FOREWORD

ASTROLOGY as here presented is the form of practice on which the majority of astrologers and their students agree, both in America and Europe. Its essence is the use of a horoscope made for the precise place, and for the exact minute and hour as well as the day, month and year of birth. It accepts the methods in calculation and interpretation which have their principal roots in Claudius Ptolemy (2nd century A.D.), Didacus Placidus de Titus (fl. 1647-1657), William Lilly (1602-1681), and Lilly's pupil, John Gadbury (d. 1691).

No adequate history of astrology exists, since most of the accounts by its advocates are little more than lists of distinguished devotees in the past, endlessly repeating each other. A real effort to trace out the development and modification of principles and practices in the light of changing social conditions, and in the face of an enlarged human intelligence in all areas of life and science, has yet to be made. The most serviceable historical sketch, at least for the average inquirer, is the unfriendly but competent and informative article on "Astrology" by Charles Singer in the Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, Volume II, Macmillan, New York, 1931. A valuable account of the astrological literature at the beginning of the twentieth century, listing over fourteen hundred items, is found in F. Leigh Gardner's A Catalogue Raisonné of Works on the Occult Sciences, Volume II, Astrological Books, London, privately printed, 1911.

The writer of this book has long sought an experimental psychology which did not depend on metaphysical assumptions on the one hand, or biological functions on the other, for its basic measurements. Astrology early offered him an attractive possibility, since its frame of reference is wholly astronomical, and he has been at work disentangling its mechanisms from the confusion of its practices since early in 1914.

The book represents definitely pioneer work in astrological instruction. It is the fruitage of three years spent investigating modern teaching methods, through the best facilities offered by the American universities. It starts the beginner with the interpretation of familiar experience at the very outset, and presents the foundations of astrology through a step by step and logical expansion of interest and understanding. Nothing is set out to be learned before it is used. In ordinary pedagogical terms, "learning is by doing."

Thirteen of the twenty-one example horoscopes are from Alan Leo's A Thousand and One Notable Nativities, third edition, London, Fowler, 1916. The chart used for Annie Besant is the corrected one to which reference is made on p. 125 of that compilation. Of three charts listed for Martin Luther, Jerome Cardan's is taken.

The horoscopes for Ralph Waldo Emerson, Elbert Hubbard and Woodrow Wilson are from Evangeline Adams' Astrology, Your Place among the Stars, New York, Dodd Mead, 1934. Miss Adams' book has many "printings" but no "editions" defined as such, and the charts for Elbert Hubbard and Woodrow Wilson have been corrected from the first "printing" in 1930. The example charts in general are of uneven mathematical competency, but only the more vital errors have been eliminated, since the beginner should be trained from the start to handle the type of material he will encounter in actual practice. Thus, in Elbert Hubbard's chart, the sun and moon are corrected for the exact hour of birth, but the other planets are merely given at their noon positions.

The horoscope for Sigmund Freud is from Mabel Leslie Fleischer, of the Astrologer's Guild, New York; the horoscope of Mahatma Gandhi from George McCormack, of Astrotech; and the horoscope of Pius XI from Margaret Morrell, of American Astrology. The horoscopes of the "resourceful lady" and the "Hollywood man" are from the private files of the author.

The information concerning the details in the life of Elbert Hubbard has been obtained from Felix Shay's personal account, Elbert Hubbard of East Aurora, New York, Wise, 1926; and Dr. Charles Fleischer, who has known both Elbert Hubbard and Felix Shay intimately, has kindly checked the interpretation according to his own very special understanding.

The pronunciations (but not the respellings, with the consequent use of diacritical marks unfamiliar to the average astrological reader) are from Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition, Springfield, Mass., Merriam, 1935; of which Walter Clyde Curry, Vanderbilt University, is astrological editor. Many of these words are in process of change, however. Usage in the astrological field is often widely at variance with the dictionary preference. Thus the use of "PIE-sees" for "PISS-eeze," and of "You-RAY-nus" for "YOU-rah-nus" is almost universal among American astrologers.

The author is indebted to Lynn T. Morgan for a drawing, and to Dirk Luykx for preparing all the charts and diagrams for reproduction. Invaluable and untiring editorial assistance has been contributed by Margaret Morrell and Mathilde Shapiro.

New York City, September 20, 1940


THE 1969 REPRINTING

When it again became necessary to reprint How to Learn Astrology it seemed advisable to revise the mathematics section, partly to provide more recent example charts than the original ones calculated for 1940 and partly because the original text gave considerable attention to what now is a long-discontinued Philadelphia ephemeris in addition to the familiar ones based on the prime meridian at Greenwich. Furthermore, almost three decades of experience in using the manual for the instruction of beginners have come to suggest both an expanded explanation of the details in the mathematical fundamentals of the horoscope and a shift in approach to the use of logarithms.

What might well be noted, at this time, is the extent to which allowance must always be made for changes in the usage or pronunciation of various words. Thus it is interesting to astrologers that the 1961 Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary now recognizes PIE-sees although listing it as less acceptable than PISS-eeze, whereas the new 1966 Random House unabridged volume prefers PIE-sees and only grants a lesser acceptability to PISS-eeze.

In the later volumes of the Sabian series it has been found advisable to adopt the better-known term satellitium (SAT-el-LISH-ee-um instead of preserving the stellium of John Wilson's 1819 astrological dictionary.

Three paragraphs of discussion of scientific validity and the underlying rationale of astrology, in the original foreword of this book, have been deleted in the reprinting to make room for these added observations. Actually that ground has been covered in much more detail, and in many different connections, in the author's six astrological texts now published after this initial exposition.

Stanwood, Washington, January 28, 1969



<<  Previous   |   Table of Contents   |   Continue  >>



The Sabian Assembly
Home | About | Blue Letters | Marc Edmund Jones | Greetings from Members | MEJ Books | Contact


Copyright © 1941, 1969 and 2014. All rights reserved.