Welcome to this February newsletter where the good news is that I survived the 2012 apocalypse. Hope you did too. I have no idea about the rest of the world, but Totnes is still here. Maybe being twinned with Narnia somehow transported us into a new dimension at the critical moment 🙂
During January I began my first online teaching—a six-part Introduction to Astrology course, which has been a great success. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching it and judging by the feedback my first students have found it very worthwhile:
The Intro to Astrology online course with Mark Flaherty opened up the doors to a whole world of knowledge and insight about myself and others. I am particularly grateful to Mark for the amazingly well-planned and organized course that was always fascinatingly interesting and engaging. I imagine how much work must have gone into preparing the fun and informative lectures. Thank you Mark for this life-changing gift!
–Â Raz Reinecke, Malibu, CA
New Introduction to Astrology Online Course for DownloadÂ
At the same time I have been busy recording a downloadable version of the course for those of you who wish to learn the basics of astrology, but can’t commit to a particular time each week. I am very proud to now be able to share this with you all. Comprising 10 audio-visual classes spanning 7.5 hours, in this course I guide you step-by-step through a complete introduction to astrology in a clear, straight-forward manner. The course is structured in a logical way, with each class building on the knowledge learned in previous ones so that regardless of previous experience, you will have a good grasp of the basics by the end of the course.
By using numerous charts of famous people, all of which you will see on screen real-time, I give examples of astrology in action at every step of the way—so you will not only be learning the fundamentals of what each sign, house, planet, aspect, element and mode means, but also how to apply this knowledge in a practical way. Included with the course is a full-colour PDF copy of your own birth chart, enabling you to gain greater self-understanding and realise that you are so much more than just your Sun sign. Yes, you may be a Gemini, but what house is the Sun in and how does it connect with the other planets? Where is your Moon, Mercury, Venus?
Read the full course outline here
The Subjective Nature of Astrology. The Subjective Nature of Life.
Astrology is person-centred and thus subjective. It can never be approached in a strictly scientific way because it requires the participation of the astrologer. The astrologer himself has an astrology chart (which describes how he sees the world) and so this will be a factor in the reading.
Fundamentally, astrology is a description of all of the energies behind life. Life is person-centred and subjective. Science is a part of life—science is within life, rather than life being within science—and so the traditional, objective scientific worldview will never be able to come to a complete understanding of how life works. It is a part of the whole trying to understand the whole. This is inherently impossible. The observer cannot be separated from the observed, as Quantum Mechanics has shown.
And so it is with astrology. The astrologer is a part of it and who the astrologer is will influence the reading to some degree. Every astrologer will have their own ‘take’ on a chart, which doesn’t necessarily reflect their level of competence, but rather is an expression of who they are. So if you have 5 readings with 5 different astrologers, all of whom understand the subject deeply, while there will be plenty of agreement on a person’s nature and the issues of their life, they will all come at it from a slightly different angle and explain it in a slightly different way—none of which are wrong. Just different.
We all have personal biases. It is the nature of being human. Life is subjective. There is no objective world out there. Your world is a reflection of your psyche. No two people’s worlds look exactly alike. I cannot truly know how you experience the world and you cannot know how I do (lucky you!).
So this subjective nature of astrology doesn’t negate its validity but rather reflects its function as a symbolic map of life. We all have personal preferences, likes and dislikes, and so an astrologer it is important to know yourself to ensure that this doesn’t negatively affect your readings. Personally, I’ve been known to find people who are strongly Aries in nature difficult. To me they can come across as being very self-absorbed, confrontational and aggressive. Aries can be extremely full-on! But somebody else would see the same behaviour as assertive, self-confident and direct, and would have no problem with it. While I may enjoy joking with a friend about the combative and selfish nature of the “damned Aries” (not necessarily the actual word we use), secretly I admire their self-assertion and ability to go out and get what they want, since this is something that I find challenging personally. The more I am able to bring out the inner Aries in me, the less distasteful I find it in others.
Likewise I find the Scorpio energy very appealing—the sense of intensity, of an all-or-nothing approach to life and an interest in the deep subjects of life are again a reflection of my own birth chart and my own love of such things.
It makes for a really interesting experiment if you know anything about the nature of the 12 signs of the zodiac—check out which ones you have an affinity for or which ones you have an aversion to. Maybe among your friends or past partners there is a particular Sun sign that appears more often? If so, please do share your thoughts in the comments section. I would love to read your observations.
Until next time, I extend to you all my very best wishes (even to you Aries 🙂 )
