Apparently the episode was originally scheduled to air in July, but then it was moved up to April 24th shortly after filming was finished, presumably because it contains enough hilarious or cringeworthy moments that the show’s producers thought would boost ratings for the prime time show.

Kelly gave us the heads up about the show a few weeks back and shared some of his experiences over on the Myspace forum, although its still not clear at this point if this is going to be a good thing for the astrological community or if it is just going to end up being more bad press.  Some of the previews seem to indicate the latter, but I guess that we will see.

In the last Wife Swap type show that featured a family of astrologers the astrologers actually came off looking pretty good when compared to the crazy Christian woman that they got swapped with.  Check out this clip from the end of that show when the wife that was living with the astrology family returned home:

What was interesting is that this woman actually became a sort of entertainment personality for a few brief moments after the show aired, doing an appearance on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show and even recording some sort of album (seriously).

It seems like they may have leveled the playing field a bit with this episode due to the relative wackiness of both families though, and the press release that came out a few weeks ago seems to guarantee that there were enough fireworks between the two families to make for an entertaining 30 minute show:

A cowboy family who believe men should ride the plains while women stay home swap lives with a vegan family of astrologers who talk to planets, on ABC’s “Wife Swap”

“Brazenwood/Taylor” - A meat-loving cowboy family with traditional values swap lives with a free-spirited vegan family who consult the stars, on “Wife Swap, ” FRIDAY, APRIL 24 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. Each week two very contradictory families from across the country participate in a two-week-long challenge: The wives exchange husbands, children and lives (but not bedrooms) to discover daily life in another woman’s shoes. This astonishing experiment repeatedly changes lives and redefines families.

The Taylor family from Texas own a cattle ranch and live for the good old fashioned American rodeo! World Champion Team Roper Dad Calvin (33), and his wife, Heather (34), have four children, Claire (12), Caroline (9), Cameron (6) and Calvin Jr. (4), who are tough rodeo competitors themselves in barrel racing and roping. The Taylors are raising their kids to be hardworking winners. Calvin strives to lead by example and spends most of his time outside with the animals, while Heather prefers to stay at home, “barefoot and pregnant.” Calvin expects hot dinners of meat and potatoes but refuses to do any housework. To ensure Calvin Jr. follows in his footsteps, his father takes him out for meals alone, leaving all the Taylor women behind. Even if it upsets his daughters, the girls aren’t allowed to show any emotion because the Taylors believe crying makes you weak. They believe their traditional values are creating well-grounded, practical children, which is important to the cowboy way of life.

Meanwhile, the new-age Brazenwood family from North Carolina live in a world of their own, literally. Astrologist Dad Kelly (37) wrote a fantasy novel about a fictional world named “Thandoria” starring a boy named Arian Brazenwood, which is the name he later gave to his real-life son here on planet Earth. Adrian’s step mom, Christina (28), is an energy healer who lets her astrological chart dictate her days because she believes it puts her in touch with the meaning of life. She enjoys spending time outside talking to her friends the plants, and isn’t afraid to rub dirt all over her body or even have a taste of it while communing with nature. When she’s not one with nature, she dons funky costumes and teaches a dance class called “soul shaking.” Back at home, Kelly wears a towel wrapped around his waist instead of pants and loves to run around and to pretend sword fight or play in fantasy worlds with Arian (13). When it comes to domestic duties, they all chip in, and they prefer a vegan diet. To help unify the family, they chant “om” before every meal, which is the sound of the universe being created.

In the first week, Heather leaves behind the rodeo for the world of fantasy. Kelly begins by giving her an astrological reading, but pragmatic Heather claims she doesn’t believe in all the “fluff.” Though she tries to talk to plants like Christina, she finds it difficult to have a true conversation. With so much focus on astrology and the world of make believe, Heather worries the family doesn’t know the difference between work and play. Meanwhile, in Texas, Christina Brazenwood notices the plants on the ranch are far less inviting than the friendly foliage back at home. Like the plants, she thinks the family has difficulty expressing emotion and is saddened that Calvin chooses to spend time with his only son and leave his daughters behind. After spending time with the Taylor girls, Christina confronts Calvin about his lack of emotion and chauvinistic attitude, but Calvin maintains he’s happy living life by his cowboy code.

In the second week of the swap, when the wives change the rules and turn the tables, Heather rules that Kelly has to trade in his skirt and star-gazing for spurs and become a real cowboy. For Heather, that means eating like one too… after 17 years of abstaining from meat, Kelly has to chow down on chicken fried steak and cheeseburgers. Although Kelly tries to man up and follow her rules, he eventually melts down and tosses his burger off the balcony, leading Heather to believe he’ll never grow up. Meanwhile in Texas, kooky Christina bans rodeo, ranching and riding in favor of poetry, writing and painting. However, before she can even finish reading her rules, Calvin stages a walkout and takes his kids for a meat dinner. After the explosive rule change, Calvin takes the whole family to live in a trailer. Christina decides to persevere anyway and tries to introduce the family to interpretive dancing, but Calvin continues to shut her out, claiming, “real men don’t dance!” After two weeks in another home, can Heather Taylor bring the eccentric Brazenwoods one step closer to reality? And can Christina Brazenwood help the no-nonsense Taylors get in touch with their emotional sides?

Yeah…  Let’s hope that it is not too bad…

Post your comments about the episode below and let me know what you think.

The conference was set to take place in Miami, Florida from July 1st through the 5th, 2009.

The unique thing about the conference was that it was going to be completely free for AFA members who signed up before May 1st, only requiring a $100 deposit upon registration that would subsequently be returned to the attendee once they got to the conference.

The conference had been in the works since prior to the global economic downturn last fall, and unfortunately the deteriorating state of the economy resulted in a high number of cancellations by conference attendees and speakers, eventually leading to this week’s decision to cancel the conference altogether.

The two other major astrological conferences in North America in 2009, the NORWAC and the ISAR conference, are still scheduled to take place as planned in May and August, respectively, and the NCGR is planning to hold a conference in February of 2010 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Let’s hope that these other three conferences are able to avoid the same ill-starred fate as the AFA conference.

]]> http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/2009/04/13/afa-cancels-2009-astrology-conference-in-miami/feed/ http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/2009/03/21/astrodienst-acquires-astrodatabank-posts-database-online-for-free/ http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/2009/03/21/astrodienst-acquires-astrodatabank-posts-database-online-for-free/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:10:06 +0000 Chris Brennan http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/?p=979

Late last summer there were rumors swirling that the company AstroDatabank had gone under and was sold to the Swiss company Astrodienst, known for their incredibly useful and important astrology website at www.astro.com.   Among other things, the guys at Astrodienst are known for providing free online chart calculation services, free online ephemerides in PDF format, and more recently an excellent astrology wiki.

This time they have really outdone themselves though, and it turns out that not only were the rumors true about their acquisition of AstroDatabank, but they have actually decided to post the entire database online for free for anyone to access.  All you have to do is stop by the Astro-Databank Wiki Project, and there you will find over 30,000 individual pages which contain accurate birth data and charts for just about anyone that you want to research.

What is AstroDatabank?

AstroDatabank was originally a software and data collection company that was founded in 1995 in order to create an accurate research database of birth information for astrologers to use.  It was largely based on the work of the late Lois Rodden, who had been collecting and indexing birth data for several decades, and then publishing it in book form.

Rodden’s work was important because not only was the data that she recorded accurate and sourced, but she also created a system for classifying the validity and provenance of the data, which became known as the Rodden Rating system, or RR for short.  So, for example, if a birth time comes directly from a birth certificate then it is listed in the database with a Rodden Rating of ‘AA’.   If it is from a biography then it is rated as ‘B’.  If there are conflicting unverified sources then it is listed as ‘DD’, or Dirty Data.  And so on.

The Rodden Rating system is important because it was actually the first time that someone established a standard set of criteria for rating birth data in collections, and it has since been adopted by the astrological community almost universally as a way to qualify the birth data used for any chart studies.

The Astrological Database

In 1995 Rodden teamed up with the programmer Mark McDonough and they made a software program out of her database, called AstroDatabank, making it fully searchable at the click of a button, which is immensely useful for astrologers who are conducting research studies.  They continued to collect data and expand the program over the course of the past decade, although because the database was only available as a commercial software program that cost a few hundred dollars to buy, it was not used as widely as it could have been.

Now that Astrodienst has acquired the company and posted the database online, it has a chance to become even more widely known and used than it was previously, and I can hardly express what a boon this will be for astrological research in our field.

I’m rather impressed with the way that the guys at AstroDienst have found a way to integrate the database into the software that Wikipedia uses called MediaWiki, and the potential for this new project is rather astounding given the increased level of community support and interaction that it allows for.

My hat goes off to Alois Trendl and all of the programmers at Astrodienst for once again finding a way to provide useful services to the astrological community that will not only benfit their company, but that will serve to advance and improve the state of astrological research around the world.  Well done guys!

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You have to pay a subscription fee in order to download the second issue of the Tradtition that was just released, but the price is only a paltry 5 Euros ($6.50± USD) through PayPal, and all of the proceeds are donated to charity.  So, not only are you able to download and read an excellent collection of articles and research on traditional astrology, but in the process you are actually making a donation to a worthwhile cause.

The latest issue of the journal starts off with a short piece related the house division poll that they are currently conducting, with statements from a number of astrologers about which system of house division they prefer and why.  They ended up publishing my response to some of the questions that were asked about the matter, and my article on the theoretical rationale underlying the seven Hermetic lots in Paul of Alexandria was also published later in the journal.

I’m interested to see what people think of the reconstructed rationale that I proposed in the article, as it is something that I’ve been working on for a while now, but this is the first time that the argument has appeared in print anywhere.  A full listing of all of the articles included in the journal is available on their website.

Helena, Luís and Sue have done a fantastic job in putting the journal together, so I would highly recommend checking it out if you have a chance.  They are already in the process of starting to pull together articles for the next issue of the journal in the fall, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with in the future.

The first project is an online house system poll in order to get an idea of what system of house division different types of astrologers use.  The poll asks each astrologer several specific questions such as which system of house division they use, why they use it, how they came to use it, how they classify their astrological practice (i.e. modern, traditional), etc.

Here is a video that the group produced in order to explain a little bit about the poll:

The idea of the poll is rather exciting, and I’m interested to see what the results look like.  It will be especially interesting to see what happens if the poll is conducted again 5 or 10 years down the road, and how things change between now and then given some of the shifts that are occurring in the astrological community at the present time.  The poll only takes a minute or so to complete, so if you have a chance then please stop by their website and take it.

Rectification Research Project

The same group is also conducting a separate study called the Antimodar Project, which involves studying a specific Medieval technique that was used in order to rectify birth charts.  They are requesting that people submit timed birth data to the project in order to run it through a program that they designed in order to determine how well the technique works.   Here is a short video that they produced which explains the scope of the project:

If you have an accurate birth time then please stop by the Antimodar Project page on their site and submit your birth data when you get a chance.

My Thoughts on the House System Poll

Some early results are already in on the house system poll, and the division amongst traditional astrologers seems to fall largely along three different party lines.

I was asked to respond to a few questions based on the preliminary results for a short piece that the group is publishing in the upcoming issue of the Tradition journal, and I ended up writing what almost amounts to a short essay on the subject.

I thought that I would publish my full response here since it will probably have to be edited down quite a bit in the journal.  Here are the questions that were asked in the survey followed by my answers:

Generally, in Hellenistic astrology Whole Sign houses are favoured; in Medieval, Alchabitius Semi-arc; in Traditional, Regiomontanus houses are used. It seems that this is largely for historical reasons - one follows the house system associated with the astrological period one studies.

In your opinion:

Do you think that the above is true?

I would agree with this statement, since I think that at this point in time most practitioners of traditional astrology tend to follow the house system associated with whatever historical tradition they are the most focused on, although I think that part of this is due to the fact that there have been different stages in the revival of ‘traditional’ (i.e. pre-19^th century) astrology, and there is a sort of division amongst practitioners along these lines.  I don’t think that this will always be the case though, since the revival of traditional astrology is still in its infancy to some extent, or perhaps in its adolescence.

The current division amongst traditional astrologers on the subject of house division can best be explained by the three different schools or starting points in the revival of traditional astrology over the past three decades.

For example, there is a large contingent of traditional astrologers who came out of the Lilly movement that started in the UK in the 1980’s, and this would be the group that would be more prone towards using Regiomontanus since that is what Lilly used.

There is another large contingent of late Medieval astrologers who were largely influenced by the work of Robert Zoller, which also started in the 80’s, and this is the group that would be more prone towards using Alchabitius since that is what Zoller advocated based on Bonatti.

The more recent group would be the Hellenistic (and some early Medieval) astrologers who are influenced by the work of Robert Schmidt and Robert Hand through Project Hindsight, which started in the mid-90’s, since the use of whole sign houses in the early tradition was seen as one of the major technical discoveries was made during the early course of the project.  Astrologers who specialize in Hellenistic astrology tend to use whole sign houses since that is what virtually every astrologer in that tradition used, and Schmidt and Hand became major proponents of the system.

So, what we have at the moment is actually very similar to what happened in the historical transmission of traditional astrology itself, insomuch as people are learning astrology from specific schools or teachers and then continuing to employ and spread the methods and techniques that they learned in their own practice.  The fact that traditional astrology has been recovered in different stages over the past few years has only exacerbated this tendency.

Do you think that there is a definitive house system, if so, which?

As a practitioner of astrology, and as someone who is familiar with the different traditions, I would argue in favor of using whole sign houses as the primary method of house division, although this comes with a few caveats.

In the mid-90’s Schmidt pointed out that there was a distinction in the Hellenistic tradition between whole sign houses which were used for topics, and quadrant houses which were used for determining planetary strength.  This is actually a very important argument, and Schmidt was correct in pointing out that the different forms of house division were originally designed in order to study different things in the Hellenistic tradition.  However, it appears to me (and probably Schmidt at this point as well) that it is not so much that the Hellenistic astrologers were using whole sign houses in order to assign topics (i.e. health, finances, siblings, parents, etc.) and quadrant houses in order to determine angularity, but rather that in almost every area of chart delineation whole sign houses were used in order to determine both topics and strength (angularity), except in the length of life treatment, which is where the Hellenistic astrologers usually tended to introduce the quadrant systems.  This effectively means that unless you are working with the length of life technique, you are using whole sign houses virtually 100% of the time.  Unfortunately, this caused quite a bit of confusion in the later Medieval tradition, which is what eventually led to the plethora of different house systems that were introduced.

This has led some to argue that the widespread adoption of the quadrant systems was based on a mistake or a misunderstanding that occurred at some point in the Medieval tradition.  While I’m not sure that I would necessarily go that far adopting that sort of an argument, I do think that this sort of a historical narrative goes a long way in attempting to address the issue of house division and providing a more viable rationale for primarily using whole sign houses rather than simply saying “it works for me.”

Of course, I do think whole sign houses work better in practice based on my experience with the different systems, as I’m sure advocates of other forms of house division do as well, however I think that I have a bit of an advantage in making this argument because whole sign houses actually provide a stark contrast with some of the other forms of quadrant houses which only show small variations when compared with one another, and especially because the use of whole sign houses clears up some of the nagging technical problems with the system that have been somewhat problematic over the past 1,000 years or so.  For example, the issue of intercepted houses and house systems that break down in extreme latitudes, which never seems to have been sufficiently addressed at this point, completely disappears in whole sign houses.  This also leads to other areas of greater continuity in the system, such as in synastry, since the houses of each nativity are perfectly aligned when you compare them using whole sign houses.   The transit doctrine also becomes more interesting with whole sign houses, because sign ingresses gain increased importance since the ingress of a planet into a new sign is also an ingress into a new house, and the topics associated with that house begin to become more prominent in the native’s life shortly thereafter.  Even the more advanced techniques like annual profections make more sense within a whole sign context, since the profection is seen to count by one sign and house per year.

So, due to the reasons outlined above, I do think that whole sign houses represent something very close to a definitive form of house division.  I still try to maintain an open mind about how the quadrant systems may be integrated into this framework, and I think that you even see some of the Hellenistic astrologers such as Vettius Valens doing this as early as the 2^nd century, although I would argue that any future synthesis of the two approaches will need to primarily predicated on a whole sign framework, since that was original structure on which our system or tradition of horoscopic astrology was designed in the first place.

Do you think that it matters which house system is employed?

Yes, of course.  It is the difference between answering a horary question correctly or incorrectly, judging whether or not an upcoming year will be fruitful or unfruitful, and in some cases it is the difference between life or death (from the standpoint of the delineation of matters of vitality at least).

Do you think that certain house systems favour certain astrological applications?

I think that quadrant houses are primarily useful within the context of the length of life technique, although outside of that I find that whole sign houses provide a more consistent way of approaching almost every technique or application of horoscopic astrology.

Do you think that there were cultural or spiritual bases for ancient house systems, or that it was merely a matter of mathematical perspectives?

I think that the houses may have originally been developed as a result of a synthesis between the Egyptian system of the decans and the Mesopotamian system of the zodiac.  Certainly each had certain cultural/spiritual implications as well as mathematical ones one its own, and then the combined system of the twelve houses was infused with its own peculiar mathematic and spiritual/philosophical rationale.  In the Hellenistic tradition you have on the one hand the mathematical/geometrical interface between the notion of angularity and configuration of a house to the sign of the ascendant, which led to the doctrine of the good and bad houses, while on the other hand you have the system of joys and some of the deeper spiritual/philosophical notions surrounding the nature of each house and why a planet is said to rejoice there.

What is your preferred system of house division? Why?

Whole sign houses, for the reasons outlined above.

]]> http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/2009/02/18/house-system-poll-rectification-research-project/feed/ http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/2009/01/20/political-astrology-blog-launched/ http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/2009/01/20/political-astrology-blog-launched/#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:51:57 +0000 Chris Brennan http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/?p=950

I’m pleased to announce that Patrick Watson and I recently launched the Political Astrology Blog. It is going to be a frequently updated resource with news and articles related to the vast subject of political astrology.

Patrick has already published some really great articles  on the blog over the past couple of weeks, including an excellent article on the astrology of Barack Obama’s inauguration and why the void of course Moon and Mercury retrograde make sense.

There are already a lot of new articles in preparation, and we will also be accepting submissions from guest writers as well.

We used electional astrology in order to pick the most auspicious date that we could find during the winter, and so the site went live on January 5th, 2009 at 12:24 PM in Byers, Colorado.  Here is the electional chart for the launch of the blog:

The election features Taurus rising with Venus ruling the ascendant, exalted in Pisces and placed in the 11th whole sign house.   The Moon had just ingressed into Taurus, where she is also exalted, and she is applying to a sextile with Venus, which qualifies as a condition for reception.  There is a Mercury-Jupiter conjunction in the 10th house, with Mercury and Saturn in mutual reception, and Mars is also exalted in the 9th house.

There are some more details about why we decided to go with this electional chart, but needless to say, it was a pretty auspicious date.   So far it seems to have been a good choice, since the site has come together quite well.

With the Mercury inferior conjunction occurring right now, and the inauguration of Obama just an hour away, it seems like an appropriate time to announce the launch of the blog.

Take a look at the site and let us know what you think!

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I feel somewhat conflicted over the fact that it is Fox News that is featuring a story involving astrology that isn’t casting the subject in a negative light, since Fox News isn’t usually known for presenting ‘fair and balanced news’, despite their tag line.  However, in this instance it looks like it is the other major news outlets such as CNN that are guilty of constantly putting a more negative spin on astrology related stories, with Fox News being in the unique position of doing one that wasn’t a hatchet job, and it actually came out halfway decent.

Watch the clip and judge for yourself:

Now, I’m not saying that this segment was pure gold or something, since it was still a rather basic piece that focused on more general Sun-sign related stuff, but when compared to some of the usual stories on astrology that we often see in the mainstream media, this segment practically deserves a Pulitzer prize.

I do think that Brownstone missed a valuable opportunity about halfway through the segment to plug more serious forms of astrology, when she was asked where people can go to learn more about planetary rulerships, and I wish that she had mentioned a major astrology website such as www.astro.com where people can get a full copy of their birth chart, but that is a somewhat minor quibble.

Overall I think that she did a good job, so thanks for representing the astrological community well Diana!

.

Thanks to Renee and Patrick Watson over on the Horoscopic Astrology Group forum for the tips on the story.

]]> http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/2009/01/19/astrologer-diana-brownstone-featured-on-fox-news-health/feed/ http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/2009/01/17/everyone-who-is-freaking-out-about-2012-is-stupid/ http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/2009/01/17/everyone-who-is-freaking-out-about-2012-is-stupid/#comments Sat, 17 Jan 2009 09:37:46 +0000 Chris Brennan http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/?p=917

Yeah, that’s right.  I said it.  You guys are mentally deficient.

Seriously though, what’s wrong with you people?  I walked into a major bookstore the other day and there was an entire bookcase that was literally packed with different books on 2012.  It seems like everyone is talking about it now, and there is even a high budget Hollywood movie coming out later this year named ‘2012′ which plays off the theme.

Unfortunately it seems like a lot of astrologers are even playing into it, writing articles about certain “rare” astrological alignments in 2012, even trying to link it with the completely unrelated notion of the “Age of Aquarius” and generally helping to feed the hysteria.

The general consensus among the more apocalyptic 2012 people seems to be something to the effect that since some part of the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, the world itself will end in 2012. This notion of some sort of worldwide cataclysm in 2012 appears to be the plot underlying the upcoming movie ‘2012′ that I mentioned earlier:

Using the logic applied above, I suspect that one of these days some 2012′er is going direct their gargantuan brain towards their own own calendar, and I imagine that their line of thought is going to go something like this:

The Mayan calander ends in 2012, and therefore the world will end.

Wait a minute…

Our calendar ends on December 31st…

OMG THE WORLD ENDS ON DEC 31ST!!!1!

Different Theories About The Significance of 2012

Of course, like any major notion that has been adopted by the New Age movement, a number of different speculations have been put forward about the significance of 2012.  Here are a few popular theories about what will happen in 2012:

• There will be pole shift.
• Aliens invade earth and enslave humanity (à la X-Files)
• An asteroid or comet will hit the Earth.
• A global spiritual awakening/shift in consciousness will take place.
• The end of the world will occur in some form or another.
• Planet X/Niburu will swing into orbit and take out Earth/reestablish human contact with aliens.

And the list goes on.  Enough ink has already been spilled over debunking some of the above theories, so I won’t go into them there, although if you are interested in reading more about them then there was a good article written over at Altair Astrology recently in which he brought up some calendar issues, and Ian O’Neill over at Universe Today did a great series of articles debunking the 2012 myth as well.  Bruce Scofield, one of the leading western astrologers who has a serious background in Mayan astrology, also has some really great articles on 2012 on his site.

Don’t Feed the Hype!

Recently I was pleased to see a really great article titled 20Y2K12 and Astrology’s Reputation by Philip Sedgwick in which he urged astrologers to stop feeding into the hysteria surrounding 2012, dismissing one of the 2012 doomsday scenarios by saying that “the flawed astronomy of these fear-mongering speculations do not deserve attention”.

I wholeheartedly agree, and I thought that it would be a good idea to highlight his concluding remarks in that article in order to give other astrologers some food for thought:

Seems to me, if we expect to be taken seriously and credibly, we must actively stave off the inaccurate prediction phenomena inspired by those who failed to get a turn spinning scary yarns around the fire at summer camp. We must understand astronomy and astrology, weaving the two back into a harmonious helix of cooperation. We must interrupt the nonsense speculations and reset people back to critical thinking and intelligent assessment of the cosmic variables we so readily perceive. We must avert the crisis of erroneous speculations regarding 20Y2K12. Join the cause now. Hurry! Time is running out. Only four more years to print bumper stickers and shift the consciousness of fearful negativity before the Mayan Calendar concludes.

So, what is the take home lesson?  Don’t feed the hysteria people.  If you run into someone who is convinced that something crazy is going to happen in 2012, then either sit down and try to talk some sense into them, as you would a small child who is afraid of the dark, or just nod your head and back away very slowly.

A few days ago National Public Radio (NPR) did a piece on astrology that focused on the recent ingress of Pluto into Capricorn and its relevance to the economy.  That is how it starts out at least, although the tone of the segment and the demeanor of the guy who did the interview came off as pretty smarmy and condescending.  The end result was another piece in a long line of what is essentially bad press for astrology in the national media.

It starts off with an interview from an astrologer in Oregon called “Johnathan David”, who is apparently the president of the Oregon Astrological Association, although on the OAA’s website his name is listed as Jonathan Linneman.   For some reason they seem to have gotten his name wrong in the interview and on the transcript.

Linneman is basically mocked at one point in the interview when the guy who put together the segment, Mitchell Hartman, asks rhetorically

Is planetary motion a plausible explanation for economic motion?  I tested the theory with Jonathan David.

Johnathan David: Pluto is going to be going significantly through the U.S. chart of the 8th house — the house of mystery and death and rebirth.

Hartman: Um… Maybe not.

Another astrologer, Dena DeCastro, came off sounding far better in the interview, having the rare opportunity to point out that astrologers view astrology as working through the principle of synchronicity rather than having some sort of direct causal influence:

Hartman: But then I met Dena DeCastro, a very serious counseling astrologer who sees the heavenly bodies as indicators, rather than causes, of events down on earth.

Dena DeCastro: I don’t believe that the planets actually make things happen, so much as they reflect a larger order to things.

Unfortunately this was then used as a transition into a question about how business is for astrologers lately, presumably with CNN’s recent story in mind about how the ‘psychic business is booming’.  The interviewer bookended comments from another astrologer named Susan Davis’ with similarly glib statements (emphasis added):

Hartman: Which made me wonder, how’s the astrology business faring in a looming Capricornian depression? Susan Davis sees walk-in customers at the back of a psychic accessories shop in Burbank, Calif. She says a lot of her colleagues are hurting, but she’s booked solid. Her secret isn’t in the stars — she’s quick and cheap.

Susan Davis: ‘Cause I’m just basically a what’s-going-to-happen-type person, not what your personality is, or what you’re thinking or feeling — I don’t care. I just want to know what’s coming in your life. And 15 minutes will do it.

Hartman: At 20 bucks a pop.

The comments are subtle, but the piece is obviously a hatchet job that was designed to both make fun of  some astrologers, and to denigrate the entire profession.  At the same time it sheds little light on what the subject matter of the piece was purportedly supposed to be about.

At this point we’ve almost come to expect this sort of thing from some of the mainstream media outlets such as CNN, with their tactless swipes at astrologers, but for some reason it is even more disappointing to see NPR engaging in these sorts of hatchet jobs as well.

You can read the transcript of the segment or download an MP3 of it on NPR’s website.  The astrology portion starts at about 20:25 on the MP3.  Listen to it and let me know what you think.  Do you think that this piece started out as an intentional hatchet job, or was it just poor editing after the fact perhaps?

Thanks to Nikki Neal as well as Kevin Uehlinger on the HA Forum for the tips on the story.  If I ever end up interviewing you two, I promise not to get your last names wrong.

Update: In the NCGR E-New Commentary that just came out tonight Kenneth Irving pointed out that technically American Public Media was the source of the above story on astrology, not NPR, even though it was broadcast on the same channel as NPR.  Apparently some others have made the same mistake as well.  I’m not sure that I agree with his statement that the piece was “lighthearted” and “respectful of the three astrologers interviewed” though.

This is for those people under the age of 24 who are just starting to get serious in their study of astrology.  You’ve got your first astrology book or been to your first astrology website, maybe you’ve been entertaining the idea for awhile, but whatever the reason or whatever the circumstances, you’ve taken up the opportunity to study further.  While the common tips for beginning astrologers of all ages are applicable for this age group as well, there are special circumstances that are introduced to this particular age group.  Never fear, though, a helpful list is near.

1.  Find Ways of Getting Around the Money Barrier

The biggest obstacle for this age group is money, mostly because they have little to none, and there’s this horrible thing that one must do to gain knowledge; read books.  Unfortunately, it takes money to buy books.  Well, that’s not necessarily true.  A trip to the library may result in some interesting finds, however, don’t expect it to free you of troubles as you may find the astrology section of your local library to be somewhat lacking.

That’s why there was another great invention, the internet.  Luckily the internet puts the world of information out there for anyone to access.  Unfortunately the internet puts the world of information out there for anyone to access.  So, do be cautious when you’re looking around for astrological information online, it generally helps if they have little things correct on their website.  So, any site that has the glyph for any of the signs backwards is definitely one to avoid.

2.  Find Some Friends

Young people like encouragement and support, what better way to get that than to find some astrology friends.  If you don’t have the luxury of having friends who are into astrology in your day-to-day life, then joining an online community is your best bet.

There are several astrological forums and groups out there on the web, so get searching!  This gives you the opportunity to experience different forms of astrology you might not have encountered otherwise, as well as make connections with other people who have the same interest in astrology as you do.

Interacting with other people is very important as it opens the door to discussion with other, more experienced astrologers.

3.  Act Your Age, Not Your Shoe Size

Now that you’ve made friends, it would be a great idea to keep those friends.  Acting obnoxious or like a kid in a candy store is not the way to keep those friends.  Keeping face, however, is, so act your age.

The impulse after making some astrological friends is sending them a barrage of questions. That’s likely to annoy them, and no one likes it when you see there’s a horary forum and you continue to post an assortment of frivolous questions in that forum, and then become upset when no one answers.

So, while you may be excited about the newfound wellspring of knowledge, don’t lose your head in it all, as you may end up scoring very low on people’s lists.  Older people are always impressed with younger people who show a certain amount of control and determination.

Make sure to work on that and you may be surprised how long relationships last and what you can get out of them.

4.  Be Kind to Old Astrologer Ladies

For some reason, the idea that older people don’t know what they’re talking about is generally a popular attitude to adopt for younger people.  This becomes exceedingly more of a problem if you feel these older people are actually mistaken in what they’re saying.

You can disagree, but be nice about it.  There’s no need to be rude to them, even if they assert that what they’re saying is correct and completely ignore the sources you present.  They may be fat, old, and have more cats than there are planets, but lord knows, at least they’re trying, and for that you should give them your respect.

5.  Look to the sky

This is a tip I’d give anyone, but I think is especially important for the newer generation of astrologers.  Having grown up the television and the internet, it’s been said we are a visual, electronic generation.  So, learning observational astrology early on is something that could be quite useful.

Take a step back in time and learn something about earth-based observation of the sky.  It’ll give you more of a sense of your interest, especially in its earliest incarnations.  Pick a planet and watch it move through the night sky.  Pick a favorite star and find it in the sky, keep an eye on it.  Try to identify as many constellations as you can.

This is a part of astrology that is ignored a lot, even by the older generations of astrologers, so getting a handle on it early on (while using our generational niche of having so many visual-based learners) is definitely a boon.

6.  Beware of Leeches

As you get your head around astrology and find the branch you feel was made for you, you’ll find people who will want to take advantage of your age.  They’ll approach you as they would a friend, and then act like they have a genuine question about a chart.  In reality, all they want is your opinion, that translates to a free reading.

Now, these free charts are great because they give you an opportunity to practice.  The problem is that person will probably never really tell you what happened, so you’ll never know if you were right or wrong.  After one chart, they’ll come back for more and more while weaving the illusion that they are your “astrology buddy” and learning with you.  They aren’t and you’re going to get tired of dealing with them.  It won’t stop until you make it stop, so be sure to nip it in the bud.

This doesn’t mean, though, that you should refuse help to everyone, just that you should know when you’ve had enough and how to say “stop”.  People will keep pushing until you refuse to budge.

7.  Forget Instant Gratification

The field of astrology wasn’t made by the people who brought you the internet, fast food, and instant mashed potatoes.  There is no quick and easy “just add water” version of astrology - well, I should say, there is, but it’s not real astrology, not the astrology you’d want to carry throughout your life as a hobby or decide to turn it into something more.

Learning astrology will take time.  So give it time, be patient with yourself, it’s not something that’s going to just click with you one day.  It’s a gradual process of setting a foundation and building more and more on top of that foundation.

It’s difficult and time consuming, but the reward for your hard work is instant in the smile on someone’s face after helping them out with a tough situation by offering them your own unique insights that you’ve worked to have.

8.  Dive Deep

Understand something before you begin to utilize it in your astrological routine.  This applies to every possible thing in astrology.  If you like a certain house system, find out how it works and what it takes into consideration.  If you’re going to use Arabic Parts (or ‘Lots’), study up on them and figure out who thought them up and where they came from.

Understanding the beginning of things is important for two reasons.  One, it makes you informed about what you’re doing, and there’s nothing worse than someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.  Two, it helps you figure out if something actually works or not.  I can’t even begin to count the times I thought something looked legit and looked like it worked, but then when I started to study it I discovered it was completely contrived and didn’t hold up.  It’s important to get that out of the way before you devote yourself to it.

9.  Keep a Diary

This may sound a little childish, but it’s probably a good idea to keep a diary or a record of your astrological journey.  Keep a collection of the charts you experimented with and first started learning on as well as your thoughts behind them.  Go back through them and check them out every so often, you’ll be surprised as to how much you’ve learned in the meantime.

You’ll also be able to apply what you know now to the charts back then, and if something didn’t work out, you may just know why now.  Having a way to monitor your growth and evidence to suggest that you are actually becoming more astrologically savvy is extremely important to the psyche.  You actually feel like you’re going somewhere with something to compare to.

10.  Don’t let people get to you.

The final tip on this list is the most important, and so I want it to be fresh in your mind after you’ve finished reading and walk away.

No matter where you go, there will be people who - when they disagree with you - will belittle you because of your age.  If you’re like me, this will infuriate you to the point of no return, however, the best idea is to simply point out their ageism and continue on with the discussion.  There’s no reason to let it disrupt things or upset you, simply point out their condescending attitude and step away from it.

For some reason, people think that pointing out your age will discredit your points or opinions and unfortunately, some people are not above doing it to try to persuade you that you are “out of your league” simply because of a number and regardless of how much effort you’ve undertaken to put out there that you are, in fact, competent.