2017 Letter to My Readers
Dear Friends,
What a long, wild trip the last few months have been! I started a busy new job last fall, and things are finally calm enough for me to return to more regular posting. Here’s what’s new:
I am writing a new column on magical elections for The Mountain Astrologer, starting with the February/March 2017 issue. The intersection of astrology and magic has been a great interest of mine for the last decade and a half, so those of you who are interested in electional astrology and the making of talismans (which are properly timed astrologically), take a look. My goal for the column is to educate readers about the principles of electional astrology, so the scope is more substantial than just writing out dates. It’s a new and exciting direction for me and for TMA.
I got the 2017 U.S. election forecast wrong. Strangely, I didn’t feel especially upset about being wrong; it happens sometimes, and as a predictive astrologer, I’ve gotten predictions wrong before. If you do ever encounter astrologers who claim or even imply they have never been wrong, nod politely and run away to make room for their massive God complex. Making incorrect predictions has an upside: it motivates me to figure out the problem and improve my system. For those of you interested in following along with my analysis of the 2016 Aries Ingress, watch this space for an in-depth article.
Someone wrote me with a simple yet fascinating question; why did so many astrologers (and other professionals) make an incorrect prediction about the 2017 election winner? It depends on the astrologer. Some were influenced by their own political leanings. Others just had questionable methods. There was also a complicating factor – one of the candidates has a publicly unavailable birth time, and a number of astrologers glossed over that as a minor speed bump on the autobahn of foregone conclusions. Many smart people made an incorrect prediction, but only a few will learn from their mistake. I will certainly try to learn all I can and do better in the future.
Thank you for all the supportive emails and messages over the last few months; it has meant a lot to me to hear from you all – do stay in touch. I wish you a safe and prosperous 2017.
