Living with the Stars

  I realised this morning that this blog is actually one year old as of the 5th August 2021! In one year, I've posted a total of 41 articles, the most popular being my  post on the autumnal equinox of 2021. Just as we all have birth charts, so do 'things' and events. One thing astrologers like to do is to get the exact timing of events, for example, when a new government is sworn in, or when a child is born. My blog was born on the 5th August 2021 at 00:37, and its 'birth chart' is very revealing. Writing is usually ascribed to Mercury, as god of communication. According to the blog's birth chart, Mercury was in Leo, at the time, conjunct the Sun, and in the 4th house. Leo is a sign associated with creativity, and the 4th house has to do with the home; put it together, and you'd have the perfect description of expressing one's creative impulses from within the home, or, home would be the perfect environment to exchange ideas and information. Also, both V...

Have you ever wondered why we were taught that summer starts on the 21st of June? Or why the zodiac sign of Cancer begins around that date? Or indeed, the others seasons were assigned the dates they were assigned?  It is all very simple - it all has to do with the movement of the Earth around the Sun.  The summer solstice (as opposed to the winter solstice) occurs when the North Pole has maximum tilt towards the Sun. It is at this point that the sun reaches its highest position in the sky (outside of the tropics) and is also the longest day. Depending on the calendar, the summer solstice occurs between the 20th and the 22nd of June for the Northern Hemisphere (and between the 20th and the 23rd December in the Southern Hemisphere).  This year, the Summer Solstice occurs on the 21st June at 11:13am. This is when the Sun is at 0 degrees Cancer. This zodiac sign is associated with the crab, but in actual fact, it is the scarab which is a more precise representative of this si...

  Whenever a child is born, parents who are interested in astrology might want to see a birthchart showing the position of the luminaries and planets at the time, place and date of birth. An experienced astrologer might then be asked to interpret the positions and relationships (what we call aspects) between the Sun, Moon and the planets for that child. And so it is the same with countries. Known as Mundane Astrology, countries too, have birth charts. They may also have more than one, depending on context and history. So what does Malta’s 1964 birthchart look like? A birthchart shows the positions of the Sun, Moon and planets at the time, date and place of birth, or beginning of a project/era. This is the Malta chart most commonly in use by astrologers, because it is considered to be the beginning of Malta as a nation in her own right, although one could make an argument for using the 13th December 1974 chart, when Malta became a republic. Nicholas Campion, a well-established...