Visiting author connects planets to pop culture
By Angela Randazzo Special to the Acorn

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers Author Philip Brown

In his book, "Cosmic Trends," Philip Brown, 58, looks to the stars to find a correlation between astrology and what's currently popular here on Earth.

"Trends such as movies, television and music reflect the times that we live in. Trends also symbolize things in society," Brown said. "I'm trying to understand where we are going and use astrology to look at trends and then make some forecasts about future trends."

The first-time author discussed his unique take on pop culture at the Borders on Tapo Canyon Road two weeks ago. A small group of people gathered to hear Brown quote from his book.

"I think it's a very interesting book. I'm not into astrology, but I like the part about the trends," said Brown's friend Ken Kruze, from Camarillo. "I found that interesting. He did a thoughtful analysis of those things."

In "Cosmic Trends," Brown uses the positions of the planets to analyze trends in a manner similar to that of an individual horoscope.

"The horoscope is a symbolic representation of where the sun, moon and planets were in the sky at a person's birth," Brown said. "The zodiac signs are divided into 12 pie slices or houses. The houses represent areas in your life. If a planet falls in a particular house, that planet is going to be active in that area of life."

For example, Brown said the huge success of Apple iPods is related to the fact that the planet Uranus currently falls within the sign of Pisces.

"Uranus is a planet which is associated with technology, and very much associated with the computer revolution," the author said. "The sign of Pisces is associated with music and creativity, and so that is what boosted the reach of technology and the distribution of music in that manner."

Brown's book provides similar connections between the planets and stars and such pop culture giants as American Idol, Harry Potter and even Britney Spears.

Brown started reading about astrology in 1990 and soon after began writing articles on various zodiac topics.

When asked what he hoped readers could take from his first literary undertaking, Brown said another way of looking at an increasing complex and fragmented world.

"There is so much information poured out in the world- I think the number of books that are published each year numbers in the hundreds of thousands- that it is so hard for people to make sense of everything," he said. "I just want them to try and make some connections, see the bigger picture. I want them to view pop culture with new eyes and not just as a bunch of stuff coming at us. There is something bigger going on."

To find out more, just visit www.astrofuturetrends.com.