The Living Birth Chart - my new book

I'm delighted to announce the publication of my new book,
The Living Birth Chart

As a preview, I'm publishing a short extract from the book, which is available from today from the APA Book Shop, Amazon and other retailers.

This book is intended as a follow up to The Cosmic Egg Timer, where Richard Llewellyn and I gave an introduction to the Huber Method. Many of the topics covered in The Cosmic Egg Timer are revisited in greater depth, with an emphasis on working practically with the material presented, as well as working in a hands-on way with your own chart.

Here I share my own experience and understanding of this new astrological approach to psychology, based on twenty-seven years experience as an astrological counsellor, teacher, correspondence tutor, training facilitator and Principal Emeritus of the Astrological Psychology Association. The practical exercises and activities suggested for the reader have been tried and tested in live training seminars and workshops, and have brought deeper understanding to the people who have worked through them, together with a lot of insight, enjoyment and laughter, as they learned more about their birth charts and themselves along the way. I’ve included the kind of questions that students ask me about various aspects of the Huber Method, and I’ve aimed to respond in a manner similar to the replies I give when I’m teaching, either in a live session or when I’m tutoring by correspondence.

Astrological psychology was developed in Zurich, Switzerland in the early 1960’s by Swiss astrologers/psychologists Bruno and Louise Huber. Using their extensive understanding of astrology, psychology, the spiritual teachings of Alice Bailey and Roberto Assagioli’s Psychosynthesis, they succeeded in combining the very best of traditional astrology with modern growth psychology. Drawing these threads together, and basing their teaching on their own empirical research, the Huber Method evolved organically and is now used by thousands of practitioners and students of astrological astrology throughout the world. It provides a powerful tool for self-understanding and psychological/spiritual growth which is practical, easy to use and which can yield profound insights for the user.

It’s very clear to me that the best way to learn and understand astrology from a deep level is to make it come alive in ways that we can relate to. It’s all well and good to understand what Mars means on an intellectual level. We have a concept of what kind of energy Mars has, and how it might be expressed. But can you spot Mars in action and for real in your everyday life? Can you observe it at work in yourself and in the behaviour of others? Do you watch a TV programme, film or live interview and see Mars in action in some of the characters? If you can do that, then that’s what I call making your astrology come alive and be tangible and “for real”. When it becomes an integral part of your everyday life, then your astrology lives, and you do too, in a more consciously aware and responsible way.

The key feature of using astrological psychology as a tool for personal growth and self-awareness is that it places taking responsibility for ourselves, our own lives and what goes on in them, very firmly into our hands and our hands alone. It offers us choice, and once we’re aware that we can exercise this in our everyday lives, things are unlikely to ever be the same again. We will be in the driving rather than the passenger seat and the responsibility for which direction we take will be entirely ours.

This is a practical workbook, and the best way to gain the most from it is to work through the exercises using your own chart. The content is not intended as a course in the Huber Method of astrological psychology, but if the reader is already a student of APA they will hopefully find the content a useful supplement to the course material. Readers whose appetite is whetted and who want to know more about APA Courses in Astrological Psychology can click on the link. Courses for both personal interest and professional qualification are offered.

Regardless of whether you are a student or not, it is recommended that you have a notebook or loose leaf file to use alongside this workbook. You will certainly benefit from working on your own chart, and if you have a few other charts to work on - maybe those of family and friends - this will help expand and deepen your experience and understanding of using astrological psychology as well as making the learning journey through this book more interesting, insightful and rewarding.