Sunday, November 13, 2016

Lessons from predicting the unpredictable

Mr. Trump's win was unexpected
In the early hours of November 9, 2016, the world was shocked to learn that Donald Trump had beaten Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House. Moreover, he did so based on bold new ideas to Make America Great Again. Most people belonging to the establishment, in the media, politics, policy or polling, predicted Clinton would win. The majority of astrologers also predicted a Clinton win. The prominence of this prediction involving the majority of astrologers is likely to further undermine the reputation of astrology. For the readers of this blog, however, Trump’s win came as little surprise, as it had been predicted by astrologer & author V. K. Choudhry on October 22, 2015, well before Trump emerged victorious in the Republican Party primaries and before Hillary Clinton was nominated as the candidate of the Democratic Party. Moreover, on April 4, 2008, Cosmologer presented his first prediction on this blog, based on the SAMVA USA chart, that the USA would undergo a significant revitalization from April 2016. This corollary prediction is now coming true in terms of Trump’s victory and his planned reforms. Importantly, this outcome holds valuable lessons for the world of astrology.

A bona fide method leads to more accurate predictions
This complex and astonishing achievement, to predict Trump’s win and the nature of his policy platform, was made possible by two key ingredients. First, it relied on a bona fide method of horoscopic astrology, the Systems’ Approach for Interpreting Horoscope, or SA. Second, it was applied to reasonably accurate horoscopes for Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and the United States of America. Without these two complimentary elements, a reliable method of horoscopic astrology and the true horoscopes, accurate predictions become impossible. It is because they rely on logical reasoning or inference involving the natal, transit and period influences in the horoscope. Astrology suffers from a disadvantage in that a scientific theory has yet to be advanced to explain how and why the cosmos influences life on Earth. In the meantime, astrologers can hope that repeat accurate predictions will eventually attract the attention of open minded scientists to this field of knowledge. It should be quite clear that an accurate and well understood system of astrology entails immense benefits.

Most recent book on SA
V.K. Choudhry introduced SA in the early 1990s based on the salient insight that the Sun, Moon and five innermost planets rule the Moolatrikona signs (Mars/Aries, Moon/Cancer, Sun/Leo, Mercury/Virgo, Venus/Libra, Jupiter/Sagittarius and Saturn/Aquarius). Further, it is the rising sign that determines what houses these seven planets rule and whose energy they then also embody. Since then, he and his son, K. Rajesh Chaudhary, have published numerous books that clear up the accumulated confusions and contradictions of astrology by advancing clear rules of interpretation and prediction. As such, SA represents a revolutionary transformation of the practice of astrology. It also brings horoscopic astrology back to its basic roots in the cosmology of the Vedas, with its emphasis on human consciousness, the divine and the law of karma. In doing so, the accuracy of astrology has been increased for interpreting horoscopes and making predictions.

Indeed, the accurate predictions of V.K. Choudhry and Cosmologer, stand in contrast to the common prediction by the majority of astrologers that Clinton would win. At the “Power of Forecasting” conference of the International Society for Astrological Research in Costa Mesa, California in October 2016 “...the astrologers one-by-one aligned against the GOP nominee.”[1] Moreover, “Unanimously, with varying levels of certainty, the astrologers predicted Clinton would win the presidency. Six American astrologers echoed those predictions at a panel on Sunday, each calling the election for Clinton with a few weeks left before voters head to the polls.“[2]

After the election, many astrologers have readily assigned their predictive failure to “operator error”, or themselves. They then sought to explain the error in terms of an unobserved element but with the same methods that led them astray in the first place. While this tendency is understandable, it would seem logical that these astrologers venture outside their habitual frame of reference and explore what may be wrong with their methods, rather than their ability to use the methods. Indeed, many of them impress as being quite capable given the limits of their methods. As a first step they could examine a “back to basics” horoscopic method like SA. After all, it has yielded Mr. Choudhry and countless others repeat accurate predictions. It could even boost the standing of astrology in the world if more astrologers explored not only the best practices of their field but also the asymptotic foundations, such as what zodiac, planets, houses, etc., to use. After all, a reexamination of the theoretical foundations of economics was not only considered necessary but reasonable after the collective failure of the profession to predict the financial crisis of 2007/8. Many helpful insights were gained and the theoretical frame of reference was extended and deepened. Indeed, without such efforts, widespread legitimacy is hard to sustain after a very public failure.

The predictions were based on likely accurate horoscopes

Donald Trump
6° Leo rising horoscope of Mr. Trump
Based on the known birth information for Donald Trump, Mr. Choudhry performed a thorough analysis of the 6° Leo rising horoscope for him and over one year before the election he predicted that Mr. Trump "has a fairly good chance of political success and becoming President." Mr. Choudhry explained that it was the influence of the Jupiter major period from November 2016 that was the key astrological element behind the prediction. Interestingly, Mr. Choudhry also made the interesting observation that "The close influences on the Sun and weakness of Saturn and Venus brought in the element of delays in his political pursuits." Indeed, afflictions and weak planets bring delays in the realisation of their indications. It is clear from documented interviews that Mr. Trump indicated an interest in seeking the Presidency already in the late 1980s but ended up waiting until 2015 to take the plunge.

Hillary Clinton
Over the years, several birth times have been mentioned for Hillary Clinton, notably 8:02 am and 8:00 pm. In addition, 2:18 am and 1:18 pm or 1:25 pm have more recently been mentioned as being possible birth times for her. Mr. Choudhry carefully considered the morning and evening times and made predictions against a 7° Gemini rising chart based on the 8:00 pm time, before rejecting both as possible for her. In July 2016, he presented a rectified 23° Leo rising chart for her based on 2:25 am time. On August 9, Mr. Choudhry presented on SAMVA list the following prediction that "None of the three charts gives good hope for her success in the Presidential election." In a post on SAMVA list on October 23, 2016, titled “Hillary’s difficult end game”, Cosmologer explained how the transit and period influences in the 23° Leo rising chart for her were seen to be adverse in the run up to the election. Moreover, based on a suggestion, he considered a birth chart with 14° Capricorn rising for 1:22 pm but concluded it also indicated a loss for her. Earlier, in a private correspondence he had concluded that other ascendants for her birthday were not giving much hope for her. In short, while no single horoscope has been established for Hillary Clinton, the possible choices were considered exhaustively, with all yielding the same result, the likelihood of a loss. 

United States of America
The SAMVA USA chart was discovered on December 30, 2006. Confidence in the chart was established expeditiously with several predictions being made for the spring of 2007 identifying e.g. difficulties for the housing sector and the likelihood of a violent event involving loss of life. The sub-prime crisis began and the Virginia Tech massacre took place. After significant amount of research into the correspondance of the chart with significant historical events, the first long term prediction was made against the chart on April 4, 2008.

“In the third SUN dasa in the 3rd dasa cycle, which runs from April 9 2016 to April 10 2022, we can expect the extension of the territory, the increased authority of the USA abroad, in short, the return of the might of the country.”[3]

A subsequent prediction in November 2009 elaborated further on what to expect.

“The forthcoming periods of the Sun (April 2016 - April 2022), Moon (- April 2032) and Mars (- April 2039) indicate that the US will experience a return to considerable progress in the national life during these periods, associated with policies that lead to a reduction in tensions over inequality or injustices, consistent with earlier such periods in the national life.”[4]

On March 7, 2010 a further elaboration of the prediction was made.

“A predicted U.S. resurgence will likely take place in the coming Sun major period (2016-2022). This could involve a re-exertion of U.S. military power in the world or a significant push to expand the frontier of space…. major political reforms in coming years to resolve the social malaise of inequalities and economic problems.”[5]

These predictions were obviously made well before Trump emerged in June 2015 with his candidacy aimed at restoring America to greatness. More impressively, it was made before the emergence of grass-roots political insurgency associated with the Tea Party Movement in January 2009 or the Occupy Wall Street Movement in September 2011, which greatly affected the national political discourse. Indeed, the OWS emphasized the unacceptability of inequality and economic injustice. These insights grew out of a reading of the 120 year Vimsottari dasa cycle of major periods in the chart. Indeed, during the earlier identical periods there was a shift from the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era. In fact, the discussion on the blog preceded the subsequent national discussion about such a shift in our own time. That said, it now looks like these predictions for the country have begun to be realised.

Conclusion
V. K. Choudhry
To the ordinary person, it may seem risky, even downright foolhardy, to make predictions long in advance with little knowledge of how the relevant issues may ultimately evolve. For astrologers, this is the terrain they often find themselves in. This feeling of risk may be more intense when the astrologer has little confidence in their method of interpretation and prediction. It is normal in such a situation to rely on the media consensus, peers or polls, especially when the election is only weeks away. Despite such seeming advantages, a catastrophic prediction failure may still happen. It is because, the prediction was not based on a reliable method of astrology and was more based on external information or subjective preferences. Indeed, the true benefit of astrology is that it can show us the karmic potential and what is likely to happen. This is especially important when turning points may be around the corner. The linear projection is useless, when the unexpected shifts occur. Indeed, this was the case in 2008 to 2010 when a prediction was made for a radical transformation to take place in the USA in 2016. This far out prediction was based on confidence in SA as a reliable method of astrology and the SAMVA USA horoscope, as the authentic horoscope for the country. The prediction for Trump to win was made more than one year ahead of the election by V.K. Choudhry. At that time, Mr. Trump had yet to emerge out of the field of 17 competitors.  Mr. Choudhry’s bold prediction was also based on the same confidence in his horoscopic method and the accuracy of the horoscopes for Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton. This confidence and predictive success can be had by anyone wishing to employ the same methods.  

References
[1] Astrologers Align Against Trump: Democrats to retain White House, stargazers predict
Astrology News Service, Edward Snow – October 20, 2016
[2] Astrologers predict a Hillary Clinton victory is in the stars
Los Angeles Times – October 16, 2016
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-astrology-election-20161018-snap-story.html
[3] The End of Greatness
Cosmologer’s blog – April 4, 2008
[4] From Gilded Age to Progressive Era
Cosmologer’s blog –November 18, 2009
[5] The Rise of US Imperial Power
Cosmologer’s blog – March 7, 2010
http://cosmologer.blogspot.is/2010/03/rise-of-us-imperial-power.html