Book Review: Astrology, A Cosmic Science

I've been studying astrology for a couple of months, and I've looked through a few books on the subject. My favorite so far is Astrology: A Cosmic Science by Isabel Hickey. What makes this book different is its approach to astrology. Your chart does not so much describe your inherent nature as much as lay out a blueprint for your future evolution. Positive aspects and planetary placements are seen as things that come easy, or potentials to develop; negative aspects and placements are seen as lessons that must be learned.

An interesting idea in the book, which I've seen in a couple of other places, is that you don't get the characteristics of your sun sign by default. That is because most people are driven by their emotions, which are governed by the moon sign. The sun sign actually reflects your true inner nature, and it must be brought out. The ascendant determines how you appear to others. All twelve Zodiac signs have an influence on each of us because they appear in at least one of the twelve houses. Just to give you an example of the book's approach, here's how the Scorpio ascendant is described:

The hardest Ascendant of all. Battlefield where the soul and personality must come to mortal combat. They must come into alignment and the personality must die...No unevolved soul is born with a Scorpio Ascendant. The razor-edged path that can only be tread when there is strength and power enough to do so...

So the theme of this book suggests a good approach to astrology: use the chart to show what lessons have to be learned in this lifetime, and leave the fortune-telling to the newspaper crowd.

If you only buy one astrology book, this book would be a good choice.