When I began there was to my knowledge no astrological software designed to search by major aspect pattern without reference to individual charts. I resorted to hunting for GQs with Solar Fire's wonderful automation feature, hoping to catch them as the days flew by on the screen. Due to the lengthy time period involved this proved to be laborious in the extreme, so from sheer desperation I designed a series of Microsoft Excel macros to facilitate the search. This was physically easier but still tremendously time-consuming. I was then fortunate enough to be put in touch with Sergey Tarassov of AIR Software who very kindly adapted his SuperSearch engine to accommodate grand quintiles. Within hours I was able to verify and correct the 2,100-year database it had taken me months to accumulate. A miracle!1
I now have GQs stretching back in time to 4500 BCE but given the uncertainty of reliable historical data for Pluto I have limited the parameters of the immediate study to 0-2500 CE. My original intention was considerably more modest. I had planned to begin the search in 1400 CE as the outside limit of the modern era, and end it at 2100 to give some insight into the relatively near future.
However I was quickly struck by the erratic results from one century to the next in which, for example, I found only 3 GQs in the 1900's and 9 in the 1500s. I realized how naive my expectations had been of finding a measurable pattern of frequency over the space of a few hundred years. This inspired me to look further and has resulted in the present database.
Since I was not looking for specific events in set locations the angles were not candidates for inclusion. The issue of whether or not to include Chiron became a major concern. Although I have no doubt of Chiron's influence in human natal charts I am less than convinced of its full validity in this relatively unexplored type of mundane work. However, since it turned up frequently in the 1,100-year test-run database it was tempting to leave it in. In the end it became a question of how much "noise" to allow in the mounting deluge of facts and figures.
Then there was the question of statistical validity. Various sources give different estimates2 but all are agreed that Chiron ephemerides become more and more uncertain with each passing century. With these factors in mind, Chiron has been excluded from this preliminary study.
Although this is generally considered a wide orb for quintiles, particularly when separating, I judged that in this instance it was better to err on the side of generosity, if only to accumulate a large enough database for analysis. As well as collecting these "rare birds" I wanted to see what factors were in play when they formed. Because of the narrow margin of allowable orb many would-be GQs never quite reach fruition, so the element of (so-called!) chance has to be taken into account.
Without a reasonably extensive database it is impossible to estimate the probability of any given planet showing up in any sign. I am confident from a perusal of the "shadow" database reaching into the pre-Christian era that the overall trends shown in the current sample of 150 are valid.
It should be noted that while I insisted on five quintiles linking the planets around the circumference of the shape, the bi-quintiles stretching across the circle were not always within orb to form a perfect star on the interior. 93 of the 150 GQs in the database fall within orb for the complete pattern, including both those of 2004.3 This makes our upcoming GQs even more of a find.
1. Anyone can now replicate my database or perform all manner of similar research with ease. Contact Sergey Tarassov by email or through Air Software.
2. Estimates of Chiron ephemeris accuracy are widely variant. Solar Fire, for example, claims accuracy for Chiron as far back as 720 CE while Palden Jenkins, in his extensive historical ephemeris cites 1745 as the earliest certain date.
3. Although there was a wide GQ in 1941 and there will be another in 2024, there has not been a tightly-aspected GQ since November 29, 1926 and there will not be another until August 24, 2065.
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