15 PredictionProvidencePowerofSelfinHoraryBW
15 PredictionProvidencePowerofSelfinHoraryBW
15 PredictionProvidencePowerofSelfinHoraryBW
Deborah Houlding is the web mistress of D uring the last century the
word 'prediction' (pre dict:
'to say before') came to be
something of a dirty word in
the Skyscript site. The past editor of The astrology. When I started studying
Traditional Astrologer magazine, and astrology in the 1980s, I remember
author of The Houses: Temples of the Sky, frequent reminders that astrologers
her articles feature regularly in should not attempt to 'predict' but
astrological journals. She has a particular should merely aim to forecast
interest in researching the origin and 'psychological trends of experience'.
development of astrological technique and
as a consulting astrologer specialises in
I was probably typical of many
horary. She is the principal of the STA students, in that the bestselling
School of traditional horary astrology, book, The Complete Astrologer by
which offers courses by correspondence Derek and Julia Parker, was one of
and intensive residential seminars. Her my first introductory guides to the
website http://www.skyscript.co.uk is one subject, and for me an early source
of the most popular western astrology sites of reference as to what astrology
for scholars in astrology. was all about. Later editions have
been updated and no longer reflect
some of its earlier attitudes, but
their first edition (published in 1971)
was very representative of the
prevailing views towards the use of
astrology as a divinational tool.
Horary astrology was particularly singled out as epitomising all that could be
defined as shallow and ridiculous in the 'old fashioned' approach. Their
assessment was:
The student will be more than likely to encounter horary astrology. While
there are astrologers who take this branch of astrology seriously, its effect is
to trivialise astrology by its dangerous affinity to fortune-telling and
divination. [1]
Serving to emphasise the point, the same section of the book included
persuasive images of 'the astrologer at work'. The first (fig. 1 below) portrayed
"The 'modern day' astrologer at work" with a picture of the widely respected
astrologer John Addey. With his academic stance and half-ringed glasses,
surrounded by books and notes and papers, he looks entirely respectable and
erudite. The clock is suggestive of the intricacy of the subject with precise
timing; and he sits pen in hand, coffee on desk, looking every bit the
dedicated, hard-working professional we would all like to emulate. An
especially nice touch about this picture is the black cat sitting on the table, a
subliminal reminder perhaps of astrology's integration between the rational
and the mystical?
The demise of horary in the early 20th century was a complicated issue, but
one major impact can be realised through events that affected the life of Alan
Leo, the great British champion of astrology at the turn of the last century,
whose influence upon the perception of astrology amongst his contemporaries
and later practitioners can hardly be over-stated.
The significant events began to emerge on 29 April, 1914, when Leo, then aged
54, was summoned to court to answer the charge that he "did unlawfully
pretend to tell fortunes" through astrology. The case was dismissed for lack of
evidence but it left an uncomfortable feeling among astrologers. [6] For Leo, it
prompted a resolution to safeguard the legality of his position and have
astrology recognised as a creditable science. In order to do this he advised:
Let us part company with the fatalistic astrologer who prides himself on his
predictions and who is ever seeking to convince the world that in the
predictive side of Astrology alone shall we find its value. We need not argue
the point as to its reality, but instead make a much-needed change in the word
and call Astrology the science of tendencies. [7]
In 1917 Leo was brought to trial again on a similar charge. This time his
defence was that he did not offer predictions, but only focused on general
character analysis and astrological trends:
I most emphatically say that I do not tell fortunes. I tell tendencies from the
horoscope and in every horoscope I send out I make that statement.
The prosecution read out several passages from a report prepared by Leo, part
of which included the statement "at this time a death in your family is likely
to cause you sorrow". His case fell apart when the prosecution asked him "is
this death a tendency, or is there a tendency to be dead?" [8]
It is a mistake to assume that the divide between those who see horary as
trivializing, and those who see it as empowering, revolves around the
'traditional v. modern' debate or the specific details of the techniques
employed. But the spirit of any age does set the standard by which
practitioners are expected to approach and utilise the information at their
disposal. In the 17th century mindset of astrologers such as William Lilly,
society still held a collective expectation that the material world was animated
by a spiritual design. This allowed astrologers great freedom in symbolic
reasoning, and they took up an active engagement with astrological
movements as a way to navigate their clients through difficult situations. We
may consider this style of astrology predictive, but it wasn't fatalistic. Lilly for
example, demonstrates many charts where the predicted outcome for the
client's course of action looks bleak, and so he recommends a change of
course, or scrutinises the more positive connections in the chart to identify a
person whose help could be sought, or an unexploited situation that could be
more advantageous than that currently embarked upon. This is active horary
analysis.
Rudhyar's support for horary was longer and more committed than most
astrologers realise, and appears to have been prompted by his collaboration
with another American whose name doesn't readily spring to mind in
association with its restoration: Marc Edmund Jones. As early as 1943, Jones
had published Problem Solving by Horary Astrology, and it was to this book that
Rudhyar referred his readers for the details of horary technique. Jones himself
pays homage to Rudhyar in his Foreword, stating that it is due to Rudhyar's
early support that he gave up anonymity of the authorship, and adding:
If the volume were to have a dedication, it should be inscribed to Dane
Rudhyar, who early took an interest in the mimeographed materials and
insisted upon giving credit in print to the whole research project. [16]
The substance of technique explained in Jones' work was largely derived from
Zadkiel's edition of Lilly's Introduction to Astrology; hence the wordy subtitle:
"A complete analysis and demonstration comprising a clarification and
modernization of an interestingly effective seventeenth century psychology".
Unfortunately the analysis was a little too complete and the demonstration
was lacking. There are some real gems of psychological insight hidden within
its pages, but I would find it hard to recommend this book to anyone; most of
its content is so dull and boring that it becomes almost interesting by virtue of
trying to find the point of it. [17] But despite the unwieldiness of it all, and
the absence of good practical examples, here and there Jones reveals a glimpse
of his genius; and though he still refers to horary as an 'astral science' he does
at least point out that this is not really an appropriate way to consider a
subject that places such a strong emphasis upon symbolic reasoning. The real
value of his work lies in the way Jones' set out his theory on how the
mechanism of horary works. This undoubtedly influenced Rudhyar, or at
least sat comfortably with Rudhyar's own views, so that when Rudhyar wrote
about horary himself two decades later, he ran with the idea presented by
Jones, but articulated it in a much more persuasive and elegant manner.
Jones' suggestion was that a horary chart encapsulates the issues that are most
relevant in the mind, and as such reveals both the subconscious and conscious
knowledge contained within the mind, as reflected by the cosmos of which all
individuals are a part. He spends considerable time suggesting, and
attempting to demonstrate, that the subconscious mind is fully aware of the
reasons for past experiences and the future opportunities that lie before it.
Hence those 'chance meetings' that arise due to inexplicable wrong turns in
our journeys are actually designed by our subconscious mind in an effort to
unite us with our potential destiny. The horary chart is therefore not just a
map of the external heavens, but also a map of the internal mind and all the
information that the mind is able to project forward to collect or cast back to
recollect. This applies to both the conscious and the subconscious part of it,
and 'judgement' draws upon the knowledge contained within this map and
that of the mind of the astrologer, who must use subjective symbolic
processing as well as rational processing in order to extract its full meaning
and value. Jones explains that this is the reason why some astrologers can
make certain procedures work for them although these may be of little use to
anyone else:
The chart, in the case of a question, patterns a matter resident in some
individual's mind; and the content of that mind is also contained in the
general social complex - along with everything else - and hence under as real a
necessity to operate in concordance with universal order. This leads to the
rule that anyone who practices horary astrology must be very definite in
everything he does, not hesitating to express his own individuality. Every
good practitioner makes modifications in the techniques according to his own
tastes, because his private universe of thought has a specialized way of
ordering things. It is in accordance with the general reality, of necessity, but it
is also necessarily personal in all respects. [18]
As far as I can ascertain, Marc Edmund Jones, supported by his friend Dane
Rudhyar, was the first modern horary astrologer to make a deep and
committed attempt to offer a rationale for the workings of horary in such a
way that it offers no conflict to spiritual beliefs and yet remains compatible
with modern views on the power of the subconscious. He was obviously not
the first to touch upon these issues, but he appears to be innovatively involved
in the revival of astrology in modern times, in his attempt to give horary
respect as a technique which demonstrates remarkable power and needn't be
inappropriately defined as a science nor cast off into the negative bracket of
superstitious fortune-telling. He also moved beyond the ominous warnings of
'violation of technique' that we witness in the earlier works, placing the onus
back onto the astrologer to mould the techniques under their own judgement
as Lilly did. The fact that he subtitled his work "clarification and
modernization of an interestingly effective seventeenth century psychology"
illustrates that he felt more inspired and compatible with the creative
approach of Lilly than he was with the static and passive approach that had
since come to dominate the British astrological scene. He gives his main
credit to Lilly and mentions that it is Lilly's pioneer work "together with a
very few and sometimes surprisingly inconsequential books on the subject
written since his day" that formed his bibliography. In all, this totals only
seven works on horary that he had access to at that time: Zadkiel's version of
Lilly's text, the 19th century works of Simmonite, and Raphael, and the early
20th century works of Leo, C.C. Zain, Geraldine Davis and Robert de Luce. It
seems clear from his reference to these being "surprisingly inconsequential",
that he held much of the latter in scant regard. [19]
Perhaps it is highly relevant that in America, around the same time that Leo
was enduring his legal trials, the law was pressing down just as heavily on the
activities of Evangeline Adams - but Adams fought back more effectively.
Adams never denied that she made predictions; she insisted that she did and
that they were very good ones too! She was first arrested under suspicion of
'fortune telling' in 1911 and although the charges were dropped, she revelled in
the publicity she gained from them. Then when she was brought to trial again
on similar charges in 1914, her decision to impress the judge with just how
good she was, not only led to her being acquitted of all 'wrong doing', but also
brought a commendation from the judge (reported in the papers) that she "had
raised astrology to the dignity of an exact science". [20]
So horary was never squashed in America, not even by those involved in the
humanistic movement, who offered the means to ennoble its philosophy in a
way that removed the final charge of being too fatalistic and potentially
weakening of the will. Later American writers such as Australian born Ivy
Goldstein Jacobson, who wrote her Simplified Horary Astrology in 1960, and
Barbara Watters, who wrote her Horary Astrology and the Judgement of Events
in 1973, subsequently felt no need to argue or defend their interest to 'modern
astrologers'.
The fact that the respect which horary needed was being offered through the
humanist branch of astrology is either a good thing or beside the point.
Traditionalists will find that their techniques work just as well whether it is
believed that the individual creates its own opportunities or is submissive to
the limitations of fate. Lilly obviously believed that his clients had options
worth exploring, but he also recognized the fatedness of situations that had
moved beyond the point of return. His advice then was:
… afflict not the miserable with terror of a harsh judgement; in such cases let
them know their hard fate by degrees. [23]
Through this comment we can see that Lilly valued the usefulness of the
process above the 'cleverness' of the prediction. We can also see that he was
conscious of the need to treat the mind of the recipient with care, so that
problems weren't augmented through a client being paralysed by fear of the
unavoidable, but that there was a gentle leading towards a state of realisation
which worked in harmony with the client's inevitable progress towards self-
recognition. Thus Lilly adhered to Ptolemy's reasoning that "foreknowledge
accustoms and calms the soul and prepares it to greet with steadiness
whatever comes", [24] and yet he wouldn't have been in conflict with
Rudhyar either, because whether it's appropriate to call it a psychology or not,
his astrology involved taking every opportunity to offer guidance and advice,
and he was fully appreciative of the need to be sensitive and sensible with his
words.
Conclusion
In the photo which appeared in the TA, these words have been blacked
out. It was this blacking that made Peter suspicious. If you look
carefully you will see a black bar with a straight white line at the
bottom of the banner blotting out these give-away words. The bottom
of the banner is lined up with the top of the palmist’s head. In the
MacNeice photo the bottom of the banner is lined up just beneath his
left shoulder. The blacked out banner space between the top of his head
and his shoulder has been altered to appear as if part of the stone wall.
The photograph has been cleverly forged. The only apparent reason
would seem to be to give horary astrology a very bad press and to
attempt to dishonour it. The dishonour, I would suggest, must be
bestowed on those, whoever they may be, who deliberately and with
malice aforethought falsified this photograph.
7] Curry, p.149.
8] Ibid., p.155.
9] Ibid., p.14
Or for a more general view see Nick Campion's The Traditional Revival
in Modern Astrology: A Preliminary History, available at
www.astrolodge.co.uk/astro/quarterly/traditionalrevival.html
Back to text
12] Upon this theme Leo wrote:
A Horary figure is useful to answer serious questions when the birth
time is unknown, or when the mind is very anxious concerning any
important event; and so long as it is not confounded with natal
astrology it can be exceedingly useful. It tends, however, to weaken the
will and initiative of the user who relies upon the figure, for he thereby
becomes, more or less, a fatalist.
13] He was born in Paris (Mar 23, 1895 12:42 am LMT) but emigrated to
New York in 1916. For a detailed biography see Dane Rudhyar: An
Illustrated Biographical Sketch at www.khaldea.com.
17] Jones tries to make his book all things to all people. It deals with a
specialist subject and yet he aims it at the popular market, and so the
first 100 pages or so are taken up explaining such elementary principles
as what the zodiac is and the difference between the ecliptic and
equator, etc. He feels obliged to detail everything needed to be known
in order to manually cast a chart, forcing such explanations as what
sidereal time is and how to calculate angles. Although this part of the
book goes on and on, the instruction is still very rushed and
incomplete, presumably so that Jones can get around to horary; so from
the start there is a sense of confusion that makes his explanations seem
incomprehensible even for an experienced astrologer. By the time he
gets around to outlining horary techniques it all feels very tedious and
laborious. He is neither detailed nor illuminating in his explanations of
the actual principles of horary. There are very few practical examples
and references to these are scattered; one comment regarding the chart
appearing in one place, another appearing elsewhere. In all, it is a very
long winded text which would probably confuse most students more
then it enlightened them. He obviously had a passion for horary to
write a book of over 400 pages about it, but his mistake was to market
it at the man in the street, when no-one but a die-hard enthusiast
would be willing to mine his nuggets of gold from the surrounding
dross.
19] His full bibliography, including reference to his own research, is:
21] Irish astrologer Maurice McCann, who was close friend and colleague
of Derek Appleby and himself very influential in his horary teachings,
writings and lectures, also reports that Ivy Goldstein Jacobson's work
was one of his earliest sources. He recalls that Derek Appleby first
became interested in the subject after reading a short article written by
Joan Rodgers in the popular 'new age' magazine Prediction, (sometime
around the mid 70s). After this Appleby more or less developed his
own system, later coming across the work of Goldstein-Jacobson which
offered him a more defined and structured approach. Derek mainly
adhered to his own techniques so is far more important in the revival
of interest in horary than the revival of interest in traditional astrology
as some reports claim; for he never had a great passion for the
traditional texts.
Maurice also recalls that his own interest in horary was activated after
hearing Bernard Eccles speak of it at the Astrological Lodge of London
in the early 80s, and that during this talk his notion of astrology
changed from 'black and white to full glorious Technicolor!' Clearly the
British community did benefit from having a nucleus of well informed
and passionately interested astrologers working together and meeting
at groups that were physically close to each other. This allowed them to
'turn up the volume' about horary so that it had its fair representation
in journals, and it gathered enough demand for information to see
Lilly's text back brought back into circulation. Even so, it has to be
appreciated that the impetus for their interest had come over from
America.
25] One incident that springs to mind occurred a few years back when the
British AA circulated a proposal for feedback that suggested defining
astrology as a religion, in order that it would be able to claim more
rights in its representation on British television.