Astrology 101: From Sun Signs to Moon Signs, Your Guide to Astrology

Adams 101

by Kathleen Sears

Explore the mysteries of the cosmos!

Too often, astrology guides obscure the mystical wonder of the zodiac with overly tedious details about nodes, houses, angles, and aspects that even Ptolemy would reject. Astrology 101 cuts out the boring details and lengthy explanations and instead gives you a hands-on lesson that keeps you engaged as you learn how the movements of the stars and planets affect human behavior.

From the four elements and twelve houses to astrological personality types and sign compatibility, this compact primer is packed with hundreds of fascinating star sign facts, informative charts and illustrations, and stories of famous astrologers and their predictions for the future.

So whether you're looking to find how a Mercury retrograde affects you, or just want to learn more about a specific sun sign, Astrology 101 has all the answers--even the ones you didn't know you were looking for.

Genres: Astrology, Nonfiction, Spirituality, History, Reference, Science, Witchcraft

255 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2015

Reviews

[Celia {Hiatus until August} · Rating 3 out of 5]

•| ⊱✿⊰ |• 3 Stars •| ⊱✿⊰ |•

Nada de especial, esperava mais.
Focou-se demasiado nas características dos signos e não na conjunção entre signos, planetas e astrologia.

════ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ════ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ════ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ════ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ════

Nothing special, I expected more.
She focused too much on the characteristics of the signs and not on the conjunction between signs, planets and astrology.

[Juli Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the structure of this book and the order in which the information is presented. It's also attractively designed. My biggest complaint is the absolute over-gendering of astrology here: everything is presented in terms of "the Leo woman" or "the Scorpio man" which is essentialist and unnecessary. This was so pervasive that it really affected my enjoyment in reading this book.

[lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Way too hetero and gendered in their reading of astrology. No thanks. I'd maybe look past some of it if it had a more solid foundation, but it doesn't.

[Kemunto Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read. But how Ancient Egyptian astrology is viewed as western I have no idea. The signs are divided according to gender, and it’s weird. According to the author, Venus, for example, in a man points to his wife or mother, or something like that. But maybe have we considered that men can also love? Etc. Still, the information is/would be enough for a beginner to grasp. Overall, it does its job.

[afates · Rating 1 out of 5]

Önceden burçlara inanırdım ama açıymış evmiş saçma gelirdi bu kitap sayesinde artık burçlara da inanmıyorum ❤️

[☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,75. A fun read for beginner like me, covering some groundwork about astrology but the second-half when we get all technical about natal charts it’s pretty confusing, you have to sit down and concentrate to understand the symbols, lines, and meaning (in the end I skimmed that part). But it doesn’t indulge in the “stereotype” of each signs, it gives you nice chunk of information about them all (at least for beginner me), and the book absolutely doesn’t feel too... pseudo-ey. Klenik-y. Nujum-y? Yeah that.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to start to learn astrology and if you are looking for the basics, this is a nice book. It has descriptions, it uses easy language, but it's not your book if you want very detailed information, for example, it doesn't have a chapter explaining with detail the houses.

[Aleyna · Rating 2 out of 5]

kitabın düzeni oldukça iyiydi. burçlar ve gezegenler hakkında genel bir bilgim olduğu için o kısımlardaki anlatımları tatmin edici buldum ama doğum haritası kısmı çok başarısızca anlatılmıştı, kesinlikle bir 101 kitabının seviyesinde değildi. doğum haritasıyla ilgili düzgün bilgi vermeden direkt belli konumların özelliklerini anlatmaya başladı. yani doğum haritasının belli kısımlarını nasıl yorumlayacağını göstermeden direkt özelliklerine geçti. genel olarak istediğimi bulamadığım bir kitap oldu bu yüzden.

[Marlena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mam wrażenie jakbym czytała przewodnik po horoskopach a nie astrologii..

[Angela Islandgirlmuse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it but found it complicated to understand since I’m very very new to learning about astrology. Motivates me to seek an expert to do my birth chart.

[Luna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won't respect any book that said I'm good with Leos

[Mónica :) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Livro parece completo mas é subjetivo… As interpretações são pouco “sérias”

[Scout Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars
This is the first '101' series book that I read.

This book is pretty simple (in a good way), covers the important topics and is quite accurate and true to the signs. Some books(/authors) don't know what they're talking about when it comes to astrology. This book wasn't one of them!

Important Concepts
Here are my notes of what I learned from the book

Nodes of the Moon. Astrologer Robert Hand thinks nodes relate to connections with other people. North Node = joining, South Node = separating. North Node is the "area of our most profound growth in this life". The South Node is our "deeply embedded patterns of behavior".

Planets.
Dignified: Planet in the sign it rules (e.g. Mars in Aries, Venus in Libra, Mercury in Gemini)
Exalted: "Its drive and essential qualities are expressed more harmoniously." (E.g. Sun in Aries, Moon in Taurus).
Detriment: Planet in the opposite sign of dignity (e.g. Mercury in Sagittarius). Planets in detriment are watered down, also called "in fall". "In a detriment, the energy of the planet is considered to be at a disadvantage." The Ascendant planet is important because it usually rules the chart.
Mutual reception: When 2 planets are in each other's sign of dignity. (E.g. Sun is in Cancer/Taurus, and Moon is in Aries/Leo). When a planet is in the natural house (e.g. Mercury in the Third House), it's accidentally dignified and strengthened.

Houses
The division between houses is called the cusp. The sign on the ascendant sets up the House cusp structure. (e.g. if you have Taurus rising, Taurus will be in House 1, Gemini in House 2, etc.)
INTERCEPTIONS
Interceptions are when a sign isn't on a cusp but is completely contained within the house. "Some astrologers think the house that holds the interception is more powerful. Sometimes, with an interception, you're attracted to people born under the subsumed sign. Or you manifest those attributes more strongly than you might otherwise." (117).

Retrograde/Direct Motion
Motion is either Direct (d), Retrograde (r) or Stationary (s)
Sun and Moon can never be retrograde but all other planets can
During a retrograde, "nature of that planet is forced inward, where it creates tension and stress. The outlet for this tension is usually worked out in relationships with others"
Stationary planets are ones that are about to turn direct or retrograde. They have greater influence in a chart than r/d

True Tidbits
"The surest way to get rid of a Sagittarius is to disrespect his words. You must listen to everything he says - Sagittarius is very big on authority. He is. Heed Sagittarius' 'lectures' and he'll appreciate you for it." (200).

As another reviewer mentioned, I would have given this a true five stars if it had included information on the signs in each house (e.g. Aries in House 1, Taurus in House 2..., Aries in House 2, Taurus in House 3)

Would recommend to all people interested in astrology. Beginners or not, this book is a good one to read!

[Serhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Şaşırtıcı bir şekilde bazı noktalarda iyi tahminler var.

[Delaney Ellicott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astrology 101 by Kathleen Sears is a book about- you guessed it, astrology. It's filled with fun facts, small details, and at home remedies for every astrological sign. It does an in depth description of each sign, and goes on to go through all of their characteristics. After that, the book goes into the astrological chart and how it works as well as your sun and moon sign.
I gave this book five stars because it has valid content that really makes you think about yourself and the people around you. Some people are exactly like their sign and others are very different. That's the interesting part of this book- you can compare and contrast people to their sign. I believe anyone who really enjoys astrology or is simply looking into the subject would definitely love this book.

[Elif Genç · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tek söyleyebileceğim; kesinlikle 101 değil bu! Bazı kısımlarda bilmediğim dilde birşey okudum gibi oldu.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up from a local Little Free Library because I've always been interested in astrology. I think it's just one more way at looking at the big picture.
This book is a great compact size. It's easy to read although admittedly, it would take a lot of studying and research to fully understand all the aspects of the astrological signs.
I liked the format and the chapter divison. I did not study the book's detailed aspects but rather read through my sign and the signs of loved ones.
A great book for anyone truly interested in the deeper aspects of astrology. The history and the astrologists listed was very interesting as well.

[Jorvon Carter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t believe in astrology, but I wanted to give this book a try. The sections of the history of astrology are interesting, and the book does explain erudite astrological terms. So the book gets more than one star.

But the book mostly ignores classical astrology in favor of the even more nonsensical modern variety. The book offers no evidence or mechanism for astrology, and in fact, the author herself doesn’t seem to believe in astrology. Around 90% of the book is just the Barnum–Forer effect.

[Esther VB · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a beginner in the field, the first half is easy to follow, then it starts getting a bit more technical and I was kind of lost as to how to interpret birth charts. I pretty much skipper most of the last half. At least you get a rough overview of the most important points to note for each sign. Still I think Astrology is hard to learn from just this one book.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book itself is great for helping beginners, I learned a lot myself.
If you use your birth chart, it can be useful to have multiple options that use different software so when you're going through aspects you can see all your options and which ones truly resonate with you.

[Atheer · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a good choice for beginners ,but I noticed some of the compatibility part was not accurate at all and comes againast what I learned according to compatibility but other than that l gained some new information.

[Mourning_elf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh this one is fun reading, usually people only know about their sun, moon and ascendant sign but through this book i can read the conjuction, sextiles, quarter and the trine one. So yeah i can amateurly reading my own natal chart haha.

[Nina Vlu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buenísimo para gente que quiere empezar a meterse al mundo de la astrología... explica muy bien los planetas, conjunciones y especificaciones de cada signo al igual que la historia de la astrología. Lo recomiendo para tenerlo como una guía y diccionario!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy-to-follow guide to astrology. It was laid out well and contained good information about the zodiac, sun/moon signs, and astrological charts. A good choice for those who are beginners to astrology.

[Kim Dallmeier · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars if it had went through the position of the planets within the Houses.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could've been better.

[Brianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dnf @ 122.

[David Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book and Mythology 101, and i will definitely look into the others in this series.. This book is great for beginners and those who just want a refresher.

[Cep Subhan KM · Rating 4 out of 5]

A readable book about astrology for beginner. It is the second book in 101 series I've read so far and I always like its hardback edition and its updated content.

[xim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love figuring everyone out