Imagine you were trying to teach spelling to a super precocious elementary schooler whose favorite things are logic puzzles and memorizing every country ever and who can read basically anything
Imagine this child wanted to know WHY words are spelled certain ways as an integral part of the memorizing spelling process. Like an etymology-spelling hybrid program for gifted kids who are only nominally 7 and kind of want to learn Greek and Latin on the side
Does that exist somewhere? Has somebody made that yet? Genuinely asking for a friend. On tumblr. Because that's where all the linguists are obviously.
The Self-Taught Astrologer’s Syllabus: From Foundations to Capstones
This professional-standard curriculum is designed for the student who wants to use Placidus houses without losing the wisdom of the Traditional Revival. It moves from the Alphabet (Foundations) to Syntax (Synthesis), through the Professional Toolkit, into the Deep Roots, and finally to High-Level Capstones (Noel Tyl for the professional practitioner; Richard Tarnas for the astrological philosopher).
This path bridges the gap: it masters the psychological nuance of Placidus without sacrificing the technical precision of the Tradition.
This curriculum also has a focus on the Tarot as it corresponds to astrology
(see ELECTIVES, bottom of the syllabus.)
*Titles with asterisks are not especially meant to be read cover-to-cover.
PHASE 1: Foundations (The Alphabet)
• NCGR-PAA Official Study Guide (Workbook for technical tracking)
• *Current Year's Llewellyn's Daily Planetary Guide (Real-time observation)
• The Only Way to Learn Astrology Vol. 1 – March & McEvers
• *Keywords for Astrology – Banzhaf & Haebler
• *Astrological Keywords – Manly P. Hall
• The Twelve Houses – Howard Sasportas (Essential for Placidus/Quadrant logic)
• *Aspects in Astrology – Sue Tompkins
• What Evangeline Adams Knew – Karen Christino (Historical Placidus application)
• *Chart Interpretation Handbook – Stephen Arroyo (The elemental energy)
• The Inner Sky – Steven Forrest (Narrative/Evolutionary context)
• The Luminaries: The Psychology of the Sun and Moon in the Horoscope – Liz Greene & Howard Sasportas (Deep-dive into psychological weight of core triad & charting identity)
• Getting to the Heart of Your Chart – Frank Clifford (Priority and diagnostic triage)
• The Art of Chart Interpretation – Tracy Marks (The assembly manual)
PHASE 3: The Professional Toolkit (Advanced Placidus Technicals)
• The Lunar Nodes: Your Key to Excellent Chart Interpretation – Judith Hill
• *Lunar Shadows III: The Predictive Power of Moon Phases & Eclipses – Dietrech Pessin (Crucial for predictive timing)
• *The Combination of Stellar Influences – Reinhold Ebertin (Midpoint theory)
• Medical Astrology – Judith Hill
• Astrocartography – Clarisse Monahan
PHASE 4: The Traditional Roots (Deep History & Theory)
DISCLAIMER- the student will be learning a different operational language in this phase from its predecessors.
• The Houses: Temples of the Sky – Deborah Houlding
• Ancient Astrology in Theory and Practice Vol. 1 & 2 – Demetra George
• Astrology and the Authentic Self – Demetra George
• Christian Astrology Vol. 1, 2, & 3 – William Lilly (Foundational Traditional logic)
• Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune – Chris Brennan
PHASE 5: Dynamics (Relationships & Timing)
• *Planets in Transit – Robert Hand
• *Planets in Solar Returns – Mary Fortier Shea
• Predictive Astrology: Tools to Forecast Your Life – Bernadette Brady
• *Planets in Synastry – E.W. Neville
• *Planets in Composite – Robert Hand
PHASE 6: High-Level Capstones (Philosophy & Advanced Skill)
DISCLAIMER- At the mastery level, professional astrologers frequently disagree on methodology. The goal of this phase is not to merge these conflicting ideologies, but to understand their distinct frameworks and finalize your own clinical approach.
• The Horary Textbook – John Frawley (Strict traditional application, the Ultimate Test of Rule-Following)
• Pluto: The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul Vol. 1 – Jeff Green
• Planetary Cycles: Mundane Astrology – Andre Barbault
• Cosmos and Psyche – Richard Tarnas (The cultural/historical overview)
• The New Complete Book of Chart Rectification – Carol Tebbs (The final technical test)
• Synthesis & Counseling in Astrology – Noel Tyl (The definitive Placidus masterclass)
THE PRACTICUM (Self-Mastery Habits)
Reading alone will not make you an astrologer; you must complete the lab work.
•The Daily Transit Ledger: Track the daily moon sign and major planetary aspects in a physical notebook, noting real-world events that correlate.
•The Case Study Archive: Begin building a database of 50-100 birth charts (friends, family, historical figures, celebrities).
Practice running the technical analysis of specific birth chart bearings, house cusp rulers, and exact aspect degrees to see how the math manifests in reality.
•Blind Chart Reading: By Phase 3, pull a random chart from Astro-Databank without looking at the person's name or biography.
Spend one hour interpreting it, then reveal the identity to check your accuracy.
PARALLEL TRACK : Divinatory Cross-Training (ELECTIVES)
Tarot is deeply entwined with astrological symbology (specifically Golden Dawn associations), but learning both from scratch simultaneously can cause burnout.; tackle these alongside Phase 2 or 3, once the core astrological alphabet is memorized.
•The Complete Guide to Tarot and Astrology – Louise Edington
•78 Degrees of Wisdom – Rachel Pollack
•*Holistic Tarot – Benebell Wen
A biology textbook used in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province described Darwin’s theory of evolution as “one of the most unbelievable and irrational claims in history.”
