On a bleak, wet, miserable Bank Holiday Monday, my husband-to-be and I heavily hinted that we would love to drop in on our friends Evie and Frank McGillion. After procuring an invite, we headed off to the wilds of South London where we would be later joined by astrology sceptic Geoffrey Dean. In the meantime, Frank loaded us up with good books to read and Evie made sure our stomachs were fortified for the impending visit.
From the left: Frank McGillion, Alex Trenoweth, Geoffrey Dean and Evie McGillion.
In honour of the occasion, here's my Saturn in the 9th house opposite Jupiter in the 3rd joke (get stuffed, Nick Campion):
"Whatever you do, don't tell him I'm an astrologer!" I insisted. My assumption that Geoffrey would be a curmudgeonly, academically pious, provocateur of all things astrological were based on two things: his lecture at a Kepler conference and his lecture at the Sophia Centre. He slaughtered astrology--and astrologers--like a modern day Pico and had the reputation for ruining the day of many a star gazer. Under fire, would I be able to maintain a little decorum? With Mercury in Leo (retrograde and all), hell no. Best to avoid the "A" word. Or so I thought. . .
As it turned out, Geoffrey had already heard of me (what?) and was impeccably charming, delightful and intellectually energetic (Geoff, I hope this doesn't ruin your reptutation). It was an evening full of surprises, in true Uranian style. And here's the photo to prove it. . .
From the left: Frank McGillion, Alex Trenoweth, Geoffrey Dean and Evie McGillion.In honour of the occasion, here's my Saturn in the 9th house opposite Jupiter in the 3rd joke (get stuffed, Nick Campion):
WHY GOD NEVER RECEIVED A PHD
1. He had only one major publication.
1. He had only one major publication.
2. It was in Hebrew.
3. It had no references.
4. It wasn't published in a refereed journal.
5. Some even doubt he wrote it by himself.
5. Some even doubt he wrote it by himself.
6. It may be true that he created the world, but what has he done since then?
7. His cooperative efforts have been quite limited.
8. The scientific community has had a hard time replicating his results.
9. He never applied to the ethics board for permission to use human subjects.
10. When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it by drowning his subjects.
11. When subjects didn't behave as predicted, he deleted them from the sample.
12. He rarely came to class, just told students to read the book.
13. Some say he had his son teach the class.
14. He expelled his first two students for learning.
15. Although there were only 10 requirements, most of his students failed his tests.
16. His office hours were infrequent and usually held on a mountain top.
17. No record of working well with colleagues.
