savard_a_source_packet - TheDaniel166/moira GitHub Wiki

Savard-A Houses Source Packet

Status: research packet only, not admitted

Purpose:

  • collect the currently available modern source chain for the house system now labeled Savard-A
  • separate source-backed geometric claims from naming/provenance uncertainty
  • decide whether the system is ready for a formal admission doctrine

Scope

This note does not admit Savard-A into Moira.

It records what can currently be established from accessible modern sources:

  • external software documentation
  • Astrodienst / Swiss Ephemeris public-facing materials
  • Astrolog documentation and change log
  • provenance notes about the renaming away from Albategnius

Modern Source Packet

1. Astrolog 7.30 change log

Source:

Relevant modern claim:

  • Astrolog added Savard-A houses
  • the system is named after John Savard
  • it uses Savard's description of what he called Albategnus houses
  • the label was changed because later research concluded that Albategnius did not describe this particular house system

Implication:

  • this is a modern software-era naming settlement, not a clean classical transmission

2. Astrolog 7.80 documentation

Source:

Relevant modern claim:

  • Savard-A is treated as a distinct selectable house system
  • Astrolog lists it separately from:
    • Campanus
    • Horizon
    • APC
    • Carter
    • Sunshine
    • Pullen SD / SR

Extracted geometric summary from the Astrolog docs:

  • it divides the prime vertical like Campanus
  • but instead of direct prime-vertical trisection, it uses parallels of declination at one-third / 30 degree intervals

Implication:

  • the modern software ecosystem treats Savard-A as a real distinct system, not merely an alias

3. Astrodienst forum archive on naming

Source:

Relevant modern claims:

  • Astrodienst users asked what Savard-A means
  • the response states that Savard-A uses John Savard's description of what he called Albategnius houses
  • Savard-A naming came out of a Swiss Ephemeris mailing-list discussion
  • the renaming away from Albategnius was deliberate because historical research did not support the old attribution

Implication:

  • provenance honesty requires treating Savard-A as a modern reconstructed or software-transmitted doctrine, not as a securely classical Albategnius method

4. Swiss Ephemeris tables of houses

Sources:

Relevant modern claims:

  • Swiss publishes operational tables for System Savard-A
  • tables are provided for northern and southern hemispheres
  • tables explicitly include polar latitudes

Implication:

  • Savard-A is not just an experimental side label; it is operationalized in major software
  • however, tables alone are not a governing derivation

5. John Savard original exposition recovered

Direct source:

Recovered findings:

  • the page is titled Astrological House Systems
  • it is a survey-style exposition by John J. G. Savard
  • it includes a dedicated section labeled Albategnus
  • Savard describes the system as:
    • using parallels of declination
    • dividing the prime vertical into parts by thirds of the declination difference between the east/west points and the zenith
    • then using great circles from the north point to the south point to divide the sky and intersect the ecliptic

Critical limitation:

  • Savard's wording is brief and partially hedged
  • his text includes an apparently qualifier in the projection description
  • the page is explanatory and comparative, not a formal mathematical doctrine note

Implication:

  • this is better than software-only summaries because it gives us the original Savard-side geometric intent directly
  • however, it still does not supply a precise enough derivation to admit the system cleanly without further reconstruction work

Provisional Governing Geometry

What the current packet now supports:

  1. Savard-A belongs to the broad prime-vertical / horizon-projection family.
  2. It is Campanus-like in family resemblance, but not identical to Campanus.
  3. The distinguishing law appears to be:
    • use declination-parallel structure rather than direct Campanus equal segmentation of the prime vertical
    • divide the declination difference from east/west to zenith in thirds
    • use horizon-anchored great circles through those derived points to obtain cusp intersections on the ecliptic

What the packet does not yet support strongly enough:

  • a precise Moira-owned object formulation with exact branch doctrine
  • a trustworthy historical claim connecting the system to Albategnius
  • an unambiguous mathematical construction sequence free of interpretive gaps

Provenance and Naming Findings

These points are now source-backed enough to treat as settled:

  • Savard-A is the modern honest label.
  • Albategnius is not a trustworthy canonical name for this system.
  • Any Moira admission must preserve that honesty and must not present the method as a securely medieval Albategnius doctrine unless stronger evidence appears.

Admission Gate Assessment

What is strong enough

  • distinct modern system identity
  • modern operational support in Astrolog and Swiss/Astrodienst
  • enough geometric separation from Campanus to justify further study
  • direct recovery of Savard's own comparative exposition page

What is not strong enough yet

  • explicit governing equations or construction sequence from source
  • stable branch/singularity doctrine
  • independent validation source beyond software summaries and tables

Swiss-Smell Risk

This candidate is high-risk for lineage leakage if implemented too early.

Why:

  • the available packet is software-mediated
  • the modern naming itself arose from software-forum correction
  • absent a direct source text, the implementation could easily collapse into "whatever Swiss/Astrolog do for Savard-A"

Therefore:

  • numerical replication of external tables would not be enough
  • a Moira implementation would need a fresh governing-object derivation note before code

Current Decision

Savard-A is a plausible future admission candidate, but not yet ready for implementation.

Required before admission:

  1. restate the recovered Savard geometry in exact Moira terms
  2. resolve the ambiguities left by Savard's terse comparative wording
  3. declare polar and branch doctrine explicitly
  4. only then draft a formal admission doctrine

Sources