I'm glad you like Mr. Harrison! I recommend that you follow up on his other works, if these stood out to you. God knows he has plenty more besides; my volume of his collected poems is more than nine hundred pages.
I'm a rather insincere astrologist, I'm afraid. I have a few friends who are very into it, and subscribe to it in varying degrees, but my interest is more aesthetic, maybe even superficial. I find that the astrological calendar is a sweeter flavor of calendar than that which we use to organize the division of work and rest, and is more obviously cyclical. It's pleasant to consider a passage of time as having something like a personality, in accordance with the various traits and identities attributed to the signs, houses, and their rulers.
I wonder if astrologically-minded people are more open to the ancient notion of cyclical, as opposed to linear or even helical, time?
I shall indeed follow up more on Jim Harrison -- reading his wiki bio has sparked even more curiosity because of where he lived.
As far as astrology is concerned, I would say I half-believe... looking at the topic through a psychological/archetypical lens helps me to accept it more than thinking that the stars absolutely compel certain outcomes. I like thinking of it as different periods of time having different qualities to them.
It also appeals to my mathematical side and highlights the need for precision in creating a birthchart and the uselessness of pop astrology based on the sun sign alone. Just recently I have been creating a birthchart for a friend who is unsure of his birth time but has it within a one-hour window... the thing is, in his case, the difference of even a few minutes would result in him having a different ascendant, thereby affecting his house placement and a bunch of other stuff as well. Based on his persona and physical characteristics, I am pretty sure that I have established a correct birthtime for him; now it just remains to write up the rest of the natal chart interpretation...
I've rambled, I'm afraid, so I'll wrap this one up but simply noting that I feel the idea of helical time resonates the most with me.