How to Practice Vedic Astrology: A Beginner's Guide to Casting Your Horoscope and Predicting Your Future [Paperback]

Andrew Bloomfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 14, 2003

A comprehensive guide to understanding and practicing Vedic astrology, the art of jyotish.

• Teaches beginners how to read and interpret Vedic astrology charts, based on their own birth chart as well as the birth charts of 112 notable people.

• Shows how to use Vedic astrology to anticipate upcoming events and direct the cosmic energies of one's life toward a positive future outcome.

• Includes CD of Vedic astrology software for readers to create their own charts.

For over 5,000 years the people of India have used jyotish, or Vedic astrology, to anticipate future influences and make major decisions. Now Andrew Bloomfield brings this increasingly popular tool to the West in an easy-to-follow, comprehensive format, providing the reader with everything needed to practice the Indian art of predicting the future.

Vedic astrology was codified by the ancient Maharishis to help people achieve the four basic goals of human existence: kama (desire), artha (wealth), dharma (life purpose), and moksha (spiritual growth). Unlike other forms of astrology, Vedic calculations focus more on the primal, unconscious, driving forces linking our thoughts and actions. How to Practice Vedic Astrology shows how to make accurate predictions on when to expect life's changes concerning one's career, love life, children, or spirituality. The accompanying CD allows the reader to create unlimited numbers of natal charts, while the book includes the charts of 112 notable personalities--from Mother Teresa to Paul Newman--as examples from which to learn chart interpretation. 

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . instead of personality it focuses on such practical life concerns as work, family, and wealth. Recommended for public libraries."
(

Marija Sanderling, Library Journal, August 2003

)

     "If you're thinking of incorporating some Vedic astrology into your repertoire, here's the perfect book to get you started. Andrew Bloomfield explains the basic principles of the Indian system with clarity, common sense, and an absolute minimum of confusing Sanskrit jargon. He shows you how to set up a basic natal chart, then introduces key information you need to know about the Vedic planets and their cycles. Bloomfield helpfully takes you through each house, describing the significance of a planet located there and how that house is affected by the placement of its planetary ruler (the most important factor in Vedic astrology).
    There is also a wealth of information about remedies you can prescribe after problem areas are identified in a chart. You'll find plenty of interesting sample charts - from celebrities like Madonna and Sylvester Stallone to the types of regular folks who might actually come to you for a consultation.
   What I liked best about this book is the author's extremely readable style. Bloomfield has had plenty of experience writing engagingly for a broad audience - he lives in Los Angeles and has written numerous screenplays. I also appreciate his humane and insightful attitude toward interpreting a horoscope.
       Vedic astrology is actually far too broad a field to begin practicing professionally after reading just one book; this is one system where you absolutely must have a teacher. But How to Practice Vedic Astrology gives you just enough information so that you can experiment to see whether Vedic astrology is for you.
      Here's a terrific bonus: The book comes packaged with a CD-ROM, featuring a beginning-level version of Parashara's Light software; this should get you up and running, printing out Vedic charts in a matter of minutes."
(Linda Johnsen , Mountain Astrologer )

"Very insightful and informative.  It explains with lucid simplicity Vedic interpretive methods.  Easily approachable for both the beginning and experienced student."
(Steven Stuckey (Shastra-kara das), professional Vedic astrologer )

"Andrew Bloomfield's insights encompass both the mundane and the spiritual dynamics of our existence.  This remarkable book sheds new light on the astrological realm of past and future while remaining firmly rooted in the ever present and eternal nature of our being."
(Bruce Joel Rubin, screenwriter of Ghost, Jacob's Ladder, My Life, and Deep Impact )

"Mixing ancient wisdom withmodern day practicality, Andrew accurately analyzed each of my relationships and predicted the exact time and circumstance surrounding my marriage! If you're looking for insight into your life directly from a higher source, read this book."
(Mara Goodman-Davies, author of A Year of Romance )

From the Back Cover

ASTROLOGY

“Very insightful and informative. It explains with lucid simplicity Vedic interpretive methods. Easily approachable for both the beginning and experienced student.”
--Steven Stuckey (Shastra-kara das), professional Vedic astrologer

“Andrew Bloomfield’s insights encompass both the mundane and the spiritual dynamics of our existence. This remarkable book sheds new light on the astrological realm of past and future while remaining firmly rooted in the ever present and eternal nature of our being."
--Bruce Joel Rubin, screenwriter of Ghost, Jacob’s Ladder, My Life, and Deep Impact

“Mixing ancient wisdom with modern day practicality, Andrew accurately analyzed each of my relationships and predicted the exact time and circumstance surrounding my marriage! If you’re looking for insight into your life directly from a higher source, read this book.”
--Mara Goodman-Davies, author of A Year of Romance

For over 5,000 years the people of India have used jyotish, or Vedic astrology, to anticipate future influences in their lives and to help them make major decisions. Now Andrew Bloomfield brings this technique to the West in an easy-to-follow format, providing readers with everything they need to get started using the Indian art of predictive astrology.

How to Practice Vedic Astrology shows how to make accurate predictions on when to expect life’s changes concerning one’s career, love life, children, or spirituality. Using the accompanying software CD, readers can generate their own charts as well as an unlimited number of charts for others. The author’s step-by-step instructions then teach beginners how to read and interpret their charts to anticipate upcoming events and direct the cosmic energies of life toward positive future outcomes. The book also includes more than 100 charts of notable personalities--such as Madonna, John Travolta, Serena Williams, and Pope John Paul II--as engaging examples from which readers may learn chart interpretation.

ANDREW BLOOMFIELD is the author of Learning Practical Tibetan and numerous screenplays. A professional Vedic astrologer, he lives in Los Angeles.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Destiny Books; 1st edition (July 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892810858
• ISBN-13: 978-0892810857
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,016,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book, terrible software, December 11, 2004

By 

Jeanne Garner "msreadsalot" (Lexington, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: How to Practice Vedic Astrology: A Beginner's Guide to Casting Your Horoscope and Predicting Your Future (Paperback)

I was pleased with the book, which provided a good entry-level tutorial on Vedic astrology. There is scant discussion of the dasas, but a very thorough description of the planets in the houses that comprised most of the book. Several charts are presented to make the point when needed. If you keep your own chart at hand as you read, you'll see how it all fits--and in truth, Vedic astrology is often more accurate than most Western brands!

But the software is another matter altogether. It is a demo of a pretty expensive package and takes up a lot of space on your hard drive for just doing a few charts. If the reader wants to pay $300, a "key" is provided that enables the rest of its features. Most people picking up this book will not likely need or want the behemoth package: beginners may find it all confusing, and professionals won't need many of the features.

Worse, I'm having difficulty uninstalling it: the demo package on the CD offers no uninstall feature. A better option would have been to ship a smaller version equipped only to do the charts, along with a brochure describing what the package can do.

The book, however, is definitely worth the price, especially for beginners. Buy it, and explore this branch of astrology. If you love it as much as I do, pick up other books on the topic and really look into it.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good very basic book for Beginners, December 30, 2005

By 

Laura De Giorgio "hypnotherapist" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: How to Practice Vedic Astrology: A Beginner's Guide to Casting Your Horoscope and Predicting Your Future (Paperback)

This is one of the most basic books on Vedic Astrology around. It is designed for people who just want to dip their toes into the waters of Vedic Astrology.

Even if you know absolutely nothing about astrology, once you have your vedic chart, all you need to do is find where are your planets (grahas) placed on the chart and read most likely interpretations based on the sign and the house they occupy. That is essentially the scope of this book.

To make the points easier to understand, the author provides numerous examples through the charts of several famous people.
You learn a little bit about aspects between planets and transits mainly through the author's intepretation of these sample charts. However, if you want to be able to get more information out of your own chart, you will have to continue your study through other books and resources.

The book contains a demo version of the Parashara Light program. If you are genuinely interested in learning Vedic astrology, this is an exquisite program. Other than just creating charts, it contains text from numerous classic books on Vedic Astrology and it can be very helpful to a genuine student.

I have not installed the demo version since I had the full version of the program, so I don't know what the drawbacks of the demo version are. However, if you are unable to use the demo version and desire to test the waters of Vedic Astrology by exploring your own chart, if you contact me, I will email you your own chart, so you can have fun and discover if you'd like to continue learning. What I can say - I love to help people who have passion for learning new things.

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ok, January 23, 2010

By 

B. Dawson "landbsmom" (Hagaman, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: How to Practice Vedic Astrology: A Beginner's Guide to Casting Your Horoscope and Predicting Your Future (Paperback)

didn't care for this too much. but if you can understand it, i guess it is good.