Spiritual Astrology: Your Personal Path to Self-Fulfillment by Jan Spiller and Karen McCoy. Fireside, 1988.
This is a wonderful book which Maya recommended to me many years ago. The 488-page volume is divided into three parts. Part one was published in 1985; two more volumes were added and it was published again in 1988. This is a fine beginner astrology text for the interested layperson.
Part one covers the planets, signs, and houses of an astrology chart and was written by Jan Spiller. Part two covers prenatal eclipses and is written by both Jan Spiller and Karen McCoy. Part three, also, written by both authors, is composed of mathematical tables and helps the reader find the signs in which the planets and eclipses are located.
The spiritual aspect of the book deals with the theory that the incarnating soul chooses the birth time in order to accomplish personal potential and self-completion. The birth chart is a map of this purpose. For the person able to read and interpret the map, the life journey becomes a treasure hunt that in the end fulfills the personal potential of the soul and prepares it to return to Source and prepare for another round in the Evolutionary University (should it and Source choose to do so).
In the signs and planets section, Spiller shows the planet in both the static and dynamic state. When one is in a "static state" one is encountering resistance in the environment or in the self. In the dynamic state, one is flowing in harmony with the personal and environmental energies. The soul is never perfectly in one or the other state all of the time.
Part two is definitely where the meat is in this text. This section deals with the prenatal eclipses and the soul's life path and destiny. It deals with solar and lunar eclipses and posits that the prenatal eclipse pattern will follow the soul throughout life. The solar eclipse determines your responsibility to the collective whole and the lunar energy indicates the qualities you need to integrate for personal balance.
The authors state that to fully integrate the solar eclipse one must also understand the lunar eclipse in the same sign. I must say that when I experimented with this in my own chart, I found it to be uncanny in its accuracy. It appears that even though the lunar eclipse has no direct bearing on the native, it does permeate the solar eclipse on a deep psychological level.
For truth seekers on any level this seemingly simple text offers fertile ground for exploration and expansion, and I especially recommend it for the beginning astrologer.
