Much of what was discussed was technical – the scheduling of classes, how to get everyone paid, and so forth. None of that is my territory, so I had to make an effort to pay attention. My responsibilities lie in the creation of the teaching materials, not so much in the day-to-day running of the teaching programs. But when it was my turn to speak, I decided that we should “walk our talk” as astrologers and actually look at what was going on currently in the chart of the school.

Many of you have seen this chart before. It’s set for the moment that Catie, Jeff, and I sat down at Jeff’s kitchen table in Pleasanton and began talking seriously about pooling our talents and creating an online school of evolutionary astrology.

I noticed a lot of impending Saturn energy, plus even more impending Jupiter energy – it was all looming right on the immediate horizon too. Saturn was about to cross our Midheaven a final time and begin its long march through our 10th house. Meanwhile, Jupiter was soon to enter Pisces solidly – and of course, the FCEA could hardly be more Piscean if we all sprouted gills and fins.

As you can see on the chart, Saturn had already hit our Midheaven in March, then returned to the 9th house in August. It would cycle back to the Midheaven on December 11 – right about now, in other words. We knew that we’d been working hard, which fit the symbolism well – but I warned everyone that we were likely to hit some speed bumps as Saturn approached that final hit on the 10th house cusp. I also made a point of emphasizing our evolutionary perspective – that the most helpful way to view these upcoming Saturnian speed bumps was to see them as a call to move to our next level of maturation as a school. (Those of you in the 200-level courses are learning all about this dimension of any Saturn transit.)

I, of course, had no idea what would happen. “Predicting the future” is not really what we do. It’s more like preparing for the future, and in fact, preparing to create a future we envision intentionally. 

Sure enough, as Saturn got within the orbs of that conjunction with the Midheaven, Jeff unexpectedly announced that he needed to resign. We depended on his skills in a great many ways, so the news was a blow. Only half-jokingly, I used to say that the school could survive my death more easily than it could survive Jeff’s. But that’s approximately what we faced, right on schedule – thankfully, Jeff did not die, but he was no longer there, which was about the same thing in practical terms.

We are weathering the storm! In Catie’s article in this newsletter, she describes the three new staff members we are hiring. It takes three people to do what Jeff used to do, and we think that we’ve found them. And Jeff is still helping out for another few weeks. Like us, he is determined that the FCEA will continue to be a success.

Here’s the deep perspective: An institution that is dependent on specific personalities is a doomed institution. How could it be otherwise? People die. People move on. For the FCEA, our Saturnian “next developmental stage” involved proving that we were stronger than that – that we could survive as an institution. Personally, my hope – and the intention that I am trying to crystallize – is that this approach to astrology will live on after me. At our staff retreat in October, I quoted the former French president, Charles DeGaulle. He lost a critical member of his government. Reporters asked him how he could possibly go on without that “indispensable man” in place. DeGaulle’s answer: “the graveyards of the world are full of indispensable men.” Saturn challenged us to grow up, just like it challenges teenagers to become adults.

Saturn will be in our school’s 10th house until February 2024. It promises to be a time of hard work and, above all, of building. The learning curve will be steep, but with our three new staff members and a few new tutors ready to launch, we seem to be on the right track.

That’s Saturn. What about Jupiter?

Jupiter entered Pisces for a few weeks this past May, but by late July, it was back in Aquarius. It fully enters Pisces with no backward glances on December 28, less than a month from where I sit writing these words. Once there, it will spend a year in that sign, crossing our triple conjunction of the Sun, Moon, and Neptune in March 2022.

At our staff retreat, I spoke of the school growing. I knew that doorways of opportunity  would be opening. Our first year had already been more successful than we had dared to imagine – but daring to imagine is really the heart of Jupiter. During its transits, as those of you doing our 200-level training already know, the basic question we face is how have I been underestimating myself? Knowing this, when it was my turn to speak at the retreat, I said, “Let’s aim for a thousand students.” I believe I heard a gasp or two. The number itself was not important – it was really more Jupiter poetry than Saturn mathematics. I just knew that Jupiter always rewards us for thinking big – and seems to  get bored with us if we don’t.

There are practical reasons why suddenly having “a thousand students” would spell disaster. But that brings us right back to good old Saturn – we have entered an era of building. In this case, we are building a foundation that could eventually support that kind of weight. Saturn basically said, “Grow or die.” We’ve chosen to grow. As mentioned earlier, in her Dean’s Corner column, Catie is introducing you to our new staff members – Carlos, Paula, and Penelope. Our five new tutors are ready to step up too – Karen, Allison, Sarrah, Bryan, and Ryan.

The FCEA can build Jupiter-fashion on this solid Saturnian ground. Saturn always spells hard work, but if we’ve made the right choices, we actually enjoy the work. It is rewarding. It breeds confidence and self-respect in us. And with Jupiter in the mix – well, Santa Claus is probably about to come down the chimney.

Our FCEA chart has worked well so far. It now promises that 2022 will be a good year for us – probably a tiring year, but tiring in a meaningful way, and joyful too.

Steven Forrest
December 2021