D.I.Y. Astrology
Books!
Astrology has been regulated to sidelines for much of our modern history. But now it seems to be having a renaissance. Astrology itself has been going through a revolution, making it a far more useful tool than it ever was.
Modern astronomy now lets us know the precise movements and locations of the planets in our solar system. Anyone can have access to that information. What’s more you can generate your chart yourself on the internet in just a few seconds. It used to be that the astrologer would have to consult an ephemeris, do all the math to calculate the angles and houses, and hand draw up a chart for a client. There was lots of room for error, which leads to incorrect prognosis. Once computers became available, astrologers would advertise their chart making services, usually through mail-ins tucked in the back of astrology books. You’d send them your 10$ and they’d mail your chart to you. Now there’s numerous websites where you can put your information in, and get an accurate chart complete with transits in just a moment.
The other good thing that happened to astrology was psychology. Earlier astrology tended to be a bit fatalistic in its description of certain planetary positions. For example…
Pluto Conjunct the Moon
Old Astrology: “Where did you hide the bodies?”
Modern Astrology: “You’re likely to have an interest in psychology, and feel vulnerable thinking of anyone noticing you’re really, really intense feelings. Here’s why….”
Astrologers during his lifetime, such a Grant Lewi and Dana Rudyhar were immediately interested in Jungian psychology and applied it to astrology right away. Then Jung and astrology slept for a long time. They woke up in the 1990’s.
It seems like certain ideas or arts have certain times. Everything has its season. Like the 70’s and jazz, or in the 1930’s it was freaky paintings. The 90’s were a big time for Jung and astrology . Up until the 90’s, Freud was considered “the man” in psychology and was the one most often followed in other disciplines such as literary criticism or sociology. For some reason in the 1990’s Freud’s ideas became outworn and people became much more interested in Jung. Interest also rose in pagan religion, witchcraft, alternative christianity, and astrology.
A lot of astrology books and psychology books I like were written in the late 80’s, 90’s and early 2000.
Jung said if you were going to be a therapist, and help people, you had to know everything about the world, and I think that’s true for astrologers and tarot readers too. People’s lives are so unique, it can be hard to step out of your mental habits and see their perspective. In facts, that’s one of the gifts I’ve received from reading cards and astrology charts all these years, I’ve seen that everyone is their whole own world. It’s amazing. I find continually educating myself helps me be a better astrologer and tarot reader. If I read the many different life stories that make up human history, it opens my mind, and I am more ready to see and recognize themes in people’s lives, even if it’s really different from my life and it’s ideas. I have found studying popular psychology books has really helped me in my practices and endeavors to help my friends. Psychology seems to not only explain how our minds work, but how actual life works.
When I was younger I read alot of New Age type books. These are of varying quality. I found some to be full of imaginative nonsense, and some were so P.C. and bland that none any of the description could be applied to anything, or nothing. But some of these books are really gems, practical, down-to-earth and full of good and useful content. I will share my finds here.
Beginners Astrology Books
Most of these books are pretty old. They’re probably out of print, and have to be bought used. I started studying astrology in 2011, and astrology wasn’t as popular then as it is now. There’s probably lots of great books that I don’t know about, because it’s too late for me to go and read a bunch of basic astrology books. These are the ones I learned on.
I think I learned the signs first. Once you learn the signs, learning the planets and houses is easy, because it’s the same information over again. My favorite book for learning the signs is “Astrology for Lover’s” by Liz Green. It’s such a nice read and I learned to differentiate the signs from reading this book. All of her books are fantastic, I have learned so much from this woman.
I also learn the signs from reading Dane Rudhyar. Dane Rudhyar was a magical astrologer from the last century. His stuff is…good, but super dense. And kinda weird. I did not read alot of his books. He’s considered the “pioneer of humanistic astrology” (wiki). He was the first one to have the, awesome, idea of bringing together Jungian psychology and astrology. I enthusiastically bought several of his books. The one I read was “Astrological Signs: The Pulse of Life”. That one was pretty good, and taught me to see how one sign flows into the next, and how the signs sort of each take their part in evolving life issues. You could see the how the whole series of astrological signs could describe a soul beginning in simplicity of consciousness and then going through a process of becoming more complex and individual. So, if you can get in the flow of his writing, it really is a good one for learning the signs. Another one I read is “The New Astrology”, by Taina Ketola. This one is definitely cheesy, but I still learned from it. “The Spiral of Life” by Joanne Wicked burg and Virginia Meyers is another good one. It’s a good overview of the elements of astrology, but its offerings are deep and psychologically complex.
It’s really fun to have a little flip book where you can quickly look up some stuff on someone’s chart. I love “The Darkside Zodiac” by Stella Hyde. It’s small, with perfect snarky descriptions of the lights and personal planets in the different signs. It’s hilarious. I wish she would write some longer, fattier books, because she really gets how those planetary placement work out in real life. Watch out though, the book itself is low quality, so expect your copy to fall apart.
One of the funnest thing about learning astrology is sharing it with friends. I love having books that we can pull out and quick look up the most significant aspects of friend’s charts. Some of these books are amazing. “Moon Phase Astrology” by Raven Kaldera is one of my favorites. He goes through each combination of Sun and Moon and gives a fascinating description of each one. Everyone loves that one. The other one that does the Sun and Moon combinations is “Heaven Knows What”, by Grant Lewi. It’s an old one, published in 1935, but I find it useful and amusing.
One of the most important things you can learn about your chart is about your Nodes. The Nodes of the Moon come in a pair, the North Node and the South Node. It is said that the Nodes show the direction of the soul, where it’s come from and where it’s going. Reading about the Nodes of the Moon in your chart is not a fun party activity, but it will help your life. My favorite Nodes book is “Astrology for the Soul”, by Jan Spiller. She gives an extremely thorough and plain description of each Nodal position. I have found it very helpful for knowing what’s the best advice to give my child. I try and help him move toward his North Node with suggestions I got from that book, and he does seem to find the advice calming and empowering.
Astrology For Lovers Liz Greene Weiser Books 2009
The Astrological Signs: The Pulse of Life Dane Rudhyar Shambhala Publications 1974
The New Astrology: Sun Signs Taina Ketola S.P.I. Books 1994
The Spiral of Life: Unlocking Your Potential With Astrology CRCS Publications 1987
The Darkside Zodiak Stella Hyde Weiser Books 2004
Moon Phase Astrology: The Key To Your Lunar Destiny Raven Kuldara Destiny Book 2011
Heaven Knows What Grant Lewi Llewellyn Publications 2002
Astrology for the Soul Jan Spiller Bantam 1997″
Book For Delineating A Chart
There’s a few books that I return to again and again when I’m trying to learn an astrology chart. My two favorite authors are Liz Greene and Sue Tompkins. It seems like they’re still publishing and reprinting books by Liz Greene which is great to see.
Most of these are astrological “cookbooks” where you can look up the planet and sign combinations or aspects and find out just want you want to know. You still have to add in the sign and house information yourself, when studying aspects, but that’s part of what makes these spiritual and intellectual puzzles so fun. Some people seem to think these cookbooks are a cheat, but how else will you learn? And I have learn so much, about astrology and people and life, from reading these books.
If you’re kind of new, or run into a really tricky combination, sometimes keywords can be useful. If you can sum up each element of a planetary position or aspect pattern with one word, you can make “astrological sentences”, and get work done. “Key Words in Astrology” by Hajo Banzhaf & Anna Haebler is not exactly an amazing read, but it is a good little handbook.
Sue Tompkins has written the two books I use the most when I’m starting out with a chart. Her “Contemporary Astrologer’s Handbook” and “Aspects in Astrology” are the textbooks of modern astrological technique. Everybody should know what she has to say about the planets and their positions in their charts.
Raven Kuldera’s other excellent astrology book is “Mythastrology”. In this book he takes each planet through all of the signs and describes each one in terms of the story of a god or goddess. He reaches through pantheons to bring the planetary positions to life. People resonate with these descriptions. It’s helped my understand complex placements such as Moon in Aquarius.
Karen Hamaker-Zondag is another amazing astrology author. Most of her books are a deep dive, but one of them is a useable “cookbook”.” Aspects and Personality” helps me figure out people’s little quirks.
Once you’re past the tangled handful of personal planets, it’s time to start wrestling with the giants and the angels. It’s the outer planets.
Jupiter and Saturn occupy the orbits outside the rocky planets. There’s them and some interesting astroids, like Chiron, before you get way out to Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
Jupiter and Saturn seem to be the planets that describe how we deal with and function in society. Most of what I know about Jupiter I learned from Sue Tompkins two books, where she covers Jupiter, its sign Sagittarius and house the 9th in great detail. THE book about Saturn is Liz Greene’s book, “Saturn: A New Look At an Old Devil”. Getting now a tiny bit out-date as regards to gender issues, read this book to find out about the long torturous process of submitting to life’s demands and becoming an adult. Of course, what’s more interesting is reading about all the twists and turns we make to avoid doing so and all the delightful neuroses that it brings.
I don’t have one particular book about Uranus, but I learned alot about it from “Cosmos and Psyche”, by Richard Tarnas. He’s a pretty amazing astrologer, this is definitely the book to read to learn about the outer planets and their effects on society. He’s a historian who wrote this massive volume about European history, so that he could publish this massive book about astrology, and no one could say shit. I also learned about planet Uranus from Howard Sasportas’s book “The Gods Of Change”. It’s about transits but its wisdom is broad spectrum. Then also “Healing The Soul”, by Mark Jones. He’s of the Jeff Green school of astrology, and they get deep into the ideas of how past lives affect the soul. Pretty interesting stuff.
When I first started looking at the charts of serial killers, I thought I was going to see all this Pluto stuff, you know, darkness, domination, suffocating, depraved sexuality… but no. There is alot of Neptune going on in those charts. When the fantasy element of human nature gets out of hand…. The best book about Neptune is Liz Greene’s fat “the Astrological Neptune and the Quest for Redemption”. I have the hardback version weighting down my astrology shelf right now.
Speaking of Jeff Green, the book that has most influenced my ideas about Pluto and also the Nodes is called “Pluto: The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul”. This book is thick and complex. I find his need to reference the Nodes through the Pluto position a bit clunky, but this book is an amazing gift. At least once read your own section of the meaning of Pluto in the houses. Psychological and spiritual wow. The aforementioned “Healing the Soul” by Mark Jones is good for Pluto too.
The best book on Chiron that I have found so far is Melanie Reinhart’s “Chiron and the Healing Journey”. I saw that there’s a book about Chiron by Liz Greene now, but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. Melanie Reinhart goes through Chiron by sign and house in a very useful fashion.
Martin Schulman’s “Karmic Astrology” is my other favorite book for the Nodes of the Moon. It’s a bit wild in some parts, and sometimes I take it with a bit of a grain of salt, but I always get good insights from this book. “Retrogrades and Reincarnation” is interesting too. These aren’t very “New Age” and so some might find them condemning of some chart positions. I kind of like books that aren’t afraid to call it like it is, and explore or admit to the darkness. There’s not many books on retrograde planets.
And you’ll need some books about astrological houses. I mostly use Howard Sasportas’s “The Twelve Houses”. This is also the book I go to to understand rising signs.
I haven’t found lot of books about delineating the house cusps. It’s fun to check out in your own chart, or the charts of someone you’re close to. My favorite books to look this up in is volume 3 of “The Only Way To Learn Astrology” by Marion March and “The House Connection” by Karan Hamaker-Zondag. The former is defiantly easier, you can have fun looking up the rulerships of your house cusps in “The Only Way To Learn To Learn Astrology, Vol 3”. But when you’re ready for your mind to turn round as a globe from being filled with astrological knowledge, read “The House Connection”.
Key Words in Astrology Hajo Banzhaf & Anna Haebler
The Contemporary Astrologer’s Handbook Sue Tompkins Lsa/Flare 2009
Aspects In Astrology: A Guide to Understanding Planetary Relationships in the Horoscope Sue Tompkins Destiny Books 2002
Mythastrology: Planets In The Signs Raven Kaldera Llewellyn Publications 2004
Aspects And Personality Karen Hamaker-Zondag Weiser Books 1990
Saturn: A New Look At An Old Devil Liz Greene Weiser Books 2021
Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New Worldview Richard Tarnas Plume Books 2007
The Gods of Change Howard Sasportas Wessex Astrologer 2007
Healing The Soul: Pluto, Uranus and the Lunar Nodes Mark Jones Raven Dreams Press 2011
the Astrological Neptune and the Quest for Redemption Liz Greene Weiser Books 2000
Pluto: The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul Jeff Green Llewellyn Publications 1985
Chiron And The Healing Journey: An Astrological And Psychological Perspective Melanie Reinhart Arkana, Penguin Books 1998
Karmic Astrology: The Moon’s Nodes and Reincarnation Martin Schulman Samuel Weiser, Inc. 1975
Karmic Astrology: Retrogrades and Reincarnation Martin Schulman Weiser Books 1984
The Twelve Houses Howard Sasportas Lsa/Flare 2009
The Only Way to Learn Astrology: Volume 3 Marion March & Joan McMevers ACS Publications 1982
The House Connection: How to Read the Houses in an Astrological Chart Karen Hamaker-Zondag Weiser Books 1994
Understanding Astrology
These are the astrology books you need if you want to be a practicing astrologer. Or if you just want to learn more about how our lives work. These books have the philosophy of astrology, the underpinnings. Here is the meaning of the cycles, and mystery that lives within, the living spirit of life that is always with us, but impossible to put our finger on. I think Stephen Arroyo’s classic Astrology, Karma and Transformation is the first astrology book that really rocked my world view.
Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas is another paradigm changing book. Mr. Tarnas wrote this huge tome setting forth the powerful effects the outer planets have on our society. This was the information I was searching for all along. It’s also the best book for understanding the importance of planetary transits your chart and understanding the times we live in, and what energies underlies events. Fascinating stuff.
Liz Greene has written a few astrology “cookbooks” that are essential. But she has also written many books sharing what’s she’s learned in her career as a practicing Jungian analyst astrologer. Her books will make you smarter. Luckily for us, she’s written quite a few books, I will list a few of the most popular.
If you really want to get down into some complex and subtle psychological astrology, read Karen Hamaker-Zondag. She will take you into the core.
Astrology, Karma and Transformation: The Inner Dimensions of the Birth Chart Stephen Arroyo
Cosmos and Psyche Richard Tarnas
Relating: An Astrological Guide to Living with Others on a Small Planet Liz Greene Samuel Weiser, Inc 1977
The Astrology Of Fate Liz Greene Weiser 1984
Relating: An Astrological Guide to Living with Others on a Small Planet Liz Greene Weiser Book 1978
The Luminaries Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas Samuel Weiser 1992
Foundations of Personality: Combining Elements, Crosses, and Houses with Jungian Psychological Concepts In Horoscope Interpretation Karen Hamaker-Zondag Weiser Books 1994
Psychological Astrology: A Synthesis of Jungian Psychology and Astrology Karen Hamaker-Zondag
Psychology Books
Astrology led me to psychology. They both involve the study of the state of the soul I found that I had to read a few books before I began to get into it. But once I had the idea, I could see it everywhere. Psychology makes everything else make sense.
My first favorite psychology book is a tarot book. It is so easy and fun. It really improved my readings, and it was such a great introduction to Jungian psychology. “Jung and the Tarot” by Sally Nichols is one of my favorite books, almost a must read for a tarot reader. Looks like there’s a new edition of this published in 2019, so you know its a good one.
My favorite author for Jungian psychology is Marie-Louise Von Franz. Her book, “The Interpretation of Fairytales” is an entertaining read and a classic, running into eight printings. She has all the wisdom of life to give. I’ve listed my favorites.
I found this whole series of little psychology books published by publisher Inner City Books. It’s called the Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts Series. They are slim little volumes, but have great impact. They are written by a bunch of different psychologist which in neat. I think the most essential is “Swamplands of the Soul” by James Hollis. This book really puts good perspective on the hard times in life. I find, that often when I’m reading cards for someone, that that’s exactly what they offer. A different perspective. Sometimes it means the whole world.
Marion Woodman was another one that I really enjoyed. Her book about obesity and eating disorders was fascinating. She has written several amazing books about feminine psychology, and I enjoyed all the books by her that I read, I’ll probably read some more.
Another favorite is “Narcissism and Character Transformation: The Psychology of Narcissistic Character Disorder” by Nathan Schwartz-Salant. This one is is dense, it took me awhile to work my way through it. But it is amazing, even if you only get through a few pages each time you sit with it, you will learn so much. Everyone has a narcissistic injury somehow, and all our psyche have the same basic structures, besides narcissist being such horribly fascinating creatures. You want to look away, but it’s not safe. Finally understand them by reading this book.
This whole series of books is fascinating. There’s so many different ones that you’re sure to find something that pertains to you.
My other favorite psychologist is James Hillman. He’s very pagan. He’s has some really thick complex books, and also one that’s more accessible. My ideas about the soul are informed and polished by his classic “Re-visioning Psychology”. It’s taking me all winter to read it, but I swear that book is alive. I also love “The Dream and the Underworld”, it’s nice and creepy. His most accessible book is “The Soul’s Code: In search of Character and Code.” It seems to me like he’s talking about astrology in this one, I think if astrology were a bit more reputable he would have come straight out with it in this one, as analyzing your astrology is a short cut way to figure out the soul’s code.
Psychology is hard at first. I have found it helpful to read many of these books, to get the different perspectives. After a few years, you start to see what they’re saying. A good way in is by exploring the psychic figure of the shadow, lots of people are familiar with shadow-work, and there’s alot of good books on it. I listed a few that I read.
Jung and the Tarot: An Archetypal Journey Sally Nichols Weiser Books 1980/1991
The Interpretation of Fairytales Marie-Louise Von Franz Shambhala 1996
The Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales Marie-Louise Von Franz Shambhala Productions 1995
Feminine In Fairytales Marie-Louise Von Franz Shambhala Productions 2001
Individuation In Fairytales Maie-Louise Von Franz Shambhala Productions 2001
Swamplands of the Soul: New Life in Dismal Places James Hollis Inner City Books 1996
The Owl Was a Baker’s Daughter: Obesity, Anorexia, Anorexia Nervosa and the Repressed Feminine: A Psychological Study Marion Woodman Inner City Books 1980
Conscious Femininity Marion Woodman Inner City Books 1993
Narcissism and Character Transformation: The Psychology of Narcissistic Character Disorder Nathan Schwartz-Salant Inner City Books 1982
Re-visioning Psychology James Hillman Harper Perennial 1992
The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling James Hillman Grand Central Publishing 1997
Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature Connie Zwieg Tarcherperigee 1991
Romancing the Shadow: A Guide to Soul Work for a Vital, Authentic Life Connie Zwieg Ballentine Books 1999