The Weaver Reads reviewed On the Heavenly Spheres by Helena Avelar
Outstanding Guide to Traditional Astrology
5 stars
I’m honestly super impressed by this book. The cover, as ugly as it is, gave me pause, but I’m glad I worked through it.
This book takes the traditional approach to astrology, ignoring the planets discovered after 1700. The book begins with a discussion of the components that makes up the elements, genders, and modes that combine to produce a wide range of astrological interpretations.
Rather than focusing on interpreting a chart, this book focuses more on the mechanics of how it works, and includes extensive detail on doing calculations without automatic outputs that we have now—this is especially useful with the Arabic parts.
I will admit, I felt a bit lost in the last few chapters. The book was largely comprehensible and made sense, but I think fixed stars, Arabic parts, and accidental dignities/debilities added a bit too much complication for me.
I’ll read around more and see how …
I’m honestly super impressed by this book. The cover, as ugly as it is, gave me pause, but I’m glad I worked through it.
This book takes the traditional approach to astrology, ignoring the planets discovered after 1700. The book begins with a discussion of the components that makes up the elements, genders, and modes that combine to produce a wide range of astrological interpretations.
Rather than focusing on interpreting a chart, this book focuses more on the mechanics of how it works, and includes extensive detail on doing calculations without automatic outputs that we have now—this is especially useful with the Arabic parts.
I will admit, I felt a bit lost in the last few chapters. The book was largely comprehensible and made sense, but I think fixed stars, Arabic parts, and accidental dignities/debilities added a bit too much complication for me.
I’ll read around more and see how others cover this, as well as the more interpretive side of things. If they don’t, I can feel confident knowing all the content is right here.
I suspect that this is intermediate level—it’s the logical next step for diving in after getting your toes wet (and the appendices are great for showing why the authors are committed to the traditional model).