Encyclopedia of Lao Astrology

Title:  12 ​ຣາ​ສີ​ຕຳ​ນານ​ເຈັດ​ຄຳ​ພີລວມ​ຂອງ​ດີ​ມາ​ແຕ່​ຮານ​ນະ​ການ / seepsong lasee - dtumnan jaet kumpee luam kong deema dtae bulan nagan
By:  Douangsay Luangpaseu
Publisher, Year:  Luangphasy Printing, 2012

On my most recent trip to Laos (December 2013) I had one request from my mom when I asked her if she wanted me to buy her anything on my trip.  She asked that I try to find a big book of Lao astrology.  Never mind the smaller books, she added.  Prior to that I had given her a couple of books on this already but they were smaller books.  She also had some Thai ones too.  However what she really wanted was a bigger and more detailed book.  And I found this book for her!  I found copies of it in Luangprabang and Vientiane.  The cover is slightly damaged as seen in the picture even though it is a new book.

The author is known for writing Lao cultural and astrology books.  I have a few of his other books but this one takes the cake in terms of its depth and scope.  Written entirely in Lao, at over 500 pages, it covers quite a wide variety of topics.  Vast portion of this book is on astrology.  What types of astrology are included?  How to read the lines on one's palms, birth marks, understanding personalities based on birth day, month and year, calculating important numbers and dates to yield a life chart, and so much more (see table of contents below).  Moreover, it's not limited to just astrology topics but also Lao culture in general such as boons, ceremonies, customs and rules.

When I gave this to my parents they couldn't stop reading it.  And they've been sharing it between the two of them.  My father has never previously been interested in such books but this got his attention.  To me, that says something.  As it turned out all 3 of us were impressed with its depth and variety and so I entitled this post as describing the book as an encyclopedia of Lao Astrology (and then some).

In these types of books, what I always find particularly interesting (and also sometimes annoying!) are the sections on customs, rules and a what not to do versus what you must do information.  It's not to say that I'm a dogmatic person who would follow all such rules.  However what's interesting is that some of the rules are very odd or peculiar but luckily in some cases the book explains some background on why a certain rule or belief is in place.  I can't deny I also found the astrology sections extremely interesting too. 

Please refer to the table of contents (salaban, as it's called in Lao) which I'm including below for your reference.  Yes it's lengthy!