Monthly Archives: September 2022

Dematerialized

A glance at the cover of the recent Marcia Moore biography and crime story tells us much about the publisher and authors’ bias.  The astrologer and yoga teacher is presented as a disturbed, evil child, looking like Madonna playing Baby Jane.  Apparently it’s still difficult to overcome the centuries-old feeling that occult and metaphysical practices are inherently immoral, and that practitioners are often unscrupulous con-artists or unstable drifters.

In Dematerialized: the Mysterious Disappearance of Marcia Moore, spouses Joseph and Marina DiSomma have capitalized on the current vogue for astrology and interest in the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs.  While they do not overtly disparage Moore’s practice of astrology, yoga or past-life regression, they nevertheless seem to present a morality tale about the dangers of involvement in the metaphysical sphere.  Marcia’s disappearance and death in Washington state in 1979 at the age of 50 drives the book, which skews our understanding of Moore, her life and work.

Marcia Moore had natal Neptune squaring her Sun and Venus, and Neptune was closely trine her 10th house Jupiter.  So it’s not surprising that Neptune would figure prominently in both her life story and the mystery of her death.  When she disappeared, her progressed Midheaven was sextile her Ascendant and square natal Neptune, while transiting Neptune conjoined her singleton Saturn and opposed natal Mercury, ruler of her 3rd and 12th houses.  It must have been a challenging and confusing time.  Moore suffered from arthritis in a hip for several months before her death, and the previous year brought her experiential work with her husband on the dissociative drug ketamine, which has some hallucinogenic effects.  (More on her chart here.)

The DiSommas did an enormous amount of research, had the full cooperation of the investigating detective and access to sheriff’s case files, a close friend’s diary and Moore’s letters.  Marcia’s daughter, second husband Louis S. Acker and many other friends and family members also assisted the amateur sleuths with documents and information.

However the authors remain outsiders to the world of astrology, and, perhaps also due to their inexperience as writers, do not convey much empathy for their subject or understanding of her studies and expertise.  While they acknowledge Marcia’s generosity and idealism, she’s often portrayed as a willful New Age zealot without a center.  The true crime genre is dependent on its villains, and sometimes black-and-white judgments are also made on others in Moore’s life.  While her horoscope shows she might expect notable relationship issues, her first husband is depicted as an alcoholic failure; her third as a sycophantic sponge, abuser and embezzler; and her fourth as a sexual abuse survivor turned drug addict who manipulated his wife and others for his own ends.  As an M.D. he probably should have taken more responsibility for Marcia’s health while injecting her with the anesthetic ketamine regularly for six months while they worked on their book about it together.

And indeed, in August of 2022, a Moore family member said in an Amazon review that “descriptions of some individuals borders on libel,” and that the writers “filled their knowledge gaps with unfounded assumptions.”  The fact that all of the principals are now dead may have added to the impulse to judge or fictionalize.  As first-time authors, their prose is not the slickest.  Much testimony is quoted verbatim, and the decision to leave misspellings “as is” often makes for an annoying read.  The book is excessively annotated but there is unfortunately no index.

Astrologers and psychics who offered tips to the sheriff’s office are shown as complicating their efforts.  Someone suggested Moore’s death was an assisted suicide, another that she simply dematerialized into another plane (hence the title).  Some may have come close to indicating where the astrologer’s remains would later be found, but we still don’t know exactly what happened.  The book suggests a solution to the crime and the authors make a somewhat plausible case for it, but their final witness and certain details are not the most compelling.

However the DiSommas fill in the background on Marcia’s family in Concord, Massachusetts, and their long-standing interest in Theosophy, astrology and meditation.  They share the alleged perpetrator’s chart and provide some information on the horary asked of Seattle astrologer Dorothy B. Hughes as to Marcia’s disappearance (though the exact time is only given on Astrodatabank).  There are lots of photos and we get a look at the New Age wave of the 1960s and 1970s.  So if you can swallow the undercurrent of disapproval of Marcia Moore’s ideas and lifestyle, Dematerialized has something to offer.

Buy Dematerialized on Amazon.

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Marcia Moore, Mars and Uranus

Sometimes a planetary pattern is so prominent that it dominates the chart and has an enormous influence on a person’s life.  Yoga teacher and astrologer Marcia Moore’s horoscope is a good example.  Her Mars closely conjunct Uranus on the Midheaven explains her celebrity, attraction to New Age topics, multiple marriages and even her tragic death.  A new biography, Dematerialized, reveals much about her life and claims to have solved the mystery behind her sudden disappearance in 1979.

The 10th house relates to reputation and position in life, our status or standing.  This may indicate career, fame or notoriety, parents and even marriage (I’ve often seen significant life developments like the birth of children, marriage or divorce when the 10th house is activated).  Marcia Moore had her Mars, Uranus and MC in the sign of Aries, a dynamic and powerful combination that brings out the forcefulness of the planets and also suggests changing fortunes and the potential for controversy.

As second husband Louis S. Acker later said of Mars conjunct Uranus in The Astrologer’s Handbook, the combination can be challenging and may include:

“… impulsiveness and precipitate action… The natives cannot bear a dull life and constantly seek excitement through danger and unusual action.  Courage and decisiveness are prominent, but unless factors in the horoscope indicate otherwise, prudence is lacking.”

Many of these statements could be said about Marcia Moore.  She also had a charismatic personality, attracted attention, and brought innovative ideas to many lives as she rode the New Age wave of the ‘60s and ‘70s.  Since the 4th-10th house axis also represents the home and parents, she came from an unusually prominent family.  Her father was a successful hotel magnate, and Marcia was supported by trust funds, giving her great independence.  Moore’s father was also keenly interested in Theosophy and astrology and donated millions to support the work of Alice Bailey and others.

With the Sun in Gemini sextile Mars and Uranus, Moore had quite an eventful life.  She was led by intellectual and inspirational, rather than practical or realistic goals.  Each of her four husbands shared her interest in astrology or metaphysical subjects, and she married again each time shortly after her divorces were final.  Marcia moved to India for a year with her family in 1955 and studied languages and yoga, never staying in one place for very long.  After they returned to the U.S. she studied yoga intensively with Swami Vishnudevananda in the summer of 1960 near Montreal and returned to Concord, Massachusetts to teach yoga.

Marcia became somewhat famous after she was featured in Jess Stearn’s best-selling 1965 book, Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation.  Stearn recounted his experiences studying yoga with Moore, and featured photos of her perfectly executing many difficult yoga poses.

Marcia learned more about astrology after her short-lived marriage to Louis S. Acker, who was 12 years younger and still in college when they married.  Moore went on to write several basic yoga and astrology books with third husband Mark Douglas.  (Most are out of print as they were self-published, but some can be found second-hand or online as PDFs.)

When she left Douglas, Moore landed in Ojai, California.  She continued teaching yoga and began lecturing on astrology and past-life regression, which she’d been practicing.  Youthful and communicative, she traveled widely to speak with local groups and appeared in television interviews.  Her 1976 book Hypersentience recounted her experiences regressing herself and others.

Marcia married for the fourth time at 50 after meeting Dr. Howard Alltounian, an anesthesiologist, at one of her lectures in Washington state.  The couple quickly began collaborating on a book about Moore’s transcendental experiences using the anesthetic drug ketamine, a controlled substance that the doctor could obtain.  Marcia’s letters from the time express her attraction to the Uranian controversy that the project might generate, but the regularly injected doses of ketamine seemed to undermine her physical and emotional health.

A little over a year after their marriage, Howard returned from the movies one night to find Marcia missing.  Her life had ended with typical Mars-Uranus suddenness and perhaps even violence as well.  Two years later, a portion of her skull was found on overgrown private property and later identified from dental records.

No one has ever solved the mystery, but over 40 years after Moore’s death, the authors of Dematerialized piece together a theory.  Their focus is on the “true crime” angle, but they have also collected a wealth of information that illuminates Marcia Moore’s horoscope.

I hope to write a review of Dematerialized in a future post.

Marcia Moore’ birth data is rated A on Astrodatabank, Lois Rodden quoted Moore, who was her birthday twin.

Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation has gone through numerous printings in the 50 years since it was published, and is still available.

Moore’s Hypersentience is also available second-hand.

About my reviews and links.