The book list

I was asked to come up with a list of books I had read/own on well, hippie topics, with a brief "liked it/didn't like it" next to it. About half of the list, which is long, turned out to be nitpicky astrology books.

I have decided to reprint the astrology list here. Some of them have been reviewed here, most haven't. Either way, you'll get a brief rundown. I like NITPICKY books, so that's what most of it is, but there's some beginner stuff. And a lot of books I got out of a used bookstore that you may need to special order.

Anyway, here it is.

Beginner's Astrology:

·       Aspects in Astrology: A Guide to Understanding Planetary Relationships in the Horoscope by Sue Tompkins. "Planetary cookbook." Very good writeups.

·       The Complete Idiot's Guide to Astrology by Madeline Gerwick-Brodeur and Lisa Lenard: I'd recommend it to newbie beginners. I apparently have two copies of this?

·       Astrology for Dummies by Rae Orion. Would also recommend to newbie beginners.

·       Planets and Possibilities: Explore the Worlds Beyond Your Sun Sign by Susan Miller. I like her website/horoscopes, book is...beginnery, so I wasn't that into it. You want to know what a typical Aries acts like, etc., read this one, though.

·       Planets: The Astrological Tools, edited by Joan McEvers. Each chapter is dedicated to a planet, talks about all the placements by sign and house.

·       Planets in Transit, Robert Hand. Huge cookbook book. Short rundowns on all aspects. To be honest, I don't use it much, it's not a fun read. More of a shortcut than anything else. I like long descriptions and analysis.

·       The Everything Astrology Book, Trish MacGregor. Another one I'd recommend for beginners. I give it extra props because it's the only book I have that has ever talked about chart rectification and how it's done, and a few more advanced topics get discussed as well.

Astrology for Women:

·       Astrology for Women, edited by Gloria Star. Good compiliation book on women, women's issues, single vs. coupled, progression of life. Occasionally a little hippy-dippy in places, but not too bad.

·       The New Astrology For Women, by Jessica Adams. Very interesting, kind of a sampler in its own way. Some primer stuff, some quickie introductions of concepts. The analysis of men and what they prefer in women is interesting/fun to read.

·       He's Just Not In The Stars: Wicked Astrology and Uncensored Advice for Getting the (Almost) Perfect Guy by Jenni Kosarin. Excellent book. Takes what Jessica Adams does (checks guys by their sun and Venus sign combinations) and elaborates in a very descriptive and snarky manner. I think they changed the title when it went to paperback, though.

Astrology Biography:

·       Destiny Times Six: An Astrologer's Casebook: by Katherine de Jersey with Isabella Taves. FASCINATING BOOK. More of biography of her six clients' situations and their astrology. Really, really cool read. I ran out to get the sequel online after digging this up in a used bookstore. I am sad she only wrote two books.

·       Appointment With Destiny: Real Life Case Histories by Katherine de Jersey with Isabella Taves. Not quite as fascinating/in depth as the previous book- it covers more cases that are modern/famous, but shorter, but still well written.

·       My Life In Astrology by Sybil Leek. Gave up halfway through this one. Sybil is far more interested in bragging about how she knows famous people (starfucker, indeedy) than anything to do with the stars and planets in the sky. Vast disappointment.

Marital Prediction Astrology:

·       How to Read Your Own Horoscope- Timothy Curley. I basically bought this book to try to predict my own marriage. Pretty interesting one, but short.

·       The Intuitive Arts on Love: Use Astrology, Tarot, and Psychic Intuition to See Your Future, by Lisa Lenard. Another $5 special, worth about what I paid for it. It's a quick and dirty sampler of various divination tools.

·       Picking Your Perfect Partner Through Astrology: A Guide to Compatibility in Relationships by Mary Coleman. Good one, despite the cheesy cover (and it's a really bad cover). Does some basic primer stuff. I definitely relate to the marriage chapter and the seventh house planets bit (I have this highlighted and definitely behave this way).

·       When Planets Promise Love/When Will You Marry? by Rose Murray (basically, these two are the same book). I keep trying to follow this, but she is complicated as all hell to follow along with. Offers MANY options for checking if you don't like the first oh, five methods or so.

·       Perfect Match: Discovering Your Soulmate by Anastatia R. Miller and Jared Brown. Discusses astrology from various countries- Chinese, Hindu, Judaic (hint: same as usual astrology), Western, and Celtic moons.

Synastry/Composite Books:

·       Born To Be Together: Love, Relationships, Astrology, and the Soul by Terry Lamb. Not bad, interesting talk about the intra-aspects between charts.

·       Composite Charts, by John Townley. Excellent book on this topic, highly recommended. Love the writeups.

·       Astrology of Intimacy, Sexuality and Relationship by Noel Tyl. Really, really good one. Also good on the quindecile (see below).

·       Synastry: Understanding the Astrology of Relationships by Rod Suskin. Excellent book, highly recommended.

·       Intimate Relationships: The Astrology of Attraction, edited by Joan McEvers. Another compiliation, and has lots of good articles. The article on affinities is my favorite (something I haven't seen covered too much). Marital and moon articles are good as well.

·       Relationships and Life Cycles: Astrological Patterns of Personal Experience by Stephen Arroyo. Very good one (related to this better than the other), it seems to be a transcript of a talk he gave. Really like his analysis.

·       Linda Goodman's Relationship Signs. Not a bad book on aspect comparisons. Fun tone of voice. 

·       Planets in Synastry by E.W. Neville. I thought I'd like this better than I did (I know someone who studied under him). He's got kind of a harsh tone to him about certain aspects that I don't agree with, and his organizational system is kinda messy to follow/look up consistently. The writeups can be interesting though. Emphasizes free will.  

·       Marriage Made in Heaven: An Astrological Guide to Relationships by Alexandra Mark. In some ways I don't like her attitude (she thinks only conjunctions and oppositions count, for everything, period). In other ways, her writeups of various "royal" couples that did and didn't work out and why are compelling. Especially the node/synastry stuff.

Predictive Astrology:

·       The Art of Predictive Astrology: Forecasting Your Life Events by Carol Rushman. EXCELLENT book, highly recommended on this topic. Breaks down complicated stuff well. Fascinating.

·       Identifying Planetary Triggers by Celeste Teal. It goes into progressed charts, orb of aspect, prioritizing aspects and transits to the progressed chart. It goes into detail about solar, lunar, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn returns, and their transits.

·       Mapping Your Future: Understand and Maximize Your Potential by Kris Brandt Riske. Very beginner. Comes with a CD, which I do not recommend wasting your time using.

·       Predictive Astrology: A Practical Guide by Christine Shaw. Good one. Not my favorite, but pretty good information.

Vocational Astrology:

·       How to Use Vocational Astrology for Success in the Workplace- edited by Noel Tyl. I have picked up a LOT of astrology compiliation books at Sweet Briar Books, this is one of 'em. A few things seem useful, but in general I have issues comprehending this topic.

·       Vocations by Noel Tyl: Flew WAY over my head. Plenty of examples and no way to apply them to anyone else. Totally confusing, gave it away (as you know :).

·       Finding Success in the Horoscope: The Slevin System of Horoscope Analysis- Jackie Slevin. This is the best vocational astrology book I have ever read, it breaks things down pretty easily and you can apply it to yourself. I am bound for fame someday, apparently :)

Karmic Astrology:

·       Past Life Astrology: Use Your Birthchart to Understand Your Karma- Judy Hall. Beginner-ish in style, but still manages to convey some useful information and analysis. Pretty good primer in the subject.

·       Karmic Relationships by Martin Schulman. Not a bad read- mostly cookbook on aspect combinations. He does leave out a few combinations here and there, which drives me a little nutty.

·       Karmic Astrology: Past Lives, Present Loves by Ruth Aharoni. Various kinds of soul/cosmic mate emphasis here, with examples. Synastry emphasis.

·       Web of Relationships: Spiritual, Karmic and Psychological Bonds, edited by Joan McEvers. Yup, another compiliation. Kind of a mixed bag. Goes into affinities and "astro-genetics", and axises, and past life relationships. I really like the article on elements in relationships, which points out that even if you are an earth sun sign, if you have more planets in fire than anything else, you might do better with fire/air signs than just "mate with another earth sign," because you'd be bored. 

Nodes:

·       SunShines by Michael Lutin: The best book on nodes ever. It's not written in astrology language (a beginner reading this won't know exactly what he means in astrological terminology), but it NAILS your personality and what your development path is supposed to be. A real kick in the teeth on all accounts. Let's just say mine involves the phrase, "Marriage is the path. Don't vomit," just as I wanted to. Hah.

·       Discovering Your Soul Mission: How to Use Karmic Astrology to Create the Life You Want, Linda Brady and Evan St. Lifer. A lot more simplistic than I was going for, it just kinda felt flat to me compared with other books.

·       Cosmic Love: Secrets of the Astrology of Intimacy Revealed by Jan Spiller. I liked Astrology for the Soul (skimmed it in stores) but never felt compelled to buy it. She does good write-ups WITH the astro-talk, I'd say she's pretty well equal to Michael Lutin's book. I do, however, think she makes Libra North Node people sound like the world's biggest puppy-kicking assholes. Good lord, woman, we can't all be that bad! Has some node synastry in the back as well.

General Nitpicky Astrology:

·       Astrology, Karma and Transformation: The Inner Dimensions of the Birth Chart by Stephen Arroyo. Kind of a dry read and not my favorite, but it is certainly comprehensive.

·       Surviving Saturn's Return by Sherene Schostak and Stefanie Iris Weiss. Kinda fluffy, very basic primer. Could have more depth, but on the other hand, it didn't make me go "argh" the way I get trying to (and failing at) reading Liz Greene. Kinda wish the authors did more with their website.

·       The Quindecile by Richenda Reeves. Talks about a very nitpicky aspect that indicates obsession. Yup, I was interested. Noel Tyl does more on this than she does in an entire book, though. She mostly breaks it down to simple code words and that's it. She also refuses to deal with anything other than midheavens/North Nodes, which is pretty frigging ridiculous to me. You seriously cannot figure out what a South Node is if you know what North Node is? 

·       Houses by Gwyneth Bryan. Maybe more medium-beginner-y, but it has some good writeups and explains houses/positions in houses well.

·       Personology: The Precision Approach to Charting Your Life, Career and Relationships by Gary Goldschneider. GINORMOUS $5 "cookbook" book I got gifted. Twice.

·       The Secret Language of Birthdays by Gary Goldschneider. Another $5 gift. Fun to read your own birthday, but you're probably better off just reading the book in a store unless you look up a lot of people's birthdays. 

·       How To Read Your Astrological Chart: Aspects of the Cosmic Puzzle by Donna Cunningham. Pretty good comprehensive review of almost everything, but she does have this attitude where she doesn't think Venus rules Taurus (Earth does- huh?) or that Mercury rules Virgo.

·       Mercury Retrograde: Its Myth and Meaning by Pythia Peay. Pretty interesting analysis on it, if at times it feels like she's stretching to fill up more space. I like what she says about natal MR (I have it!).

·       The Inner Sky: The Dynamic New Astrology for Everyone by Steven Forrest. I like this one, breaks down the concepts pretty well. Mostly a primer, but has some cool analysis.

·       Horary Astrology Plain and Simple by Anthony Lewis. Well, the author tries, but horary ain't plain or simple. I gave up halfway through.

Note: this sounds like a good reading list as well.