Astrology Courses Beginning Natal

Fundamentals of natal astrology (birth chart interpretation): principles of growth-oriented astrology, planets, signs, houses, major aspects, planetary rulerships, Moon's nodes, etc. The course includes weekly reading assignments, self-tests, and other exercises. It does NOT include predictive techniques or synastry.

No prior knowledge of astrology is required. If those students who register for the course include both people with some prior knowledge and people with no prior knowledge of astrology, then I will split the course into two sections (one for each group).

Whether you want to learn to read birth charts for only yourself,...or for friends and family,...or for complete strangers, this course provides you with a solid foundation, even if you are completely new to astrology.

Week One: One’s philosophy about astrology or theoretical orientation to astrology; growth-oriented astrology and evolutionary astrology; reincarnation and other beliefs; the general layout of birth charts.

Week Two: Elements and modes; the signs (Aries through Virgo): archetypes or images, endpoints, strategies, resources, shadows.

Week Three: The signs (Libra through Pisces): archetypes or images, endpoints and developmental issues, strategies, resources and shadows.

Week Four: The planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto): developmental issues, functions and dysfunctions, retrogradation.

Week Five: Hemispheric emphases; the houses: developmental issues, unsuccessful and successful navigation.

Week Six: Interpreting “bits” or planet-sign-house combinations; analysis of the “Primal Triad” (Sun, Moon, and Ascendant) in terms of sign and house positions

Week Seven: Aspects (conjunction, sextile, square, trine, and opposition); planetary rulerships; North Node and South Node of the Moon; analysis of the “Primal Triad”: aspects among the Sun, Moon, and Ascendant; generalizing about the Primal Triad

Week Eight: Brief interpretation of a birth chart: the “Primal Triad,” hemispheric emphases, focalizers or relatively prominent planets, North Node and South Node of the Moon, patterns and themes; using one’s heart and mind to resolve life issues.

To reinforce students’ learning from the textbook, I provide self-tests for them to complete after doing the reading for most, if not all, of the class sessions. In creating the self-tests, I aim to pull out points from the reading that I consider especially important for a student to understand and to be able to apply, in order to master the material that is covered in the course.

In addition to the textbook reading and self-tests, I assign required and optional homework exercises to complete for each week of the course. The exercises help students apply concepts in a such a way that the complexity of the analysis and interpretation involved increases gradually—and so manageably--as they progress through the course. It’s common for people to get lost or feel overwhelmed once the material becomes more complex, and this step-by-step method of learning helps students build successfully on what they have learned earlier, without experiencing that.

I provide handouts of material to help students apply the material successfully in their own practice as astrologers. I select/design the handouts based on what I have found helpful in my own practice. For example, if I have written material to help me interpret particular transits for clients, I might provide students with that same material or some simplified version of it.

When I facilitate class discussions, I clarify and expand upon points that the writer makes in the textbook. I also introduce questions and comments about points that are not addressed in the textbook, such as ethics and communication techniques, for the benefit of those students who plan to do interpretation for others.

As a teacher, I encourage students to take an active, creative role in applying what they learn. Whenever possible, I try to teach them to “fish” rather than handing them a “fish” and encourage them along the way. In other words, I aim both to help students arrive at “the answers” and to help them become increasingly independent, rather than simply telling them the answers. I also facilitate students in the process of learning from each other.

I teach the course on an online message board. The board is accessible only to class members. Each Monday, I post homework assignments on the board.

It is difficult to answer this question accurately because it depends on a number of factors that vary from one student to the next.

However, you can figure on spending an estimated 7 to 11 hours per week, possibly less, depending mainly on how much or how little you want to put into interpretation and class discussion.

The course is designed so that you can do the required work anytime you want during the week, as long as it's done by each Monday. For example, if you want to spread the work out over a seven-day period, you can do that. If you want to do it all on the weekends, you can do that. If you want to do it all on Sundays, you can do that. And so on.

Time spent on the class includes two things: required work (any reading that I might provide, self-tests, exercises) and class discussion.

Apart from the required work, class discussions unfold between one Monday and the next, at whatever pace individual students (and the class as a whole) post messages. Each week, I post my comments and discussion questions. Students post their replies/comments/questions, and the discussion continues from there in its own particular way.

Beyond participating in general in weekly class discussions, I don't require anything specific for discussions. Therefore, how much time students spend on class discussions can vary a lot from one person to the next, depending on theirs inclinations and styles of communicating.

The course emphasizes reading (at least for those who have never read the textbook). It does, however, also devote significant time to practice in applying the theory from the textbook through interpretation.

When it comes to interpretation, a person can spend anywhere between a little time and a lot of time into it, depending on how long she wants to ponder the symbols and write about them, how much she wants to polish her words, and how much material overall she wants to write about whatever is being interpreted. I don't specify the length of interpretation that students should produce, so, in the end, there is a lot of leeway for what students do.

Instructor

Brian Habit

Class Size

I teach the course on an online message board. The board is accessible only to class members. Each Monday, I post homework assignments on the board.

Save 17% to 50% on course registration! Get two other new students to register for courses that start during the same month as your course. They can register for the same course as you, or they can register for other courses. If they each pay the regular $45.00 registration fee, then you can save 50% ($22.50) on the regular registration fee for yourself. You can decide whether to (A) keep all of the savings for yourself or (B) share some of it, or all of it, with your two classmates. If you share it equally with them, then you will each save approximately 17% ($7.50).

The Inner Sky: How to Make Wiser Choices for a More Fulfilling Life by Steven Forrest

Many students outside the U.S. find that they cannot get a copy of this book in their part of the world. If you are outside the U.S. and order your book here, please place your order no later than four weeks before the class starts. This is to ensure that you receive the book before class begins. I will assign homework reading to be completed by the beginning of each week, including the first week.

If it becomes absolutely necessary for you to start the course without having a copy of the book, then I will provide you with material free of charge, as a substitute for the book, until you get it. However, such material will not prepare you nearly as well as the book would prepare you, to complete homework exercises and participate in class discussions.

If fewer than three students register for the course, I will cancel it. In the event of cancellation, you will receive either a refund of your registration fee or a credit toward a future course or some other Proud Phoenix service (whichever you prefer).

"Steve [Forrest] writes in such a way that even if you don't know anything about astrology, you feel like deeply inside, you already know what you are reading."

"The way you explain things amazes me because you always make them sound so easy and clear."

"The readings are really informative. [I] guess I didn't appreciate all the different parts of me or know that there really was a place in my life where [Gemini] dominates or where my [Gemini] tendencies lie."

"I think the first task ... would be ... to get rid of the fortune-telling image, even for ourselves. I’ve just very recently changed my approach (a matter of weeks) to it, I’m learning to avoid falling in the traps. And these traps, we find them everyday on many internet sites, newspapers, opinions. I want to get rid of the idea that astrology describes you as a finite object (sorry, person) anymore. That’s what I used to think, and often that’s how it has been presented. Now that I’ve started integrating that I’m in an ever-changing process, I hope I’ll know how to make my choices wisely."

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Instructor

Brian Habit

Class Size