ASTROLOGY BOOKS

People often ask me what, if any astrology books I recommend. I came into astrology in the late '80s, when Liz Greene, Howard Sasportas, Stephen Arroyo and Rob Hand ruled the roost. They still do pretty much, though it's noticeable that their psychologically-oriented approach has given way to a slightly more deterministic outlook.

Howard is of course no longer with us, which is an enormous loss. By all accounts - both from the TM and the astrology world - he was a super guy and he also lived very near to me. I don't know if there are leylines around this part of north London, but there do seem to be more astrologers per square foot here than anywhere else.

What has happened to Stephen Arroyo? He was one of the leading lights and I always valued his work for being absolutely packed with insight, no waffle. His books, like Astrology, Karma and Transformation were pretty much of their time and a certain ilk ('70s Californian New Age), but he hasn't published anything in years and seems to have disappeared off the radar.

Among modern British astrologers, Nick Campion and Geoffery Cornelius stand out, even though Geoffery is not quite so prolific. His book The Moment of Astrology has recently been reprinted and is a fascinating deconstruction of the way we believe astrology to work. He argues for a divinatory understanding, a kind of existential interpretation of the axiom that it is 'the astrologer rather than the astrology' that produces meaning. I have discussed this with Geoffery, and while I am more fatalistic and do believe the stars have intrinsic meaning, I find his approach among the most original out there.

Both Nick and Geoffery are now involved with the Sophia project, bringing astrology into British Universities. By all accounts, lecturing is what Nick was born to do and this environment is where to get the absolute best from him.