Archives The Project Hindsight Intensives
The Astrological Tradition: Whither & Whence
This six-hour workshop provides an introduction to ancient astrology by comparing and contrasting its concepts to those of modern astrology.
Discourse on Method: An Overview of Hellenistic Astrology
In this workshop Robert Schmidt presented the first comprehensive overview of the ancient system of Hellenistic astrology. After studying all of the surviving Hellenistic era astrological texts, Schmidt unveiled this first draft of The System of Hermes to a group of students in Cumberland, MD from October 30th through November 3rd, 1998.
THE EINSTEIN INTENSIVES
During the summer of 1999 Robert Schmidt conducted a series of four workshops devoted to a complete astrological reading of a single chart - that of Albert Einstein. Intended to illustrate the Hellenistic approach to chart reading across its entire range, these intensives also set out a program for the systematic and continuing validation of Hellenistic astrology. To investigate the problem of precession, each technique had to be applied both tropically and siderally so the results could be evaluated according to the documented events in Einstein's life. This groundbreaking series allowed for the refinement and clarification of the concepts first presented in the preceding Project Hindsight Intensive.
Part I: Preliminary Natal Analysis and Universal Techniques
of the Hermetic Tradition
After a discussion of the cosmological model underlying Hellenistic astrology Robert Schmidt describes in detail the steps involved in the examination of the natal factors that modify the planets according to strength, quality, benefic/malefic nature, masculine/feminie nature, and general timing factors. He then presents the first of the Three Grand Approaches in Hellenist astrology, the group of techniques designed to describe aspects of the life as a whole. Recorded in Cumberland, MD June 25th - 28th, 1999.
Part II: The Topical Approach
This workshop presents the Second Grand Approach, the group of methods used to examine individual topics in the life of the native. After presenting the basic tools of the Topical Approach, the methods are explicated in detail. The topic of the mother in Einstein's chart is then examined according to all seven topical methods. Recorded in Cumberland, MD July 23rd - 26th, 1999.
Part III: The Time-Lords
After framing remarks about how the Three Grand Approaches work together and a preliminary theoretical discussion of time as quantity vs. time as quality, Schmidt presents the Third Grand Approach, the group of timing procedures called Time-Lords that serve the function in Hellenistic astrology that the various Dasa systems do in Vedic astrology. (Recorded in Cumberland August 20th - 23rd, 1999.
Part IV: Vita Einstein: A Synthesis
Recorded in Cumberland September 24th - 27th, 1999.
Translating Hellenistic Astrology into a Modern Idiom
Having presented Hellenistic astrology as a complete "event-oriented" predictive system, Schmidt breaks new ground in this workshop by adapting the ancient system to meet some of the expectations and requirements of modern practicing astrologers and their clients. Among other issues, he draws out the esoteric or "spiritual" dimensions of the system, provides a rigorous treatment of the personality from a Hellenistic perspective, integrates the outer planets into the Hellenistic framework, and presents a new paradigm for rendering this complex system manageable and readily comprehensible. Recorded at the "Nine Day Wonder" Houseparty in Cumberland July 1st - 9th, 2000.
"OFF-THE-RECORD" TAPES
During breaks between lectures, questions from workshop participants would often lead to impromptu lectures or spirited discussions that we wished would have been recorded. We eventually developed the habit of leaving a tape recorder running just in case. The following tape sets are collections of such tapes from our archives.
Behind the Scenes: Getting Ready to talk about the Cosmological Model
Impromptu discussions and lectures recorded in Cumberland, MD May 12th - 14th, 2000 and September 2nd - 9th, 2000.
Saturnalia Lectures
Lectures on a wide range of topics recorded during a marathon 17-day houseparty in Cumberland celebrating Robert Schmidt's 50th birthday and welcoming the new millennium. Recorded December 22nd, 2000 - January 6th, 2001.
Saturnalia Discussions
"Off-the record" discussions from the 17-day Saturnalia in Cumberland, MD December 22nd, 2000 - January 6th, 2001.