While there is much teaching that is online and essentially automated in the FCEA, especially at the early stages of the program, we are committed to keeping the experience as warm and community-oriented as possible. Time constraints prevent Steven from having an ongoing  relationship with each one of the students individually. That is where tutors come into the picture. Essentially,they are the human interface between the student and the technology. 

The tutors’ work is varied. They are available to answer individual questions. They facilitate online discussion groups. They monitor the online forums. Invariably, tutors will do some hand holding and counseling too – astrological studies are intense at a personal level, and they can trigger powerful emotional reactions. A student may need to reach out to a tutor from time to time for counsel and encouragement. As an institution, the FCEA is committed to supporting close connections between students and their tutors. One expression of that commitment is that we prioritize “people skills” in our selection of tutors. 

As students advance, their FCEA education can no longer be sustained by answering computerized multiple choice questions. Sooner or later, every budding astrologer has to face the ancient task: turning the symbols into meaningful speech. That is always the heart of the matter. As students develop their voices, the hardest and most important part of the tutor’s job comes into focus – commenting, correctively and supportively, as the student begins to turn astrological language into human language.

There are many forms of astrology, but the Forrest Center for Evolutionary Astrology is unabashedly a “trade school.” That means that we are teaching one specific method of astrological interpretation. Anyone qualified to be an FCEA tutor is, by definition, already an astrologer. That usually suggests a high level of individuation in the work. No one is expected to be “a Steven Forrrest clone.” We respect that – but still, in the FCEA, it is Steven’s methods that we teach. That means, among other things, Placidus houses, the Mean lunar node, and so on. In order to avoid confusing the students, a tutor must agree to work within the framework of the system which Steven has developed, and not to introduce exotic elements, at least not until we reach the highest “counsel of wizards” levels of the program, down the road.