Sometimes you get an overwhelming sense of one planetary energy from a particular room. I have a friend who’s North Node, destiny or even destination, is conjunct the planet Neptune, the planet of music and the sea. Sitting in her studio for an afternoon is immersion in Neptunian vibes [...]

Eclipses always signify endings. Some more major than others. This ending is a biggie. On Friday, by rejecting closer fiscal co-operation, UK Prime Minister David Cameron put Britain in a minority of one within the European Union. The British departure from the European project has closed [...]

The ugly step-sisters flank Cinderella in last year’s panto at the Oxford Playhouse. What is it about our brothers and sisters? It’s the longest relationship for most of us. And so often it is a knot of jealousy and loyalty, love and loathing, betrayal and trust. We share a [...]

Pluto abducts Proserpine. Bernini. Venus meets Pluto tomorrow (December 2), setting the tone for a very “interesting” month ahead. Venus and Pluto do have two very important things in common: sex and money. And their one night stand is in the earthy moneybags sign, Capricorn. [...]

Film director Ken Russell made big, messy pictures with a lot of sex and music in them. His fluid, emotional, freewheeling camerawork is still like no one else’s. Yesterday at the age of 84, the old maverick was taken by his maker (Uranus Returns, Jupiter conj Chiron). His [...]

I have been down at the bottom of the garden this week, turning my compost, mulching the autumn leaves, sawing up wood, stacking old flowerpots and sharpening blades. It’s creating a surprising amount of room under the laurel trees. The action planet Mars has gone into Virgo, the sign of [...]

Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood Hollywood legend Natalie Wood – beautiful, talented, passionate – died in mysterious circumstances 30 years ago. She was 43 years old and had spent the previous 39 years working, loving and living smack in the public eye. She drowned after a drunken row with her [...]

As an über-Neptunian type, I am always excited when the god of the sea turns around and starts to surge forwards. Today’s the day. Dreams, fantasy, ideals. Love, sacrifice, deceit. Mob violence, peaceful activism. Fog, illusion, self-undoing. Music and movies. Drugs and [...]

The late lamented Heath Ledger as the Joker in Batman. Mercury’s dark side is on show now. Here’s what happened to this post. I was lying in bed thinking about how often the word chaos has been in the news in the last couple of days.  Some guests at a party have decided to [...]

Rome 2011 You will have noticed that protesters from Madrid to Wall Street to the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral have been sporting a particular mask. Julian Assange has one. No it’s not Satan, although it does look rather devilish. It’s Guy Fawkes, the Catholic revolutionary [...]

Sylvia Plath was not the only poet born under Scorpio to be drawn to death’s glamour (see my previous post). Here is an extract from Ode To A Nightingale by John Keats (born October 30). … Darkling I listen; and, for many a time I have been half in love with easeful Death, Call’d [...]

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 [...]

Just What Is It That Makes The Modern Home So Different, So Appealing.* This week I came home with a painting that I’d (accidentally) bought at an auction that I just happened to be passing – oops. Honestly, the money sort of swooshed out of my purse. The funny thing was that on the same [...]

BB Some people are emblems of their Sun sign. These three women all have Libra Sun, but more than that they have Libra at a critical angle of the chart. Venus, the goddess of beauty, rules Libra. Catherine Zeta Jones Brigitte Bardot – Sun Libra, Libra MC Catherine Zeta Jones – Sun [...]

Bright blue Venus seems suspended in the black branches of my neighbour’s cherry tree these evenings. When I tuck my daughter into bed, I look out her window and see the planet shining more brightly and steadily than anything else in the sky.I am looking west. Venus is in her guise as [...]

Star of Heaven by Edward Robert Hughes My guest Laura Perkins takes up the tale of Venus where she left off last week. But things are about to take a fascinatingly sinister turn. Indeed, the goddess undergoes a sex change and turns nasty. To revisit Laura’s previous piece click here. [...]

Steve Jobs made the world a better place. He was only 56 when he died yesterday but his vision has already changed the way so many of us live our lives now – and the way we imagine the future. In the summer I wrote a piece about him using his own inspirational words. To […]

I could trade some apples. I’m rather pleased. I have just arranged to exchange astrology lessons for acupressure sessions. I like barter as a form of exchange. You don’t have to get any banks involved – nor any middlemen, sales reps or big corporations. The scales of Libra are [...]

Venus Rising (The Star) 1890 by Jean-Leon Gerome I’m thrilled to introduce a guest post from Venus expert Laura Perkins – especially since Venus conjuncts Saturn in her own sign of Libra today. What do you think of when you see a five-pointed star?Hollywood stars? The flag of the United [...]

Planets, as you know, have both positive and negative characteristics. The important thing to remember is that they do not necessarily reflect our own moral values. Yesterday this chap Alessio Rastani gave an interview that rather shocked some people. Take a look at this clip.  I [...]