Author: Christina

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 — a child’s response to the world. Yet the world to which Twombly responds is adult and intellectual. He chose to live in the glorious encrustation of Rome where he could have direct experience every day of deep Western culture. His knowledge of myth and history was profound. So why did he […]

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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 instruments an innovation on Bitches Brew, so was his use of post-production techniques in the studio. The double album was recorded over three short days in August 1969, but Davis went on to edit, layer, insert and resplice in the studio for months with his producer Teo Macero. The result was a chef d’oeuvre that spawned a new genre — […]

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The Hubris of Trump

Donald Trump has an important fixed star right on his Ascendant. It is one of the four royal stars, Regulus at 29° Leo. Here is what the medieval Italian astrologer Guido Bonatti wrote about the influence of Regulus on the Ascendant. “…this alone signifies that the Native shall be a person of great note and power, too much exalted, and attain to high preferment and honors, although descended from the meanest parents. And, if any of the Fortunes behold that place also, his glory shall be the more increased; …  yet still, that all his honors, greatness and power shall at last […]

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France Saves Her Soul

You didn’t have to be an astrologer to predict the victory of centrist Emmanuel Macron in today’s French election — he was a clear 20 point ahead in the polls. Still it’s a relief, since Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right nationalists, also had excellent transits. But astrology can tell us something about the energies at work — and flag up a warning. Marine Le Pen lost this stage of the war, but she’s not going anywhere soon. Emmanuel Macron, standing as an independent at the head of a movement he started just a year ago, defeated not only […]

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A Talk, A Chat and A Lecture

Hello. Yes, it’s still Mercury Retrograde— and the little planet of speed and thought and communications is still conjunct the planet of electricity Uranus. What is more, Mercury is in “mutual reception” with Mars Gemini. In short, words and ideas are flying along at the speed of Uranus. Who knows, somewhere on this planet, a Gemini or perhaps a Ram is probably inventing a flying car. Oh wait a minute, that already happened, apparently they are really “roadable aircraft”. But maybe someone is inventing a flying car for everyone, not just zillionaires. So this week, I am in a flurry of public […]

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May Monthly Horoscopes

I write this, the day before May Day. Tonight is Walpurgis Nacht or Beltane, one of the four festivals that mark the most intense point of a season, and which take place at the four fixed signs of the Zodiac — Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. Now, spring is springiest. I glance out at my garden filled with flowers: pink-tipped apple, white pear, white and purple lilac, some late japanese quince, a strange rust colour; my neighbour’s glorious pink and white beauty bush, acid green euphorbia, and a lone, magenta rose. We are deep in the world of earthy, Venus-ruled Taurus, the sign of gardeners and farmers, the sign […]

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Tenderness Is Strength

Tenderness is strength: Cancer Rising, Moon conjunct Venus in Aquarius, Saturn in Pisces.
Have a good weekend.
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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 poetry, was the driving inspiration behind the preservation of thousands of acres of American wilderness. His legacy is the wonderful US National Parks Service. (Taurus (the gardener) Sun at 0° (beginning) conjunct Vesta(legacy)) His nickname was John of the Mountain (Aquarius Rising, ruled by craggy Saturn and sky-god Uranus). Muir’s nature writing was widely read in the late 19th […]

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