Dear Goldsboro Fellowship Reader,
I am sure you have never thought to yourself, I wonder if anyone will ever write a romantic fantasy inspired by John Dee, court astrologer and spymaster to Elizabeth I. If you have, then we must become best friends.
The Tudors did in fact have astrological advisors like John Dee. Henry VIII had an astrologer named Nicholas Kratzer, and in a time when faith and mysticism bled into one another, astrologers consulted the planets and whispered predictions. They read birth charts. And sometimes they warned of terrible cataclysms, like the infamous French astrologer Nostradamus, who lived in the sixteenth century.
While I had always been fascinated by the Tudor dynasty, I received my first birth chart reading on a whim when a colleague offered. I discovered that when I was born, my Moon and Mercury– the planets of emotion and communication, respectively – were placed incredibly close together. “Are you a writer, by chance?” my colleague asked.
I was.
What sparked the idea for The Court of Venus, for me, was the collision of ideas: A Tudor-inspired court setting and astrology. A fallen heir and a mystery to uncover the truth behind his death. The seven traditional planets – the very same celestial bodies John Dee would have studied – blessing magicians with power, and that power having terrible consequences.
I must admit that my astrologer-magicians are perhaps more appealing than John Dee. Roland, a Venusborn with pink hair and a dangling pearl earring, reads the desires of the court, and Bianca, his Moonborn rival, uses her shapeshifting abilities to spy.
But they both arose from my fascination with the orbiting powers surrounding kings and queens. Sometimes, these advisors remained in the shadows, manipulating and influencing rulers from afar. And sometimes, they stepped into the light.
I hope you enjoy The Court of Venus. I am so honored it is in your hands, and I recommend getting your birth chart read if you haven’t. You never know what the stars may inspire.
Bel Banta
