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Review: a new book on the dwarf planets

Sue Kientz’s new book, More Plutos, is an encyclopedic volume of (some of) the ongoing discoveries of objects in the Kuiper Belt: “Pluto’s pals” — Eris, Makemake, Haumea, Sedna, Quaoar, Orcus, Varuna, and more.

All of the Dwarf Planets under investigation herein, except for the tiny TX, are larger than Pallas, the second largest asteroid. The author makes a case that size does matter and she has found specific themes for many of these new bodies that she elucidates in her book.

Kientz suggests that these newly found Dwarf Planets are “the real Trans-Neptunians,” that is, actual bodies in space that Alfred Witte might have intuited when he described the hypothetical planets (e.g., Admetos, Vulcanus, Appollon, etc.) in the early 20th century.

Perhaps it might sound odd until you see what she is up to, but the author’s goal is to simplify astrology. She recounts that Kepler was focused on aspects — not signs or houses — an approach that she takes by tracing specific patterns and repeating themes with a whole new set of bodies.

She is a widely-read researcher and acknowledges the work of others, which allows the reader to place her discoveries within the context of what has previously been written.

She tells the stories of the discoveries and namings of the dwarf planets, i.e., planetoids. Rather than relying exclusively on the myths connected to the new bodies’ names, or speculating on what their respective (often eccentric) orbits may reveal, Kientz’s work is based on observing the planetoids’ placements in many, many charts. (Before describing a profile for Makemake, for instance, she studied 1,200 charts of events and people over the course of seven years.)

Only sometimes has she found the myth associated with the name to be congruent with her observations, which are drawn from many different spheres — events, arts and culture, biographies, etc. — over a long range of time. The earliest event I found is a speculative date for the death of King Tutankhamun (January 1, 1323 BCE); the latest is the deliberate crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 on March 20.

The book, which contains a massive amount of research and ideas that are new to many astrologers, is very well designed and clearly laid out, with extensive footnotes for each chapter and an Index. Her chart graphics are unique, but are very easy to follow once you see what she’s doing.

Another very helpful feature is her inclusion of many key phrases, followed by chart examples, for each body under discussion. Here are some examples of this shorthand:

Makemake:  No One Saw It Coming, They Got Away with It for Awhile
Eris: The Discomforting Other, Eris in the Arts, Eris Behaving Badly and Well
Varuna: To Tell the Truth, Out and Out Liars
Haumea: Boom Goes the Dynamite, Pluto and Haumea, A Love Story
Orcus: Celebrity Obsession, Putting Things in Order

The author uses transits and secondary progressions in her many examples of well-known events (including crimes and shocking events) and great successes and setbacks in individuals’ lives. Her research throughout is based on noting “milestone” events (and birth and death) in any chart, whether it is the chart of an event or a person.

Along this line of thinking, one of the examples Kientz relates is the milestone event in U.S. history of JFK’s assassination. She traces the patterns of the key dwarf planets by progressing the Kennedy death chart to future (e.g., Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon, 911, etc.) and past (e.g., Pearl Harbor) milestone events in the U.S.

Her demonstrations of progressing and regressing charts (to “pre-birth milestones”) are fascinating. In a section on the death of King Tut mentioned above (“Charge Up the Super-Wayback Machine”), she looks at significant placements for the day that his tomb was opened — November 26, 1922 — and further dates in King Tut’s lifetime.

Throughout the book, Sue Kientz weaves the notion that astrology is based on fractals and is close to being recognized as having a scientific basis.

She is an entertaining and accessible writer with a sense of humor. This book has countless ideas and observations that you won’t find anywhere else. I have barely traced the content in this very creative astrologer’s book. It is describing another order of astrology. If you are curious, More Plutos offers a very comprehensive guide to the Kuiper Belt objects.

The book is available from moreplutos.com ($29.95) where you can also read samples of some of her previously published essays.

3 Comments

  1. I have to get the book! I am very strong in those energies!

  2. Fascinating! I look forward to seeing this book.

  3. Fascinating how thing are “in the air”…synchronicity
    In Holland a book about the plutoids was published in November 2014, written by Saskia van Vliet, published by Hajefa


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