Why astrology is thriving in 2019

Life and Art from FT Weekend

Forhecz Topher

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture

4.6 • 601 Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2019

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You may have noticed the revival of astrology in recent years: meme accounts are accruing millions of followers, horoscope apps are raising millions of dollars in venture funding, and Americans are spending more and more on 'mystical services' (it's currently a $2.2b market). Lilah and Gris explore what this growing trend says about our culture, digging into the renaissance of birth charts and moon signs with help from Culture Call listeners. Plus: one of New York's most prominent astrologers, Rebecca Gordon, stops by the show to talk about her growing clientele and her predictions for Brexit and the US 2020 election. She also takes a look at how compatible Culture Call's co-hosts really are.

Also: we are putting together an episode of our cultural highlights from 2019, and we’d love to include yours. Which books, films, TV shows and other trends have you been recommending to your friends? Let us know on Twitter @FTCultureCall or by emailing us at [email protected].

Here are some links from this episode:

– Lilah's FT article on astrology: https://www.ft.com/content/2816a0ec-000c-11ea-be59-e49b2a136b8d

–Suzi Feay's FT review of The Crown Season 3: https://www.ft.com/content/767e6b32-fefb-11e9-b7bc-f3fa4e77dd47

–Meghan Markle's interview on ITV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo9G91QWMQs

–Liz Jobey's FT piece on artist Dora Maar, whose work is on view at the Tate Modern in London until March 15 (paywall): https://www.ft.com/content/0ee21c42-05a6-11ea-9afa-d9e2401fa7ca

–Picasso's 1937 painting, Weeping Woman': https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/picasso-weeping-woman-t05010

–Witch, a book of poetry by Rebecca Tamás: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43842058-witch

–Recap of the Broad City episode Witches: https://www.vulture.com/2017/10/broad-city-recap-season-4-episode-6.html

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, you're listening to Culture Call, a transatlantic conversation from the Financial Times.
0:10.6	I'm Griselda Mari Brown, and I'm Lila Raptopoulos, coming up on today's episode.
0:16.6	Throughout history, many of our presidents are born on or near a solar eclipse.
0:22.2	In fact, a solar eclipse's birthday is known as the kingmaker in astrology.
0:26.4	It made me think, if not president, then he's certainly stepping up into power in some other way.
0:43.2	Today's the day. Mercury is out of retrograde and we are talking about astrology.
0:47.5	Yes, we're going to do something a bit different today. Instead of doing an interview,
0:53.0	we're going to be delving deep into one cultural trend. Like it or not, astrology has really exploded in popularity recently, and this iteration
0:56.3	of astrology looks quite different. Think less 1970s psychedelic Age of Aquarius Woo-Boo.
1:03.0	A more 2019, Soho House, W. Hotel trendyy, Instagram influencer. That's the vibe.
1:09.2	That is totally the vibe. And as we are devoted to
1:11.7	understanding on this show, what is happening in the culture, we're interested in why it's reemerged
1:17.1	in the past five years, and why on Earth or in the stars, and that will be my last pun, that
1:22.5	astrology is resonating so palpably right now. A lot of you emailed us your thoughts, which we're
1:27.4	going to be
1:27.7	sharing through the episode, and thank you for those. We also spoke with one of New York's most
1:31.9	prominent astrologers. Her name is Rebecca Gordon. She's super interesting. Her clients range
1:36.6	from CEOs and Wall Street types to artists to young professionals. She told us about her
1:42.4	practice as well as predictions about Brexit and the U.S. election.
1:46.0	And she, at the end, gave Grizz and me a compatibility reading to get a sense of what it's like to get a reading from an astrologer.
1:58.0	But before we get into that, this is a big moment. Yeah, that's true. You may have noticed that at the top line, it wasn't Grizz in London and Lila in New York. It is Gris and Lila now together in London. In the same studio. Yeah, in the same studio. I can't make eye contact with you. I'm so not used to it. It's been, yeah, it's been amazing. This is the first time that we
2:18.7	have seen each other in the flesh since everything started, probably in about a year. And we've
	...

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