Beginning Astrology

1
This is my first post here, and I've been reading a lot of the articles here, and elsewhere, and I was just wondering can anyone recommend any good beginner books for Astrology, I did find one called 'The Complete Idiots Guide to Astrology' (as a download), but, I'm not too sure if it's any good or not. I would really appreciate any help.

BTW, I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this.

David.

2
It depends if you are interested in traditional or modern astrology.

As I am a traditional astrologer and skyscript has a lot of traditional matherial, I will recomend more traditional matherial:

Of course, a reading of the skyscript articles is a must, before start buying books like astrology for dummies ! :lala

The real astrology and the horary textbook by John Frawley

the martial art of horary astrology by Lee Lehman

Or to do the horary courses of Christopher Warnock or our dear Deborah Houlding.

AFTER you know at least what is horary astrology, then you will have the criteria to know what books are good or not, and what will be your next steps, like natal, mundane, or electional astrology.

Without the basics, you have the risk of becoming another "peregrine astrologer" going though books and workshops but without a solid foundation. A good horary course will give you technique and foundations.

My take on this at least, best regards
Meu blog de astrologia (em portugues) http://yuzuru.wordpress.com
My blog of astrology (in english) http://episthemologie.wordpress.com

Re: Beginning Astrology

3
David_2009 wrote:This is my first post here, and I've been reading a lot of the articles here, and elsewhere, and I was just wondering can anyone recommend any good beginner books for Astrology, I did find one called 'The Complete Idiots Guide to Astrology' (as a download), but, I'm not too sure if it's any good or not. I would really appreciate any help.

BTW, I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this.

David.
Dear David_2009

I have helped developing this program, astrology manual and video lessons. See this link below: all three are on this site. It's all free and online. Would be great to hear how you find them, are they understandable, clear etc. :)
Thanks and enjoy

http://astrology.clairvision.org/index.html :)

Namron

Learning Astrology

4
David,

Good you have made a start learning Astrology. Possibly KISS is best in early days - Keep It Simple Student. Once you can read the Glyths of the Planets and Signs it gets easier. My advice is to read and work at it a little each day - which helped me more than a long weekly session. If you can find a good teacher so much the better but you can do a lot for the self if you have the interest and dedication. Be Well,

sunflower :D

5
This site is the best one I've seen in the English language for astrology information, and even though I'm usually a lurker (except today, oddly, for some reason) the forum is terrific.

Julie's right - learning the glyphs and things like how to read an ephemeris and what a chart looks like will help a LOT. I found a download of Astrology for Dummies and it's really not half-bad for those kinds of basics.

Lee Lehman has a very good intro course to Classical Natal, too, if natal astrology is your thing. But you'll need the basics first - it's fairly demanding and does assume you know Aries from Taurus from the Moon.

7
Thanks for all the help, and the links, I definitely will take it simple at first, and learn the basics, I actually found the Renaissance Astrology site, and liked the articles there, when I have a bit more money, I might sign up for the course.

I really again want to thank you for the help you've been.

8
When I started astrology I almost immediately was attracted to the ideas of Johannes Kepler who was very reluctant and often rejected the use of houses and signs of the zodiac. Since most books pay the most attention tho these I felt I had to find out for myself. Perhaps this makes me one of those peregrine astrologers but I don't mind.

It's like learning to know about the different sorts of wine. You can read dozens of books about wine, but if you've never tasted one it always will remain theorical.

I simply looked in the future and in the past with the ephemeris to find what I felt during transits. After a while one starts to understand how each planet 'feels', and I now sometimes even recognize in others if they have some transit going on.

I think the '... for dummies' type books can be useful for a basic overview of the technical parts and what is done in astrology. Or just get an old book on the basics of the second hand bookstore. I also think that it's a good idea to read Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos (one of the translations on internet): http://www.geocities.com/astrologysourc ... /index.htm to get a taste of the basis of classical Western astrology. Not very easy to read but still interesting.

11
I do modern astrology and if I could give one book to a beginner it would be Steven Forrest, The Inner Sky. Wise, funny, loaded with common-sense, and still in print. It should be available in any large New Age book store, or via the major Internet book sellers.

BTW, I would love to hear from experienced traditional astrologers their favourite intro textbook; not for horary astrology (which I don't do) but for analyzing nativities. I know there is good material on line, but I prefer books to add to my collection if I can find them. I was just in a big New Age book store and found two books by Frawley, but they were principally critiques of modern astrology, not expositions of traditional astrology. Most of what is on bookstore shelves these days seems to be either modern or Vedic.

12
I personally think Frawley books are the best for starting.

I do not think that any student should begin with natal. Horary have all the important concepts and gears you toward practice. Frawley books are loaded with concepts understandable in a concrete way, which is important for anyone running from the excessive subjectivity of modern astrology. Although containing heavy criticism, it's fun as hell to read as well, and is totally anti new age, which I find most pleasing.

When going natal, aim for the ancient writers, they do better.