My fellow blogging astrologer, Mitch Lopate, moved to China in March to teach at a business school. I asked him to send us the occasional pithy little anecdote to show us how his Western astrology is being received over there. He writes: So I’ve been teaching freshman English Reading [...]

Keen readers of this blog will know I’ve been tracking the euro for years, as Uranus, Pluto and Saturn pummelled the currency from various angles. It’s been like watching a boxing match with all the razzmatazz, wordplay, and brutality, as well as cigar-wielding managers and backers [...]

“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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

To travel from Eritrea or Gambia across the desert to the lower lid of the Mediterranean Sea — braving torture, slavery, asphyxia in the back of a truck, rape and beatings —  to cross in an open boat: this is a hero’s journey. Imagine doing it as a child. So far this week [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Both Mars, the planet of action, an Venus, the planet of love, are currently in Pisces, the sign of Venus’ exaltation. When the lovers of the Zodiac meet — once a year or so — sparks fly. The lovers won’t meet up precisely until they both move into Aries later this [...]

Since Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, seems to have borrowed Greek Fin Min Yanis Varoufakis’ leather jacket today, perhaps we can feel reassured that the talks about the future of the euro will go better than expected. Back in 2011, I wrote a short piece about the euro, the [...]