iVillage

From this point forward, we are ready to begin looking at the actual nuts and bolts of Tibetan astrology. I have introduced you about all I can. It is time to work with the actual content itself.
There is no right or wrong order in how to approach this material. I have tried to arrange it so that some of the main concepts and techniques are presented first, but it is really up to you. Of course, everyone knows about the twelve animal signs, and you may want to know what the element-animal combination for the year you were born is, like: ‘Year of the ??’

While it can be read sequentially and this works pretty well that way, a better approach might be to browse the table of contents for something that interests you and check that out.

Some sections are very general, while others offer step-by-step calculation methods. If you are just browsing, you may want to skip over the more technical stuff.

Where possible, I have included AstroImage cards and illustrations to make things more visible. Many of the designs are based on age-old descriptions, while others are modern interpretations of whatever verbal descriptions I could find.

I am not a practicing Tibetan astrologer. Rather, I am someone trained in Western astrology who is studying the Tibetan methods and trying to make sense out of them. Although I have learned to read the Tibetan script, I am not fluent (or confident) enough to do my own translations. There is very little written in English on this topic, and unfortunately one of the main published books on the subject is filled with errors. At this very beginning stage of bring Tibetan astrological methods to the West, I guess errors and misunderstandings should be expected. We are all learning. It is my wish that this book be of some use and help to make this fascinating subject sensible to more readers.