Astrology, listed by author. The inner wheel recommended reading are essential texts which should be read by everyone interested in deepening his or her astrological skills.
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 and The inner wheel recommended reading
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.
more The inner wheel recommended reading
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 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.
Hi Dawn
I have just checked out your book list – when you visit Scotland, call me! We have a lot in common: I own/have read almost every book on your list – and gained my Diploma from the Centre for Psychological Astrology whilst studying with Liz Greene and the late Charles Harvey 1995-8.
Thanks so much for adding my blog to your list – I will reciprocate very shortly, and return to your 12th House article. Good to have found you!
Best wishes
Anne
Hi Dawn…Love your list, I nodded my way through it..
BTW, I am Soulsol from Maurice’s forum a long time ago…Got in touch with your blog from one of his students. Nice to see you again..
Love, Sol..
Sol,
Wonderful to hear from you again! And welcome to the site. I look forward to your comments. Keep in touch.
Dawn
Hello Dawn,
Just found you and have enjoyed reading a few of your entries. Very eloquent. My reading list looks much like yours, although I put Steven Forrest on it as well (I’m not sure I saw him on your list). Nice to discover you! 🙂
I just wrote a book on the secondary progressed moon, called Astrology of the Moon. It’s fairly simple with an extensive cookbook, but it works 🙂 I’m interested to read more about your progression work.
AMY
Hi Amy,
Welcome to the site. I’m a great admirer of Steven Forrest, particularly in the way he expresses complex ideas so clearly. Unfortunately, with this list, I had to draw the line somewhere. There are many books I adore that aren’t here. But I certainly recommend Steven’s work to anyone.
I’m extremely inspired along with your writing talents as well as with the format on your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it your self? Either way stay up the excellent quality writing, it’s uncommon to look a great blog like this one these days..
Thank you for you comments about the site. The theme I’ve chosen is called HemingwayEx from WordPress, designed by Nalin Makhar.
The theme is HemmingwayEx, and I agree, it’s beautiful. It’s a WordPress theme and comes as is–I don’t have the computer skills to modify it. I had a little help from Jeff Kitchner with the pages, but I believe this is what it looks like out of the box.
I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the layout of your website?
Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more
in the way of content so people could connect with
it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or two images.
Maybe you could space it out better?
Hi Kristen–Thank you for your kind words, I know you mean well about having others engage with the site. I put a lot of thought into the format and finally found one that allows me to do what I want to do. This is a teaching site for intermediate and advanced astrology–so far as I know, there isn’t another one like it–and the words ARE the content. It’s intense, it’s deep, it’s stark, and, to steal a famous phrase, ‘if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.’ The site was designed to avoid the facile and the shallow.
I know the site must be a challenge for the more visually inclined (did you know it went for a year without ANY illustrations?) but I am determinedly verbal and nothing will change that (I have a Scorpio Saturn/Vesta conjunction on a Sag North Node in the third house). I focus on what’s important to me, and frankly I can’t spend a lot of time tooling the web for pictures, or writing yet another ‘week ahead’ or ‘transit for today’ column; and I marvel at the way all these people seem to spend their entire day on Facebook and still get any work done. I also think this is a question of age–I am past my Chiron return, and don’t feel the same need to have a friendly graphic interface. And I secretly worry and fear that they’ll need to make an interactive version of books like Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain or Dostoyevsky’s The Possessed before anyone will read them in the future.
So alas, Kristen, the world may get more and more fragmented, but this site will stay the same. In keeping with my Sag North Node, it will focus on meaning. And it may be ugly, compared to all the bright and shiny sites out there (some of which are truly beautiful) but it’s all mine. I hope you decide to stick around.
Give me a break….I always thought this site is beautiful, both in content and presentation. I love the idea of having one contrasting image sum up the theme/feeling of the article..and the lack of shallowness/beating around the bush-ness of the articles. I love the seriousness of the Black/Grey combination…like it does justice to the sacredness of astrology.
(this might be odd but I can always sniff out Virgoes, and I had a hunch the writer must be one when I first came here some 3 yrs ago 😛 .Packed 6th house,Venus in Virgo quintile Sc.Pluto here. )
googled Chiron conjunct part of fortune, and found this site. You were talking about Mars and Chiron, which is also part of the conjunction I have. It all trines Pluto, as well. I am 65, and have been looking for something that corresponds to a terrible life altering experience that happened to me when I was 13. My oldest brother fell to his death, and my older brother and I were a hairs breath away from death for the better part of a day, in which we were forced to climb up a dangerous cliff on the Oregon coast. We were separated early on, and never saw each other ’till we reached the top. Needless to say, it was life altering and re-imprinted a sense of PTSD (or wounding, if you will), but I didn’t know what any of that was until years later. I never could find a transit or progression that fit, until a year back, when I read Barbra Hand Clow’s description of the first square of Chiron to Chiron, which nailed it, perfectly. Now I’m on the trail of info on Chiron. Your description of Chiron and Mars strikes certain chords, but being both in the 6th house and in Sag, it runs pretty deep. I’ll be checking out the rest of your writings. I have most of the books on your excellent reading list. Signed up on your e-mail list….Samuel Crook
wow. as i look at this list, ive already read like half of these books. astrology found me when i was 11. ive always been facinated by it. i even managed to guess my birth time correctly when i was a teenager. (i was off by just 2 minutes. i guessed 11:04 and the birth certificate said 11:02) i was so obsessed with trying to figure out my birth chart but i couldnt find my birth certificate. i identified so strongly with the description of pisces that i new i had to be a pisces rising. ive never taken my love of astrology seriously enough to pursue it professionally; im not even sure if i want to, but i know i will forever remain facinated with it .