Can you claim astrology fees as a business expense?

A friend of mine is a writer. This friend is very 'into' indian astrology and it's remedies, known as yagyas. These are special performances conducted by vedic pundits to bring about specific outcomes, such as to avert problems predicted in a jyotish chart. Indian Astrology is called Jyotish.

My friend paid for a number of these performances, called yagyas, to remedy obstacles seen to the success of my friend's writing from time to time. This is also quite a common thing for Hindus to do, as vedic knowledge including jyotish and yagyas are a well established part of their culture.

It seems to work, as my friend has been published by Time Warner several times, Faber, and more recently Random House. Yagyas were performed specifically to bring about this success at key points in my friend's career, such as when a synopsis was submitted to an editor, or when deciding on a new agent.

My friend pays substantial tax on earnings and wants to offset the not inconsiderable costs (£1000s) of having these yagyas performed for business purposes. Are there accountants specialising in such things.

I know of at least one business where yagya costs were successfully taken into account for UK tax purposes. Have you any knowledge or experience of this. What does the law say?
Lewis