By Robert P. Blaschke
Earthwalk School of Astrology, P.O. Box 341, Lake Oswego, OR 97034 (505-635-1261); This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 6" x 9", perfect bind, gloss softcover, 133 pages. $14.95. ISBN: 0-9668978-0-3

Reading this book is like going back in a time capsule to perhaps the most exciting period in the history of astrology prior to the last quarter of this century. Right in the beginning, the author lets you know that his concepts have been heavily influenced by both Alan Leo and Charles E.O. Carter. This immediately caught my attention, for like so many modern-day astrologers, these two pioneers had a heavy influence on my own early astrological training. I loved going into the old musty astrology bookstores and finding the gems that these two wrote. I was enamored with their old English writing style, as well as their abilities to forecast and delineate via astrological principles. I remember thinking that I couldn't wait for the day when I could learn just a fraction of what these gentleman imparted in their works.

Not only does Blaschke re-visit these old masters, but he also writes in a style that is very similar. Reading thus becomes like re-discovering an old friend: it is both solid and comfortable. But it is even more than that, for Blaschke specifically focuses on just a couple of forecasting techniques of these two grand astrologers, and then takes off on his own unique interpretation of the importance of these techniques. Like Carter and Leo, Blaschke's material is not a light read. It is heavy, but it is also very substantial in its value. With this book, you will go slowly, because it will take time to digest the significance of what hen is saying. And significant it is - or perhaps a better word to describe this book would be "powerful."

The basic concept of this book - the first in a series to be published - is that not all transits and progressions are created equally. In fact, all forecasting must go back to the source, which is the natal chart itself. If it's not there to start with, then a particular progression or transit to a natal planet will likely have minimal effect. In fact, for maximum effect, one needs a combination of progressions and transits going on simultaneously that involve the same planets (or depositors or rulerships) that show up as aspects in the natal chart.

Most of today's astrologers might think that is simple, but there is one very important difference. Blaschke uses not only the commonly practiced secondary progressions, but also the tertiary and minor progressions, which are far less familiar to today's astrologers. In Blaschke's view, the minor progressions correlate with the causal, or mental plane. These then tie into the tertiary progressions, which correspond to the astral or emotional plane. Finally, these energies then continue to evolve through the secondary progressions, which represent the physical body. Just as the different progressions are dependent upon different time frames (related to planetary movements between Earth, Sun, and Moon), so too do these developments unfold in the same time sequence proportions in one's life.

The gist of this concept is that very meaningful changes unfold in one's life when combinations of these progressions occur, involving principles that are inherent in the natal chart, which are then re-enacted with transits.

At first I thought this cannot occur too frequently in an individual's life. I mean, we are mostly concerned with reading secondary progressions or major transits to planets and angles in one's chart, and that seems quite enough. But maybe this is not quite correct. After all, not all aspects between progressions and natal planets also show up between those same tow natal planets. Furthermore, not all major transits to natal planets also find those same two planets present in the natal chart. So wouldn't Blaschke's (or Leo's or Carter's) concept occur very infrequently? Well, no. Especially not if you include minor and tertiary progressions, which happen much more frequently than only secondary progressions.

Like most reviewers who understand this material, I immediately set out to see if any of these time periods occurred with anything significant in my own life. I decided to see if my daughter's wedding would show up. She is to be married June 25, 1999. Uranus rules my fifth house of children, is currently transiting through my fifth house, and currently transiting in sextile to my natal Mercury (ruling planet). OK, not bad from a "normal" perspective. Natally, my Mercury opposes Uranus. Still OK, whether normal or via Blaschke technique. However, most astrologers wouldn't think Uranus as a transit would necessarily correspond to marriage of a daughter (well, yes, it is freedom of responsibility???? as a parent, but she is already quite independently well-off on her own). But then here comes Blaschke's suggestion: look at the tertiary and minor progressions. So I did, and lo and behold, there is tertiary progressed Jupiter exactly conjunct my natal Sun, with tertiary progressed Moon exactly square (Jupiter disposes my natal Mercury, which is where we started). Furthermore, at the time of the wedding, there is minor progressed Mercury right back to where it was natally - in Sagittarius, opposed the natal Uranus. It turns out minor progressed Neptune is exactly trine the natal Uranus and minor progressed Mercury, and Neptune rules my 7th house. Every principle Blaschke described for an important life event was there, in every study: it was there in the natal, secondary progression, tertiary progression, minor progression, and transits - and all involving the same natal principle ruling the fifth house of children!

I'm impressed. Thank you, Mr. Blaschke. I always appreciate an enlightening insight, and you just provided one. If you are a serious astrology student who is looking for something beyond the white bread and butter of much of today's astrology, I would highly recommend you read - and apply - this new book on a classic method of astrological forecasting. It's powerful stuff.