Well I now have a copy of Avelar and Ribiero's "On the Heavenly Spheres"

With 278 full size pages there is a lot here. After an introduction and a history the book gives lists of planetary, sign and house meanings,elements and qualities. A range of other subjects are covered like latitude and inferior conjunctions among many.

They have kept up to date with some of the Hellenistic research and have made a table of essential and accidental dignities that includes Hayz.

Temperament calculations and planetary strength charts are given together with their use in some example charts.

There are lots of useful diagrams illustrating phase,moeties,aspects and so on but a few of them could do with being a little clearer.

Extensive footnotes are not included and it is emphatically not a cookbook. Readers are encouraged to fully understand the symbolism and interpret planets and houses for themselves.

The chapter on lots gives the calculations, advice on how to delineate them followed by a warning about using modern software. This is an example of how useful an up-to-date book on traditional astrology can be.

For the beginner who wants a modern english guide to the tradition this book provides plenty of good instruction and facts.

The more experienced might prefer looking at the translations of older texts but might well find some of the practical stuff helpful.

I have been looking forward to reading this for some time and am pleased to see the authors' work in book form.

Matthew

Thank you, Matthew - I really appreciate your review. So I take it I won't go far amiss recommending this one to people who are just starting?

I'll get a copy in another month or two, when the budget permits, but it does look like it might be what's needed.

Agree with Matt23z - I couldn't resist ordering it the other day, and I think it might be just the book you're looking for, Olivia. It serves as a genuine primer of traditional astrology, but with sufficient depth and range to be used as a reference by seasoned traditional astrologers. It is not a bridge to modern astrology, and the authors state clearly that the outer planets, asteroids, hypotheticals form no part of traditional interpretation. The diagrams and explanations are excellent. It is beautifully organized, building steadily from first principles, so that an absolute beginner can use it as a primary text. The book has some typos and it needs an index, but apart from that it is exactly what we've been needing (in my opinion).

Looking back at Tom's first post here he was asking for traditional books for beginners and we certainly seem to have one now. There is also a further reading list but certainly one could start from here.

Regards

Matt

Looking back at Tom's first post here he was asking for traditional books for beginners and we certainly seem to have one now.

I suppose that I should buy this one see for myself. I like the enthusiastic reviews.

I have the first book of them, it was from a modern astrology point of view. Of course, most of us came from modern astrology, and everybody is entitled to change their opinion and to learn, and this is a good thing in my opinion.

But to tell you the truth, I remember when described that traditional astrology was "fatalistic" and how it "wasn?t centered in the human being and in its full metaphysical potential", and it gives me a little "hmmmm". I think I am not a very trusting person :-P

Well, even Frawley used quindeciles in the day :-P

Yuzuru, there is nothing of that sort in this volume, trust me!

The authors state that they, like most of us, were initially trained in other approaches - but that is the last substantial mention of modern techniques in this book. They do not denigrate other methods, but they absolutely do not teach them in this volume. Avelar and Ribeiro became serious students of Robert Zoller, and their primary references are strictly traditional (Lilly, Ptolemy, Ibn Ezra, Al-Biruni, Dorotheus of Sidon, Firmicus Maternus). I'm halfway through the book, having decided to read it from cover-to-cover instead of picking and choosing, and so far I'm finding it an excellent general traditional text.

Good to hear, Astraea. I'm going to have to wait a couple of months to buy it, but on the upside, Ben's Introduction to Traditional Astrology arrived yesterday - this time it didn't even have to go back and forth by international post four times! I should write and let him know - he was so good about it the last time he sent books.

Yuzuru, my awful confession: my first astrology books were Margaret Hone's Modern Textbook of Astrology (recently reprinted, and I think it was Margaret who came up with mother is represented by the 4th house, father is 10th), and Llewellyn's A-Z Horoscope Maker and Delineator - the latter of which I still have my copy of - the 1965 edition.

Ow

I've just ordered a copy of this book.

As a modern astrologer, fortunately among the first books I bought in the early 1990s were by Robert Hand: Planets in Youth, Planets in Composite, &c. They gave me faith that thoughtful people could have intelligent things to say about astrology.

Tom wrote: I suppose that I should buy this one see for myself. I like the enthusiastic reviews.

Hello,

I'd like to take the chance of also reviewing this book here - "On the Heavenly Spheres", by Luis Ribeiro and Helena Avelar.

First of all, I must mention that this was the book (the portuguese original version) that is the responsible for me to start learning astrology more seriously. I come from computer science and engineering areas (currently PhD student), and so I never studied modern astrology because it never made enough sense to me, and I don't like to memorize things.
So, my entry point in astrology was horary, because it has rules, and the rules follow the same kind of patterns and sequences, so it is logical for me. In 2007, I saw this book in the bookstores and started to read it, and all the things started making even more sense to me, because Luis and Helena were carefull to put the things in different/logical places, and detail sufficiently each one of those things.

Now, for the book, I've still hadn't access to the English version, but I believe is an extension of the Portuguese one, so I can talk a little about that version. It is a book targeted for "real" beginners as well for students who are still not at ease reading the older texts, and as I said previously, the subjects are well placed and follows a logical flow, from the wider point of view to the particular.

It starts by presenting what is Astrology from a practical point of view, as well as the different variations that there is in the tradition, and history.

Then procedes to talk about the ptolomaic model, which in fact is behind the simbology of many things, like the elements. It presents the elements as they come from the ptolomaic model like, for instance, the moon is humid because is closer to earth (in the ptolomaic model), or saturn is cold because is further from earth. Then procedes to temperaments, talking about each combination.

Then talks about the different kind of astrology charts, following a timeline from antique egyptian charts to modern ones.

Then procedes to planets, talking about their symbology, always integrating their explanation with the ptolomaic model (like moon being humid by being closer to earth, but detailing it very much).

And then talks about the signs, again refering to the ptolomaic model, and knowing the temperaments of the planets, how do they express themselves in the signs. Like, for instance, a humid planet in a dry sign, loses its capacity of adaptation (my example). Again, it doesn't give the recipe, only the logical way of relating concepts.

It then procedes to talk about the essential dignities (again relating to the ptolomaic model) of the planets. Things like why does Saturn rule the colder signs (in northern hemisphere) are carefully detailed. Also, Lilly's weighting system of dignities is presented in a tabular form, which permits for beginners to have a point of start. Examples in this chapter are given, just like a school book.

The next chapter is about houses, how they are defined, and the logic here (at least for now memorizing things) is that the subjects of the house and of the oposing house are related by oposing subjects. This is the message that I've taken out of this chapter, because i try not to memorize the things. Of course, it details everything a beginner should know.

The following chapter is about the aspects, their interpretation and how they are derived. It also talks about orbs, and movements such as application or separation, concepts essential to horary astrology. It also talks about the friendly/unfriendly planets, and how to interpret their relations in the context of everything that was mentioned before.

Then, it starts to get into bigger details about the conditions of the planets, i.e., acidental dignities. Presents a logical flow to the relations of the planets with the sun, talks about the combustion (conjunction of the sun) which they consider very significant and give practical examples. Also, the relation of the planets with the moon is presented.

New last chapters are about fixed stars and arabic parts and how to integrate them with the previous information. Then it has several appendixes, of interesting information, like the protocol of temperament (which I've implemented on my software, see the http://skyscript.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5955), among others.

This is a short review, just to let people know about the contents of this book, which was a trigger for my deeper understanding of astrology, in particular, traditional. Again, I believe that it is a very good book for beginners and for the not-so-beginners, because all the information flows in a logic way, and with contemporary concepts.

Happy readings,
Jo?o Ventura

May I offer the following link to my online collection of old astrology texts? I have works by Ptolemy, Bonatus, Dariot, Ramesy, Lilly, Andrews, Gadbury, Partidge, Thrasher, Coley, Saunders, etc.... on up to people like Worsdale, Broughton, Simmonite, Sibly and others... all free for the taking.

Todd's Astrology Book Collection

Todd

You do have a wonderful collection, Todd, and I have taken advantage of it!

What we're looking for is books that a beginning astrologer (one just learning planets, signs, houses, aspects) could learn traditional astrology from first, without having to learn modern astrology and then unlearn half of it to learn traditional.

I think we're finally starting to get there.

I haven't heard these yet (I'm broke), but Ben Dykes has yet another series of audio lectures on traditional astrology - this time explaining traditional astrology itself more than the philosophies that it's based on.

http://bendykes.com/audio/astrologylectures.php