With his understanding of the markets now complete, and his proof of the validity of Gann’s system obtained through intensive large scale trading, Dr. Baumring began looking for something new to do.
Trading had become somewhat boring to him, now that the challenge was removed from it. His interest started to wane and he began to seek another outlet for his voracious intellect. He was not a materialistic person, and was not particularly interested in accumulating large sums of money, since he could trade whenever he wanted to acquire any funds he needed. Aside from his large book collection, had few physical desires, and since he had no children, there was no one to leave an unneeded fortune to. This left him looking for a new and different kind of challenge.
One of the unfortunate byproducts of his new level of understanding was the lack of people capable of communicating with on a stimulating level. Like Gann, 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 clear solution to his quest for some new engaging endeavor, which was to try 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 Seminars he called Gann Harmony: The Law of Vibration, A Distillation of the Insights and Wisdom of W. D. Gann also popularly known as The Investment Centre Baumring Seminars (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?
Now for the first time since Gann himself personally taught his precepts and his Course of Instruction, we shall be offering a comprehensive and elaborate Course of a similar nature. 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, along with much, much more.
Also presented for the first time will be a full discourse on the concept of the squaring of the circle as utilized by, and the secret to Mr. Gann’s favorite concept, that of the squaring of Price and Time.”
It is our plan to offer this Course of instruction to small classes only, in a series of 12 weekend workshops (2 full days) with the time between each workshop being approximately 3-4 months, and requiring something like 3 years to complete. One does not become a skilled surgeon overnight, just as one does not acquire the wisdom of W. D. Gann’s discoveries in a one weekend seminar.
We strongly emphasize this as we certainly want it to be understood that this course will entail a fair amount of time, it will involve its fair share of hard work and study, and that between each workshop there will be charting to be done, data gathered, books and papers to be read.
However, the foregoing is just one side of the coin - the hard work and the hard effort that will be required; on the other side (the reward one), what the student can expect is to have a well-defined trading discipline, that should be able to predict probable turning points in terms of time and price. While no system can be considered 100% effective, in the long run this trading system should produce a profit to loss ratio which strongly favors the profit side.”
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 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 his review of 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 or Course Manuals which Baumring presented to his students along with required reading lists necessary to elaborate the concepts into a complete understanding prior to each of the seminars, so that students could study the ideas in preparation for their further development and application at the seminars.
In his lectures, Dr. Baumring would tie these principles together with demonstrations in the markets leading the student to an understanding of a universal system of cosmology or natural order that lies both behind the markets and behind all physical phenomena. He presented a number of utterly original perspectives and concepts which had never before been even considered let alone taught by any supposed Gann “expert”, though fundamental to the essence of Gann, even though never described by him openly.
One such perspective is that the markets are a multi-dimensional phenomenon, observable in at least 3 dimensional planes (with a 4th dimension pulling in added influence), growing like a large molecule or crystal rotating in space and time, moving in and out of the Z plane, characterized by its specifically defined bonding angles made between the different atoms that make up its composition. Without understanding that the market is 3-Dimensional, twisting and growing just like a plant or a shell, governed by the phyllotactic laws of dual number series and harmonic composition and decomposition, all measurements taken on a 2-Dimensional chart are totally misleading. But this perspective explains why we look to the natural sciences and laws of order, or growth and form to understand a financial market, since a market is essentially a similar living organic form.
Another highly original perspective developed and only ever discussed by Baumring was in seeing a DNA coding behind the markets that was an equivalent to the sequencing of the amino acids that make up DNA and determine the function of DNA according to their particular sequencing. Baumring discovered similar sequenced building blocks within the markets and was able to read them to project market action into the future. One fascinating trick that he used to do at his seminars, was to have a student pull 3 daily charts for one year each at random from a selection of 50 years of daily charts, which he would then pull a forecast out of by observing the sequencing on those 3 samples.
Baumring would often translated the “metaphysical” or “mystical” concepts from the older esoteric tradition into modern counterparts: “astrology” becoming “numerical astrophysics”, celestial mechanic”, or “optics”, “numerology” becoming “number set theory”, “mystic symbolism” becoming “symbolic logic”, “sacred geometry” becoming “lattice theory” or “the projective geometry of light”. He often mentioned that these different branches of knowledge were merely various manifestations of one holistic cosmological phenomenon or universal ordering system, presenting itself in differing forms of “symbolic logic”.