Dean’s Update, February 2022

Greetings, FCEA community!

Love is in our hearts and minds this month of February, when folks in the northern hemisphere escape the cold, wintry winds by seeking a warm embrace on Valentine’s Day. To our students and members in parts of Asia, we wish you blessings on the Lunar New Year. Happy year of the Tiger to all! But turning back to February’s topic of love, I’d like to share with everyone a little bit of the excitement in my own heart for our next new course opening in early March. I’m working with Steven in the weeks ahead to fine-tune FCEA 204 and 205, our introduction to the sacred art of astrological counseling through synastry: chart comparison and the composite chart.

On one of our recent FCEA Zoom calls, some of us swapped stories about last month’s Venus retrograde in Capricorn. We shared the journey of reassessing and reimagining how we best flow with grace together and with our closest partners. Venus stationed direct conjunct my own south node in Capricorn. It was like the universe offered me a mirror to see my own faults and weaknesses, where I need to grow and change in the cosmic dance I do with others. Learning to balance love, trust and encouragement, while keeping my own boundaries and needs in check, is a challenging step in understanding synastry for this particular Dean. Let’s face it. Synastry is not purely all about romantic love and marriage. It touches every facet of our lives.

As we see throughout the FCEA curriculum, the individual birthchart is the fundamental foundation in all branches of evolutionary astrology. Synastry is no different. Please indulge me for a minute. I want to share one of the ways I have been coming to terms with the mirror of myself I see in those I work closely with, my one-on-one comrades in life’s sacred work. Two weeks ago, I adopted a very sweet and tiny little kitten I named “Vesta.” Vesta is the one who maintains the sacred flame in the temple; she carries a lineage forward into the future. The asteroid is currently conjunct my natal Sun by transit. We will learn about these asteroids later in the FCEA coursework. Let me use my own family dynamics to illustrate my point.

Fuzzy and black, playful and full of zest, Vesta is the “queen” of my home. I love how she bounces into the room with confidence and joy! I watch closely as she rubs up next to my older cat, Io (He is named after a moon of Jupiter). Much larger, Io is the boss in my eyes. I am careful to give him extra love and affection at the time of changing family dynamics. Despite his wisdom of age and maturity, Io, at first, feared Vesta and the little one chased my poor old cat around the house. What a lesson in synastry for me! Why does Io not see his own strength, his size? Claim his own right to be in this universe? Why does he project his own power onto this little, tiny kitten?