Just got back from Rick and Jeff’s annual New Year’s Astrology conference at Breitenbush Hot Springs in the old-growth forests of central Oregon … so far out there, I couldn’t get cell phone or even radio reception!
I’ve been going to Breitenbush since I moved to Oregon from San Francisco in the 1970s … back then it was a hippie commune. Now it is a transformational retreat center with world-renowned speakers from all over — like Rick Levine and Jeff Jawer. (I even gave a weekend seminar there once — “Living from the Inside Out and Manifesting Your Dreams.”) Tarot.com’s lovely Shannon Day was in attendance too … such fun!
There’s so much that is amazing (and beautiful) about Breitenbush, including the fact that the community (which is in the middle of nowhere) generates all its own electricity and geothermal heat. With hydro power from the Breitenbush River, they push around hot water from one of the largest natural hot springs in order to feed radiators in all the little cabins and the main lodge … cozy even in the snows of winter!
Rick and Jeff were their usual brilliant selves. Having gone to at least four of their conferences over the years, I find myself getting pretty good at Astrology … I can almost keep up with them as they rapidly dissect peoples’ charts!
One of the things that I appreciate about Astrology is the way it helps me accept the wild diversity of personalities and karma that exist in any group of people. Like when I find myself thinking, “Geez, I don’t understand why she’s acting that way, but then again I have no idea what it must be like to be a double Scorpio with a Pisces moon.” Understanding Astrology better is making me a more tolerant human! 
