image: Delphi. Wikimedia commons (link).
How would you like to attend a symposium-style class at a college or university discussing ancient myths, their connections to the heavenly cycles, and the profound truths that they can convey for our lives today?
I've been working very hard to come up with ways to provide that kind of experience, and am excited to announce a concept I call the New Academy of Celestial Mythology and Ancient Wisdom, which will offer just that sort of experience, in a live online environment.
Based on a kind suggestion sent to me from a friend through email some years ago, I have tried to organize the Star Myths of the World series of books in such a way that helps readers learn how to approach the world's ancient myths for themselves and perceive the clues that point to the celestial code, rather than simply laying out the connections that I myself perceive.
In other words, the goal is to try to teach others how to begin to understand the language of the myths for themselves, rather than simply providing "my translation" of what I believe the myths are saying, without helping others to learn that language.
Now, in addition to the material in the books, videos and blog posts that you can find in the various sections of the Star Myths of the World website, I'm continuing to follow that excellent suggestion by creating a series of live online courses to provide a kind of "college class" experience in which participants can dive into a specific set of myths or sacred stories, see visual demonstrations of the constellations involved, and discuss the possible meaning that the myths are conveying, as well as ask questions for clarification during the process.
Each course will consist of three two-hour classes (totaling six hours for the course), conducted in a group web-based conference call, each one week apart. Each course will be limited to twenty-four participants.
This is not a series of pre-recorded videos -- these courses are live calls, led by me, with diagrams and "chalkboards," designed to help you gain confidence in the connections between the myths and the stars -- and awareness of the ancient teachings associated with those connections.
The cost for one course is seventy-two us dollars ($72 -- aka seventy-two federal reserve notes). That's quite a bit less than the cost for a single hair appointment to get highlights in California (not that I have ever done that, but I happen to know they typically cost a lot more than that around here). And each course provides a lot more material than you will typically get in a standard weekend getaway conference with multiple speakers, in which a presentation is usually about an hour, with very limited Q&A (although you do get to hear from multiple speakers, which means more breadth but less depth than these courses offer).
To be clear, I'm not "selling" any ancient wisdom here -- you can access ancient wisdom for no money at all, by going to the myths and scriptures for yourself. You can also learn about the connections between the ancient myths and the stars through the several hundred posts on this blog, as well as the dozens of videos I've made. And you can get a lot more depth through the six books I've written thus far on the connections between the myths and the stars.
However, this new set of courses is an attempt to provide a learning environment that combines live conversation and visual diagrams, similar to the kind of teaching I did when I was an instructor in the Department of English and Philosophy at the US Military Academy at West Point many years ago. Books and videos, unfortunately, can't provide the same experience. Podcasts can come close -- especially podcasts with a video component, of which I have some plans to do soon. But with a podcast, you are relying on the host or hosts to ask the questions you would like to ask, whereas in this new format, you can ask questions yourself.
To learn more, or to reserve your place in one of the upcoming courses, please visit the New Academy of Celestial Mythology and Ancient Wisdom on the Star Myths of the Worldwebsite.
Note that you can always find your way to the "New Academy" page through the "Resources" page on the website, which can be reached via a link found at the very bottom of any page in the site.
I believe that this format will provide an ideal way to help others to become more familiar with the language of celestial metaphor which unites the world's ancient myths, scriptures, and sacred stories around the globe.
I hope that you will be able to join me in one of the upcoming courses!