Transits beyond the Ephemeris

Have you ever wished that your ephemeris had more than just the planets listed?  No, I am not referring to Chiron or the asteroids.  I am postulating about listings for the transiting ascendant and midheaven.  All right, you may wonder, how could that be possible?  The planets apply to everyone, but the angles, for any given moment depend on where you are.  Yes, that is true, but that is not an insurmountable objection.

The answer can be found in the easily calculated diurnal chart.  The diurnal (which means daily) chart recapitulates a person’s birth data for the date and place in question.  A glance at a diurnal chart will show whether a transiting planet is aspecting an angle or whether a transiting angle is aspecting a planet.  The use of diurnal charts has truly amplified my understanding and usage of transits, and the technique is so powerfully easy to learn.

Let’s use an example of a well-known person.  President Barack Obama was born August 4, 1961 at 7:24 p.m. AHT in Honolulu, Hawaii.  If we wanted to look at the president’s diurnal chart for July 4, 2011 in Washington, D.C., for example, we would first need to convert his birthtime to the reflect the time zone for the new location.  We must always be cognizant of the time of year, too.  7:24 p.m. AHT is the same as 5:24 a.m. GMT the next day.  It is 12:24 a.m. EST or 1:24 a.m. EDT.  Then the diurnal chart is simply cast for 1:24 a.m.  But we must be careful here.  If we wanted to ascertain the president’s activity for July 4^th, when we cast the chart for July 4^th, we must remember that it is still July 3^rd back in Honolulu.

So the president’s transiting ascendant for Washington, D.C. will be 25:56 Aries on July 4, 2011 and 27:27 Aries on July 5^th.  The transiting midheaven will be 14:36 Capricorn on the 4^th and 15:31 Capricorn on the 5^th.  This demonstrates that the transiting midheaven will normally move just under a degree a day.  The transiting ascendant will move more than a degree a day for signs of short ascension and less than a degree a day for signs of long ascension.