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Where's Steve?

Proof that I remain alive and well is reasonably abundant in the FCEA –  at least I show up a couple of times a month for the big Zoom calls. But of course most of the time, you are only seeing my pre-recorded face in our instructional videos. When it comes to actual human interaction, you are mostly looking at Jeff and Catie, along with our three able tutors, Joey, Marie, and Teal. 
So where’s Steve? What am I up to? Maybe lying on some tropical beach, basking in those big FCEA bucks?.
Alas, no . . .
Actually I shouldn’t say “alas.” Lazing on a tropical beach even for a week would blow all my Saturnian fuses. I’m not there, and wouldn’t really want to be, at least not for a whole week. I am actually at home in Borrego Springs, working hard, and much of the time it is for the school. My FCEA efforts are just all a bit more “behind the scenes.”
When Catie, Jeff and I sat down and began planning how to create the school, one of my own major personal agendas was that I wanted to shift my “live, in person” teaching in a more advanced direction – essentially, I wanted to stop teaching the same fundamentals over and over again, and instead mostly offer “master classes” in holistic chart interpretation. It wasn’t that I was tired of teaching the basics – I actually enjoy that process a lot, even though naturally it tends to be rather repetitive. My motivation was really more an awareness that I was growing older and that I wanted to use the time I had left as wisely and as efficiently as I possibly could. That meant recording myself teaching all of those core astrological techniques once and for all, and thereby freeing up the time for me to focus on presenting more advanced work in a live setting.

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved on stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.“
– Pericles

That is still the big-picture plan and we are still on track to fulfilling it.
One obvious issue in terms of me eventually teaching those advanced classes is that because the FCEA is still relatively young, none of our students have as yet moved up to that Master’s Level. Out of respect, I’d like to immediately insert that I know some of you are indeed very advanced, even professionals – which brings me right back to the “little red schoolhouse” dilemma I faced in my old Apprenticeship Programs. When I taught master classes in the AP, I was kind of shocked – some of the students were 100% brilliant and ready for prime time, and some . . . were not. That won’t happen in the FCEA! No one moves to the next level until they’ve really absorbed the previous one.
Currently, our most advanced students have graduated from our “100-level” Apprentice program and are currently enrolled in our Craftsperson courses. They are busy learning transits and progressions. That means that there are still some miles to go before anyone is an FCEA Master-level student. That will certainly happen down the road and I look forward to it – but we’ve not yet crossed that bridge.
We’re not sure precisely what form those masters’ classes will take. I dearly love sitting in a small group, face to face, working at that intimate level, helping individual students find their own voices. But of course the FCEA is international, and we want to be fair to people living outside the United States too. Likely, such programs will involve some hybrid of live work and participation via Zoom. Another wild card – with Pluto ruling my chart from the 9th house, I’ve done astrological work on all the continents except Antarctica, and I’m open to the possibility of traveling to teach classes in other countries too. We’ll see what the world looks like and what kind of shape I am in when we get to that crossroads.
Not yet having any officially-graduated “masters” in the school yet leaves me waiting for those classes – but not exactly sitting idle on that tropical beach. I’ve been busy shooting videos as well as writing fresh material for the school. I’ve not done the Virgo-math, but I think that for every instructional video you’ve already seen, there are probably at least two that are already made but unseen yet by anyone except Jeff or Catie. (Jeff: I did the math…65 hours and still recording!)
That’s a lot of videos! I’m really excited about them too. I’d like to take this opportunity to let you know about them in a bit more detail – and, more broadly, about what lies ahead for you in the FCEA program.
Our 200-level Craftsperson courses will soon carry you into the fascinating world of synastry – the astrology of relationships. Everybody loves that branch of our craft, and I am proud of the material we’ve created for you there. It’s fun and fascinating, plus it can really make a positive difference in people’s relationships. I’d also like to add a subjective note. To me, the most difficult branch of astrology to master is the very subject that some of you are slaving over now –  transits, progressions, and solar arcs. With synastry, you are also juggling more balls than with a single birthchart, but it feels easier to me. I bet you’ll feel that way too.
When the Craftsperson courses move upward and onward into the 300 range, we’ll delve a lot more deeply into the individual planets. I find it difficult to convey the excitement I feel about the material we’ve created there. At one level, it might sound like, “Oh . . . just more stuff about Mercury . . .” That is true – but wait until you see it. Standing on the firm foundation you have created for yourselves in the 100- and 200-level courses, you’re ready for a far more sophisticated view of all those planets, both natally and in their moving forms.
I am particularly excited about the Moon segment, which is FCEA 301. Lunar phase, the Out of Bounds Moon, the Moon’s speed – it’s quite amazing how multi-dimensional the Moon actually is. Plus, in those 300 courses, you’ll finally meet Chiron in a fully fleshed-out form, and also the new planet, Eris. I put a huge amount of work and passion into those 300-level videos and handouts. I’m hoping the passion proves contagious.
Jeff, Catie, and I struggled a bit in creating the overall form of the school’s curriculum. As you finish the 300-level courses, you will have reached the end of the FCEA “Craftsperson” program. That’s a long slog – but is it too long? 
Maybe . . . 
On the other hand, to truly be a full-fledged astrological “craftsperson,” you need all of those 100, 200, and 300-level skills – but once you have them, you do not really need anything more. You’re “there.” We hope that you’ll want more! Still, students who graduate from the FCEA Craftsperson program are ready to go out and serve their communities as professional astrologers. 
That’s the reason that we made this section of the curriculum so long. That’s why we called it “Craftsperson.” Finish it and you can call yourself a pro. It’s kind of like you have been to college.
What lies beyond? What is in our Master’s level program? 

The instructional material for FCEA 400 is nearly complete, although once again no one other than Jeff, Catie, and myself has seen it yet. It is full of more advanced, “speciality” topics. There, you’ll learn the art of chart rectification – how to figure out the birth time of a person who has no record of it. Electional astrology is part of 400 too – choosing the best date for a wedding or the launching of a business (or robbing a bank or koshing your enemies over the head . . . we’ve got some ethics themes in that course as well!) You’ll learn about astro-mapping – how to judge the impact of a new geographical place upon a person. There is a long section about working with the “big four” asteroids, and an interesting section about the Age of Aquarius and its enormous implications for astrological practice.
All that material is “in the can.” Remember the title of this newsletter, “Where’s Steve?” Maybe you’re starting to sense the answer. I’ve been busy – and I’m still not done. 
Beyond the 400-level “Master’s” courses I’ve just described, we’ve got more plans. At the top of the list are those masters’ classes I mentioned earlier. But we also plan courses around counseling techniques, possibly something about astrological writing, more advanced computation skills, and building an astrological  practice. We also plan some work in astrological ethics, which is a very tricky area. How soon after a session is it appropriate to date a client? What about selling your clients some books or crystals? Say a client runs a company and is thinking of hiring someone – can you look at that second person’s chart without his or her permission and report on his or her character and compatibility? Business-oriented astrologers often do that – but is it right? 
Being 72 years old has changed my perspective. The end of life naturally looms more vividly than it did when I was 25. Back then, like most young people, I felt immortal or something like it. Not anymore. Today I feel blessed – I’m engaged and healthy and grateful to be alive. If my mom’s genes have anything to do with it, I’ve still got a couple of good decades ahead of me. I hope so! There’s so much left to do. 
Above all, I want to keep this sacred flame burning, whether I am here or not. Having these videos made and my books written is a great comfort to me – but nothing is so comforting as your presence in this school. My profound gratitude to every single one of you. You are what will keep this work flourishing, helping people, lighting the path, teaching the next generation. It is difficult to express how much that means to me. Thank you!