Hermetic System of Progressions

TRADITION should never be mistaken for recorded history; yet when properly
labeled it is sometimes not without a certain interest. And the tradition is that the
system of predicting the probable time of events, here presented, has never been lost
to The Brotherhood of Light since the days of Atlantis and Mu.

When the darkness shut down on those ancient lands–so the tradition
runs–colonies were established where later were to rise Egypt, India, Crete, Peru,
Mexico, China and Chaldea–the seven ancient centers of civilization. THE
RELIGION OF THE STARS thus transplanted, though modified by the
characteristics of each people through whose hands it passed, has finally reached the
present generation.

Natal, as well as the other branches of astrology, was practiced in each of the
countries mentioned. But in Chaldea predictions were checked as to accuracy by the
Anu-Enlil series of observations extending unbroken for over a thousand years, in
which the events as they happened were recorded with the astrological positions
which coincided with them. This gave to the Chaldeans unusual precision in
predicting the nature and time of events in human life.

The Anu-Enlil series of astrological observations is historical, in the sense that
archaeologists have unearthed the clay tablets on which the records were made. But
that the Hermetic System was derived from a still more ancient source, and reached
us by way of Chaldea, is tradition.

My predecessor, from whom I received the tradition, used the system for twenty
years before his passage to the higher plane. In 1902, after trying out all the methods
in common usage, I adopted it, and found it most satisfactory in an extensive
astrological practice which continued up to May, 1915. At that time, having
discontinued private astrological practice, I commenced teaching it in the
astrological classes held in Los Angeles; and in October, 1917, as the Hermetic
System of Directions, it was published, and since that date has been in constant use in
all B. of L. (now C. of L.) classes, wherever held, and has been tested and adopted by
a vast number of astrologers throughout the world.

The Brotherhood of Light Astrological Research Department began in April, 1924,
to solicit data, and since that time has collected, erected, and progressed according to
this Hermetic System, many, many thousands of birth charts to the time of some
given event. The Progressed Constants for each of the 160 different diseases
considered in Course XVI, for each of the diseases considered in the book, Body
Disease and Its Stellar Treatment, and for each of the events considered in the book,
When and What Events Will Happen,* were ascertained in this manner.

The recurrent plaint of Church of Light teachers, from Miami to Seattle, and from
New York to Los Angeles, is that their students are so muddled with a variety of
systems that even when they think they are using the Hermetic System, in reality they
are clouding their judgment with other factors which, however worthy in their own
domain have no place in this method.

Some students also seem to think that when they are conversant with Major
Progressions and Transits they have education enough. But no one can have that
precision of judgment regarding details which differentiates the first class astrologer
from the mediocre, who neglects Minor Progressions. And because they attract into
the life the little events, from day to day and week to week, and their influence in the
life of oneself and one’s friends can thus readily be observed, to become fully
conversant with them is even less of a task than to master major progressions.

Set up the birth chart of the people you know. Calculate the major progressed aspects
for each important event they can remember, and observe how it fits in with your
theories. Calculate the more important minor progressed aspects in their charts for a
month or two ahead, and make an attempt to tell them the nature of half a dozen little
events to come, and their dates. Then check the results. And in a similar manner find
out how accurate, both as to the event and its importance, your judgment is when
based on transit aspects.

If you follow this plan until you are thoroughly grounded in the system here set forth,
and know just what you can, and can not, do with it, you will become a good
astrologer. And after you have reached this point will be time enough for you to
branch out and try to discover additional information. In fact, when you have reached
this point, you should, by all means, thus endeavor still further to increase the range
and scope of your knowledge.

All Unnecessary Factors Should Be Avoided

–It is one of the cardinal doctrines of science, applicable to every line of research,
that so long as a condition can adequately be explained by factors already
recognized, no new factor should be introduced into its explanation. Both in
delineating the birth chart, and in its progression, we have held tenaciously to this
principle, upon which material science has so successfully been able to build its
systems.

We are sometimes asked why we neglect the Moon’s Nodes, the Part of Fortune, and
the Fixed Stars in the birth chart. We do so because, up to date, we have not found any
condition in a person’s life which could not satisfactorily be explained by the
planetary positions without recourse to these other factors. We do not say that these
positions have no value; merely that up to the present we have found no need to use
them in explaining the conditions and events in people’s lives.

Events occur in people’s lives which can only be explained adequately through the
progressed aspects of the Asc. and M.C. We thus progress them, as presently to be
explained, as if they were planets. But in the birth chart we do not calculate aspects to
the cusps of any other houses, and do not progress planets to aspects of the cusps of
any other houses, nor progress the cusps of any other houses in any way; because so
far in our very extensive research work we have found nothing that can not quite as
well be explained without such aspects and progressions.

It should be borne in mind that an individual with active extra-sensory perception can
take almost any system, however unreliable it may be to others, and get startlingly
precise results. What we have striven for in our presentation of the Hermetic System,
however, is not a system of divination; but to find and include all the actual
astrological energies which have an important bearing upon human life. It may be
that there are yet factors which remain undiscovered; but if so we will include them
only when, through extensive analysis, we have become fully convinced that only by
their use can certain conditions or events be satisfactorily explained or predicted.

Events Are Attracted Only by Unusual Thought-Cell Activities

–Events and conditions are attracted into human lives–and into the lives of all
other creatures–due to the activities of the thought-cells within the astral form. The
astral form of every living thing is composed of such cells, which we also commonly
refer to as stellar cells, built by the consciousness accompanying experiences.

These stellar cells, the more active of which are organized into the dynamic
structures mapped by the planets in the birth chart, have a certain intelligence of their
own, and work from the inner-plane to attract into the life conditions and events
corresponding to the way they feel.

When they receive no additional energy from any source, they have only the amount
and kind of activity indicated by the birth chart. It is only when, from some
source–astrological vibrations, thought vibrations, or the character vibrations of
objects–they receive an additional energy supply that their activity is greater than
the normal thus shown.

While the effect of conditioning since birth, and the present facilities of the physical
environment must also receive attention, the chief problem in predicting the nature
and time of events by natal astrology, therefore, is to ascertain the time when certain
groups of stellar cells within the astral body will receive additional energy; and in
what volume and in what harmony or discord it will reach them.

Relativity Now Explains How Progressed Aspects Time Energy Releases

–Only within the past few years has Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity become
almost universally accepted by physicists the world over, and become the foundation
of the physics as taught in our universities.

The most essential conception of this special theory of relativity, which is now so
widely employed to explain the behavior of high-velocity particles, is the
inter-relationship between velocity and time. It is held that there is no such thing as
absolute time, but that as velocity increases time slows down, until at the velocity of
light time comes to a standstill. Conversely, as time speeds up, velocity slows down,
until at the time speed with which we are familiar objects tend to move at the velocity
physical things are observed to do.

If at the velocity of light time stands still, within a single moment of such slow time
an infinite number of events could happen. And in a realm, or condition, where
velocities are not so great, but are greater than that of ordinary physical objects, a
large number of events can happen in a single moment of this slower time. In our
dreams, for instance, and to some people when they are on the verge of dying, there
are numerous experiences which in ordinary time would require days or years,
compressed into a few minutes of the slower time of this borderline state.

Material science has now proved that the nerve currents are electrical in nature and
that man has an electromagnetic form. Electromagnetic waves when radiated move
with the velocity of light; but electric currents traveling over wires or over nerves
move much slower. In other words, in man’s electromagnetic form are velocities
greater than those of ordinary physical substance, but which are not so great as the
186,284 miles per second (1942) that light travels.

From what has already been said, it will be apparent that if a clock slows down
relative to the velocity it acquires, as consciousness attains higher and higher
velocities it will be able to have more and more experience within the space of four
minutes of this slowed down time. At a certain velocity, which is well within the limit
of what can be expected to occur in man’s electromagnetic form, the ratio of the
number of experiences in four minutes of slower time, to the number of experiences
in the faster time of external life, is 365¼ to 1.

As the ratio of velocities between one electromagnetic region of man’s body and his
physical existence is 365¼ to 1, the occurrences that took place in a little less than
four minutes of this slower Major Progression Time, when expressed in the faster
Calendar Time of the external world occupy a duration of 24 hours, and what took
place in 24 hours Major Progression Time of the boundary region, when externalized
on the physical plane takes 365¼ days of ordinary Calendar Time; that is, what took
place in one day in the boundary region, when externalized takes place in one year of
the faster physical time.

As the ratio of velocities between another electromagnetic region of man’s body and
his physical is about 13 to 1, the occurrences that took place in approximately 2 hours
of this slower Minor Progression Time, when expressed in the faster Calendar Time
of the external world occupy a duration of 24 hours, and what took place in 27.3 days
of this Minor Progression Time in the boundary-line region, when externalized on
the physical plane takes 365¼ days of ordinary faster Calendar Time; that is, what
took place in 27.3 days of this Minor Progression Time takes place in one year of
faster physical time.

Progressed aspects indicate time-velocity transformations of energies, released
according to the day-year, month-year, or year-year ratio, which bring about
structural changes within the astral body. These structural changes enable the stellar
cells to receive additional energies from the planets and thus gain the impetus to
work, from the inner plane, to bring events of a definite type into the life.

The energy-release, as mapped by a progressed planet, is in that compartment and
zone of the astral body mapped by the house and sign of the birth chart in which the
progressed planet is located. Thus a planet merely moving through a house of the
birth chart by Transit, by Minor Progression, or by Major Progression, brings about a
structural change in the astral body which enables it to receive energy, of the nature
indicated by the progressed planet, in that region. The energy release shown by a
progressed planet forms a temporary stellar dynamic structure within the astral body.
This acts as a radio receiving terminal for picking up and transmitting to that
compartment of the astral body the energies of the vibratory rate of the planet.

Progressed Aspects Build Temporary Stellar Aerials

–When such a progressed planet forms an aspect with a planet in the birth chart, or
with another major progressed planet, the energy-release builds across the astral
body a line which acts as an aerial which picks up and transmits to its two terminals,
energy of the types of the two planets involved in the aspect. In our extensive
statistical studies we have found that when Mars or the Sun is involved, and at the
same time there are other heavy progressed aspects which act as Rallying Forces, the
indicated events may occur when the progressed aspect is as much as a degree and a
half from perfect. But as a general rule the effective orb within which the event
indicated by a progressed aspect may be expected to take place is one degree from the
perfect aspect.

Before it reaches one degree from perfect the line across the astral body usually has
not become dense enough to act as an effective aerial. But at one degree from perfect
it is dense enough to pick up about one half the peak load of the aspect, gradually
increasing in power until the peak is reached when the aspect becomes perfect, then
decreasing in power until at one degree beyond perfect it picks up only about
one-half the peak load, past which point it usually has dissolved so far that it is no
longer an effective receiver.

While within one degree of perfect the progressed aspect maps a temporary aerial
stretching across the astral body which picks up astral energies from the planets,
from the thoughts, and from the character vibrations of objects, which are of the
frequency of either planet, and transmits them to the stellar cells mapped in the astral
body by these planetary terminals.

These temporary stellar aerials thus formed by the cyclic release of energy, have a
length indicated by the aspect which maps them, and this determines whether the
astral energy, from any source derived. which they pick up, will be given a
harmonious turn, or will be loaded with discordant static.

To the extent they transmit energy which is harmonious to the stellar cells at their
terminals, are the thought-cells there given impetus to work to attract favorable
events. Likewise, to the extent these temporary stellar aerials transmit energy which
is discordant to the stellar cells at their terminals, are the thought-groups there
located given an impetus to attract misfortune.

But in thus considering the type of activity of any group of thought-cells in the astral
body as accelerated by new energy received, the type of activity they already possess,
due to the conditions under which they originally were formed as modified by
conditioning since human birth, is fully as great in importance as the quality of the
new energy received.

That is, if they are composed of inharmonious thought compounds, as mapped by
unfavorable birth chart aspects, the mere adding to them of a supply of harmonious
energy is not sufficient markedly to change their nature. Or if the compound of which
they are formed is quite harmonious, as shown by the birth chart aspects, the mere
supplying them temporarily with discordant static does not cause them to feel so
intensely malignant that they work to attract misfortune.

Any energy supplied by a temporary stellar aerial is thus of no more importance in
determining the amount of harmony or discord which a group of stellar cells feels
than are the permanent aerials mapped by aspects in the birth chart.

These permanent stellar aerials, unless changed through the deliberate cultivation of
new processes of thought to dissolve them, not only indicate the nature of the thought
compounds at their terminals, but they continue to feed them with astral energy of the
harmony or discord denoted by the aspects. And because the thought-elements in the
compounds were originally united as indicated by the aspects, and continue to
receive some energy of the same quality, the temporary energy afforded by a less
permanent stellar aerial is limited in its power to cause them to act in a manner
different than has been their custom.

Importance of Event Depends Upon Intensity of Thought-Cell Activity

–In predicting what events will be attracted into the life at a given time, therefore,
the first thing to do is to consider the normal composition and activity of the
thought-cells within the compartment of the astral body affected. Then consider the
volume, type, and harmony or discord of the energy added to the stellar cells within
the compartment, and estimate not merely the amount of activity which will result
from this new energy supply, but also how the new energy supply modifies or
accentuates their normal feeling of harmony or discord.

The importance of the event, other things being equal, will be in proportion to the
volume of energy received. That is, in the same physical environment it is always in
proportion to the amount of thought-cell activity. But the fortune or misfortune of the
event–its harmony or discord–cannot be determined solely by the harmony or
discord of the energy added. The new energy merely modifies the normal feeling of
pleasure or pain of the stellar cells. It does not change them completely. Thus the
fortune or misfortune of the event cannot be ascertained merely from the harmony or
discord of the progressed aspect in relation to the physical environment, but must be
determined from the harmony or discord of the stellar cells made active in relation to
the environment.

Because of the smaller volume of energy picked up by their temporary stellar aerials,
only events of less importance are attracted by the stellar cell activity indicated by
Minor Progressed aspects and Transit aspects. No event of outstanding importance
will be attracted into the life unless there is a much stronger temporary stellar aerial,
mapped by a Major Progressed aspect, within approximately one degree of perfect,
stretching across the astral body.

The event attracted by the additional thought-cell activity will, of course, relate to a
department of life to which the stellar cells, as mapped by their house position in the
birth chart, belong. That is, the event will refer to one or more of the compartments in
the astral body which, by house position, the planets involved in the aspect rule. And
the circumstances attending the event will be characteristic of these planets.

It is not a difficult matter–because the progressed planetary aspects so reliably
indicate the time of formation of temporary stellar aerials across the astral body
which pick up and deliver new astral energy to definite groups of stellar
cells–accurately to predict about when, and relating to what departments of life, an
event will happen. But it is far more difficult to determine its importance, how
fortunate or unfortunate it will be, or the specific event.

Determining Harmony or Discord of Thought-Cell Activities

–The reason the degree of fortune or misfortune of the event is difficult to determine
is not only due to the resistance or facilities which environment offers to bringing
about what the thought-cells desire, but also that a variety of conditions may
influence the stellar cell activity as to harmony or discord. The normal way the
thought-cells feel, in the compartment of the astral body influenced, must be
estimated. Then must be gauged just how much this normal feeling will, or will not,
be changed by the new influx of energy. Furthermore, it must be considered to what
extent, if any, Rallying Forces, indicated by other progressed aspects, will be able to
reach these stellar cells with their type of energy.

That is, there is always the factor of the general Mental Attitude; because if this, in
spite of the particular progressed aspect under consideration, keeps the
consciousness tuned in on some other type of feeling, this supplies the stellar cells at
the terminals of all stellar aerials with energy of this harmony or discord, and their
activities to attract fortune or misfortune are modified accordingly.

The reason progressed aspects usually work out in terms of their own harmony or
discord is because few persons resist permitting themselves to think and feel, at such
times, that which is indicated. Even the unwitting application of Mental Alchemy or
Rallying Forces, as by those who because of their religious convictions or belief in
New Thought continue to feel cheerful and happy in spite of apparent adversity, quite
markedly, as we have had occasion to observe, modifies the misfortune that
otherwise might be expected from a severe progressed aspect.

In other words, what is attracted to the individual is not due to the birth chart or to the
progressed aspect, but is due to the activity of the thought-cells within the astral
body, working from the inner plane. Anything, therefore, which alters this
thought-cell activity, from whatever source it comes, or which alters the resistance of
the physical environment to that which the thought-cells strive to bring to pass, also
alters the fortune.

It is because structural changes within the astral body–which as to time and nature
can be ascertained by calculating Major Progressions, Minor Progressions and
Transits–are commonly the most influential means through which astral energies
are added to the stellar cells within the astral body, that these become of utmost
importance in every human life.

The positive influences in an individual’s life, measuring the releases of energy
which bring structural changes in his astral body at times which can be
predetermined, that in turn afford certain stellar cells with the energy to attract
events, with which an astrologer should concern himself, in addition to the birth
chart, are only these three: Major Progressions, Minor Progressions and Transits.

The only difference to be observed in the influence of these three measures of
progression is in the relative amount of structural change indicated by each, and
consequently the volume of energy afforded the thought-cells above their normal
amount, which makes the events attracted relatively important or unimportant.

That is, the structural changes indicated by Transits give the thought-cells only
enough additional energy to attract inconsequential events. The structural changes
indicated by Minor Progressions afford the stellar cells enough energy to attract the
minor events of life. But it is only the structural changes indicated by Major
Progressions which afford the thought-cells in any compartment of the astral body
with sufficient additional energy that through their inner-plane activities they can
attract important events into the life.

Major Progressions

–Major progressions are measured by the ratio of the movements of the planets
during one apparent solar day releasing energy which causes the chief structural
changes within the astral body that take place during one astrological year in the life
of man.

This simply means that the movements and positions of the planets each four minutes
after birth indicate the structural changes that take place within the astral body each
day after birth; that the movements and positions of the planets each two hours after
birth spread the structural changes so shown over each month of life after birth and
that the movements and positions of the planets each day after birth relate to the
structural changes within the astral body that take place during the corresponding
year of life. To calculate the time, therefore, when any particular structural change of
major importance will take place, is merely a matter of solving a simple problem. in
proportion.

Up to 1942 it had been the custom to solve the simple problems in proportion
involved in ascertaining when given major progressed aspects would be perfect in
the manner still followed in the text of Chapters 2-4. But in
that year I published the reference book, PROGRESSED ASPECTS OF
STANDARD ASTROLOGY,* in which the simple problems in proportion involved
in calculating progressed aspects are solved through the use of logarithms.

It should be understood that the precise time a progressed aspect is perfect is exactly
the same whether the method of proportion is employed or the method of logarithms.
We discover, however, that some students find logarithms easier to use than
proportion, while other students find proportion easier. Which is used is quite
optional, as the final result is exactly the same.

It will be seen that as a planet’s movement between two consecutive noons in the
ephemeris is the equivalent of 12 months Calendar Time by major progression, that
the planet’s movement during 2 hours (12 of 24 hours) is the same as 1/12 of the
planet’s movement during the same 24 hours. Whether the planet’s motion during 24
hours is divided by 12, or its motion during 2 hours is calculated, the result is the
same, and in either case represents its travel by major progression during one month
of Calendar Time. In other words, it follows from the time-velocity relativity which
permits astrological energies to be released by progression, that the position of a
progressed planet may be calculated either by its proportional movement through
space (as illustrated in the text of the lessons which follow), or by its proportional
movement relative to time (which is the method of logarithms).

In placing the planets in the chart of birth when erecting the horoscope it is customary
to find the distance that a planet has moved from ephemeris noon position by adding
(d) the logarithm of the EGMT Interval, to (a) the logarithm of the daily motion of the
planet. The logarithm so found is then (b) the logarithm of the distance the planet has
traveled. Therefore, if we wish to know (d) the EGMT Interval it takes a planet to
travel (b) a given distance required to complete an aspect, it is obvious we must
merely reverse this process, and subtract (a) the logarithm of the daily motion of the
planet, from (b) the logarithm of the distance the planet moves.

When the EGMT Interval is thus simply found it may then be converted into
Calendar Time Interval according to the time-velocity ratio, which for major
progressions is:

24 hours (one day) major progression (ephemeris EGMT Interval) time equal 12
month (one year, or 365¼ days) calendar time.

2 hours (120 minutes) major progression (ephemeris EGMT Interval) time equal
2/24 years (one month or 30 days) calendar time.

4 minutes (120 minutes divided by 30) major progression (ephemeris EGMT
Interval) time equal 1/30 month (one day) calendar time.

Now, as ephemeris EGMT Interval is major progression time which can always be
converted into Calendar Time according to the ratio just indicated, the EGMT
Interval from noon on the day of birth–for which the distance the planets had
traveled from their noon positions were calculated when finding their places in the
birth chart–can be converted into Calendar Time. The noon positions of the planets
on the day of birth thus represent their progressed positions on a definite calendar
date. Mathematically it makes no difference if the calendar date found occurs before
the birth of the individual, for in that case we have merely moved back from birth to
get a starting point for calculating progressed positions during his life.

It should be obvious that if in placing the planets in the chart of birth we moved them
forward from ephemeris noon positions–using a plus EGMT Interval–that to get
them back to noon positions we must subtract their movement from their ephemeris
positions. Also if we are to ascertain the Calendar Date corresponding by major
progression to this moving the planets back to their noon positions, we must move
back from birth the calendar interval represented by the EGMT Interval during
which the planets thus are moved.

However, if in placing the planets in the chart of birth we moved them back from
ephemeris noon positions–using a minus EGMT Interval–to get them again to
noon positions we must move them forward their motion during the same EGMT
Interval. And if we are to ascertain the Calendar Date corresponding by major
progression to this moving the planets ahead to their noon positions, we must move
ahead from birth the calendar interval represented by the EGMT Interval during
which the planets are thus moved.

Whether the method followed in calculating the progressed aspects is that of
proportion or that of logarithms, the calendar date thus found–called the
LIMITING DATE–constitutes the most convenient starting point in calendar time.
The Limiting Date (L.D.) must include year, month and day of calendar time.

As the positions of the planets in the ephemeris on the day of birth represent their
major progressed positions on the L.D., the positions of the planets in the ephemeris
on the day following birth represent their major progressed positions on the month
and day of the L.D. in the following calendar year; each succeeding day in the
ephemeris showing the major progressed positions of the planets on the month and
day of the L.D. in the corresponding calendar year.

The ephemeris date which shows the positions of the planets by major progression as
they appear for the month and day of a given calendar year is called the Major
Progression Date. And for finding it we use the Limiting Date as the base or starting
point in calendar time, and the day of birth as the base or starting point which is
equivalent to it in progression time. Thus to find the Major Progression Date we
merely count ahead in the ephemeris from the day of birth (major progression time)
as many days as years of life (calendar time) have elapsed since the Limiting Date.

To find the progressed M.C., add to the birth chart M.C. the number of degrees and
minutes the Sun has progressed since birth. To find the progressed Asc., take a table
of houses for the latitude of birth and merely ascertain the degrees and minutes on the
Asc. with the progressed M.C. already found. Other progressed house-cusps are not
wanted, but if they were, they could be taken from the table of houses corresponding
to the progressed M.C. and Asc.The M.C. and Asc. are unique positions, unlike other house-cups.

The M.C. marks a
thin blue line through the astral body which acts as an amplifier; while the Asc. is a
heavy line which serves as a ground-wire over which electromagnetic energy
reaches the outside world. Very extensive experience leads to the conviction that not
merely in the birth chart, but also by progression, these two positions act very much
after the manner of planets.In many, many thousands of birth chart with progressed aspects worked out to the
time of events handled by our research department, we have never, however, found it
necessary to consider aspects to any other house-cusps in the birth chart, or to
progress the cusps of houses other than the Asc. and M.C.

The house-cusps of a birth chart map the dividing membranes between one
compartment in the astral body and another. These astral membrances mapped by the
house-cusps do not act in the manner of planets. Consequently, while we progress the
Asc., M.C. and planets through the houses of the birth chart, there is no
progressed-chart, in the sense of progressing all the house-cusps, in the Hermetic
System.

We have done a vast amount of research work on progressed aspects, and we find
they invariably work out in terms of the houses of the birth chart through which the
planets are progressing or which they rule.

The reason the M.C. is progressed the same distance the Sun moves by progression is
that this avoids an error, due to the difference between mean time and true or apparent
solar time, which is introduced when the progressed M.C. is found by using the mean
time of birth on the major progression date.

This discrepancy in extreme instances would cause an error of approximately 7½
degrees in the progressed M.C. and Asc.; which is the equivalent of about 7½ years.
But such an error in timing the progressed planets would be less than 8 days. On the
average, in calculating progressions for middle life, the discrepancy amounts to,
perhaps, 2 to 12 minutes.

This would cause an error of from one to three days in timing planetary progressions,
which is close enough for practical purposes. But in timing the progressed aspects of
the M.C. and Asc., the error would be from one to three years, which can not be
tolerated.

Minor Progressions

–Minor progressions are measured by the ratio of the movements of the planets
during one astrological month releasing energy which causes the minor structural
changes within the astral body that take place during one astrological year in the life
of man.This means that the movements and positions of the planets while the Moon passes
through each degree of the zodiac after birth indicate the minor structural changes
that take place within the astral body each day after birth; that the movements and
positions of the planets while the Moon moves one sign through the zodiac represent
the minor structural changes in the astral body during one month of life; and that the
movements and positions of the planets while the Moon moves through the whole
zodiacal circle indicate the structural changes within the astral body that are spread
proportionally over the whole year.

RULE: From the position of the Moon in the zodiac at birth, count ahead in the
ephemeris as many astrological months–successive transits of the Moon over the
degree and minute of the zodiac it occupied at birth–as there have been completed
years of life. The positions of the planets, M.C. and Asc. during the following
astrological month will form the Minor Progressions for the year of life following the
birthday. The M.C. progresses the same number of degrees that the Sun has
progressed by Minor Progression. As the Sun is always the same number of degrees
zodiacally from the M.C. as at birth, the M.C. is easily found from the Sun’s position
by Minor Progression; adding or subtracting from the Sun’s minor position its
zodiacal distance from the M.C. at birth. The progressed Asc. may be ascertained
from a table of houses for the latitude of birth by using the M.C. so found.

The aspects formed by the progression of the planets, M.C. and Asc. at the rate of one
astrological month for each year of life, as strictly between Minor Progressed
positions produce imperceptible effects. But when formed between Minor
Progressed planets and angles to the planets and angles of the birth chart, or to the
positions of the Major Progressed planets and angles, they produce structural
changes within the astral body which attract the minor conditions and events of life.

Transits

–Transits are measured by the ratio of the movements of the planets during one
astrological year releasing energy which causes the inconsequential structural
changes within the astral body that take place during one astrological year in the life
of man.

This means that the positions of the planets shown in the ephemeris, from day to day,
bring about small structural changes in the astral body on those days.

RULE: The transits of the planets through the houses, especially the slower moving
planets through angular houses, should be noted. The conjunction aspect of
transiting planets with birth chart or major progressed planets in particular is worth
observing, and next, the oppositions thus made by the slower moving planets. Only
the aspects made to birth chart positions and Major Progressed positions should be
noted; no attention being paid to transiting aspects to Minor Progressed positions, or
to other Transiting positions.

In our very extensive research work we have been unable to notice any difference in
the influence exerted by Major Progressed aspects, Minor Progressed aspects and
Transit aspects, other than the volume of energy supplied the stellar cells as indicated
by the importance and magnitude of the event attracted.

The events which many people believe to be occasioned by transiting planets are
really coincident with major progressed aspects which have formed heavier
temporary stellar aerials. Under such circumstances the transit, which merely aids
the Major Progression, and which fails to work when no such Major Progressed
aspect is present, is often accredited with full responsibility for attracting the event.

Predicting Events

–Except when influenced by Rallying Forces, each progressed aspect tends to work
out in terms of its own departments of life as indicated by the house ruler-ships of the
planets involved. That is, progressed aspects do not annul each other, but each
attracts its own type of event. Very frequently, however, the fortune or misfortune of
the event is not indicated by the harmony or discord of the aspect, but is powerfully
influenced by the dominant progressed aspect at the time acting as a Rallying Force.

The indicated major event may be expected during the time the progressed aspect is
within approximately one degree of the perfect aspect. The same orb of influence is
effective for sub-major progressed aspects (major progressed aspects of the Moon),
for minor progressed aspects, and for transit aspects. For an event to be attracted by
any of the three types of progression it is not necessary that any other type of
progression contribute to it. But during the period a major progressed aspect is within
the indicated distance from perfect there will occur several brief periods when due to
the major progressed Moon, or a minor progressed planet, or both, or several minor
progressed aspects, forming an aspect with one of the planets involved in the major
progressed aspect, or affecting the house ruling the anticipated event, the
thought-cells working for the event are given unusual accessory energy. And it may
confidently be expected the event will occur on one of these peaks of thought-cell
activity.

The event indicated by a major progressed aspect is not much influenced as to its
fortune or misfortune by the harmony or discord of the sub-major aspect or minor
progressed aspect which gives its thought-cells accessory energy. Within the larger
pattern of conditions indicated by the major progressed aspects, each sub-major
aspect tends to work out in terms of a sub-major event or condition, and each
important minor progressed aspect tends to work out in terms of a minor event or
condition.

Astrology does not foreshow events which are inevitable. It maps thought-cell
activities which influence the thoughts and behavior and exert extra-physical power
on the environment in such a way as to make certain events probable. The effort
should be, through elimination, to reduce the probable events, and the periods when
one or more of them will happen, to as few alternatives as possible. A good way to do
this is in the following manner:

1. Eliminate all events which do not bear the characteristics of one of the two planets
involved and all events not belonging to the houses influenced.SUN: Any progressed aspect of the Sun affects the vitality, the significance, and the
authority.

MOON: Any progressed aspect of the Moon affects the mental attitude, the domestic
life, and the everyday affairs.

MERCURY: Any progressed aspect of Mercury affects the mental interests, the
facility or accuracy of expression, and increases the cerebral activity.

VENUS: Any progressed aspect of Venus affects the emotions, the social relations,
and the artistic appreciation.MARS: Any progressed aspect of Mars brings strife, haste, and increased
expenditure of energy.

JUPITER: Any progressed aspect of Jupiter affects the individual through
abundance, increased optimism, and joviality.

SATURN: Any progressed aspect of Saturn brings work, responsibility, and
economy or loss.

URANUS: Any progressed aspect of Uranus affects through something sudden,
through a human agency, and brings change into the life.

NEPTUNE: Any progressed aspect of Neptune increases the imagination, increases
the sensitivity, and attracts schemes.

PLUTO: Any progressed aspect of Pluto affects through groups, through subtle
force, and brings coercion or cooperation.

2. Eliminate all events improbable because of lack of proper birth chart planetary
power, or lack of proper birth chart aspects, or lack of proper birth chart house
activity.

3. Eliminate all events which the education and training of the individual, and the
habit-systems his thought-cells have acquired make unlikely.

4. Eliminate from the remaining events those which do not fit into the pattern as
influenced by Rallying Forces.

5. Eliminate from the few events that still remain those which the age of the
individual make unlikely and which the environmental factors belonging to the two
planets involved are not present to bring about.

Even after this process of elimination, there may remain several alternate events any
one of which apparently might happen. But from the viewpoint that ascertaining the
most probable event is not to foretell the inevitable future, but to be able to influence
what actually happens, the residue thus found should be highly satisfactory; for one
should not be unwilling to take steps facilitating several different events or deflecting
several other different events, if by that effort the event when it actually occurs is
made far more fortunate.