The place and time are derived from Douglas S. Freeman, George Washington.
A Biography, Vol. 1, p.47.
Freeman has based his information on an entry in the Washington family Bible,
which he reproduced as a frontispiece to this volume.
He is however partly in error, for he records the birth as being at 10.00,
whereas the entry actually gives, 'about 10 in the Morning' (my
emphasis).
I reproduce below a copy of this entry, as interesting evidence.
Unfortunately, Freeman's error has been repeated by several biographers,
and the rounded-off hour has been adopted by the majority of astrologers.
This has led to numerous incorrect horoscopes of the great man.
Like many biographers of Washington, James T. Flexner, Washington. The
Indispensable Man, 1976 edn, p.4. notes that the birthdate of 11 February
has been pushed forward to the 22nd by calendar changes instituted during
Washington's lifetime. However, no matter that the calendar was changed,
in Britain and North America in 1752, the date of his birth remained the
11th February, and the data in ephemerides of that day and year are still
pertinent. 1
The astrologers, G. Wilde and J. Dodson, A Treatise of Natal Astrology,
1894, pp.152-3, rightly give the data for Washington's horoscope in Old
Style, for the 11 February (incidentally, they propose an Ascendant of 24.32
Taurus). However, the historical fact is that, even during Washington's
lifetime, his birthday was celebrated as 22 February.
The earliest such celebration was in 1778, as noted by N. W. Stephenson
& W. H. Dunn, George Washington (1940), Vol. 2, p.58.
Most of the horoscopes with which I am familiar are based on the unadjusted
precise time of 10.00 am. For example, the astrologer Luke Broughton printed
a horoscope for Washington with such a birth (Ascendant 18.51 Taurus), in
Broughton's Monthly Planet Reader, September 1861. This figure
was reprinted in Broughton's influential Elements of Astrology,
1898, p.347. Unfortunately, it is immediately evident from this chart that
Broughton has made a serious error with the location of the Moon. This he
places in 21.05 Gemini, when, in fact, the Moon was located in Capricorn,
throughout the entire day.
The rectified time I have provided above (which differs slightly from that
in David Ovason, The Book of the Eclipse. The Hidden Influences of Eclipses,
(1999), p. 219) appears to be acceptable, in terms of major progressions.
For example at the time and date of his death, which occurred just before
midnight on 14 December 1799, the progressed Moon (23.13 Cancer) was on
the Ascendant, the progressed Saturn (10.58 Aries) was on the Midheaven,
and Venus was conjunct the Dragon's Tail. For this reason, I have deviated
from the stated 10:00 AM only slightly.
A rectified time, of 10:04 AM, allows Washington the common destiny of great
men - he came in with an eclipse and died with an eclipse. The time of 10:04
permits the lunar eclipse of 12 November 1799 (in 20.06 Taurus) to fall
on his Ascendant. Without this slight adjustment to the time, there would
be no significant cosmic notice of this extraordinary man's passing.
In my books, that would have been an impossibility.
1 See, for example, Henry Coley, Merlinus Anglicus Junior,
or, The Starry Messenger. For the Year of our Redemption 1732, or Edmund
Weaver, The British Telescope: Being an Ephemeris of the Celestial Motions,
with an Almanack For the Year of our Lord 1732. Coley gives a midday Moon
as 15.16 Capricorn, while Weaver gives a midday Moon as 15.08 Capricorn.
The variations are typical of several others. A useful source is the collection
of 14 ephemerides for this year, bound in the British Library volume, pressmark
PP 2465. |
