We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thought.
With our thoughts, we make our world.

About Astraea

We help clients transform themselves and their systems. We deliver whole system change addressing body, mind and spirit or the physical, intellectual and emotional spheres in both people and organisations.

We are a small organisation with two principals: Tom, a financial engineer/venture capitalist turned social entrepreneur and Pam, a business administrator and writer turned yoga teacher and health advisor. We have a wide network of collaborators spanning Europe, Asia and America. Our home base is a nature sanctuary in Ireland.

We focus on investment due diligence (SRI of course) and business organisation, education (especially Pestalozzian model), holonic systems, and community design (natural design and modern eco-village). We also offer offer holidays and retreats at our nature sanctuary, Ballin Temple.

What is Astraea?

Astraea is a social/eco/green business and a web-based information portal.

Our business is focussed on education, training and advice to help people and organisations live more healthily and happily.

We offer

retreats in a nature sanctuary
coaching for people and transformation for business,
presentation of big picture thinking and holonic technologies,
investment services and financial advice and training,
yoga,
health consulting
community design.

We have an open technology policy so you will find a lot of information on this site and, for finance and investment focussed resources, GRI Equity (Globally Responsible Initiative Equty).

Our web-based information portal, Astraea.net, therefore offers information and commentary on body, mind and spirit:

Body explores our physical dimension of existence - the body's physiology in practical terms - diet, exercise, illness, cosmetics etc.
Mind explores our intellectual dimension - the science, technology and art of the human world - money, IT, education, built environment, economics, politics etc.
Spirit explores our spiritual dimension of existence - the emotional and metaphysical cosmic connections, a "meaning of life", the intangibles of existence.

And if you like our way of thinking, The Big Picture Story, you may enjoy our regular blog Blogging The Big Picture or returning to the holonics section where new thinking emerges and we bring it all together.

Contact info is here.

What * Why * Who * Name

Why is Astraea?

Simply put:
Without ethics, it is pragmatic to behave in a sustainable manner.
It is to an individual's advantage to respond to the laws of nature, not merely advantageous for the population to operate sustainably. It is necessary for the population to operate sustainably.

Global consumption patterns increasingly demand sustainable solutions. Many of these sectors are among the fastest growing markets such as organic food, alternative energy, low emission paints and chemicals, complimentary medicine, etc... Individuals and organisations that adopt globally responsible behaviour tend to perform better. In the case of individuals that means enjoying life and living longer, in the case of organisations it means better financial performance and happier stakeholders. (GRI Equity, our finance and investment focus, offers information on sustainable business development and investment management.)

The rationale behind Astraea is continually evolving together with humanity's rapidly changing world. It came together against a background of a fair understanding of many technologies, a fair opportunity to learn from historical experience and an efficient infrastructure to store and disseminate ideas. This phenomenon is increasingly available to all people (especially people that have access to a computer - who also account for the majority of human economic activity, but in general to anyone with regular access to radio, TV, newspaper). A good introduction to similar ideas is "What is gaia?" by Prof. James Lovelock.

Astraea appreciates life. The ideas that stimulated Astraea's realisation have been developed most during the recent centuries. These include a broad array of technologies from biology to economics to geography to philosophy etc. The learning from experience, which is necessary to an understanding of technology, is also accessible. And today, technology is accessible easily and cheaply to all through the global web of communication and information infrastructure, including TV, radio, printed media, telecommunications etc. (go to noosphere.)

At our core is the BIG PICTURE - a discussion of the ideas that motivate us. To see Astraea's "raison d'etre" - a comprehensive review of the mass of ideas that crystallised at the same time that Astraea germinated - please see The Big Picture Story.

What * Why * Who * Name