About 140 astrologers and healers from all over the world trekked to Mt. Tauhara on Lake Taupo which is located in the middle of the north island of New Zealand. There were Dutch, Italian, English, South Africans, Americans (lots of Americans), Australians and New Zealanders. About 30% of those attending were no astrologers but were healers of some sort - there were Reiki healers, massage therapists, rebirthers, people who worked with crystals and the busiest of the lot were the Te Kopere healers - 16 Maori healers that came to Planet Camp and offered their services free, every day. Everybody was extremely grateful for the healing element at this Conference, it helped many to `touch base' and ground themselves after some rather amazing lectures and insights....

On the first night of the Conference there was a Maori circle welcoming everyone followed by a celebration of Lammas (a Celtic harvest festival celebrating abundance). At night's end Christine Broadbent (event co-ordinator) Caroline Casey (brilliant lecturer from the US), Steve Hill (The ARC Node for NZ and a guiding light in New Zealand astrology) and I sat together in Christine's little bungalow sharing a bottle of wine. Christine drew the Sabian Symbol Oracle cards to gain insight into how the conference would unfold. She drew Gemini 27.

Gemini 27: A Young Gypsy Emerging From the Woods Gazes at Far Cities... `It takes a great deal of courage to be something of an outcast and still venture into society. Wanting and trying to participate, even when you don't command respect or acceptance, is difficult, but with success, rewarding. Dreaming of becoming a part of something far-off and larger than one's own sphere. Lessons to be learned about being street wise. If negative - dissatisfaction with one's own surroundings and always looking elsewhere.

Christine and I spoke about the fact that this conference in New Zealand was probably just a beginning for her, she would probably move further and further out - doing more and more things overseas.

But this symbol meant so much more for many of us during that weekend.

Firstly, there was a fabulous violinist at the conference - an astrologer named Martin Lass. Martin is from Sydney and he plays regularly with major orchestras and tours internationally and is quite well known in the media in Australia. Several times during the weekend he played amazing Gypsy music for the crowd, sometimes people would just break into dance and abandon themselves to the music.

But further, as synchronicity often has it, another Gypsy theme emerged. An enormous Gypsy fair was being held in the township of Taupo. Gypsies from all over New Zealand had come in their buses and caravans to set up shop and sell their wares, play their music and show the locals a little of the Gypsy lifestyle.

On another level more was unfolding...

On the morning of my workshop, just as it was starting, a friend came running into the room, announcing that we must all go to the Gypsy fair. I said `yes, we must go' and looked directly at the woman sitting on my right whom I hadn't noticed before. I said to her, `We must go!' and then I said, `You are a Gypsy!'. She replied that she had been told she had Romany blood and came from a part of Italy where many different cultures and peoples have moved through - including Gypsies. `...there have been many battles and wars in the area I am from and there's a big mix of blood.'

My immediate reaction was to look at her chart. It would be a good one to start the workshop with. Her chart was calculated for 8.30 am, giving her a Gemini 26 I.C. - born two minutes later, she would have the Gypsy degree (Gemini 27) as her I.C. Her name is Amalia, this was her third trip to New Zealand and she'd decided she wanted to live there (Gazing at Far Cities). She was not a healer or an astrologer and didn't really know why she came to Planet Camp - three days later she would know.

After the workshop, a group of us shared a car to the township to visit the gypsy fair. The atmosphere was wonderful with music and animals and palm readings and astrology tents. I bought some Jasmine oil and, over the loud speaker, I heard the wonderful blues voice of a gypsy woman singing `Summer Breeze' (sweet days of summer, the jasmine's in bloom)...

Marvelling at the things one could buy, I came across a stall selling Nepalese, Indian and Afghani dresses and accessories. I found a Nepalese money belt and 2 young women came out of nowhere to bargain the price. They had a very beautiful, very black baby about 13 or 14 months old. He wasn't of Maori blood, more African. He was wearing a great Nepalese jacket, no pants and he was eating a peach with juice running everywhere. I stopped and stared at this gorgeous boy - we don't see many `black' people in Australia or New Zealand. I suggested to a friend of mine that we do a quick reading for the mother (a white New Zealander). Her question was, `Should I go to England?'. Her question was another example of Gemini 27 - a Gypsy emerging from the forest... gazing at far cities.

The next morning, Amalia came up to me, very excited and said she wished to tell me a story. She was very emotional and in a thick Italian accent told me the following:

The morning of the first day of the Conference, she had received a fax from her daughter saying that she was going to have a baby. It was to be Amalia's first grandchild and she was very upset as the father of the child was a Senegalese man. She was upset for three reasons - he was very black, he was from Senegal and he had a history of abusing her daughter. Amalia had been crying since she'd received the news, she wanted to feel happy about her first grandchild, but was having a great deal of trouble accepting it, that was until she went to the hot springs with a group of the Maori healers.

They went at night, they had to climb over fences and scramble down banks in the dark, the only light being the light from the full moon. Before going into the refreshing, healing and cleansing waters of the hot springs they did a little ritual: They each wrote on paper what they wanted to rid themselves of and Amalia wrote that she wanted to rid herself of her prejudices and accept her grandchild unconditionally. They then lit the pieces of paper and blew the ashes into the water.

As they finished the ritual and were getting undressed to get into the steaming water, Amalia noticed two women approaching her in the dark. In the dark, she noticed that one of the women was carrying a baby and offered to hold it while they undressed. Just then, by the light of the moon, she realised that she was holding a black baby. This was the same baby and the same 2 gypsy women I had seen the day before. Amalia's prejudices evaporated immediately and she felt completely freed from the worry and angst about her grandchild. Just like that.

Amalia left the Conference knowing why she came, in fact everyone left feeling different. This is only one of the many great stories from Planet Camp, but it's my favorite.

I think there are so many parallels between astrologers and Gypsies. The common practice of forecasting and personal readings are the obvious, but also the non acceptance by conservative society. Through a great deal of serious effort astrologers have worked to be taken seriously only to be trivialised by the media and skeptics. Emerging from the woods can be slow and requires determined persistence.

The minute I turned on my computer, on my return home to Australia, I went to the program Solar Spark that has the Sabian Oracle in it. A message from the Oracle comes up randomly when the program is started. The Sabian Symbol was for Gemini 27 -'A Young Gypsy Emerges From the Woods, Gazes at Far Cities'.

The theme of `gypsies emerging' will be an issue for the next several years as this is the symbol for the Moon degree in the chart of the Pluto ingress into Sagittarius and the Venus degree in the ingress chart of Saturn into Aries. Perhaps we, the astrologers, can really start to emerge, more and more.

Note: Planet Camp Conference was sponsored by The Mountain Astrologer.