Remembering Michael Lutin

Memories of Michael Lutin

Well, he wrote a classic book called SunShines – The Astrology of Being Happy. And he mostly was happy. Reliably funny, anyway. Also a star in astrology circles. I remember Michael after a talk in Georgia being mobbed.

It’s extraordinary that my old astrology amigo Mr. Lutin should pass to spirit, just as his most famous prediction (about America) is also passing. It ran in Vanity Fair, where his monthly horoscopes appeared, as a feature on the future of the U.S.A. under Pluto in Capricorn. That’s his chosen final photograph of himself, below, from Twitter.

That Vanity Fair Prediction

What a time to sign out. On the day that Donald Trump learns what his fate will be from the ‘hush money’ judge Merchan, Pluto goes out of Capricorn.

This is what Michael wrote in Vanity Fair, before Donald even came near power –  and it is typical of him.

I can almost hear him saying it in his very deliberate, dramatic New York accent. He was a brilliant lecturer – and on the page, a straight-talking and accurate writer.

In an age of vague talk about ‘energies’ and a lot of YouTube waffle, he was specific, precise and accurate in his craft.

He published this in 2006 and I know even some hardline sceptics are still amazed today, at the full astrological prediction. This is an extract:

The Man Who Would Not Give His Chart

Lutin was known as one of a few famous astrologers who would not give their charts freely (Liz Greene being the other one). I got to know him in New York and also in Australia, when he would appear at conferences.

He was the only astrologer I knew who had an office on Fifth Avenue. Down at 39 Fifth Avenue, he saw it all. He was as discreet about his famous clients, as he was about his own birth data.

We recently had Michael Lutin booked to talk about Pluto on a new podcast at The Sun Sign School last year and it never happened – to my eternal regret, I suppose. He could be a hard man to pin down in his final years, following his heart attack.

Lutin was a short, charismatic, Phi Beta Kappa graduate whose downtown office was decorated with Tibetan Buddhist symbols.

He also had a pretty short temper.

I remember being late to meet him for dinner at The Algonquin, with the astrologer Julian Venables  – and he was not impressed. In fact, I fancied I could see steam rising from his head, standing at the traffic lights in Manhattan, tapping his watch.

Generous and Open

Lutin was extremely generous with other astrologers and open to new ideas. There is a good tribute to him, here, by Matthew Currie.

After I gave a lecture on asteroids, Michael Lutin  told me he could not take in yet another new thing about astrology – but that he was interested in this.

The lecture took place after 2006 when Pluto was thrown out of the solar system and a former asteroid, Ceres, was promoted to dwarf planet. Michael was more than a little curious. So curious he even divulged his Moon sign. (A mutual friend does in fact have his natal chart, but I’m saying nothing).

When a vacancy appeared at UAC in New Orleans, Michael threw it to me, even though at the time, asteroids were largely dismissed by mainstream astrology. That was typical of him.

Lutin’s books are excellent – particularly his take on Saturn – and his passing, made public on 12th November 2024, has made me race to eBay to order them all over again. He was the least boring astrologer you’ll ever read. And accurate. Oh, so accurate.

Beyond his famous Vanity Fair essay about America, he also predicted the Mercury Retrograde mess of the Bush-Gore election. Typically modest, he said ‘Everyone thought I was this genius, but it was just Mercury.”

Planetarium in Media Astrology

Michael’s interpretation of transits was an inspiration to a generation of media astrologers. Writing in Planetarium, often the first page people turned to in Vanity Fair, he managed to take ‘Jupiter’s one-year transit through your solar Fifth House’ for Gemini and turn it into something people would quote to each other over breakfast.

Lutin would also read all the transits together and, like a detective, piece together the whole story. So Gemini would hear about her Fifth House, but also her financial issues, coming from those never-ending Capricorn transits.

The (Sort Of) Unstoppable Mr. Lutin

A heart attack in 2022 derailed Michael, as many of you will know, but his books have a life of their own and must have powered so many destinies, throughout the time he let his website go (for whatever reason).

He was a force of nature. And a cat lover.

Australian Days

Lutin was a game-changer. Sweating through an unbearably hot conference in Queensland, Australia, he changed my career by talking about sociology and astrology; how the slow-moving outer planet transit of Pluto (there’s that planet again) could shape the personalities of generations. I filled my notebook. It was incredibly exciting stuff and at the time, nobody was even talking about the sociological implications of a transit. Energies, yes. The post-war period, no.

Lutin was sweating in the small, packed classroom, but he finished on time. Everybody was taking notes.

Straight after that Lynda Hill hired a limousine to take them both to the beach, so he could escape the stuffy conference. (Michael was a fan of her Sabian Symbols book). She tells the full story on her Substack tribute to him. The photographs below are hers and show him looking so very much at home,  with Lynda’s cat, in Australia.

Oh Michael, You Were Great

Astrology can produce people who take themselves frightfully seriously. Not Lutin. I remember him being on great form at a dinner party for me, given by the author Karen Moline, with no mention of the stars at all in the conversation.

It was more like chatting to one of those classic Woody Allen era New Yorkers – witty, sophisticated, well-read, hilarious.

Karen said she recently saw him at her dentist – of all places – and stopped to say hello. She said he seemed fine.

Tad Mann who shared space on NBC News with ‘Mikey’ as he fondly calls him, was taken aback by his friend’s passing too – he had organised to stay with Michael in New York only recently.

Isn’t it often the way? We’re here. And then we’re gone. Tad Mann recently recorded a great interview on reincarnation. I believe, Michael also believed. So he’ll be back.

Oh Michael, you were a rare thing in this business. I’m so sorry we never did get that Pluto recording from you. But your legacy will go on for generations of astrology students, professional astrologers and readers.

Image: Getty/Patrick McMullan