Santa Fe: A Rich Habitat for Experiential Astrologies and Astrologers
Santa Fe is known in the Tewa language spoken by many Pueblo nations in northern New Mexico as O’Ga Po’Geh Owingeh, “White Shell Water Place”, which refers to the river mussels once in abundance in the Santa Fe River.
For us as astrologers, this name has a particular resonance, as most of the proposed horoscopes for the later incorporations of the city feature strong Neptune and Venus placements — signatures of water and of a goddess so often depicted in myth as emerging from the waters on the half-shell.
We gratefully and joyously recognize this place as truly the host of this conference, the place where the seed was germinated and could be planted. Our conference will donate a portion of our proceeds to two vibrant organizations working for the well-being of human communities and the natural world: Tewa Women United and Friends of the Santa Fe River. We will also open our conference at the River, to orient and invite participants to arrive and ground in reciprocal relation to this place.
Santa Fe is a unique place in the United States, being inhabited by human beings at least a thousand years by Tewa-speaking Pueblo nations as well as the Jicarilla Apache, and the Navajo/Diné. The city as presently defined is itself one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the United States, formally established with its colonial name in 1609, the oldest state capital in the US.
Beside the life-giving high desert river that made this a place for human community, Santa Fe is embedded in profound natural beauty, surrounded by the Sangre de Cristo mountains, and with wilderness in many directions nearby. It is famous for sunsets, double rainbows, stillness, and a carefully-tended architectural and urban form. It is also internationally known as a place of healers, artists, and metaphysical pursuits.
At the same time, as with any place where Neptune and Venus come together, the theme of enchantment has been complex, and shows in idealization, romanticization, and commodification of the qualities of the place and denial of complex histories of violence, loss, and harm. We recognize our situatedness in this and feel our conference is in part a response to it.
Santa Fe also has a storied history of consciousness-oriented and even experiential astrology. Many of those who brought depthful astrology into wider consciousness in the 20th century lived, stayed, or wrote here: Dane Rudhyar, Stephen Arroyo, Erin Sullivan, Alan Oken, Arielle Guttman, Martin Goldsmith. As well, Santa Fe — and especially our legendary Tom Brady, astrologer to the whole town whose primary way of reading was the use of sand tray figurines — features in the only text of experiential astrology, Barbara Schermer’s Astrology Alive!, where she writes about a giant tent erected in the center of town, where a troop of actors divided the space into the houses of a person’s chart, and invited them to walk through the immersive experience.
For over thirty years, Public Radio in Santa Fe has also featured the radio talk show Moonrise, hosted by Merrylin LeBlanc, whom we hope will broadcast live at our conference.
One of the greatest joys of our conference will be the creative weaving of those visiting Santa Fe with all present here.
FAQ
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The beauty of experiential astrology is that it is able to meet people at a wide range of astrological fluency, and people coming with a range of technical ability is an advantage because you are often more available to go outside the box.
For this conference, a basic knowledge of your own horoscope, and some familiarity with the signs and planets, will be sufficient for most workshops. Workshops focused on particular concepts will include orientation material sent ahead of time to assist you. If you are very early in your astrological knowledge, please contact us for guidance in workshop selection.
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Please scroll below to the turquoise section at the bottom for more resources describing the wide varieties of experiential astrology practice, most of which will be represented at the conference.
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Our conference is organized with the understanding that all traditions and techniques of astrology can be worked with in experiential ways. Our facilitators come from many different backgrounds and communities of so-called western astrology using the tropical zodiac, including Hellenistic, Medieval, Modern, Psychological, and Evolutionary, so these will be the ‘languages’ being used in workshops; however, practitioners of other astrologies (such as jyotish and Chinese astrology) are welcome and you will not need technical proficiency or delineation in any particular system to participate. Where a workshop is making use of a technique involving more than a basic understanding of houses/signs/planets, the facilitators will provide orienting material in advance.
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For this conference the minimum age is 18. If we hold future conferences, we will be incorporating workshop design and alternative activities for younger people.
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At this time, we are not offering partial attendance except to locally-based volunteers. This may change as registration continues and the possibility of some workshops remaining open after reaching our overall registration limit. If you are local to the Santa Fe area, this may be offered as part of a volunteer/work-trade arrangement. Please contact us hermeshestiacenter@gmail.com
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The Hermes-Hestia Center is offering up to 5 scholarships, through a General Scholarships and Diversity Scholarships fund. Please visit our Scholarships page for requirements, eligibility, timelines, and application.
A limited number of structured payment plans are also available, please contact hermeshestiacenter@gmail.com
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The cancellation policy is as follows:
Cancellation before August 1: Full refund minus $150 processing fee
Cancellation between August 1 and September 1: Full refund minus $150 processing fee, contingent on your space being filled from the waiting list, if one exists
Cancellation after September 1: No refunds
Full transfer of your registration to another individual you specify is permitted for a $75 fee. Partial transfer of your registration (for example a couple of days) is not possible.
Our Intentions
Our purpose is to support all who attend in having living experiences of astrology that are relational, imaginal, embodied, and experiential. In addition, we desire to support the capacity of all participants to engage astrology this way.
Relational: We propose to place love and care at the center of our time together. We recognize this as intrinsic to astrological ways of seeing, which begin from a recognition that we on earth are literally enveloped within the ‘Zodiac’ — the Circle of Animals.
Imaginal: We propose that a primary ingredient of meaningful astrology is the capacity for imagination, creativity, and play, and trust ways of seeing and experiencing that are “subjective” and “surplus” to consensus-based realities. We seek to create space within ourselves and our shared field for symbols to speak, leading to genuine and deep experiences of divination, revelation, and meaning.
Embodied: We propose that astrologies begin from an embodied experience of reality that feels embedded in earth and cycles of time and place. We seek to bring the body back to astrology and astrologers back to the body: to experience the weave of wider, wilder ways of knowing: sensuous, aesthetic, instinctual, emotional, expressive.
Experiential: We propose that astrologers and astrologies benefit from an approach to education in its earlier meaning: educare, to bring forth that which is within. We see knowledge and meaning as something co-created by facilitators and participants, and we seek to empower the inner diviner, astrologer, and storyteller in each participant to discover, enliven, and evolve our shared understanding of astrology.
Our Team and Hosting Organization
The Hermes-Hestia Center for Living Astrologies was founded by Jason Holley in 2014 in Santa Fe We offer in-person and online workshops, webinars, immersive retreats, and mentorship programs taught by Jason and others in three primary areas:
Mythic Astrologies: immerses students in the mythic context of astrology and enables students to creatively recognize, engage, and work with myth and mythic figures in their own lives and the lives of others.
Relational Practice of Astrology: provides students an astrologically-grounded and psychologically-sophisticated relational model of consultative practice, including multiple modes of case conceptualization and ways of understanding and working with the interpersonal field as a locus of archetypal expression.
Experiential-Immersive Astrology: prepares students to facilitate living experiences of astrology for people in individual and group settings - including astrodrama and action methods, dreamwork, embodiment and movement, and working with symbol, image, art, and ritual.