The Language of Human Nature
The Astro Track is where we’ll be learning this symbolic structure of how people work.
All Practitioner Track students will be automatically part of the Astro Track learning.
You can also take the Astro Track by itself, for your own study and insight.
Astro Intensive is full but Astro Auditorium is not limited so please come on in if you’re interested!
Astro Intensive
Astro Intensive is the learning path that involves PRACTICE.
Each month, you’ll get one spot in one of the Astro Track Practice calls that will give you 15-20 minutes of 1:1 conversation with me during the group call, so we can practice together and I can help you with wherever the material is being sticky.
This is really how the work begins to make sense – and it’s the biggest benefit to doing the Intensive.
Individual astrological elements always sound good on paper, and make sense by themselves.
Putting them together in a real chart, connected to a real, messy, paradoxical person – THAT is where most astrological students fall apart and give up on the art.
Our year of practice together will give you a very different experience – I want this art to come alive for you!
Astro Auditorium
Astro Auditorium gives the widest range of people access to this material.
You don’t get that 1:1 practice time, so it’s less demanding of you, both financially and in terms of the work.
You get all the same material, and you get to listen in on the practice calls – but you have to figure out how to put the material into practice yourself.
That allows you to do it in your own time, on your own pacing, when it works for you.
You’ll be part of the experience – live on the practice calls if you wish, listening to the recordings if not, and part of the Facebook group.
You just won’t be able to ask your own questions, so the learning will be through listening to the discussions I have with the Intensive students, whether that’s on the calls or in the group.
There’s still a LOT of learning to be done there, and I hope you’ll join us for it!
A Foundation in Jungian Depth Psychology
It’s important for my students to understand that my astrological work is deeply rooted in the depth psychology first evolved by C.G. Jung.
While his work had flaws and issues, as everyone’s does, there’s no arguing with how shatteringly brilliant it was.
I fully support thoughtful critiques of Jung’s work in ways that reflect all we’ve learned in the ensuing 50-100 years.
But the solid basics of understanding the collective unconscious, the individual psyche, and how they interact are how my teaching is structured.
It might be easy to say, “But that’s psychology, not astrology! I want to learn astrology!”
My answer is this – if you’re learning astrology to apply to people, then you’re working with psychology, whether you admit it or not.
If you don’t admit it, you’re simply liable to do enormously more damage because you’re operating with a large number of unexamined assumptions and incorrect ideas about how people work.
If you want to use astrology to diagnose medical issues, time the stock market, evaluate the rise and fall of nations, or many other applications – then you don’t need to know anything about individual people.
But that’s the reason most people are interested in learning this art, and if you do that with me, we’ll keep the psychological truth at the center of our work.
What We Will Cover
Here is the outline of topics throughout the year:
MON | CALL | TOPIC |
Mar | 1 | Complexity & Paradox (Welcome Call Mar 2) |
Mar | 1.5 | A Quick Sketch of the System (AT Intro Mar 16) |
Apr | 2 | Archetypes – What They Are, How We Find Them |
May | 3 | Who Likes Who – Sun/Moon/Mercury |
Jun | 4 | Venus-Mars-Jupiter-Saturn |
Jul | 5 | Chiron-Uranus-Neptune-Pluto |
Aug | 6 | Elements & Modes |
Sep | 7 | Signs & Seasons (Singletons & Voids) |
Oct | 8 | Houses & Aspects |
Nov | 9 | It’s All About Themes |
Dec | 10 | Lunar Nodes & Phases |
Jan | 11 | Archetypes – More Practice |
Feb | 12 | Weighting and Interpretation Factors – More On Themes |
Mar | 13 | Wrap Up |
Priorities of Study
My approach to archetypal astrology is based on a relatively simple structure, technically speaking.
I have found over a decade of practice that more information is NOT better for this work.
While there are many, many astrological techniques that reveal valid information about the client, I have found that I often do not even get to the entire core chart unless I am working with someone over a period of months.
It’s enormously more important to me to establish a simple but clearly actionable insight than to simply have a pile of interesting but not especially useful information.
So the work we’ll do over the year will be focused much more on solid basics, and then integrating those basics into the archetypal perspective.
Archetypes
Put simply, archetypes are “clusters” of qualities in human nature that form a recognizable “personality.”
They are not a complete person – they are facets of the broad spectrum we find in humanity.
There are distinct combinations of astrological factors that “resonate” in similar ways, and when multiple similar factors are present, a given archetype gains strength in an individual person’s makeup.
We all have several different archetypes in us, but at varying levels of strength or intensity.
The chart is an incredible map of this archetypal landscape – it’s only a map, of course, and not the territory.
But it’s extremely useful as a starting place for understanding people, and that’s what we’ll be learning over the year.
Paradox
Where most astrological work fails, from what I’ve seen, is its inability to grapple with paradox.
The dictionary defines paradox as: “Two things that cannot possibly both be true, and yet they are.”
If we change “both” to “several” we have a clear description of human nature.
But this “apparent impossibility” is confusing, frustrating, and even frightening to most of us when we encounter it in ourselves or others.
This is partly because we live in a world with increasingly less ability to understand, or even tolerate, nuance and complexity, so we’ve never been taught how to embrace the variability of being human.
But for this work, it’s central – it’s what we’ll come back to over and over.
ALL of what we see in the chart is true – although it’s not all equally consciously present in the person, which we will also study!
Integration
Even with the centrality of paradox, we can’t lose our awareness that this is one whole person in front of us.
(Including if that person is us!)
All those complexities, those apparent contradictions, are present in this one person.
We have to cultivate our integration skills – the ability to recognize and honor those paradoxes, while weaving them together as part of the tapestry of this one being.
That’s the thing I find most people working with charts don’t do well, if at all.
That will be the most important thing we do.
So there is less focus on lots of elaborate astrological technique, and more focus on solid integration of the (already plenty) information we have from the basic techniques.
The Structure of the Year
Course Starts March 2, 2023 And Runs Through March 28, 2024
Astro Track Teaching Videos Released On 1st Of Month Astro Track Practice Calls On 3rd And 4th Thursdays Practice Calls At 11am And 5:30pm Pacific
Calls
Pre-Recorded Astro Teaching video will be released on the 1st of the month – watch anytime in the first two weeks
Astro Practice will be live on the third and fourth Thursdays of the month (only one req’d for Intensive students, but all are welcome on any of the calls)
All calls are recorded; all teaching calls are transcribed
Community
Our community space will be a Facebook group – I know this is not ideal in many ways but there isn’t a better option, sadly.
I will be teaching, commenting, and engaging very actively in the groups on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
You’re not absolutely required to be in the Facebook groups – but it’s going to be a very, very important part of our learning together.
The groups will be monitored by my right-hand person on Monday, Wednesday and Friday so any issues will be promptly attended to.
Work Structure
There are no texts to read, and not much “homework“ – most of our work will be practicing during our times together.
However, the more you work with different charts weekly to practice the material we’ve learned, the deeper and faster your skill will grow.
Likewise, I encourage anyone who wants to attend the other Astro Track Practice calls to do so – listening to the other 1:1 discussions is a tremendous learning opportunity!
Important Things To Know Before You Sign Up
This is not a course to buy and forget about.
I understand; I’ve done it too. But I am training people who will be USING the art here, and I’m only interested in people who want to ENGAGE.
The full price of the course is due whether you complete the training or not.
I’m offering monthly payments to make it easier for people – but you need to think of it as if you paid up front.
I cannot bring someone into your seat mid-year – the training is too sequential for that. If you claim a place, it’s yours and you have made the commitment to complete the payments, whether you complete the course or not. (Please see the top point!)
I expect you to bring your best self to this year together, and I will bring mine.
I will encourage you as hard as I will push you – anyone who knows me knows that encouragement is one of my best skills and one of my favorite experiences.
Of course you’re human – so am I – and this isn’t about perfection. It’s about knowing what you’re really, actually capable of, and being willing to reach for that. I can see it in you, and I will encourage you towards it all the way.
I’ll be giving you everything I have in this experience, and I need you to bring your deepest, fullest, most committed heart and soul to it in turn.
If You Have Questions, Let's Talk
You can email me at karen@karenhawkwood.com with any questions you have, and if it’s better for you, we can hop on a quick call.
I’m not interested in selling you on this – we both need to make sure our questions are answered so we know this will work mutually.
If you're ready to grab a spot for Astro Auditorium, please click to start your monthly payments of $50 per mo for 12 months.
Please remember – I’m offering the payment plan to make this easier and more financially sound for my people. It’s not permission to change your mind – you owe the full amount once you commit to the program. Please be aware of this before you sign up.