Now that we have a horoscope set, with regards to the date and time, it is easy enough to make its chart. But before going into the interpretation of it, I would like to run a small test, trying it out on some dates in American history, of doubtless importance to the USA. This is the astrological way of checking out if the chart is the correct one.
     It is no guarantee, of course, no matter how many indications we will find, but what else can be done? In the astrological perspective, a horoscope standing this test will definitely be regarded as a trustworthy one - until an alternative date is proven more accurate.
     If checked against the dates of major events in US history, the correct chart should respond distinctly - there should be transits, planets forming aspect angles with the planets in the horoscope, which are rea­sonable to astrologically interpret in line with the events taking place.
     But the planets are not so quick in their orbits, that it makes much difference what time of one single day is chosen for the horoscope. The moon moves as much as an average of 13 degrees per day, but all the other heavenly bodies travel a single degree or significantly less. To try a US horoscope for 2 Am or one for 5 PM would not alter much in the planetary positions.
     Two points in the horoscope, though, have a much higher speed: the ascendant and MC, making the full 360 degrees through the whole zodiac in 24 hours. For the US horoscopes of 2 AM and 5 PM, the ascendant moves from Gemini to Sagittarius, and MC from Aquarius to Virgo. That is more than 180 degrees. The ascendant makes the starting point of the astrological houses, so they also move as much between the earliest set US horoscope to the latest.
     The reasonable way of trying the US horoscope, then, is to take particular notice of the houses in which transit aspects appear. This is, primarily but not exclusively, what I do in the following.



Choosing events
It is important to choose dates carefully. Some events may seem revolutionary enough when they take place, but by time their influence might still prove to be insignificant, while others go practically unnoticed only later to grow in meaning and importance. With this in mind, it is easier to find unquestionably significant dates way back in US history, than at years closer to our own.
     Also, it is important - as with the US horoscope itself - to find the proper moment and place of those events, to use for this analysis. Sometimes that is a piece of cake, and sometimes not at all. The best date to chose is one of some kind of birth - or death. For example: the very start of a war, or the very end of it, while the significance of anything in between can be questioned.
     The events I have chosen to study in different degrees of detail, are the following:

18th Century events

• 1781 English surrendery, Yorktown
• 1783 Treaty of Versailles
• 1787 Constitution adapted
• 1789 First president, George Washington

19th Century events

• 1861 Civil War, first act of war
• 1865 Civil War, Lee surrendering
• 1865 13th Amendment, ending slavery

20th and 21st Century events

• 1917 US entrance into World War I
• 1929 Wall Street crash, Black Thursday
• 1941 Pearl Harbor, US entering World War II
• 1945 Hiroshima, the atom bomb
• 1963 President Kennedy assassination
• 1969 Man on the moon
• 1973 End of Vietnam war
• 1972 Watergate burglary
• 1974 President Nixon resignation
• 1987 Stock market plummet, Black Monday
• 2001 Attack on World Trade Center

Conclusion

Next:
18th Century events

© Stefan Stenudd 2001.