Traditonal Astrology Book Headscratcher!

Hi!

Recently I've been trying to learn traditonal methods as they seem more reliable and practical than modern methods. I would like to get a good book on traditional astrology, but I want something that is comprehensive (covering natal, mundane, horary, AND electional) and that's beyond introductory. I ended up with a few possible options

1. Buying each Ben Dykes translations of Bonatti, individually for my Kindle which is about $70 altogether.

2. Buying the Works of Sahl and Mashallah (also translated by Dykes) for only around $20.

At first glance, this seems fairly simple, go with Sahl and Mashallah! But Bonatti seems to have an all encompassing, detail oriented eye...it seems like he covered EVERYTHING in his book. So I'm unsure if I should just grit my teeth and pay the $70 for all of Bonatti or if I could learn all I needed by buying Sahl and Mashallah for $20. I'm also unsure if there are other books or resources out there that would be better, or just as good as, BOTH of these.

Basically I'm trying to learn as much about each branch of traditonal astrology as possible without spending a buttload of money.

What do you guys think?

sworm09@yahoo.com said:

Hi!

Recently I've been trying to learn traditonal methods as they seem more reliable and practical than modern methods. I would like to get a good book on traditional astrology, but I want something that is comprehensive (covering natal, mundane, horary, AND electional) and that's beyond introductory. I ended up with a few possible options

1. Buying each Ben Dykes translations of Bonatti, individually for my Kindle which is about $70 altogether.

2. Buying the Works of Sahl and Mashallah (also translated by Dykes) for only around $20.

At first glance, this seems fairly simple, go with Sahl and Mashallah! But Bonatti seems to have an all encompassing, detail oriented eye...it seems like he covered EVERYTHING in his book. So I'm unsure if I should just grit my teeth and pay the $70 for all of Bonatti or if I could learn all I needed by buying Sahl and Mashallah for $20. I'm also unsure if there are other books or resources out there that would be better, or just as good as, BOTH of these.

Basically I'm trying to learn as much about each branch of traditonal astrology as possible without spending a buttload of money.

What do you guys think?

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LINK TO FREE TRADITIONAL AND ANCIENT TEXTS ONLINE http://www.skyscript.co.uk/texts.html

In addition to the links for texts available online, I would suggest starting with Dykes Introductions to Traditional Astrology. Believe me, it is not introductory. It took me over a year of learning the concepts before I could begin to grasp IA. Translations are good (and I'm making my way through Persian Nativities now) but they are very difficult to understand if you aren't well grounded in the concepts first, due in large part to the writing style of astrologers who lived a thousand years ago. Also, with IA Dykes gives comments on what the concepts mean. In the translations he does not.

I'll go along with what tsmall says, above, regarding the Ben Dykes book (although another good one for introduction is "On the Heavenly Spheres") Now, of course I am by no means a traditionalist-but in my eclecticism I have found MUCH of value within the traditional Western approach (as I have also from Hellenist and Vedic astrology)

dr. farr said:

I'll go along with what tsmall says, above, regarding the Ben Dykes book (although another good one for introduction is "On the Heavenly Spheres") Now, of course I am by no means a traditionalist-but in my eclecticism I have found MUCH of value within the traditional Western approach (as I have also from Hellenist and Vedic astrology)

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Ahh, dr. farr! Not to get too far off the subject at hand, but I would like to let you know that I'm a big fan of your eclectic style. I've been reading many of your posts, and I'm fascinated by your integration of so many different techniques. Which would you recommend more? On the Heavenly Spheres or Ben Dykes' ITA? Your style of astrology is something like what I'm aiming for.

I'd go with Ben Dykes-like me (and Robert Hand) he uses the oldtime whole sign house format, whereas the authors of "Heavenly Spheres" use a quadrant house system (as do almost all our contemporary Traditionalists-usually Regiomontanus, sometimes Placidus, although a few use the Alchabitius format followed by the Islamic transitional era practitioners, through the time of Guido Bonatti)-still, I'll always "go" for my co-"whole signers" first!

Best wishes in your studies!

nice informstion. thank you for this.