Using ancient Nakshatra teachings, we'll explore the relationships among stars, planets, people, and even trees. While this workshop offers astrologers and stellar magicians practical tools and perspectives that are rarely discussed, its deeper purpose is to invite anyone, regardless of experience or background, to contemplate our place within the living ecosystem of the galaxy.
Alphecca is the bright starry gem in the Northern Crown known as the Corona Borealis constellation. Like the seven stars of the Pleiades, the seven stars of Corona Borealis bear immense importance across ancient cultures. More than a gem bedazzling a crown, Alphecca is the living presence of Ariadne, the Mistress of the Labyrinth. Some say Ariadne is the granddaughter of Helios and Zeus. Others that she is an ancient great goddess of Crete. All agree she entered a sacred marriage with Dionysus, and that she is the protomystes of the Dionysian Mystery cults. Come to hear stories of dauntless Ariadne of the lovely tresses, her thread that guides through labyrinth paths of descent and ascent, her possession and transmission of the Dionysian current, and the liberation she offers our soul.
Genie Raftopoulos is a talismanic jeweler, multidisciplinary artist, and founder of Tides of Tethys. Her work bridges ancient metalsmithing traditions with astrological and magical practices, creating handcrafted talismans guided by celestial timing and inspired by esoteric wisdom. Drawing on a decade of experience, Genie specializes in the ancient techniques of wax carving, sand casting, and lost wax casting, creating limited collections from the finest earth-grown gemstones and metals. Her practice is deeply influenced by astrological texts such as the Picatrix, Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy and Ficino’s Three Books on Life. Genie holds a BFA from Queensland College of Arts and an MFA with Distinction from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and she continues to explore the intersections of art, astrology, and spirit relationship through her arts practise and writings.
Gray Crawford is a professional natal and horary astrologer using techniques drawn from ancient and modern sources, synthesizing influences from Hellenistic, magical, mythic-archetypal, and psychological astrology. Gray has taught at UAC, NORWAC, and ISAR astrology conferences, and various astrology associations around the USA. Gray is a member of the faculty at Kepler College and is the coordinator for their Hellenistic Natal Astrology and Hellenistic Timing Technique certificates. Gray’s astrological writing has been published on Astrology.com, in WellBeing Astrology, and by Ignota Press. Gray can be contacted on his site graycrawford.net.
This is a workshop on taking omens from the body with known-omen-guy hawk grubb. Hawk is known for their work as an omen seer and diviner who specializes in deity communication. Their most frequently-used technology for spirit communication in their personal life is reading the answers to yes or no questions from the sensations that arise in their body.
Yes/no questions are deceptively tricky in divination, and require a clear mind and solid spiritual foundation to thrive, with access to the knowledge divination can bring us. This is an S-tier download on the omen nature of reality, wrapped into an accessible, practical package.
You'll learn multiple approaches to using your somatic senses to get divinatory information, absorb some of hawk’s extensive omen-interpretation framework, and get some playtime to practice. By the end, you'll be on your way to answering yes/no questions or multiple choice questions using your hands, and be set up to develop your own unique system of embodied divination.
"I'm a pro astrologer, a prodigious tarot reader, and a person for whom magic is integrated into daily life. My most-used tool for divination is my hands."
Hawk Grubb is a diarist, omen seer, astrologer & magical mentor living in the Pacific Northwest.
Their magical interests include the holy guardian angel & abramelin operation, wresting ceremonial magic from the hands of stodgy misogynists, the four elements, and natural omen seeing as a foundational spiritual practice/ lifelong navigation tool.
They’re focused on placemaking, firetending, and third housing with their friends, neighbors and spirits.
At North Star, Josh is bringing a living encounter with the goddess Saraswati through the traditional practice of Nad Yoga, The Yoga of Sound & Mantra.
This practice makes us more sensitive to the vibrations of time and space, allowing us to ignite the blessings and remediate the obstacles present in the Natal Horoscope.
Participants with be led through voice cultivation exercises and Josh will demonstrate this using the Hindustani Classical Raga Tilang, which invokes the presence of the Goddess of music and learning Sarasvati.
Josh Proto is an astrologer, astrological magician, and ordained Lama in the Rimé tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Since 2019, he has trained and performed as a Charya singer and dancer within the Newar Vajrayāna tradition and has crafted more than 500 Picatrix-style astrological talismans for clients and practitioners worldwide.
His studies include Medieval and Renaissance astrological magic, Tibetan astrology, and Jyotiṣa, including initiation into the lineage of Achyutānanda Dāsa. Joshua is especially interested in demonstrating how astrology and astrological magic can produce tangible results in the real world, from spiritual development to business, career, and life outcomes.
Prajwal is bringing to North Star his decades of experience training to embody wisdom through the somatic connection between body, mind, and nature. He will be teaching about Mudra: the practice of embodying the presence and wisdom of the divine through the conscious positioning of the body.
Mudra goes beyond the arrangement of the hands, stretching beyond the body, showing us how dance is a path to enlightenment and awakening.
Prajwal will also teach foundational exercises for the practice of Charya Nritya.
Prajwal is a priest of one of the Vajrayana Buddhist lineages of Nepal and a ritual master both of the Charya Nritya dance tradition and other ritual forms performed by the Newar Vajracharya lineage. Prajwal began his training in Charya Nritya, Newar buddhism from at eight years old, receiving formal instruction mainly from his father, the Buddhist scholar and ritual master Ratna Kaji Vajracharya. Prajwal Vajracharya is now the premier teacher, practitioner, and performer of the tradition and is a veteran of several world tours with beginning and advanced students around the globe.
We actually don't know what Renee is doing at North Star but we know it will be fantastic.
Renee Sills is a multidisciplinary artist, author, astrologer, educator, and the founder of Embodied Astrology. They are a second generation astrologer and lifelong student of somatic healing practices. They hold a BFA in Intermedia & Cyber Art and an MFA in Contemporary Art in Social Practice and approach their work with astrology and embodiment as processes of ritual performance and participatory art. The throughline of their work is ongoing investigation of interrelatedness, spirituality, mindfulness, creative agency, and the adaptive processes of the human body in contemporary landscapes of the anthropocene.
Renee has worked as consulting astrologer since 2014 and has read for thousands of clients. In addition to individual readings, they offer monthly and yearly sign-based horoscopes and collective readings, and they tend the Embodied Astrology virtual learning space – a vibrant and growing online community that celebrates and explores creative, experiential, fugitive, feminist, and somatic forms of astrology. Learn more about Renee here.
A conversation with Robert Fitzgerald, Josh Proto, Hawk Grubb, and maybe several farm animals.
Robert Fitzgerald is a practitioner of the angelic evocation of John Dee and Edward Kelley, and is an initiate of Cultus Sabbati, a magical order of traditional witchcraft in Britain and North America. He has also served for many years in the field wildlife rehabilitation, in Vermont and California. Robert has several books out with Three Hands Press, including A Gathering of Masks and Arcanum Bestiarum (illustrated by liv Rainey smith).
devotion becomes creation when we allow love to express through our hands. less workshop, more making a place for making, diana will be curating a context for doing & discussing handcrafting & rendering tangible the fruits of devotion.
already a crafter? bring along your portable WIPs, materials to share, insights to dispense. new to crafting? bring your curiosity and willingness to make beautifully ugly first things. possibilities include pocket altars, mini baskets, devotional embroideries, sacred shawls, & Fates-pilled yarn spinning while spinning stories of fate & folly.
we don’t know what shape this will take, but colly is bringing espresso. This is not the Starbucks at norwac- hours will be unpredictable, so if you encounter the coffee fairy in the forest, 🧚🏼♀️ lucky you 🌀 expect service to be slow and intentional. Tip your barista in trinkets.
Sphere & Sundry will bring a treasure chest of materia to North Star, for you to explore for your ritual enhancement and experiential amusement (for free!)
