Astrological Association Conference 2003

by Laura Boomer Trent

Before officially opening the 2003 conference at York University, some bright spark had the idea to wait for half an hour, so to arrive at a more amenable chart, until the Moon went into Libra. It was a smart move; despite the retrograde Mercury and York’s bus-strike, it was on the whole a super-smooth and comfortable conference, making it easy to forge new relationships at the same time as connecting with old friends.

Being surrounded by the campus’ waterways also seemed rather fitting for astrologers navigating the ingress of Uranus in Pisces, now in mutual reception with Neptune in Aquarius. Derby Costello’s splendid Carter Memorial Lecture certainly helped to understand the tides of change as we begin to swim through the sea of uncertainty, with compassion and insight as our cosmic tools and astrological aids. In fact, through the various discussion panels and lectures, if there is one thing this conference presented is a map we can all effectively use that will help us get the most out of this rather interesting time and what lies ahead (as well as learning how to forgive Geoffrey Dean!).

What was really lovely, though, was the large exhibition centre, which became a meeting place for ideas and inspiration. From the windows of the exhibition centre we could see a high water fountain, which, when kissed by the late summer sunlight, created a large rainbow that added a special charm: this magic was brought home to me by Lars Otto Widding, in his excellent talk on ‘The Astrologer and The Shaman’. Lars noted how the rainbow is a bridge between the heavenly upper world and the middle world of human intellect: As the standard and range of talks and presentations was high this year, it was useful to see a symbolic bridge, helping us to assimilate our celestial studies.

Of the three days I attended, among my personal highlights were Chester Kemp’s ‘Random Thoughts…’ Chester, who, after 35 years of running the AA bookshop and is now retiring, knows practically everyone (and probably everything) in the astrological world, gave a thoroughly enjoyable romp through the AA conference’s history, reminding us of star astrological teachers, both past and present, and of his thirty-five years of services rendered. Well done, Chester!

The truly gifted Rick Levine’s umpteen lifetimes of stargazing has prompted many of us to add new aspects to our chart readings. Rick’s talk was one of those that reminded us of the beauty of astrology, and why we love our art/science, and how wonderful it is that we can keep on expanding our knowledge ad infintum.

And, quite apart from the Mars/Uranus opposition Jupiter, which was very symbolic for Christeen Skinner’s computer crash, Christeen still gave a remarkable talk on ‘Business Astrology’ encouraging us, as astrologers, to look at new, thought-provoking, and well paid ways of making money in this new century. Another dynamic speaker, Gloria Star, with her inimitable energy and action packed approach to astrology, provided more motivating support as we collectively begin to work and play in (and with) the exciting times that lie ahead.

(Right: Rick Levine)

There were many more speakers and session I could point out (not to mention the yoga group in boat-position, or radical feet that hit the dance floor when Electric Fish played at the weekend’s dinner-dance – how’s that for Uranus in Pisces!). But suffice to say that each person on the faculty shared their knowledge with a generous heart. One of the main features of this conference, however, was how astrology, quietly celebrating, has now returned to academia, with the MA course at Bath Spa University in ‘Cultural Astronomy and Astrology’, which I, along with many others I’m sure, would love to do. And all in good time, as they say! So, as usual with an AA conference, I left knowing there is much to learn and many more talks to listen to, and so I now have now added several more Sagicassettes to my collection. Thanks everyone!

(Left: Electric Fish with Sarah Dunkley and Glenda Cole dancing in the background)

(Right: Claire Chandler, Rick Levine, Glenda Cole and Kim Farnell)

(Left: Mick O'Neil and Glenda Cole)

(Right: Alice Ekrek, Patrick Casey and Sally Gray - working on the registration desk)

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