Book Review: MythAstrology

My recent discovery that the whole sign house system gives better results has lead me to believe that astrology is more of an art than a science. As such, mythology definitely has a place, and MythAstrology by Raven Kaldera is a good way to start incorporating mythology into your interpretations, or to understand your own chart better.

The book assigns one mythological deity to each combination of the 10 "planets" and 12 Zodiac signs. These deities are from a variety of pantheons, including African and Hindu. Don't worry if some of the names are unfamiliar; when you read the description you should find something to relate to.

As the book says, it's best to start by reading the descriptions corresponding to your planet placements. If you do charts for other people, you can also use the descriptions to help explain things to people who don't know much about astrology.

I plan to start using the descriptions in charts I do for people as soon as I finish reading the book. It's a good book even for beginners, because the myths are archetypes that everyone will be able to related to.

Book Review: Anansi Boys

The main character in Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman is called "Fat Charlie." As you may guess from that nickname, the character is a loser. He has a good job and a fiancee, but the whole thing is kept together with chewing gum and duct tape, and will collapse on contact with the next major disturbance. Like, for example, meeting his long-lost brother. Did I mention that the two brothers were sons of an African god?

Like in any work of fiction worth reading, the main characters undergo major transformations in character during the course of the plot. I'm sure that this is no accident; that's what myth is really about. And Mr. Gaiman obviously knows his myths.

This is a fun book. It didn't leave me feeling as if I'd been taken apart and put back together again the way American Gods did, but maybe that's just because I read the other one first. Your mileage may vary.

Book Review: American Gods

I just finished reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Reading this book reminds me of doing the Walk-a-thon when I was thirteen. I walked twenty miles around downtown Detroit to raise money for something or other. It was a lot of fun, and I feel like I'm a better person for having done it, but I have no intention of doing it again anytime soon. It's not that the book was boring or unpleasant; it's just that almost 600 pages of both the best and the worst qualities of humanity makes for a rather intense experience.

I won't say much about the book because I don't want to spoil it for any of you. The main character's name is Shadow; if you think the name has some kind of Jungian significance, I will totally agree with you. If you read the book, and I hope you will, please remember the word "transformation."

Book Review: Persephone Unveiled

Before the Golden Dawn, before the Rosicrucians, possibly even before the Masons, there was a mystery school in ancient Greece. Since, like most mystery schools, initiates were subject to oaths of secrecy, we do not know what was taught in the school. Persephone Unveiled by Charles Stein investigates the matter. Just to give you an idea of what is involved, I'll give you this quote from the book:

The Eleusinian Mysteries were believed to bestow a privileged afterlife upon those who participated in them. At the climax of the rites performed there, Persephone herself flashed before the celebrants in her form as Queen of the Dead and stimulated an experience so penetrating that the afterlife and death itself were said to hold no further terrors for them.

Powerful stuff, if you ask me. Now, for those of you who don't have Bulfinch's Mythology memorized, I'll give you a brief summary of the story and a hint at an esoteric interpretation: Demeter, the Greek earth goddess, had a daughter named Persephone, who was carried off by Hades to be his wife in the underworld. Demeter was naturally quite pissed and decided to make all the crops stop growing until she got her daughter back. No crops meant no worshipers, so the other gods intervened and a bargain was made. Persephone would spend half of the year on earth with Demeter and half of the year with Hades in the underworld. Now the hint: Demeter could be said to represent the universal soul, and Persephone the individual soul.

The book explores in depth what is known about the mystery school. There is also some speculation about the ceremonies involved. The author conjectures that a psychedelic derived from a naturally occurring fungus may have been involved. An interesting theory, but those of you who have read The Biology of Belief (ISBN and review to be provided later, as soon as I find the damn thing) know that mind-altering drugs are only effective because the molecules fit into receptors in our nerve cells for naturally-produced neurotransmitters that perform the same function. So, given the right setting, the same experience could have been produced without the drugs. So Just Say No!

There is also a chapter about the philosopher Parmenides. You'll like Parmenides, once you get to know him. I have another book about him, which I'll tell you about later. He was not the cold logician he is commonly portrayed as. I think he would have been just as much at home on a mountaintop in Tibet as in his native Italy. Another chapter explores the effects of the work on identity.

I would recommend the book not only for the mythology, but because the rites seem to be a source for the Golden Dawn tradition.

Start Here

The Power of Myth (ISBN 0-385-41886-8) by Joseph Campbell, is of course, an excellent introduction to mythology and why it still matters. It also serves as a very good introduction to comparative religion, as it covers not only the "Big Three" of western civilization (Christianity, Judaism and Islam), but also Eastern and even Native American religious thought. For example, one of the highlights of the book is a delightful story about Indra's castle.

What may not be readily apparent is that the myths not only represent things that may happen in our lives, for example the quest and the coming of age, but also things that could or should happen, like spiritual development and what I will call for expediency's sake "enlightenment."

Even though I reviewed a couple of books before this one, the seeker of wisdom will do well to read this one first.