Thomas Cromwell: fixer, strategist, statesman – Scorpio. Hans Holbein King Henry VIII – charmer, playboy, wife-killer and the first head of the Church of England – had an axe-man, Thomas Cromwell, whose job it was to facilitate the King’s desires – divorce, dissolution, beheadings, [...]
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Profiles of celebrities, writers, artists and more. Articles on nations and corporations as characters.
The Soul of Star Trek: Part Two
My colleague Jackie Taylor has allowed me to publish her clever piece about Star Trek, which originally appeared in the Astrological Journal. This is the second tranche. To read the first part about Star Trek‘s (rather inauspicious) beginnings, click here. Central to Star Trek’s fame and [...]
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Literal Astrology
Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova, the great tennis player, gave a touching interview on the radio last week. She was wiping away tears within the first few minutes as she recalled being separated from her family when she defected to the West more than 30 years ago. She has the Moon [...]
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Steel Orchid Down My Way
This beautiful hybrid orchid is named after Aung San Suu Kyi. You never know who you’re going to see in Oxford. A while ago I got to say good morning to a fistful of bishops as I got out of the car. This afternoon, we saw Aung San Suu Kyi whizz past in a security […]
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Unpacking My Library: The Artist’s Way
Most self-help books have about three ideas in them which are padded out with a lot of white space and bullet points. But there are a few which are absolutely brilliant. Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way has sold about a gazillion copies in the two decades not because it’s [...]
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Europe: When Bread Runs Out, Enter the Circus
About two thousand years ago, peace reigned across the Roman Empire. From Alexandria to the Hadrian’s Wall, all opposition had been crushed and people were able to trade, farm and prosper without fear of being molested by marauding barbarians. Meanwhile, in the bustling, wealthy, [...]
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Astrology of Now: Gilded Venus
Yes, I know we like to talk about roses and kisses and sweet romance, about Romeos and Juliets, the ones that got away and the ones that might just come back now that Venus has turned retrograde… But Venus is not just the planet of love – she rules money, cold hard cash. And she’s [...]
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The Nation’s Soul
Ted Hughes was best known as a powerful nature poet before he was made laureate in 1984. It seemed like a strange choice; this poet of fox and moor, black-backed gull and deadly pike, above all of wildness, asked to write about the baroque, many-layered, structured, civilised, profoundly tamed [...]
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RIP Maurice Sendak: “So he gave up being king of the wild things…”
“The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another, his mother called him wild thing and Max said, “I’ll eat you up!” so he was sent to bed without eating anything.” Maurice Sendak’s short masterpiece Where The Wild Things Are is a [...]
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Who Has The Guts To Take On France
Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France. Sun Aquaris/MoonPisces Like so many nations, France is in a right mess. Unemployment, social unrest, shambolic finances, a failing education system – and perhaps worst of all, no clear vision for the future. And France is in the midst of general election. [...]
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Inspector Montalbano Mi Piace Tantissimo
Can you guess this man’s sign? Let me give you some clues. His black shirt and his shaved head, his solitude and his silences, his solo morning swim in the sea. His job: he is a police detective. His love life: messy. Have you guessed yet? You’ll laugh when you look at the chart. [...]
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Syria: The Blood-Dimmed Tide
A member of the Free Syrian Army, an avatar of Pluto wearing his helmet of invisibility. This was written by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats in the 1919 in the aftermath of World War 1 and the Easter Rising in Ireland. As well as being a poet, Yeats was a visionary and a mystic. […]
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More on Robbins, Absent Fathers and American Dreams
As I was making soup just now, I had some (very obvious) thoughts about Anthony Robbins chart that I thought I’d better share immediatement. Right now, of course, Mercury is over his South Node and Mercury, so it makes sense to think about him again. Also he has just resold his abortive [...]
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Tony Robbins: Guru or Snake Oil Salesman?
Anthony Robbins, self-invented Anthony Robbins is a phenomeon. If you haven’t come across him yet – well, you will. In a nut-shell he is the top, or one of the top, personal development salesmen in the world – hosting seminars, writing books, making the infamous [...]
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A Weird Week in Politics
PM David Cameron was last spotted eating a Cornish pasty two years ago. Ooo – the spin doctors have been getting themselves in a twist this week here in Blighty. I’ll explain briefly for my non-UK readers. First, Chancellor George Osborne cut the top rate of tax for the very, very [...]
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Liberté, Egalité, Identité
The 1998 World Cup winning French football team was an emblem of French diversity. The National Front said it wasn’t “French” enough. France is having a weird and unnerving time of it. Everything that seemed certain about the country is being shaken, questioned and has yet to [...]
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Rebekah Brooks: Embodying Lilith
Rebekah Brooks: she made it up the greasy pole Oh, the irony. The woman who made a living dragging people’s good names through the mire is being dragged through it herself. Yesterday, she was arrested (again) at her home near Oxford. Rebekah Brooks was until last July the chief sewage [...]
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Afghanistan, Britain and the Uranus Cycle
Second Afghan War Six British soldiers were killed in Kandahar province this week. The oldest was 33, the same age as Jesus when he died, and the youngest was 19. The Afghan War has been going on for 10 years and 153 days. World War Two lasted just under six years in comparison. British [...]
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Astrology of Now: Festival of Colours
Today is the gorgeous, anarchic, joyful Hindu Festival of Colour, Holi, which welcomes spring and all that goes with it. You ought to run around outside, splashing perfumed colours and smearing each other with wild hues. It’s the full moon, of course, in Virgo. The Moon at 18° is just [...]
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Who Has True Grit? Looking at War Correspondents’ Charts
War reporter Marie Colvin in Homs. Photo: Democratic Underground. Homs, Syria is a long way from Oxford, England. It’s on another continent, the people speak another language, have different customs than mine. They are in the midst of a bloody civil war. But the same sun rises, and then [...]
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