Pre-Birth Lunation Chart
This Progressed chart reflects Luther-King’s life from birth (1929) to 1954 (Age 25).
“The New Moon before birth is an apt and fitting station with which to begin a study of lunation progressions in a person’s life. The sign of the zodiac in which it occurred, whether it was in the same or preceding sign as the Sun at birth, the degree of the zodiac and particularly the Sabian Symbol for this degree: all these provide significant clues to THE TONE AND DIRECTION OF THE LIFE …” [Leyla Rael, ‘The Lunation Process in Astrological Guidance’, 1984, p.13]
With the New Moon before Dr King’s birth occurring at 20°19’ Capricorn in the natal Ninth House we’re given the following Sabian Symbol as a clue to this “tone and direction of the life” …
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20°19’ Capricorn : “A relay race.”
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According to Rudhyar this is a metaphor for a special type of group activity where “… individuals take turns successively in order to maximise … the possibility of outstanding results.” In his commentary for the degree Rudhyar goes on to say that, “The whole of civilisation is a vast kind of relay race in which groups of individuals and generations carry the torch of what we call progress.” Given – as it turned out – the short amount of lifetime that Dr King had to work with, this ‘relay race’ symbol seems an unusually poignant statement, perhaps hinting to the young King, “Time is short Martin. Go at it hard and fast!” [‘An Astrological Mandala’, 1974, p.242].
Theoretically then, this carry-the-torch ‘tone’ was what parents, teachers, and ‘life’ conditioned in the young Dr King from his birth through to the end of this lunation cycle in his 25th year (c.1954).
Does the biographic material confirm or contrast with the sort of cosmic principles that Rudhyar alludes to? Well, historical notes for this period tell us that Dr King did indeed follow his father’s example as a firebrand campaigner against racial segregation, so yes, he did (symbolically) carry forward the baton handed to him by a preceding generation.
The biography also shows a ‘group’ focus. He was active in his church choir; his high school debating team; Crozer Theological Seminary (a decided 9th House institution); and within Crozer, a member of a somewhat radical Christian sub-group known as the ‘Sons of Calvary’.
The biography also mentions that, “… in 1947, the 18-year-old King concluded that the church offered the most assuring way to answer his inner urge to serve humanity … as he believed he could become a ‘rational’ minister with sermons that were ‘a respectful force for ideas, even social protest.” [Wikipedia] This statement rather neatly sums the facts we uncovered in the natal chart about the ‘world service’ aspect of King’s Sun symbol, and its relationship to 9th house institutions.
The actual timing of his move to the Seminary – at the ‘Progressed Last Quarter’ – is astrologically impeccable too. As Rudhyar says about this delicate moment in every life : “At the Last Quarter, the crisis is likely to involve a repolarisation of the person’s thinking; a sharp realization that an earlier period of life is completely disintegrating and that individual growth [now] depends entirely and irrevocably upon making definite and clear a new type of consciousness.” [‘Lunation Cycle’, 1971, p.110]
Biographically, the final seven years of the Pre-Birth Lunation Cycle (1947-1954) witnessed – as Rudhyar suggests they ‘should’ – preparations and a ‘planting of seeds’ for the following [30-year] cycle. In these years we see Dr King completing his studies at Crozer (BA Sociology & Divinity); practicing his 9th House craft as assistant pastor at his father’s Baptist church; commencing studies at Boston University’s School of Theology; and at the very end of the cycle meeting and marrying the exceptional Coretta Scott whose influence behind the scenes was critically important to the success of Dr King’s mission in the following cycle.
Rudhyar suggests there are OTHER facts in the pre-birth lunation chart – beyond the degree Symbol for the New Moon before birth – that reveal clues about the ‘tone’ of a life. He refers in particular to planet(s) that aspect the lunation degree, especially by Conjunction. Rudhyar calls these contacts ‘channels of destiny’ and well worth the astrologer’s attention.
In the case of Dr King’s Pre-Birth Lunation chart we see no strong ‘channels’ evident by Conjunction, but there is a conspicuous Trine apparent that links the pre-birth position of Jupiter (@ 1° Taurus, 12th House) to the natal Neptune (@ 1° Virgo, 5th House). I can’t recall Rudhyar specifically delineating on this aspect but I’ve read other authors (eg Arroyo, Hand, Forrest, Sasportas) who concur the portent refers to things like ‘inspiration’ and ’spiritual teaching’ of some kind or other. Both of these principles are of course often-repeated facts in the bio material, and wonderfully demonstrated in his renown speech, “I Have Been to the Mountaintop” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e49VEpWg61M).
Rudhyar’s delineations for the House placements of these planets are perhaps interesting too …
• Jupiter in the 12th portending a rise in social position, honors, and hot diggity (I love this next bit) “… it can lead compassionate and socially dedicated men and women to bring companionship and sympathy to people who have been battered by a ruthless society.” 
[Rudhyar, ‘Astrological Houses’, p.197]; and
• Neptune in the 5th indicating, by virtue of its pleasant disposition, “… musical or theatrical gifts,” again, traits confirmed by the biography. I mean, southern U.S Baptist Ministers are almost by definition, ‘musical and theatrical’, aren’t they? With the 5th House known as the House of ‘recreational pleasure’ and Neptune associated with ‘fantasy’ I thought it interesting too that Dr King had a known fascination for the TV series ‘Star Trek’* and by implication Gene Roddenberry’s utopian science fiction vision. [‘Astrological Houses’, p.201]
Righto, that concludes an analysis of Dr King’s first 25 years, astrologically and biographically, all in all a pair of quite well-matched accounts that seem to support Rudhyar’s Lunation Cycle theory.
In the final part of this study we’ll have a look at Dr King’s first post-natal Lunation chart covering his life from 1954 until his assassination in 1968.
Quest for the Real Astrology 
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