​This interview covers the origins of western sidereal astrology and its modern day practice, the tropical/sidereal debate, and how tropical astrology came to dominate the West.

​This is a three part series on western sidereal astrology, its antecedents in the ancient Near East, and its renewal by Cyril Fagan, one of the greatest astrologers of the 20th century. This series covers the introduction of tropical zodiac reckoning, the phenomenon of precession, the astrological ages, and a quick review of the works of Hipparchos of Rhodes and Claudius Ptolemy.

The main point at issue in contemporary astrology devolves onto the zodiac itself: whether trait characteristics derive from the tropical signs, invented by the Greeks or the sidereal signs discovered by the Babylonians. The entire controversy is the consequence of the work of Cyril Fagan.

Many astrologers speak of the Pluto return of the United States as though it were just around the corner. The tropical position of Pluto for the various times used for the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 was 27⁰ Capricorn 34’. According to contemporary tropical ephemerides, transiting Pluto will reach this position on February 22, 2022. 

​One of the most popular charts for the U.S. is the one proposed by Ebenezer Sibly M.D.(1751-1799), a British occultist and philosopher. This chart is used by many astrologers, but upon close examination, it is obvious that this chart is compromised by mistakes in both arithmetic and methodology. 

​Several terms in contemporary use are huddled under the umbrella of aspects in mundo: mundane conjunctions, squares and oppositions, parans, paranatellontai, mundane aspects and aspects in the mundane sphere. They all refer to that category of aspects which takes the Earth's equator as the point of reference, hence the Latin word mundo from mundus, that is, "the world."

​When Uranus as a transiting body configures one's natal Saturn, the stability, equilibrium or status of the fixtures of one's life are disturbed. This can be a good thing depending on what other combinations are in play, but more often such changes are viewed as difficult if not outright undesirable. 

​According to her family records, Maria Antonia Habsburg was born November 2, 1755 at 7:30 p.m. in Vienna, Austria. If a horoscope is cast for these data using 7:30 p.m. Central European Time, it will not produce the right horoscope because clocks in 1755 were not set to that time standard. Central European Time and the other time zones used today were not employed until late in the Nineteenth Century.

​At first glance Albert Gore and George Bush have similar horoscopes. They both have sidereal Cancer rising with Pluto rising in the ascendant. Transiting Neptune is parked on their natal descendants during this election year. The tendency of Neptune toward hype, glamour and glitz shows itself in an extreme manner in the case of these two men, who are steeped in it now more than they ever.

​Much has been made of the so-called alignment of planets in May 2000 as though this wide arc has some special significance. The more prosaic conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which is usually indicative of a downturn in stock prices, gets less attention but an examination of past Jupiter Saturn conjunctions shows they have a better track record.

​John Kennedy Jr. had always lived as a creature of the public because of the celebrity of his family, particularly his father, the assassinated president. But with his own death as well as his wife and sister-in-law on the night of July 16, 1999, his life was re-examined by around-the-clock television coverage until the bodies were recovered four days later.

​The tribulation of Bill Clinton due to the Lewinsky scandal assumed legendary proportions in the late 90s. The president's indiscretions as well as the attack dog tactics of the opposition should display unequivocal astrological correspondences, and while they do, one must wonder why everyone who endured the same transits as the president did not suffer staggering humiliation, lawsuits, loss of clout and prestige.

​The death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in the early morning hours of August 31 1997 at Paris, France, has sent thousands of astrologers scurrying to her horoscope to look for the astrological corollaries of the tragedy. The most compelling ones appear in mundo, that is, from an equatorial point of view rather than the ecliptic.

​The birthdata of O.J. Simpson are a matter of record. Chief among the indications of celebrity in the chart is Regulus (alpha Leonis, the brightest star in Leo) near the ascendant, although it actually rose in mundo at San Francisco, the birthplace, at 8:29 AM, twenty-one minutes after the birth.

The natal horoscope of James George Janos, better known as Jesse Ventura, colorful figure extraordinary and former governor of Minnesota, is drawn from birth certificate particulars. It is a fundamentally fortunate horoscope because Jupiter, the greater benefic, well placed in Pisces, is elevated above all other bodies and the most angular planet Venus, the lesser benefic, is at the lower meridian. 

​In 1984, transiting Jupiter was in the sign that contains Walter Mondale's natal Sun and natal Mercury, while the incumbent, Ronald Reagan, was burdened with Saturn.  But the great majority of astrologers who believed that Mondale would win ignored history, the significance of directions versus transits, and the empirical evidence of just what transits appear to be most significant with regard to elections.