The Astrological Journal Mar-Apr 2016 | Page 7

In the astro news Latest astrology stories culled from the media and other sources. If you spot an item, email us the link or a write-up: [email protected] £690 a year for three terms of evening classes. The Faculty of Astrological Studies (FSA) has 500 students while the Association of Professional Astrologers International boasts about 120 vetted qualified members. The Advisory Panel on Astrological Education lists 14 accredited member schools. The Daily Mail’s astrologer Jonathan Cainer, we learnt, has 30 staff and a turnover of £2m. “The intelligentsia or chattering classes go through phases of liking or disliking astrology,” he said. “Most regular folk just like it and nothing much has changed, or ever will.” The significance of the feature lay in its sober, not unbalanced tone – a marked change from the usual banal rehashing of ignorant prejudice displayed by many so-called serious newspapers. Writer Sophie Morris gave space to insightful commentary – president of the FSA, Cat Cox, for instance, said: “Astrology is not deterministic. I think there’s a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about this in our culture”. Only towards the end of her piece did Morris decide to shore up her sceptical credentials with a jarringly glib response to Cainer’s lengthy astro ‘personal profile’ of herself. But much useful ground had been covered before (what some cynics might call) this “career-saving denouement”. Independent gets serious about astrology “What’s the future for astrology?” asked the UK newspaper The Independent in its Saturday magazine supplement for 2 January 2016. The long feature that followed dodged anything like a definitive answer but it took the opportunity to talk to a number of leading astrologers - such as Cat Cox, Sharon Knight, Frank C. Clifford, Jonatha