8 Horoscope Guide

Book

Reviews

Book

Reviews

by Kenneth Irving

Ancient Astrology in Theory and

Practice: A Manual of Traditional

Techniques, Volume 1, by Demetra

George. Rubedo Press. 588 pages,

paper. $49.

In looking at this volume, the first

thought of someone old enough to have

witnessed astrology’s big revival in

the late 20th century

(thinking as far

back as the ’60s

here) might be the

wistful realization

that astrology in

the Western world

was much simpler

then than now.

That thought in fact

occurred to me when I

picked up my copy of

Ancient Astrology in

Theory and Practice

to begin working

on this review, and

noticed that it had

been lying on top

of a compact little

paperback published

in 1963 that managed

to convey the basics

needed to get a start in the astrology of that

time in a mere 175 pages. There is indeed

an interesting contrast between then and

now, but the greater truth underlying

that contrast is that over several decades

astrology grew up, explored its roots,

and went to school, through a process

involving the scholarship and teaching

skills of many people.

There were several

different threads in

that process, but the

two most pertinent

here are the fresh

Project Hindsight

translations of Greek

and Latin works from

ancient and medieval

astrology, and the all-

too-brief existence of

Kepler College, with

its accreditation from

Washington state, in

the 1990s. Both are

still in existence in

some form, but the

point is that each

acted as a focal

point that provided

a new generation of

astrologers with an