Recommended Reading
Books are listed by author. Essential texts which should be read by everyone interested in deepening his or her astrological skills. My comments follow.
Stephen Arroyo
Astrology, Karma & Transformation: The Inner Dimensions of the Birth Chart.
CRCS Publications, 1993. ISBN: 0916360547
A classic. The only book that pulls it all together when taking the first steps towards understanding progressions and transits.
Astrology, Psychology, and the Four Elements : An Energy Approach to
Astrology & Its Use in the Counseling Arts.
CRCS Publications, 1978. ISBN: 0916360016
A fundamental text on the elements and how they manifest in the personality.
Relationships & Life Cycles : Astrological Patterns of Personal Experience.
CRCS Publications, 1993. ISBN: 0916360555
A prime work on synastry. Like all Arroyo’s books, the concepts are clear and easy to grasp. A must-read for beginners.
Stephen Arroyo and Liz Greene
New Insights in Modern Astrology.
CRCS Publications, 1991. ISBN: 0916360474
Demetra George and Douglas Bloch
Asteroid Goddesses: The Mythology, Psychology and Astrology of the Re-emerging Feminine. Ibis Press, 2003. ISBN: 0892540826
The best work on those little understood but highly influential asteroids.
Jeffrey Wolf Green
Pluto: The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul, Llewellyn Publications, 1986 ISBN: 0875422969
Pluto: The Soul’s Evolution Through Relationships.
Llewellyn Publications, 1997. ISBN: 1567183336
The seminal texts on Evolutionary Astrology.
Liz Greene
Astrology of Fate
Samuel Weiser, 1986. ISBN: 0877286361
How the inner meets the outer—fascinating, thought-provoking, essential reading.
Relating: An Astrological Guide to Living With Others on a Small Planet.
Samuel Weiser, 1978. ISBN: 0877284180
Saturn: a New Look at an Old Devil.
Samuel Weiser, 1976. ISBN: 0877283060
The Astrological Neptune and the Quest for Redemption.
Samuel Weiser, 1996. ISBN: 0877288577
The Luminaries : The Psychology of the Sun and Moon in the Horoscope (Seminars in Psychological Astrology, Vol 3).
Samuel Weiser, 1992. ISBN: 0877287503
A psychological exploration on the much misunderstood and oft-neglected lights.
The Outer Planets and Their Cycles : The Astrology of the Collective.
CRCS Publications, 1996. ISBN: 0916360601
Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas.
The Development of the Personality (Seminars in Psychological Astrology V.l
Samuel Weiser, 1991. ISBN: 0877286736
Dynamics of the Unconscious (Seminars in Psychological Astrology, Vol 2).
Samuel Weiser, 1988. ISBN: 0877286744
Both of these books will open your eyes to the intimate power of astrology as it plays out through individuals and family dynamics.
The Inner Planets : Building Blocks of Personal Reality (Seminars in Psychological Astrology, Vol 4). Samuel Weiser, 1993. ISBN: 0877287414
Do you really understand the meanings of the inner planets? This book will challenge your assumptions and introduce you to the powerful archetypes behind these personal planets.
Karen Hamaker-Zondag
Psychological Astrology: A Synthesis of Jungian Psychology and Astrology. Weiser Books, 1990. ISBN: 087728718X
Foundations of Personality: Combining Elements, Crosses, and Houses with Jungian Psychological Concepts in Horoscope Interpretation. Weiser Books, 1994. ISBN: 0877288089
Both books bring Jungian analysis to the chart in a systematic and powerful way.
Robert Hand
Horoscope Symbols.
Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 1987. ISBN: 0914918168
The best astrology 101.
Marc Edmund Jones
Astrology, How & Why It Works : An Introduction to Basic Astrology.
Aurora Press, 1993. ISBN: 0943358388
Sabian Symbols in Astrology.
Random House, 1976. ISBN: 039473579X
Melanie Reinhart
Chiron and the Healing Journey : An Astrological and Psychological Perspective (Contemporary Astrology).
Penguin USA, 1999. ISBN: 0140195734
A work that changed the way we look at charts. If you are curious about Chiron and how it works in the chart, this is where to begin.
Dane Rudhyar
Rudhyar’s work is a little flowery, but worth tackling because of the way he synthesizes chart interpretation. His thinking about astrology is holistic rather than splintered, which leads to great understanding if you don’t let the verbiage get in the way.
Astrological Aspects: A Process Oriented Approach.
Aurora Press, 1980.
Looks at aspects in terms of phases, deepening our understanding of the process. All squares are not alike…
Astrological Insights into the Spiritual Life.
Aurora Press, 1940. ISBN: 0943358094
Astrology of Personality : A Reformulation of Astrological Concepts and Ideals in Terms of Contemporary Psychology and Philosophy.
Aurora Press, 1990. ISBN: 0943358256
Lunation Cycle: A Key to the Understanding of Personality.
Aurora Press, 1986. ISBN: 0943358264
THE book on the lunation cycle—how our secondary progressed Sun and Moon in relation to one another illuminate our lives.
Person Centered Astrology.
Aurora Press, 1987. ISBN: 0943358027
The Astrological Houses : The Spectrum of Individual Experience.
CRCS Publications, 1986. ISBN: 0916360245
My favorite book on the houses. Rudhyar has deep insights that cause us to look at the houses as a process.
The Astrology of Transformation: A Multi-level Approach.
Aurora Press. ISBN: 0943358493
Howard Sasportas
The Gods of Change: Pain, Crisis and the Transits of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Arkana, 1990. ISBN: 0140192123
The classic text on the outer planets.
Alexander Ruperti
Cycles of Becoming: The Planetary Pattern of Growth. CRCS, 1978. ISBN: 0916360075
May be difficult to get through at times, but there are gems of information here well worth digging for. It’s particularly good on the nodes via cycle and the outer planets in transit.
Jan Spiller
Astrology for the Soul.
Bantam Books, 1997. ISBN: 0553378384
Tells the story of the nodes in real-life, practical terms.
Bil Tierney
Dynamics of Aspect Analysis: New Perceptions in Astrology. CRCS, 1980. ISBN: 0916360180
This book teaches how to look at astrological aspects in terms of number. Very good on the more esoteric aspects and configurations.
Sue Tompkins
Aspects in Astrology: A Comprehensive Guide to Interpretation. Element Books, Ltd., 1989 ISBN: 1852300817
An indispensable book on how to read planetary combinations. It has a particularly good section on element/aspect balance and how that affects a chart. Forgot what happens when Mars is opposite the Sun, or Mercury conjuncts Neptune? This is the book to go to. Tomkins teaches at the Faculty of Astrological Studies in London.
Some Non-astrology books worth knowing:
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
On Death and Dying
On Grief and Grieving
As astrologers, we help people face many kinds of death. These books teach us respect for the client in the process of change.
Corinne Heline
The Sacred Science of Numbers. DeVorss Press, 1997. ISBN: 0875164420
Beneath the tutti-frutti mysticism there are nuggets of wisdom on the building blocks of our art—numbers. Based on Pythagorean numbers theory, without which we can’t really understand what makes a trine a trine and a square a square, and why they operate differently in a chart. You’ll never look at numbers in the same way again.
Ken Wilber
No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth. Shambhala, 1989. ISBN: 0394748816
Wilber’s exploration of the evolving consciousness taken from both Eastern and Western points of reference. Guaranteed to provoke.
Genevieve Lewis Paulson
Kundalini and the Chakras: A Practical Manual. Llewellyn Publications, 1995. ISBN: 0875425925
Ignore the silly, cheesy cover. This is the best book out there on how to handle kundalini surges. As it says, a practical manual. Find out what all those little aches and pains really mean.
