The FCEA Program Structure

The FCEA’s Program Structure

Dean’s Update, August 2024

The FCEA’s Program Structure

 
 
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Dean’s Update
 
Greetings, FCEA community! August is the time we set the calendar for the following year. It’s an exciting process of looking ahead and planning each class every month. We welcome a new cohort of students this coming September and then again in January, 2025. “Cohort” refers to a mini FCEA community of students entering the program at the same time and taking the classes in sequence until graduation. We have TEN cohorts on board for 2025! The highlight of their educational journey is the master class, 306, taught by Steven Forrest with myself as an assistant. Every student has a chance to sit in the “hot seat,” sharing their own insights into one of several fictitious clients’ charts. It takes three years to reach this point in the curriculum. Everyone is always looking ahead to this fun — and challenging! — opportunity. 
But we require rigorous study and hard work during the years leading up to 306. For those new members and students, let me review our program structure. Students start by taking our 100-level classes, some through a self-guided version at the very beginning in our introductory courses, 101 and 102. Or the guided classes, led by our talented team of tutors and teachers, 101B and 102B, taken simultaneously with the main 101 and 102 courses. Then all students join 103, a hands-on practicum with tutor support. This class makes a useful guidepost to a student’s skill set achieved so far. Focused upon the essential details of birthchart analysis, FCEA 103 forms the foundation for the advanced work students eventually master. In 2025, we have three 103 classes scheduled with about fifty-five students in each. 
After graduating from the 100-level, students enter the Craftsperson 200-level courses. Again, we provide a self-guided basic transit, progression and solar arc class, 201, with an option for the guided version, 201B. FCEA 202, a practicum similar to 103 but addressing the “changing sky,” gives every student hands-on practice. My personal favorite, FCEA 203, covering the “biopsychic script,” those key astrological events that occur like clockwork for every individual, follows 202. And then we end the 200-level with two courses, 204 (synastry) and 205 (the composite chart).
It is a lot to digest over a two-year period! Our monthly Q and A Zoom meetings with Steven are priceless. They provide a chance for students to ask any questions they may have for Steven to answer and a mini chart reading as well. Check out our indexed library of previous Zoom calls with Steven, which is available to students and members. Members are welcome to join these calls, bringing the whole FCEA community together. Don’t miss these monthly opportunities scheduled throughout 2025! We also offer learning labs, “Z” classes, small group Zoom sessions with a tutor at both the 100-level and 200-level. These “Z” classes are a great way to review the material in a live Zoom setting. At any point, a student can take a break from their path of study to hone their skills or reflect upon the learning process on their own time in more depth. 

 

Teachers and tutors are available throughout the guided program to offer assistance at any time!
 
The third year features our popular 300-level advanced classes, each one addressing specific planets in more depth. Modeled after a graduate school seminar, students work in small groups weekly in Zoom meetups with tutors and their peers. This is a great way to learn from each other and fine-tune our counseling skills. Finally, the program ends with 306, the master class, and 401, our counseling course. The counseling class is unique in that any student at the advanced level can register for FCEA 401 during 2025 so to best match the time zone suitable for them to attend. We anticipate having three 401 classes: one in March at 8 a.m., one in June at 12 p.m. and the last one in September at 5 p.m., all Pacific time. The 300-level meeting times are also in process and we will try our best to make times flexible and diverse.
Final adjustments are being made to our 2025 course calendar as I write. Please be patient with the process! As we all know, Mercury was moving retrograde until August 28th and the planet is in its “shadow” until September 11th.  We will post the new 2025 calendar once Mercury can bless our hard work!
 
Catie Cadge, PhD
August 2024

 

The FCEA’s Policy on Student Use of AI

FCEA’s Policy on Student Use of AI

Dean’s Update, July 2024

The FCEA’s Policy on Student Use of AI

 
 
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Dean’s Update
 
Happy Leo season, FCEA community! In the spirit of Leo the lion, let’s give a big shout out of appreciation to our advanced students finishing up FCEA 306: The Master Practicum. They all did outstanding work answering questions in the “hot seat” under the guidance of Steven Forrest. A hearty round of applause for a job well done! I have had the great honor of helping to run the 306 calls and learning from each one of our talented students. It has been such a gift for this busy Dean to share the classroom with them. Congratulations, 306 class!
 
For me, one of the most rewarding parts of attending the FCEA 306 class sessions is hearing each individual’s unique astrological voice and the love and passion they bring to their craft. This point alone makes writing this month’s Dean’s Update a bit easier. You see the topic of this article is our new policy addressing the use of Artificial Intelligence at the FCEA. Since Pluto’s arrival in Aquarius, extensive conversation has been taking place in astrology circles around the world. How do we best use this incredible new technology? And how do we hold onto the “human face” of our sacred craft and maintain the integrity of our work as a unique personal expression of our soul’s intentions and true talents? How do we use AI in supporting our education, while not derailing the important process of learning and developing our own voices as evolutionary astrologers?
Recently, our staff came together as a team with the assistance of Alan Egge, a recent FCEA graduate with a wealth of knowledge about AI and its various ins and outs. Thank you so much, Alan! As a team, we came up with a working policy, which I would like to share with everyone in this newsletter report.
 
Please take a moment to read the policy and “sign on” in agreement. We trust you will understand why we list each one of these critical points.
 
 
FCEA POLICY ON STUDENT USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
 
Definition: The FCEA defines ‘Artificial Intelligence’ as any computer system, application or digital algorithm capable of performing tasks like those performed by a human being, including reasoning, decision making, complex problem solving, and writing (creative, comparative, persuasive, argumentative, etc.). Current examples include Open AI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, and similar industry or user developed AI tools. 
  1. For all of our students, the ultimate aim of the FCEA is that armed only with their own knowledge and an astrological chart in front of them, they become capable of offering helpful verbal counsel to anyone. 
  2. We view Artificial Intelligence as a legitimate study tool, but not as a substitute for personally internalizing the principles of evolutionary astrology. 
  3. On the honor system, none of any student’s written submitted class work can be the work of Artificial Intelligence. 
  4. We understand that students could fool us, but in so doing they would also be fooling themselves, robbing themselves of the chance to really learn astrology or to find their own voice. Such students would not even be able to learn from their own mistakes. 
  5. In the 300 courses and in the 306 master class with Steven and Catie, students are expected to present extemporaneous verbal astrological analysis. If any have relied on Artificial Intelligence up to that point, this will be the moment of truth. 
  6. Positively, we recognize that Artificial Intelligence can play a helpful role in research as students prepare for a presentation in the school or for a session with a client. There is no shame in using it as a tool – that is, unless it becomes a crutch without which students cannot function in helpful ways depending only on their own intellectual and spiritual resources. 
  7. Given the policy points above, we claim the right to deny FCEA certification or continued enrollment to any student found in violation of them. 
 
Now we ask each of you to let your heart open to the essence of each key point we include in this important policy. We know we can trust you and work together as a community and family to make the FCEA grow and flourish with AI, a good working relationship in an Aquarian age.

 

Finally, I would like to end with a special reminder. One of the best ways to move beyond the limits of AI is good, old fashioned face-to-face learning in person with Steven. And we know people have been missing these opportunities. I want to remind folks of Steven’s upcoming workshop in Athens, Greece, April 24-29, 2025. Lisa Jones, one of our FCEA tutors, and I will be leading a trip to sacred sites following the conference, April 29-May 7, along with Steven attending. I am so excited to share with you moments of conversation and quiet reflection as our group visits sacred astrological and historical Greek temples and museums. If you have not heard about the workshop and trip, please check out our website and brochure: https://forrestastrology.center/greece2025/ We would love for you to join us on this special journey with us!

Catie Cadge, PhD
July 2024

 

Chiron, Pluto & The South Node: The Same Only Different

Chiron, Pluto & The South Node

 

Master’s Musings, July 2024

Chiron, Pluto & The South Node: The Same, Only Different

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Master's Musings
 
 
As students become more advanced in their FCEA training, they often raise questions about the differences among Pluto, Chiron, and the Moon’s south node. Let me start by saying that this is  one of those places in astrology where feeling a bit confused is a sign of wisdom rather than of missing something. The simple fact is that these three symbols do indeed overlap considerably in practical meaning. They share the common ground – and the common keyword – woundedness. All three represent, among other things, a place where you hurt. Faced with a chart, if you entered the interpretive process by thinking of Chiron, Pluto and the south node as three separate wounds – and three separate pathways to wholeness – you would be off to a good start. Your words would resonate with your clients, and, more importantly, you could help them along on their own healing trajectories.
 
Still, Pluto, Chiron, and the south node are not interchangeable. As you become more aware of the distinctions among them, your work becomes more precise. There’s a balancing act here – you want to recognize their differences without losing sight of the blurry places where their meanings actually do run together. In this short essay, my aim is to help you feel the unique ways that these three energies interact with the human psyche and – more importantly – with each other. We’ll aim to keep perspective on them, explore their distinct energetic signatures, and, above all, see how they work in concert with each other as we reclaim our wholeness, our spiritual sanity, and our power.

 

 
THE HEART OF THE MATTER: THE MOON’S SOUTH NODE
 
Everything comes back to the Moon’s south node. It is the root of all our understandings regarding what might hold a soul back in its journey. Whenever you see anything going on that involves Pluto or Chiron, a good guideline is always to try to tie the messages of those two bodies back into the south node story. No aspect involvement is necessary for that to be an effective technique. Pluto and Chiron may bring old unresolved issues to the surface, but what are those issues? Pluto and Chiron themselves will give you important clues, but always the heart of the answer lies with the south node itself.
 
Here’s the key: most of us forget the mundane details of our prior lives – our names, where we lived, and so on. But we remember what those lives felt like. All the planets have south nodes and they all have to do with the past, but that emotional connection is why the south node of the Moon in particular is so important. The Moon represents the emotional body, and in a sense, that is the part of us that actually reincarnates. The essential idea here is to remember that our emotional bodies are robust enough to survive the trauma of death and rebirth mostly intact, unlike our specific “Mercury memories” – the labels we place on people, places, and things. Those factual memories tend to dissipate as we move into the space between lives – we typically even see that process starting here on Earth as people age. Think of how you wake up remembering a bit of a dream, but it soon fades away – it’s basically the same with the “facts” of your life once it’s over and done.
 
  • Attitudes and moods are what survives death and rebirth. If we were loving in a prior life, we’ll likely be loving in this one. If we lived a life of fear or of some kind of terrible lack, those feelings survive too.
 
There are treasures in the south node, but its active ingredient is always a set of blinding emotional assumptions and limiting, distorting attitudes. If you had an easy, indolent prior lifetime – one whose karma has now ripened – laziness might interfere with your journey in this lifetime. If you were badly scared, or shamed, or otherwise traumatized, those emotional wounds will undercut your faith in yourself this time around.
 
  • Whatever its specific nature, this south node distortion in our underlying attitudes and assumptions about life is our Rosetta Stone when it comes to fully understanding anyone’s woundedness in this present lifetime – and the full interpretive process includes understanding their relationships with Pluto and Chiron.
 
I would just add two more notes – as most of you know, the first one is that by “the south node,” we mean a complex analysis that includes the message of its planetary ruler or rulers, along with a network of aspects. The second note has to do with how the north node of the Moon works as a remedy for the south node’s blindness and stubborn stuckness. In contrast to the south node which contains no medicine, Pluto and Chiron carry the potential for their own resolution – that is simply the higher meaning of both of those points. Meanwhile, the remedy for the south node does not lie in the south node itself. For that remedy, we look to the north node.
 
The south node carries strengths of its own, but they are not particularly relevant to the healing process, at least other than the obvious notion that we achieve release from the south node karmic pattern by not doing it anymore, or at least by letting go of being so identified with it and attached to it. But once again, unlike Pluto and Chiron, it’s a separate point – the north node – that supplies the jolt of magic that lights the fuse of insight and transformation on our limiting attitudes, assumptions, and habits.
 
LET THE SOUTH NODE INFORM PLUTO AND CHIRON 
 
In a little while, we will sharpen our sense of the differences between Chironic wounds and Plutonian ones. They aren’t the same, but for now let’s just see them both simply as wounded places in the reincarnating psyche. The specific nature of the wounds they represent can be  focused by looking at their sign and house placements and the aspects they make – by the conventional procedures of normal astrological analysis, in other words. Do that, and you are off to a good start in understanding them.
 
To take your interpretation to the next level, integrate what you have learned about the south node into your understanding of Pluto and Chiron. Say, for example, we have either one of them in the 5th house. One possibility with Pluto or Chiron in that house is that there is a wound in connection with the human need for pleasure, play and release. Such a wound can naturally take many forms ranging from dissipation and excess to a fear of letting go at all. 
 
Now imagine two nodal scenarios, each one flavoring our interpretation of that 5th house Pluto or Chiron in a different way:
 
  • The south node is in Virgo and the 9th house, conjunct Saturn. That could easily correlate with unresolved karma relative to the impact of harsh, repressive religion – a self-denying attitude that was brought forward from a prior life “in holy orders” and now negatively impacts our ability to celebrate and have some 5th house fun.
 
  • The south node is in Sagittarius conjunct Neptune in the 11th house. In a prior life, you were swept along into enthusiastic, hedonistic escapism by a wild crowd. As a result, you might say yes today when you really ought to say no. There’s your 5th house wound. 
 
As you can see, the south node mood creates a totally different set of issues in each case. This integrative style of interpretation illustrates how we can let the message of the south node inform our understanding of a Plutonian or Chironic wound. 
 
The flow of insight goes in the other direction too – in these two hypothetical scenarios, the presence of Pluto or Chiron in the 5th house sharpens our understanding of the south node by underscoring prior-life impacts on our capacity for joy in our present life. If Pluto or Chiron had been in the 10th, the south node impact would be reflected in wounds to our career or status. If in the 7th house, it would point to intimacy problems, and so on. 
 
This is just one illustration. The 5th house has other meanings too. Any of them might also be relevant. The south node distortions might negatively impact our Plutonian or Chironic attitudes toward children or towards our own creativity, for two quick examples. 
 
My aim here is not so much an exhaustive analysis of all the possibilities as it is an attempt to illustrate how these three related symbols “talk to each other” in a chart.
 
PLUTONIAN WOUNDS VERSUS CHIRONIC WOUNDS
 
Start by remembering that these two kinds of hurt overlap a lot!  As we saw earlier, a bit of blur between them in your understanding is a positive sign, not a negative one. As an analogy, just think of all the different ways you might define a “good movie.” In summer 2023, like half of America, I enjoyed both Barbie and Oppenheimer. I’d happily call them both “good movies.” But, like Pluto and Chiron, I would never confuse them. Wounds, just like good movies, come in a lot of flavors. I wouldn’t push this analogy too far, but compared to the Oppenheimer vibes of a Plutonian wound, the Chironic wound is Barbie. 
 
And before anybody writes me a mean email about that last statement, let me clarify that my point there is not to minimize Chiron’s hurts – it is more to stand in total awe of Plutonian ones and to bow before those souls who are fierce enough to heal them. 
 
And remember – Barbie was a serious movie too.  
 
THE PLUTONIAN WOUND
 
Thinking about Pluto, imagine a sensitive young man is drafted into the military in the midst of a horrible war. He sees things no human being should ever have to see. Perhaps under the relentless pressures and exhaustion of battle, he does things of which he is ashamed. When he comes home, he is in a state of psychological, spiritual, and emotional wreckage. 
 
My next line hurts me even to write, but please bear with me. Imagine someone tells that poor, wounded young man “to just get over it.” 
 
You want to whack them for saying that, right? For starters, it’s grossly insensitive. Worse, it’s simply clueless. People don’t just “get over” things as horrific as that – things like war, or rape, or terrible abuse in their childhoods. Things like spousal abuse. Things like the truly vicious dimensions of racism, sexism, and all the variations on homophobia and the other  shadow-wars around gender identity. There is true darkness in this world. When it touches us, it leaves a deep mark.
 
Plutonian healing from trauma like that takes time. We may need help too. Let’s also recognize that such healing might require more than one lifetime. That’s how deep these Plutonian wounds can go – maybe one lifetime isn’t long enough to “get over it.”
 
Let’s add that Pluto also represents the skill-set that we need in order to succeed at that kind of monumental healing. It is the sovereign planet of psychotherapy – and when I say “psychotherapy,” I’m actually thinking of it in the original Greek, where “psyche” means soul and “therapy” means healing. In other words, maybe you have “professional help” or maybe you don’t, but it’s always about the emotionally raw process of dealing with the results of life’s darkness. That’s what our souls are healing from. 
 
  • Wherever your Pluto lies, if you strive toward its positive expression in terms of its sign, house, and aspects, you are strengthening your greatest ally when it comes to healing all of your soul’s wounds – and that includes your Chironic wounds as well as the emotional wounds reflected in your south node. 
 
One more point about Pluto work – and this is one that underscores its powerful interdependency with the south node. There may be “Mercury memories” – names, dates, places, people – associated with Plutionian wounds, but the substance of those wounds is purely emotional. As a soul releases itself from the grips of a Plutonian wound, there is typically a powerful explosion of emotional energy. In fact, if we are afraid of strong emotions – especially dark ones – we will never succeed with a Pluto process. 
 
Hate is a spiritual poison, for example. No reflective person thinks hatred is good for anyone. But perhaps you came to your hatred honestly. Perhaps you were brutalized as a child. Perhaps in a prior life someone you love was murdered before your eyes. You didn’t ask for it, but that hatred is now inside of you. The world put it there. You can pretend it’s not there, but that’s just spiritual posturing. If you are going to truly liberate yourself from it, it must erupt out of the unconscious mind. When it comes out, it won’t look like little pink angels playing harps. 
 
This is why Plutonian healing processes are so raw – and so difficult, and ultimately so profoundly freeing.
 
Note how in exploring the Plutonian wound, we encounter two sides of a coin. Pluto is a place where you’ve stored up lifetimes’ worth of dark energy – but it also represents the very set of courageous, instinctive skills that you need in order to get beyond them. 
 
Pluto is both the problem and the solution.
 
WHAT ABOUT CHIRON?
 
Chiron is tiny by planetary standards. Astronomers today call Pluto a “dwarf planet,” but even little Pluto makes Chiron look like a pipsqueak. Pluto, with only one quarter of one percent of the mass of Earth, still has ten times the diameter of Chiron. Chiron would easily fit between New York and Boston – or Paris and Brussels. In China, it would just cover the Shanghai-Hangzhou metroplex. 
 
Size isn’t everything in astrology – again, look at Pluto, which is small but fierce. Still, it is important to remember that no astronomer and no experienced astrologer calls Chiron a planet. We take it seriously and its effects are not always subtle, but we do need to keep perspective on it. 
 
In a classic example of “as above, so below,” our most telling clue about the astrological nature of Chiron derives from one of its orbital characteristics. It revolves around the Sun between Saturn and Uranus, but it actually crosses the paths of both of those major planets. Its perihelion – when it’s closest to the Sun – lies just inside the orbit of Saturn and its aphelion is just outside the perihelion of Uranus. That last sentence is a mouthful. What it means is that Chiron never reaches the average distance of Uranus, but it does cross Uranus’s closest approach to the Sun. 
 
  • The key here is that Chiron weaves together the materialistic, logical realities of Saturn and the electrical-magical realities of Uranus.  Half horse and half man in mythology, it builds a bridge between the instinctual, physical realm and the realm of mind-power and intellect.
 
With Pluto’s wounds, we emphasized the folly and insensitivity of telling someone to  “just get over it.” With Chiron, evolution and healing can potentially move much more quickly – again, more like a flash of electricity than Saturn’s heavy tectonic plates. Forces from the invisible Uranian realm interact suddenly and powerfully with the more plodding realm of Saturn. 
 
Sometimes all it takes to trigger Chironic healing is a single liberating insight – or a crisis. In medicine, there are many examples of spontaneous healing, even among people who have received medical death sentences. That’s Chiron in action too. People speak of episodes of hysterical strength, where for example a person can lift a car off a trapped child. I suspect that’s a Chironic feature as well – but instead of lifting cars, let’s think of a psychological expression of that same superpower. 
 
My favorite illustration is how you might forget about your painful toothache if a friend comes to you in tears over some tragedy. You were preoccupied with your pain, but then suddenly you were distracted from it by your friend’s crisis. The mind has more power over pain management than we like to admit when we are busy hurting. The point is that human consciousness has an extraordinary potential for engineering incomprehensible breakthroughs. These are Chironic manifestations. How much of our pain is in our heads? How quickly can we change? 
 
Bottom line, are there any limits to the power of consciousness to address suffering? My guess is that probably yes there are such limits – but where are they? How firm are they? And might we underestimate our own healing powers?
 
Miracles do happen and Chiron is often connected with them.
 
There’s more. Certainly the most common description of Chiron in the world of modern astrology is the Wounded Healer. The basic idea is very simple:
 
  • Once you have found a way to liberate yourself from a wound sufficiently that it no longer controls your life, you’ve got a map that you can potentially share with other people who are suffering from the same wound. 
 
In 12-Step programs, there is a tradition of a member having a personal sponsor. That might be someone who, for example, has suffered from the psychic wound of alcoholism – but who hasn’t had a drink for fifteen years. That is a person who can understand your thirst if you’re an alcoholic yourself. Maybe they can help you deal with it “one day at a time.” This idea of mentoring – of guiding and being guided – is fundamental to Chiron. Often, during times of Chironic stimulation, all we need is meaningful contact with someone who has already been where we are hurting today – and not only survived it, but thrived. Such a meeting alone can be enough to trigger a breakthrough.
 
Pluto processes are slow, Chiron’s are fast – that simple idea is even reflected in their orbits. Pluto takes 248 years to get around the Sun. Chiron’s orbit varies. In the past, it has occasionally been as short as 46 years or as long as 52 years. At the present time, the orbit is close to 51 years. 
 
By the way, Chiron’s orbital variability reflects the fact that it’s such a cosmic lightweight – the gravity of the “real” planets, especially Jupiter and Saturn, kick it around a lot. 
 
The point there is that once again with Pluto we need patience, while with Chiron perhaps all we need is faith.
 
SOME PLUTONIAN AND CHIRONIC SPECIFICS 
 
When it comes to understanding the details of a wound represented by Pluto or Chiron, always reflect on the signs and houses they occupy and the aspects they make. Those bedrock astrological techniques are always the heart of the interpretive procedure. Beyond that, each of these bodies has a natural resonance with certain particular areas of life. In other words, it’s exactly like how, when we think of Mercury, we naturally think of communication or when we think of Venus, we think of relationships. 
 
With Pluto, think of healing the long-term effects of:
Lies. Shame. Violence. Sexual transgressions. Dramatic or tragic deaths. Contact with evil. The abuse of power, given or received. Poverty – or too much money. Toxic psychotherapy. Betrayal.  Corrosive guilt. Tragedy. Collective nightmares such as plague, famine, and war.
 
With Chiron, think of healing the long-term effects of:
Bad mentoring and misguided guidance. Physical problems, disorders, and diseases. Rejection. Abandonment. A “family curse” – that is to say a dysfunctional pattern passed down from one generation to the next. Chronic, exhausting caregiving. 
So there you have it – the three faces of our woundedness: Pluto, Chiron, and the Moon’s south node. Each has its own story to tell, but the clearest telling is when we listen to all three of them together.
 
Steven Forrest
July 2024

 

Astrological Odyssey in Greece with Steven Forrest

Astrological Odyssey in Greece with Steven Forrest 

April 24-29, 2025 Astrology Conference in Athens

“Finding the Heart of the Birth Chart”

and

April 29-May 7, 2025 Sacred Site Journey

Tour the Sacred Sites of Greece

Download Brochure
 
A Message from Steven Forrest and the FCEA…
In my May edition of Master’s Musings, I mentioned a couple of live events here in the United States and an upcoming one in Beijing. With North America and Asia on the books, I felt bad about leaving out our European family. I even hinted at some “loose talk” about an event there, but until it was clear it would actually happen, we needed to avoid getting anyone’s hopes up. It’s solid now – thanks to our beloved tutor and Sagittarian world-traveler, Lisa Jones, the FCEA will now be sponsoring a class in Greece in Spring 2025. 
We can accommodate as many as 60 people for the four-day class, but fewer for the bus tour of sacred sites that will come right afterwards. (You can book them separately.) We will open sign-ups to our European students first, then to the FCEA family worldwide with preference given to FCEA students and staff, and finally – if seats remain – to the general public. 
If you have any questions, please contact Lisa Jones who is organizing the tour. You can email her directly at info@aquariusrising.net.au.
DOWNLOAD the brochure for all the details on this exciting adventure!

QUESTIONS?


Contact Lisa Jones directly at info@aquariusrising.net.au
(The FCEA staff won’t have the answers, but we promise Lisa will!)

 

For more information, or to book your spot: 

www.aquariusrising.net.au/steven-forrest-in-greece/

Reading Children’s Charts

Reading Children’s Charts

Master’s Musings, June 2024

Reading Children’s Charts

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Master’s Musings
 
One of our more advanced students emailed me in a bit of a panic. She was about to do something she had never done before and that was to read the chart of a child. It was a paid professional session and the mother was due to sit with her later that day. What should she tell her? As an FCEA astrologer, the student was very well-grounded in theory. She felt she understood the chart. But how should she go about presenting the interpretation? Breaking it down, she faced two dilemmas. 

 

  • First, children aren’t adults and so the language she was accustomed to using was going to need to change. What career advice do we give infants? What about any complications they’ll likely encounter in their sex lives?
  • The second dilemma was that understandably most parents tend to be protective and easily rattled by anything they perceive as a threat to their child’s wellbeing. What should the astrologer say if the child is an Aries with an 8th house Pluto squaring her Moon?
 
Our student suddenly realized that she was stepping into a potential minefield, or at least into uncharted territory. I’m glad she reached out to me. For one thing, it gave me a fine topic for my column and a chance to write a piece that will serve double-duty.  We’ll integrate this essay into our school curriculum too.  
What follows is a longer version of what I told her.

 

ABOVE ALL . . .

 

The first point I want to put in the spotlight is very simple – we read a child’s chart in very much the same way that we read the chart of an adult. There are some differences and we’ll soon get to them, but essentially it’s the same process either way. Underlying this guideline is a salient metaphysical point: the age of the soul and the age of the physical body are unrelated. Every saint took birth as an infant. Young or old, when we look at a natal chart we are looking at the same two things: first, a symbolic representation of the soul’s karmic predicament and, second, a sense of how to get on with one’s evolution. 
The aim of evolutionary astrology is to support that soul-growth. To do that, we have to look at everyone through wiser, more conscious eyes than the world does – young or old, they’re souls on a journey. We make that philosophical approach clear to the parents right from the start. As we read the child’s chart, we’re not talking to a baby, we’re talking to a soul. Just like the mom or dad, this ancient being has now launched its boat on the stormy seas of life. As astrologers, we cannot protect anyone from that reality, but we can help them to navigate it in the most painless way possible. Meanwhile, we won’t let “baby talk” blind us to any of these deeper truths.
To make that perspective clearer, there’s a simple riff I almost always use at the beginning of a chart presentation to the parents of a youngster. (And as with all of my riffs, feel free to use it yourself without attribution or, even better, to create one of your own.) 
As usual, I am recording the reading – a fact which takes on another level of practical importance, as you’ll soon see. 
Let’s say the chart belongs to an infant rather than to an older kid. As I start the recording, I address the child directly by name, then I add, “as I say these words, you’re still in diapers and therefore little young to understand me. I still want to honor the fact that this is your chart and no one else’s. That’s why I am addressing you directly. My hope is that someday, decades down the road, you’ll find this recording and listen to it. I hope that you’ll derive some help and some spiritual encouragement from it. Until then, out of respect for you I will aim my words directly at you – but I may make a few side comments to your parents from time to time about how they can help you get off on the right foot in this life.
“That’s just a hundred words or so and it only takes a few seconds to say them, but of course even though we purport to be speaking directly to the child,” the parents are actually the ones who are listening. This little speech helps to create the right mindset in them and that’s the whole point. We’ve helped them see that this isn’t a baby we’re talking about, it’s a soul. 
And of course, whether or not it ever actually happens, we are sincere in our hopes that the child will hear the reading one day. That wasn’t a lie. Let’s just call it a convenient truth.
 
BUT IT’S REALLY JUST A KID  . . .

 

There are certain basic needs that all children have. Presumably any parent engaged enough with their son or daughter to be having a reading in the first place will be aware of them. These are obvious things, with love always topping the list. Add a reasonable sense of security, some training about safety and the social customs that govern society. Discipline of some sort is mission-critical in child rearing. We need to convey the idea that actions have consequences or that kid will be in serious trouble later on in life. 
All of that is pretty obvious and so there’s no pressing need for the astrologer to spend much time banging those drums. Where it gets more interesting is when we wrestle with some of the tougher questions that all parents face, especially ones that do not have clear answers. That’s where astrology – and the child’s chart – enter the equations. For example, let’s say a nine-year-old boy wants to camp overnight in a tent in the suburban backyard of his best friend. Should the parent give permission or not? On the downside, in that kind of unsupervised night time situation, a pair of nine year olds could potentially face some dangers that they were not equipped to handle. On the other hand, adventures can build character, self-confidence, and maturity. 
What’s the right parental call? Are we being too protective – or not protective enough?
Here I’ll simplify astrology like crazy just to make my core point as clearly as I can. If the boy is an Aries, go ahead and bless the backyard camping trip – that child is here on Earth to learn about courage and nobody learns much about it without facing a spot of danger. 
On the other hand, if the boy’s Sun is in Cancer, it’s quite possible that deep down he is hoping that you’ll say no – that way, he can save face with his bestie by blaming you for blocking the trip, and still be safe at home in his bed that night. 

 

  • In that situation, in the eyes of the Aries child, granting permission for that backyard adventure might seem like an expression of faith in him and respect for his autonomy, while to the Cancer, it might feel like abandonment – or you just “not caring.”

 

The essential point is that each soul needs different kinds of experience in order to grow. That’s true whether you’re an infant, you’re at the height of your powers, or you’re living in a rest home. All kids need love – but not all of them need to spend a night in a tent in the backyard. 

 

  • When it comes to reading the charts of children, it’s in these kinds of parenting gray areas – places where judgment calls need to be made – that astrology really shines. 

 

Here’s another example, one that brings us right into the raw heart of life. Say the parental marriage encounters a threadbare patch. Mom is feeling neglected while dad is feeling exploited and misunderstood. Maybe they’ll work it out, maybe not. Either way, because of that intimate tension there’s a bad vibe in the house. 
Just try keeping that truth from a Plutonian child! You will surely fail. 
Guaranteed, kids who are wired in that Plutonian way will sense those tense undercurrents – and there’s a good chance that they will overreact emotionally and misinterpret what’s going on, perhaps making it even worse in their minds than it actually is. Worse than that, those kids may very well bottle up their feelings. All you’ll see is a cryptic mood and a bad attitude.
In such a case, it would be far better for mom to speak honestly to the kid, “Sometimes your father drives me crazy. We’re having a hard time. Life sucks sometimes. We’re trying to work it out.” Put the truth on the table, in other words. That’s healthier for everyone, kids included – at least for those children who are born into that Scorpio/Pluto/8th house tribe.
Just as with those two boys contemplating a night in a tent in the backyard, in this situation the parents are faced with a tricky judgment call. If our marriage is on shaky ground, is it best to hide that from the children in order to avoid scaring them or to be honest about it? With questions such as any of these, beware above all of any paperback writer trying to sell you one-size-fits-all answers. A specific understanding of the children’s charts helps us know what’s ultimately best for them as evolving individuals. 
Perhaps even better, such astrological understanding can help the parents avoid the trap of “their best intentions” actually damaging a child. For example, parents could blunder by lying about the actual state of their marriage “so little Tracy doesn’t feel insecure or get frightened.” That might possibly be best if “little Tracy” is a Libra or a Taurus, but not if there’s much Scorpionic energy in the kid’s chart.

 

AT WHAT AGE DO WE ACTUALLY SIT WITH THE CHILD?

 

When kids get into their teenage years, the ethics around whether we should be doing readings for them directly or doing them for their parents begin to get murky. Confidentiality is naturally a cornerstone in all counseling work, but there’s a general consensus that, while the principle is sacrosanct with adults, it’s more flexible with children. That’s for the obvious reason that children benefit from adult protection and guidance, at least until they are ready to launch themselves into independent life.
But when are they “ready” to have a private reading with you? There is no clear answer to that question. Maybe the only thing that is actually clear is that the answer is not a specific age. It’s not a number. Everything depends on the particular child.
In my own practice, here’s how I’ve handled it – and I wouldn’t “legislate” any of this in terms of how you or any other astrologers might practice. Basically, I’ve had “an official policy” – and I’ve also been willing to break my own rules whenever that intuitively felt like the right course. 
“Officially,” I’ve had a kind of blackout age-range in which I would not do any kind of reading for the young person. That range starts around puberty and lasts until age twenty-one. Before that, I’d gladly do the child’s reading for the parents. After that period, I’d gladly sit with the young adult. In between, I’d simply say “let’s wait.” This policy is entirely based on my utmost respect for the principle of confidentiality. 

 

  • When I was a teenager, there were all sorts of things about me I would not have wanted my parents to know. If I respect that boundary in myself, I feel I have to respect it in others too.
 
What about breaking my own rules? 
I’ve known some people in their mid-teens who I sensed were advanced souls. They were already a lot more mature in every way than some folks in midlife. If they – not their parents – ask me for a reading, I am honored to do one. The key here is obviously that I have to have a personal acquaintance with the child.
 

 

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

 

Note that underlying all of these suggestions is a piece of practical strategy for the presentation of a child’s reading to the parents. You toggle back and forth between two linguistic orientations:

 

  • You address the child directly “for listening down the road,” presenting essentially a normal adult chart interpretation. The parents are actually the ones listening, but by speaking directly to the child, you are compelling them to step out of the “this is our baby” paradigm. You are also actually creating a kind of “time capsule” for when the kid has crossed the line into adulthood.
  • You make “side comments” to the parents about how to best support the child’s development based on the child’s unique psychological and evolutionary situation. That’s how you compensate for the otherwise-adult language of the reading.
 
COACHING: THE PARENT AS ROLE MODEL
Rhiannon is ten years old. She’s a Pisces with the Moon in the 12th house and Neptune on her Ascendant. You’re her mom. You sit down to meditate. Rhiannon pipes up and says she’s hungry and would like to have her lunch. You open your eyes and gently say to her, ”I promise I’ll fix your lunch soon. First I need to have a little talk with God.” You close your eyes again – not for long, just a minute or two. Then you get up and make lunch.
You’ve just normalized “having a little talk with God” and demonstrated to Rhiannon what such a process looks like. In this agitated, materialistic world, you just gave your daughter a supportive foundation for taking care of herself throughout the rest of her life.
That’s one example of how parents – especially parents informed by knowledge of their child’s chart – can demonstrate positive, helpful behaviors, and do it at the optimal time. That’s when the child is young and still learning how to be human, mostly by watching mom and dad. This is also a good example of the kinds of “side comments” I make to the parents in the course of a presentation.
Let me take this “role model” idea further with three quick personal examples. Here’s a photo of my father landing a biplane that he and a friend of his built with their own hands.
 
 
If you know your old movies, while I was growing up I thought of my dad like Errol Flynn in Dawn Patrol. I never got my own pilot’s license, but having a father like him really helped me get off on the right foot with my 4th house Aries Moon. I needed a hero and I had one. Dad had an Aquarian Mars on his Midheaven, so he played this role naturally. The universe often works that way – you have the parents you have for a reason.
I’ve got a Sun-Neptune square. One of the wisest things my mother and father did when I was growing up was occasionally to serve me a small glass of wine at dinner. It didn’t happen often – only, as I recall, when mom had made spaghetti. But they modeled social drinking for me. I’m afraid that if I had been raised by tea-totallers, when I hit college my naïveté about alcohol might have gotten me into trouble. Again, they were helpful role-models.
My third personal example is of a way my parents failed me, even though they were trying to do what they thought was best. Only one time during the entirety of my childhood did I see them have a tiff – and as tiffs go, it was practically nothing. I just remember the four of us – I have a younger sister – sitting at the dinner table and my father getting up and stomping out of the kitchen. I have no idea what happened between my parents, but obviously there was some kind of emotional disagreement. 
Why do I view the nearly-relentless domestic harmony I experienced as a child as a failure on my parents’ part? I believe two things – first, that some degree of honest conflict is part of any deep relationship and, second, that there is a necessary skill-set for handling such negotiations productively. (I’d be the first to admit that my own Aries Moon, Mars in the 3rd house, and Scorpio Ascendant perhaps further “underscore” that need in me.) 
Because of the apparent equanimity of my parents’ marriage, I learned nothing about what healthy conflict looks like. I wish my parents had taught me a few things about it by the example of them working through their issues in front of me. I wish I had seen them angry and frustrated with each other – but still able to listen and work together toward balanced, loving answers that worked fairly for both of them. 
But they never showed me how to do that. 
Is that all just about me and my own nature? Probably. Maybe if I had seven planets in Libra and the rest of them in Taurus, it would be different. And that’s the point: each child has different needs and a different nature. An astrologer can help the parents sort out the slippery questions of child rearing in a way that’s actually supportive of that particular child’s ultimate evolutionary aspirations.
Meanwhile, always remember that many years after you sit with a newborn baby’s parents, that grown-up child will be faced with some kind of crossroads in life. Maybe they find the recording of that long-ago session. Maybe it will make a difference. Maybe they’ll smile at the subtle wisdom you displayed in actually doing an adult interpretation of their chart, all the while letting the parents think that you were talking about their little kid.
 
Steven Forrest
June 2024

 

 

Our Solstice Gathering & Scholarships

Our Solstice Gathering & Scholarships

Dean’s Update, June 2024

Our Solstice Gathering & Scholarships

 
 
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Dean’s Update

 

Scholarship Opportunities at the FCEA - Apply Now I want to wish everyone a joyful solstice celebration, FCEA community! Please join us on Zoom, Thursday, June 20th, at 5 pm Pacific time, when we come together just after the Sun’s entrance into Cancer. Steven shares a brief presentation on the importance of this season at the beginning of our monthly student Q and A call. This is an open invitation to attend our gathering. We welcome all to our celebratory call! Please see information on how to attend this event on Zoom.

Meanwhile, I have some other important news to share this month. We are at the beginning of our yearly official process of choosing scholarship recipients. Whether you are a new student looking to start the FCEA Program or a seasoned student already enrolled, and you are in need of financial support for your studies, why not apply? Current students can start by applying award money to the next classes they take (a scholarship isn’t retroactive, but it will help you continue). Perhaps transiting Jupiter in Gemini is asking you to take a chance on your next step in your educational journey. Or maybe Neptune is asking, do you have a vision for your life? We only have a limited number of awards, but we try our best to be fair and supportive. We do encourage all interested to apply!

 

You might be asking, “How might I improve my chances of receiving scholarship support?” Read on and maybe I can help.

 

Two years ago, Steven and I worked together to plan two types of scholarships offered by the FCEA. Both provide a tuition waiver to cover the costs of the chosen students during the entire length of their educational studies under the scholarship, provided they remain in good academic standing and stay actively involved in the FCEA Program. One is a needs-based award, the other a scholarship to increase diversity at the FCEA. Let me share with you our two current descriptions:

 

The FCEA Needs Based Scholarship

The FCEA recognizes that in order to create the best in an astrological education, a student body must be inclusive of those with limited resources or financial support. This full scholarship will be awarded to the person whom our scholarship committee deems to be the most promising aspiring student who is in need of financial assistance in covering tuition at the FCEA.

And

The FCEA Diversity Scholarship

The FCEA is committed to promoting diversity in our student body in terms of race, ethnicity, age, gender, gender preference, sexual orientation and the inclusion of other underrepresented groups in education and in the professional field of astrology. The scholarship committee seeks to award candidates with a full scholarship who contribute to a diverse student body and who help build a more inclusive learning experience at the FCEA.

 

On our FCEA website, you can find posted instructions to apply for a scholarship under the Learn tab at the top of the main page.  Be careful: The window for application submissions is only from June 15th through July 15th. Make sure to cover each of the three bullet points listed in order to help you write the strongest personal statement. We carefully read through each and every submission. We know getting an award might make the difference in whether a student can join us or whether they can continue at the FCEA, so we take this job seriously! 

Here’s what I would suggest if you are applying: give some careful thought about what information you choose to share with us about you. In what ways can you demonstrate to us your particular needs or how might you best expand upon why you make a good candidate to help us diversify our growing student body? Sometimes, a student crafts a beautiful and detailed personal essay as their submission, but fails to explain which scholarship they are applying for and, most importantly, why? I felt in awe of the many talented astrology students who applied last year and the vast experiences so many of you shared in your personal statements and letters. Well done! But in the end, we chose applicants who clearly described how well they matched the criteria asked in each award and who took the time to edit and compose a solid and convincing application essay.

I am hopeful that this year we will read and review outstanding scholarship applications. Believe me, the selection process is never easy. But I know in my heart we try our very best. For those preparing your applications, I wish you wisdom and grace as you write. Don’t hold back. Listen to your inner voice and tell us who you are!

Solstice blessings to all!

 

Catie Cadge, PhD
June 2024

 

What Makes an FCEA Tutor or Teacher?

What Makes an FCEA Tutor or Teacher?

Dean’s Update, May 2024

What Makes an FCEA Tutor or Teacher?

 
 
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Dean's Update
 
I can’t believe it is mid-May already, FCEA community. It seems like yesterday we were starting our new classes of 2024. We celebrate the FCEA 103 graduating class and the hard work they have done these past several weeks in finishing the practicum. Congratulations, apprentice graduates! We want to acknowledge your effort and achievement. And let me also say how impressed we are with the dedication and love all our students are showing as they advance through the FCEA curriculum. The path is not an easy one! But we are certain the rewards of being actively engaged and completing homework and posts will pay off in the long run. Don’t give up! Be stubborn as Taurus the Bull and focus upon calming down and finding a rhythm and peace with daily practice and study. 
As I write to you, the Sun, Venus, Jupiter and Uranus form what we like to call a rolling conjunction, all in Taurus. But with the newsletter’s publication in a few days’ time, we enter Gemini season with the excitement and curiosity of what is to come with Jupiter’s arrival in the sign of the twins. But meanwhile, I can’t help but wonder what little babies born now, with this metaplanet in Taurus, might make as a high road in response to such a fixed, Earth energy in a sign ruled by Venus. Creative juju perhaps? Authentic and radical artistic expression? Or maybe we will see innovative souls seeking radical opportunities to save Momma Earth. Some may grow up to serve as counselors or healers enlightening the people they serve as they strive to find a Taurus sense of inner calm and peace. We shall see. I know for myself, the planets fall in my second house, so I have been asking, what is it in my current life that I truly value? What resources or gifts do I have or need to develop? What perhaps do I need to let go of? By synchronicity, my process of training and hiring new FCEA tutors seems to echo some of these questions I hold inside myself. Let me explain.

 

We might start by asking: what qualities and skills make for the best FCEA tutor or teacher?

 
Everyday, I manage a large group of talented and wise tutors (over a dozen now!). I am always amazed in what I see as their compassionate, loving gifts as counselors. I am talking about the kind of counselor needed to be a great teacher. Our current Taurus planetary placements trigger soul growth by bringing such Venusian potentials in a person to light, helping others to center themselves, find serenity, and ease into a comfort zone that is truly constructive in guiding another with love. It is these qualities I am most moved by as I watch and learn from our tutors. Taurus energy manifests through the healing, grounded counselor. This is a side of the sign I feel is often overlooked. 
And how appropriate it is to discuss the need for a calming, soothing Taurus energy when I transition into what I wish to announce and celebrate in this month’s update. I want to introduce our brand-new tutors, Jackie Johansen, Sophie Salaniat and Lidia Ranieri. We are thrilled to have these three outstanding tutors join our FCEA team. Recent graduates of the FCEA program, they clearly demonstrate to us their mastery of the nuts and bolts of evolutionary astrology. We had an outstanding group of graduates, overall, and we want to recognize the many gifts and sharp minds and loving, caring hearts of this class of top evolutionary astrologers. Jackie, Sophie and Lidia bring to the FCEA the astrological skill set our students need. But, perhaps most important, they embody that Taurus sense of calm and ease, establishing a rapport of comfort and support so helpful when acting as an FCEA tutor. We feel blessed to have them on board! 

 

Let me briefly introduce them to you.

 

Jackie Johansen, an FCEA master-certified evolutionary astrologer, holds a Master’s Degree in Jungian Depth Psychology. She has been a mental health professional for over ten years. I have had the pleasure to work with Jackie throughout her studies and recently as she transitioned into tutorial instruction. Jackie brings such a loving, caring heart-centered approach to her work with students. Always gentle, always positive and encouraging, Jackie embodies the soul of a true teacher. We are so pleased to have Jackie expand her skills in mentoring by serving as an FCEA tutor. 

 

Sophie Salaniat is equally wise and talented and we are blessed to have her join our FCEA team. Sophie has had a passion for astrology for thirty years, bringing a practical skill set so important as a tutor. She, too, is an FCEA master-certified evolutionary astrologer, grounded in Steve Forrest’s methods. I have read Sophie’s nurturing and supportive feedback, always revealing a love and commitment to our FCEA students. We feel so fortunate to have her gifts of wisdom and her nurturing support in the difficult work of training choice-centered and caring evolutionary astrologers.

 

Finally, I welcome Lidia Ranieri as she joins us as a tutor in our FCEA team. Lidia has a wealth of professional experience as a counselor and coach, having earned a Master’s Degree in Coaching Psychology. Lidia is an FCEA master-certified evolutionary astrologer talented at integrating the details of chart analysis, while also bringing to her work the heart of a loving counselor. A former AP student of Steven Forrest, she is thoroughly grounded in his methodology. I have been most fortunate to follow Lidia’s work as a student and tutor and I am very excited to have her wisdom and skills in the FCEA classroom.
 
I am so grateful to be able to manage such a gifted group of tutors in the FCEA! Please look for their involvement in our classes in the months ahead and join me in congratulating them in choosing to take on such important work.
 
Catie Cadge, PhD
May 2024
 
 

Upoming Live Events

Upcoming Live Events

Master’s Musings, May 2024

Upcoming Live Events

 
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Master’s Musings
 
As many of you know, for about twenty years all of my high-level teaching happened in the context of my Apprenticeship Programs. They were four or five day “live” events, happening once or twice a year in the USA, Australia, China, and Europe. All together, the various groups met well over a hundred times. I feel that I grew up with those “AP” meetings, both as a teacher and as a human being. It was in those marathon teaching sessions that I found my true voice as an astrologer. I look back on them fondly.
Even though they ended in 2019, the roots of the present FCEA lie in those programs. The basic material we teach is the same, although it’s more polished, orderly, and succinct nowadays. The main difference between the FCEA and the AP is simply structure (not to mention having a fine staff of tutors so it’s not all just me talking.) As you know, our school curriculum doesn’t let you skip any steps. The AP, in all honesty, was more of a hodge-podge – the content was all there, but there was no order to the way it was presented session-to-session. The administrators and I would come up with an interesting topic, announce it, and people would sign up – or not, if the topic didn’t interest them. After they had attended any three such programs, they earned a Level One certificate. Three more, and they’d qualify for Level Two.
It worked. Many graduates of the AP have gone on to practice astrology professionally. I’m proud of them. The trouble was, depending on which programs they chose to attend, they might have missed something important – nodal analysis, solar arcs, or the composite chart, for three painful examples. 
We’ve plugged those leaks in the FCEA! Anyone who attains masters’ level in our program will be an expert “full service” evolutionary astrologer. That’s the good news.
The bad news, at least for me, is that I really miss the hugs! I miss just hanging out after a day of teaching and getting to know the students in a simple, human way. I miss the musical jam sessions, the wine, and the laughter. 
Going a little deeper, the social dimension of the Apprenticeship Programs created a lot of “real life” for us to digest as a group. There were affairs and romances, of course. Naturally, not everybody always liked everybody else. Happily, there were marriages and lifelong friendships that came out of it. We experienced some deaths too –  and little creates a sense of spiritual community as effectively as a member passing. As I think of that, my mind immediately turns to Joyce Van Horn who ran the Calistoga program for many years. She passed away a few weeks ago in Mexico. I feel a gap in my heart where we all “should have” gotten together as a community, mourned her passing and celebrated her life – but, alas, there was no more Calistoga group, so that didn’t happen.
In contemplating the creation of the FCEA back in 2018 and 2019, my main personal fear was that the online format would feel cold. I’ve honestly been surprised and delighted that I was totally wrong about that. Genuine warmth permeates our program. That I can feel closely connected emotionally to people I have never actually met “in the flesh” has been a happy surprise to me. 
But, as I mentioned, I do miss the hugs!
Speaking of hugs, last summer I presented a five-day program at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York. It was a huge group – I think there were about 110 people in attendance all together. I was delighted to see that over forty of them were students in our school. Even though time was limited, it was a joy to be able to meet them all in person. Catie and Penelope were there too, along with our tutors Patty and Allison. 
That Omega program was a birthchart intensive. This coming July 28 through August 2, I’ll be returning to Omega, this time to teach an intensive about transits and progressions. I’m hoping that once again we can have a lot of FCEA people there. If you would like to learn more about that program and possibly attending it, here’s a link:
www.eomega.org/workshops/changing-sky

 

 

My plan for this Omega event will parallel last year’s approach. I’ll present some theory, then demonstrate it in practice based on a pivotal event in the chart (and life!) of a well-known person. Once we’ve done that, the rest of the program will follow the same tried-and-true formula we used for years in the old Apprenticeship Programs – I’ll reach into “the Sorting Hat” and pull the names of volunteers from the class. Their chart – and their transits, progressions, and solar arcs – will go up on the big screen, and we’re off to the races.
Toward the end of September, I will present a half-day workshop in the context of the Astro-Bash conference, right here in my hometown of Borrego Springs in the southern California desert just north of Mexico. Astro-Bash is a four-day conference with many speakers – in fact, I believe they are still signing people up to do short presentations, so maybe some of you might feel moved to apply. If so, contact Ralph McIntyre at macfuel [at] gmail.com.
This is the second year for Astro-Bash. It was a lot of fun last year. Our dark desert skies were an added treat at night. At that first one, I only presented one short talk, but this time I’ll offer a half-day workshop about how Pluto’s new Aquarian face will offer different possibilities and purposes by transit than it did while it was in Capricorn. Pluto-in-Aquarius is a beast we’ve not seen since Christmas Eve 1798 and so it’s time to renew our acquaintance with it. We astrologers need to learn to update our approach around those pivotal Plutonian events we’ll all be experiencing. 
Interested in possibly attending Astro-Bash? Here’s a link:
www.astro-bash.com

 

 
The FCEA is an international community. I’m acutely aware of the unfairness of how these two events I’ve just described present practical difficulties for our students living outside of the USA. I do take some comfort in knowing that at least we’ve managed to stage one of them on the East coast and one on the West coast – but I know that’s not much comfort to our Asian and European students. 
I do have some good news for our Asian students however. In October, I am planning to return to China. Once again, my sponsors are the wonderful NoDoor team. I’ll be speaking in Beijing for three days – Saturday through Monday – in mid-October. Plans are still formative at this point, but we’re considering a program about vocational and career perspectives. I’m up to my Adam’s Apple in trying to get a visa. Watch this space – we’ll keep you posted. 

 

 

What about Europe? We have no specific plans for an event there at this point, but let me just leave you with this – there’s been some “loose talk.” If it comes to anything, you’ll be the first to know.
Again, I do hope to see some of you “live, in person” before the end of the year! And I’m hoping that, with your kind permission, we can share a hug.
 
Steven Forrest
May 2024

 

Jupiter and Uranus in the FCEA’s 12th House

Jupiter and Uranus in the FCEA's 12th House

Dean’s Update, April 2024

Jupiter and Uranus in the FCEA’s 12th House

 
 
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Dean's Update
This month, I am happy to announce the FCEA is still growing at a healthy pace. Following the equinox in March, we opened a number of new classes at the school and we are in the process of training and hiring six new tutors in the months ahead. Wow! We have a lot to celebrate. But April began in a reflective mood Mercury turned retrograde in Aries. I have been spending some time turning inward since the month began. I wanted to give some deep thought to where, as Dean, I need courage to lead and take the school into its next chapter of development.
There are so many possibilities. I am looking ahead to Jupiter’s ingress into Gemini when the “king of the gods” crosses the FCEA’s Ascendant. Where do we need fresh perspectives? How might we adapt and be flexible in seeing what opportunities could unfold for our school? We also were in eclipse season with a total solar eclipse in Aries happening April 8th. Steven always stresses the power of a New Moon at such a time. What’s in store for us to initiate in fiery Aries fashion? How can we boldly go where no one has gone before and move deeper into our study of evolutionary astrology? These are questions for all of us to ponder. I hope some of you were fortunate to catch a view of the eclipse, and if you were lucky enough to be close to the eclipse path, that the clouds obeyed!
When I consider our FCEA Gemini rising sign, I am thankful to have such a diverse and talented group of teachers and tutors. Each one brings a unique skill set. All together, we are blessed with a multiplicity of tutor voices and teaching strategies sharing the same methods of our beloved master teacher, Steven Forrest. In this newsletter article, I wish to briefly share with you just a thought, an inner reflection to hold in your heart, during Mercury retrograde now.
The FCEA’s growth always seems to be accompanied with our fair share of adjustments and challenges. We know that sometimes students wrestle with our Moodle platform, stumble through the necessary changes in our scheduling, or express disappointment with the assignment of a particular tutor. I am so grateful to all of you for your patience and commitment, especially when it comes to the slow process of addressing your concerns as best as we can. I also want to thank our phenomenal staff, teachers and tutors for working overtime in getting the work done! Please realize we listen to you when you reach out. Every question and every concern helps to steer our school in a better direction.
So here is what I am asking of you all. On April 20th, we experienced the exact conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus in Taurus, an event I know many of you had been anticipating for months. For a quick look at Steven’s insights into how to best use the conjunction, have a look at his current website newsletter at forrestastrology.com. I also wrote a longer reflection about the conjunction you can read at caraevolutionaryastrology.com. The coming together of the two planets fell in the FCEA’s 12th house and formed a lovely trine to the school’s Saturn, Pluto and south node conjunction in Capricorn, 9th house. The element of Earth speaks to making something real and grounded about our higher learning and knowledge that builds off a compassionate awakening to what we truly value as a mystical school of wizards. What helps us calm down, be at peace and put in the necessary hours of study? Hard work requires discipline, effort, and, well, constructive criticism too. I hear mostly rave reviews of our tutors from students. Again, I am so thankful for our team! But I also know some are sensitive to the critical comments of a tutor in class. In such times, please remember that in each FCEA course, you will be guided by different tutors, different FCEA voices. So, dear students, members and staff, when a task or an assignment seems too long, a tutor’s comments too harsh, or feedback too demanding, certainly communicate to us your concerns! But let’s also see such moments as one step in a long Capricorn 9th house climb to being the best evolutionary astrologers we can be. Critical insight and correction can be good things!

Oh, no, am I offering you too much Saturn, and not enough Jupiter and Uranus perhaps?

 

Remember, Jupiter and Uranus can be about “ah-ha” moments too. How might we claim opportunities to grow and learn through the 12th house realm of mystical compassion? How might our Taurus values need to shift when doing the difficult work of practicing our sacred skills and, yes, at times, listening to some tough feedback and correction? It is all part of one long journey, one long Capricorn climb, toward being a topnotch evolutionary astrologer I know all of you can be!
 
Catie Cadge, PhD
April 2024
 
 

The Planet that Rules the House

The Planet that Rules the House

Master’s Musings, April 2024

The Planet that Rules the House

 
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Master’s Musings
 
Virgo is on the cusp of my 10th house. Since Mercury is the ruler of Virgo, we can say that Mercury rules my 10th house. That’s an example of a common phrase in the technical  language of our craft. It’s also a useful concept once we get clear about how it works. 
Let’s begin by recognizing that the word “rules” can get us into a world of trouble right from the starting line. It’s not that Mercury “tells my 10th house what to do” like a mean boss or a tyrant. As ever with rulership, it’s more about friendship between a house and planet than about any issues of authority or control. There is a resonance between a planet and the house it rules, that’s all. With planets and the signs they rule, the words we use to describe one are similar to the words we would use to describe the other. When a sign falls on the cusp of a house, the planet that rules that sign influences the house – but again, it’s about affinity, connection, and similarity, not about domination.

 

Rulership links one part of a chart to another part. It’s like an astrological version of the circulatory system in your body.

 

Even beginning students of astrology quickly become aware of the power of the planet that rules the Ascendant – the so-called “ruler of the chart.” What we are considering here is basically the same idea, but extended to include the rest of the house cusps.

 

Book of the universe – opened magic book with planets and galaxies. Elements of this image furnished by NASA
 
With my Virgo Midheaven, my profession naturally takes on a Virgo tone. For starters, it’s a service. It also involves some other Virgo signatures. For example, in order to live out my proper mission in this world, I’ve had to master a complex technical system. I’ve also benefited enormously from contact with teachers as I was “initiated into a lineage.” That idea of being initiated by mentors, by the way, is a big piece of Virgo (or 6th house) lore that often sadly gets forgotten in modern astrological practice.
I’ve got Saturn on my Midheaven too, but that’s a bit outside the point I’m wanting to explore in this essay – which brings us back to Mercury being the planetary ruler of my 10th house. That means that wherever Mercury lies in my chart, its energetic fingerprint is going to be felt in my career and public image.
In my natal chart, Mercury is on the cusp of my 3rd house – the house of language. And what do I do for a living? I talk and I write! My Mercury is in Capricorn – and what I talk and write about is complicated and requires an orderly, logical (Capricornian!) approach if anybody is going to understand me. Note how knowing where the ruler of my 10th house lies has added specific details to my chart’s description of my mission in the world. That’s one dimension of how the ruler of a house cusp actually works.
Many people have Virgo Midheavens and naturally Mercury rules them all – but that’s generally from a different position than my own Mercury. Take astronaut John Glenn, for example – he was the first American to orbit the Earth. Mercury rules his Virgo Midheaven, but from the 8th house and Cancer in a conjunction with Mars and Pluto. To realize his mission, John Glenn had to face the possibility of a scary death – there’s the 8th house signature, augmented explosively by the presence of Mars and Pluto. And he had to face that grim possibility while trapped in a tight little tin can a hundred miles up in the sky, which is where we see the Cancer symbolism (a crab in a shell!) come into the mixture.   
Like me, John Glenn had to master a complex technical system. Like me, he was part of a lineage – in his case, of explorers. And like me, he probably felt that he was doing a service for the world. All that is the mark of the Virgo Midheaven. He and I hold that in common – but beyond that, no one is going to confuse John Glenn with Steven Forrest. Our Midheaven-ruling Mercuries tell very different tales.
Here’s another example – one that demonstrates how widely the ruler of the Midheaven can range in meaning.
Back in Hollywood’s Golden Age, actor Bette Davis was often in the spotlight. Even now, nearly a century after her heyday, she’s still considered to be one of the most truly iconic film stars – and as someone who made it in the movie industry based on her actual theatrical talent rather than on having a pretty face. She made 82 films and garnered 10 Oscar nominations, including winning Best Actress for Dangerous in 1935 and for Jezebel in 1938. 
Like John Glenn and me, Bette Davis had a Virgo Midheaven, but this time we find that her Mercury lies in Pisces and the 4th house. 
What do truly fine actors like Bette Davis do? They become somebody else – there’s Pisces “transcending the ego.” To succeed at that, they have to hide their own natures – there’s the 4th house. 
Acting also involves mastering a set of technical skills, of course – there’s the signature of the Virgo Midheaven. But in Bette Davis’s case, those technical skills are subjective and creative as befits Mercury in Pisces and the 4th house. I’m also fascinated to think of the psychological work a fine actor must do in order to find the whole spectrum of human types inside themselves. To me, there’s something truly spiritual about that process. Once more, in those words, we feel the vibrations of both the 4th house and Pisces.

 

DUAL RULERS

 

Earlier, I mentioned my own Virgo Midheaven. That of course gives me Pisces on my 4th house cusp. So what planet rules my 4th house? Is it Jupiter, the traditional ruler, or Neptune, the modern one? As usual, my suggestion is to use both of them. 
I’m always self-conscious when I go on at length about myself, so I’ll keep this brief. Taking the 4th house to be the “house of the home” implies not only the building in which we live, but also loving, committed relationships in it – “our family,” at least in some sense of the word. 
Let me start with Neptune – a planet which often entails letting go of good things for some higher calling. With often-ascetic Neptune ruling my “house of family,” I’ve never had children. My Libran Neptune in the 11th house has called me to “serve my tribe” in a way that never fit with the possibility of being a good, present father. So that never happened.
What about Jupiter, the traditional ruler of Pisces? I can relate to that too. 
Jupiter is conjunct my Sun in Capricorn and the 2nd house. Again, I could yack about myself at length here, but very simply I now live in a beautiful home that makes me feel like a rich man – there’s Jupiter in the 2nd house impacting my 4th house experience and style of life. I hasten to add that I definitely didn’t start out that way. I grew up in a 3-room 4th floor walk-up apartment in an edgy ethnic neighborhood just outside the Bronx in the New York City area. I’ve come a long way from there. Today I live in a style I could barely imagine then. 
I’m grateful for my life and I’d be the first to say that I have been lucky – but I’ve worked hard too. There’s the Capricorn signature – to get to my present 4th house home took a lot of hard (and very meaningful!) effort. Once again, the ruler of the 4th house cusp – in this case, the traditional ruler – tells the story, augmenting what we might see based solely on the sign we find there.

 

WHAT IF THE RULER IS IN THE HOUSE IT RULES?

 

Let me add one more practical perspective. About one time out of every twelve, you will find that the planetary ruler of a house is actually in the house that it rules. Obviously this affords us less enhancement of our perspective – although let’s add that it’s not unusual for the ruling planet to be in the next sign, and that can offer a bit of fresh information.
  • What I’ve found to be generally true in the situation where the planetary ruler is in the house it rules is that the person’s success in terms of that house depends very much on independent, “self-starting” activity. 
I think happily for example of my own 2nd house – the “house of money.” Sagittarius is on the cusp and Jupiter is in the 2nd house too, but in Capricorn. As I write, I am one month away from celebrating the 47th anniversary of me not having a boss. For most of my life, I’ve been self-employed. No one else has been signing my paychecks.
Did I mention feeling lucky? 

 

IN PRACTICE

 

Sometimes the connection between the house and the position of its ruler is very obvious. You can see that clearly in the three easy examples I’ve explored here – John Glenn, Bette Davis, and me. Other times the linkage is more subtle. In a moment, I want to present three technical views of planetary house rulers. Reliably, at least one of them will jump out as you compare a chart with the dynamics of a person’s life. 
Before I get there, let me emphasize that so far I’ve mostly been using the example of the planet that rules the Midheaven. That’s no accident –  in practical counseling astrology, questions around career are common and knowing the position of the ruler of the 10th house adds a lot of helpful perspective.  Still, every house has a sign on its cusp and in every case, knowing the position of its ruling planet adds a helpful dimension to our understanding. Where’s the ruler of your 7th house? You’ll see something there about your partner, if you have one – or where to look for one if you don’t and would like to change that. The ruler of your 5th house? What’s the natural style of your creativity and where might you find the most bang for the buck in terms of simple joy in your life?
I’m hoping that these illustrations have given you a feeling for how to work with the planetary ruler of a house. Again, just think of resonance or connection between the house and its ruler. Through rulership we link the basic meaning of a house to some other “foreign” part of the chart – and typically at first it’s a part of the chart that seems to have nothing to do with the house in question – until you think about it for a while. Then the linkage becomes apparent.
So far these examples have been about lives that are already lived – or mostly lived. That’s how we often can see the full manifestation of anything astrological, so it’s a good way to learn. But what about when we are counseling a young person – or counseling someone who’s feeling lost or confused in life? Then these principles can help us aim such a person in the right direction. That’s when they really turn to gold. 
Let me underscore once more that in thinking rigorously about the planetary rulership of houses, it’s mission-critical to get beyond the notion of the planet somehow “controlling” the house. Sometimes it actually works that way, but other times it’s the reverse. The bottom line is that the house and the planet are meant to be a team, working together to help people become what they are meant to become. 
I want to offer three interlocking perspectives on these planetary house rulers. Even though you’ll see some contradictions among them, try thinking of these three templates as different angles of understanding rather than as an argument where there’s going to be a winner. In practice, what I suggest is that if you feel stuck as you try to sort out a pattern of house rulerships, try switching among these three frameworks. In my experience, one of them will usually leap out – and with more penetrating analysis, you’ll typically find some relevance in all three of them.
  • The energy of the house expresses itself (reveals itself; flowers) through the house, sign, and aspectual position of the planetary ruler of its cusp.
  • The planetary ruler of the house cusp governs, overshadows and focuses the expression of the house energy. 
  • The planetary ruler of the house cusp serves the needs of the house, bringing it what it needs in order to shine.
Once again, planetary rulers of house cusps operate like the circulatory systems in the human body, carrying energy from one part of the chart to another, binding everything together. As ever, our goal in chart interpretation lies in wholistic integration. You have many planets in your chart, but you have only one head between your ears. Rulership is one of your most reliable allies when it comes to melding many symbols into one coherent message.
 
Steven Forrest
April 2024