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LEVEL 1: THE INTRODUCTORY ASTROLOGY
To find out what is special about these astrology courses, please see the Tantric Astrology Teaching Course page on this web site.
LEVEL 1 MODULES The Natal Chart
In Module 1, we study the three-fold basis of the astrological natal chart (also called the birth chart or the horoscope). This is called the astrological natal data. It comprises date, time and place of birth. What are the issues that are encountered in using these three components? We mention the major constituent components of the natal chart (glyphs, planets, Nodes, eclipses, aspects, signs, houses, house systems, angles, elements and modalities, etcetera). We look at the terms ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ (or harmonious and challenging), as a first step in understanding tantric phenomenology: finding connection to the divine in everything, even in apparently ‘adverse circumstances’ and hard karmic challenges. We practice drawing charts according to several western astrological traditions. If you haven’t got a computer, I can provide you with all the charts you will need at very little cost. The charts used on this web page are generated by Megastar: please see Links Page for credits. THE PLANETS Modules Nos. 2 - 13 cover the planets. You learn to be able to develop a good, basic, accurate astrological definition of the ‘constellation of energies’ epitomized by each planet, to an adequate level for good natal chart interpretation. You learn their orbital periods and you encounter the terms: direct, stationery and retrograde, and use an ephemeris. You also learn the mythological history behind each planet. As with all modules, this is done with reference to the three charts which are the focus of the course. As a unique and very special feature of this course, you also gain an introductory presence in your consciousness of each planet as a God or Goddess, as a Face of the Divine, by using deity-tantra, ritual, meditation and journeying. This can be undertaken either solo or with your friends or fellow course members. You record the experiences you have of these visionary experiences in written or taped form, and include them with your more traditional written astrological module report. 2. The Sun
The Sun is the King, the Queen, the Centre, the Divine Child. The Sun represents individuality (‘ego’), consciousness and deepest character traits. It signifies the father or dominant parent and the will to live. The Sun is blessing, autonomy, intelligence, self-awareness, personal impact and self-confidence. Negatively the Sun is the high chair tyrant and the weakling prince, vacillation and weakness, extravagance and arrogance, the seared desert of ego-assertion – too much Sun burns, vain-glory, ego-centricity. Physiologically, the Sun is health and vitality; the heart and circulation, eyes (the man’s right and the woman’s left), heart diseases, eye diseases, nervous disorders and convulsions, the spine and back. Deities within the western tradition include Apollo (who displaced the Pythoness at Delphi) and Re. The Hindu deity of the Sun is Surya, at the individual level, the egoic centre who controls the other planets in your chart as the charioteer controls his horses – less important than the Moon who is the reflector of the true reality: the Divine Light. As examples of the way this course offers extensions of western astrology into therapeutic applications for each of the planets, such as herbs and spices, Bach flower remedies, colour therapy, aromatherapy, vitamins and minerals, here are two sample indications of areas we will explore these in relation to the Sun: Sun - Mars combinations: we will meditate, visualize and do rituals on the healthy warrior, and such imbalances as impatience and unacknowledged anger. Obviously this is very early days in the course to be aware of the strength or weakness of you Sun, its elemental qualities or modalities and its aspects, but in terms of herbs, we will now lay a foundation by exploring, for example, herbs and spices such as chamomile, garlic, valerian and yarrow; Bach flower remedies such as heather, impatiens and vine; colours such as gold, red or pastel, aromatherapy oils such as geranium, jasmine and rose, and minerals and vitamins such as copper and vitamin E. We will build upon this in later modules – and in the Hindu astrology course, take on board the precision Hindu astrology offers to define the qualities, strength and weakness of your Sun and the precise remedies Hindu astrology advocates at different times. Focusing on Sun - Neptune combinations, we will lay the early foundation by exploring herbs and spices such as Echinacea, golden seal and nettle; colours such as brown, green, indigo and orange; aromatherapy oils such as rosemary and frankincense, and vitamins and minerals such as iron and selenium 3. The Moon and the Lunar Phases
The Moon signifies childhood experience and deepest emotions, contact-needs, memories, instincts, heredity and how the public will receive you, and psychism and the soul and the desire for change. The Moon is changeability and adaptability. It is security and defense mechanisms, fears and faith. Negatively the Moon is moodiness, retention and hyper-impressionability, delusion and lying, over-openness, gullibility. Incidentally, the Moon and Mars indicate the type of man to be experienced in a woman’s life; the Moon and Venus indicates the women in a man’s life. The Moon is also motherliness and fertility – but don’t forget there is also the Lunar Male: an important ebbing and flowing magical shadow male archetype that western culture has apparently lost the ability to understand. Physiologically, the Moon signifies the womb (in pregnancy) and menstruation, breasts and lacteals, eyes (the woman’s right and the man’s left), the stomach and alimentary tract, body-fluids, blood-serum and lymphatic system, the limbic system, pituitary, hypothalamus, mucus and serous surfaces. The Moon indicates temporary paralysis, catarrh and emotional disturbance. People signified by the Moon are mother and wife, women, family, seamen and messengers. The Phase of the Moon at the moment you were born significantly affects your personality and life. Deities include The Goddess (in Her four phases as Dark Goddess, Virgin, mother and Crone), autumn and winter phases of the Horned God, Seth and Diana. 4 Mercury
Mercury is the Trickster. Mercury is the thinker and the communicator. Mercury indicates intellect, reasoning, communication, critical judgment, trade, office work, mediation, diplomacy and dexterity - and issues to do with brothers and sisters and local movement. Negatively, Mercury is the know-it-all trickster or the dummy, nervousness, scatter, slyness, loquacity. Physiologically, Mercury signifies the motor-nerves, speech and hearing, breathing hands and touch. Deities include Hermes and Thoth, Lugh and the volcanic Loki. 5 Venus
Venus is the Lover. Venus signifies what you value and what pleases you, especially sex and money and art. Venus loves harmony, benevolence and ease. Venus represents tastes and the women in a man’s life. Venus signifies young girls, female partner, courtesans and people in arts and entertainment. Negatively Venus is the impotent lover or the addicted lover, aberration, sentimentality, carelessness, overindulgence and waste, laziness, sluggishness, vanity. Physiologically, Venus signifies the secretive glandular system, kidneys and veins, venereal disease, homoeostasis, female sex hormones, ovaries and ova. Deities include Aphrodite and Ishtar and Ezili Freda. The Hindu deity for the planet Venus is the God of Love, Sukra. 6 Mars
Mars is the Warrior. The Hero. Mars is action, energy and courage, aggression, sexual expression, where one puts one’s energies and determination; father, the men in a woman’s life. Negatively, Mars is the sadist, the masochist, the coward or the grandstander bully, violence and wasteful destruction, rage and crime, recklessness, fanaticism. Physiologically, Mars is the heat of the body, fever, inflammatory response, adrenal function, tendons, muscles, sex organs and sex functions, skin diseases and injuries, the head area in general, hemoglobin and white blood cells. Mars signifies fighters, pioneers, athletes, mechanics, surgeons. Deities include The Horned God, Aries. Hindu deities are Mangala, Skanda and Murugan. 7 Jupiter
Jupiter is the Expansive King. Joy. Jupiter is expansion, wisdom and perspective, magnanimity, abundance, optimism, holism and luck, harmony, justice and law, religion, ethics and prophecy, enjoyment, joviality, joie de vivre. Negatively, Jupiter is greed and extravagance, rapacious materialism and consumption. Physiologically, Jupiter is nutrition, liver (especially detoxification) and gall, fat metabolism and corpulence, hyperglycemia, blood, the arterial system and diabetes, the left brain function and growth hormone. Jupiter signifies government officials, the law, the clergy, bankers, the wealthy and fortune hunters. Deities include Zeus and the Daghdha. 8 Saturn
Saturn is the Dark Magician. Saturn is reaping – where Saturn is in your chart, look for late manifestation (or blocks but late commitment and success) you could earn gains - but with the delay needed to effect hard work. Saturn is the teacher of hard lessons and offers its own sort of faith. Saturn is grief. Saturn sets limits and enforces concentration. It signifies groundedness, consolidation and perseverance and offers profundity, material security and thrift, defense mechanisms, habits. Negatively, Saturn is sheer nasty meanness., sad isolation, separation, meanness, fear, depression and suicide, inertia, uncompromising, authoritarian, grim and cruel. Physiologically, Saturn is bones and skin, joints (the Capricorn knee!), the frame, ossification processes, teeth (especially the back teeth), the spleen, mental disorders, lingering illness, chronic and deep-seated conditions, thickening and deformity, malnutrition, slowed functioning, atrophy, leprosy and colds. Saturn signifies hard working or sad or aged people, a parent, The Miser - also agriculture, property owners and real estate. Deities include Saturn and Yahweh. 9 Uranus
Uranus, or Ouranos, was the first of the Greeks’ patriarchal Gods. We explore how an ethical context can be applied to His energies. His Hindu counterpart is Varuna. In the Greek myth, Ouranos was the original Sky Father. He was the first child of Gaia, The Earth Mother, when she emerged from primordial Chaos. He mated with Her and they gave birth to the Cyclopses and the Titans. However, Ouranos did not find his children good enough and they rebelled against his rejection so he imprisoned them in Tartarus. Gaia persuaded one of their children, Cronos (Saturn) to castrate Ouranos with a sickle. Cronos flung his father’s seed into the sea where Aphrodite was born and arose from the waves, and where his father’s genitals fell onto the land, the avenging Goddesses who protect Natural Law called the Furies arose (placatingly called the Eumenides). Saturn then mated with Gaia in his turn, but he too became a bad father and devoured the children Gaia bore to him, so Gaia tricked him and kept their sixth child Zeus (Jupiter) safe (Jupiter is the sixth planet geocentrically after Moon, Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars), until Jupiter was old enough to imprison his father Saturn in Tartarus, whereupon Jupiter ruled Olympus in his stead. Astrologically, Uranus is the Magician. Uranus represents the principle of freedom, originality, intuition, suddenness, revolutionary change, unconventional creativity, innovation and excitability. Negatively, Uranus is the detached manipulator, contrariness, spasm and addiction to excitement. Uranus represents reformers, inventors, technicians, rebels and revolutionaries, eccentrics, erratic and ‘wired’, hyper-anxious people. Physiologically, Uranus signifies as the nervous system, the synapses, the pituitary, rhythms, pulsations (including muscular and digestive), coordination of bodily activities, the membranes of the brain, injuries, operations and accidents, shock, cramp, ruptures, strictures, paroxysms, contortions, paralysis and spasm. Deities include Uranus, Prometheus and Varuna. 10 Neptune
Neptune is the Visionary. Neptune represents spiritual vision, devotion, unity, merger, sensitivity, psychism and compassion, mystical peace and bliss, dissolving of what must be dissolved, oceanic tides of change. Negative Neptune is the person in denial, co-dependency and substance-abuse. Negative Neptune manifestations are deceit, fraud, illusion, boundary problems in inter-personal dealings and thought systems. Neptune represents visionaries, mediums, crooksters, tricksters, sensitive or sad or negative people, spongers and people in denial. Physiologically, Neptune signifies lost vitality, viral diseases, fungal, allergic, toxic, auto-immune and hypersensitivity disorders; right brain function, the pineal, the solar plexus, the appendix, creeping paralysis and hard-to-diagnose or wrongly-diagnosed illnesses; coma, lethargy, drug- and alcohol-related symptoms, poisoning. Deities include Neptune (Poseidon) and Dionysus. 11 Pluto
Pluto is Kali and Shiva. Tantra. Kundalini. Pluto is power, force, drastic change, mass-movements, death and rebirth, psychism, secrets, investigation and fertilization and far-reaching effect. Negative Pluto is the abuser, the victim, destructive elimination, rage, violence and ruthlessness, ego-mania, obsession, megalomania, idols, the mask. Pluto represents those who influence the masses, propagandists, plutocrats, agitators. Physiologically Pluto signifies the genitals, giving birth and colonic conditions. Pluto is associated with previously hidden conditions coming to manifestation and ME, abscesses, malignancies, fistulas and poisonous bites. Deities include Pluto and Persephone (Hades), The Morrigan. 12 The Nodes of the Moon  The Nodes of the Moon are the intersection points in space of the apparent orbits around the Earth of the Moon and the Sun (geocentrically viewed). They are associated with the eclipse axis. Eclipses are powerful because they can devour the Sun and the Moon and obscure light from the Earth. Perinatal Eclipses play a powerful role in the prediction of an individual’s dearth. As such the Nodes are a powerful indicator of a life, because they partake of the energies or qualities of three such central bodies in the individual’s situatedness in the cosmos. In western astrology they are used to indicate incarnational life purpose. These interpretations can include a past-life karmic dimension. In the Hindu astrology courses, we learn how Hinduism gives an even more pithy definition of the role of the Nodes in one’s life: tantrically turning adverse situations and destinies into contact with the divine. The individual life may be viewed as a fated journey from the qualities of the South Node, as a start position, to the qualities of the North node as a destination. The qualities referred to in defined the characteristics of the North and South nodes of the moon for a particular individual are: the sign, house and aspects formed to other planets of the position of the Nodes in the individual chart. In Hindu astrology, the Nodes, called Rahu and Ketu are vastly powerful spiritual forces and are prayed to like the deities of the other planets. 13 Chiron
In addition to the planets, the asteroid Chiron also captures a significant energy configuration. It is a very powerful indicator of a woundedness the life will have to experience and how, if there is healing that woundedness, the native will become able to heal others.
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Whether you work solo, with a partner or in a group, and whether you choose to work with the energies of the planets shamanically or as deities or not, I pride myself in ensuring that the ideals of people following my courses are fully met. I leave no stone unturned in ensuring the fullest possible satisfaction of people following my courses.
Optionally, there is great benefit to you if you study the Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3 courses (which are Western astrology) alongside my Foundation Hindu Astrology Module. 
