Volume 12, Issue 1, page 5

ASTROLOGY -- A MAKESHIFT
By BURT and RUBY ESSEX
(Copyright 1965 by Burt Essex)
STROLOGY has been a makeshift science. It has hobbled along on less
than half its required factors for
centuries, and to this day carries
with it the assorted crutches and
props devised thru the years to shore up
its shaky foundations. The foundation has
been there all along but much of it undetected, and the house of astrology has
meanwhile strayed off into thin air.

As practiced by the Babylonians and Egyptians, it was already thousands of years in
decadence, which is the opinion of our most
outstanding archeologists based on the ceiling
drawings in the tombs of Seti 8 and Senmut,
and with the many years of study I have devoted
to the subject, I heartily agree.

Back in the time of the Babylonians and
Egyptians, and up until only 400 years ago,
only five planets in the solar system were
known and used in astrological computations.
We now have nine sighted planets and two more
are tightly computed by this writer after
25 years of patient observation.

There are 12 divisions of the zodiac, with
12 discernible patterns of human behavior. Stop
and think what would happen to an equation in
algebra or trigonometry if 12 factors were
necessary to arrive at an accurate solution
and you had only five or six, or maybe seven,
factors. To be sure, you might get an answer
but it most certainly would not be more than
mishmash and a virtually worthless solution.
This is exactly the position astrology has been
in for the last 4,000 years. Those who studied
the effects of the planets that were known found
there was a correlation in human affairs, but
for lack of all the basic factors, namely, all
the planets of the solar system, their resulting analyses could only be guesses colored by
the general knowledge of the one attempting
interpretation.

This led to the most bizarre additions to
astrology that the fertile human imagination
could devise. In the attempt to account for
situations that could not be determined with
incomplete factors, many weird and wonderful
substitutions have been contrived. To name a
few: Moon's nodes; Dragon's Tail; Pars Fortuna;
parallels where not in conjunction; the effects
of past aspects or conjunctions affecting world
events years afterward, and, of course, the
all-purpose hour- chart, known as horary astrology, which is simply using the symbology
of astrology as you would use a deck of cards
to tell fortunes. So much of this type of valueless trash has accumulated thru the years to
try and fill in the lack of basic data that any
rational person, wading thru the maze, would
have to be a mystic to make anything of it. The
latest, and I hope the last, grand astrological hoax is the elaborate dissertation on the
fixed zodiac keyed to the star, Spica. The
author of this pipe-dream can explain anything
with minute accuracy... after it has happened.

Astrology without all the factors necessary
to arrive at accurate analyses quickly fell
into the hands of mystics and promoters of
various religions. The Bible is loaded with
allusions to astrological data. Down thru the
centuries this decadent astrology was used as
a prop for religion and has so confused people
that it is now virtually impossible to separate astrology from religious or, worse, socalled 'spiritual' connotations. Another contributing factor is that religion usually
tries to imbue into its adherents the trust in
their particular concept of God (or gods) to
guide them in everyday affairs. Astrology,
with its seven (and even now with nine) planets, has also purported to give guidance to
its devotees. This places the person exposed
to both in a dilemma. The Church has solved
this several times by banishing astrology,
with justification. The astrologer today, with
nine planets, can give some guidance of value
in a broad and general way. The individual
seeking such guidance, however, should be reminded that the details and daily decisions
must be made from inner guidance. It is from
failure that the truly great things in one's
life are learned and not by asking an astrologer for a life program that would include
trivialities such as when to have one's hair
done. It is before the undertaking of action
that is to have long-range effect, e. g. the
conceiving of a child, the beginning of a corporation, the forming of a partnership, business or marital, that astrology is of great
value as by this means one can look ahead at
future possibilities before casting the die.

It is not often that a clear-cut, black and
white analysis can be made with certainty the
result will manifest. This does not mean that
every analysis must be put in such vague language as to be applicable to half a dozen different persons or situations.

The coming planetary configurations in MayJune 1965 do not specifically indicate a holocaust, but to brush aside the possibility of
a third world war when the planets arrive in
such a highly rare configuration is foolhardy.
The effect on men's minds can cause such a confusion of events that to state categorically
such-and-such is going to happen would be to
backslide to mysticism, because it could only
bean educated guess.

To make a valid analysis, only the minimum
of basic factors dare be primarily considered
in direct order of their capacity to affect the
subject of the analysis. Essentially, this
would be an analysis of the angular relationships of the planets at birth (or at date of
incorporation of a parent company). In doing
this it is not meant to overlook the effects of
houses or signs; the data concerning these
have been tested and proved thru the ages, but
except where an extensive study is being made
of a personal chart, such factors would only
confuse. For example, in an analysis of a corporation we would be primarily interested in
their profit and continuance probabilities,
not in the type of personnel employed and how
they disport themselves in their love affairs.
Only secondarily, if the corporation is very
questionable, would consideration of the personnel become a factor. However, there is such
an abundance of stock issues that to waste
time on questionable issues is uncalled for.

In personal charts, if an individual has
the misfortune (and it is quite common) to
have little or no possibility of enjoying life
that will result in satisfying achievement
either for himself or mankind, then it seems
most cruel to me to take money from such a
person and give him some kind of soothsaying
routine. The astrologer should state unequivocably that astrology cannot be of any help
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SCIENCE