Ramblings, Reflections and Ruminations of Daniel Giamario | May 24, 2025 |
My experiences during the Summer of 2024, as well as last month at Joshua Tree, have inspired me to place increasing emphasis on reconnecting with the magical locations that originally inspired me on my life’s journey. Over this past year, I had the opportunity to share a few of these places with small groups and plan to do more of it – while I still can.
Because of the Covid-Op, I had not travelled for over three years. Upon resuming live in-person events with TOTAMS in 2023, it became clearer than ever that for astrology to be of any value for future humans to remain pure rather than dominated by technology, AI, and merging with machines, it must be grounded with direct land and sky connections. Our school has always been based on the conviction that authentic astrology is a direct soul-to-soul connection, even a sacred divination.
Already, many are consulting Grok, ChatGPT etc. for their astrological insights, not to speak of the proliferation of astrology apps run by algorithms. I have no interest in leaving this world in the control of an “Algocracy.”
As I approach my 78th year, I see that an even deeper layer needs to be accessed, which is where my own journey really began in 1981. The wisdom of Earth and Sky is the greatest teacher!
After practicing the Transpersonal Astrology of Dane Rudhyar and incorporating global mythology and spiritual traditions throughout the 1970s, I had reached a dead end. It was my Vision Quest on Mount Shasta in 1981 and subsequent experiences in the Joshua Tree Wonderland of Rocks that opened a door to the three schools of astrology I have founded, as well as the unique TOTAMS astrological paradigm. The essential transmission was and continues to be: If you are to be an astrologer, you need to be intimately familiar with the sky. Our school offers this training in magical, creative and comprehensive ways.
Now well into my Winter Phase of Life, with weakening knees(!), I feel the urgency to share with others the most special and magical places that have animated me. There are many of these around the world, and many you may already know of, have explored yourself, and/or receive your own important transmissions from. In September and October of this year, I intend to guide small groups of personal apprentices to a number of these places, BUT am opening these groups now to anyone curious to experience and know these earth-sky mysteries for themselves. I will continue to do this in 2026 and for as long as I can.
Following here is my homage to magical places that I have the most special love for. Coming up in September and October of this year are trips to the first three. You can learn more about the plans here.
Joshua Tree Wonderland of Rocks
Following the 1981 Mount Shasta Vision Quest, I studied Vision Quest ceremonies with a number of Native American teachers. As I was living in Los Angeles at the time, I ventured out to Joshua Tree National Monument as often as possible. In January of 1982, under the Cancer Magi Full Moon, a large rock formation that I have named the “Grandfather”, gave me direct instructions to apprentice with him, and to go there one weekend a month for a year. I followed those instructions. And it was during that year and the next few that the main elements of the Shamanic Astrology Paradigm ™ emerged. I also began taking small groups to camp under the sky and to practice this emergent form of astrology with Earth and Sky.
Last month, I returned to the Grandfather for the first time since 2017 and had the opportunity to introduce him to five TOTAMS members. His message to me was “I am still here and so are you!” – a clear invitation to return with others later this year.
Mimbres River Valley and Faywood Hot Springs
In the late 1990s I lived in the Mimbres River Valley on the Chaco Meridian in Southern New Mexico. It was here where I did my original research on the experiential synodic cycles of Venus and Mars.
As we were close to Faywood Hot Springs, I established a friendship with the visionary resort owner Elon Yurwit. Together, over a period of 3 or 4 years, we created a large stone circle, the centerpiece of many in-person events. Elon’s untimely death in 2005 delayed the erection of the final four stones to mark the Lunar Standstill rising and setting locations. Now we are again in a Lunar Standstill season, and our September 21-28 event (co-facilitated with Gemini Brett) will include the placement of these stones.
Working with an apprenticeship group will also be part of this event, including a field trip to truly extraordinary petroglyphs.
Fishlake Valley Petroglyph Hierophany
After my time in New Mexico, my wife and I decided to move to Grass Valley, Ca., where I had many clients and a large following. This involved many trips back and forth between New Mexico and California and I loved driving through Nevada. Each time I made this trip, I felt something calling out to me from the White Mountains in the region of Boundary Peak. Finally, I decided to follow that call and ended up being drawn on a dirt road to a remote and unmarked petroglyph site.
This place turned out to be a master site with every possible alignment I could think of, including a Lunar Standstill alignment. Over the years, I led many groups here, and it became my favorite solo location for research and initiation. Last year I had the opportunity to return and found that the site remains intact and welcoming. Without question I desire to introduce you to this place in a sacred way.
Mount Shasta
In August of 1981, in a group led by Joan Halifax, then head of the Ojai Foundation, it was here that I had the Vision Quest experience that changed my life. I have written and shared about this elsewhere.
It was the unexpected delight of a journey there last summer that has re-opened this door for me. I am now considering returning to this remote location once again, with a small group, next year. For a good 20 years this was the place where I led as many as 50 people into remote valleys for ceremony and eclipse observations. Throughout the 1980s and 90s it was also my chosen location for solo retreats.
Haleakala Crater, Maui
Also throughout the 1980s and much of the 1990s, I lived on Maui and undertook probably around fifty backpacking hikes in and out of the Haleakala Crater. This included guiding groups as well as a large number of solo experiences, sometimes overnighting in cabins, sometimes camping, and sometimes dwelling in goat-caves! It was here that I first experienced the sound current, the inner sound that can be more pronounced than any outer sound. Some years ago, a group of scientists found that a place in the crater was the most silent place they had ever discovered. The night sky, as you might suspect, is incredible there. Sadly, my knees will not allow me anymore to hike into and out of the crater. Should you go, avoid the tourist promotions. No need to get up at 3:00 or 4:00AM for sunrise, rather go for sunset, which is just as good.
Callanish Stones, Isle of Lewis, Scotland
Very possibly my all-time favorite place! This is a hybrid hierophany, blending about twenty stone circles and standing stones in harmony with natural landscape. I have been here at least 13 times, including a successful gathering in 2024 for the Lunar Standstill, a once-in-19-years occurrence these stone monuments were designed for. You can see many more photos taken on that magical trip here! Unfortunately, a follow-up trip this year, in 2025, did not come together.
It was my 1984 and 1987 Callanish experiences that have influenced my work and life in so very many ways. I have written and spoken of this on multiple occasions in the past. You can see the Lunar Standstill Seminars in collaboration with Gemini Brett here. https://turningoftheages.com/event/lunar-standstill-seminar1/ As the Moon will still be very much out-of-bounds then, I might try to return in 2026.
Western Ireland
There is so much about Western Ireland that I love. I wrote my second book while living for three months at the end of the Dingle peninsula. I also love the area around Sligo, in particular Carrowkeel, Carrowmore, and Knockneara. Over the years I have led a number of groups there, and hope to get there yet again, if at all possible.
Avebury, Wiltshire
Avebury, and the special places nearby including Silbury Hill and the Sanctuary, definitely retain their primal matriarchal magic. Unlike Stonehenge which is so very much corrupted nowadays. I have led various groups to Avebury as well as to Wales where the Stonehenge bluestones were originally quarried along the Golden Way. A number of times, we had the great fortune of visiting at the peak of the Wiltshire Crop Circle season, experiencing magical crop circles that mirrored exactly what our group was exploring. My own agnosticism about them was utterly demolished. I surely hope to get there again too!
Final Thoughts
One of the most important reasons for creating the Shamanic Astrology Paradigm ™ and the Turning of The Ages Mystery School was to develop and use a form of astrology that would work in any age and with whatever technology was available (or not) and yet reflect the actual human needs of the times. The visible night sky, the cycles and seasons of Earth, the honoring of the these natural cycles, and our actual sensory experience, are more essential than any technology. We are not anti-technology, but it should be a choice. The direct experience with Earth and Sky should come first.
If you feel called, it will be my great pleasure to introduce you to my greatest teachers!