Seeking free resources to study Astrology

Hi,

I'm new here and I'm trying to learn about Astrology, esp. chart construction. I have almost no money to invest right now, but I'd like to get started (I see that buying all the chart construction/interpretation books such as atlases, a table of houses, ephemerides, etc. + interpretation books such as those by Robert Hand or Stephen Arroyo, can easily run into the hundreds of dollars.) I see that there's a book called the A-Z Horoscope Maker and Delineator...does anyone know if a beginner, like me, could learn to construct a chart from this book? Or does anyone know of free resources on the internet for learning to construct charts?

I've just started to learn to read my daily aspects and I've been reading Dane Gerhart's articles over at Astro.com--she paints such beautiful descriptions, esp. when she brings in fairytale archetypes, making learning easier to remember.

I'd appreciate any advice you might have to share.

Thanks,

Marigold

Time vs money, or time and money?

It costs something to study astrology; both time and money. How you balance the two will depend upon how well and how fast you learn. In the long run, it will take plenty of both. I will offer a few comments:

1) You can avoid having to buy an ephemeris (positions of the planets and sidereal time, etc.), table of houses and other charts, tables and data by using an Internet computing site to calculate your charts. But, having the charts and learning how to do them is two different things. Our use of computer software can cause mistakes to be made. Knowing how to manually cast a chart will most often enable you to see when something isn't right. Knowing all the things required to cast a chart will enable you to do the many types of charts beyond the natal chart --- natal charts are just the first step of very many.

2) You can avoid buying books by A) finding the available books that can be obtained through your library system, B) borrowing books from friends, C) using those Internet sites that have extensive printed resources available. The selections that are quickly available to you will seldom be the best books that you should be studying and which will the best progression through your study plan.

My advice would be to prove to yourself your dedication to learn astrology by doing what is necessary to acquire a limited but stead flow of funds. You can acquire adequate software free online that you can download and use of your own computer. Working this way, you will learn about and trust the charts you can produce. You can also buy all the books you need online through Amazon's used-book affiliates, often paying half price or less. Then, plan on just casting and studying as many charts as you can do. Also, subscribe to magazines like the Mountain Astrologer, buy the popular Astrology magazines at the newstand -- don't worry about the sensational articles, just use the charts in the news section, advice section and lead-story sections as a basis for study.

Finally, find a few good websites where astrologers congregate and discuss topics. Follow those discussions and learn from them. When they come up, note any of the web-sites they talk about and (if you like them) put them in your Internet browser's favorites folder and visit them frequently. Dave

The Mountain Astrologer, Beginner's Series -
http://www.mountainastrologer.com/standards/new_to_astro/new.html

Ephemeris and more -
http://www.khaldea.com/

How impressive! Entire books free online!!! Good books! I've started hanging out at coffee houses/bookstores to read all I can from the magazines, taking notes along the way. And after checking on Amazon, I think I'll be able to afford a set of used books by the end of November, or mid-December.

Thank you both!!!!! : )

These sites have some good information. http://www.bobmarksastrologer.com/TOClessons.htm
http://www.azcentral.com/ent/horoscopes/glossary.html

And at this one you can dowload a (time limited) trial of the software, but it talk you through analysing a chart, so is particularly aimed at beginners.
http://www.world-of-wisdom.com/

If you are going to buy a book, I found The Ultimate Astrologer by Nicholas Campion very good to start with.
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Astr...4303602?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193178644&sr=8-1