Conference on Traditional Astrology in September

The American Federation of Astrologers is hosting a conference from September 22-24 titled Traditional Astrology in the 21st Century, In Honor of James H. Holden.  The main presenters at the conference are Benjamin Dykes, Demetra George and myself, Chris Brennan.

The purpose of the conference is to give an overview of “traditional” pre-20th century forms of astrology.  This will include coverage of the Babylonian, Hellenistic, Medieval and Renaissance traditions. The first day of the conference will cover basic concepts, while the second day of the conference deals with more advanced timing techniques.  A full schedule for the conference is available on the AFA’s website.

James Holden wrote a notable book on the history of western astrology titled A History of Horoscopic Astrology, and he has also published a number of important translations of ancient astrological texts from Greek and Latin.  We are holding the conference in order to honor his contributions to the field, and he will be giving a keynote lecture on the night of the 22nd.

Demetra, Ben and I have been working together on various projects for a few years now, and we are looking forward to the opportunity to  bring traditional astrology more into the mainstream with this conference.  In order to accomplish this we set out some goals for what we would like people to achieve by attending the conference:

• Become familiar with basic terminology and concepts in traditional astrology.
• Gain confidence in using traditional techniques: make more accurate natal interpretations and predictions.
• Be able to read and study more advanced material.
• Understand our heritage, and the reasons for many techniques and ideas used today.
• Learn ancient wisdom teachings for a modern context.

Earlier this month we recorded a podcast on Traditional Astrology Radio in which we discussed some of our broader plans and hopes for the conference.  You can listen to the interview on the WTAR page on BlogTalkRadio.

One of the things that I’m very happy about is that the conference is pretty affordable, especially compared to most conferences.  It only costs $150 to attend if you register before August 1st, and after that it is still only $200.  I’m also helping to organize a room share program through a page on Facebook for people who would like to split the cost of a hotel room by having a roommate.

This has the potential to be a historic event, and we have a pretty fantastic election picked out for the inception of the conference:

For more information about the conference or in order to register please see this page on the AFA’s website.

I hope to see you there!

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Update:  The conference was a huge success!   The audio recording of the lectures from the conference is now available for sale, and you can purchase it on my website:   Traditional Astrology in the 21st Century conference recording