Brady's Book of Fixed Stars

Most readers are aware of sun signs and the significance of zodiacal constellations, yet the importance of fixed stars, especially those outside the ecliptic (the plane through which the planets travel), is often overlooked in contemporary astrology. Brady has returned to the art's origins, reviving the ancient meanings ascribed to individual stars in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Fixed stars add their own influences to a person's horoscope (sometimes subtly, sometimes with drastic changes) through "paran" relationships with the planets. A star and planet are paran when they simultaneously occupy certain positions in the sky. Brady has accomplished the daunting task of charting the rising, culmination, and setting of 176 stars. She has researched their mythology in several cultures, and offers an interpretation of how each of the stars can affect a horoscope. While figuring paran relationships can be done with good computer software, such programs do not offer the rich history and revealing interpretations found in Brady's Book of Fixed Stars, and there is also something to be said for consulting charts and the nostalgia of old-fashioned, hands-on astrology. --Brian Patterson