Book List/Review

Book List/Review

When I first became interested in astrology I haunted used bookstores and tag sales in search of any book I could find on the subject. I did my own calculations, drawing charts by hand for years. Even though I was fortunate to have studied with some gifted and inspirational teachers along the way, and now have a computer with software to assist me, I treasure the nearly 200 astrology books I've added to my personal library over the last 15 years. Though dog-eared and worn they remain my dearest friends. ~ Seacrone

To help you get started:

Sakoian & Acker's: 'The Astrologer's Handbook', Harper & Row, along with which you will need:

1. American Atlas - U.S. Lat./Long.

Time Changes & Times Zones (Shanks) ACS

(To look up lat/long. of where you were born)

2. Int'l Atlas (Same as above,but for the world)

3. Ephemeris for 20th Century - 1900 - 2000 (Neil F. Michelson) ACS

(To look up planets and Sidereal Time of your Birth)

Now that it's 2004, you will need the 21st Century edition as well)

4. Book of Tables - to determine your Ascendant and MH and Houses

(Mine is Dalton's Tables of Houses, by AFA)

Ronald Davison's:'Classic Guide to Understanding your Horoscope'

Isabel Hickey's: 'Astrology - A Cosmic Science' - Fellowship House(has been reprinted by now)

Marion March & Joan McEver's Series: 'The Only way to learn Astrology':*

Vol. I: Basic Principles

II: Math & Interp. Techniques

III: Horoscope Analysis

*Note: There are of course many ways to learn astrology, and as many astrologers as there are books to teach it, this just happens

to be the title they chose for their series.

For more on Aspects: Robert Pelletier's: 'Planets in Aspect',

Jeanne Avery's: 'Astrological Aspects, How Planetary Relationships Illuminate Human Behavior', AFA

Karen Hamaker-Zondag's 'Aspects and Personality', Weiser Pub.

For more on Transits: Robert Hand's: 'Planets in Transit'

Losis Rodden's: 'Modern Transits', AFA

Progressions: The late Sophia Mason's: 'Delineation of Progressions"

and the late Alan Leo's: 'The Progressed Horoscope' (his books are very hard to find, but I managed to find a set of his works at a used book store years ago along with an old leather bound copy of Cornell's 'Encyclopedia of Medical Astrology'.

To help you understand more about the Lunar Phases that I talk about here, and to help you determine the Lunation Phase you were born during (or contact me), try:

Demetra George's: 'Finding our Way Through the Dark', ACS

'Mysteries of the Dark Moon' , Harper & Collins

'Asteroid Goddesses', ACS

Emily Faugno's: 'Your Fertile Hours' (which shows you how to use your Sun/Moon angle at birth for natural birth control), AFA

These are just the tip of the iceburg. I hope they help plant seeds of astrological interest in your hearts and help to get your feet wet. Questions? Want to learn more? Get in touch with me at seacrone@starcrones.com

Herbal Wisdom/Women Studies:

Susan Weed's: 'Menopausal Years, The Wise Woman Way', Ashtree Publishing (her other books, along with other wise women authors such as Juliette de Bairacli Levy can be found at her website) which I highly recommend. I used her 'Herbal for the Childbearing Year' throughout my last two pregnancies and homebirths.

Christine Northrup, M.D., 'Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom', Bantam

Luisa Teish's: 'Jambalaya', Harper & Row

My own current personal interests and areas of astrological study/work are Uranian Astrology (Midpoints, 90 and 360 degree dials) Asteroids &Transneptunes. I also enjoy working with Lunar Phases, Lunar Returns, Pre-Natal Eclipses, etc. I find using Asteroids and Transneptunes helps to bring a chart to life with incredible detail.

*NEW* Christine Northrup, MD. and Author of Mother-Daughter Wisdom; Wisdom & Menopause; & Women's Bodies,Women's Wisdom recently announced Meg Wolff's new memoir and cookbook: "Becoming Whole". Christine notes.." that it is an accurate and fearless account of what it takes to embrace life fully and heal every cell in your body." You can check out Meg's website at www.megwolff.com

seacrone@starcrones.com

WHAT I'M READING THESE DAYS:

Nope, I didn't just get off the boat.....but I wish I was on one sometimes, especially in Venice.....For now I'll settle for our old sailboat and Little Naragansett Bay.

WHAT I'M READING THESE DAYS (ON OR OFF THE BOAT): 2008 'Angles and Prediction' Delineations of Angular Manifestation: Planets, Transneptunians & Asteroids, by Martha Lang-Wescott, Treehouse Mountain 552 pages of Bliss to those of us whose passion extends to all things Uranian, including Transneptunes & Asteroids (which would be moi, of course). 'Dial Detective', Investigation with the 90 degree dial, by Maria Kay Simms, ACS Pub. Although I've been messing about with using midpoints in natal charts for a while now, I've always wanted a copy of this book and came across one in a used book store. It's really great, because the methods of using the 90 degree dial are sometimes hard to convey/articulate and this provides a more visual demonstration. 'Rulers of the Horoscope', Finding Your Way through the Labyrinth, by Alan Oken, Ibis Books Good book for understanding more about derivative houses, planetary and house rulerships, dispositorships and mutual reception. 'Brady's Book of Fixed Stars', by Bernadette Brady, Weiser Books. An excellant resource for fixed stars and insight into how they may be used in the natal chart, includes Paran Maps and Star phases for over 60 stars. 'An Astrological Mandala', The Cycles of Transformations and its 360 Symbolic Phases, by the late Dane Rudhyar, Vintage Books. This is his reinterpretation of the Sabian symbols, presenting them as a contemporary American I CHING. Interesting. 'From the Ashes of Angels', The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race, by Andew Collins, Bear & Co. Books This book is the result of the author's 10 year study into the historical reality of an advanced civilization in Egypt and the Near East during prehistoric times. He discusses the possibility that Eden, Heaven and Paridise were once "earthly realms placed amid the mountains of Kurdistan" and discusses the origins of angels and fallen angels and the impact they may have had on the rise of civilization. ..."these human angels, known in ancient Judaic texts as Watchers and Nephilim, came originally from Egypt", and feels they may have been "flesh and blood beings responsible for the foundations of Western civilizations." Fascinating book. 2007

'Planets in Solar Returns', a Yearly Guide for Transformation & Growth'

by Mary Shea (ACS publications) - Mary was our recent guest at the Astrological Society of CT and gave a great lecture on electional astrology which prompted me to re-read her wonderful book/guide on Solar returns written in the early '90's (and which she has recently revised).

Re-reading: 'The Astrology of Family Dynamics', by Erin Sullivan, Weiser Books, York Beach, Maine.

Erin explores the psychology and dynamics of family patterns, how one can use planetary positions and aspects to track core themes in families in order to help discover potentionals that often go unoticed and which can help re-direct family interactions in a positive way.

Re-reading: 'Karmic Connections', and 'The Hades Moon', by Judy Hall(Weiser Books)

In 'Hades Moon', Judy Hall explores the archetypal symbolism of Pluto/Moon contacts in light of birth, death, re-birth, abandonment and rejections, karma, transformation and how they can play a role in enmeshed family patterns.

In 'Karmic Connections', Judy helps one to astrologically identify the history of certain relationships whose threads of karmic connections can sometimes be traced back through several lives/generations and where necessary how to release and/or begin to heal them.

'The Woman with the Alabaster Jar', 'Magdalene's Lost Legacy', 'The Goddess in the Gospels, and 'Mary Magdalene, Bride in Exile', all by Margaret Starbird - Bear & Co., Rochester, VT

Starbird sifts through layers of misidentification and misinformation re: the "exiled feminine" in order to reveal the long suppressed and opposed femine side of the Christian story. She explores sacred marriage (that which unites masculine and feminine principles) through the history, heraldry, symbolism, medieval art, mythology, psychology of the divine feminine.

David Pingree's translation of 'Dorotheus of Sidon, Carmen Astrologicum'

publ. by Astrology Classics

This book contains the earliest known astrological charts and a table of terms and triplicity rulers as well as one to calculate Dodecatemoria (twelfths of a sign). Dorotheus lived and flourished in the 1st century A.D. in Alexandria and wrote his Pentateuch (5 books) on astrology in Greek, in verse, (a century) before Ptolemy's writings.

'The Degrees of the Zodiac Symbolized' - A set by Charubel, A Set by Sepharial. Publ. by Astrology Classics*

This book was lst published in 1898. If you have used the late Marc Edmund Jones' or Dane Rudhyar's interpretations of the zodiac degrees than you will also certainly appreciate these two sets which pre-dated them.

'Planets on the Move', (ACS) Relocational Astrology by Maritha Pottenger & Zipporah Dobyns "When you change your place of residence you change your horoscope"

Claudius Ptolemy's 'Tetrabiblos'

The famous paraphrase by Proclus, translated by J.M. Ashmand, Astrology Classics Pubishing*

"Claudius Ptolemy (c.100 - c.178 AD) of Alexandria was one of the greatest philospher/scientists of the ancient world."

Johannes Schoener's: 'On the Judgments of Nativities',(Book 1) translated by Robert Hand (Arhat)

"Schoener was one of a group of astrologer/scholars who came together in Nuremberg, Germany at the end of the 15th and 16th centuries." (His Three Books on the Judgment of Nativities).." is a complete view of the techniques of Medieval Natal Astrology at its height of complexity and development."

Firmicus Maternus: 'Matheseos Libri VIII', translated by Jean Rhys Brum, Astrology Classics Publishing*

"Julius Firmicus Maternus was a Sicilian Roman lawyer of the senatorial class, circa 280- c.360 AD and a student of Greek astrology."

William Lilly's: 'Christian Astrology' (Books 1, 2 & 3) lst printed in 1647,

The 2004 reprint was done by Astrology Classics Publishing*

Lilly, the great 17th century English Astrologer is famous for this brilliant text on Horary Astrology.

*Astrology Classics Publishing is the imprint of the Astrology Center of America, on the net: www.Astroamerica.com