Merry Christmas, Everyone!
Zip Dobyns
The Mutable Dilemma is celebrating its first birthday in the midst of Christmas preparations. We’ve enjoyed having a forum for some of the new developments which are coming so fast in astrology, and of course we hope our readers have enjoyed it too. Other new developments during 1978 included our first Intensive outside of California and Montana when Buffalo, NY sponsored a 9-day seminar in June. The trip to see the psychic healers in the Philippines was certainly a highlight, and is covered in more detail in this issue.
Maritha’s lecture tours were highly successful, and have whetted her appetite for more. She is presently teaching a Monday evening class here at 838 5th Ave. in Los Angeles.
Mark has done a super job as Editor, putting both the journal and the newsletter together, from typing the copy into the computer, through editing, to paste-up and trip to the printer, to running address labels (keeping the mailing list up to date is no small job) to sorting by zip code to final trip to the post office. There are an incredible number of details involved in such an effort.
Rique and Mark together continue to add new components to the computer. We now have a second (mini-floppy) disk drive, so we can run a batch of charts instead of having to input data for one person at a time. Our first natal horoscope was run on our own micro just in time for Christmas last year. It seems incredible now, with not only natals, but secondary, tertiary and minor progressions, 3 arc directions, several ways to look for aspect themes in a chart, solar and lunar returns with four variations, pages of tabulations for groups of research charts, and too much more to mention. Our first “research day” was fun and successful, and we look forward to many more next month, with all of January devoted to the effort, and with the help of students coming from as far as Atlanta and Minneapolis. One astrological research group has voted to pay part of the travel cost for members who are able to come participate in the research month to learn more about basic techniques.
The Mediterranean cruise sponsored by Holistic Life will be a highlight of 1979, and we hope many of our readers will be able to join us there. Brochures will be ready soon, and mailed to anyone on request. Of course we’re looking forward to our usual L.A. Intensive, scheduled from February 2 to 18, 1979. The new edition of Progressions, Directions and Rectification is finally back from the printers, and we are expecting Maritha’s book any week, after a long and frustrating delay. But we’re sure you will find it worth waiting for. Finding the Person in the Horoscope has just gone to the printer after a face lifting; The Node Book is the next to require revision and reprinting; and my long-promised next book is in process but no promises on time of delivery.
So much more might be mentioned. I haven’t even talked about the 8 days in Japan, mostly visiting temples and shrines around Tokyo and Kyoto, including becoming acquainted with a “New Age” healing religion, Tenrikyo, which was founded by a Japanese woman in the last century. We visited one of their centers in Los Angeles after our return, and mother received another healing treatment. Japan is as beautiful as everyone says, and also as expensive. If you plan a trip there, make sure it is with a tour that covers your hotel cost. From a high of 11 conferences during the year before, I dropped to 7 but they were great fun in Kansas, Boston, L.A., Atlanta, Hawaii, Seattle and Chicago.
We hope that all of you everywhere have had as good a year, and have moved closer to your dreams. We hope your next year will be even better, learning and growing, working and playing, loving and blessing.