Considerations

The Moon is the first heavenly body most of us love. Before we know the names of planets, before we understand the zodiac, before we ever think of the sky as meaningful, we know the Moon. She follows us down dark roads. She appears at the bedroom window. She grows, fades, disappears, and returns. The Sun may dazzle.The Moon keeps company. Most people who know any astrology at all know their Sun sign. That isMore...

One of the oldest accusations against astrology is that it belongs to a discarded universe. Once the Earth was no longer understood as the physical centre of creation, the argument goes, astrology should have collapsed with it. If the planets do not literally revolve around us, how can they meaningfully speak to us? But this objection misunderstands what astrology is doing. Astrology is not a claim that the Earth is the mechanical centre of theMore...

Writing has always seemed to me a kind of alchemy. The old alchemists believed that hidden within common and seemingly worthless substances lay the possibility of transformation. Their work began with the prima materia — dark, unformed matter — and through a long process of purification and refinement sought to reveal gold concealed within it. Writing feels much the same. Every piece begins in obscurity: scattered impressions, fragments of thought, overheard phrases, memories, intuitions, quotations,More...

Gratitude is not naïveté. It is a way of seeing. Recently, a professional friend told me she was more of a “glass-half-empty” person than a “glass-half-full” one. She admitted she needed optimistic people around her because otherwise life could begin to feel catastrophic. I suspect many people feel the same way. We are naturally drawn toward those who carry some sense of possibility within them. Pessimism narrows the imagination. It settles too quickly on loss,More...