Linda ("Moonrabbit") Zlotnick and Della Kurzer-Zlotnick have written a fascinating book on using astrology as tool for the bereaved.
Please note that this book assumes a firm and foundational knowledge, understanding, and practise with casting, reading, and understanding astrology charts. Readers seeking a step-by-step or introductory text to casting and reading charts will need to seek out other resources – provided in the Resources section of this book – as this book is aimed more towards practised professionals. That being said, even as someone who still considers themselves very much a newbie at chart casting and reading, I enjoyed the death positive approach of this book, and the kindness, respect and deep empathy the authors clearly have for their clients.
Linda Zlotnick writes from the very personal perspective of having lost her twin sister to cancer, and how she has come to see that astrology, and specifically charting the death of a beloved person in your life, can provide insights and healing while navigating loss.
Death Charts uses Placidus houses and mean Nodes as that is how Zlotnick learned from her mentors, and she finds through her fifty years of practise that these work well. There are three key charts that Zlotnick looks at, in some depth, throughout the book: the client’s birth chart, the departed person’s death chart (based on the date and time of death), and the bi-wheel chart which shows the client’s natal chart (in the centre ring) and the departed’s death chart (on the outside ring) with focus on eclipses and outer planet transits to “approach the deeper, more transformative elements of the person’s loss.”
Zlotnick quite helpfully, and openly, offers up her own natal chart, her sister Lou Ann’s death chart, and their combined bi-wheel chart as examples and then explains some of the history of Lou Ann’s illness, death, and the various planetary happenings at around that time and how these can be read and understood as relates to moving on from the physical plane.
As someone who has volunteered in hospice, and spent hours with patients reading to them, watching game shows together, sitting quietly, and spending time with their family members, I was deeply moved by Zlotnick’s willingness to write about her own experience, and her forthright kindness in dealing with a sensitive subject that so many folks find deeply uncomfortable, and even morbid, in plain language.
The stages of loss, coping mechanisms, recovery, and an entire chapter on how someone might work with bereaved folks looking for comfort, answers, and understanding are all written clearly and kindly. While the book may not be for those new to casting and reading charts in general, this definitely is a book for those wanting to work with the bereaved, perhaps for the first time.
Most of the book is taken up with interpreting the charts, along with helpful sample charts taken from Zlotnick’s direct experience with clients (with names changed for privacy). Each chapter cover eclipses, and the planets Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (which I still, in my heart, consider a planet even if the IAU no longer does). Also included are Ceres, and Chiron – and all have examples of all three charts for the reader to look over and follow.
As previously mentioned, there is a Resources section at the end of the book that has several recommendations on books and websites for beginner’s astrology, grief, near-death experiences, and psychic and intuitive development.
In all, whether a practised astrologer, or someone wanting to learn about the possibilities of working with the bereaved at some point, this book is lovely and informative and would be a great addition to any library.
~review by Mara McTavish
Authors: Linda Zlotnick, Della Kurzer-Zlotnick
Publisher: Moonrabbit Press, 2026
Pp.: 194, $24.99 USD
