Gary Duncan
(Neil Llewellyn Bloch)
1931-1988

Gary Duncan, one of the most important research astrologers of this century, was perhaps the last of the old-guard technical astrologers (a group that also included the late Charles Jayne). Gary liked to point out that his mother, who studied astrology under great astrologers like Evangeline Adams and Max Heindel, was teaching astrology during the time she carried him. His given name was Neil Llewellyn Bloch, and the middle-name "Llewellyn" came from his mother's association with Llewellyn George. (Gary Duncan was an assumed name used for astrological purposes.)

He grew up around the Rosicrucian Fellowship of Max Heindel at Oceanside, California. From the very day of his birth, Duncan was steeped in the esoteric spiritual climate of the Fellowship. He gave his first astrological classes there at the age of thirteen. His namesake, Llewellyn George, became a close personal friend and subsequently introduced Gary to two very important persons in his life: Donald Bradley (Garth Allen) and Cyril Fagan.

It was Bradley who would become the primary influence in Gary's development. They became close friends and began to investigate statistically some of the claims that Fagan had made regarding sidereal methods. Gary, who had studied advanced mathematics from an early age, was still in high school at the time. He contributed to Bradley's work Profession and Birth Date (especially regarding some of the mathematical methods and probability studies).

Although Duncan has to be numbered among the more important Western siderealists, he was always quick to point out that while he did use sidereal methods, he was not a sidereal-"ist". It was during his early work with Donald Bradley that he became convinced of the efficacy of the sidereal methods, and ceased to take much interest in the tropical approach.

He performed many statistical studies. Some of his studies include 6,281 professional baseball players, 1,113 prize fighters, 7,000 doctors, and 8,928 members of the U.S. Congress. His most impressive piece of research, presented at the AFA convention in 1984 in Chicago but still not published, was Duncan's study of some 43,000 psychologists.

In making an assessment of Duncan's contribution to modern astrology, one runs into problems. Gary was very qualified in many disciplines and had a resume that was about a yard long. Among other things, he was a computer scientist and professiona l astronomer. He lectured in celestial mechanics, numerical analysis and statistics. He claims to be the first astrologer ever to use a computer and to have performed statistical work on these machines. This may well be true.

He made it clear that he had helped to develop the advanced lunar equations used by NASA for space work, while working at the Jet Propulsion Lab at Pasadena. I had the temerity to go to the fundamental JPL documents themselves and check this assertion out. And, indeed yes, the name Neil Bloch does appear throughout those documents. He was also very proud of the fact that he was the first astrologer to produce astro-geography maps on a computer, back in the 1950's. I have a copy of these maps as published in Llewellyn's Moon Sign Book in 1966.

Gary was also an excellent concert pianist, as many of us who have heard him play at the various AFA conventions can attest. He performed in movies, radio and on TV. At one point he was acclaimed the most outstanding musician in Southern California.

During 1986-1987, Gary spent some nine months with us at the Heart Center in Big Rapids working on our encyclopedia of astrology, Astro*lndex. Gary was, without a doubt, some kind of a technical genius. Yet, more important to me was the love for astrology he so openly displayed. Like Charles Jayne, Gary too was a living astrologer. To know him was to know what loving astrology was all about, and he communicated this love to all who came to know him. He has carried on the lineage of Western technical astrology. I, for one, miss Gary Duncan.

NOTE: A longer version of this memorial appears on the Matrix web site. This version and the photo are used with Michael Erlewine's permission.

BIRTH AND DEATH DATA: According to AstroDataBank, Gary's birth information, which is rated AA, from the birth certificate, he was born Neil Llewellyn Bloch on August 6, 1931, at 1:13 AM PST in Fullerton, CA, 117W56; 33N53. He died at the age of 56 of a heart attack on June 19, 1988, between 8:00 and 8:30 AM, in Marine-on-St.Croix, MN.

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