Customer Reviews

Asteroid Goddesses: The Mythology, Psychology, and Astrology of the Re-Emerging Feminine

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

How this book ever got out of print for a minute I do not know. All students of astrology need Demetra in their bookshelf and on their desk. An understanding of the asteroid goddesses is a way to add an entire new dimension to understanding the natal and other charts. Demetra understands the ladies in myth, history, and in the psyche, and she details, amazingly well, their meaning in the chart.

5 stars except that I wish the other asteroids were included ... The four main goddesses are here and understanding them is enough of a project for awhile ... but I wish we'd gotten the entire sisterhood ... probably they are around here somewhere ...

The great thing Demetra has done is add the presence of feminine values and concerns to the horoscope. Supporting the Moon, the asteroid goddesses have as their interest, relationship, hearth, romance, adventure, protection, nurture. No natal chart should be without them.

I REALLY liked this book EXCEPT for the fact that the information on the minor asteroids was disappointingly skimpy. The author provided an excellent amount of information about the major asteroids, and so it was surprising to see how little information was given on the minor asteroids. If the author did not have enough information yet about the minor asteroids, I would rather she had left out the "junk" and had a thinner (and less expensive) volume. By "junk", I'm referring to the pages and pages of celebrities' asteroid placements. The endless lists about celebrities added nothing to the reader's enlightenment on the subject, and I don't share our culture's fascination with celebrities. If the filler was the publisher's decision - perhaps to leave the opportunity for another book (sale), then I am very disappointed in that publisher. Publishers of astrology books usually give fair value for the price of their books. Had I seen the book (in a book store), I would have been conflicted about buying it. The topic is new and fascinating, but there is just too much filler. As it now stands, the book is really worth about $13 or $14 at most. If the author were to remove the filler and add the same quality of information about the minor asteroids as she has for the major asteroids, the book would be worth the current price.

The asteroids in a chart help to flavor enhance what you're looking at. This is one of the best, fleshed out reference guides to the asteroids. The mythological stories behind the goddesses is crucial to understanding the meaning assigned to the individual asteroids. Further, it sets up archtypal understanding which is great when working through the issues outlined by a chart. If you are a beginning student, put this on your list but skip it until you can put into perspective the influence of asteroids vs. planetary influence. Intermediate and up... don't cheat yourself. Get the book!

If you're interested in asteroids and astrology, this book is a must-have. There are extended discussions of the four "major" asteroids, as well as briefer looks at some of the "minor" ones. There's also an extremely useful ephemeris of 16 asteroids, allowing readers to make this still-evolving field a part of their own practice of astrology. For George, the asteroids are a key part of a feminist astrology that incorporates a great many insights from Greek and Roman mythology. While the mythic dimension was often valuable, I sometimes felt that the asteroids had trouble standing on their own as symbols--ideally, the asteroid Ceres should be as independent of the goddess Ceres as the planet Neptune is from the god. One problem in any discussion of asteroids is that there are so many of them; it's not really clear why the 12 "minor" asteroids she includes are singled out. (The four "major" asteroids are the first four to be discovered.) She organizes the minors into male-female pairs, which is problematic; since the first asteroids were overwhelmingly named for female figures, the male asteroids tend to be rather small and obscure pieces of rock. Quibbles aside, this book is an important contribution to astrological literature and a useful addition to an astrologer's library.

Although I am all too aware that there is no scientific basis for astrology, I have always regarded the subject as the best amusement one can find for any price. It is only relatively recently that I have spent much time on the subject, though, and seeing - by sheer accident - asteroids being used interested me enough to want to read more.

I first picked up a quite simple yet very detailed asteroid ephemeris but it gave little detail as to the interpretations required to make people understand asteroids and why certain astrologers use them.

"Asteroid Goddesses" does an extremely valuable if less-than-perfect job of interpreting the fist four asteroids discovered - Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta. There are good interpretations for each sign that are unfortunately not available in any other astrology book, though they actually might be even more detailed. There is also useful, if often much too abstract, information on other lesser asteroids and some basic though enlightening information about the astronomical characteristics of the asteroids.

There are a number of problems, though, that make recommending "Asteroid Goddesses" less easy. The worst is the tendency of the author to follow rather slavishly belief in matriarchal prehistory from the likes of Elizabeth Gould Davis and Marija Gimbutas. George states this belief quite repeatedly and it effects the whole book. It would have been better if she had offered a less biased account of Roman and Greek mythology. She also focuses too much and too broadly on questions of "rulership", though her comments are quite enlightening, especially about Vesta.

On the whole, I feel I am overrating "Asteroid Goddesses" a little because of the lack of competition. If you are interested in astrology, it is worth reading, but do take care about believing every word.

Now in a newly published and expanded edition with updated ephemerides of 16 asteroids 1930-2050, Asteroid Goddesses by Demetra George and Douglas Bloch is an impressive astrology guide emphasizing the mythology and psychology intertwined with heavenly bodies and the practice of interpreting their prophecy and guidelines. An extremely lengthy and data-filled appendix of ephemerides enhances this technical and in-depth dissection. Asteroid Goddesses is a welcome and much appreciated contribution to the Astrology and Metaphysical Studies reference shelf.

I loved this book. I am someone who believes the asteroids have a fine tuning significance on the overall chart, and this book does a splendid job of explaining the archetypes behind them. I think the brevity of the minor asteroids goes along with the significance you should place on a chart. Psyche is not going to be as profound as Saturn for most people, Demetra George did a great job covering the material in a clear, concise way. Hopefully, she will write more good stuff for us to read and learn from.

Demetra George's contribution to the field of Astrology is monumental, to say the very least. This material came along at a time when women were actively seeking new roles in society and thus it is evidence of the divine inspiration reflected in the ancient Hermetic maxim: "As above, so below; As without, so within." This is absolutely a seminal work of gigantic implications.

This material forces the modern astrologer to grapple with complex socio-political questions. If Astrology is truly a symbolic language to describe and give meaning to our Lives, should not the stories we populate with this language reflect the populations we see in our everyday lives? The facts are that the 10 planet modern astrology which became the norm in the last century has a 4:1 bias toward male figures!

After the discovery of Uranus in the Age of Enlightenment -and the subsequent pronouncement that all MEN are created equal -we had the discovery of Ceres and the other Goddesses. Ever since then, we have been collectively struggling to re-integrate the splintered Feminine via women's rights and minority rights. It has been a long slow slog, however.

Believe it or not, it wasn't until the 1970's that anyone came up with the idea that men and women could actually have qualities of the opposite gender (and still be OK). In the mid-1970's Sandra Bem revolutionized psychology with a new personality theory. Instead of masculinity and femininity traits being seen in the traditional light as dichotomous endpoints of a single continuum, Bem proposed they be seen independently and that individuals may possess varying degrees of each trait regardless of biological sex.

Interestingly, it was in this same decade that modern astrologers began compiling ephemeredes of the asteroid Goddesses. By the 1980's Demetra George's seminal work Asteroid Goddesses made possible in astrology the movement toward balance which psychology was struggling to embrace. If you include these 4 exiled Olympian Goddesses in the Horoscope, then you now have a 15 planet astrology (10 planets plus Chiron and the Goddesses) with somewhat more equal numbers of guys and gals (9 to 6). In other words, you have a modern astrology which reflects the reality of modern life since at least the 70's. Women have begun to achieve significantly more power and visibility, but are still clearly biased against via such factors as the glass ceiling.

I can tell you as a professional astrologer that working with this material has absolutely been one of the most transformative and liberative processes I have experienced. I offer much thanksgiving to the Goddess for manifesting through Demetra and honor the many doors that she opened with this work.

This book is an important addition to anyones library in regards to astrology. The author has researched her material very well and is a major contributor to the new knowledge astrologers need covering this area.

This book is amazing. It is easy to read and very helpful in understanding the role of the goddesses. It also does an outstanding job relating the goddesses with astrology.