Sullivan, Erin (1947-)

Erin Sullivan, a notable contemporary Canadian astrologer, was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, on November 9, 1947. She took up the study of astrology in her late teens and soon developed a thriving practice. She married and became the mother of two daughters. She also became a popular author, contributing articles to a variety of astrological periodicals. She was among the founders of the Association for Astrological Networking and the Cross Canada Council for the Fraternity of Canadian Astrologers. During the 1980s she had a radio show that originated in Victoria, British Columbia.

In 1989, Sullivan moved from Canada to the United Kingdom. She established a private practice and associated with the Centre for Psychological Astrology, for whom she taught classes in London and Zürich, Switzerland. She also travels to Australia annually to teach. Shortly after moving to London, she succeeded Howard Sasportas as editor of the Arkana Astrology series published by Viking-Penguin, and she contributed two of her own works to the series, Saturn in Transet: Boundaries of the Mind, Body and Soul (1990) and a second volume offering a psychological reevaluation of the phenomenon of retrograde planets, Retrograde Planets: Traversing the Inner Landscape (1992). Retrograde planets were a major problem for pre-modern astrologers, who assumed an earth-centered astronomy. While they moved steadily through the sky on their course, at times they appeared to come to a complete stop and begin to move backward. This unusual action came to be seen as an ill omen. Moving to a post-Copernican astronomy explained retrograde planets as an illusion created by the relative movements of the earth and other planets around the sun. Psychologically considered, retrograde became symbolic of challenges presented to the inner self.

Sources:

Sullivan, Erin. Retrograde Planets: Traversing the Inner Landscape. New York: Arkana, 1992.

——. Saturn in Transet: Boundaries of the Mind, Body and Soul. New York: Arkana, 1990.