The 51st Annual Conference of the Astrological Association
Transforming Lead Into Gold: Working With The Challenges Of The Times

2019 Conference Programme

Friday 14th June - Sunday 16th June 2019 Book online here

Friday Workshops


Ancient Timing Techniques: Annual Profections - Chris Brennan Annual profections are a timing system to determine when certain planets will be activated in a birth chart. Not all planets are activated at all times - the natal potential of a planet lies dormant until it is awakened as a time-lord, at which point the full potential becomes unleashed. This workshop will include a method that can be used to determine how specific topics will play out in each year of the native's life.

You and Your House System - Dr Bernadette Brady Some people are spatial, good with design, buildings or aesthetics, while other people are good with time. The great performer is different to the great administrator or organiser! By changing the house system of division, you can gain an insight into how a person deals with temporal, spatial or divine issues. This is a hands-on workshop, so bring along your chart in different house systems.

The Gates of your Destiny: Eclipses and Planets Aspecting the Nodal Axis - Maurice Fernandez We all know how powerful it is when the Sun and Moon align to conjunct the nodal axis. But is it the same for other planets on the Nodes? At the time of this workshop, transiting Pluto and Saturn are conjunct the South Node in Capricorn, opposing Mars on the North Node in Cancer. We will explore how these powerful alignments can intensify our own development in the natal chart or by transit and potentially change the course of our destiny


Timing Peaks and Transitions in Your Career and Life Direction - Chris Brennan In this workshop attendees will learn how to use the time-lord technique known as zodiacal releasing to time peak periods and transitions in a person's career and life direction. Attendees will learn how to apply the technique to their own chart in order to divide their life into chapters and subsections, and then identify high points and low points in their career, as well as periods when changes in life direction are more likely.

Chiron in Aries: What Kind of Warrior? - Melanie Reinhart Chiron's transit through Aries (2018-2027) is the longest of all the signs, and it reaches aphelion in 2021. During the first part we shall examine Chiron's meaning and symbolism in this Mars-ruled sign of Aries; the second part will consist of personal work and a guided imagery which we will process together. Bring your own horoscope (sharing it with the group is optional).

Applying the Philosophy of the Astrological Quadrants in Theory and Practice - Alexander von Schlieffen The origin of the theory of the astrological quadrants is based on Aristoteles' writings on the four causes (causa materialis, causa efficiens, causa formalis and causa finalis). Once we understand the inner dynamics of Aristoteles' thoughts, we can easily apply them to any birth chart. This will allow us to get a very quick overview and dive into the core of the interpretation. And it is a lot of fun, too.

Friday evening


For University of Wales Trinity Saint David: Garry Phillipson - Intuition in Astrology

Astrologers often cite intuition as essential in reading a chart, but the term is usually left vague. This talk will consider three different forms that intuition may take, and look at the implications of each for astrological practice. A discussion of the paranormal will be part of this.

The Carter Memorial Lecture: Sue Farebrother - Cosmic Jokerman

Are we all subject to a cosmic joke? How is it that the systems and methods of astrology fit with our experiences? How is it that we are born, a little innocent creature, at a specific date, time and worldly place and we are immediately blessed with not only a birth chart that will encapsulate our character, but a lifetime of transits, progressions and directions every year for the whole of our lives to come? This lecture may raise more questions than it answers!


PLENARY: Dr Bernadette Brady - The Stars and the Descent of the Soul: Your Star-stuff and Your Soul-stuff

The stars are a part of the fabric of our personal cosmic union. In the fourth century B.C.E., Plato linked the human soul to the stars and spoke of its descent to earth. By returning to Plato's poetic ideas we can apply this to contemporary charts, which gives a surprising insight into the person that exists before their horoscope. Bernadette will also provide a URL to enable you to find your own star/soul stuff.

Jessica Adams - Change Your House System, Change Your Life Different house systems change Saturn's role in your life. In this live Solar Fire demonstration, Jessica will flip Saturn around in the 'chart of the moment' using over 30 house systems in a real-time experiment that might just shift your reality.

Christos Archos - Towards a Social Constructive Astrology Sometimes books and counsellors carry the social construction of their culture. Working towards multicultural societies, how we can change our interpretation of astrological phenomena so that we can be more useful and constructive in the future? And how can we overcome our socially-constructed inhibitions?

Jadranka Ćoić - Transforming War into Peace: Working with the Challenges of the Times It is a hundred years since the Treaty of Versailles was signed. The three most important politicians present were David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson. Did it transform the world into better place?

Tania Daniels - An Astrological Manifest: Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper Precise information on quadruplicities, triplicities, the elements, the zodiac, physiognomy and the Fibonacci frequencies - visible only to the initiated - are all built into this magnificent opera and finally lead to the discovery of celestial music.

For the QHP: Petros Eleftheriadis - Horary Astrology without Significators and without Questions Horary practitioners often spend too much time trying to find the correct significators for every question and forget to do the basics, which in many cases provide you with the answer. These basics are so important that sometimes you can give a YES or a NO answer without even knowing what the question is.

Sue Fletcher - Transform with Black Moon Lilith How can the energy of the four Liliths transform society? Lilith is connected to justice, equal rights and challenging the status quo, which we need at this time in history. Sue will share the mythology of Lilith and how it is expressed in famous charts.

For the Lodge: Adam Fronteras - WannaCry, the Love Bug and other Computer Maladies: Using Astrology to Diagnose Computer Meltdown If astrology works on some sort of method of altering the brain's electronic impulses, or on an 'as above so below' clockwork synchronicity, then an astrological approach may well help us to diagnose why Siri is refusing to wake up, Alexa is feeling blue or your laptop refuses to dance.

Smiljana Gavrančić - Soul Connection Whenever there is the combination of natal and Draconic charts of two people, they certainly know each other from previous lives. It's important to see the main channel through which the relationship is manifested. That is usually represented by 1-2 aspects, which give or take away the energy in the relationship.

Margaret Gray and Dr Armand Diaz - An Astrological History of Sexuality Using the outer planets as a guide to generational ideals and assumptions, we'll follow the transformation of attitudes about sexuality in the West since the discovery of Uranus, with an emphasis on astrological generations of the past 50 years. We'll also look at how current and upcoming transits can support us in creating a more inclusive and life-enhancing experience of sexuality for everyone.

Sonia Giudici - Pluto-Moon Lead into Gold: Political Secrets from Zolà to Wikileaks Pluto-Moon urges us to keep secrets but helps in investigating mysteries, too. The Dreyfus Affair, Watergate, Wikileaks: the truth-seekers involved had a Pluto-Moon aspect, as did those who kept secrets to protect their personal power. What differences and similarities are present in their charts?

Dr Darrelyn Gunzburg - Hope and Fear: Inside the Consulting Room What are the expectations of a client and how do we, as astrologers, handle them? Whether your client is a paying customer or a friend, what do they bring to the chart reading? Have clients' questions changed over time or are there core questions that never change?

For the COA: Maggie Hyde - It Must Mean Something Maggie will use the horoscope to understand unbidden omens and 'things suddenly happening'.

For the LSA: Stefanie James - Transformers: Robots in Disguise From 1979 to 1997 a rare planetary event occurred which propelled the evolution of mankind into hyper-speed. In this talk, Stefanie will look at the unique gifts that the Uranus-Neptune conjunction of 1993 bestowed upon the world and consider the potential impact of the 2020 Saturn-Pluto conjunction.

R. Hakan Kirkoğlu - Notorious War Cycle: Saturn-Pluto and Current Planetary Alignments of 2020 and Beyond The Saturn-Pluto cycle will be renewed in the early days of 2020 and heavy clashes in political and economic structures will be on the agenda. What are the crucial dimensions of this notorious conjunction ahead of the new Jupiter-Saturn cycle? Hakan will focus his attention on different dynamics of transmutation and restructuring that resonates with this potent combination.

For the STA: Dr Lee Lehman - The Impact of the Jupiter-Saturn Mutations on the Generations that Experience It Almost every change in the element in which the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction occurs is followed by at least one conjunction in the prior element. In this talk Lee examines the consequences of our emergence from the earth element to the air element in 2020, and what changes this will produce.

Rick Levine - Outer Planet Transits in Action: Cycles within Cycles We often isolate individual transits to predict upcoming events. However, we can shift a client's perspective by focusing on the repetitive nature of transits. Observing past events when a natal planet was previously aspected empowers people to connect events over time into a meaningful narrative that fosters growth and transformation.

Claire Manion - Inanna and Ereshkigal: Descending into the Great Below Inanna, Queen of the Heavens willingly enters the domain of her dark sister Ereshkigal. She returns reborn; wiser and transformed. This myth is a vivid guide to answering the call to engage deeply with our darker elements and reach the power within.

Grazia Mirti - The Effect of Uranus in Taurus at the End of the First Year of its Transit Some special events have already happened that explain the nature of Uranus and Taurus! What will happen from now on?

Laura Nalbandian - The Moon: Emotional Needs and Coping Skills Every person has developed a way of dealing with emotional stress. These 'coping skills' have been ingrained over lifetimes, then re-stimulated in the early childhood. They 'get us through' life, but they do not bring true emotional security. Learn how to create this in your life and to help others.

Nick Oakley-Smith - The Chart as the Interference Pattern that is Creating our Hologram Quantum physicists have suggested that the world is a hologram and biologists have said that our DNA is not the activist but a blueprint being triggered by the environment. What if our astrological chart is not 2D but rather 3D, operating like an interference pattern and a DNA spiral through time?

Izabela Podlaska - Planet Games in Synastry When we analyse a connection between two people, how do we know if a Moon-Mars aspect brings sexual tension or hate and violence? Are Sun-Venus aspects always good? I will present my new model of planetary connections based on Eric Berne's game theory. Bring your chart and let's find out how it works in your love life!

Melanie Reinhart - Chariklo meets Saturn and Pluto Chariklo, the wife of Chiron, is also the name of a Centaur object discovered in 1997. Currently we find her in Capricorn, conjunct Pluto from 2017-2021, and intimately involved with the forthcoming Saturn-Pluto conjunction. Is Chariklo 'One who turns Lead into Gold'? We explore and contemplate her themes in this light. Ephemerides will be provided.

Greg Szanto - Treasures of Darkness: Discovering Light in a Dark World Extremism and intolerance are increasingly dividing the world today. Instead of facing our fears, we project them onto others. In this talk, Greg will demonstrate how we can heal our fractured society by embracing Saturn to realise the light of the Sun.

Dr Yvonne Smith Tarnas - Jump into the Fire Deep personal transformation is most often driven by the experience of internal conflict, a tension of opposites within us. Our challenging aspects and transits thus describe opportunities for growth and what Jung called 'the transcendent function'. Conscious engagement with our harder dynamics offers us the alchemist's prima materia to create our own gold.

For MISPA: Deborah Thewlis - The Art of Falling Apart: Planets in the 12th House Known as the kakós daimon to the ancients, the 12th house is the place where we are least conscious. Planets here tend to have a mysterious life of their own. Collectively charged and possessed with ancestral ghosts, they can demonstrate great talents which can tragically lead to one's self-undoing.

Sue Tompkins - Towards a Modern Alchemy Saturn still rules lead, Venus still rules copper but sometimes, when getting caught up in the symbolic language of astrology, we lose sight of how literal it is. Sue will illustrate the many ways in which the planetary metals are now used in healing and in the world at large.

Alexander Von Schlieffen - The Saturn Return of the Fall of the Berlin Wall We will take a look at the historical events of 1989-90 and connect them to the bigger astrological cycles. What do they mean for the present developments in central Europe?

John Wadsworth - The Alchemical Journey of Your Zodiac Soul: Twelve Gateways to Wholeness. Part One: Aries to Virgo John will present the zodiac as a complete, alchemical emblem of the soul, offering twelve transformational gateways of initiation in the ever-turning wheel of life. It is a practical, developmental journey - diving deep into the wheel's mytho-seasonal origins, to reclaim the power and integrity of the zodiac's twelve archetypal images.

John Wadsworth - The Alchemical Journey of Your Zodiac Soul: Twelve Gateways to Wholeness. Part Two: Libra to Scorpio See above.

Arlan Wise - The Astrology of Past Life Regression Who is most likely to remember past lives? Who is best suited to lead regressions? Your chart can tell you. After an in-depth analysis of Edgar Cayce's chart, we shall see charts of those who have undergone regressions (and progressions) and how their charts compare with what they remembered. We'll also look at charts of those who cannot be regressed.

Zeynep Özlem Yalçin - Annual Profections and Solar Returns Zeynep evaluates the Solar Return chart within the context of a Hellenistic time lord procedure called annual profections. Not all placements in a birth chart are activated at all times. You will learn to determine which house topic and annual profected time lord becomes activated in the native's life during their solar return, for better or worse.

Saturday Evening Talk with Rick Levine - Cleansing the Doors of Perception The Strange Case of William Blake and Jim Morrison. Born two centuries apart, the charts of the poet who wrote 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell' and the poet who wrote 'Light My Fire' are magically intertwined. What do their diachronic connections reveal about the nature of time and transformation?


PLENARY: Chris Brennan - Uranus-Neptune Conjunctions and the History of Western Astrology

Important turning points in the history of astrology often correlate with conjunctions of Uranus and Neptune every 175 years. During these periods there is usually a transmission of older forms of astrology, which are then synthesized with whatever the prevailing systems are at that time. By understanding how these periods of transmission and synthesis have played out in the past, we can understand what is happening today.

Jessica Adams - Saturn, Jupiter and the Asteroid Ops Saturn had a wife and her name was Ops, the mother of Jupiter. This asteroid, discovered in 1979, is a symbol of optimism and opportunity. Where is your Ops by sign and house? Find out how to use her with Saturn and Jupiter.

Toby Aldren - Accessible Primary Directions Abandoned by many for being much too complicated, Primary Directions make a comeback with this entry level method. Interpret your story in the sky with uncanny timing and fi ne-tune it with Solar Return charts. Stick to the basics, or add some of the suggested options when you're ready.

Rod Chang - This is Not the End of the World Currently we are influenced by Saturn conjunct Pluto. WWI, HIV - historically, events happening during this conjunction are not pleasant. Understanding the meaning of Saturn-Pluto cycles from what has happened before, we may be able to use its energy in the right way this time.

For Jean Elliott - Starting Forecasting? Jean will explain what transits, Secondary Progressions and Solar Arcs are based on; which are the important ones, and how we can combine them in a forecast without becoming lost in a maze.

Franziska Engel - The People's Republic of China and its Relations to the World China has become a powerful global player - politically as well as economically. I will analyze its relations to important nations and regions in the world. Do the 'Thirty-Six Stratagems', which are part of the Chinese culture, play an important role?

Maurice Fernandez - The 12th House and Vocational Development There is more to the 12th house than prisons, alcoholism, or self-undoing. As a natural polarity to the 6th house of work, the 12th is related to our professional direction and development. Following extensive research, Maurice will discuss how to analyze career and work development using this house as one of the important markers in our chart.

Smiljana Gavrančić - The Horoscope of Death Water is the structure in which death, birth and conception happen - the end and the beginning of life. So, the end of one's life is very much connected to the beginning of another life, and the horoscope of death describes the general atmosphere in which one leaves this and enters another life.

Dr Darrelyn Gunzburg - Venus: Her Changing Narrative Abstract: Venus, standing proud in a chariot pulled by white geese, is just one medieval view of this planet. From lover to whore, from military companion to the Western daughter of Ishtar, Venus has been sensitive to culture and thus shaped the way we apply this understanding to our astrology.

Prudence Jones - Manilius and Roman Divination Manilius's system of house division is nowadays seen as a puzzling dead end, an anomalous approach to celestial division. But this talk reveals it as an adaptation of earlier Roman divination, transforming a then-obsolescent system into a supportive framework for the new technique of astrology.

R. Hakan Kirkoğlu - Three Stages of Our Lives: Our Youth, Maturity and Before We Die Hellenistic texts mention a rather obscure method of understanding life periods depending on the 3rd, 7th and 40th days after the birthday. These derivative charts correspond to specific conditions of our younger, mature and old-age years. In this talk, we shall explore several life stories to illustrate this fascinating technique.

Miłoslawa Krogulska - Three Important Stages of Life: The Progressed Sun in the Signs When progressed Sun (Secondary or Solar Arc) changes sign, we rapidly step into new stage of life. In next few years, our life goals and interests change. How can we predict what will be most important to us? Focusing on the age a person experiences this change is a crucial factor in prediction.

Rick Levine - Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Uranus But Didn't Know to Ask Uranus is the planet of the impossible, the improbable, and the instantaneous. We know that Uranus brings shock and awe, but why? How are lightning, the nervous system, electricity and awareness tied into this story? And, of course, how do we interpret Uranus natally, by transit and in relationship?

Alejo Lopez - The Millennial Paradox: How Narcissists May Save the World Millennials, marked by the Uranus-Neptune conjunction and the last Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, are coming of age. Astrology may show that accusations of narcissism, egoism and immaturity levelled against them are inaccurate as they may be the ones to create an empathic world.

For the FAS: Deborah Morgan - Lunar Rhythms: Living with the Moon's Phases This introduction to the Moon's monthly cycle explores integrating these into daily life, which develops our natal and forecasting interpretative skills in an experiential and profound manner. Techniques include keeping a Moon diary and attuning to her power as she moves through signs and houses in our birth chart.

Laura Nalbandian - Saturn: From Fear to Mastery Saturn represents our fears and limitations - elements beyond our control. We'll explore how we recreate the past over and over again out of comfort and a fear of the unknown. Then we'll look at how Saturn holds the key to moving from fear and limitation to eventual mastery.

Grazia Mirti - The Seven Beauties: An Astrological Masterpiece by Nizami Ganjavi (1197) The seven beauties are the seven planets; every evening the prince Bahram (Mars) visits one pavilion in his garden and meets a wonderful girl. She tells him the myth of the planet, which is not the classical one .

Victor Olliver - Mystique: The Charts of 'Sphinxes' When theatricality blends with an air of secrecy in a person, we call this 'mystique'. Garbo had it. Bowie, too. Is there a chart signature for this type of glamour? The Great Sphinx of Giza holds clues to a better understanding of nativities dominated by the signs of Leo and Virgo.

Steve Pincus - Midpoint Planet Combinations in Relationships Harmony and stress in relationships are often revealed through midpoint and planet interactions between partners' horoscopes. This approach gives insights often missed by other relationship techniques. In this talk, important midpoints are discussed from a relationship perspective and examples combine transits with Solar Arc directions.

Marcos Patchett - How To Stop the Monkey Driving the Bus (feat. Firmicus Maternus) Does change inspire or frighten you? Are you a starter or a finisher? Your innate reactions to change can be seen from the Moon in the birth chart. Using delineations of the Roman astrologer Firmicus Maternus, you can develop personalised strategies to life's upheavals that optimise long-term outcomes.

Dr Yvonne Smith Tarnas - Synchronicity and Destined Meetings Meetings of chance, love at first sight, and the seemingly random pairing of client and therapist can all carry the sense that deeper purposes are at work. Explore how such synchronistic phenomena are reflected astrologically, and how these meetings carry potential for a greater sense of meaning and, ultimately, healing.

Angela Tiki - Reaching Metamorphosis through Pluto Persephone was fated to share her life between two worlds. After her rapture from Hades she was never the same again. There were fears in the underworld but also treasures . and she was the queen. Where do we uncover this theme in our chart? Transits and other indications will be explained as times to turn lead into gold.

Sue Tompkins - Current Affairs Stories in the newspapers, what's happening in Government, what's on the radio, showing at the cinema or on TV may seem unrelated but astrologically we know they are all part of the same rich tapestry. This talk attempts to make psychological and symbolic sense of the larger landscape we currently find ourselves in.

Dick van der Mark - The Lunar Nodes: A Hidden Timetable for Alchemical Processes The duality of this axis implies two points to investigate and the possibility to change position. There's a particular time for transformation, based upon the Secondary Progressed Moon, indicating the specific meaning of each node and the process of inner change.