was traveling in California on a business trip during which he was attempting to take
advantage of a “marvelous combination of progressions.” However, from a business
standpoint the trip was a total failure. Reflecting upon these events and calling to
mind his clients’ complaints, he was persuaded to give up progressions and directions.
Bennett then began to experiment with other predictive methods, such as
solar return. He devised a technique for utilizing this method for intermediate dates,
and this was the origin of the predictive system he called The Key Cycle.
In the early thirties, Bennett wrote an astrology column for the New York Daily
News.In 1932, he foretold a week of financial turmoil for early March 1933. One of
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first official acts as president after his inauguration on March
4, 1933, was to proclaim a “bank holiday,” closing all the banks in the United States.
Many banks did not reopen, and depositors suffered a complete loss. This act shook
the nation and threw the financial markets into chaos. Bennett became famous for his
prediction. In later life, he lived in Australia, where he is thought to have died in the
late fifties.
Sources:
Bennett, Sidney Kimball. Astrology, Science of Prediction.Los Angeles: Wynn Publishing Co.,
1945.
———. Astrology: Your Path to Success.Philadelphia: David McKay Co., 1938.
———. The Key Cycle.1931. Reprint, Tempe, AZ: American Federation of Astrologers, 1970.
———. Your Life Till 1954 ... Your Next 20 Years ... with 20-Year World Prediction, Interpreted by
Wynn.New York: Wynn Publishing Co., 1933.
Holden, James H., and Robert A. Hughes. Astrological Pioneers of America.Tempe, AZ: Ameri-
can Federation of Astrologers, 1988.
Wynn’s Astrology Magazine.New York: Wynn Publishing Co., 1931–194[?].
BEROSUS
Berosus was a famous Mesopotamian priest and astrologer born about 330 B.C.E.He
left his native land, settled on the Greek island of Kos, and taught astrology. Berosus is
attributed with introducing astrology to the Greeks, in whose hands it was trans-
formed from a priestly art into an empirical science.
BESIEGED
Besieged is a traditional term used to describe the situation of a planet (particularly a
significator) placed between two other planets and falling within both of their orbs of
influence. The conflicting connotations of the word besieged derive from the tenden-
cy of an older generation of astrologers to call attention to conjunctions in which a
benefic planet (e.g., Venus) was placed between two malefics (e.g., Mars and Saturn).
A planet can be favorably besieged, however, as when placed between two benefic
planets.
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Besieged