Bernadette Brady

Tutor
Dr Bernadette Brady headshot

Background

Bernadette Brady holds a PhD in Anthropology (2012) an MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology (2005) and a MA in Egyptology (2022). Since 2008, she has been a tutor in the Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK. Her research interests are in varying forms of cultural astronomy and sacred geography. In particular, she has directed courses in Egypt on Egyptian sacred landscapes and religious astronomy. Her research also includes the religious landscapes of the Cistercian abbeys and the medieval churches of North Wales. She recently co-edited with Darrelyn Gunzburg,  Space, Place and Religious Landscapes, Living Mountains London, NY, Oxford Bloomsbury (2020). 

Specialist Subjects

  • Cultural Astronomy
  • Ancient Egyptian cultural astronomy
  • Star Phases
  • The cultural astronomy of medieval churches and Cistercian Abbeys
  • Sacred Geography

Professional and/or Research Experience

Since 2008, Dr Bernadette Brady has served as a tutor with the Sophia Centre, where she teaches modules in Sacred Geography and Sacred Skies. She has also lectured on Ancient Egyptian astronomy for Bloomsbury Summer Schools, both in Egypt and in London, and in 2023 she led a study tour to Egypt, presenting on Egyptian sacred landscapes.

Alongside her teaching and lecturing, Dr Brady has collaborated with Darrelyn Gunzburg and Martin Pailthrope on the production of a documentary film on Devon ringing. As part of this project, she carried out ethnographic research into Devon call change ringers and, in 2025, conducted a county-wide census of ringers, producing a comprehensive report for the Devon Association of Ringers.

Since 2018, she has also been co-director of the Kemet Klub, an online lecture-based organisation dedicated to Egyptology.

Qualifications

  • MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology, 2005
  • PhD in Anthropology, 2012
  • MA in Egyptology, 2022

Languages Spoken

English

Academic Teaching

External Recognition or Rewards

Charles Harvey Award, Exceptional Service to Astrology, 2006

Regulus Award, Theory and Understanding in Astrology, 2008

Golden Jupiter Award, by the German Astrological Association, 2024

Professional Publications

  • The Shape of Fate: From Classical Philosophy to Astrological Practice. London: Sophia Press, Forthcoming 2025.
  • (ed.) The Talking Sky Vol. 24, Culture and Cosmos, vol. 1 and 2: Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology and Culture, 2023.
  • Gunzburg, D. & Brady, B. (eds.) Space, Place and Religious Landscapes, Living Mountains, London, NY, Oxford, Bloomsbury (2020).
  • Cosmos, Chaosmos and Astrology. London: Sophia Centre Press (2014).
  • co-author', 'The orientation of the medieval churches of Gwynedd – a Landscape of Sacred Time' with Darrelyn Gunzburg and Fabio Silva. In CULTURAL ASTRONOMIES IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN EUROPE: Forthcoming Brill,
  • ‘The Afon Cynfael- a River's Part in the Cosmology of the Mabinogi.’ In Rivers, Mountains, Sky and Sea - the Materiality of Spirit and Place edited by Luci Attala, 117-30. Ceredigion, Wales: Sophia Centre Press, 2023.
  • ‘The Milky Way.’ Journal of Skyscape Archaeology 8, no. 1 (2022): 1-7.
  • 'The Sun's Light at Michaelmas and the Cistercians of Britain and Ireland', Citeaux - Commentarii cistercienses, 1(4), pp. 47-65. (2022). Co-authored with D Gunzburg and F Silva.
  • 'Living with Fate: the Lifestyle of Contemporary Astrologers', JSRNC, 13(1), (2019) pp. 1-14.
  • 'The phenomenology of star phases and their role in considering skyscapes', in Henty, L. & Brown, D. (eds.) Visualising Skyscapes. New York: Routledge (2018) pp. 98-111.
  • ‘The Dual Alignments of the Solstitial Churches in North Wales’ Journal of Skyscape Archaeology (2017) 3(1), pp. 5-28.
  • 'The Orientation of Cistercian Churches in Wales: A Cultural Astronomy Case Study ', Cîteaux - Commentarii cistercienses, 67 (2016), 275-302. Co authored with D Gunzburg and F Silva.
  • 'Images in the Heavens: A Cultural Landscape', in The Imagined Sky ed. by D. Gunzburg (Sheffield: Equinox, 2016), pp. 234-258.
  • 'Galileo's Astrological Philosophy', in From Masha' Allah to Kepler: Theory and Practice in Medieval and Renaissance Astrology, ed. by Charles Burnett and Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum (University of Wales, Lampeter: Sophia Centre Press, 2015), pp. 77-100
  • 'Star phases: the naked-eye astronomy of the Old Kingdom pyramid text. In: Silva, F. & Campion, N. (eds.) Skyscapes: The Role and Importance of the Sky in Archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow 2015.
  • 'Star-Paths, Stones and Horizon Astronomy', in SEAC 2011 Stars and Stones: Voyages in Archaeoastronomy and Cultural Astronomy, ed. by F.Pimenta, et al. (Oxford: Archaeopress, BAR International Series, 2015), pp. 58-63.
  • ‘A Niche Degree: a case study of an MA (in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology)’ DISKUS, Teaching and Learning. Vol 14, 2013. 55-69.
  • 'Images in the Heavens: A Cultural Landscape', Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 7 (2013), 461-484.
  • ‘The Star of Bethlehem and Luke's Shepherds: an exploration of the astrological features of the two nativity stories'. In: Šprajc, I. & Pehani, P. (eds.) Ancient cosmologies and modern prophets Ljubljana, Slovene: Slovene Anthropological Society. 2013.
  • ‘A Consideration of Egyptian Ascension Mythology as a Reflection of the Mythopoeic Nature of Star Phases and Its Implication for Belief in the Descent of Divine Beings.’ In Current Research in Egyptology Volume Xii, edited by Heba Abd El-Gawad, Veronica
  • ‘The Horoscope as an “Imago Mundi’’: Rethinking the Nature of the Astrologer's Map.’ In Astrologies, Plurality and Diversity, edited by Nicholas Campion and Liz Greene, 47-62. University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter: Sophia Centre Press, 2011.
  • ‘Some philosophical roots of determinism in astrology’ in Jupiter, Astronomy, Mathematics and Anthroposophy Vol 4 No 1 (2009) 27-40.
  • ‘Chartres Cathedral and the Role of the Sun in the Cathedral’s Christian Platonist Theology.’ In Sky and Psyche, edited by Nicholas Campion and Patrick Curry, 59 – 77. Edinburgh, UK: Floris Books 2006.
  • ‘Four Galilean Horoscopes: A Technical Analysis.’ Culture and Cosmos 7, no. 1 (2003): 113-43.

Available to Supervise Doctoral Students

Yes