From The Astrological Association of Great Britain Journal
Sept/Oct 2012
Review by John Green
Using Astrology to Create a Vocational Profile
Faye Cossar
Flare Publications
As astrologers we often get asked for our advice about particular struggles our clients are going through, love and relationships, health, career, money and so on. Faye has produced a book to tackle the whole arena of career and vocation, and what a book it is. Thought-provoking, fascinating and wonderfully readable, she takes us all through the steps of building up a complete vocational profile (VP) of our client, helping them find the work that suits them best and discovering the difficulties that might stop them getting there.
As she states in her book, Faye is a client-centred astrologer, something we should all strive to be I think, and that shows through in the text. Every step in the creation of the VP involves the client, getting them to write out their biography, to identify their talents and goals and help wake up their passion for an individual life purpose. Throughout the book we are given examples from Faye’s client Jackie, wonderfully expressed in her own words, which allows us to see this process in action with a real person rather than just as a theory presented to us. We explore with the client how to use the Sun and its aspects to find our path, Mars to see how we are driven, Venus our talents, Mercury our communication skills, and so on. It builds up to an extremely complete picture of who we are and what we want from life.
The stumbling blocks that plague us all are not ignored either, with a chapter on Saturn, Chiron and the 12th house that show how we can help our clients find what stops them getting what they want in life and how they can reframe these into something positive that can help them along the way.
Each chapter has useful tables, checklists and diagrams that allow us to follow the process fully and show us how we could use all this information in our own practice. You really cannot fail to appreciate what a valuable tool astrology can be in helping people in this way. The book outlines the process in great detail and includes sections on how to help people of different ages, incorporate the generational planets, help them rewrite their CV, build a website, and above all approach the idea of vocation with greater clarity, self-confidence and purpose.
This isn’t just a book for those wanting to offer this service to their clients, however. Within the pages are many great tips of interpretation, new insights and techniques that we can all use, not just for our clients interested in career but for all clients and for ourselves.
This is normally the part in a review where I give my criticisms, but I don’t have any. It’s a delightful read and a book I know I’m going to come back to and reread without the demands of writing a review of it. I look forward to doing that, and you should look forward to reading it.
John Green