Book Review

Practical Astrology for Witches and Pagans: Using the Planets and the Stars for Effective Spellwork, Rituals and Magickal Work

by Ivo Dominguez Jr

216 pages

For all you workers of magick who have avoided digging into astrology because it is so darn complicated, hesitate no longer! Ivo Dominguez, Jr. has created a very practical, basic and down-to-earth reference book that I, a practicing astrologer, find chock full of useful information. I am also a beginning user of magick and have started weaving astrology into that practice. This book has really opened my eyes to all the ways to work with the energy of the heavens outside of the parameters of the birth chart.

Dominguez makes a wonderful analogy in the introduction: although astrology can be a life time study, it is quite possible to learn enough of it to be useful without spending years doing so. After all, you do not need to be a physicist to be able to use math in order to function in daily life; you only need to know enough to balance a checkbook, pay bills and calculate a tip! Practical Astrology for Witches and Pagans gives you all that you need to use astrology in a magickal practice, and more, without being confusing or providing unnecessary information. The basics are well covered: symbology and magickal uses of the glyphs and bindglyphs; how the signs relate to time and cycles; the spectrum of duality in opposing signs; polarity; mutability; elemental correspondences and esoteric meanings of aspects. Dominguez’ overview of the planets and signs is brief but inclusive; for the houses he provides both mundane and magickal associations.

The Astrology of Time chapter is one of my favorites. Dominguez lays out planetary hours with their rulerships, the creation story contained in the Qabalistic Tree of Life and the Star of Time. He provides a useful graphic to illustrate each of these. He also presents three useful techniques for advancing an individual’s birth chart over the course of a year or a life to examine themes of that life during various time periods. There is much useful information here for both an astrologer and a witch!

The Magick Square chapter is my other favorite. I was not aware of this technique before reading this book. The origin of the technique is not clear, according to Dominquez, but it is as old as 650 BCE. He says: “The Squares show the underlying unity of numbers and letters with the powers of creation. In them we see concentrated essences arranged in a grid that symbolically shows the interplay between the forces and forms that make up the manifest universe. There is a square for each of the 7 ancient planets, which Dominquez includes in the Appendices. He explains how to make sigils using these squares specific to your working. He also proposes suggestions for working with the squares in other ways, all of which I plan to try!

The Appendices contain several useful charts I frequently use including planetary dignities and rulerships, the Magickal Squares, and house and sign correspondences.

If you are a practitioner of magick and want to dip your toe into the vast ocean of information that is astrology, you need this book! If you are an astrologer and want to explore magickal workings with astrology, you need this book! I highly recommend it.

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About the Author:

Susan Rossi is a Practitioner and Teacher of Shamanic Arts. She is a long-time explorer of The Mysteries – the connections between mind, body, spirit and how to live in right relationship to all of the energies streaming through the cosmos. She works with clients as an astrologer, coach, ceremonialist and guide to the wisdom that each of us has the capacity to access. Her focus is on guiding clients to unblock and rediscover their inner wisdom. Art, exploration of the birth chart, ceremony, legacy writing, hypnotherapy, energetic healing practice and creation of sacred tools are integral pieces of her practice.

Susan trained in Soul Level Astrology with master astrologer Mark Borax. She delights in exploring with individuals the planetary pattern under which their soul choose to incarnate.

Susan Rossi

Open Channel Astrology www.openchannelastrology.com

Flying to the Heart www.flyingtotheheart.com