The Book of Pluto

Rating:
Summary: Illuminating astro-psychological look at life&transformation
Review: "Let's go get stoned...or drunk. Or watch television until we're bleary eyed blobs of protoplasm. Or eat, or work, or exercise until no human feelings are left. Or, if our denial mechanisms require the apperance of nobility, fast or meditate or maintain a yogic posture until we achieve the same state. Or read self-help books until we have reduced ourselves to a flurry of concepts and insights dancing around the top three inches of our skulls...

Extinguishing consciousness is easy; generating it is difficult..."

"Pure religion and pure psychology both fail miserably at such junctures. We need something that embraces both. In practice, except among 'fundamentalists' of either category, ministers and psychotherapists often play roles that blur into one another. The same can be said, in my opinion, for any counseling astrologer who's worth a nickel."

"...what do we mean by the word feminine? Easy, just ask Betty Crocker: "'Feminine' means emotional, nurturing, non-linear, creative...the same old traditional stereotyping that truly modern women (and men!) have been battling since long before Beatles roamed the earth...Sometimes, especially among Jungian thinkers, this old notion is dressed up in more sophisticated garb...

"There is in the human psyche a very real syndrome of interrelated, "transrational" qualities. That is a psychological fact. But in my opinion it is past time we stopped poisoning and confusing ourselves by calling them "feminine" and began calling them by their name: LUNAR traits... To be human is to access both the solar and the lunar aspects of our common humanity, and to experience their eternal cross-pollination."

"Where PLUTO lies in the birth chart, we are particularly vulnerable to distortions and navigational errors based on un- processed wounding [life] experiences...if you are pretending to be happy in your job, your friendships, relationships, religion, whatever, a Pluto...event will try to reveal that to you...what if a ...person makes a less than optimal response? The basic Plutonian contract is simple to say: you go to the dark or the dark comes to you..."

"No one has ever been, or can ever expect to be, nurtured perfectly. Parents are only human. Communities are flawed. The Shadow makes itself felt sooner or later in every life...on one hand, there is a temptation to say, "So quit your whining!" But so easily that can generate into denial and avoidance... On the other hand, there is the toxic-psychologist's exhortation that we reduce our lives to a resentful meditation upon our wounds. And given life's richness and brevity, isn't that a foolish waste?"

from Steven Forrest, THE BOOK OF PLUTO

For anyone intuitively saddened and subsequently turned off by the perceived stereotypes and actual limitations of both the disciplines of psychology and astrology, this alchemical book, combining the profound and cleansing essences of both in simple terms, will steer you down a very interesting and enlightening path. We "know" that astrology is much more than the sun signs you read in the newspaper or magazines. We "know", ironically enough, that many of the secular patron saints of many a religious conservative have been well known to use and follow the advice of professional astrologers (Ronald and Nancy Reagan immediately come to mind). But do you really believe that there is something you can be truly taught by this discipline, beyond how popular it can make you among progressive or artistic friends when you bring it up?

If you already do, you will get even more out of this book than you currently would think. Steven Forrest's approach is one that combines some of the essential ideas of modern psychology--Jungian and Freudian--with the metaphysical wisdom of the ancient and modern astrologer (and some of his own silly sense of humor) into a book that teaches you as much about yourself as it does the methods, overarching purpose and intrinsic, trans-cultural social value of this often maligned, millenia-old science/art form. If you have ever felt that the fundamentals of psychological perspectives on the human mind and heart and the astrological perspectives on the human soul are inherently antagonistic (and show themselves to be such when assessing the meaning and imapct of the same events of a human life) THE BOOK OF PLUTO will provide you with the synthesis you need to appreciate--and be healed-by both.

This book is easy to read, and very valuable. I did not find it antagonistic to religion either. I advise people to read his work in tandem with your own astrological chart, and the work of psychologist Alice Miller, to free yourself in ways you did not know you could be freed.

Rating:
Summary: Illuminating astro-psychological look at life&transformation
Review: "Let's go get stoned...or drunk. Or watch television until we're bleary eyed blobs of protoplasm. Or eat, or work, or exercise until no human feelings are left. Or, if our denial mechanisms require the apperance of nobility, fast or meditate or maintain a yogic posture until we achieve the same state. Or read self-help books until we have reduced ourselves to a flurry of concepts and insights dancing around the top three inches of our skulls...

Extinguishing consciousness is easy; generating it is difficult..."

"Pure religion and pure psychology both fail miserably at such junctures. We need something that embraces both. In practice, except among 'fundamentalists' of either category, ministers and psychotherapists often play roles that blur into one another. The same can be said, in my opinion, for any counseling astrologer who's worth a nickel."

"...what do we mean by the word feminine? Easy, just ask Betty Crocker: "'Feminine' means emotional, nurturing, non-linear, creative...the same old traditional stereotyping that truly modern women (and men!) have been battling since long before Beatles roamed the earth...Sometimes, especially among Jungian thinkers, this old notion is dressed up in more sophisticated garb...

"There is in the human psyche a very real syndrome of interrelated, "transrational" qualities. That is a psychological fact. But in my opinion it is past time we stopped poisoning and confusing ourselves by calling them "feminine" and began calling them by their name: LUNAR traits... To be human is to access both the solar and the lunar aspects of our common humanity, and to experience their eternal cross-pollination."

"Where PLUTO lies in the birth chart, we are particularly vulnerable to distortions and navigational errors based on un- processed wounding [life] experiences...if you are pretending to be happy in your job, your friendships, relationships, religion, whatever, a Pluto...event will try to reveal that to you...what if a ...person makes a less than optimal response? The basic Plutonian contract is simple to say: you go to the dark or the dark comes to you..."

"No one has ever been, or can ever expect to be, nurtured perfectly. Parents are only human. Communities are flawed. The Shadow makes itself felt sooner or later in every life...on one hand, there is a temptation to say, "So quit your whining!" But so easily that can generate into denial and avoidance... On the other hand, there is the toxic-psychologist's exhortation that we reduce our lives to a resentful meditation upon our wounds. And given life's richness and brevity, isn't that a foolish waste?"

from Steven Forrest, THE BOOK OF PLUTO

For anyone intuitively saddened and subsequently turned off by the perceived stereotypes and actual limitations of both the disciplines of psychology and astrology, this alchemical book, combining the profound and cleansing essences of both in simple terms, will steer you down a very interesting and enlightening path. We "know" that astrology is much more than the sun signs you read in the newspaper or magazines. We "know", ironically enough, that many of the secular patron saints of many a religious conservative have been well known to use and follow the advice of professional astrologers (Ronald and Nancy Reagan immediately come to mind). But do you really believe that there is something you can be truly taught by this discipline, beyond how popular it can make you among progressive or artistic friends when you bring it up?

If you already do, you will get even more out of this book than you currently would think. Steven Forrest's approach is one that combines some of the essential ideas of modern psychology--Jungian and Freudian--with the metaphysical wisdom of the ancient and modern astrologer (and some of his own silly sense of humor) into a book that teaches you as much about yourself as it does the methods, overarching purpose and intrinsic, trans-cultural social value of this often maligned, millenia-old science/art form. If you have ever felt that the fundamentals of psychological perspectives on the human mind and heart and the astrological perspectives on the human soul are inherently antagonistic (and show themselves to be such when assessing the meaning and imapct of the same events of a human life) THE BOOK OF PLUTO will provide you with the synthesis you need to appreciate--and be healed-by both.

This book is easy to read, and very valuable. I did not find it antagonistic to religion either. I advise people to read his work in tandem with your own astrological chart, and the work of psychologist Alice Miller, to free yourself in ways you did not know you could be freed.

Rating:
Summary: Forrest is a rare precious commodity
Review: Steve Forrest is one of the few people I would recommend to both utter astrology novices and advanced astrologgers alike. He writes very intelligently, but can phrase his ideas in very simple, earthy language. It's definitely not for the uptight and prudish.
Make sure you read his "Parable of the beer can."

Rating:
Summary: Forrest is a rare precious commodity
Review: Steve Forrest is one of the few people I would recommend to both utter astrology novices and advanced astrologgers alike. He writes very intelligently, but can phrase his ideas in very simple, earthy language. It's definitely not for the uptight and prudish.
Make sure you read his "Parable of the beer can."

Rating:
Summary: Great work on a difficult planet to understand
Review: Steven Forrest's work on Pluto in the natal chart is a truly great work that is also incredibly useful. He introduces the beginning and advanced to the notion of the planet and astrological concepts in the chart. He infuses his own humor, charm and love of humanity throughout the book, which allows you to believe that he is there with you, as a guardian angel, as you are walking through the depths of Hades. This allows the reader to keep looking with an unflinching eye at some touchy and difficult-to-face topics in the beginning. He introduces Pluto by house, sign, and by aspect in separate chapters which are outstandingly clear and profound. He also deals with the transits and progressions . This is a book for people who want more than a cookie-cutter interpretation of their charts; the author asks that you use your imagination and your heart. It's a truly inspirational and illuminating book by a great teacher of psychological astrology, and a book I often keep going back to!

Rating:
Summary: Great work on a difficult planet to understand
Review: Steven Forrest's work on Pluto in the natal chart is a truly great work that is also incredibly useful. He introduces the beginning and advanced to the notion of the planet and astrological concepts in the chart. He infuses his own humor, charm and love of humanity throughout the book, which allows you to believe that he is there with you, as a guardian angel, as you are walking through the depths of Hades. This allows the reader to keep looking with an unflinching eye at some touchy and difficult-to-face topics in the beginning. He introduces Pluto by house, sign, and by aspect in separate chapters which are outstandingly clear and profound. He also deals with the transits and progressions . This is a book for people who want more than a cookie-cutter interpretation of their charts; the author asks that you use your imagination and your heart. It's a truly inspirational and illuminating book by a great teacher of psychological astrology, and a book I often keep going back to!