Anyone who met Gillian will never forget her infectious humour, her warmth and vivacity. Her love for the adventure of life was contagious. Natural, with that New Moon in Sagittarius arising across the Ascendant. While our astrological community already knew and loved Gillian, the world met her in 1996 through the movie Shine, which immortalizes her love for David Helfgott.

Gillian met David in Perth at Riccardo’s wine bar where he played his beloved piano Saturday nights. It was November 30, 1983; fatefully, Gillian was in Perth to open the new branch of the FAA. Her love of astrology and David crossed path in time and place. The next year Gillian married David – the beautiful ceremony was held at the home of Barbara Brackley, her astrological colleague and friend. That same year Barbara and Gillian jointly established the Perth Academy of Astrology.

I met Gillian in the early 80s when I was the FCA (Fraternity for Canadian Astrologers) journal editor and Gillian (then Murray) was the editor of the FAA Journal. We exchanged journals and wrote letters – through Gillian, I was invited to the 1984 FAA Conference at Monash University, Melbourne. But we first met on a liner serendipitously docked in Auckland just before the Astrological Society of New Zealand’s conference. Gillian lectured on numerology and astrology for P & O cruises. Within five minutes she had me in fits of laughter regaling a story of an elephant. Our laughter continued at the NZ conference and then again at the FAA Conference with Gillian’s lecture on the Vertex! She invited me on stage to help explain its calculation; needless to say, it became quite a comic mishmash with right ascensions and reversed Midheavens, which left the audience very bewildered, yet very entertained! (our Vertexes are exactly opposite!)

In the following years Gillian’s life was devoted to David. And our FAA conferences were blest because David would often play at them; the first in 1986; the last in 2014. When David was ready to tour, Gillian asked Glennys and I to help organize David’s Melbourne concerts. The first 1986 one was held in the Great Hall at the National Gallery and the next two at Melba Hall in the University of Melbourne. It was an amazing experience to see the eclectic audience mesmerized by his unique skills and presentation and Gillian’s social orchestration. And wonderful memories of gathering at our home in Kew for the after party! Later that year David played at the Sydney Opera House and that launched their regular world tours. As a triple Sag, Jupiter on the MC in Leo, Gillian found her bliss and her vocation travelling the world and co-creating David’s career. Her love for astrology always accompanied her.

Dear Gillian – you were much loved by all your astrological colleagues and students; may your travelling spirit be free to enjoy the music of the spheres.

Brian Clark

I first met Gillian in the mid 70’s. We had really good Synastry so we became very good friends sharing many hilarious times together. As a result, I have had great difficulty in deciding which memories to share.

In January 1984, the NZ Association held an international conference a few days before an FAA conference in Melbourne. Gillian and I were speaking at both conferences, so we decided to travel to both together. The plan was to fly to NZ and back and on our return to Sydney, David Reynolds, the then Journal editor, would pick us up and we would drive down to Melbourne where Gillian would give the opening address.

The NZ conference was amazing. Gillian and Brian Clark stole the show nearly every night with their dancing skills. On the flight back to Sydney Gillian showed me a stack of music she was giving a pianist she had met in Perth. As she talked about him, she became really animated and it was obvious she really liked him. For the rest of the flight, it was David, David, David. At one point she confided with a bit of a nervous laugh that he had asked her to marry him on their first meeting. I said to her “Why don’t you?”. For the next half an hour she proceeded to give me every excuse why she could not. He was 20 years younger than she; his disabilities would take a tremendous amount of looking after etc etc. I said to her that I had not heard a single excuse that would prevent it. She had so much love to give and he needed that. She promised to think about it and you know the rest of THAT story.

We arrived in Sydney. Gillian’s luggage went to Cairns!

We HAD to be in Melbourne the next day, so we met up with David anyway and took off straight away for the 10-hour drive.

It started to rain quite heavily. We stopped in Eden which is more or less the halfway point, to fill up the car, got back in and the car would not move. It appeared rain had got into the petrol tank. The car was not going anywhere soon.

Fortunately, the Sydney-Melbourne bus was passing through at midnight and we managed to get ourselves on it. While waiting, over a delicious meal at the Eden RSL we tried to calculate a chart for the time the car broke down – with no tools. Not even a calculator. We couldn’t do it and had a good laugh at the thought of three professional astrologers not being able to calculate a chart between them.

We arrived at the conference venue with no sleep and 10 minutes to spare. In a borrowed dress from me, which looked far better on her, she gave one of the best lectures I have heard her give.

But that was Gillian. Thank you, Gil, for this and many other wonderful memories. RIP.

Chris Turner

Vale Gillian Helfgott

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by
Robert Frost

It is a long way from being a full-time astrologer to the red carpet in Los Angeles when Geoffrey Rush won an Oscar for the best actor in 1996, playing the part of David Helfgott in the movie “Shine,” based on the book written by his wife. Gillian, a triple Sagittarian, was always happy to take the road less travelled.

Gillian was born on 10th December, 1931, at 5.04 am in Melbourne. On the day she was born both the Sun and Moon and Rising sign were all in Sagittarius. She married young and spent the next 22 years as a working wife and mother of two.

However, the restlessness of the triple “Sag” and the quest for freedom set in and when the children were old enough to look after themselves, she took off on a long holiday around the world, came back and divorced her husband. It was now time to live for the moment.

Anticipating a new life of freedom didn’t last too long and soon Gillian entered a new relationship with an older man and moved to Noosa Heads. In the early 1970’s a friend asked Gillian if she would like an expensive handbag or a reading with astrologer, Doris Greaves as a birthday present. Curiosity got the better of this triple Sagittarian and Gillian took the reading. She felt that she could always buy herself a new handbag.

Doris saw her potential as an astrologer and suggested that she learn the craft. A couple of years later when her second relationship broke down Doris offered her a job. While working for Doris she was able to study for her diploma and once she completed her studies she set out on a path of teaching astrology all around Australia. She was also lecturing about astrology on P and O cruises in the Pacific. Gillian was a natural teacher, capable of moving and engrossing an audience with fiery enthusiasm and breadth of understanding.

During her original reading with Doris Greaves, she had also told her that she would meet someone significant and that her best years were yet to come. That year was 1983 and after a chance meeting with David Helfgott in Perth, she formed an immediate bond and realised that if this was the man then, he came in a totally different package than even she, had expected.

She packed up and moved to Perth and from that day on dedicated her life to David. They married in 1984 and with her commitment and love oversaw his triumphant return to the concert stage after years of obscurity as a patient in a mental hospital.

He became a household word after Gillian’s book “Love You to Bits and Pieces,” was made into a movie in 1996 and the rest as they say in the classics is history. Gillian passed away peacefully on 16th August, 2022 after a short illness.

Fate bought me into Doris Greaves life in 1983 the same year Gillian met David. I studied with Doris, also getting my diploma and working for her. She always spoke very highly of Gillian and her astrological ability. I was fortunate to meet David and Gillian many times over the years and was very lucky to attend several of his concerts. I am still in awe of the genius of this man and his wife who dedicated her life to him. Rest in Peace Gillian Helfgott.

Glorija Lawrence