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Sun 22° Sagittarius 13' 33"
Moon 00° Gemini 21' 58"
Mercury 06° Sagittarius 47' 24" 
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Venus 07° Aquarius 27' 11"
Mars 05° Leo 51' 36" 
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Ceres 02° Aquarius 16' 06"
Pallas 05° Capricorn 03' 52"
Juno 13° Scorpio 30' 54"
Vesta 21° Libra 37' 36"
Jupiter 15° Gemini 27' 33" 
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Saturn 13° Pisces 23' 06"
Chiron 19° Aries 07' 19" 
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Uranus 24° Taurus 11' 15" 
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Neptune 27° Pisces 08' 26"
Pluto 00° Aquarius 32' 21"
TrueNode 03° Aries 14' 55" 
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Degrees of the Zodiac - Revised Edition released

2012 is here and in full swing!  I've been recovering from my Pluto transit by working on revising and editing mom's books for their initial release in an eBook format.   It just so happened that the release was on the eve of what would have been mom's 22nd Birthday - She was born on leap day, February 29th 1924.  Happy Birthday, Mom!

I finally found the spark somewhere to get busy and get these books ready to be available again. My neighbor, Lory, has been working on publishing her new Children's book "Mama Crow's Gift" and, while talking to her, I really got inspired to get busy and get these books back out in the world where they belong.  I've been working on updating them for the new millennium and I'm very pleased with the result.

It has really been a satisfying experience to get to work on something so engrossing.  Ironically, I think the Retrograde Mars helped me to settle down, lowering my restless energy enough to focus on this project.  It might have also helped that Neptune moved into Pisces (opposing my Sun). The Neptune/Chiron conjunction just after the Pisces New Moon was the culmination of the effort to gently restructure Mom's first book to bring it up to date for a New Century.

Foreword to the Revised Edition

My mother, Esther Leinbach, wrote this book over 40 years ago, when I was 13 years old. Before this book was even published, she taught me how to set up a horoscope in order to calculate degree positions so that I could use the book on my own. I have been using this book ever since.

This is the first of 5 books that she wrote and it includes the foundations of her personal philosophical approach to both Psychology and Astrology as well as her approach to faith and religion. Her ability to express those concepts evolved over many years and we discussed them at length in our work together. In revising these descriptions, I have relied heavily on those countless conversations.

I have also spent a great deal of time reviewing her writing and research materials. When she began studying Astrology she created a card file containing various typewritten notes and source material. About 1/3 of this collection contains the degree information that she used to write this book. Early on, when there was something I didn't understand, I had the luxury of simply asking her about it. Now, I have her card file which I have used extensively in working on the revisions to this book.

When I read these degrees aloud to a friend or client, I have often dropped a sentence, added a sentence, changed emphasis, changed a word or the gender pronouns and generally sought to clarify the thought or concept that mom was seeking to communicate. I have taken the same approach in revising this work.

In a some cases, the original descriptions have been left virtually intact. In others, after going back to the sources, what seemed to be missing elements within a more current context have been brought forward. In yet other descriptions, the overall structure has been revised, rebuilding the emphasis in order to be more concise in describing the challenges and abilities that are indicated. Some of the so-called “no-hope degrees” have been amended in order to note particular instances we have seen that point to more positive expressions.

Also, almost all gender specific references in the descriptions have been removed. An unusual device has been employed that is intended to remind the reader that these descriptions are not gender specific. It is a universally accepted convention that any general reference to an individual is given as the male pronoun. This convention has been abandoned. For example, an original description would have been written: “A Taurus may be stubborn but he is also patient in pursuing his course”. I have replaced this with: “A Taurus may be stubborn but s/he is also patient in pursuing his/her course”. This may seem cumbersome to read silently or appear a bit cluttered on the printed page. Nevertheless, this device has been useful in reading the descriptions aloud to clients and has been employed in this revision.

Degree influences have often been seen as ethereal and mysterious, relying on symbolism to suggest potential expressions. This book was originally written to bring the symbolism into a descriptive, practically applicable format that can more easily be used in chart interpretation. This approach is psychological rather than symbolic. But the advantage of symbols is that they can be interpreted in the current context directly. When particular references are made to current insights or methods, there is some danger that the descriptions can become outdated. In the original descriptions in this book, it was occasionally pointed out that new expressions are possible as humanity evolves. The revisions that have been made are primarily intended to update the descriptions with a current perspective and incorporate a context or evolutionary perspective that was simply not in place 40 years ago.

2 comments to Degrees of the Zodiac - Revised Edition released

  • Kevin

    Thank you so much for your kind comments!

  • Best Regards
    I am an American Indian keeper of religious ceremonies. I am also a life long student of astrology, now 63 years. Your mom's book, Degrees of the Zodiac, is by far one of the most interesting studies of the sacred circle of life I have ever read. It is a book, a work, that figures into all of my client work in astrology. I begin all of my chart studies with these degrees. Over many years, I have seen how brilliant and clear and wonderful this work is. It is absolutely one of the great treasures of Astrological literature, for all time. I finally got around to searching Google for your mom to get some history on her, as I am giving a presentation to an International astrology conference in Italy this coming weekend, explaining how I use astrology in my ceremonial work with American Indians and other people with whom I do private work....and the book is one of the keys to my system, which I am going to explain at the conference. I would have really liked to know your mom....but I am also very happy to see you continuing her great work....it is pretty great that your mom was this really wonderful astrologer. Please accept my deep and sincere appreciation and admiration for the work of your mom. Many blessings.

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