Customer Reviews

Astrology: A Cosmic Science

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(3)

 

 

Having gotton the Astrology bug a couple of years ago, I have read a number of astrology books and perused many more.

Isabel Hickey's book serves as the astrolgoy "bible" for me. It's stand-out quality is how well it takes one through the fundamentals of astrology while at the same time revealing deep and spritually profound truths underlying "the cosmic science."

It is really a wonderful book.

I use it so much that my copy is literally taped together at this point to keep it from falling apart. I don't want to use a new copy because I have come to rely on the many notes, annotations and underlining of key passages I've written in the text. I have hundreds of books in my home and can say that for no volume except "Astrology, A Cosmic Science."

I would recommend anyone - the beginner, the advanced, and the just plain curious - to buy this book.

The strength of this book is the deep, rich context surrounding each topic. But for many, that would be its weakness.

I use it as a reference book - when I'm stumped by a chart, I just page through this book looking for new associations to break the logjam in my mind. But in truth, this is a book to read cover-to-cover, pasting in post-it-notes to mark the bits and pieces of unrelated but illuminating wisdom tossed into various discussions.

For example, in one very illuminating section of this book, Hickey discusses each of the signs as it manifests as the Ascendant - then under each sign as the Ascendant, she discusses each of the signs that would be on the other House Cusps if there are no interceptions, or if you use equal-house methods.

She shows you how the rising sign synthesizes with the signs on each of the cusps - to create some of the characteristics of people with that sign rising, and to color the house involved. This explains WHY a particular ascendant tends to produce people who behave a particular way.

The book is worth its price for that section alone -- if you're willing to just sit for a couple of hours and read all the rising signs, one section after the other. The faster you read it, the more sense it makes. The section is laid out very systematically, and that system reveals vistas of astrological truths in and of itself.

However, at random throughout the section, a few sentences, "throw away dialog," and offhand allusions are tossed into other topics to point you to bits of knowledge about how astrology works and what it's actually for. These bits are not taken up anywhere else in the book, not assembled, not set into a larger context, and not indexed. They just leap out at you as if outlined in soul-fire.

For example: In the section devoted to Capricorn Rising, which puts Libra on the 10th, Hickey says, "Venus's sign in Saturn's house is often loving for the sake of expediency. This is not true of the more evolved individual. Students often ask the question, "How can one tell the evolvement of an individual in the chart?" Character is shown by the signs in which the planets are placed. Planets in their sign of exaltation and in the signs they rule are indications of an evolved consciousness. Also the higher-octave planets -- Neptune, Uranus, Pluto, and Jupiter -- in the first, fourth, seventh, or tenth house show that the individual has had much soul experience in other lifetimes".

You see? For that alone, this is worth the cover price, and there are lots and lots of those throughout the whole book.

Maybe these bits of wisdom aren't actually true. But as you go, "Aha!" and pull out a dozen charts of people you know well to check out Hickey's theory, you learn vast amounts more about astrology than you ever would have without investigating that theory.

I came to amazon today looking for links to used copies of Hickey's book and was delighted to find it in print. I had been paging through this book at random the other day and it gave me a flash of inspiration. I used that insight to write two columns for my sf/f review column called ReReadable Books. Hickey had connected several sf novels for me, using the 7th House, the 6 of Swords and how they generate the art of storycraft. I'm a professional sf author, and teach writing online, and I needed to write a handout for the Writing Workshop at the World Science Fiction Convention. Before I leafed through Hickey's book, I had no clue in my mind what I could offer at that Workshop. Then I produced a 14 page essay which will probably be the October and November installments of my column.

So, the strength of this book lies in the context surrounding the facts, a context which assembles random bits of the universe in which you live into a pattern that makes sense. But that context material is so randomly placed - so "stream of consciousness" in the style of Hickey's writing that it's impossible to use this book just to find out, say, the signature of the advanced soul.

You'd never find it if you searched the index or the table of contents. You have to read the entire book. (stock up on post-its).

And if you like this style of astrology (with a karmic and spiritual bent) - you really need Hickey's book on PLUTO as MINERVA, and all about WISDOM. There's a lot in that book I don't agree with - but it surely makes you think.

Live Long and Prosper,
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
...

A deep, thorough astrology text. An interesting tool for budding astrologers as well as anyone interested in human psychology. Some passsages are so beautifully worded as to deserve the term 'poetic' and there are also good poems! (Especially "Saturn"). This differs from some astrology guides in that it doesn't gloss over the personal lackings that particular planetary positions may show in individuals. For instance for 'Venus in Scorpio' it says 'Everything about the love nature needs regeneration and reorientation' and for Saturn in Cancer: 'An ambitious and shrewd person to whom material things are very important.' Perhaps a bit brutal and offensive or do we need these home truths?

When I lived in Boston I would go to hear Isabel Hickey at Boston University; her lectures were such a joy. There are so few great philosophers and metaphysicians today who give themselves in this way. I recommend this particular astrology book to all my students at Santa Fe Community College, where I teach the psychic crafts, and to my psychic and astrological clients. Hickey is almost always right-on with her "psychological astrology" readings. Everyone who is interested in astrology should own this book.

I attended Isabel Hickey's classes at B.U. in the early seventies. This started my astrological journey which continues after 30 years. My first copy of the book fell apart I used it so much. I had to copy all my notes into a brand new book. Hickey's book is not an astrological "cook book". It blends her spiritual and psychological way of looking at a chart. It works for a beginner and for an advanced student. Thirty years (and many books) later, it is still my favorite text. Isabel was a great mentor and healer. Her spirit lives on through this book.

This book is highly recommended.The author makes the reader agree that Astrology is a Cosmic Science.Recommended for all levels of Astrological Knowledge seekers.(beginners, middle, or advanced).After reading many..many books on Astrology,on the topic of Astrology as being a cosmic science,i can say Yes..this is the best i can think of.This is a well-researched and finely written book.(Dr.Parihar,Vedic Medical Astrologer)

This is one of the most comprehensive and informative books on astrology which I have come across yet. There is so much information on everything, from the most basic tenets of astrology, to some of the more advanced concepts. I would recommend it to everyone!

This book is occasionally insightful but mostly petty. It is spiritually oriented on the whole - that is to say the author made an effort to address what the chart says about the individual at a soul level. However, the soul is treated in this book much like a subconscious with which the individual is assumed to have no sense of connection... (ie blanket statements about highly specific unconscious forces acting in depths of person) Positions of planets and aspects are treated in a very black and white, good or bad manner. trines and sextiles are always good, squares and oppositions unfalteringly bad. same with planets exalted or in sign of detriment. No acknowledgement of what is to be gained by the dynamism and often highly creative tension of a square, or of the stagnation/laziness that can grow out of the easy harmony of a trine not used to facilitate other growth. the interpretations are about specific manifestations in the personality or subconscious, not about the energies themselves which operate, making for a very limited interpretation which rarely rings true when the rest of the chart and the evolution of the person are considered.

Ms. Hickey's book is the book to get for the astrological student who thinks like a virgo. If you tend to make thought associations and read a line of text and take off with it into much deeper trains of thought, this is the book for you.
I find myself recommending this book to anyone who wants to get beyond sun signs and actually understand the complexities of astrology.

Quite simply, the best. Though Isabelle is no longer living (at least on the earth plane), this book is like a personal tutor. Certainly, you will customize your interpretations and understandings as you learn more. But if you're like me, this book will always be nearby for a quick 'look-up' (e.g., 'what's the Jupiter-Saturn natal conjucntion energetic and when does the 'second life' begin?'). Or, as a reminder of what a compassionate wise woman has to say about all of this. Pretty tasty stuff. <G>