Cycles

 

Cycles. When a faster moving planet overtakes and passes a slower moving planet, it forms a conjunction. When this recurs a second time between the same two planets there is evident a first step in a cyclic effect, wherein the second conjunction has occurred after a certain interval of time and space: recurrence cycles of position and relation. After a certain number of recurrences the point of conjunction must eventually return to the approximate beginning point, where it completes a first order recurrence cycle. If there is a small discrepancy between the points of beginning and ending, it is found that after a certain number of first order recurrence cycles, this discrepancy will in effect be carried all the way around the circle, and constitute a second order recurrence cycle. A recurrence cycle of position may be taken in the Sidereal period of the planet in an hypothetical Fixed Zodiac, or in the tropical period of the planet in the moving Zodiac of Precession. Oddly enough, the values of the tropical periods of the major planets, based on the mean rate of Precession, are not usually given, even though we of the West use the Moving Zodiac of Precession in preference to a Fixed Zodiac, and despite the fact that with the outer planets the difference between the tropical and the sidereal periods becomes considerable. These values, in tropical years, are:

 

Jupiter.... 11.858

Saturn..... 29.42

Uranus..... 83.75

Neptune... 163.74

Pluto..... 245.33

 

The hypothetical Fixed Zodiac is measured along the Invariable Plane, to which the Ecliptic has a minimum inclination of 0° and a maximum of 3°6'. Its zero point coincides with the point of beginning of the precessional movement of the Poles of the Ecliptic, but the location of this point has not been determined. Probably it should be the Nodes of intersection of the Invariable Plane with some as yet undiscovered superior orbit. However, one can assume an arbitrary point, and from that point compute both the total precession and its changing rate during a given period. There is some justification for assuming a coincidence of the moving and fixed zodiacs at 28 A.D., less a correction of 281y for lag and lead. Applying to this the true rate of precession during the intervening period yields the year 1906 as possibly the commencement of the Aquarian Age in terms of the Equinox, and 2169 in terms of the Pole.

 

Jupiter Cycle. The ancients noted these first and second order recurrence cycles in connection with the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, which they termed the great chronocrators, because of the way the cycles subdivided time into large units of hundreds of years, and the economic and political evolution which followed in step with these advancing cycles.

 

Jupiter conjoins Saturn in 19.859 years at an advance of about 123 degrees. After three conjunctions, 59.577 years, it recurs at a mean advance of 8.93° - the first order recurrence cycle of Jupiter-Saturn. With this 9-degree advance every 60 years, in 40 conjunctions the advance moves around the circle and in 794.37 years returns to within 0.93° of the starting point - the second order recurrence cycle. This 1° discrepancy would thus locate a third order recurrence cycle in 360 times 800 years, roughly speaking, a period too far in excess of recorded history to be useful as a frame of reference.

 

The first order recurrence cycle of Jupiter-Saturn, 59.577 years - all values are mean values, based on mean motions - is probably the 60-year cycle of which the ancients spoke so much: the period of "social lag," or the time between the introduction of a new invention or social innovation (Uranus), and its adoption and spread on the institutional level of organized society (Jupiter-Saturn). The second order recurrence cycle of these two planets is the Great Mutation cycle which meant so much in the Mundane Astrology. of the ancients. More recent is the discovery of a cycle of this length by a modern non-astrological historical investigator, Dr. J. S. Lee, who with the aid of Lin Yutang and Dr. Hu Shih, one of China's great scholars, studied the incidence of civil conflict in China from 1100 B.C to 1930 A.D. His graph of the amount of civil conflict in five-year intervals from 230 B.C. to 1930 A.D. reveals an 809-year cyclic interval from the Chin Dynasty of 221 B.C. to the Sui Dynasty of 589 A.D.; followed by a 779-year cyclic interval from this Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty of 1368 A.D. Averaging Bogy and 779y gives a mean value of 794y, which would end the third cycle about 2.159 A.D. In the first half of each cycle, other than for two short-lived peaks of violence the country was completely peaceful and prosperous, with unity prevailing. In the second halves there are 5 peaks of violence and no interval of sustained peace. The start of each of the three cycles was marked by great building and engineering activities: in the Chin, by the Great Wall and huge palaces; in the Sui, by the Grand Canal and huge palaces; in the Ming, by the rebuilding of the Great Wall and several systems of canals. Notable, astrologically, is the fact that the first Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in a Water Sign, Scorpio, occurred 3 years before the Chin Dynasty, 18 years before the Sui Dynasty and 3 years before the Ming Dynasty. The change of clement, in this case from Air to Water, was anciently termed the Trigonalis, and deemed to be of prime political and economic import. According to Ralph Kraum, the conjunction of 1365 occurred on November 1, at 7° Scorpio. Dr. Lee has thus confirmed, regarding the Jupiter-Saturn rhythm, that when the conjunctions are in Water and Fire, all is well; while in Earth and Air' all is not so well. Thus it can be inferred that in the first half, Jupiter predominates; and in the second half, Saturn. This indicates that the astrological study of the broader influences which affect the rise and fall of civilization is best approached through recurrence cycles of position and relation of the major planets.

 

Pluto Cycles. The application of Bode's Law roughly coincides with the distances of the planets from the Sun; except in the case of Neptune, where it breaks down entirely. However, D. E. Richardson, of the Armour Research Institute, as noted in Popular Astronomy for January 1945, has discovered a formula which accurately yields the planetary distances. The only discrepancy of over 0.1 per cent between distance values computed from this formula, and the observed values, occurs in the case of Pluto. Furthermore, his formula confirms what Wilson found from a study of medieval records as to the knowledge of the ancients, viz., that there are 13 orbits in the Solar System: one within the orbit of Mercury (Vulcan), and two beyond the orbit of, Pluto. According to this formula the planet next beyond Pluto should have a mean distance of 74.2 astronomical units, and a sidereal period of 640y; the outermost planet, 137.4 A.U., and 1608y. The mean values in tropical years would then be 625y and 1515y.

 

Recent discoveries by certain outstanding non-astrological investigators are interesting, even if as yet speculative, in the fact that they check with the periods of the two planets which there is some reason to believe lie beyond the orbit of Pluto. Studies of the Culture Cycle, by Jean Bradford, and by Petry, the great Egyptologist, indicate a period of about 1500 years as the duration of a Culture: subdivided into 6 culture -- phases of about 250 years each, in each of which certain psychologically different basic components receive special emphasis. She has correlated recognizable physiological differences with endocrine imbalance, based on the work of Dr. Berman, recognized endocrinologist, revealing wherein both the psychological and the physiological characteristics of a culture-phase display a different sense of Space, dimensional in nature.

 

The work of Dr. Ellsworth Huntingdon of Yale, outstanding geographer, climatologist and cyclologist, indicates a cycle of about 640 years in the migrations of peoples.

 

Clearly these suggest a Pluto cycle, of a sidereal period of 247.7 years, or 245 1/3 tropical years, the interpretations of which agree with certain conclusions reached by Dane Rudhyar, astrological student of cultures and civilizations, concerning the Pluto period and its correlation with the style of a period. The sidereal period of the planet next beyond Pluto correlates to the Migration cycle of Dr. Huntingdon. The 1500-Year Culture period of Bradford and Petry correlates to the tropical period of the hypothetical outermost planet. Since in all Culture-cycles, Mrs. Bradford finds that changes of phase occur in years divisible by 250, it is notable that close to these dates Pluto is at its perihelion (13°+) - its nearest point to the Sun. Its next perihelion passage will be in 198g, 11 years before her date. The first perihelion passage of this epoch was 8 A.D., 8 years after her date. This is highly significant, since Pluto is nearer to the Sun than Neptune during nearly 5 years before and after its perihelion pas- sages. Thus, as Rudhyar has suggested, Pluto "fertilizes" Neptune once in each cycle by crossing within its orbit. It is also of interest to note that Neptune's aphelion nearly coincides with Pluto's perihelion. Thus of all planetary orbits theirs are the most singularly related.

 

Neptune Cycle. We have found no study which has discovered Neptune's recurrence period of 164 years. In any case this would be rendered difficult by the fact that 3 cycles of Neptune are nearly equal to 2 cycles of Pluto. Their recurrence of relation, a cycle of aspect that is known as the synodic cycle, has a mean value of 492 1/3 years, although now and for a long time to come it is nearer 493½ years. It also develops that the Culture-phases alternate - one centripetal, and next centrifugal - yielding a double cycle of about 500 years: probably the Neptune-Pluto cycle, wherein every 247 years they are alternately in conjunction or opposition. From this we deduce that the outer planets exert a powerful influence on Civilization. According to the analyses of Mrs. Bradford, the first 1500 years of each Culture-Cycle is predominantly extrovert; the next 1500 years, predominantly introvert: a double cycle of a value of roughly 3,000 years. This can be related to the 3,100-year period of 3 conjunctions of the two outermost planets, in which time they return not only to the same relation, but also to nearly the same position in the Zodiac. Even the single Neptune-Pluto cycle of nearly 500 years finds Neptune and Pluto in nearly the same position.

 

Since five revolutions of Pluto nearly equal two revolutions of the planet next beyond Pluto, the difference (5 - 2 = 3) gives the number of conjunctions they will make in their cycle of 1,230 years. Mrs. Bradford finds that the first 4 of the 6 phases of a single Culture cycle, or 1,000 years, develop the four basic psychological elements of human nature (Jung): the emotional; imaginative (also called the intuitive); rational (intellectual); and sensate (sensory)-in that order. During the fifth phase the preceding four are integrated, the quintessence (quintus, the fifth) of the experience of the Culture is distilled, developing what we term a complete Civilization. Politically this may be an Imperium or Empire; such as the Roman Empire; which was the fifth, and later the sixth phase, of the Grecian Culture. As Mrs. Bradford's five phases equal 1,250 years, approximately the period of Pluto's position and relation recurrence with the planet just beyond it, it appears to indicate that her study is actually an observation of the effects of the cycles of the four outermost planets - even though she herself is not an astrologer. According to her deductions the Atlantic Culture of Northern Europe and North America is now about to leave its fourth phase to pass into the fifth; the second or introvertive half of the double Culture-Period of the Mediterranean Culture (the Greco-Roman in the extrovert cycle, and the Catholic and Latin Europe in the introvertive) should end its final phase this Century; and the North Asian or Slavic Culture, which includes most of Russia, is ending the final phase of its extrovert cycle and about to pass into its introvert cycle. This final phase is a barbaric period of great physical vitality, and its "conversion" into the first phase of the introvert Culture period is always concurrent with a vital and major religious development. This suggests that the next religious renascence, in the latter part of this century, will be an especially vital one for the Slavic peoples.

 

The intimacy of the relationship of the orbits of Neptune and Pluto can be seen in this comparison:

 

Neptune ......... 163.74 ty. x 3 revolutions = 491.22 ty.

Pluto ........... 245.33 ty. x 2 revolutions = 490.66 ty.

   Synodic cycle, mean value ...................492.33  y.

 

Uranus Cycle. The researches of modern astrologers indicate the renewing and revolutionary character of the Uranus period of 83¾ tropical years, and the Neptune period of 163¾ tropical years; and confirm the long-established significance of the Saturn period of 29½ years, and the Jupiter period of 11 6/7 years. But it is from a consideration of the synodic periods and the cycle of recurrent aspects between two of them, that, interesting conclusions can be deduced as to their sociological significance. Thus the Uranus-Neptune first order recurrence period is that of I conjunction - 171.403 years. In the past 2,500 years the effect of the Uranus eccentricity has reduced this to an average value of some 171.0 years. This is especially significant when compared to a cycle in the history of Civilization, found by Dr. Raymond F. Wheeler, of the University of Kansas, who also is not an astrologer and is therefore free of any bias in favor of a cycle of a particular astronomical length. He gives its length as 170 years, only 0.6 per cent less than that of the Uranus-Neptune cycle. He finds that it marks broad changes in the pattern of society, and is accompanied by social upheavals - typical of all Uranian influences. He attributes the cycle to climatic changes, but at least one investigator of climatic cycles finds no confirming evidence in a climatic cycle of that duration.

 

Further, regarding the second order recurrence cycles of Uranus-Neptune in the Fixed and Moving Zodiacs, after 21 conjunctions they return to a point about 6° short of their initial place in the Zodiac of Precession. The fascinating thing is that this takes place in 3,599.46 years - the 3,600-year period which the ancient Chaldees referred to as the real and original Saros cycle. Thus it can be estab- lished that in 7,209y, only ten years after the next Uranus-Neptune recurrence in 7,199y, there will be a Jupiter-Saturn recurrence. Therefore the double Saros is a compound recurrence cycle of the four innermost major planets. If we divide this into 12 subperiods we find a significant change of aspect pattern every 600 years: Jupiter and Neptune advancing 8, Saturn 5, and Uranus 2 Signs - which 600-year period is the equally famous Naros cycle of the Chaldees. In addition, the Sun, Moon and Mars recur in the same position and relationship at the end of 6 Centuries. Therefore since Jupiter-Neptune remain in the same aspect, both advanced 240° in the Naros period, one may consider this a Jupiter-Neptune dominated cycle, that has to do not with political economy (Saturn-Uranus) but with religion and philosophy. Neptune indicates the mystical aspect: the revelation of a higher universal and mystical reality through the medium of some great spiritual teacher. Jupiter represents this development on the level of social institutions as an organized religion and ritual, which becomes widespread-the expansiveness of Jupiter. These Naros milestones are marked by the following historical dates:

 

  576 B.C., the birth of Buddha (Buddhism), Mahavira (Jainism),

       Pythagoras, and the activity of Lao-Tze (Taoism).

   15 A.D., the Mission of Christ (Christianity).

  625, the Hegira of Mohammed (Mohammedanism).

 1225, St. Francis (Vital for Catholicism).

 1825, birth of the Bab and Baha'ullah (co-founders of Bahaism)

       and of Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Science).

 

Observe that in each case there is the factor of revelation through a specific Teacher, and the expansion of the resultant religion to a considerable number of followers. In tile case of Confucius, the element of revelation thus appears to have been absent.

 

The recurrent Uranus-Neptune conjunctions in the Fixed Zodiac are also of vital significance: a cycle of 25 in 4,285.1 years. This is almost exactly one-sixth of a Precessional cycle, just as the 600-year Naros is one-sixth of the 3,600-year "Saros" cycle; and both are of vital spiritual import. This means that the start of each Precessional Age, one-twelfth of the complete cycle of Precession, is alternately marked by a conjunction or opposition between these two planets, all occurring at almost the same place in the Fixed Zodiac!

 

Actually the Mean Precession is 25,694.8 years. Six recurrence cycles of Uranus-Neptune in the Fixed Zodiac, or seven in the Moving Zodiac, equal 25,710.48 years, at an advance of 7½°; and 32 recurrence cycles of Jupiter-Saturn in the Moving Zodiac equal 25,717.8 years, at an advance of 15°. Therefore the period of Precession is a compound recurrence cycle of the four innermost major planets, in both the Fixed and the Moving Zodiacs: hence its great importance. If we divide the Precession by 12, as previously we divided the 7,200-year original Saros cycle by 12, we obtain the basic 2,143-year rhythm which marks off the Ages; the Pisces or the Aquarian. At the end of one such Age, Neptune is in the same place in the Fixed Zodiac; at the end of two, Neptune and Uranus are at the same place; at the end of three, Neptune and Jupiter are at the same place; at the end of four, Neptune, Uranus and Saturn are at the same place; but the end of 12 brings them all back at the same time and place. Clearly then, one must consider, in the order of their relative importance: first Neptune, then Uranus, Jupiter, and finally Saturn. Once again the universalism and mysticism of Neptune turn up in the association of religions with each Precessional Age; but also Uranus as the renewer and changer.

 

Saturn Cycles. The remaining synodic cycle of major planets in adjacent orbits is that of Saturn-Uranus. Two conjunctions, 90.72 years, complete a first order recurrence cycle, in which time they have advanced 30 degrees and 1½ minutes of arc in the Zodiac of Precession. The period from a conjunction to an opposition, or the reverse, of Jupiter and Saturn is 9.93 years; of Saturn and Uranus, 22.68 years. The 9.93 year period has been identified as a component in the Sunspot cycle, and by Edgar Lawrence Smith in the Business cycle. The 22.68 year period has been identified by Dr. Abbott as the basic period of variation in the Solar constant -- radiation: given by him as 22.3 years. It has also been found to be a Weather cycle, as has one-third of it; twice, and four times -- which coincides with the first order recurrence cycle of Saturn-Uranus. Thus the correlations of the three inner major planets appear to deal with Weather, Economics and Politics; i.e., the more concrete phases of human life and environment.

 

The significance of the Saturn-Uranus cycle for the political economy appears clear, especially at and near their cyclic oppositions. The opposition of 1692 Was immediately preceded by the first demo- cratic revolution: Britain's Glorious Revolution of 1688 and 1689. The next opposition, of about 1736, was marked by the War of the Polish Succession. The opposition of 1783 followed the American Revolution. (Uranus was discovered when opposition to Saturn, in 1781.) The opposition of 1829 was followed by revolutionary upheavals which started in France and spread throughout Europe in 1830. The opposition of 1874 followed the first Communist revolu- tion, the Paris Commune of 1871. The opposition of 1919 followed the Russian Revolution of 1917. The next opposition will come in 1965.

 

Dr. Lee found that 540 Years after the start of each Chinese Cycle the country became split between North and South, and the capital was shifted from North to South. Two of his cycle dates are 3 years later than the Jupiter-Saturn Mutation conjunctions, hence the split occurs 543 years after the Mutations. The second order recurrence cycle for Saturn-Uranus is 1,088.72 years, or 24 conjunctions. Half of this 's 544.36 years. At the end of 544 1/3 years there has been a conjunction in each of the 12 Signs and Saturn-Uranus are exactly 180¼º from their initial position: thus the shift of 180° suggests the "split" of China. Adding 544 1/3 to the conjunction of 1365 gives us 1919; but actually, because of the eccentricities of the Saturn-Uranus orbits, they did not reach the oppositions to the places they occupied at the beginning of the cycle, until late 1911 or early 1912, which marked the Revolution of October 10, 1911 that brought into being the Republic and caused the capital to be shifted from Peking south to Nanking, and later led to the split between the Communist North and the Kuomintang South. In this, Dr. Lee appears to have identified the significance of the second order cycles of Jupiter-Saturn-Uranus; Mrs. Bradford, to have identified the meaning of the first order cycles of Neptune-Pluto and the two trans-Pluto planets postulated by the Richardson formula; and Professor Wheeler to have identified the importance of the first order Uranus-Neptune cycle. It should be mentioned as the best work on the Uranus-Neptune cycle by an astrologer, Margaret Morrell under "Research" in American Astrology Magazine, in April, May and June of 1939.

 

A study of the vast and vital subject of planetary cycles thus illuminates other cycles, such as the Naros and the Precessional Ages, the existence of which have been long traditional but whose full meanings have not always been clear. The prime importance of these two cycles is in the fact that they involve the two planets of the "creative minority": the bearers of Culture (Uranus-Neptune), of "institutional society," and of the "established and conventional" (Jupiter-Saturn). As a result, in both cases we have the combination and interaction of the two different psycho-social levels which represent the process of "civilization": the creative vs. the practical. The most perfect illustration of this was the start of the Mission of Jesus at the age of 30, in 25 A.D.)., at the Full Moon of April 1 of that year, in Libra opposing the Sun in Aries, Saturn with the Sun and Jupiter with the Moon, close to the Equinox, the intersection of the Equator and Ecliptic, hence on the same level. Squaring this was Neptune in Capricorn opposing Uranus in Cancer, near the line of intersection of the Invariable Plane and the Ecliptic, the other and universal level of Christ. Thus one can consider the Crucifixion to be the archetypal pattern of the conflict of the universal, intangible and creative against the local, institutional and concrete. Organized society always denies and persecutes its creative redeemers, whether they be artists, true statesmen, inventors or teachers.

 

At the 25 A.D. grand cross, Mars conjoined the Sun and opposed the Moon, indicating the Naros cycle, a recurrence cycle of the Sun, Moon and Mars. Only once in 180,000 years, a sub-race in Theosophy, does a Naros date coincide with the start of a cycle of Precession of the Pole, as it did in 25 A.D. Count back one Naros cycle to Buddah, and you find a different and equally rare configuration: for in the 570s (577 to 574 B.C.) the three "creative" planets - Uranus, Neptune and Pluto - were in a close conjunction, which occurs once in about 120,000 years. The fact that this fell in Taurus is striking, since tradition states that Gautama Buddha was born, was illumined under the Bo tree, and died, in each case at a Full Moon in May - with the Sun in Taurus. Thus the advent of Buddha correlated to the other great celestial event in the recent millennial history of Man, and as a result was followed by the most intellectually and spiritually creative Century in the recorded history of Civilization - 575 B.C. to 475 B.C. Truly a study of planetary cycles casts much light on the evolution of Society. v. Invariable Plane. -- CHARLES A. JAYNE, JR.

 

These Solar recurrence periods with respect to the Equinox assume a mean rate of precession of 25,694.8y, as given by Stockwell: all the planets moving at mean motion. Variations will result in consequience of: (a) eccentricities and obliquities of planetary orbits; (b) the distorting effect, in a geocentric frame of reference, of the Earth's motion and position; (c) variation in the motion of the Equinox -- 0° Aries; and (d) slight variations due to periodic perturbations. The greatest variations will occur in the Uranus-Pluto first and second order recurrence cycles in the moving zodiac.

 

The synodic period of a recurrence cycle is the time between two successive conjunctions of the same two planets. The Remainder indicates the number of degrees in advance at which the second conjunction takes place. A first order recurrence cycle is, in effect, a series of a given number of conjunctions, at the end of which a conjunction recurs on approximately the same degree as at the beginning of the cycle. The remainder of a first order cycle then becomes the unit of a second order cycle, which after a given number of recurrences is repeated still more exactly upon the degree at which it commenced its second order cycle.