The Reader by Federico Faruffini. I found this on the wonderful blog Reading and Art. “I awoke one morning with the usual perplexity of mind which accompanies the return of consciousness. As I lay and looked through the eastern window of my room, a faint streak of peach-colour, dividing [...]

Plaintive, beautiful, broken, nostalgic. David Bowie’s new single Where Are We Now?, released today, is a return to his Berlin years both lyrically and musically. Bowie’s 66th birthday is today – maybe a good moment to recall those times in Berlin (1976-1979) when he produced some [...]

Negotiating 2012 required a sound umbrella and a stiff upper lip. Hurricane Sandy Well, that was quite a year. We have all been buffeted by the stormy energies of the planets in 2012. In particular, the cardinal signs – Aries, Capricorn, Cancer and Libra – have been in a high wind. It’s [...]

With his customary impeccable timing (Saturn in Virgo), jazzman Dave Brubeckwas died yesterday, just two days short of his 92nd birthday. But today is his actual Solar Return, the moment in the year the Sun returns to the place it was when you were born. The planets of ending and [...]

After I gave birth to my first daughter in a London hospital, I shared a room with three other women – a Palestinian, an Israeli, and a London Iranian. No kidding. There was some awkward negotiating around drips, cots, nurses and nappies. But the presence of tiny new babies creates a certain [...]

Where is Woody Harrelson when you need him? (as Tallahassee in Zombieland) My friend the doctor has some really hard choices to make. He told me this week that he’s having to write up the “Do Not Resuscitate” protocol for one of the care homes he visits. The problem is this. [...]

Amy Winehouse (born with Saturn in Scorpio) Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just gloss over the nastier side of human nature and pretend there’s no jealousy, no murderous rage, no stomach churning fear, no madness? We could all live in a happy, smiling Libra world…. but we [...]

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 [...]

It turns out that the seven-times Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong cheated. Apparently, he was doped up to the eyeballs, bullied other team members into joining him and lied and lied and lied. The US Anti-Doping Agency says Armstrong was the leader of “the most sophisticated, [...]

William Turner: Snowstorm at Sea Neptune, the planet of illusion and delusion welcomed Saturn, the planet that rules old age, acquired wisdom, maturity, rules, boundaries, reality into the realm of water this month. What could this mean? Saturn is at 0° Scorpio trining Neptune at 0° Pisces. [...]

Marc Chagall The Eve of the Day of Atonement Today, 27 September 2012, is the Jewish Day of Atonement. The Books of Life and Death have been closed, the tally of good and bad deeds has been taken for the year, and you’ve apologised to your family, friends, colleagues, the milkman for the [...]

Ivan Shishkin. Autumn My mother is celebrating the end of Saturn’s passage through Libra with a new hip. The symbolism could not be simpler. She has a Sun-Mars conjunction at 24° Libra. This represents both her actual body and her physical energy among other things. Saturn, which rules [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Ha – I bet you thought I had forgotten, but we are now in full retrograde season, so I am ready to pick up this Saturn Return series where I left off. (Mercury, Mars and Saturn are all doing the backwards shuffle.) In previous posts I gave an overview of Saturn Returns in general (Part [...]

Second Afghan War Six British soldiers were killed in Kandahar province this week. The oldest was 33, the same age as Jesus when he died, and the youngest was 19. The Afghan War has been going on for 10 years and 153 days. World War Two lasted just under six years in comparison. British [...]

JMW Turner. Snow Storm. Let me tell you why you haven’t heard from me for a few days. This is how it was meant to be. I was meant to go out to France on Wednesday and come back Sunday, having graced my elderly parents with my presence, and caused as little disruption to the […]

Thatcher: Saturn Rising Recently, I asked a businesswoman friend, who was complaining about bankers’ bonuses, when she thought the rot had set in. She answered with one word: “Thatcher.” And she’s right, what we are experiencing now, financially and socially is the [...]

Here is the question that Iris asked on this site: Could you say a bit about how you would distinguish the cutting away of the unnecessary by Saturn from the letting go of the unnecessary by Pluto? How might they feel different? Iris is right: both of these planets bring loss and even death. [...]

Saturn is in Libra Oct 29, 2009 – Apr 7, 2010    Jul 21, 2010 – Oct 5, 2012 Sept 21, 1980 – Nov 29, 1982     May 6, 1983 – Aug 24, 1983 Nov 20, 1950 – Mar 7, 195      Aug 13, 1951 – Oct 22, 1953 Oct 7, 1921 – […]