AstroDharma 2026: The Nodes & Your Planetary Purpose
Online or In-Person | September 18-20, 2026
“Astrology allows us to identify our unique challenges and strengths as individuals in order to more fully embody and live our spiritual awakening… Dharma empowers us to transcend our challenges, leverage our strengths and reduce the suffering within ourselves and those around us.”
-Catherine Pawasarat Sensei
What does the planet need from you? Who are you here to be? And how do you get there from here? These aren’t small questions. You sense there’s a unique contribution only you can make. A purpose that’s yours alone. But how do you find it? More importantly—how do you live it?
Join Catherine Sensei for a transformative weekend that helps you discover how to use your natural resources—your talents, your experiences, your unique energy—to be more generous in the world. This isn’t abstract spiritual philosophy. This is about finding your planetary purpose and learning how to actually embody it.
The nodes in your astrological chart hold the map. They show your path of spiritual progress in this lifetime. Your South Node reveals your karma—the familiar patterns you default to, the conditioning that keeps you stuck. Your North Node points to your Dharma—the direction your soul is being called to grow, the gifts you’re here to share with the world.
You Know That Feeling When…
- You keep hitting the same walls, running the same patterns, and you know there’s a way through but you can’t quite see it
- You sense you have gifts to offer the world, but you’re not sure what they are or how to share them
- Your relationships keep triggering the same dynamics, and you wonder if there’s a deeper pattern at play
- You’re ready to get unstuck from old conditioning and step into who you’re truly meant to be
- You’re part of a spiritual community and you want to understand the energy dynamics that create harmony (or friction) between people
- You feel called to something bigger but you’re not sure how to bridge the gap between where you are and where you need to be
If any of these resonate, this course is for you.
This course for you if:
- You want to study an astrological Dharmic framework with a wisdom teacher in the Namgyal lineage.
- You’re ready to learn how to get unstuck from your conditioning and discover where you want to acquire experience, knowledge, and skills to develop your unique Dharmic path
- You’re seeking greater clues into finding your planetary purpose—who you’re here to be in this lifetime
- You’re part of a Sangha and want to better understand one another’s patterns so you can transform interpersonal conflict into mutual support (this course is really good for Sanghas)
- You want practical tools for recognizing energy dynamics in your relationships and shifting them in more wholesome ways
- You’re ready to discover how to share your gifts with the world in a way that actually serves
Why the Nodes Matter
The nodes describe how we can use our natural resources, our talents, to be more generous in the world. They show us where we get stuck and how to get unstuck. They reveal where we have gifts and where there’s potential for further growth.
The nodes were one of the parts of AstroDharma that our late teacher Qapel had the most interest in, and a key area Catherine Sensei focuses on in her AstroDharma teachings.
This course is especially powerful for developing community. Understanding one another’s AstroDharmic patterns—your natal horoscopes—can really help us take interpersonal conflict and look at the energy dynamics that are involved. Instead of the usual patterns of either engaging in interpersonal conflict or avoiding it altogether, you’ll learn how to understand these dynamics and shift them in more wholesome ways so you can really support one another.
The course links beautifully to the Emotional Intelligence course—the nodes work reveals the deeper patterns at play, while emotional intelligence gives you the skills to navigate them skillfully. We strongly recommend taking them together for a complete approach to working with yourself and others.
What You’ll Learn:
In this course, we’ll explore the nodes from multiple angles—what they portray astronomically and astrologically, how they show up in our lives, and specifically how they show up for you.
You’ll learn:
- How the nodes reveal your path of spiritual progress in this lifetime
- Where your conditioning keeps you stuck—and how to get unstuck
- Where you want to acquire experience, knowledge, and skills to develop your unique Dharmic path
- How to use your natural resources (talents) to be more generous in the world
- Tools for understanding interpersonal dynamics and energy patterns within communities
- How to bridge the gap from where you are to who you’re meant to be
For in-person participants: You’ll experience somatic AstroDharma mandalas (somatic constellations) to explore the nodes through your body. These are visceral, compelling experiences that bring the teachings alive in a whole new way. Lucky us!
Why AstroDharma
For spiritual seekers looking to grow, Catherine Sensei’s unique combination of Buddhism and Transpersonal Astrology speeds us up on our spiritual path.
Many of us in the West are raised to celebrate the individual self—to find our unique path and explore why we’re here on this planet. Yet Buddhist Dharma leaps over personalization by teaching that there is no inherent self, and that we must realize this to find spiritual awakening.
For many of us, that’s a big leap.
On the way, we may miss valuable lessons about how to compassionately show up in the world as unique individuals. AstroDharma bridges these two systems. Transpersonal Western astrology reveals individual patterns and influences—we get a window into the energies, the pushes and pulls of the psyche. Dharma expands the view beyond self, into a path of service to community, for the benefit of all beings.
Over time, with growing confidence and awareness, we can transcend our natal charts and awaken. But first, we work with what we’ve got.
We initially pursued AstroDharma because Namgyal Rinpoche also taught astrology. We’ve found it to be an effective tool for helping us explore our patterns. It’s unique for each person, and AstroDharma helps us unpack that uniqueness so you can use it better for yourself and for others.
Meet the Teacher - Catherine Sensei
Catherine Pawasarat
Catherine Pawasarat Sensei is a contemporary Dharma teacher and co-founder of Clear Sky Retreat Center. She has developed AstroDharma as a tool for transformation, synthesizing Buddhist teachings on spiritual awakening with transpersonal Western astrology based on the teachings of Carl Jung.
She trained daily with Acariya Doug Duncan from 1998 until his passing in 2024 in an intensive spiritual apprenticeship that is rare in the modern West, and received lay ordination from Namgyal Rinpoche in 2003.
Since the early 2000s, Catherine has provided dharma training and taught the path of awakening to hundreds of students. In addition to Buddhist philosophy and its applications to daily life, she draws on generative living, transpersonal astrology, and Japanese arts. Catherine comes from a lineage of spiritual awakening that values the best of Eastern and Western philosophy—an ideal training for Westerners and an evolution of traditional teachings for the modern seeker.
Course Details
Time and Location
Led by Catherine Pawasarat Sensei at Clear Sky Meditation Center in Eastern BC. Available in-person or online.
Retreating at Clear Sky means you can participate in the in-person somatic AstroDharma constellation work—always a more grounded, supportive, communal experience.
Schedule / Class Times:
All listed in Mountain Daylight Time (MDT), and will be 60-90 minutes in duration. Please clear your schedule for the entire weekend to focus on this work. The following class times are approximate:
Friday, September 18 — 7pm (arrive on-site at 3pm)
Saturday, September 19 — 9am, 2pm, plus in-person somatic work at 7pm
Sunday, September 20 — 9am, 2pm, plus in-person somatic work at 4pm
Online participants are expected to attend classes live. We have arranged class times to be comfortable for most time zones. However we understand that some class times might occur after midnight in some regions; if this is the case for you, please let us know when you register. We can provide a recording so you can catch up on that particular class if it occurs in the middle of the night for you.
What you’ll need: Your astrology chart with the Nodes, Chiron, and Eris, using Placidus house system. Detailed instructions provided upon registration.
What Does the Course Cost?
In-Person Participants: 1) dāna to the Teacher plus 2) accomodation and meal costs for your stay Clear Sky Meditation Centre.
Online Participants: 1) dāna to the Teacher 2) online administration fee of $170 CAD.
Keen practitioner pricing: 5% savings on program fees available until February 14, 2025.
Important: The last day to register is one week prior to the retreat start date. Please register early.
Questions?
If you have questions about the retreat, please contact the Clear Sky Retreat Manager at 250-429-3929 (phone) or at bookings@clearskycenter.org (email).
About Clear Sky
Located in the BC rocky mountains, we offer over 300-acres to deepen your practice and reconnect with nature.
Founded by Qapel Doug Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei, we are home to students from around the globe who are dedicated to co-creating a supportive and innovative space for awakening in our modern world.
In adherence with our quadruple bottom line, we source our food as local and organic as possible.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW on how to get here, what to bring and what to expect.
Locally-grown organic food
Supportive meditation guidance
Stunning bedroom views
FAQs
You may have come across this elsewhere in the form of “pay from the heart”. Dāna is a Sanskrit term meaning “generosity”. With dāna, we give as a mutual exchange of generosity. It’s our joy to offer this course, and we trust you’ll match our time, energy, and passion by giving an amount of money that feels good and healthy to both you and us.
The dharma has been built on generosity. No-one is excluded for lack of funds but it is also extremely beneficial to give as much as you are able
Typically people give in a range of $120-$500 USD for a course.
As we’re committed to ensuring everyone has access to the Dharma, please feel comfortable to give less if you are not financially secure. Another form of giving dāna is to offer service, and if you are interested in providing support in a non-financial way, we invite you to contact us.
Conversely, if you are financially secure, we invite you to generate merit by providing more financial support to the Triple Gem. Contributions like these make the difference in supporting our teachers, teachings, and center.
Learn more about the practice of dāna here.
In a traditional model of in-person teachings, a retreat center or urban meditation center invites teachers to visit. In these cases the centers have infrastructure and organization costs to cover, which might be covered by an admin fee. For the teaching itself, dāna to the teachers is offered in a bowl. This honors both the sustainability of the teachers, and of the supporting center.
We’ve tried to recreate this approach online. The teachers’ time and the teaching themselves are offered on the basis of dāna, separate to the admin fee. With our dāna offering we are making a direct gift of generosity to the teachers to support their teachings and livelihood.
The admin fee* goes to support the infrastructure and organization necessary to support them to teach. As anyone with an online business will know, it can be surprising the costs of setting up a good infrastructure to support effective teaching and connection online. The admin fee changes based on date of registration.
*We also do not wish to exclude anyone from the Teachings, so if you are not currently in a financial position to afford the admin fee, please contact the course Registrar via registrar@planetdharma.com so we can support you to attend.
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Below are a few of the work and benefits that your admin fee payment is supporting:
- high speed internet (to allow interviews and classes on-line)
- online class systems (Zoom)
- registration / admin systems (Eventbrite, Basecamp)
- communication systems to keep everyone informed, share connection details, teachings and other resources (Mailchimp)
- online storage (for example, Dropbox, to allow us to let students watch recordings, and to store and share selected teachings in other forms such as podcasts and video later, and Amazon cloud)
- quality sound, video and editing equipment (both for live teachings and to provide good enough quality for later sharing as podcasts and video). We are regularly updating our equipment to improve your user experience.
- online calendar booking system to allow students to book interviews
- website hosting and maintenance for sharing upcoming courses, teachings, blogs and other resources.
We welcome any questions. May all our efforts be sustainable, abundant and for the benefit of all beings!
Specific times may change – this is a rough guide (MST)
6:30 – 7:30 AM: Walk &/or Personal Practice
7:30 – 8:15 AM: Breakfast: Prepare, eat, clean up
8:15 – 8:45 AM: Walk &/or Personal Practice
9:00 – 10:00 AM: Class with Teachers
10:00 – 10:30 AM: Walk
10:30 – 11:30 AM: Group Practice led by Sangha
11:30 – 12:30 PM: Personal Practice
12:30 – 1:30 PM: Lunch: Prepare, eat, clean up
1:30 – 3:00 PM: Personal Practice
3:00 – 4:00 PM: Group Practice led by Sangha
4:00 – 5:30 PM: Personal Practice
5:30 – 7:00 PM: Dinner: prepare, eat, clean up
7:00 – 7:30 PM: Walk &/or Personal Practice
7:30 – 8:30 PM: Group Practice and Q & A with Teachers
8:30 – Beyond: Personal Practice & bed
Click here for details on how to get here, what to bring and what to expect.
We recognize and respect plant medicine as an important part of some people’s spiritual paths.
Please note, the meditation practice on this retreat is very powerful. Consuming mind-altering substances will detract from your experience and could cause negative side-effects.
We ask that you refrain from microdosing or consuming mind-altering substances during this retreat and in the days immediately following it.
We aim to make our retreats as accessible as possible.
As a centre run entirely by Karma Yoga (selfless service), retreat fees only cover food, accommodation and the equipment required to offer them online. We do not have paid staff.
The teachings themselves are offered on the basis of Dāna (pay-from-the-heart).
For some, this is still a barrier of entry.
If you are seeking financial assistance to attend a retreat, please complete a Scholarship Application form.
