Book Review: Astrology Really Works! by The Magi Society

The number of books available in and out of print on astrology is mind-boggling and continuing to grow.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of “static noise” in the overall stream of information, which can make finding the best books on the subject a daunting task.  This monthly book review will focus on the best books for beginners, serious students, and professionals.

Choosing the Book

For this review process, I am looking at three main factors: the knowledge and wisdom of the author, the readability and delivery of the knowledge, and the usefulness of the book.  The book this month has material for the beginner, the serious student, and the professional.

The Book This Month – Astrology Really Works! by the Magi Society

The ISBN 13 number for this book is 978-156170346 and it is currently out-of-print.  You can find used copies on Amazon starting at $18.81 USD at the time this article was written.  If you want a new copy, you can find a copy on Alibris for $147.58 USD!

Published in 1995, this book “advances astrology into the 21^st century! Five thousand years after the rudiments of astrology were formulated, The Magi Society finally proves that astrology really works! The Society presents irrefutable proof – through the use of DECLINATIONS and SUPER ASPECTS – that the reason certain companies and individuals are so hugely successful is not chance … but due to planetary alignments” (back cover).  Bold claims indeed!

The book is well-edited, with a useful table of contents at the beginning of the book and a glossary at the end; however, there is no index. Since the work promotes original concepts, there are no endnotes or footnotes or bibliography.  Quite a lot of the content includes numerous charts of powerful and famous figures with a focus on the super aspects that show up consistently in these people’s charts.

• Book Review: Astrology and the Authentic Self by Demetra George

The book contains sixteen chapters, an Afterword, About the Magi Society, and the glossary.  The book begins with: Introduction – Astrology Is Finally Provable, followed by Symbolism – The Key To Astrology, then How We Will Prove Astrology, Declinations – An Indispensable Dimension of Astrology, the Astrology of Fame and Fortune, Astrology Works on Stocks and Bonds, Transits and Progressions – the Tools of Prediction, and Correcting Old Astrology and Learning Magi Astrology, rounding out the first eight chapters.

The remaining chapters include: Super Charts, Astrology Works on Great Athletes, Astrology Rises! Evolution Falls!, Astrology is an Ally of Religion, Electional Astrology Works, Applying Astrology to Love and Marriage, Using Electional Astrology in Financial Matters, and Additional Points of Interest. Each chapter is well written, with very convincing examples, and plenty of them.

Recommendation

This book certainly makes bold claims and does excellent work supporting those claims.  This book is particularly significant for me professionally since I did not use declinations when casting charts when I started my practice but did start using them after reading chapter 4.  I now cast a declination chart with every first time reading I do for clients.

• Book Review: The Sabian Symbols in Astrology by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones

Focus on Chapter 4 – Declinations

As the Magi Society writers point out, the standard birth chart “flattens out” the three-dimensional aspect of the solar system and presents all points on the same plane.  In reality, certain points are far away from or near the solar ecliptic (the plane of our solar system, much like the equator of our planet) at the time of our birth.

Points that are the farthest away represent our highest values.  Generally, points begin to turn back to the ecliptic when they reach 23 degrees, but at certain times, points can go beyond 23 degrees to almost 30 degrees.  Points past 23 degrees are considered “out-of-bounds”, further increasing their significance.

In my case, the point furthest from the ecliptic is Pluto, at 17 degrees 59 minutes North; my next furthest point is Neptune at 17 degrees 31 minutes South.  As it turns out Pluto “doubles down” in my chart.  Since my Ascendant is Scorpio, Pluto is my chart ruler.  It is also my most significant point by declination.  Neptune is equally profound since it happens to be conjunct my Ascendant as well as being the 2^nd most significant point by declination.

Not surprisingly, with Pluto in Virgo in my 11^th House of Community and Neptune in Scorpio rising above my Ascendant, I function as a practical change agent in my community as a spiritual adviser.  Before I started my full-time spiritual work and business, I earned my doctorate in English and taught at the university level, satisfying my Pluto in Virgo in the 11^th House, but not my Neptune conjunct my Ascendant.

• Book Review: Planets in Transit: Life Cycles for Living by Robert Hand

Focus on Chapter 14 – Love and Marriage

Much of the book gives particular emphasis to the role of Jupiter, especially in relation to other points by close aspect, in one way or another (conjunction, trine, square, or opposition) as a crucial key to power, success, and luck.  In the subsection – The Astrology of Wedding Dates – the writers look at eleven famous weddings, pointing out that the three that survived and persisted were the ones that “had a Jupiter enhancement of the Sun” (p 261).

Further down on the page they emphatically state, “What we have learned from this is to never let the schedule of the wedding caterer or the availability of a church interfere with your choice of an astrologically favorable wedding date. Make certain that your wedding date has a strong enhancement of Jupiter and the Sun”.

I rather appreciate that the writers do not mince words.  One of the three successful, and still going, marriages are the Clintons.  Instead of just considering the standard chart aspects, declination degrees can be parallel or contra-parallel, which turn out to be the case for the Sun and Jupiter and Jupiter and Venus on Clinton’s wedding day.

Knowing the Reviewer

I have an academic background; my PhD is in English (1996) and my concentration was rhetoric and composition.  Astrologically speaking, I am an Aries Sun with Mercury, my point of communication, also in Aries.  These two facts about my background and astrological identity are the two main “lenses” for how I pick and interpret books.  I want them to be well-written, researched, and presented (my academic lens), and I want them to be useful, direct, and pithy (my Aries Mercury lens).