To His Royal Highness Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales, Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, and Miss Kate Middleton.
Your Royal Highness, Madame,
Firstly, may I be the first astrologer, tarot reader, ceremonial magician and all-round expert on the occult to congratulate you both on the happy event of your engagement. I daresay you are giving much thought to the preparations for the big-day. It is in this connection that I, as a loyal subject and Facebook fan of your (William’s) Royal Grandmother, wish to lend my assistance – to wit: picking the best date for the Wedding.
It is possible to calculate the best time astrologically speaking for any given occasion – this is a particular discipline known as Electional Astrology. I have taken the liberty of speculating what criteria you may feel best conducive to a good Wedding:
- Love
- Longevity
- The beginning of a successful partnership
- General good fortune and happiness.
In astrological terms these are respectively represented by:
- Venus – for obvious reasons;
- Saturn (which although in one respect is the planet of death, conversely it is also the planet of long-life when well aspected);
- Mercury – which as the planet of communication also rules over new ventures and agreements;
- Miscellaneous other planets – e.g. Jupiter, Mars, Sun or Moon, so long as they are all well aspected (or at the very least, not badly aspected).
The rule of thumb in Electional Astrology is to have regard to the position of the Moon. Thus I would suggest a date to you which fulfills the following criteria:
- It is on the Day and in the hour of Venus (i.e. it should be on a Friday – the hour of Venus I will refer to later);
- It should be when the Moon is waxing – because a waxing moon is traditionally good for attracting new influences, i.e. attracting good fortune;
- The Moon should form favourable aspects primarily with Venus, and secondarily with Saturn, Mercury and other planets.
This actually narrows the number of dates available down in 2011 considerably. Obviously there are only 52 Fridays. 26 of these will be eliminated because they occur when the Moon is waning. Furthermore, I have eliminated all Fridays occurring between the end of January and the 13th June, because Saturn will be retrograde on those dates. Likewise, I have eliminated all Fridays which occur when Mercury is retrograde (it is always a bad idea to begin a new venture when Mercury is retrograde).
Of those that remain, most are unremarkable astrologically speaking – except one, which is the date I recommend for your wedding. It is:
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7TH 2011, at 1.42pm
OK, I know the idea of an Autumn wedding is a bit unconventional but I beg to be indulged for one moment. The great thing about
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7TH 2011, at 1.42pm
is that it fulfils all the relevant criteria – the Moon is trine Venus, trine Saturn, trine Mercury and trine the Sun. A win win win win situation! The business about 1.42pm is what I was referring to about planetary hours – 1.42 is the beginning of the midday Venus hour that Friday. You could also have held it at dawn the same day, but not only would that have involved getting up far too early, the Moon would still have been within the orb of a Mars opposition. However by holding it in the afternoon this situation is neatly avoided.
In conclusion, I earnestly offer you this advice freely without any suggestion of a reward *cough* KCVO *cough*. My best wishes for the future to you both,
Your obedient servant,
Alex Sumner.
PS: Any commoners reading this might actually get the hint that the same day would also be a good day for their wedding as well – to share in the Royal couple’s good fortune, as it were.