It’s Charles Dickens birthday today. He lived the potential of his chart well. Writer and storyteller Virgo Rising, Gemini MC You see this combination quite often in writer’s charts. Both signs are ruled by Mercury, the planet of communications. Jupiter in Gemini, Jupiter in the 10th Jupiter [...]
See moreCategory: Books & Writers
Book reviews, author profiles through the lens of astrology.
Collect Your Free Book
If you subscribe to the horoscopes, it is that time of year again. I’ve put together a brief overview of 2017, including some hand-drawn squiggles which I hope you can make out. The book includes the Venus and Mercury Retrogrades, movements of the outer planets, the eclipses and Mars. Enjoy! [...]
See more
Top Tips For 2017 For All 12 Signs
My friend and colleague Sally Kirkman writes a detailed ebook guide to the year ahead annually. 2017 is available on this link. Sally has very kindly extracted three top tips for each sign to pin to your bulletin board this year. Aries Lust is out and love is in. Whether you learn this lesson [...]
See more
Artist’s Birthday: Arthur Rackham
They say that the best way to see fairies is slantwise, out of the corner of your eye. Twisting, twirling, pirouetting india ink, delighted detail, subtle washes of colour and something sinister: the drawings of Arthur Rackham. Fairies swirl into trees, spin into trolls, spin into wild [...]
See more
The Book of Heaven
I have, beside my bed, a most delicious and strange book. It’s so rich and peculiar that I have found I can only dip into it one story at a time. Yet it is so delightful that I keep it there to pick up every now and then so that I can take my mind far, far […]
See more
What Aries Has To Teach Us: Erich Fromm and René Descartes
Aries is not a sign associated with philosophy — that is Sagittarian territory according to tradition. However, the Ram knows how to get to the essence of things. In fact, the father of modern western philosophy himself, René Descartes is an Aries Sun. His Sun conjuncts Uranus, the planet of [...]
See more
The Lost Library of John Dee
John Dee — astrologer, alchemist and magus, one of the great characters of Tudor England — had the greatest private library in the western world. But when he was off on a European tour, it was pillaged by “friends” and the contents were lost. Some turned up in other collections over the [...]
See more
Toni Morrison
“If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.” Mercury and Sun in Aquarius It’s Toni Morrison‘s birthday today. She’ll be 85. The Nobel Prize-winning author (Mercury in Aquarius conjunct MC) and teacher (Saturn-Venus in the 9th) has Aquarius Sun, Pisces Moon, [...]
See more
2016 Astrodiaries: Xmas Gift
Here is a must-have Christmas present for the astro-enthusiastic young women in your life: The Essential Life Guide 2016. Along with a host of quality astrologers — Jo Tracey, Sally Kirkman, Kelly Surtees, Sam Reynolds, Joanne Madeline Moore, Gary P Caton and more — I contributed [...]
See more
Were The Celts Astrologers?
The Heraklean Way, one of the most ancient routes in Europe, runs from the Sacred Promontory on the Atlantic coast of Portugal to the Matrona Pass in the Alps. It’s both a real road – you can still drive along parts of it today – and a mythical one, for it is said that the […]
See more
Temples Of The Sky
I have been reading Deborah Houlding’s book The Houses, Temples of the Sky. It’s an excellent reference and should be on every astrologer’s bookshelf. Although Houlding is a traditional astrologer and her focus is on the horary and mundane, her research and ideas are relevant [...]
See more
John Steinbeck’s Three-way Split
I split myself into three people. I know what they look like. One speculates and one criticizes and the third tries to correlate. It usually turns out to be a fight but out of it comes the whole week’s work. And it is carried on in my mind in dialogue. It’s an odd experience. Under [...]
See more
Books: Karmic Mates & Venus Signs
You could say that the promise of romance keeps astrologers in work. Getting your love right — and that might mean lifelong celibacy, a series of mad flings or a nice, cosy 40-year marriage — is one of the cornerstones of living the “good” life. And creating that good [...]
See more
Definitive Chart For ISIS
A few months ago I published a chart for ISIS which I’d picked up at the British Astrological Association Conference on the understanding that it had been drawn up by Professor Geoffrey Cornelius. A flurry of emails followed with some discussion whether it was the right chart. Things [...]
See more
Terry Pratchett Mort
Hilarious, cosy, and wildly imaginative, Terry Pratchett cheered a lot of people up. He died yesterday, but his Discworld series will undoubtedly be read by generations to come. One of his greatest characters was Death himself, a rather comforting and kindly sort of person. “Don’t think [...]
See more
On Pisces
Sadko In The Underwater Kingdom by Ilya Repin (Wikimedia Commons) From Tunisia to Elizabeth Taylor, you never know who you’re going to swim past down there in the blue, blue sea. With the Sun still in Pisces, visit or revisit these OA posts on or about the sign of the Fishes. A Fortnight [...]
See more
An Evolving List Of Books
Two MercuryRxes ago, I asked the readers of this blog to recommend astrology books and promised to compile a list. It’s taken a while. Quite a lot of recommendations were also made on the Facebook site. I have amalgamated them all into one long list, which I hope will evolve. This is a [...]
See more
Do We Need Narcissus?
Narcissus (suddenly): “Have you ever been in love? I mean really in love?” You: “Well, obviously, I marr—“ Narcissus interrupts: “Me – I’m super sensitive so when someone like me falls in love, well it’s probably unusually intense. I mean I [...]
See more
Jeanette Winterson – Just So Scorpio
The writer Jeanette Winterson has made some people rather cross today (apparently). She’s created a media storm in a teacup for posting this picture on her twitter account. That rabbit ate her parsley, so she killed it, skinned it and ate it. Umm Scorpio anyone? Yup: Scorpio Rising, [...]
See more