Customer Reviews

Astrology: Understanding the Birth Chart

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First, I want to say that I love this book. I checked it out from the library a few days ago and could not put it down until I finished it!

However, I do feel the need to warn beginning students of astrology that this book may be overwhelming. This is not a good "first" book. There is so much detailed information here that a complete beginner may feel bogged down. In my opinion it's a book for somebody who already has a basic understanding of signs, planets, houses, and aspects.

One of the things I like most about this book is the author's treatment of the outer planets. He doesn't abandon the ancient rulers of Scorpio, Aquarius, or Pisces in favor of the new rulers, but he doesn't throw out the new rulers either.

The author's explanation of essential dignities and retrograde motion (in relation to astrology) are the best and most meaningful I've seen.

This book is very different than anything I've seen on natal astrology because of it's classical approach. Highly recommended!

Kevin Burk is one of the students of Dr. J. L. Lehman. He holds a Level IV NCGR (National Council for Geocosmic Research) certification in astrological counseling. This book is an introductory book on astrology, which combines both modern and classical methods. Those who want to learn classical astrology, but are reluctant to read the old "Christian Astrology" written by William Lily, would be pleased to find such a nice book.

After explaning basic meanings of planets and signs, the author picks up the "Essential diginities" in the following chapter, where he describes the meaning of Rulership, Exaltation, Triplicity, Term, Face, Detriment, Fall, and Pregrine. Then he interpretes the combination of planets in signs based on the essential dignities. This is one of the most important differences from textbooks of modern astrology.

In the beginning of the chapter that explain aspects, the author writes: "aspects were counted by sign, not by degree" in ancient astrology. But now we have to look at two factors when examining the aspects, that is, the sign relationship and the harmonic relationship. Such a consideration can be important when we interpret the out-of-sign aspects (for example, Mars at Cancer 1' and Moon at PIsces 29'). Another point to consider is whether an aspect is applying, partile, or separating. Partile aspects are the most important, and appling ones are the next most important, while separating are the least important, the author says.

One of the most interesting explanation in the book is about "mutual reception." When the complementary pairs of planets are in mutual reception, such as Sun/Moon and Saturn, Venus and Mars, and Mercury and Jupiter, the effect of mutual reception are said to be conceived like "mutual deception."

Another impressive interpretation is provided for "retrograde." According to the author, direct planets mean "growth," which is straightforward and encompasses lessons that are designed to be learned during the lifetime to integrate and comprehend. Instead, retrograde planets mean "evolution," which is unusual, difficult to comprhend, and encompasses soul lessons that require more than one lifetime to integrate and complete.

Furtheremore, the author provides explanation of the differences in house systems. That is, equal house systems, quadrant systems (campanus, regiomontanus, porphyry, alcabitius), time systems (placidus, koch), and space systems (meridian). Thus, this can be a truly comprehensive introductory book on astrology!

This book is exactly what it promises to be: A comprehensive guide to the classical interpretation of a birth chart. It is a relatively new book (the first edition was published in 2001) by a young writer, and I think it is destined to become a classic.

In a substantial volume of 350 pages, Burk explains in detail all the astrological concepts and phenomena in a birth chart, i.e. elements, signs, planets and their positions, houses, aspects, nodes, retrogrades etc.

It is a wonderful introductory book for beginners and intermediate astrologers, but if you are not serious about astrology, this book is going to be too complicated for you, simply because of the volume and depth of the information there.

What I especially like about this book is that although it has so much information, it is written with such insight and skill that it not in the least reduced to a cookbook of dry information. It goes beyond the surface, explaining the history and the reasons behind the interpretation. It really contributes to your learning and mastering the art of chart interpretation, instead of just applying rules and key words you don't understand.

His language is precise, deep, concise and knowledgeable and has a scientific style, without being too technical.

He really brings astrology to the 21st century. Wonderful work.

Kevin Burk has truly written a great comprehensive view of some classical interpretations of astrology. With a strong surge to return to basic and classical astrology, the timing for this book is hitting a great market. Burke goes into wonderful detail over aspect patterns, which most books do not fully articulate. His clear description over the difference between some modern interpretations and classical is very helpful. I didn't think I could possibly use or need another astrology book. I've been doing it for quite a long while, but I was intrigued and picked it up. I am so glad I did. It truly is one of the better books on astrology. Not so much for the beginner.

This is the best book on astrology I have every read. It helps the begining astrologer to piece together the difficult aspects of a natal chart. He really does such a good job of making the hard things easy. I really was excited reading this book and went through it rather fast. He also gave great advice a long the way with how to learn astrology and how to use it on a daily basis and refers to learning astrology like learning a new languge.

This is basic literature for EVERY astrologer. Even experienced astrologers will find this book most valuable. If you just start to learn astrology, start with this book and STUDY it. In it you will find a most complete overview of classical astrological concepts and techniques. No difficult explanations, but just readable and simple interpretations. Everything is just to the point, not overwhelming. For sure a must have.

this book was a great overview of concepts already familiar to me as well as the introduction of others. kevin burk writes in a familiar and easy to comprehend way, using humour as well as an ongoing analogy, comparing the planets to actors and explaining things this way.

i particularly liked his explanation of receptions, dispositors and explaining the dynamics and mechanics of dispositor trees and how to incorporate them into chart readings, as this was an area that i was unfamiliar with and had yet to find a concise explanation from another author.

he also spends some time discussing the essential dignities and debilities, giving useful analogies to help in comprehending them and how the planets function when dignified or debilitated.

finally, in the end of the book he ties together all the concepts that he has explored by using the previously explained methods in chart interpretations so you can see how it all works together as a whole.

i found this book immensely helpful and full of great information, and presented in a way that was both engaging and easy to understand. prior to this i was reading a lot of arroyo and found burk to be a new and refreshing outlook. his approach to this book was systematic yet not dry at all.

This is a great book for beginners to learn how to understanding the birth charts and astrology. I always refer to this book when interpreting natal charts. In the back of the book, there's a birth chart interpretation worksheet. The worksheet is a helpful guide when interpreting charts- you will know where to begin. If you take your time to study this book, you will be on your way to becoming an astrologer. And if you contact the author via his web site, he will answer any questions you have regarding the book.

When I first read this book it was one of the beginner books that was suggested and I did not appreciate it. I struggled with the idea that certain positions could be better placed than others. It seemed like a put down to everyone that I knew, but after a few years of doing charts I recognize the truth in what the Mr. Burk is writing.
It doesn't matter to me if he uses modern rulers or not; both methods are effective from what I have seen. The strongest point of this book is that it is not silly astrology. He writes in a professional manner that does not embarrass. Although I thought that he preferred certain signs, given his own chart it was understandable, and he doesn't dwell on his trivialities or promote sex roles. It is just astrology. I find that I sometimes reference this book to understand his observation of a position.

This is a great basic astrology book. I particularly like that it doesn't just talk about the planets and signs in your natal chart, but also discusses them as a stand alone entity. This is really helpful when wanting to look at astrology outside of the natal chart.