Books & Writers Archives - The Oxford Astrologer

Category: Books & Writers

Book reviews, author profiles through the lens of astrology.

What Does Frankenstein Have To Tell Us About the Future Now?

Well, Pluto, Lord of Transformation and dweller in the outer reaches of our solar system, is approaching his next entry into the sign of systems, Aquarius — and everything is going to change. Mind you, this is a process… Sally and I decided to look back at the chart of someone born [...]

Talking About Teaching Teenagers & Helping Families

As you know, members of the Oxford Astrologer have a monthly Q&A, which really ought to be relabelled a salon, since, in fact, everyone pitches in. Usually, it’s closed so that people can talk freely, but I am publishing this one because Alex Trenoweth was kind enough to come along [...]

Was Sherlock Holmes A Capricorn? Astrology Talk Investigate

In honour of Pluto, the detective, entering Aquarius, the sign of networks and the internet (and maybe podcasts!), Sally and I are launching a new feature: Astrology Talk Investigates. We’ll be looking at mysteries, histories and more, focusing on just one question, every month. Do send [...]

In Conversation with Astrologer Barry Goddard

You probably know that I do a Q&A for subscribers to the horoscopes (which happens most months). The format varies, and this month, we were lucky to have Barry Goddard over to chat about astrology and shamanism, what Pluto wants, and more. He also answered questions from the audience in a [...]

Book Review: Surfing the Galactic Highways

“Reading an astrology chart is an act of faith, for there is no good rational reason why any of it should work. Why should the position of the planet Mercury in the sky at the moment of your birth say anything about how your mind works? Or Venus say something about the kind of person [...]

Book Review: Drive Your Plough Over the Bones of the Dead

If you haven’t read eco-thriller Drive Your Plough (or Plow) yet, you are in for a treat. I asked my friend Heather, astrologer & playwright. to review it briefly. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk. At last a great story which dares to touch on astrology. [...]

Mars in Gemini — in His Own Words

Mars, the planet of pepper and passion, is in the sign of Gemini for a very long time (20 August 2022 – 23 March 2023). The warrior is unbuckling her sword, laying down her shield and lying down by the campfire to trade stories for a long stretch too. In short the red planet is [...]

Salman Rushdie: Rebel, Story-teller, Gemini

Midnight’s Children — a tale of twins, mistaken identities, India and Pakistan, doubling and mirroring, knees and nose — catapulted its author, Salman Rushdie, a double Gemini, of course, to international fame in 1981. He did things with English that no one had read before [...]

September Horoscopes & an Evening with Anne Whitaker

At the start of this month, we may have a little trouble focusing, as if our binoculars have one lens that sees far and one that only lets us see details. But as September lengthens to autumn, we can all gain perspective on what went before and what is to come. The cosmos is lending […]

June Horoscopes & Live Q&A

The month of June is upon us and I am glad to report a cuckoo in the garden and roses in bloom. Some tiny, furry Geminis are imminent too. Though my little queen cat’s impending motherhood has made her rather aloof, which is a pity. I’m digressing — but then it is Mercury [...]

Mother, Memory, Cake: Inside the Cancerian Mind

“… one day in winter, as I came home, seeing that I was cold, my mother offered me some tea, a thing that I did not ordinarily take. I declined at first, and then for no particular reason changed my mind. She sent out for one of those short, plump little cakes called petite madeleine, [...]

Toni Morrison and Black Moon Lilith

I’ve been thinking about the American writer Toni Morrison today, the day after she died, and remembering her book Beloved, which won her the Pulitzer Prize, and is considered by most critics to be her masterpiece. Beloved tells the story — in densely poetic language and imagery [...]

Best Astrology Books According To Astrologers

New York Magazine asked me to name my three top astrology books last week for this article — a round-up of astrologers’ recommendations. Of course, this week I might choose three different ones, and I did assume that someone else would mention Stephen Arroyo and Linda Goodman, who [...]

Stocking Stuffers for the Astrofan

It’s that time of year again, and I have had a shufti around the internet and found some astrowonders to stiffen even the floppiest stocking. Every year one or other couture house goes astrowild — and this year [...]

Pallas Athena 3: Writers and Astrologers

Part 3 of my talk on Pallas Athena in Oxford this September.

Astrology in Moby Dick

” Halloa! here’s signs and wonders truly! That, now, is what old Bowditch in his Epitome calls the zodiac, and what my almanac below calls ditto. I’ll get the almanac and as I have heard devils can be raised with Daboll’s arithmetic, I’ll try my hand at raising a [...]

What Aries Has To Teach The Rest of Us: “I Think Therefore I Am”

I’m always interested in how obvious a person’s Sun sign can be — not from how they look but from how they are. So I wondered how philosophers’ Sun sign might show up. This is going to be an occasional series but clearly, it was right to start with Aries. Aries learns best through direct […]

A man, who feels himself to be half wolf, wanders through the rainy night streets of a European city. He comes across a strange door in a wall and sees this sign, or thinks he sees it, but then does it disappear? Magic Theatre Admission not for everybody — Not for everybody — MAD PEOPLE ONLY [...]

Ayn Rand: The Dark Side of the Goddess of Wisdom

In Hans Christian Andersen’s story The Snow Queen, a little boy called Kay has tiny shards of an evil, distorting mirror lodged in his heart and in his eye. “…a mirror with the power of causing all that was good and beautiful when it was reflected therein, to look poor and mean; but that [...]

A Passion For The Wild

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” Shepherd, naturalist, philosopher, traveller, mountaineer, writer, defender of the wild, environmental activist and immigrant, John Muir through his passion and [...]

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