Hi All,

Again I am running slow. I don’t know who pushed the button on my roller-coaster, but I am suffering a severe time deficit. So let’s not waste any time. On with the show!

First of all, one of our staff members has decided that she’d rather be an attendee this year. This means we have an opening for a taper-monitor. Note that this is an unpaid position and would require you to be at the conference for the duration, from the 22nd to the 25th. Duties would be taping and monitoring.

Note that you would NOT get of choice of which lectures you tape or monitor; I simply can’t accommodate 6 people’s requests and guarantee they’ll all be happy. I have a rather convoluted system of drawing names out of a shoebox for each slot, and if there is something you absolutely MUST see, this is not a job for you.

On the other hand, we DO use tapers-monitors at the luncheons and at the banquet, so if you are selected for one of those slots, your meal is free — which is a nice perk. If you’re interested, email me and I’ll give you more information.

Secondly, it looks like our trade room is going to be FULL. While I am still awaiting a few checks, all of the spaces are currently spoken for, and have been reserved until June 20th, when checks are due. And yes indeed, we have some new vendors.

Sue Morris of Sue’s Salves will be joining us this year, and she has an absolutely wonderful array of salves, spritzers, lip balm and other goodies, including astrological massage oils. Sue is both an astrologer and an herbalist, and I can vouch for her products. They are high quality. And they do what they claim to do. And the salves are NOT yucky. There is a wonderful lavender one that can double as a light perfume. There is a tea tree salve. There is an intriguing-sounding hot pepper salve that she says is helpful for those of us who get cold feet and creaky joints. She also has a Himalayan salt room spritzer for those of us who can’t live in a salt cave all the time. And not only that, she can make you a botanical perfume that will resonate with your birth chart — though I don’t know if she’ll be able to do to many of them at the conference because they’re made to order.And yes, her prices are reasonable.

Sue will be joining Billee Dommell, Joy White, and many of your other favorites, so look for her at SOTA.

Readers: We also have a new reader joining Tim Brainard and Patricia Beers.

Psycho-Chic (yes, Psycho-Chic) hails from Michigan and I can vouch for her too. She is NOT psycho. She is spunky, funky, and accurate. And she also does healings. So don’t say there’s nothing new under the SOTA tent. Come and have a look. And remember, our trade room is free and open to the public, so please tell your friends.

And yes, we have some new speakers too. One of them is Ryhan Butler. Ryhan is one of the many people who applied for a speaking slot last fall. I had not met or heard him at the time but he came highly recommended. When he applied, I told him that we get far more applications than we have slots (true!) and sort of gently told him there were no guarantees. Happily, he came back with a good topic, a well-written 50-word blurb, and an equally well-written bio. Here they are, as submitted:

Temperament: Achieving the Balance Within

Description:
Every individual is born with a unique mixture of the four classical humours that constitutes their spiritual and physiological condition.  In this talk we’ll discuss the development of temperament theory, its calculation from a natal chart, and practical remedies to help people achieve the health of body and mind that balancing the four humours brings.

Bio:
Ryhan is a practicing astrologer from Dallas, TX and is the author of the Medieval Astrology Guide website.  He has lectured locally and in national conferences, working to spread the techniques of medieval astrology.  He is an active member in AYA and currently serving on the board for the Association for Astrological Networking.

Sound good to you??? Yep, me too. I hope you’ll enjoy and learn from his presentation.

 

Meanwhile, I am also happy to announce the return of Sylvia Jean Smith. Sylvia has been missing — and much-requested — for about 3 years now, so we’re delighted to have her back. Sylvia’s specialty is eclipses, and this year she’ll be talking about pre-natal eclipses:

Are You an Inny or An Outy?

Description:
The psychologists are ever-ready to pigeon-hole us into their categories of introvert or extrovert, but are we really one or the other? Or are we a combination of both? Sylvia Jean’s research suggests that if the pre-birth eclipse is Lunar, more introvert qualities will show up; if it is Solar, the extrovert qualities are more apt to prevail. We will look at some famous personalities and make some decisions on these views, based on their pre-birth eclipse . However, she also intends to throw a few curves into these psychological pigeon-holes. Check the ephemeris beforehand to see what pigeon-hole you’re supposed to be in, and come in prepared to think and discuss.

And for those of you who don’t know Sylvia Jean, here’s her bio.

Bio:
Sylvia Jean Smith is an enthusiastic student of life.  Two lengthy careers have occupied her professionally, nursing and astrology, along with a myriad of personal interests.  WHY, is her most often asked question, so her primary interest is research into the Universe, and why it operates with such precision…. and why we seem to follow a specific path in our own individual manner, as we tick along like the Eveready Bunny.

This, by the way, is original research. I think you’ll be well-please with its quality.

 

One last word: A look at the rooming list suggests quite a number of you haven’t reserved your rooms yet. If I’m talking to YOU, please call the hotel at 1-800-323-3331 and tell them you’re with SOTA. We don’t have a huge room block, and when are rooms are gone, they could very well be gone. And you DO want to be where the action is, don’t you?

 

OK, until next time — which I hope will be sooner than this time. Have a good week but watch out for that New Moon on the18th and Mercury’s retrogradation which starts on the same day.

Best,

Donna