“my saturn return helped me create my podcast"

We may recognise her from reality TV, but in the last decade, Caggie Dunlop has excelled into the astrology zone and helped to bring it out from its niche into the mainstream. I catch some Zoom time with her to ask her all about her popular podcast – now also a series of live shows – and how a book came about off the back of it all. The best bit? It was all coded into her very own Saturn Return. I love it when that happens. Read our fascinating chat below!

RM: Hi Caggie! Congrats on your debut book, Saturn Returns. How did it all come about?

CG: Thank you! The editor from publishers Orion got in contact after the first episode of season one of the podcast came out in March 2020. People ask me if it was a pandemic project, and although it launched then, I’d done it all beforehand. When we went into the pandemic, all the brands pulled out. I decided to put it out anyway and it was the best thing I ever did, because not only did it give me an anchoring during that time, it also provided people with this space and support. Everyone was suddenly being a bit more introspective and questioning certain things as our lives were turned upside down. So I think the nature of the podcast lent itself to that moment in time. I’ve also always wanted to write a book, but I had no idea how hard it would be.

RM: Were you ever spiritually curious before you started making the podcast?

CG: Yes, from an incredibly young age. I would say it was quite innate in me. But I shied away from that aspect of myself as I got older. It’s changed a lot now, but back then it was kind of considered a bit ‘woo woo’ and a bit strange.

I was brought up in quite a religious framework, but that didn’t necessarily resonate with me. I would say that my understanding of something greater than myself, or something beyond our comprehension came about when I went to Australia. And that’s when I found people who were on a more spiritual path; they were more open to this kind of thing. I really connected with that and then I came back to London and people would say ‘you’re being weird’ if I talked about it.

So I shied away from it, or at least I kept that part of me hidden, until I had found my community. That was probably until I went through my Saturn Return!

RM: What kind of thought and practices would you bring back from Australia?

CG: A kind of grounding of the general holistic approach to living – how to look after yourself, like abstaining from