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Certificate Program
AP 101 Foundations of AstroPsychology
AstroPsychology differs from traditional, event-oriented astrology by virtue of its growth oriented, psychological focus. In this course, astrological archetypes are introduced as geometric forms having four modes: sign, planet, house, and aspect. The zodiac is depicted as a symbolic map of the human psyche in which each sign represents a fundamental human need, archetypal character(s), developmental stage, and behavioral style. Each planet is described as a psychological function that is geared toward satisfying the primary need of its associated sign(s). Houses are introduced as environmental stages upon which planets enact their roles, and aspects are defined as angular relationships between planets that are subjectively experienced as internal dialogues. Outer events have tremendous significance, but they are understood as synchronistic reflections of an evolving psychic structure and as vehicles and catalysts to further development.
AP 102 Planets in Signs & Houses
This course focuses on chart synthesis at its most rudimentary level. Participants are introduced to astrological grammar and how it can be applied to planetary sign positions as parts of speech. Rather than memorize chart interpretations from books, participants analyze the underlying syntax of astrology and learn to think and speak the language by applying formal rules. Students learn how to construct well-crafted sentences that combine motivation, function, traits, states, and events. Additional rules are presented for interpreting planetary house positions. Houses are defined as psychological environments that provide contexts for specific types of growth and development. Planets in houses symbolize situationally specific states, ways of meeting environmental challenges, and parts of self that are externalized via synchronistic characters and events. Colleagues explore how to make flexible, layered interpretations that combine sign and house positions into a single, integrated statement.
AP 103 Planetary Aspects & Personal Myths
In this course, aspects are explained as personal myths that emerge from the underlying dynamics of the larger story structure. Participants explore how aspects can symbolize intrapsychic conflict, emotionally significant childhood experiences, major life challenges, and internal dialogues. Special emphasis is placed on how the meaning of an aspect changes in accordance with level of psychological maturity. As people develop, evolve, and resolve internal conflicts, this is reflected not only in changes of attitude and behavior but also in the events one attracts and the quality of one's relations with other people. Students are introduced to a variety of psychological concepts that are incorporated into aspect theory, drawing from object relations, psychodynamic theory, personal mythology, and narrative therapy.
AP 104 The Horoscope as Evolving Story
This course focuses on chart synthesis from a narrative perspective. Colleagues explore how house significators and planetary dispositors tell a story that reveals one's path of evolutionary unfoldment. Planetary dispositorships expose the skeletal structure of one's personal mythology. While the story's main theme is usually outside of conscious awareness and control, astrology provides a way of revealing, resolving, and re-mythologizing this drama. A method of chart synthesis is proposed that combines aspects and dispositorships into a single, coherent narrative. Particular emphasis is placed on how the life story is capable of being lived on successively higher levels of integration. Participants are introduced to narrative therapy and memoir writing as a way of facilitating integration of the chart as a whole.
AP 105 Psychopathology & Healing (I)
This course focuses on how to identify, understand, and address potential challenges in the birth chart. Proper use of the horoscope in diagnosis is explored, and colleagues are introduced to DSM diagnostic criteria. Astrological archetypes are examined in the context of their correlations to various mental disorders when carried to dysfunctional, unbalanced extremes. In this course, our focus is on the potential dysfunction of the first six signs, Aries through Virgo, and their corollary planetary rulers. Concepts of healing are also explored, especially as these relate to integration and individuation.
AP 106 Psychopathology & Healing (II)
In this course, our focus is on the potential dysfunction of the second six signs, Libra through Pisces, and their corollary planetary rulers. Special attention is given to hard aspects from outer planets and their relationship to intrapsychic conflict, defense, and symptom formation. Colleagues explore how human suffering can be a catalyst to development and actualization of inherent capacities. In examining the etiology of pathology, conventional theories of causation are coordinated with traditional ideas of fate, karma, and reincarnation.
Diploma Program
AC 201 Revisiting the History of Astrology
This course explores how the history of astrology may reflect the evolution of psyche. Pre-modern astrology was event-oriented, concretely predictive, judgmental, and deterministic, which reflected the dominant mode of consciousness of pre-modern periods. Over the past century, astrology has become progressively more abstract, psychological, open-ended and indeterminate, which seems to reflect a change in collective awareness. Accordingly, this course will examine the history of astrology in the context of the evolution of human consciousness. Ethics and critical thinking will be introduced as a way of comparing and contrasting pre-modern, modern, and post-modern astrology.
AC 202 Transit Analysis & Conscious Evolution (I)
This course introduces the concept of conscious evolution, its underlying principles, and its relevance to the predictive dimension of astrology. As the art of prognosis, predictive astrology utilizes planetary movements for predicting the quality, meaning, and duration of specific time periods. Students explore how transits and progressions can be utilized in the service of conscious evolution, which is the intent to cooperate with an evolutionary process that is inherent in the horoscope. Rather than simply describing event-outcomes, planetary movements are depicted as windows of opportunity for the actualization of natal potentials.
AC 203 Transit Analysis & Conscious Evolution (II)
In this course, students continue to explore how analysis of transits, progressions, and other predictive tools can be applied to personal growth. Concrete events both reflect and serve as catalysts for changes in awareness; thus, planetary movements can provide insight into the precise timing of developmental processes, allowing us to appreciate how inner and outer reality coincide, reflect, and transform each other. Participants also explore the big picture view of world-transits, examining how astrological configurations can take different forms on social, political, economic, artistic, and ecological levels, yet reveal an archetypal singularity amongst the phenomenological diversity. Students are challenged to consider how their capacity for a participatory relationship with the cosmos can contribute to the co-creation of a positive, more hopeful future.
AC 204 Counseling Skills and Astroethics
In this course participants are introduced to consulting skills, such as how to take a history, ask relevant questions, formulate hypotheses, construct interpretations, reframe conflicts, predict opportunities for growth, and deepen therapeutic impact. Various theories of counseling are surveyed with an emphasis on their application to astrology. Students are taught how to respond to crises and make appropriate referrals. Principles of effective communication are emphasized, along with techniques of listening, verbal and non-verbal communication, and how astrology can assist the establishment of empathic rapport. Ethical codes are examined specifically as they relate to issues of professional responsibility, competency, counseling, prediction, and the use of archaic terminology. Special attention will be given to the astrologer's shadow and our collective vulnerability to issues of inferiority and inflation.
AC 205 Astrology, Art and Cinema
While the arts are generally regarded as forms of creative expression, in the study of consciousness they are primary sources of information about how reality is perceived and experienced. From an astrological perspective, art carries intrinsic archetypal meaning. In this course, colleagues explore how artistic expression is invariably a metaphor of the artist's psyche, as depicted by his or her birthchart. Case histories of creative geniuses in literature, theatre, and cinema will be examined. In addition, Joseph Campbell's seminal work on the hero's journey symbolizing the path of individuation is analyzed in terms of the sequence of signs in the natural zodiac. Colleagues will consider the different ways this archetypal story is repeated in innumerable films.
AC 206 Toward a New Astrological Paradigm
In this course, colleagues explore how the structure, process, and transformation of the psyche, as symbolized by the horoscope, can be understood within the framework of the perennial philosophy and General Systems Theory. The perennial philosophy is an amalgamation of the core tenets of the world's major spiritual and metaphysical traditions. General Systems Theory is a contemporary reformulation of the perennial philosophy, at the heart of which is a primordial assertion: psyche mirrors cosmos. Astrology is rooted in an organic paradigm that postulates the Universe as a living, conscious, purposive Being. Traditional wisdom held that this Being was organized hierarchically, with lower levels reflecting by virtue of their internal constitution the greater Being of which they are a component part. Students examine how ancient theories of the cosmos are being revitalized by discoveries in the new sciences, and why these discoveries have important implications for a rebirth of the astrological worldview.
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