Reflections on Year 1 of Astro School
05/09/22
This morning I sat in a Zoom call with 99 other people and cried my eyes out. I assume most of my cohort were bawling too. They were happy tears, tears of gratitude and appreciation. It was the last of thirty-eight meetings of our year-long Ancient Astrology for the Modern Mystic course and everyone was sharing their experiences of the class: what they’d learned, how they’d grown, how life changing it had been for them.
I’ve been interested in astrology for many, many years and have loosely attempted to dive more deeply into understanding it several times, only to be frustrated by the seemingly piecemeal and contradictory cookbook-style astrology I was trying to learn. However many times I tried to commit keywords to memory for all the planets in all the signs, I couldn’t get it to stick. Probably because I was never given any underlying rationale for the descriptions. It used to drive me crazy to read about one of my chart placements meaning one thing and then learn that another placement had a contradictory meaning and I could never figure out how to reconcile the two. As for the houses, it was massively confusing to me that they seemed to be just like the signs only somehow different. I knew there had to be a way of integrating it all into a big picture that actually made sense but try as I might I couldn’t find the way in.
Around the time of the Great Conjunction in December 2020 I reconnected with an old friend who pointed me to some astrology YouTube channels they were into and I started watching these regularly as well as listening to The Strology Show podcast. A couple of these channels were proponents of traditional astrology and through them I learned about whole sign houses and the idea of only using the traditional planets (Mercury through Saturn) and traditional rulerships. Although I was resistant, I was intrigued and the more I listened the more it all seemed to make sense. I was particularly inspired by and envious of the conversations Kirah would have with her astro pals on The Strology Show in which they all understood their own and each other’s chart placements so well that they could have these mind blowing discussions about their experiences in the world as seen through the lens of their astrology. I wanted this too: I wanted in on this deeply magical and satisfying language with which to connect with other beings on our mythic journeys. Anyone who has listened to more than one Strology Show will doubtless have heard about the legendary NORWAC of 2019 during which Kirah apparently met hundreds of astrologers with whom she is now in regular and meaningful contact. So I decided on a bit of a whim to sign up for a day pass to NORWAC 2021, even though I felt it might be a bit beyond my current level of understanding.
NORWAC was amazing and overwhelming. I attended a bunch of lectures and had some great discussions with folks in between including a brief but memorable interaction with esteemed astroceleb Demetra George which I will doubtless recount at some point. I got in on a Discord group that a bunch of people formed in one of the lectures on astro community and, in the ensuing conversations, learned that a couple of folks in the group were signed up for the Nightlight Astrology Year One class. I was already very familiar with Adam Elenbaas from his YouTube channel and I felt all the telltale signs of an impending “impulsive decision” of the best kind. Within a few days I was signed up.
It would take too long to describe chronologically all the ground we covered in class but there are several themes I’d like to mention which all contributed to my current feeling of awe and gratitude for this experience:
Depth & Breadth
This course provides an AMAZINGLY thorough grounding in ancient astrology. As Adam often says, it’s like a mandala. We learned about planets, houses, signs, aspects and dignities and, as promised, the more we learned about a new topic, the more the previous topics started to make sense and everything connected in with everything else in a deeply pleasing way. In addition to the material taught in class, we were also given pertinent bonus material to study each week as an option for those with sufficient bandwidth.
Philosophy
The second class in the syllabus was a deep dive into the various philosophies that underpin ancient astrology and included fascinating material on the esoteric ways in which the sun and moon are connected to the primary and secondary motion of the planets and in turn represent deep existential truths around eternity and time, the one and the many, the unconditioned and the conditioned. For me personally this has been one of the most stimulating aspects of the class and has caused me to ponder deeply the ways in which these philosophical teachings intersect and can be integrated with my own Buddhist world view. I’ll definitely be writing more about this another time.
Spiritual Dimension
One of Adam’s unique gifts is the way he embodies an astrological practice that is inextricably rooted in and interpenetrated with his spiritual practice. Although the Bhakti Yoga tradition in which he practices* has some fundamental differences from my own Buddhist practice, the encouragement to infuse our astrological work with a deeper spiritual dimension resonates hard for me and Adam’s humility and devotion to something larger and more profound than his ego self is refreshing and inspiring.
* Adam no longer practices formally within this tradition
Community
I have been longing for astrological community since my first encounters with The Strology Show and I have found it in my Nightlight cohort. Not only have we gotten to know one another during Q&A sessions and formal study groups, many of us have participated in an online forum throughout the year where we’ve shared our inspirations, confusions, care and encouragement. As Kirah is fond of saying, astrology is a language and it’s important to get to spend time with people who speak your language.
Help with Questions
One of the draws of this class was the promise of access to Adam and his team throughout the year for help with questions on the material. When learning a subject as deep and complex as ancient astrology one tends to have a LOT of questions and I have found it extremely helpful and supportive to have carte blanche to ask them all without feeling self conscious about being too demanding. The tutoring staff monitor the forum daily and have responded thoughtfully to every question I’ve posed to them.
Live Client Readings
After twenty-one classes and eight study sessions we finally made it to the part of the course I’d been waiting impatiently for. Every other week we got to sit in on Adam doing a live reading with a client and learn from the master! It was amazing to see all the theory we had learned being put into practice and observe various ways of structuring a client session, deciding what to focus on, delineating placements and being in compassionate dialogue with the person actually living out the birth chart. After each client session we got to discuss the reading with Adam and ask questions which was incredibly helpful.
So, here I am at the end of this year-long journey feeling full up with inspiration for astrology. When I started the course I desperately wanted to be able to look at a birth chart and make sense of it and it feels so satisfying that I’m now able to do that. I’ve started doing donation-based readings and it is such an honor to put my learning into practice in a way that helps people make sense of the archetypal currents of their lives. Of course this is just the beginning and I have the rest of my life to expand and deepen my understanding of this deeply profound practice. I start the Nightlight Year 2 course in June 2022 and am excited to learn how to integrate outer planets, transits and other timing techniques into my practice.
With deepest gratitude to Adam and the rest of the Nightlight staff and my amazing Nightlight 22 cohort.
