Rating: 
Summary: so charming it might make you believe in astrology.
Review: OK,OK, I'm her sister. But that doesn't mean I'm an easy reviewer on this one. (I was thinking of signing in anonymously, as ``a reader in Moscow, Russia, the option helpfully provided by the Amazon-ers.) I believe in Caroline. But I believe in astronomy, not astrology. However, ``Making the Gods Work For You" is both charming and smart. It is full of true things, coming from Caroline's very original observations on current life, and from years of real scholarship. Because the book is typed as astrology rather than folklore or myth or a kind of particularly interesting self-help, it's getting stuck (at least in the places I've been in on the East Coast) in the back of bookstores and it's not being reviewed by the big book sections. Which is a shame. I advise general readers with no particular interest in astrology to slink over to the New Age shelves and take a look at the book with the purple cover. There's none of the usual rigid, irritating predictive astrolo! ! gical stuff -- i.e. you do that all the time because you're a Taurus. Instead the book encourages the reader to pay attention to the rhythms of nature and the cosmos, and to appreciate his or her own mix of qualities, Venusian, Saturnine, whatever. (Also, and no small thing: There's more real wit in here than you'll find in two years of Jay Leno, or six years of David Letterman.)
Rating:
Summary: Suitable for beginners but good for any level astrologer
Review: This book is a delight. Caroline Casey has a degree in semiotics and a marvelous wit, describing planetary energies through anecdotes, myths, and sacred wisdom, all with a light heart, and a reverent irreverence. Perhaps it's best to share a quote. I take this from the section on Uranus: "To grow shiitake mushrooms, one plants the spores in a stick and lets it sit for a year. Then you must strenuously pound the stick to awaken the dormant life within. For the same reason, during midlife and Uranus transits, we get pounded. Like the spores, we are comfortably snoozing when suddenly, "What the...?!" Thump! Thump! Thump! We invoke Uranus by posing the question, "If I feel agitated, restless, or on the brink of a discovery, where in my life do I want lightning to strike?...." If you've got your basics down and want to know more about the planets, or about your transits, this book is such a good choice.
Rating: 
Summary: Beginners' astrology book written in present-day English.
Review: This book is recommended for astrological novices and those with a general interest in metaphysics. Casey manages to put a fresh face on the main components of astrology (signs, houses, aspects; but the majority of the book is devoted to the planets) in present-day english and with a decent sense of humor. Casey incorporates mythology and beliefs from around the world to give her writing a well-rounded and comprehensive feel. She also gives equal time to both the benefic and malefic influences of each of the planets. Those with more than a beginner's level knowledge of astrology will probably be somewhat disappointed with this book, as its focus is on the psychological and spiritual. A well-written chapter with some chart examples would have shown readers the earthly applications of Casey's spiritual concepts, and could have made this book a much-used astrological teaching primer.
Rating: 
Summary: Great introduction to subject matter, no follow through
Review: This is a terrible book! There, I've said it. Very bold words to say in light of all the other rave reviews. I hope I can explain myself... "Making the Gods Work for You" tries tackle more than your basic sun-sign astrology book. It covers your birth chart, which is comprised of all the planets positions relative to your birth time and location. To me this means covering three items:
1) The role and psychology associated with each of the eight other planets, the sun and the moon. 2) The types of astrological interplay. This is a neat way of saying it means something special when three planets align in a triangle, or four planets in a square, or two planets "crossing" each other, and so on.
3) How to determine your own birth chart. As you can guess the book falls down in at least one of these categories for me. The good news is the book excels at the basic explanation of the planets; associated personality types, inner strengths and struggles, etc. Very well written and a quite enjoyable read. The book provides a reference to a website where a free, basic birth chart can be obtained online. However, the book fails utterly at connecting the two. There is no explanation of the meaning behind the planets' relative positions. None. Nada.
Maybe all nine planets were aligned at my birth time. Or they form two perfect squares. Who knows what that means? Not you from reading this book. Of course you _could_ pay money on the website to get this explained... ;-)
Rating:
Summary: Casey updates astrological symbology for the 90's.
Review: What makes this more than a sun-sign summary of astrology is the framework Casey has developed. She draws on classical astrology as well as Jungian thought, Buddhism, and other traditions to synthesize a larger perspective. Also evident is her own practice as an astrologer for many years. She writes from experience here, on several levels, so that her understanding of the planets, houses, and signs is multi-dimensional. she makes clear that astrology is a sequence of psychological and spiritual processes, not trite "predictions." Like alchemy, the metaphors for the earth's laws, astrology is the set of metaphors for the heavens. Casey shows a unified field theory for the world above, and how it manifests in the world here below.
Rating:
Summary: A new way to look at living and your chart
Review: With Saturn as my ruling planet and in a placement in my natal chart that I find rather uncomfortable, I always have found myself living with Saturn as my weakness.
"My Saturn's in my __ th house, sorry I just can't do that task".
Ms. Casey's book offers a new manner of looking at your planets, seeing them not as weaknesses but as opportunities and gives the reader hints on how to find their positive aspects.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who has felt controlled by any part of their chart or boxed in to a corner...or worst yet...forever stuck with what you were given natally.
| 
