by Adrian Duncan | Aug 12, 2011 | Adrian's Articles 2011
If you think it would be fun to be royalty, it might be worth considering the case of the Duke of York who came to the throne on December 11th, 1936 (after his brother decided to abdicate to remain together with the twice-divorced Wallace Simpson). As George VI he reigned during the war years, and fathered Britain’s current monarch Queen Elizabeth II. He is therefore the great-grandfather of the soon-to-be-married Prince William.
The story of King George VI has been wonderfully portrayed in the recent film “The King’s Speech”, which received four Academy Awards here in 2011. The young George had a terrible stammer, and, required by public duty to make speeches all over the realm, he suffered terribly from the embarrassment and frustration that ensued – as did his audiences. The film is about how he sought the services of a speech therapist called Lionel Logue (played by Geoffrey Rush), and the charm of the film is in how Logue refused to compromise his integrity as a therapist and insisted on treating the king as an equal. …Read More
by Adrian Duncan | Aug 7, 2011 | Adrian's Articles 2010
The end of the world is coming… it’s a sure thing. Certainly within 100 years, you will no longer be able to read this, because you will be dead and gone. It is quite a worrisome thing of course, but humans have a wonderful ability to forget their coming demise, on the surface at least. …Read More
by Adrian Duncan | Aug 7, 2011 | Adrian's Articles 2010
Once upon a time, nobody had a problem with astrology. It had always been part of the curriculum at major learning institutions until the Renaissance because people simply felt the harmony between man and cosmos. Looking at the magic movement of the planets over the bright, night sky, whilst the stars stayed still and the moon went from new to full, there was a sense of connection between earthly and heavenly developments. The basic principle of astrology is that the smallest thing in the universe is subject to the same process as the largest. The same rules apply to both, and an action in one sphere will reflect an action in another. Major practitioners of religions like Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism developed systems for interpreting planetary configurations and astrology evolved into a huge body of knowledge. …Read More
by Adrian Duncan | Aug 7, 2011 | Adrian's Articles 2009
Back in the 1980’s I had a formative experience as an astrologer, which arose from the visit of a rather difficult client. She had Pisces rising and her grasp of reality and especially relationships was very tenuous – or so it seemed to me. She was convinced that she was being constantly followed by men. I was convinced that this was a product of her imagination and tried to explain the projection mechanisms of her chart ruler Neptune, which was exactly in conjunction with her Descendant. …Read More
by Adrian Duncan | Aug 7, 2011 | Adrian's Articles 2009
THE FUTURE FOR IRAN
At the time of writing – four days after the chaotic Iranian election on June 12th 2009 – there are still wild protests on the streets of Teheran and other major cities, as supporters of candidate Mousavi demand that there be an accounting for their disappeared votes. An estimated ½ to 1½ million people have taken to the streets in defiance of a ban on demonstrations, the current president Ahmadinejad has mobilized the feared Revolutionary Guard militia, and at the last counting seven people have been shot and killed. …Read More
