Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune

Chris Brennan is a master of His craft, and that is a bit of an understatement. This book goes into incredible detail. The history is explained thoroughly, which I love. It gives tons of context as to why astrology is calculated the way it is, and how we arrived to many of the methods used with ancient astrology as it is. I had bought this book with a different expectation for what it was, and got something different - it ended up being a better package than what I had originally wanted, a bit of a happy accident. When I first started studying astrology in-depth, I had bought the book "The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need" by Joanna Martine Woolfolk, and expected that this book would follow a similar format. Instead, what I got was a very complexly and wonderfully descriptive book on the history of Hellenistic Astrology, and why things are determined a certain way. I thought it would follow the same format. For example, "This sign represents these themes, these placements represent this, this calculation is going to do this." It's way more in-depth than that. This is a textbook. This is way more in-depth than that format. Now, with all that in mind, I do have some critiques (which are FAR fewer than the positives of this book). One thing that I would say about this book is that Chris goes into EXCRUCIATING detail as to why he uses certain terminology, and why he says certain things. This is more of a two-sided coin; it has both benefits and downsides. For one, this is good, because he highly communicative on why he says certain things to ensure there is minimal confusion. The drawback of this is that You will often find that there can be paragraphs of him reiterating "due to x reason, I will be using this terminology". On its own, I don't consider that to be a bad thing. However, there is the added feature of the fact that Chris uses very advanced vocabulary (not referring to astrological vocabulary. Referring to general vocabulary that someone without a dictionary on-hand may have trouble breaking down) on top of explaining in sentence after sentence why he uses certain words within astrological vernacular. It can feel a little bit redundant, and if You are anything like me and have a short attention span, You can find Yourself spending more time than usual dissecting a sentence or paragraph that may be time consuming (at least I know that was the case for me). Don't get me wrong, I am just as guilty of this myself, as I do the same thing when I describe things and have a relatively similar communication style. But to a typical reader who is trying to understand astrology for the first time, this can be a challenge. Maybe it's a necessary feature of the book, and Chris weighed the pros and cons of his thorough descriptions prior to writing this, and decided his approach was the lesser of two evils. If that's the case, I can understand this. But my only critique would be to try to trim down the more advanced words and make the sentences more concise without compromising the info stated in the book, if at all possible. My advice to the reader is this - if You are studying astrology for the first time, I still recommend this book...but I don't recommend this as a first book. I would recommend following the journey of books in the following order: 1) "The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need" by Joanna Martine Woolfolk (as a caveat, this Astrologer *mostly* follows modern astrology, and starting with this book will require the cognitive flexibility to learn what the book teaches, and be willing to unlearn *some* of the info as Your knowledge progresses - three steps forward, one step back) 2) "Ancient Astrology In Theory And Practice" by Demetra George (Volume I and II) 3) "Hellenistic Astrology" By Chris Brennan Following this order will ensure that You go from easiest to hardest. Astrology requires constant and gradual learning, as well as patience. So much of the mainstream view of astrology has given us a watered-down and hard to take seriously perspective by astrology-skeptics. It truly is more complex than what the majority of people understand about it. But perseverance and slow learning will be Your best friend. All this is to say, this book deserves all the 5-Starts I have given it, and more. It is an excellent tool in the tool-belt of anyone who truly wants to learn, and is a book that I don't regret investing in with all the critiques in mind. I will recommend this to anyone who truly wants to advance their knowledge, and is definitely an excellent tool to use in tandem with his podcast. Happy studying celestial scholars!

I was a professional astrologer for many years, and had already retired when I started hearing about Chris Brennan’s work. My interest in ancient astrological texts had begun with the brilliant opus of Project Hindsight in the 1990s, which I wholeheartedly supported; but it was Chris Brennan, over a decade later, who reawakened my passion for astrology. I eventually enrolled in Chris’ online Hellenistic Astrology course, and what a wonderful decision that was; now, a distillation of that wealth of knowledge is available to a wide readership. With this comprehensive text, incorporating the history, theory, philosophy and practice of Hellenistic astrology, Chris Brennan has proffered a gift to students and scholars across many disciplines. Each chapter is informed by his focused attention to detail, erudition, respect for nuance, and enlightened approach to ancient traditions. Physically, the book is large but not unwieldy, even at nearly 700 pages. Its slightly oversized format and generous margins make it a pleasure to read, as one doesn’t need to keep one’s hand on a page or set a heavy object on the book in order to keep it open – this is quite helpful for referencing the book while looking at one’s own chart files. Fonts are easily readable, even for my older eyes. Paper quality is excellent, and the lovely cover has a pleasing suedelike texture. The book includes numerous examples of modern charts viewed through a Hellenistic lens, enabling the reader to appreciate the timeless value of ancient techniques. Many clear diagrams and tables are included, and there is a generous index. As a student in Chris’ online classroom, I have been exposed to much of the material here and can vouch for its alignment with the character and content of the course; at the same time, he has streamlined the text to make it easy to explore. The philosophy and history sections go into even greater detail than was possible in early iterations the course. Chris’ prose is at once precise and accessible. He is a skillful communicator, so the reader will have no difficulty in understanding the whys and wherefores behind the whats. I highly recommend this book to serious students of astrology (and related historical disciplines) who wish to broaden their horizons, and at the same time deepen their understanding of this ancient and ageless field.

This book was extremely informative and a thorough review of ancient Hellenistic Astrology. If you’ve never studied Astrology, you *might* be able to make it through this book, but I suggest first building a foundation (at least signs, planets, aspects, houses, etc). The author *does* go over all of this… but, for me, it would have been tough to continue through the book with active comprehension without all the basics thoroughly memorized. I’ve been actively studying Astrology for the past two years (a lot of which has consisted of listening to Chris Brennan’s podcast/YouTube!) and even with that, the book was a heavy (yet fascinating!) read. I appreciated his writing style— the book reads as though he’s sitting in front of you, talking to you. The example charts are helpful as well. Chris, if you read this review, just want to say thank you for all the work you do! You are a natural teacher and (from where I sit!), a brilliant Astrologer. Awesome job on this book (available in fine bookstores everywhere!)— I can’t even begin to imagine all the hours of work and research that went into writing it! Thank you so much, and please never stop!

Incredible book I have re-read multiple times. It's more like a textbook but very practical. Love it and highly recommend for anyone interested in learning everything about Hellenistic Astrology. Essential resource I look back to all the time.

I bought this book to better understand Hellenistic astrology techniques. This book is huge and intimidating. I recommend reading it once you have a good understanding of astrology and are proficient at reading charts or you will be lost. There are quite a few techniques in the book that I have found helpful in chart analysis. The author uses both examples he has pulled from ancient texts as well as his own experiences to teach and showcase the usefulness of the techniques. You won't see a whole lot of psychological astrology in this book. By that I mean there is not a lot of emphasis on what the signs mean or how planets act in each of the signs. There is much more emphasis on sign dignity and house placement, which highlights whether the planets will act positively or negatively and what areas of life they will effect. That being said, you can certainly combine these techniques with psychological astrology techniques to gain a deeper understanding of the chart and its implications. Another place this book really shines are the time lord techniques. Most astrologers call this transits, but these techniques take into account more than just the movements of the planets. Some of these techniques help you gather even more information about how things may happen while others actually help you clean things up by helping you better understand which transits are gong to be more important right now. Jupiter may have more influence for someone this year, and perhaps Mars or Saturn next year. That kind of info can really help you prioritize the topics of a reading, especially if doing a transits reading for a whole year. I do want to give a warning. The author has made it clear that the techniques in this book are not tried and true yet as they are still being tested. That said, many of them have been being tested by astrologers for years now, and many of them work quite well. Some of the techniques are a bit ambiguous as they came from ancient and translated texts. The author did what he could to give you enough to put them into practice and see how they work. I definitely recommend you buy this book when you are ready for it.

This book will be looked at as a foundational text for generations to come. It is written in the formal, instructional style of a textbook with citations and references. The scope of the book is wide-ranging and comprehensive, and each item gets a thorough treatment. The depth and detail are extraordinary. This book is not geared toward the casual astrology fan; it is meant to serve as a historical compilation as well as thorough text. It is written such that it can take the reader from pure novice to studied hobbyist, but it would be more easily consumed by those with some foundational knowledge. Reading this book was and is a pleasure, and it is highly recommended for the scholarly-minded astrologer or hobbyist.

One of the most important Astrology books written

I am always full of far reaching questions and this book is loaded with great info that I’ve been curious about. Chris Brennan is the man.