I just returned from the Northwest Astrology Conference (NORWAC) a few days ago, and in this episode I decided to do a recap of some of the high points of the conference with astrologer and fellow conference speaker Kelly Surtees.
During the course of the show we talk about some of the people we met and discussions that were had, as well as some of the lectures that Kelly and I presented at the conference.
Topics Covered During the Episode
Here is a list of topics that we discussed during the course of the show, roughly in the chronological order in which we discussed them:
- Introducing Kelly Surtees, and talking a bit about her background.
- Talking about our experience of NORWAC.
- Learning about different approaches or factions within the Evolutionary Astrology community.
- Other types of astrology present at NORWAC.
- Praising Jeff Jawer and Rick Levine for their ability to explain the symbolism of basic placements.
- Kent Bye was doing interviews where he asked astrologers about their approach to transits, and Kelly and I discuss a bit about what makes our own approach to transits unique.
- Kelly talks about using secondary progressions to contextualize transits, and Chris talks about using annual profections and whole sign aspects.
- Discussing the topics that we lectured on at NORWAC.
- Progressions
- Identifying the most important chart placements
- Aspect doctrine
- Joys
- The usefulness of the distinction between benefics and malefics, and the special properties of these planets to affirm or deny significations of other planets in a chart.
- Bonifiction and maltreatment conditions.
- This led to a broader discussion about valuing the subjective experience of events on the part of the native.
- The downside of rejecting any distinction between benefic and malefic.
- Potential problems with being too positive, or too empowering.
- Determining what astrology can do, versus what is appropriate in a consulting setting.
- Is it ethical to select an electional chart for a birth? What are the pros and cons?
- Brief discussion about my recent discovery about the the joys of the planets and how the elements came to be associated with the signs of the zodiac.
- Why would anyone study older forms of astrology? What is the point?
Transcript
A full transcript of this episode is available:Â Episode 6 transcript
Download or Stream the Podcast
You can either download this episode as an MP3 or play it directly from the website by using the buttons below:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:08:18 — 31.4MB)
really enjoyed listening to this one.. thank you for including all of us that missed that conference.. the discussion about traditional versus modern take on planetary detriments in terms of empathy/fairness and counceling effectiveness was so interesting.. thank you for a lovely podcast. Joni
In the discussions of electing a birth chart, did the issue of proper full-term pregnancy come up? While I can’t cite anything at the current moment, go to your nearby OB/GYN office and pick up literature on why the last four weeks of pregnancy can be so crucial to an infant’s development. I would be amenable to helping expectant parent(s) elect a birth time but also feel that part of the advising should include a reminder of the known science as well – perhaps to the extent of ruling out all elections prior to 39 weeks in most cases? I think you’d need a pretty amazing set of alignments (which happens occasionally!) to warrant moving a birth back too much.
Interesting. So this is how you two met!