Frank C. Clifford

Frank Clifford is an accomplished astrologer and palmist who has been writing and lecturing on both subjects for 30 years. He lives just outside London and has run the popular London School of Astrology since 2004. Over twenty years ago, Frank founded a publishing company, Flare (www.flareuk.com), to publish books in the Mind, Body and Spirit field. Frank lectures internationally (from China and Japan, from the USA to Australia and Mexico, and all over Europe), appears at corporate events and parties, and runs a consultation practice (www.frankclifford.co.uk) An independent, creative force in the astrological community for over a quarter of a century, Frank has built an eclectic career in astrology, palmistry and publishing: • as the writer of a dozen books, including a modern classic on hand analysis • as a columnist and biographer • as a Sun sign astrologer for numerous magazines • as a consultant for clients and businesses • as a publisher of over 35 books and booklets • as a researcher and compiler of birth data (including a compendium for Solar Fire) • as a media astrologer/palmist profiled and interviewed on radio, tv and in print • as an international lecturer and the Principal of the London School of Astrology where, for the past fifteen years, he has been instrumental in bringing a younger generation to astrology. In September 2012, at the annual Astrological Association Conference, Frank became the thirteenth (and youngest) winner of The Charles Harvey Award for Exceptional Service to Astrology. In 2018, the UAC conference honoured Frank with a Regulus Award nomination for enhancing astrology’s Professional Image. Frank continues to write features and columns for various magazines, including The Astrological Journal and he has guest edited half a dozen issues of The Mountain Astrologer, the world’s leading astrological publication. In 2016, ISAR honoured him with a writing award at their conference in Los Angeles. An astrologer and palmist since his late teens, Frank began his data collecting work with Lois Rodden, contributing to and editing her Profiles of Women (1995) book and magazine Data News. When Rodden was approached to develop software to house the data collection, Frank suggested she call it ‘Astrodatabank’. His own Clifford Data Compendium first appeared as part of the Solar Fire package in 1997 and was updated in 2000. Frank's first book, British Entertainers: the Astrological Profiles was published in 1997. A paperback version of the third edition (2003), with hundreds of chart wheels (Placidus), quotes from celebrities and the astrological signs of entertainers, is still available from www.flareuk.com. Later, in 2009, his Astrologer’s Book of Charts was published. In 1996 he founded Flare Publications, and since then Frank has edited and published over two dozen astrology books, including Astrology in the Year Zero (Phillipson, 2000), The Contemporary Astrologer’s Handbook (Tompkins, 2006), and a revised edition of The Twelve Houses by Howard Sasportas (2007), with tribute essays to Sasportas by Liz Greene, Darby Costello, Melanie Reinhart, Laura Boomer-Trent and Erin Sullivan. Recent titles include Vocational Astrology by Faye Blake (formerly Faye Cossar, 2012, 2017), Kim Farley's Astro Mind Maps, and From Symbol to Substance and The Horary Process, both by Richard Swatton. Frank has also published his own work: the textbook Getting to the Heart of Your Chart: Playing Astrological Detective (2012), and his book of essays Horoscope Snapshots (2014), plus the modern classic Palmistry 4 Today (originally Rider, 2002, new edition 2010), which has been translated into half a dozen languages. Through Flare and the LSA, Frank has also published smaller volumes that have proved immensely popular. These include: Solar Arc Directions (2011), The Astrology of Love, Sex and Attraction (2015), Humour in the Horoscope (2015), The Midheaven: Spotlight on Success (2016) and Dialogues: Tools for the Working Astrologer (with Mark Jones, 2016). The year 2018 saw the publication of Frank’s new forecasting book, The Solar Arc Handbook, and The Book of Music Horoscopes, a collection of over 500 charts and 35 essays from leading astrologers that aims to fundraise for astrology students to attend various conferences worldwide. Flare/LSA will soon launch a new textbook from Frank, and Ilex/Octopus will republish Frank’s best-selling, second palmistry book (Palm Reading, Hamlyn, 2004) now called The Palm Reading Guide (2019). Frank has combined his work as a consultant astrologer with that of Sun sign columnist for magazines such as Marie Claire (UK), Quick and Simple (US), Reveal (UK), and Candis (UK). He has also been profiled in various broadsheets and tabloids, and has contributed to a number of TV and radio shows (from interviews to commenting on the daily newspapers). His media work has ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous: from being interviewed for documentaries on the BBC comedy Little Britain, the BBC Radio series The Inconstant Moon and the Danny Boyle feature film Sunshine, and working with Oxford University Press and Universal Studios, to being asked by the tabloid The Sun to locate a then-missing Saddam Hussein! In his collection, Frank has a cheque slip from The Sun with the note: ‘For reading Saddam Hussein's parm.’ (Spot the typo!) Frank is also a well-known palmist (The Guardian newspaper dubbed him the ‘palm reader to the stars’), and his book Palmistry 4 Today (Rider/Random House, 2002) is considered the modern textbook on the subject, and has been published in five languages (including Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Serbian). A fully revised and expanded edition was published in the USA in 2010. Frank's other book on palmistry, Palm Reading (Hamlyn, 2004) is a unique guide with profiles on love, work and personality for each palm marking and hand shape. It was published in Chinese, Taiwanese and Russian, with over 100,000 copies sold. In 2007, cards of these profiles were published. In 2019, Octopus republished it as The Palm Reading Guide. Most years Frank organises the Hand Analysis Conference in London, which brings together some of the top palmists in the country. In 2004, Frank took over the running of The London School of Astrology and offers certificate and diploma classes, seminars and residential courses in astrology, palmistry and tarot. In 2019, the LSA celebrated 15 years of Frank’s work as Principal of the LSA with its annual Thames boat trip with students and tutors. The LSA prides itself on inviting an eclectic range of some of the most accomplished astrologers from around the world to give seminars and classes. It begins online courses in late 2019. Frank has also set up an annual Astrology Student Conference (ASC, 2008-) and an occasional Astrology and Music Conference (2009-). Frank lectures all over the UK, Europe, Asia, Australia and the US, and was, for a few years, a regular guest tutor on a psychology course at the London Metropolitan University. Frank is an Aries Sun, with Gemini Rising and the Moon in Virgo. His Sun ruler Mars is conjunct Jupiter on the Midheaven in Aquarius.