(In honor of May – the month with the shortest name and the only month without an abbreviation: we will abbreviate ourselves instead).

Summer Course: Divinatory and Magical Practice in Astrology
Astrology Education
Individual Sessions
Jupiter-Uranus conjunction at 00° Aries

Astrological Consultations are available in person or by telephone.  These sessions can provide information about life purposes and difficulties, insight into current situations, timing for specific activities or places for relocation, or simply provide “a second opinion” on your chart and transits that you already know well.

For more information see http://www.astrologyinstitute.com/Astrology_sessions.html or e-mail me directly at josephcrane@verizon.net.

Summer Program

During the summer we always have a program on a summer weeknight.  We begin each group with a look at the sky of the moment and a natal chart of interest, and then we work with something new.  In the past we have worked with progressions and directions, comparative natal analysis, harmonics and musical theory, spirituality in astrology, and, of course, Dante.  .

            For the summer of 2010 we offer a seven week course entitled “Divinatory and Magical Practice in Astrology.”  This summer’s program emerged from studies in the role of sign and cause in explaining how astrology works.

            The first half of the course will focus on astrology as divination, looking at both natal analysis and some applications of horary and event astrology.  It’s an opportunity to learn the technique and logic of using an astrological chart to answer a specific question.  We will look at some famous horary astrologers of the past and Geoffrey Cornelius’ groundbreaking The Moment of Astrology.

            The second half will focus on ritual, remedies, and other interventions that astrologers routinely use. Our practices align in some ways with magical practices of the past – and contain possibilities often not practiced by modern astrologers.  We will survey some of the controversies that would impact astrological work.

For our sources we will look at two very different writers.  Al-Kindi was a ninth century Arab polymath who wrote a fascinating work on science and magic. And far closer to our time, Dennis Elwell and his Cosmic Loom that posits that astrological principles operate alongside (or perpendicular) to conventional science.

            These evenings will be in the Boston area and the lectures and discussion will be available on CD.

            Online education is also available and it’s not seasonal.  For a list of courses see http://www.astrologyinstitute.com/Astrology_courses.html.

• The courses do not have to be taken sequentially or as a complete package.  If, for example, you have an interest in mythology or harmonics or horary or Hellenistic astrology you can do just that.  However…
• We have foundational courses to help you reach proficiency with astrology’s symbol systems so that you can work with a natal chart and its transits competently.
• We need to know your level of astrological knowledge and experience and that’s why we have a quiz – although it would be more accurate to call it an “assessment device.”  People who’ve taken the quiz often note that it’s rather demanding on the technical side – and that is deliberate.  Many people know astrology’s basic symbol systems, and often can use them well, but fall short on what it is that signs and houses and the natal chart is actually depicting.  Feel free to take the quiz (I will send back feedback) and don’t be intimidated by its technical content.  Think of like a stress test.

            The best way to begin is to schedule a telephone call with Joseph Crane; this is free-of-charge and a way to make the program personal to yourself.  Contact Joseph by e-mail at info@astrologyinstitute.com. 

Jupiter-Uranus conjunction at 00° Aries

Much has been made – and much will be made – of the lineup of planets in the early degrees of the cardinal signs: Uranus entered Aries on 5/27 and will be in its first degree until 8/13 when it returns to Pisces (Uranus goes retrograde on July 5 at 00° 35.)

On 6/6 Jupiter will enter Aries, go ahead a couple of degrees, station retrograde, and will return to Pisces in September.

But that is not all! Saturn, just having gone direct, will enter early Libra (7/21); even Mars will get in on the act when it moves into Libra (7/21); Pluto will retrograde back to that area in early Capricorn (will go direct on 9/14 at 02°).I will wait until the next newsletter to survey the permutations of planetary contacts.

Jupiter and Uranus come together every 13-14 years; the last conjunction was in 1997 at 5 ° Aquarius. It can be a destabilizing but positive experience, providing the occasion for sudden bursts of creativity or abundance, to work with problems and decisions unconventionally, to find oneself with some kind of windfall of abundance.  Much will depend on the nature of the contact with one’s natal positions: if you have important astrological placements at 0° or 1 ° of Aries, Cancer, Libra, or Capricorn, your life might be affected in some why by this transit.  Because I have Mercury at 29° Sagittarius and Sun at 0° Capricorn, I am trying to use this time to finish my manuscript – probably with a burst of energy.  (I expect insomnia.)  This will be good because the Saturn opposition will not be far behind.

I provide the New Moon chart for June to give an illustration of the planets that will be involved this summer – and also to look at the configuration of the sky for that time.

On Saturday June 12 there is a New Moon at 21 ° Gemini, its only aspect being a fairly wide square from Saturn in late Virgo.  You will notice Jupiter and Uranus have entered Aries and can see Saturn, now direct, moving toward the opposition and Mars about to join in.

The night sky in June should be wonderful to look at.  At this time Mercury is heading toward its maximum elongation with the Sun and if you can see East at sunrise you may see Mercury.  Venus, continuing to move further from the Sun, will be higher and brighter in the summer skies after sundown – the fair planet that inclines us to love (see Dante’s Purgatorio 1) will dominate the early night sky.

Moving further west in the night sky is Saturn; Mars will join Saturn in the sky later this summer.  If you have had a chance to trace Mars over the past few months you will note its movement into disappearance into the Sun’s light in late summer.

I will have more to say about this planetary lineup and the world but we have a solstice and an eclipse to factor in, and it will be better to include this in June. See you all then for a less abbreviated newsletter!