Michael Lutin just passed away and left a big hole in the astrology community. It is my honor to have been a good friend of Michael’s, and this is a tribute to both his brilliance as an astrologer and his loyalty as a friend.
Michael was a hardworking astrologer, who wrote four books and copious amounts of articles. He lectured all over the world and mentored many young astrologers. He was a brilliant astrologer, author, consultant and speaker. He was deeply spiritual and psychologically oriented.
Of all Michael’s talents, to me the performer in him stood out the most. He was funny in a cynical kind of way and told the blatant truth, even if it was cringeworthy. Somehow, he brought humor to the darker side of life.
Michael and I met at the very first United Astrology Conference (UAC) in San Diego in 1986. I produced one of the evenings of entertainment, called the Astrological Talent Show. Noel Tyl played God with Jerry Markoe providing the music. It was easy to put on a talent show with all the creative and artistic astrologers involved. Astrologers from over 40 countries attend these conferences.
Michael called his evening of entertainment, Pluto in Scorpio. Both of our shows were done in the famous “tent” since the hotel, Bahia by the Bay, didn’t have a ballroom large enough for us. I remember that the hotel was in the flight path of the airport, and we had them reroute the planes during both nights of entertainment.
It was fortuitous meeting Michael because it led to our collaborating over 26 years, working together on all his shows for the next five UAC conferences. At the time, I had an extensive costume collection. Michael would come stay with me here in Tucson and choose what costumes he wanted for all the shows. We spent hours sitting on the floor laughing as we went through costumes and brainstormed about how they could be used. One of my favorite shows was the Alien Follies, where Michael created several species of aliens, including an alien language. It was such a joy to see my costumes dress a variety of weird aliens.
I painfully realize now how precious those memories are to me.
For those of you who didn’t know Michael, here is his bio from his website:
“As a kid living in Paris, I got interested in Eastern philosophy and Pop Art. Then came astrology, which I fought for years until I surrendered to its inescapable and mind-expanding accuracy. I liked baseball as a kid, but now I love being on the ice or in the ocean, although I am the planet Earth’s worst surfer. Grateful to my Mom to have been educated in the finest eastern schools and Phi Beta Kappa too. I am also eternally grateful to Doctor Robert J. Langs, who guided me through my life-changing study of communicative psychoanalytic psychotherapy. I’ve written four books plus book and lyrics for and co-produced five astrological musicals with composer Doug Morton.
I speak publicly on astrology and on the fate of us all, have given lectures and talks from a bowling alley, an attic you had to climb a ladder in the pantry to get to, the National Press Club and the Harvard Business School Alumni and all the way from Jersey to Bali. I have a big mouth, a hot temper, enormous appetites and a personal history to make the Pope faint when he hears my name. Literally. I believe in life on other planets, because of course there are sentient beings everywhere in the Universe. The fact is, some are sweet, some are sexy, others are total jerks, but I love ‘em all. I’d go up in a spaceship any day of the week, although I prefer roomy business class and some nice fluffy towels when I get to Planet X. Am I legitimate? That’s another story. Most favorite book? The Tibetan Book of the Dead, so that shows what kind of a fun guy I am.”
Michael’s unique evolution became apparent as he developed his shows throughout the years. He came up with the ideas, wrote the scripts, wrote lyrics to dozens of songs and directed and produced everything by himself. Doug Morton wrote the music to Michael’s lyrics. Thousands of hours were put into each show. Here is a listing of the shows:
UAC 1986 San Diego
This was the first conference of many to follow. It was the beginning of an era, and everyone could feel it. Michael’s show was called, Pluto in Scorpio. Pluto had just en
UAC 1989 New Orleans
This was a wild conference in true Bourbon Street style. There was a steamboat cruise on the Mississippi River with lots of dancing. Michael’s show was called, I was Nostradamus’ Girlfriend. She of course spilled the tea about the future in a quirky, fractured way.
UAC 1992 Washington DC
Astrologers chose DC during an election year. Joan Quigley, the Reagans’ astrologer, gave the keynote address. I met her after her talk. How could I not? This was Michael’s grandest and wildest show of them all, The Alien Follies! This is when I realized that Michael was not only brilliant, but a genius as well. He not only created different species, but also made up an entire language. He wrote an alien pledge of allegiance, and people stood up and recited it together. It was quite a moment. Think of the bar scene in Star Wars, only at an astrology conference with hundreds of people….or aliens.
UAC 1995 Monterey
UAC 1998 Atlanta
I remember visiting plantations and singing with the Goddesses. Michael’s show was called, Tomorrow is Another Day, the Return of the Goddess. We went to a costume store and all got gorgeous southern belle gowns. We were indeed true southern Goddesses.
UAC 2008 Denver
UAC 2012 New Orleans
The French Quarter, music and the waterfront were main activities. Michael’s show was called OMG, The Mayans Were Right! Other than the Alien Follies, this was Michael’s largest show. It was an outrageous satire on modern society in true Michael style. That was the last show Michael did at UAC conferences.
I can absolutely say with certainty that the astrology community will never see masterpiece
Knowing Michael as well as I did, I want to share a few of his endearing idiosyncrasies.
- Michael never gave anyone his birth information. Never. He told me that he didn’t want to hear any mean interpretations of his chart.
- Michael loved animals, especially his precious cats.
- Michael was very philanthropic and sponsored several underprivileged students until they graduated from college.
- Michael loved food and enjoyed ordering out from his NYC apartment.
- Michael had an excellent, pitch-perfect singing voice.
- Being a good New York guy, Michael didn’t drive much and did not enjoy it when he had to drive. I remember harrowing drives from hotels to airports after conferences.
- Michael didn’t drink or smoke pot, even at a party. He just seemed content in his own skin.
One time when he was visiting me, we went out to Canyon Ranch, where I was the astrologer for 32 years. It’s an elite Wellness Resort in the gorgeous desert outside Tucson. He was writing his column for Vanity Fair at the time. As we walked around the beautiful grounds of the ranch, he told me, “Oh, I see…I’m the city astrologer, and you’re the country astrologer.”
Of all my memories of Michael, my favorite was when, after 20 years of collaborating closely with him, he finally gave me permission to call him Mikey.
So, thank you, Mikey, for bringing your humor and wisdom to the world. You will be missed forever.