Thanks to this book, I realized that I have been neglecting a key element in astrology after all these years. How can one exclude one of the most important planets in our solar system, and the one known for life - Earth? I have read MANY astrology books over the years and this is the first one that made me literally slap myself in the head. Chrissie Blaze recounts the traditional planetary objects, i.e. Saturn, Mercury, and even Pluto, and she goes even further in bringing into light the lesser known ones such as Chiron. She breaks down the connection between the planets and our astrological signs, aiding in the interpretation of birth charts. I can admit that after reading her descriptions, a few questions I had concerning my own birth chart have been cleared up. If you are just beginning your universal journey into the stars, then I definitely recommend her book as she describes things into laymen's terms providing a guidebook.

Is Earth really the missing planet in Astrology?

I think that in order for me to explain Chrissie Blaze’s ideas and thoughts in this book, it might me best for me to quote her opening sentences. “An important change that is now taking place is a greater urge towards an all-encompassing spirituality: one that is not necessarily related to a particular religion but is a worldview of Oneness and Truth. The seeds for this spiritual renaissance also began at the waning of the last Age and the waxing of this current Age.”

It is from this view, an esoteric, spiritual view, that Chrissie Blaze has written this book arguing that astrology has for eons left out the importance that planet Earth plays in our astrological charts. It had me looking up my chart and seeing whether, by placing Earth on the chart, I would gain more understanding. By following what she says I have Sun in Leo and Earth in Aquarius. Both masculine Fixed signs. Earth in Aquarius is a Fixed sign of the Air element and Sun in Leo is a Fixed Fire sign. Possibly, this explains the reason I’m constantly having tussles in my brain between two very rigid opposite elements: Fire and Air! (and yes, I’m being facetious but just maybe it does help to explain the constant war in my mind).

By adding Earth to my chart, I find that as it falls in third house – “I Communicate”. Again, with Aquarius, it does show parts of my personality to which I can relate. However, knowing the other aspects of my chart makes me less inclined to accept that by adding Earth, I might discover new, earth-shattering explanations for what I have already learnt in astrology.

I’m not sure if Chrissie Blaze has convinced me that, when building a chart, we should also look at the influence that planet Earth will play in it. I think that a lot more research will need to be done on the subject before all astrologers will accept its role. However, it has made me think and I will certainly be paying close attention to this subject in the future.

One thing I do agree on with her wholeheartedly is the change we’re going through in our spirituality. Religions and faiths seem to be encompassing a far less rigid approach which in turn, is allowing us all to reach a far better understanding of life in general.

Treebeard

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Although I appreciate the message behind the book - that we need to respect the earth, the writing is a bit flowery and over the top for me. I think a little more down-to-earth language would have been more effective when communicating with the masses, but a good book overall.

Review: EARTH: ASTROLOGY' S MISSING PLANET by Chrissie Blaze

I won't debate the validity or value of Astrology here. What is of prime significance to me in this nonfiction book is the author's tremendous emphasis on the urgency of a change, actually a transformation, in human consciousness and perspective, from selfishness, greed, and plundering of this planet's resources, to a perspective of valuing Spaceship Earth, becoming thoughtful stewards of Earth's resources, and caring for the planet and its populations. I have for some time feared that it may be too late, that the planet may have reached the tipping point. So to read a book like this is encouraging, with its emphasis on science, quantum physics, rational thinking and enlightenment, as well as a conscious determination to evolve, each of us (not devolve).
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The Earth, according to the channelled wisdom if both Madame Blavatsky who founded the theosophical movement and Alice Bailey, whose channelled work also included a special brand of esoteric astrology, is not a sacred planet. At least, not until recently. But according to one of this writer's more current gurus, George King,
who was behind the Atherius Society, since a recent harmonic convergence or whatever, it is now.

So that's all right then.

I am probably not the best person to be reviewing this book, as I never felt comfortable with some of the core precepts that informed astrology as I first encountered it in the late 70's and 80's. I now see that Astrology is becoming more inclusive of many other older and newer systems of thought and some of the more prescriptive interpretive tenets of astrology, are less so.

The idea that the Earth should be included as part of the Blavatsky/Bailey pantheon is actually not new. Christie Blaze seeks to rectify what probably really is a deep imbalance within this particularly world view, where lofty Spirit is polarised and divorced from lowly and inferior Matter, and we all know where that leads.

Whether or not Cartesian, Baconian or Manichaean, the result is the same: only humans possess Consciousness within an inanimate universe devoid of Soul. It is certainly pretty arrogant to suppose the ape species to which we belong is the only species possessing (perhaps absurdly) this peculiar thing called consciousness. Feminine Matter likewise is ripe for exploitation and abuse of all natural resources. So no matter if we drive animals to extinction and pollute our own nest to the point of no return. Kudos to this author for grasping the nettle there. It's time we cleaned up our act before it is too late.

Now for the cook-book part. According to Blaze, the Earth is always in direct opposition to the Earth, so now we can read how we can take part in our own small way in saving the planet. So if if our Sun is in Aries for example, our Earth sign is in Libra and we need to read up on the interpretation on these provided here. My caveat here is that sure Sun and earth are only truly opposite in a heliocentric chart, rather than a geocentric chart, but for the purposes of this book that does not matter. It is another esoteric tenet that each Sign has always contains the seeds of its opposite.

To me, these cookbooks are something of a muchness - you can find similar bestsellers about integrating Sun and Ascendant, Sun with Moon, Sun with North Node, North Node with South Node ad infinitum. You can have plain vanilla pop esotericism, or chocolate and chilli, or avocado latte, or whatever. The ethos is all-time often the same though: overcoming one at the expense of the other, though to be fair to Blaze, this is not the purpose or spirit in which she writes here about Sun and Earth.

Whether or not you subscribe to the Blavatsky or Bailey view, it is certainly less easy to perceive either Earth or Cosmos as purely soulless and mechanical if you are an astrologer. My criticisms therefore lie beyond the scope of what this book has set out to do and what the reader may get out of this, which is that astrology can be a way to recognise that we need to treat both the environment and non-human on the plane of Malkuth with a great deal more respect. It is a matter of survival for all of us.

And of course those who subscribe to the Blavatsky /Bailey school of astrology will love this.