The astrology bug bit Hans in 1971, when an Aquarian asked him his sign. There followed years of haphazardly trying to fathom astrology out, until 1982, when he finally realised this was his vocation and he'd better get on with it.

The Faculty of Astrological Studies was, and is, the main astrological teaching body in the UK, so he enrolled on their correspondence course, with the purpose of honing his knowledge and interpretation skills and getting an objective assessment of his astrological ability by a recognised body. After a couple of years, he took the Faculty's Intermediate Certificate exam and passed, with distinction for best interpretation paper.

Using this accreditation as a springboard, he launched himself as a practitioner and teacher of astrology at various adult education centres around Bristol and Avon.

A seven-year itch around practicing astrology developed in 1992, leading to enrolment on the three-year professional training course run by the Centre for Psychological Astrology, directed by Dr Liz Greene, an accomplished astrologer and Jungian psychoanalyst. The aim of this course is to deepen the astrologer's insight into a birthchart, by marrying up the cosmic perspective of astrology with the penetrating depth of psychology and mythology.

On graduating with its Certificate in 1995, he was then asked to run their Introduction to Psychological Astrology course, which he did until 2000, when he finally presented his case-study work to gain the CPA's coveted Diploma.

Since then, in addition to practicing as a mainstream astrologer, he has been involved with the Rainbow Astrology group and the Wheel of Astrologers, which put on summer camps for people wanting to learn about astrology in a natural, open-air setting, sometimes using astrodrama   - a dynamic way of bringing the birthchart to life by using people to represent planets.

Hans continues to practice astrology from his home in Bristol, UK.