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Astrological Body Types & Palmistry


The classic idea is that you can determine what someone looks like by the sign on their ascendant, and that simple idea does work more often than not. But you should also examine the moon and the 6th house for a larger view. A Sagittarius ascendant with a moon conjunct Jupiter in Taurus in the 6th is not going to make for a slender person!

See also The Ascendant

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ASTROLOGICAL BODY TYPES, Face, Form & Expression - Judith Hill, $17.95
Contents:
Preface;
  • 1. Introduction to Astrophysiognomy;
  • 2. About race;
  • 3. Building blocks of Astrophysiognomy;
  • 4. The face in general (non-astrological);
  • 5. The elements & the modes;
  • 6. Introduction to signs & planetary types (Table: Significators of physical appearance in the birth chart; Table: Conditions for planetary strength);
  • 7. Planetary & zodiacal sign types: Sun, Leo-Sun ruled; Moon, Cancer-Moon ruled; Mercury, Gemini-Mercury ruled, Virgo-Mercury ruled; Venus, Libra-Venus ruled; Mars, Aries-Mars ruled, Scorpio-Mars/Pluto ruled; Jupiter, Sagittarius-Jupiter ruled, Pisces-Jupiter/Neptune ruled; Saturn, Capricorn-Saturn ruled, Aquarius-Saturn/Uranus ruled;
  • 8. The outer planets;
  • 9. Summary;
  • 10. Lunar nodes & physical appearance;
  • 11. Karma & physical anomaly;
  • 12. Example personalities.

Appendix 1: Zodiacal correspondences to the human body; Appendix 2: The 36 decanates; Appendix 3: Redheads & Mars; Appendix 4: Sect: Day or night birth; Appendix 5: Medical elements; Bibliography.

Comment: The most complete compendium of astrological body types available. Over 80 illustrations (by the author) accurately depict archetypal Zodiac, Planetary, Elemental and Modal body/face types. Character, appearance & vocation, plus numerous sample personalities are included for each body type. Also: Lunar nodes & physical appearance, karma and physical anomaly, and face reading fundamentals.

Stellium Press, 235 pages, paper.


MAN AND THE ZODIAC - David Anrias, $21.95

Contents:

Introduction to the second edition, by Sybil Ferguson
Foreword

Book 1: Exoteric astrology:
1. A brief definition of astrology
2. The twelve houses of astrology
3. How to find the rising sign
4. The influence of the luminaries & the planets
5. The aspects
6. The luminaries in relation to the signs
7. The twelve rising signs & their decanate influences: The appearance of each decanate
8. The influence of the planets in houses
9. Health & the hyleg
10. Transits
11. The art of synthesis
12. Richard Wagner's nativity

Book 2: Esoteric astrology:
1. An eastern subjective method applied to an astrologial problem
2. The twelve signs of the zodiac in relation to the conscious, unconscious and superconscious minds

Appendix:
An American nativity - The horoscope of the Dutchess of Windsor
Some further notes on setting up a chart

Index

Comment:

In Astrology it has long been known that the sign of the zodiac, rising in the east at birth (the ascending sign), largely determines physical appearance. In this book David Anrias shows what each sign looks like when rising. He goes further and, dividing each sign into 10 degree sections (known as “decanates”), shows how appearance changes, from early degrees, to middle degrees, to late degrees of the same sign. All 36 drawings are by the author himself, who was an accomplished artist and a keen observer. Twelve of these you will find in the frontispiece, the remaining 24 are in Book 1, chapter 7. While other artists have sketched the twelve basic types, and one or two have given variations on some of them, Anrias is the only astrological artist/ writer to make systematic sketches of all 36 variations. Anrias follows this with deft character sketches. If a given decanate (the third decanate of Libra, for example) produces a distinct face, it also produces a distinct personality.

Of this book, Dr. H., of Regulus Astrology LLC (author of A Rectification Manual; America is Born) writes, "I find Anrias' use of the decans based on triplicities more accurate than Chaldean decans for application in physiognomy judgments."

For those of you looking for good stuff on spiritual astrology, Anrias has the most sophisticated, most subtle notes I have read anywhere. Unlike most other writers, Anrias was himself spiritually advanced, and for many years associated with a number of other spiritually advanced people. (These were people, like Alice Bailey, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Dane Rudhyar, and Annie Besant, who had actual accomplishments to their credit.) Unlike anyone else I have ever read, by 1937 Anrias seemed fully aware the Piscean Age was fading rapidly - which, in fact, it was, as I have demonstrated in old issues of my newsletter. He had hopeful ideas of what would come next. More hopeful than me, but my observations came 70 years later. I confess I published this book for the pictures, but as time goes on I am going to be studying the esoteric notes rather closely, as there is much to ponder and learn. As a small example, imagine the thought process that produced this, a footnote on pg. 32:

In any case the Aquarian forces will cause a repolarization within both sexes; for Uranus influences the minds of men and the emotions of women, whilst Neptune sways the minds of women and the emotions of men. Thus the old occult method of neutralizing the forces of Mars through those of Venus is rapidly becoming abortive and will be completely obsolete before the end of the century.
Which is to say the Aquarian Age will forcibly pull the sexes apart, rather than push them together. Made in 1937, this is as shrewd a forecast as any I can remember.

David Anrias was the pen-name of Brian Ross. He served with the British forces in World War I. A natural sensitive, after the war he joined the Theosophical Society, studied in India, and was associated with Jiddu Krishnamurti’s ill-fated Order of the Star in the East. He strenuously disagreed with Krishnamurti’s decision to dissolve it. Anrias’s intense study of theosophy and metaphysics enlivens his astrology, making his book most fascinating reading.

Click here for a pdf extract, which includes several of the sketches & the character descriptions that go with them. They're quite good.

Astrology Classics, 232 pages.


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HOW BODY LANGUAGE DEFINES CHARACTER - Doris Chase Doane, $15.00
From the back cover: "The fundamentals discussed are applied to the profiles of 26 well-known women of the past century. You will see how the contour matches a person's habitual thoughts, feelings and actions." Contents: Body build and personality; Head contours - clue to character; What you should know about the nose; Famous women who reflected these traits. 81 pages. AFA, paper.


YOUR HOROSCOPE IN YOUR HANDS - Lorna Green, $18.00

Contents:

Frontispiece
Introduction

Part 1:
Left or right hand? Taking handprints. Does the print tell all? The elements. Skin texture. The birth time. Rectification by Moon's position. Identifying the lines & characteristics of the hand. Fingernails. Fingertip patterns: ridges. Thumbs. Mars areas on the hand. Loops on the palm. Line markings on the hand. Transits. Timing on the hand. Moon-Saturn. Changing lines. The bracelets. Fingers & hands: three divisions. Basic fingertip shapes. The joints of the fingers.

Relationships: The need for space. Dependency.

Money & attitude to money.

Health: Food. Coeliac. Depression.

Part 2:
The planets: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Chiron.

Part 3:
Chart-hand comparisons.

Comment:

There is a long-standing connection between astrology & palmistry, which I have never quite understood, but then I can't possibly understand everything.

Some basics. The thumb is ruled by Mars, the index finger by Jupiter, the longest finger by Saturn, the ring finger by the Sun, and the pinkie by Mercury. The mound of Venus is the fleshy area below the thumb, the mount of the moon is the opposite lower corner of the hand, both of these bordering the wrist.

The author finds the right hand changes more than the left hand. She says her finding runs against common beliefs. Myself, I would presume the dominant hand - usually the right - would of necesssity change as it adapts to the changing circumstances of life.

Hand prints, along with drawings of the hand, are the best you can get in a book, but do not tell the whole story. Hands have thickness, they have color, they can be hot or cold, firm or flabby. A skilled palmist takes all of this into account. Green tells how to judge these.

Except for the final chapter, illustrations are line drawings, which are clearer & easier to learn from than actual palm prints.

In the last chapter, Green relates palms to charts, and charts to palms. The final example is the hand of the most famous palmist of all time, Cheiro. As palms change over time, it therefore true that palms react to transits.

In the Conclusion, the author suggests watching the hands of famous people, as best you can glimpse them on TV or in movies. Study of such hands often provides an interesting commentary.

Wessex Astrologer, 144 pages.


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ASTRO GRAPHOLOGY: The hidden link between your horoscope & your handwriting - Darrelyn Gunzburg, $27.00

Contents:

Acknowledgments
Disclaimer
Introduction

1. The rolling cylinder of Chrysippus
2. The landscape of handwriting
3. Methodology
4. The alphabet - the shape of the language
5. The chart in the handwriting
6. The handwriting in the chart
7. Live with enthusiasm
8. A guide to the living alphabet
9. Writing your future

Bibliography
Index

Comment:

The book starts as if it were to be a treatise on the Sefer Yetzirah, which Wiki tells me is the title of the earliest extant book on Jewish esotericism. "Yetzirah" is more literally translated as "Formation"; the word "Briah" is used for "Creation". I am using Wiki as a source, as I am, at the moment, reading Gunzburg's text from the beginning and though she has referred to the book several times already, she hasn't yet said what it is.

Wiki says the Sefer Yetzirah relates to the various Jewish myths of creation. It seems to start with an explanation of the Hebraic phonetic sounds [not written characters] & how these sounds were used to create the world & everything in it. (See the page.) It also seems to have a great deal to do with number, as one would expect. Wiki says nothing at all about Sefer Yetzirah and written language, but Wiki also says there is no definitive text, a lot of embroidering, and a lot of obscurity. Here is Gunzburg, the opening of Chapter 2, The Landscape of Handwriting:

The Sefer Yetzirah, the sacred ancient book linking handwriting with co-creation, describes the universe as being fashioned from Space, Time and Soul. So if one wishes to influence the physical universe (space) one can make use of the physical shape of the letters which, according to the Sefer Yetzirah, are the sacred building blocks of the world. [As found, per footnote, in Aryeh Kaplan's Sefer Yetzirah, the Book of Creation, Revised Edition, 1977] On a personal level we can apply this approach to the letters of our handwriting. (pg. 6)
Well, okay. Give it a slight shift & Darrelyn is saying, The Bible (your choice of sacred book) Told Me So. Some people need an exterior authority to get their juices flowing. Let's see what she does with it.

There are mountains of inspiration, eg, b, d, f, h, k, l, t. There are the plains where we live: a, c, e, i, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w, x, z. And there are the valleys, where we feel: f, g, j, p, q, y, z. Note that some of the third group also appears elsewhere.

So, if your b's, d's, h's, k's, l's & t's are all sharply pointed, you're mountainous. If your g's, j's, p's q's, y's & z's all swoop down low, you're a Valley Person. And if you have neither high peaks nor deep valleys, you're a plains dweller.

And then there are margins. The left side of the page is the past. The top is closeness to the reader. The right side is the future. The bottom is an excess of things to say, or a lack of plan. Letters that lean to the left are, therefore, someone who lives in the past. Letters perfectly upright is someone who is clear-thinking & objective. Letters that slant to the right indicate impatience. When I was in school, we were all taught to be impatient. In 4th grade, my teacher impatiently set my paper to the opposite of the other students, because I was left-handed & that's what her book said she should do. So for the duration of that year, I ended up with handwriting that slated strongly to the left. I have an aunt, Ila, who, while right-handed, slants all her letters to the left, as I have seen many examples of her hand. She will be 78 years old this August (2010) and is one of the happiest, most outgoing people I have ever met. Gunzburg would describe her as someone who is held by the past or has encountered early emotional hurt resulting in protective caution, or who deliberately seeks isolation & space. (pg. 20) Which, if it were true, means that an awful lot more people should be slanting to the left than what I've seen. Aunt Ila is a storyteller. Which is the past, too. But I digress.

Chapter 3, Methodology, and Chapter 4, The Alphabet, give an excellent overview of graphology, all the various elements, among them, margins, line & word spacing, letter slant, convex & concave patterns, letter size, all caps, school-ish script, how letters are connected, angularity, garland writing, arcade writing, thread handwriting, pressure, how words begin & end, capital letters, letters that have closed loops in them (such as "a" and "o"), letters that are retraced, erratic capitals in the middle of words or sentences, how individual letters are made, etc.

The book's payoff starts in Chapter 5, The Chart in the Handwriting. Gunzburg shows herself to be a good graphologist, but an average astrologer. Here's an example of the astrology. The chart is for Suzanne, born November 6, 1964, 6:50 am, Glenelg, South Australia. Follow along:

As astrologers we can observe such a chart & note possible difficulties, the 'netivot' that she may be encountering in this lifetime. The Grand Cross can lay itself open to being too scattered [it's in fixed] and Suzanne may be running around in circles for other people and not achieving anything fo substance for herself. Mars-Saturn [opposed, Leo to Aquarius] can bring in health difficulties, such as arthritis and rheumatism, from issues to do with blocked anger. Unaspected Venus in its rulership in the 11th house, ruling the 6th, . . . [etc.] (pg. 61)
But that's not why Susan asked Darrelyn for a reading. It is because
Susan's handwriting tells you it is the Sun-Neptune-Mercury in Scorpio in the 12th house thast has put pen to paper. Suzanne's family issues of betrayal and deception are intense, so much so that she may not even be aware of them, yet Suzanne's handwriting tells you they are dominant issues for her. (pg. 62)
Gee, I wish I had that ability, to see so much in handwriting, and with such confidence.

This is a very good book. Apply yourself, you will learn much. I only wish the author would have included a printed text of the many handwriting samples, as many of them are not clearly legible. As an appendix, perhaps.

Wessex, 217 pages.


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Tel: 410-638-7761; Toll-free (orders only): 800-475-2272

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