Some History of Matrix Software By Michael Erlewine

Some History of Matrix SoftwareBy Michael Erlewine

Matrix SoftwareAn interest in astrology and allthings esoteric probably grew out ofmy Catholic upbringing, a religionwhich aside from having a lot ofnegatives IMO had the side effect ofendowing me with a sense ofmystery and awe for the universe.Don‟t ask me to explain; that is justhow it turned out.In the late 1950s and early 1960s Iwas interested not only in astrology,but also in tarot, the I-Ching, and theworld of occult knowledge. But itwas the year I spent in Berkeley,California in 1964 that cemented thedeal. In Berkeley I was exposed toOuspensky, Gurdjieff, and a wholelot more, not the least of which wasmy first LSD trip which reallyopened my eyes to the subtleenergies and the unseen. All of thiscame to a head when I moved backto Ann Arbor in 1965.Circle BooksOn the spring equinox in 1968 myyounger brother Stephen, his wifeMorgen, and his partner John C.Sullivan opened Circle Books, thefirst metaphysical bookstore in AnnArbor. It was located at 215 S. StateStreet up on the 2nd floor, just at thetop of the stairs. In fact, if you wentup those stairs and kept on walkingyou were there. Circle Booksconsisted of two medium-sizedrooms and a back room which wasan office. I was proud of my brotherfor bringing to Ann Arbor somethingthe town never had and reallyneeded. Prior to Circle Books theonly place to get anything close tometaphysical books was BobMarshals and that bookstore wasalready in trouble with publishersand closed not long after CircleBooks opened. The otherbookstores in this university townwere all about text books for collegecourses and offered little else.Circle Books was in a building(perhaps the only one in Ann Arbor)devoted to Sixties themes. On thefloor above the bookstore (the thirdfloor) was Middle Earth, a glorifiedand gone-to-heaven head shop. Onthe same floor as the bookstore wasSaturn, a sixties-style mod clothingstore. In the basement was “LittleThings,” filled with all kinds of neatlittle things, and on the main floorwas a chic expensive clothing store.The whole building was probably atrip for some visitors back in thePhoto of Poster by Michael Erlewine

middle 1960s.Photo Michael Erlewine circa 1968In the beginning Circle Bookslooked pretty empty, some simplepre-made bookshelves placedagainst the wall and not-quiteenough-yetbooks. I am not surehow I got involved, but I did. Afterall, I was Stephen‟s older brother.That would do it or was it mygrowing interest in astrology and allthings metaphysical. Stephen wasalready an astrologer and I was,well I was many things. At the time Ibelieve I encouraged or enthusedJohn Sullivan to invest more moneyin the store to modify it.Within weeks of opening I was hardat work helping them to remodel thestore so that it had a more new-ageand sophisticated look. I ended updesigning and supervising the rebuildingof the entire store inredwood and glass. Back thenredwood was just another (beautifulof course) wood at the lumber yardand in fact it was cheaper than clearpine. Imagine that! When we weredone, the entire bookstore wasfinished in redwood with frostedglobe lights and back-lit frostedglass panels at the top of someshelves, and with boxed-in areasdown by the floor. Better yet, wehad two really great aquariums, onefor fresh water fish and a really bigone for salt water. And finally wehad a four-foot chart wheel (alsobacklit) that displayed the currentastrology of the day. It wasbeautiful.John Sullivan and Stephen &Morgen ran the bookstore. I endedup calculating the astrology chartsfor the bookstore, at first by handusing the traditional log tableapproach and later in the early1970s using a little 4-functoncalculator. I probably helped outwith sales at times and I know Ioccasionally gave classes in thelarger second room some evenings.Mostly I just hung out there a lot.Circle Books was the perfect placeto spend time, meet new people,and have lengthy intellectualconversations on astrology and theoccult and all things spiritual. Peoplecame from towns near and far toshop at Circle Books. Until thenmost of us had no place and no oneto talk with about these spiritualmatters. The bookstore was aconversation waiting to happen.Circle Books was almost like adream come true - otherworldly attimes. There were plenty of outsidewindows and the inner store with itsglobe lights and backlit panels madethe overall effect something veryspecial. You just naturally wanted togo there. How many times did Icome up those stairs two steps at atime and then step down into CircleBooks for a wonderful time – many,many, many.You could probably say that I heldcourt there. And I wasn‟t the onlyone. It just naturally happened.Before long I had not only somestudents but many new friends. AnnArbor had never before catered tothose with an interest in spiritual and

The House at 1041 N. Main StreetWe lived in a little house perchedhigh on an embankment out on1041 North Main Street in AnnArbor. It overlooked the Huron Riverwhich runs parallel to the street buton the other side of the highway,beyond the junkyard and the traintracks. Our house was out on theedge of town right where thehighway begins so we could haveheavy traffic at times and oftenplenty of noise. It was also no kindof road for a kid to be near. It wasthe “Main Street.” And we weredirectly across the street fromLansky‟s junk yard with all thatentailed and giant wharf rats wouldcross the street and could be seendigging through the garbage cans atthe side of our house in the duskand early morning light. These ratswere the size of small cats. Also,less than one-half block from ourhouse freight trains ran both east &west and north & south all nightlong. Starting and stopping,creaking and crying, one of the traintracks slowly clanged around a turnand across the river bridge. Thesound actually became almostbeautiful after a while, sounding likeGagaku, the free-reed oboe-likeimperial court music of Japan. Ialmost miss it. Almost.Photo: View of the Huron River fromour houseBehind our house was a very steephill running straight up to anotherwhole part of Ann Arbor high aboveus. It was difficult to climb even ifyou wanted to. The house facedeast so we could watch the suncome up on the river early summermornings. It was one of thoseplaces few people would want tolive, but we loved it. It was almostoutside of Ann Arbor (not smack init) and kind of isolated, yet still nearwhere things were happening. Itwas a good compromise.The house itself was nothing specialbut it was special for us because itwas where we lived and the rentwas low enough that we could affordto stay there as long as I could findsome work. We had next to nothingand few ways to make a living. Ipicked up odd jobs as a stagehandor mixed clay and helped to firepottery at a friend‟s studio. I had lostmost of the income streams I hadbuilt up before I left Ann Arbor to gointo the green-plant business. Whenthat did not work out and I found myway back to my home town, thingshad changed. I had changed.The house itself was far above thestreet, so by the time you reachedthe second floor where my officewas you were really up high. Therewas this sense of no one elsearound although there were acouple of houses in the samesituation to the right and left of us.There were no houses in front orbehind us, only north and south ofus along the highway. Other thanthat there was no one else around.We were maybe a block from wherethe rest of the town started, justdown a little sidewalk through someweeds and under the bridge overwhich one of the train tracks ran.This is where we lived from thespring of 1972 until March 1st, 1980when we relocated to Big Rapidswhere we live today. The Main

Street house was where MatrixSoftware was born, where our firsttwo kids were born and raised, andwhere so much that has affectedastrology began. Noel Tyl, DaneRudhyar and many other greatastrologers visited there. We hadnext to nothing but actually hadeverything we needed, like time anda vision. That was enough.One major change that camearound the end of May 1972 wasthat Margaret told me she waspregnant and that we wereexpecting our first child. I wassurprised and happy but alsoterrified as to what it meant for ourlives. It would no longer be justMargaret and I who could live onnext to nothing. As a naturalprovider type, the news sent shockwaves through my system. We werebarely surviving as it was. In fact, Iwas so panicked about providingthat the very next day I went out andgot a job on a garbage truck just toprove (to myself) that I had to bewilling to do anything. That joblasted one day and I came homepretty stinky. It was fun hanging offthe running boards at the back ofthe garbage truck and to havepeople feel sorry for me. After Icalmed down I realized that I couldprobably find some work better thanhauling garbage. I did have „some‟abilities, just not a high-schooldiploma. I still have dreams of beingback in high school trying to get thatdiploma that I never got.I have been an entrepreneur all ofmy working life. Even back then Ihad more trouble working for othersthan for myself. I wanted to fit in, butit was always easier to create myown livelihood than it was to blendin somewhere else. I don‟t blendwell. It would have been nice to beable to just go along, but that wasnot me. My critical gifts are toostrong and criticism unless applied“just so” is not welcome much ofanywhere in this world. We all knowthat. And I was not always skillful inmy criticism.Anyway, I was soon searchinginside myself to find some kind ofliving more in line with what Inaturally liked to do and could do. Ihad been doing a lot of astrology soin August of 1972 I decided tobecome a full-time professionalastrologer and hung out my shingle.I had worked with astrology formany years helping build CircleBooks (my brother‟s metaphysicalbookstore), teaching classes there,and doing the chart work for thestore. When I returned to Ann ArborI picked back up on doing theastrological charts for Circle Books.It was natural for me to expand myservices and work out of my ownhome.The problem was that we did nothave all that much room in ourhouse. In fact, it was tight. Forexample: we had one small livingroom in which was a couch. Thatcouch would fold out into our bed.We used to have classes in theliving room and when everyone wasgone (and if we were dead tired) wewould immediately turn out the light,unfold the couch, and climb in. Wellsometimes a student would haveforgotten something or other andsoon after we were in bed would bepounding on the door. It was prettyfunny to answer the door, directlybehind which was the open bed.Margaret might have been hidingunder the covers for all I remember.Anyway, that had to change.Our house had two bedrooms onthe second floor and we decidedthat the larger one of them would

ecome my office and the“classroom.” There would be nomore classes in the living room.They would be held upstairs, whichleft us with one small room to sleepin which appropriately becameknown as the “bed” room because itliterally had wall-to-wall beds tosleep the whole family. After oursecond child was born (late in 1975)you could walk across the beds fromone side of the room to the otherwith no gaps. The kids loved it.Flyer for My Astrological ServicesAnd I held classes. Students wouldfile up the stairs and into theclassroom past Margaret who wastrying to bathe and put the kids tobed in the next room. It was close.Of course I never thought of it asanything but grand, having a houseto live in! In my office I had a deskagainst the south wall and a largeblackboard on the north wall. And Ihad my IBM Selectric typewriter. Iwrote whole books on thattypewriter; that and my calculatorswere about all I had in the way ofequipment for many years. This wasbefore computers. In the officeduring the day I would work and doreadings for a constant stream ofpeople who filed in. It was hard onmy family to have people coming inand out all day long. Then at night Iwould cram any number of studentsinto my office, all squished together.My classes were literally up closeand personal. And I am told I waspretty tough on some of mystudents. If they were not payingattention or mouthed off I wouldescort them to the door and putthem out. They were lucky I did notgrab them by the ear. End of story.Back then it was hardscrabble allthe way, never having any moneyand reinventing myself every whichway I could to come up with newservices so we could pay the rent. Ialso was speaking at churches,schools, colleges, meetings, andabout anywhere they would haveme. I taught classes at Circle Books,Art Worlds, Guild House, Y.M.C.A,The Free University, and the HeartCenter (our place). I once taught anastrology class to 1200 people inthe Michigan Ballroom on thesecond floor of the MichiganStudent Union as part of the FreeUniversity.Margaret and I would alsoparticipate in all kinds of New-Agepsychic conferences andgatherings. I would be there as anastrologer but most other speakersthat came were psychic readers,healers, tarot readers, palmists, andwhat-not. It was all over the board.Along the way we checked outséances, healings, hands-onhealings, message services, andabout anything else that was outthere. It was all fascinating for awhile.We even drove down to CampChesterfield, Indiana (which is acommunity of healers andspiritualists) to have our firstborn

daughter Iotis baptized. Once there,we went around to the little cottageswhere the healers lived and visitedthose we had met at conferenceshere and there. Although I triedreally hard to be open to it, none ofthe psychic or „spiritualism‟managed to stick. It was, however,somewhat of an education.One of my favorite psychics wasElsie Vocovitch who lived right inAnn Arbor out on the west side.Elsie was a kindly woman and wewould visit her quite often either tojust sit and talk or to be part ofwhatever service or séance-likeevent she might be holding thatevening. I can remember that duringone séance I was told that my spiritguide was an Indian medicine mannamed “Drum Song.” Andsometimes on Sundays we wouldattend the spiritualist church thatElsie belonged to and check thatout. One of the features there wasthe giving of messages. Variouspsychics would come up front anddeliver messages for those in theaudience. They would actuallysingle you out and pull messagesout of the ether that werespecifically for you. Mostly theywere upbeat and always intriguing.Of course I would try my best tobend each message aroundwhatever I had going for me andwanted most to hear. In time, I beginto have problems with psychicpronouncements in general.I can remember one such statementhaving to do with a road and anoverpass in Ann Arbor. The psychictold me I had to be very careful ofthis particular overpass or I mighthave an accident. Well, you can besure that I never forgotten thatoverpass. Multiply that by ten ormore such pronouncements andyou might have a fairly healthy list ofthings you had to “watch out for.” Ifound this really annoying after awhile. And it also partook of what Icall the “chiropractor syndrome,”meaning that like chiropractors,psychics tend to make youdependent on them. You have tokeep coming back again and againto have your psychic temperaturechecked out and problems patchedup. After some considerableexperience, I gradually tuned awayfrom this kind of spirituality. Onebecomes too dependent on thepsychic as a person and, evenworse, the psychics seem to likethat.I am not sure how I rationalized myview of psychic readingsconsidering I made my living doingastrology readings for many years. Iam sure the public can‟t tell thedifference. For me the difference isthat (at least the readings I did)were one-offs and did not requirethat you come back for another one.And of course astrology is aboutcycles based on heavenly motionsthat reoccur rather than specificevents that are called up from theether or wherever. I can see thisdiscussion could get murky, so I willnot try to rationalize this with myselfright here in your presence. But it‟son my list of things to ponder.In the middle of all this scramblingfor money, doing readings, teachingclasses, and lecturing there wassomething else going on as well. Myinterest in astrology was deepeningand broadening. I had realquestions and I set about to find theanswers. After some years I wasable to move from log tables, pencil& paper to the 4-function calculator,pencil and paper, somewhere in theearly 1970s. That helped. Many ofmy questions required that I learnsome more about trigonometry and

efore long I was doing extendedseries of trig calculations on a lowlypocket calculator. It beat the earlierpaper trig tables, but it still took along time. I can remembercalculating early Local Space charts(azimuth and altitude) that wouldtake me the whole day to do thenumbers for a single chart.was in for trouble. Then he ran hisfinger down a long list ofprofessions, leaned over, looked mein the eye and said “The professionof „astrologer‟ is listed right abovethat of „migrant worker‟.” Loandenied.Well, I needed that calculator and Iwent back to the bank two moretimes until they finally gave me theloan to buy my first programmablecalculator, one of many I wouldlearn before I was done. Ipurchased an even better calculatorsometime later when a almost-newcar my parents had given us was hitby a passing motorist (while it wasparked) and totaled. With theinsurance money I was able to buya much-worse car and a largerprogrammable calculator. From littleacorns big oaks do grow. Thatwrecked car was the seed fromwhich came Matrix Software.Photo: HP-67 ProgrammableWhen programmable calculatorscame along I was Johnny-on-the-Spot in line to get one. I can stillremember buying my first HPprogrammable at Ulrich‟s Bookstoreat 549 E. University in Ann Arbor,just down from where mygrandmother used to live. It was amarvel to me. And the calculatorssoon got more complicated andmore expensive. Of course I had nomoney and the next one I wantedcost a steep $500. I decided to go tothe bank and ask for a loan. Well,that was fun.Sitting there with the creditmanager, he asked me what I didfor a living. Of course, honest Abehere told him I was an astrologer.His eyebrow arched and I knew IPhoto: HP-97 ProgrammableBy this time I was writing all kinds ofastrology programs onprogrammable calculators anddelving into some areas astrologershad never been before. One of themwas published by no less thanHewlett-Packard as part of a bookon astronomical and astrologicalalgorithms. In 1975 I published myfirst book, a long-range heliocentricephemeris, “The Sun is Shining”

which covered four-hundred yearscovering 1750 through 2050 A.D. Itwas the first of its kind. I alsoproduced a set of detailed starmaps, some seven in all, placingfamiliar celestial objects in Zodiacmaps rather than the Equatorialmaps used by astronomers. In fact Ihad to lay them all out on largesheets of paper, calculating eachstar or point on a calculator, andthen plotting it with rulers and T-squares on the paper… and finallyusing PressType to affix a little staror whatever symbol. This too hadnever been done in such detail onthe Ecliptic. The year was 1976.That same year I published“Interface: Planetary Nodes,” areduction of the complete planetarynodal solar system into the series ofmeasurable points of interest toastrologers. And lastly, that year Ipublished “Astrophysical Directions,”the first book on deep spaceastrology ever written andunmatched today some thirty-fiveyears later. This was all before Iwas anyone or knew anyone inastrology. I just did it because Iloved it.I was an unknown astrologer livingsomewhere in the Midwest but I washappily on a quest and I actuallyhad some vision. As for famousastrologers? I never met one beforeI met Charles A. Jayne and that wasby telephone. We soon becamegood friends. I was no one but thatdid not faze him one bit because hewas interested in my ideas and notwhether anyone had ever heard ofme, and they hadn‟t. My friendshipwith Jayne resulted in our meetingin person in the fall of 1976 at alarge astrological conference atColumbiere College in the town ofClarkston near Detroit. It was mindbogglingwhen I finally met Jayne inperson, trying to put his boomingauthoritative voice together with hismore whimsical persona. He lookedfor all the world like Mr. Toad from“The Wind in the Willows” andWinnie the Pooh. Jayne and Ibecame fast friends and I miss himto this day. He would fly out here toMichigan to spend his birthday withus and was about to do that againone year when he suddenly passedway. You can‟t replace what there isonly one of.At that conference in 1976 nearDetroit in a single day I not only metCharles Jayne, but also such lightsas Charles Harvey, John Addey,Robert Hand, Michael Munkasey,Thomas Shanks, and many otherastrologers. I was soon one of thegang. And I continued to programand explore little-known andunknown techniques. And all of thistime I was struggling to makeenough money to pay the bills. Bythe fall of 1975 I had two kids and allthe attendant responsibilities that gowith them. And then in 1977microcomputers appeared on thescene.I lived by my wits, my sense ofdiscrimination, and the basic goodtaste in color and style that my artistmother had instilled in me. Still itwas very difficult to make a living,especially as an astrologer. It wasall Margaret could do to care for twokids and make sure they had whatthey needed in love and attention. Iwas always there with them butoften distracted by either myresearch or in trying to come up withnew ways of finding income. At leastmy body was there. In later yearsmy mind came back into the bodywhich made for a better father. Itseemed back then that there was nolight at the end of the financial

tunnel but a change was coming:microcomputers.I pretty much lived and breathedprogramming and astrologicalcalculations. I had followed theprocess of calculation up from logtables and paper & pencil to the 4-function calculator, to programmablecalculators, to more sophisticatedprogrammable calculations, and soon. Up until then if I needed anylarge computer work done it had tobe on a mainframe with the help ofmy friend David Wilson. And nowthere was talk of home computerson the horizon. That would be adream come true when it happened.Photo: Commodore PETI practically lived atNCE/Compumart at 1250 NorthMain Street in Ann Arbor. That waswhere microcomputers could befound even before they could befound. I lived at 1041 North Main soit was only a few blocks away.Compumart was more like awarehouse than a consumer storeand had huge behemoth computersstacked up against their walls andall kinds of parts and computerboardkits strewn everywhere invarious states of functioning. Muchof what they had was way toocomplicated and required adedication to hardware that I didn‟thave in me. I was a software guyand they had mostly do-it-yourselflogic boards, interfaces, and stuff Ididn‟t know much about. Butnevertheless I wandered their aislesin wonder at it all and dreamed ofthe home computers to come. AndCompumart had one reallyremarkable sales person, a fellowname John Johnson. He helped tobring all that computer stuff to life forme.What I wanted was my owncomputer, one that I could just turnon and not have to solder and piecethe thing together. And homecomputers were not really out yet,so I waited and waited. I put myorder in for one of the very firstCommodore PET 2001-8 (PersonalElectronic Transactor) which wasreleased in 1977 at a price of $795.Does anyone but me remember theyellow demo PETS that receded thereal article in the stores?I would try not to, but could not helpbut watch each day for the UPStruck to come down Main Streetwhere I lived. I was waiting for myfirst computer and knew thatsomeday my own personalcomputer would arrive, aCommodore 8K PET. And then oneday it was my turn. The UPS truckpulled into the driveway and I hadmy own microcomputer. It was like aliving in my own dream to finallyhave a computer of my own and Iknew just what to do with it. It wasthe key to my future and I intuitivelycould feel that.Although Apple got all the press, theCommodore PET was IMO a muchbetter computer and more complete.I used to have to load floating-pointBASIC into my first Apple fromcassette just to do ordinary math.With the Commodore PET I justturned the machine on andeverything was ready to go. I had acomplete astrology program running

in 1977 and this includedgeocentric, heliocentric, Equatorial,and Local Space (azimuthal)coordinates and then some, all in 8Kof RAM, which is 8192 bytes ofmemory space. A gigabyte or RAMtoday is something like a billionbytes of space. Go figure.I was soon programming everythingI could think of in astrology on myCommodore PET and telling otherastrologers about it too. Iencouraged my fellow astrologers todo what I was doing: get themselvesa computer and program it. Thisdidn‟t happen. Astrologers wantedcopies of my programs so theycould just get a computer and be offand running. I didn‟t blame them.Math and programming was not myfirst nature either. Of course Iobliged and pretty soon I wasspending most of my time copyingand verifying cassette tapes ofprograms I had written and puttingthem in the mail – very tediouswork. I didn‟t even charge for them.The demand got steadily greater formy programs.I was still barely supporting myfamily as it was and before long Ihad to make a decision and itactually was quite a spiritualexperience. It was almost like avoice spoke from inside sayingsomething like: You can stopsharing your programs and devoteyourself to the astrological researchyou love while you find ways tosupport your family or you candivide your time between researchand charging for your astrologyprograms and not have to struggleso much for work. The secondchoice seemed best and with that Iwas soon in business. I had tocharge from my programs and I did.I called my company “MatrixSoftware,” not after themathematical term „matrix‟ but afterthe word matrix meaning “womb” orbirth place. For me this was thebirthplace of astrological computing,and so it was for many. As it turnsout I was the first person to producecomputer programs onmicrocomputers and share themwith my fellow astrologers, at first forfree and later as a business which isstill going some thirty-three yearslater.I thought it was very funny whenone quite-famous astrologer (not tobe humiliated here) wrote me anasty letter telling me that I had noright to charge anything more for myastrology programs than the cost ofa cassette, mailer, and postage. Ofcourse this particular astrologer waskicking himself that he had no wayto cash in on what he could now seemight become popular. Thank youvery much!Photo: Matrix Magazine, Vol. 1

Matrix Software was incorporatedearly in 1978 and I started “MatrixMagazine,” a journal that wasdedicated to sharing astrologicalalgorithms and technical informationrelating to astrology. Some of themost prominent astrologers in theworld contributed or participated inthe magazine and a good time washad by all. Matrix Magazine shareda wide variety of astrologicalprograms with the community and alot of fun was had as well.Of all the astrologer-programmertypes I met somewhere around thattime, the most important andinfluential was James Neely. Let mestart out by saying that “Neely” isnot his real name, but a name heused when he interfaced withastrologers. His real job was suchthat „astrology‟ might not enhancehis career prospects, something likethat. Neely was older than I was andknew just about everything I wantedto know about astronomicalprogramming, and he was willing toshare his knowledge. Neely was notan astrologer. In fact, all whocontributed to Matrix Magazinereadily shared information with oneanother. As a child of the 1960s, thiswas just natural for me.Neely and I soon became goodfriends and he was featured in themagazine and given specialreverence and appreciation by all.Neely was also just a really greatperson to know and became for mesomething like a father figure andmentor. I looked up to him. AndJames Neely also helped me tolearn astronomical programmingand readily contributed not only toMatrix magazine, but also to MatrixSoftware, which was increasinglycoming into its own. However, Neelydid not want to get a royalty or bepaid for his contributions. I am notsure just why, but perhaps it had todo with taxes and acknowledgingoutside income. What he did allowwas for us to send him equipmentas he needed it, which we happilydid.MATRIX SOFTWAREAs it turns out Matrix was the firstastrological software company in theworld, and even today is one of thetwo oldest software companies stillin existence on the Internet, theother (and older) company being alittle company called Microsoft, soan article written for the magazine“Red Herring” pointed out. That‟s oldin computer time.Today we can just go downtown andbuy a printer for our computer butback then there were no printersavailable, so my first printer was aconverted Teletype machine thatweighed about 70 lbs. and was twofootsquare or more. I could barelylift it. And there were no wordprocessors available. I had to writemy own type justification routines toprint out my first book, “Manual ofComputer Programming forAstrologers,” which I then traded tothe AFA (American Federation ofAstrologers” for enough money tobuy a real printer. That is all I evergot for it. Talk about salad days.Why me? There is only one reason:because I did it. There were otherastrologers with far more proclivityfor programming than I, but nonethat cared enough to do it. I was thefirst astrologer to program astrologyand make it available on homecomputers for my fellow astrologers.And in the beginning, as mentioned,I didn‟t even charge money for myprograms. I gave them to anyone

who had a computer that could runthem and was happy to do so.The only other astrologer I knewwho was into programming was RobHand who had a little Wangcomputer that he programmed.When I wanted to start Matrix I didnot want to step on anyone else‟stoes so I called Rob and told himabout Matrix and asked if there wasany conflict with his future plans. Hetold me that he had no intention ofselling software and that I had hisblessing. Then, about a year or solater, I found out he had startedAstrolabe and was selling software.I had never heard this from him buthad to discover it myself. I calledhim and reminded him of hisstatement to me and his only replywas “I changed my mind.”It is not like astrologers by naturetook to the computer right off. It wasjust the opposite. Astrologers as agroup were computer-phobic fromday one and only slowly warmed toa machine that could do thecalculations they did by hand. Theridiculous old log-table rituals ofcalculating a chart were their secretand many saw the computer as anunwanted intruder into their ancientscience. But the forward-lookingastrologers (and aren‟t allastrologers supposed to be futureoriented?) could see the advantageof having a computer and I began toget more requests for my freesoftware than I could fill. Asmentioned, soon I was spendingalmost my entire time recording andverifying cassette tapes of programsfor my fellow astrologers while Icould not pay my own bills. It wasaround then that I began to chargefor my programs. Even this was notwelcome, and this is one of myfavorite stories:Photo: Circle Books Calendar 1979I received very many more poisonpenletters when in 1979 I put acomputer on the cover of anastrological calendar that my brotherStephen and I had been publishingsince 1969. The calendar is stillpublished today, some 42 yearslater! But at the time the photo of acomputer with an astrological aspectgrid on its screen was just too muchof an affront for many astrologers tobear. They hated it. However, moreand more astrologers of anotherinclination loved it and actually couldsee the future, at least when itpresented itself.I could go on and on but I will givejust one more example of the oldsaying that “No good deed goesunpunished” and this had to do withthe advent of the firstmicrocomputer interpretationreports. Oh the horror of the thoughtwhen astrologers figured out whatthese written interpretations actuallywere. I remember one round tablediscussion at a major conference

where we were discussingcomputers and astrology and talkingat that moment of computerizedreports of chart interpretations. Thepoor woman who was assigned forour roundtable to monitor the doorjust stood by the entrance crying hereyes out about how horrible thesereports were for astrology and thatthey would take the bread out of themouths of working astrologers.Of course, just the opposite is whathappened. These little reports gaveevery astrologer the opportunity tosell a client $5 or $10 worth ofastrology when the client was not upto paying for a sit-down reading. Buteven here astrologers did not flockto buy computer software thatprinted out written readings, at leastnot publically. Instead, they calledus on the QT, after hours andunder-the-counter to buy these newreports because they knew theycould sell them but did not wantother astrologers to know theywould stoop to such a thing. Such isprogress.Of course, just a few years lateralmost every astrologer with acomputer had one or more reportsto offer their clients. And one otherstory is worth relating. It had to dowith the first time I went to a majorastrology convention to present mysoftware. I am not sure exactlywhere that conference was held, butit may well have been the AFA(American Federation ofAstrologers) conference in NewOrleans in 1980. That sounds aboutright.Although I was the only personcreating and marketing astrologicalsoftware for home computers, thatdid not mean I had no competition.There was one dedicated machinethat did astrological calculationsfrom a company named DigicompResearch called the DR-70. It was alittle hard-wired computer that camein a neat closed case like atypewriter and cost a couple ofthousand dollars. I will never forgetthat first day when I walked into thelarge convention hall where theastrology exhibitors had theirbooths.I had only one small card table anda couple of folding chairs. As Iwalked into the hall I looked aroundat all of the booths whereastrologers were busy setting uptheir wares. I was looking (ofcourse) for the Digicomp booth. Itmust be there somewhere, Ithought. Then it dawned on me. Atthe back of this large hall, stretchingleft to right along the entire backwall was Digicomp, not a booth, butfilling the entire room horizon withone vast display. It was devastatingto see.I set up my little card table, sat in mychair, and the rest is history. Withina few years Digicomp and the DR-70 disappeared from the scene andmy programs and Matrix Softwarebecame the weapon of choice forastrologers who had computers andby that time almost all of them hadcomputers.As mentioned, Matrix started in mylittle office on the second floor at1041 N. Main street in Ann Arbor in1977. Three years later on March 1,1980, the coldest day in the winteras it turned out, my family and Imoved three hours north to BigRapids, Michigan. It was a smallconvoy of one UHaul trailer and twopickup trucks. We had found a smallhouse in Big Rapids for about$30,000 and we moved in. I had

never dared to imagine that I couldown a home because it seemedbeyond my most remote dreams.But all those little astrologyprograms and years of work made itpossible at least to put down a smalldown payment and move in. We did.As mentioned, the house was smalland could only allow me a smalloffice, something like 10x12 feetand here I sit some 34 years later inthat same little room. It is smallerthan my office in Ann Arbor, but Iwas and still am quite happy in it.My brother Stephen (who still livedin Ann Arbor) had begun to help mewith programming, taking overcreating programs on the RadioShack computer TRS-80. By thistime I was supporting theCommodore PET, Apple IIe, and theRadio Shack machine. Oh yes, wetried some other computers as welllike the Osborne II, Exidy Sorcerer,and several small programmablecalculators. And of course the IBMPC was huge. It was not longbefore Stephen and his familydecided to move north and join us.This was October of 1980.Well, it was not just me he wasjoining. My parents and three of myyounger brothers lived here, so itwas a gathering of the clan. Wemoved up to this small Midwesterntown to raise kids and give them thesame experience we had, the abilityto walk downtown without thedanger of anything happening tothem. Big Rapids still could supportthis kind of lifestyle. Ann Arbor hadgrown too large for small townexperiences. It was like going backin time and was worth it. Anyway, bythen and with two kids we wereusing less and less of Ann Arbor‟swonderful resources. It was as ifthey were not there. I was so busy Icould live anywhere and never knowthe difference.Photo: Matrix First ShopPhoto: Inside Matrix ShopThe Was Such a Thing as a FreeLunchBack in the 1980s, Matrix Softwarewas housed in three buildings in asmall complex in Big Rapids. Weactually had a free lunch foremployees every day Mondaythrough Friday. Better yet, on Fridayevenings after work we would havea big dinner for anyone on the staff,their families, and often variousguests from the community.Also we happened to have with us aremarkable chef named Martin Wolf,who was also a very fine poet. Hedid the cooking for the meals onFriday night and food seemed tojust appear soon after he enteredthe kitchen. Now folks, that was a

long, long time ago, way back in theday when such things as this werepossible. I don’t even know whereMartin Wolf is today. I include apretty poor snapshot of Chef Wolf inthe kitchen.Also shown here are some of themenus for the Friday-night dinnersdone by my brother Tom Erlewine,a graphics designer and artist.These menus are lots of fun. Lateafternoon every Friday, Tom wouldtake some time off from his dutiesas artist for Matrix and just kind ofstretch out a bit putting together amenu for the following week.These menus were posted for theemployees to see and employeeswould sign up for the followingweek. Some of you looking at thesemany even have attended a dinneror two.The Heart Center was founded inlate 1972/early 1973 just before thebirth of our first child. It was a veryspecial time for many reasons. Thewhole idea for the center came in avision, so let me tell you about thatfirst.I had stayed up late talking with anoccult scholar in Detroit. It was very,very dry and academic, so that bythe time I got back to my home inAnn Arbor, I had a headache orsomething like one. My head wascrammed/jammed with words thatmade little sense. I was literallynauseous.That next morning when I got up, Iwas really hung over and I had notbeen drinking. I did not feel well.Then a strange thing happened. Ifound myself dropping to the floorand going through a very exact yogaexercise, sometimes called “TheCat,” as in: a cat throwing up a furball. Anyway… my whole body wentthrough this spontaneous kriya andit was as if, like a snake, I shed myskin of all of that stuff from the nightbefore, and a lot more from my past.It was a transformative experience.In the midst of all this came asymbol, one I had never seenbefore (and I study symbols andcreate logos), and I took this symbolas the sign of this new era. I enclosethe symbol and a drawing I made atthe time that explained (at least tome) what I had gone through.With this symbol came an idea for acommunion center, and the conceptwould take a whole post if not asmall book to explain. Some of it isin my free book “Astrology of theHeart,” if anyone is interested. Thebottom line is that this was thebeginning of the Heart Center, aplace where people could cometogether and share experience. Thiswas in 1972 and the center is stillgoing strong now in 2010, some 38years later.The Heart Center has had literallythousands of visitors over the years,not to mention many astrologers,musicians, mathematicians,psychologists, and others who havestayed at the center, some for aslong as 4 ½ years! Most of the greatastrologers of the later 20 th centerwere guests at the center includingDane Ruhdyar, Charles Jayne,Michel Gauquelin, Noel Tyl, RobHand, John Townley, John Addey,Charles Harvey, TheodorLandscheidt, Roger Elliot, JimLewis, Angel Thompson, GloriaStarr, Steven Forrest, Jew Jawer,Neil Michelsen, Robert Schmidt,Axel Harvey, and many scoresmore.

At one time we had staying in thecenter a Sanskrit scholar, a swami,anastrologer/astrologer/mathematicianwho had worked on the equationsfor lunar theory, the head astrologerfor the Hari Krishma movement, allat once. Now that was fun mix.Originally the house had eightbedrooms, but some of those roomshave been reclaimed for other usesover the years. I know I took overtwo of them myself, for variousreasons. In recent years the centerhas also been a refuge for a greatmany young musicians, who havecome to record in our studio or justcrash for the night. There have beenmornings when I have come into thecenter to find every bed filled, everycouch occupied, and sleeping bagsall over the floor - that kind of thing.Over the years, the center has heldmore and more conferences,teachings, and visits by dharmapractitioners and very high lamas.The list of distinguished Kagyulamas who have taught and/or givenempowerments at our center includeHis Eminence Tai Situ Rinpoche,His Eminence Shamar Rinpoche,Ven. Traleg Rinpoche, Ven.Thrangu Rinponche, Ven. KhenpoTsultum Gyamptso, Ven. KhenpoKarthar Rinpoche, Lama Namse,Lama Karma Drodul, Lama YesheGyamtso, Lama Lohdro Lhamo,Lama Kathy Wesley, and manyother dharma teachers.Today the center still offersWednesday night dharmadiscussions along with meditationinstructions and the occasional lamavisit. There you have anintroduction, so let‟s look at thephotos and I will add someadditional comments there.Heart Center HouseHere is the main building tuckedaway in the center of a quiet block inBig Rapids, Michigan. Our home isright next door to it. You can see afaded Dream Flag flying on aflagpole in the upper right, the flagdesigned by the 16 th GyalwaKarmapa from a dream, which saidto him that as long as the dream flagwaves, dharma will grow andspread.Heart Center Mid-House ViewOn your left is the side entrance tothe Heart Center, and on the rightyou can see a little bit of our house.A patio-like area is in between thetwo houses. Mostly you can seesome of my Milkweed plants. We letthe middle and backyards grassyareas grow wild to attract morebutterflies, bugs, toads, andanything. The city won‟t let us do itin the front, but we mow around anyflowers, etc.

kinds of stupas and this one is an“Enlightenment Stupa.”The Main ShrineHere is a close-up of the mainshrine. It would be too complex tocall out all of the various statues, butsuffice it to say that our center isdedicated to Amitabha Buddha, theBuddha of the western direction,and also of death, dying, and thebardo. The large statue in themiddle is of Amitabha as well as thethanka painting just above it.Various offerings are in the frontrow, but the water bowls had notbeen filled for the day when I tookthis photo.Shrine Room and StupaHere you can see the walkway up tothe shrine room on the left and thestupa on the right. You can‟t see thestrings of prayer flags, but you cansee one of our bird feeders on theextreme right, although now it issummer.The StupaThis is our stupa, around which wecircumambulate. It containsprecious relics and other items andhad to be built and oriented just so.You can see the circular walkwaysurrounding it, around which wewalk in a clockwise direction, sayingmantras and prayers. Stupas aresaid to represent the mind ofBuddha for all beings, includinganimals, to see. There are eightHeart Center KitchenThis is the Heart Center kitchen,and many years of many mealswere prepared and shared here.The little stainless-steel bowl on thefloor tells me that we have a caninevisitor, a little female husky wholives here with my daughter MichaelAnne.

movies, dharma films, and theoccasional TV somethings. This isalso where our dharma discussiongroup meets on Wednesdays, if it isnot in the shrine room.Heart Center Music RoomA little music room, with a piano,some drums, too many guitars, anda bunch of other instruments in thecloset. I can see on the pianoBartoks “Music for Children,” and his“Mikrocosmos,” and an old “SingOut Magazine” from 1960. On thetransom going into the kitchen at theback is a whole collection ofChinese Laughing Buddhas.Heart Center LandingHere is the landing upstairs (to theright), and the door to one of thebedrooms I took over for an office,which is mostly used for variousphotography projects. On the wall atthe left is a poster for my last gig asa musician in 1972, when I wasplaying piano and singing under thename “Ann Arbor [heart] Song].Heart Center BedroomOne of the guest bedrooms, each ofwhich has a bunch of books, sothere is always something to do.Heart Center Living RoomHere is another view of the mainliving room, which also has a sixfootor so video screen for watching

Upstairs HallwayHere is a hallway between groups ofbedrooms on the second floor.Along the walls of the hallway areimages of various Buddhas andBodhisattvas on the left, and thehistory of the Kagyu lineage master(thanka photos) on the right.Heart Center Dining RoomThis once was the dinning area, buttoday is an office and where mydaughter Michael Anne createssome wonderful paintings and otherart pieces. Some old posters I madefor my band are on the right, andback-right walls.My Secret RoomOk this room is out of control, and Ihave to claim it as my junk. Mostly itis what remains of my music CDcollection, with junk on the floor.Behind us are two more walls ofCDs. However, most of my CDcollection is gone as part of the All-Music Guide, and is now in awarehouse in Ann Arbor, over500,000 of them. That is a lot ofmusic.Heart Center BedroomA view into bedroom #5, which issimple but nice, decorated by batiksand appliqué work by my mother.

Heart Center SymbolThis is the Heart Center symbol,envisioned by me and drawn out forme by my architect friend StanleyDoctor, many years ago. Itrepresents a heart and a flame, theyounger and the older, each theinverse of the other. I like it.Heart Center Living RoomHere is the main living room. Thereare wonderful thanka pictures ofBuddhas and Bodhisattvas on thewall. The couches are comfortable,and the fireplace works. A videoprojector on the ceiling projectsfilms, etc. on a large screen on thewall behind.Heart Center Symbol ExperienceHere is a drawing I made of how theexperience or vision took place backat the time. I put the numbers in sothat you can get it in the properorder. I hope it speaks for itself.Heart Center Front porchA nice breezy front porch with aswing, and some wood for thewinter.Rinpoche’s Room

Heart Center HallwayThe top of the stairs, with a view intoone bedroom at the right and aphoto of a sand mandala above thestairs.This is the most coveted of all thebedrooms, because many, manylamas and rinpoches have slepthere. I am told by those who stay inthis room that they have the mostwonderful dreams. Also, there are alot of great dharma books to readand look at here.Side ShrineThis is a small shrine with variousstatues on it, including a woodenstatue of the Japanese BodhisattvaJizo (protector of children), given tous by our friend Roshi BodhinKjolhede of the Rochester ZenCenter, and a wooden standing ThaiBuddha, given to us by our friendMichael Katz. In the center is astatue of Guru Rinpoche, and abovea painted thanka of Vajrasattva. Thebuddhas of the five directions are infront.Main Shrine RoomHere is our main shrine room. Thereare several practice tables andcushions, not to mention a wholepile of cushions that you can‟t see atthe back right. The main shrine is inthe center, a second shrine is on theleft, and a small teaching seat is onthe right. There is also a drum forpujas on the left, and quite a fewpainted thankas on the walls. Theceiling is pyramid shaped.

Shrine Room SeatHere is the seat that visitingrinpoches teach from and there is apicture of the Ven. Khenpo KartharRinpoche, our personal lama on thesmall table. Behind in the corner is astatue of Manjushri, the bodhisattvaconnected to astrology, and aboveis a thanka of Guru Rinpoche. Don‟tforget the lotus lights on the left,which I first thought were cheesy,but now love.Heart Center VisitorsThe Heart Center has been thefocus for many workshops andconferences and has served as hostfor some of the most distinguishedastrologers, names like: DaneRuhdyar, Charles Jayne, MichelGauquelin, Noel Tyl, Rob Hand,John Townley, John Addey, CharlesHarvey, Theodor Landscheidt,Roger Elliot, Jim Lewis, AngelThompson, Gloria Starr, StevenForrest, Jew Jawer, Neil Michelsen,Robert Schmidt, Axel Harvey, anddozens of others. Over the years Ihave interacted with manyastrologers, including:Al H. Morrison, Alan Oken,Alexander Borg, Alois Treindl,Alphee Lavoie, Andrew Taylor,Angel Thompson, Ann Parker, ArchCrawford, Arlene Kramer, ArthurBlackwell, Austin Levy, Axel harvey,Barbara Cameron, Barbara May,Barbara Schermer, BarbaraSommerfield, Barry Lynes, BettyLundsted, Bill Henry, Bill Meridian,Bill Whisenent, Bob Cooper, BruceScofield, Buz Meyers, BuzOverbeck, Capel McCutcheon, CarlWeschke, Carol Mull, Carol Tebs,Carole Yawney, Caroline Rupert,Charles A. Jayne, Charles Emerson,Charles Harvey, Charles P. Jones,Charles S. Hocking, Christopher,Claude Weiss, Count Guy dePengern, Dane Rudhyar, David B.Black, David Cochrane, David W.Wilson, Debbie Kempton-Smith,Demetra George, Dennis Flaherty,Dennis Harness, Donna Van Toen,Doris Chase Doane, Dorothy Oja,Doug Kellog, Doug Pierce, DougSmith, Dr. Miquel Charneco, DulalKoley, Dwight D. Johnson, EdKluska, Edith Custer, EdwinSteinbrecher, Eileen Nauman,Eleanor Bach, Ellen Black, EricBloom, Erin Sullivan-Seale, EvelynButton, Evelyn Herbertz, FrancoiseGauquelin, Frank Piechoski, GaryChristen, Gary Duncan, GeoffreyDean, Gerald Markoe, Gil Herrera,Gilbert Navarro, Ginda Lasseigne,Gloria Star, Greg Meadors, HaloliRichter, Hank Friedman, HenryWeingarten, Ian McKinnon, IngridNaiman, James Braha, JamesNeely, James Williamsen, JayjJacobs, Jeanne Long, Jeff Green,Jeff Jawer, Jeffrey Horovitz, JimTwentyman, Jim Lewis, JoanNegus, Joe Osowski, John Addey,John Kahila, John Lawson Ahern,John McCormick, John Townley,John van Zandt, Joseph Vidmar,Joyce Wehrmann, Kelly Essoe, KenGillman, Ken Irving, Ken Mcritchie,Ken Negus, Kenn Gillman, KirkBrooks, Larry Pasavento, Laura DesJardins, Lawrence Ely, LawrenceLerner, Lee Lehman, Lee WayneHolt, Leyla Rudhyar, Lilian Pena,Linda Curtiss, Lois Rodden, LuciTitunic, Ludmila Lobenko, MadalynHillis, Malcom Dean, Maria Jossick,Marion March, Maritha Pottenger,Mark Lerner, Mark Penfield, MarkPottenger, Mark Urban-Lurain,Marria K. Simms, Martin Davis,Mary Downing, Mason Sexton,Maxine Taylor, Michael Helius,Michael Lutin, Michael Munkasey,Michel Gauquelin, Mohan Koparker,Murray SOuva, Narendra Desai,Neil Marbell, Neil Michelsen, Nick

Campion, Nona Press, NormanWinsky, Pat Escalvon-Hardy, PatWhite, Paul Hewitt, Prince HirindraSingh, Ray Merrimen, RaymondMardyx, Rebecca Romanoff, RichRogers, Richard Idemon, RichardNolle, Rick Levine, Robert Dontath,Robert Hand, Robert Knight, RobertSchmidt, Robert Thibodeau, RobertZoller, Robin Armstrong, RogerElliot, Ron Watson, Ronnie GaleDryer, Roxanna Muise, Rudolf Smit,Samuel Weiser, Sandra Lee Serio,Sange Wangchug, Sara Cooper,Serge Pollakof, Shelley Jordan,Shyam Sundar Das, SriJyotishacharya RamakrishnaShastry, Stan Barker, StephenErlewine, Steve Blake, Steve Cozzi,Steve Hines, Steve Pincus, SuitbertErtel, Susie Cox, SwamiKriyananda, Swami Prakashananda,T. Patrick Davis, Tad Mann, ThabitB. Qurra, Theodor Landscheidt,Thomas Shanks, Tim Smith, TomBrady, Tom Bridges, Tom P.santiago, Velma Chatman, VladimirBogdanov, Warren Kinsman, WayneMoody, William Eng, WilliamWhisenant, Zane Stein, Zip Dobynsof Contents for all major books andperiodicals on astrology.The library does not have regularhours, so contact ahead of time ifyou wish to visit.Michael@erlewine.net.Photo: Heart Center LibraryAbove: The Library CampusPhoto: Heart Center LibraryErlewine also founded and directsThe Heart Center AstrologicalLibrary, the largest astrologicallibrary in the United States, andprobably the world, that is open toresearchers. Meticulouslycatalogued, the current libraryproject is the scanning of the Table

y Erlewine‟s writing andediting and designed by histalented brother TomErlewine, each issue ofAstro*Talk was eagerlyawaited and thoroughlyenjoyed.Astro*Talk NewsletterIn 1983, Michael Erlewinelaunched the “Astro*Talknewsletter,” which was sent toMatrix customers andinterested astrologers. Asidefrom updates on newastrology software, it wasfilled with in-depth interviewswith famous astrologers, newsitems in astronomy of interestto astrologers and muchmore. In fact, so good was thenewsletter that no less acomputer expert thancolumnist than John C.Dvorak (even though he hadNO interest in astrology) sawfit to award Astro*Talk with hisdistinquished Silver Award forexcellence in computerorientedpublications. FueledMatrix MagazineIn 1978, Michael Erlewinelaunched Matrix Magazine,devoted to astrologicalcomputing, techniques, andthe algorithms that madethem work. Armed with littlemore than an electrictypewriter, Erlewine drewaround him some adistinguished group oftechnical astrologers, nameslike Charles A. Jayne, JamesNeely, Theodore Landscheidt,Noel Tyl, Robert Hand, Roger

Elliot, Axel Harvey, DougPierce, Mark Pottenger,Alexander Borg, LaurenceEly, and many other technicalastrologers. Instead ofhoarding the techniques thatmade his astrologicalprograms work, Erlewineshared them with the entirecommunity of programmingastrologers, not only throughMatrix Magazine, but alsothrough his book “Manual ofComputer Programming forAstrologers.” He published thevery same code that made hisown programs run. Why?Erlewine states “… because Iam a child of the sixties andsharing resources is just thenatural thing to do within acommunity.”The Matrix JournalMore than nine issues ofMatrix Magazine werepublished, eagerly awaited bytechnical astrologers theworld over. In time, MatrixMagazine was replaced by“Matrix Journal,” with the lastissue of that having beenpublished in 1992.Photo: ACT Panel: That is mein the center with the beardand plaid shirt.ACT: AstrologicalConferences onTechniques.Together with legendaryastrologer Charles A. Jayne,Erlewine founded ACT, whichwere a series of conferencesdevoted to the technicalconcerns of astrologers. ACTConferences were unique inthe astrological community,because instead of a lectureformat, they were all roundtable discussions, that alsoincluded audienceparticipation. A moderatorwas chosen who did just that

moderated both the panelparticipants and the attendingaudience.outreach materials. Michael isalso a lifetime member ofNCGR (National Council forGeocosmic Research).ACT Conferences were heldat both AFA (AmericanFederations of Astrologers)and UAC (United AstrologyConference), as well in othervenues. Typically, they wouldrun ACT sessions frommorning to night. Panelistsincluded the very top namesin the astrological field, manyof whom had never actuallyhad open discussion with oneanother. Because of theoutstanding quality of thosewho participated, ACTconferences were always wellattended and more than alittle lively. At least eight ACTconferences were held overthe years.Participation in AstrologicalOrganizationsAside from serving aschairman of ACT (AstrologicalConferences on Technique),Michael Erlewine has servedon a number of boardsincluding that of ISAR(International Society forAstrological Research), andtwo terms on the AFAN board(Association for AstrologicalNetwork), during which hehelped to produce theirnewsletter, and other

also during meals and freetime. A lot of fun was had.Astrological Conferencesby Michael ErlewineMichael Erlewine has plannedand put on many dozens ofconferences and workshopsover the years. Below is a listof some of the moresignificant ones, but there aremany more. Erlewineconferences and workshopswere not just your averageevent. The ones held at theHeart Center includedcarefully planned homemademeals and special fun eventslike tubing down the river andwhat not. And Erlewine wasalways careful to seespeakers and attendees werenot separated, but mixedtogether, not only during theworkshops themselves, butACT Conference at AFA inNew Orleans in 1980Act Conference at AFAChicago in 1982Act Conference at AFA 1984in ChicagoTibetan Astrology ConferenceJune 22-23, 1985Heart Center RetreatConference, Sept. 1, 1985Tai Situ Rinpoche at the HeartCenter, September 1985Heart Center MeditationRetreat Fall1985Ven. Thrangu Rinpoche atHeart Center, Jan 1986Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche atHeart Center, Jan 1986ACT Conference at UAC June26-July 1, 1986 San DiegoAFA ACT Conference in LAJuly 15-20, 1986Matrix Hindu AstrologyConference Aug 9, 10, 1986Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamptso atHeart Center Aug 25 & 26,1986Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche atHeart Center, Dec 12-14,1986

Family Dharma Weekend,July 3-6, 1987Act Locality Conference June30-21, 1987Act Hindu AstrologyConference, Aug. 8-9, 1987Shamar Rinpoche at HeartCenter, May 8, 1987Matrix Computer SoftwareWorkshop, June 22-23, 1987Meditation Workshop at HeartCenter, July 12-13, 1987Calm & Clear Mind Workshop,July 18-19, 1987Matrix Computer SoftwareWorkshop, Aug 10-11, 1987Natural Cycles ConferenceJul 30-31, 1988Eastern Astrology ConferenceJune 18-19, 1988Matrix Computer SoftwareWorkshop, August 1-2, 1988Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche atHeart Center. Fall 1988Neo-Astrology Conference,July 21-23, 1989Matrix Astrology SoftwareWorkshop, July 24, 1989Second Neo-AstrologyConference, Jun 23-24, 1990Act Conference AFA inChicago, July 1992Noel TylInternationally-knownastrologer and author NoelTyle (over 34 astrologicaltextbooks to his credit), hadthis to say about MichaelErlewine and his influence onmodern astrology:“Michael Erlewine is thegiant influence whosecreativity is foreverimprinted on allastrologers‟ work since thebeginning of the Computerera! He is the man whosingle-handedly appliedcomputer technology toastrological measurement,research, andinterpretation. He foundedMATRIX software longago, and from crucialalgorithms to interpretationzenith, Erlewine has beenthe formative and leadinglight of astrology‟s moderngrowth. After inventing thetechnological applications,Erlewine humanized it all,adding perception andincisive practical analysesto modern, computerizedastrology. Now, for asecond generation ofastrologers and theirpublic, Erlewine‟s geniuscontinues with StarTypes

… and it‟s simplyamazing!”Contact Michael Erlewine atMichael@Erlewine.net