On Culture

Art, music, books, poetry, fashion, dance, television… the products of our imaginations and the people who make them. The Oxford Astrologer’s blogs on astrology and culture.

Astrology & Fashion: Audrey Hepburn & Hubert de Givenchy
One morning in 1953, a slip of a girl turned up at the atelier of Hubert de Givenchy, one of a group of young fashion designers striving to put Paris back on the map as the post-war capital of fashion. She was wafer-thin with short dark hair, thick eyebrows and huge eyes. She wore narrow […]
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The Legendary David Attenborough
He has given us the eyes to see beneath the waves, through the ice, into the dark belly of the earth, deep into the singing rainforest and the snowy taiga. He has shown us the world through the eyes of an eagle, a dolphin, an ant. From your sofa to the far Pacific islands or […]
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Venus in Gemini: The Twinkle
Those of you who follow this series already know that we’re looking at beautiful or extraordinary people to try and get an idea of how Venus, the goddess of beauty, works in each sign. Light, breezy, youthful, friendly, clever, funny — those are Gemini adjectives. Maybe the most famous Venus [...]
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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 […]
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Saturn in Capricorn: Winter is Coming
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 [...]
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A Moment of Magic in Memory of Hubert de Givenchy
The woman, the dress, the tune, the most poignant opening sequence…. Audrey Hepburn (4 May 1929-1993) wore it. Sun in Taurus, Aquarius Rising, Moon in Pisces, Venus in Aries. Hubert de Givenchy (February 20, 1927 — March 10, 2018) designed the dress. Sun in Pisces, Gemini Rising, Moon in [...]
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Astrology of Now: It’s All About That Base
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 [...]
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Merry Christmas
A very merry and peaceful Christmas to you.
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When Taurus Loved Scorpio: the Passion, the Madness
“I woke up absolutely raging with desire for you my love … Oh dear God how I did want you. Perhaps you were stroking your darling self.” — Olivier to Leigh If sensual Taurus and sexy Scorpio can get it together, the earth really does move, after all these are (arguably) the two most intense [...]
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Astrology of Now: The Beautiful Moon
“And that’s why I have to go back to so many places there to find myself and constantly examine myself with no witness but the moon and then whistle with joy, ambling over rocks and clods of earth, with no task but to live, with no family but the road.” From The Wind in The […]
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In Vogue: Jupiter-Venus Conjunction Today
There’s a lucky conjunction at 7° Scorpio between lovely Venus and munificent Jupiter. You might want to choose to spin the wheel of fortune, or just indulge in some beauty. To help you with the latter. I’ve excavated some old pictures from British Vogue (December, 2010). How well do you think [...]
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A Short Moment of Libran Momentum
Today, September 29, is the birthday of three truly great painters — all masters of colour and movement. Here is Boucher, whose decorative, feathery, rococo paintings defined the taste of 18th century France. Here is Tintoretto, the Venetian colourist, “Il Furioso”, who’s mastery of movement [...]
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#TakeAKnee
I couldn’t help but note that on the day American footballers staged a peaceful protest across the country, Neptune, the higher octave of Venus (planet of peace) and Mars, the planet of warriors, came into perfect opposition. The athletes chose to kneel when The Star-Spangled Banner was [...]
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Steppenwolf
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 [...]
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Jim Carrey: A Message From Planet X
  Jim Carrey, actor, comedian (and now painter) gave a red-carpet interview this week which was labelled “weird” and “awkward”. Among other things he said that the fashion event he was attending was “meaningless”, a statement of the obvious, some might say. He then went on to talk as if [...]
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Double Retrograde for A Reactionary Throwback
Oh the splendidness of astrology. I was listening to that Jacob Rees-Mogg, a 48-year-old elderly schoolboy who may actually become the next leader of the British Conservative Party. He is a caricature of “posh”, with the faux self-deprecating, smooth-bumbling of an Etonian (super polite and [...]
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The Summer Wind
A little easy listening for summer. This melancholy song with its beautiful lyrics has been covered many times. I didn’t know it was initially a German tune — Der Sommerwind — which Johnny Mercer heard and translated into English. I’ve been listening to many versions on YouTube. Here are my [...]
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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 [...]
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Crab, Crayfish — or Scarab?
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?! [...]
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Solstice Blessings
It’s true the world around us is in upheaval. We are in a time of transition, with all the dangers, obstacles and dramas which that entails. And astrologically on this Solstice we can expect the collective emotional temperature to be turned up to boiling point — (with Mars and the Sun in [...]
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