Disappointing and Unimaginative
Having worked extensively with Liz Greene on the Psychological Astrology series, one might expect Howard Sasportas to have given us an equally compelling study of the transpersonal planets here. Right? Well--No. Sasportas' prose is tedious, uninformative and unimaginative and has what I find to be a strongly materialistic bias. Perhaps its a case of complementarity, with Sasportas playing the dry Freud to Jung's lushness, but there is no mythic imagination or Jungian amplification of symbols here. I finally sold this book, my further searches leading me to far better studies, including R. Tarnas "Prometheus the Awakener" (a superb post-Jungian amplification of Uranus), Liz Greene's own masterpiece, "Astrological Neptune" and her "Outer Planets and Their Cycles" (the latter still excellent after all these years). Jeff Green's work, "Pluto: Evolutionary Journey of the Soul" is also highly regarded. But don't buy this one unless you're looking for a literalist, quasi-Freudian view of psychology with no symbolic interpretations, no amplification and little real psychology.
Brilliant
The BEST book on the transits of the outer planets - by far. Indispensable for any astrologer - beginner to expert.
Particularly useful if used in conjunction with a graphic ephemeris as done by WinStar - the astrology program. You can do a 50 year graph of the outer planet movements seeing all activations of 45 degree aspects at a glance. See what happened in the past to predict pretty accurately what will happen in the future - after all time is just a construct!
Don't miss this one!
I have gone through 4 or five of the Natal Horoscopes of friends and relatives while consulting this book.. of course, centering on utilizing -and checking it's accuracy and usefulness- via my own Natal chart. Personal revelations can be -and are- hard won. Anything that encompassess the Natal Chart concerning the Outer planets can be from original spaces, early trauma, overall unconcious behavior and trends, and deep early learning and leanings. The colors of your life, basically. What and where you come from...and move to. Does your direction and the understanding of that -in depth, aid you or harm you? Unconcious behaviour in overall drive..can only lead to harm within one's self and others..as....there is no one at the wheel.
That is not a good thing. One must mind the steering, otherwise one wanders off course; and it's hard to pull out of the ditch. of course..one must be in the ditch.. before they realize they were not paying attention to who, or what was driving! The planets form the road; the shape direction and lean to it...and it is up to you to pay attention to where things are directed to. Just like the song said:" Keep your eyes on the road, and your hands upon the wheel".
It's too bad the learnings of youth teach one nothing of such behaviour..but then again, how can one learn if they never fall off the road? The more times you fall of the road, and get back on..the more you learn to not to do it again. (I've worked hard {seriously!} at becoming an expert at that) I think I can stop hammering myself now...
Of course, finding such a book helps one find inroads to understanding one's own particular flavour of reptitious self- damage. I explained this once to a friend, I used it as a way of expressing to them, hopefully..a way in which they could begin to see how to deal with finding a way into their own depths. Each case is different:
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" One way to look at some aspects of life is: We all have these glass walls we look out from behind, that restrict and control our movement and direction. We usually cannot see the edges or shape or position of these glass walls we live within -they are too huge and too close to us. They are utterly transparent to the one who is contained by them...we cannot even find the edges! Although... we can see those walls within/upon others, and in that moment of interaction...catch a glimpse of the reflection of our own. Tell me what you see in me..."
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Sometimes I hammer people into anger, and get them to actually open their minds. (last resort!) They get angry and blurt something out... and are then mollified and confused, as I sit there and smile...and thank them for having an opinion or viewpoint...because without it, and moments left unspoken, we would get nowhere in life. I want to give them a big hug when they get angry...there...it finally came out..I'm happy now! The 'Moment Of Change' begins...at last!
The basic patterns of our lives that we keep repeating...(wheels within wheels) and when the next or current crisis may come from. Standing to the side for a moment..and learing to look up and down the road...for once. Seeing those patterns of behaviour erupt and repeat within the lives of loved ones, friends and associates. Witnessing the layers of the activity and motions within their existence. Like John Lennon said: " I'm just sittin' here watching the wheels go round and round..I really love to watch them roll...."
This book allows one to gain egress into the understanding of what the outer planetary motion means in the course of one's life..and in early life Natal Chart considerations. It can, and will create many poignant (eureka!), and quite likely difficult moments within the self, and bring one closer to being clear on where (and when!) they come from, and are going to. 'Suffering is the short road to spirt', they say.
The house positions for each planet, in transit (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) are fully and clearly covered. The Transits formed with all planets from Sun to Pluto are covered for each of the three. The psychology and origins (mythological-base truth) of each of the influences of the three Outer Planets are very neatly and nicely covered in a very complete way. There is little left to be misunderstood, or questioned afterwards. What this means is, that it is well stated by the Author what he feels the situations involving (and surrounding) these planets is -and can be.
There is little for you to be lost in, as for questing for an answer that cannot be found. Relatively speaking, the directions for you to find that place within yourself to find -and deal- with your own crisis, is defly and fully laid out. The book will enable you to find answers..which is what the book is all about..and thus, makes the book worth it's weight in gold. Things become clear enough, that you will be able to transpose that to understanding as to what may be occuring for other people, which many here are interested in doing. Ie, Astrologers; budding or otherwise.
Inluded, is a list of suggested further reading, which contains the names of associated texts to chase after and absorb, which can lead to further understanding in areas where one may be stymied within themselves, or to extrapolate that understanding..once again, in the serivce and care of others.
Definitlely worth buying, and is a "Must Have' for anyone dealing with the subject of Astrology. Hard for a person new to Astrology (like me!) to state such, but I believe that this statement will hold true in anyone's analysis of this text.
Great accessible psychological guide to major transits
The late Howard Sasportas packed a huge amount of high quality astrological and psychological information into this intelligent, clear and accessible book. It has been one of my constant companions over the last 10 years or so, both in my work as a professional astrologer and in following my own transits of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.The first section, "The Collaboration with the Inevitable", is an excellent summary of how astrology can be used as a tool for understanding ongoing personal transformation, helping to turn perceived crises into opportunities. Sasportas then moves on to look in great detail and depth at the transits of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto to each planet in the natal chart. A very large number of case histories are dotted throughout the transit interpretations, with a wide range of examples of how each planetary combination can show up in daily life. These possible events are considered in the context of the psychological development of the individual, Sasportas drawing on his extensive knowledge of many fields of psychology, mythology and spirituality.
Much of the astrological material here is similar to other classic transit books such as those by Robert Hand, Betty Lundsted or Stephen Arroyo (who Sasportas acknowledges), but Sasportas has masterfully integrated a huge number of additional psychological and spiritual insights from many sources. The Gods Of Change is a wise and compassionate conribution to modern astrology.
One of our brilliant humanstic astrologers
I think we were robbed when Howard passed some years ago, he was a brilliant, self aware and humble astrologer who had a message and got it out to those who loved his work. He is sadly missed. This is the best book on transits out there in my opinion as it takes in the whole not just the day to day things that many transit books take into account. The inner workings of transits from the outer planets. I love this book.
