Marcia Starck

Well. I think I would actually have given this two and a half stars, were that option open.

The good things: this covers a little mentioned area of astrology, medical astrology, and attempts to do so in a comprehensive way.

The bad things: the coverage is perhaps too comprehensive, or, more, Marcia Starck takes a scattered approach, and feels she must include bits on use of cell salts, various other holistic or alternative medical methods, whole chapters on various sorts of ailments. And more.

(of course some of that is good, who does't want whole chapters on heart problems or drug addiction?).

She relies on a fairly standard old school reading of various aspects in the natal chart (by which I should be a raging addict myself, ah, Neptune).

The level of astrological knowledge required is fairly advanced; this is not for the beginning student. Some of her medical suggestions have, shall we say, fallen away since the writing of this book.

And yet..there are interesting moments indeed. It just felt kind of like explanations after the fact (as when you have a bunch of clients who have suffered something and you search their charts for something that is common amongst them, but you have to stretch a lot. "well, it could be Pluto, or perhaps some Scorpio transit, or possibly the 8th house". And it could indeed be right).

So..overall, a good first step, and maybe someone will take this exploration further.… (meer)

Disappointing, and too one-sided in its approach. I felt like there was too much emphasis on "that time of month" and other body changes rather than on the whole woman. We are more than just a sum of our parts.

The cover stated: Cross-cultural Rites of Passage. It was not so much sweepingly cross-cultural than just Native American + Neopagan.

There was a lot of information in the book which while not explicitly UNTRUE, definitely didn't tell the whole story. For example, in the first chapter it states, "The Pentacle is a symbol that designates membership in a coven". This may be true for some covens, but certainly not all of them, or even a vast majority. Also, it makes it sound like that is the only purpose of a pentacle, when that is certainly not the case.… (meer)