Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn in Astrology

Books about planets are among the most common books in astrology. Here are books about Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter & everyone's favorite, Saturn.

Planets:

The Moon

Mercury-Saturn

Uranus-Pluto

Leftovers!

Indicates a book on our Top Ten list. If you would like to find more books like it, click on the star.

	THE IMPORTANCE OF MERCURY IN THE HOROSCOPE - Frances Sakoian & Louis Acker, $7.00 Contents: Acknowledgments The importance of Mercury in the horoscope Mercury in the element air Mercury in the element fire Mercury in the element earth Mercury in the element water Retrograde Mercury Mercury in the houses Comment: "It is generally agreed that the fundamental characteristic that distinguishes man from all other species is his ability to think, to reason, to plan, and to use tools. All of these characteristics are under the rulership of the planet Mercury." (page 1) A small book. Sakoian & Acker write well & express themselves clearly. Their books, even small ones like this, are always worthy of study. CSA Printing & Bindery, 41 pages

	THE MERCURY RETROGRADE BOOK - Therese Francis, $12.95 Contents: 1. Do planets really move backwards? Direct. Stationing. Retrograde. Shadow. 2. Introducing Mercury. Heeerre's Mercury. What not to do. 3. Change your perceptions, change your world: Mercury perceived as enemy; Mercury perceived as teacher; Mercury perceived as friend. 4. To everything there is a season: Breathe deep: Mercury stations; Get ready: Mercury retrograde; Get set: Mercury's shadow; Go: Mercury direct. 5. What to do. 6. Survival tactics: Before Mercury goes retrograde; While Mercury is retrograde; While Mercury is in shadow. 7. Getting more specific: At home; In the news. 8. Transiting houses. 9. Transiting aspects. 10. Putting it all together. 12. Keys to thriving during Mercury retrograde: More stories. The five keys. Appendices: A. Mercury stations & positions, 2000-2014 B. Determining true local time C. Are you the exception? D. Using polar coordinates to determine aspects E. Glyphs F. Quick aspect table G. 50 things to do during a Mercury retrograde Epilogue Comment: Useful. Here's the book we all need but won't admit it. Get this book & during the next Mercury retrograde, don't just hide for 3 weeks, do the useful things suggested in this book: What to do before it retros, what to do while it's retro (by sign & by house), what to look out for afterwards, in the 2 week "shadow" (eg, the time it takes to catch up to where it was before it went retrograde). Intended for the novice, but packed with helpful hints. My favorite book on Mercury retrograde. Crossquarter Breeze, 112 pages

	MERCURY RETROGRADE: Your survival guide to astrology's most precarious time of the year - Chrissie Blaze, $19.95 Contents: Acknowledgments Foreword Preface 1. Mercury retrograde: a look back 2. MR: What in heaven's name is going on? 3. The many meanings of Mercury 4. Mercury & the signs of the zodiac 5. The MR effect through the signs 6. The MR effect & the houses 7. The MR effect: A survival guide Appendices: 1. Mercury's place in the heavens: 100 year ephemeris, 1920-2020 2. Mercury retrograde periods, 2001-2050 Bibliography About the author Resources Comment: I confess I didn't have much "sense" of this book. Perhaps you will. Here is Mercury retrograde in the 12th: MR in the Twelfth House When MR moves through this House, you have an opportunity to achieve closure. You are in a good position to reassess the way you communicate with yourself & others. You can examine the good & bad qualities of your communication style & prepare to change what needs changing. Exploring the realm of the inner self is not always a pleasant affair. We may encounter parts of our being that we fear or loathe. Still many people seem to cling to these negative parts of themselves simply because they are so familiar. The fear of the unknown often prevents us from moving on to a new level. But when Mercury runs retro in the Twelfth House, the time has come to confront our sub-conscious motivations, with honesty & openness. Only by doing so will we discover our deepest motivations, our most basic gifts. (pgs. 110-111) In other words, the author takes the traditional interpretation of house or sign & presumes that when Mercury retrograde is in it, that the house or sign functions badly for the duration. So, for example, when Mercury is retrograde in Taurus, watch your finances. This is logical, and supported by astrological theory, but does it actually happen that way in practice? That's what I don't quite know. O Books, 215 pages. Read the book? Want to tell the world? How many stars (1-5) would you give this book? Tell us!

	VENUS: Her Cycles, Symbols & Myths - Anne Massey, $17.95 Contents: List of figures & charts; Foreword by Donna Van Toen; Introduction 1. The essence of Venus 2. The beauty of Venus 3. The sacred geometry of Venus 4. Venus stations 5. The cycle of harmony 6. Where does Venus hold court? 7. Venus in aspect 8. Charming costumes 9. Venus retrograde: the magnifying glass 10. Venus in love 11. Venus & marriage 12. Venus & societal change 13. Other feminine archetypes: Ceres, Vesta, Juno, Pallas Athena, Lilith Acknowledgments Appendices: 1. Astrological data; 2. Venus cycles data; 3. New & full Venus listings; 4. Four pentagrams Bibliography Comment: Books like this keep me on my toes. I had been disappointed by several of the previous titles in Llewellyn's "Special Topics" series, so when Llewellyn applied it to a book about a planet (generally the least-well written books in astrology), I simply passed it by. A customer brought it back to my attention, and I am grateful. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the subject (pg 15: Marilyn died in 1962, not 1961). Chapter 2, an introduction to the cycles of Venus. Chapter 3, Sacred Geometry, which is to say that, viewed from the Earth, Venus appears to describe a pentagram, or five-petaled rose, in its highly regular cycle of retrogrades & stations. Starting with any Venus-Sun conjunction, successive conjunctions will describe a 5 pointed star, and in exactly the same fashion as if you were to draw it with a pencil on paper, which I must confess suprised me. Massey defines these five points by element (fire, earth, air, water). For the fifth, she uses "spirit" (pg. 34). The Chinese would have used Metal, and I would be interested to hear Massey on this point. Chapter 4, Stations, retrogrades, the "new Venus", fertility, Hollywood stories. Chapter 5, The Covenants of Venus (the original title to this book). New & full Venus, your Venus phase. Chapter 6, Venus through the houses. Chapter 7,, Venus in aspect. In this chapter, the focus is primarily on conjunctions, but have a look at this: The wiring in our old house provides quite an interesting perspective. When we turn on the dishwasher, one of the three spotlights in a track light turns on & off until the dishwasher has finished its cycle - perhaps akin to a "loose" or minor aspect. We also have one switch that turns on the light in a bedroom while simultaneously shutting down a power outlet in another (this went unnoticed for about a decade) - perhaps akin to the subtle aspects, which are ours to discover? (pg. 93) Chapter 8, Venus through the signs (surprisingly weak writing). Chapter 9, an astrological overview of retrograde Venus. Chapter 10, delineations, by sign, of Venus & love. Unlike the once-over in chapter 8, the writing here is quite good, some of the best I've seen. Venus herself comes through strongly. Chapter 11, Venus & marriage, starts off with Venus & suffrage. The ascendant as a marriage indicator, Part of Marriage, marriage & second (Venusian) thoughts. Chapter 12,, occultations of Venus (its transit across the disk of the sun) as indicators of societal change. For nearly a thousand years, and for more than 800 to come, all such occultations have occurred in either Gemini or Sagittarius. Chapter 13, notes on Ceres, Pallas Athena, Juno, Vesta & Lilith, the secondary moon of the Earth. For what it covers, this is an excellent book. It is notably short on mythology, which is okay with me, as I think mythology gets far too much play in astrology. I wish she had spent more time on the twelve houses, and I wish she would have taken a pile of Venus's aphorisms (such as those in the back of Robson's Astrology & Sex and analyzed them, as her methods are very good & I expect her results would have been illuminating. I am most impressed with her understanding of orbital mechanics, as this is fundamental to a good grasp of the planet (of any planet) and is all too often lacking. Llewellyn, 201 pages.

	EXPLORING JUPITER, The Astrological Key to Progress, Prosperity & Potential - Stephen Arroyo, $19.95 Contents: Acknowledgments Prologue Introduction 1. A framework for understanding Jupiter: Jupiter, learning & the rulers of the mutable signs; The Jupiter sign as a mode of learning; The Gemini/Sagittarius polarity; Sagittarius/Virgo contrasts; Jupiter & Neptune; Sagittarius/Pisces similarites & contrasts 2. Jupiter in the birth chart: key concepts & interpretive guidelines: Balancing Jupiter with Saturn; Jupiter, gambling & "pushing your luck"; Jupiter/Venus contrasts; Jupiter & "success"; Jupiter & emotions; Jupiter's positive & negative expressions; General guidelines for interpreting Jupiter 3. Exploring the Jupiterian personality: The Jupiterian as cultural icon 4. Jupiter in the fire signs: interpretive guidelines 5. Jupiter in the earth signs: interpretive guidelines 6. Jupiter in the air signs: interpretive guidelines 7. Jupiter in the water signs: interpretive guidelines 8. Jupiter in the houses: Interpretive guidelines for Jupiter's house placement 9. Ruled by Jupiter: Sagittarius & Pisces rising: Parallels in the expression of Jupiter's rising signs; Sagittarius rising; Pisces rising 10. Jupiter's aspects in the birth chart 11. Transits involving Jupiter: Guidelines for interpreting Jupiter transits: Jupiter transits to the Ascendant, Midheaven, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the outer planets; Guidelines for interpreting transits to Jupiter Bibliography Comment: My favorite book on Jupiter, in large part because Arroyo put so much into it. In the Prologue he says he started this book on a whim (it interrupted some other project), but quickly became enamored of the planet. He then did what all good authors should always do: He researched his subject. He studied Charles Carter, David Hamblin, Isabel Hickey, Paul Wright, Dane Rudhyar, Grant Lewi, Jeff Mayo, Ronald Davison, Marcia Moore & Mark Douglas & many others. The bibliography is one of the longest & most impressive I have ever seen, and, to my further delight, not merely a list of books in the authhor's library, but rather, a list tightly focused on astrology itself. The result is a richly detailed, multi-layered book. Arroyo interweaves his own ideas with those of others, almost always producing dazzling insights. He freely quotes from his sources. Arroyo gives a choice quote from, say, Charles Carter (a favored author, and a good one, as my customers should know by now) and then illuminates it. There are many sidebars (essays in boxes) that give supporting details and provide case studies. For example, at one point Amelia Earhart is paired with John Glenn, both being examples of a particular Jupiterian manifestation. A truly great book. I am at fault for overlooking it for too long. CRCS, 299 pages. Read the book? Want to tell the world? How many stars (1-5) would you give this book? Tell us!

	THE BOOK OF JUPITER - Marilyn Waram, $15.95 Contents: Dedication Acknowledgments 1. All the possibilities 2. From Zeus to Peter Pan 3. The power of paradigm shifts 4. Bigger, brighter, better 5. Common problems with Jupiter 6. Jupiter in the houses 7. Jupiter in the signs 8. Jupiter in aspect 9. All the possibilities Appendices: 1. Herman Hesse 2. Examples of Jupiter in houses, signs, aspects & stella Index Comment: First published in 1993, there are a few remaining copies from the ACS of long, long ago. Waram's fundamental approach to Jupiter is as Letter Nine of Zip Dobyns' famous letter system, wherein Jupiter represents Absolute Truth, ultimate values & beliefs, as well as the search for all of these. Dobyn's system conflated houses with signs with planets, which is fine for beginners. Waram, who now goes by her real name of Marelon Bjorkaes, was a student of Zip's. Zipporah Pottenger Dobyns passed away in 2003. I confess I didn't relate that well to the first five chapters, I thought them dated. There is an amusing dialogue between Jupiter & the author in chapter 5, pgs. 75-79. Here's sample: Astrologer: Why? Why are mistakes so intolerable? Jupiter: (getting louder) Well, what is the search for Truth all about? Every mistake is a step away from Truth, not toward it! Think about it. There no mistakes in Truth. Astrologer: Okay. But you treat it as a one-shot deal, as if you are supposed to get it all right on the very first try. Jupiter: You are. Astrologer: But you are a mutable planet. You are supposed to be flexible. [That dang 9th Letter strikes again. - Dave] Jupiter: I'm also a fire planet & I'm going to get darned angry when I'm thwarted or proven wrong. I'm supposed to be right! I represent Truth. Astrologer: Or maybe the search for Truth? Jupiter: That doesn't feel... worthy enough. For me. I think I'm too big to be a mere "search". And to think in the years since this was published, Google has done wonderfully as a mere "search". Chapter 6, Jupiter in Houses, is meaty, as is chapter 7, Jupiter in signs. Waram continues to conflate houses with signs, but that is her system. When I read Jupiter in the first, and then, Jupiter in Aries, I am not reading the same text twice, but I do get a strong sense the author feels the two values (first house with the first sign of the zodiac) to be extensions of each other. Waram says that Jupiter, when he's crossed, can lash out rather nastily. Which I haven't seen myself, though if some other planet lashes out & Jupiter happens to be nearby, he is always happy to pour gasoline on the fire. Which is simply Jupiter being Jupiter. Jupiter is like a lens. It magnifies everything, good & bad. In 1994, a comet hit Jupiter. In the weeks leading up to the event, scientists wondered if it would even be visible. Jupiter is a very big planet after all, and the comet was very small by comparison. But as any astrologer could have predicted, Jupiter makes everything bigger, and it was a spectacular event. Chapter 8, Jupiter in aspect, is not as good. Individual planetary pairs, Jupiter-Mars, Jupiter-Venus, Jupiter-Pluto, etc., are a ramble. We want clean delineations. Jupiter-Venus square is like this. Jupiter-Saturn opposition is like that. Which we do not get. Chapters like this are where editors need to hold the author's feet to the fire. Make them hammer out what they know. Make the author make the hard choices, not slide around them. The concluding essays are nice, as well as the first appendix, a delineation of Herman Hesse's chart (author of Steppenwolf, which was once quite popular). Appendix 2 gives lists of people with Jupiter in each house, as well as in each sign (by degree). It concludes with lists of people with specific Jupiter aspects, and the precise orbs. This might be worth the price of the book. In it, we learn that Cheiro, the palmist, had Jupiter & Mars in exact opposition. Bobby Fisher, the famous chess player, had Jupiter & Venus in exact square, as did Alice Cooper, John Denver & Erwin Rommel. This section, as well as chapter 8, on aspects, include the four major asteroids. ACS, 292 pages. Read the book? Want to tell the world? How many stars (1-5) would you give this book? Tell us!

	JUPITER'S DANCE - Martin Goldsmith, $24.95 Contents: Acknowledgments Preface: Jupiter's dance 1. Introduction: The failings of mythology & the advantages of empirical research; What is a planet? 2. Jupiter re-envisoned: The dancing god; social, sexual & occupational adventurousness; Jupiter's role in the development of a coherent world-view; the dance of creation: materializing a personal vision; the dance of destruction: puncturing false mythologies; Jupiter & religion; Jupiter & the Chariot card of the tarot; Jupiter & the arts; The World card & the tarot 3. Jupiter in the twelve signs 4. Jupiter in the twelve houses 5. Jupiter in aspect 6. Bibliography for the history of astrology Comment: Here's how it works sometimes: - This site went on-line back in 1996 as barely more than book titles & cover images. These basic listings were "ramped up" in early 2000 with truncated tables of contents. Meanwhile, more recent books got much more extensive treatment. At one time I set myself the goal of writing proper notes for the many forgotten books & did finish a few pages before other projects crowded out the remainder. You can still find a lot of these titles on this site. I tell myself that someday . . . So it's now November, 2010. Martin's new book on Jupiter got a rave review in the December-January Mountain Astrologer, so of course I will carry it. So I get a copy & look at it & find it's not very good, for reasons I will get to in a moment. But first, I can't simply write notes on Martin's book & stick them here, when Stephen Arroyo's masterpiece on Jupiter (above) got such short shrift so long ago. Before I can write notes on Martin's book, I first have to write proper notes on Stephen's. I have to correct my oversight of years ago. Now that that's done, Martin Goldsmith is the pen name of Steven E------. I knew him when I lived in Santa Fe in the late 1990's. He used to visit & trash his way through the Beethoven piano sonatas on my Kawai digital, as he is a keen pianist (which I, alas, am not). He is in the music trade. To Steven I owe the insight that not every note that Ludwig wrote was blessed by God himself. I have high regard for him. But, regrettably, not his books. Goldsmith carefully researched this book. As he explains in the Preface, in the belief that no previous research had ever been done concerning Jupiter, Goldsmith threw out astrology altogether & started over from scratch. What is Jupiter? What does it do? How does it do it, etc. Instead of consulting the best of the existing literature on the subject (see Arroyo, above), Goldsmith substitutes unrelated metaphysics. Wholesale. He makes a long & laborious study of famous persons with a Jupiter this or a Jupiter that, which merely underscores the sad fact that Goldsmith, unlike Charles Carter, isn't very good at research. One of the many mistakes he makes is to over-reach his subject. Some examples: Did you know that Jupiter is the planet of sex? Since Jupiterians are socially confident & take a bold, experimental approach to life, they mature very quickly. By most standards they would be considered sexually promiscuous (in keeping with Zeus' behavoir, I supppose). Still they are not sleazy. If they are out for uncomplicated sex, they communicate these intentions to their partners. As young adults, Jupiterians tend to play the field, yet once they have gotten a number of romantic experiences under their belts, they start to think about settling down. (pgs. 20-21) Read that again & look for the structure. Goldsmith starts with an image of Jupiter (confident & bold) and then presumes such people will mature quickly and that therefore they will become compulsively sexual as a result. Confidence = bold = mature = promiscuous. This is specious. This isn't the only original observation. Goldsmith notes, correctly, I think, that a stationary Jupiter makes for dancers, though fails to note that stationary Jupiters are, by definition, in trine to the Sun. Somehow these two bits of information remained unrelated. Goldsmith says that Jupiter in Aries people, like me, engage in hatchet jobs to destroy their opponents (pg. 41). Jupiter in Aries excels at verbal arguments, cannot write, and are natural actors (pg. 42). People with the Jupiter-Saturn opposition [me, for example] are greedy for worldly experience - especially sexual experience. This can make their lives rather messy. Many have a rather passive attitude towards their own desires, and make little effort to contain them. This can lead to three-somes, bisexual experimentation, etcetera. The sexual bohemianism of the aspect can be seen in James Dean, Bob Guccione [publisher of Penthouse magazine], Paul Bowles [gay American expatriot composer], and Victoria Sackville-West [bisexual English poet] (pg. 247) Most people who have Jupiter & Saturn opposed will agree with me, and many others, that the aspect is grindingly hard & not at all sexy. Four individuals are not a significant sample. Once we learn how to read a chart (!!!) we discover there are many ways to the same result. Charts that share the same character traits must do so with astrological factors that are compatible with declared results. This is an absolute rule. Here is my analysis of Goldsmith's examples: James Dean, February 8, 1931, 2:11 am, Marion, IN: Sag rising, all angles mutable (can you say, "confused"?), Jupiter/Saturn 7.5 degrees from exact (8 to 2), with both planets moving out of orb. Chart ruler Jupiter, retrograde in Cancer in 8, widely conjunct Pluto, Dean was a daredevil (aka rebel) who acted out. Sex is a minor dare. Death is a major one. The day he died (September 30, 1955, the transits were ominous), he was enroute to a road race, where he, and the car he was driving when he was killed, were entered as participants. His 5th is empty. Mars, its ruler, was in the 8th in Leo, retrograde. Which points to difficulty in asserting himself, which results, especially when young, in acting out. In Dean's chart, Jupiter/Saturn has to do with resources. He is needy. He takes from others. Bob Guccione, December 17, 1930, 2:30 am, Brooklyn: Less than two months older than Dean. Jupiter/Saturn six degrees from exact and, again, both moving out of orb. Powerful Jupiter/Pluto conjunction (2 degrees) in the 9th. Which makes for a preacher, which is to say, an ideologue. Libra rising, chart ruler Venus tightly conjunct the Moon (1 degree, applying), both debilitated in Scorpio, and both trine Jupiter/Pluto. Both Venus & Jupiter have rights in the unoccupied 5th house, which has Pisces on the cusp. Both the Moon & Venus, debilitated, have an interest in the 8th, which has a late degree of Taurus on the cusp. Sun in Sag on the 3rd house cusp, which is publishing. Both Jupiter & Pluto first oppose Mercury, and only after that, Saturn. You can make an argument that Moon/Venus conjunct & debilitated led to frustrations which found an outlet in the pair of houses which they ruled or had a strong interest in. You could also say that Saturn/Mercury in Capricorn opposing Jupiter/Pluto in Cancer gives nice/naughty results, which was certainly the style of Penthouse magazine. But, again, you must know how to read a chart to get reliable information from it. Victoria Sackville-West, March 9, 1892, 4:15 am, Knole, which is a manor house near Sevenoaks, Kent: Classic homosexual chart: Capricorn rising, Gemini on 5, Virgo on 8, Mercury conjunct the Sun in Pisces in 2, Saturn in Virgo in 8. Moon is void in the last ten minutes of Cancer in 7, which makes the men in her life desperately effeminate. Mercury-ruled mutable signs on the houses of sexual expression (5 & 8), with Mercury in a female sign (Pisces) surrounded by Sun & Jupiter, bisexuality is the likely result. (Work it out!) This chart has a powerful Neptune/Pluto conjunction (6 degrees Gemini) smack on the 5th house cusp. The reverse of Dean's chart, the Jupiter/Saturn opposition falls in 2 & 8 and is less than a degree from exact. I would interpret it as freely giving resources to a needy partner. Paul Bowles I frankly don't know enough about. As the astrological interpretation of homosexuals is contradicted by popular beliefs, it is best to refrain. Get this book if you've read & studied Arroyo & want something more on the subject. From time to time Goldsmith is refreshing & direct. Otherwise I think Martin has missed his calling. He is far more shrewd with music than astrology. Hey, Steven E! Let's do a knock-'em dead study on Ludwig. Did you know the Ode to Joy is based on Yankee Doodle Dandy? The last ten years of his life, Beethoven was overshadowed by his one-time friend & associate, Ferdinand Ries, which is why virtually all Beethoven's late period works concern Ries, one way or another. As soon as Ludwig was dead the situation reversed & Ferd was overshadowed by Ludwig for the remaining ten years of his life. Ferdinand Ries gave us the first good biographical sketch of Ludwig van Beethoven, but knowing the circumstances we might wonder just how accurate that portrait was. There's some great stuff, hiding in the shadows. Sothis Press, 317 pages. Read the book? Want to tell the world? How many stars (1-5) would you give this book? Tell us!

	JUPITER MEETS URANUS: From erotic bathing to star gazing - Anne Whitaker, $23.95 Contents: Foreword Introduction 1. Presenting Jupiter & Uranus 2. An historical perspective 3. Exploration & innovation: 15th to 20th century 4. The Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Aquarius 5. 1997-1998: Collective life 6. 1997-1998: Individual experiences 7. Postscript from Neptune Appendices: 1. Charts: Their provenance 2. Mundane charts, 1609-1997 3. Seventeen lives 1997-1998 4. Additional research material 5. Mary, Dolly and Andi "O Brave New World?" 6. Participants' feedback Biography Index Comment: This book tells how Jupiter Uranus conjunctions, which occur every 14 years, and in particular, the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Aquarius of 1997-1998, lead to the recreation of the world as we know it today. That should be enough for anyone to judge the book, but here is an excerpt to further help you: Objectives, Expectations & Problems: There was a definite problem with researching the observational band in these individual cases. As has just been demonstrated, in the collective examples major developments of a "boldly going where humanity has not gone before" nature occurred as Neptune transited 4-7 Aquarius, with distinct peaks at the four Hot Spot crossings. This effect was not coloured by the presence of another planet or planets on those degrees, thereby adding further credence to the theory that powerful planetary meetings imbue the degree areas of their meeting with their quality. This theory, which has long intrigued me, was previously supported in the summer & autumn of 1997, with Uranus' return to 4-7 Aquarius reactivating the "Jupiter-Uranus effect" of the February 16 conjunction in both collective & individual life. However, participants were initially chosen bcause they were born when a planet, angle, or the Moon's Node was located between 4 & 7 degrees of Aquarius. The problem with researching Neptune's transit was that Neptune in conjunction with any planet, angle or Node, at any degree of the zodiac, in anyone's horoscope, constituted a major symbolic event in their lives which might express itself on a number of different levels. This being the case, and the sign in question being Aquarius (which in any event is ruled by Uranus) would it be possible to fulfil my objective of detecting a specifically "Jupiter-Uranus effect" underlying the personal feedback for the Neptune transit? (pgs 94-5) So the premise, if I understand it, is that Uranus fascinates us & we want to know more & keep track of it. Aquarius is the ideal sign of the zodiac. It never does anything wrong & we must give it everything it asks. Therefore, when Jupiter meets up with Uranus in Aquarius, it's obviously a big special event that merits a book, which first appeared in 2003. There is some good stuff in here, but you have to wade through a lot that isn't. Well, then! Lemme see.... We can do better still! Pluto, the Ultimate Planet, enters Aquarius, the Ultimate Sign, on March 24, 2023. Tbere's no need to wait. We can start cranking out Pluto-Aquarius books right now. Doesn't make any difference what the premise is. The more fanciful the better, espeically if there's heavy dose of mythology to it all. Lots of money to be made... AFA, 166 pages. Read the book? Want to tell the world? How many stars (1-5) would you give this book? Tell us!

	SATURN: A new look at an old devil - Liz Greene, $18.95 Contents: Foreword, by Robert Hand (April 2011) Introduction 1. In the water signs & houses 2. In the earthy signs & houses 3. In the airy signs & houses 4. In the fiery signs & houses 5. Aspects in the birth chart 6. In synastry 7. Conclusion. Comment: This is the book that launched Liz Greene's literary career. Written shortly after she moved to London in the mid-1970's, first published in 1976. As of October, 2011, the book has a new cover as well as a Foreword by Robert Hand. Here is what it used to say on the back cover, the text of the book is of course the same as the old: Saturn symbolizes a psychic process as well as a quality or kind of experience. He is not merely a representative of pain, restriction and discipline; he is also a symbol of the psychic process, natural to all human beings, by which an individual may utilize the experience of pain, restriction, and discipline, as a means for greater consciousness and fulfillment. With this book, Liz Greene has taken a major step in the unveiling of the light of reason, so long obscured by those who have interpreted Saturn as a 'malefic' planet and, in doing so, presents a remarkably rich study of the unconscious mind, shedding light on that mysterious, elusive entity that psychology calls the self. Saturn's darker persona is recognized universally in myth and fairytale. Here, Dr. Greene traces his character through sign, house, aspect and synastry in a brilliant analysis which reveals his other face: that of the Initiator who, for the price of our honesty, offers us greater consciousness, self-understanding and, eventually, freedom. Weiser, 196 pages. Read the book? Want to tell the world? How many stars (1-5) would you give this book? Tell us! May 15, 2011: I give this book 5 stars! I use this book as one of my main references helping me interpret clients' charts in my work as an astrologer. It has allowed me to see the enormous weight Saturn has in the personality, and has never failed at accurately assessing the meaning of Saturn's placement in sign, house, and aspect. I have just begun utilizing her book on Neptune, and I greatly anticipate acquiring Ms. Greene's book on Uranus as well if I may do so from here in the states. Thank you for your immense contribution to the world of astrological counseling. Warm regards, E.... Q..... Los Angeles

	SATURN CYCLES: Mapping changes in your life - Wendell C. Perry, $27.95 Contents: Introduction Part 1: The Saints: People who made good use of their Saturn transits 1. The Dali Lama 2. Oprah Winfrey 3. Thomas Merton 4. Bruce Lee 5. Albert Einstein 6. Malcolm X 7. Bono (Paul Hewson) 8. Jimmy Carter 9. Michael J. Fox 10. Ralph Nader 11. Gloria Steinem 12. Carl Gustav Jung Part 2: The Sinners: People who made poor use of their Saturn transits: 13. Britney Spears 14. O.J. Simpson 15. Mata Hari (Margaretha Zelle MacLeod) 16. Hermann Goring 17. Janis Joplin 18. Paul Gauguin 19. Lee Harvey Oswald 20. Bill Clinton 21. Andrew Cunanan 22. Jerry Siegel 23. Jim Bakker 24. Jayne Mansfield Part 3: Saturn at work for you: 25. Saturn at work on the midheaven 26. Saturn at work on the ascendant 27. Saturn at work on the Imum Coeli 28. Saturn at work on the descendant 29. Saturn conjunct natal Saturn 30. Saturn opposed natal Saturn 31. Saturn square natal Saturn Appendix: Abbreviated ephemeris for Saturn, 1990-2020 Bibliography Comment: In this book, 24 biographies of notable people, as they experienced Saturn in their lives, in particular as it aspects itself & the angles of the chart. Amplifying this is Part 3, a guide to Saturn's effects in the natal chart generally. It describes the Saturn return in these words: What these examples show is that during your first Saturn return you can expect the call to grow up, take on the work or the role that will occupy your adult life, and face the limitations and problems that will define you as a person. It is a transit that is generally characterized by hard work, hard choices & fateful decisions. Doors may be opened for you during this return, but these opportunities always come with heavy responsibilities and far-reaching implications. No Saturn transit should be taken lightly, but this one is particularly weighty. Missteps here almost always have major ramifications later on in life. Bad ideas take on an energy and momentum that is very hard to correct. At the same time, you have to be willing & ready to take advantage of opportunities that come to you during this transit, even the ones that at first glance don't seem at all that promising or attractive. Small starts and incremental changes made during this transit have a way of becoming extremely significant as your life moves forward. (pgs. 284-5) This is sage advice, and based directly on the author's investigations of his 24 subjects. The problem with famous people is they have famous lives & these lives are in many ways not typical of those of average individuals. It would help, I think, to temper these conclusions with the experiences of average clients, with their average lives and average results. The Saturn return is never fun, but it does not always result in lasting fame or eventual self-destruction. Sometimes you just have to endure it. Ask your family & friends how they spent the year after their 29th birthday & you will get all kinds of stories. Llewellyn, 308 pages.

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Mercury-Saturn

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