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ASTROLOGY: A Language of Life, vol. 1: PROGRESSIONS - Robert P. Blaschke, $19.95
Contents:

Acknowledgments
Foreword, by Robert Hand
Introduction

1. Astrological rules, laws & definitions
2. Progression theory
3. Progressed planetary motion
4. The progressed sun-moon relationship
5. Progressed retrogradation & stations
6. Signs, degrees, houses & angles by progression
7. Discerning significant progressed aspects
8. Miscellaneous thoughts & interpretive stragegies

Appendices:
1. Planet stations, 1920-2010
2. Outer planet stations, 1920-2010
3. Lecture, class & workshop tapes by the author
4. Astrology software programs [circa 1998]
5. Computer chart services
6. Contacting the author
7. Bibliography
8. Sacred heart of astrology correspondence course

Comment:

I confess when this book first appeared in 1998, I did not realize just how good it was, nor did I guess how important the author himself would quickly become. All the other books give cut-and-dried, off-the-shelf, canned interpretations. Blaschke ignores that for techniques & analysis, the kinds of things that can only be learned by trial & error. This is a rigorous & demanding book. Blaschke starts in the deep end & goes on from there. Here is an example:

If you shift your primary reference point of planetary movement after birth from transits to progressions, bearing in mind that all progressed activity itself is directly linked to the birthchart, then the natal aspects become the foundation for all related interpretations. This means that certain planetary relationships, i.e., the pairs of natal planets that are in aspect, will remain prominent throughout the client's life. These planetary pairs are the place of beginning as you establish your interrelated chart analysis.

It is true that there can be significant gaps between the formation of exact secondary progressed to natal aspects, or secondary progressed to secondary progressed aspects, as the day for a year calculations move the Sun, Moon & personal planets at a relatively slow rate of Zodical degree movement per year. Taking into consideration the current tertiary & minor progression activity, the planetary picture radically changes. Using a clock of life analogy, with the different rates of motion of the hour, minute & second hands, we find that the secondaries move the planets one day per year (the hour hand), the tertiaries move the planets about thirteen days per year (the minute hand), and the minors move the planets about 27 days per year (the second hand).

This is from page 9. Already, by this point, we have had Carter's Nativity Rule (if it's not shown in the natal chart, forget it! - pg. 5), Carter's Rule of Excitation (a transiting planet precipitates the same planet progressed, pg. 6), and now, with no forewarning whatever, tertiaries & minors as timing factors. Blaschke is just getting warmed up!

Sharpen your pencils, roll up your sleeves, you can have fun with a book like this. From the foreword by Robert Hand: "This book on progressions is quite accessible to astrological readers of many levels, but it is not a beginner's book....It goes beyond that to provide a practical and theoretical foundation for integrating the various methods of progressions into a single body of method..."

Earthwalk School of Astrology, 137 pages.


CLASSICAL SOLAR RETURNS - J. Lee Lehman, $34.99

Contents:

List of charts, tables and figures
Preface
Acknowledgments

1. The history of solar returns
2. Classical applications of solar returns
3. Solar returns for romance and relationships
4. Solar returns for jobs and money
5. Solar returns for having children
6. Solar returns for relocation
7. Solar returns for education
8. Solar returns for awards and honors
9. Solar returns for medical problems
10. Solar returns for life-changing years
11. Solar returns for death
12. A life in solar returns (FDR)
13. Conclusions

Appendices:
A. Synopsis of classical concepts necessary to understand horary
B. Glossary
C. Table of essential dignities and almuten degrees
D. Lifetime events for individuals cited
E. Classical solar return aphorisms
F. Solar return placements for examples used

References
Index

Comment:

September 3, 2012: Scott S. writes to say that I have been harsh with this book, and so I have promised him a re-do. I am often hard on books and welcome the opportunity to look at them again. So what do I find now?

As before, I find the book rambles. Rambles and rambles and rambles. The author wants me to read each and every word. If you have time for that, you will read a great many things. You will learn a great many things about solar returns and you will read about a great many other things in the process.

I started, all over again, with the Preface. I wanted to know what was meant by "classical." Fromm pg. 8, what Lehman means is John Gadbury a 17th century English astrologer. Specifically, Lehman refers to The Nativity of the Late King Charles, which Wessex reset and reprinted in 2011. Which prominently features solar returns. Lehman had struggled for years with solar returns, it was Gadbury who gave her the "aha!" moment. She then follows this with page after page after page of unrelated nonsense. Which is the Preface.

This book will tell you everything you would ever want to know about solar returns.

So the question is, Is this the right book for you?

If you're the patient sort, if you enjoy reading every word, if you have a great deal of time, if you can spend at least a full month with this one book, if you are willing to sit quietly at a desk and take notes and write out the examples, then you will learn. If you fail to meet these requirements, you will fail.

Please be aware of the scale of what is offered, and of what is required. This book has 368 pages, including Preface, Appendices, References and Index. The text is set two columns to the page, which effectively doubles the page count. The format size is 10 x 7 inches (horizontal), which in metric is 25.5 x 17.7 cm. It is an inch thick (2.5 cm). It weighs one pound, 15.7 ounces, which is a little under a kilo. There are some 240 examples, including one group of 11 consecutive returns, and another of 41 consecutive returns.

If you can sit patiently, if you will scribble in the margins, if you make liberal use of a highlighter, if you take notes and refer back to them as you meticulously study this book, page by page, you will learn. Saying anything less would be unfair to the author and the work she has put into the book.

But as you may sense, I am unhappy that such a massive book has such high requirements and such limited appeal. If solar returns are what you want, there are better ways to learn. You might start, as Lehman herself did, with Gadbury.

Schiffer, 368 pages, oversize.


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IDENTIFYING PLANETARY TRIGGERS: Astrological techniques for prediction - Celeste Teal, $25.95

Contents:

Acknowledgments
Introduction

Part 1: Secondary progressions:
1. The progressed chart
2. The progressions at work

Part 2: Returns of the luminaries and planets:
3. Introducing the returns
4. The solar return
5. The lunar return
6. The Mercury return
7. The Venus return
8. The Mars return
9. The Jupiter return
10. The Saturn return

Part 3: The transiting planets and aspects:
11. Bridging the old with the new
12. The transits of the planet Mercury
13. The transits of the planet Venus
14. The transits of the Sun
15. The transits of the planet Mars
16. The transits of the planet Jupiter
17. The transits of the planet Saturn
18. The transits of the planet Uranus
19. The transits of the planet Neptune
20. The transits of the planet Pluto
21. The transits of the Moon's nodes

Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Comment:

This book is an overview of progressions, returns, and transits. The first section, on Progressions, starts with an overview of progressions, and then proceeds with a series of case studies, including a man battling for custody of his children, Princess Diana, a survivor of Vietnam's Hamburger Hill (May 1969), JonBenet Ramesey, and the Columbine high school murders.

In the section on Returns, Teal considers both precessed and non-precessed charts, along with converse returns, composite returns, relocation, anlunar (return of the current solar return moon), and diurnals. There follow a series of chapters on specific returning planets, starting with the Sun and continuing with the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

The third section is on transits. Teal gives an overview of the various transiting planet-to-planet aspects (includes houses for Pluto). She restricts herself to "transiting planet in [good or evil] aspect to natal planet," but then on occasion gives favorable delineations to "evil" aspects.

This book is a "prequel" to her later Predicting Events With Astrology, below.

Llewellyn, 364 pages.


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PREDICTING EVENTS WITH ASTROLOGY, revised & expanded edition - Celeste Teal, $26.95

Contents:

Acknowledgments
Chart data

Introducing the prediction techniques: Promise & potential, Chart calculation techniques, Astrological clock, Secondary progressions, Transits, Solar & lunar returns, Eclipses & the nodes, Horary, Special points, Terminology

Part One: Secondary progressions:
1. Preliminary techniques & the delineation of the progressed chart
2. Exploring the finer points of the progressed chart
3. Love & marriage
4. Money & success
5. Children
6. Physical health
7. Mental health
8. Accidents & other misfortunes
9. Death & bereavement

Part Two: Return charts:
10. Basics of the return charts
11. Fine-tuning the returns
12. The return techniques in practice
13. The solar return moon

Part Three: Theplanets & other points:
14. Activity & aspects of the planets
15. Eclipses & the lunar nodes
16. Special points

Bibliography
Glossary
Index

Comment:

The first section, on the progressed chart, starts with general interpretation guidelines. The author then follows with a series of extensive delineations of individuals suffering from specific problems & an analysis of the natal & progressed charts responsible for them. In the table of contents (above) you will see these closely resemble house affairs, e.g., love & marriage (7th), money & success (2nd & 10th), children (5th), physical health (6th), death (8th), etc.

The second section, on return charts, offers extensive guidelines to interpretation, though, as in the first section, no overtly cookbook delineations. Chart examples are used to show the practical applictions.

The third section, on planets & angles, starts off with an overview of transiting planet to natal planet delineations. (Overview, not specific details.) Included are a table of eclipses, from 1900 to 2050. Under Special Points are the Pleiades, Aries point, Saturn chasing Moon, and the Vertex.

This is an excellent book for those who will sit down & read & study. It is not so good for those who wish to point & shoot - and you know who you are. Many of the individual essays - Saturn chasing Moon, for example, are quite good.

Llewellyn, 328 pages


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THE A.C.D / L.D. METHOD OF PROGRESSIONS SIMPLIFIED - Sandra D. McDow & Jo Anna Graziano, $6.00
Contents: General information; Definitions; Rules; Examples: AM GMT on the same day as birth; AM GMT on the same day after birth; PM GMT on the same day as birth; PM GMT on the same day before birth; Progressed ephemeris date with examples; Progressed moon math/monthly motion

Comment: Progressions are a day for a year exchange. If you're 40 years old, you know that the line in the ephemeris 40 days after your birth are the positions of your progressed planets for your 40th year. But, exactly when in your 40th year will those ephemeris positions (the moon, in particular) be exact? If you knew what day of the year the ephemeris positions were exact, you could easily bump the progressed moon up one degree a month & know exactly when it made contact with natal planets.

For these reasons, the Ajusted Calculation Date (ACD) was devised. It's a simple calculation: Essentially, with a midnight ephemeris, subtract your GMT time of birth from 0:00:00. Add to that the interval between 0h GMT & your GMT birth time at 10 seconds/hour (9.86 seconds if you're fussy). To that sum, add the sidereal time (as shown in the ephemeris) for the last day before your birth. Take the resulting Sidereal Time & look it up in the ephemeris. The date with the closest match is your ACD for a midnight ephemeris. (This book uses a noon ephemeris. The only change for calculation at noon is to start with 12:00:00, instead of 00:00:00.)

The better computer programs have long printed the ACD (noon & midnight) on the charts. If you were wondering what it meant, now you know. This book also contains instructions on exact calculation of the progressed moon. A small but useful book.

If this is the only item on your order, we will ship at reduced rates, both domestic & international.

AFA, 12 pages.


THE PROGRESSED HOROSCOPE SIMPLIFIED - Leigh Hope Milburn, $21.95
Contents:

1. Progressed horoscope defined
2. General application
3. Predominance of planets
4. The nature & influence of the planets
5. Progression of planets through the signs
6. Progressed ascendant
7. The progressed moon
8. Aspects by the progressions of the moon
9. Aspects by the progression of the sun
10. Aspects by the progression of the planets: Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter
11. Parallels
12. The transits
13. The aspects of the transits: Mars, Venus, Mercury, Sun, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
14. Example

Comment:

From the back of the book:

Originally published in 1928, this bok gives detailed instruction on how to interpret the progressed chart using the Moon, Ascendant, and planets as well as transits.

Leigh Milburn put to use her wealth of experience, both in classroom work through the Llewellyn College [not the same as the publisher in St. Paul - Dave] and her private practice, to convey the practical information for delineating progressed horoscopes, and how to use them in actual practice. In addition, she includes interpretations for all the major factors in the progressed chart, with chapters on the nature of the planets, planets through the signs, progressed Ascendant, progressed Moon in the houses, parallels, and progressed and transiting aspects of the Sun, Moon & planets. This classic book is a must for those interested in predictive astrology.

AFA, 186 pages.


ASTROLOGICAL ALCHEMY: How to turn your base transits into golden opportunities - Joan Negus, $14.95

Contents:

1. Introduction: aspects, alchemy, categorizing transits

2. Moon, Sun, Mercury, Venus; lunar & solar returns; lunations & eclipses

3. Mars. Function, how you might feel with Mars transits, how Mars transits may be used, alchemy, transiting Mars in houses, transiting Mars in aspect

4. Jupiter. Function, how you might feel with Jupiter transits, how Jupiter transits may be used, alchemy, transiting Jupiter in houses, transiting Jupiter in aspect

5. Saturn. Function, how you might feel with Saturn transits, how Saturn transits may be used, alchemy, transiting Saturn in houses, transiting Saturn in aspect

6. Uranus. Function, how you might feel with Uranus transits, how Uranus transits may be used, alchemy, transiting Uranus in houses, transiting Uranus in aspect

7. Neptune. Function, how you might feel with Neptune transits, how Neptune transits may be used, alchemy, transiting Neptune in houses, transiting Neptune in aspect

8. Pluto. Function, how you might feel with Pluto transits, how Pluto transits may be used, alchemy, transiting Pluto in houses, transiting Pluto in aspect

9. The Moon's nodes. Function, how you might feel with nodal transits, how node aspects may be used, alchemy, transiting nodes in houses, transiting nodes in aspect

10. Putting it all together: planetary cycles & adult stages, transiting planets & nodes in houses, customizing transits: sign empasis by sign, sign emphasis by house; monthly transit sheets, six month transit sheets, alternatives

11. Answers to exercises: Answers to Mars exercises, answers to Jupiter exercises, answers to Saturn exercises, answers to Uranus exercises, answers to Neptune exercises, answers to Pluto exercises, answers to node exercises.

Bibliography
Index

Comment:

Originally published in 1985.

These are delineations of the transiting planets. "Alchemy" is proactively making the best use of an upcoming transit, rather than waiting passively for it to run into you. For example, with a Mars transit, you should find some way to channel excess energies, such as physical exercise and sports.

Actual transiting-planet-to-natal-planet delineations are general:

Jupiter to Mercury can be associated with eloquent verbal communications, or the ability to write profusely. It also, however, offers a time of candor or tactlessness (another "foot-in-mouth" aspect). Anything put into writing may require editing later. Just plan in advance what you wish to say & it will flow. Do not avoid writing because excellent ideas can come during these periods. So what if it has to be edited?

The Jupiter to Venus aspects are a combination for socializing, having fun & indulging yourself. The warning here is overindulgence, especially monetarily. You might want to lock up your credit cards and bank books at these times! Or better yet, choose enjoyable activities that are not costly. (pg. 32)

To be fair about it, delineations for transiting Saturn, Uranus, Neptune & Pluto are meatier than this (typically half a page of text), but to be fair about it, none have all that much meat.

The sections on Houses & Aspects are questionaires:

1. __________ Get sick, make out a schedule for your daily routine, or tackle a difficult task that needs to be done. (pg. 47) [Answer: Saturn in the 6th house.]

2. __________ Quit your job so that yo don't have to worry about working, or try to attain more independence in your career. (pg. 61) [Answer: Uranus on the midheaven]

- The answers are in the back of the book.

This wasn't the best book on transits when it first appeared, it is puzzling why it was reprinted in 2010, many years after the author's passing. (Joan Negus, 1930-1997)

Starcrafts, 146 pages.


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LUNAR RETURNS - John Townley, $19.95

Contents:

List of charts
Introduction by Susan Wishbow Townley

Part 1: Anatomy of the Lunar Return:
1. Meet the Moon
2. Interpreting the Lunar Return

Part 2: Delineations:
3. Lights & planets in the houses of the lunar return
4. Lunar return ascendant by sign
5. Lights & planets in aspect in the lunar return
6. Featured natal planets
7. Transits into natal houses
8. Transits into lunar return houses
9. Transits to natal planets
10. Transits to lunar return planets
11. Full & new moons in natal & lunar return houses
12. Transiting retrogrades & eclipses.

Comment: You asked for it, and here it is: An entire book on Lunar Returns. Lunar returns happen when the moon returns to its exact place at birth, which it does every 28 days. Lunar returns are therefore our monthly cycle, for better or worse. The book has some dramatic case studies (Martha Stewart, 9-11 (yet again)), but for the most part falls flat. Take an okay book on transits & put "this month" in front of all the delineations, and you pretty much have the flavor of the book. Examples:

Lunar return Saturn in the first: You may want to pull in your wings a bit for a while, as restricting forces are in the air that can put pressure on you if you don't carefully mete out your energies... (pg. 75)

Any Natal Planet Conjunct Lunar Return Venus: You will likely run across issues & opportunities that allow you to demonstrate your charm & magnetism & set the tone for some time to come... (pg. 34)

Sun Conjunct Midheaven: The Sun at midday spreads its widest beams abroad & can be seen from afar, like a flag at the masthead. This month's energy therefore is great for letting people know where you're at. (pg. 116)

The author, John Townley, is described at the end of the book as, A millennium Renaissance man, he is also an artist/producer of over a dozen record albums, the author of multiple scholarly maritime historical papers & book reviews, and an Internet multimedia journalist.

Townley uses Tropical, non-precessed returns. In other words, if your natal Moon is at 15 degrees of Aries in the Tropical zodiac, lunar returns happen whenever the moon returns to 15 degrees Aries in the Tropical zodiac.

Llewellyn, 245 pages.


TRANSITS & SOLAR RETURNS: A new system of analysis for two ancient methods - Ciro Discepolo, $25.00

Contents:

Preface

1. Thirty rules
2. Transits of the Sun
3. Transits of the Moon
4. Transits of Mercury
5. Transits of Venus
6. Transits of Mars
7. Transits of Jupiter
8. Transits of Saturn
9. Transits of Uranus
10. Transits of Neptune
11. Transits of Pluto
12. The houses of the solar return
13. Celestials in the houses of the solar return
14. Moon of SR in the houses of the solar return
15. Mercury of SR in the houses of the solar return
16. Venus of SR in the houses of the solar return
17. Mars of SR in the houses of the solar return
18. Jupiter of SR in the houses of the solar return
19. Saturn of SR in the houses of the solar return
20. Uranus of SR in the houses of the solar return
21. Neptune of SR in the houses of the solar return
22. Pluto of SR in the houses of the solar return
23. The index of risk for the year
24. Examples

Postface:
25. Preface to the second edition
26. Forecasts: This is why I say yes
27. The question of health
28. What you can do if you cannot leave
29. Results of the more recent researches
30. An essential bibliography

Compendium
31. A short preface to the compendium
32. Psychoanalysis & the escape
33. References to the transactional psychology
34. Few links with mythology
35. Few links with Roman religion
36. Active astrology & magic
37. Predation
38. A bibliography to the compendium

Comment: In the first section, on transits, there are harmonious & dissonant aspects, which sort of leaves the conjunction up to the reader to figure out. Delineations are extensive (many are nearly a full page long), and for the most part, are given as one long paragraph. Jupiter in harmonious aspect to the Moon is different from Moon in harmonious aspect to Jupiter (ie, no Sakoian & Acker shortcuts). The author also delineates each planet as it transits the twelve houses. Delineations are a lot less psychological than Rob Hand's famous set. In many places, Discepolo, unlike Hand, pulls no punches. Among other details, Saturn transiting the 4th, you could lose a parent. Uranus dissonant to Mars, you could have a bad accident (true, for me). Saturn dissonant to Moon: Possibility of death, if other factors (listed) agree. While the delineations broadly agree with accepted dogma, there are many insights from his long experience.

With solar returns, he seems to be a master. From the Preface:

I reckoned - by an approximation - that until spring 1997, after twenty-seven years of intensive practice in astrology, I had 'forwarded' at least ten thousand persons to an aimed birthday (over 20,000 in 2007). What's more, year after year I've been recording their outcome, about the splendid reality of the Aimed Solar Return. [ie, relocated solar return - Dave] ...

In this volume you'll read quite different observations than those which you might find in any other book. Two examples follow that substantiate this reflection. In the next sections you'll read that a Solar Return starting, say, with Jupiter at the Medium Coli gives one hundred times lower positive effects to the native's social & professional promotion than a Solar Return with the Ascendant lying in the 10th house of the birth chart. Reading the following sections you'll also realize that the SR ascendant in the 1st house of birth is one of the worst positions that could ever strike a man. The above remarks, together with many other observations, originate from an extremely long practice & are supported by hundreds of personal reports of people who relocated their own SR according to the method described in this book, who can confirm every single point of what I have written down here. (pg. 5)

In the Solar Return section itself, he writes,
It is important to make one thing clear. In other books of mine, especially in my Trattato pratico di Rivoluzioni solari, I have already tried to explain this, but perhaps I haven't been clear enough - or maybe my readers did not understand. I would try again, further emphasizing the meanings of such a celestial combination. Perhaps if I speak out in further detail, readers would hear me & understand me better. According to my experience, the 12th, the 1st & the 6th house of the Solar Return are extremely dangerous & detrimental places, without significant differences of degree among each other. Saying that they show 'amost the same level' of detriment means that if the 12th house scores, say, minus 100 points, both the 1st & the 6th house score minus 98. These are facts, I have been misunderstood so far.... I would not spend a single word about the alleged growth that you can achieve being in trouble, or about the good of these three houses: the reader may find my point of view in other sections of this book and in my other books. I would rather underline the meanings of such wickedness... (pg. 325)
From these extracts we get a sense of the author's techniques & point of view. Since there are 365 AND A QUARTER days in a year, the solar return ascendant shifts by roughly 90 degrees a year, meaning that every four years, the solar return ascendant & the natal ascendant are, more or less, the same. This is one of the very few books we have of non-English astrology. It is very well-translated, and printed on heavy coated stock. The book weighs twice what any other book would. Both of these are indications the author is highly regarded in his native Italy.

Discepolo uses the Tropical zodiac. He does not precess, but he often urges clients to travel abroad for their birthday. Notably, for solar returns he gives no calculation instructions, and his example nativities/returns have no degrees marked on them.

I would like to hear feedback from readers.

Ricerca '90, 558 pages.


THE CHANGING SKY: A practical guide to predictive astrology - Steven Forrest, $18.95

Contents:

Dedication
Acknowledgements
Preface

Part 1: Creating the future:

1. Who's in charge?: Uncertainty, Three levels, Fields of probability
2. The root prediction: Tuning in

Part 2: Transits:

3. Transits 1: Definitions: The first technique, Trigger points, The slow-fast distinction, What about retrogradation? When the party's over
4. Transits 2: Teachers & tricksters
3. Transits 3: The cycle of houses: Cyclical patterns, Houses in practice, Trigger points in houses
6. Transits 4: The cycle of life: Planetary cycles, The scheme of life

Part 3: Progressions:

7. Progressions 1: What are progressions?: Symbolic time, Secondary progressions, Regrograde progressions, The orbs of the progressed aspects, Other progressive techniques
8. Progressions 2: More teachers & tricksters: The progressed ascendant, The progressed midheaven
9. Progressions 3: The progressed Moon: The significance of the progressed Moon, Progressed Moon through the houses, Progressed Moon through the signs

Part 4: The progressed planets:

10. Progressions 4: The progressed planets & angles: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Midheaven & Ascendant

Part 5: Synthesis:

11. Putting it all together: Your ace in the hole, The ace up your sleeve, Strategic overview, Four nets, Net one, Net two, Net three, Net four, The scope of time, Impact thresholds, Detecting patterns & themes
12. Artist, evangelist, madman: Vincent Van Gogh
13. Weather working

Appendix: How to look up transits; The teachers & tricksters ephemeris,1999-2010

Comment: Of the various chapters, Transit 1 gives the mechanics of transiting planets. Transit 2, Teachers & Tricksters introduces Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune & Pluto as Teachers & Tricksters, which is a recurring theme in Forrest's books. He then introduces Mars, Venus, Mercury, Sun & Moon, but as transiting planets the best they can do is backfire. Or the worst, I suppose. This chapter is a general overview of what transiting planets may do in your chart.

Transits 3 gives a general overview of houses, as if they were one continuous storyline, from one house to another, on & on. I've never really understood this, as, to me, house transits are at best background influences, but I digress. Forrest:

If our passage through the second house has been a successful one, we are now filled with a sense of legitimacy & authority. We have proven ourselves to ourselves. We now become curious and communicative, eager to learn - and eager to teach. Restlessness & mental energy become dominant features of our character.... (pg. 78)
Transits 4 is the 29 year Saturn cycle, the 84 year Uranus cycle, the Neptune cycle, the Pluto cycle, the Jupiter cycle, all neatly summed up.

In Progressions 2: More Teachers & Tricksters, we get Sun, Mercury, Venus & Mars as teachers & tricksters. Of this concept, Forrest writes,

Teachers & tricksters. Exactly what are we talking about here? The mind likes myths; heroes & villians always hold our attention. To speak of "Mercury the Trickster" or "Venus the Teacher" is evocative. It excites the spirit & alerts the mind. For those reasons, speaking of Teachers & Tricksters elivens our approach to astrology, making it interesting and effective. Still, we must careful not to be deceived by the power of our own mythology. Teachers & Tricksters are not forces of Light and Darkness "out there" in space. They are internal. You are your own Trickster and your own Teacher. Transits and progressions signal developmental steps happening inside you. They can be ridden like a perfect, cresting waves or tripped over like misplaced furniture - all according to the choices & commitments you make. (pg. 138)
This is, in fact, how most of the book goes. In the entire book, the only actual delineations are the progressed Moon through the signs & houses, and the progressed Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Midheaven & Ascendant to the various planets, Sun through Pluto.

Seven Paws Press, 303 pages.


ROADMAP TO YOUR FUTURE, A Quick Guide to Progressions & Transits - Bernie Ashman, $23.00
Contents:

Part 1: Roots
1. Prediction & life processes
2. The birthchart: roots of prediction
3. The dance of the planets: aspects

Part 2: Transits
4. Transits: Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Jupiter

Part 3: Secondary progressions
5. Symbolic time pieces: progressions
6. Progressed Sun
7. Fast-moving progressions: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars
8. Progressed angles

Part 4: Delineations
9. Planet / planet aspects
10. Planet / ascendant aspects
11. Planet / midheaven aspects
12. Planet / nodes of the Moon aspects

Conclusion

Comment:

In the big chapter 9, Planet to Planet aspects, Ashman gives combines delineations of transiting and progressed, both planets at once. Sucn as,
Progressed Venus / Natal or Progressed Saturn
Transiting Saturn / Natal Venus
In other words, in this section, which starts on pg. 175, we will consider progressed Venus aspecting either the natal or the progressed Saturn, or transiting Saturn aspecting the natal Venus. In each of these section, he first starts with three keywords, for Process, Ally, and Illusion. For Venus/Saturn:
Process: Establishing committments
Ally: Sound values
Illusion: Resisting change
Ashman then goes on to delineate all possible intereactions of these two planets within that framework which is divided into several sections. The first are Intense Aspects, and include the conjunction & square. He then gives delineations for Light, and then for Shadow. "Light" delineations are generally hopeful, "shadow" delineations are generally not, but they apply to the same transiting aspects. There doesn't seem to be any clear reason why you would experience Light as oppossed to Shadow.

Continuing under Intense Aspects (Venus & Saturn), Ashman next pairs the quincunx with the opposition, giving Light and Shadow delineations. He concludes the Venus/Saturn section with Soft Aspects, which are the sextile and trine. He again gives Light and Shadow delineations, and now includes a brief Dawn. Here it is:

Venus/Saturn aspects can express as greater fulfillment. Bringing others into our life can help one achieve happiness. Ambition and recognition come naturally. Our relationships can handle the stresses of modern life. We may acknowledge each other's strengths as well as shortcomings. The social urges and desire for harmony of Venus can reach new heights when combined with the patience and hardworking themes of Saturn. (pg. 179)
From the back cover: "...illustrates the potential of every aspect, whether easy or challenging, and sparks the thinking process by beginning each section with a series of pertinent keywords. His concise interpretations contain the depth that only a mix of astrology and psychology can achieve."

AFA, 430 pages.


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POTENTIAL FULFULLED - ACCIDENT PATTERNS - Priscilla M. Gilbert, $21.95

Contents:

Introduction

Part 1: Fatal accidents:
Plane crash
Hit by car
Hit by train
Head-on car collision
Hit by car
Skid into telephone pole
Car crash into embankment
Car collision
Accidental electrocution
Hit by truck
Death by fall

Part 2: What saved them:
Drove into drainage ditch
Truck rollover
Head-on collision
Fall fromr motorcycle
Fell off cliff
Hit by train
Shattered foot
Train crash
Third-degree burns
Motorcycle accident
Car accident
Car crash
Car accident

Comment:

This was previously published as two separate books, which are now combined.

This is a study of accidents, divided into fatal and non-fatal. Non-fatal accidents generally have saving aspects from Venus and or Jupiter, but can still be severe.

The study of accident patterns starts by noting planets in violent signs (Aries, Scorpio and Capricorn) and continues with house cusps at critical degrees, planets conjunct fixed stars, planets conjunct the nodes, the third and ninth houses, malefics in the wrong places (conjunct the lights, elevated, etc.) She notes which planets cause which kinds of injuries and in what kind of conveyances. She includes basic midpoints as well as these various Arabic parts: Death, Fatality, Catastrophe, Peril, Surgery and a new one, Plane Crash. (Arabic Parts were originally created to order. It's a lost art that should be revived.) She uses transits, progressions, primaries and tertiaries, direct and converse. She uses eclipses.

The delineations are neatly and crisply laid out. There is no hand-holding, no squeamishness, which is refreshing. For each, there is a brief overview of the accident, with triple wheel (natal - progressed - transit/event), and then a list of fixed stars, primary directions, converse directions, tertiary directions, eclipses, progressions, transits, and a summary. As Gilbert says in her Introduction, it takes a lot to kill you, but when you're number is up, it's up.

This book will give many insights.

AFA, 190 pages.


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Forecasting Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6


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