SOME CARTER "QUOTES"

On astrology in general:

"Our science, while it probably numbers more real students than ever before, is still scorned by the uninformed and misused by the unscrupulous. It does not much move us to hear the ridicule of orthodox scientists, who, however great they may be in their own spheres, know nothing of real astrology and consequently are incompetent to pass any valuable opinion as to its truth. But one wearies of the rampant misuse of astrological terms by charlatans who either cannot or will not trouble to become efficient astrologers, yet find that a liberal use of our terminology impresses foolish clients..." [From Carter's editorial in the very first edition of The Astrologers' Quarterly, December 1926]

On the power of thought:

"The idea is common in some circles that our thoughts are omnipotent and directly cause our circumstances; so that, from this point of view, it might be held that the stars affect our thoughts and, through these, our conditions. But the nativity does not lose its validity when the native is an idiot. Hence, while admitting that there is a great deal that is true in this view, we cannot agree that it covers the whole field of enquiry...." [From The Seven Great Problems of Astrology 1927]

On the unconscious:

"It cannot be questioned that the unconscious is a realm wherein the stellar forces are tremendously potent, since there is in this region of the soul nothing to check them. But it is doubtful if all the phenomena of natal astrology could be explained in terms of the unconscious, unless, indeed, we were to endow that mysterious factor with even more wondrous powers than some psychologists, seeking a deux ex machina to solve their problems, have already given it". [From The Seven Great Problems of Astrology 1927]

On the merit of using the simplest systems (of progression or direction):

"...we may distinguish between the results obtainable at the expense of great time and trouble, and those which may be got more easily and are the outcome of a simple but comprehensive system adapted to general use" [From Symbolic Directions In Modern Astrology 1929]
(In other words if the results are equal, why bother with the more complicated method)

On the pitfalls of prediction:

"The astrologer who predicts (by whatever means) when under bad 'influences' will probably regret his temerity. I speak from personal experience!" [From a letter in The Astrological Journal, Spring 1963]

On the Zodiac Ages:

"It is probable that there is no branch of Astrology upon which more nonsense has been poured forth than the doctrine of the precession of the equinoxes. Indeed, many, if not most, of those who have written on the subject have betrayed a complete failure to understand what the astronomical facts of this phenomenon are, although they may be ascertained from any good encyclopaedia. Such expressions as 'the passage of the vernal equinox (or even "of the sun!") through the signs' are, of themselves, plain evidence that the writer has not the remotest idea of the matter he is attempting to discuss. The vernal equinoctial point, or First Point of Aries, is the commencement of the twelve signs, and therefore can no more pass through the signs than the point 12 o'clock on the dial of a clock can pass through the twelve hourly sectors of the dial... What happens is that the First Point of Aries retrogrades through the twelve zodiacal constellations which did once but do not now correspond in space with the signs..."
[From 'Historical Cycles and the Twelve Signs', The Astrologer's Quarterly, December 1947]

On Astrology as a symbol of Freedom:

"It is certain that in a totalitarian State there would be no place for astrology, just as there was no place for it in Nazi Germany. For astrology cannot be twisted or made to lie. The German astrologers could not advise Hitler to invade Russia, seeing that Saturn was so very malefic in his natus. He refused to listen and did his best to extirpate astrology; but he could not alter his destiny." [From an Editorial in The Astrologer's Quarterly, December 1950]

"Under the Nazis...astrologers were persecuted and their libraries destroyed. Fräuline Brüll-Neuda, who translated two of my books into German, was brutally done to death." [From an Editorial in The Astrologer's Quarterly, June 1951]

On the Ascendant as a Mask:

"Recently we have heard a good deal to the effect that the rising sign, and in particular the ascending degree, is a mask which the native wears before the world but which conceals his true self.
As I have stated in the Lodge, this proposition does not seem self-evidently true. It seems to derive from the practice, in Alan Leo times, of correlating the Sun with the 'individuality' and the Moon with the 'personality', using these words in their well-known theosophical senses. 'Personality' is further derived from the Latin persona = something one makes a noise through, hence a mask such as actors were wont to wear, with a wide-open mouth. Then, apparently, this idea of a mask was transferred to the ascending sign...
I suggest that it is not the rising, but the setting degree, that is more truly a mask, for it is through this that we contact other people, and unless we have very strong personalities (in the usual, not the theosophical, sense) we do modify our demeanour according to the man or woman who confronts us..." [From an Editorial in The Astrologer's Quarterly, September 1951]

On Statistics:

"Statistics are weak in that, unless they can be spread over many lands and long periods of time, they may always be attacked on the grounds that they reflect only local or temporal conditions. Astrology stresses this weakness, because it teaches that places and times have their own specific astrological characteristics, and all births that take place within the limits of such times and places must be affected by these. For example, I may find that in my case Mars in 0° Pisces has a certain effect. But it may be that if most of my maps are drawn from a certain country or belong to a certain epoch, this significance of Mars in 0° Pisces is really based upon the fact that in the horoscope for that country or that period of time another body occupies 0° Pisces. Suppose that in the map of England, as a nation, Mars were in 0° Pisces on the cusp of the 3rd, then it would naturally follow that, in a number of maps for this country, planets in 0° Pisces might seem to indicate accidents on short journeys; and indeed they would indicate this; but it might be found that in maps for the United States there was no such significance. This, then, is a drawback to statistics, and we must suspect statistical facts unless we can see a reason for them, or unless we can spread our data over wide periods of time and over different lands." [From the Introduction to The Astrology of Accidents 1932]

On the drastic action of Uranus in transit:

"One bitterly cold January night in 1919 he (Uranus) was exactly on my ruler. I was being driven from Cologne along an icy road to the small town where we were quartered. The officer driving was mad-drunk. I wont go into details, but I - and the rest of us - had a narrow escape from a very unpleasant death.
The late George H. Bailey, my very good friend and (in matters of mathematics) my stern monitor, did not believe in transits. He was operated upon on the very day when transit Uranus was on his ruler, the Moon. Everything went wrong and after two or three agonizing weeks he expired, and I was left to cope with astro-mathematics as best I can!" [From a talk on 'The Part of Uranus' at the Astrological Lodge in April 1967. Quoted in The Astrologer's Quarterly, Winter 1973]

A New Year's Resolution (January 1952):

"To spend little time - and even less space - on hypothetical horoscopes"
[Quoted in The Astrologer's Quarterly, December 1951]

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