I was born and brought up in Apartheid South Africa, a medieval environment. In 1966 I emigrated to London. With “flower power” in full bloom, it was an intoxicating time to be there - so different from my puritanical Calvinist background.
In 1975 I emigrated to LA with my then girlfriend Suze Randall who had just landed a job as a Playboy photographer. For two years we were on the "gang list" at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion West which meant we could visit as often as we wanted. Neronian splendor indeed!
With his penchant for music and festivals, Nero seemed to the most 60’s of the Roman emperors and, looking back, I probably wanted to recreate that magical time in a historical setting. However the deeper I looked into the first century the more references I found to astrology. One day the idea hit me like the proverbial lighting bolt. Nero’s birth date and time are known (dawn on December 15, 37 AD) so it must be possible to re-create his horoscope. With this mysterious wheel in hand, anyone familiar with ancient astrological lore should be able to make some very intelligent guesses about what Nero’s astrologer would have been advising him on a regular basis. Since Nero, like everyone else at the time, believed in astrology this could be an important historical tool in explaining his motives and actions.
So I linked up with an astrologer who specialized in Greek and Roman astrology to cast Nero’s chart and to teach me the rudiments of this intriguing mixture of superstition and astronomy.
