HWC Tutorial - Page 7 - Advanced HWC

By combining the four-century Gregorian cycle with the Solar cycle years, we have 16 potential starting years in each 400-year Gregorian cycle.

• Notice that the four-century cycle begins with Tuesday, and proceeds to Sunday, Friday, and Wednesday. Think "Tucson fries weddings" = Tue-Sun-Fri-Wed to find your target century's position in the cycle, and start directly on that HWC position. In practice, the positions index-palm-pinkie-middle equate to the centuries 16', 17', 18', 19', or again to 20', 21', 22', 23', and so on.
• While you are moving to the starting position, change mentally to the righthand digits of the highest Solar Cycle year not exceeding the target year ('00, '28, '56, '84).

With practice this becomes a near simultaneous action. For example, for the last few years of the 1900's, you can begin directly on 1984 = middle. In actuality, you are first choosing 19' = middle, then shifting in your mind quickly to '84 = middle. But it's almost like pulling 1984 out of the air all at once while you are moving the middle position. The same middle position serves for 1900, 1928, and 1956 as well. For Civil War dates, start 1856 = pinkie. If you are looking for the Gregorian version of Washington's birth date in 1732, start 1728 = palm. (If you wanted Washington's Julian birthdate, you'd still need to start at 14' = palm, and count back 1 per century to 17' = ring, changing to Solar year '28 = ring.)

Here is a summary of Advanced HWC, using the 16 Gregorian starting points (but retaining the century count for Julian calendar).

• Start:
  Gregorian: Use "Tuscon fries weddings" = Tue-Sun-Fri-Wed as a mnemonic for the four-century cycle, and point to the corresponding HWC position (index-palm-pinkie-middle) for your target century.
  Julian, start 700x = palm, and count +100 years = back 1 until you reach the target century (no limit).
• Solar Cycle: Shift mentally to '00, '28, '56, or '84 without moving, whichever is highest without exceeding the target year.
• Dozens: +12 years = forward 1 (limit 2x).
• Quads: +4 years = back 2 (limit 2x but none after '96)
• Singles: +1 year = forward 1 (limit 3x)
• Month: Assign the Doomsday entry date for your target month without moving.
• Day: Count day-by-day. If more than seven days away, go by way of the elevator.

The 16 starting points will immediately place you no more than 27 years before any Gregorian target year. At most, you are no more than 15 positional counts (touches) and two mental shifts away from any date in the Gregorian calendar. And you never need to divide any number by 12, or by 7.

I have shown the Gregorian limits for the year increments regardless of which calendar you are using, even though you could cross some of these limits on the Julian calendar without creating an error. But for efficiency, plan on staying within limits on both calendars. The system is simpler and easier to remember if you keep it consistent.

Want a little more explanation on the starting points? Here are the 16 Gregorian starting points for one 400-year cycle.

• 1600, 1628, 1656, 1684 = index (Tue)
• 1700, 1728, 1756, 1784 = palm (Sun)
• 1800, 1828, 1856, 1884 = pinkie (Fri)
• 1900, 1928, 1956, 1984 = middle (Wed)

Then we can start the cycle again...

• 2000, 2028, 2056, 20684 = index (Tue)
• 2100, 2128, 2156, 21784 = palm (Sun)
• 2200, 2228, 2256, 2284 = pinkie (Fri)
• 2300, 2328, 2356, 2384 = middle (Wed)

... etc., in perpetuity ...