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The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need
This is the classic guide to astrological history, legend, and practice! Readers will enjoy simple, computer-accurate planetary tables that allow anyone born between 1900 and 2100 to pinpoint quickly their sun and moon signs, discover their ascendants, and map out the exact positions of the planets at the time of their birth. In addition to revealing the planets' influence on romance, health, and career, The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need takes a closer look at the inner life of each sign. Celebrated astrologer Joanna Martine Woolfolk offers abundant insights on the personal relationships and emotional needs that motivate an individual, on how others perceive astrological types, and on dealing with the negative aspects of signs. Readers will also welcome the inclusion of new discoveries in astronomy. Lavishly illustrated and with an updated design, this new edition is an indispensable sourcebook for unlocking the mysteries of the cosmos through the twenty-first century and beyond.
- GenresAstrology
Paperback
Published January 1, 2008
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February 23, 2025
Covers sun signs, decantes, cusps, moon signs, ascendant signs, the planets, houses, aspects, synastry, astrology history and legends.
The study of astrology was first recorded 5000 years ago (5).
History:
5000-3000 BC Hindu - 7 sages symbolized by 7 stars in Ursa Major (Big Dipper). Vishnu of the Sun visits Earth in different forms like ram, bull, & lion. 12 zodiac signs. Incorporates reincarnation & karma (372).
3000-300 BC - Egyptian signs: sheep, bull, two men clasping hands, scarab, lion, maiden, horizon, scorpion, he who draws a bow, goat, water man, fishes. The Egyptians divided their year into 360 days. Their year had 12 months of 30 days each, and each month was divided into three sections of ten days each called dekanoi. The Egyptians soon learned “that a 360-day year was inaccurate, and so added on five extra days. These were feast days and holidays and not counted as real days” (145). Pretty similar to how I made my utopian calendar. I tried to divide everything equally. 12 months, 30 days each, 5 day weeks. In the end I decided to make some months 31 days (the months with longer names, to make it easier to remember), and the leap year day added on at the end of the year as a holiday.
2800 BC - Chinese. Emperor Yao named the 12 signs and divided the sky into 28 mansions of the moon (374). “Legend tells us that when buddha lay on his deathbed, he asked the animals of the forest to come and bid him farewell. These 12 were the first to arrive. The cat, as the story goes, is not among the animals because it was napping and couldn’t be bothered to make the journey” (374).
2800 BC - Babylon: 300 ft watchtowers called ziggurats were built for priests to study the planets and stars. Tower of Babel was probably about the building of a ziggurat (375). The signs were Aries, Pleiades, Gemini, Praesepe, Leo, Spica, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces. The Greeks later changed some of those names to the names we know today.
900 BC - 150 AD - “The Greeks took over Babylonian astrology and made it theirs. They gave the five planets new names, taken from the gods of their mythology” (378). Zodiakos = circle of animals (383).
300 BC - 476 AD - The Romans renamed the planets again, according to their gods of mythology.
“When a new planet is discovered and assigned to a zodiacal sign, that sign undergoes a slow change in appearance. For example, before the end of the 18th century (and therefore before the planet Uranus was discovered), the rulership of Aquarius belonged to Saturn. Back then Aquarius was a much more sober, practical, melancholy, and restrictive sign than the bright, modern, forward-thinking, and electric Aquarius we know today” (239). This just goes to show that people make stuff up as they go along. It isn’t based on collecting data to see which personality traits are most common in each approximately 30 day period.
Interesting:
“According to a Gallup poll, 35% of American adults believe their lives are influenced by the position of the heavenly bodies” (xii).
The sun is “the most important and pervasive influence in your horoscope, and in many ways determines how others see you” (3).
Aries through Virgo are selfish signs, while Libra through Pisces are more about relationships and the world (6-7).
“Another person with your exact horoscope will not walk on this earth for another 4,320,000 years” (237).
Sagittarius is the wise Chiron, son of Saturn. The gods taught Chiron, and Chiron taught Achilles, Jason, Castor, Pollux, and Hercules (392).
People born at the same time are known as astral-twins or time-twins. . . . In case after case, it has been documented that the life-patterns of time-twins are eerily similar. In many cases, they marry at the same time, have the same number and same sexes of children; they divorce, travel, and change jobs and residences at the same time; in many cases they die at the same time and from the same causes” (237-238). Interesting, but I notice something important missing: having the same personality.
In the Age of Aquarius, “astrologers expect that the concept of individual nations will fade and humankind will join together as one people rather than be separated into nationalities. Within the next 2000 years, we hope to at least reach the long-held ideal of world pace” (402).
Mottos/keywords:
Aries: I am
Taurus: I have
Gemini: I think
Cancer: I feel
Leo: I will
Virgo: I analyze
Libra: I balance
Scorpio: I desire
Sagittarius: I see
Capricorn: I use
Aquarius: I know
Pisces: I believe
Recommended “cell salts” for the signs:
Aries: potassium phosphate
Taurus: sulphate of sodium
Gemini: potassium chloride
Cancer: calcium fluoride
Leo: magnesium phosphate
Virgo: potassium sulphate
Libra: sodium phosphate
Scorpio: calcium sulphate
Sag: silica
Cap: calcium phosphate
Aqu: sodium chloride (table salt)
Pisces: ferrum phosphate (iron)
Houses (p. 294-297):
Self
Money/possessions
Communication
Home
Creativity/sex
Service/health
Partnership/marriage
Death/regeneration
Mental exploration, long distance travel
Career, public standing
Friends, hopes, wishes
Secrets, sorrows, self-undoing
“Each planet has a specific influence in astrology and governs a certain area of your personality or your approach to life. For example, Mercury relates to your mental outlook; Venus governs your love nature. It is the placement of these planets in the various zodiacal signs that determines how you express the different facets of your personality. If your Mercury is in Gemini, you tend to be extremely verbal and quick-witted. If your Mercury is in Capricorn, you handle detail work very well and carefully plot out your plans in advance. If your Venus is in Leo, you are not happy unless you receive a great deal of attention from a lover. If your Venus is in Aquarius, you consider freedom of expression for each person to be the most important thing in a love relationship” (238).
P. 333:
Cardinal - enterprising, outgoing, initiating, active - aries, cancer, libra, cap
Fixed - taurus, leo, scorpio, Aquarius - resistant to change, perfectors, finishers
Mutable - gemini, virgo, sag, pisces - flexible, versatile, adaptable, changeable, intellectual, mentally explorative
Some of these don’t make sense. Cancer does not fit the description for cardinal. Virgo doesn’t fit mutable. Aquarius doesn’t fit the description for fixed. Aquarius fits the description for mutable, so why isn’t it in that category? Probably because someone wanted to create a pretty pattern instead of organize them in a way that made sense, just like Enneagram. (The zodiac signs are plopped into cardinal, fixed, and mutable in that order, and then it repeats until all 12 have been assigned.)
The study of astrology was first recorded 5000 years ago (5).
History:
5000-3000 BC Hindu - 7 sages symbolized by 7 stars in Ursa Major (Big Dipper). Vishnu of the Sun visits Earth in different forms like ram, bull, & lion. 12 zodiac signs. Incorporates reincarnation & karma (372).
3000-300 BC - Egyptian signs: sheep, bull, two men clasping hands, scarab, lion, maiden, horizon, scorpion, he who draws a bow, goat, water man, fishes. The Egyptians divided their year into 360 days. Their year had 12 months of 30 days each, and each month was divided into three sections of ten days each called dekanoi. The Egyptians soon learned “that a 360-day year was inaccurate, and so added on five extra days. These were feast days and holidays and not counted as real days” (145). Pretty similar to how I made my utopian calendar. I tried to divide everything equally. 12 months, 30 days each, 5 day weeks. In the end I decided to make some months 31 days (the months with longer names, to make it easier to remember), and the leap year day added on at the end of the year as a holiday.
2800 BC - Chinese. Emperor Yao named the 12 signs and divided the sky into 28 mansions of the moon (374). “Legend tells us that when buddha lay on his deathbed, he asked the animals of the forest to come and bid him farewell. These 12 were the first to arrive. The cat, as the story goes, is not among the animals because it was napping and couldn’t be bothered to make the journey” (374).
2800 BC - Babylon: 300 ft watchtowers called ziggurats were built for priests to study the planets and stars. Tower of Babel was probably about the building of a ziggurat (375). The signs were Aries, Pleiades, Gemini, Praesepe, Leo, Spica, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces. The Greeks later changed some of those names to the names we know today.
900 BC - 150 AD - “The Greeks took over Babylonian astrology and made it theirs. They gave the five planets new names, taken from the gods of their mythology” (378). Zodiakos = circle of animals (383).
300 BC - 476 AD - The Romans renamed the planets again, according to their gods of mythology.
“When a new planet is discovered and assigned to a zodiacal sign, that sign undergoes a slow change in appearance. For example, before the end of the 18th century (and therefore before the planet Uranus was discovered), the rulership of Aquarius belonged to Saturn. Back then Aquarius was a much more sober, practical, melancholy, and restrictive sign than the bright, modern, forward-thinking, and electric Aquarius we know today” (239). This just goes to show that people make stuff up as they go along. It isn’t based on collecting data to see which personality traits are most common in each approximately 30 day period.
Interesting:
“According to a Gallup poll, 35% of American adults believe their lives are influenced by the position of the heavenly bodies” (xii).
The sun is “the most important and pervasive influence in your horoscope, and in many ways determines how others see you” (3).
Aries through Virgo are selfish signs, while Libra through Pisces are more about relationships and the world (6-7).
“Another person with your exact horoscope will not walk on this earth for another 4,320,000 years” (237).
Sagittarius is the wise Chiron, son of Saturn. The gods taught Chiron, and Chiron taught Achilles, Jason, Castor, Pollux, and Hercules (392).
People born at the same time are known as astral-twins or time-twins. . . . In case after case, it has been documented that the life-patterns of time-twins are eerily similar. In many cases, they marry at the same time, have the same number and same sexes of children; they divorce, travel, and change jobs and residences at the same time; in many cases they die at the same time and from the same causes” (237-238). Interesting, but I notice something important missing: having the same personality.
In the Age of Aquarius, “astrologers expect that the concept of individual nations will fade and humankind will join together as one people rather than be separated into nationalities. Within the next 2000 years, we hope to at least reach the long-held ideal of world pace” (402).
Mottos/keywords:
Aries: I am
Taurus: I have
Gemini: I think
Cancer: I feel
Leo: I will
Virgo: I analyze
Libra: I balance
Scorpio: I desire
Sagittarius: I see
Capricorn: I use
Aquarius: I know
Pisces: I believe
Recommended “cell salts” for the signs:
Aries: potassium phosphate
Taurus: sulphate of sodium
Gemini: potassium chloride
Cancer: calcium fluoride
Leo: magnesium phosphate
Virgo: potassium sulphate
Libra: sodium phosphate
Scorpio: calcium sulphate
Sag: silica
Cap: calcium phosphate
Aqu: sodium chloride (table salt)
Pisces: ferrum phosphate (iron)
Houses (p. 294-297):
Self
Money/possessions
Communication
Home
Creativity/sex
Service/health
Partnership/marriage
Death/regeneration
Mental exploration, long distance travel
Career, public standing
Friends, hopes, wishes
Secrets, sorrows, self-undoing
“Each planet has a specific influence in astrology and governs a certain area of your personality or your approach to life. For example, Mercury relates to your mental outlook; Venus governs your love nature. It is the placement of these planets in the various zodiacal signs that determines how you express the different facets of your personality. If your Mercury is in Gemini, you tend to be extremely verbal and quick-witted. If your Mercury is in Capricorn, you handle detail work very well and carefully plot out your plans in advance. If your Venus is in Leo, you are not happy unless you receive a great deal of attention from a lover. If your Venus is in Aquarius, you consider freedom of expression for each person to be the most important thing in a love relationship” (238).
P. 333:
Cardinal - enterprising, outgoing, initiating, active - aries, cancer, libra, cap
Fixed - taurus, leo, scorpio, Aquarius - resistant to change, perfectors, finishers
Mutable - gemini, virgo, sag, pisces - flexible, versatile, adaptable, changeable, intellectual, mentally explorative
Some of these don’t make sense. Cancer does not fit the description for cardinal. Virgo doesn’t fit mutable. Aquarius doesn’t fit the description for fixed. Aquarius fits the description for mutable, so why isn’t it in that category? Probably because someone wanted to create a pretty pattern instead of organize them in a way that made sense, just like Enneagram. (The zodiac signs are plopped into cardinal, fixed, and mutable in that order, and then it repeats until all 12 have been assigned.)
February 25, 2024
I needed to read this for a personal project of mine, and I was amazed at how much information was squeezed into this book that I didn't know. I'd always been slightly intimidated when those astrology-lovers would talk about their Houses being in Retrograde - I never knew what it meant until now. This book has each sign in great detail, the houses, the planets, the greek gods, you name it. It was so much fun figuring out my own chart and how it all relates to me as a person. However, there is only so much someone can put into one book. I will need to read more, but this was an amazing starting point for me as a beginner. I now know the terminology related to the specific areas I need to delve further into, which had also confused me before, so Joanna, you have done a spectacular job at making something so complex sound so simple.
January 19, 2024
Non era quello di cui avevo bisogno. Un approccio un po’ troppo deterministico per i miei gusti.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews