Astrological Essays, page 2

Astrological Essays:

Page 1

Page 2

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Here are more essays on astrological themes.

	THE IMAGINAL COSMOS: Astrology, divination & the sacred - Edited by Angela Voss & Jean Hinson Lall, $37.99 Contents: Preface & acknowledgements Introduction by Geoffrey Cornelius 1. The cosmic sense - Joseph Milne 2. Rising to the occasion: Appearance, emergence, light & divination in Hellenistic astrology - Dorian Geisler Greenbaum 3. The talisman: Magic & true philosophers - Gregory Shaw 4. Divination, enchantment & Platonism - Patrick Curry 5. The cock & the chamelon - Divination, Platonism & postmodernism - Maggie Hyde 6. Astrology, astronomy & magic as the motivation for the scientific Renaissance of the 12th century - Charles Burnett 7. The weave of fate: Sixteenth century prognostications & twentieth-century prediction in the context of western esotericism - Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke 8. C.G. Jung's visionary mysticism - Leon Schlamm 9. Does prophecy have a future? - Frank McGillion 10. Watering the roots of astrological theory & practice: Gaston Bachelard's contribution to a philosophy of divination - Jean Hinson Lall 11. Love, alchemy & planetary attraction - Liz Greene 12. Father Time & Orpheus - Angela Voss About the contributors Comment: These were the papers presented at the international conference held at the University of Kent in October, 2004. From the back: In this volume new theories & methods for the study of divination are suggested: most significantly, a phenomenological approach, which considers divinatory knowledge & practice on its own terms. As many of the authors are practitioners of astrology & divination, the divide between 'etic' and 'emic' perspectives begins to close, pointing towards a new methodology not only for divination, but for religious studies in general. Many of the papers give prominence to the role of imagination as the organ of symbolic insight, locating divination in the mundus imaginalis of theopany & revelation. The relationship of creative imagination with the sacred is deeply rooted in Western esoteric traditions & practices which unite religion, philosophy & psychology. From this perspective, divinatory vision may be explored by looking both inwards and outwards: from the alchemical symbolism at work in human relationships to history, cosmology & science. I think I will let this stand as an indication of what you will find in the book, which, as one would expect, is academic. University of Kent, 158 pages.

	ASTROLOGY & THE AUTHENTIC SELF: Integrating traditional & modern astrology to uncover the essence of the birth chart - Demetra George, $24.95 Contents: Acknowledgements Prologue: Essence of heartdrops Introduction: A blueprint for the essential meaning of the chart Part 1: Laying the foundation 1. The grammar of astrology 2. Determining planetary condition Part 2: Establishing the framework 3. An overview of the chart 4. The ascendant, its ruler, and the life direction 5. The Sun, the Moon, and the life purpose 6. Timing by transits & progressions Part 3: Building the structure 7. The lunation phases 8. Fortune, lunar nodes & eclipses 9. Mythic asteroid archetypes 10. Aspect patterns 11. Analyzing relationship & vocation 12. Timing by solar returns & annual profections 13. The finished structure Part 4: The person who lives in the chart 14. Encountering your clients 15. The healing power of myth to address suffering Epilogue: The astrologer as counselor Appendices: A. How to determine your natal & progressed lunation phases B. Resources for the study of asteroids Endnotes Bibliography Glossary Comment: This book is intended to make you a better counseling astrologer. You have a client. You have one hour. What can you do? My intention is to suggest an utterly simple, clear, logical method for discerning the purpose of a life as indicated in the astrological birth chart. My model employs the methods & criteria of traditional astrology to provide a solid structural foundation for the insights of modern psychological approaches, which aim at healing the psyche. (pg. 10) There are many words in this book, but let's cut to the chase. George develops her thesis, step by step, with the aid of the chart of Bill, born November 17, 1939, 8:30 am Mountain time, Seneca, Nebraska: 42N03, 100W50. Here is what I think is the final distillation of his chart: Bill was born during a crescent moon phase, and his life is characterized by a struggle to establish his own identity apart from familiar, social & cultural expectations. By acceessing the resurces available in his immediate environment, he can develop new talents, skills & abilities that give him the means by which to move beyond the old and familiar into new uncharted territory that stimulates his curiosity. Cultivating focus and perserverance can help keep him progressing in a forward dirction, and his final challenge is to take advantage of the many opportunities that present themselves by taking action upon them. By progression, Bill is almost halfway through a thirty year cycle that began in October 1992, when the progressed New Moon heralding the beginning of a new cycle and the release of a new vision occurred in his second house of livelihood. He ceased working for others and began working for himself, putting his video and computer skills into creative endeavors. Currently near the end of the progressed Gibbous phase (October 2004 to March 2008), he has been refining and perfecting his techniques of operation, and becoming as skillful as he can in his chosen field of expression. He has been called to do the "finishing work" on the structure he has been building since 1992. He has assembled all of his early films and made new prints of them, using the latest state-of-the-art technology. He has also completed the renovation of the building that houses the international household. In March 2008, he enters the progressed Full Moon phase, halfway around the thirty year cycle. Over the next four years, the content of his vision becomes infused in the form he has built. It will be through his conscious relationships with other people that he will illuminate his larger meaning in his life. (pgs. 233-4) I heard that George, famous for her work with asteroids, had embraced Hellenistic astrology, but despite that, she writes dreck. When this book was published in 2008, the subject, Bill, was 68 years old. (As I write these notes on November 30, 2008, he has just turned 69.) Tell a 68 year old man he is halfway through a 30 year "new vision" process & if the guy has any brains and/or self-respect, he will leave the room in disgust. And why, exactly, would someone at the peak of his career consult an astrologer about that career? We consult astrologers with problems. Bill doesn't seem to have a problem with his career. George is an advocate of what she calls "whole sign" houses. In practice, that means that Bill's chart, given on pg. 22, has 0 degrees of each sign for the house cusps, starting with the ascendant at 0 Sagittarius. It's actually 16 Sag, presuming that 8:30 am is more-or-less correct. (Hello Demetra! Whole signs can still have cusps - your choice of house system.) Jupiter, which she repeatedly places in 4, is actually in 3. Angles matter, and precise time matters. (Greeks drew charts for Alexandria. That's 11 degrees further south than Seneca. Hellenistic advocates need to learn geography & what that means in a chart.) George correctly observes that rectification by accidents is worthless, but can it be that in Hellenistic astrology there are no techniques for rectification by trait? (Anybody know? - I despair!) Which I myself have been doing for years? In Bill's chart, the ruler of the 7th, Mercury, is in Sag just off the first house cusp. That's a bright, chirpy, brainless wife who is enternally underfoot, but, dead conjunct Venus, Bill loves her anyway. Did Pluto's transit over both of them, October/November 2001 (over the ascendant two months later), result in the death of a beloved spouse, which, years later, propelled him to seek astrological counsel? Given George's own sketch, Bill didn't come to her for employment advice. Ibis/Weiser/RedWheel, 319 pages.

	NOT A SIGN IN THE SKY BUT A LIVING PERSON - Marc Robertson, $9.00 From the back cover: "This book is not about "signs" or "planets" or "houses," except as SYMBOLS of human functions to be found in LIVING PEOPLE....the material here will show you how to find a LIVING PERSON in those mysterious symbols we call astrology." 31 pages. AFA, oversize paper.

	THE HEAVENS DECLARE: Astrological Ages & the Evolution of Consciousness - Alice O. Howell, $16.95 Contents: Foreword by Sylvia Brinton Perera; Preface; Acknowledgments; Note to the reader Part 1: The Astrological Signs: 1. The ring of quiddity; 2. Circles, cycles & spirals; 3. The elements: four levels of being; 4. Fire: light, life, love; 5. Water: fluctuation, femininity fruition; 6. Air: idea, intelligence, intellect; 7. Earth: stuff, structure, stability; 8. Some reflections; 9. Pathology & healing; 10. The houses. Tables: A. The natural zodiac; B. The Planets; C. The Astrological Signs; D. Fixed, Cardinal & Mutable Signs; E. Fire, Air, Earth, Water Signs. Part 2: The Astrological Ages: 11. The evolution of consciousness through the astrological ages; 12. Love & fear: The Age of Cancer; 13. Consciousness & choice: The Age of Gemini; 14. Property & resurrection: The Age of Taurus; 15. The celestial roundup; 16. Ego & justice: The Age of Aries; 17. Faith & reason: The Age of Pisces; 18. Individual & cosmos: The Age of Aquarius; 19. The gift of a streetlamp. Glossary; Bibliography; Index. Comment: Reading the preface, we learn this book was written in response to the belief that "end times" were/are upon us as we enter the 21st century. The book is to reassure us that life will continue, that the world will not end in 2012 - a date mentioned by Howell in this book, and by others elsewhere. According to Howell, 2012 could be the start of the Age of Aquarius. In the Note to the Reader, the author writes, This book consists of two sections. The first is an informal explanation of the twelve astrological signs, the impeccable logic that underlies them, and their value to a therapist as a diagnostic tool as well as a guide to self-acceptance & fulfillment.... The second section concerns the majestic unfolding of the evolution of the collective unconscious. The tables between the two sections are for a handy reference to anyone unfamiliar with the basics of astrology. So we skip directly to the good stuff, the second section. I found the book typical of many of its sort. If you have read expositions of the astrological ages before, you will find this book similar. I myself have done extensive work in this area and rather than debate the finer points, I will say only that Howell views all her Ages through a solidly Piscean perspective. I would be more apt to set aside time to write the definitive treatise on the Astrological Ages (all 12 of them) if I sensed any demand for it. Quest Books, 281 pages.

	THE ZODIAC WITHIN EACH SIGN - Frances Sakoian & Louis Acker, $10.00 "It should be clear that there is much more to astrological interpretation than the mere sign positions of planets or house cusps. ONLY by considering such fine points as the decanate and duad placements of the planets and house cusps, as well as their proximity to fixed stars, and the interpretation of their degree placements, can astrologers achieve the high standard of detailed accuracy and the overall synthesis of interpretation that is the hallmark of a high-quality professional." 142 pages. No publisher listed, paper.

	ASTROLOGY, ALCHEMY & THE TAROT - John Sandbach, $5.95 From the back cover: "Like a dreamweaver, Sandbach takes the reader along a soft, jewelled journey through the celestial archives of universal understanding. Using the ancient symbolism of the tarot as a point of focus, and its correlation to the signs and planets of astrology, the author skillfully shows how each carries within in an ultimate seed for personal transformation." 87 pages. Seek-It, paper.

	HIDDEN MESSAGES - Maxine Taylor, $12.00 Contents: Programming; Our mother's messages (through the moon and Pluto); Our father's messages (through the sun); Messages from authority figures ( through Saturn, and the fourth and tenth houses); Message example charts. 77 pages including suggested readings and author profile. AFA, paper.

	DEAR MAE R., A TREASURY OF ASTROLOGICAL LETTERS - Mae R. Wilson-Ludlam, $22.00 Contents: Life as an astrologer; Academic astrology; Astrology and religion; Using astrology to solve problems; Relationships; Marriage; Vocation and career; Finances; Transits changing lives; Astrology and healing; Astrologers seeking advice; Spiritual matters; Reply to a telephone question; Confidential replies; Keywords; Eclipses; Transiting retrograde cycles. 264 pages. AFA, paper.

	YOU'RE NOT A PERSON, JUST A BIRTH CHART (cartoons) - Paul Newman, $11.00 Many of these originally appeared in The Mountain Astrologer. Wessex Astrologer, paper.

	NEPTUNE & A CENTURY OF AMERICAN MUSIC - Diane A. & Rudy Flack, $6.00 Contents: Overture; The evolution of American music with the passage of the planet Neptune; United States chart; Neptune through the signs; The 20th Century: Neptune in Gemini; Neptune in Cancer, Neptune in Leo; Neptune in Virgo; Neptune in Libra; Neptune in Scorpio; Neptune in Sagittarius; Neptune in Capricorn; Neptune in Aquarius; Reprise; Appendix. Comment: The American chart used is the one for 2:13:32 am LMT, Philadelphia, July 4, 1776, with 7 degrees, 12 minutes Gemini rising. As has been determined, at that hour on that day all those assembled in Philadelphia were, in fact, sound asleep (or should have been), but the early morning chart has long been a favorite with astrologers. The Flacks have divided American pop musical history into Neptune-ish segments, they do a good job of illuminating Neptune's musical influence over the decades. A is A Publishing, 34 pages, comb-bound.

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