(Part 2) Best astrology books according to redditors

I'm glad that this post found its way to r/astrology. I think it's important to be able talk about the houses and their interpretations, but this article steers people the wrong way about many of its points.

The article is correct about empty houses. Just because no planet resides in a house doesn't mean it's any less active, but that's because the matters of a house emanate from the ruler of the house.

>So, if the Cusp of the 3rd House is on 16° Leo, we have to take that very point to define the basic nature of The House of Learning and Communication of the person we are examining, and we have to do that even if on the Cusp there are no Planets and even if there are no planets on the rest of the House’s area, because Houses are the true projection of the personality.

This idea of combining the characteristics of a sign with the significations of the house is only correct within a limited sense. Having Leo on the cusp of the third is more likely to suggest that the native has few siblings, not that they communicate in a Leonine way. What you're really supposed to do when you have an empty house (and even when you don't) is to look to the ruler of the house. The planet that rules a house is always responsible for maintaining and executing the affairs of that house and every house will always have a ruler.

Furthermore, the entire second half of the article that attempts to make the case (actually it really doesn't, it just offers it up to us and expects the reader to accept it on face value) that houses aren't just "sectors of life" but are "reflections of the psyche" is, in my professional opinion, incorrect. I think it's important to point out that this idea became very popular after the publication of Howard Sasportas's book The Twelve Houses in which he put forth the idea that the houses are a psychological "cycle of life". This book was published in 1985 and completely disregarded the historical and traditional ways the houses were handled, conceptualized, and interpreted (Sasportas's "cycle" even goes the wrong way). Sasportas isn't completely responsible for this change, but his book definitely became a cornerstone in the foundation of a reinvented astrology separated from its past.

The best book out there about the houses, their history, meaning, and even calculation is Deborah Houlding's Temples of the Sky. It's a great, short read and contains so much information. Until you can get that book, I have a couple of pointers about houses

1. Planets in a house are more immediately felt than the planet that rules the house
   
2. The ruler of a house is responsible for manifesting the affairs of the house. Always look to it.
   
3. Planets placed in houses link the matters of the houses together. Make sure to consider what it might mean that the Lord of the Seventh House is placed in the Ninth House and how that links together the topics of those houses.
   
4. Any article that suggests planets, houses, and signs are interchangeable should be ignored. The eleventh house has nothing to do with Aquarius and definitely nothing to do with Uranus or Saturn. This was a really popular theory as to the origins of the meanings of the houses in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, but our scholarship has improved a lot since then and we know that that isn't the case. As a result, most professional astrologers have moved away from this system and I normally only encounter this idea in blogs or older modern books. Houses, signs, and planets have very different philosophical and technical ideas that go into their meaning. There are often interwoven, but none completely rely on any of the others to give them meaning.
   
   

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.

The original ELI5s were books, and it sounds like you could use a book right about now. Horoscope Symbols is a great starting point to learn more deeply about the symbols themselves and why all these things mean what they mean. This book is a little more beginner friendly, also a great starting point when you're new and wanting to understand how it all works.

Books that describe the what rather than the why are often referred to as cookbooks, where you just look up a planet in a sign or house or an aspect, and you get a paragraph explanation. These are notoriously broad and definitely should not be the end of your studies, but they can be good starting points for seeing what you read about in the "why" books in action. Planets in Youth is probably my favorite cookbook for this. It's supposedly geared towards children and developing youths, but I've found it relevant and accurate across the board as far as age goes. Planets in Transit is the legendary cookbook for transits, and while I wouldn't start with this one, it's definitely worth having on your bookshelf.

Also, check out the resources in the FAQ post. That section is specifically designed to offer online resources for people in your position who want to learn some basics.

There's The General Principles of Astrology by Aleister Crowley.

Moonology Oracle Cards: A 44-Card Deck and Guidebook https://www.amazon.com/dp/1781809968/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_xRmWDbHN3FSNY I found it 😊😊😊

Asteroid Goddesses is probably one of the best books I've read on asteroids.

My take on Ceres is the same as my take on the other asteroids, it needs to be aspecting another planet (preferably a personal planet) within close orb to have any noticeable effect.

Ceres shows how we nurture others; it's almost a type of motherly instinct. And of course, the sign and house position show how that nurturing is expressed and in what area of life.

Yes it does. But don't believe me, check for yourself. Begin with your own chart, be honest about yourself, and you shall the light (which is not always pleasant). Just remember that the horoscops you read (or don't) in the magazines are total BS. My reference as an astrologer is Hadès alias Alain Yaouanc, but if you don't read french, I would recommend this book http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Okens-Complete-Astrology-Classic/dp/0892541253, a thorough and serious one.

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

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 haven't purchased any of his consultations. I did have brief correspondence with him earlier this year (Sol in Capricorn, IIRC) thanking him for writing his books on astrology (as they've been so helpful and illuminating after my own experiences with the influences of the planets). I asked him about his apprenticeship/mentorship program, and he said it's too expensive for someone my age (!) and recommended a few books to read (mostly Bailey, which I find unbearable most of the time).

I also started a potential group buy on theoccult.bz for a couple of his webinars. I may end up buying them myself if it doesn't pick up some steam soon, though.

I've not read any of his articles, but his books are great. I laud his Complete Astrology to anyone interested in astrology, and, as I said above, his Soul-Centered Astrology was a great read for me too.

As far as websites, I'm not sure why you're averse to astro.com. Check out their intro.

I don't know too much astrology, but my greatest resources come from Robert Hand books (I know, not a website):

Planets in Transit - covers relationships between transiting planets
Horoscope Symbols - In depth analysis of the meaning behind planet symbols. I don't know what /r/astrology thinks of this one but it helped me develop an intuition for understanding chart symbols.
Planets in Aspect - Explains relationships between planets; sextile, square, opposition, etc...
Planets in Houses - Relationship between houses and what it means when a planet is in one.

I'd say I've only really read through the Horoscope Symbols one and use the others as references while examining charts. Unfortunately I haven't found a parallel resource online.

Best of luck!

Awwww u/ryhanb we have the same first book haha

First Book Astrology for Dummies

Best Book TIE between Demetra George's Astrology & the Authentic Self or Rob Hand's Horoscope Symbols

Current Book - errrrr I'm shifting towards reading a LOT more about Myth and symbol than Astrology itself. I tend to revisit and re-read some of my current Astrology books. Just finished Moon, Myth & Image for research on the lunar cycle course I'm teaching.

I thought this book ( "All Around the Zodiac" Bill Tiernay ) was really useful when I started. You may also like "The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need".

Mine

Your Cancer Ascendant is huge. Everything in the chart is filtered through the Ascendant, aka the rising sign. Cancer is an ocean of emotions. Shifting with the tides and all that. Sensitive (not in a bad way, that's just the way Cancer is). Look up Cancer Ascendant. My favorite and in my experience, the most accurate author on this stuff, is Robert Hand. Robert Hand - Planets in Youth on Amazon is an amazing book.

You've also got Saturn square a few things. Saturn is rules, laws, control, constriction. Saturn square Planet X shows places in your life where you'll probably want to focus more energy on growing. Squares aren't bad. They can bring creativity and energy to the subject. You've also got Saturn opposite your Ascendant, so I'd look that up, too. As well as Sun, Mercury and Venus square the ascendant. Something else, it's probably fairly rare to see the Sun, Mercury, and Venus all exactly on top of each other like that. Conjunct, they call it.

Also, I see Uranus conjunct Saturn. Uranus can be unexpected and drastic change, but to have it conjunct Saturn, which is a fairly different type of energy, would be something to read up on, too. It's not unusual, considering they were conjunct for a few years like that (Saturn takes about 2.5 years to move through a sign, and Uranus is even slower, so lots of your peers would have it, too).

>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.

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.
  

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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!

Those were great comments @jbschirtzinger and @yeuxsee. My chart has similarities to your chart, but inverted, all my planets originate on the left side of the chart, where most things are about self. I got this from The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need. Thanks guys as you went into detail about what I'd say. You're chart is heavily shifted to the right which would mean to me things are heavily focused on others and you define major parts of yourself by interaction with others as opposed to solitude. Teaching can definitely work based on what I see with Capricorn being only a few seconds from the Midheaven. Look into your progressions and transits to see when planetary aspects and planets themselves become most active for you.

They are pretty sturdy (theyre like a thin cardboard sort of stock) and are about 4inch by 5.5 inch.

Here is a link to them on amazon. I'd recommend watchung the video review, too: https://www.amazon.com/Moonology-Oracle-Cards-Yasmin-Boland/dp/1781809968/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=moonology+oracle+deck&qid=1572272701&sprefix=moonology+&sr=8-1

MBTI was created and needed in the US after World War II as a tool for simplified, something like coffee dissolved https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_coffee

just MBTI http://mbtitoday.org/about-the-mbti-indicator/a-mini-history-of-the-myers-briggs-type-indicator/

something like the old language of psychology https://www.amazon.com/ASTROLOGY-Remnants-Ancient-Language-Origins-ebook/dp/B016LUUH5K

both the MBTI as astrology is the same parascience

Since you asked so politely, sure...

Just to get it out of the way, a "life number" sounds to me like numerology, not astrology--numbers by themselves are not important in astrology, even though it uses geometry. People interested in astrology might also be interested in numerology, but the two systems are not related. I can't think of a time I've ever heard of such a thing as an astrological "life number"--but my experience is exclusively Western. I have only a vague knowledge of Chinese animals/elements [which will not be discussed here at all] and--to coin a phrase--Vedic astrology is all Sanskrit to me.

Also, modern metaphysical practitioners generally believe in correlative effects between these symbols & one's life, not causative ones--so we can just put that straw man away, please. The idea is merely that these symbols are significant in our lives, and may influence us--like a cold day may influence us to wear a coat or feel chilly if we don't. Fate isn't set in stone--you're not destined for misery.

OK, on to astrology itself...

Astrology has many factors, so it gets convoluted quickly. To begin with, what most people think of as "their sign" is merely their Sun sign--that is, the constellation the Sun was approximately in front of, when looked at from Earth, on the day they were born. Yes, you can't literally see the constellations behind the Sun with the naked eye, but we know where they are because.. science. Also, it's "approximate" because in reality some constellations take up more [or less] than their allotment [it's averaged-out: 360° circle/12 signs = 30° each].

But what most people don't realise is that in an actual horoscope, every planet is taken into account. So, while you may have your Sun in Virgo [happy birthday sometime around now, btw], your Moon could be in any sign, along with your Mars, Venus, etc. And each one plays a role; the Sun just happens to be considered the strongest/most important [because it physically influences life on Earth the most, as well]. There are also "points" in the sky that aren't even planets, the most significant of which being the Rising aka Ascendant sign: this is which constellation was "rising" on the eastern horizon when you were born. It obviously changes throughout the day as the Earth rotates, hence the importance of time-of-birth in an accurate natal chart.

Not only are there those ~12 factors to take into account, there are then the angles/relationships between them. These are called aspects. There's usual another half dozen or so of these... For example, if you happened to be born under a full moon, that would put your Moon in Pisces, which would make you emotionally dreamy & silly, but it would also mean that your Sun & Moon had an "opposition"--they're 180° apart in the sky. It would generally mean your day-to-day exterior persona of being a neat-freak may be at odds with your internal feelings & desires to be derptastic [assuming you hadn't already worked this problem out psychologically]. On the other hand, being born under a new moon would put your Sun & Moon in "conjunction" at 0°, and you would be expected to have a strong, consistent focus to your persona, both intellectually & emotionally. Again, this is somewhat approximate because aspects are usually not exact--within about 5° is considered still significant, termed "within the orb of influence" ['in orb,' for short].

Then there are houses in the chart, for different areas of life, as well as the transits of where planets are now in relation to how they were when you were born..

I could go on......?

Feel free to PM, too [anyone who might happen to read this, not just OP].

If you want to look into it more on your own, here are some good resources:

A good book for beginners is [The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need.](http://www.amazon.com/Only-Astrology-Book-Youll-Ever/dp/0812885066 "It isn't the only resource you'll ever need if you want to get serious about astrology, but it does a great job of fleshing out basic knowledge/skills in a simple/straightforward way.")

And if you want to get a more accurate personally relevant daily reading, [Astro.com](http://www.astro.com/cgi/hk.cgi "I hope this link works for someone who isn't logged in..") is The astrology site--though most of its content is too complicated for beginners. To get the reading, you need to enter your birth data, though. An account is free, and can hold unlimited birth data [as far as I know] for all your friends/family members/random strangers, and I've never received any spam from them [or if I do, it gets caught in my Google filter]. Cafeastrology might be better for beginners, but I only go there for things like descriptions of transits.

Writenseek

What is that you want to accomplish?

Different astrologer’s and different approaches get at using astrological tools in ways that can be pretty specific to your goals for studying astrology in the first place.

Here is a revolutionary beginners book:

https://www.amazon.com/Magical-Carousel-Commentaries-Zodiacal-Odyssey-ebook/dp/B077GVFP5L


All the best,

HVA

TIME is determined by planetary motion in outer space. Is it so crazy to think we could be affected by the planets as well?

The Beautifully Rational Philosophy of Astrology by Vic DiCara fleshes this argument out. https://www.amazon.com/Beautifully-Rational-Philosophy-Astrology-ebook/dp/B00ZF5O358/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+beautifully+rational+philosophy&qid=1567305827&s=gateway&sr=8-1

(You can click on where it says "look inside" and get a general sense)

Additionally:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_effect

https://www.amazon.com/Iron-Steel-Rahu-Saturn-Saturn-Rahu-Periods-ebook/dp/B01N1EQNAQ

​

Hang in there, you're not alone.