A Message from IAA President Ena Stanley

I can't rightly say when this started... It could be all the way back to the first part of the 1990s when I worked for Ed Perrone on GEnie's Astrology Roundtable. When he handed me a 2400-baud modem and the software to get on-line, he handed me my drug of choice. It was as if he stood in a New York City alley, whispering to me as I innocently walked down the street, "Com'ere little girl..." From that day forward, a huge world of possibilities opened up to my Gemini mind! I woke each morning, with the finger of my left hand turning on the coffee pot, and the finger of my right hand turning on my DOS-run computer.

Of course, my first thought was to bring education to everyone -- anyone in a remote place who hungered for a solid astrological education. When I started the school in 1997, it actually surprised me that a delightful student in Japan registered. Japan wasn't some remote spot in Wisconsin; it was another country thousands of miles away. My mind soared; with this medium we can reach the world! Soon I was holding court at (mainstream) social gatherings. "Yes, the school's Education Director is in Cleveland, Ohio; the instructors and students are all over: Germany, the UK, Australia, Canada, all over the US... East Coast, West Coast... Arizona, Vermont, Indiana... All over!"

Seven days a week, I lived in an international world, but to connect with the larger astrological community meant I had to temporarily leave this life. It was required that I get on an airplane, take some sort of transportation to a hotel and have enough extra money to maintain a separate existence. Now, just like the next person, I loved going to conferences... Hearing what all the other astrologers were doing, what astrological secret they had uncovered at their desks, or in their practice. Also, there was always that first great meal at the hotel, or a neighboring restaurant; but after that, it went way beyond most budgets to eat that bowl of cereal in the same restaurant the next morning! I used to think at the end of the day that I wished I could just go home, open my own refrigerator for a snack, sleep in my own bed... And still be able to be back at the conference the next morning! I longed for a Scotty who could beam me instantly to chosen locations. By the end of the conference everyone was exhausted -- some were even sick. Someway, there had to be a way... someway that could accommodate everyone who would attend any conference, and not just those who were fortunate enough to live in the conference's location.

So I sat quietly at my desk, patting my foot, just waiting for quality audio/visual. I knew that just as soon as it became affordable, the next venture would be an on-line conference. I've been talking about it for several years now... Just ask Gloria Star! What surprises me, though, is that I'm the first to bring it to manifestation. I guess it's like the school (originally Online College of Astrology that morphed into International Academy of Astrology). It was the first comprehensive astrological school brought to the Internet. Now, International Academy of Astrology is harnessing the World Wide Web to Break Down the Borders for the first all-inclusive, wide-ranging, far-reaching conference, featuring the most outstanding, innovative and forward-thinking speakers in the world. And hearing what they have to say doesn't require that you sleep in a strange bed!

Ena Stanley
President, IAA