Bernie Ashman graduated from the University of Florida in 1971 in Gainesville, Florida. His life changed greatly when he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1972. He was seeking clarity and a deeper sense of himself. He was 25 years old and had just recently gotten married. He and his wife were anxious to explore a new spirituality. Bernie was very fortunate to discover a metaphysical center in Atlanta owned by Peter Calhoun, author of the book, Soul on Fire. Peter was an inspirational force to getting him interested in a metaphysical path.

Bernie is the author of The Earth Mandala software program. Bernie's reading of Carl Jung's work with the collective unconscious and archetypes inspired Bernie to write this report. Bernie says it deepened his experience of astrology and life in general to have encountered Carl Jung's work. Another influence to The Earth Mandala was the Sabian Symbol work of Marc Edmund Jones and the later writings about the Sabian Symbols by Dane Rudhyar. The Sabian approach was an innovative and intuitive way to observe the degrees of the zodiac, a type of Astrological I-Ching you could say. Perhaps just as key an ingredient to the writing of The Earth Mandala was Bernie's own inner experience of meditation and his own intuitive way of "tuning into" the writing of the material.

Bernie began studying astrology in 1973 after encountering a book, The Astrology of Personality by a Frenchman, Dane Rudhyar. He came upon this book in a bookstore in Atlanta (he says it found him!).

ACS Publications published Bernie's first book, Astrological Games People Play, in 1987. The book shows how astrology and psychology interface and how to make use of our astrological traits for self-growth. This book was inspired by the work of Zipporah Dobyns, a pioneer in modernizing astrology. Bernie met Ms. Dobyns in 1998 in Atlanta, Ga, at the United Astrology Conference. She attended a lecture he gave called Past Life Themes, and he was very pleased to meet her! Zip's daughter, Maritha Pottenger, an astrologer and author herself, edited Bernie's book.

Bernie's next book was RoadMap to your Future: A Quick Guide to Transits and Progressions, published in 1994 by ACS. Bernie's third book about relationships, SignMates: Understanding the Games People Play, was published by Llewellyn in 2000. Bernie also wrote several astrology articles published in numerous magazines and websites. Bernie's new book "Intuition and Your Sun Sign" will be released June 2014 by Llewellyn publications.