I began studying astrology in my teens and it’s become a long-term interest with considerable benefits, especially for understanding my fellow travellers on spaceship Earth. While we are all pretty much the same under the skin, we show considerable differences as individuals. Astrology is a remarkable tool that allows insight into those umpteen, complex differences. Its study fosters understanding and acceptance – a ‘live and let live’ approach that we sorely need these days.

When I’m developing characters in my novels, I often turn to astrology to flesh out how they think and what they would do in certain circumstances. For each of the main protagonists, I choose a date and place of birth and cast a horoscope. For instance, the talented remote-viewer, Kreyna Katz, was born in Canberra at 5:19am on the 7^th of November, 1970. I’ve been studying astrology long enough to have a very good idea of what she’s like – her personality, how she would speak and behave, her flaws and motives, and what she wants out of life. As a writer, this is absolute ‘gold’ – a mine of information that provides a very real sense of my principle heroine.

In 2013, Eleanor Catton won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for her novel, “The Luminaries” that features twelve characters based on astrological archetypes. Other writers such as P.L. Travers, Margaret Atwood and J.K. Rowling, have also found astrology an inspiring resource.

Not a day goes past that I don’t read and learn something about astrology – I’m a constant pupil to its well of secrets in plain sight, there to draw on at will.