I regret to announce that our friend Maria K. Simms passed away peacefully on 8 January 2025. Maria had a personality with many talents. It is therefore rather difficult to adequately honour Maria's legacy. The review of her astrological legacy alone can only be considered incompletely at this point. Personally, I was very impressed by Maria's art.
Maria studied the Hamburg School technique with Charles Emerson (co-founder of the Uranian Society, New York) in the early 1970s. Maria became particularly well known outside the USA with her book ‘Dial Detective’ - a book which explained the work with the 90-disc in more detail (1989). For 6 years Maria held the position of chair of the NCGR. The NCGR (National Council for Geocosmic Research) is one of the largest and most prestigious organisations in the USA with chapters scattered around the world.
Maria was married to Neil F. Michelsen, among others. Michelsen was the initiator and publisher of the world-famous ‘American Ephemeris’ (ACS - Astro Communications Services). At the request of Fred ‘Fritz’ Reider (Uranian Publications), Michelsen also calculated the ephemeris of the transneptunians with a computer for the first time for publication in a book.
In The Hague, 2007, we founded the ‘International Uranian Fellowship’ with Maria. In the pizzaria ‘Il Vesuvio’ we looked for a name together. If I remember correctly, the term ‘Fellowship’ was Maria's idea. The IUF often brought us together.
We were able to welcome Maria to Hamburg in 2009 as part of the IUF. In 2010 we published an article by Maria in the Hamburger Hefte entitled ‘Trends in annual horoscopes - world financial crises in focus’.
Maria has unmistakably left her mark on history, I will miss Maria.
