Jenny Brown | Why Astrology is Not Paranormal

When people hear that I write historical romances with an astrological hook, they often assume they must be paranormals. But in fact, they aren't. Why? Because the characters in paranormals no matter how appealing, are creatures of fantasy. You will never meet real live vampire anywhere but in the pages of a book or on the screen. But trained astrologers are very real. When you’re done reading my debut novel, Lord Lightning, if you are curious what Eliza, my astrologer heroine might have come up with had she been able to read your chart, you can find out. Simply contact any certified astrologer (I recommend those with NCGR certification) and make an appointment for a reading.

Any astrologer who is trained in traditional techniques will be able to extract the same kind of information from your chart that Eliza does when she reads the chart of an unnamed libertine lord and sees his hidden but very strong need to give love—even though the world sees only the outrageous behavior he uses to keep people at a distance. And because astrology isn’t magic, but a scholarly tradition based on study, a trained modern astrologer would uncover the same issues in Lord Lightning’s chart that Eliza does if they were to study his chart,—which they can easily do, as I provide his and Eliza’s chart information in the book’s Afterward.

Using real charts to create imaginary characters involves a lot of work, but it pays off, because of the richness it adds to these characters. For example, Edward Neville, the hero of Lord Lightning was born with his Sun in Leo which makes him &mquot;half actor and half spoiled child&mquot; as my astrologer heroine, Eliza Farrell, observes. But the Sun in only one astrological planet—there are nine more—and each planet plays its part in the personality. Besides having his Sun in Leo, Edward Neville also has Uranus, the planet of surprises, at his Midheaven. The Midheaven describes what it is that we become famous for, and in Edward Neville’s case it is his eccentricity.

But as much a person with a Leo Sun might need to give and receive love, Edward Neville also has the planet Mars—which can indicate where we express our anger—conjunct his Moon, which describes his mother. This is a classic "afflicted Moon" and tells us that Edward has a lot of anger towards his mother. Indeed, it is the lifelong, painful conflict with his mother that fuels Edward’s need to behave in ways that keep women from ever getting close enough to hurt him, and it was after I considered this aspect very carefully that I was able to come up with a plot that put him—and Eliza—on a collision course with a mother who is as strong as her wayward son, providing the strong conflict that pulls readers through the pages of Lord Lightning.

That said, you don’t need to know or care about astrology to enjoy my novels. Because they aren’t stories about astrology, they’re stories about people—people with complex personalities and painful conflicts, who must confront the fears that keep them from being able to get what their heart desires. Astrology may point the way, but they still have to do the work to get there, and the only magic you’ll find in my stories lies in the way that something as simple as an casual bit of banter or the sparkle in a sea green eye can motivate a person to fight against the bad habits of a lifetime and master the hard lessons that will teach them how to love.