Speaker Biographies

Abstract Title: Did therapy culture take the magic out of astrology?

Biography:
Laura Andrikopoulos is currently completing her PhD in the History of Astrology with the University of Wales: TSD. She gained her MA from the Sophia Centre in 2011 and taught on the MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology between 2013 and 2020.

Name: Nick Campion

Abstract Title: Visions of Enchantment: The Astrological Art of Xul Solar

Biography:
Nicholas Campion is Associate Professor in Cosmology and Culture, Principal Lecturer in the Institute of Education and Humanities and Director of the Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, the only academic centre in the world to consider humanity’s relationship with the sky. He is Programme Director of the University's MAs in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology, and Ecology and Spirituality.

His books include The Great Year: Astrology, Millenarianism and History in the Western Tradition (London: Penguin, 1994), the two-volume History of Western Astrology (London: Bloomsbury 2008/9), Astrology and Cosmology in the World’s Religions (New York: New York University Press, 2012), Astrology and Popular Religion in the Modern West: Prophecy, Cosmology and the New Age Movement (London: Routledge, 2012). The New Age in the Modern West: Counter-Culture, Utopia and Prophecy from the late Eighteenth Century to the Present Day (London: Bloomsbury 2015). He is the editor of Culture and Cosmos, the journal on the history of cultural astronomy and astrology. Current projects include the six volume Cultural History of the Universe (Bloomsbury, forthcoming), for which he is General Editor.

Name: George Coutts

Abstract Title: The Function of Gendered Language and Sexual Morality in Western Astrological Literature and practice

Biography:
George is a writer, astrologer and occasional playwright. He is a recent grad of UWTSD's MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology, where he focused on the ways that astrologers use the planets and stars to navigate contemporary sociocultural issues. He currently resides in Toronto, Canada (Treaty 13).

Name: Soledad Davies

Abstract Title: The role of symbol in astrological practice

Biography:
Soledad Davies is an astrologer from Patagonia Argentina, and her main interest is the intersection of astrology, philosophy and religion. She founded the international school PsicoCymática dedicated to astrology, symbolism, archetypal cosmology and transpersonal psychology.

Name: Manjinder K. Dillon

Abstract Title: Beyond Reason and Rapture: Exploring Plato and Rumi's Mystical Engagement with the Cosmos

Biography:
Manni completed her MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in 2022. Her research topic was the exploration of Plato and Rumi’s mystical engagement with the cosmos. Her childhood pilgrimage to India and Pakistan filled her with wonder, curiosity, and a desire to explore mystical elements. This led to Manni studying psychology, yoga, shamanism, vibrational sound and more recently western philosophy and Sufism. She is currently writing a poetry book that has been inspired from her MA research topic, mystical experiences, and her love of hiking in the mountains.

Name: Maayan Medzini

Abstract Title: The Venus Synodic cycle in the stories of the Goddesses Anat and Astarte

Biography:
Maayan Medzini is a graduate of the MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology in the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. She practices and teaches astrology in Israel.

Name: Emily Robinson

Abstract Title: The Role of Astrological Images in Aby Warburg's 'Bilderatlas Mnemosyne'

Biography:
Emily Robinson is a recent graduate of the Sophia Centre’s Cultural Astronomy and Astrology Master’s program at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. She gained her Bachelor’s Degree at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, with a concentration in feminist interpretations of popular media. Her interests include the popular representations of astrology over time by non-practitioners, astrology’s relationship with and applications within 20th century philosophical movements, and the use of biodynamics in farming. She currently works in the wine industry at a company that prioritizes natural and biodynamic winemakers, and resides in Brooklyn, New York.

Name: Natalia Sánchez

Abstract Title: Do near-death experiences impact the cosmology of those who experience them, and if so how?

Biography:
Natalia Sánchez was born in Colombia (South America) in 1983. She is a Chemical Engineer who after 13 years of working as such, had an anomalous experience that made her go back to a childhood dream that was to studying astronomy. That is why in 2018 she started the MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology at the UWTSD that was finished with distinction in 2021. She has published two research articles related to cultural astronomy and her academic interests include studying the cosmologies of contemporary non-indigenous people, especially those who have anomalous experiences, and skyscape archaeology in Colombia.

Name: Anupam Kumar Suman

Abstract Title: Can fate be altered? Examining the efficacy of planetary rituals — appeasement (Śānti) and worship (Pūjā) — for cleansing karmic residuum of human fate

Biography:
Anupam Kumar Suman is studying MPhil in Classical Indian Religion at the University of Oxford. He completed his MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology from University of Wales Trinity Saint David in 2022. His MA dissertation topic was based on the discourse of fate and freewill while focusing on the primary research of Nāḍī Palm-leaf Astrology in India. Anupam has also completed MA in Social Policy from The London School of Economics and Political Science. Professionally he was a Senior Civil Servant in India for 15 years and currently he is the General Secretary of a newly formed progressive political party in India called ‘The Plurals Party’.