The Centre for Psychological Astrology began unofficially in 1980 as a sporadic series of classes and seminars offered by Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas, covering all aspects of astrology from beginners’ courses to more advanced one-day seminars. In 1981 additional evening courses and seminars by other tutors were interspersed with those of Liz and Howard to increase the variety of material offered to students, and Juliet Sharman-Burke and Warren Kenton began contributing their expertise in Tarot and Kabbalah. It then seemed appropriate to take what was previously simply a random collection of astrology classes and put them under a single umbrella so in 1982 the “prototype” of the CPA – the Centre for Transpersonal Astrology – was born, with the administrative work handled by Richard Aisbitt, himself a practising astrologer.
In 1983 the name was changed to the Centre for Psychological Astrology, because a wide variety of psychological approaches was incorporated into the seminars, ranging from transpersonal psychology to the work of Jung, Freud and Klein. The Diploma Course was eventually created, with additional tutors joining the staff. The Centre continued to develop and consolidate its programme despite the tragic death of Howard in 1992, when Charles Harvey became co-director with Liz Greene. Richard Aisbitt continued to manage the administration until 1994, when the burden of increasing ill health forced him to restrict his contribution to beginners’ and intermediate classes. At this time Juliet Sharman-Burke took over the administration for the Centre. Richard himself sadly died in 1996.
At the beginning of 2000, Charles Harvey tragically died of cancer, leaving Liz Greene as sole director. In the new Millennium, the CPA continues to develop along both familiar and innovative lines, always maintaining the high standards reflected in the fine work of its former co-directors.
The Diploma Course finished in 2011 and we turn our attentions to pursuing a more original and creative path to astrological education. We plan to take our inspiration from Plato’s Academy, and encourage our tutors to teach material based on their current research and interests but with greater flexibility as to the format of the teaching, without offering any assessment, grade system, or qualification. This means that, according to the personal wishes and aptitudes of the tutors, some seminars will continue as day-long explorations, while some might be a series of evening classes, a half-day workshop, a two-day conference, or a small ongoing supervision group, and some tutors might occasionally wish to offer a two-hour class online. But no student will be required to achieve a fixed number of seminars to complete any kind of certificate or diploma, so students can enrol and attend according to their own interests and time commitments. This is learning for the sheer love and joy of learning, an experience which is rapidly vanishing from both academic and non-academic institutions in the present climate. We may also hold seminars and classes at venues other than Regents College, and also outside London.
We intend to remain loyal to the CPA’s core commitment to the reality of the psyche and the importance and value of the individual, and tutors – both those resident in the UK and those from abroad – will continue to offer psychological perspectives on astrology from different points of view. We will also continue with the CPA Press and publish books containing various seminars and classes, both current and from our existing library, as a way of offering our work to students who cannot attend in person. We also intend to continue to offer a small selection of seminars in the form of Studyshops. New online resources will also be made available, such as reading lists and links to educational websites, which might offer valuable materials for the astrological student.