Gann Harmony
The Theories & Teachings of Dr Jerome Baumring

There has recently been a resurgence of interest in the forecasting principles of W. D. Gann and correlatively the interpretation and explanation of Gann provided by the late Dr. Jerome Baumring of the Investment Centre. It is common for the new (and old) student of the Gann methodologies to be overwhelmed by a mass of disordered and conflicting material regarding the mythic figure and cryptic teachings of this great market master, W. D. Gann. The only proponent of the application The Law of Vibration to financial market forecasting since Gann himself was Dr. Jerome Baumring of the Investment Centre. There has been enough curiosity and confusion regarding Dr. Baumring to warrant a more detailed elaboration and clarification of the history and theories of this visionary analyst and philosopher.

Donald Mack, a highly respected market historian and scholar, founder of the Investment Centre Bookstore stated, "In our capacity as book suppliers to the world in our specialist area of stock and commodity books, we have met many who have been trying to fit together the pieces of the puzzle that is Gann. However, no one to our knowledge has come close to solving the mysteries inherent to the Gann methodology except for Dr. Baumring, whom we saw evolve from his initial introduction to Gann to a complete mastery some years later. So much so that we unequivocally state that he is the only person we know of that has solved every aspect that Gann wrote about."

Dr. Baumring was introduced to Gann while in traction recovering from a car accident which severely injured his spine (ultimately the cause of his untimely death). While in the hospital, someone gave him a copy of Perry Kaufman’s Commodity Trading Systems and Methods in which is presented a copy of Gann’s May Soy Beans chart which caught his eye. Dr. Baumring noticed on this chart a tiny almost indistinguishable point and arc which had been drawn with a compass on the chart. This sparked a flame in his imagination leading him to commit the next three years, 16 hours a day, 7 days a week to the understanding of Gann’s trading methodologies.

It was evident to Dr. Baumring that Gann was using techniques which were not outrightly presented in his courses, and that the key to deciphering his cryptic writings lay in an understanding of "how Gann used words". He realized that he would have to study everything that Gann himself had studied in his time in order to obtain a frame of reference coincident with that of the Master. Dr. Baumring approached Donald Mack and requested the use of his massive investment library, while accumulating an extensive personal library of old scientific, metaphysical and market works which Gann most likely would have had access to himself. Dr. Baumring read over 5,000 books in those years, a feat only accomplished with the help of a photographic memory and an ability to read 1,800 words a minute.

After three years of indefatigable research, even with his expertise in pharmacology and mathematics, his gift as a mechanic, and a background in Zen and martial arts, he had hit an unassailable wall. Faced with the prospect of failure, he awoke late one night to hear an inner voice direct him to his charts. As he sat down at his chart table, this voice walked him step by step through the final barriers to understanding.

After this breakthrough and its integration into a complete system which he called "Gann Harmony", Dr. Baumring turned to the markets to prove the validity of the system. He began with a $25,000 account and in less than two years compounded his investment into over a million dollars. Having proven that the system was capable of producing the promised returns, he then verified that it was applicable to all markets, doing a full analysis of and trading 18 futures markets and a selection of stocks. In order to prove Gann’s theories on a larger scale, Dr. Baumring traded for a silver hedging company. This was the time when the gold and silver markets exploded to their all time highs. Dr. Baumring had forecast the top of the silver market to within a three-minute window, and implemented a sophisticated strategy allowing him to transition from a position 200 contracts long to a position of 200 contracts short in a screaming exponential market. As the timing point for the top approached with the market moving as only commodities do at all-time highs, a gentleman he was advising was hesitant to sell at the timing point and asked if he could wait another minute. His hesitation cost him $60,000.

In an interview in the Herald Examiner on February 4, 1986, Dr. Baumring stated, "From now to the end of the third quarter, the market will be sideways or down, perhaps some 200 points (on the Dow). Then we expect a rally like 1927 to 1929, to 3000 or more by 1988 or 1989. There will be 400 million-share days on the market." At that time such high volume and volatility were unheard of, but a year and a half later when Black Monday scared the pants off of Wall Street, Dr. Baumring just smiled as he had been short five S & P options from the last high and had just made $120,000.

With his understanding of the markets now complete, Dr. Baumring began looking for another challenge. One of the unfortunate byproducts of his new understanding was the lack of people capable of communicating on a stimulating level. Like Gann, Dr. Baumring also felt an obligation, what he often referred to as a "karmic debt", to, as Gann said, pass on the enlightenment that had been heaped on himself in abundance. There seemed to be one resolution, to share his understanding of "Gann Harmony". Teaching this system would certainly be a challenge, would balance his "karmic debt", and at worst, would develop some stimulating interaction. We think it best to let Dr. Baumring describe for himself the results of his decision, so the following quotes have been extracted from his seven page announcement of a series of Courses he called THE INVESTMENT CENTRE STOCK & COMMODITY COURSES – A DISTILLATION OF THE INSIGHTS AND WISDOM OF W. D. GANN. (the complete announcement can be viewed here)

"Beginning with this announcement of our coming very thorough Course of Instruction in W. D. Gann’s almost unknown methods of analysis of stocks and commodities, we feel very strongly we must resolve the misinformation and misconceptions of this great, great man’s exceptional methodology. To put a stop to so much that has been wrongly propagated (generally by mostly sincere people) as to what Mr. Gann’s approach involved (such as astrology, angles, his numbered squares, cardinal crosses, and on and on), we unequivocally state that to the best of our knowledge nobody to date has ever dealt with, or has been able to even accurately explain The Law of Vibration which Mr. Gann with great authority said was the key to explain all phases of market action. Without properly understanding the basic laws relating to Vibration, of what value could any or all of the propagated so-called Gann concepts possess?"

"This Course begins with a thorough examination of The Law of Vibration, and thereafter progresses to Number Set Theory (Numerology), followed by the Law of Proportion as demonstrated by Geometrical applications, and going onward into the areas vital to Gann analysis such as harmonics, the mathematics of music, angles… When the area of Angles is studied,… (we) will clear away for the first time the misuse of the technique that has been propagated as " Gann Angles". To accomplish this we will turn to Gann’s own writings where he states in no uncertain terms that there is much more than just the Diagonal Angle, or as he says, ‘There are three kinds of angles – the vertical, the horizontal and the diagonal angle, which we use for measuring time and price movements’. Of the three, the diagonal angle is the least important."

Dr Baumring’s approach to interpreting Gann was to follow Gann’s clues and clear indications as to what were the necessary topics in need of understanding and application. Gann’s well known Ticker Interview (this full interview can be viewed at www.cosmoeconomics.com) states very clearly that the foundations of his system were mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy, harmonics, natural philosophy, "the universal law of causation and harmony", wireless telegraphy, etc., all summed up in the Law of Vibration. He was continually amazed to find that most Gann students and "experts" have very little knowledge in even one of these fields, let alone in all of them. How can one possible expect to understand Gann’s methodologies when one does not even understand the most fundamental principles upon which Gann says his system is based? How can one possibly be expected to predict the future when one does not even understand the principles and laws which govern the present? There is no question that without a thorough understanding of these principles it is IMPOSSIBLE to understand Gann! Dr. Baumring’s approach was to thoroughly educate his students in every field necessary to develop an understanding of the Universal System of cause and effect founded upon the Law of Vibration. He made this easier for his students by personally selecting from over 5,000 books the clearest and most easily accessible presentations of the exact concepts needed for an understanding of Gann’s methods. These presentations were collected together into a series of Notebooks which Dr. Baumring presented to his students along with required reading lists necessary to elaborate the concepts into a complete understanding.

In his lectures, Dr. Baumring would tie these principles together with demonstrations in the markets leading the student to the integration of a complete Universal System, or Cosmology. He presented a number of perspectives and concepts which had never before been considered, though fundamental to Gann, such as the markets being, at minimum, a three-dimensional phenomenon, exactly like a large molecule rotating in space, in and out of the Z plane, with DNA coding sequences governing the entire process. Without understanding that the market is 3-D, twisting like a plant governed by the phyllotactic laws of dual number series and harmonic composition and decomposition, all measurements taken on a 2-D chart become misleading. He translated the "mystic" terms of the esoteric tradition into modern counterparts: "astrology" becoming "numerical astrophysics, celestial mechanics, or optics", "numerology" becoming "number set theory", "mystic symbolism" becoming "symbolic logic", "sacred geometry" becoming "lattice and matrix theory or the projective geometry of light". He often mentioned that these different branches of knowledge were merely various manifestations of One Phenomenon in differing forms of Symbolic Logic.

Dr. Baumring taught using a methodology unlike those of our modern educational systems. He believed that in order for knowledge to reside as inherent knowing, an individual must recreate the process of discovery within himself. Jerry would regularly comment, "I am merely the Sherpa (guide, way-shower), you must walk the path yourself." This attitude is based upon the Christic principle he often quoted of "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for life." He made clear that even if he were to explain the entire process outright, it would be of no avail, for without the catalyzing power of insight attained only through personal discovery, the student would be unable to digest and integrate the principles. Now this does not mean, as many students and Gann seekers fear, that it takes some form of Divine Grace or Mystical Revelation to perceive the true workings of the market. Rather the process of study and research develops an insight into the necessary principles of Cause and Effect, Natural Law and its manifestation in reality, which are absolute prerequisites for an integrated understanding and application.

Robert Miner wrote:

"I have been lucky. Over a decade ago my most influential teacher of market analysis and trading, Dr Jerome Baumring who has since passed away, taught me to not only look at the market from radical new perspectives, but to prove everything out myself."

On a personal note, no mention of Jerry Baumring is complete without a few comments about his delightfully eccentric character. Jerry was the type of person who naturally used words such as "happenstance", "prestidigitation" and "isness". He was a master mechanic, and I more than once arrived for a lesson to find him elbow and undershirt deep in grease with his car disassembled on the ground. I would read while he put it back together, and to this day I carry a book everywhere I go, just in case. He drove an old Cougar and an old Mustang, and when I asked why he didn’t buy himself a decent car, he guffawed saying that the older cars were built with much greater quality than the newer ones, which contained unfixable computers and plastic parts, whereas he had built his cars with his own hands.

He had a similar fetish for his photocopy machines. In 1986 the copy machines did not have simple components and had to be taken apart to be cleaned, and many a night Jerry could be found past midnight with the copy machine in pieces all over the room. When told him he was wasting his time performing tasks a technician could do, he replied that by doing this himself he had learned that the gold wire in the copy mechanism was based upon the same principle used in the sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid to perform teleportation by the projection of plasma energy through the crystalline capstone.

Jerry’s primary form of R&R was book hunting all over the world. He would climb ladders and crawl on filthy floors digging into the deepest, darkest, spider-infested corners, and I’ll be damned if he didn’t always come up with some jewel everyone else had missed. He was a spontaneous not a methodical book collector. Jerry would stop at a garage sale and find some amazing first edition for a dollar while also buying the broken toaster for ten cents because the power cord was worth two dollars. As he toted his booty, toaster under one arm, book open in the other hand, upon mention that buying the toaster seemed silly, he would reply that it was a 2,000% return on his investment, and that didn’t include the book.

From the last anecdote it is not difficult to understand the continual state of his house and office. I once pulled out a chair from his book-piled dining room table, looking for a seat, only to find the chair laden with too many books to inconspicuously move. He hid his best books in his dresser with the most rare beneath his underwear. In the corner next to his side of the bed was a three-foot high and deep waterfall of books deposited there after his evening reading. His office was in a continual state of disheveled flux due to the massive amount of information continually being processed.

Dr. Baumring’s work hours were 8:00 AM to 4:00 AM Monday through Sunday structured by a 100% spontaneous schedule. As a private student one could expect regular phone calls between 1-4 AM, and lessons scheduled for 8:00 AM would often begin past midnight, or would occur in a distant hotel room while on a book hunting expedition. Strangely enough, the best lessons and deepest insights often occurred on the most unlikely occasions. Private students generally went through about 100 books a year, always finding or being given better and better material when ready. There is no student of Dr. Baumring’s who does not acknowledge the profound impact he has had upon their understanding of the Universe.

The current state of Dr. Baumring’s teachings, students, library and the like warrants clarification. Upon Jerry’s death, his widow, Dr. Wendy Baumring, was determined to assure that her late husband’s work and materials would remain available both to his students and to all those seeking a fundamental understanding of the methodologies of W. D. Gann or of the Universal theories upon which his methods are based. The Sacred Science Institute (also known as the Glass Bead Game) was formed in cooperation with Mrs. Baumring for the purpose maintaining the accessibility of the teachings and research materials of Dr. Baumring. All of Dr. Baumring’s Notebooks containing his selections of conceptual presentations necessary for understanding Gann, as well as his complete reading lists and the most complete collection of writings of the great Market Masters considered important by Dr. Baumring are currently and will remain permanently available. We have also organized a complete set of Lecture Notes of over 250 pages of Dr. Baumring’s direct teachings from all Nine Seminars, soon to be followed by the availability of several hundred pages of Lecture Notes from the lessons of private students. These have been released to provide the serious student with the resources and direction necessary for an understanding of Gann.

Dr. Baumring’s library also remains completely intact, and will be preserved in conjunction with two further libraries with a total of over 10,000 volumes, one of the most complete cosmological libraries in the world. From these libraries the rarest and most important books in every field of metaphysics, science, cosmology and the markets have been selected for publication with around 200 titles available now and another 400 to be added in 1999.

Dr. Baumring was very strict about presenting Gann in his most original and complete format. In response to these desires, we have released a series of Unpublished Writings of W. D. Gann, containing his most important works, never before available to the public due to their rarity, and organized in the original manner as presented by Gann. They include Gann’s unpublished course on the Master Time Factor which he sold for $2,500 in 1939, and a number of other unpublished forecasting courses, providing a complete supplement to the material currently available through Lambert-Gann. We have compiled a scientific collection including a series of courses written months before Gann’s death delineating his Mathematical Formula for Market Predictions and including, for the first time, the complete instructions for Gann’s Mathematical Price Time & Trend Calculator, as well as three other calculators with instructions. Gann students will be surprised at the added clarity derived from having Gann’s most important writings organized in their intended format.

Currently, there are a greater number of serious students of the theories of Gann as presented by Dr. Baumring than when he was alive, and there are new long-term Baumring students who, after many years of study and research have penetrated into the depth of Gann and Baumring's work and have now produced their own courses elaborating different elements of Baumring's teachings.

One such student is Catalin Plapcianu, whose work The Square provides many deep foundations exploring the nature of the squaring of price and time in multi-dimensional space/time. His coming 3 volume series will take Baumring students 30% of the way into Baumring's research.

Lorrie Bennett is another of our most advanced Baumring students, and her forthcoming 14 volume series on Gann and Baumring's work will literally crack wide open Gann's system of the Law of Vibration once and for all. Her first 4 Volumes, The Law of Vibration by the 1. Patterns, 2. Numbers, 3. Planets and 4. Geometry, will bring a new era of Gann Analysis to the world, laying out, for the first time, the true principles of Gann's system and the science behind it. See below for links to Lorrie's and Catalin's pages on this site.

The Institute of Cosmological Economics is committed to providing the best and most complete research materials to the seeker of Gann wisdom and market understanding. We are committed to publishing and bringing to the world the new breakthroughs in this science, fully elaborating for the first time, this little-known paradigm of financial and cosmological science.

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