Category Archives: Love

The poet Katherine Raine fell in love with author Gavin Maxwell. Theirs was a stormy relationship, not helped by the fact that Maxwell was gay. Maxwell became famous after he travelled to Iraq with Wilfred Thesiger to explore the marshes (subsequently drained by Saddam Hussein). He wanted to bring an otter home with him. Thesiger found one, who Maxwell named Mijbil and he wrote about his experiences in the best selling book and film Ring of Bright Water, which is a line from one of Kathleen’s poems.
He has married me with a ring, a ring of bright water
Whose ripples spread from the heart of the sea,
He has married me with a ring of light, the glitter
Broadcast on the swift river.  
Their relationship ended with her curse by a Rowan tree. This blog looks at their synastry and major transits at this fateful time.