Liz Greene opens this book with an interesting comparison for Saturn- that of the Beast, from Beauty & the Beast. It is true, as she states, that we often forget this beautiful side of Saturn that emerges onces we learn to love the beast.

There isn't much to say about this book's contents- you can literally read the contents page and understand what Greene is going to discuss. But there is a lot for me to say about how much I love Liz Greene's writing style, and about how meaty her works are. I read one chapter and sit on it for a day or so, just chewing over the information. This is probably why it took me so long to finish... Each chapter felt highly engaging, but I couldn't read more than one at a time. In all of her books, I keep a notepad handy and take notes while reading. I have a special sticky-pad now so I can stick the notes to the Chapter page for later referral.

After reading this book, I have a much better-rounded view of Saturn and all of his complexities. He isn't to be feared, but respected. Since this is a book review and not a blog on Saturn, I'll leave it there.

Who should read this book?

Any beginner astrologer trying to transition to intermediate. Once you have your basics (again, read Arroyo's 4 elements book!), you should start to assimilate more in-depth information and analyses of charts, planets, houses, and aspects. This is a great book on Saturn, a planet often feared, and if you are to go forward with client work it may be extremely helpful to have a sound knowledge of Saturn under your belt before you get the inevitable Saturn questions (like career/work, or the dreaded Saturn Return).

When I bought this book, it was because it was reccomended by my Instructor Cornelia Hansen. I didn't know what to expect, other than to learn about temperament. This book really introduced me to the ancient practices of Temperament, the history of it, and the theory of it.

As a more-modern astrologer (and by that I mean I haven't formally studied any ancient astrology), it can be slightly overwhelming to dive in to a more technical discussion on historical figures and philosophies. However, this section of the book was concise and well written. I found it informative and engaging. Don't mistake concise for short- it definitely covered the history of this topic. But it did move on nicely to the modern application of this idea.

I had no idea that Waldorf Schools were based on temperament!

While I might still mix up some ancient terms (I have Melancholic down, but Sanguine vs. Phlematic?), this book is an excellent foray in to Temperament and it's modern uses. I defeintely learned a lot about myself- which, at this point in my years of astrological self-study, is impressive.

Who should read this book?

I'm less likely to reccomend this book to beginner astrologers. While I think it is important to branch out and explore as many astrological topics as possible, I think you need to learn the elements and other basics first. However, this is a great side of Astrology that I don't hear many people discuss. If you want to get in to psychological Astrology, counseling, or children's charts- definitely add this to your reading list.

This is a unique book, from it's content ("The Psychology of the Sun and Moon in the Horoscope") to it's format- a series of lectures, alternating between Greene & Howard. It made it easy to read section by section, but hard to find a good stopping point... So while reading this, I had to commit to finishing a lecture. No reading on the bus for me!

Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas are really great orators, two clever people who speak well and really know their subjects. Some times the audience chimes in, and it takes me back to college days, making me feel like I am also one of their students! This is actually the 3rd book in their series of Seminars in Psychological Astrology, but I'm glad I started with this one. We all know, whether we're beginners (with some basic knowledge) or advanced, that the Sun and Moon are extremely important in our charts. This book really helped me understand part of what they truly mean.

The Moon is our inner emotions, our inner life, right? But it's also our past. It's also our mother. It's our cycle of nurturing and care. The Sun is our ego, right? But it's also our future, what we strive toward. It's also our father. It's our outward expression.

Through reading these seminars, though a little dry and information heavy, I gained a lot of insight in to psychology. It made me regret not taking psychology classes earlier. It made me realize a lot about myself, and my cycles of action. It made me rethink how I see my Sun-Moon conjunction (Balsamic moon, 2 degree orb), or my Sun-square-Saturn. And this understanding didn't come from a cookbook "Saturn means X, Sun means Y, here is how they combine," but from this deeper place of "How did that authority and fear mix with my vision of X...?"

Now, whenever I look at a chart, I see the whole life. Before this, I knew that you could see childhoods, parents, future partners, kids in your Natal chart. Now I can actually find it.

This book is not only theoretical; they go through real case studies, and show you how to hear about someone's life and go back to the chart and find that information. Once you do that enough times, you notice patterns and can start to make educated guesses about someone's life. They gave me a lot of hope and insight in to this powerful, important part of Astrology.

Who should read this?

I say it a lot, but... Anyone. Honestly, you probably want a working knowledge of astrology to read this book. It's helpful to know the planets and their basic functions and the houses before you go in to a more advanced lecture on childhood psychology. But if you have the basic building blocks, this could start your path in to Astrology in a really interesting way.

Wow.

George & Bloch do a great job together in this work, and it was a big undertaking. I loved how in depth they went on each of their chosen 4 asteroid goddesses. Each of those goddesses has a chapter devoted to their history (I learned a lot!), their mythology, and their background. This is meant to empower you to understand the significance of their role in a chart. You might know Juno as a marriage significator, but reading about her as Hera, as a Goddess who was in a loveless marriage, and the power struggle between combining a matriarchal society with patriarchal conquerers... Or learning of Vesta, also known as Hestia, who is the "Virgin Goddess", and how that's helped reframe my perspective on Virgo. After reading this book, there were a series of charts I saw that had extremely prominent female asteroids, and the stories told in this book were extremely helpful to share with my clients.

I also loved the Epherides of 16 asteroids in the back. As soon as I read about one asteroid, I'd go back and check where it was in my chart.

They also discuss the main 4 asteroids as different aspects of the feminine experience, applicable to any gender. These discuss specific roles and functions, and in George & Bloch's book they see them as niches of Venusian and Lunar energies. Ceres, the mother. Pallas Athene, the daughter. Vesta, the sister. Juno, the wife.

Following the ~180 pages of discussion on these four archetypes comes short introductions to the other 12 asteroids, including Chiron. They separate them in to dualities, which I appreciate (Astrology is all a balance, a Yin-Yang, a masculine-feminine...). The lovers are Eros & Psyche. The Empaths are Sappho and Amor. The Warrios are Lilith and Toro. The protectors are Diana and Hidalgo. The Liberators are Pandora and Icarus. The knowledge holders are Chiron and Urania.

George & Bloch describe these pairings breifly, talking about them as a series of bipolar functions working in tandem to transform and grow us.

Who should read this book?

Someone who has a firm grasp on other aspects of astrology and is interested in adding more feminine energy to their interpretations. George stated in an interview with Chris Brennan on his podcast that it stood out to her, back in the 70's, how very masculine all the planets are... And ever since she said this, I've paid more attention and realized it to be true. This is one reason why I love the book Asteroid Goddesses, and also why I love the book the 12 Faces of the Goddess (in a post below). There is a lot of information, so be ready for a dry read... Unless you love mythology and history like I do!

The major thing I loved about this introduction is the emphasis on 'Interpretation'. Everything is framed in this light. It describes key concepts and ideas, major themes of signs and planets, and it says the basic idea of what a sun's house (for example) might be. This book wants you to start putting things together on your own, and assumes that you don't have much knowledge at the start. It mixes a step-by-step guide and cookbook-esque book while giving you the tools to combine, mix, and bake your own interpretations.

This is actually one of the books reccomended by the Los Angeles Astrology School, and I didn't find it until I'd already been studying astrology and reading charts for a few years. Now, I keep it so I can lend it out to any friends who want to learn on their own.

If you only want one book, this is an excellent option.

I want to highlight a section I really appreciated: Chapter 4, the Planets and the Elements. Arroyo goes planet by planet and describes how they might act in each element. Jupiter, for example, "shows what sorts of experiences and modes of activity generate an inner faith and confidence in oneself... Opportunities come through expression of that element's energy." He then goes on to describe Jupiter in Earth signs, with an "inner faith [that] comes when one tunes into practicality, dependability, and the experiences of the senses. Opportunities are stimulated when one works hard, assumes responsibilities, and tunes in to nature and its rhythm." What a great insight to this hard-to-pin-down energy. I liked his perspective on all of the planets, and I also loved the accessibility of learning them through the elements, rather than sign-by-sign.

Memorizing isn't fun and doesn't make learning any language easy/fast, but getting the building blocks and learning to figure it out yourself, and *start talking*, does!

I'm really glad to be writing these reviews of the books on my shelf, because I'd forgotten about this book. It's worth a re-read for me now, to refresh my perspective and make sure I'm not forgetting anything important.

Who should read this book?

Anyone who wants to read an astrology chart.

This is my new favorite beginner recommendation.

This book does talk about goddesses in different cultures, midnfulness rituals, and some magic, but you can easily skip any of that if it isn't appealing. Astrologically, this is an amazingly written book talking about each sign in detail (an entire chapter per), going over the seasonal significance and the layers/depth of each sign, and giving a great introduction to elements, modes, and the expressions of these combinations.

If Aries was a woman... If Taurus was a woman... By framing the signs in this way, we get to see who they would be personified as a lover, as a friend, as a friend, as a coworker; we get an insight in to their minds and hearts, which is extremely helpful for figuring out how each planet might act in each sign later on, or how a sign might be expressed in each house.

After describing the seasonal symmetry and diving in to the signs, she gives you a goddess archetype who embodies the Zodiac characteristics. This is followed by suggested magical rituals; I honestly skipped these parts, and it was still a full, great book.

I don't want to give too much away from this book. I found it fascinating and read it quickly. This should be one of the first introductions to astrology for people intrigued, but without a lot of knowledge on the signs. This first, and then planets, and last houses.

Who should read this?

Anyone who wants to really understand what each sign is about, and why. People BRAND NEW to Astrology and the Zodiac. Or, anyone who really wants help understanding themselves, and could use some direction with career and life path. It really familiarizes you with each zodiac, and how that archetype would act in love, relationships, work, etc.

This book is an overview of the 12 houses: their traditional roots, their meanings throughout the ages, and the changes that transitioned them to modern meanings. It gives a lot of great information in a short format. I am glad to have read it, and glad to own it.

What I most appreciated about this book was how well it describes the historical background of each house. Recently, a friend asked for my descriptions of how the houses evolve and link together. I spent a day in contemplation, and wrote out an essay (my version of fun) about the transitions between houses, and the discoveries each house offers, on our walk through life. After, I opened up Houlding's book and behold- a beautiful wheel depicting similar ideas. I know these are not unique ideas in the astrology community, but she is a concise writer and has great diagrams depicting these historical ideas. It obviously stuck with me on a subconscious level.

This is not a fun book. It's informative. There is a lot of information packed in to this short book. It explores many important areas of understanding houses, like their ancient origins, the nature of axis, the growth and accumulation of knowledge house by house, and the ideas of ancient to modern astrologers on the houses. There have been a few times that I've worked on client charts and used this book as a reference to explain difficult house placements.

Who Should Read This?

For a beginner astrologer, I would highly reccomend buying (and reading) this book. I personally keep it on my bookshelf so I can lend it out to others, although I'm sure I could benefit from re-reading it every few years as a refresher.