CHAPTER I.

Unfolding of the Truth.

Prior to the year 1905, we regarded so-called fortune telling by the position of the stars as merely a pleasant pastime, much the same as reading by cards; although for a number of years we had noticed that certain difficulties which beset our path appeared periodically. We had even gone so far as to blame the Moon when things went wrong. In the year 1905, however, we met a man who believed strongly in planetary influence, and our first serious thoughts on the subject came as a result of our conversation with him. We never met the man again but resolved if there was anything to be learned along that line we would seize the first opportunity to break in upon it. Shortly afterward we called upon a lady practitioner in Astrology. She gave a palm reading, and when asked for an astrological reading took our birth date and told us that we should choose our friends from certain signs and avoid those under certain signs. "Fire and water," she said, "would not mix," and that was the extent of the reading. When she saw that we appeared skeptical, she produced a small volume and read a page or more corroborating what she had said. We left her apartments feeling that fools and their money were easily parted. We then ransacked the stores and libraries for books, and probably read a dozen or more, but from two books we received what proved to be valuable information. No one book contained anything more than fragments of the Science.

In reading Butler's Solar Biology we discovered that he had published an Ephemeris giving the position of the planets as they would appear from the Sun which is the centre of the Solar System. He claimed that certain phases and conjunctions of the Moon indicated certain traits of character which appeared in the talents and disposition of the child, but he asserted that this Ephemeris could not

be used in the art of prognosticating, or foretelling the future. The Ephemeris universally used by astrologers so far as we have seen, records the position as the planets appear from the earth.

Now we want you to get the difference between the two clearly and definitely fixed on the mind. You will see that the planets as they would appear from the Sun as the centre of the Solar System complete a perfect revolution in the Zodiac in a given time, with the exception of the Moon, and the Moon we do not regard in the same light as the planets. The position of the Moon is given as it would appear from the earth. The Sun is regarded as practically stationary, its progress in its orbit being so slow as to produce no appreciable change in thousands of years. It is placed several degrees in Aquarius and always there.

This is known as the Heliocentric position of the planets and is much simpler and more easily understood than the ordinary Ephemeris showing the position of the planets as they appear from the earth. As seen from our point of view, Venus and Mercury complete their revolution between the earth and the Sun, consequently they never appear excepting in a certain section of the Zodiac. They pass through so many Signs and then retrograde. Uranus and Saturn also retrograde according to the Ephemeris. They don't really retrograde but they appear to from the view we get of them. Now this produces a condition that is at once complex and confusing, and we reasoned the question out after this manIf the position of the planets indicate anything, then one Ephemeris is the right one to use and the other is wrong. God's laws are not haphazard or unstable. Either the Heliocentric Ephemeris is the only one to use or it signifies nothing. God's laws are also direct and simple. He never builds a complex structure where a simple one will answer as well. This fact gave us a leaning toward the Heliocentric Ephemeris. We then conceived the idea of forming a circle indicating the Zodiac and marking off

ner.

the twelve Signs. From a very useful little book, we don't recall the title, we gathered the indications of the Signs which have generally been used in Astrology, and also got the idea of the Transits and the fact that each day in the Transits counted a year in the Nativity. This done we proceeded to work out our own birth date from Butler's Ephemeris. What was our surprise to find that it corresponded with our own life as we knew it, showing by the position of Uranus, Saturn and Mars where our greatest difficulties lay, and the position of the Moon indicating the time when we had suffered most from these afflictions. We proceeded to work out others and soon found the mathematical part of the work easy. However we had much to learn regarding the effect of certain conjunctions in certain signs, and have yet much to learn, but we feel that the foundation is surely laid. We tussled for a long time with the various aspects, square, opposite, etc., but decided there was nothing in them. We believe that planets changing at the same time in different Signs work as strongly as a conjunction, if not more so. We also think it may be that planets, for example 6° in Aquarius and 6° in Aries, may act as a conjunction but will not guarantee the fact. We have tried to secure information from various practicing Astrologers, but found on ordering a trial reading that often their work counted for nothing. One man who advertised extensively in the papers all over the world sent us a trial reading and it was absolutely without sense or reason. He based most of his calculations on the supposition that Mars governed the Sign of Scorpio and the Moon governed Cancer and so on. This theory we had long since discarded as ridiculous. The planets which occupy the Signs rule the Signs. A Sign devoid of planets is like a house without a tenant. Fire and water Signs we see no sense in; Mars governs fire and Neptune governs water. They are quite capable of filling the office without any assistance from Signs. Many persons have the idea that

you are born under a lucky or unlucky star. Such a thing is impossible. You are born under all the stars. You know your own troubles best and that is why you think you are born under an unlucky star. An equal distribution of trouble we regard as the one great end attained by the regulating influence of the planets. Some astrologers advertise a cure for all the ills to which flesh is heir. They can insure a happy marriage, business success, faithful friends and anything you desire. They are surely enjoying a pipe dream. It may be possible that all these troubles can be eliminated but we have no reason to think so. We have neither seen nor heard of any one who reached middle age, without experiencing serious trouble of some kind. They may in their brighter moments overlook them, and imagine they have been having a swell time, but we have not seen it. It is conceded that men and women of genius balance up their success with an extra dose of suffering. "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," was written long ago and is equally true today. Money cannot buy happiness. We cannot all occupy the same position, but we can all be equally happy. Some one must do the so-called dirty work, but every man should be respected in the position which he occupies. Caste and snobbery plainly emanate from a weak mind, and should be placed where they belong.

While we regard a certain amount of suffering as a necessity, we do not however regard wickedness as a necessity. That we believe lies with the person and those who constitute his environment. A person is sometimes compelled to do that which is wrong. The Bible tells us that with the temptation God will also make a way of escape and we believe that God will not hold such persons as sin through ignorance or compulsion responsible for their act. The same Christ who prayed "Father forgive them for they know not what they do," as he hung on the cruel cross will sit on the judgment throne.