Liz Greene

Liz Greene has an admirable knack for sewing everything together (mythology, psychology and factual information) into a beautifully coherent tapestry for hapless Neptunians like me. It delves into several mythologies that help the reader to gain a helpful ancient cultural context AND links this to our current cultural Neptunian tendencies (our obsession with movie stars and musicians, who in turn also get themselves into tragic situations or drugs)

It's one of the few astrology books that show more handles a planetary archetype very well, because it actually defines what Neptune "feels" like to the reader, instead of pelting the poor reader with vague descriptions of suffering, incarceration, addiction and insanity that incites this equally vague anxiety for the heavily Neptunian (read: highly sympathetic but also very emotional door mat). Though I did see "self-immolation" bandied about more than a few times.

Screw it. Everyone should read this book - not just for those into astrology. Maybe read an astrology intro first, then dive into this. It's for anyone who wants to understand why these seemingly helpless people behave as they do. Sure, we Neptunians can't help ourselves, but we can do some hella magic with smoke and mirrors... show less

This book contains the transcripts of two seminars on psychological defenses as seen in the natal chart. The first seminar, "The Psychology of Defences and Their Astrological Significators," starts with an introduction to Freud's oral, anal, and Oedipal defenses, as well as disassociation. Greene correlates these defenses to the four elements and looks at how each sign has its own approach to "its" defense. In the second seminar, "Saturn and Chiron as Defence Mechanisms," Greene looks at the show more similarities and differences in how these two planets show deprivation and wounding in our lives, and how we use them to try to protect ourselves from further pain.

Generally I enjoy reading Greene's seminar transcripts and this was another fascinating read for me. It was a change of pace to see astrology through a Freudian lens rather than a Jungian one (Greene acknowledges that most psychological astrologers take a Jungian approach, but says that Freud did more work with defense mechanisms.) I had put off reading this book for a while because I thought the topic might be a bit heavy—"How to see how defensive and neurotic you are through your natal chart!"—but Greene states early on that defenses are a healthy part of the psyche and can stimulate creative responses to the challenges we face. Only when a defense mechanism becomes destructive may it need to be worked with. While I learned a lot from both seminars, I thought the material on Chiron was especially useful; Greene explained Chiron's function in a way that finally makes sense to me. Although I agree with her that many people will be uncomfortable that Chiron's myth isn't pretty, the wound isn't justly received, and—possibly hardest of all to accept—it cannot be healed.

A fine book and worth the read if you can find a copy. It's out of print in paper and at this writing, the used book prices are astronomical, but it's also available as an e-book. show less

This is less an actual book, and more like bite sized bits of astrology scattered here and there. She makes interesting elaborations on squares and oppositions, the outer planets, the effects of Saturn coming into conjunction with them, and the 'fated' paths of people who possess strong outer planet contacts to their inner ones.

Some predictions are also made here (by both the audience and Liz herself) with the national charts of the UK, USA and Russia which is fascinating, especially when show more viewed in the light of recent global and political events. show less

This is a collection of three transcribed seminars on the theme of mental illness and astrology: "The Psychopath" (2001), "Sanity and Madness" (2000), and "The Scapegoat" (1999). Greene doesn't go into actual psychology all that much in any of these seminars, so even though they're about fifteen years old at this point and the psychological understanding of these conditions has changed, the astrology is still usable. I found all three seminars to be easy to understand without having studied show more psychology. As with other lectures in the CPA Seminar Series, a basic understanding of astrology is assumed; astrological beginners may find a lot of this going over their heads.

I found "The Psychopath" the most interesting to read, although I hope it's the one with the least potential use in my life. Greene looks at the charts of several killers, looking for commonalities in their charts, as well as answers as to why some people are psychopaths and others, with similar charts, are not. "Sanity and Madness" is more practically useful for ideas about how to look at someone's chart. Greene covers a number of explanations for mental illness. I found her point that our mental illnesses fit our charts fascinating. She's not saying that anyone is fated to go mad, but that if they do have a mental illness, it's likely to fit their chart. I didn't find "The Scapegoat" as gripping as the other two seminars, and it didn't take me long to grow bored with the discussion of the scapegoat archetype. Once past that, though, it got more interesting. Greene shows how many people fall into victim or persecutor roles, both as individuals and at the community or national levels.

I had a few problems with the book. Being a set of transcripts, even edited, the organization of the information is looser than in regular textbooks. It's a lot more readable than a standard textbook, but harder to look things up in afterwards. Although I'm not a professional astrologer myself, I would have liked to have seen more discussion on how to work with mentally ill clients, even if that discussion was basically Point them towards mental health professionals and then step away. Also, I got irritated with Greene's disparaging comments on political correctness, even when she gave examples that I agreed with. But even allowing for the possibly outdated psychology, this is an excellent look at the astrology of an uncomfortable subject, and I recommend it. show less