Study Group Survey Results Are In!

Dean’s Update, March 2023

Our Study Group Survey Results Are In!

Blessings on the March equinox, FCEA community! Vernal equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere starts a new cycle of life, new beginnings. Astrologers call the day of the Sun’s entrance into Aries “International Astrology Day.” Can you think of a better New Year for all of us to share!?

Claim some Aries fire and initiative, and have courage in yourself and your direction, and your flower will open, as Steven likes to tell us. Well, some of the Aries spark for the FCEA involves planting new seeds and working our soil with new goals and aspirations. The equinox on March 20th occurs at 2:24 pm Pacific time at 00°0’ Aries in the school’s 11th house, conjunct Chiron, in the FCEA birthchart. Welcome to spring! And to our Southern Hemisphere students, love to you in the new season.

Reassessing the format and future of the FCEA study group calls is one seed we hope to plant in the weeks ahead. We are so grateful for the student feedback we received from you through our recent survey. The results are so helpful as we strive to improve our current Zoom calls and also discuss and consider options for change. Thank YOU for your participation and sharing your thoughts! I also want to thank our tutor, Patty Morris-Stebbins, and our registrar, Penelope Love, for creating and implementing the Study Group call survey. Great job, Patty and Penelope!

I’d like to share with you a summary of the survey results. Students who responded were roughly split between the apprentice, 100-level, and the craftsperson, 200-level, groups. Let’s start with what seems to be working for students: length of the calls, Tuesday as a meetup day and the time of day we currently schedule all received the most positive feedback in comparison to other dates and time options.

In addition, students were asked about whether they preferred the current format for our study group calls and by far the majority liked the set up as it is. Only 16.7% commented that they did not like the current format. So, this is good news!

Most students prefer chart interpretation in small groups (breakout rooms) and a brief tutor-led Q and A when call participants reconvene or within the breakout room itself. This again reinforces that the current study groups are working well, given this is the structure we now have in place. Most pleasing for me to read was how so many students appreciate the sense of community the study group calls provide and the connections they make with their peers.

The area students express a need for improvement is having a tutor consistently in the breakout rooms. Unfortunately, we have limited staff to work these calls. And though we strive to have some tutor availability as much as possible in each room, we are not able to accommodate students this way in the current structure. Read on and you will see our suggestion for change.

So how do we now till our soil and plant our Aries “seed” into fresh directions?

Clearly, the current format is working, but we are growing as a school and cannot maintain this structure as we expand in size. We welcome growth! But how best to move ahead? We are currently implementing a new social platform, Circle, to partly cover our needs. But live interaction with tutor-led Q and A requires a lab.

Late last year, we began offering 101-Z, a lab class to accommodate 100-level students who preferred live interaction and Q and A with a tutor. A 201-Z will be the next step. This would provide a similar focused tutor-led cohort for advanced study. The additional tuition for these lab sections would allow us to support the on-going tutor Zoom interaction some students want. (Please note: Z courses are not currently listed in the Course Catalog; registration information is provided during our guided course orientations.) In the meantime, study group calls will be used primarily as a form of social engagement, following the original intention of the calls. Q and A with instruction will continue to occur on monthly calls with our master teacher Steven Forrest and through the 101-Z and 201-Z labs.

Slowly we plan to implement these changes, developing our Circle community and opening a 201-Z lab by summer, 2023. Look for these new developments in the months ahead. Equinox joy to all!

Catie Cadge, PhD
March 2023

Growing Through Changes at the FCEA

Growing Through Changes

Dean’s Update, February 2023

We’re Growing Through Changes at the FCEA

Current Students — Please Take the Study Group Call Survey (See details below)

February greetings to our FCEA community! It is a bright, clear Valentine’s Day morning here in Santa Cruz, California, and, of course, in the spirit of the day, I have relationships on my mind. On a recent FCEA Member Q&A call, Steven mentioned how having the sign Virgo on the cusp of the 7th house gives a soul ample opportunity to critically work on herself through interactions with others. Yup, well, that’s me. I have Pluto on my Virgo descendant. And the FCEA is providing plenty of chances to learn and grow for me through the good, bad and ugly (well, let’s say challenging) sides of so many souls. Let me give this a positive spin and explain some of the relationship dynamics and changes we are going through as a school.

First, some news about our tutors and tutorial assistants. The FCEA is blessed to have a great group of highly talented and loving staff! As I write, transiting Mercury is conjunct our 9th house Venus in Aquarius in the FCEA birthchart. We have been so fortunate to have not only master evolutionary astrologers as teachers and mentors, but also folks with open Aquarian minds and a willingness to embrace the online learning experience of the FCEA curriculum. We could not do any of our courses without them! We are so grateful.

With a heavy heart, I start by mentioning one of our very best tutors, Joey Paynter, is leaving us at the beginning of March. Joey has been instrumental in helping us get the FCEA up and running. She was with us from the very day our doors opened. Joey’s insights and feedback played a key role in helping us establish the student and tutor relationship via online learning the very heart of what we do at the FCEA. So supportive and always loving, Joey gave us a penetrating and passionate Scorpionic lens into how to make the FCEA tick and grow as a school. But we realize our tutors have busy lives and growing astrological practices of their own, and the time has come for Joey to leave us. We are forever thankful for all the hard work Joey has done for us and, most importantly, all the care and commitment she showed our students. Joey, you will be sorely missed. We wish you many blessings in all you do, Joey!

From L to R: Joey Paynter, Marie O’Neill, Catie Cadge, Steven Forrest, and Teal Rowe at the first FCEA Staff Retreat in 2021.

On a hopeful note, we recruited two new work study students, Linda Walker and Andre Arellano, to our team. Linda is one of our students from our very first cohort and has been studying with us since 2021. A fine astrologer, Linda has the gift of the storyteller, a true evolutionary bard, in the style of Steven Forrest. Linda will be helping to oversee tutor involvement in all our courses, making sure discussions get properly posted and that weekly interaction between tutor and student occurs. Andre, a student also at the advanced level, brings to the table a number of tech-related skills as well as being a gifted evolutionary astrologer. We look forward to working with Andre to grow our social media presence and to help develop a social platform for student engagement. Welcome Linda and Andre!

Another area of growth and change, in terms of how we relate to each other, learn and teach evolutionary astrology and the Steven Forrest method, has been our study group calls. With Saturn by transit in Aquarius in the school’s 10th house and the transiting Sun conjunct as a trigger this week, we are working on improving the format of these weekly Zoom calls. We hear your feedback! We are also sending out a survey soon to gather ideas on improving this part of the FCEA experience to make it more user-friendly and supportive.

However, a little history of the study group calls might be instructive. When we developed the FCEA curriculum, we never intended to have live Zoom instruction on a weekly basis. We designed the school to be asynchronous, the teaching and learning occurring online in written discussion forums and assignments. There are a number of advantages to this format:

- Students and tutors can post anytime their schedules allow, providing a flexibility needed by so many in our learning community
- Proactive learning by the student – students must think and be engaged in the material rather than a passive Zoom experience led primarily by a tutor
- A cost structure that allows us to keep tuition low

In our initial year of instruction, we wanted to add social Zoom calls for students to share ideas and to grow community. **These calls were never intended to replace online written instruction nor to be lectures by our tutors.** We consider them study group calls for student interaction. Master teaching occurs once a month via Zoom with Steven. This is a Zoom classroom, not the study group calls each week.

We look forward to the results of the FCEA Study Group Feedback Survey we are currently conducting, however we are considering replacing the study group calls altogether with an online student social platform. To take the survey: Log in to your FCEA account and find it under Community > Home.

With all this said, please know we are open to possible change.

But remember **the Zoom Q&A calls with Steven and the online discussion forums and assignments are the primary modes of learning at the FCEA.** Saturn by transit provides challenges and hard work for all of us at the school. I welcome the growing relationship pains (and new pleasures!) in store for the FCEA community in the months ahead.

Catie Cadge, PhD
February 2023

One Step Back to Go Forward

Dean’s Update, January 2023

One Step Back to Go Forward — Plus a Peek at the Master-Level Practicum

Welcome to the 2023 FCEA school year! We are off to a great start with several new classes opening this week and next. We have a brand-new cohort of 101B students embarking on their studies of evolutionary astrology and the Steven Forrest method. Please greet them if you meet them on our calls and welcome them on board!

As Steven celebrated his 74th solar return last week, we took stock of the year past and then the year ahead at the FCEA. I would like to share some good news of what is in the works. But remember, with Mercury and Mars in retrograde motion for much of January, we have been reworking and reconfiguring some of our curricular goals without any set formulations just yet…

But fasten your seatbelts because we have a great year ahead!

I think most students and members know I am a Capricorn, like Steven, and part of my stellium in the sign of the sea goat falls in the 11th house. I often think of Steven’s 11th house mantra, “Be there then” and 2023 is no different. While Mercury, the planet of perception and ideas, was appearing to move backward in the sky in Capricorn, I found myself reflecting upon the strength of the sign to piece together a strategy, to work methodically in climbing the proverbial mountain. I love to take in the slow evolutionary progress we make as a collective, not just at the FCEA, and to watch the big picture unfold. Let me give a quick example of what I mean.

Over the years, I have seen how common notions about astrology have changed. Just recall the many social media posts about Mercury retrograde in years past, showing us some kind of inevitable fall into miscommunication and mayhem. I even remember not long ago a popular Facebook meme of a poor soul wrapped tightly from head-to-toe in a large, cumbersome pink sweater suit geared to protect her from the perils of Mercury moving backward! I think the great astronomer and astrologer Johannes Kepler, also a Capricorn, who first accurately explained retrograde motion, would be rolling over in his grave.

But the Capricorn strides we all make to reveal a more life-affirming evolutionary perspective of Mercury (and Mars) retrograde have paid off.

Notice how we see much less defeatist, fatalistic rhetoric on the social media “airwaves” now and much more positive takes on astrological transits in support of personal growth, choice and change. I even read an essay recently sharing Vedic insights into the current celestial moment, and was shocked to read in essence an evolutionary spin on Mercury retrograde! In general, Vedic or Indian astrology is about fate and prediction, but even this type of astrology is subtly changing. Our work is paying off. I personally see all of us in the FCEA community as part of this revolution in consciousness, in bringing evolutionary practice of our sacred craft to the front and center of the collective’s notion of what astrology is and can be.

So how about the year ahead at the FCEA? Most exciting is Steven stepping in to work closely with our advanced students in preparation of their master certification. We are working on the development of our Craftsperson program to include a course, FCEA 306, Chart Reading Practicum, opening in September. Steven and I discussed co-teaching a seminar-like class on Zoom where students actively work with the master fine-tuning and sharing chart insights to best hone their skills.

FCEA 306 will offer a unique opportunity to work in dialog with Steven. Students can apply the evolutionary astrological methods they have been developing for months as Craftspeople in our advanced 300 series. Here they study directly with the master. How exciting! And what a nice follow up to Steven’s return to live teaching at The Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York, during the first week of August. Please see their website, eomega.org, for registration information.

I can’t help but think this coming summer, with the shift of the nodes, north into Aries and south into Libra, that we will be forging ahead into new educational territory with the pioneer spirit of Aries and, well, hopefully a little Libran grace and balance. But don’t forget; Mercury and Mars are retrograde right now in January, 2023. One step in planning forward, one step back, as we reevaluate, reflect and make the most of this cosmic moment. Blessings for all in 2023!

Catie Cadge, PhD
January 2023

A Yuletide Blessing

Dean’s Update, December 2022

Yuletide blessings, everyone! Happy Solstice to all. December is a month when I so often reflect upon the friendships in my life and the joy of family and loved ones. For this holiday newsletter, I want to comment upon the sign Capricorn in light of the FCEA family and our development as a school. I will share with you some of our community’s insights on a remarkable bi-wheel chart, natal chart of author Charles Dickens, and the date of his publication of A Christmas Carol.

As many readers know, we use “mystery charts” during our Study Group calls with our students, tutors, and tutorial assistants. It is often a lively Zoom affair and the highlight of my week when I am able to attend. We all join in the analysis of the chosen charts of the day, getting to know how each of us think as evolutionary astrologers. The magic of our collective intuition works to build a fun conversation, a chance to get to know each other as colleagues and friends.

A few weeks ago, in the spirit of the holiday season, I shared with our Study Group the bi-wheel chart you see below. It shows the transits (in the outer wheel), set for noon, on the day of publication of Charles Dickens’ most famous holiday story. Immediately students started seeing the obvious meetups of Mercury, ruler of his north node, and Saturn in an interesting exchange between the birthchart and the transits of December 19th, 1843. Touching both the 4th and the 5th houses, the solitary creative time of writing for Dickens was coming to a head as the “great work” of Capricorn, as Steven would tell us, of his lifetime. Dickens wrote many classics, of course, but A Christmas Carol has had an enduring impact upon our collective understanding of the true meaning of the season. Goodwill, love, and a shared compassion for all. One of our students noted how Dickens’ natal Aquarius 5th house Sun had progressed into Pisces and was “rising” into the 7th house in this fateful year, while transiting Neptune, in turn, formed a conjunction with Dickens’ natal Sun.

The highlight of working together on our Zoom Study Group call was to hear everyone discuss Charles Dickens’ 10th house Jupiter in Gemini. We all saw the potential his voice held for reaching and changing the hearts of many. I have to admit why I loved this part of our class analysis. You see the students so clearly applied an evolutionary perspective.

How can he make his ideas heard and how does he need to claim the power and potential of his public voice?

They were asking questions, questions that we all know are at the heart of what we do as evolutionary astrologers. And then some synchronicity stepped in. I was reviewing videos that day for our upcoming FCEA 303: Jupiter and Saturn course, and had just listened to Steven’s beautiful description of Jupiter in the natal chart of famous Jazz singer, Ella Fitzgerald. It included the 10th house potential of her natal Jupiter and what it took for her to step up to her soul’s authentic journey. Perfect.

I always learn so much from Steven, my students, fellow tutors, and the FCEA staff. What a blessing. And Charles Dickens’ bi-wheel chart gives me hope in knowing that Saturnian discipline pays off. His 3rd house Sagittarius Moon certainly makes Dickens a “teacher” and master storyteller for me! Our Study Group calls will resume after the New year on January 17th. They are held on Tuesdays each week at 8 am and 5 pm Pacific time. Steven joins us once a month. Fun for everyone! Wishing many blessings to all in 2023!

Catie Cadge, PhD
December 2022

Our “Aspirational” Planets Course

Our "Aspirational" Planets Course

Dean’s Update, November 2022

Welcome to the holiday season, everyone! I must say I look with anticipation to the Sun’s ingress into Sagittarius. I can just hear the collective sigh, followed by a little excitement and release. It’s time to celebrate the closure of 2022, enjoy the company of old friends, mix and mingle and have some fun. Hopefully, we all have been doing our Saturn work, so let’s embrace Jupiter. The planet turns direct, November 23rd, right when we have a New Moon at one degree Sagittarius. Let’s be like the centaur and shoot an arrow of hope and joy to the stars!

As the year comes to an end, I mention two powerhouses, Jupiter and Saturn, what Steven and I call the “aspirational” planets. This is because we are fine-tuning our next 300-level course, focusing upon these very same planets. The advanced 300 series has been a mix of both Jupiter gumption, by rolling the dice in curricular experimentation, and Saturn hard work and discipline to take each challenge one step at a time. Steven is the master curriculum writer but we work together as a team, so I will share here some of my own work as co-writer in the FCEA journey. And we could not do this critical teaching without the blessing of feedback and support from our master 300-level tutors – Bryan Colter, Ryan Evans, and Marie O’Neill – who have been so patient with the ways I have experimented in course design. How best to create an upper-level curriculum that engages students in a deeper, more personal way, and still keep a handle on the size and scope of the course?

In our 300-level classes, I took some Jupiter chances by implementing creative solutions to the learning process and expanded what I hope were community-building strategies into each course. And they seem to have worked. Meanwhile, Saturn still beckons me to reassess and give structure to the courses yet to come.

Throughout this past year, I relied on student and tutor feedback to make adjustments, corrections and tweak each course format. Most importantly, our weekly tutor-student Zoom meetings at this higher level have opened up a whole new student-centered approach that seems to work well with our advanced community of learners. At this advanced Craftsperson level, student presentations offer each person a chance to share their talent and skills, while also letting peers and tutors develop a bond of love and community.

In other courses, I made sure to have discussions based upon students’ own charts or the charts of those they love, in addition to fictitious client charts, each a creative space for open dialog and loving support. At one point, I even went into FCEA 302 and added a discussion about “your Venus” by progression or solar arc, in light of popular demand! Who can study Venus without a chance for some Venusian heart-to-heart sharing?

FCEA 303, Aspirational Planets Jupiter and Saturn, opens the end of January, just a few weeks shy of my own 1st house Jupiter return. I am excited to expand and develop this course with some of these innovative methods once again, but I also know challenges need to be met and stubborn determination of the “great taskmaster” is a “course requirement.” This December, I will experience the third and final hit of my Second Saturn Return. And Saturn by transit continues to move in the 10th house of the FCEA birth chart. As Steven would tell us, on top of listening to my “inner child,” where do I need to listen to my inner Saturnian “tough old bird?”

I’ll end on a Jupiter note. With the jovial vibe of this celebratory season, I look forward to birthing the next step in our FCEA educational journey, FCEA 303, and I congratulate all of our hardworking students who clearly demonstrate the efforts needed of a Saturnian “great work” and a Jupiterian passion for learning. Our 2023 Course Catalog dates are now available on our website and I encourage you to take a look at what lies ahead in the coming year. I hope to see many of you on our Holiday Celebration and Community Q&A call, December 8th. Blessings for the start of a great festive season!

Catie Cadge, PhD
November 2022

Meet Our New Tutors

Dean’s Update, October 2022

Greetings FCEA community! Mars is moving retrograde through Gemini soon. The passionate planet of action will be in reflective mode. We turn inward to consider how we might bring fresh perspectives to the ways we touch one another, through our voices and our words. Some FCEA students know that I love to think of Gemini like a Cubist painting; each side of the subject is shown simultaneously as we open our minds and hearts to our natural curiosity and learning! Late this month, when stationing retrograde, Mars sits on the FCEA 2nd house cusp and the journey backward into our 1st house makes me think we need to refresh our teaching pool, open up to some new 1st house Gemini leadership in the FCEA classroom. How timely! So, I am thrilled to announce that we have hired three new outstanding tutors to join our growing FCEA team.

Patty Morris-Stebbins, Aubrey Thorne Carey and Ricky Williams began serving as tutors at the end of August. This month, they officially come on board, so expect to see them in several classes in 2023. Let me take a moment to briefly introduce them to you.

Patty Morris-Stebbins

Patty and I have been blessed to share the love of deep family bonding through Steven’s AP program for many years, so I am thrilled to work closely with her in helping to bring about our educational mission. Patty shared the following brief biography with me. “Patty Morris-Stebbins is New England born and raised, with a deep love of teaching and learning. Having completed two Master’s Degrees, (one in Public Policy and one in Transpersonal Counseling,) twenty years of astrological study, (including almost ten years with Mr. Forrest himself), and 15 years counseling clients, she is excited to bring her knowledge and skills to the FCEA to support others’ connection with the deep material of evolutionary astrology, and is even more excited to learn from students’ own wisdom and knowledge. When not studying/tutoring/counseling astrology, she works full-time as a cancer research administrator and mama to two amazing children, and is perennially seeking ways to connect with spirit through meditation, music, and nature.” Welcome, Patty!

Aubrey Thorne Carey

Aubrey and I have been friends and colleagues for many years as well, learning together and sharing our passion for evolutionary astrology at Steven’s AP over the years. I am so excited to have Aubrey join our team. Here is her brief introduction so you can get to know her. “Aubrey Thorne Carey fell in love with Evolutionary Astrology in 2011 and began Steven Forrest’s Apprentice Program in 2012, completing his Master Certification in 2016. She has a Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine and was an acupuncturist for over a decade before transitioning (with many small detours) to her astrological practice. In her parallel life, Aubrey was with the Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles for eight years, wearing lots of wigs and doing improv weekly, and surprisingly, these improv and comedic skills come in handy regularly while doing astrology consultations! She also trained with Michael Neill in his Supercoach program in 2020, which was life-changing, getting certified as a Transformational Coach, working with a perspective known as “The Three Principles.” When not working with astrology and coaching, Aubrey is doing one of these activities: studying yoga, walking her adorable Potcake (look it up), WhatsApp-ing her 21-year old daughter, having tacos with her husband, needlepointing and listening to audiobooks, or planning one of a hundred possible creative projects.” So multi-talented, Aubrey!

Ricky Williams

And last – but certainly not least! – is Ricky Williams. Ricky and I also met through Steven’s AP and I cherish the times I have gotten to know him better and his lovely wife, Linnea, who is also former AP family. I am super happy to see Ricky join our team of tutors because he seems to be a natural at sharing his love and skills of our most sacred craft. Ricky shared this brief biography so you can get to know him better, “Upon the completion of a successful professional football career, Ricky Williams turned his attention to spiritual exploration and development. A Gemini fueled by a passion for learning, he studies and practices yoga, meditation, astrology, craniosacral therapy, pranic healing and Ayurvedic medicine. During Ricky’s 16 years studying astrology and interpreting birthcharts for his clients, he discovered a teacher in world-renowned evolutionary astrologer Steven Forrest. In 2020, Ricky, Steven and Linnea founded LILA (Sanskrit for “divine play”), a relationship and self-discovery app powered by the spiritual insights offered by an empowering, choice-based form of astrology. Ricky’s greatest love is building transformative businesses with his wife and other like-minded people.” Yay Ricky!

Please join me in welcoming all three wonderful and talented tutors to our FCEA family. Let’s all work together to make this Mars retrograde period in our school’s 1st house unfold into fresh educational perspectives, new ideas and new energy and passion in teaching and learning. Thank you, Patty, Aubrey and Ricky. And thank you to all our tutors, teachers, students and staff for making our FCEA the best online school possible!

Catie Cadge, PhD
October 2022

Fall into Expansion

Dean’s Update, September 2022

Happy Autumnal Equinox everyone! Mabon is the Celtic holiday marking this time of year. Here on the West Coast of the United States, we have been experiencing quite a hot September. We welcome the arrival of fall, the turning of the leaves and the cooler nights under the stars. Mabon is a Welsh god, the son of the Earth Mother, but using it as the title for the Fall Equinox is a new development, the original name of the holiday having been lost. In The Book of the Moon, Steven calls the last quarter lunar phase, “Mabon,” where we experience a sense of longing and recognize the impermanence of our lives. The year seems to be slipping away, but we look back to see we have made steady progress in some positive new directions. We had a number of changes this summer, along with ongoing growth at the FCEA. Let me share some of our great news!

In late August, Steven and I were sitting at the banquet of the ISAR conference in Westminster, Colorado, when they projected onto the screen that the FCEA was nominated as “Most Favorite Astrology School” by ISAR members and attendees.

ISAR is the International Society for Astrological Research. What an honor for the FCEA! We were not expecting this recognition at all. What a nice surprise while transiting Uranus and the north node in Taurus formed a lovely trine to Saturn in Capricorn on the 9th house cusp in the school’s birthchart. We were thrilled to be acknowledged by colleagues and the professional astrological community. Congrats FCEA!

In September, we are excited to open FCEA 302, our next advanced course at the Craftsperson level. A deeper dive into the study of the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars in our evolutionary toolbox. We look at the progressed moving Sun, Mercury out of bounds, the Venus pentangle and much more. So many juicy topics! In FCEA 301, we piloted new weekly Zoom sessions at this advanced level of instruction, introducing student presentations as a learning tool. Everyone seems to love this new format. We will continue with live, engaging tutor-led Zoom meetups. Then student presentations will be re-introduced in FCEA 303 after the New Year. Lots to look forward to in 2023 in our expanding curriculum.

We are also piloting a new Zoom lab, 101Z, for students first entering the FCEA, who may need additional basic support in the fundamentals of astrology. We recognize some students come to the FCEA brand new to our complex archetypal language. We want to make sure they are supported. These small sessions will be led by one of our outstanding tutors and limited to five students per session maximum. 101Z is designed to be a place for total newbies of astrology to relax, take it slow and work through the A, B, Cs of how to look at and read a birthchart. Another exciting change!

Our staff at the FCEA is also growing. This summer I trained three new tutors: Ricky Williams, Patty Morris-Stebbins and Aubrey Thorne. I am so thankful for their hard work serving as tutors in our current 102B cohort. Such great work! Please welcome them if you see them on one of our many Zoom calls. This fall we will more formally introduce Ricky, Patty and Aubrey once we move into the hiring process. Look for them as tutors in our upcoming fall courses. I am sad to announce we had one of our beloved tutors, Sarrah Christensen, leave our team. Sarrah has been very helpful in expanding our 100-level course offerings and she will be sorely missed. We wish her all the best in her new creative endeavors. One last final shout out of thanks to ALL our hard working staff, tutors, teachers and, of course, to Steven, our beloved master teacher.

We are all so grateful. Equinox blessings!

Catie Cadge, PhD
September 2022

Summertime Goals

Dean’s Update, August 2022

August greetings everyone! One of my summertime goals this year was to sketch out an FCEA course calendar for 2023. The draft is now finished.

New student cohorts and more advanced-level classes await us in the months ahead! But we are about to begin Virgo season and how perfect as I fine-tune the FCEA course landscape. I can’t help but think, “It’s all in the details!” So, I am working with our staff to provide a schedule that will enable us to grow at a steady pace, and yet still provide the breathing room students, staff and tutors need.
This past year, we planned a tight, rigorous calendar of courses that I know at times caused a few people to voice concern for some rest, a chance to absorb and review. As I write, Uranus, Mars and the north node sit together in the sky in the sign of Taurus.

How can we spark change and fresh insights, so we can better take care of ourselves and find relaxation and peace, while studying and learning with commitment and passion?

One immediate fix that comes to mind is making sure to increase the number of weeks between each course offering. In 2023, the FCEA calendar includes a break of at least two weeks before students start the next course. We know many are enthusiastic to jump into the next stage of studies with Steven and the tutors. But we also know sometimes the workload seems heavy and the material is a lot to process in a short time. Extra time offers all of us a chance to pace ourselves. Nothing wrong with taking stock of where we are at! After all, we are evolutionary astrologers, right? The FCEA staff can use this additional time too. It allows for more efficient transitions between classes and time to complete course preparation and registration.

I also frequently hear from students wanting a summer and holiday recess. Of course! Many take holidays and breaks on their own from classes when needed. But official holiday time is also doable and it makes sense. Since the FCEA opened in 2021, we recognized a break in December and January is a must! This year, final assignments and exams in most fall classes end by late November. Our last course to finish in 2022 will be FCEA 202, ending on December 1st. We will have a Solstice gathering and the last Member Q and A call of the year in early December, so we can wind down the school year by December 9th. The first week of January is Steven’s birthday, so we extended the holiday season through to January 11th. There will be plenty of time for a family vacation, even after New Year’s Day. At the end of 2023, we have built into the calendar a similar break to enjoy the yuletide season and New Year celebrations.
In spring of 2023, we continue with a robust schedule to get everyone working hard for that well-earned summer break end of August! No classes will be in session after August 24th until mid-September. Three weeks of self-study, reflection and time away from the online classroom will give all of us at the FCEA a moment to stop, breathe, and reconnect with what our goals and desires are for our education and where we are going as astrologers and counselors. In order to accommodate these changes and to schedule our growing number of student cohorts, 300-level orientation calls will be scheduled on Fridays beginning in 2023.
I am so excited for these new adjustments to our busy school calendar. I wish everyone a richly rewarding Virgo “Back-to-School.” I look forward to seeing many of you in our five FCEA course openings in the weeks ahead. Yes, five! And please take the time to welcome (on one of our Zoom calls, perhaps in the chatroom!), our next new student cohort joining us at the 100-level in early September. Blessings!

Catie Cadge, PhD
August 2022

The Collective Awakening: Playing Our Part

Dean’s Update, July 2022

July greetings to my dear FCEA community! I hope those in the northern hemisphere are enjoying pleasant weather and some time for rest and relaxation. For our students and members “down under,” wishing you warm and comfortable winter days. I just returned from a few days “off grid,” at a beautiful, hot springs in the Pacific northwest. Healing waters, warm sunshine, a cool mountain river and nothing to do, but bathe in the forest and under a carpet of many, many stars at night. The Milky Way was in her full glory!

Most memorable for me was meeting a woman, while we soaked in the mineral waters, and bonding with her through passionate conversation about evolutionary astrology and the FCEA. In the midst of her Uranian opposition and a big Jupiter time for her, “Annie” was just awakening to the potential power of astrology as a tool for life’s journey. Such a joy to see her eyes light up and to feel her enthusiasm and open heart. So often we have these encounters when we meet a soul who now “gets it,” who makes the cosmic connections and sees what a sacred gift understanding our natal chart can be.

To me, the main mission of our work at the FCEA is to bring these very kinds of awakenings to not only our clients, through our job as professional astrologers, but to those special souls we meet in our daily lives who are ready to learn, evolve and share. This is how we can contribute, as a school, to a world sorely in need of change and healing.

How can we best play a part in this collective awakening? This potential for astrology to reach a bigger audience, to touch the hearts of people like “Annie”?

Not all will choose a professional path. Some may integrate evolutionary astrology into other healing modalities or perhaps a counseling career. When Steven and I wrote the course curriculum together in 2020, we began with the very basics, anticipating some students would be “newbies,” just starting out with little knowledge, but a passionate drive to learn. We hoped to serve our “Annie”s. But running a school day in and day out, I have come to realize the FCEA is like a living, breathing entity, morphing in form and composition from one group of students entering the program to the next.

Summertime here in California always provides me a time to take stock of the bigger picture of what I am working and striving for; a good time to reassess where our school is headed and what structural changes we may need to make in the months ahead. The FCEA is growing. I am in the process of training three new tutors this summer. We look forward to welcoming a brand-new cohort of 100-level students in the fall. What needs to change to best accommodate our growing student body, diverse in levels of knowledge and practical skills?

First up for reevaluation is our study group calls. How can we work harder and make the road smoother for “Annie”? These are the questions I am wrestling with addressing this summer, as I work with our tutors and staff. In the 300-level advanced course, FCEA 301, we will have a trial run this month testing weekly Zoom meetups with tutors. I am excited to see this new development in course structure unfold! If successful, we will explore similar options in our courses in the months ahead. Meanwhile, gradual change and modification will occur with our study group format.

What an exciting time! I ask you all for patience as we fine-tune and work through the best possible avenues for comprehensive learning for everyone. In the meantime, please do share feedback through our course evaluations. We want to hear your suggestions! We are also planning more added features for members in the months ahead, along with our on-going expansion, visual makeover and improvement of our website. Expect more changes! I am so thankful for the hard work and effort of our FCEA staff for the care and love they have given to building a better website, a better school and a top-notch learning experience. And a huge thank you to our students and members for your constant love and commitment. Let’s open the heart of every “Annie” and make evolutionary astrology a household word! I don’t feel it is too bold to say this. I believe that the world needs us. Blessings, everyone!

Catie Cadge, PhD
July 2022

Solstice Reflections & Our FCEA Family

Summer Solstice Reflections

Dean’s Update ~ June 2022

Summer Solstice Reflections
& Our FCEA Family

Solstice is right around the corner and I am savoring the long days of summer here in the northern hemisphere. The warmth of the sun feels good and there seems to be hope in the air. I am happy to report the FCEA community is growing strong. Four classes are up and running this summer! I hope all our students are enjoying their new classes that just opened in early June. We are planning a solstice celebration as a part of our student Q and A call this month with a special conversation with Steven at 8 am Pacific time on June 21st. Steven will be giving us a little taste of his thoughts about the planet Eris, a new topic in recent astrology, guiding us in our understanding of the evolutionary meaning of the “planet of discord.” Please join us! Look for our FCEA announcement about the call in mid-June.

Solstice always reminds me of the seasonal gatherings at Stonehenge. As the sun rises and lights up the majestic sarsen stones, the celebratory rituals seem like such magical times of shared sacred space. In some ways, I see our community at the FCEA in a similar way.

We come together to learn and share our passion in a sacred celestial art based upon the sky and the changing seasons. We are also a solstice community, a circle, a family. Before I dive into the main topic of my Dean’s update this month, I want to thank Teal Rowe, our dear tutor and friend, who is leaving our solstice circle, our FCEA community. Like we so often hear, running a school really does “take a village,” and I am so grateful for Teal’s love, hard work and commitment to help birth the FCEA. Teal has been a constant source of emotional support and guidance through recent years of developing the FCEA. We could not have done this work without her. She will be sorely missed. We wish her all the best in her future endeavors!

Returning to what I have called our solstice family, our circle, I wanted to share with you a few recent reflections I had after attending a popular in-person astrology conference, NORWAC (Northwest Astrological Conference) in Seattle, Washington, this past May. The NORWAC conference always stimulates my mind and curiosity. I must say my Gemini Moon thoroughly enjoys the diversity of approaches and techniques, a true smorgasbord of methodologies! Oh, my, there is always so much to digest and ponder. Astrology conferences offer us fresh perspectives and a wealth of astrological knowledge that can be so rewarding, not to mention the joy and love of the downtime when we come together during the after-hour parties and gatherings. Like our own solstice circle, the NORWAC tribe is a family and I am grateful for all the connections I have made over the years at the conference. We hope to meet some of you at the ISAR conference in Westminister, Colorado, this summer (August 25 through 29th, visit https://isar2022.org/ for more information). Steven will be a presenter. Let’s gather together those who can attend.

For me, one of the topics that seems to come up each year when attending NORWAC is how and in what ways I might use my new insights. I must admit my Capricorn Sun loves strategy and working through rules and the many technical details of how astrology can be approached. What can I say, I am the type of person who loves board games and mind puzzles. And I have a competitive side – I like to get things right! The ins and outs of practicing various forms of astrology, such as the rich world of traditional, Hellenistic and Jyotish (Indian astrology), not to mention more recent vibrational or Uranian astrology, pose such exciting challenges for my personal passion for figuring out “how things work.”

But one of the strong bonds of connection we share at the FCEA is our love for Steven’s particular methods of reading charts. Something about that basic common thread we all share strengthens us as a school and in our developing roles as counselors. I respect my colleagues at NORWAC and thrive when I open to the ideas and methods they share. But when I return to my daily work in the counseling office, I am a purist. I practice evolutionary astrology and the Steven Forrest method, because I know it works for my clients. My readings already cover enough material! Astrological “fusion” may have its place in our research and in our shared conference circle, but finding a method that works for you, and applying a focused approach to learning evolutionary astrology through that chosen method, builds a solid foundation as a counselor.

So, I’ll end with a little summary of my two-cents as the FCEA Dean. The best way forward to become the most skilled and gifted astrologer lies in finding a path, a particular method and sticking to it. Broadening our astrological wisdom is never to be frowned upon. Open doors when they appear; learn, explore, and appreciate the diversity of our astrological family! Yet, recognize, in actual practice, the value of a strong focus and a fine-tuned set of skills.

Happy solstice everyone! Much love to our solstice circle!

Catie Cadge, PhD
June 2022