Some History of Matrix Software By Michael Erlewine

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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”
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Some History of Matrix Software By Michael Erlewine

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