AYA’s 2023 Year in Review
As 2023 comes to an end, we’ve been reflecting on the exciting developments and accomplishments the Association for Young Astrologers has experienced this year. Join us in celebrating AYA’s 2023 highlights!
Board of Directors
This year, we’ve welcomed two new board members onto the team. Additionally, two existing board members embraced new positions. The lineup of our current board is as follows:
- Janay Anthony, Chair
- Anna DunLany, Treasurer
- Dee, Secretary
- Mo Olufemi, Education Coordinator
- Melissa Marklin, Social Media Manager
AYA has intentions to continue expanding the board and present more opportunities for community involvement in 2024, so keep a look out for calls in the upcoming year.
Bylaws Update
Perhaps our biggest undertaking as an organization was updating our bylaws. We revised our bylaws to align them with our other governing documents, as well as to reflect current practices around remote work and the use of gender-neutral language. Throughout this process, AYA’s board recommitted to the organization’s original mission statement: to bridge the gap between generations in the field of astrology and promote astrological knowledge through an array of programming.
AYA at NORWAC
We were so excited to attend NORWAC this year! It was a joy to reconnect with the community, and see so many of you face-to-face. Did you have the chance to stop at our table and say hi? We also had the pleasure of bringing along our very first cohort of AYA fellows to participate in the conference virtually. In one of our first commitments to center education at AYA, we developed an Astrology Conference Fellowship program that provided two full and three partial conference registration stipends to five outstanding AYA members.
A special shout out to our very own Mo Olufemi for giving an incredible NORWAC lecture on Using the Davison Chart for Intentional Relationships.
Seminar Under the Stars
We had a spectacular lineup of speakers join us for our Seminar Under the Stars series. Here’s a breakdown of the brilliant minds we had the privilege of learning from this year:
- Samuel F. Reynolds, The Astrology of Policing
- Mychal A. Bryan, Audience with the Author
- Solar Simone, Bravery & Boundaries: How the Malefics Shape & Influence Us
- Eric Lusby, History of the Lots
We want to highlight Mychal A. Bryan who was our first guest in what we hope to be a recurring series under the Seminar Under the Stars umbrella: Audience with the Author. Mychal joined us to discuss his recently published work, Mastering Traditional Astrology: A Depth of Beginning in the Celestial Art, and AYA gifted a signed copy of the book to three lucky AYA members.
Additionally, December will bring us a special edition of Seminar Under the Stars where the AYA board will discuss the major transits of 2024. Register here if you’d like to join the conversation!
What a Year!
Overall, we’re very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish as an organization this year. All of the highlights above are only the beginning, and we have exciting projects in the woodwork coming up in 2024, so stay tuned!