Okay, not sure if this is the right place to put this . . . So, mods feel free to move this post if you must.

Okay, so I work at my local Goodwill and found/bought books on Astrology. Now, I have always found it interesting and decided to pursue learning how to do my own natal charts because I feel that the ones online are a bit too general/broad and not personal enough.

The books I bought are: The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need, Parkers' Astrology, The Instant Astrologer (without the CD), The Secret Language of Birthdays, and and another one which alludes my mind at the moment.

So I'm starting with Parkers' and I have NO clue where to begin! I'm reading but it's difficult to process the information and I feel a bit bogged down already.

Any suggestions on what I should do? I do not want to take a correspondence or online course for Astrology but want to do it on my own as a hobby. Also, any tips for developing my skills in this field?

Thank you!

I started with the Parkers book and a promise to say something about a chart, whilst not knowing where to start. I put something together best I could, not really believing a word of it. It didn't get the bad response I expected so I kept 'discovering' by wandering aimlessly about through various books, like you are doing, and repeating the experiment.

At this stage you are probably grappling to get an overview so any approach you take is the right one. It will all help you get familiar with the basic terminology, and to get an overall sense of what astrology is *supposed* to be about. If you are meant to be doing this then, in time, your instincts will lead you to where you are supposed to go for the next stage. There will be a process of defining the overview, then zooming in on details, then zooming out and redefining the overview, and so on, and so on. This may take several decades

My immediate advice - promise someone a chart judgement - that will give you the motivation to start paying attention quickly.

Welcome to the forum. We don't get many raw beginners here, but we don't care about your level of knowledge, only the level of sincerity in your interest.

Deb

Thanks Deb.

I'm really excited to be here.

I have made a plan to start out with my chart, then do my wife's, then do one of my friend's chart. Who knows, maybe I'll eventually do my family's charts then.

One of the biggest things that I realized so far is that Astrology is a science, and that it wouldn't interfere with my religious beliefs. So that was a much needed awakening.

So, I'm really looking forward to getting my foot in the door. At least I have somewhere to come and ask questions when I'm unsure.

Deb wrote:

This may take several decades.

Indeed so! And the learning never stops!

SteveS

Steve wrote:Deb wrote:

This may take several decades.

Indeed so! And the learning never stops!

SteveS

That sounds like a lifetime of learning that suits me. I love to learn. I think life would be so boring without education. If I had enough time in the day and in my lifetime I would learn EVERYTHING! LOL!

I can't say that I am any expert on astrology. I first got into it with any seriousness when I was 14. I found a book in my public library. Then I read another book. After a few months I had read dozens of books. Some were good. Some were OK. Some were pretty amateurish.

But my advice to the OP is this: just read, read, read It might be a tradebook at a popular level. It might be a more advanced book. But all reading is good. There is no point IMHO getting into any chart interpretation until you have the basics under your belt: what the sun signs are, the planetary symbolisms and so on.

After a few months of reading a lot something interesting will probably happen. Rather than saying "mars is Aries" etc you get a "deeper" intuition for how the symbols of astrology come together. This will enable you to skip the "cookie cutter verbal" approach and allow you to do "intuitive jumps" of understanding. For instance if you have a friend and she reminds you of a certain sun sign you will realise this intuitively; there won't be a long list in your mind of that sun sign = ....

Linda Goodman probably writes OK books for a beginner level.
For a more advanced treatment of astrology I would recommend anything by Liz Greene.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth. I am no expert. I have never studied astrology formally. Transits are foreign to me. But I hope that it helps.

pisceanfish wrote:I can't say that I am any expert on astrology. I first got into it with any seriousness when I was 14. I found a book in my public library. Then I read another book. After a few months I had read dozens of books. Some were good. Some were OK. Some were pretty amateurish.

But my advice to the OP is this: just read, read, read It might be a tradebook at a popular level. It might be a more advanced book. But all reading is good. There is no point IMHO getting into any chart interpretation until you have the basics under your belt: what the sun signs are, the planetary symbolisms and so on.

After a few months of reading a lot something interesting will probably happen. Rather than saying "mars is Aries" etc you get a "deeper" intuition for how the symbols of astrology come together. This will enable you to skip the "cookie cutter verbal" approach and allow you to do "intuitive jumps" of understanding. For instance if you have a friend and she reminds you of a certain sun sign you will realise this intuitively; there won't be a long list in your mind of that sun sign = ....

Linda Goodman probably writes OK books for a beginner level.
For a more advanced treatment of astrology I would recommend anything by Liz Greene.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth. I am no expert. I have never studied astrology formally. Transits are foreign to me. But I hope that it helps.

I'm also a beginner when it comes to astrology! So the information above is very reassuring as this is exactly what I wanted to hear, because this is what I've been doing and I wasn't sure if I was going about learning astrology the right way. I've read books by Liz Green, could any one recommend any thing else I should read?

cancerianbaby wrote:I'm also a beginner when it comes to astrology! So the information above is very reassuring as this is exactly what I wanted to hear, because this is what I've been doing and I wasn't sure if I was going about learning astrology the right way. I've read books by Liz Green, could any one recommend any thing else I should read?

If you want a different perspective, try On the heavenly spheres by Avelar and Ribeiro. Of the hundreds of English-language beginner's books on astrology out there, this one is (to my knowledge) the only one presenting astrology as it was practised from its inception up to the turn of the last century.

Wow thanks for that, you have definitely saved me alot of time trying to search for that, I'm really interrested into how astrology was first discovered, just wondering but is there a great difference in the way astrology was practiced from when it was first discovered compared to how it is practiced now?

The Theosophical Society often has beginner level astrology classes as well, at a minimal cost that covers materials. It would be worth a Google for a Theosophical branch in your area.

pisceanfish wrote:The Theosophical Society often has beginner level astrology classes as well, at a minimal cost that covers materials. It would be worth a Google for a Theosophical branch in your area.

Just checked to see I have got a thesophical society near me, and I'm glad to report that I do indeed have one! Hopefully I'l be available to go theit next meeting, thanks for the tip.

Glad to help!

Also, if you are in a pinch a good free program to make astrology charts is ZET 9 Lite. It's a free internet download.