Skyscript Astrology Forum

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to let everyone know that Tom Callanan has stepped down as the Traditional forum moderator here on Skyscript. We are currently planning to announce the recruitment of a new moderator here quite soon.

In the meantime I want to put down a few words about Tom. I know he requested that his departure be unobstrusive and unmarked. But I am afraid I just cant let such a significant event pass without comment here (sorry Tom!).

Tom has been the traditional forum moderator here since the launch of Skyscript back in October 2003. In a sense he is the last link to the original team/troika that set up Skyscript with Deborah Houlding the site owner and the two original moderators Tom Callanan and Sue Toohey. Sue Toohey sadly passed away in February 2007. Deborah Houlding herself decided to step back from active participation on Skyscript several years ago due to health issues. So Tom's departure really is the end of an era.

Tom's efforts here were genuinely outstanding and he not only moderated but wrote and commented very comprehensively on many of the highest quality threads we have ever had here. Tom's had many interests in traditional astrology. Primary directions and astrological temperament for example which he has written extensively on here. He had studied with Noel Tyl but he embraced the traditional approach wholeheartedly after studying with John Frawley.

However, Tom's real specialism is the astrology of the 17th century French astrologer Jean Baptiste Morin. Its no exaggeration to describe Tom as one of the leading authorities on Morin's works in the astrological community today.

I will not deny I had my disagreements with Tom at times about some astrological topics (and some others!) here but I always felt I had had a good mental work out debating with him. That was very much the healthy intellectual climate of free enquiry that Deb encouraged here.

Clearly, the forum is not going to be the same without Tom. In many respects it had Tom's imprint all over it. Still, we are living in an age of great change everywhere so I guess we will learn to adapt eventually.

In case your wondering let me make clear this is not an obituary! Tom is very much alive and well. If you want to seek him out you can join his Morin study group on Facebook.

One great thing about a website like Skyscript is that you can always dip into to old threads from Tom, Deb and other brilliant astrologers going back many years. Its a refreshing contrast to the ephemeral nature of Facebook astrology posts! So drink deeply from the cup of astrological wisdom here.

In the meantime I just wanted to thank Tom for all he has put into this website since its inception (almost a full nodal cycle!)

Let me close with a link to an article Tom wrote on his favourite astrologer some years ago now:

http://www.skyscript.co.uk/morin.html

Below: Tom Callanan with Deborah Houlding in New York city during her speaker tour of the US in 2010:



Mark

Well-written, Mark. Tom has contributed to many interesting and thought provoking conversations on the Skyscript forum, and his active involvement as moderator will be missed. Thanks for all you did, Tom!

thanks mark and tom,

tom - thanks for all the work and time you put into making astrology better in your own way and for putting up with all of us, like we did with you!! all the best to you and hopefully you continue to post or challenge others here...

cheers
james

Profound thanks and appreciation to Tom, a shining light in the astrological community and a fine person. Best wishes in all that you do, Tom.

Thanks for all the work)))

Dear Tom,
I have learned a lot from you in the past 15 years.
Thank you and good luck!
Trojan

I too also want to express my gratitude to Tom and wish him all the best.

I especially appreciate his writing on Morin and Worsdale as well as his firm decision not to allow the mixing of the two Zodiacs in this traditional section of the Skyscript forum.

In the initial post, Mark mentioned Tom's Morin study group on Facebook. Would anyone happen to have a link to the group? It's proving tricky to find for me—and I don't want to plop down this request in the FB Traditional Astrology group as it might appear irrelevant to current discussions there.

PengLai wrote:

In the initial post, Mark mentioned Tom's Morin study group on Facebook. Would anyone happen to have a link to the group? It's proving tricky to find for me—and I don't want to plop down this request in the FB Traditional Astrology group as it might appear irrelevant to current discussions there.

Sure. I should have been more specific.

Tom's Morin study group is called Morin's method of determinations

Mark