(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best astrology books

It seems as though you've got good instincts in what to look for in a chart! Everything you noticed about your chart is pertinent in one respect or another, and there a couple of things I noticed too. But first, I'll answer your questions in order.

1.) Those two clusters of planets are in a sextile relationship. Conjunctions occur when planets share a sign, so these are two conjunctions relating in a sextile. That suggests strong links between your conscious mind (Sun), abilities of self-expression (Mercury), intuition (Uranus), and spirituality (Neptune); these might be areas of your life that you will experience minimal strife with.

2.) These are not your beginner's-astrology influences. I'll give you concise explanations for their influences, though: Chiron in our natal charts points to where we have healing powers as the result of accruing and being transformed by our own deep spiritual wounds. The Lillith suggests how we let go of things (events, property, etc) and how we come to terms with the absolute karmic will of the cosmos.

3.) I don't believe that astrology ever gets that specific. Sure, that has happened for other people with that aspect, but you'll find that life (and karma) has a funny way of surprising you when it comes to answering these things. It could mean you marry into a family with business ties that will pay off in the future, or you may simply marry your best friend. Your Mars-Venus Square might give you some trepidation when it comes to finally allowing yourself to accept a relationship as "safe", by your definition.

4.) With your Ascendant and your Moon so closely aspected, there is probably great relationship between how you think of yourself (Moon) and how you actually behave. With both of these influences in Virgo, that probably reflects a strong will to help others. You must always remember to consider if the recipient of your good will would use it constructively and will answer you with gratitude and respect. You are probably more analytic, disciplined, and organized than most other Pisces. You are also probably very stylish.

1, ii.) Astrology, Nutrition & Health is a great resource if you want to start learning how you can affect your daily and lifelong karma in the simplest way: your diet. It's also highly effective at delivering difficult concepts in simple ways. I recommend this as a companion to the one you listed in your post to anybody who asks. Second suggestion is Astrology, Karma & Transformation: The Inner Dimensions of the Birth Chart. This is a great & dense read by Stephen Arroyo who explores in detail the aspects of inner and outer planets.

2, ii.) I have heard of and used the app. it is sufficient, but I as often as possible use Cafe Astrology. They use a great keyword system that aided me immensely when I was first learning the ins and outs.

3, ii.) It's an aesthetic choice, as far as I know. But if somebody knows otherwise, please inform us both!

Lilly's works are good, yes.

For a general astrology, it's difficult to find anything that can surpass the level of detail of Guido Bonatti's Book of Astronomy. It can be quite overwhelming, so it's very nice that Benjamin Dykes (the translator) divided it up for us in such a way that students can either follow along in the order they were originally or can jump around to study the material they are most interested in.

Temples of the Sky by Deborah Houlding is a great book about the whys, what's, and hows of houses and house systems.

Essential Dignities by Lee Lehman is a good read, but a bit heavy on statistics.

For horary astrology, of course William Lilly's Christian Astrology, but Bonatti's section on horary is also very good (the only thing it lacks are not enough examples). I would personally put the Book of the Nine Judges at the top of the list since it is a combination of medieval horary texts pulling from sources like Al-Kindi's 40 Chapters and Sahl's On Question as well as several others. That being said, of course Masha'allah's On Reception is a great, quick read as well.

Bonatti also has a section about electional astrology that is really good, but the best book for this is probably going to be Dorotheus's Carmen Astrologicum since the later electional texts are all pretty much based around it anyway. That being said Benjamin Dykes did a translation called Choices and Inceptions which combines the works of Sahl's On Elections, Al-Imrani's The Book of Choices, and Al-Kindi's The Book of the Skilled. So with Carmen Astrologicum, Bonatti's On Elections, and Dykes's Choices and Inceptions you pretty much have the entire tradition of the electional branch.

Natal astrology is where my sources start to lack. Clearly Christian Astrology Book III is a good read, but I've recently gotten into the Persian Nativities series and I'm interested to see how the other books in that go as well. There is also Morin's work on Solar Returns which I would recommend.

Hi hi! I'm just going to list the books & pages that I feel helped me out the most, and why. Hope it helps!

• Astrology for Yourself:
  One of my first, a friend & I used this book to dip our toes into the deep subject, but if you glance through it, you'll see it's just a book of exercises and keywords. Eventually, this book helped me realize that the the signs/planets aren't "interpretations & keywords" but more like themes in a story, if not their own story, and those keywords are ways of that storyline or theme (or, dare I say it, energy) in the world & in our minds.
  
  
• Parker's Astrology:
  A fundamental text that was my guide for a long time, until I started reading about specific subjects.
  
  
• Planets in Transit, Planets in Aspect, Planets in Houses (A.K.A. The Planets Series):
  As much as I love -in Aspect and -in Houses, Planets in Transit has a permanent place on my bedside stand.
  
  
• Aspects in Astrology:
  Another great book that helps explain why trines aren't always great, squares aren't always bad, and WTF a bisesquiqadrate is.
  
  Absolutely anything by Liz Greene, but specifically Mythic Astrology. Few books can give you feel for a planet or sign with the direct Hellenistic history & descriptions like that one. There is another Mythic Astrology out there but it didn't leave an impression on me like Greene's book did.
  
  Finally, a title that I probably shouldn't publicly admit to attributing any education value to, yet here we are ~ Seduction By the Stars. Sometimes those pop culture, shallow consumables are the best way to break down complicated subjects into easy-to-digest bits that are good for the beginner. Honestly, between this book & Liz
  Greene's Astrology for Lovers, you will never need to witness a Linda Goodman catastrophe.
  
  As far as websites, I have only 3 that I rely on consistently. Astrolabe, which I keep up 24\7 to refresh for current transits, The Lost Horoscope X-Files, which has a section on the left sidebar called 'Online Resources' that has been very educational for me in learning about prediction, and Astrodienst as a place online to create & store charts, or get draw up specifically advanced types of charts. When I was beginning I spent a lot of time on Cafe Astrology as well.
  

There's an Astro physicist who worked at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich (now retired) named Dr. Percy Seymour who wrote 3 or 4 books concerning the science of astrology. Here's the link to one of them if you're interested. Read the description and some of the reviews just for an overview. Since I doubt you'll read the book, here's a great article with an interview of Percy that is a nice summation of his work. I haven't read the book either, as I just recently discovered it, but I can tell you that it really all boils down to electromagnetism. There are electromagnetic currents emitted by the sun and amplified by the planets that interact with earth's magnetic field and subsequently with the electromagnetic field of each biological organism on the earth. You have to realize that the true golden nugget at the heart of Astrology is buried beneath years and years of crud. I'm sure you can imagine that these giant--GIANT--bodies of mass that are very near to us (when you put the solar system into perspective and take into account the fact that the nearest star to us is 4 light years away, i.e. very far compared to the distance between the planets) have some affect on our bodies and, therefore, minds? I really don't think that the basis of Astrology is even that wild of an idea.

The problem is that horoscope, magazine, cookbook Astrology is the lowest of the low and a distortion of the well thought out multi-dimensionality of true Astrology. Astrology does not predict events, it postulates dynamic themes for individuals and the entire globe based on the positions of significant bodies of mass--each carrying a signature electromagnetic vibrational identity that acts in a unique way on the body and minds of humans to create a specific archetype within our minds--moving through the zodiac and interacting with each other based on geometrical angular aspects to create unconscious complexes within the mind which arise to the level of personality.

The Zodiac has nothing to do with the constellations in the sky. The Zodiac is a 360 degree cyclical process of evolving and geometrically defined archetypes based on the times of the equinoxes and solstices. 0 degrees of Aries (the first sign of the zodiac) is not defined by the beginning of the constellation Aries in the sky, it is defined by the moment of the vernal equinox, whether Neil deGrasse Tyson knows this or not ;). Tropical and Sidereal Astrology differ on this point, the Zodiac of Tropical Astrology being based on the moments of the equinoxes and solstices and the Zodiac of Sidereal Astrology being based on the positions of the physical constellations in the sky. Sidereal Astrology is an older form of astrology that is more popular in the East.

There really is something to Astrology if you are willing to look into it. But, that's just the thing, you have to look into it. The true functioning of Astrology will not be found on the surface, but neither will any field of study, for that matter. It is ancient; it is wise; it has outlived every single religion, culture, and scientific dogma; it is based on physical laws; and it will blow your F'ing mind by showing you that you are a condensed model of a moment of time in the solar system.

My husband studied and even got baptized so we could be together when we were secretly dating, but he soon saw through their lies and distortion of truth and love. He taught me so many real things that the vast majority of JWs wouldn’t even be able to process. I woke up to the religion because of him and I’m grateful even for those moments of nearly breaking when I was afraid my life would be shattered and there was nothing outside of JWism. Those times caused me to grow and evolve in my reasoning and perception of the world.

Try not to let religion and spirituality get mixed together. They are very separate, and we all have an innate spirit that needs to be fed. It doesn’t need to be fed with a particular religion but it can be easily used to other people’s advantage if you aren’t strong in your morality of right and wrong. Not saying that that’s you, but I know how confusing waking up can be. My advice is to just keep learning.

Don’t be afraid to investigate things that aren’t what you’ll hear in your standard run of the mill university courses either. The science of Human Consciousness is fascinating and picking up traction with people who would normally dismiss it as kooky metaphysics and therefore apostate to the status quo of Academia. The author David Wilcock has some of the best research books you’ll find. I particularly like The Synchronicity Key. All his work is based in reality and taken from published scientific data and research papers you can easily look up yourself. I think if you wanted to check it out you would both really enjoy exploring the concepts he’s pieced together, especially since you already have similar conversations about life.

I really like April Elliot Kent's Essential Guide to Practical Astrology, the Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need is an excellent beginner's guide, and pretty much anything by Steven Forrest. There are also several excellent blogs (Donna Cunningham is a great start, Dawn Bodrogi discusses lesser known ideas like asteroids and synastry with interesting archetypal influences) and The Mountain Astrologer magazine is wonderful.

I'd also recommend learning the basics on Jungian psychology and mythology through out the world. Western Astrology tends to gravitate towards Roman and Greek - It's helpful to know that the planet Mars is named after the Roman god Mars who comes from the Greek god Ares, which is who the sign Aries is based upon.

You could also hunt around your town/city for a New Age shop that offers classes. A lot of my knowledge started with reading everything I could online and from books and then taking classes.

Hi! Definitely look at your north node house placement. I once read a post that was like
North Node: My destiny is to sign In house area of life.
But I have my north node in the 8th house and I know it relates to letting people help you. In the past life you were self sufficient Taurus who worked hard for the things they owned. Someone who had material security. In this life, ask for help. Let go of material needs. Find spiritual security or something along those lines.

But also, I recently found this wonderful book on north and south nodes. It’s very informative



Here is a few pages of the Scorpio/8th house chapter!

There’s a lot more in the scorpio chapter, as well. But I just didn’t think it would be cool or fair to the author, to like post the entire thing. The book is worth it, would recommend.

Classical, aka traditional, western astrology is, imo, the best way to go. Thoughout history, it has been used to advise on matters of state, marriage, commerce, theft, and to diagnose & treat disease. A court astrologer had to be accurate, or face the consequences!

An amalgamation of Egyptian, Vedic & Hellenistic practices, given to us by the ancient Greek, Jewish and Arab astrologers (Valens, Sahl, Masha'allah, etc.), and by medieval scholars like Bonatti, Lilly, & Morin, the art flourished into the early 1800's when it became dumbed down due to anti-fortune-telling laws, and 'rational' thought.

A very good starter book is On the Heavenly Spheres. It covers everything you need to know for further study.

Dr. Benjamin Dykes, professor of Medieval History and astrologer, has published numerous translations of classical astrological works, by several of the astrologers listed above, including his own Astrological Magic: Basic Rituals & Meditations. Nice to see a magickal work from an actual astrologer.

Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate by Chris Brennan was ten years in the writing, and it shows.

The Skyscript web site is about the best astrology site around. Lots of history, technique, and articles. Their forums, especially horary, have declined sharply in quality over the years, though you can still read the older messages.

I think astrology is one of the best ways to understand yourself, so you are on the right track! Astrologik is probably one of the best books I recommend to beginners (although you can probably find it cheaper if you look around... hot damn Amazon! I know I didn't pay that much for it! Maybe it's out of print right now or something.) I would suggest learning to read your whole chart as the other planets placements and their relation to each other (known as the aspects) can shed a ton of insight (best book to learn with is this Chart Interpretation Handbook by Stephen Arroyo). Astrology is like most things in life... you will only get out of it, what you put into it. So read some books and learn to make your own interpretations. Strangers on the internet can look at your chart and tell you some stuff, but nobody has the potential to know YOU better than yourself!

I reccomend Martin Ganstens book on primary directions.

https://www.amazon.com/Primary-Directions-Astrologys-Master-Technique/dp/1902405390

Best there is.

It will walk you through all you need to know to practice in a simple way using clock time and in the back you have the formulas to do it by hand.

If you want to learn about them in depth you should take his course.

http://www.martingansten.com/pddc.php

I believe in a creator, but not in a God per se (if God means someone/thing that wants to be worshiped). I also believe that we are growing and evolving through numerous lifetimes of incarnations. That we bring karmic reactions upon ourselves by our own actions and that there is no "sin" or "bad", just things that help us progress or hinder us. We can certainly do things that hurt others and this brings a negative rebound of karma upon ourselves, which aids us in leaning the lessons of this life. There have been multiple scientific research studies done on reincarnation and life after death that I find fascinating and really strike a chord with me. A good summary of some of the most extensive studies can be found in David Wilcock's The Synchronicity Key.

>You can't develop intuition without analyzing everything you do.

Yes, you can. Intuition isn't something you learn, it's something you have simply by existing. Your brain already has the experience to make split second decisions outside of your "slowly grinding mental process." Most people don't realize this because they have "monkey brains" (to borrow a phrase from the Zen masters), and they can't stop themselves from thinking too much about what they are doing. They get in their own way!

There are quite a number of methods and techniques for honing one's intuition, especially a sense for interpersonal relations and "people skills." A lot of techniques associated with the western occult tradition make this their central focus.

Part of developing intuition is developing means of communicating with your own subconscious. The subconscious doesn't communicate in words, but it can be trained to work with symbols. That's why so much of the occult is obsessed with symbolism and seemingly counter-factual narratives.

Some excellent books that offer practical guides for developing intuition:

• Astrologick, Anterro Alli
  
  
• Angel-Tech, Anterro Alli
  
  
• Prometheus Rising, Robert Anton Wilson

Once upon a time I picked up this book, All Around the Zodiac, and it's still one of the more useful resources I've come across. It breaks it all down very nicely.

Anything titled "All you need to know about..." + I recommend starting out with the Arab, Greek and Roman classics...no one can take the basics away from you then :) Here's a list of books I'd recommend for starters - it's not everything but definitely something:

http://www.amazon.com/Astrology-Ancient-Babylon-P-G-Maxwell-Stuart-ebook/dp/B00AY1Z8Y8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1418994883&sr=8-3&keywords=history+of+astrology

http://www.amazon.com/Manilius-Astronomica-Classical-Library-English/dp/0674995163/ref=sr_1_19?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418994991&sr=1-19&keywords=classics

http://www.amazon.com/Christian-Astrology-Books-1-2/dp/1933303026/ref=sr_1_26?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418995025&sr=1-26&keywords=classics

http://www.amazon.com/Carmen-Astrologicum-Dorotheus-Sidon/dp/193330314X/ref=sr_1_88?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418995154&sr=1-88&keywords=classics

http://www.amazon.com/Ptolemys-Tetrabiblos-Quadripartite-Vol-Influence/dp/B008742OMS/ref=sr_1_100?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418995188&sr=1-100&keywords=classics

http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Astrological-Terms-Explanations-Partridge/dp/1434470148/ref=sr_1_23?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418995936&sr=1-23&keywords=dictionary

http://www.amazon.com/Introductions-Traditional-Astrology-Mashar-al-Qabisi-ebook/dp/B00AUXSIEC/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418996163&sr=1-2&keywords=introduction

www.amazon.com/Twelve-Houses-Howard-Sasportas/dp/1903353041/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418996299&sr=1-9&keywords=liz+greene

http://www.amazon.com/Insights-Modern-Astrology-Stephen-Arroyo/dp/0916360474/ref=sr_1_22?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418996341&sr=1-22&keywords=liz+greene

http://www.amazon.com/Planets-Transit-Life-Cycles-Living/dp/0924608269/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418996416&sr=1-1&keywords=transits

Look at the ruler of that house. For instance, let's say 9th house. Mine is Gemini, so look at Mercury and its aspects. That will tell you more about 9th house activities

I highly recommend Howard Sasportas and his book about the houses. Let me go dig up a link. The Twelve Houses, that's what it's called

https://www.amazon.com/Twelve-Houses-Howard-Sasportas/dp/1903353041

Houlding's book is required reading and if you find it useful you should purchase a copy. I'm pretty sour on stealing other people's work.

I'm going to piggyback onto your comment because per usual it's the most useful in the thread. The theme that recurs in all the houses is how adequately they access the light of the ascendant and where the planets/luminaries appear in the sky based on their placement. A lot of the nonsense that's sprung up with houses has to do with a wrong conception of the chart as a pie chart of life that has no connexion with/conception of the chart as a literal picture of where the objects are in the sky. You can't blame people when major population centres blot out the night sky such that they can't witness for themselves the drama that unfolds, but astrology without astronomy has caprice as it's foundation.

If I had to pick one word to describe the 12th it's restriction. There is no access to the light of the ascendant by aspect, the ascendant does not "see" the 12th (or the 8th, 6th, & 2nd) and of the unfortunate it's the worst. Everything that exerts effort here is ineffectual, as the celestial objects enter the 12th house their light is subject to distortion by the atmosphere and, as Ptolemy said, afflicted by the miasmatic exhalations of the earth (it's misty n shit over yonder). By nature of its physical location in the sky the free expression/light of the object is obscured and it is only through toil that it succeeds to the 11th where it shines without obstruction and gains momentum towards the 10th.

Manilius says anything in the 12th is "doomed to climb" and I understand this as a Sisyphean sort of effort. As Houlding observes the 6th/12th axis has as a theme servility, small animals like dogs are in the sixth but anything large enough to be ridden in the sense of a "beast of burden" is in the 12th. Domestic servitude is in the sixth but slavery is in the 12th. 6th is "You do as I say" (Sit, doggo!) and implies a degree of freedom and choice in performing labor, usually for recompense (employees), whereas 12th is a chain gang in a mine or the hobbled horse who performs a task for no reason other than to avoid the bite of the whip.

It's self-undoing, if we were to take some of your posts as an example while you have useful contributions you express them in a way that's exclusionary, derisive, and divisive. It's also the worst sort of addiction, it's not the pleasurable merry-making of wine bibbing and good food of the 5th but a hunger that cannot be denied, it is practically compulsory and as in the case of Mr. Creosote very likely leads to our demise but usually not in such spectacular fashion. It's spending ourselves into the slavery of debt.

I've read that "God" is attributed to the 12th in modern astrology and agree with Houlding that this is misguided but if we're to consider Moore's work Facing the Dragon he makes a compelling argument that the roots of our self-undoing is mistaking "made in the image of God" as self-as-God which leads to a poisonous pride and grandiosity. This is another facet of the restriction of the 12th, self-as-God is a restriction of the divine principle insofar as it fuels our narcissism and self-importance in contrast to submission to God which recognizes individuals as co-equal in the body of God producing an wholesome humility. The 12th only represents God in this negative aspect.

The personal positive or, more accurately, remedial message of the twelfth is that of the myth of Sisyphus. This requires some more astronomy because it is the difference between secondary and primary motion. Primary motion being the clockwise motion of the sphere of the fixed stars that sweeps up all the celestial objects in their daily traversal of the sky from east to west while secondary motion is the counterclockwise struggle/progression of the celestial objects through the belt of the zodiac. The sphere of fixed stars being most superior and closest to the Prime Mover/Unmoved Mover/God/whatevs you want to call it aspires to its motion (primary, east to west) and despite the backwards motion of the celestial objects (secondary, west to east) the celestial objects are carried up out of the 12th by its aid.

So like Sisyphus who was only freed from his labors by Ares we are only freed from our own self-undoing and the restriction it imposes on us by a power outside of ourselves. We are powerless in the 12th and oddly enough 12 step programs got this right save I would revise the first step to "we are powerless over the 12th", that is we must recognize the ways in which we restrict ourselves and accept the help of others to liberate us out of this area so our light can shine unobstructed.