Oxford, August 2007

After years of hard study at the famous Oxford University, Dr. Oxford had finally finished his Ph.D. in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology. He was enjoying the view from his suite at Brasenose College in High Street.
"Phew, studying is hard work", Dr. Oxford said with relief. "Thank God I had a great sponsor; the fine astrologer Chris Mitchell from Bristol. And it means I even have a place to stay once I leave Oxford: I am going to be staying with the famous Travelling Bears in Ireland!"

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The suite had a very fine library, well, at first it looked like there was two libraries of which the one to the right had a number of huge encyclopedias. It turned out that the one to the left was in fact a grand collection of ... make up. A young student - Libran by birth - had been studying in the same suite.

Oxford, August 2007

Oxford University has many colleges, and Brasenose College is one of the most distinguished. Here's Dr. Oxford in the New Quad where the famous Sun Dial is located on the wall in the background. It's a clock, however, it doesn't work when it's overcast.

Here's Dr. Oxford just outside the Brasenose College where one can visit the famous Radcliffe Camera.

Oxford, August 2007

In the Dining Hall you can find the brazen nose - it's a door handle on the wall at the back of the hall, and the name Brasenose College originates from this handle. At lunch time there were lots of astrologers gathered in the hall, including some big names in astrology: There was Clare Martin, Liz Green and the world famous US astrologer Robert Hand. McBear and Roger had actually met Robert Hand when they studied at Brasenose College years ago.

Here's Dr. Oxford waiting excited for the desert. The spoon was kind of heavy. In the middle is Chris; the astrologer who sponsored Dr. Oxford! It was Chris who proposed that in order to qualify for the council of the Astrological Association, council members should have their photo taken with the Travelling Bears. So far half the council was qualified...

There was a great bookshop with a great selection of tempting books. This book for example, The American Ephemeris, is full of nothing but planetary tables. It's very difficult to decipher in the beginning, but once you are used to it, it becomes fascinating reading. In the foreground is one of Robert Hand's books.

Oxford, August 2007

In the evening there was a social gathering. Here's Dr. Oxford with another hot name in British astrology: Kate Czerny, the vice chair of the international British Astrological Association! Dr. Oxford was in good hands!

After his study was over, Dr. Oxford travelled to Dublin in Ireland. Dr. Bear was delighted to welcome Dr. Oxford as Dr. Bear believed it would raise the intellectual standard among the Travelling Bears. Now, 4 bears had fine degrees: Dr. Bear, Dr. Oxford, McBear (M.Sc.) and Roger (M.A.). Dr. Bear proposed the formation of a new fraction: The Academic Bears.
Dr. Oxford had brought with him his only belonging: A globe of the night sky and the bears discussed constellations and star signs. Roger pointed out, that his birth chart Sun in fact was conjunct the Royal star, Regulus.
"I am a born star!" Roger said.

Dublin, August 2007

McBear had just finished a statistical analysis on his bear database. He returned with a big chart and started explaining:
"Dr. Oxford is the 24th bear and since there are 12 star signs, you would expect each sign represented by 2 bears in average. 5 signs are represented by a single bear, 2 signs by 2 bears and 3 signs are represented by 3 bears each. One sign is not represented at all, which is odd. Now, what's really significant is that Sagittarius is represented by no less than 6 bears! This is very surprising from a statistical point of view, however, from an astrological point of view, it's exactly what you'd expect from a group of travelling bears!"
"Interesting; indeed interesting!" Dr. Bear kept repeating.