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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.

Venus in Aries: Cy Twombly

“It’s more like I’m having an experience than making a picture.” — Cy Twombly Cy Twombly’s work is unmistakable: giant scribbles, smudges, words and phrases crash together across vast stretches of white. They look as if they’ve been made in an instant, a flash, a dash, a moment of possession — [...]

Venus in Aries: Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew

In the early spring of 1970, jazz fans were only talking about one album — a rich, textured blast of sound played with freestyle mastery and driven by an enormous rhythm section. Miles Davis, the prince of cool, had plugged in and gone electric. Not only was Davis’ use of electrical [...]

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 [...]

In the Key of Pisces: Adam Levine

Last year, we featured a series of musicians born during the month of Pisces — one for each day, but there were just too many to fit in. Here is Adam Levine, another for our sweet-sounding Pisces male voice choir, that includes James Taylor, Chris Martin, Nat King Cole, George Harrison, Tom [...]

Astrology of Now: Sensual, New

Today, Mars, the planet of physicality, action and Iron John moves into the sign of the Bull. Strangely, this is traditionally considered a difficult position for the planet of masculinity — maybe there’s just too much testosterone there. However, I note that people with this placement natally [...]

Venus in Aries: Alexander McQueen

The late Alexander McQueen said that he wanted people to feel afraid of the women who wore his clothes. His shows were legendary: shocking, emotional, Gothic, visceral — absolutely exquisite. In 1995’s The Birds — inspired by Hithcock’s movie — models stumbled down the catwalk, dresses torn [...]

In the Key of Pisces: Tom Chaplin

Tom Chaplin, of the British band Keane, sings with all the tortured melancholy you’d expect from a fish-boy with Sun squaring Neptune, the planet of music. That Neptune is in Sagittarius, the sign of excess, so it also comes as no surprise that Chaplin has had his share of drug problems. One [...]

Venus in Aries: Willem de Kooning

“Art never seems to make me peaceful or pure.” Willem de Kooning, April 1946 How Willem de Kooning worked made an impression on visitors. He would sit for hours contemplating a painting and then pick up a brush and attack it intensely and decisively. “The ‘Women’ had to [...]

Neptune Talk, March 4, Birmingham

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.

In the Key of Pisces…week one

Last year, The Oxford Astrologer published a post on a musician every day during the month of the fishes — that most musical of signs. In case you missed it — or would like to do it all over again. Here is the list and links for the first week… Many, many musicians were born […]

In the Key of Pisces: Nancy Wilson

So versatile, so clear, so direct: there’s no one like Nancy Wilson. I love her easy listening albums from the late 1960s/early 1970s (which included some of the best interpretations of Latin American music in English). They sparkle. Her voice is so pure and powerful, but it’s her ability to [...]

Venus in Aries: Anish Kapoor

Continuing the series on artists with Venus in Aries. The picture tells the story really. Anish Kapoor has Venus at 0° Aries — the Ur degree, the alpha … the very beginning of the whole Zodiac. And well, is here is a great big Mons Venus in Aries own colour. Kapoor loves red. It’s nice that he [...]

Venus in Aries: Francisco de Goya

Venus, the planet of love and art, harmony and sweetness, spends a long time in Aries, a sign that represents some quite contrary energies, in 2017. So we have an opportunity to look and think about how Venus behaves here. I’ve been looking at the charts of artists, fashion designers and film [...]

Vivienne Westwood: Venus in Aries

Vivienne Westwood started her career running a shop called Sex at the grubby end of the King’s Road — first stop on London’s punk trail in the 1970s. Today, she is a doyenne of fashion world — doing the whole cat-walk-show thing and yet still a social revolutionary. With her North Node and [...]

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 [...]

Astrology of Now: Countering The Ugly

February is a fast and urgent month with Mars, Venus and Uranus in fiery, furious Aries. Mars in his own sign is rather unbridled, Venus in her opposite sign is not doing her usual harmony, sweetness and light thing and Uranus is spitting sparks. Somewhere in your life there’s probably a bit [...]

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! [...]

Venus in Pisces: Dirty Sweet

Those of you following this Venus in… series will know already that Venus is not entirely about how you look. For that we look at the Ascendant and planets aspecting it. Venus though can tell us what makes you attractive, or even what makes you beautiful. So it’s pretty interesting that the [...]

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 [...]

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