I chanced upon this book going for half-price in an Australian self-help centre. Had I not stopped to look beyond the cheesy purple cover, I would have missed one of the most intriguing and thought-provoking adventures in astrology ever.
The difference between reading an academician's view in astrology and that of a layman is huge. For those who aren't ready to go straight into the depth and heaviness of Liz Greene, and want to get out of the tabloid astrology type reading, yet don't want to read candid, matter-of-fact portrayals such as Linda Goodman puts it, Caroline Casey provides a fresh, witty, reverent and yet playful spin on the planets and signs. It's the difference between reading Jung's academic works and reading his made-for-the-normal-person 'Man and His Symbols'.
Treating each planet in terms of archetypes, suggesting little rituals for honouring each, and drawing on her own experiences as well as that of myth, it's not your average read. What I especially love is her playful writing style, as well as her comprehensive treatments of each planet.
For instance, with the difficult Pluto, Casey redefines what it means to deal with the trials of death, rebirth and transformation: she teaches how to honour the darkness, describes the stages of descent, to release control through broad techniques of ritual and incantations, leaving it up to the reader to do as she wishes.
This is not a how-to book, but is for the person who wants to see how these archetypes play out in her life, and how to honour them whilst struggling through them, and realising, as Casey says at the end, 'making the gods you.'