Jesse Portis Helm

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American pro astrologer, popular with a large, ongoing clientele due to his acute, often pungent astrological observations and solid, common sense advice. Not well-known in the astrology community nationally, he lectured and taught classes locally in Manhattan, later in the Raleigh-Durham area, and toward the end of his life in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. He was also a gifted Tarot reader and a student of things occult, including the Kabala. Jesse was irreverent and loved practical jokes. He delighted in a scandalous quip, and perhaps the highpoint of his writing career was a column in Gentlemen's Quarterly for several years, in which he reviewed--and often skewered--the latest films, fashions, and trends. Jesse was HIV+ for many years and lost his lover, Philip Weathers, to the disease. He worked hard at staying well and was a tireless activist in the AIDS community in Ft. Lauderdale. He succumbed to the disease in June 1989.