PUBLICATIONS

Most of my published work to date concerns astrology and/ as divination (examined historically and philosophically); ecology (personal, political, ethical and spiritual); and the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. I’ll try to divide up papers and articles accordingly.

Seeing with Different Eyes: Essays on Astrology and Divination

Tco-editor with Angela Voss (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2008)

his collection arose out of a conference at the University of Kent in 2006. It covers a lot of its sort of ground. You can see my Introduction, which describes the papers and puts them in context, in the "Papers" section of this website.

Ecological Ethics: An Introduction

(Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006)

This book is meant not just for academics but anyone, including activists, who wants to understand ecological/ environmental ethics better. Unlike nearly all other such books, its starting-point is that all value ultimately inheres not just in human beings but in the Earth itself and all its creatures. The subject is probably as important as it gets, so I’ve tried to write clearly (and refrain from shouting).

Astrology, Science and Culture: Pulling Down the Moon

Co-author with Roy Willis, (Oxford: Berg, 2004)

Another academic work. In chapters four through nine, I think through astrology as (essentially) divination and consider different kinds of astrology in that light as well as divination as such, enchantment/ disenchantment, and the arguments between astrology and both religion and science. Strongly influenced by Max Weber and his intellectual heirs.

A Confusion of Prophets: Victorian and Edwardian Astrology

(London: Collins & Brown, 1992)

This one is more accessible. It’s a series of chapters on each of the astrologers – beginning with John Varley and ending with Alan Leo – in Victorian and Edwardian London. They make a colourful cast!

Machiavelli for Beginners, republished as Introducing Machiavelli

(Cambridge: Icon, 1995)

Just what it says on the tin. Some of the references have dated a bit but Machiavelli’s wisdom and relevance has not. He is a much misunderstood and unfairly maligned thinker, so I hope this introduction might dispel some of that reputation (and in particular, put The Prince into the context it needs).

Defending Middle-Earth: Tolkien, Myth & Modernity

(New York: St Martin’s Press, Edinburgh: Floris, 1997 and London: HarperCollins, 1998); re-issued with a new Afterword (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004)

I’m proud of this little book. It is an exploration and unashamed defence of Middle-earth, and of Tolkien. My intention was to try to understand his enduring appeal to millions of readers’ hopes and fears, principally in relation to culture and community (the Shire), nature (Middle-earth itself), and spiritual values (the Sea).

Sky and Psyche: The Relationship between Cosmos and Consciousness

Co-editor with Nicholas Campion (Edinburgh: Floris Books, 2006)

And this one comes out of Sophia conferences in 2005. There are papers by James Hillman, Richard Tarnas and Liz Greene, among others.

Astrology, Science and Society

Editor (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 1987)

An interesting and (if I may say so) pioneering collection of papers on the history of astrology from a conference I organised at the Warburg Institute in 1984. Rare as hen’s teeth now; you almost certainly won’t find a copy outside a library.

Prophecy and Power: Astrology in Early Modern England

(Oxford: Polity Press and Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989)

An account of English astrology in its heyday (immediately prior to and during the English Civil War) and subsequent decline (from the Restoration through to the end of the eighteenth century). Its emphasis is cultural, social and political. This is an academic book.

Astrology and the Academy

Co-editor with Nicholas Campion and Michael York (Bristol: Cinnabar Books, 2004)

This collection arose out of the first conference given under the aegis of the MA programme in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology at the Sophia Centre at Bath Spa University in 2003.