I really want to get into astrology and know about it as much as you do(you really inspire me) but I don't know where to start. and after the basics, where do I learn the more complex stuff? thanks
Aaaaaahh your kindness inspires me!!! And I’m so glad you’re so interested in astrology!I am going to assume that by “the basics” you mean the definitions of the planets, signs, and houses, and probably also what a planet in a house means and a planet in a sign and so on. So I’ll assume that by “more complex stuff” you mean aspects and/or major aspect patterns, interceptions, duplications, asteroid stuff, progressions, transits, draconic charts, etc etc. OK, so. I’ll be honest. I learned mostly from Google. In the early stages of my learning, I was looking to bloggers to answer my questions, but I couldn’t find anyone who knew a lot of the complex stuff and would give me the in-depth answers I wanted, to I just googled the cheese out of it. I’m talking clicking every article for 10+ pages on one topic. Now, I admit one can learn an awful lot that way, but it is not exactly efficient, and I certainly want to give you more direction than I got. So, here is a brief set of references that can help you learn astrology more efficiently than I did. 1. Astrology books. The internet has a lot of stuff on it, but I have never found more information than when I have paid for it. There are a lot of astrology books on amazon, but I honestly found the most books in a sort of hippie-shop in a city near me called the Dancing Moon. If you have a hippie-shop near you, definitely check it out. Also, used book stores sometimes have interesting collections of astro books. A few books that I have and enjoy:
Astrology of the Moon by Amy Herring–talks about moon signs and houses as well as progressed moon signs and houses, really helped me out concerning progressions
Astrology, Karma, and Transformation by Stephen Arroyo–really in-depth look at the outer planets, karma and reincarnation in the birth chart
The Book of Pluto by Steven Forrest–REALLY in-depth look at Pluto
I don’t have many astrology books because books are expensive and astrology books are not easy for me to find, but I adore the books I do have, and they make it a lot easier for me to learn (as I get distracted easily on the computer)2. Websites made for learning astrology. To be honest, I don’t use these much, so I don’t really know if they go as in-depth as I assume, but you may find them helpful.
http://www.bobmarksastrologer.com/TOClessons.htm –I do actually use this one. Lotta stuff here, a must see and use.
http://www.learnastrologyfree.com/
http://www.thedarkpixieastrology.com/free-astrology-courses.html–you have to subscribe to access these, I think, but the stuff they e-mail you is also, interesting, so
https://astrolibrary.org/ –this has a lot of really great (and free!) resources. The blog is interesting, there are free ebooks, and lessons! The lessons don’t get too complicated (I think) but the rest is fantastic.
http://theastrologydictionary.com/ –handy for learning a wide variety of terms.
3. Websites and articles. There are particular websites I return to frequently, because I find them so helpful. I bookmark a LOT of things, and I keep those bookmarks organized for easy reference.Here are a few sites that help me:
http://astrofix.net/ –this is GREAT for studying aspects because it uses short phrases to explain how a planets energy works with another planets energy. There is also a series of posts on Nodes and rulers of houses in houses which is really great. Hover over the “Explore” button to navigate to these.
http://surrealspotlight.blogspot.com/search/label/astrology –this blog no longer updates, but it has a lot of really interesting posts discussing things well beyond planet in house/sign.
http://wordsforthepeople.com/site-map/ –Scroll down to “Articles” and “Blog” and you will see a list of complex and often spiritual astro topics, many of which regard transits.
http://wordsforthepeople.com/site-map/ –I like this one less, but it does have some interesting articles. More transit stuff, among other things.
http://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article_topic.php?article_topic=Astrology –These articles are short, but so specific and interesting, I love them.
https://skywriter.wordpress.com/ –another that talks a lot about transits (there are a lot of sites about these) but if you dig into her blog you can find some other stuff, too, specifically about how to calculate your dominant planet (without using astro.com) and a discussion of stelliums and alpha planets.
http://www.healwithastrology.com/blog/ –so this is a little more basic but it is great because it offers advice. Like, legitimate advice that I have found very helpful, not just “You’re an Aries (sun), so try to keep your cool” but very spiritual and meaningful advice. the links on the side labelled 2nd house, 12th house, moon signs, and sun through the houses are most relevant.
http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/ohmystars/astrology/ –more interesting articles on astrology, some of which regard current events and transits. I originally found this because I was looking for more info on yods, and it gave a different perspective than most other sites (most sites say “yods are great, they speak of untold power!” and one blogger on this site write something along the lines of “yeah, yods can be great, but they are so awkward to work with because in order to make those aspects the planets have to be in signs that don’t work well together”
http://feeds.ezinearticles.com/category/Arts-and-Entertainment:Astrology.xml –this has a bit of numerology riddled in, but a decent amount of neat astro articles
http://pegasusastrology.com/articles –a few articles from a tumblr blogger I follow. I really enjoyed the draconic astrology one and the “Discovering the themes in your chart” one.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/31151867/2204105-Pluto-Sign-House-Aspect –ok so I linked you to a very specific and possibly “basic” article about Pluto here, but I love it so much I had to include it. I honestly have no idea how to navigate the main site, Scribd, and sometimes when I click on stuff it says I have to be a member to view the whole document and sometimes it doesn’t, but this article and many of the “suggested” articles to the side and at the bottom are unrestricted and quite fun to read.
http://teachmeastrology.com/midpoint-calculator/#47 – this is a midpoint calculator. Midpoints are something I am only just getting into, so I can’t say much, but it tells you all your midpoints and has short descriptions of them. A good place to begin, I guess.
http://astromatrix.org/ –has descriptions of all the transit and natal aspects. Handy reference.
http://astro-charts.com/--handy for spotting major aspect patterns in a chart, as the computer does it for you. However, astro.com makes more accurate charts, and astro-charts isn’t perfect when it comes to spotting aspect patterns–for example, I have a stellium, five planets in a house, and it didn’t catch it. So this is helpful, but make sure to do some work yourself as well to be certain.
4. Bloggers and forums. There are lots of places where you can talk to other people about astrology. I have never used any forums myself, but I do read some forum posts for reference. I do talk to plenty of tumblr bloggers, though.
http://www.linda-goodman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/Ultimate.cgi –this forum comes up a lot when I search really specific placements.
Here are a few blogs that usually go beyond planets in signs/houses–unfortunately I haven’t found many.
http://transcendicalprosperity.tumblr.com/
http://astrologyandlife.tumblr.com/
weirdastrologicalcoincidences.tumblr.com
http://astr-logy.tumblr.com/ (okay so this is still a lot of planets in signs/houses stuff but they post some really interesting stuff so I’m listing it anyways)
http://starseedastrology.tumblr.com/
5. Google will always be your friend. As will I! Asking either of us questions is always a pretty decent way to find stuff out. Aaaannd that wasn’t as brief as I thought it would be. Oh well. Probably a good thing. I hope this helps!