Planets in Youth

Book excerpt: For the first time, in Planets in Youth, a major astrologer looks at children and childhood. Robert Hand, one of the leading proponents of the psychological approach to astrology, in his definition of childhood, says, "What the child appears to be as a child is not very important. It may be fascinating to have an astrologer correctly describe a child's apparent personality, but it is not useful. It is much more important to view the child as a developing adult, to consider the kind of adult likely to arise out of the child's apparent personality...Many persons whose childhoods were miserable have ultimately been very happy and self-fulfilled. The reverse is also true, and every other combination of miserable or happy childhood and adulthood as well. The view of the child as an adult in the process of becoming is the orientation that this books takes." Parents will welcome this book and use it to help their children learn to cope with the complexities of modern life. Readers of all ages will use it to understand their own patterns of early development. The first four chapters define the roles of mother and father, explain the effects of various planetary energy systems and discuss the meaning of elements and crosses in a child's chart. Hand analyzes the charts of three children, including Judy Garland and Shirley Temple, to illustrate the astrological principles and psychological insights set forth in his intriguing study of personality development. The major part of the book consists of delineations of horoscope factors, written with young people in mind. Every planet in every sign, house and major aspect, as well as every rising sign, is interpreted in about three hundred words that stress possibilities rather than certainties. Book jacket.