Astrologer Interview: Dr. H.

(Regulus Astrology), Part 1 of 3

January 2, 2009 by Nina Gryphon



I am very pleased to present an interview with a rising star on the astrological scene, Dr. H., the
anonymous author of two recent books on predictive traditional astrological techniques. The
first is A Rectification Manual: The American Presidency, first published in 2007, where the
author uses medieval methods to find the birth times of all U.S. Presidents and their spouses,
and then applies various predictive methods to determine the usefulness of such methods.
Primary directions, for instance, are found to be more reliable than solar arc methods. The most
recent edition of the Manual also includes rectified times for the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election
candidates.

Dr. H.s latest book is America is Born: Introducing the Regulus U.S.A. National Horoscope,
where the author uses mundane events to rectify the birth horoscope of the United States, and
while he is at it, conducts a test of the efficacy of Egyptian vs. Ptolemaic bounds. He also
introduces Abu Mashars method of participators and distributors (the mingled effect of the
rulers of bounds through which directed planets are passing as they make aspects), and applies
it to the U.S. horoscope.

His books have reawakened my own dormant interest in primary directions, and I suspect this is
the beginning of a new resurgence of this topic, as serious astrologers rediscover its efficacy.

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NG: Tell us about your preferred astrological techniques. You are a traditional astrologer; what
methods do you use for natal delineation and prediction?

DH: Unlike many astrologers who seem to gravitate towards a particular favorite technique,
such as transits or progressions, I do my best to use all the tools all the time. That said, the
nature of my current practice has focused my attention on some specific delineation topics and
specialized tools. Delineation techniques which allow me to profile an individual I may never
interview, meet, or know is my current focus. Techniques including the Al-mubtazz Figurae
(ruler of the chart) and character profiling based on analysis of the Moon, Mercury, and their
rulers are the two most helpful methods for this purpose.

In profiling, I am interested in how benefics and malefics impact an individual. Is the person
fundamentally good or evil? And do they stay that way? Do crimes signify a person who has
been irrevocably lost to the dark side? or do crimes signify a temporary lapse of an otherwise
good person? Are malefics a sign of an evil person or do they signify malefic events an otherwise
good soul must suffer? And if people suffer, how do the malefics impact job performance? Does
a physically impaired individual have the ability to focus his mind and achieve brilliance like
Stephen Hawking or do physical limitations create obstacles too large to navigate? These kind of
questions really cut to the core of the horoscope.

After reviewing the Al-mubtazz Figurae and analysis of the Moon and Mercury, I might examine
how the Al-mubtazz Figurae interacts with the good spirit of the 11th house and the evil spirit of
the 12th. By interacts I mean examining how relevant aspects apply and separate (by zodiacal
degree or antiscia) and which planet ultimately wins out through rulership and reception.

I also like to see how the Moon separates and applies. If the Moon applies to the 12th house
ruler or a planet in the 12th, there will be some kind of problem. Usually the person becomes
evil or suffers some other type of 12th house effect. If benefics are properly configured, some
good may result of a 12th house confinement. Frida Kahlo comes to mind with her artistic career
triggered by a crippling automobile accident which required multiple surgeries and a lengthy
period of physical confinement.

As for prediction, because directions rank at the top of the predictive hierarchy for their ability
to time discrete events within 24 hours, they rank among my most frequently used tool. Besides
primary directions which are the mainstay of the medieval toolbox, I am an ardent supporter of
the more recently discovered symbolic directions known as solar arcs.

NG: Your recent work, A Rectification Manual, is the fruit of many years astrological research
and testing. What were some of your goals in your research and writing the book?

DH: There seems to be a consensus one needs to work through 200 charts before reading a
chart professionally for a client. In attacking that goal as a student, I faced a problem common to
all astrologers: how can one be sure the chart under study is accurate? Because the last thing
anybody wants to do is waste time studying an incorrect horoscope. The answer today is to rely
on third party databases for accurate birth data; North American astrologers primarily use
Astrodatabank. As much as reference databases like Astrodatabank are helpful, I consider their
data as starting points for investigation.

Even accurate horoscopes backed up by birth certificates timed to the minute usually need
slight adjustments before one can attack the figure with directions. And these are the best
cases. I have found many Astrodatabank A-rated figures presented with times rounded off to
the nearest half hour to be inaccurate. So much so that in a small sample I recently looked at, I
determined that 15-20% of A-rated figures did not appear to have the correct Ascendant!

So the choice to tackle rectification was made in order to develop a set of accurately timed
horoscopes as fodder for further educational study.


NG: Can you give a big picture overview of the method/order of operations you advocate in the
Manual?

DH: I have outlined a three-stage rectification process:

1. Determine the Ascendant Sign

2. Determine the Ascendants Range within 1-4 degrees

3. Determine the exact Degree and Minute of the Ascendant

Stage 1 starts by confirming the Moons sign and proceeds to eliminate large sections of
irrelevant time periods through planetary period techniques like Firdaria. The sequence of
Firdaria rulers is different for diurnal or nocturnal figures. Usually the natives life events can be
easily matched to either the diurnal or nocturnal Firdaria sequence even without knowing the
Ascending sign. Right away this knocks out about half the days 24 hours from consideration.
There are some other techniques like the Moons separation and application which can also be
used to cull large blocks of time from consideration. Using robust predictive techniques like
Firdaria is quite effective in honing in on the correct Ascendant with very little effort.

Stage 2 begins with physiognomy in order to select the rising decan and proceeds to Arabic Parts
which further narrow the Ascendants possible range. Arabic Parts are the bread and butter of
Stage 2 rectification. I would go so far to say that no rectification can be declared successful
unless event timing with Arabic Parts passes muster. Directions are used in Stage 3 to finish the
job. They are the diamond drills of rectification.

NG: One of the topics you address in the Manual is the length of life and the potential cutting off
of the predicted lifespan due to uncontrollable external influences, such as natural disasters. I
am referring to the doctrine of subsumption (articulated by C.E.O. Carter); the natal chart is
subject to bigger picture mundane horoscopes that can overrule it and produce death earlier
than the individual horoscope shows. I am somewhat uncomfortable with this concept:
shouldnt major life events, especially death, be shown in the natal chart? How has this played
out in your research?

DH: Considering American Presidents, there is only one individual I found whose natal
horoscope did not indicate death: William McKinley. His assassination was timed by a Saturn
direction in the Regulus USA National Horoscope of my own computation; to be released by
year end 2008.

In making a more general answer, I will give you my thoughts but disclose they are not more
than that; I have not undertaken any original research on this topic. I suggest that the larger the
disaster, the less likely it will be promised in horoscopes of the dead purely on statistical
grounds. Probably the best way to test this is to start with a small sample and then work larger.

Ken Gillmans Who Will Survive? analysis of the Dunblane School shooting of March 13, 1996
is an excellent example of a small sample approach (footnote 1). Among his findings are angular
benefics are helpful to survival and the presence of the Moon on the Ascendant-Descendant axis
is not. It appears that angular luminaries make one stand out from the crowd. This is good for
raising ones status in society, la Ptolemys Rank of Fame model, but not so great if one is
trying to avoid an assassins gunfire. Also a reason why individuals with the Sun in 12th are able
to fade into crowds without detection.

Now suppose instead of gunfire, Dunblane School was attacked with a nuclear bomb. I dont see
how having an angular Jupiter would be of much help in survival. So the larger the catastrophe,
the less likely an individual with a favorable delineation or protective dynamic activity will be
able to withstand the event.

NG: In researching the various traditional methods, you must have run into more than a few
dead ends methods that are esteemed but proved ineffective. Can you name a few such
techniques?

DH: Treatment of latitude in primary direction calculations has been botched by most
everybody. This business of reducing the latitude by one-half for sextile or trine aspects
advocated by Morin and others is bogus. Probably the greatest technical discovery I made while
preparing A Rectification Manual is the solution to the latitude problem. I call it the primary
direction sequence. I leapfrog the question of optimal latitude by computing a pair of directions
for planet-angle directions; one with the full planets latitude and a second with a zero latitude
planet assumption. This yields two dates. What happens are two events on each respective
date, often linked, as is the time period between the two dates which tends to be marked by
additional events whose nature conforms to the delineation of the planet involved in the
direction.

If readers take away a single topic from this interview, it should be the primary direction
sequence. I name it the Holy Grail of Rectification because the odds of computing a pair of
directions corresponding to a pair of life events often separated by a year or more is so low
that the statistical odds of a correct rectification solution quickly approach 100%.

NG: Can you give an example of this method in a horoscope?

DH: Lets turn to Barack Obama. As his campaign got underway in the spring of 2007 there were
questions raised concerning stock market and real estate transactions. The real estate deal with
Tony Rezko had been covered earlier in the local Chicago press but the stock market
transactions were new charges. On March 5, 2007, thestreet.com broke a story that questioned
the ethics of Obamas purchase of two small cap stocks whose activities benefited from
Obamas legislative actions. Obama was forced to make a press conference on 7 March
regarding his activities.

This event opened up a series of events which forced the Obama campaign to scrutinize its
campaign donations. Financial dealings with Rezko and his associates resurfaced during this
review process. Concluding this episode was the decision by the Obama campaign to make
dollar-for-dollar donations to charities with the amount equaling the total campaign
contributions received from associates of Tony Rezko. These donations were made on June 2
and June 8, 2007.

Now that the life event is outlined, lets look at how this might be shown in the natal figure.
Who is Tony Rezko to Barack Obama? He is (was) a friend, a valuable political alliance for his
fundraising expertise, and a real estate developer. As of 2008, Rezko is also a convicted felon
and has been a source of embarrassment to the Obama campaign for Obamas prior financial
dealings with Rezko. Because Mars cuts and Virgo is an earth sign, Mars/Virgo signifies the real
estate developer Tony Rezko. Mars is the exalted ruler (and al-mubtazz) of the 11th of friends
and political alliances and the 12th of enemies, using Alchabitius quadrant house cusps. Mars
falls in the 8th house of investments. So by position and rulership, the houses Mars are involved
in are consistent with Mars signification as Tony Rezko. Financial dealings can be sought from
the Part of Fortune, especially with Obamas criticized real estate transaction with Rezko
because the Part of Fortune falls in the 4th house of real estate (whole sign houses).

Using primary directions software built by Janus 4.0 and choosing the Placidus under the Pole
method of directing, compute the following direction:

Dexter square of Mars d. => Part of Fortune (POF).

Hold the POF constant and direct the square aspect of Mars until it meets the POF. So far so
good. There are a few assumptions made here, but nothing out of the ordinary. It is at this point
where the primary direction sequence comes into play. To handle the latitude of Mars
*00n4322+ compute two directions. First compute the direction using the full latitude of Mars.
Second assume Mars has zero latitude.

The two dates are March 9, 2007 and June 2, 2007. This pair of dates essentially forms a set of
bookends which match the events cited above. Considering the difficulty of computing a pair of
dates using primary directions which matches a pair of life events, it is virtually impossible to
make these kinds of calculations unless the rectified birth time is highly accurate.

Now it turns out this particular example is a bit more complicated because if one also includes
solar arc directions (for which the latitude concept employed in the primary direction sequence
does NOT apply), one finds converse solar arc POF opposed Mars computed for March 5, 2007.
This is the exact date of the investigative report by thestreet.com. Sometimes it happens that
with all permutations of directions (e.g., latitude assumptions, solar arc and primary directions,
direct and converse motion) that this kind of overlap occurs. The trick here, and this is my own
finding, is that solar arc directions tend to time events which have a distinctly public character to
them. Press releases, promotions, this kind of thing. So often when I see a major life event
which makes waves in the public sphere, I will look to the solar arc direction more than the
primary direction when rectifying the event. Vice versa for events which are important but
whose effects are felt within the normal realm of an individuals sphere of influence.