Hot-metal printing was finally killed off in the mid-1980s. Its demise had been a long time coming, as it was superseded by other cleaner, faster, cheaper technologies. London’s print unions were some of the last in the world to hold out, in the Wapping Dispute with Rupert Murdoch’s News [...]

No matter what you think about the candidates for president in the USA, the campaign has given rise to some barnstorming feminist political speeches. It feels like a real breakthrough — a change in the weather. In astrology, we have a “nasty woman”. She’s called Black Moon Lilith, and she’s [...]

Chiron, the erratic asteroid that weaves between Uranus and Saturn, was discovered on November 1, 1977 on a photographic plate that had been taken on October 18. That second date might just ring a bell for you if you happen to be interested in contemporary art – because it’s also the [...]

This American election is an archetypal battle, the stuff of fairytale or legend. The two sides line up, accusing each other of hatred, lying and lasciviousness; of baseness, vileness, bestiality. In their vagueness sometimes, the smears require a leap of imagination from the public. What’s [...]

What a shame that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are splitting up. It’s a tale of mutable tragedy. Pitt is a Sagittarian Sun and Jolie a Gemini — opposites attracted. Both these signs have been shaken and stirred this year by eclipses and a Jupiter transit in their fellow mutables Pisces and [...]

My colleague Rollan McCleary sent me this email last week, which I thought I’d share with you. This is especially for those of you interested in asteroids. “I will paste below a small piece I put out on the American Noel Tyl site and called Picture of a Modern Martyrdom.  You  may find you [...]

“Society suddenly finds itself put back into a state of momentary barbarism; it appears as if a famine, a universal war of devastation, had cut off the supply of every means of subsistence; industry and commerce seem to be destroyed; and why? Because there is too much civilisation, too [...]

Diamond Reynolds live-streamed the immediate aftermath of her boyfriend’s murder by a police officer in St Paul, Minnesota on Wednesday. Her powerful testimony during the filming, and at an impromptu press conference the following day is so compelling, so passionate, so pure. If words can [...]

Last night, I sat in one of the most magnificent private courtyards in Europe, listening to 200 musicians play the works of Ennio Morricone. The Italian composer, now 87 years old, conducted a huge choir and orchestra himself. The heavy rains were finished. The clouds parted, the sun set lemon [...]

On June 23, the people of United Kingdom will go to the polls to make the most important collective decision of a lifetime. Should we stay in the European Union or should we go? The decision taken now could change the country’s future absolutely — probably not in the ways predicted by any [...]

Self-named, self-invented, self-motivated, champion boxer Muhammad Ali was a modern embodiment of the archetype of hero. He was charismatic, strong, graceful, poetic in speech, courageous in deed. He spoke up for the millions and laughed at the powerful. He took his punishment squarely and [...]

Mercury, messenger of the gods, will be crossing the face of the Sun in a few hours.  You’ll be able to see this from Earth — with the right equipment. This particular event is not rare — but it is unusual. It happens about 14 times per century — and it’s always in Taurus or Scorpio — […]

I wrote to my friend Anton D’Abreu recently pointing out that the chart for the European Union was under a great deal of pressure during this Mars transit. Later this summer, Mars will station direct at 23° Scorpio nearly conjunct the EU Mars-Pluto conjunction. The Mars-Pluto conjunction [...]

This month in Talking Astrology, my colleague Andrea Soole and I discuss May’s Mars Retrograde. Bernie Sanders, US presidential hopeful, has this in his natal chart. We recorded the session on the Queen’s birthday, so it has rather a regal flavour.

Aries is not a sign associated with philosophy — that is Sagittarian territory according to tradition. However, the Ram knows how to get to the essence of things. In fact, the father of modern western philosophy himself, René Descartes is an Aries Sun. His Sun conjuncts Uranus, the planet of [...]

A spongey, grey-faced Johnny Depp and his beautiful wife Amber Heard read an apology to the State from an autocue, staring sullenly into a camera set at a strangely low angle. No, the State is not North Korea, but Australia. If you wondered whether Johnny Depp’s birth time deserved the AA [...]

This extraordinary gory painting, possibly by Caravaggio, was found in an attic in the French city of Toulouse a couple of years ago, but not presented to the public until yesterday. It’s fascinating that it should be revealed at just this time of retrogrades, a time of retrieval — perhaps [...]

“I want these crimes to be made public”, leaker “John Doe” to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. It turns out that very rich people have been hiding their money in secret bank accounts abroad. Why do they feel the need to do this? Either a) because the money is stolen or b) because they are avoiding [...]

Here is the chart for the moment the first gunfire was heard at 8AM on March 22 in Brussels. Depressing. Notice the packed 12th house of secret enemies, Pluto, the ninja on the MC being trined by the Moon, which is just moving from Jupiter Retrograde (religious fanatics) to the North Node (a [...]

We are already into the energy of the eclipse on March 9. As soon as the Sun moved into Pisces, you may have felt it in your “waters”. Something big is giving way. It may feel like ice breaking under your feet as you crunch over a puddle that could turn out to be a well, or […]