At the Lodge - 31 March 2003

Lodge Lecture | Charts Discussion

Lodge Lecture

Astrology of Management Teams was the final Lecture of our Spring Term given by Andy Gray. It was a superb insight based on 'Towards a Corporate Alchemy' by Meredith Belbin.

Andy looked at the personality testing of Hippocrates, who started it all, Pavlov, Eysnick and finally Belbin. Hippocrates based his on the four humours of Sanguine, Choleric, Phlegmatic and Melancholic. Ivan Pavlov looked at the same humours, but did his experiments on dogs!

Meredith Belbin looked at the alchemical balance of a team. He looked at the definition described as a group of people brought together in order to meet a solution or objective. What makes a perfect 'A' team. (Remember the 70's programme of the same name). It is the best of what or who is available and everybody has a role to play. So there is the leader who has to have fire element, the co-workers with their earth emphasis, the mediator air and the designer water. Belbin's team roles are the preferred roles where the team members will be themselves. There is also a shaper, who dominates the team, demands results and shapes and directs team efforts. Of course there a completer, finisher who ensures delivery, check details and ensures that deadlines are met. There is even a plant.

Finally Andy put up a sample in the highly successful Monty Python Production team. John Cleese was the creator with Sun, Venus, Mercury in Scorpio (water) - Eric Idle with Sun in Aries, Moon in Capricorn and Leo Ascendant (Fire)Terry Jones with Sun and Ascendant in Aquarius, Moon in Leo (Air), Michael Palin with Sun and Moon in Taurus and also a Leo Ascendant (Earth) and Graham Chapman with Sun, Ascendant in Capricorn and Moon in Taurus (Earth). When John Cleese (the ideas) left the group the team folded.

Andy Gray is the Secretary the Astrological Association and the Suffolk Astrological Society. He is currently studying with Robert Zoller and is just about to mark four years continuously working on the Mystic Meg Liveline. Professionally, Andy is a Senior Designer and Consultant at the BT Research Labs. With Adrian Duncan, he designed and developed a system for delivering synastry reports to mobile phone users in Denmark, Spain and Croatia/Slovenia and is continuing to work with Adrian on a new astrological website due for launch imminently.

Carole West

Charts Discussion

Charts discussion, this week, was very close to home. The previous week 24th March had been more than eventful. Nick Kollerstrom had given us an excellent talk on the malefic star of Algol, and has he presented the lecture one could feel him becoming more worried as he described the chaos this star could bring when it hit anyone's chart. It is well known for blood, gore, decapitation, and horrible accidents. We were having the Lodge Ritual in the second half (so no chart discussion) and Nick made the comment that hopefully the ritual would clear the atmosphere of all the bad energy Algol could bring. Read on...

The Lodge Ritual finished and we were all saying our goodbyes when suddenly there was an terrible screech from outside followed by an almighty bang and a familiar car alarm going off. We all rushed outside and lo and behold a red Ferrari had been speeding along Baker Street at 90 miles an hour and had crashed into the back of Carole West's red estate wagon. Carole (Our Marketing Officer and joint Programme Organiser) had parked her car outside 50 Gloucester Place; it was now parked at 52!!!!

Luckily and gratefully Carole was not in the car at the time.

The car driver had cuts to his head and his passenger had bad cuts to her head. The crash caused chaos as Gloucester Place, a main road to the North of London was closed for a few hours. An astrologer, in the chaos managed to keep their head by shouting "What's the time?" It was 8.55 pm It is so wonderful that Astrologers always see the significance and the symbolism of such moments!!!!

The chart was produced by our President Claire Simms along with Carole's birth chart and a horary which Carole requested, 'Would she get the money from the insurance for her car?' All these charts were discussed in detail.

Finally Claire produced the chart of the first shot fired in the present Iraqi war and a debate ensued as to whether you took this as a pure competitive chart (as it was located for Iraq) and took the US as the Ascendant and Iraq as the descendant OR you took this as a moment in Iraq and how it effects the country and you should also produce a chart for the same time but located in London and Washington to see how the moment effects them. I just saw the grand trine of Moon/Venus/Saturn with the Venus in the 7th House and if it is a competition chart that didn't look too bad for the Iraqis. Watch this space.

Off on our Easter break for a few weeks now - next term starts 28th April, details on the programme page and front page.

Don't forget though our Spring Seminar 6th April. We've done the science and it looks a brilliant day!!!

Gill Dorren

Lodge Lecture | Charts Discussion