There are many people who helped shape my ideas on astrology, some in person, others through their books. The persons mentioned here had a significant impact on me. They all were highly accomplished in their field of work and encountered, at one point or another in their life, the rich world of astrological symbolism. Each one approached the subject through a different lens and so opened up new ways of seeing. Bringing together conceptual logic with the richness of mythos became a lifelong fascination for every one of them.

Two writers have influenced my thinking greatly for a long time. It was Niklas Luhmann, and his work on ‘System Theory’ that introduced me to new way of looking at the world.

Peter Sloterdijk is the other writer whose work I have followed for decades. Especially helpful, in this context, were his writings on ‘Spheres’ and ‘Thymos’.

A number of reproductions of artwork from The Dove series by Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) are depicted on my website. All are in the public domain. I was delighted to encounter five of her paintings at the Central Pavilion of the 55th Venice Biennial, “Il Palazzo Enciclopedico,” directed by Massimiliano Gioni, when I visited in July 2013. Hilma af Klint’s canvases represent partitioned geometric forms and metaphysical, including zodiacal, symbols. Seeing them the first time I was moved by their strength and serenity, and the awe is still there whenever I look at these pictures.

Her artwork, which includes 193 monumental “Paintings for the Temple,” and over 1000 works on paper is just beginning to receive wider attention. The Serpentine Gallery in London presented “Painting the Unseen” from 3 March - 15 May 2016 and in 2013 the Moderna Museet in Stockholm featured 230 works in the exhibition “Pioneer of Abstraction.” In MOMA’s 2012 show of 2012, Hilma af Klint was excluded. According to Kate Kellaway, who spoke with curator Leah Dickerman about the omission for an article published in The Guardian, “reflex alarm at the occult” seems to have been the explanation.