Customer Reviews

Tibetan Astrology

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a book that has been needed for a long time. It is a perfect introduction to the methods of Tibetan Astrology for both Dharma students and astrologers alike. It describes the subject in enough detail to enable those who have some familiarity with Jyotish (Hindu Astrology) or some of the Chinese systems to get started with using some aspects of Tibetan Astrology.

The reason that I gave 4 instead of 5 stars is that there are a few minor omissions that make it difficult to go further than the basics. We are told that most Tibetan astrologers do not follow the astronomical rule when creating the calendar, that they just excise inauspicious days (and double the auspicious ones), but we are never told by which criteria those days are selected, and a little study show that the regular methods do not work here. For an astrologer like myself, this causes a big problem in research, because we are only given the calendar until the end of 1997.

The first 3 chapters on the relationship between astrology and the dharma are worth the price of the book. The translation is excellent, and the book is well written. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the subject, but with the precautionary note that if one is interested in seriously pursuing the field, they should consider this text introductory.

As the only source for Tibetan Astrology so far in print, this book is a must have. It almost makes sense out of a system that even the Tibetans find confusing!

There is also a lot of very good material on Tibetan Buddhism included; material that you don't often see.

However, beware Table 22 (the main table you use to convert Western Dates to Tibetan Dates---the very first step in working with Tibetan Astrology for westerners). It is *riddled* with errors.

That said, there is information here that you'll find nowhere else. Definately a "must have".

This is an excellent book on tibetan astrology. It even gives an example for casting a horoscope on your own. The only weakness is its lack of an index.

Tibet brings to my mind mystery. This immediately gets my interest because I love to delve into just about anything that explores the unknown.

Combine mystery with astrology and I couldn't wait to set time aside to explore this detailed book on Tibetan Astrology. According to the back cover, this is the first detailed book on this subject. It was originally written in French, but was translated into English by Hamish Gregor.

Tibetan Astrology is quite complex and needs an understanding of the cultural and spiritual history of this mysterious country. This is covered in Part One - General Considerations where a concise look as these topics has been prepared. Part Two - Practical Astrology goes into the technical information needed to use this system of astrology - get ready for your brain to be boggled!

I have to be honest and say that I was a bit naive in starting my review on this book, I had no idea that this topic would be so complicated! I enjoyed reading most of the background in Part One but when I got into the technical side of "Tibetan Astrology" I found it hard to take all of the information in. Basically, this is a totally different way of using astrology to our Western version and, I feel, needs more than a book to learn. "Tibetan Astrology" is certainly a book for the more confident and experienced astrologer.

This is why I would recommend this book to be used as a reference in conjunction with some type of educational course. This is simply because of the complex nature of the topic.

The author has done exceptionally well in presenting the complicated Eastern theories to the Western mindset and should be congratulated on this achievement. But again, I think it is too complicated to learn from a book (or maybe I should just have another coffee to get my brain moving along!).

In summary, if you are looking for a challenge in your quest for astrological knowledge you've hit the jackpot!

I got this book to go along with a Tibetan Astrology computer program sold by Matrix Astrology Software. The software doesn't have a manual but from what I can tell produces accurate computations. The book has some bugs in computation. Put the two of them together for the best of both worlds

Another text on Tibetan astrology has been needed for many years. While I personally would've enjoyed more detail, this mass market title is
certainly worth acquiring. For more information on Tibetan astrology, visit the Asian Astrology Pages at http://www.jadegate.com/astro/index.html (where you can also order this book).