Astrology, as most people know it (via the media), amounts to a half-baked joke and why so many intelligent people turn a skeptical eye towards its use. However, those who study this complex language beyond the media bastardization of Sun Signs eventually discover a disconcerting truth. This shit works. And it seems to work independently of belief. In other words, you don't have to believe in astrology for it to work.

The first thing to learn about astrology is that it's a language. The second thing to learn is that you are not just your Sun Sign. In this language, all twelve astrological signs act as symbols representing various aspects of our totality. Not unlike the 8-Circuit Brain, Astrology offers a dynamic, compex map for tracking, discerning and interpreting our experience from multiple perspectives. Astrology will not not solve Life's Big Mysteries; that would only take the fun out of living. However, a basic grasp of the language can prove instrumental in several ways: it can provide uncanny insight into the kinds of work, relationships, friendships, and spiritual directions that tend to work best for you; it can save you years of lost time and lots of money that you might pay a psychotherapist; it can act as a compass to help you navigate the chaos of real life forces while keeping an eye open to the future.

If you care enough to define the terms of your life and are brave enough to act from that personal vision, your life will be transformed by the heat, light, and force imparted by the sources you are living for, the animating principles governing existence itself: the archetypes. Traditional astrology symbolizes these archetypes as planetary glyphs on the natal horoscope with the assumption that the out-there planets control our fates. I must confess: I have never felt at home with this Planets-as-Puppetmasters notion. I don't believe that the planets control our fates. Until we grow more accountable for the lives we are living, it is more likely that we are controlled by the personal and transpersonal forces of our own:

* Ego structures, will and vitality: Sun * Habits, emotions and needs: Moon * Thoughts, intellect and talking: Mercury * Affinities, aesthetics and attractions: Venus * Excitements, actions and aggression: Mars * Beliefs, dogmas and perceptions: Jupiter * Fears, Ambitions and Commitments: Saturn * Innate autonomy, rebellions and social activism: Uranus * Dreams, aspirations and disappointments: Neptune * Soul intent, power (politics) and obsessions: Pluto

Course Requirements 1) You will need to know your time of birth to take this course. You can obtain this information from your birth certificate or your mother. 2) A copy of your astrology chart; hard copy and jpg/tiff to post. If you know your birth time, you can obtain a free chart at: a) www.alabe.com/freechart b) www.astro.com 3) My book, ASTROLOGIK. Order from me directly (signed if you wish) via PayPal at: www.verticalpool.com/publishing.html or from bookstores

Course structure Week One: Orientation Reframing the Planets as "Forces", the Signs as "Styles" and the Houses as "States" Week Two: The United States of You The 12-point grid of houses (states) as a mandalic landscape of life experiences Week Three: The Six Charged Polarities Learning through embracing opposites. Aries/Libra, Taurus/Scorpio, Gemini/Sagittarius, Cancer/Capricorn, Leo/Aquarius, Virgo/Pisces Week Four: The Personal Forces of Personality Development How the Ego Matures. Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn Week Five: The Outside Shocks of Transpersonal Forces How the Ego Transcends. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto Week Six: How the Forces Talk to Each Other Aspects covered: Conjunctions, Trines, Squares, Oppositions and Sextiles