You never forget your first love. But sometimes, if you wait long enough, love that better suits your growth comes along.

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by Natori Moore, C.A. NCGR

This great new edition of the classic red midnight American Ephemeris packs many goodies into its shiny red-orange package. It feels good in the hand, for one thing, and it includes a full crop of planetary positions for the years 2000 through 2100, programmed by Rique Pottenger based on the earlier work of Neil Michelsen. Mr. Pottenger has rewritten the original Michelsen computer generating program to a great extent, adding additional calculation capabilities such as same-day double ingresses and improved calculation details. This new American Ephemeris edition upholds the original work's standards for astronomical accuracy on which both technical and intuitive types of astrologers have come to rely. It also includes Neil Michelsen's birth chart and warm remembrances of Neil by members of the astrological community. Best of all, the latest edition of the American Ephemeris reflects the growth of world consciousness since the issue of the first edition 30 years ago by adding the newly promoted dwarf planet Ceres (now astronomically equal in status to Pluto) to the slate of positions of the planets and lights given for each calendar day.

As I see it, this addition of Ceres to the American Ephemeris planetary lineup is monumentally momentous. It's as big as Elizabeth Taylor being carried aloft on her chaise lounge in Cleopatra; it's as big as the Virgin Mary gaining official status in the eyes of the Catholic Church. It's as important as Vivien Leigh pulling the last carrot on Tara out of the parched earth in Gone with the Wind and saying she will never go hungry again. Thanks to the new Michelsen ephemeris, published by Maria Kay Simms and her staff at Starcrafts Publishing, there's no longer any need for the world to go hungry by using ephemerides that deny the asteroid goddesses their due. Yet thankfully there's no need to pack every last asteroid into the lineup, either. Quite efficiently in this new edition, celestial positions of Ceres the Great Mother asteroid, along with the asteroids Pallas, Juno, Vesta and the newly named Eris, speak for many of the rich yet historically neglected dimensions of the divine feminine.

Men and women alike have tended to underestimate the importance of a publishing imprimatur — a welcoming attitude in print-toward female characters, authors, symbols and archetypes to assist in women's real-life confidence and contribution. Well, folks, in the astrological world, nothing says a gal's made it to the big time like being put into the Michelsen ephemeris daily planetary lineup! Like Demi Moore becoming the first woman to reach the $10 million per picture threshold and Julia Roberts breaking the $20 million per picture mark to join the ranks of highly paid male actors, Ceres' prominent inclusion in the traditional planetary lineup of the latest American Ephemeris opens more psychic space for women, thus for women's contributions, and the feminine aspect in all of us.

It's odd how a book comprised of tables of numbers can get me choked up with emotion from time to time. Perhaps it's because many of us who learned astrology in the last 25 years of the 20th century were moved by our experiences using the first edition of the American Ephemeris for the 20th Century to grow in our understanding of planets and transits, and thus our ability to appreciate the beauty of cosmic design. I affectionately dubbed the original edition "Big Red" due to its healthy size, ubiquitous presence and reputation for accuracy among practicing astrologers. Now, "Bigger Red" brings us an update of the classic Michelsen ephemeris that provides exactly what we need today.

You never forget your first love. But the love that's yours today is the one that fits who you've become. The New American Ephemeris for the 21st Century, Michelsen Memorial Edition fits the anima mundi, or world soul, at the start of the 21st century. It will aid many students, practitioners and clients on their astrological journey in the century to come. z