Chapter XXIII. DIFFERENT METHODS OF PROGRESSION

DIFFERENT METHODS OF PROGRESSION AND THE REASON FOR THEM

BESIDES the physical world in which we live, move and have our being at the present time, where sunshine and rain, storm and snow, heat and cold affect our physical being in various ways, a world of finer substance permeates the denser matter, and. the forces indigenous to that realm impinge upon our souls, as feelings, desires and emotions, because the soul is clothed in substance from that world. Mystics therefore call this realm in nature the Desire? World. A still more subtle substance, an ocean of Thought, pervades both the Desire World and the Physical World, and as the mind is composed of substance from that region, it senses the waves of thought generated by other spirits endowed with. mind.

Here in the physical world, Time and Space are prime factors of existence, but in the Desire World distance is practically eliminated because spirits having dropped the mortal coil travel with the speed of lightning, and as spiritual sight pierces the densest substance, light there is never obscured, so there is no night, neither does heat and cold affect the squly

hence there is no seasonal division either, to mark time as definitely as in the physical world. But nevertheless, there is a certain sequence of events, and in soulflights from place to place on the globe, we .sense the nature of intervening country in spite of speed, but in the World of Thought, to think of a place, is to be there instanter, neither is there past or future, events are not separated by time, or places by space, but all is one eternal here and now.

As the science of Astrology is founded in cosmic fact, there are also three stages in progression from incipient events in the World of Thought, to accomplished facts in the Physical World, and there are two methods of horoscopic progressions pertaining to the finer realms besides the actual movement observable in the Heavens.

Suppose a pole billions of miles long stuck into the earth at the Equator, and at right angles to the poles, then, as the earth turns upon its axis, the end of the pole would describe a circle in the heavens ; this the Astronomers call the "Celestial Equator," and the position of a heavenly body on this line is measured in degrees and minutes of "Right Ascension, ' ' from the point where the sun crosses the equator at the vernal equinox. This axial rotation of the «arth brings a new degree to the zenith, or Meridian about every four minutes, and by the rules of one system of progression we may calculate how many degrees of Right Ascension come to the Meridian position from birth to the formation of a certain aspect.

The intervening degrees are then converted to time at the rate of 1 degree equals 1 year.

The other system of progression is founded upon the orbital revolution of the earth, but in this system, the positions of the planets are expressed in degrees of Longitude and measured on the ecliptic or Sun 'si path, from Aries 0 degrees to Pisces 29. The measure of time is the same as in the system first mentioned : 1 degree equals 1 year, but there is this important difference, that while the earth takes only 4 minutes to turn 1 degree upon its axis, it requires 24 hours to move 1 degree in its orbit.

Thus, by one system of progression all the aspects that govern events in a life of 60 years would be formed in 60 times 4 minutes, which equals 4 hours or one-sixth part of a day.

By the other system, formation of aspects for the same period of life would require 60 days, or 2 months, or one-sixth part of a year.

Thus coming events cast their shadows before, but the shadow varies in length according to the exaltation of the sphere of life whence it is cast.

From the sublime height of the World of Thought, wrhere all things have their inception in the eternal, the progression of events in a life are silhouetted upon the screen of Time while the infant is still upon the threshold of birth, but the shadow is so short : 1-360 part of a day being equivalent to a year, that an error of 4 minutes in the given time of birth would throw predictions out a whole year. Few

people know their birth hour to the second, therefore this system of progression is of little use and little used.

Shadows of events projected from the denser Desire World are longer and more definite ; it does not require great delicacy or precision to calculate progression at the rate of 1-360 part of a year equals 1 year. By this method an error of 2 hours in the given time of birth would only cause an error of 1 month in predictions; this system therefore gives universal satisfaction, and is most commonly used. In the following pages we shall explain a simplified method of this system of prediction, whereby mathematical calculation of events for a whole life may l>e performed in a few minutes by any intelligent child who can add and subtract.

When a child is born at 7 A. M., in New York, and another at 6 A. M., in Chicago, a third at 1 P. M., in Berlin, a fourth at 2 P. M., in St. Petersburg, and a fifth at 12 noon in London, the Observatory clock at Greenwich would point to noon, at the exact moment when all these children were born, hence though the clocks in their several birthplaces pointed to different hours, the Greenwich Mean Time of their births would be identical : — noon. And as the planets ' places in the ephemeris are calculated for Greenwich, noon, it would be unnecessary to make corrections;

we should simply place each planet in the natal horoscopes as tabulated in the ephemeris. This would be most convenient, but the saving of calculation in a natal horoscope where the G. M. T. is noon, fades into insignificance before the facility this gives in progressing the planets for years subsequent to birth, as required to predict events, for in natal horoscopes where the G. M. T. is before or after noon, the places of the planets must be calculated for each year just the same as at birth. We have evolved the following simple method of saving this calculation and copying the progressed planets direct from the ephemeris into any horoscope.

If the Greenwich Mean Time of birth was before noon, it is evident that the planets' places in the ephemeris are calculated for a later time and also that, as they progress at the rate of a day (of 24 hours) for a year, they will reach the Longitude given in the ephemeris some day within a year after birth.

If the G. M. T. of birth was after noon, it is plainly to be seen that the planets' places in the ephemeris for the year of birth are calculated for an earlier time than birth, and that the position there given corresponds to a certain day in the twelvemonth before birth.

Furthermore, if we can find the date in the twelve-month before birth, or after as the case may be, when the planets were in the degree and minute of longitude registered in the ephemeris, we may use that date as a starting point of calculation instead of the birthday, and as aspects formed during the travel of the planets from the position given on any noon to the noon next following, indicate events in the corresponding year of life, the same starting date may be used for any year. Therefore, once that adjusted calculation date has been found, no further calculation is required to progress the planets in that horoscope ; they may be simply copied from the ephemeris. It is only necessary to bear in mind that the horoscope thus erected does not apply to the year from birthday to birthday, but from the adjusted calculation date of one year to the same date of the next. There are two methods of finding this date ; the first is the most difficult and not so accurate, but it shows the philosophy of the correction better than the second method, and we therefore give examples of both.

We will use the figure No. 15 (Medical Astrology Section), which is the horoscope of a lady who died of hemorrhages April, 1909, to illustrate how the adjusted calculation date is found, but defer description of the case and its crises. The lady was born April 25th, 1872, Lat. 40 N., 80 W. Long., at 1:30 P. M. We first find the G. M. T. by adding to the local time of birth 4 minutes for each degree the birthplace is west of Greenwich.