About Ben

In the video below, three minutes long, I discuss how I got interested in astrology and how it has affected my life. (The unedited video, thirty-one minutes long, is accessible from the menu bar above. The video was made by astrologer Kelly Lee Phipps. Two short excerpts of the video appear in his astrology documentary DVD Return of the Magi.) Below the intro video on this page, I give more of my history, and explain the purpose of this site.

Yogi, Esotericist, Astrologer

My introduction to serious astrology came when I was in high school, by the grace of a friend. At Vanderbilt University, I concentrated on psychology, and upon leaving the university in my senior year to pursue intensive yogic training, I immediately found myself instinctively concentrating on finding the psychological key to the mystic teachings of the world, the core principles of psychology embedded in the teachings. Subsequently, I discovered modern schools of esotericism with writings devoted to the same end. In 1980, satisfied with my momentum in that project (a fruit of the project is the graphic in the photo immediately above), I began concentrating on finding the closely related astrological key to the mystic teachings and applying my findings to the practice of astrology. Ever since, I have voraciously kept up with the astrological literature. I served as vice president and president of the onetime Nashville chapter of the National Council for Geocosmic Research, for which I was also a frequent lecturer. I have also given astrology lectures and workshops in Birmingham, Atlanta, and Saint Louis. Now, in 2009, satisfied with my momentum in my project to find the astrological key, I am starting the website astrologicalkey.com for astrologers and the general public to benefit from my findings.