The New Astrologer - Martin Seymour-Smith (book review)

The New Astrologer

review

by Fausto Chavez

This is a good book for any level astrologer. Martin's expounds on the the basics: planets, sign meanings, house systems, etc. all of which is well stated and given fresh perspectives. Though the techniques found here are western astrology, he shows familiarity with Hindu astrology, mentioning Parashara and divisional charts of which he makes frequent reference to their western counterpart, harmonic charts. He likes vertexs and midpoints and a wide range of aspects. A strong point for this book is its size: it is a large book, with large print, very easy to read and well deserving of its heft as an attempt at a comprehensive manual. He doesn't have much use for houses, though he describes house systems in detail. The downsides here are Martin's chart analysis which falls short of the mark. He mostly uses aspects and his favored Vertex and midpoints; also he tends to be negative both in his selections of people to analyze and his analysis. For instance, Richard Nixon's chart analysis has no good things to say. Well, for someone to have been president, he must have had an extraordinarily strong horoscope; but these may also be the limitations of astrology known to him. By now, astrology has progressed by leaps and bounds since this book's publication date 1981, but the intelligence and eccentricity of the writer makes it strangely compelling.

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