Living with the Stars

  Happy Chinese New Year - today 29th January 2025. The upcoming Chinese Year of the Wood Snake,  symbolises wisdom, intuition, and transformation. People born under this sign are known for their intelligence, grace, and enigmatic nature. This year encourages introspection, strategic thinking, and embracing change, making it a time for personal growth and new opportunities. This New Moon in Aquarius on January 29, 2025, marks a significant astrological event, ushering in the Year of the Snake. This New Moon is a time for new beginnings, innovation, and forward-thinking. Aquarius, known for its association with community, teamwork, and long-term goals, encourages us to embrace change and think outside the box. (The last time we celebrated the Year of the Wood Snake was in 1965. Martin Luther King Jr. and 700 demonstrators were arrested in Selma, Alabama, among other interesting facts. This particular fact is significant when you think that many on the planet are still figh...

  A New Moon in Aquarius graces our skies at two minutes to midnight on the 9th February 2024. Not only that, but it is also the Chinese New Year, but more about that later.  Aquarius is an air sign traditionally ruled by the planet Saturn. Between the last ten days of January (or thereabouts) until the 20th of February, the Sun will rise against the backdrop of the Water Bearer, Aquarius. We are moving away from the longest night towards Spring with singular vision. Hence, there is a sense of hope for the future, and therein lies the idea of Aquarius; vision, ideals and humanity.  Saturn is the only planet to rule two adjacent zodiac signs. The qualities Saturn possesses are unlike the constrictive nature of Saturn in Capricorn. In Aquarius, Saturn brings people together with ideas; it builds with ideas.  The co-ruler of Aquarius is Uranus, who has more of a rebellious nature (although Saturn would in Aquarius would also go against the grain for the good of others)....

  New Moons are excellent for setting intentions. This is all down to the old ways - it's about sowing seeds. My grandmother was an avid gardener, who always told me that seeds are sown during the waxing moon period. This is knowledge that people way back then had - they were in touch with the Earth's rhythms.  Today's New Moon occurs on 1 degree of Aquarius, the sign to do with ideas, ideology and is traditionally ruled over by Saturn the task master. In traditional astrology, Saturn was considered to be the greater malefic (it conferred hardship). Venus is very close to Saturn in the sky and if anyone has this aspect in their natal charts, astrologers would say that the native would be naturally cautious in their approach to relationships. Once friends are made, however, they would last. The Moon is still out-of-bounds, donning something of a wild card vibe to this New Moon picture, which means that it adds extra energy to this chart. Mars, the lesser malefic, is also out...

  There are forty-five minutes left to the old year and I thought I'd put fingers to keypad and quickly jot down a few thoughts. This old year has gone out with a trio of departures, that of Pope Benedict, Vivienne Westwood and the legendary Pele'. To be honest, when I heard that the faithful were asked to pray for Pope Ratzinger, I recalled an article written by the astrologer Bernadette Brady regarding the fixed stars in his chart. Brady wrote that his natal Jupiter near his rising sign had the markings of a spiritual leader, and that although he would rise to prominence, the chart indicated that his 'success' would be compromised in some way. She wrote this around the year 2006, years before his resignation.  Well, this prompted me to look at the position of Jupiter in the charts of Vivienne Westwood and also Pele' (that's what astrologers do, they look for patterns in charts). This is not to say that this would in any way indicate any prediction of death - a...