There is a type of fortitude that entangles. The spider silently spinning her web has it. Or the grape vine, in Marianne Moore's poem, Nevertheless: “a grape tendril ties a knot in knots till knotted thirty times - so the bound twig that's under- gone and over-gone, can't stir.” This terrifying tenacity suggests the over-dependent relationship between Moore and her mother, Mary. Mary’s invasive presence was described by Alyse Gregory, a family friend: “Mon dieu! What a mother

Mary Oliver’s take on Emerson always surprises me. She describes him as “unbelievably sweet.” I don’t find him so. I find him upright, vigorous, rigorous and entirely admirable, but not sweet, an adjective she never gives evidence for, that I can see. She may simply be grateful to his open-mindedness, as he “opens doors and tells us to look at things for ourselves.” He takes us beyond our assumptions and invites us to explore. It’s an act of generosity, providing a steadying

For Aries, life is a proving ground. It takes you to your edges, tests your courage, and sometimes shoves you in the chest and dares you to do something about it. This is the energy of the Warrior, the Pioneer, the Daredevil, the Bodyguard.  With Mars and his Ascendant in Aries, poet Walt Whitman’s warrior energy was apparent in his explosive bursts of temper. Once as a youngster, Walt was fishing when a neighbor boy threw stones in the water and rowed over his fishing line.

Marianne Moore isn't mentioned in the Lawrence biography by John Worthen, but she published his poems in The Dial and they exchanged numerous letters. After his death, Moore wrote privately that she had a "deep, indeed reverent regard for him." Marianne Moore was often characterized as a spinster, yet she learned from frequently-censored D.H. Lawrence that there's "dignity and mystery even in carnality," writes Moore's biographer Linda Leavell. And when Moore heard that some

There’s a Cesar Millan video about an un-neutered family dog whose unsatisfied mating instinct leads to food aggression. An astrologer would note that aggression is a quality of Mars. In our own lives, when our passions and energy are not directed constructively, they can run amok as the dog's does in the video.  Imagine Mars is transiting through your busy 9th house in Libra. You become aggressively dogmatic about the way your family makes sandwiches. You are suddenly passio

The rooster was Rumi's favorite symbol for "wanting." “You must ask for what you really want. Don’t go back to sleep.” (Rumi, "A Great...

Elizabeth Hardwick’s essays are filled with quiet insights, so quiet that I had to read them in the mornings, when my mind was fresh enough to pay attention. She sifts plot and character to reveal truth with wry humor: “Heaven is not likely to send a desperate, strong-willed woman of thirty an interesting, unmarried man.” As Hardwick explores numerous works of great writers, she is always sensitive to the challenges women have faced, but she resists blaming sexism. In the ess

In Lauren Groff’s Matrix, there’s a wonderful character called Nest. From her name to her every action, she embodies the healing,...

“ A Worn Path ” is one of Eudora Welty’s most powerful short stories, and if you've read it, you know the epic journey Phoenix Jackson...

Having just had a thunderbolt knock me out of my routine and off my comfortable perch, I’ve been thinking about Uranus, the Lord of...

In one of Steven Forrest’s books, he mentions that every astrological sign could be reduced to a few clichés. That cliché might be a...

Great Story Coaching * outlines the 3 ways we tend to narrate our lives to ourselves. The victim story (similar to Parul Sehgal’s...

About halfway through My Lives by Edmund White, I expected to give it a two-star rating. White spends so much time narrating his abject...

As a biographer Megan Marshall plays very close to the vest. She doles out her subject in single words or phrases, holds stories out of...

Early in Vita Sackville-West's All Passion Spent , the elderly protagonist Lady Slane says, “Besides, I have considered the eyes of the...

In Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, Audre Lorde uses the erotic, or what Mary Karr might call the carnal, to deeply embed herself in her...

Accomplishment is one of the ways we measure our lives, but in terms of what gives meaning to our lives, accomplishments are often merely...

Imagine that Joyce Carol Oates*—who does not seem the type to sit with an astrologer, but let’s pretend—came to see me for a New Year’s...

Don’t you think Persuasion the best Jane Austen novel ever? It’s by far my favorite. That’s kind of a joke because most characters in...

I’m trying to reread John O'Donohu's Anam Cara, and can’t stomach the pollyanna sunshine spiritual message. O’Donohue writes, “Light is...