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Mapping Your
Birthchart: by: Stephanie Clement ISBN 0-7387-0202-1 This is a combination book and CD package, so we’ll look at each piece separately. The book is a reasonably thorough, easy to read basic astrology text. Clement’s thirty-odd years of astrology are evident; she knows what information the beginner needs and how to present that information clearly and simply. No Transneptunian points explained here, just the basics – houses, planets, aspects, elements, modes, keywords. As the title suggests, rather than predictive astrology, this is astrology geared towards understanding the self. Lots of example charts are presented and examined, and after each chapter, a few exercises so that the reader may check his or her understanding of the material. Experienced astrologers won’t find anything new here, but a complete novice could pick up this book and with little effort gain a good working knowledge of astrology. As a beginner text, four pentacles
The CD is another story. About the only nice thing I can say is that it loaded quickly and correctly on the first attempt. I found the latitude/longitude and time functions difficult to set and tedious to correct. Good astrology depends on accuracy – just being in the same time zone as one of their listed places isn’t close enough. The chart printed out is very difficult to understand; different colored lines representing different aspects criss-cross the chart, but no degrees are given, and if you have several planets bunched together in one house, it is hard to determine which points to what. Little boxes around the chart show us the symbols for the planets, the elements, and the degrees that define each aspect (information we already ought to know at this point), but there is no little box that would tell us what is in this particular chart. We’re left to squint and make guesses. The interpretation leaves something to be desired, also. All that is considered is the sign a planet is found in, and that information is word for word out of the book. Mercury in Leo – okay, but where, and how is he aspected? Do you give friendly and constructive criticism and get a lot done, or just spin your wheels and nag everyone to death? Given the ability of software to juggle many factors (essentially what a good astrologer does), I really think that more variables could have been taken into consideration in the interpretation. Awkward to use, unclear to view and of little value to read – one pentacle
Review by Karen Albeck |
