I get back from Manchester Saturday evening, and find I’m quite tired. I’ve got class in the morning, so it’s early to bed.
Sunday’s class is with John Green. I studied with him years ago, when he and Margaret Gray brought the CPA’s beginner course to the US. It’s great to see him again, and he gives us a great class. It’s all about the Sun and Mercury in the birthchart. We talk in terms of Joseph Campbell’s ideas of the Hero’s Journey, that archetypal quest we’re all on to fulfill our own destiny. We speak of both the Sun and Mercury taking the part of the Fool and the part of the Hero, and how we all learn as we go.
John’s class is really fun. He’s technologically adept, so he has bits and pieces of songs and videos to share, as well as charts and pictures of famous people. We do get a bit technical again, when we talk about retrograde Mercury, and what it might mean to have Mercury retrograde when you’re born. I won’t go into the details now, but anyone who wants to get into Promethean and Epimethean retrograde and direct Mercury placements can talk to me about it. I guess it comes mostly from Dane Rudhyar’s work, and John explains it in a way that mostly makes sense. After struggling with Lynn Bell’s class on retrograde planets last week, this class is easier to follow and more fun.
At lunch I hang out with people from class and have a great time talking about the differences between British and American cultures, as well as astrological topics, and our concerns over what’s going to happen with the CPA. I feel a bit more like I belong here now, a bit more connected with the others. This is good.
Some folks are going to a pub after class, but I feel a bit worn down, and have a Skype session planned, so I head home. I think I’ll keep next Sunday evening free, though, in case they go again and invite me.
On Monday I go to Harrod’s department store before class. I’ll do a whole posting on that, because I took some great photos and had a blast. I have to leave after a few hours so I can get to class on time. This is the first time I’ve done anything before the Monday afternoon class, but I’ve figured out how to take the trains from where I am to where I’m going.
Our group supervision class is great, as usual. I have to say, I really love this part of the training. I feel tired when I first get there today, though. It’s still warm out, and I’ve been traveling and have put in a good week of sightseeing beforehand, so I’m a bit worn down. My concentration feels low, and I realize that other people are already studying the chart that’s been passed around while I’m in a daze. But as soon as we start hearing about the client, the story brings me into focus and the next four hours zoom by.
I’ve been working hard on not being too overbearing and intense in both these sessions and in the lectures. I’ve always had a problem with wanting to say something at every opportunity, to participate to the maximum. Often during the lectures the teachers will ask the class a question or for a response, and I try to hold back for a bit, even if I want to answer immediately. This is new for me, to not just blurt out what I think is important. I want to give others a chance, and I want to take part without being obnoxious. I’m doing fairly well. I still have a NYC conversational style: I’ll just pipe up with a comment or interrupt with a question, but I try to do it less often and when I think it’s appropriate. Especially here in the UK, where people seem a bit more reserved and not so prone to jumping in with their own two cents, I feel it more polite to tone myself down a bit. It’s hard, especially when I’m enthused, or in the midst of heavy thinking about stuff, but I really am doing better.
We even talked a bit about how Americans and Britons differ in that, because the client was American and had moved from London to a small, rural town. We speculated that she might have felt the cultural differences there more than in the city. Juliet, our teacher, said that it’s common in the countryside in groups like the school PTA for gossip to take the form of “…oh, and did you hear that the principal was asked to…yes, it was the American mother who brought that up, don’t you know…” The whole issue of speaking one’s mind and when to do it was a topic of our class, and it fit right in with my own internal goals and assessments. Lovely synchronicity, that.
All in all, I’m extremely grateful for this opportunity to study, to work on myself, and to be around other astrologers. It’s a joy that it’s all happening in London, too, because I’m really falling in love with this city.
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