It used to be like this… When we talk about the City of London, we are talking about both a place and an idea. The City is the square mile that was once a fortified town founded by the Romans, that developed into the heaving moiling medieval trading centre on the banks of the River […]

Shakyamuni and his two attendants. Source: The Tibetan Museum Jupiter is going to be in Gemini until next summer. You have a full year to take advantage of this very interesting, rather unsettling energy. But it only comes every 12 years, so start paying attention to it now. In the first air [...]

Those bankers are incorrigible: first they cheat, then they lie, then they try to cover it up, and then they shop each other. A charming bunch of people we have taking care of our money. It was revealed  today that traders at Barclay’s Bank have been fiddling the figures to make [...]

When you’re trying to draw something right in front of you, the key to getting it right is often to look at the space between. When you start to look properly, you can see that space has a shape and vivacity all its own. Look at the “negative space” in this painting by [...]

As we all know now, we are living in interesting times, but sometimes it’s hard to keep up with just what is going on. The scene changes so rapidly; opinions vary so wildly. The financial astrologer Ray Merriman has written a brilliant piece for The Mountain Astrologer which  explains [...]

Like all things numinous and mysterious, the point of astrology is not always something that can be put into words. It’s poetic, it’s slantwise, it’s a feeling, an image, a fleeting thing. And just when you think you have it all pinned down and neatly explained, the meaning [...]

Just in case you’ve missed it, 50 Shades of Grey is a story about a young woman who meets an insanely wealthy, mysterious, tortured but alluring older man. They have a passionate affair during which she discovers herself as a sexual being – and his tough facade is penetrated by her sheer [...]

 It is indeed a dreamy night tonight, a night to stay up until dawn inventing epics and love stories. Neptune, master of illusions, rises as the Sun moves into Cancer. The two cast a knowing beam to each other through the imaginative, watery signs of Cancer and Pisces. What’s more the [...]

There’s been a creative explosion of graffiti in Cairo post-January 25 “Given a choice between eating shit or eating shit, most Egyptians have decided they’re not hungry,” Omar Kamel, Egyptian activist. He was talking about the phony elections held in Egypt over the [...]

Gandhi’s morning walk, photographed by Margaret Bourke White (b. June 14, 1904)   In the tangled intricacy of the natal chart, the Sun sign is so often dismissed as too vague or too broad an indicator. But when it comes to career, it should never be overlooked. Migrant Mother by [...]

I’ve just re-read last year’s Gemini self-portraits piece again and it made me smile. Take a look and enjoy how surprisingly alike some of the artists look, right down to the facial hair and the rebel attitude. To see the whole piece click here. Main pic: Diego Velazquez, born June [...]

I watched the current Chancellor of the Exchequer and an ex-Prime Minister lie on oath yesterday. And I have to admit, I was a bit shocked. I’m just not that cynical. I thought George Osborne and Gordon Brown would probably tell the truth. But neither did – intentionally. I should not [...]

“This day prov’d as favourable to our purpose as we could wish, not a Clowd was to be seen … and the Air was perfectly clear, so that we had every advantage we could desire in Observing the whole of the passage of the Planet Venus over the Suns disk: we very distinctly saw an […]

My good friend Isy pointed out in a recent comment that  we should not think of Pluto as a simple lump of rock spinning through space, but as a group of objects with a great big hole in the middle. So I asked her to write about it. Understanding the astronomy of Pluto can help […]

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Cor blimey, ma’am; 60 years on the throne, god bless her. For a while, it seemed as if it were mainly a marketing opportunity for paper napkin, bunting and biscuit-tin makers. It’s been Union Jacks agogo for a month in the shops and nothing anywhere else. But [...]

I had lunch the other day with a well-respected and very experienced astrologer, who also writes. Our conversation was pretty intense since we’d never met before and we have a lot in common, especially when it comes to thinking about how to do good, authentic astrology. We had to fit in [...]

The energies of the planets work together like an orchestra. Sometimes one section is louder, sometimes it’s stately, sometimes it’s raucous, sometimes there’s harmony, sometimes there’s not. There are themes and variations that weave in and out of time, repeating once [...]

About two thousand years ago, peace reigned across the Roman Empire. From Alexandria to the Hadrian’s Wall, all opposition had been crushed and people were able to trade, farm and prosper without fear of being molested by marauding barbarians. Meanwhile, in the bustling, wealthy, [...]

Yes, I know we like to talk about roses and kisses and sweet romance, about Romeos and Juliets, the ones that got away and the ones that might just come back now that Venus has turned retrograde… But Venus is not just the planet of love – she rules money, cold hard cash. And she’s [...]

Mercury, which rules thought and communication, is currently in practical Taurus. This is good for everybody, because it means we have a real chance to get a few things done. You have until May 24, when we return to just talking about everything a lot. Mercury rules the hands, so do any tasks [...]