AFA or Mayo school?

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and after working to incorporate tarot into my coaching practice, I'm looking at doing the same with astrology. Consequently, I'd like to complete a qualification, at least to diploma leve. I've narrowed my options down to two correspondence courses offed by - I think - reputable schools.

I just wondered if anyone here had direct experience of either and, if so, what your experience was?

My options are the Mayo School of Astrology (http://www.mayoastrology.com/astrology_course.html) or the American Federation of Astrologers (http://www.astrologers.com/learn-astrology/learn-astrology/)

Any information/experiences welcome! Thanks

Dave (Dadsnook2000) is your best source for the Mayo School, as he studied with the late Jeff Mayo. Both courses have professional recognition, so the key factors for you are really, relevance and cost.

Relevance is to your own personal needs and that's where the content coverage becomes important. It's no use doing a course if it doesn't cover the elements that you want/need covering or glosses over them. That's where the requirements of your coaching practice and its nature come in. Most current Diploma courses are geared to the psychological approach to Astrology, and if it's the psychological dimension that you require then check through to see that the needs of your coaching practice are met in as much detail as possible.

There's a further dimension - both courses can lead to professional recognition (to the extent that that is relevant in Astrology) but are you thinking of becoming a professional astrologer? If the answer to that is 'no' then you might prefer to keep your costs down by going for the cheaper course. You might also have a look at other competing courses such as:

Faculty of Astrological Studies (one of the oldest professional courses and well recognised)
http://www.astrology.org.uk/

Canopus Academy (which is Australian based).

And indeed many more.

From the point of view of being an Astrologer, you will find that these courses are starting points, you will develop and gradually drop some of their ideas and take on new ones as you explore.

Finally there's the issue of 'Do you really need a professional course?' If you intend to become a professional astrologer then the answer is probably yes. If you are using the course to add a further dimension to your knowledge then the answer may well be 'no'. I did a distance learning course solely for interest and to provide a 'discipline' to my learning programme. I had no intention of becoming a professional and I chose several courses from the UK based BSY Group to combine into a qualification reflecting my interests. That was some 10 years ago and enabled me to get into Astrology for the third time of trying LOL.

If you're going to spend £1,400 then you really do need to have a clear idea that it meets your needs and it will repay your investment in terms of providing better services to your own clients (and therefore justify enhanced pricing).

You could join the Birmingham Astrology Group: they might run classes as well as their meetings.
http://astrologicalassociation.com/localGroups/west-midlands.php

Thanks Minderwiz, that's helpful. At the moment, becoming a professional astrologer isn't my plan - but never say never! I'm more interested in using it as a complement to my coaching approach, which is what I've started to do with tarot.

They do both look very good as starting points. It so happens that the prospectus for the AFA course - which is the cheaper of the two - seems to be just a bit more detailed and focused, and it also seems to have more of an emphasis on the practical application than the Mayo. That appeals to me, because I know that although I'm interested enough in the subject to read widely, I'm less disciplined when it comes to practising, particularly when maths and chart erection are involved!

In fact, I'm also keen to do a course which is fairly focused on the mechanics rather than on philosophy. I'm doing enough reading at the moment to know that there are different philosophical views and I'm enjoying reading about these and developing a sense of what my own "philosophy of astrology" might be. Some of the course I've looked at seem to have a fairly strong perspective of their own, but the AFA and Mayo courses seem to leave some of that open for interpretation, which greatly appeals.

Thanks for the input. AFA is definitely leading - I'm going to think about it for a day or two before making a definite decision; will keep you posted!

Thanks David - funnily enough I was just looking for possible Birmingham astrology contacts. Great timing!