I had a charming client today: a warm, chatty, red-head sporting a pair of riding boots. The reading was going swimmingly — accurate, useful, insightful. And then I found I had the wrong birth time. I don’t know an astrologer this hasn’t happened to, but it’s unsettling [...]

  It’s that time again. It’s been a long, lively 12 years since Jupiter, the planet named after the king of the gods himself, was in Leo, the sign of royalty, gold, the Sun, self-expression, glamour, drama and perhaps above all playfulness. It’s time to throw off that [...]

You still have until May 20 to use the energy of Mars, the planet of passion, retrograde in Libra, the sign of negotiation. This retrograde began on March 1, so we’ve had a few weeks to begin to see and feel how it works. Personally, I have noticed a surge in my vitality. I’m not [...]

Now, if I could just get Wolverine to sort these people out… Mercury Retrograde, brought to you by the people who brought you the Mayan Prophecy, dun dun daah. Communications go crazy, your electrical goods grow teeth, your commute turns into the Normandy landings, the internet crashes [...]

The Princess and the Pea by Edmund Dulac. Here is the second part of Renée Lascala fresh look at Jupiter in Cancer. These ideas are not just for those of you who have planets in Cancer. All of us should honour the king’s visit to the sign of the Crab.   Jupiter’s 2013-14 visit to […]

Preity Zinta and Shahrukh Khan in Veer Zaara Love: comes in like a thunderbolt, and goes out like a monsoon. Especially if some heavy planets are involved. It can be pretty depressing when you’re just in the midst of the monsoon part and you regard Uranus and Neptune in your house of [...]

Ursula Andress – Sun, Venus, Mercury, Saturn in Pisces There’s an incredible amount of energy in the sign of the fishes this month, helped by the bicentennial transit of Neptune through the sign. Neptune is joint ruler of Pisces, along with Jupiter, but since he comes so seldom, [...]

October by James Tissot, who was born with Sun Libra, Saturn and Mercury in Scorpio. Saturn moving into Scorpio represents a major energy shift, and it’s time to apply some astrological knowledge instead of just theorising about it. Saturn likes rules, boundaries and organisation, so [...]

The Bather, Ingres.He was born with Venus in Leo and Sun in Virgo. This picture combines Virgo mastery of technique & perfectionism with Leo luxury. The planet of beauty is in the golden sign of Leo, what could be more luxurious. Here are some suggestions of how to make the most of this [...]

Ahh bless him. Revisit David Sshwimmer (Nov.2) and his Friends Oh my goodness – I do try not to get in a fritz about Mercury Retrograde. Indeed I laugh in the face of the doom mongers telling you not to move a muscle for weeks. But… Here’s what has happened in the past week or [...]

James Bond (Daniel Craig) Mars, the god of war has emerged, dripping wet and sulky from the sign of his fall, Cancer. He’s ready to light a bonfire and roast some chillies on the hot beach that is Leo.Mars, of course, rules Aries, the number one fire sign, and as such is all about taking [...]

Gustav Klimt’s Mother and Baby A friend’s child has a Moon-Pluto conjunction in the 8th House. Unfortunately, she’s an astrologer so she knows just how badly that reflects on her. Obviously, she must be a possessive vampire mother who devours her children and uses their bones [...]

Neptune’s Horses by Walter Crane. Neptune, the great god of the sea, has dived into the ocean of Pisces. This is a moment laced with magic for each of us. How and where can we find it? That great numinous beast (with the help of his white horses) spreads glamour, confusion, dissipation, [...]

Virna Lisi back in 1965   Fall in and out of love in a day Take up a martial art Have a very close shave – literally or metaphorically Take a risk Create some performance art Scream at the top of your lungs Tell someone what you really think about them Dig the garden – […]

In this country we’ve had one of the longest, gloomiest winters I can remember. Right now spring flowers are bursting out, but it’s into a grey, cold world with tupperware skies and a biting wind. Low Tide by Renoir (b. Feb 25). Astrologically it’s a changing time; that is [...]

Take a leaf out of Rodin’s notebook and have a little think. Here’s one of the simplest ways to use astrology: work with the energy of the retrogrades. So hurray, Mercury retrograde is here again, so it’s time to re-think, re-evaluate, review and renegotiate. This time [...]

Take some onion, pepper and feta… or some planets, some stars and some intuition We each develop our own tastes in astrology. Some like it hot, some like it cold and some like a quick stir-fry with a dash of transits and a sprinkling of midpoints. A couple of things that I came across recently [...]

Yes – it’s that time again. Mercury is retrograde, so astrologers say don’t put anything in the post, don’t sign contracts, don’t buy computers, don’t make plans bla bla bla. If you paid attention to that you’d be spending about a fifth of your year [...]