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Beginner books on traditional astrology?

1 by Olivia
People have been asking me about beginning books for traditional astrology, and I'm coming up empty here.

Joseph Crane - not something I'd throw at someone who doesn't know what a sign glyph is. Read a supposed intro to trad astrology by Kevin Burk, but it's modern astrology with dignities thrown in and he doesn't even define the dignities right (face and term are all messed up).

I haven't taken Zoeller's foundations course (not the diploma one, I mean the intro to astrology one). It's a bit more pricey than I was looking for, but could someone who doesn't know astrology or doesn't know it past sun signs follow it?

Other suggestions?

Thanks.

2 by Deb
For someone who doesn?t know much more than sunsigns and is really on the first steps, I would recommend Joanna Watter?s ?Astrology for Today? ? review here:
http://www.skyscript.co.uk/aft.html

It?s a beginner?s book, so its first steps only, but it was written by a member of the Company of Astrologers so it is a good, reliable introduction, that doesn?t offer anything which needs to be unlearnt later.

4 by Deb
I would completely agree with that for someone who is a bit more advanced, and thought about recommending that one myself. But I don't think it is a good book for someone who is learning from scratch. They wouldn't understand what John is arguing against.

I'm also thinking that the need to argue the traditional cause is past - we should just get on with offering good, consistent and reliable information that is free from internal debates and attacks. Beginners really don't need that. They get confused enough.

5 by yuzuru
Hi, Olivia

My three completely contradictory opinions about the subject...

Maybe people should be expected to sweat a little? After all, there is all kinds of information all over internet, so if a person can?t understand a book like the one from Joseph, maybe they aren?t ready to be in the game?

Or maybe you could write the few annotations that you feel are necessary...

I made a course for students of astrology, and indeed there are a lot of misunderstanding in very simple factors. People who theorically are studing astrology for many years don?t know how to pinpoint if the moon is full or new. But this kind of thing you can only know by asking.

end of my ramblings.
Meu blog de astrologia (em portugues) http://yuzuru.wordpress.com
My blog of astrology (in english) http://episthemologie.wordpress.com

6 by Olivia
Yuzuru - I have been writing bits and bobs on things like via combusta, void of course, how the house rulerships work, and some introductions to dignities - what they are, what the different ones mean, etc.

Which I'll likely keep doing, knowing me.

Granted, if somebody wants to become an astrologer, yes, they're going to have to have a level of - uh - geekiness? - that we all have here. But I see no reason why an introductory book should scare somebody off the subject completely!

I realise it can't contain everything, but it would be nice to have a book that gives a decent outline of traditional astrology that's actually - traditional astrology - and can be understood by any reasonably intelligent person wanting to know something about the subject.

Deb, I agree with you about Frawley - I found Real Astrology to be great fun, but it wasn't my first astrology book. Had it been, I probably would have been lost. Haven't read Joanna Watters' text, but I'm putting it on my list - thank you.

8 by Tom
Two things, I agree with Deb's comment that a complete beginner wouldn't understand what John is arguing against, but I also think that his attacks on modern astrology obscure the bigger point in TRA and that is the loss of spirituality, but that too is beyond a beginner.

Secondly, I don't know of a good beginner's book on traditional astrology that doesn't assume some background on the part of the student. We need such a book. It doesn't have to include attacks or controversy. It need only explain the traditional viewpoint and give basic instruction on how it is implemented and point the direction for further study. The moderns have shelves full of books that all say the same thing. We don't have really anything for starting from the very beginning. Perhaps a query to a publisher might be in order.

Tom

9 by Estebon_Duarte
Dr. Dykes used to offer a digital text called "Using Medieval Astrology" that was supposed to be volumes of works, I have the first installment, though I believe he is in the process of revising it.
The copy I have is simple in its relating of techniques and not so much of the "why".
Western Predictive Astrology by Estebon Duarte Independent Researcher AMA MACAA
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www.organic-astrology.com

10 by Mark
I realise it can't contain everything, but it would be nice to have a book that gives a decent outline of traditional astrology that's actually - traditional astrology - and can be understood by any reasonably intelligent person wanting to know something about the subject.
The more I think about this the harder it is to think of something. As Tom suggests the book you describe probably hasn't been written yet.....

Deb's suggestion may be the most practical as a starting point.

Other books that I would mention might be Classical Astrology for Modern Living by Lee Lehman but that is more like a collection of articles. Again that assumes previous knowledge. The Real Astrology is a hilarious antidote to the excesses of modern astrology. However, its more an enjoyable treat once you have dealt with some basics. Another introductory book from a traditional perspective ,that tends to get forgotten, is George Noonan's 'Classical Scientific Astrology'.

I do have an issue with his assumption about the philosophical origins of astrology lying in Aristotle but that is somewhat beside the point here.

Here is detailed outline from the Astrology Center of America website:

http://www.astroamerica.com/ancient.html#n15

Have a read of it on google books for yourself.



Mark
Last edited by Mark on Sat Aug 08, 2009 8:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly

11 by mattG
I believe that Helena Avelar & Luis Ribeiro are writing a book in English on traditional astrology but I could not see any update on publication.They do practical lectures and workshops so the book probably would fit the bill.

Matt
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