UAC and Sun Square Neptune

Dear Friend and Reader:

Wednesday, the United Astrology Conference opens in Denver. I’ll be arriving in the evening with plans to cover the conference as one of its only officially recognized journalists, and naturally, making sure that all 1,500 attenders and 125 faculty members have heard of Planet Waves. If you’re coming to the conference, you can follow the trail of Planet Waves postcards back to me. We’ll have a table with a red and white banner with our scripted logo. If you like, I will dub you a reporter and you may go out scouting the human and intellectual territory of the event, and bring your story ideas back.

I did not realize the Sun was square Neptune today till I checked the aspect list, but this isn’t the first time Neptune has disappeared from the chart; it does that sometimes. Given Neptune’s influence over anything psychic, spiritual or esoteric, it’s an interesting day to start the biggest astrology conference in the world (that I know of, anyway). A cautious astrologer would recommend (as with any square to Neptune) to be cautious what you believe. A square to Neptune is not time for blind faith, nor is it time for unsubstantiated belief. You know you’re under the influence of a Neptune square when appearances count more than discernment; when common sense ceases to be a factor. It is more like false faith and less like true faith, but the beauty of Neptune squares is that they can be the best teachers of impeccability.

So, this is a good time to say that I’m bringing a good bit of discernment to UAC. I am impressed that a bunch of astrologers have been able to put on a conference that might impress even P.T. Barnum. There are many distinguished faculty members, giving the feeling of anyone who is anyone is there — some brilliant ones will not be there, however. There are people with whom I have corresponded for more than a decade who I’m dearly looking forward to meeting. I plan to have a great time, taking Hunter S. Thompson, Henry Miller or Patrick Walker as my muse (depending on the day).

Planet Waves will have daily blog coverage beginning Thursday night, audio coverage beginning Saturday (both of these will be available to all readers, including non-subscribers), and next week’s edition of Astrology News will have a lead story out of the conference — most likely on the presidential elections. In Hunter’s immortal and would-be understated words (were they not in all caps) I will GET THE STORY.

If you’re a pre-subscriber who is attending, I’ll have discount coupons for new subscriptions; and for renewals if you’re already a supporter of our project (discounts are half off if you’re a new subscriber, 25% off if you’re renewing at the conference).

This being said — discernment. I am skeptical that this kind of event, that is, a big conference in a huge hotel in the middle of a city, is the way to teach astrology. Astrology is a sensitive art; it’s at least one-third comprised of a psychic gift that cannot be taught; it does not do well in a spirit of competition or a huge crowd. Even if you view it merely as a “source of information,” this conference needs a press corps, not one journalist and some volunteers he’s rounded up from his database. There is a positively stunning lack of journalistic interest in astrology. Blogs are not enough. I hope someone has invited the area press, but at most they will do one or two stories and not dig into the subject matter.

I am skeptical of teaching astrology like it was Sociology 101, in a lecture room, indoors, away from the stars and trees. I am concerned about the divisions between “faculty” and “attenders.” I am skeptical about how many people who want to be there cannot attend — it’s going to cost us about $2,500 of your subscription dollars to have me there covering the event for you. That’s 100 clicks of Small World Stories or a lot of astrology readings, if you’re a young astrologer or a well-established one.

And I am ever and eternally concerned that therapists and therapist trainers are no longer invited to astrology conferences. What we do as astrologers requires so much therapy technique it would seem plain on its face that you want two or three non-astrologer therapists there to guide people in how to handle sensitive situations that arise in the work that we do. True, some of the presenters happen to be wise old owls and some happen to be therapists, but to my knowledge these are also astrologers. We need to get away from the astrological viewpoint at these events at least part of the time, and take things from the human perspective early and often.

In other words, astrology is not about technique, it’s about people.

We need to discuss the ethics of doing astrology at all. We need to tear apart the ethics of horoscope columns, predictions, relationship analysis, doing the charts of people not in our presence, and all the many things we tend to take for granted.

And finally, new planets are usually kept at bay. With many whole new classes of planets coming onto the radar the past 10 to 15 years — centaurs, trans-Neptunian objects of many kinds and crucial discoveries like Sedna, Varuna and Eris, these need to be something other than boutique items. Usually they are treated precisely like that — if at all.

With Neptune square the Sun, that is the lens of discernment that I plan to bring, in addition to my sense of adventure, my digital recorder, a little stack of Fellini films on DVD and 2,000 of the most gorgeous postcards you’ve ever seen. If this conference measures up to some basic standards of common sense, I will tell you. And if anyone wants to show me how, I am all ears. If something real happens, you’ll hear about it first!

Thank you to the Planet Waves readers who have stepped up with offers of housing, a ride from the airport, conference table coverage and every dollar and dime provided by our subscribers that is going to get me safely there, keep me well fed and get me home.

Look for me if you’re there — my cell number is on those postcards if you cannot find me amidst the teeming throngs of astrology seekers.

Wednesday 14 May 2008

Sun (24+ Taurus) square Neptune (24+ Aquarius)
Mars (2+ Leo) quintile Sedna (20+ Taurus)
Mercury (15+ Gemini) quintile Orcus (27+ Leo)
Venus (17+ Taurus) opposite Psyche (17+ Scorpio Rx)
Juno (27+ Sagittarius Rx) trine Pallas (27+ Aries)