New Astrology @ Crystal Source for 2014

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Update: (8/31/14)

Thank you to everyone who has attended the regularly scheduled New Astrology classes as well as Prediction Nights at Crystal Source. We are in a “start over” mode so to speak with the every other Thurs night classes, so we will begin going over all of the basics once again starting with the workshop scheduled on September 20th and 21st (Sat & Sun). You can find the workshop page above in the menu as well as on a separate post that I created. We may have a class (depending on interest) on Thursday Sep 11, but I suspect that I will be there at Crystal Source that night regardless. On another note, if you are past the beginner level material and would like to take that further into the more intermediate and advanced level learning, then feel free to join our Thursday night classes, just be sure to let us know that you are on your way. Thanks and we will see you soon–Thadd

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Update: (7/3/14)

Thanks to all who attended this class. The next one will be Thursday, 7/17/14 at 7pm. On 7/31/14 we will have a prediction night for August 2014 instead of the class.

We had some good discussion regarding weather astrology or astrometeorology and astrology software. There are several authors and resources out there for this, namely Carolyn Egan, Kris Brandt-Riske and the Church of Light as well as Alphee Lavoie’s research with the Gators.  With astrology software, there are so many options to choose from. As of now, I am recommending Solar Fire but if you want to do some specialist type of astrology, just let me know and I will point you in the right direction. Not all software is good for everyone and there are many different price levels all the way from free to the hundreds of dollars.

It looks like we have added another must have to the list: The Only Way to Learn Astrology: Basic Principles, Vol 1, 2nd Edition [Marion D. March, Joan McEvers]. This book was actually recommended by my and several other students years ago during a 6-week basic astrology workshop. There are just so many out there that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. So we are adding this one to the must have list.

We talked about how you will get “more bang for your buck” by learning the aspects thoroughly. Here are a few more highly recommended books to learn the aspects: Heaven Knows What by Grant Lewi, and How to Be a Great Astrologer: The Planetary Aspects Explained by James Braha.

When you combine doing your own charts with reading and learning from multiple sources, then you are really moving along in your practice of astrology. The truth is that over time, you will develop your own unique system, which is a synthesis of everything that you have ever found valuable and what you are continuing to discover.

 

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Many thanks to James, Joan and all who have attended the basic Western astrology classes at Crystal Source in Hurst, TX (every other Thursday night starting at 7pm). We started back in April 2014 and it has been fun teaching the class and learning from students and from each other. I’m glad to see that most of us are still engaged with figuring out the nuts and bolts of the foundation of what we call astrology in the Western tradition. I hope to see this class flourish and grow into a dedicated group of collaborative astrologers committed to discovering how astrology can help us to learn, heal, grow and overcome. Astrology is a symbolic language written in the heavens–all we must do is listen and watch closely in order to perceive the mysteries of the universe.

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I want this page to be a jumping off point for questions, comments or anything else related to the class at Crystal Source. Before I get started we have to lay down some some foundational concepts for the class. They almost all involve memory:

  • We must know the what the symbols represent–for the signs, planets and aspects–and have them memorized. For example, the symbol for Aries is the ram glyph and the symbol for Jupiter is the crescent above the cross. The trine is represented as a triangle.
  • We have to know the order of the signs, Aries through Pisces and even backwards if we can. Also the triplicities and the quadruplicities: An example of the triplicities is that as a “3” Cancer/Scorpio/Pisces form the Water triplicity. For a quadruplicity we have Taurus/Leo/Scorpio/Aquarius as the 4 Fixed Signs and so on for the Cardinal and Mutable signs.
  • We need to know in which signs planets are in rulership, exaltation, debility and fall. This gives us an idea as to the planets condition. For example in the sign of Pisces, Jupiter is the ruler of the sign and Neptune is the modern co-ruler, Venus is exalted in Pisces and Mercury is in debility (detriment) and fall. For Aquarius, Saturn is the ruler and Uranus is the modern co-ruler, Mercury is exalted (modern), the Sun is in it’s debility and Pluto is in fall (modern). We will do our best to remember the modern and ancient rulership schemes.
  • Understanding the essential meaning of the planets, signs, houses and aspects will take time. We have to have the symbols memorized so that we can get to a working knowledge and start to apply the basics, which will take time, practice and patience with ourselves. Self study is a must.

So far we have covered the basics: planets, signs, houses and aspects and their basic meanings. The last time that we met on Thurs night (5/22/14) we watched a brief YouTube video on the armillary sphere which demonstrated the differences between the various paths of the Sun across the sky during the seasonal changes. And we tried a bit of synthesis which came from the homework for the class previous to that–to give one interpretation about your chart that you found to be very true and one that you thought was wrong or were unsure about. The homework for the upcoming class on Thurs, 6/5/14 is to read the first chapter of Rae Orion’s Astrology for Dummies 2nd Ed. (2007).

Leave any comments or questions below using Disqus. We will keep this page updated often posting the most recent information on top so come back from time to time and review or just get your questions out there. If you don’t feel like making anything public, then contact me privately. Thanks to everyone again and I look forward to seeing all of you next time. Thadd