A Study of Important Horary Figures for President McKinley’s
Inauguration and Assassination

     These horoscopes for the times when President McKinley took the oath of office for his second term and when he was shot, were calculated according to data given in the Associated Press reports, and it is safe to presume that the time is quite accurate. Students of Astrology will always find it profitable to give such horoscopes thorough study and notice how accurately the rules given by the great past masters hold good at the present time. We must keep the fact in mind that when William Lilly’s book was published, which was in 1647 for the first, and 1658 for the second edition, neither Uranus or Neptune had been discovered. Therefore, there may be times when some rules will require amplification. It is generally conceded that Uranus is an indicator of evil, especially when the aspect is evil. In the majority of cases I have found that Neptune denotes evil, yet when in certain places I notice points which indicate that he is favorable to position in life. Some self-constituted, would-be critics have argued that Astrology was unscientific owing to the fact that the rules were created previous to the discovery of Uranus and Neptune. If he were to argue against the science of medicine from the same viewpoint he would argue that medicine was unscientific because new remedies have been discovered.

The accompanying horoscope of President McKinley’s inauguration is calculated for the following data:      Washington, D. C., 1901, March 4, 1:17 p. m. Latitude, 38 degrees 50 minutes North; Longitude, 77 degrees 10 minutes West.

     Truth was the basis from which the ancients deduced the rules of Astrology, therefore the principles of truth in those rules are demonstrable at the present time as well as in the past, and future proofs will be in evidence to all who seek for light from the proper sources. At times it is necessary to apply a principle underlying a rule more than the exact words of that rule. Our mental faculties must first grasp the spirit of a rule; then we will quickly understand its proper application.
     I will now quote a rule from Lilly’s Christian Astrology, 1658. In addition to other things which do not apply to this affair, he says: “The fourth house giveth judgment of the determination or end of any thing.”
     I, for one, do not think it best for any Astrologer to publicly predict the death of anyone, no matter what his own private opinion may be. In the above horoscope we find that the zodiacal sign Libra, which Venus rules, is the sign which rules the fourth house. Therefore Venus is the ruler of the end of the matter. Now let us examine as to the strength and position of Venus. We see that Venus is in the eighth house, which is the house of death and is afflicted by the opposition of Mars, and Mars is more evil in his indications than usual, as signified by his being retrograde and slow in motion. Saturn is in opposition to the rising degree, and this adds more evil testimony, for the first house stands for the President.
     These testimonies certainly point to an evil end of the affair, yet it would be beyond the limits of the true science of Astrology for an Astrologer to predict as to the exact manner in which the evil would appear, especially from these two testimonies, or any others which are to be found in this horoscope. If, at any previous time, one would have calculated all the directions in President McKinley’s birth horoscope, it is more than probable that he would have found evidence to satisfy him that the President’s death was due when it came. We will now examine the testimonies which point to death in the following figure:

The accompanying horoscope of the shooting of President McKinley is calculated for the following data:      Buffalo, N. Y., 1901, September 6, 4:00 p. m. Latitude, 42 degrees 50 minutes North; Longitude, 78 degrees 55 minutes West.

     In this last figure, Taurus, which Venus also rules, is on the fourth house, and Venus is in Libra, her own celestial home, which, at first glance and with hasty judgment, would appear to show in favor of his recovery, yet after further study we will find that to be only a temporary encouragement, and this answers to the conditions shown by the favorable bulletins which were given out and there can be no doubt but what the attending surgeons for a time were absolutely certain that the President would recover. No matter what may be said, the very fact that Senator Hanna went home and Vice-President Roosevelt went to the mountains to hunt is sufficient evidence that they had both been doubly assured by the surgeons that their distinguished patient would be restored to health.
     Looking further, we find Venus is just at the edge, and part of her orb extends into the eighth—the house of death—and is also remotely afflicted by the square of Saturn.
     Lilly says: “If the benevolent planets, Jupiter and Venus, be most powerful in the figure, judge well to the sick, or hope well; if the infortunes [Mars, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune] be most strong, judge the contrary.”
     In this figure the evil omens are decidedly the predominating promittors. Capricornus, which Saturn rules, is rising, therefore Saturn is the ruling planet; Mars is elevated above all others and near the meridian; the Sun is in the house of death, afflicted by a square of Uranus; the Moon, the other light, is applying to a close conjunction to Neptune; the Moon is also in close parallel declination to Neptune and Saturn; all of these and yet more to offset the very slight hopeful testimony denoted by Venus. In President McKinley’s birth horoscope the malicious Mars was transiting on his house of life and was in close square to the place of his radical Moon at the time he was shot. When he uttered his last words, “God’s will, not ours, be done,” Mars was still transiting on his house of life but had progressed past the square of the Moon and had come to a close square of the Sun.
     Summing up these numerous evil testimonies, it will be seen that they strongly foreshadowed the fatal result.