Beginner Books

Holist

Well-known member
Hi everyone....


Simple question: what are the best books for beginner traditional astrology? I know modern astrology and now I want to switch over because I am so impressed by the traditional system.



I don't prefer websites. I like physical books.


Are there one or two books that are viewed as "the authority" on this?


The only request I have is that they be written in modern English. Thank you!!
 

Whoam1

Well-known member
Astrology is a practice, much like medicine, there may be more than one answer or interpretion therefore the "authority" is up to you. I can recommend kid gloves for planets as long as you would be willing to read something by a sidereal author (note this doesn't effect much in terms of planets, Espically because Tradional astrology lines up with sidereal in many ways). This book is old so I can't promise you would be able to find a non online version. Although you can print it out. [You may find this with many older astrological works].
 

JUPITERASC

Well-known member
Hi everyone....
Simple question: what are the best books for beginner traditional astrology?
I know modern astrology and now I want to switch over
because I am so impressed by the traditional system.

I don't prefer websites. I like physical books.

Are there one or two books that are viewed as "the authority" on this?

The only request I have is that they be written in modern English.

Thank you!!
Introductions to Traditional Astrology (ITA) :smile:
is a joint translation of two classic introductory works:
Abu Ma’shar’s Abbreviation of the Introduction to Astrology
and
al-Qabisi’s Introduction to Astrology.
It also includes numerous passages from Abu Ma’shar’s Great Introduction

(never before published in English)
and other medieval astrologers
on interpretating traditional concepts. (425 pages)
https://www.bendykes.com/product/introductions-to-traditional-astrology-abu-mashar-al-qabisi/

Click here for a PDF excerpt.
 

Oddity

Well-known member
Not modern English, but for clarity it's hard to beat Sahl's Introduction to the Science of the Judgments of the Stars, a good preview of which you can find here: https://books.google.com/books?id=i9g-_JFVNJcC&pg=PA3&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false

See what you think. Ibn Ezra is another one who was a very clear writer.

It's the Holden translation, which is superior to the Ben Dykes one, though Ben's book has a very good scholarly introduction. Ben also has some excellent audio workshops on traditional astrology on his site, and the beginner ones aren't very expensive.
 

Senecar

Well-known member
If you prefer modern English styled book for Traditional Astrology, then would recommend,

Hellenistic Astrology by Brennan.

The title is Hellenistic Astrology, but it covers History of Traditional Astrology from the ancient times to Greek & Rome Imperial times in Astrology, and then the 2nd part of the book is fine detailed explanation of the Traditional Astrology itself in techniques and practicals.

A Good value for money book and excellent reference.
 

Senecar

Well-known member
And please don't forget,

Introduction to Traditional Natal Astrology by Charles Obert

It doesn't cover Horary, but still is a great beginners' book for Traditional Astrology.
 

Whoam1

Well-known member
And please don't forget,

Introduction to Traditional Natal Astrology by Charles Obert

It doesn't cover Horary, but still is a great beginners' book for Traditional Astrology.

It's ok not to learn horary, there are other forms of divination that are more accurate than any form of astrology. Even in Harry potter astrology was used as divination by the centars and even with years of practice it was still unreliable for them.
 

Chrysalis

Well-known member
It's ok not to learn horary, there are other forms of divination that are more accurate than any form of astrology. Even in Harry potter astrology was used as divination by the centars and even with years of practice it was still unreliable for them.

We don't live in harry potter land, we love in the real world, and in the real world horary is very accurate if delineated correctly.
 

Whoam1

Well-known member
We don't live in harry potter land, we love in the real world, and in the real world horary is very accurate if delineated correctly.
Astrology is a practice, the universe is ever shifting, a question one minute has an answer completely diffrent in the next minute as the sky is always shifting. I've seen horary fail time and time again.
 

Chrysalis

Well-known member
Astrology is a practice, the universe is ever shifting, a question one minute has an answer completely diffrent in the next minute as the sky is always shifting. I've seen horary fail time and time again.

And that exactly why in horary you look at how the planets are moving....we all know planets move, just looking at the snapshot of the horary charts planets at the given time, is not a proper analysis.

Horary only fails if you've interpreted it wrong, simple.
 

Whoam1

Well-known member
Spoken like someone who doesn't know the first thing about horary

Sorry for in part derailing this thread. You are right ct, I watch other people do horary on this site, like you and chrys, and look at your predictions vs the final results. My main point is hoary is on the hour, every hour that passes from when you ask the original question, matters in the overall prediction.
 

conspiracy theorist

Well-known member
Sorry for in part derailing this thread. You are right ct, I watch other people do horary on this site, like you and chrys, and look at your predictions vs the final results. My main point is hoary is on the hour, every hour that passes from when you ask the original question, matters in the overall prediction.


I find it in bad form that you're actively trying to discourage persons from pursuing a line of inquiry that you personally find distasteful. No matter how pointed you've been treated on the forum, you've been given the free range to explore your ideas, and you've been encouraged and listened to along the way. Nobody told you to stop looking at the things you were looking at. So I don't see why you'd think it's your place to take away that choice away from another person.



On the point of horary, that's the case with any form of divination. Imagine you are looking out at a landscape and you can see the beginning signs of an avalanche, you turn your gaze down the mountain and you see a herd of yaks that are going to get buried alive by said avalanche. It's the same with divination where you are able to perceive the facts of a situation and the cause and effect of the components involved, as it doesn't "make" anything happen, but stretches your perception so that it allows you to "see" things beyond the normal capacity of the 5 senses. And just as how people's vision can fail, so too can a reader fail in their ability to see the facts of the situation.


The proper operation of the oracle is dependent on the skill of the diviner. If you see failure, it can easily be attributed to the lack of skill of the operator.
 
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waybread

Well-known member
After reading Avelar Ribeiro, if someone want to get further, what do you also recommend?

You might try books by Joseph Crane. Since a lot of traditional astrology deals with horary, you might try John Frawley. I don't care for his nasty attitude towards modern astrology, but he does have a sense of humour.

Beyond the introductory texts, a lot of students of traditional astrologers get into the original sources. This might be something like Vettius Valens Anthologies or Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos for the Hellenistic period. Tetrabiblos is available as a book, from the Loeb Classical Library series. Some of Valens is available in translation in book form but the entire work is available on-line as a pdf file, translated by classics Professor Emeritus Mark Riley. You can download and print it. For help with Hellenistic Astrology, I'd suggest Chris Brennan's book, Hellenistic Astrology.

William Lilly's Christian Astrology from the 17th century CE is still considered authoritative for horary astrology. You can download and print it from http://www.astrologiahumana.com/CA-I copy.pdf or http://www.skyscript.co.uk/CA.html .

Hopefully others can recommend additional sources.
 

Whoam1

Well-known member
I find it in bad form that you're actively trying to discourage persons from pursuing a line of inquiry that you personally find distasteful. No matter how pointed you've been treated on the forum, you've been given the free range to explore your ideas, and you've been encouraged and listened to along the way. Nobody told you to stop looking at the things you were looking at. So I don't see why you'd think it's your place to take away that choice away from another person.



On the point of horary, that's the case with any form of divination. Imagine you are looking out at a landscape and you can see the beginning signs of an avalanche, you turn your gaze down the mountain and you see a herd of yaks that are going to get buried alive by said avalanche. It's the same with divination where you are able to perceive the facts of a situation and the cause and effect of the components involved, as it doesn't "make" anything happen, but stretches your perception so that it allows you to "see" things beyond the normal capacity of the 5 senses. And just as how people's vision can fail, so too can a reader fail in their ability to see the facts of the situation.


The proper operation of the oracle is dependent on the skill of the diviner. If you see failure, it can easily be attributed to the lack of skill of the operator.

Yes, except what if it's a rockslide sized avalanche, and the yaks just walk away.
 

Senecar

Well-known member
Due to lack of exact birth date and time information, Horary has been popular and in much demand from medieval times. I wonder what it was like in the ancient times.

Accuracy of Horary readings have been high side, but I still could not locate my missing books using Horary recently = that is the only Horary which didn't give clear answers where the books might be.
 
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