AGE PROGRESSION - THE HUBER METHOD OF TIMING IN THE HOROSCOPE
by Joyce Hopewell
Age Progression is a very simple, clear and straightforward technique to use, and the results it yields are gilt-edged. Using the chart as a Life Clock, along with the energy dynamic of the Houses and the psychological developmental phases of life, we can look at the Huber method of timing in the horoscope.(*1)
Bear in mind that in this article we are looking at one specific technique, but we have to remember that the Huber Method is based upon seeing the chart - and the individual it belongs to - as a whole. The "ground plan" of a Huber chart is based upon the 5 Levels of Human existence, starting with the circle in the centre of the chart, which is always left clear and has no aspects drawn through it. This represents our Inner Being, our personal and transpersonal self. The aspect structure shows our motivation, the planets represent our psychological drives, the Signs our inherited traits and tendencies, with the Houses being the environment - the outside world where we interact with and learn from everything around us.
The House system used is Koch because it allows for a very precise psychological analysis. So if you are planning to research into Age Progression for yourself, be sure to use Koch Houses, preferably with charts drawn up in the Huber style, with Huber orbs and aspects. (*2) Huber charts have the Age Point marked around the outside of each House, with a figure against one of these marks, showing the year.
The Four Cardinal points of the chart (AC,DC,IC,MC) are high energy areas both in the the context of the Dynamic Energy Curve (*3) and Age Progression. There is a huge surge of energy at each of these points, like a thrust or push out into the environment and outside world. This is reflected by a corresponding, but smaller, surge of energy around each of the House cusps. This energy peaks at the cusps, especially the Four Cardinal Points, but falls off and is at its lowest two-thirds of the way through each House. We call this point in each House the Low Point. If a planet is placed on or near a Low Point, it may experience difficulties and challenges in being recognised out in the world. And when the Age Point transits a Low Point, the individual is likely to find it hard to muster the energy and drive to participate so fully in the affairs of the House that Low Point is in. Attention and interest will be focussed inwardly and a period of introspection and inner reflection is likely to be important at this time.
A good analogy for this process is mountain climbing ( if you don't climb hills or mountains, remember what it's like walking up a long flight of stairs!). The peak of the mountain (the cusp) is a place of achievement, high energy output and high profile recognition; the valley you stand in ( the Low Point) looking up towards the peak of the mountain you are going to climb, is a place of gathering your resources, planning your strategy and route, biding your time and connecting with your innermost aspirations. When the Age Point transits the Low Point in each House, this is a time of reconnecting with the circle in the centre of the chart, the meeting place of our personal and transpersonal self. Huber astrologers often find that clients will seek help and clarification of their life journey when the Age Point transits a Low Point.
Movement of the Age Point
This hand of the Life Clock starts moving when we are born, beginning at the AC. It moves in an anti-clockwise direction around the chart, and takes 6 years to move through each House of the chart which spans 72 years.(*4) As it moves around the chart, the hand of the Life Clock will point to the planets, making aspects to them for the entire span of the 72 years, and offering different experiences and opportunities for growth as it does so. When it returns to the AC, it continues round again, presenting the same opportunities, but with the added weight of a lifetime of understanding behind them.
The ages which correspond the the Four Cardinal Points are important: birth and the AC (already mentioned); age 18 and the IC, when many young people leave school or home and begin to establish a more independent existence for themselves ; age 36 and the DC, when the long period of self-development, beginning with birth, is complete. Here the individual confronts the world around them and compares him/herself against it. Finally, age 54 and the MC, where maturity, status, standing and recognition of self are likely to be uppermost issues.
Size matters!
The speed of the Age Point is constant; it always moves at 6 years per House. But the size of the House needs to be considered. Travelling through a small House, the Age Point moves slowly, so events and experiences make a deeper impression via the planets that the Age Point transits, or the aspects that it makes to other planets. Travelling through a large House, the Age Point moves faster and it may be felt that a lot is going on. But although the individual may experience more things happening, these events will be touched on in less depth as there is less time for them to make a deep impression.
Psychological Life Phases
Each House represents a life phase relevant to that House. The theme of 1st House, for example, is of the young child establishing a separate identity from it's mother. Babies go a long way from birth to 6 years of age, and the first 6 years of life are all about finding their own feet, both literally and psychologically, and mastering their environment sufficiently to allow them to operate independently. The 1st House is the House of Aries, so there is a lot of "Me, me!" around, accompanied by expressions of independence in the form of temper tantrums whilst the process of awakening and stabilising the "I" takes place. How the child goes about this will be coloured by the 1st House planets. If Mars is there, expect ructions when the Age Point conjuncts this planet; if Venus or the Moon is there, things might be somewhat gentler! There are 36 Psychological Life Phases - 3 in each House (*5). If you plan to research your own chart/life journey using this method, a good place to start would be where you are right now.
Points to Consider
The Sign the Age Point is moving through is important - the qualities and the element should be considered. The Sign offers a "backdrop" and flavours the setting of the main experiences which are likely to come from the planets which are aspected and the area of the Dynamic Energy Curve that the Age Point is moving through. A change of Sign can be significant. Moving from a Fire to an Earth Sign will indicate a subtle shift away from the enthusiastic initiation of new projects, and more emphasis upon the consolidation and completion of things which have been started.
Aspects to the planets are, of course, of paramount importance. The conjunction and the opposition will have the greatest impact. Conjunctions give an immediate, direct and total experience of the planet involved. Oppositions are also powerful, but can be experienced as more like something happening to you, as if coming from afar, and which is slightly out of your control.
There is now way you can wriggle out from an opposition from a planet. If you do, the theme that the planet represents will simply come back again in a different way when the Age Point makes another aspect to it. The square and the quincunx can be particularly powerful in this respect. Age Point aspects to planets have a "double whammy" effect if a transit involving the same planet is in operation at the same time.
Open spaces in the chart's aspect structure can be deceptive. When it looks like there is apparently nothing going on in a chart Age Point-wise, it is always advisable to look again! When the psychological life phases, the size of Houses, the Sign changes, the movement of the Age Point across several Low Points and several cusps, plus the many aspects the Age Point makes to other planets in the chart are considered, it can be appreciated that with Age Progression, something is always happening!
(*1) For a full exposition of the Huber Method of Timing in the Horoscope see "LifeClock" by Bruno & Louise Huber. Pub. Weiser.
(*2) Full colour Huber charts available from the APA Chart Data Service, PO Box 29, Upton, Wirral CH49 3BG. Tel/Fax: 0151-606-8551.
(*3) See "The Astrological Houses" by Bruno & Louise Huber. Pub. Weiser.
(*4) See "LifeClock".
(*5) ditto
"The Cosmic Egg Timer" by Joyce Hopewell and Richard Llewellyn gives a comprehensive overview of the Huber Method, including Age Progression.
These publications are available from the APA Book-Shop.
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