The gardens froth blossom. Petals flake the lawns. Now the very first bud of apple and pear swell. The birds peck green cherries. It’s Taurus’ month and Eden. Taurus’ partner across the Zodiac, Scorpio, sometimes signified by the snake. This New Moon is free and easy, not [...]

In Arabic, Egyptian Arabic anyway, when you want to describe someone as really beautiful, you say she is like the Moon, or she has a face like the Moon. (How unlike “moonface” in English). When Venus is in the sign of the Moon, two of the most feminine energies in astrology are [...]

The New Moon in a few hours falls in the last minute of the last degree of Aquarius, the sign of the waterbearer, but the Moon certainly continues to be New as it slides into the ocean of Pisces. Something ends, something begins. This is a threshold Moon. A potential-filled moment. Both [...]

The darkest night of the year is almost upon us. The nadir, the bottom, the grave, the tomb — and the womb. We are sliding gently into this zero hour, lighting our candles and fireworks to keep away the creeping shadows. Christmas is a beautiful celebration, and a deep understanding, of [...]

Today the Sun, the heart of of our solar system, moves into the seventh sign – Libra. We are still, of course, in the ancient seventh month — September. So pour yourself a glass of 7-Up, kick off your seven-league boots, switch off symphony number seven and align your seven chakras. [...]

    Anthony Hopkins’ trademark is intense stillness broken by an electrifying stream of words, or a sudden violent movement, or a flash of those unsettling pale eyes. He was born in the dark of winter. His powerful, stony Capricorn Sun is buried in the 12th house – the [...]

In the Mohawk language the word for shaman ” means “dreamer” in the sense of one who dreams strong, one who dreams true, one who can travel in dreaming and heal others inside the dreamspace. It also means “doctor” and “healer.” There we have the [...]

The New Moon tomorrow at the very start of Jupiter’s journey through the sign of the Lion is enormously potent. You may see yet more action geopolitically, because on the very same day Mars finally moves out of Libra and into his own sign of Scorpio. This could be quite dangerous, even [...]

If you remember the end of A Hard Day’s Night, you’ll have some idea of what to expect from this Full Moon. The film follows The Beatles for the 36 hours leading up to a live performance in 1964. The final sequence of the film is the concert. The camera cuts back and forth between [...]

Before time began, gods emerged from chaos. Uranus, the god of the sky, made love to the earth, Gaia, every night, and from their union were born giants and Titans, both hated by their father, who, consequently, imprisoned his children in the deepest depths of the earth. One, Saturn, escaped. [...]

This terrific self-portrait dates from 1927. Just as a supplement to the Satie piece: here is Suzanne Valadon’s chart. She was a wonderful woman, a free spirit, single mother, great painter and an inspiration for many other artists (Neptune in the 7th), in particular Renoir. For a while [...]

Gradually, the familiar golden ball slides behind a disc of silver. Birds fall silent, the air chills, for a moment the day is strange. Solar eclipse. A superseding, a complete annihilation.  Emotionally, in English anyway, the word eclipse contains a grain of fear. A black shadow, exactly the [...]

The Moon from De Sphaera As I write, the Moon is running the gamut of an opposition to Pluto. She’s in her own sign, Cancer, so she’s no pushover, even for the lord of the Underworld. But as she slides through the sea of Cancer, she brings into action all kinds of interesting [...]

Lord Shiva, the transformer Today, the god of transformation is joined by the Full Moon in the sign of institutions, establishment, organisation. And the head of Barclays Bank resigns… The Moon slides over Pluto at 8° Capricorn and then opposes then Sun, which is at 12° Cancer. If you [...]

Pisces arrives. JW Waterhouse’s Miranda I felt some relief as the Sun slipped out of detriment in Aquarius and into Pisces yesterday. It was as if we’d suddenly remembered to take off the handbrake and now we’re gliding gently down the lane with the engine turned off to the [...]

Dream by Henri Rousseau After the serious mood brought on by that Sun-Saturn Full Moon a couple of weeks ago, I’m relieved to report that this New Moon (October 26) is rather luscious. Especially if you’re trying to have a baby, get deeper into a relationship or plant the seed of a [...]

I wrote a piece last year comparing Lady Gaga and Madonna. I was reminded of it because I’ve had a whole bunch of charts come across my desk with a Moon-Pluto conjunction. Now I hasten to add that all these charts belonged to people who were living out the combo well. The Gaga and the [...]

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 [...]

Set during the Paris uprising of 1848, Flaubert’s novel Sentimental Education explores lessons in love and friendship. It was published some 20 years after the events. I’ve been thinking about the planet Neptune’s ingress into Pisces a lot over the past year.  This will [...]

"Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!--" William Wordsworth wrote these words about the French Revolution more than 200 years ago. But he was a spectator, a friend of France, not a participant, and he never suffered through what became known as the Terror. [...]