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Yesterday David and Fei Cochrane flew into the Grand Rapids International Airport and drove up to Big Rapids where we live, about 49 miles. We had not seen each other since UAC (United Astrological Conference) in New Orleans in 2012. It was a good reunion, and Margaret and I had made dinner, including fresh corn-on-the-cob, steamed broccoli (with a touch of cayenne pepper), short-grain brown rice, a quinoa tabouli, our special humus, and so on. We had fresh strawberries on shortbreads with Greek yoghurt to top it off.

We are here with the Cochranes to merge our two astrological software companies (Cosmic Patterns and Matrix Software) into one seamless company and move the whole operation to Florida. Most of the Matrix staff will remain in the new company, with the Cochranes taking over day-to-day operations. I will stay on as an advisor and the founder of Matrix. I have been looking forward to this.

Each company will remain distinct and have its own line of programs, just as they do now, but both lines of programs will soon be able to read each other's files and segue from one to the other at the touch of a button. And there will be cross-pollination as users of both brands are introduced to one another through special offers and introductions. The range of program features and technical support will expand.

Over the next week here in Big Rapids the Cochranes will meet with the Matrix staff and coordinate the hand-off, culminating in the loading of a large moving van that will then be en-route to Gainesville, Florida, where Cosmic Patterns is located, and the new home of Matrix Software. Margaret and I hope to visit (and help out) in Gainesville, especially during those cold Michigan winter months.

But right now it is summer. We will be meeting in the Heart Center Astrological Library, where we have conference tables set up, with all kinds of snacks, drinks, and food for the days ahead. I may try to get some photos for you folks to see.

That's the idea; two companies merge into one, but still have their own distinct lines of products. All of us involved are very enthusiastic about the possibilities of this merger and our customers will benefit both from economies of scale and increased user-options and support.

I will close this blog with a little history of Matrix Software, first of all the origin of the name Matrix. Where did it come from? It came, like all things, from my mind and I was not thinking of the mathematical use of the term matrix (as in: matrices), not at all.

Instead, I chose the word Matrix because of its meaning as "womb," that from which all things are born. This was in the mid-1970s. There I was in a little house on North Main Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan, right across from the junk yard. Beyond the junk was the Huron River. And we had two train tracks at right angles to one another only a few houses from where we lived.

What this meant was that every night as the huge freight trains tried to take the sharp bend from the north-south direction to another at east-west, they had to slow to a crawl. And the bending of the tracks would cause them to screech and cry like some vast beast in the night. I still remember that sound and, believe it or not, it is comforting.

Anyway, there I was, a complete unknown in astrology, sitting in my little office room deciding to name my new company "Matrix" or womb because somehow I knew that from this womb would come some part of modern astrology. We had zero money, and I made what little we had by doing personal astrological readings and giving classes in astrology at night.

And that name Matrix was prophetic in that, in fact, I became the first astrologer to program astrology on microcomputers and make those programs available to my fellow astrologer. In the beginning I gave my programs away to anyone who wanted them, but pretty soon I was spending my entire day copying and verifying cassette tapes. This was before floppy and hard discs were available. Everything was on cassettes.

Well the short story is that I finally had to charge for my time and Matrix Software became a business. That was in 1977. And here we are in 2013 merging with our friends Cosmic Patterns.

This brings us up to date. I want to say a few words about the image shown here. It came from Fei Cochrane, the idea of combining the two company names to make the name "Cosmic Matrix," a cosmic womb from which new things astrological will emerge. I like this idea very much and made up this graphic early this morning.

Wish us well on our journey!