“Rarely in modern times have we witnessed such a display of petulance and bad judgment by those supposed to be in charge of global financial stability, and by those who set the tone for the Western world. The spectacle is astonishing. The European Central Bank, the EMU bail-out fund, and [...]

Three married sisters from Bradford — in their early thirties and with nine children between them — have run away to join ISIS in Syria. The British media has twisted itself into a pretzel trying to fit this story into a palatable narrative. The women were [...]

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 [...]

What happened here last night was momentous: a seismic shift in the “political geology” of this country took place. Scotland, which just one year ago chose to stay part of the United Kingdom in a referendum,  voted almost unanimously for the Nationalist Party. As expected, leader [...]

Most of my fellow astrologers have plumped for David Cameron as the winner in tomorrow’s election. I am not so sure: who won anything when Pluto was squaring his Sun? But then Ed Miliband has Pluto crossing (possibly, see previous post) his Midheaven, a transit which did for the [...]

For readers outside the Britain, here’s a quick summary of the British general election campaign. Voting is on May 7 (tomorrow). For most of the last couple of hundred years, voting in Britain has boiled down to a choice between two parties. Since WW2, that choice has been between Labour [...]

This surreally dreary British election campaign is apparently the closest-run in a generation. The opinion polls bounce back and forth between Labour and Conservative. From the public discourse, you might not suspect that there are serious issues to be resolved.  There’s little talk [...]

Tough, intelligent, focused and energetic, Marine Le Pen is France’s most charismatic politician. Compared to dreary Francois Holland and preening Nicolas Sarkozy, she has the “it” factor. Her chart ruler, Venus shines brightly in Leo. Le Pen is a serious contender for the [...]

I wrote this piece originally for March edition of The Astrological Journal. Like a certain Transylvanian immigrant, Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, has a habit of rising from the dead. Just when his enemies think it’s all over, there he is again climbing out of his coffin [...]

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 [...]

As Saturn, the reaper, slows to a halt before turning retrograde in mid-March, let’s pause to reflect what the transit of this great planet through the sign of the centaur means. In this post, I’ll look briefly at the past Saturn in Sag period to give us a handle on this one. Then [...]

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 [...]

I was thrilled that The Oxford Astrologer was the first website to be featured in The Astrological Journal’s new series about astrology on the web. You’ll be relieved to hear that the review was glowing, backing up your choice to read this blog! (I’ll type some excerpts when [...]

For those of you curious to see the chart of Greece’s new finance minister, here it is. There is no birth time available, so I have drawn it for sunrise. Just briefly • Take a look at the nodes. SN conjunct Mercury in Pisces. (Wonder if there’s an ancestor in holy orders.). Brains [...]

Destiny, and the Greek electorate, have pushed Alexis Tsipras, up to Europe’s top table. He may be holding a weak hand, but it already looks as if he’s smart enough to play and maybe even win against bigger, richer, stronger, meaner opponents. Tsipras was sworn in as Greek Prime [...]

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 [...]

Here — Archipelago of Dreams — is a post I wrote about Greece in 2011. The chart I drew up puts transiting Uranus, the disruptor, on Greece’s natal Saturn today. All change. And here is one about Europe. Believe it or not they are both quite relevant tonight as the left [...]

Twelve people at the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were gunned down on January 7. In the same week, Saudi blogger Raif Badawi received the first 50 lashes of his 1000-lash sentence for blasphemy, ironically, an echo of the Charlie Hebdo cover that caused such offense in [...]

Not only was the news this morning sad, it was troubling, horrifying, grotesque, macabre — satanic even. I’m referring to the murder of the American hostage Abdul-Rahman Kassig and 18 unnamed Syrian troops by Islamic State. All were gruesomely killed for the camera, and the video [...]

The month of Virgo was beautiful here, one warm soft day follows another. But the weather was also strange and unseasonable. The nights draw in but the days are as warm as summer. It’s dreamlike. Being deep in the dream of Virgo this year — with the help of an opposition from [...]