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Astrology & Work/Employment


Sure enough, you can find occupational talents in a horoscope. That's the easy part. The hard part is turning them into jobs. So here's how to do the easy part. The hard part is still up to you:


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

VOCATIONAL ASTROLOGY, A Complete Handbook of Western Astrological Career Selection & Guidance Techniques - Judith Hill, $22.00
Contents:
Introduction; 1. The zodiacal signs & houses; 2. Temperament & profession; 3. Four elements & three modes; 4. Vocational rulerships: The planets & nodes; 5. Vocational "supplements" of the birth chart; 6. Planetary strengths & weaknesses; 7. House rulerships in vocational astrology; 8. The three vocational houses; 9. Reading the vocational chart; 10. The vocational time clocks;

Appendix A: A-Z vocational listings (Planet/sign/house combinations, rulerships); Appendix B: Glossary of vocational terms; Appendix C: Collection of vocational horoscopes (about the data, how to study the collection, vocational chart collection listing, The vocational chart collection); Bibliography.

From the author of Astrological Body Types, her new book on jobs. From the back cover: The usefulness of vocational astrology cannot be understated in our times. Your birht chart can pinpoint talent & also rate your career choices for success, luck & happiness - a service no vocational test can provide. Vocational astrology can help the vocationally undecided through the confusing woods of unlimited career paths.

Appendix C includes more than 110 vocational horoscopes, from Accountant to Welder, chosen from the author's own files. She says they are charts of successful, happy individuals working at full capacity. Hill suggest we compare the charts to the A-Z Vocational listings given in Appendix A. Here is a sample, for a computer programmer: Dominant planets: Mercury, Uranus; Supportive planet: Saturn; Primary signs: Virgo, Aquarius; Secondary sign: Gemini; Primary houses: 3, 6; Seconday house: 11. An excellent new book.

169 pages including bibliography. AFA, paper.


VOCATIONS: The new midheaven extension process - Noel Tyl, $17.95
Contents: Preface;

Background & the Modern Era: Sociological framework; A modern view: the Midheaven Extension Process; Observations: The analytical considerations:

The sign & planet ruling the midheaven; Double-bodied signs; Dispositor dynamics; Powerful planetary placement in the midheaven; Aspects with the midheaven itself; Mutual reception; Stellium; The oriental planet; Outstanding key measurments; Perigrination; The sun/moon midpoint & other key midpoint pictures; The moon establishing the importance of a house; Interpretative orientation of the planets; Some simple exercises; Awareness of level; Chanels

The Midheaven Extension Process in practice: Practicing & gaining confidence; Difficulties in the learning process; Our objectives with vocational profiling; The communication channel; Four people in the same vocation; The performing channel; Review; The creative (aesthetics) chanel; The helping/healing channel; The administrative channel

The Art in Judgment: Fitness through experience; Deeper technical understanding; Stalled networking; Common sense; Underachievement; Fancy measuring; The timing for employment.

Data appendix; Identified cases; Support horoscope data; Vocation index; Text index.

Comment: Tyl explains this book as:

When we extend the Midheaven & its symbolism throughout the horoscope system, we involve all or most of the planetary symbols within the horoscope. (pg. 5)
He then proceeds in a fairly straight-forward fashion: The Midheaven Extension Process includes the sign on the midheaven; its ruling planet & its dispositor; planets in the 10th, especially near the MC itself; aspects to the midheaven, as well as aspects to its ruler & dispositor; mutual reception, if it is related somehow to the MC; stelliums in any house; the oriental planet ("oriental" being the last planet to rise before the sun, however far away in degrees it may be); two minor aspects: quintile (72) & quindecile (165 degrees); peregrination (said of a planet lacking any dignity in the degree it is in); the Aries point; the sun/moon midpoint.

All of this thrown together will work fairly well, and it will encourage you to look more intensely at the horoscope as a whole. Tyl uses the modern rulerships (Aquarius: Uranus, Pisces: Neptune, Scorpio: Pluto) which I, for one, no longer think work, but tracing rulership around a chart is one of the most important of all techniques. Tyl's book is excellent for running the reader round the chart, again & again. It's one of the most useful habits to have. However, I was surprised that Tyl makes no use of the signs & houses the dispositor trail turns up. I've been using them for years, they provide many useful details. Tyl says such details clutter the analysis (pg. 149), but this would seem to depend on the astrologer's own ability to sort & manage them. It may be that Tyl's selection & emphasis is based on a shrewd judgement of what typical readers can absorb & understand. When you've written 34 books, you learn to appreciate things like that.

Tyl uses his technique to arrive at general descriptions of jobs & careers. I would have wished for more. So far as what specific job you should go for, Judith Hill (above) is better. William Lilly's vocational techniques, in Christian Astrology book 3 (pgs. 624-634), while different, are as good as Tyl's. Like Tyl, Lilly made an extensive study of careers & the midheaven.

Llewellyn, 188 pages.


FINDING SUCCESS IN THE HOROSCOPE: The Slevin system of horoscope analysis - Jackie Slevin, $18.95

Contents:

Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction to the Slevin System of horoscope analysis

1. Windows on the world: The midheaven
2. Location is everything: The principal planet
3. Dignities, mutual receptions & major configurations
4. The cardinal axis
5. Appearances count
6. It runs in the family
7. Royal fixed stars
8. The critical 29th degree
9. The express lane to the top
10. And for the rest of us

Epilogue
Notes
List of charts
About the author

Comment: The Slevin System, like Tyl's system (above), uses the midheaven to determine career. Slevin's has twelve steps. They are:

1. Find the midheaven. 2. Find the planet that most closely aspects the midheaven (Ptolemaic aspects only). This is the principal planet. 3. Note planets in the 10th. 4. Note the principal planet's sign, strength, if retrograde, etc. 5. Note the house of the principal planet. 6. Note the Principal planet's aspects. 7. Note the house(s) this planet rules. 8. Note if it is conjunct the Cardinal Axis. 9. Note if it is in mutual reception. 10. Note if it is conjunct the Royal Fixed Stars (Aldebaran, 9 Gemini; Regulus 29 Leo; Antares 9 Sagittarius; Formalhaut 3 Pisces). 11. Combine/synthesize these factors. 12. Repeat for the next nearest planet in aspect to the midheaven.

Overall, this is Tyl's method, only instead of using the midheaven's dispositor, it uses the planet in closest aspect.

So, how do these two systems compare? Slevin's seems to be more limited, since not everyone will have a significant Ptolemaic aspect to the midheaven. Slevin's examples are of interest: Sun as Principal Planet: Queen Victoria: Trine, orb under 1 degree. Moon as PP: Julia Child, trine, orb 5 degrees. Mercury PP: W.B. Yeates, opposition, 12 minutes. Venus PP: Billy Joel, sextile, less than one degree. Mars PP: Curtis Sliwa (Guardian Angels), square, 3 degrees. Jupiter: Galileo, square, retrograde, 19 minutes. Saturn: Queen Elizabeth II: conjunct, retrograde, one degree. Uranus: Che Guevare, square, under one degree. Neptune: Raoul Wallenberg, square, 2 degrees. Pluto: Amy Fischer (her "career" seems to have been an attempted murder), square, 2 degrees.

Slevin is aware of her limitations. In the last chapter, And for the Rest of Us, she writes,

Most of the horoscopes of successful people demonstrated throughout this book using the Slevin System are those who rank in the top five percent of their profession. Note that their horoscopes are well-integrated maps of well-aspected angles, prominent degrees, tight orbs & angular planets, often with multiple elements of the Slevin System replicating themselves throughout their charts. (pg. 183)
Integrated charts like that are, frankly, rare. There are many prominent people with quite messy charts. Slevin uses an orb of 8 degrees for angles to the midheaven, as well as between planets generally. This seems to be in conflict with the well-accepted notion that angles & house cusps, lacking "rays", have no orb beyond one degree. As for charts with no planets aspecting the MC within an 8 degree orb, Slevin says,
Occasionally horoscopes present themselves that have no aspects to the Midheaven within eight degrees & thus no Principal Planet. Thus an alternate route to success is created. In these cases the Midheaven Ruler takes precedence, along with its house location & the Ptolemaic aspects it makes. (pg. 184)
When the dispositor is substituted for the aspecting planet, the result is essentially Noel Tyl's system. Slevin continues:
While the Midheaven Ruler may describe the inclination toward a chosen profession, the lack of aspects to the Midheaven can make it difficult for them to access the equipment needed for their public presentation. (pg. 184)
Which brings up the subtext to the book, that your profession is your public persona, the thing you are known for, the abilities that you present to the world. This describes only some professions. It does not describe partnerships, it does not describe those who toil in institutions or work behind the scenes, it does not describe many who work for a wage or salary. Nor does it describe people like Stanley Ann Dunham, Barak Obama's mother. Her key to success, shown by her strong 9th house (I've rectified her chart), was her life outside the US.

Overall, I like Tyl's book & his system better, but even more, I am developing chart interpretation techniques, of houses & their dispositors, that reveals the overall personality, not merely isolated character traits. Once the personality is in hand, it is often a simple matter to determine what one ends up doing with his life. This is also a superior method of rectification. Go Wiki Stanley Ann. In her rectification, the key factor was her parents' placing her in a brand-new high school. This implied severe personal problems the year before. I made the rank guess that Saturn transiting her ascendant was the probable cause & rectified her ascendant to the appropriate degree. The result was a powerful 9th house, which opened her life to me.

Ibis Press, 198 pages.


DYNAMIC ASTROLOGY: Using planetary cycles to make personal & career choices - John Townley, $12.95

Contents:

Preface
Introduction

1. Cycles that control your life
2. Toward a physical basis of astrology
3. The monthly & yearly cycles
4. Mars: The two year work-energy cycle
5. Jupiter: Your productivity & opportunity cycle
6. Saturn: Career perimeters, testing & security
7. Uranus, Neptune & Pluto: The outer planets
8. The career graph
9. Friends & enemies: How to tell the difference
10. Back to basics: Practical career building with the aid of cycles

Epilogue

Appendices:
1. Blank group comparison charts
2. Blank career cycle charts

Comment: This book tells how to use planetary cycles to advance your career.

In chapter 3, the busiest time of the month is when the moon passes over your ascendant, and when it's conjunct your sun. The weakest is when the moon opposes your sun. If you're a full moon baby (like me), John says the two cycles cancel each other out. Which is my experience. He also says the same thing is true of your sun: Best when it's conjunct the ascendant, and on your birthday, weak at the DSC & 6 months from your birthday.

He continues this thread in subsequent chapters. Mars conjunct, oppose itself; Jupiter, Saturn through the houses. Note that the Sun & Moon get both house & sign treatment, Mars get zodiacal treatment, while Jupiter & Saturn get house treatment. Uranus, Neptune & Pluto are shown as interruptions to the Jupiter & Saturn cycle. Uranus, for example, interferes with Jupiter every 14 years, with Saturn every 45.

In chapter 8, Townley shows how to graph Jupiter & Saturn to make a graph of expected annual income. The top line of the graph is your ascendant, the bottom line is your descendant, you mark your age from left to right. You mark the top line whenever Jupiter & Saturn cross your ascendant, mark the bottom line when they cross your descendant, then connect the dots, Jupiter to Jupiter, Saturn to Saturn. The interplay of up & down zig-zags become income when you substitute 2nd house / 8th house for ascendant / descendant. On this master graph you can superimpose transits of Uranus, Neptune & Pluto, and refine timing by adding Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, etc.

Chapter 9, Friends & enemies, is synastry on the job. Which you should be aware of anyway.

Chapter two, Toward a physical basis of astrology is a vague jumble of things. I'm not sure what it's doing in this book, other than it's an interesting idea. If that's what you're after, then my theory, based on resonance, is better. John, are you reading this?

Destiny Books, 182 pages.


IN SEARCH OF A FULFILLING CAREER - Joanne Wickenburg, $24.00
Contents:
Introduction; 1. What's it all about?; 2. Signs, houses & planets; 3. Get the picture? (elements, qualities, types of houses, career rulerships); 4. The Second House (signs on the 2nd house, 2nd house ruler, 2nd house ruler's aspects, planets in the 2nd house, aspects to 2nd house planets, Taurus, the natural ruler); 5. The Sixth House (signs on the 6th house, 6th house ruler, 6th house ruler & its aspects, planets in the 6th house, 6th house planets & their aspects, People of the 6th house, Houses ruled by 6th house planets, Virgo - the natural ruler);

6. The Tenth House (Signs on the 10th house, 10th house ruler, Aspects to the 10th house ruler, Planets in the 10th house, Houses ruled by 10th house planets, 10th house planets & their aspects, Capricorn - the natural ruler); 7. Aspects & phases (Major aspects, minor aspects, phases); 8. Other vocational indicators (larger picture, vacant houses of substance, stelliums, moon's nodes, retrograde planets, intercepted signs, closest aspect); 9. Looking ahead (Transits, solar return, progressions). Appendix.

Comment: From the back cover:

It is difficult to determine from the birth chart alone precisely what career one will follow. The chart, however, clearly outlines the talents & capabilities availablefor vocational application. The chart describes your individual needs in terms of vocational fulfillment & defines the unique skills that can be used as tools for achieving career satisfaction. Once you have a basic understanding of specific needs & talents, it's easier to direct your energies toward finding a meaningful career, one that is compatible with your psychological, physical, emotional & spiritual makeup.

AFA, 231 pages.


PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS: Discover Your Career Potential with Astrology - Gayle Geffner, $14.95
Contents: The "At Least Three Charts" method; Three Case Studies; Transit Charts; Derivative Houses; Planets in Solar Returns Houses & How They May Apply to Your Career; Solar Return Charts; Lunar Returns; Advanced Methods; Bibliography; Reference books.

Comment: The book opens without preamble. Geffner says she uses three charts, but it's actually four: The natal, transit, solar return & lunar return. The same three case studies are used throughout the book: Sarah, a 40-ish woman with young children & a failing marriage, John, a young college graduate looking for work as a children's counselor, and Carole, another 40-something mom with young children, an understanding hubby & a desire to work in film production. All three stories end happily as far as careers are concerned. In between the ongoing narratives, Geffner gives general rules for reading natal charts, transits (she especially likes those of Jupiter & Saturn) & solar & lunar returns. There are worthwhile notes on lunars here, though Geffner somehow does not grasp the idea of looking at a series of lunars, finding a good one & jumping on it. She studies charts for the first day on the job, a critical moment & something astrologers often overlook. This is not the book for specific astrological career signatures. Instead, the book shows how ongoing astrological counseling can bring success. Geffner is based in Los Angeles.

ACS Publications, 210 pages.


VOCATIONAL SELECTION & COUNSELING volume 1 - Doris Chase Doane, $20.00
Overview of potential tensions, planets as aptitudes, houses as environment, signs as motivation, decanates & cosmodynes. Income potential, business success, progressions, retirement, counseling clues, age as a conditioning factor, suggestions on vocational counseling as a business, more. 142 pages. AFA, paper.


VOCATIONAL SELECTION & COUNSELING, volume 2 - Doris Chase Doane, $20.00
A continuation of the first volume. Building the vocational base, self-driven dreamer, power of a T-square, channeling mental potential, more cosmodyne applications, middle years, self-examination, more. Both of these books use cosmodynes extensively. 157 pages including bibliography. AFA, paper.


PATTERNS OF PROFESSIONS - Emma Belle Donath, $14.00
The patterns in question are midpoint structures & include transneptunians & the four major asteroids. Appendices: Use of 90-degree dial; Use of computer midpoints; Transneptunian planetary positions. 100 pages including bibliography and index. AFA, paper.


ASTROLOGY & APTITUDE: How to become what you are meant to be - Kim Falconer, $18.95
Contents: Introduction; What's my line (each of the 12 signs as indicators of aptitude); X Marks the Spot: Aptitude location by house (each of the 12 houses as indicators of aptitude)
    Fool or Magician? The Planets & Other Points:
  • The Sun as a sign of capability: What we are becoming
  • The Moon as sign of intuition: What comes naturally
  • Mercury as a sign of choices: What we think & say
  • Venus as a sign of desire: What we love to attract
  • Mars as a sign of Energy: Where our power lies
  • Jupiter as a sign of Meaning: What gives us purpose]
  • Saturn as a sign of Challenge: What is vital to achieve
  • Chiron as a sign of Inspiration: What is the key?
  • Uranus as a sign of Uniqueness: What do we dare?
  • Neptune as a sign of the Ineffable: Where do we seek the divine?
  • Pluto as a sign of Transformation: What we don't understand
  • South Node: What used to work
  • North Node: What we need to develop
  • Delineation of the North & South Node by sign
  • Delineation of the North & South Lunar Nodes by house
  • Arabic Parts: From Passion to Fortune
  • Part of Passion
  • Part of Increase
  • Part of Sudden Advancement
  • Midpoints that make a difference
  • Fixed stars as a sign of destiny
  • Asteroid 433 Eros as passion & creative inspiration
The Daimon as guiding spirit: Aspects & transits as our ally (aspects to ten planets & Chiron); Standing at the crossroads & making the apt choice: Example charts (Hedy Lamar, Ernest Hemingway)

Appendices: Glossary of terms & symbols; Suggested reading list; Vocational rulerships; Endnotes.

Comment: Reminded me of John Townley's Planets In Love, where the entire natal chart is delineated in terms of the subject at hand, in Townley's case, love & sex, in Falconer's case, work & career. A catalog of the career/job meanings of each planet in each house & each sign, many of them standard natal cookbook fare. As to how to separate the important from the unimportant (because Falconer covers everything indiscriminately), look to pages 29-30, where she offers these indicators of aptitude. These are presumably in order of importance:

First house
Second house
Sixth house
Tenth house
Houses occupied by stelliums, which she classes as four or more planets
Houses of the Sun, Moon & Saturn
Planets 10 to 15 degrees from the angles
Cadent houses (3, 6, 9, 12)
The houses containng the rulers of the ascendant & MC
Houses of the north & south nodes
Empty houses (?)
Houses activated by progressions, transits & returns
The book as a whole is long on delineation, but short on technique. If you've already figured out some sort of technique, you will find this book useful.

AFA, 200 pages.



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