In Arabic, Egyptian Arabic anyway, when you want to describe someone as really beautiful, you say she is like the Moon, or she has a face like the Moon. (How unlike “moonface” in English). When Venus is in the sign of the Moon, two of the most feminine energies in astrology are [...]

Some readers of this blog have been having a discussion about Alzheimer’s in the comments section under the short post on Terry Pratchett, the English author who died recently of the disease. They have come up with several interesting hypotheses about finding a predisposition for the [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Liberty The last light has gone out of the world, except This moonlight lying on the grass like frost Beyond the brink of the tall elm’s shadow. It is as if everything else had slept Many an age, unforgotten and lost The men that were, the things done, long ago, All I have thought; and […]

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 [...]

Lush with satin and velvet, beautifully lit by candles and England’s cool northern daylight, the TV adaptation of Wolf Hall is as enthralling as the book. At the centre of the bedizened, voluptuous court of Henry VIII, there is a still, dark point, Thomas Cromwell. For more on the story [...]

The day of the year set aside for lovers by the makers of greeting cards falls, in the northern hemisphere, during the grimmest month. Where is the erotic promise in February’s pale days and cold rain? But not this year. This year, February looks fabulous. It looks sexy, fecund, inspiring. A [...]

“I beg you to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart, and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to [...]

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. [...]

Like flowers the ice crystals on the window sparkle in the winter sun, transform into a sunny field of daffodils. Spring. Early-morning, low sun between rows of straight, rough-barked pines flashes as the camera moves. Treeless, snowy, dead flat land with a horizon straight as a ruler. A [...]

There’s a ring of inspirational fire energy around the zodiac until June. It’s burning long and bright. Uranus the awakener in Aries, Saturn the teacher in Sagittarius, Jupiter the joyous, in Leo. A Gift I Woke: — Night, lingering, poured upon the world Of drowsy hill and wood and [...]

It’s Boxing Day, a perfect day for slothing on the sofa and succumbing to the magic world of the movies. I’ve noted before that I think this period of Neptune in Pisces (2011-2024) should be great for the moving image. One thing that’s already clear is that we’re going [...]

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, […]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Edith Head’s work is chic, cool, glamourous and powerful. You name a legendary Hollywood beauty (especially post-war) — Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman — and you’ll find that Edith Head designed clothes for her. Some of the most iconic [...]