Customer Reviews

Astrologik

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Before I encountered Antero's book on astrology (the first edition), I had little use for the subject. But he has a way of turning the subject on it's head, taking a more pragmatic and ironic attitude towards astrology as a whole than most authors. As he says, I don't believe in astrology, but I use it because it works. He is not reluctant to take his own view on traditional subjects. It's a view I found very refreshing and useful as a new student of astrology many years back. Especially his suggestion to think of astrology as "a language", and his reframing of the planets as "forces", the signs as "styles", and the houses as "states" of being or experience. These concepts opened my mind to astrology, and allowed me to apply my chart to my life in a practical way.
But, this book is not for everyone. It has a certain "punk" spirit, ironic and irreverent, sometimes gratuitously so. His writing style can be challenging, he tends to give clues rather than definitions. He definitely seems to regard astrology as more art than science. If you like straightforward, sober books that take a technical approach to astrology; or smiley happy self-help style books, this book is not for you. But, if you are a newbie who is put off by a more "believer" oriented approach to astrology, or a more experienced astrologer who wants to shake up your thinking with some delightfully skewed ideas, I highly recommend it.

This book was unlike any other astrology book that I had ever encountered. It's more of a series of interactions that people have/can have when blessed with a certain state of astrological being. Antero helps the reader delve more deeply into understanding their own latent potential that can be accessed through planet points in their chart. Something that I really liked in this book, was the coffee bean theory, it was very creative.

I admit I do not know much about astrology, but after reading this book I certainly have a much better appreciation of its nuances. Even Alli says he doesn't 'know if [he] believes in astrology yet it works', further stating that 'it seems to work better for some people than for others?' (pg 6). Astrologik is a step in the right direction

Alli describes astrology as 'a human language articulating the psyche's interactions with living forces of nature' (pg 7). He guides the reader through one's chart and helps to decode its meaning in a way that actually seems to makes sense, with updated language to fit our current model of consensus reality. Of the terms he replaces he says 'I don't assume these changes will change astrology, certainly not in any significant or relevant way. I use them for their effectiveness in interpreting astrology charts with more imagination and an eye to the liberation of others to make their own choices and govern themselves' (pg 11). With this approach, he encourages the reader to think 'in terms of "tendencies", rather than answers and absolutes', explaining that this allows us to 'nurture imagination, creative thinking and speculation; valuable tools when tracking the unpredictable forces and chaotic tendencies of our real lives' (pg 8).

Alli speaks clearly and candidly about astrology in a way that's refreshingly open. I've found many other astrology books to be either overly daunting or ridiculously silly, yet Astrologik is written in a clear, concise style that will lead to tangible results. It makes an excellent primer, highly recommended as an introductory book, or those interested in a fresh take on astrology.

Disclaimer: I'm no fan of astrology. However, in an effort to know what I'm talking about, I've learned quite a bit about it. Enough to know that this is by far the most interesting and original work on basic chart interpretation I've encountered. But that's Antero Alli for you, his work is so fresh and creative that I'd say he blows the other writers in his genre out of the water, except I can't really decide what genre to put him in. I highly recommend all his other stuff.

Nonetheless, in this book, his dogmatic statement that astrology just "IS" a language and therefore has validity doesn't wash with me. Maybe Alli would better serve himself and his readers by making a case for that assertion, instead of simply repeating it over and over and hoping they'll believe him. Start with what linguists believe constitutes a language and then apply those criteria to astrology. Except he won't, because astrology would fail to meet the criteria, and then the justification for his other scintillating ideas about the field would be less vital. He would no longer have a leg to write on.

Another primary flaw in hsi reasoning comes from the inconsistency between his statement that astrology is NOT a science, and therefore not subject to normal verification processes of science, and yet he uses it to make predictions. Ok, fine, it's not a science, it's just a discipline that yields descriptions of probable future outcomes based on past, present and future cosmic influences according to a set of rules and laws about how chart phenomena correlate to phenomena in the really real world. Yeah, that's not a science. C'mon Antie, if it makes statements of probability (even if imprecisely posed), shouldn't it stand up to statistical analysis like every other field whether you call it a science or not?

Finally, he calls his system "Oracular", but I never could quite understand exactly what makes it fundamentally different than any other system, enough to justify creating a new category for it. I'd love to believe he's done something new, but I don't quite see what it is, other than set a new standard for creative and original writing in an otherwise boring field.

I think the positive reviewers, as well as Alli himself, have been hoodwinked by his startling and delightful ability to put a creative spin on hackneyed material.

Also, I don't think astrology is useless, but Alli never mentioned any of the ways I believe people can get value from it, their benefits and pitfalls, or how to move beyond them when the time comes. His thinking in this one is really half-baked, which I found disappointing based on my prior opinion of him.