Great Minds in Astrology: Liz Greene

Welcome to a series about the Great Minds in Astrology. These posts will look at the key thinkers and practitioners in the field of astrology, from ancient to contemporary times. Numerous men and women have made significant contributions to astrology. These Great Minds provide a large bibliography of writings worth reading and putting into your own astrology library.

This article will distill a thinker’s essential and many contributions and provide a book list of their key works. As with any thinkers who write extensively, some books stand out more than others, and these will be identified. Some works have practical application and others are theoretical, depending on whether or not you wish to practice astrology or just study it. This article will talk about Liz Greene.

Great Minds in Astrology: Liz Greene

Liz Greene was on born 4 September 1946 and is an American and British citizen. Her father was born in London, and her mother in the United States. She is one of the most prolific writers in astrology and runs the website Astrodienst. Her many books include:

• Liz Greene (1976, 2011, 2021) Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil.
• Liz Greene (1977) Relating: An Astrological Guide to Living with Others on a Small Planet.
• Liz Greene (1981) The Dreamer of the Vine – A Novel About Nostradamus.
• Liz Greene (1983, 1996, 2005) The Outer Planets & Their Cycles: The Astrology of the Collective.
• Liz Greene (1984) The Astrology of Fate.
• Liz Greene (1987) The Puppet Master – A Novel.
• Liz Greene and Stephen Arroyo (1984) The Jupiter/Saturn Conference Lectures. (re-published as New Insights in Modern Astrology, (1991))
• Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas (1987) The Development of the Personality.
• Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas (1988) Dynamics of the Unconscious.
• Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas (1992) The Luminaries.
• Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas (posthum.) (1993) The Inner Planets.
• Liz Greene (1996) The Astrological Neptune and the Quest for Redemption.
• Liz Greene and Juliet Sharman-Burke (2001) The Mythic Tarot.
• Liz Greene (2003) The Dark of the Soul: Psychopathology in the Horoscope.
• Liz Greene (2009) Astrology for Lovers
• Liz Greene (2018) Jung’s Studies in Astrology: Prophecy, Magic, and the Qualities of Time

From her Astro Wiki page:

Greene’s books and seminars have defined to a large extent what is considered modern Psychological Astrology. By connecting astrology and psychology and her extensive knowledge in both areas, she has contributed a great deal to freeing astrology from the image of fortune-telling. This is complemented by her wide knowledge of mythology.

She had become quickly famous with the publication of Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil, in 1976, in which she applied Jungian psychology to revise the image of Saturn as a planet of misfortune, recasting it in a more Jungian image that has continued to be very popular into the 21st century. The book had aroused great interest and is still considered one of the classics of psychological astrology.

In 1983, she founded the ‘Centre for Psychological Astrology’ (CPA) in London together with Howard Sasportas. After Sasportas’ death in 1992, astrologer Charles Harvey took over as co-director, until his death in 2000. A publishing house, the CPA Press, was added in 1996. Greene continues directing both the organization of the CPA and CPA Press. (https://www.astro.com/astrowiki/en/Liz_Greene)

Comprehensive Astrology Library

Her four most prominent books would make excellent additions to your astrology library. As a professional astrologer, I have found each one useful when learning astrology, and as reference material when working on new charts. Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil is a classic that everyone interested in astrology should read; it has been published/republished three times.

Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil (1976, 2011, 2021)

In Hellenistic astrology Saturn was known as the greater malefic (Mars was the lesser malefic), and a point of negative concern. In her seminal work, she pushed against the almost exclusively negative meaning of the point to open it to a much more complex psychological interpretation that evolved the meaning of the point into something more nuanced for a modern audience.

From the back of the book:

Renowned astrologer and Jungian analyst Liz Greene offers a fresh perspective on how to handle the influence of this much-maligned astrological symbol. Saturn, she says, represents a psychic process – one that allows us to utilize the experience of pain for self-discovery and a more fulfilling and complete life.

The Luminaries, The Inner Planets, and The Outer Planets & Their Cycles: The Astrology of the Collective

These three books are worth buying as a set, since she covers the Sun and Moon in The Luminaries; Mercury, Venus, and Mars in The Inner Planets; and Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto in The Outer Planets & Their Cycles: The Astrology of the Collective. The first two books are easy enough to locate and purchase, but the book on the Outer Planets, while republished in 1996 and 2005, is out-of-print, so it may take some effort to track it down.

From the back cover of The Luminaries:

The Sun and Moon symbolize two very basic but different psychological processes that operate in every human being. The lunar light lures us toward fusion with the mother and the safety of the uroboric container. It also teaches us how to relate, to feel compassion, to care for ourselves. The solar light leads us on the hero’s journey into anxiety, danger, and loneliness, and it instructs us in our own divinity.

From the back cover of The Inner Planets:

The inner planets–Mercury, Venus, Mars–are the foundations of what psychology calls the ego, the sense of personal self. In this fourth volume in the Seminars in Psychological Astrology series, Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas discuss the value of the inner planets as they symbolize important aspects of personality.

From the back cover of The Outer Planets:

At a time when “mass psychology” is virtually no better understood than one hundred years ago, in spite of innumerable historical, sociological, and psychological studies of the subject, this book provides convincing evidence that astrology may indeed be the most accurate and useful framework for studying, predicting, and understanding the hidden forces which motivate human beings.

Astrology for Lovers (2009)

This book is Greene’s foray into synastry astrology, where you look at one chart as it relates to another chart and vice versa.

From the back cover of the book:

Astrology for Lovers is a comprehensive guide to synastry – relationship compatibility – rich with physical, sensual, and psychological advice for taking each of the twelve signs of the zodiac as a partner and lover. It guides readers through the distinctive characteristics, mythology, sensual hot-spots, and even shadowy side of each of the Sun signs and gives readers real “insider tips” about themselves as well as potential mates.

If you get these books and enjoy them, then I strongly recommend you get all her books; you will not be disappointed.