Sometime
around the middle of the 1970s, a San Francisco entrepreneur had the idea
of selling individual chandelier ornaments as personal jewelry,
the start of the crystals craze that was still going strong in the New-Age
'80s. Another budding entrepreneur, Jim Lewis, saw this idea as an opportunity
to finance an astrological vision he had - plotting individual horoscopes
on a map of the world. Jim sold the crystals on street corners around the
Berkeley campus and trekked across country with a friend to
make sales to gift shops, living on a shoestring budget and putting as
much of the crystal money as he could in the bank. These funds were eventually
used to finance the magazine ads that sold his first Astro*Carto*Graphy
maps to the public.
The energy Jim
put it into the this enterprise was matched in countless other projects
he was involved in over his lifetime. Foremost among these where astrologers
are concerned was the Association for Astrological Networking (AFAN), started
by Jim and others in the early 1980s. At that time, there
was concern among many (particularly in the US) that existing astrological
organizations often did not address certain matters of vital importance
to astrologers, particularly in regard to astrology's public image and
its legal status. AFAN's founders knew that new organizations driven at
first by a passionate vision often settle into a comfortable routine of
collecting dues, sending out newsletters and holding conferences, eventually
setting aside the vision and, in the process, leaving unattended many questions
crucial to astrologers in their work and in their lives. Those organizing
AFAN faced the problem of starting a new organization that could concentrate
on those important issues while avoiding organizational problems which
might distract them from this.
AFAN became the
means of addressing those questions, especially those concerned with astrology's
public image and its status before the law. Its unique "network" structure
was designed to keep it focused on its central issues, avoiding accumulations
of power or self-interest within the organization that might divert it
from these. It continues today, fifteen years later, as a legacy from Jim
and the many others who started and nurtured it, with its vision and purpose
still intact.
Jim's dedication in this area of his life was matched in everything he
did, and he was just as passionately involved in other projects, such as
working for the rights of HIV-positive prisoners in the California penal
system. But this dedication was not reserved just for groups, as he was
always ready to give his time, a sympathetic ear, or a shoulder to cry
on, to any friend in need. More than that, he was a witty, engaging companion
at dinner, or on a tour of some local site when he came visiting. His friends
miss him, but his work continues in this book, in AFAN, and via "Continuum,"
which provides resources on locational astrology and makes grants for various
purposes to the astrological community.
For
his development of Astro*Carto*Graphy, Jim received the first Marc Edmund
Jones award in 1978, and a Regulus Award for Research and Innovation at
UAC 1992. Prior to his death in 1995, Jim's colleagues voted to present
him the AFAN Service Award, which has since been renamed the Jim Lewis
Community Service Award.
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