John Worsdale

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I thought it might be a decent idea to bring to light the work of a fine astrologer with whose name many are less than familiar, John Worsdale. Worsdale is a bit later than our normally cited pre ? 1700 cut off date for traditional astrology. He was born in 1766 and died in or about 1828 (Holden says 1826). Apparently he spent most if not all of his life in Lincoln, England, a community located north of London roughly in the middle of the country. Worsdale?s best known work (perhaps his only known work) is Celestial Philosophy or Genethliacal Astronomy Containing the Only True Method of Calculating Nativities Made Plain and Easy. Despite its title the work contains no philosophy. It was originally published in 1796 and an enlarged edition appeared two years later in 1798. That edition was enlarged and re-published by his son in or about 1826 near the time of Worsdale?s death.

Worsdale?s astrology definitely falls into the traditional category despite the use of some more modern techniques such as parallels of declination and minor aspects. He used the fixed stars extensively, and was a serious proponent of the use of primary directions. That he is not better known is due in part to the poor timing of his own birth. Astrology, if not dead in the 18th century was surely on life support. Lilly died in 1681, and when his younger contemporaries and students passed on, and the age of the Enlightenment took hold, astrology took a nap and would not be awakened until the 1830s. Patrick Curry tells us that Worsdale had a small following during his life, and his work apparently sold well as evidenced by the publication of three editions of his work.

Although he touts his work as suitable for beginners, it is not. Like A.J. Pearce (1840 ? 1923) who would follow him, Worsdale was immersed in calculations. He embraced everything he could calculate and developed an elaborate and interesting system of prediction. He used what he learned from Ptolemy who had not yet been translated into English. Worsdale translated Tetrabiblos, but never published it. Some astrologers, notably Luke Broughton (1828 ? 1899), were permitted to hand copy it. In Broughton?s case the copying was permitted by Worsdale?s son.

Celestial Philosophy specializes in death or more correctly the predicting of it. Modern astrologers are a bit squeamish about playing with death, but Worsdale believed it was useful knowledge and apparently had no qualms about not only predicting it, but if his stories are to be believed, he would drop by and remind people the time was coming. Those readers who might also be squeamish about the death business can take comfort in his predictions of horrible diseases and accidents.

Like many astrologers of his day, prior to his day, and after his day, John Worsdale believed he had the correct methods at his disposal and anyone who disagreed was simply an idiot. He chastises (in 2007 we might say ?slanders?) Gadbury, Sibly, Coley, White and Parker. He calls them imposters and plagiarists when he is in a generous mood. He likes Lilly and forgives him for not knowing the ?correct? way to calculate primary directions, i.e. the way Worsdale does it. Worsdale?s confidence in himself and his art rivals the self absorption of Jean Baptiste Morin, no mean feat. But as the immortal baseball player Dizzy Dean once observed, ?It ain?t bragging if you can do it.? Worsdale could do it.

Early on in his book he gives us the chart of an unnamed woman and the following data:

Female
June 28, 1767
5:32 PM LMT
Lincoln, UK
53 N 14
000 W 13 (Coordinates are from Solar Fire)

Worsdale?s calculations give 2 Sagittarius 18 on the ASC. Solar Fire, gives us 1 Sagittarius 38 using the same data and accepting the coordinates in the SF Atlas.

He predicts her death only after listing all sorts of horrible illnesses that she will suffer. We don?t know the end as she was alive and in good health, Worsdale tells us, when his words were written and her death was not scheduled to occur until she was 60 years and 9 months old, i.e. about March 1828, when Worsdale himself was possibly dead.

He calculated primary and secondary directions (what we would call progressions) in zodiac and in mundo, as well as parallels of declination. He used major and minor aspects including the sesquiquadrate (135 degrees), semi square (45 degrees), quintile (72 degrees) and biquintile (144 degrees). He determined hit dates within a month and then arranged all those in chronological order. He calculated all this and probably more for a period of 75 years. After noting the major themes in the nativity, he would look at periods of unusual clusters of cosmic activity and make his predictions accordingly. In the text the list of the lifetime of cosmic events can take up almost ten full pages of small print. Calculating all this with a computer, and listing in order would take hours, if not days. He also uses solar and lunar returns as well as transits in his work. We can surmise that he could perform calculations quite rapidly. Many years ago, when hand held electronic calculators were first becoming popular, I worked with a man who claimed humans were faster than calculators. Worsdale would be evidence in his favor.

Let?s look at some of the details using this chart with comment.

The celestial sign Sagittarius occupies the oriental horizon and Jupiter, Lord of the ascendant and significator of the native, is posited in the 9th house, cadent and in his detriment near violent fixed stars: ?
Jupiter, Lord ASC is cadent, in detriment and near two fixed stars. The stars Worsdale refers to are probably Denebola and Copula. Jupiter is a good ten degrees from Copula indicating he used some seriously generous orbs. Morin was the same way with the stars. Although a benefic, Jupiter is in a bad way in this chart and it gets worse.
? he [Jupiter] is likewise applying to the square with Saturn in the Western Angle (i.e. Saturn is in the 7th house ? tc) without any assistance from benign rays or propitious terms, either in the Zodiac or in the world.
Not only is Jupiter in a bad way by location in a cadent house and the sign of his detriment, he is in contact by hard aspect with the greater malefic who at least is in his own triplicity. But Jupiter is getting no help from anywhere, not even the terms. A nice trine from Venus would have helped. It actually gets worse.
Mercury, who disposes of Jupiter in the radix, is combust, and besieged between the bodies of the Sun and Mars in the descending part of the Heavens where the evil power of the malefic stars is augmented by the rapt motion of the Earth.
Mercury, whom we should note, not only disposes Jupiter, but Saturn as well, is in bad shape himself. He is combust and besieged by Mars the lesser malefic in his fall, and the Sun peregrine and on the 8th cusp making him an accidental malefic. These two malefics are taking Mercury with them as well as the fixed star Castor who brings success followed by loss of fortune. I believe when he says ?stars? in this passage he is referring to the planets as well as the fixed stars. He believes that planets and malefic stars? evil influence is strengthened for the worse when they are setting.

This is not a good start, and the condition of the ASC ruler and its dispositor is an indication of poor health. He then appoints Mars and the Moon as the ?chief Promittors of Mortality? in this chart and will use them to predict the native?s death. Mars is easy to understand as he is a debilitated malefic in the 8th house. The conjunction referred to of Mars and Moon is a bit wide and out of sign. But the Moon rules the 8th and is contained in it. Notice too, that the south node is between them. We do not and will not ever know if this woman died at the appointed time and probably neither did Worsdale.

What is significant here is that his first step for prediction is to delineate the nativity. We learn the promise of the chart and then look for its fulfillment. His predictions in this case, or the ones he published, are mostly based on the primary directions of the ASC. This is a knotty little problem as, unlike the planets, the MC does not move diurnally or otherwise. It is a fixed point and the planets and signs pass over that point during the day. However the degree can be directed, and this is apparently what is done.

At the age of 27 years, the life of the native was in imminent danger from a lingering illness which continued upwards of six months. She also suffered much injury by the fall from a horse. The ascendant was then directed to the opposition of Saturn.
Leaving aside the question of what she was doing on a horse when she was close to death from a lingering illness we note that her ASC is Sagittarius (rules horses) and a lingering illness is what we would expect from Saturn. Saturn, the destroyer doesn?t kill her since the ?prommittors of mortality? are not involved. There may be other mitigating factors. If we check his table of events at about age 27 we find several things occurring:

The ASC opposes Saturn in mundo at age 26 years and 11 months.
The MC squares Saturn in mundo at the same time
The Moon (promittor of mortality remember?) sextiles the debilitated Mercury, dispositor of Lord ASC, in zodiac, probably by primary direction. He doesn?t say specifically.
Sun to the sextile of Mars (the other promittor of mortality) by converse direction. All of the above at age 26 years and 11 months.

Then at age 27 and three months The Moon is directed to Jupiter, Lord ASC. Despite his condition, Jupiter is still the greater benefic, and this is what may have saved her at this time.

Although he only mentions the one direction in the text, the table is more detailed, and gives a clear indication of serious illness. This is also a good example of how to use the nativity for prediction. Poor health is clearly indicated in the nativity by the weak condition of the ruler of the ascendant and its dispositor. The directions tell us when she will be afflicted.

Are the fates through with her? Of course not. This is traditional astrology. There?s lots more suffering.

Aged forty-one years and ten months, she was not expected to survive the effects of an intermitting fever with attacked her with unusual violence during several weeks; this direction at the same time produced several other calamities, and troubles. The Ascendant at that period was directed to the opposition of the Sun.
Her Sun is on the 8th cusp. This would be a red flag to a traditional astrologer since the Sun is the life-force and the 8th cusp is a powerful indication of death. Other astrologers would indicate the possibility of premature death with the Sun, or Lord 1 in the 8th or Lord 8 in the ASC. JFK?s Sun was in his 8th house for example, but every 8th house Sun does not produce premature death. Worsdale would not predict death at the time of this direction as the woman was still alive. In fact she was 42 in 1809 more than ten years after the original publication of this book.

At about the age cited the table demonstrates several cosmic events.

Age 41 years 9 months: Moon to the quintile of Saturn in mundo.
Age 41 years 11 months: ASC to the opposition of the Sun in mundo
Age 41 years 11 months MC to the square of the Sun in mundo
Age 42 years and 1 month: Moon to the quintile of Venus in zodiac by converse motion.

Notice the use of the Moon, promittor of mortality, the Sun, life force, and Saturn, the greater malefic. This grouping of directions to the planets Worsdale considered the most important for his purposes all occur about the stated time of her illness. Moon to Venus seems to be the saving event. Surely there were other important events in her life that may have coincided with such groupings, but Worsdale isn?t interested in those.

He gives us another example of a terrible disease at age 55 (1822) that we are told medical attendants predicted her death, but she survived and was returned to full health. He points to the direction ASC to Mercury, dispositor of the Lord of the ascendant.

Worsdale?s point is that the ASC, the most important direction in this series, is ?the giver of life.? Therefore, although serious illness is indicated the giver of life is involved and therefore, she would not die as the planets contacted by the ASC in major aspect were not the promittors of mortality, and there may have been mitigating factors such as aspects from the benefics. These are the things an attentive student is left to work out for himself.

However, we all die and even the giver of life cannot save us forever. Worsdale predicts the time of death to be at age 64 years and ten months when the ASC is directed to the conjunction of the Moon and Mars without assistance from any benefic. Without the assistance, there is nothing to save her. No simple death for her, though. No, first she will suffer a violent illness about a month before death. She will not fully recover. After that she will experience ?violent palpitations of the heart, with difficulty of breathing, pains and inflammation in the breast, and a putrid fever.? I hope she didn?t read this or better yet, I hope he was wrong.

What we can learn even from this single example is that prediction is the result of understanding the promises or potential of the birth chart. From there we need to look to the tools and techniques that demonstrate how the life unfolds, and pick the times of greatest cosmic activity for prediction. Also, we need to look for mitigating factors in the chart that might ward off disease or even death temporarily. These same ideas would be appropriate when looking for a marriage or the birth of a child. When the stars agree, is there anything to interfere with the agreement?

Worsdale then is more than an astrologer with macabre instincts. He is excruciatingly methodical and exhibits a strong sense of which celestial events to apply and when to apply them in order to predict. I?m sure, like modern authors, he cherry picked his best and most accurate work for inclusion in his work. This isn?t cheating, as a skeptic would say, but rather the best way to make his ideas clear to his readers. Primary directions rarely coincide with events as closely as Worsdale indicates. This does not detract from the quality of his work. He is not being dishonest, although he may be boasting a bit. He is demonstrating a sound, if somewhat obsessive, method of prediction that fortunately has been preserved for our enjoyment and enlightenment.


Tom

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Bibliography

Celestial Philosophy, John Worsdale, Ascella reprint
A History of Horoscopic Astrology, James H. Holden AFA, 1996
A Confusion of Prophets, Patrick Curry, Collins and Brown 1992