Washington Post Obituary on Richard Houck

[Guest guest]

Dear Jyotisha,

 

I attach the following note for those who are interested. Richard lived no

more than two miles away from me and although we rarely saw each other, I

admired his dedication and enthusiasm to his field.

 

His passing reminds us that life on this earth is a very brief interval of

time.

Regards,

Brendan

 

 

http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29541-2001Apr2.html

 

Astrologer, Author Richard Allan Houck Dies

 

By Bart Barnes

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, April 3, 2001; Page B07

 

Richard Allan Houck, 53, a former computer security specialist who left the

world of high technology and became a full-time astrologer in 1992, died of

cancer April 1 at home in Gaithersburg.

 

Mr. Houck had a private astrology practice in which he consulted with

clients, and he wrote books and articles in astrology magazines, attended

seminars and gave lectures. He specialized in the forecasting of events in

the lives of individuals, based on the date, time and location of their birth.

 

His books included " The Astrology of Death, " published in 1994, which was

described by Sergio de Del Castillo in a newsletter of the Johns Hopkins

Medical Center as containing " strong evidence for the strange connection

between nature and the timing of events " and was described as " a powerful

reference tool that marshals copious evidence to reveal the correlations

between astrology and occurrences of death. "

 

In 1998, Houck wrote " Digital Astrology, " which described a Vedic

astrological technique as practiced in India for thousands of years. He

edited and contributed to a book, " Hindu Astrology Lessons. "

 

Mr. Houck was born in Des Moines and moved to the Washington area as a child.

He graduated from Good Counsel High School in Montgomery County and the

University of Maryland. For about 20 years, he was a computer security

specialist, and he was manager of computer security for Intelsat, Arthur

Andersen, Comsat and Geico. He was a former president of the Electronic Data

Processing Auditors Association of Washington.

 

During this period, astrology was an avocation that he pursued with

increasing intensity. He amassed a library of more than 600 books on

astrology, and he began studying the foundations of Vedic astrology, in

addition to Western astrology, based on the signs of the zodiac. After 15

years, he decided to make his avocation a full-time job and left his career

as a computer security specialist to practice and write about astrology full

time.

 

" Astrology was the first science, and it will end up being the last science, "

Mr. Houck wrote on his personal Web site. " It proposes that all phenomena in

the universe, no matter how large or small, are somehow synchronously linked

through common symbolic patterns. "

 

Based on the location and exact time of a person's birth, Mr. Houck forecast

the future from the study of charts that calculated the position of planets

with respect to the zodiac at that time. " Each birth chart is a geometric

structure that has completely unique objective and subjective elements -- and

for which an accurate time of birth is extremely critical, " Mr. Houck wrote.

" It sets up a series of subsequent cycles whose attributes are indeed

completely predetermined. "

 

Although specializing in events in the lives of individuals, Mr. Houck

sometimes forecast public happenings when he tried to forecast events for

public people. One year ago today, on April 3, 2000, he wrote on his Web

site, " I think that G.W. Bush is going to win the election. However, I must

say that the chart of GWB has, by far, the strangest win pattern for a

political election that I ever recall seeing. To my eye, there is no

traditional, sharply defined, 'smoking gun' pattern that one might expect to

signal a win on Election Day, and that's very weird. "

 

From time to time, Mr. Houck had given lectures on business astrology,

political astrology, the astrology of accidents, medical astrology, financial

astrology, consumer astrology, the astrology of winning a lottery, the

astrology of when Fidel Castro might step down as leader of Cuba and consumer

issues related to astrology.

 

He once consulted with the family of a kidnapping victim being held hostage.

From the calculations that Mr. Houck made on the victim's birth charts, he

was still alive and would be released in about nine months. That proved to be

the case.

 

Almost two years ago, Mr. Houck was diagnosed with rectal cancer that had

metastasized to his liver, lungs and lymphatic system. Anticipating his own

death, he wrote on his Web site last November: " I've wildly enjoyed the

thousands of friends, clients and fans I've developed over the past decade as

a result of my lecturing and writing in the field of hybridized

eastern/western astrology. . . . I've been very amazed by the depth of caring

and support that is out there. It's just hard to believe, and makes me look

at myself, and my afterlife possibilities in a much more positive light! My

very best to one and all. I'm sure we will meet again. "

 

Survivors include his wife, Paula Houck of Gaithersburg; his father, Allan

Houck of Santee, S.C.; and a brother, Ronald Houck of Richmond.

 

© 2001 The Washington Post Company