People are attracted to the study of Astrology for numerous reasons. For some, it is the notion of acquiring an ability to predict the future; for others, it is the desire of gaining an insight into the personalities of friends or family and why those closest to us act and react in different ways. Still others seek in it a path for the spiritual development of their soul and an understanding of the cycles of life. Regardless of your motive, upon successful completion of our program, you will be able to interpret a horoscope and be an Astrologer.
Astrology's immediate value lies in enabling us to orient and order our lives. It encourages the growth of emotional maturity and guides us towards the satisfaction of a cheerful and peaceful mind amid the turbulence of an active life. Pragmatically, it offers an objective view of ourselves and teaches a rational approach for managing our daily affairs and relating to others. A knowledge of these relationships is essential in order to appreciate our nature and motivations and to be happy and successful in daily living.
The purpose of this site is not to defend or prove the validity of Astrology. We leave such matters for others to pursue. We know Astrology as an art and as a way of life. There is nothing for us to defend or prove. Our purpose is to teach those who have an interest in the tradition.
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The Public's renewed interest in
Astrology.
What strikes these serious inquirers after glossing through numerous astrological
texts is the omission of a systematic and rational method
to synthesize a chart, that is, a methodology that will enable the practitioner
to view the horoscope as a unit based on reason.
Without such a method, the chart remains for its inquirer a chaos of disparate and often contradictory facts with no observable cohesiveness.
There have been some notable exceptions, but most astrological
texts are typically rich in detail but silent on how to combine the factors in a chart into a meaningful whole. The authors of these texts do
not provide the student with a sensible method to synthesize the chart.
While Astrology has always attracted casual readers, we have also observed a renewed interest by earnest seekers for self-knowledge and meaningful values through this traditional discipline as a reaction to the distractions created by an increasingly technology-driven world.
What these authors have to say is valuable, but their comments are general statements that must be applied to a particular case. Their statements very often do not apply to the particular chart under consideration or leave unsaid how to integrate their observations into the chart as a whole. Thus, our two-fold task is to figure out how we can apply correctly, generalizations to the specific horoscope and to know how to create a meaningful vision of the person gathered from numerous disparate facts. The Purpose of Training: How to think astrologically
And as for the need to base practice on experience, we quote Paracelsus, the great 15th century Swiss physician and occultist who wrote,
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An Astrologer should be inspired, but interpretation is not based on
something mystical - rather it is based on conjecture, that is, an
educated guess based on experience. In Book III, Paragraph 108 of the
Tetrabiblos, a seminal work on the principles of Western
Astrology, Claudius Ptolemy makes the following observation about the
application of conjecture.
"...the predicted result, summed up by the combination of many elements, applied to the underlying form, we shall leave, as to the skillful archer, to the calculation of him who conducts the investigation....".
What Ptolemy implies is that a person must have the necessary skills to make a correct speculation based on the observed facts.
"Practice should not be based on speculative theory - Theory should be derived from practice. Experience is the judge - If a thing stands the test of experience, it should be accepted; if it does not stand the test, it should be rejected".
Our program teaches the student how to gather information and come to correct conclusions about what they have garnered. To accomplish this, the course content is designed to teach the student how to view the horoscope deductively, inductively, and analogically. This is a necessary requirement for a rational approach to interpretation.
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The Art of Interpretation
The program's goal is to train people to
interpret. We must be able to see the horoscope as a whole, complete,
and integrated unit. To do this we must be able to synthesize; and to
accomplish this, we must have and practice regularly the required skills. As with any discipline, nothing can replace this basic requirement.
The practice itself starts with a very structured analysis of the chart. With increasing experience, we advance from analysis to synthesis by being able to combine quickly ever larger blocks of information. In the beginning, a newcomer to astrology should not be too concerned about possessing this skill. The point is that the road that leads to synthesis requires we discipline ourselves from the beginning to think economically and systematically. These two factors provide the primary requirement for synthesis - SPEED. These two factors bring quick, clear, yet deliberate and careful thinking that take us from analysis to synthesis. The images must flash together into a feeling.
The ability to synthesize is a talent that ripens with the maturing of skills and regular practice. It is an incremental process. The initial step in training is to help the student respond to the signs and planets on a feeling level, a level that goes beyond an intellectual understanding. The accomplishment of this foundation skill forms the platform upon which horoscope synthesis rests.
The acquisition of this experience requires a deliberate conscious effort on the part of the student. To facilitate the student's effort, we make use of a simple training exercise that we introduce and detail in the first few lessons of Forum on Astrology.
The training technique makes use of some very elementary but fundamental information about the signs and planets combined with the practice of a three-fold process of careful observation, memory with the ability to recall accurately past experiences, and conjecture.
A Methodology for Teaching Astrology
For such an experience to take place, there must be a methodology. The methodology permits the unfolding of the discipline by the teacher and the receipt of the knowledge by the student. Without this process, there may be good intentions and feelings between the speaker and the listener but no learning takes place.
Our program provides a simple 4-point approach to unfold the astrological tradition based on experience. Successful practice requires that we have an understanding of (1) A horoscope's basic parts and their interrelationship based on instruction, observation, and tradition, (2) How to measure the influences quantitatively and qualitatively, (2) interpretation technique, and (4) The signs, planets, and houses rooted in feeling. This understanding of "rooted in feeling" is based on obtaining an ever increasing awareness of our instincts, an understanding that is facilitated by practicing certain sensitivity exercises.
The Tradition and its
Teachers
Citing these particular individuals is not meant to take away or minimize the contributions of the many many great minds in this field, but rather, it is meant to acknowledge
Ptolemy's, Morin's, and Mason's efforts to transmit a living tradition from one generation to the next.
It is our sincere hope that we can continue this tradition without
distorting or misrepresenting what they have intended to give to posterity.
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To be able to teach a thing, not only must a person know the subject, but they
must be able to unfold the topic in such a way that they deliver the discipline's message. The teacher must be able to unfold the subject in terms of words and experiences that are meaningful to the student.
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This writer
received the tradition from Zoltan Mason
of New York City who in turn
drew primarily on the genius of Morin de Villefranche
and Claudius Ptolemy. The brilliance of these teachers is easily recognized by their ability to convey and unfold in a simple
fashion a discipline that is rift with confusion and erroneous conclusions. This
skill clearly demonstrates that they not only possessed the clarity and maturity of
thought but also had a knowledge of the methodology for teaching.
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