Tratado das Esferas - Um Guia Prático da Tradição Astrológica

by Helena Avelar de Carvalho, Luis Ribeiro

Este é o primeiro livro inteiramente dedicado à Tradição Astrológica, em língua portuguesa e escrito em função das necessidades pedagógicas dos estudantes actuais.
Escrito por astrólogos profissionais e dirigido aos que procuram verdadeiramente compreender a Astrologia, é inovador a vários níveis: apresenta os conceitos astrológicos fundamentais de forma clara e concisa, evitando as descrições exaustivas (tipo “receita”) dos factores astrológicos; centra-se na compreensão prática, exemplificando a aplicação dos conceitos apresentados; faz a ligação entre a Tradição e o mundo contemporâneo, abordando conceitos intemporais em linguagem actual; fornece respostas coerentes, estruturadas e precisas aos que procuram abrir caminho na enorme massa de informação astrológica actualmente disponível; aborda as vertentes principais da Arte: Natal, Horária, Mundana, etc., apresentando exemplos práticos; ilustra os conceitos com mais de 300 diagramas e esquemas originais.
Pelo seu carácter basilar, este livro revela-se adequado a estudantes de todos os níveis de conhecimento: os principiantes encontrarão neste livro os princípios fundamentais da Arte, devidamente organizados e explicados; os alunos avançados e os praticantes terão nele um guia de referência que lhes permitirá estruturar os seus conhecimentos; os investigadores encontrarão nesta obra um guia para o estudo de documentação de teor astrológico.

Genres: Astrology, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Occult, Witchcraft, Divination, Esoterica

524 pages

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

HELENA AVELAR DE CARVALHO nasceu em 1964. Licenciada em História de Arte (2008) e mestre em História Medieval (2011), pela FCSH/NOVA e doutorada em Combined Historical Studies (2018), pelo The Warburg Institute - University of London. Foi investigadora do Instituto de Estudos Medievais e do Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia. A sua área de pesquisa focou as mentalidades e a ciência medieval, com especial destaque para as práticas astrológicas de corte. Era a Investigadora Principal do projeto ASTRA: Investigação Histórica em Técnicas e Práticas Astrológicas e board member do projeto RUTTER. Faleceu em 2021.

Reviews

[Elizabeth]

Okay, count me impressed. Avelar and Ribeiro have pretty much written the book I've been looking for for a few years now: a modern introductory text to traditional astrology. The authors have pulled together the basics from several ancient and classical sources and have written them up in a style that 21st-century readers will probably be more comfortable with. They have also been generous with illustrations and just about every point they want to make comes with a helpful diagram. Unlike many astrology books, they don't separate natal astrology out but refer to natal, horary, mundane, and elective throughout.

Regrettably, there are also some jarring flaws. For one thing, there's no index. The table of contents is detailed and it's followed by an excellent list of the illustrations, diagrams, and tables. These help, but they're just not the same as an index. If you want to quickly look up at what point "under the beams" turns into "combust," good luck. The book also needed another round with a proofreader. While most books have the odd typo here and there, some of this book's typos were in an important table or changed the meaning of sentences. Plus, there was the occasional just-plain-wrong statement. (Uranus can too be seen with the naked eye. I'm sorry if that messes up the rationale behind the perfect symmetry of the traditional system, but making factually incorrect statements about matters of science isn't going to help astrology's credibility.) I found the general tone of traditional = good; modern = bad irritating, as I have with other works. I understand the authors needed to clearly make the distinction between traditional and modern astrology, but sniping at modern practice seemed unnecessary.

But despite these criticisms, I really did enjoy this book. I got a lot out of their discussions of the primary qualities and the Parts, including information I haven't found in other texts. And it's hard to overstate the effect of reading about a difficult topic in modern English: I could devote all of my energies to understanding the astrology instead of also having to work my way through arcane sentence structures. It was a disappointment to come to the end of the book and find that the authors only gave a taste of what delineating a chart would be like in the traditional manner, but they hint that that will be the focus of a future book. Studying everything in this book may hold me until then.

[Jennifer Zahrt]

By far the most important textbook for a beginning astrologer. I have yet to see another book beat this one in it's explication of the essential elements of astrological practice.

[Paris]

What a pretty book! It's fairly complete, very clear and well-structured with lots of illustrations. Is a real pleasure to read it. The approach is traditional but necessary for understanding the present astrology too. Ideal as first astrology book.

[Red]

An indispensable introduction to traditional astrology. This, and Chris Brennan's Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune are among my top go-to recommendations for serious students. The deeper I go into the traditional material, the more I glean at modern psychological astrology with more skepticism since much of its reconstruction was based on incomplete information during the time of its recovery in the west, particularly during the time of Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society. Much of the astrology of that time was infused with New Age beliefs, Eastern Philosophy, and other elements that had nothing to do with the conceptual frameworks and internal logic & symmetry of the tradition as it was practiced before the 1700s.

*** What's missing from this book is an index. How and why the authors or the publisher completely bypassed this is a mystery. Every reference book NEEDS an INDEX!

[Aniah]

as a traditional astrologer who spent waaay too long fumbling around and trying to find reputable trad resources, i seriously recommend this masterpiece to beginners! i wish i'd found this book back when i first got serious about studying astrology - it would've answered so many of my burning questions, filled gaps left by modern/pop astrology, and kept me from having to unlearn a lot of misinformation. this is a beautifully-written guide to understanding the building blocks of astrology and WHY thing means what they mean within this framework. its a great introduction to the tradition and it covers so many intricate topics. i hope all astrologers and astrology enthusiasts stumble upon this work of art!

RIP Helena Avelar <3

[Dodie]

Not knowing anything about astrology I don’t know what to expect. This was a great resource. There is a lot of good information in this book. I did read it cover to cover but I also keep referring back to it.

[Constantinos Nterziotis]

This is a highly recommended book for everyone who wants to study traditional Astrology and obtain a good structure. It is centred around the Hellenistic period till the Medieval Period reaching William Lilly. It is basically a book that explains in a perfect way, the western Medieval Astrology. 

[Crystal Melbourne]

THANK YOU.

[Deborah]

Brilliant. The best guide-book on Traditional Astrology I have found.
Why didn't I know about this earlier!
I wish all the authors' books were in English translation.

[Britt]

minus points for the 129827 typos

[Combusta]

There are few books out there that can introduce you to traditional astrology, but this one is probably the best one in my opinion. It can be a bit overwhelming if you're not familiar with classical concepts, but I personally think it's very well structured.

Of course it's not a perfect book, and it contains a few typos that must be corrected, but it's a 4.5 for me, since I think other similar books are either too long for beginners or too simple and void of real content.

At the end of the book there's a chapter dedicated to the modern planets and why they don't use them. I liked it, but it was too brief and superficial.

I really suggest beginning with this one and then taking Zoller's course in medieval astrology, for example, or any other book or course that is more advanced, since this book is a great introduction but I don't think it’s meant to be a way to truly learn the practice.

[Nadia]

I went on a deep dive looking into traditional astrology a bit ago. This is a straight textbook focused on the key concepts and their practical application and it's light on the theoretical and historical context. Outside the scope of this book, the historian in me wants to read up on the context of the times in which it was practiced. I appreciate that it did not just discuss birth chart astrology and did touch on other applications given that back in the day astrologers were often employed for statecraft, though not as much as I would have liked. I had to do a bit of work to find a copy that was sold by someone other than Amazon but I'm glad I did.

[ace]

finished reading my first astrology book! took about six months, few and far in between, it was mostly a companion during my university days where i was going through the worst burnout of my life and it was fun. i quite enjoyed this book, but my only grievance with it is the fact that it doesn’t go super deep into interpretation, which, fair enough, it’s excellent as a book for beginners so i understand why it’s simplified. and it does help actually! i go back to it from time to time.

[S]

This book an amazing study guide for traditional astrology. I think it's ideal for someone who already has a general understanding of astrology basics, but wants clarification on traditional approaches. It covers a broad amount of topics in just enough detail that the reader gets a general understanding, but not so much that it is overwhelming.

[Cindy Costa]

Um livro brutal para quem está a iniciar os seus estudos em Astrologia! Contém um bom resumo das técnicas tradicionais e as bases essenciais para um Astrologo 🙏🏻 Muito obrigada ao Luis e a Helena pelo seu contributo para manter viva esta tradição!

[Giovanni]

One of the best books on traditional astrology; a must have!

[Melissa Rodrigues]

Prático, didático e cheio de imagens. Ótimo para ter uma boa estrutura da astrologia tradicional.

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There’s a reason why this is recommended as THE BOOK to read if you want to get serious about astrology. I can’t recommend it enough.

[Ana]

Leitura obrigatória para quem se interessa pela aprendizagem da tradição astrológica.