Q & A for Speaker Jason Holley

What brought you to astrology?

I think I mentioned the last time I came to WSAA that I was born into it, especially through my maternal grandmother and a line of five generations of mothers and grandmothers involved in psychism and astrology, all of whom I knew as a child (pregnancies start early where I’m from!).  An additional detail I would add is that my first astrology texts, both at around age 12-13, were on the one hand Linda Goodman, Sun Signs, and on the other hand Dane Rudhyar, The Astrology of Personality.  I feel my astrology still reflects both a desire to directly address in a relatable way everyday human concerns and experiences, as I feel Linda Goodman did; as well as to connect and understand these relative to the evolution of consciousness in the cosmos, as I feel Dane Rudhyar did.

Why do you practice astrology? What makes it juicy for you?

Astrology connects me to all of life, or better reminds me of that connection.  It brings me joy.  It reminds me over and over that the separate self is just one mode of perception, that consciousness is wider and vaster and always mysterious.  It also helps me experience myself as a Night creature, not just of the Day.

What is your specialty, or focus?

I am a psychological astrologer informed by mythopoetic, evolutionary, and humanistic approaches to astrology.

Is there a planet, sign, or aspect you’ve been exploring lately that represents an archetype or energy that feels important to you right now?

Taurus has been on my mind for the past few months and I hadn’t realized until thinking about these talks that it is really my inner warm-up for Uranus in Taurus.  I think there’s a lot of opportunity in it.

I’ve also been exploring a lot on Lunar and Solar self-states, relative to what we call in psychoanalytic terms ‘character structure’ or ‘personality organization’.  I don’t mean just “what’s your personality type?” but rather complex, interesting descriptions of the psychodynamics of how people put themselves together to accommodate deep inner processes and outer realities and opportunities.  I’m also exploring how the old concept of sect, not especially psychological in its original formulations, might be usefully psychologized in relation to this.

What is your picture of astrology in the future?

Playful, open, imaginative – not too defined, embracing of its twilight qualities.  Remembering that anything too systematic and theory-heavy is too much Day and anything too amorphous and all-over is too much Night.  The old ruler of astrology is Mercury, and you can only ever seem him at twilight.  Twilight is in between…

Are there any additional comments you would like to make about your lecture and workshop?

I’m very happy to be invited back!  There is such a deep listening that I experience when presenting and facilitating in Seattle – I feel that reception, and my anticipation of it, deepens whatever I am offering, evolves it even as I am preparing in advance.  It’s one of those experiences where it’s very obvious that although I may be the one speaking, we are all co-creating, dreaming and redreaming, the experience.

If you discovered a new planet, or asteroid, what would you name it and why?

I’ll go with Pasithea this time, who was often called the goddess of hallucination and relaxation – hallucination being to my mind a kind of “between” state where ordinary perception is relaxed so that additional ranges of perception can be experienced.