I am lit up in preparing to co-teach this upcoming astrology course with Jessica DiRuzza through Trust Psyche. Aspects are one of the four pillars of astrology (alongside planets, signs, and houses. This 6-week course covers in depth the meaning of the 5 major aspects in astrology, also known as the Ptolemaic aspects: conjunction, opposition, square, trine, and sextile. We study how to understand the aspects in the birth chart, personal transits, and world transits. We also explore the meaning of major aspect patterns such as the t-square, grand cross, grand trine, Star of David or grand sextile, yod, kite and mystic rectangle. Additionally, we go into the meaning of the minor aspects: the quincunx, semi-square, and sesquiquadrate, as well as the quintile and septile. A brief elaboration of the theory of harmonics provides an overarching framework. We approach the aspects historically, clinically, geometrically, mathematically, and musically. This course is open to all levels, from beginner to advanced, and is designed to enrich every level of student. Class will meet on Sundays from 12-3PM Eastern Time beginning February 26th through April 2nd. Learn more here.

Come read what we’ve been up to at Trust Psyche!

Happy Harvest Time!

As the holidays approach and the year draws to a close, I am grateful for the rich life I have lived and to everyone who has enriched it. Our daughter Luce turned two last month and continues to amaze us as she becomes more relational, deepens in emotional complexity, and begins to talk—starting most days, while still in the crib, with a demand for the open air: “Oooout!” In addition to romping around the great outdoors with Lucy, here are some things that happened with us this year…

In the spring, I had a fabulous time teaching The Astronomy and Cultural History of Astrology through our business, Trust Psyche. I also gave over 50 astrology readings this year, something that brings together so many different parts of myself: intellectual, emotional, spiritual, practical, interpersonal. I would love to sit down with you or one of your loved ones (a reading is a great gift for the holidays!). Learn more here.

In the summer, I turned 40, something I thought would never happen—but it turns out that growing up is fun. In keeping with my newly acquired wisdom, I was ordained as a minister and performed my first wedding.

In the fall, things got hard. The whole family got covid and a slew of other illnesses. We had ongoing childcare problems. And then we got walloped by hurricane Ian, which knocked out our power, water, and cell service for two weeks. It all climaxed during the recent eclipse season, which you can hear more about on Jessica’s podcast. Finally, though, things are starting to look up, making it easier to remember my blessings (like the fact that my child sleeps through the night!).

In the spring, Jessica and I will be co-teaching our first course together, Aspects in Astrology: Sacred Geometry. Over six weeks, we will explore the meaning of the different geometric angular relationships formed between the planets from historical, clinical, musical, and mathematical perspectives. This class is suitable for all levels, beginner to advanced.

Wishing you and yours a warm holiday season and a bright New Year to come,

Travis

Happy New Year to you!

I am so excited to be here with you in 2022. We have a wonderful group of people for our upcoming astrology course, both live and recorded, and we would love for you to join us! Early bird ends in one week, on Wednesday, January 19th. Our class meets on Sundays from 1-4PM ET for 10 weeks, from February 6th through April 10th. You can find all the details right here.

In this course, we will trace the human relationship with the starry sky from its earliest origins in the recognition of solar and lunar cycles and their relationship to light, heat, and tides, through the sacred geometric stone circles of megalithic culture, to the birth of astrology proper with the Mesopotamian zodiac and Egyptian decans. When Alexander the Great unified these two regions with parts of Europe in the west and India in the east, the great cultural synthesis that ensued gave birth to Hellenistic astrology and the four pillars of our practice to this day: planets, aspects, signs, and houses. The Middle Ages saw the cultural center shift from Alexandria to Baghdad, where astrology flourished and evolved in the Islamic Empire before being retransmitted to the West during the Renaissance, dying a second death during the Enlightenment, and being born again through Theosophy and the New Age.

I would be honored to be your guide on this remarkable adventure through time, where we will not only study but imagine and experience what it was like for our ancestors to become conscious of their embeddedness in the universe. For the history of astrology is the story of humanity awakening to its place in the cosmos and thereby navigating its relationship to the divine. That story continues with us today, as part of an unbroken lineage stretching back to the earliest of our species, able to be animated once again, in always deepening communion of above and below.