These are available for our students in the fully guided program. Under the springtime Taurus Sun, my focus turns to places I can find peace and calm, center myself and relax. Our study groups at the FCEA are the place where the “rubber meets the road.” Conversations provide a means to listen, to absorb, to reflect, to practice and to share what we have learned and how we are building our sacred craft as evolutionary astrologers. But they are also a source of relaxation. A place to connect.

For folks who have not yet joined a study group or for our loyal members, I’ll fill you in briefly about these practical – but fun! – educational group gatherings. Our study groups happen each Tuesday when classes are in session. We hold two study groups, one at 8:00 am and then another at 5:00 pm Pacific time. The 8:00 am time is designed to best reach our students based in Europe, 5:00 pm for our students in Asia. Each is led by two of our tutors or myself, with master wizard, Steven, joining us once a month. We use breakout rooms on the Zoom call to help students feel comfortable working in a small cohort of fellow astrologers enrolled in the same level of instruction. A “mystery chart” or two are shared.

The tutors and I make every effort to visit each and every breakout room and help the group talk through chart analysis. We end by meeting all together and revealing our insights, taking a guess at the mystery person’s identity. In sum, the study groups are a practice opportunity and a great place to just “be” with our work and colleagues, to do our craft, and sharpen our skills.

Steven often emphasizes his wise words, “All aspects are about integration.” Of course, he is describing best practices in evolutionary astrology in this quote. But the same advice applies beautifully to education, the ways in which we best learn, grow and develop our skill set. Integration involves not only sitting at the master’s feet and absorbing each lesson each step of the way. Integration of what we are learning takes active participation and loving engagement as we come together in dialog via the study groups. We get to know each other, listen and respond, and empower each person by mastering the ins and outs of reading a chart.

The French use two different verbs “to know.” Savoir – to know a fact – and connaitre – to know through experience. The best education integrates both, ça je sais. This I know! Steven and I and the tutors feel blessed to get to really know each of you and to learn together every week in our study group meetups. Je connais ce sentiment. And I know and experience the feeling. We all work together to make our learning grounded and real.

I hope I provided a little taste of an important part of our school’s educational offerings. I thank the students and tutors who join our study groups each week. The study groups are a great advantage of registering for the fully guided program at the FCEA. It is a time of “rubber meets the road” for me as Dean as well. When we each use our minds, hearts and intuition and articulate aspects and interpretations we see most meaningful. A space we hold for each other. A place to learn and apply our gifts, our talents.

Catie Cadge, PhD
April 2022

Ok, well, I suppose I am anthropomorphizing my poor cats in my feeble attempts to grasp my own life dramas in synastry: How do I see myself in others? How can I grow and learn to assert and declare my own needs and potential, while opening my heart to listen, love and truly see those who, as Steven would say, “venusify” my life? 

This spring, at the FCEA, we venture into the broader territory of synastry in evolutionary astrology, building upon our work with the birthchart and the changing sky. Synastry is about any kind of relationship, not just romantic ones — although of course we’ll pay a lot of attention to those too. For those lucky students ready to dive in, pull your Skymates and Skymates 2 from your bookshelves, get ready to read, reflect, grow and change together in the sacred craft of loving counsel through comparing charts in synastry. Mother and child, lovers, co-workers, even bandmates and cats, form the complex web of astrological connection we all share and need. Have a beautiful Valentine’s Day everyone!

Catie Cadge, PhD
February 2022

Perhaps finding that team spirit, the mutual love we share for Steven’s approach and for evolutionary astrology, is what we most need when taking on Saturn in 2022. You might recall Steven wrote in his Master’s Musings last month about Saturn transiting the school’s 10th house following Jupiter’s recent path. Obstacles and hard work are part of the journey. It helps me to think of the words of the late, great comedian Robin Williams, “There is still a lot to learn and there is always great stuff out there. Even mistakes can be wonderful.” Robin’s natal Pisces Moon speaks of a passion for life’s possibilities, that glass half full. Sensitive, emotional, and intuitive, Robin also deeply felt all that engulfed him. His natal Moon in the 4th house longed for the caring and compassionate bonds of family. I am hoping 2022 opens our school to such a longing, such a joy in the FCEA “team,” and a powerful shared dream of “family.” And, yes, it will undoubtedly include some mistakes!

Catie Cadge, PhD
FCEA Dean

Congratulations to our students in their successful completion of FCEA 202, the Practicum in Transits, Progressions and Solar Arcs. We were so impressed by the level of engagement and the love all you showed to one another in class discussions. Such an honor for me to work with such talented evolutionary astrologers! Such a gift for me…I wish to give a shout out to tutors Marie, Joey and Teal in thanks for their constant help and support in moving FCEA 202 to a successful finish. I could not do this work as dean without them! Just before solstice, our current FCEA 103 section will be coming to a close, so I also wish them the best of luck in their final submissions and a big thank you to Karen, Sarrah, Bryan, Ryan, and Allison for such stellar work in guiding our students through FCEA 103. What a busy fall term it has been here at the school.

I want to share with you some exciting news: we have hired three new employees to help the FCEA with the structural needs and difficult tasks of Saturn in the months ahead. We are thrilled to have Paula Wansley as our chief financial operator to guide us through the school’s anticipated growth in 2022 (“Knock on wood”… As Steven says, Jupiter wants us to take a chance!). Paula comes to us after years of experience working for Steven and Ingrid Coffin planning and helping to coordinate many Apprenticeship Programs, Steven’s live teaching sessions formerly held outside of San Diego. I have known Paula, myself, for seven years now. I always feel immediately at ease with Paula; a great trait when it comes to handling financial discussions. Thank you, Paula! I love that we will be working with her in the years ahead.

I am extremely grateful to announce we have a new communications coordinator, Penelope Love. Penelope is gifted in so many skills it is difficult to know where to begin! Holding an MA in Mass Communication, Penelope is a successful author, editor and publisher. She will be handling our newsletter, helping with Zoom calls and organizing our events, and contributing much-needed revisions to our website. As the FCEA grows, Penelope will be helping us reach a wide audience through social media platforms as well. Some of you may know Penelope from our current 100-level classes. Please welcome her as staff when you see her on a Zoom call! We are so thankful and thrilled to work with such a talented soul. I am confident Penelope will be critical to the school’s success in 2022.

A third new staff member to the FCEA is Carlos Velazquez, our Technical Support “Jack-of-all-trades.” Carlos comes to us with experience in web development, systems administration, and information technology. He will be working with Penelope to ease students successfully through enrollment and then register our students into Moodle, our Learning Management System. Carlos will be a critical link in the chain, helping us to update and improve the website, as well as successfully getting new classes up in Moodle and ready for instruction. Thank you, Carlos! We are so grateful for your many talents. And a big thank you to Jeff Parrett for training Carlos and Penelope in these essential tasks. Carlos is a current 100-level FCEA student. Please congratulate him when you see him on Zoom!

Catie Cadge, PhD
FCEA Dean

Perhaps the answers to these questions are best summed up by Steven’s definition of the biopsychic script as we will study it in FCEA 203, “As we mature, our consciousness – and our circumstances – change in somewhat predictable and rather universal ways. Within limits, everyone experiences these maturational developments similarly. Astrology can take us beyond the realm of what is immediately obvious, sensitizing us to the subtleties of these life-chapters in very illuminating ways. We call this particular area of astrological study the biopsychic script.”

In FCEA 203, we will continue to rely upon the birthchart as root prediction and set these commonly experienced life events, such as the Saturn Return, the Uranus Opposition, the Jupiter Return, to name just a few, into the biographical stories of specific individuals, individuals undoubtedly experiencing other important transits, progressions or solar arcs simultaneously in unique ways. And we will return again to Wilma’s chart, our fictional client, with whom we have been developing a counseling rapport. How will her fiery primal triad and her stellium in Gemini and her 10th house work with the rhythms of the lunar nodes and her Nodal Return?

We will also consider some key events of the biopsychic script, such as the Saturn Return, within the context of the client’s age. Can we see certain themes during the first Saturn Return in a person’s late 20s that change with advancing age when a soul reaches the late 50s? What lessons or questions do we encounter when Saturn again returns to its natal position? Thinking back to my first Saturn Return and comparing that time to my current reality in 2021, as Saturn again travels through Aquarius, I notice some similarities of experience; the universe sets up the carousel horses once again in ways I must mature into and work through with patience and discipline. Ah, Saturn, you really do remind me of ‘father time.’ And what is it Steven always tells us about Saturn? “How bad do you want it”? No doubt in my mind that FCEA students will meet the challenge!

It takes a desire to keep going, keep trying and to keep your goals always in sight.

Remember we have Jupiter somewhere out there in the sky. In the spring of 2022, Jupiter will join together with Neptune in Pisces.We all need to dream BIG and have faith in our imaginations and hope for a better future. Both planets will trine the north node of the Moon in Cancer, 3rd house, in the FCEA school’s natal chart, while squaring the school’s Jupiter in Sagittarius in the 7th. Let’s support each other in this cosmic dance, have faith in what we all can do as evolutionary astrologers, and spread healing wisdom with the passion for this sacred craft we all share.

As we continue through 2021, we need to apply ourselves and work hard, but remember to be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day! 

In the meantime, I hope we all can cultivate some Piscean compassion for one another. I am so impressed by how kind and loving FCEA students are in replying to each other’s posts. A true spirit of camaraderie! For those that feel overwhelmed, slow down, listen to one another. A community is here for you. May Jupiter and Neptune in the year ahead expand our intuitive gifts, our visions for the future and build dreams upon all this hard work and effort.

I hope to see many of you at our first annual FCEA summit on November 13th!

Part of our mission is to lay the foundation for the time-tested and methodical approach to evolutionary astrology Steven practices and teaches. First and foremost, the basic concepts of the Primal Triad, along with eight core planets in our solar system, and the fundamental vocabulary of houses, angles and major aspects, must be thoroughly understood in order to integrate all into a clear and concise reading. How easy it is to get sidestepped in this process, when Chiron becomes the popular astrology trend or Eris, all of a sudden, appears to make the picture even more convoluted and complex. I must say I enjoy reading student posts and insights into these rich topics we have barely introduced at all. Thank you! But I also encourage you to embrace the fundamentals. The ABCs are key to making this kind of astrology work and our jobs a success. I know some of you already know about Chiron or “Out-Of-Bounds” planets, but please hold back on sharing that kind of thing — we don’t want to undercut the confidence of the relative beginners who might start feeling bad about themselves because they think they missed something.

We are saving a number of astrological insights of a “lunar kind,” for inclusion in our 300-level Moon course. You may already be familiar with these subjects from reading Steven’s The Book of the Moon, the textbook we will use in this exciting class. So many juicy details we can see when playing with these techniques, most of which we have not even mentioned yet in class! In the FCEA courses so far, many sample charts, such as Wilma’s, include a grid showing declination and a number of students have ventured into interpretation of a planet “Out of Bounds.” Yup, it was Wilma, herself, our favorite made-up client, with that 5th house “Sadge” Moon, conjunct Jupiter in Capricorn, that made a number of students chime in with creative renditions of what exactly is happening with Wilma’s sense of self expression and what brings her joy. 

I know some felt lost when hearing the phrase, “Out Of Bounds,” a.k.a “OOB,” when working with Wilma’s chart. Astrology as a discipline is filled with such lingo. And the “OOB” phenomenon is quite recent in its popular usage. Please be patient with yourselves! Again, it is easy to let these tools in the wizard’s kit overwhelm the foundational skills necessary for our sacred profession.

In the 300-level Moon course, we investigate in much more depth the “OOB” status of the Moon, while we also introduce “OOB” planets in our other 300 courses covering key planetary players. These classes are structured in a focused way through advanced coursework. The 300-level, (following the 200-level changing sky, biopsychic script and synastry courses), provides opportunities to more fully understand each planet better in terms of transit, progression and solar arc, while also catching any missing gaps from the Apprentice-level program. There is a lot to look forward to in the months ahead.

Wishing you all a great Libra season!

In Neptune fashion, we are also using our creative imaginations to dream new ways of building bridges of connection in the FCEA, while still preserving confidentiality. We are hopeful that we will be able to eventually return to live gatherings, where perhaps advanced students might present or engage in more in-depth chart analysis, together with Steven and the FCEA teachers and tutors. By November’s summit, Jupiter will be marching forward again in Aquarius in the FCEA’s 10th house. Let’s seize the opportunity to set the stage with this maiden trip, a community gathering. This first summit is just a start. 

Please look for upcoming mailings regarding sign up and/or a link to participate in the 1st annual FCEA Summit: A Community Gathering. We hope to see you on board!