Yard and was later employed by different members of the U.S. Congress and by lobby
groups. He worked, for example, for Senator Wallace Humphrey White of Maine, for
the Methodist Board of Temperance Promotion and Public Morals, for Senator
Theodore Burton of Ohio, for the Securities and Exchange Committee, and so forth.
Grant’s future wife, Catherine, taught him astrology, and soon after their mar-
riage he became an astrologer, lecturer, and teacher. In 1938, he was one of the three
incorporators of the American Federation of Astrologers (AFA), one of the oldest
astrology organizations in America. He was the AFA’s first president (1938–1941) as
well as its first executive secretary (1941–1959). Federation work was centered in his
home from 1938 to 1951, when the federation moved to a small building in Library
Court, adjacent to the Library of Congress. This building served as its headquarters
until the early 1970s, when the AFA moved to Arizona.
Grant and his wife also founded the National Astrological Library, a book pub-
lishing organization that was later acquired by the AFA. Despite his heavy organiza-
tional involvement, he found time to teach and write about astrology. Grant was an
ardent student of political astrology. He researched the astrological history of the
United States and, with Ralph Kraum, wrote Astrological Americana.Grant died on
March 6, 1968, in Washington, D.C.Sources:
Grant, Ernest A. Tables of Diurnal Planetary Motion.Washington, DC: National Astrology
Library, 1948.
Grant, Ernest A., and Ralph Kraum. Astrological Americana.1949. Reprint, Tempe, AZ: Ameri-
can Federation of Astrologers, n.d.
Holden, James H., and Robert A. Hughes. Astrological Pioneers of America.Tempe, AZ: Ameri-
can Federation of Astrologers, 1988.GRATIA
Gratia, asteroid 424 (the 424th asteroid to be discovered, on December 31, 1896), is
approximately 44 kilometers in diameter and has an orbital period of 4.6 years. It was
named after the three Graces of Greek mythology. Like its mythological namesake,
the asteroid confers “grace” upon natives in whose natal chart it is prominent. The
house and sign position of Gratia indicate where and how one expresses gracefulness.Sources:
Kowal, Charles T. Asteroids: Their Nature and Utilization.Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Ellis
Horwood Limited, 1988.
Room, Adrian. Dictionary of Astronomical Names.London: Routledge, 1988.
Schwartz, Jacob. Asteroid Name Encyclopedia.St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1995.GREATCIRCLE
A great circle is any circle drawn on a sphere, the plane of which also passes through
the inside of the sphere. Great circles are the basis of various systems for locating terres-
trial and celestial bodies in terms of sets of coordinates expressed in degrees of a circle.Gratia
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