NAME
In January 2018, almost 26 years after its discovery, this body was finally given a name: Albion. Albion is an ancient Greek name for the island of Great Britain, and in fact is the oldest known recorded name for it, being found as far back as the 6th Century BC. It was derived from an ancient word meaning 'white', and may have been given the name by sea travellers whose first image of the island was the White Cliffs of Dover.
The official name announcement was made on Minor Planet Center circular mpc108697:
We'll look at Albion in the chart of William Blake in the Astrology section of this page, or you can click here to jump to that section: William Blake
Encyclopedia Mythica talks about the mythological Albion:
Albion, or Alebion (Ἀλεβίων), was a son of Poseidon and brother of Dercynus or Bergion, together with whom he attacked Heracles, when he passed through their country (Liguria) with the oxen of Geryon. But they paid for their presumption with their lives.In his book, The British Chronicles Volume 1, David Hughes writes "Atlas, the son of the sea-god Poseidon (Neptune) and the mortal-woamn Cleito." Albion was brother to Atlas, making him a demi-god.
Interesting to note that in various writings, the identities of Albion and his brother are sometimes blurred or even merged. Albion is sometimes called Ampher. Some authors list Albion as the son of Atlas. And in some cases, including the writings of William Blake, Ampher/Albion is identified with Atlas himself.
Ampher/Albion was also deified at one point in Roman mythology as Aquarius, son of Neptune and the island goddess Brittania rather than having a mortal mother. In that case he would be a full god rather than demi-god.
ASTRONOMY
QB1 was the first body discovered out past Pluto, and is designated the first Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) ever found. It was discovered by astronomers Dave Jewitt and Jane Luu on 30 August 1992 at 10:56:11 am at Mauna Kea, Hilo, Hawaii.
Check out this information from the discovery circular 1992 QB1
or Dave Jewitt's article about the discovery of the Kuiper Belt because of the discovery of QB1 Kuiper Belt.What about it's orbit? Click here for a picture of that: Orbit.
Dave Jewitt discusses the discovery of QB1, and other bodies, on YouTube: Dave on YouTube
Albion/QB1 has an orbit of 289.68 years, so it takes about 40 more years to circle the Sun than Pluto. It's orbit is much more circular than Pluto's, however, with a perihelion of 40.8952 AU (Pluto can get as close to the Sun as 29.657 AU), and an aphelion of 46.6644 AU (Pluto can get as far out as 48.871 AU).
The last time Albion/QB1 was at perihelion was 9 October 1993, and the last aphelion was 12 December 1849.
Albion/QB1's eccentricity is 0.065888, with an inclination to the ecliptic of 2.15059.
ASTROLOGY
DISCOVERY CHART
It was located, at discovery, at 0 Aries 14' R, in out-of-sign opposition to Venus at 29 Virgo 01. It was sesquiquadrate the Ascendant (14 Sco 42), the MC (15 Leo 47) and Chiron (16 Leo 27).Its discovery degree is especially significant as it is the Aries Point, the point the sun reaches at the equinox.
Kim Falconer writes about this point:
"It marks the place where the sun crosses the equatorial plain going north. Think of it as a Sun/earth node, as opposed to the Lunar nodes which involve the Sun/earth/Moon).The AP represents a movement (cardinal) from an inner quality to an outer manifestation. It orients us towards the world at large - society, public events and all relationships propelled from the individual to the collective. Sometimes it represents a "spectacular out rush of energies... and involvement with the world at large" Celeste Teal"
Dane Rudhyar wrote of the Sabian Symbol for this degree:
"PHASE 1 (ARIES 1°): A WOMAN JUST RISEN FROM THE SEA. A SEAL IS EMBRACING HER.
KEYNOTE: Emergence of new forms and of the potentiality of consciousness."Benjamin Adamah has written an interesting blog on: Albion - Builder of bridges between two worlds
ASPECTS
Because its orbit is only a little longer than Pluto's, it can be a long while before they have aspects between them. In fact, the most recent conjunctions I found between Pluto and Albion were in the 10th Century:
Our historical records don't contain a lot of info about those years, but a number of great scientific discoveries were made by Islamic scientists around these conjunctions, many of which were later 're-discovered' by Eurpoean scientists a few centuries later, as well as advanced mathematical theorem.The most recent hard aspects between Albion/QB1 and Pluto were a series of oppositions in the mid-1800's:
Here are some people who were born with close Albion aspects in their natal chart:
A few significant historical figures:
- Amy Pohler, has Albion 29 Aqu 12 R, squaring her Jupiter (0 Sag 42) and Neptune (0 Sag 38)
- Jim Carrey, Albion 15 Aqu 48, Mercury 14 Aqu 43, Jupiter 14 Aqu 11, South Node 18 Aqu 09, square Neptune 13 Sco 16 and Ceres 13 Tau 34
- Chris Rock has Albion 21 Aqu 49, Mercury 19 Aqu 31, Sun 18 Aqu 23, all square Neptune 22 Sco 07 and trine Jupiter 21 Gem 20 R
- Tom Hanks has Albion 9 Aqu 10 R, conjunct Chiron 10 Aqu 14 R, opposition Moon 9 Leo 51
- Jodie Foster has Albion 16 Aqu 05 opposition Mars 17 Leo 34, square Venus 16 Sco 00 R & Neptune 13 Sco 43
- Nicholas Cage has Albion 18 Aqu 16 and Venus 18 Aqu 15, Saturn 21 Aqu 05, square Neptune 17 Sco 20
- Drew Barrymore has Albion 4 Pis 36 conjunct Sun 3 Pis 34, square North Node 5 Sag 56
- Julian Assange has Albion 0 Pis 33 R, square Neptune 0 Sag 42 R, and Saturn 1 Gem 40.
We can even look at Albion in the charts of nations:
- Karl Marx had Albion 25 Leo 15 R, opposition Ascendant 23 Aqu 03, square Venus 27 Tau 31, trine Neptune 26 Sag 08 R, quincunx Chiron 24 Pis 14 and Pluto 25 Pis 57
- Benito Mussolini had Albion 7 Sco 10, North Node 7 Scorpio 08, square Mercury 5 Leo 31 and Sun 6 Leo 51
- Adolf Hitler had Albion 15 Sco 14 R opposition Mars 16 Tau 22 and Venus 16 Tau 41 R, square Saturn 13 Leo 27
- John F Kennedy had Albion 18 Sag 16 R, square Moon 17 Vir 12, opposition Venus 16 Gem 44
- Henry Kissinger had Albion 25 Sag 53 R opposition his Asc 23 Gem 00 and Mars 27 Gem 33
- Cesar Chavez had Albion 1 Cap 31 on South Node 1 Cap 43, square Uranus 0 Ari 00 and Eris 0 Ari 50
- George W Bush has Albion 25 Cap 25 R opposition Saturn 26 Can 30
- The reigning Queen Elizabeth of England has Albion 0 Cap 10 R closely trine Sun 0 Tau 12
- Prince Philip (Duke of Edinburgh) has Albion 23 Sag 04 R opposition Mars 24 Gem 35
- Donald Trump has Albion at 25 Cap 49 R, which puts it opposition his Venus 25 Can 44 & Saturn 23 Can 48
An interesting period in history is 1896-1897, as Saturn, Uranus and Albion/QB1 are conjunct in Scorpio. Dates for the exact conjunctions:
- The USA chart has Albion at 7 Can 34, Jupiter 5 Can 47.
- The chart for the Australia Federation has Albion 29 Sco 14 conjunct a stationary North Node 1 Sag 18
Ura Cnj Albion on 18 Jan 1896 NS at 23°Sc47' D Ura Cnj Albion on 17 Apr 1896 NS at 23°Sc30' R Ura Cnj Albion on 16 Oct 1896 NS at 22°Sc55' D Sat Cnj Albion on 2 Dec 1896 NS at 24°Sc03' D Sat Cnj Ura on 6 Jan 1897 NS at 27°Sc39' D Sat Cnj Ura on 1 Jun 1897 NS at 26°Sc25' R Sat Cnj Ura on 9 Sep 1897 NS at 25°Sc34' DSome people born with close Albion/QB1 conjunctions to Saturn, Uranus, or or both:
- George Burns - Albion 23 Sco 48, Uranus 23 Sco 51, (Saturn 17 Sco 56)
- Andre Breton - Albion 24 Sco 00, Uranus 24 Sco 28, (Saturn 19 Sco 03)
- Tristan Tzara - Albion 23 Sco 31, Uranus 23 Sco 31, (Saturn 17 Sco 11)
- Ida Rolf - Albion 22 Sco 55, Uranus 22 Sco 12, (Saturn 14 Sco 46)
- Cyril Fagan - Albion 22 Sco 52, Uranus 22 Sco 05, (Saturn 14 Sco 34)
- F. Scott Fitzgerald - Albion 22 Sco 29, Uranus 21 Sco 49, (Saturn 16 Sco 11)
- Lilian Gish - Albion 22 Sco 52, Uranus 22 Sco 48, (Saturn 18 Sco 12)
- Ruth Gordon - Albion 23 Sco 14, Uranus 23 Sco 44, (Saturn 20 Sco 03)
- Ethel Waters - Albion 23 Sco 15, Uranus 23 Sco 48, (Saturn 20 Sco 11)
- Mamie Eisenhower - Albion 23 Sco 36, Uranus 24 Sco 40, Saturn 21 Sco 53, Sun 22 Sco 57
- Ira Gershwin - Albion 24 Sco 08, Saturn 24 Sco 28, Uranus 26 Sco 01
- James Doolittle - Albion 24 Sco 19, Saturn 25 Sco 24, Uranus 26 Sco 30
- Sir Anthony Eden - Albion 23 Sco 42, Saturn 25 Sco 41, Uranus 26 Sco 00
- Legs Diamond - Albion 23 Sco 20, Saturn 24 Sco 22, Uranus 25 Sco 13, Moon 24 Sco 44
- Amelia Earhart - Albion 23 Sco 14, Saturn 24 Sco 07, Uranus 25 Sco 00
WILLIAM BLAKE
William Blake was born on 28 November, 1757, at 7:45pm, in London, England. This puts Albion at 13 Gemini 59 R in his 11th house, the house of friends and associations, groups, interaction with the community, hopes and ideals. It is sextile his first house Neptune (15 Leo 20 R) and trine his 7th house Saturn (16 Aquarius 48.)Blake was a writer and mystic, but he was also a social activist. From Annie's Blog: "Blake lived in the time of the British Industrial Revolution. A time when children were forced to work from a young age and physical punishment was considered normal. It was a time of change. The world was becoming mechanised. Blake didn't like this.
Blake was a visionary. He felt very strongly about the way the Industrial Revolution was doing more harm than good and should be stopped. He didn't like the way children were used as workmen because of their size and the way they were discriminated against. Blake expressed all of his views in his poems, and in many he gets quite frustrated, and it shows in his style of writing."
From 1790-1800 he lived in an area called Lambeth. From the British Library's page on William Blake's radical politics: "Lambeth was still partly rural, but had its share of social problems. There were alms-houses, workshops of the Philanthropic Society, and an Asylum for orphaned girls; overcrowded housing and grim factories were beginning to appear. The nearby Albion flour mill was an example of the 'dark Satanic Mills' Blake would later condemn in his poem 'Jerusalem'."
Blake's image of Albion from his A Large Book of Designs My Own Experience
With the slow orbit it has, transits can hang around for awhile. Still, I found it interesting, looking back at the time of my mother's death in 1999, that its transit complemented that of Pluto's.
- Pluto (7 Sag 46) was conjunct my Moon (7 Sag 07), and Albion (10 Ari 32 R) was conjunct the ruler of my 10th house, Jupiter (10 Ari 47). (Also, Neptune on that date was 2 Aqu 05, conjunct my natal Albion (2 Aqu 37), and Ceres at 17 Leo 36 was conjunct my natal Pluto (17 Leo 57).)
- Pluto opposed my sister's Saturn (6 Gem 51), ruler of her 10th house, and Albion squared her 4th house Sun (9 Can 39). (Also Jupiter (4 Tau 56) squared her Pluto (4 Leo 36), and the Moon at 21 Aries had just squared her natal Albion (20 Cap 07).)
- Neither body was in a significant aspect to my mother's natal chart at the time of her passage. But transiting Albion was conjunct my mother's Solar Arc Ascendant at the time of her passage.
Experiences Of Others
Jonathan Dunn wrote of some initial keywords he was using for Albion/QB1: Keywords.
Eric Francis Coppolino has been studying QB1 since 1998 and has kept in contact with one of the co-discovers on issues including the discovery, naming, astronomy and astrology of the body. Here is some of what he has to say about Albion:
His primary website is Planet Waveswhere you can often find him writing about Albion, including 1992 QB1 and Cue: Be One (or The Kuiper Belt Turns 20)".
An interesting perspective on QB1 can be found in Amable's blog, Transneptunian Astrology, "The main theme of (15760) 1992 QB1 is 'systematic search', like the search of new planets: the systematic search by the computer, when checking the telescope data, is based on a secuencial analysis that is repeated until the new object is discovered, like the PIN search in the movie "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" (1991), or the sequencial search at the begining of the movie "Aladdin" (Disney, 1992). This process is called 'limit cycle attractor' by dynamical systems theory."
WHERE IS IT NOW?
You can check out where Albion/QB1 is right now. Click here and look at the far-right column: Ephemeris
Click here 1992 QB1, to find out how to discover where your QB1 is.
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