Knot of Time

I have travelled with this book over countless oceans and many mountains. I have a first edition, bought in Bristol around 1988. It is an old friend, the pages are torn, I highlighted parts that seem applicable to myself and to the people around me. It encouraged me to look more deeply, supported a greater awareness and understanding of and empowered me to act in places I shyed away from. This would be the book that I would take away to my desert island. Everytime I read a section, I learn something else. It is insightful, wise, true, intelligent and inspiring. It has been in my keep for nearly 20 years.

The Knot of Time is subtitled: Astrology and the Female Experience but I think it transcends that implied limitation. The writing is universal in tone although the writers defer to the feminine pronouns. Authors Lindsay River and Sally Gillespie discuss Astrology as "not only a science for the study of planetary movements but also an art of interpretation and a philosophy, a system of understanding both the cosmos and the individual self." The book contains separate chapters on astrological theory, history, and the planets, signs and houses and ends with aspects and synthesis. References are included at the end of each chapter and there is a great bibliography at the end of the book that could keep you busy reading for a couple of years. Also included (one of my favorite things to see in a reference book) is an index.One of the things I like personally about this book is that the writers have really explored the historical nature of the astrological language to give you more than the cookbook descriptions that others provide. In Virgo, they discuss the mythology of Demeter, Hygeia and the Virgin Mary. In Scorpio, they review the mythology of Pluto and Inanna. The use of myth and poetic imagery really helps one to understand the energy inherent in the astrological symbols rather than trying to distill a personality typology from a sign. The authors describe the Taurean personality as, "Touched by the warm sensuality of the flower Goddess, and those born in this astrological month have some of her easy grace and luxurious delight in the physical." "Luxurious Taurus can be lazy, but there is another side of her personality: committed, persevering and determined... Others who are less practical often dismiss her as materialistic, but fail to understand that decisions about money are a way for her to make important choices about what she does value and provide her with a path to self-knowledge."