Ruling Planets: Your Astrological Guide to Life's Ups and Downs

<p>Centuries ago, a king wouldn't think of going to war without first consulting the planets. A physician, upon hearing that a patient had fallen ill, would immediately check the placement of the planets to diagnose the disease and decide how best to treat it.</p><p>Nowadays, people tend to identify with their zodiac sign rather than with their Planet. Each of us is born under a specific Ruling Planet. Your Ruling Planet is your celestial guide, helping you to navigate your way through life and relationships. Unlike zodiac signs, which are static, planets are in <i>constant motion,</i> changing as you change. Here is the first book to draw on this older and more illuminating tradition. In <i>Ruling Planets</i> Christopher Renstrom shows you how your Ruling Planet plays a collaborative role in nearly every decision you make. It's this active partnership between person and Planet that is missing from today's astrology books.</p><p>The book is divided into four parts. Part I contains the tables you'll need to find your Ruling Planet. All you have to know is the day and year you were born. In Part II, you learn about your Planet's characteristics, temperament, and outlook and how you are, in effect, a "Child" of this Planet. Because not everyone was born at the same time, the zodiac sign that your Ruling Planet was in on your birthday will color certain traits. Part III presents a detailed and personalized view of you, along with favorable-and not so favorable -- times of year. Part IV examines how a Child of one Ruling Planet gets along with a Child of another. These entertaining and thought-provoking insights cover the relationship gamut, from love interests to parents to children to colleagues. Want to know if a relationship has romantic possibilities or if you should just be friends? Check and see which <i>Ruling Planets</i> are involved. What do you do if you got off on the wrong foot with your new boss? A quick glance at his or her Ruling Planet can show you how to finesse a setback into an advance. Ruling Planets will give you a fresh and relevant way of looking at the cosmos and your life.</p><p>Lushly illustrated with full-color art and photos throughout, <i>Ruling Planets</i> also presents a visual tour that winds its way through myth, history, and popular culture. You'll see your Planet's influence in everything from church frescoes to ad campaigns. You'll also meet some famous (and even infamous) Children of your Planet who will make you question familiar assumptions while expanding your point of view.</p><p>Whether you are a die-hard astrology fan or an inquisitive skeptic, <i>Ruling Planets</i> will tickle your curiosity and intrigue your imagination. You will return to it again and again, gleaning new information each time.</p>

Christopher Renstrom is a Child of Saturn. And like other children born under this Planet of tests, he has a penchant for choosing the most difficult route from Point A to Point B. Being accepted to the Juilliard School of Drama at the age of 18 should have put him on the fast track to a successful acting career, but after a year of rehearsing freestyle Afro-Cuban dance combinations and reciting Shakespeare with fellow acting students Kevin Spacey, Val Kilmer, Kelly McGillis, and Elizabeth McGovern, he decided that the actor#146;s life was not for him. He wanted to be a playwright (a quixotic endeavor at best) or an astrologer (the only thing perhaps more quixotic than playwriting.) Luckily Mr. Renstrom has always believed that what#146;s important isn#146;t so much the destination as all the things that happen to you along the way. And in true Child of Saturn fashion, he persevered until obstacles eventually became stepping-stones.

Mr. Renstrom was fortunate to train under a principal disciple of the famous strologer Zoltan Mason. After years of intense study he set up practice in 1985. He has worked as a full-time astrologer since. Mr. Renstrom has read for a variety of clients in just about every conceivable situation. He has read horoscopes on ocean liners, in boardrooms, at award ceremonies and hospital rooms. He has fielded questions ranging from the typical about love and money to the atypical like #147;is this a good time for us to go public?#148; and #147;will my military coup be successful?#148; Being an astrologer in New York City has enriched Mr. Renstrom by introducing him to people from all walks of life. For example a Hasidic housewife in Brooklyn does not see the world in the same way as the CEO of a global corporation. Making astrology accessible in diverse contexts is a skill that Mr. Renstrom has refined over time.

It#146;s this conversational style that has made his astrology columns for Allure magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle (where he replaced Jeanne Dixon), SFGate.com, and the international Renstrom#146;s Horoscopes (available on cell phones and other wireless carriers courtesy of nGame) such a success. Mr. Renstrom has appeared a number of times on Good Morning New York and MSNBC. Also a playwright, four of Mr. Renstrom#146;s five plays have been produced Off Off Broadway. Ruling Planets is his first book.