet5, president by president.  Only conjunctions and oppositions were recorded; this included out-of signs aspects. Five-degree orbs were used, or 8˚ if the Sun were involved. Some presidents had many connections; some had few. After studying and examining, ten of those presidents seemed to literally walk right out of the pages of history, so resonant were their charts, and for that reason they became the focus of the first half of a book3.

Looking only at the thirteen positions as given in the Virgo rising chart, the mutable quality ruled five positions. Cardinal signs were even stronger with six positions, while fixed signs seem to be the weakest quality.

Cardinal:

  • Venus, 02 Cancer 43 conjunct Jupiter, 05 Cancer 51
  • Sun, 13 Cancer 01 square Saturn, 14 Libra 47 (difficult aspect)
  • Mercury, 24 Cancer 20 Rx opposite Pluto, 27 Capricorn 34 Rx (difficult)

Mutable:

  • MC, 08 Gemini 52 conjunct Uranus, 08 Gemini 54
  • Asc, 11 Virgo 46
  • Mars, 21 Gemini 09 square Neptune, 22 Virgo 24 (both angular)

Fixed:

  • Moon, 22 Aquarius 36
  • N Node, 06 Leo 35

The themes that emerged as primary were: Aquarius, Uranus, Moon, the Mercury-Pluto opposition, and Neptune. So liberty was taken at this point to attempt to study the Uranus-Aquarius grouped positions, including the Moon and Uranus on an angle. After all, the nation was born during revolution and the planet of Uranus was discovered in 1781 in the midst of that war.

Strong association with the Aquarius-Uranus on an angle and Moon in Aquarius were shown by seventeen presidents: Jefferson; Madison; Jackson; W.H. Harrison; Polk; Taylor; Lincoln; Garfield; B. Harrison; McKinley; Wilson; Hoover; F.D. Roosevelt; Kennedy; Nixon; Carter; and Obama.

Strong connection with the Mercury-Pluto opposition was shown by fifteen presidents: Jefferson; Madison; W.H. Harrison; Polk; Taylor; Lincoln; Garfield; B. Harrison; McKinley; Wilson; Hoover; Kennedy; Nixon; Carter; and Obama.

Strong resonance with the U.S. Neptune was shown by thirteen presidents: Jefferson; Madison; Jackson; W.H. Harrison; Lincoln; B. Harrison; McKinley; Wilson; F.D. Roosevelt; Kennedy; Nixon; Carter; and Obama.

It should be easy to see how certain presidents were magnified in the data. It was likely noticed that several highly respected U.S. Presidents were not on those lists. In fact, only one President had resonance with the whole of the U.S. criteria mapped – John F. Kennedy.

Interestingly enough, Uranus had been discovered near this time and since this was later considered the planet of revolution, further examination was directed to the discovery of Uranus. Uranus had been spotted earlier (1750 to 1769) but had not been identified as a planet. First verified observation in Bath, Somerset, England was March 13, 1781. This finding was reported April 26, 1781, initially as a comet, then as a planet. No time of discovery was given but it had to be dark evening or night in order for the rudimentary telescopes of that day to be able to see Uranus as a pinprick of light. An ephemeris for 1781 gave the position for Uranus on March 3rd as 24 Gemini 27, close to the transiting Moon at 18 Gemini 16. This seemed way too close for the telescopic observation that was possible. Absolute dark evening or night should have been necessary. For April 26, the ephemeris listed Uranus at 25 Gemini 41, also with the transiting Moon about one day from occulting the planet. Here is another question without an answer. How could Uranus be seen with the bright Moon nearby?

In checking to see if there were a connection to the Virgo rising chart, it was noted that the March 3rd Uranus discovery had a Mars-Saturn conjunction between 17 to 19 Sagittarius opposite Moon, 18 Gemini 17, widely conjunct Uranus, 24 Gemini 24. In T-square to this configuration was the Sun at 13 Pisces 41 and Mercury at 25 Pisces 00. That pretty much hit all the mutable placements in the chosen US chart. Uranus Discovery Pluto at 05 Aquarius 05 was conjunct the US S Node at 06 Aquarius 35, while the Uranus Discovery Venus at 20 Aquarius 25 was conjunct the US Moon at 22 Aquarius 36. The connections were there; revolution was in the air. In addition to the American Revolution, the French Revolution erupted in Europe as well!

Further Study

Inspired by these numerous connections, in the 43 presidential charts a count was made for:

            1) Planets in Aquarius,

            2) Uranus conjunct or opposite Sun, and

            3) Uranus on an angle.

  • 21 presidents fit one of those criteria
  • Ten presidents’ charts fit two of those criteria
  • Seven presidents fit zero criteria
  • Four presidents fit four criteria,
  • One president fit five criteria.

The Uranus-Aquarius connection was shown in 84% of the presidents (36 of 43).

Looking at the natal MC for each president, the average should be 3.6 per sign:

  • Gemini (seven): J. Adams; Garfield; Coolidge; F.D. Roosevelt; Eisenhower; Nixon; Bush, Sr.
  • Cancer (nine): J.Q. Adams; A. Johnson; Arthur; McKinley; Wilson; Truman; Kennedy; Carter; Clinton
  • Capricorn (eight): Washington; Jackson; W. Harrison; Tyler; Pierce; Grant; Taft; Ford

In only three signs out of twelve, 56% of the presidents (24 of 43) had their MC in one of these three signs.

Also noted were the signs on the Asc for each president; the same average was assumed per sign, 3.6. Again, three signs stood out as the strongest. A mental note was made that latitude might affect the Asc count, but the U.S. territory for early birth times consisted of only thirteen loosely formed colonies. This did change over the years. Not surprisingly though, again three signs stood out as common partners to the three strongest MCs.

  • Taurus (six): Washington; W. Harrison; Grant; Taft; Hoover; Ford
  • Virgo (seven): J. Adams; Garfield; Coolidge; F.D. Roosevelt; Eisenhower; Nixon; Bush, Sr
  • Libra (nine): J.Q. Adams; A. Johnson; Arthur; McKinley; Wilson; Truman; Kennedy; Carter; Clinton

In only three signs out of twelve, 51% of the presidents (22 of 43) had their Asc in one of these signs.

While the Virgo rising chart was chosen as the most accurate, the application or use of any of the other charts is far from negated. A country is bigger and more complicated than a person, place or thing. The US could be called a “humanity being”, an entity that is made up of a collective. It is alive in a slightly different sense, but has application to life and the living. Perhaps each of the four charts in question might apply to this country, perhaps to different facets. John Adams clearly felt that July 3rd would be the day of celebration. He must have had a reason. Perhaps that is when the overall agreement to the main principles was settled and all that was left was careful wording and signatures on the 4th.

While many have attempted to ferret out the exact moment for our country’s birth, records were deliberately not kept. Why, one might ask?  The Fathers and Framers of the US were actually committing treason against their parent country, England. It is likely none wanted an accurate record of such activities in case the events did not work as planned.

The other US charts are likely to be pertinent to multiple facets of the enormous job of giving birth to a country. Just as heliocentric and geocentric positions are different, they still are both valuable. The same is true of sidereal and tropical charting. Both have proponents and both are valuable – they are just different. It is not wise to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The Virgo chart chosen was the one thought to be the most accurate and vastness of a country might require multiple approaches.

Ongoing Research

At the beginning of this paper, it was mentioned that charts had been cast for the presidential inaugurals of every election throughout the course of our nation’s history, which, as a matter of course, included every elevation of a vice-president to president.  The original date chosen for the inauguration of the president was stated in the Constitution. The power passed from the outgoing president to the incoming president at noon on March 4th the year after an election, every four years starting with the election of November, 1788. A four-month interval existed between election and inauguration. There were two strong reasons for this long interval.

  • Communication and transportation were very difficult in the early years of our country. It took a long time to arrange the vote, count the votes, verify the count, communicate the knowledge and make arrangements for a takeover from the outgoing president, such as forming a new cabinet, actual moving of senators, congressmen, president, vice-president and all the families.
  • The three main dates of US history were equidistant on the calendar. The founding of the country was July 4th. The date of election was set for the first week of November, close to November 4th. Inauguration was set for March 4th the year following an election. These three dates through their Suns formed a grand water trine, that which astrologers would have considered a blessing for the country. Several of the founding and framing fathers were freemasons, and astrology would have been common practice. In fact, our elder statesman, Benjamin Franklin published Poor Richard’s Almanac, an astrological calendar.

As transportation and communication opened up after World War I, four months was no longer considered necessary to transition to a new government. The final March 4th inauguration was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s in 1933. At that time, Congress decided that they would change the original rules and made January 20th the new inauguration date, and it has been so ever since. The only exceptions allowed were when a President died, was incapacitated or resigned as in President Nixon’s case. The not so obvious problem was the loss of the grand trine protection provided by the authors of the Constitution. One wonders if this has had a negative impact on our country’s politics and standing.

It is possible to follow the growing up of our country, inauguration by inauguration, through progression of the selected president’s natal chart. The natal chart provided the beginning point, a freeze frame of a moment in time. But that freeze frame obscured the actual motion that never truly froze, but continued, that can be mapped and examined as a progression.

When the president and vice-president were inaugurated on January 20th, that inauguration provided the new four-year roadmap of that presidential team. It can be interrupted and the vice-president elevated to president if necessary, and that new roadmap will pre-empt the original. The pre-emption should be visible in that original roadmap, but one might have to really study it to find that information.

That inaugural chart, regardless of the person filling the role, sets the stage for the four years of that inaugural term, which may or may not get interrupted or pre-empted. If one wants to study what the country needs, study the election process and date. If the desire is to study the four years of the presidency, study that inaugural chart. If the developing nation is the question, study the US progressed chart for the election and/or the inauguration. Progressions move quite slowly so the difference in the interval between those progressions will be miniscule with the exception of the Moon; it can move close to 3˚ in that length of time.

A spreadsheet was developed for the thirteen points of the inauguration cycle6. The MC, Asc and inner planets progress continually and reasonably fast. Further out in our solar system, the longer orbital periods reflect few changes with very slow motion. For example, a Cancer MC took eight inauguration cycles because Cancer travels at a steady rate. The accompanying Asc in Libra, with its slower travel rate, took as many as ten inaugurations during the progressed time involved. 

For example, the US Pluto started at 27 Capricorn 34 Rx; 240 years later, largely due to the retrograde status, progressed Pluto for President Obama’s second term inauguration on January 20, 2013 brought it to 29 Capricorn 15.

Similar to the slow progressions on a natal chart, to find pivotal years, one would look to a change of sign, change of house, change of direction (stations and retrogrades) and perfection of a natal aspect. In the case of a planet that may have changed direction within the duration of a country of 240 years, it is worth a look at the inauguration when the natal position was re-occupied by the progressed position as another pivotal moment. Then too, there are always the progressed to progressed aspects that perfect themselves within the progressed chart.

A few examples:

  • For the US, Pluto turned direct at 25 Capricorn 59 near the inauguration of President Grant’s second term.
  • Pluto returned to its natal position just past President Eisenhower’s second term.
  • At its current rate of travel, progressing Pluto will change signs to 00 Aquarius in six to seven inaugurations after the 2013 inauguration. That will be approximately 2050.  Does this ring with the changing of the age (from Pisces to Aquarius)?  Could it be: “This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius…”?

One can actually watch the country grow and evolve, facet by facet, evidenced by progressions. One is not limited to studying the past and present, as projections can be made into the future.

Just to whet the appetite for research because this is a work in process, know that the progressed US MC was conjunct progressed US Pluto about March 20, 2014. Does that seem to connect with the power struggles in our government in the last few years? The changing of an age is not a moment in time; it is the death of one age and the birth of the new age simultaneously. America’s struggle is the world’s struggle. Take the challenge and set the progression for the inauguration of Jan 20, 2017, then look at the evolution of our country.

Notes:

1  Grover Cleveland was president twice with another president in between; sometimes he is counted once, sometimes twice. In this study he is counted once, but had two inaugurations.

2  By spring of 2009, a book had been written about some of what had been learned, Presidents of Hope and Change, andwaspublished on the 4th of July, 2009.

3 The Boston Tea Party event appears to have occurred slightly earlier than 11:00 pm as listed.  At 10:44 pm LMT, the MC would have been 08 Gemini 46 and the Asc, 12 Virgo 06.

4   See 2 above.

5  This spreadsheet was too large for publication in this journal. For more information contact the author at marilynmuir.net.

6  Ibid.

Chart data:

  • Boston Tea Party: December 16, 1773, 11:00 PM LMT, Boston Harbor, MA     (Thought to be slightly earlier at 10:44 PM, see 3 in Notes.)
  • First Continental Congress: September 5, 1774, 10:09 AM LMT, Philadelphia, PA
  • Second Continental Congress declared war on Britain: July 6, 1775, 10:45 AM LMT, Philadelphia, PA
  • Third Continental Congress Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1776, 9:36 AM LMT, Philadelphia, PA (Virgo rising chart selected)
  • Adoption of the Articles of Confederation: November 16, 1777, 2:49 PM LMT, York, PA.  These articles were the playbook for the war and the initiation of independence.
  • Signing and ratification of the Articles of Confederation March 1, 1781, 12:00 PM LMT, Philadelphia, PA
  • Formal British surrender: September 27, 1782, 10:18 AM LMT, Paris, France
  • Adoption of the U.S. Constitution: September 17, 1787, 11:29 AM LMT, Philadelphia, PA. The Articles of Confederation were not viable for the establishment of the formal government and morphed into the US Constitution confirmed by the states and delegates. This is our lawful form of constitutional government chosen by the founders and framers.
  • U.S. Congress seated, constitutional government begun: March 4, 1789, 12:00 AM LMT, New York City, NY
  • George Washington had been elected president. As the Constitution stated, the power of the presidency passed to him along with the seating of Congress. Actual inauguration of President George Washington: April 30, 1789, 1:48:30 PM LMT, New York City, NY

Sources

Michael Munkasey for all historical charts except the Boston Tea Party

Theresa McDevitt for the Boston Tea Party

All charts independently researched prior to use.

Table 1

Published in the NCGR Research Journal vol 6, Fall 2016, republished with slight editing.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.