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Bill Sheeran's articles
This page is a gateway to the texts of my own articles and conference talks.
astrological
- Structural coupling in horoscopes for Iran
This article was originally posted to the Political Astrology newsgroup on November 22nd 2004. It discusses various horoscopes of relevance to Iran and its history, and suggests they are structurally coupled through a shared emphasis on certain degree areas in the charts concerned. - Bye Bye Yugoslavia
A short article about the decision made by the Yugoslav parliament in 2002 to abolish the Balkan federation. The astrological pictures in play at the time are classical. As predicted on the basis of the astrology, the 'death of Yugoslavia' was delayed from the originally proposed time frame in autumn until February 4th 2003. The article was written on May 31st 2002, and sent to Urania website. - Horoscope for the Republic of Iraq
This is the first article that I wrote about the Iraq situation which was brewing to boiling point during the second half of 2002. The US-led invasion happened on March 20th 2003, six months after this was written. The focus is on the horoscope for the foundation of the Republic of Iraq, one of the national charts that could be significant for following how the drama would unfold. The predictive statements made were not wrong. The article was first published on the Urania website on September 14th 2002. - School massacre at Erfurt, Germany
Some astrological material relating to the shooting dead of 18 people at a school in Germany on April 26th 2002 is briefly described. Mars and Saturn were very much to the fore at the time of the event. Of particular note is the exact square between Uranus and the Ascendant / Midheaven midpoint during the shooting. This article was first published on the Urania website on April 26th 2002, the day of the massacre. - Astrology, Patriarchy and Postmodernism
This article suggests that the hurdles facing astrology will only be overcome by re-framing it in terms which make sense to the contemporary imagination. Central to this argument is the notion that the forms which astrology takes are inevitably culturally determined. Astrology as we recognise it emerged in the pre-modern era. The forms it took were incompatible with the dominant scientific world view which characterised the modern era from its beginnings in the 17th century. Trying to 'fit' astrology into a classically modern mould is a fruitless task, as the essence of modernity is based on modelling reality in terms of quantity, materiality and objectivity. In the last 20 years or so, the climate has changed. The post-modern perspective is potentially less refractory to astrology. But in order to take advantage of this, astrologers need to break free from patriarchal roots and reconsider their subject in the light of new understandings. - The Observer Observed
A major mundane astrology article in 3 parts. It questions the common practice of relying on unique national horoscopes for mundane astrology work. Instead, the notion of a family of related horoscopes, linked to each other through structural coupling, is proposed. Structural coupling, an astrological concept originated by the author, is illustrated using horoscopes from the history of the quest for Irish Independence. Other topics covered include the shift of mundane astrology from its earlier natural astrology form to a more judicial astrological form in the 20th century, the cultural grounding of astrology and astrologers, etc. - Revisioning Astrology as a Process
This essay puts forward some initial suggestions as to why astrologers should give consideration to new theories such as those of Chaos and Complexity. - Astrology and Unpredictability
A talk given at the 2nd CIDA International Congress, Venice, Italy October 1997. It discusses the difficulties associated with the integration of the Uranian principle into astrological practice, as reflected in a resistance to acknowledging the inevitability of unpredictability in living systems. The expectations of what astrology has to offer are consequently unrealistic. - Process Thinking and Feedback Loops
During the summer of 1998 I presented a talk entitled Astrology and Cultural Attitudes to Order and Chaos in Vilanova, a village on the coast about 30 miles west of Santiago de Compostella in N.W. Spain. This essay was originally printed as an appendix to the transcription of the talk subsequently published in the conference's proceedings. It discusses the need to shift from a structure to a process orientation when considering the nature of astrology, and in doing so placing the astrologer in a central participatory role as opposed to a peripheral observational role in the astrological process. - Astrology is what Astrologers do
A simple proposal concerning the nature of the astrological process. - Astrology is Disconnected from Celestial reality
Another simple proposal which states the fact that the horoscope is at least one step removed from celestial reality and that any efforts to understand the nature of astrology should take this into account. - Generational Themes
An edited version of a posting to the ACT online mailing list which was subsequently published in the Wholistic Astrologer in 2000. It discusses the culture lag which separates the echoes of outer planet symbolic expressions from those which occurred during their original time frames. As an example, the connection between mid-1950s Rock and Roll and mid-1970s Punk Rock is explored in terms of Neptune's passage through Scorpio. - On the Nature of Astrology
A short article extracted from a contribution I made to an online astrology discussion group a few years ago (1999). It describes some features of my astrological perspective from that time in a nutshell.
non-astrological
- In Defence of Decay
A piece of writing first published 2002 in the independent Irish magazine The Yoke. Basically a somewhat lyrical rant against superficiality, and a lusty promotion of the aesthetics of decay. - American Dreams
This was published in issue 4 of The Yoke magazine in summer 2003. It is about the evolution of the American sense of identity and the problems posed when that identity is based on an ideology rather than the usual determinants such as shared ethnicity, etc.