Portugal! Parte um

After a white-knuckled take off in the middle of a hurricane, I arrived in beautiful Portugal just in time to take part in a tour of the cities of Porto and Maia. Although I had lost my stomach somewhere over Southeast England, seeing all my astrology friends made everything all right again. And what a beautiful place we were in: it almost made up for all those Hail Marys I had to recite on the plane.

We were taken to a port tasting event but I have to admit that of all the choices at a bar, port would defo be my very last choice. Red wine gives me a stinking headache and I just don’t like the flavour of port. But one has to be polite. So I accepted my glass with the assumption that I’d find the nearest plant pot after a toast to our hosts. I was very pleasantly surprised by the bouquet (don’t I sound like I know what I’m talking about?) and the flavour was rich and smooth and completely different to any port I had ever had before.  What on earth do they do to the port in England?

As I caught up with old friends and made new friends, I could almost forget I was the first main speaker the next morning. Of course, the port helped too. I had been thinking a lot about speaking at conferences and whether or not I actually like lecturing. The Kepler Conference really knocked my confidence (so many clever people and then there’s me. . .) that I was seriously considering whether or not I was “deep” enough to be a successful speaker. I see myself as a kind of lucky goofball who really doesn’t belong amongst all these amazing people.

And then I got chatting to Glenn Perry who had generously agreed to be my “victim” for my workshop on healing the inner teenager.

Glenn and I are on the same page when it comes to astrology and psychology. I don’t have the experience and qualifications he has but I can hold up my end of the conversation with him (most of the time). As I was talking to him, I realised that I must be at least a little interesting to keep his attention and for him to remember my name (I can also boast that he gave me a hug when he saw me!). Every now and again, a girl needs a little pick-me-up. I was feeling better. Of course, the port helped that too. It helped so much that I decided that I was really going to stop focusing on how nervous I was and whether or not anyone actually cared about what I had to say in my lecture. I was going to make an effort to watch and learn from the masters. I was going to study everyone’s style and I was going to compare my style to theirs.

Of course that raised a question in my head about what I thought my style was: I know that I speak way too quickly sometimes, I know I like to use my hands when I speak and I know I like to stand and be able to move around when I talk. I also know I don’t like it when people read their lecture to me.

And at these thoughts, my stomach returned to its normal position and then did a flip-flop.

For the first time ever, I was going to read my lecture. And the reason is this: “Herschel, Uranus and Mary Shelley’s Vision of Horror” is packed full of complicated English words and the Portuguese-speaking translators would need to be able to follow my script. I was going to have to remember to slow my speech down (I had already knocked myself out with the powerpoint). The other thing making me nervous was that I had given this old lecture a complete overhaul. When I re-read it, I realised I simply was not the same astrologer who had written this lecture almost 12 years ago. And this is a good thing because I’ve done a lot of studying since then. So, you see, Kepler had a pretty big effect on me and I wanted that effect to be apparent to my audience.

But back to the party (because that’s what it felt like!).

When we returned to the hotel, we were treated to an amazing dinner and my date for the night was the charming David Perloff. Sitting across from me was Mark Jones and his lovely wife Claire, next to me was Lynn Bell and also across from me was Margaret Gray. Is there anything better than a good chinwag with fellow astrologers? I am always so grateful for the support from other astrologers. After all, we were all in the same boat: tired from our journeys, nervous about our lectures and a little uncertain of how it was all going to work out (but mostly very optimistic). We were in it together.

For part 2, click here
For part 3, click here

About the Astrologer

Alex Trenoweth was voted Best International Astrologer, 2015 for her dynamic presentation on her innovative and original research into Astrology and Education. Her book, "Growing Pains" is an exciting development in astrology as it combines classroom teaching experience, sound investigation and the potential to have a positive impact on struggling adolescents, parents, teachers and those who have been labelled "at risk". She writes the weekly and monthly horoscopes and other articles for the Cosmic Intelligence Agency, one of the largest astrological social media groups on the web and was also a speaker for the AstroSummit, a guest lecturer for the London School of Astrology and has spoken at several UK local astrology groups. Upcoming international events include Breaking Down the Borders, the Kepler Conference, Congresso Internacional de Astrologia (Portugal), Kepler College, the Mercury Internet School of Psychological Astrology, NORWAC and the San Francisco Astrology Society.  Alex is also Vice Principal and Secretary General of International Affairs for the Krishnamurti Institute of Astrology and will will be taking up her residential post in India 2017. For queries, consultations or syndications, please contact Alex via www.alextrenoweth.com or leave a message in the comment section.

"Growing Pains" can be purchased in paperback or kindle format on Amazon or can be signed and posted directly to you by Alex.

About the New Book

There are two wolves fighting inside of me, the old story goes, one wolf is good and the other is evil. “But Grandfather,” asked the child, “Which one wins?” The Grandfather answered, “The wolf I feed.”

We might like to think that being good is a natural instinct. In fact, doing the right thing takes a conscious decision. Every day, we are met with temptation to get ahead at the expense of someone else, to get away with something we know is wrong or to cut corners if we think no one is watching.

Following on from her powerful book on astrology and Education, “Growing Pains”, Alex Trenoweth explores the benefits of using “the bad guy” of the solar system: Saturn. Often avoided and seldom understood, if we understand our own Saturn then we can help others to understand theirs. Using case studies of  highly successful people contrasted with convicted serial killers, Trenoweth deftly demonstrates the dire consequences of feeding the wrong wolf.