DIPLOMA Program

Professional Astrologer

Training and Certification

Course 1: Lunar Phase and Planetary Phase Relationships

In this course you’ll learn the meaning of lunar phases for application in the birth chart and by progression. In addition, you’ll discover how the lunar phase theory taught by Dane Rudhyar informs an illuminating phase-relationship understanding of planetary aspects between any two planets. We’ll explore how to think about the difference between opening and closing aspects like the square, trine and sextile.

Class 1: The Lunation Phases – with Demetra George
This class will explore the eight-phase lunation cycle as first presented by humanistic astrologer Dane Rudhyar. Learn how to determine the natal lunation phase and how the phase relationship between the Sun and Moon at birth describes one of the most fundamental facets of personality expression.

Class 2: The Lunation Phases Applied in Chart Readings – with Demetra George
This class will demonstrate different ways to apply lunation phase insights during the course of a reading – a template for integrating the individual meanings of the Sun, Moon and lunation phase; the monthly recurrence; the progressed phase; and the role of the Lot of Fortune. In addition, Demetra will share how to prepare for a specialty reading based upon lifetime lunation phases.

Class 3: Planetary Phase Relationships Part 1 – with Mark Jones
An introduction to the application of the lunar phase theory to any two planets in aspect relationship.

Class 4: Planetary Phase Relationships Part 2 – with Tony Howard
Application of Rudhyar’s theory to chart interpretation. Includes ways of differentiating between opening and closing squares, sextiles, trines and quincunxes.

Instructors: Demetra George, Mark Jones and Tony Howard
Required Text: The Lunation Cycle: A Key to the Understanding of Personality by Dane Rudhyar; Finding our Way through the Dark by Demetra George. 
Supplementary Text: Cycles of Becoming by Alexander Ruperti

Course includes: 6+ hours of instruction, four pre-recorded Q&A sessions, discussion area, reading assignments and homework. Video, audio and handouts are available to view and/or download. 

$295 (audit) / $350 (with feedback*)

Pre-recorded lessons available for instant access. You will have access to a discussion area to ask questions as you move through the course in addition to the live Q&A sessions.

*Feedback option includes feedback on homework and an exam review. Audit students receive the same study materials and videos but do not receive personal feedback on their work.

Course 2: Astrological Counseling Tools

If you’re already doing astrology consults, or you’re getting ready to, it can be invaluable to hear the sage advice of astrologers who have been consulting for some time. In this course you’ll have access to several professional astrologers who discuss the approach and framework needed for impactful one-on-one work with others.

Learn how to prepare for consultation with an aim to energetically facilitate a healing connection with clients. Discover how – and when – to approach shadow material. You’ll hear advice for how to honor the dictum of the Hippocratic Oath “first, do no harm.” And you’ll get guidance for engaging in a conversation that ultimately leaves the client feeling empowered to participate in the co-creative process of making important choices and they trust both themselves and the artful mystery of the cosmos.

You’ll be introduced to the ways psychological dynamics enter into and impact the consultation, as well as a few counseling basics from licensed therapists. Also includes discussion of ethics as well as how to incorporate intuition. Your guides in this course include a stellar group of astrologers who have had successful consulting practices for at least 20 years (or more) and share advice that you’ll be able to benefit from for years to come.

Instructors: Mark Jones, Hadley Fitzgerald, Carol Ferris, Jessica Murray and Jessica Lanyadoo
Required Texts: The Soul Speaks by Mark Jones; Counseling Principles for Astrologers: Becoming an Effective Change Agent (pdf) by Donna Cunningham
Supplemental Texts: You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter by Joe Dispenza; Power in the Helping Professions by Adolf Guggenbühl-Craig

Course includes: 6+ hours of instruction, four Q&A sessions, discussion area, reading assignments and homework. Video, audio and handouts are available to view and/or download. 

$295 (audit) / $350 (with feedback*)

Pre-recorded and available for instant access. You may register and start this course and get started today or wait for the live Q&As during the above dates. You will have access to a discussion area to ask questions as you move through the course. 

*Feedback option includes feedback on homework and an exam review. Audit students receive the same study materials and videos but do not receive personal feedback on their work.

Course 3: Vocation, Mission and Calling

Explore the chart significations for career and vocation. We’ll ruminate deeply on calling and life purpose and look at ways the birth chart can help speak to these compelling issues.

  1. A Question of Vocation – How might we integrate the question of vocation with the fullness of the chart? When seeing the chart in context of vocation, how might we approach the landscape
    of vocation and its timing.
  2. Destiny and Direction – The Angles and Nodes and their role in Vocation
  3. The Vocational Houses: Resources, Talents, Lifestyle
  4. Personality and Profession: Embodying and Ensouling our Calling
  5. Development and Transitions along the Career Path

Instructors: Brian Clark and Tony Howard
Required Text: Vocation by Brian Clark
Supplemental Reading: Archetypes at Work by Laurence Hillman and Richard Olivier

Additional Reading for Your Consideration: 
Callings by Gregg Levoy, The Soul’s Code by James Hillman, Vocational Selection and Counseling parts 1 and 2 by Doris Chase Doane, In Search of a Fulfilling Career by Joane Wickenburg

Course includes: Four pre-recorded video lessons, four pre-recorded Q&A sessions, presentation slides, and reading and homework assignments.

Pre-recorded and available for instant access. You may register and start this course and get started today or wait for the live Q&As during the above dates. You will have access to a discussion area to ask questions as you move through the course.

*Feedback option includes feedback on homework and an exam review. Audit students receive the same study materials and videos but do not receive personal feedback on their work.

Course 4: Consultation Practicum

Students will spend four weeks practicing chart interpretation. Year-four students will be paired with year-one students. The goal of this course is to practice chart synthesis and to increase confidence in your chart interpretation. 

You will record one 30-minute consult on a specific birth chart topic, and receive feedback from one of the instructors. You’ll then record a second session either on timing or an area of focus that the client chooses. You’ll get a chance to apply feedback from your first session and practice responding to questions in real time. You’ll also receive feedback on the second session. You will have the option to share your recorded sessions with feedback with the other students for study. These recordings will be kept private inside your course portal.

Pre-requisite: To register, you must be a year-four student, caught up with your work to date, or with written permission from Tony.

Instructors: Tony Howard and Lynn Bell
Required Text: You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter by Joe Dispenza

We will reach out to you individually to schedule dates and times. In addition there will be 2 open Q&A sessions where you can talk about your experience and ask questions.

Registration is now closed until Fall 2024.

Course 5: Relationship Astrology 201 – Composite Charts

In this course you’ll learn the technique for combining two charts into a new chart called the “composite” chart. This chart can be read as describing the relationship between those two people. Mark Jones shares a psychological and spiritual approach to working with these charts.

In part one (sessions one and two), Brian Clark will introduce the composite chart as the synergy and the cooperative interaction that engenders something greater than the sum of the two energies described by the individual charts. He’ll introduce the technical details related to composite chart calculation, and the character of midpoints as the composition of the chart. Next he’ll help us take first steps toward interpretation, with a look at the planets as mutual images, and the houses as shared spaces and places.

In part two (sessions three and four): Mark Jones explores the fundamental principle of a composite chart as a union between two people that best reflects the nature of a relationship, almost as an entity itself. Where synastry can be likened to the sign of Libra – revealing the impact that two people have upon each other on either side of a set of scales, the composite chart can be viewed through the eyes of Scorpio and the 8th house where a merger occurs between the two. The composite chart then becomes the guiding compass to understand the nature of any relationship in astrology.

Following on from the Scorpio theme we can analyze Pluto as an aspect of the meaning of that merger in the composite chart and Mars as an expression of the will of the couple. Such analysis creates a simple and direct technique for identifying the core purpose of a relationship. Includes profound and illustrative examples of composite charts including the creative friendships of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung and John Lennon and Paul McCartney; the intimate and collaborative love of Pierre and Marie Curie and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. We also look at the profound influence that a parent can have on a child through the composite chart.

Explore how love, both intimate and familial, and friendship, shapes the meaning of our lives as seen through the composite chart.

Instructors: Brian Clark and Mark Jones
Required Texts: Skymates II: The Composite Chart by Steven Forrest and Jodie Tighe; From the Moment We Met by Brian Clark
Supplementary Text: Astrology A Language of Life Volume IV – Relationship Analysis by Robert Blaschke

Course includes: 6+ hours of instruction, four Q&A sessions, discussion area, reading assignments and homework. Video, audio and handouts are available to view and/or download.                                                                                                                                                            

$295 (audit) / $350 (with feedback*)

Pre-recorded and available for instant access. You may register and start this course and get started today or wait for the live Q&As during the above dates. You will have access to a discussion area to ask questions as you move through the course. 

*Feedback option includes feedback on homework and an exam review. Audit students receive the same study materials and videos but do not receive personal feedback on their work.

Course 6: Introduction to Asteroids

In this course we’ll read from Demetra’s groundbreaking book on the subject, and learn how to incorporate asteroids into your chart work.  You’ll learn how to obtain positions for a multitude of asteroids, identify which ones are important in a chart, and research their meanings. 

You’ll learn how to start working with mythic, personal name, place, and concept asteroids and how they can miraculously speak to individual threads that are stitched into the pattern of your life. 

Instructors: Demetra George
Required Texts: Asteroid Goddesses by Demetra George

Course includes: 6+ hours of instruction, four pre-recorded Q&A sessions, discussion area, reading assignments and homework. Video, audio and handouts are available to view and/or download. 

Pre-recorded and available for instant access. You may register and start this course and get started today or wait for the live Q&As during the above dates. You will have access to a discussion area to ask questions as you move through the course. 

*Feedback option includes feedback on homework and an exam review. Audit students receive the same study materials and videos but do not receive personal feedback on their work.

Course 7a: Intro to Declination

Learn how to incorporate declination into your chart interpretation. You’ll learn how to identify and interpret parallels and contraparallels in addition to “out of bounds” planets. Also includes an introduction to declination transits and progressions.

Instructor: Tony Howard
Required Text: Declination in Astrology: The Steps of the Sun by Paul Newman

Includes: 4+ hours of instruction, two recorded Q&A sessions, homework and reading assignments.
Next Live Dates for 2024: March 30 at 9am and April 6 at 2pm (all times Pacific times)
$147.50 (audit) / $175 (with feedback*)

Pre-recorded and available for instant access. You may register and start this course and get started today or wait for the live Q&As during the above dates. You will have access to a discussion area to ask questions as you move through the course. 

*Feedback option includes feedback on homework and an exam review. Audit students receive the same study materials and videos but do not receive personal feedback on their work.

Course 7b: Intro to Electional Astrology

Mary Shea introduces the art of electional astrology – how to choose auspicious dates, and specific times on those dates, for important actions. Mary has been practicing electional astrology since the 1980s and has a wealth of practical knowledge, and successful electional charts to show you. In this course you’ll learn some of the basic electional rules for planets, houses and aspects. You’ll also learn Mary’s time-tested approach grounded in the belief that a great electional chart isn’t one that just “follows the rules”. An electional chart needs to “speak to” the specific intention for the election, and can also provide instructions on how to succeed.

Mary will introduce students to the amazing things an electional chart can do beyond business and marriage charts. Want to buy a house for less, sell a house for more, or file a complaint for a new, free computer? Electional astrology can be used for these intentions and many more.

Some electional astrologers approach this technique from the perspective of attempting to control outcomes. But here, you’ll learn how to apply electional astrology in the context of intentional manifestation principles that see our actions and intentions as part of a co-creative process with the cosmos.

Instructor: Mary Fortier Shea
Required Text: An ephemeris or some form of aspectarian that includes all the Moon’s aspects in a Moon sign; The Only Way to Learn About Horary and Electional Astrology by Marion March
Supplemental Texts: The Book of Rulerships: Keywords from Classical Astrology by Lee Lehman OR The Rulership Book, by Rex E. Bills and Kris Brandt Riske; The Little Book of Electional Astrology by Kim Farnell; Bonatti On Elections (translated by Benjamin Dykes)

Includes: 3+ hours of instruction, two recorded Q&A sessions, homework and reading assignments.
Next Live Dates for 2024: April 13 at 2pm and April 20 at 9am (all times Pacific times)
$147.50 (audit) / $175 (with feedback*)

Pre-recorded and available for instant access. You may register and start this course and get started today or wait for the live Q&As during the above dates. You will have access to a discussion area to ask questions as you move through the course. 

*Feedback option includes feedback on homework and an exam review. Audit students receive the same study materials and videos but do not receive personal feedback on their work.

Course 8: Your Professional Toolkit

In this course we’ll help you begin to contemplate and build some of the tools necessary to build a successful professional astrology business. We’ll talk about ways to build a consulting business. And we’ll talk about ways to apply astrology outside the consultation room, and how this work can make up part of your professional work as an astrologer, including writing and social media presence. You’ll learn how to do research that informs your work, how to analyze current and unfolding collective events and how to do prepare astrological forecasts for social media or blogging. Includes focus on:

  • Growing your consulting practice
  • Marketing 101
  • Building your website, writing blogs and recording podcasts

Instructors: Tony Howard, Kelly Surtees and Carol Ferris
Required Text: The Professional Astrologer: Building a Successful Astrology Practice by The Organization for Professional Astrology (OPA)

Includes: 6+ hours of instruction, four recorded Q&A sessions, homework and reading assignments.

Next Live Dates: May 4 at 1pm, May 11 at 9am, May 18 at noon, and May 25 at 2pm (all times Pacific time)
$295 (audit) / $350 (with feedback*)

Pre-recorded and available for instant access. You may register and start this course and get started today or wait for the live Q&As during the above dates. You will have access to a discussion area to ask questions as you move through the course. 

*Feedback option includes feedback on homework and an exam review. Audit students receive the same study materials and videos but do not receive personal feedback on their work.

Course 9: Final Projects

Students will work on their final project and will spend time in the group presenting sample chart analysis and receive feedback. Final projects can include: research on a specific chart signature, research on a specific chart for a known figure with a biography or autobiography, or research with a person in real time exploring focused areas of the chart.

Students will discuss their final project and receive feedback from Tony.

Instructor: Tony Howard
Required Texts: The source material of your choice to accompany the chart you choose. 

Date: June 2024
$350 (certification-track only)

Registration open only to students who have completed all previous courses.

2024 Retreat and Graduation Celebration in Boulder, CO

Join us for celebration of your achievement! Join students from all years for the annual summer retreat. On the last day, you’ll share highlights from your experience and we will close with a heartfelt graduation ceremony. 

Before the retreat, you have the option to join Tony on July 20, for a day in nature for a hike at the stunning Brainard Lake Park in the mountains just west of Boulder. We will include time for setting intentions for your astrology practice and supporting each other.

Register Now!

GRADUATE STUDY ELECTIVES

These courses are offered following the four-year program for students wishing to continue and deepen their studies. 

Elective: Astrological Research Methods

Instructor: Tony Howard
Learn about the important statistical research contributions to the astrological community by the Gauquelins. We’ll review their core findings and contemplate how they might impact our chart interpretation. We’ll discuss the difference between non-statistical astrological research for creative exploration and statistical astrological research like that undertaken by the Gauquelins. You’ll learn how to approach astrological research for chart exploration, writing blog posts and books and teaching. 

Required Texts: Tables of Planetary Phenomena by Neil Michelsen and Cosmic Influences on Human Behavior: the Planetary Factors in Personality by Michel Gauquelin

Dates: t.b.d.

Elective: Astrologies of the Early 20th Century – Origins of Modern Psychological Astrology

Instructors: Tony Howard and Christopher Renstrom
Learn how astrologers in the early 20th century made innovations in the field. Includes an introductory look at the work of CEO Carter, Max Heindel, Marc Edmund Jones, and Dane Rudhyar.

Required Texts: The Principles of Astrology by Charles Carter, Person Centered Astrology by Dane Rudhyar, Messages of the Stars by Max Heindel, Essentials of Astrological Analysis by Marc Edmund Jones

Dates: t.b.d.

Elective: Philosophy, Fate and Free Will

Instructors: Demetra George, Brian Clark, and Jessica Murray
Listen to master astrologers engage in the timeless discussion of fate and free will as it applies to astrological practice. 

Required Text: The Astrology of Fate by Liz Greene

Dates: t.b.d.

Elective: Intro to Medieval Astrology

Instructor: Lee Lehman
An introduction to medieval astrology through the work of William Lilly. Includes extensive teaching on temperament.

Required Text: Christian Astrology by William Lilly

Dates: t.b.d.
$295 (audit) / $350 (certification-track*)
*Certification track includes feedback on homework and exam.

Elective: Ancient Timing Techniques

Instructors: Demetra George and Kelly Surtees
In this 4-part series, Demetra and Kelly introduce you to timing techniques used by ancient astrologers including time lords, annual profections, and firdaria. 

Required Text: None (this course includes 4 video lessons)

Dates: t.b.d.

Elective: Mundane Astrology

Instructor: Karen Hamaker-Zondag
Learn how to use astrology to get deeper insight into world events and the charts of countries.

Required Texts: Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas; Tables of Planetary Phenomena by Neil Michelsen

Dates: t.b.d. (after year four)

Elective: Location Astrology

Instructor: Brian Clark and special guests.
Learn the core techniques of locational astrology including Astro*Carto*Graphy, local space and relocating the birth chart. We’ll explore how our location impacts our experience of our birth chart through several chart examples. 

Required Texts: The Psychology of Astro*Carto*Graphy by Jim Lewis and Kenneth Irving

Dates: t.b.d. (after year four)

Elective: Integrating Ancient Techniques into Modern Practice

Instructor: Kelly Surtees
Learn how to integrate ancient techniques into modern practice. Kelly will include discussions on sect, planetary condition, traditional rulerships and more.

Required Text: Ancient Astrology in Theory and Practice by Demetra George

Dates: t.b.d.

ABOUT COURSE ENROLLMENT

Our program courses are offered a la carte and also in 9-course bundles. You can choose to join the current courses live, or enroll after the live presentation and complete the course on your own time. Online discussion areas are monitored regularly whether the course is live or pre-recorded, so all certification students will get direct feedback and response to questions

DANE RUDHYAR

“To live one’s life in terms of the revelatory message symbolically implied in one’s birth chart is to live a life in terms of the sacred character of existence.

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