Spiritual Books


Astrology


The Book of the Eclipse

The Hidden Influences of Eclipses
David Ovason
1999 Arrow Books
ISBN 0 09 94 0063 0
pp.282

This book is one that I have been looking at and meaning to cover for some time. Purely a review, this is a good one for those who really want to understand the deeper aspects of astrology. Looking at how eclipses basic and fixed stars interact to create a persons destiny. To use this book you need a degree of understanding of basic astrology, but if you do have this you will get a lot out of it.

Split into two parts, one with the basic information and one around how it is applied to charts of famous people, it allows us to look at the process and application. In looking at eclipses and fixed stars it allows an insight that the main areas of astrology look at, looking at what makes people great and how the higher cosmic levels influence us. This allows an extra insight into what influences peoples lives, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Cosmic energies do influence our lives, this showing how and why.

For this reason this book is a valuable insight to look further at what can be learned from a horoscope, and the factors not usually considered in the astrology that we see everyday. For this reason I recommend this book to those that really want to learn about astrology as well as those that want to learn about their lives in a meaningful way.

Khel'Shen Akh'HonKyshera Du'Skhall Kre'Mashen Arkhense

Runes

The Complete Illustrated Guide to Runes

Nigel Pennick
Element Books 1999
ISBN 1 86204 100 8
pp. 192

As the name suggests, The Complete Illustrated Guide to Runes is a basic guide to the world of runes, their history and their use. This is a book I have a well used copy of – So well used I had to reinforce the book with tape. I have many other, more advanced rune books, but I will still go back to this one, time and time again. Even now, among other uses I use it to still check spellings on rune names and terms in writing for both my website among other things.

It is very much a beginners book, which makes it ideal as a first book to get when you get your first set of runes. It has a section on how to make your own runes, or your own basic runic talismans, but in reality like me we all tend to buy our first set then get fascinated with them. With sections on the history and mythology of the runes as well, this can provide a grounding for beginners in the lore as well as they use of runes. It has clear detailed sections on how to read runes, good, clear definitions of the seven major sets of runes out there. This is the Elder Futhark, The Younger Futhark, The Anglo Saxon and Northumbrian Futhorks, the Gothic Runes, and the Armanen Runes (Though the way the Anglo Saxon Futhork and the Northumbrian Futhrok is set out is a little confusing without an independent Rune chart). Despite this, especially if you are using the Elder Futhark or Younger Futhark, it is a good primer and reference for a beginner, or someone who just discovered runes.

If you wish to start learning to read and work with the runes, I recommend that you read the book through a few times, take in the illustrations and get a feel for your set of runes at the same time as reading the definitions. This will will ground you for the first time that you try to use them, even if you do still need to use the book as a primer. However,, It is still useful at a more advanced stage as well for a quick reference guide, a research book and as I tend to use it as well – A spell checker for relevant terms when I am proofreading my writing. Even for having handy when doing readings for those not familiar with the runes, it is a great book to have on hand in case the person you are reading for wants to understand more on the rune and why it came up in the reading. For this reason I think it is a must have for well, anybody using and working with runes.