As someone who has been interested in understanding various concepts in astrology, I have often been displeased with the amount of information overload that is all too often given in typical "cookbook"-type astrology books. Many astrology books provide lengthy lists of descriptions that explain the meaning of when particular planets appear in specific signs or houses in an individual's birthchart, as well as some information about aspects between planets. Unfortunately, too many of these "cookbook"-type astrology books don't provide sufficient (or any) explanations as to how to synthesize the information from the numerous lists into a concise and unconfused birthchart interpretation, or how to recognize which features in a birthchart are more important than others.
Thankfully, this is not the case with Steven Forrest's 1988 book "The Inner Sky: How To Make Wiser Choices for a More Fulfilling Life". In his book, Mr. Forrest provides an elegant set of guidelines that enable novice students of astrology to grasp what the most important features in a birthchart are so that a concise synthesis of the lengthy amount of information contained within it can be effectively navigated and understood without falling prey to information overload. (In my opinion, information overload is probably the single largest impasse that most students of astrology face when attempting to interpret a birthchart.) Mr. Forrest advises that to begin a birthchart interpretation, an individual should only focus initially on three key features: the sun, moon and the ascendant; which is what he refers to as the "primal triad". By using the archetypes of the signs in which the sun, moon and ascendant occur, a basic understanding as a starting point for developing a more comprehensive interpretation of a birthchart can be more easily remembered as more features of the birthchart are slowly and methodically taken into consideration. This includes something that no "cookbook"-type astrology book that I had previously read effectively addresses: how to understand a planet's position in a sign and house taken together. The next step that Mr. Forrest suggests is to then consider whether the birthchart in question has any hemispheric emphasis by observing how many planets are contained within each birthchart hemisphere. Then, one of the most beneficial descriptions (in my opinion) that Mr. Forrest describes in the book comes into play: identifying the focalizers. Focalizers are those planets within a birthchart other than the sun and moon that should be given greater emphasis (or priority) in interpretation. No "cookbook"-type astrology book that I had previously read had ever provided a clear way to identity which planets in a birthchart should be regarded as the most important. This alone makes "The Inner Sky" stand out as an extremely useful resource. Other guidelines that Mr. Forrest suggests should follow understanding the primal triad, the hemispheres and the focalizers include understanding the moon's nodes and looking for common themes among everything that has been studied thus far. Mr. Forrest also addresses how to resolve seemingly irresolvable conflicting bits within a birthchart because his approach to interpreting a birthchart involves psychology, not fortune telling; and is commonly referred to as evolutionary astrology.
Before Mr. Forrest discusses the interpretive techniques that I listed above, he begins "The Inner Sky" with some basics in his first part of the book that he names "The Territory", which contains three chapters. The second part, named "Words", contains four chapters where he gives vivid and extremely useful understandings of the individual signs, planets and houses. The third and final part, named "Sentences", contains five chapters and is where Mr. Forrest explains the guidelines as I mentioned in the previous paragraph and then proceeds to give a well-written interpretation example.
Consequently, with its 12 chapters, four appendices, comprehensive glossary, index and wonderful writing, I rate Steven Forrest's book "The Inner Sky: How To Make Wiser Choices for a More Fulfilling Life" with a resounding 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it to anyone interested in understanding a methodological approach to interpreting astrological birthcharts. In my opinion, this is probably the best book to read first to begin a study of astrology.
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Printed pages of the birth charts is too light
I am happy with the content of the book, the rating is for the content. However, I wanted to let others know that there may be a problem in the printing of this version. There was a printing problem in this publishment of the book I received - all the birth charts are printed too light, and the images are missing key elements that are mentioned in the text. The Sample birth chart of the Englishman, and ALL charts in he appendix, are so light that the house separation lines and degree numbers are missing and not detectable.I contacted Amazon and they are shipping a new book, but it's the same printed publishment, so the charts may also be too light. I will receive the book in two days, and find out. I will update this review at that time.UPDATE:Received the book yesterday and the print is the same for all the birth charts. There are some websites that produce birth charts for free, and all the data to make each one is available in the text. So I have made my own charts - but it would be more convenient if the birth charts in the book were printed dark enough to be useful.I didn't see another choice for publishers of this text on Amazon, so I don't know what I can do about it at this time.
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2005
- Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2019
The Inner Sky by Steven Forrest is one of the top five books I recommend to all my beginning astrology students. As a practicing evolutionary astrologer and always looking for great books to recommend to my students this one is on top of the list. It is simple, well-written and Steven uses both modern and traditional rulerships for the planets and I think that is imperative for any beginner student who takes a path into other disciplines such as horary and traditional astrology later. The bolding and layout are easy to read and helps in recall of the material. In evolutionary and psychological astrology it is nice to have the shadow view of each sign as he's written within each zodiacal sign. All the foundations of evolutionary astrology are packed into this book with a glossary and index at the end for finding what you need within the book. Astrology is a language of symbols and this book begins the journey with descriptive and meaningful context and examples to start learning. Overall this book is excellent and I highly recommend it.
Top book I recommend for astrology beginners
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2019
Images in this review
- Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2018
- Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2021
Top reviews from other countries
- N. UsovaReviewed in Canada on April 11, 2024
What a Truly One of a Kind Amazing Book! Author is Clearly There for the Reader!
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- Neil MartinReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2024
An Awesome Introduction to Astrology
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