Ada Denby asked P.J. MacNamara:

How did you become interested in astrology, and at what point did you find yourself being inspired by it?

P.J. MacNamara A lot of people who don't really know anything about astrology get angry and contemptuous at the very mention of it because it has a real stigma in certain circles and they feel embarrassed by association, but fortunately I was never brainwashed into being prejudiced against it by anyone. I'd heard of it, of course, and I knew that one or two of my elder siblings had shown an interest in the subject some years earlier, but the whole thing had completely passed me by until one day in the summer of 1987 I was talking to a work colleague about a difficult romantic entanglement I was having at the time and she asked me what our star signs were. I really was not expecting that. I told her, and she instantly summed up all my problems for me and explained them. I was dumbstruck. Over the next week or so I pumped my colleague for more information, and when she had no more insights to offer I went out and bought 3 books on the subject. When I'd read them and had my mind blown I sought the services of a professional astrologer and had my mind blown all over again. By 1989 I had become a practicing astrologer myself. I went as far into it and as deeply as I could over the next few years, and then I pretty much moved on. But it's always with me and it always will be. What I learned changed me and my perception of Humanity on a fundamental level. It's part of my DNA. I cannot imagine life without it and I feel deeply sorry for all those that deprive themselves of it. I am a keen student of Human nature, and astrology has enabled me to not only understand myself and my relationship to the outer world, it's allowed me to see things in others that most people are oblivious to. Astrology is the most useful tool in my box and if for some reason I had to manage without it I would be less of a man. Sometimes I think I'd rather lose my legs or my eyesight than lose what astrology gave me.

Being creatively inspired by astrology is a whole different matter. I think I would have to take a stab at 1998, when KILLING TIME ON THE OTHER SIDE was originally coming together.

It might interest you to know, however, that "Down There, Among The Stars", the oldest prose piece in MAN STRUGGLING WITH UMBRELLA (written in January 1991,) was inspired by the "Wheel Of Fortune" card in the Swiss Tarot deck. I did dabble with pretty much all of the so-called "esoteric sciences" in the late 80s and early 90s, but for me, as interesting as things like numerology and the I Ching are, there is nothing that can compare with western astrology in terms of practical applications. Now it's all online, it's very different. The new ways of doing things have their plusses as well as their minuses. I think a lot of younger people who never had to do it all the old fashioned way with pen and paper can get too bogged down in detail and miss the message of the big picture. I am very much a big picture kind of guy, and astrology was just one step for me - albeit a very big step - towards a greater enlightenment, awakening, nirvana, transcendence, elevation, or whatever else you'd prefer to call it. I like to think I have learned what I needed to learn and moved onward and upward.

Hey! Who'd have thought this was going to get so spiritual, eh?

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