Lying in his hospital bed recovering after a triple heart bypass, Justin Toper remembered the advice that formed the bedrock of his horoscopes. Have faith and stay positive.

It was a lesson that helped save his life. Every time Justin woke he said the same affirmation to himself over and over –“I have faith, I am blessed, something good is going to happen today.”

He was right. Each day Justin made such a remarkable recovery that within a week doctors said he could go home.

“It’s miraculous,” he says. “There’s no other word to describe it.”

And Justin – who starts today as our new astrologer – says the same positive approach can change your life, just as it saved his.

Justin, who celebrated his 60th anniversary last month, says: “I’ve spent my whole career trying to give hope to others, I had to follow my own advice.

“I tried to push aside any fear, stay positive and pray. I think that helped me pull through.”

He was soaking up the sunshine living on the Portugese island of Madeira when he was diagnosed with blocked arteries at the beginning of this year.

Scenery around Funchal, a city of the portuguese island named Madeira

I’d never really been ill before,” said Justin. “A few weeks earlier I was playing tennis against people half my age and holding my own.”

He had a stent fitted to hold the blocked artery open at a hospital in Madeira on March 26.

But doctors were adamant that was only a short term solution and advised him to have a triple bypass to fix the problem once and for all.

Surgeons on the island warned the operation was highly risky, so Justin moved back to England to have the operation at St Bart’s Hospital in London, where specialists perform the surgery regularly.

Justin had the six-hour operation on September 16th, and is living in Cambridgeshire while he recuperates and has to attend bi-monthly hospital appointments to monitor his recovery while his body adjusts to its newly built blood vessels.

“I feel great,” says Justin. “I went for a bicycle ride yesterday and I’m back working eight hours a day.

“I still get a bit tired, but that’s to be expected. I can’t wait to be 100%. A few months ago in Madeira I was brown, lean and fit. Now I don’t look so fantastic.”

Perhaps not, but Justin looks remarkable for someone who underwent major surgery just two months ago.

His long flowing hair and softly-spoken manner give him a suitably cosmic air. That is accentuated by the sweet cloud of gin and citrus water vapour he exhales after puffing on his e-cigarette – a healthier alternative to the cigs he has given up.

He has cut down on the alcohol too and spends our interview sipping from a bottle of water. Clearly he is determined to cling onto this new lease of life.

It’s a life in which he has established himself as one of the world’s top astrologers during 35 years in the business.

Before moving to Madeira he spent six years living holed up in an idyllic wilderness retreat in Canada.

He also spent several years living in a beach-side shack on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, where his neighbour was English actor and Hollywood star Richard Harris, who played Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films before his death.

Richard Harris

Justin says: “We used to chat from time to time. He showed him his photo albums, page after page of pictures of him with Hollywood legends like Richard Burton.”

Growing up in Hertfordshire Justin seemed destined for a very different life.

Leaving school after his O-Levels, he went straight into the family furniture business making and delivering sofas. His interest in astrology didn’t start until he became an avid follower of the late, great Patric Walker’s daily horoscopes and he enrolled at the world famous Faculty of Astrological Studies in London when he was 24.

Justin says: “I never used to go to lessons at school, but something made me sign up to study astrology.

“They say astrologers are born, not made. I think that’s certainly true in my case. I was destined to do this.”

At first Justin juggled his job at the furniture factory with writing horoscopes for the local press. It wasn’t until he turned 30 that he got his break on a national newspaper.

He has used his star charts to predict some of the biggest news stories of the year.

Justin says: “I knew Theresa May would be the next Prime Minister, because she’s a Libra, like me. For the first time in 12 years Jupiter has moved into Libra and that brings new opportunities. I knew it was her time.

Theresa May

“I knew Donald Trump would become President too. Partly because I know what America is like, but mainly Hillary Clinton is a Scorpio so it wasn’t going to happen for her.”

Now Justin is keen to use those talents to help his readers.

He says: “I believe in fate. We all face challenges, but I believe that for every bad thing that happens, the heavens have a positive outcome planned.

“No matter how bad things may seem, things can always turn around if you have faith and you pray. The important thing is not to lose hope. I am living proof of that.”