The Astrology of Family Dynamics

by Erin Sullivan

Erin Sullivan's latest book is a breakthrough both in astrology and psychology. "The Astrology of Family Dynamics" makes for gripping reading and shows us that astrology is the only system that demonstrates the complexities of the family as an organicwhole, the family's place in the collective, and the role an individual plays in carrying on the ancestral line. Sullivan writes with compassion and accuracy, weaving together various methods of analyzing and working with individuals and their families.

Genres: Astrology, Nonfiction

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Erin Sullivan is a Senior Lecturer at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, where she works on the experience of emotion in and through Shakespeare's plays. She is the author of Beyond Melancholy: Sadness and Selfhood in Renaissance England (2016), and the co-editor of The Renaissance of Emotion: Understanding Affect in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries (2015) and Shakespeare on the Global Stage: Performance and Festivity in the Olympic Year (2015). She is currently working on a book about digital technology and Shakespearean performance.

Reviews

[Neelam Kapadia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book for understanding your crazy 'family'(especially true for the 'spicy space cadet' 'Uranian' ones!!)
'Missing elements in families' explains how we attract to compensate for our lack.(A lone 'fire type' in an 'earthy'family, sadly knows the joke only too well!)Its almost a game for the reader to identify who plays the 'catalyst', 'mediator', or a the 'black sheep in the family'.
It gets deeply serious when she talks about the water houses.
Any fourth house dominant would just 'know' 'whats in the blood'.The nuggets of self awareness to be found here will satisfy everyone who has begun a diet of rich introspection.If 'Individuation' be the prized 'Oz',then the mantra of going to and fro to our family base ,is the yellow brick path to it.
This book encourages looking at systems (be it any organization, network or family) in a 'holistic' manner.Anyone who 'thinks' by linking the object to its whole or an individual to an organization/family will have found a goldmine of insights.
For me the single greatest gift is the emphasis on 'context' in evaluating the individual.The value of doing that in a 'family' is priceless. Truly,each part says something about its whole.Old hat for counselors I am sure!!

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Family dynamics as reflected in natal charts have fascinated me for decades; this is the first book I have found that discusses this theme in detail. It is best read with access to, perhaps, your own family charts (that's how I did it) and an online place like astro.com that gives you the option to run synastry patterns or other things as you read. It does assume a bit more than basic astro knowledge, but wouldn't be too daunting to a clever astrological novice. At least I don't think so.

[Serina Arlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its fun if you like case histories. There are certainly many chunks of wisdom and insight here into families, ancestry and how it looks in the chart, but it is also long and drawn out and kind of disorganized and repetitive. I am glad this book exists, but I also encourage the universe to manifest many more books on this topic that will perhaps be less tedious.

[Zlatina Dimova · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best astrology books I have ever read. Describes the deep connection in family dynamics and how we inherit and repeat aspects in our natal chart from our ancestors. I started reading it at a time when I was researching my own family tree, then in summer school one of the tracks was exactly the same theme Family and immediately after that I was learning about it in my Modules. So fascinating. Erin sadly passed away this year, but she left a great legacy with her work.

[Teodora Gheorghe · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best astrology books ever written, especially if you want to dig deeper...into your family karma/dynamics/patterns. Erin Sullivan offers fresh, eye(&soul)-opening perspectives on the astrological houses and the aspects between planets and how they can be interpreted in the context of family dynamics. Our ancestors left us important clues in the water houses (not only the 4th but also the 8th and 12th). The book also includes valuable case studies.

I also "dig" the creepy photo on the cover - because, well... family secrets and traumas are often kinda creepy :))