Astrological Keywords: Signs of the Zodiac

Astrology—or more specifically—the art of astrology is being able to use language to describe the mind-boggling glyph graffiti on an astrological chart. Without the right words, those glyphs are meaningless. The portal to the art of astrology is learning keywords for the signs, houses, and planets. Over time, astrologers shift from keywords to delineations, sharing meaningful ideas and concepts with clients at varying levels of sophistication and focus (that depends on the expertise and experience of the astrologer).

The goal or work product of a consulting astrologer is a chart interpretation with meaning that’s relevant and useful for a client. As Munkasey points out in his introduction, keywords are not delineations! Gaining a good grasp of the scope of each sign’s meaning through keywords is the direct route toward mastering astrological delineations, and this book is a helpful tool on that quest. This book is a sequel companion book to Munkasey’s 2018 book House Keywords and More.

Astrological Keywords: Signs of the Zodiac presents a range of keywords and key-ideas or and thematic concepts for all twelve zodiac signs. Words include nouns, adjectives and adverbs.  

Chapter contents are identically organized and nicely formatted for easy reading with a generous font size. Chapters begin a prose section that describes a sign’s Adjective Essence. It’s followed with two sets of word lists: Adjective Themes Grouped; and Adjective Keywords Alphabetically. Then there’s a prose section about a sign’s Noun Essence followed by two sets of word lists: Noun Themes Grouped; and Noun Keywords Alphabetically. A reader can use these features in the book to gain the most out of it as a reference text for exploring any of the Zodiac signs. The end of the book features “An Alphabetical list of all Sign Keyword Themes” (pp 125-156) that collates the noun and adjective lists from all twelve signs.

This book is a reference text rather than a book one reads from cover-to-cover. It certainly will be a useful text for beginning and intermediate astrologers and astrology writers may find it helpful for fleshing out sign descriptions. It certainly gives the reader much to ponder and consider when it comes to the pool of ideas that swirl around each zodiac sign.

~review by Elizabeth Hazel

Author: Michael Munkasey
2022, American Federation of Astrologers (AFA)
156 pg, $24.95