Vintage astrology books can be brilliant for perspective and weird tidbits of information. But they can also be utterly freaky.
As a teenage astro-fiend, I scoured the second-hand book stores for ye olde astrology books. I felt i could learn more from them than the current ones. They certainly had a more occult mystery. But sometimes I wish I hadn’t.
From pre-1970s astrology books, I learned that my Mars-Pluto conjunction in the 8th house practically guaranteed an early demise from venereal disease but that death by assassination could not be ruled out.
Then again, Aquarius Rising rendered me scaly-skinned, phlegmatic, and repulsive to suitors. The Moon in Libra made me a feeble-minded dolt but thankfully my miserly, cruel and sadistic Saturn in the 2nd house balanced that out.
They were not just scary, negative, and fatalistic. Many of them were written in clearly less enlightened times. The authors classified women who wanted to work “outside the house” as victims of aspects that worked fantastically for men. It was an aberration to be single, gay, or divorced.
I think of this whenever someone emails me, upset because they read about how they will be stabbed in the back in a foreign place and that their hair is stringy. Reading vintage astrology books is like reading old medicine books.
There is material in there of interest but just as you would no longer use D.D.T. to disinfect your armpits after each bath or leeches for vitality, don’t buy into the gloom porn definitions.
Thoughts?
Along the same vein, I’ve just watched a 1938 movie “When Were You Born?’ (free, ytube) set around astrology which was written by Manley P Hall, a well known astrologer at the time. He even gives a brief character analysis of the 12 signs at the start of the movie.Though it’s all mega clichéd *(and sometimes strange) it’s fun to watch esp if you’re an old movie buff. It’s a murder mystery featuring 12 people (all different signs) including an enigmatic Chinese lady astrologer with a capuchin monkey, who helps the police solve the case by casting the horoscope charts of all involved. She is Aquarius, of course.
* From the trailer: IS IT DANGEROUS TO MAKE LOVE UNDER THE SIGN OF THE TWINS? … (really? can anyone here testify to this?)
Invaluable: aspects in astrology by Sue Tompkins and astrological insights into personality by Betty Lundsted.
The latter transformed my resentment for my parents into compassionate understanding for the hand they were dealt with.
The best gift this mars/pluto conjunct in scorpio 7th houser ever got, really. lundsted’s writing totally blasted my projections to smithereens, and forced a lot of self-inquiry into the effects of early life conditioning on one’s perspective. yay change!!
I’ve had similiar experiences with older books on tarot readings….
Steven Forrest’s books are worth mentioning…
I need to obtain The Gods of Change. Thanks for the reminder.
Uranus just entered my 12th house..Yikes! Have not fully investigated what to expect yet….
Whoah…I love how this site always sync’s up with what’s going on in my head! crazy! One book I read, “All Over The Earth Astrologically” (forget the author…Ivy Something), made me sure that anyone I knew with an afflicted chart would die an untimely death. It still makes me crazy to think about it.
So…Can anyone do some composite/synastry-bashing on my behalf…it would really make me feel better. 🙂
completely agree with your assessment of old astrology sources!
PS–this is why I like your site. you work your own brain around what the planets and transits mean.
My Pluto in the 4th apparently means I was molested as kiddie & my Uranus in 4th is interpreted as making me solid divorce material.
Meanwhile my Venus conjunct Saturn means I am a frigid bee-atch who can’t dance and sorrowfully spends Sat night applying and reapplying her makeup in front of a lonely mirror whilst sobbing & listening to the Aladdin soundtrack on repeat.
Love Sasportas’ 12 Houses, I will have to get that one, thanks MM!
Thought it was just me! “Ancient wisdom, undiluted by social niceties!”
I don’t have the book any more, can’t tell you what it was called, donated it after hitting the last page.
I think the man was traumatized by a Capricorn as a child; he HATED them! (I’m not being flip!) Every single Capricorn was an evil, vicious oppressor, out to enforce conformity by any means necessary. Caps were responsible for every social evil of the existing fascist regime. Especially the targeted & mailicious subjugation of Aquarians. He was literally ranting. I could practically see the spittle fly.
The rest of the book was relatively balanced, high & low points for each sign & both genders (dated, but not terrible). Except for Aquarians. They were pure, inspired children of the Divine, and any faults should be forgiven due to their exquisite nature.
I figured I didn’t need advice from anyone who hated my sun sign that much! Now, where are some Aquarians I can savagely oppress? 😉
I have a dazzle of Aquarians ready for you at yr convenience.
I really love The Gods of Change- bought it this year and everything makes so much sense. I love the depth of this book. Very handy for zap zone. In terms of older astrology books I do like Linda Goodman’s sun signs. In terms of newer books I like ‘Past Life Astrology’ by Judy Hall and the big book by Julia and Derek Parker- sorry I can’t remember the title, maybe ‘Parker’s astrology’?. I also have Kim Falconer’s ‘Astrology and Aptitude’ and that’s a great book for reading your chart for your life path and purpose/ strengths and abilities and there is great info on the asteroids etc. I have a couple of Mystic Medusa’s books ‘astro guide’ and ‘soul mating’. They are so much fun to read. Not a huge fan of Hazel Dixon-Cooper’s books ‘born on a rotten day’ or her book on friendship- a little pessimistic and scathing in parts (most).
Scathing as in I don’t find it funny. at all.
I did recently read the compilation of Crowleys Astrological writings. He focus’s mainly on Neptune & Uranus. As you say MM alot of it was rather extreme talk of feeble minded dolts and the like – there is no hope for humanity. But I’m kind of used to reading material from this generation and find a few things like the unmistakable eyes of Neptune rising ( which I am and do have of course 🙂 ) quite interesting. But you do have to read alot of Angry (not so) Young man material to find these gems.
Isn’t an “an alarming combination of lechery with spinsterhood” a depiction of the modern woman’s life? I feel like popping it on the front cover of my daily planner.
Oh yes some deep astro traumas from old books. Especially regarding my Venus/Saturn/Saturn in the 7th house, unlovable old maid stuff. The ones I always come back to over and over are..
Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil by Liz Greene changed everything for me, I love Liz Greene, she can can be a little on the neg side at times but she knows.
Relationships + Life Cycles/Astrology, Karma + Transformation by Stephen Arroyo are bibles.
How to Handle Your Human Relations by Lois Haines Sargent is the BEST synastry book I’ve found.
Howard Sasportas is great.
“astro traumas” : that’s a GOOD one.
I was introduced to Howard Sasportas’ work many years ago and his insights were a complete revelation because they were so contemporary and easy to read. Such a dramatic change from the older astrology books that condemned me and my Cap Moon to a horrible life that would gradually, inexorably, deteriorate into misery and anguish.
The Gods of Change just leaps out at the reader . You can tell it’s written by one who knows .
I have got a jolly one open in front of me that says, for Mercury in Virgo:
“Cold reason may be your god. You are probably selfish and sarcastic. In a position of authority, you may be a trifling despot.”
ouch that hurt 🙁 (mercury conjunct sun in virgo in the 7th).
It goes on for a full paragraph, full of this inspiring (to despair) drivel.
GAH!
Ooh lovely old school language, “trifling despot”. I’d like that for my daily planner front cover, too. 🙂
Haaa!
I had the same things come up as I was a budding astro-novice (heehee…pretty sure I always will consider myself as such…always something to learn!)…when I was in my early ’20’s and really seeking out astro knowledge, I was blessed/cursed by a friend of a friend’s father passing and leaving to him a quite large library, including a large selection of astrology books that I was given permission to peruse and acquire as I wished.
What I got out of that pile that I took home, and that I still refer to is:
Planets In Transit, by Robert Hand
And that’s pretty much it…most of the other books I’ve sloughed off over the years.
Here’s a list of the books I LOVE and still refer to this day (getting better and better about just following the planetary movements, though and just feeling what they’re doing!):
Astrology For the Soul, by Jan Spiller (a book on the North Nodes)
Twelve Faces of Saturn, by Bil Tierney
Making The Gods Work For You, by Caroline Casey (she’s an AHHHMAZING author/speaker/activist astrologer!!!)
The New Astrology, by Suzanne White
(this is great for the uber novice, but fun for a more well read astrologer too, I think…particularly in a social setting…it consists of a large chapter for each of the 144 possible sun sign/chinese year sign combinations, and it’s and pretty right on!)
I’ve read Suzanne’s book, as it gives a glowing reference to Aries Pigs I enjoyed it immensely.
It was a very recent perusal of Astrodienst that weirded me out: it said that people with their Moon in the 12th lose their mothers early in life– and my son’s Moon is in his 12th.
I emailed Mystic over it. She gave me warm, organic almond milk and a vegan cookie-like thing, and shared a parable about a 12th Moon friend with an old, healthy mom. I chilled out. Mostly.
yeah – astro dienst is a grumpy old swiss site! I too steer clear of their interps, though of course some of the associated astrologers like Liz Greene are great.
I have moon in the 12th house, my mum is fighting fit at 75 x
The other bady I read on astrodienst was the interp of sat in the 4th house, my sons astro , makes it sound shocking and scary.
i’d always read this and thought pffft too… my mom is fabulously healthy and alive at 58 (and completely rocking her saturn return). however, she recently shared that my birth was very dramatic for everyone around her, while she was the calm center of the storm. moon/chiron/mars/venus conjunction whoa. plus, a week afterwards, she developed full-blown childbirth fever, which in ye olde days of astro books would have killed her. so perhaps there is something to it… but it also speaks to fate NOT being written in stone…
What the hell is child fever ?
What the hell is childbirth fever ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerperal_fever
Thanks for the references, I’d still consider Alan Leo, but it isn’t a light read. Always intended to read about Jung and astrology but reports of him being a supporter of fascism seemed to horrible to bear.
Martin Schulman who has specifically covered retrograde planets, north nodes and their karmic influence is still very interesting and worthwhile, but it can seem prescriptive too…what I really appreciate from this book is the concept of time in our minds, past present and future.
Isadore Kaminsky wrote a book about numbers, related to tarot and the origins via hebrew language/ culture. Its out of print, but found that Cassandra Press have a book on gems / crystals (healing) The magic and science of jewels and stones vols 1 & 2.
Vedic Astrology appeals but again I am wary of any fatalistic interpretations. In Jaipur India my aunts took me to a place near the observatory where people can visit for reliable readings by a reputable astrologer.
ha ha you are so cool! Boston marathon as an outlet …along with flying jets, making decisions in politics, excelling at science etc etc!
I agree, the old books pathologise and stereotype.
I had a shocker of a first astro book:
Cheiro’s Book of Fate and Fortune had me convinced that my life would be cold, dark, lonely and I’d be forever misunderstood. I was doomed, apparently, because I was born in the ‘house of the number 8’ (Cap) and my 31st birthday added up to 4 which meant I had some kind of ‘double doom’ awaiting me.
It was terribly depressing. No wonder I was attracted to it in my mostest darkest, melancholic teen hours. Ugh! What a tool.
At least now I’ve discovered Mystic and can see that there’s light and fabulosity associated with any chart. Yay for Mystic 🙂
OHH! I had that one too and I had a morbid fascination with it – moon and neptune in scorpio 😀
Luckily I’d been dosed up with Linda Goodman prior to getting my hands on it – libra sun = great at denial.
It’s terrible how dodgy astro stereotyping can lurk at the back of your mind for ever, especially when it’s dark. OTOH I will always remember Linda Goodman’s observation that “Aquarius fights best with her hat–she puts it on and leaves.”
This has stayed with me and has often been the default end to an argument and I have become good at the spectacular exit.
If i had to pick my favorites, it would be
the inner planets(liz greene)
the luminaries (liz greene)
the magic thread (richard idemon)
through the looking glass (richard idemon)
linda goodman is great astrological abc’s, anything liz greene is great, as well as anything stephen arroyo
If anyone else knows some priceless gems please share, I am building quite the library but a bit scared of getting something redundant at this point
Jeffery Wolf Greene has some good books out done in the 80’s
The Twelfth House, by
Karen Hamaker-Zondag was EXTREMELY enlightening…if you have a strong 12th definitely give it a read
Astrology For Skeptics by Charlotte MacLeod was my diamond in the rough second-hand find back when…
And everything by Liz Greene.
PS: even post-70s astro books make me feel cursed with my venus/saturn in scorp on MC, sun in 8th, pluto sq asc, and mars/neptune conj. Okay, maybe I’m a little cursed (aren’t we all). But how do I WORK with it?
Oh, and will have pluto transiting 12th for about the next zillion years soon. Some old astro book mentions disfigurement and incarceration. Very encouraging!
Awesome! I have Mars-Pluto conjunction in the 10th! Perhaps stabbed to death by a co-worker? zounds!
I just chalk it up to more innocent/simpler times when i read that stuff. Marriage was almost guaranteed back then when people looked at marriage lines or stars or whatevs but because times have changed “marriage” may mean a “significant relationship” instead. People were more at the mercy of their environments too. Libra peeps jolly, fat, and diabetic? Well duh because horny Caps having b-day sex while on holidaze egg nog an candy high producing us. Now we have super-markets that produce all manner of foods any time we want even when it is supposed to be out of season.
No, the old rules don’t always apply anymore.
zounds!! lol i love that ye olde exclamation!
!! My twins have mars pluto conjunction in the 11th…..friends and large groups, oh dear….lol.
The boy twin has such focus and drive. He is 11 and the men in my group respect him already.