Book excerpt: In much the same way in which he characterized planets and asteroids as powerful, gendered beings in Inside Planets, Ellias Lonsdale gives new depth and nuance to degree analysis, an area often seen as technical or reduced to cliche. The degree symbols are most useful in elaborating a personal birth chart. One can learn about personal cycles from studying the place of a transiting or progressed planet by degree at a given time, revealing collective as well as personal timings. The Zodiac degrees also act as an oracle. One can open the collection anywhere for a given day, or in response to a question. The degrees will reveal what is happening now and, if we are attentive and responsive to the cues, what is required of us. By comparing charts of friends and famous people who are known for certain qualities, one can gradually discriminate among the degrees. These beautifully written and fully imagined readings of the Chandra degree symbols speak to a deep level of personal change and authenticity.