Customer Reviews

Llewellyn's 2009 Daily Planetary Guide: Complete Astrology At-A-Glance (Annuals - Daily Planetary Guide)

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This is not the hold-your-hand type of daily guide, although it gives plenty of interesting tidbits and facts about the moon, the "stars" and the apparent effect they have on our lives, rather it leaves it very much open to you how you take advantage of the opportunities it identifies. Experiment with undertaking certain activities on particular days, explore, and have fun! I have been using this guide for I believe 3 years now. Apart from the occasional (disappointing) editorial error (which the average, non-astrologically inclined reader might not notice), indispensible. Highly recommended for the serious planetary player.

For the past 10+ years I've had one of these ... and I keep them. Everything in my life goes in as far as appointments, meetings and phone numbers and addresses. When family calls for advice, a quick look at the aspects, and if necessary planetary positions, helps me advise them. So it's also to stay in touch with my children and grandchildren, all of whom live at least two hours away now. It truly is a lifeline for me.

Jeanie: Aquarius

It is a concise manual, with explanations meant for both those versed in astrology and those interested in the meaning of the sky charts. It is the best agenda I have ever purchased or received as a gift. I have been using Jim Shawvan's services and must say that his competence is outstanding. Asha

I am a dilettante at astrology, and still I find the opportunity periods & the concrete advice very helpful.

Indispensible daily calendar. All the important aspects for those who want to know. Information about houses, aspects, signs and planets for those who still learning.

I get this guide every year. It is an essential item to know when the best times to take and not take action are. All the most important astrological info is there. And enough room to write the daily things to do, also. Highly recommended.

I've been getting this calendar for 10 years and I always love it. It's easy to use, has plenty of room to write in ad contains tons of info. One year I got a different one and I missed it the whole year. Nothing else as good as this is printed.

Great date book for astrologers, students of astrology and beginners. Plenty of space for notes and appointments. Can use a bit more quick-glance info for "good/bad" periods.

The annual editions of this guide have been by my side for over 2 decades of use in regular research on planetary shenanigans. If you happen to be interested in a lengthy diatribe, I've explained my background and reasons for this in my review on the buying page for the 2006 Daily Planetary Guide (Llewellyn's Daily Planetary Guide). A few changes occurred in the 2007 DPG from the 2006 version, all of which have been detailed on my and other reviews on that buying page, 2007 Daily Planetary Guide: Llewellyn's Astrology Datebook (Llewellyn's Daily Planetary Guide).

What I'd like to repeat here is the usefulness of the Opportunity Periods from Jim Shawvan. Having used those for a couple years, I can say that they continue to be indeed helpful. It has been my practice to observe daily lunar cycles in this way used by Shawvan since the early 80's when I was a practicing professional astrologer and parapsychologist. At that time, I began following my own personally devised system of using (adapting to my perspectives and needs) Horary Rules of Moon Aspects to the planets, sun, and Moon in our Solar System, with the Last Aspect prior to the Moon's going Void of Course being always the overriding answer to any question of timing. It's a complicated system, but produces fascinating results.

I was amazed and impressed to see Shawvan presenting a very similar system in Llewellyn's DPG. Now, I use my own daily research processes in a much more efficient way by basing off the work Shawvan has already done! I do still miss the removed data in the DPG (begun in 2006 year's version) of the less potent aspects (*see my NOTE below), though am happy to see that the monthly Ephemeris placements of Chiron and the 4 major Asteroids have been reinstated. The trade-off of losing the more subtle aspects, but gaining the Opportunity Periods is understandable. As they say in the industry of magazines and newspapers, "Space is at a premium." I'm no longer a practicing professional astrologer, though I always watch cycles and have continued my regular research from those observations. I gradually decreased my regular consulting practice when I began writing novels full time in 1985, when THE ROSE AND THE PYRAMID surprised me by rushing into my mind so fast I had to talk it onto 6 one-hour cassette tapes, then have it transcribed into manuscript form. That novel has continued selling (now in used copies) since its publication in 1987 (even though I took it out of print in 1988). See its buying page here on Amazon, in the Customer Forum, for the "rest of the story."

That novel, along with a paranormal murder mystery, Myrtle's Ultimate Mystery (A Myrtle Drinkwater Astrological Investigator Mystery: 1), are now available on KINDLE, along with 12 other books. Myrtle is an astrologer investigator using Horary to discover what's going on behind the scenes in any situation. Copies of some of the chart wheels Myrtle uses are provided within this latest Kindle edition.

One my other books on Kindle, The DAYS of COFFEE & DONUTS: Non Toxic Soapbox Satire: Who or What is De-Kindling Life? (Nonfiction), offers a section of astrological updates of the type I had been doing regularly, which are similar to those mentioned about provided by Shawvan.

With continued appreciation for this time saving, handy daily data,
Linda G. Shelnutt


* Note: The supposedly less potent aspects (Semi-Square, Semi-Sextile, Sesquaquadrate, Quindecile - for which I have a set of different terms not yet published, hopefully to be published one day on KINDLE) become very much more potent than they had originally been given credit for as their daily motions progress into part of various geometric Formations (called an Aspect Patterns by some astrologers).

Since the beginning of my studies in Astrology in 1979, I have been fascinated with Formations, which are made up of at least three planets in angular aspect with each other, as viewed and experienced from Earth's angle of perspective, and which can look like a Kite, a Grand Cross, T-Square, Mystic Rectangle, or a slender pie shaped figure called a Yod.

When I began noticing additional geometric designs (in Transits and in client's charts) beyond the most commonly used ones, I was compelled to begin studying them. For additional info on those studies, see my KINDLE book noted above, THE DAYS OF COFFEE & DONUTS, Part 4.

The point in this *note,* however, is that the less "potent" aspects, indeed all aspects become very potent when they "seat" in their motions into a tightly designed Formation.

For those continued observations, and for use in my study of 8 lunar phases instead of 4, I do miss the previous (2005 and several years prior) DPG's easy, lazy reference, of daily pre-calculation of these lesser aspects. I can do my own calculations, but I rarely take time to come to the exact minute of a Semi-Square or Sesquaquadrate to know the precise time of "arrival" of one of the 4 additional lunar phases within the usual 4. I definitely miss that timing, because sometimes those lunar phase transitions can be precisely significant. Probably most astrologers won't miss DPG's discontinued listing of lesser aspects on the daily pages.

Chiron and the 4 major Asteroids have been reinstated into the monthly Ephemeris at the back of the guide, and with the current offering, the daily aspects to these have been reinstated; I appreciate their return.

I wonder why I'm whining about the lesser aspects, since I no longer have time for extensive astrological research. All the brain power I can gather is going into getting my finished novels to market via Amazon's KINDLE, so I can then justify renewing my labors of love on half-finishing manuscripts, and then begin new ones or more sequels to my established sci-fi and mystery series.