Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Don't Believe The Hype: Reconsiderations Of Barack Obama's "New" Birthtime Part One - Horary Analysis

Don't Believe The Hype: Reconsiderations Of Barack Obama's "New" Birthtime Part One - Horary Analysis

6:48 PM 05/19/2008 Mon

With the 2008 United Astrology Congress, which was held in Denver CO this year, about to go down in the history books, perhaps now is the time to (re)consider this year's Main Event of sorts - the revealing of a "new" birthtime for Democratic Presidential candidate, Illinois Senator Barack Obama. According to noted Vedic astrologer Joni Patry of Dallas TX, Obama's point of entry into this world occured at 7.11PM local time at Honolulu HI. For Western astrologers, this clocktime yields an Asc of 14 Aqr 21.

Although I did not attend the proceedings, I am told that this event was attended with much fanfare and pomp; the local and national news covered the event; and it appears that Ms. Patry is getting quite a bit of press mileage out of it all. But there's just one small problem with all of this:

The time she reported, is not so.

How can I be so sure, you may ask? Of course, if you're as intense an astrology enthusiast as myself, you already know that Ms. Patry's "reveal" sounds quite dubious - she gets wind of the birthtime from a client who got it from a "campaign manager" in the Obama campaign, by way of a "closed-access government website" - meaning, that no one can actually get a hardcopy of the birth record that actually has the birthtime on it.

It reminds me of the "telephone" game we used to play as kids.

According to reporter and astrologer in his own right Eric Francis, who was in attendance at the time of the announcement, the matter is being investigated by Astrodatabank, with Patry assisting. As it now stands, the birthtime is being given a "DD" rating per the late great Lois Rodden's grading system for astrological birthdata. "DD" is considered highly suspect, and until or unless someone can come forward with the goods, rightly so.

But this alone only says that the data is a bit shaky; it does not necessarily mean that it is false.

Or does it?

That's where astrology comes in.

Being the good man that he is, Francis punches up a chart for the exact moment that Patry gives out the "new" birthtime, Fri May 16 2008 at 9.39PM MDT Denver CO. The resulting Asc, using Placidus houses, is 15 Sag 56, and while Francis does give a bit of an analysis of this chart, and opens the door as to whether the time given by Patry is indeed correct, he holds off from giving a definitive judgment, saying that he wants to defer to British Horary Master Geoffrey Cornelius. I can't blame him; Cornelius is the man.

But when one has been doing Horary as long as I have, all that is needed is a trusty copy of Christian Astrology - William Lilly's magnum opus - by one's side. The answers lay therein.
On page 70, Lilly gives clear instructions as to whether a report or rumor be true. Here's what he said, regarding a report he got that the town of Cambridge was taken by the King's army:
"A Report that Cambridge was Taken by the King's Forces; if true?"

Question background: "In the yeer 1643, His Majesties Army being then Rampant, severall Reports were given out, that his Majesty had taken Cambridge, &c. a wel-affected person enquires of me, if the newes were true or false? Whereupon I erected the Figure ensuing, and gave Judgment: All that we heard was untruth, and that the Towne neither was, or should be taken by Him or his Forces."

Horary chart data: April 21, 1643 GC, 4:29 pm GMT, London (00w10, 51n30) Placidus 4 Lib 47

Lilly gives his analysis:

"First, I considered that the Angles were all moveable, and that Mars did vitiate the cusp of the 10th, and Saturn the cusp of the 7th, one argument the Report was false.

Secondly, I found the Moon cadent, and in Gemini, a Signe wherein she nothing delights; a second strong evidence of a false rumor.

Thirdly, I found North Node on the cusp of the Ascendant, a Signe of good to the Parliment, for the 1st house signified that honorable Society: I found Venus Lady of the Ascendant, and our Significatrix, in her Exaltation; but Mars, Lord of our Enemies Ascendant, viz. the 7th, entering his Fall, viz. Cancer, and afflicted by Square of Saturn; I saw the Moon seperating from Jupiter, placed in the 7th and transferring his light and virtue to Venus, which gave me reason to expect, that there would come good to us or our side from this report or Rumour, and no benefit to our Enemies: I saw Mars and Saturn in a Square, which assured me our Enemies were so full of division and treason, and thwarting one anothers Designes, that no good should come unto them upon this Report; and so in short, I judged Cambridge was not taken, and what we heard of its taking were lyes."

If one casts the chart in question they can clearly see that the 7th house, representing the army, is in bad shape, as its ruler, Mars, is fallen in Cancer. The King himself, is represented by the 10th house, ruled by the Moon, Cadent by house and peregrine by Sign. Finally, we can see that another fallen planet, Saturn, is moving toward the 7th cusp. All of these factors do not look good for the rumor to be true, and in fact may be indicative of a lie. At the very least, false.

Hence Lilly gives the astrologer some very strong points and tips as to ascertain whether a rumor or report be true or false. In this case, whether the rumor/report that Barack Obama was indeed born at 7.11PM, is true, or not.

So, let's now consider the moment Ms. Patry annouced her "new" birthtime for Sen. Obama:
Again, as Francis notes, Sagittarius rises, making Jupiter its ruler. The Asc in Horary always represents the "Querent", the one who is asking the question. Since there was no such question in this case, we can take the Asc to represent Patry herself, which seems to fit, given that she has a very "firery" look about her. Jupiter is fallen in Capricorn, and Rx to boot, something that does not bode well for her information being accurate, as she is the source, being the one who is announcing to the world what time Obama was supposedly born. To make matters worse, Pluto, a malefic planet, rises at the Aries Point in Capricorn (opining on matters relating to Politics before the Public) and is also Rx. In a Horary, such a thing to see is not a good augury for a favorable outcome.

Next, the Moon in this chart is at 24 degrees Libra - right in the path of the Via Combustia, held by many to be among the Strictures Before Judgement of a Horary Figure. Moreover, the Moon is Void of Course, having trined Neptune as its last aspect. As Francis rightly points out, Neptune itself is within "striking distance" of the 3rd house cusp itself, and in any event rules the intercepted Sign Pisces in the 3rd. Moon does indeed rule the 8th house of secrets. A VOC Moon is another of the Strictures, and almost always is a signal that what is demanded of the querent will not come to pass - in this case, that Patry's announcement that Obama was born at 7.11PM, is in someway false.

But wait, there's more!

On Mon May 5 2008, at 10.49AM MDT, Moses Siregar III, a prominent astrologer in his own right, announces on the Horscopic Astrology forum, a discussion group on MySpace that boasts upwards of 6,000 members, that he has Obama's birthtime but cannot reveal just what it is yet; it will be revealed soon. Casting a chart for this data, as I did when I first got word of the matter, we again find some interesting things:

1. The Moon, ruler of the Asc, is exalted in Taurus and placed in the 11th house of forums and groups; this shows how important Moses is to the astrology community, that he is a part of its "establishment". This feature alone, suggests that the chart is indeed radical and fit to be judged. It is also interesting that the Moon moves to sextile Uranus, ruler of the 8th house of secrets, holding Neptune there as well.

2. That 18 Can 30 rises, holding a deeply fallen Mars in the Asc. This represents the impulsive nature of Moses on that day, running forward with the news of this false report. As Moses is now the "source" we can clearly see that the information he brings cannot be relied upon.

3. Please note that Jupiter is again fallen in Capricorn and in the 7th house - Obama. This is the first sign that the birthtime Moses has is not accurate. Also, please note that Jupiter is in a Mutual Reception with Saturn, which is in Virgo - the Sign of Jupiter's detriment - and yet another signal that the birthtime Moses has on Obama is suspect.

In other words, both the Patry Announcement chart and this one above, both have some strong things in common: both have the Moon heavily involved, per Lilly's rule; both have fallen planets associated with their Ascendants at the time of their respective announcements, suggesting that they got the wrong information. In that we now have two such "announcement" charts, one made as a kind a "sneak preview", we can be fairly certain that the data that is now the rage throughout the astrology community, cannot be relied upon as accurate in any way.
But there's one final loose end...what about Mercury in the Patry chart?

Indeed, Francis refers to this winged planet as "the trickster", and that "he's looking right back at us". I take that to mean, as the great George Orwell so elegantly put, that to recognize the truth that is front of one's nose, requires a constant struggle. Mercury is very much dignified on that night Patry made her earthshaking announcement. Mercury, in its own Sign of Gemini, in the house that represents the great man himself, Barack Obama, has to point to only one conclusion -

That he may very well have the Sign of the Twins rising in his chart. And that will be the subject of Part Two of this essay.

I would just like to close out by saying that I for one am quite a bit disturbed, annoyed and disappointed by the actions of both my colleague Moses Siregar, and Ms. Patry, whom I have never met but have heard a great deal about. Both of these people have been around astrology around long enough to know better - they both should have done a much better job of vetting astrological birthdata, especially when its as important as who the next Leader of the Free World is likely to be. We astrologers work so hard - Lois Rodden in particular has worked so hard - to bring exacting standards of competence and precision to our Art. And for it to be put aside in the name of "scoops" is to my mind, the chief reason why astrology has not yet been taken seriously by the public at large. I find then, quite a bit of irony that all this would go down as the world's largest gathering of astrologers takes place; a bit of information that is procured secondhand and that cannot be verified in any way at all for a public figure.

Lilly has got to be rolling over in his grave.

Coming up: If the Planets don't fit, you must acquit!

Salaam
Mu

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mumin, you raise the criticism that the "exacting standards of competence and precision to our Art" were ignored in all the hoopla and media hype at "the world's largest gathering of astrologers" in favor of "a bit of information that is procured secondhand and that cannot be verified in any way at all for a public figure."

That is well-phrased criticism, and suggests the prevalence of self-delusive tendencies within the community of astrologers.

On the other hand, perhaps there are those who judged that the inevitable media hype outweighed the potential truth content of the announcement.

4:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi E,
Yea, it was a shame man. I'm thinking Patry was trying to get a "scoop" and by all accounts it worked. But what's even worse for the community of astrologers is just how bad we suck at being able to even get the data right. Now wonder Skeptics have a field day w/us.

I've long said that we have far too many "intuitives" in the astrology word and not enough thinkers-and I don't mean those who can take the simple and make it sound complex, I mean people who use the commonsense God gave a Billy goat. When we cannot get the most basic of data right, we piss on Rodden's grave; when NOT ONE PERSON IN A CROWD OF SEVERAL HUNDRED didn't stop Patry cold in the middle of her address and demand that she account for the "new" time beyond her say so, when a panel of astrologers spanning two generations, all of them White by the way, are using their astrology as a cover for thei slobbering all over Obama, something's really, realy wrong.

And that will be the subject of Part Three of this series, Don't Believe The Hype.

Stay Tuned.

Salaam
Mu

7:07 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi E,
Yea, it was a shame man. I'm thinking Patry was trying to get a "scoop" and by all accounts it worked. But what's even worse for the community of astrologers is just how bad we suck at being able to even get the data right. Now wonder Skeptics have a field day w/us.

I've long said that we have far too many "intuitives" in the astrology word and not enough thinkers-and I don't mean those who can take the simple and make it sound complex, I mean people who use the commonsense God gave a Billy goat. When we cannot get the most basic of data right, we piss on Rodden's grave; when NOT ONE PERSON IN A CROWD OF SEVERAL HUNDRED didn't stop Patry cold in the middle of her address and demand that she account for the "new" time beyond her say so, when a panel of astrologers spanning two generations, all of them White by the way, are using their astrology as a cover for thei slobbering all over Obama, something's really, realy wrong.

And that will be the subject of Part Three of this series, Don't Believe The Hype.

Stay Tuned.

Salaam
Mu

7:09 AM  

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