PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Our two-quarter email program teaches how to address
two questions asked by every person of an astrologer:
·
What may I expect during this lifetime and
·
When may I expect it?
The
practical goal of our program is to teach the skills required to practice the
art of interpretation. Interpretation means the ability to discuss the
character and actions of a person based on the astrologer’s ability to
artfully combine the various different components in the chart.
Interpretation or the ability to artfully combine is called synthesis,
that is, it is the talent to envision the horoscope as an
integrated whole.
This
approach of viewing the chart as a whole unit was a system practiced by the
brilliant 17th century French astrologer and physician, Morin de Villefranche. (His teachings were taught most recently by
his leading United States
practitioner, the late Zoltan Mason of New York City.)
Morin and His
Astrologia Gallica
Morin’s approach to astrology is codified in his
voluminous twenty-six book masterpiece entitled Astrologia Gallica. Published in
1661, this 800+ folio page book written in scholarly Latin covers the entire
gamut of astrology from philosophy to natal interpretation to predictive
techniques, but it is Book XXI that is the
volume’s crown jewel. Book XXI is the
savant's most priceless gift that he has passed on to posterity as it
teaches the skills needed to synthesize or envision the horoscope as a
complete integrated unit.
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The
Program's Textbook - Book XXI - The Key to Synthesis
Our primary text is Morinus
System of Horoscope Interpretation, Morin's
21st Book as translated by Richard
Baldwin. This slim book of 143 pages rigorously and faithfully
covers the material as advanced by Morin
The caption on Book XXI’s title page reads, “The
Active Determinations of the Celestial Bodies and the Passive Determinations
of the Sublunary World”. In this single obscure statement
Morin's genius summarizes his entire approach to horoscope
interpretation. Our program explains
this compact statement as we gradually and systematically unfold and
expand upon the text over four quarterly sessions of twelve weeks
each. Each quarterly session covers the
book's material but in ever greater depth and detail.
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Morin's System
Morin wants the reader to understand that all the
planets do not influence us in every area of life - rather, the planets
impact us in very specific ways, ways that can be measured both in terms of
QUANTITY and QUALITY of influence. For example, we can determine very
specifically in a person's chart the amount of Saturn's influence and we can
also measure with precision the strength of its influence relative to the
rest of the planets. Furthermore, we can demonstrate its constructiveness,
that is, whether Saturn's influence is used
only for base and coarse purposes or also for more subtle ethical purposes.
This understanding emerges from Morin's so-called, "Theory of
Determinations".
The usefulness of having the ability to measure the
influences in such a fashion cannot be overstated. Every human being has present in their chart all 12 signs and all 10 planets.
What varies from one person to the next is the mixture of the influences. As
in any composition, the outcome or result depends on the amount, proportion,
and quality of the ingredients present. Morin's approach gives us the tools
needed to measure this variety of composition in humans that gives rise
ultimately to the endless possibilities of a human's character, abilities,
and destiny.
Measurement starts by and judgment hinges upon
assessing the nature and capacity of the person's Ascendant (also called
the Rising Sign). Morin also emphasizes repeatedly that a person's
Ascendant is the most important consideration in a horoscope as it
represents the life of the physical body and the characteristic disposition of the individual.
Our
program place a great emphasis of an examination and appreciation of the
Ascendant’s character, strength, and
potential as it is fundamental, for without such
understanding, the rest of the chart will be taken out of context. We
elaborate at great length on Morin's
implication that horoscope interpretation begins with a thorough
analysis of the Ascendant. In Section 1, Chapter 4 of Book 21 he states,
“Finally, the caelum is determined by the
location of its various parts in the birth horoscope and must produce
accidental qualities and events in comformity with
the individual.”
Through a
series of lessons, we demonstrate that if this important consideration is
overlooked or neglected, all other chart considerations are meaningless as we
will not have grasped how the
person receives and reacts to the influences of the stars. Beyond
this pivotal consideration, Morin also provides the roadmap to his systematic
process. In the same chapter, he says explicitly,
“…Also, the degree of the sign rising
has a greater significance for the native than the ruler of the Ascendant or
a planet in the first house. This becomes clear when directing the ascending
degree, as aspects to this degree are more powerful than those to the ruler
of the Ascendant; and the same holds true for the MC”.
It is upon this statement by Morin
that Zoltan Mason based his relentless drumbeat in
his weekly classes about the need to prioritize the importance of the
different parts of a chart. Mason would always say, "What you mention
first should be more important than what you mention second" and then he
would go on and stress the importance of the Ascendant and the Midheaven when
he analyzed a chart in class.
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Zoltan Mason's contribution to Morin's Methodology
The first Quarter of our program serves as an
introduction to Morin's teachings and explains also in great detail how Mason
extended Morin’s approach. Zoltan Mason taught that
after we examine the Ascendant and the Midheaven, we should in the same
manner described by Morin, analyze the Moon, the Sun, and then observe any
other unusual considerations.
Our aim for the student is to have the student
understand how this judicious process leads to horoscope synthesis. The
dynamism of a chart is the result of the
interaction of the Ascendant, Moon, and Sun with all other considerations
playing a participating but supporting role. This can only be seen when one
can synthesize.
We demonstrate how to build individually, an image of each of the
chart's subunits, then combine them, and
finally arrive at a vision of the horoscope as a whole. This is the
goal to be achieved by the student based on the skills
taught in our program. This approach when practiced
systematically and deliberately leads in time to synthesis.
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The Art of
Forecasting and its basis
The ability to predict is an acquired art that
begins with a good understanding of the natal chart. What is possible
for the person is seen in the natal; what is not seen in the natal will not
occur during the lifetime.
Forecasting
techniques answer only the question of when
to expect events. With foreknowledge and discipline, many events may be
avoided or if desired, realized. What we can avoid or what we may bring about
depends to a large degree on how much of
a free will we have and how much a particular event is under our direct
control. For those things over which we can exercise control, there is more
of a possibility to bring about the desired result and less so when those things are not.
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The Program's
Goal for the Student
In the final analysis, answering the question,
"What may a person expect during this
lifetime, and to some extent when", is based on understanding of
what prompts the person to act. Astrology is the study of motivation
and drive, viz: What attracts the person and what
pushes the person as well as how strongly are they attracted and how strongly
are they pushed?
As
the old adage states, "The stars impel, they do not compel".
Foreknowledge and training make us appreciate this. The aim of our program is
to make the student grasp this point, for upon this understanding, a person's
expectations and life events as well as their realizations are based.
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Program
Organization & Student Requirements
The program is divided into two QUARTERS but has
been designed to cover much of the curriculum in the first three quarters.
Quarters that follow cover the same content in greater depth and detail. Each
Quarter is twelve weeks in length. You can take each quarter at your own pace
but if you elect to take one quarter after another, the program takes about
one year to complete.
Forum on Astrology
assumes
no knowledge of Astrology on an individual's part. We start at the very beginning with the
basics. You can start the program anytime, you're never late. It starts when
you enroll.
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