” 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 [...]

This year Juno, the asteroid named after the goddess of marriage and commitment, will be spending a long time in Taurus, a sign associated with passion, desire, obstinacy and obsession. Taurus is, of course, the opposite sign to Scorpio — also a sign known for obsession, obstinacy and [...]

This video was made during the one-day workshop held in January by The Oxford Astrology Group here at Trinity College, Oxford. I took a look at the UK chart during the talk as well as touching more generally on Saturn, Capricorn and the shape of 2018. I note that the comment on UK property [...]

Between January 14 and 17, there will be so many planets stacked up in one corner of the sky, that you might expect the whole cosmos to tilt with the weight of them. Moon, Sun, Mercury, Pluto, Saturn, Venus and the Black Moon Lilith will all be in the sign of the Goat-Snake, Capricorn. That’s [...]

If you look at old manuscripts, or the doors of cathedrals, or stained glass or indeed most representations of the sign Cancer before the Renaissance, you won’t always be looking at a roundish, cosy old crab. Sometimes Cancer is a crayfish, sometimes an odd beetley thing, sometimes who knows?! [...]

I’ll be giving a talk to the Birmingham Astrological Association on Saturday, March 4. It’s about Neptune in Pisces and art. For directions and more info, click here.

The shortest day of the year unfolded, unintentionally, as a meditation on our connection to God via a city break in Liverpool. In the morning, we went to the great hulking Anglican cathedral — which lours over the city from a high point overlooking the River Mersey and the Irish Sea. The [...]

Chiron, the erratic asteroid that weaves between Uranus and Saturn, was discovered on November 1, 1977 on a photographic plate that had been taken on October 18. That second date might just ring a bell for you if you happen to be interested in contemporary art – because it’s also the [...]

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 [...]

Mercury, messenger of the gods, will be crossing the face of the Sun in a few hours.  You’ll be able to see this from Earth — with the right equipment. This particular event is not rare — but it is unusual. It happens about 14 times per century — and it’s always in Taurus or Scorpio — […]

“There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.” Willa Cather I can add “failure to hire leather-trousered pirate as childminder” to my Mother’s List of Shame. My kids are a tad irritated that Captain Hook is not [...]

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 […]

A sensational murder trial has finally come to a close. After seven long years, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were cleared of the murder of Meredith Kercher yesterday by the highest court in Italy. All of the major actors in this drama are playthings of the gods, acting out an archetypal [...]

Saturn’s move into Sagittarius back in December came as a huge relief to many people — except maybe those born under the sign of the centaur and those born with Saturn in Sagittarius, for whom this will be the dreaded “Return”. This month, the planet Saturn is [...]

A statue of the Celtic sea god Manannan Mac Lir was stolen from an Irish mountaintop on January 21, the day Mercury, the planet of thieves, went retrograde. Although Manannan is the “son of the sea” and a deity of storms, but he has more in common with Mercury than Neptune. [...]

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 [...]

“….I am the incomprehensible silence and the much-remembered thought. I am the voice of many sounds and the utterance of many forms. I am the utterance of my name. Why, you who hate me, do you love me And hate those who love me? You who deny me, confess me, And you who confess me, […]

Tomorrow night all manner of ghouls and creeps will walk our suburban streets. Maybe there will be vampires…if it’s the real thing, you know what to do, clutch your crucifix and drive a stake through his heart. But what it this is a more subtle vampire? The kind who smiles nicely and [...]

    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 [...]

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 [...]