Astrology was an integral part of the Sacred Science of the ancient Egyptians and is today a vital legacy of our ancient
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After Centuries of Debate,
Astrology Is Bigger Than Ev
This Book Tells Why.
John Anthony West and Jan Gerhard Toonder
'
The Case
The Case for Astrology John Anthony West and Jan Gerhard Toonder
COWARD-McCANN, New
Inc.
York
SAN BRUNO PUBLIC LIBRARY. SAN BRUNO.
CKOL
Copyright First
©
1970 by John Anthony West and Jan Gerhard Toonder
American Edition 1970
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof,
duced
in
any form without permission
Library of Congress Catalog Card
in writing
may
not be repro-
from the
Number: 79-104692
Printed in the United States of America
Publisher.
1
Contents
Introduction
13
One History and Technique 17 Dreams the Chaldeans Never Dreamed 19 The Whore of Babylon She Seduces Greece;
Part 1
2
:
Rome
She Corrupts 3
54
Foolish Daughter Carries
4 Sleeping Beauty Part
Two
Objections
The Queen
2
Queen's Counsel
Notes
199
1
251
2
257
260
Bibliography
Index
117
3
The Future and
of Astrology
Appendix Appendix
99
The Evidence
Part Three
Part Four
1
279
275
76
115
Humbug
1
of
On
Awakes
145
Significance
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2015
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Illustrations
follow page 144
:
5
Acknowledgements
The authors and
publishers
FOR the figures -
would
like to
Oxford
thank the following
Illustrators
Limited.
Mile
Lucie Lamy. Figs. 9 and 10 adapted from those in Le Miracle Egyptien by R. A. Sch waller de Lubicz, Flammarion, 1963. M. Gauquelin. Figs. 12 and 13 adapted from those in Les Hommes et les Astres, Denoel, i960. The Astrological Journal. Figs. 14 and 1 New adapted from those in The Scientific Point in Astrology Discovery' by John M. Addey, Vol. Ill, No. 2, March 1961. for THE plates - Radio Times Hulton Picture Library. :
Plates
1,
11, 12
and
13.
Mile Lucie
Lamy and
A
Editions Caracteres.
and 6 originally reproduced in Le Temple de VHomme, by R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, 1958. Mile Lucie Lamy and Le Caire. Plates 3 and 5 originally reproduced in Le Temple dans r Homme, by R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, 1948. A. Burgess and B. Sandkiihler. Plates 7 and 8. Sam Siegel, Metropolitan Photo Ser-
Plates 2, 4
Vol.
II,
vice Inc. Plate 9.
C. Bernstein, Black Star Publishing Co. Plate 10.
was easy to be on the negative side. ... ‘I deny that Canada is taken, and I can support my assertion with pretty good arguments. The French are a more numerous people than we; and it is not likely that they would allow us to take it. - “But the Ministry tell us so.” - True. But the Ministry have put us to an enormous expense, and it is their interest to persuade us that we have got something for our money. - “But we are told so by thousands of men who were at the taking of it.” - Ay, but these men have still more interest in deceiving us. They don't want you should think they have gone on a fool’s errand; and they don’t want you should think that the French have beaten them, but that they
Dr Johnson
said
it
have beat the French. it is so,
we
that
Now
would only
will not believe you.
Boswell’s
We
London Journal
14 July 1763
suppose you should go over and see
satisfy yourself; for
will say
if
when you come home
you have been bribed
.
.
.’
Introduction
by
Vilified
science for
three centuries, derided
by philosophy,
psychology, medicine, the law and every other orthodox branch of modern learning, astrology refuses to die. As we enter the space age
enjoys a popularity unmatched since the decline of Rome.
it
Yet other
superstitions,
rudely
by
uprooted
science,
have
withered away and died. The
Flat Earth Society puts forth few
convincing claims these days;
its
appeal
Whooping Crane, than their number or significance astrology be so much with us?
vive, but, like the
is
Witches surmore publicity
limited.
receive rather justifies.
Why
then should
appeal purely that of wish-fulfilment - as Freud would
Is its
it? Can it be ascribed entirely to man’s (or woman’s) eternal immunity to reason, and equally eternal susceptibility to humbug? Or is it possible - as Jung thought - that there might be something
have
to it?
Most educated men our
affect
lives
dismiss the subject.
and characters?
Is it
How can
distant planets
not a biological fact that
physical and mental traits are transmitted
by heredity? And
so
But what proof actually exists to support the objections to astrology ? How do astrologers answer, or pretend to answer, such on.
.
.
.
objections? Is there
any legitimate evidence
in favour of astrology?
some evidence that supernovae can be a factor in epidemic major influence upon evolution. There is at least one sense in which our lives are influenced by the stars, even though we have freed ourselves from the superstition of astrology. [Our .
.
.
there
is
diseases, as well as a possible
italics.]
G. Maxwell Cade, Chief Research Engineer (Infra-red Devices) and Manager (Medical Physics) with Smith Industries Ltd, writing in
New
Scientist, 19
The further we go universe
is
September 1968 in science, the
a unity. ...
We
more we become convinced that the
when we find we may be dealing
thus have a right to suspect,
rhythms in so many kinds of phenomena with related parts of a whole.
.
.
.
that
INTRODUCTION
14
Dewey and Dakin, Cycles, The Science of Prediction, Holt, 1950. (Edward R. Dewey is President ot the Foundation for the Study of Cycles, affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh) certain phenomena which take place in geophysical space and all of phenomena which take place in solar space and astrophysical space act at a distance. No matter what the nature of far-off spacial phenomena, their action is exercised by means of radiations of an electromagnetic or corpuscular nature, or by means of variations in the general .
.
.
the
electrical,
field,
may
today be
magnetic, electro-magnetic or gravitational. All of this
listed as distant actions.
[Our
italics.]
Giorgio Piccardi, The Chemical Basis of Medical Climatology, Charles C. Thomas, 1962, p. 120. (Professor Piccardi is Director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Florence)
In the last few years
some strange and inexplicable
emerging between lunar phase,
rainfall,
storms and mental disturbances.
It
moving through belief in the Sir
links appear to be
meteoric impact, magnetic
almost seems as though
we
are
a series of scientific fantasies to a proof of the ancient
connection between the
moon and
lunacy.
Bernard Lovell, Director of Jodrell Bank, writing in the London
Sunday Times,
However
15
March 1963
foolish the astrology in the
newspapers
may
appear,
astrology is based upon the fundamental premise that celestial phenomena affect life and events on earth; the quotes above made by scientists, not by astrologers - suggest that such effects exist
and are recognized.
Particularly interesting
who that
only four years
he looked upon
Is it possible
is
the statement
earlier, in his
by
Sir
Bernard Lovell,
Reith Lectures, had declared
astrological doctrines 'with
amused contempt'.
that the astrologers will have the last laugh after
This question, after three centuries of rationalism,
is suddenly Yet there can be no doubt that the attitude of science in general remains unaffected, and the following extract may be
all?
a valid one.
regarded as typical.
some confusion between the science of astronomy on hand and the medieval hocus-pocus of astrology on the other. Astronomy is the study of the universe; astrology, which purports to foretell human characteristics and destinies by observing the positions of the planets, is without any scientific foundation, and may be aptly summed up by the word ‘rubbish’. I cannot resist making a slight digression here in order to dispose of First there is still
the one
.
.
.
!
INTRODUCTION astrology, the so-called science according to
planets affect the lives and characters of instance, the planet
Mars
is
15
which the positions of the
human
beings. Suppose, for
in the constellation of Scorpio.
.
.
.
Astrolo-
upon the child (bom meant by saying that a
gers claim that this will have profound effects
under
this configuration). Yet,
planet
with the
stars.
.
.
Taxed with arguments of
.
Esoteric Influences.
name
to
patients’
Flow
No more need
is
comparison
this kind, astrologers usually
among ills
:
be said.*
Mr Moore
of science,
of astrology
‘dispose'
lightened
precisely
muttering in their beards about Ancient Teachings and
retire baffled,
In the
what
a constellation? Planets are very near to us in
is ‘in'
is
practising magic; hoping
by incantation, rather
as
the less en-
ancient Egyptian physicians ‘disposed' of their
‘Flow out, fetid nose, flow out, son of fetid nose
out, thou
who
breakest bones, destroyest the skull ... go
out into the ground, thou fetid one, thou fetid one n !
The statement
that astrology
is
‘without any scientific founda-
not the same as presenting evidence
tion’ is
‘What,
precisely,
is
to this effect.
meant by saying that
a planet
‘‘in” a
is
constellation?’ asks Moore.
No
one pretends that astrologers are
heard of the telescope, and
it is
all
savants, but all have
certain that the giddiest
and most
- would never be reduced to mutterings by this enigma. Rather, he or she would answer ‘When, in relation to the earth, the planet Mars appears against that portion of the celestial sphere which astronomers call Scorpio, Mars is said to be ‘‘in Scorpio”.’ hysterical
among them - bearded
or otherwise
:
Now may
under
astrologers do indeed claim that a child born
planetary configuration will be affected by
it.
And
be without foundation and ill-conceived. But
descend to incantation to dispose of scientific disproof to
it?
this if
Why not bring
this
claim
so,
why
inexorable
bear?
‘There does not exist,
it is
true, a single
immediate and decisive
proof making the astrological error apparent,’ comments Paul
Couderc, a French astronomer, whose hostility towards astrology blinds
him
to the illogic of talking of the ‘astrological error’
the lack of proof of
its
erroneousness within the same sentence
and 2 .
astrology were dead and buried, there
would be no need to But in view of its current resurgence, a full scale inquiry would seem long past due. What has happened to that spirit of If
exhume
it.
* Patrick Moore.
Naked Eye Astronomy, Lutterworth,
1966, pp.
2,
17-18.
INTRODUCTION
l6
objective curiosity
upon which
science so prides itself? Surely,
a society willing to spend billions to put a to be willing to
man on
spend a few million to study the
the
moon ought moon
effects of the
on the man. Particularly since mounting evidence suggests that such
effects exist.
Our
dual purpose in writing this book has been to collect and
correlate this evidence,
ogy. But before
we
and
to analyse the prejudice against astrol-
discuss the case as
make an important distinction. To the credulous, the nonsense
it
in the
stands today,
newspaper
is
we must astrology.
Unfortunately, to the educated sceptic as well, the nonsense in the newspaper
is
astrology. Yet
it
to realize that the astrology that
ought not to take much reflection engaged the minds of such men
as Pythagoras, Plato, Plotinus, St
Thomas Aquinas, Kepler and
many others was an astrology of an entirely different order. To make this distinction clear we shall have to look closely into astrology’s long history.
Part
One
History and
Technique
Dreams the Chaldeans Never Dreamed
i
The
birth of astrology took place in the distant past, under un-
known
conditions.
Astrology
is
one of the oldest and most widespread of superstitions,
prevailing in very early times
among
the Egyptians, Hindus, Chinese,
and Etruscans and especially among the Babylonians through
came
to
Greece in the fourth century
centuries later.
The
rise of astrology
B.C.,
may
spreading to
be regarded as
whom
Rome
it
few produced by a
man’s impatient curiosity and desire for harmony. Regularly operating laws were discerned in the more marked changes of material nature,
among which
the motions and influences of the
heavenly bodies were conspicuous. The movements of the sun ruled and
The rains, the storms and the floods also came from was natural then, to suppose that the overruling powers
vivified the earth.
the heavens.
It
which ordered the apparent chances of human life resided in the heavens and that their decrees might be read there, the motions of the heavenly bodies proving on trial to be predictable. The sun, the moon and the planets were regarded as divine powers and given the names of gods and and interpret aright the activity of these would be known what the gods were aiming to bring about. So along with the growth of a system of interpretation based largely upon the relative positions of the planetary bodies and, later, the fixed stars, there developed the study of the position and movement of these bodies. Thus there grew up a strange mixture of science and fantastic
goddesses. If one could read
powers,
imagery
it
.
.
.
The fundamental flaw
in the
whole system of astrology
is
the arbi-
trary character of the presumptions made. In part they were derived from
happenings accompanying cerphenomena, with the assumption that the same phenomena occurring again would be associated with a similar event; in part they depended upon the association of ideas, a phenomenon being regarded
recollections or written records of past
tain
as favourable or unfavourable according to
whether
it
had been
associ-
ated with something good, such as victory over the enemy, or something bad, such as a famine or a flood; in part they
were mythical based on
the supposed transference of the character of a deity or a planet.
The
.
20
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
spell
with which astrology bound men's minds was due
scientific basis
When
to its
apparently
l .
.
.
try to see the Universe as a Babylonian saw it around must grope my way back to my own childhood. At the age of four I had what I felt to be a satisfactory understanding of God and the world. I remember an occasion when my father pointed his finger at the white ceiling, which was decorated with a frieze of dancing figures, and explained that God was up there, watching me. I immediately became convinced that the dancers were God. Much in the same manner, I like to imagine, did the luminous figures on the dark ceiling of the world appear as living divinities to Babylonians and Egyp-
3000
I
B.C., I
.
tians
.
six
.
human mind was still half were standing on watch towers, scanning the
thousand years ago, when the
Chaldean
asleep, .
.
.
Some stars
.
priests
?
The watchtowers
built
by these dreaming Chaldeans were hun-
dreds of feet long, hundreds of feet wide and a hundred feet high;
and in the topmost chambers finished richly in mosaics of gold and precious stones. Meanwhile, over in Egypt, the drowsy Pharaohs had already built the greatest of their pryamids and temples (see plate 1), structures of such magnitude, and involving such prodigious architectural and logistic problems that even wide-awake modern man cannot quite figure out how it was done. Something is wrong. If astrology is superstition produced by man's impatient curiosity, what happened to the same impatient curiosity after the development of astrology? Why was it inadequate to the task of unmasking the error for some six thousand years? Can men patient and tenacious enough to calculate the motions of the planets have been so dim-witted as to neglect to put to a similar trial the predictions based upon those motions ? lined with glazed brick,
In view of the astrology that has actually come
down
to us, it is
worth trying to visualize an astrology as it might be put together by dreaming Chaldeans on watchtowers. The dreaming Chaldeans would be bound to notice the rising and setting of the sun; the fact that the sun gives light and warmth, and that its strength appears to regulate the seasons. Since nature herself obeys the sun,
it
would be
a logical step for
our proto-
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED
21
in adastrologer to attempt to calculate the influence of the sun relationdirect vance; and we should expect this influence to bear a
We
might also expect to find ship to the actual season of the year. since, obviously, the indays, cloudy for made provision special fluence of the sun cannot be operating at full force under such conditions.
The second most important planet would not fail to be impressed by its
is
the moon.
fickle
Our Chaldean
changes of phase.
He
might well observe that his own wife shared in this inconstancy of behaviour and, by analogy, conclude that the moon was feminine.
He
would,
if
he could see the sea from the top of his watchtower, some way controlled by the moon. He
notice that the tides were in
would not if
fail to
observe that, despite the swift changes of mood,
observed long enough, the moon, like his wife, was predictable.
attempt to add observations made on the
And he would
moon
to
was making simultaneously on the sun. infinitesimal and one-dimensional compared to the sun and moon, the planets are the next most striking objects in the those he
Though
sky.
They move
in
very erratic courses indeed. So
much
so that the
The planets exert no upon the events of the earth. Nevertheless, having deified the sun and moon, it might perhaps seem right to our Chaldean to apply the same logic to the planets. And while it is difficult to see why there should be any agreement between any two Chaldeans over the characters of these deities, to
ancients called visible
them
‘goats’ or ‘wanderers’.
or detectable influence
say nothing of agreement from nation to nation,
some point the planets, and their
sible
to
that at
definite characters
still
would be
it
is
pos
ascribed
alleged influence incorporated into the
canon.
Meanwhile, gained.
efforts
Knowledge
would be made
to systematize the
of the motions of the
serve the immediate, practical purpose of
knowledge
sun and moon would
making
calendars, arrang-
ing planting schedules and so on; while observations of the planets, serving a
no immediate
practical purpose,
and
far
more complicated
procedure than observing the sun and moon, would in the end
serve to provide
employment
for
an increasing and greedy
priest-
hood, bent upon hoodwinking the public.
Having nothing else to do, the Chaldeans would also fancy they saw strange beasts - bulls, crabs, lions, centaurs - in the patterns of
22
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
the fixed stars.
happened
to
And when
the sun,
moon
or
any
of the goats
be in that portion of the sky presided over by one or
the other of these star-figures, they might like to think that
was modified by the nature
influence
its
of the particular constel-
lation.
And
apart from
all this,
we might
expect our Chaldean to be
duly impressed by abnormal phenomena of floods, comets; sort; famines,
all
kinds
:
earthquakes,
human
perhaps even striking events of a purely
wars, pestilences, and so on.
And
all
of this
would
be added into the increasingly unwieldy and topheavy doctrine,
which ultimately might be expected
to
topple under
its
own
weight.
But the actual astrology we find does not much resemble
this
postulated astrology of associations, analogies, and omens. In one is much more illogical. For instance, mind could it have been that would maintain that a child born 18 March under Pisces would be 'watery’, mystical, reclusive, artistic, while the child born a week later, under Aries, would be hot-headed, 'fiery’, rambunctious, militant? Why should the Cancerian, born 18 July, come under the influence of the moon
sense, the actual astrology
what kind
and tend
week
of
to poetry
later,
and introspection, while the Leonian, born a the influence of the sun, and take after his
come under
Leonine prototype? Either
the
ancients
were
even
sillier
and
sleepier
than
modern scholars believe, or there was some method to their madness which the same scholars are unwilling or unable to countenance.
The Principles oj the Zodiac and Astrological Technique Let us look at this actual astrological picture of the universe. In
its
removed from the astrology of the marketplace, the astrological doctrine may be seen as an expression or affirmation of the harmony pervading the universe, and as a
purest, symbolical sense, far
guide to the understanding of
its
laws.
Apart from the fact that it never existed, the astrology accumulated from the observations of dreaming Chaldeans was ugly though logical. The real astrology is illogical, but elegant; the representation or choreography of a cosmic dance.
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED
23
SUN SIGNS The
zodiac, or circle of the heavens,
is
divided into twelve equal
These are the signs - Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, etc. with which everyone is familiar. These sectors are supposed to be, or to represent, or to embody cosmic functions, and the animal or sectors.
3
character applied to the particular sector aid,
a
is
more
of a
mnemonic
shorthand to what would otherwise be a cumbersome
terminology.
HOUSES AND ANGLES The earth revolves about the sun but it is the sun which appears to move about the circle of the zodiac, and it is this apparent position of the sun at the time of birth that determines the so-called sun sign in the horoscope. This is the familiar, ‘Are-you-a-Gemini ? I'm- Aquarius’ of cocktail conversation.
Meanwhile, the earth turns on It
therefore goes through the
making
the sun does in a year,
axis every twenty-four hours.
its
same
circle of ‘influence’ in a
day
as
logical the division of the zodiac into
a corresponding twelve. These divisions are the ‘houses’ of astro-
logy;
and
this further
but crucial complication enters but rarely
into the cocktail conversation.
Thus
a child
may
be born in April, with the sun in the
degree of Taurus, but at his
moment of birth the degree may be 25 0 Libra. Libra
zodi ac rising at the Easterly horizon
the ‘Rising sign’, and the degree rising
is
first
of the is
then
called the ‘Ascendant’.
The highest point the sun will reach on the day of birth - which will depend upon the place of birth and the season of the year - will determine th e Midheave n, or Medium Coeli, or MC. And from the position of the Ascendant and
ascertained (see
The point
MC
the division of the ‘houses’
is
fig. 1).
opposite the Ascendant
point opposite the Midheaven
is
is
called the Descendant.
called the
The
Nadir. These four
apparently arbitrary points are the ‘angles’ which have had imputed to
them
astrological importance. In a general
that the position of sun,
moon and
way
it
may
be said
planets in the sun signs deter-
mines the character of the individual while the placing in relationship to the angles and in the houses determines his ‘destiny’, his circumstances and relationships; the uses to which he will put the character he has been given.
:
24
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
Planets
©
Sun
Moon
J)
Mercury
^ Q
Venus Mars
O
I.C.
Horoscope for child born 20 April 1889, 6.22 p.m., Braunau (Austo whom this horoscope belongs was born with the Sun 0 in i° Taurus. His Ascendant (marked Asc.) is in 25 Libra, however. An astrologer interpreting this horoscope would expect its owner to be psychologically ‘Taurean’. (Taurus is a sign of great fixity of purpose and willpower. As a Taurean you are apt to decide to decide early in life what you want. You may be a slow starter, but you have determination and persistence, and once you have set your goal there is almost nothing that can stop you.’ Caroll Righter, in The Astrological Guide to Marriage and Family Relations .) In this case, the generalization seems particularly apt - the Figure tria).
l.
The individual
horoscope
is Hitler’s.
Other Taureans
dard in quite so striking a fashion.
may
decline to conform to the stan-
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED
25
THE PLANETS The
planets, according to astrology, differ in nature; they are held
to represent or
symbolize specific cosmic functions, and individual
planets are supposed to ‘rule' over the signs corresponding to their functions,
which
in turn correspond roughly to their distances
from the sun. The table below
gives, in
astrological nature of the planets
much
abbreviated form, the
and the signs they rule
(see
fig. 2).
Planet
Rales
Principles Symbolized
Saturn
Aquarius and
Contraction, Crystallization
Capricorn
and
Pisces
Jupiter
Expansiveress, Prodigality
Sagittarius
Mars Venus Mercury
Passion, Energy, Virility
Moon
Aries and Scorpio Taurus and Libra Gemini and Virgo Cancer
Sun
Leo
Creativity, Consciousness
The ‘new’
planets,
Harmony, Intellect,
Artistry,
Sympathy
Mobility
Receptivity, the Subconscious
Uranus, Neptune and Pluto present an obvious
challenge to the ancient allocation of planets to signs. discussing the problems raised
We
shall be
by the new planets further on
(see
pp. 132-4).
THE ASPECTS In interpreting a horoscope, the astrologer factors into account. to character.
cause of
The
must take
Thus, a child born with Mars in Taurus will
this, significantly
and predictably affected by
Similarly, his character will manifest itself differently
astrologers if
-
all
if
Mars
is
these
planets in the signs allegedly give the key
found
he had been born an hour
in the seventh
earlier
house than
be, be-
this fact.
- claim would
it
and Mars had been instead in
the sixth house.
But above and beyond these complexities, both character and
its
manifestation are modified by the relationships formed by the planets to each other*. to each other,
When
planets stand in certain specific angles
which correspond
to the
laws of harmony, they are
held to be in ‘aspect’.
Thus when two
planets are separated
by
a distance of 180° they
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
26
Planets: Ci m oun
V
Moon
T)
Mercury
0 ¥
Venus Mars
U
Jupiter
VT
*
Saturn
Figure 2. The Signs of the Zodiac, and the planets that are held to ‘rule’ them. This drawing illustrates the traditional rulerships before the discovery of the
new
planets. These rulerships are not arbitrary but are
made upon
Modern
astrologers
the basis of complex numerological considerations.
wonder whether or not the new planets should be incorporated, and if this can be done without destroying the rich, interrelated symmetry of the traditional scheme. It is thought possible that Uranus is co-ruler of Aquarius, and Neptune co-ruler of Pisces.
are said to be in 'opposition',
when
separated by a distance of 90
etc.; and these aspects are held to be some tending to be 'harmonious', others 'dis-
they are in 'square' aspect, different in nature,
harmonious'. The principle aspects are as follows (see
Angle
Name
o°
Conjunction
of Aspect
fig. 3).
Nature Neutral, depending
upon other relevant factors
6o° 90°
Sextile
Square
120°
180
0
0
Trine Opposition
Harmonious Disharmonious Harmonious Disharmonious
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED
Figure Saturn.
3.
Aspects.
Venus
is
Venus and Mars
27
in a double ‘square’ (90° distance) to
the ‘ruler’ of Hitler’s horoscope both
by sign and by
house, since both Taurus, Hitler’s ‘sun-sign’ and Libra, Hitler’s Ascendant, are held to be ‘ruled’ by Venus. The power of Venus is even further enhanced by its position in the seventh house, held by analogy to have affinities with the seventh sign - which is Libra. Here Venus could scarcely be more seriously ‘afflicted’ than it is. The conjunction to Mars, by itself capable of blending ‘the charm of Venus with the energy of Mars’, is turned both sour and violent by their mutual square to Saturn. The Venus-Saturn square is held to bring out the worst and most selfish aspects of any given nature, while the Mars-Saturn square is traditionally conceded to generate the most violent qualities of which human nature is capable. Needless to say, not all people born with such a
configuration turn out to be Hitler, but an astrologer
would expect some-
thing ‘Hitlerian’ from anyone with such a Venus-Mars-Saturn configuration.
28
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
Figure
4.
The Signs
of the Zodiac, divided into polarities.
This means, for example, that Mars in conjunction to Venus in
Taurus, in square to Saturn in Leo, from the seventh to the tenth
mean something quite different to the astrologer from Mars conjunction Venus in Virgo, in trine to Saturn in Capricorn,
house, will
from the first
to the fifth
house
(see fig. 4).
Types oj Astrology and houses, aspects between the and between planets and the angles - especially between planets and the Ascendant and Mid-heaven - are the chief factors Signs, houses, planets in signs
planets,
taken into consideration in the erection of the ‘horoscope' or of the hour. In theory a horoscope can be set
gency, and - again in theory of analysis,
it
ought
to
if
a horoscope
up is
for
map
any contin-
valid for
one sort
be valid for another. Thus a business ven-
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED ture, a
baby and an idea or question
'born' the
all
29
same instant
share an identical horoscope.
In theory, the same cosmic ‘influences' attend their birth. Astrol-
- with widely divergent degrees of confidence - that the ‘character' of a business, a baby and an idea can be determined upon the basis of the horoscope; and - with still more widely varying degrees of confidence - that the future of the business, ogers believe
baby and idea can be determined by studying the positions of the planets at any given time as they relate to the positions on the root or ‘radix' horoscope.*
Though
the methods employed for the casting and interpretation
of horoscopes
subject
much
is
the
same no matter what the nature of the
under consideration, astrologers make a distinction in
nomenclature between the different sorts of analysis. Astrology used to analyse and predict the future of businesses, states, nations, races, political parties, etc., is calle d
Mundane
Astrology; astrology
used to analyse and predict the future of individuals
is
called
Genethliacai Astrology; and astrology used to determine the answer to a question
upon
the basis of a horoscope erected at the time of
Horary Astrology Generally speaking, the more cautious modern astrologers have little faith in astrological prophecy of any sort but rather more its
asking
is
called
in the ability
to
.
determine ‘character' upon the basis of the
horoscope. Since the popular interest in astrology
has been, in
its
putative ability to prophesy
such as the present in which astrology misused. But leaving open for the misuse,
it
is
moment
should be clear that astrology
we
is,
and always
find a situation
widely and flagrantly
the problems of use and is
of a complexity far
beyond what the casual reader would be led to expect from the stargazer columns in the newspapers. However, complexity and nonsense are by no means mutually exclusive.
And
if
the principles underlying the division of the
zodiac into signs and houses within the signs are false;
if
the prin-
meaning to the planets and to the relationships formed between them are purely arbitrary and based upon fancy, complexity becomes no more than an intellectual
ciples that dictate the ascription of
exercise. * The methods used to attempt to read the future in the stars are many, complex and often ‘symbolic’ and there is little agreement among astrologers as to
what
is
valid.
:
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
30
So
we can
than
mind more space
us look briefly at these principles, while bearing in
let
that an adequate treatment of allot in this
them would require
far
book.
The Principles Underlying the Zodiac
The
division of the zodiac into twelve sectors (or into eight, sixteen,
or twenty sectors)
universe
man
is
based fundamentally upon the belief that the
is
coherent and that numbers are not mere inventions of
allowing
him
to
make purely
quantitative distinctions but
rather the symbolic keys to qualitative laws that govern the
coherent universe. All esoteric traditions have always sought to express the multiplicity within unity, and this has always involved the use of numbers, and the use of symbols; astrology cularly ingenious If
we
method
look at the
of
is
a parti-
combining them.
way the zodiac is divided, we see that the signs way as to express first the Law of Two, the
are arranged in such a
law of duality, or of polarity familiar :
negative or active-passive. negative,
Gemini
positive,
on around the zodiac
Next we
We
to us asjnale-female, positiv eis
positive,
Taurus
Cancer negative, Leo
positive,
and so
find that Aries
(see fig. 4).
Law
find that the signs are divided so as to express the
of Three, the principle of relationship.
The
triad, the principle of three, expresses relationship. If the
universe were homogeneous, nothing could happen.
merely dual, nothing could happen
either.
A
If it
were and
state of eternal
unbridgeable tension between two equal and opposite forces would
There must be a reconciling principle, a Third Force. A sculptor and a block of wood will not produce a statue - he must
result.
have an
-
idea; a
man and woman
must be
are not
enough
to
produce a child
and a test tube an experiment - he must have curiosity. But polarity is incorporated within triplicity. Three is not merely two plus one - though it sounds illogical put that way. In esoteric there
love, or at least desire; a scientist
will not result in
terms, the descent of unity into multiplicity as
:
is
sometimes expressed
one becomes two and three simultaneously.
schematically thus 1
1
1
And
this is
shown
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED
T
Figure
5.
The Signs
3
>€
of the Zodiac divided into triplicities
Impossible to put clearly into so
many
words,
it
:
the ‘Modes’.
can nevertheless
be seen here that one has become both two and three depending
upon how the diagram
regarded.
Law
In astrology, the called
is
of Three finds expression in
the 'Modes of Action’.
The
signs, as
same time they
are
seen, are
with the principle of
either positive or negative, in accordance
duality, but at the
we have
what
reflect the principle of tripli-
city.
Man-Woman
is
a polarity,
but Lover-Beloved-Desire
same
tionship. Lover-Beloved are not the
were merely ance
is
Man-Woman, no
the same and their
Law of Three
is
the
is
a rela-
were when they
matter that their external appear-
bills still
come
superimposed upon the
superimposed upon modes.
as they
polarities;
the
same address. The Two. The modes are
to the
Law
of
polarities
pervade
the
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
32
Thus, in astrology, the modes of action are called ‘Cardinal’ (that
upon which
all else
depends), ‘Fixed’ (that which
acted
is
upon), and ‘Mutable’ (that which effects the exchange of force).
Aries
is
cardinal,
cardinal, Leo
is
Taurus
fixed,
fixed,
is
Virgo
is
Gemini
begin to differentiate themselves. Aries
Gemini, though also positive, fixed (see
Figure 6
.
is
mutable; Cancer
mutable, and so on.
is
positive
is
And
is
the signs
and cardinal, but
mutable, and Leo
is
positive
and
fig. 5).
The Signs
of the Zodiac divided into quadruplicities
:
the ‘Four
Elements’.
Three terms, however, are insufficient or an event.
A relationship
Lover-Beloved-Desire
is
is
to describe either a thing,
theoretical. It
cannot be said
not a household, or even an
affair.
to exist.
For
it
to
be a household four terms are necessary, four terms which incorporate the three of the relationship within
it.
The four terms
family might be Father-Mother-Responsibility-Household
of a
itself.
:
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED
33
4
not merely tacked on and Father-Motherthe same as Lover-Beloved-Desire (as most not are Responsibility
But the fourth term married
is
men - and women - are well
aware).
In most ancient traditions this foursome Fire, Earth, Air,
We
is
the four ‘elements'
Water - from which all matter is derived. up on schoolbooks that deride and dismiss
are brought
And
notion as superstition.
of course,
if
taken
literally,
this
the four
elements are meaningless. But the principle of the four elements was sound and remains sound, though the terminology may ring quaint
and medieval to our ears. Organic chemistry is principally concerned with the interaction of four chemical elements Hydrogen, Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen. :
The functions of these elements, the parts they play in organic life, can be shown to correspond neatly to the roles played by Fire, 5 Earth, Air and Water. Though imprecise from a scientific point of view, the ancient terminology has the advantage of being more fluid and therefore more easily applicable to the manifold contingencies of life than modern terminology. Everyday language continues to reflect the wisdom of the words chosen by the ancients to symbolize the ‘elements'. It makes sense, still, to refer to personalities as ‘Fiery', ‘Earthy', ‘Airy', ‘Watery'.
One need only
try
imagine the opposition that would greet an imposed esperanto
to
designed to weed out old ambiguities and that would have us refer to people as ‘hydrogenic' or ‘carbonic'.
In astrology, then, four elements are superimposed upon the
modes and upon the polarities. Aries is Fire; Taurus, Earth; Gemini, Air; Cancer, Water; Leo, Fire and so on. Aries is positive, cardinal, fire;
Leo
positive, fixed, fire, Sagittarius is positive, mutable,
is
fire (see fig. 6).
Each sign
no repetitions; and quadruplicity work themselves out within a twelve-sign system. The modes representing force - are linked together by the square, or cross representing matter. The elements - representing matter - are all
is
different,
linked together
The diagram
by the
are alike, there are
trine (triangle), reprsenting force (see fig. 7).
of the zodiac, constructed in this fashion,
regarded as containing all
no two
possible permutations of polarity, triplicity,
potential ,
all
upon which,
may
be
the consonants of a language containing like
moving vowels, the sun, moon and
planets play, creating the inexhaustible and ever-changing words that
make up C.F.A.
2
the world
we call
reality.
34
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE And
it is
this celestial
language that the astrologer believes he
can interpret.
Whether point
we
Figure
7.
or not he can does not concern us at this
wish
to
make here
is
that this system, with
The Zodiac divided simultaneously
moment. The its
simultan-
into polarities, triplicities
and
quadruplicities. Notice that the square or ‘Cross’ of matter will always
connect each of the four ‘elements’. Signs 90 0 apart are always of opposite polarities.
The
trine of Force (or Spirit) connects like ‘elements’.
eous fusion of polarity,
triplicity
and quadruplicity, and
harmonically-determined aspects and angles, of aimless observation,
is
a whole.
its
No amount
no matter how accurate or painstaking,
could develop willy-nilly into such an elegant and internally consistent system. In short, astrology
ing Chaldeans on watch towers.
was never dreamed up by dream-
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED
35
The Evolution oj Astrology But because
among
this fallacious
scholars
it
will be
notion of astrology’s origins prevails
worth digressing
briefly into the origins
of the fallacy.
though upon no evidence, that astrology piecemeal and fortuitously just as they suppose organic
Scholars suppose, 'evolved’ life to
have done.
But whatever
may
applied to organic religions,
easily
be the value of the theory of evolution
life,
when
when
applied to the development of ideas,
or even superstitions
it
is
a manifest impossibility;*
demonstrable as such, and demonstrable not merely philoso-
phically or theoretically, but scientifically, as a matter of
common
and universal and unalterable experience. In the realm of man, nothing evolves mindlessly. No coherent body of knowledge - such as astrology - simply accumulates, taking form as it goes. Works of art, religions, scientific hypotheses, train schedules all
must be thought of. And only then can they be brought into - the perfection or imperfection of the manifestation
existence
depending upon the expertise of the creator and the basic validity of the idea.
by and
But without that
large right
idea than to
its
:
idea,
wrong only
manifestation.
have made his case
nothing can happen. (Plato was
in ascribing 'more’ reality to the
A
'higher’ reality
would perhaps
clearer.)
In the history of man’s institutions nothing has ever evolved in
Darwinian way - including the Theory of Evolution itself. The Origin of Species, in its formulation, was not first a comma, then a
a
word, then a sentence, then a paragraph, then a chapter, then a theory. It was - like every other idea man ever had - an inkling, a * Unfortunately, to the best of our knowledge, there is no one book in which the theory of evolution of organic life is systematically reduced to its minimal validity. But see Marjorie Grene, The Knower and the Known (Faber, 1966) for a critique of Fischer’s and Haldane’s statistics; L. L. Whyte, ed., Aspects of Form (Lund Humphries, 1951), especially the contribution by Albert M. Dalcq in which accident and selection are held to be insufficient to account for ‘Form’; Wilhelm Schmidt, Beginnings of Religion (Methuen, 1931) shows the inapplicability of Darwinian theory to the findings of anthropology. Beyond Reductionism, ed. A. Koestler (Hutchinson, 1969), collects some of the biological evidence against the theory. :
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
36
sort of
adumbration of the whole.
And
after
much hard work,
concentration, research, and the necessary period of gestation,
was born; whole;
as
is
it
everything else in the universe. True, the
actual writing progresses
word by word and
line
by
line,
but
this
in a sense, the least important part of the process.*
is,
How
strange, then, that in science, in
insisted that a theory
fit
which above
all else it is
the facts of experience, scientists exempt
the universe from obeying the same laws they themselves cannot
The universe happens by 'accident', while man - the grand and sole exception - is
escape.
it
'coincidence',
is
forced to think
first
before he can do.
The growth
of science itself
would seem
to be responsible for the
perpetuation of this idea. All pre-scientific thought
is
held to be
inadequate, and the headlong accumulation of fact that characterizes science
is
offered as the only legitimate system for the acqui-
knowledge. Meanwhile, it is assumed that science is growing increasingly ordered and coherent - a myth easily dispelled sition of true
by reading or the
New
at
one go any
Scientist
.
six consecutive
And, conveniently
months' issues of Science forgotten,
is
every single contribution to the fund of knowledge
not of 'evolution' but of inspiration,
or, to
put
it
the fact that is
the result
into scientific
jargon, 'hypothesis formation'.t
But to return to astrology. ... If it is safe to say that it did not and could not 'evolve’ accidentally, it is safe to challenge the accepted chronology of its origins as well. For not only is this chronology based upon scanty evidence but
upon the *
it is
also
dependent
'evolution’ hypothesis. Scholars maintain that astrology
Any number
of esoteric schools and traditions hold that organic
‘evolved’ in exactly the
same way.
life
E.g. that the familiar cat is the final
manifestation of the idea of catness.
We
must admit that we
find
it
impossible to visualize a cat at a half-way stage of semi-corporality, but this
may
well be our fault. In any case, this theory does have the merit
of corresponding
to
man’s
own
anthropomorphize, quite possibly
experience, and it is
if it is dangerous to even more dangerous not to.
t ‘The certainties of science are a delusion. They are hedged round with unexplored limitations. Our handling of scientific doctrines is controlled by the diffused metaphysical concepts of our epoch. Even so, we are continually led
into errors of expectation. Also,
observational experience inaccuracies.’ A. Press, 1933).
is
whenever some new mode
of
obtained the doctrines crumble into a fog of
N. Whitehead, Adventures of Ideas (Cambridge University
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED as
we know
it
seventh century
37
today originated in Babylon no earlier than the B.C.,
and was further developed
in the orientalized
Greece of the third and second centuries B.c. It is
interesting that traditional or legendary accounts of astrol-
ogy's genesis say otherwise and, in view of the inadequacy of the
accepted theory, the traditional view
may
be worthy of closer
examination.
Astrology in Egypt Traditions but
no
historians maintain that astrology
was one
of the
products of 'divine inspiration’ of the 'Sages of Atlantis'. This
knowledge,
it is
claimed, in one form or another passed to Egypt,
China, India and the vanished civilizations of South America.
It
was handed down orally from master to pupil, and though attempts to keep it secret were made, it gradually leaked into the marketplace, losing, not gaining coherence and force, as wars, natural disasters and generally degenerative influences contributed to man's increasingly sorry state.
But asked cannot do
While
so,
it is
produce evidence, the supporters of such theories and can only fall back on the tradition itself. legitimate to demand evidence of legendary sages, and
to
of legendary astrology,
scarcely legitimate to dismiss as irrelev-
it is
ant or imaginary evidence which happens to be circumstantial and
not 'hard'. The credulity of scepticism takes no more thought than the credulity of acceptance
the blind
:
man who which
different descriptions of a tree, all of
who therefore dismisses trees as Active is man who accepts as gospel the very first even though
it
happens
illustrated aptly in the
is
given a hundred
differ in detail,
and
as big a fool as the blind
description he
is
offered,
to be a description of a horse; a point
Koran by the Bridge
leading to Enlightenment,
is
of Sirah which,
but as wide as the razor
s
though
edge and
flanked on either side by chasms, the one the chasm of Credulity, the other, the
chasm
of Logic.
In academic circles, blind scepticism
the fashion, and has been become dogma; contrary romanticism and heresy, and the is
for several centuries. Hypothesis has
thinking
is
rejected a priori as
process has long since
become self-perpetuating - contemporary
‘authorities', schooled in the
new
orthodoxy, referring back only to
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
38
those older authorities
who
thought exactly the same way. There
however, good reason to believe that tradition
is,
than scholars find
Atlantis aside for the
known to knew of it.
more accurate
is
convenient to believe, and that - leaving
it
moment -
astrology
may
well have been
the Egyptians thousands of years before the Greeks
That the Egyptians were interested ancient people
-
is
evidently copies of
in the
heavens - like every other
of course recognized. Star charts that are
much
earlier charts
show
the positions of the
and the accuracy of these charts has enabled scholars date them back to 4240 B.c. or very close to it. Imhotep, the
fixed stars, to
architect responsible for the first of the great pyramids
-
the step
Dynasty - was equally renowned as the founder of medicine, and as a great astronomer. One of his titles was ‘Chief of the Observers'. Observers of what? Meanwhile, some scholars even assert that the Egyptian interest in the stars was purely astronomical, and that the Egyptians had no astrology pyramid of Zoser,
Illrd
.
at
all.
.
.
6
would make the Egyptians the only ancient civilization have made such a distinction; a peculiar one in view of the Egyptian predilection for every other form of magic and myth. Yet it is certain they were skilled astronomers. The Egyptian calendar was so accurate that only in very recent times has it been possible If so, this
to
improve upon
to
it.
And
the pyramids are oriented in such a
way
that they face the cardinal points to within seconds of a degree of
accuracy.*
Egyptian mythology appears obvious to the astrologer that
And
it is difficult
to
to us hopelessly garbled.
it is
Yet
it is
loaded with astral symbolism.
imagine such symbolism without an accom-
panying astrology. The Sphinx
(at Thebes), ancient
ally regarded as a synthesis of all past science,
is,
symbol
esoteric-
astrologically, the
Fixed Cross of Bull, Lion, Eagle (the Eagle was anciently used for the Scorpion) and *L.
Borchardt,
Man. At
the same time the Sphinx embodies the
one of the most highly regarded authorities among
Egyptologists, stressed that the alignment of the pyramids to the cardinal
was such that it could not be surpassed in his own he came to the quaint conclusion that Egyptian science was in its infancy. It is worth remarking that Neugebauer ( Exact Sciences in Antiquity, Brown University Press, 1957) particularly recommends Borchardt as a model of solid, archaeological thinking. points of the compass
day
(c.
1922).
From
this,
:
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED four elements
:
Bull-earth; Lion-fire; Eagle-water; Man-air.
39
Did the
Egyptians, bereft of astrology, simply combine the figures because the design
amused them ?
Yet despite a wealth of could do
astrologers
support this case,
clues, until recently, to
little
more than
reiterate the legend that
had existed in Egypt had been handed down orally from master to pupil. Though the argument begs the issue, scholars at least agreed that oral traditions of one sort or another were at one time a reality astrology, along with other secret sciences,
and that
it
Hippocrates
shown
to
(fifth
century
B.c.)
holy men. The profane
have been initiated into the as this are
asserted,
‘But holy things are
may not be shown them
rites of
Science ’,
7
until they
and statements such
not generally disputed.
But acknowledging the existence of an oral tradition is not the same as acknowledging its validity. Amateur attempts to get to the meaning believed to be implicit in Egyptian architecture were invariably unsatisfactory, unconvincing and vulnerable; while from the authorities nothing could be expected beyond extensions to the familiar daisy-chain of dogma ‘However primitive and material:
istic
the Egyptian conception of the After-life
conceded that
it
was responsible
greatest masterpieces in antiquity .’
Without entering ‘masterpiece’
it is
may seem,
for the production of 8
into a discussion as to
what
safe to generalize to this extent
art, ‘masterpieces’ are rarely if
it must be some of the
ever produced
constitutes a
in the history of
:
by
primitives,
and
never by materialists. But until quite recently the riddle of
Egyptian civilization remained unsolved; the authorities insisting
upon the existence
of that manifestly impossible
‘Dreaming Chal-
dean’ while the ‘occultists’, unburdened by evidence, felt free to
bestow upon the Egyptians whatever doctrine
may have
suited
their personal fancy.
Over the past two decades, however, in a series of books little outside France, and there only in specialized circles, an Orientalist and scholar, R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, has produced a body of work which, in documented detail, establishes a likely portrait of a civilization from which the familiar masterpieces of Egyptian art and architecture might arise 9 And in this civilization, as legend has always insisted, it would appear that astrology played an important role.
known
.
Unfortunately, to abstract astrology from the rest of Egyptian
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
40
thought would be that
employed
it;
to falsify
both the astrology and the civilization
while to discuss de Lubicz’s work in sufficient
detail to do justice to it is beyond the scope of this book and the competence of its authors. But the future of astrology will to a certain extent depend upon
the attitude students and scholars take to
its past.
And
it is
adumbrate the Egypt brought
fore necessary to at least
Schwaller de Lubicz, particularly since
from the textbook Egypt of 'primitive
it
differs in
materialists’
there-
to life
by
every detail
which common-
sense informs us could never have existed along the banks of the Nile.
THE SYMBOLIST INTERPRETATION OF EGYPT Schwaller de Lubicz’s picture of Egypt
dozen years spent on the plates 1-6) built
site,
is
the result of
more than
studying the Temple of Luxor
by Amenhotep
III (c.
1500
B.c.)
a
(see
with a team that
included his wife, Ischa, an expert in hieroglyphics, Alexandre Varille, an archaeologist attached to the French Archaeological
Commission, and Clement Robichon,
director
of
the
Institut
d’Archaeologie de Caire (Cairo).
According
to
de Lubicz, the sages of Egypt considered the uni-
verse a whole, in which every part
To them
the universe was, in
its
is
related to every other part.
entirety, conscious. This conscious-
ness manifested itself in the hierarchy of levels
What man
as diversity.
consciousness, and
higher
level.
The key
regards as 'matter’
what he regards
which man observes
is
as 'mind’
is
a manifestation of
consciousness at a
10
to
an understanding of the laws that govern the universe They regarded the universe as number,
lay in the study of number. insofar as
number is
the expression of function (the laws of polarity,
etc., touched upon on p. 30 ff.). Egyptian and Egyptian mathematics, condemned as clumsy and primitive by scholars,* is so only when the attempt is made to force it to do the tasks of modern mathematics for which it was not designed. In the hands of the Egyptians - as Schwaller de Lubicz demonstrates - their mathematics was a marvel of fluidity and
triplicity,
quadruplicity
science
precision.
*
The Egyptians
believed that the laws of the universe had
‘Ancient science was the product of very few men; and those few
happened not
to be Egyptian/
Neugebauer, op.
cit.,
p.91.
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED
41
been written into man; that if he understood himself well enough, he would understand the universe. The temples of Egypt, and all sacred Egyptian art, were intended to embody and translate this understanding into human terms; they were designed, down to the minutest detail, to convey a wisdom at
once deeply spiritual and rigorously
exercises,
scientific.
They were
but on such a gigantic scale that our
own
didactic
imaginations
can barely envisage what went into them; perhaps they can best be regarded as projects in cooperative virtuosity; in which the
theme
down by
laid
the master
executed by the disciples, and in
is
the process of execution they are permitted to share in the under-
standing of the master, and so become masters themselves.
De Lubicz proves, beyond any hope of doubt, that the strange asymmetric plan of the Temple of Luxor (see plate 4) cannot be fobbed
off as multi-stage caprice, in
which various builders hap-
pened to change their minds in mid-construction ultimately producing a structure devoid of rhyme or reason yet possessed of undeniable
artistic merit.
Rather, the Temple of Luxor was created
an embodiment of the laws pertaining to the birth and growth of man (see plates 2-5). And all other Egyptian temples were deas
signed with similar deliberation each to express the cosmic functions
and laws decreed proper for the particular time and
place.
In this system astrology played an integral and unifying
The laws governing were not,
to the Egyptians,
of those governing
role.
the solar system and the motions of the planets
man. By
dead formulae, but living correlates utilizing in their architecture the
proportions and ratios prevailing between the planets the Egyptians
knew they
could produce the desired instructive effect upon those
who were prepared
to receive such knowledge. That is to say the apparently lifeless data of astronomy can be used by those who know what they are doing to produce a calculated and objective emotional effect. This is astrology. But it is an :
astrology quite unlike astrology today. 11
Unfortunately, at the
more about
moment
it is
impossible to say very
much
beyond that de Lubicz provides striking evidence that it existed and that the Egyptians used it. Concerned with presenting in one book a picture of Egyptian this ancient astrology
civilization as a whole, de Lubicz does
how
not go into
details.
the Egyptians employed both the Golden Section
mathematical data of astronomy C.F.A.
2*
to
He shows 12
and the
determine the proportions and
:
HI
42
STORY AND
T
ECHNIQUE
forms of their art and architecture, and in principle
it
should be
from these
possible to deduce the details of their astrology
clues.
THE ORAL TRADITION But if such an exalted astrology actually existed, why do we have no evidence of it in writing? Is it conceivable that the Egyptians were capable of transmitting intricate knowledge of this sort orally?
Schwaller de Lubicz solves this problem, almost off-hand as
it
were. He points out that in all that has come down to us from Egypt there has never been discovered a single instance of the 13
He
techniques of architecture committed to writing. cludes that this refined and complex knowledge orally, and, short of archaeologists
to the contrary,
we can
no
see
therefore con-
was transmitted
suddenly discovering evidence
possibility of
denying
this con-
clusion.* If the
Sages of Egypt considered
it
imperative to keep architec-
would have taken particular care themselves. In the wrong hands, a developed
tural techniques secret then they
keep astrology to
to
astrology
would be
So while *
a singularly malevolent
weapon.
true that the final ‘proof of a developed ancient
it is
‘The defect of an oral tradition
is
that
it
can change imperceptibly from
generation to generation, and cannot easily be transmitted from one culture to another.'
John Ziman, Public Knowledge: The Social Dimension of Science The defect of this typical view is that its author makes no understand what a tradition is or what it is supposed to do, or
(C.U.P.) p. 101.
attempt to
how
it
works.
Egyptian architecture retained its integrity for four thousand years changing only deliberately when astrological or other considerations dictated change.
A
tradition
misinterpretation the inquisition
if
is
which are less open to committed to writing. E.g.
a corpus of values,
transmitted orally than
was based upon
if
a gross misinterpretation of the written
Gospels.
A with
tradition that lives should change. its
time, then
it is
When
decadent (the Church
it
cannot change in keeping
vs. Galileo).
Only brute fact can be safely committed to paper and transmitted from one culture to another without change. But brute fact, and compilations of brute fact do not constitute a tradition. And when contemporary physicists begin to question such brute facts as the constancy of the velocity of light, it would appear that even brute fact may show considerable animation. ‘Baffled Physicists Facing Collapse of the Laws of Nature’ announces page one of the Observer (13 April 1969). .
.
.
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED
43
astrology has yet to be produced, there are at least good reasons for believing in its probable existence. First,
because the clues provided by Sch waller de Lubicz - and
-
several others
are too
impossible to explain
numerous and
away
otherwise.
too strong to ignore
And
and
second, legend and
tradition apart, the academically-accepted views of Egyptian civili-
zation are so vulnerable to criticism from
all sides
that
some other explanation is essential. Though we have made this latter point already,
it is
obvious
that
illustrating
it
it
is
worth
in rather greater detail so as to provide a fair picture
of the sort of thinking that actually does prevail. Let us
examine
upon those Egyptian
artefacts
the views of a highly-regarded expert
which, above
all
others,
have been responsible for
stirring the
imagination of the modern public, and which tradition has always linked, at least indirectly, to astrology
the Pyramids of Gizeh.
:
Apart from their obvious purpose as tombs, in the often wild and woolly literature concerning them the pyramids have been held to
be,
variously, ancient centres of initiation of esoteric cults;
gigantic
conundrums whose measurements themselves contained
the key to the future of mankind; astronomical and astrological repositories;
and
tomb theory
:
to
is
many
other things.
Modern
scholars
buy only
the pyramids were built as tombs and that
is all
the
there
it.
Two contemporary scholars, in separate books, dismiss all nontomb theorizing in no uncertain terms. One writes, ‘Important mathematical constants; e.g. an accurate value of n> and deep astronomical knowledge are supposed to be expressed in the dimensions and orientation of this building (Great Pyramid). These theories flatly contradict all sound knowledge obtained by archaeo14 logy and by Egyptological research Z The acknowledged authority cited by both authors is the threepart article by N. F. Wheeler in the archaeological magazine. Antiquity (Vol. IX, 1935) in which the Tyramidologists’ are annihilated once and for all. .
.
After reading these articles the reader will be in a position to decide whether he should accept without question the wild and
for himself
theories current, or whether he should keep commonsense and archaeological evidence (p. 5)
fantastic
.
Age
.
to
ordinary
.
get very close to an understanding of the people of
It is possible to
the Pyramid
.
.
.
(p. 9)
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
44
Clear, logical thinkers
.
.
they [the Egyptians] were in no
.
of tackling the most difficult
mediums
way
afraid
which to work, and preferred them at this time to the more easily worked materials (p. 10) One can imagine the architect who designed the present pyramid coming to Khufu (Cheops) with his plans and having them enthusiasticin
.
.
ally
approved at once
.
.
.
.
176)
(p.
One can imagine the representative of the workmen (p. 177) One can imagine the feelings ... of Khufu ... (p. 181) ... we can say that where objects used today as symbols are depicted .
.
.
in ancient Egypt, they
significance.
There
is
have nothing but their obvious and operative no evidence to the contrary (p. 302) .
Wheeler’s appeal to ‘commonsense’
not stand up to scrutiny.
Told
to dig a ditch, a
What
is
man with no
may
.
.
be seductive but
commonsense,
it
after all?
does .
.
.
previous experience will use a
is commonsense. But no amount of commonsense will tell a man not to touch a stove if he does not know from previous experience that a stove may be hot. Such commonsense is precisely what ought not to be used in the interpretation of archaeological evidence. The Rosetta stone was never deciphered through the exercise of commonsense. Then, having plumped for commonsense, Professor Wheeler adjures the reader to suspend it, and to use his ‘imagination’ - the
shovel, not a teaspoon. This
very antithesis of commonsense; can one really imagine
how Khufu
felt?
Men
cannot understand their
The Victorians
own
children, or their parents.
and stuffy world of positivism and bogus morality. The Elizabethans are more like stage-figures than live in a distant
real people to us. gists,
the Egyptolo-
spent their entire time thinking about death, and preparing
for death
and yet never even conceived
(Edwards, op. to
The Egyptians, one gathers from
cit., p.
39).
anything in contemporary
tion that
it is
a clear idea of the afterlife
This behaviour life
quite without parallel
is
or experience. Therefore, the asser-
possible to get close to an understanding of such
people must stand as one of the great psychological naiveties of time; justifying not only
permanent scepticism
to
all
any and every
made by its author, but also to the work of those who recommend him. To continue ‘clear, logical thinkers they were in no way afraid of tackling the most difficult mediums in which to work’. This is a non sequitur. Clarity of thought and logic in no way interpretation
:
.
.
.
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED
work with difficult rather than Commonsense of the sort prevail-
lead to the deliberate decision to
easy material. Quite the contrary. ing today
tells
possible.
But
decision
to
make our
us to
this
is
make
more than
a
difficult,
art
45
lives as
easy and comfortable as
mere verbal quibble. The deliberate rather than easy,
not taken
is
mean
accidentally, or in a state of semi-consciousness. It can only
that the Egyptians understood that
by taking
this stance contrary
they put themselves in the position where they might experience that form of inner illumination known as Mastery. to logic
This principle implies that the Egyptians
knew
precisely
what they
were about, and why.
And
finally,
significance?
how
can there be 'evidence' of alleged symbolic
in five thousand years, future archaeologists dig
If,
up a church, they may conclude from its graveyard, its crucifixes and its sculpture that this, too, was a structure designed as a tomb. There would be no 'evidence to the contrary’. Without for a moment believing that the number of stones in the king's chamber of the Great Pyramid can tell us who is to be the next president of the U.S., the non-specialist reader
no compulsion
to accept
Wheeler's equal and opposite
is
under
illogic in
regard to the pyramids, or any other aspect of ancient Egyptian civilization.
Meanwhile, Egyptologists ignore the esoterically accepted symbolism of the pyramid - as a geometrical solid, not as a specific architectural structure.
The square base
is
held to represent the 'earth', or the fourfold
principle of matter; the triangular sides represent the threefold principle of creation, or relationship, or force.
that the Zodiac and the
And
it is
pyramid embody the same
obvious
principles;
moreover, the twelve divisions of the Zodiac are easily derivable
from the superimposition of the trine upon the square (see fig. 8). Recognizing the need for an explanation of the pyramids that is
neither 'Pyramidology' nor the sort of conclusion
drawn
from
Professor
Wheeler’s
'ordinary
commonly
commonsense'*
Sch waller de Lubicz corroborates the one theory out of the that genuine *
commonsense would
light
upon
as
most
likely.
many Sym-
Dr Kurt Mendelssohn, an archaeologist, discussing the pyramids in March 1968, asserts, ‘They were built because man had
Science Journal,
reached the stage at which he was able to build them/
Dr Mendelssohn's
article is entitled:
It is significant
‘Science at the Pyramids’.
that
46 bolic
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE significance
apart,
astronomical observatories
they were, he claims, constructed as :
the long, precisely aligned corridors
leading from the faces of the pyramids into the interior served as sighting tubes, permitting astronomers to
make
observations of
great exactitude.
%
—
Figure 8. The Pyramid, combining the Principles of Three and Four, or Spirit and Matter. Below, the Zodiac of Twelve Signs derived from the schematic
pyramid.
:
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED
47
For example, the Egyptians employed three separate calendars one based upon the cycles of the moon using a 360 day year, another based upon the sun, using a 365 day year - the additional five days were holiday; and a third, extremely accurate 365.25 day calendar based
upon the
ous orthodox authorities
nomy from
heliacal rising of Sirius. 15
Quoting numer-
de Lubicz shows that Egyptian astro-
earliest antiquity
was
of the highest order,
and that
such a science could not have developed without some master plan
and an organized - not random - system of observation. He suggests that the pyramids, in particular the Great Pyramids of Gizeh, were the instruments that permitted the Egyptian astronomers to achieve such accurate results. They could not have been achieved by the unaided eye. the
method
And,
in a sense, de Lubicz justifies the spirit,
or the results, of the scorned 'pyramidologists'
if :
not the
dimensions of the pyramids are indeed significant. The pyramid of
Cheops was built to express the Golden Section in one way, the pyramid of Chefren to express it in another; while the pyramid of Snefru
is
a synthesis.
And de Lubicz shows nomy (e.g. Neugebauer,
that prevailing views of Egyptian astro-
Exact Sciences in Antiquity) are based
upon hypothesis and correspond to no facts; which comes welcome news to the mind logical enough to see the flimsiness of
entirely as
the Establishment argument, but too unspecialized to effectively
counter
takes no special genius to realize that had mighty pyramids intended them for use purely tombs they could easily have devised far more fitting and it.
After
all, it
the architects of the as
impressive funerary arrangements than
those strangely placed,
senselessly sloping corridors leading to the interior.
The Egyptians put their astronomical knowledge to use in a number of ways that may fairly be called astrological. Due to a purely astronomical phenomenon known as the 'precession of the equinoxes' the earth gradually changes relative to the zodiac so that
its
roughly every 2,160 years
position
a different
'sign' rises at the time of the spring equinox. To modern astronomers the signs of the zodiac are of course no more than arbitrary divisions of the heavens. But to astrologers each sign is supposed to put its 'stamp' upon the age that corresponds to it. We are now about to enter the so-called Age of Aquarius (about which most readers will have heard). The Piscean Age, dating
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
48
roughly from the century before Christ, it
is coming to a close, and by the Arian, Taurean and Geminian corresponding roughly to 2000, 4000 and 6000 b.c. respect-
was
ages,
in turn preceded
ively.
Geminian Age remains to make much sense of Age ushers in what we know of history in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and it is a fact that this age was strongly imbued with 'bull cults'. Both Egypt and the concurrent Minoan civilization show a tremendous prevelance of Taurine imagery, while the preoccupation with monumental architecture is singularly apposite to an age supposedly under the influence of an
Too
it,
little
of the
but the Taurean
‘earth' sign.
Taken but to
it is
alone, this
might of course be ascribed to ‘coincidence', B.c., bull imagery in Egypt seems and images of the Ram, and other fire-conse-
remarkable that by 2000
have spent
itself
crated principles begin to appear, right on cue, to herald the
Age
of
Aries.
The symbol
of the early Christians, used as a secret code to
when it was dangerous to do so openly, was a The explanation customarily offered is that the word for fish, Greek, closely resembles the word for Jesus. But this need not be
identify each other fish.
in
the complete, or the only explanation. It is
too
much
only
to
to ask of the great god, coincidence, that Bull,
Ram
impinge themselves upon their respective eras, be chosen after the fact by a newly-arisen band of astrol-
and Fish should
all
ogers.
no early zodiacs have been found, the application of imagery to art and architecture in their respectively appropriate ages, and the utilization of astrological symbolism in works such as the Sphinx, strongly suggest that the Egyptians had not only named the constellations, but had attributed to them the So, while
earth and
fire
symbolic significance
At
we know
today.
same time, the very obvious astral symbolism of Egyptian mythology may well be susceptible to deciphering, and de Lubicz the
provides scholars
innumerable insights into the process. For example,
make much
of the fact that in astrology the
moon
is
sometimes male, sometimes female, depending upon the place, culture and era; and this is ascribed to the arbitrariness of the priest/ astrologers.
But
this, in certain
instances at least,
may
be
less arbitrary
than
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED it
appears. In astrology
traditional that the planets
it is
49
embody
within themselves both male and female principles (just as does
man) and
that depending
upon the
time, the nature of the situation,
possibly even the geographical position, male or female principles
Seen this way,
will predominate.
it
comes
as
no surprise that
Egyptian gods and goddesses* over the course of four millennia
change character and even gender. But from the evidence it
would appear
that symbolic sense can be
made
available,
of the apparent
chaos, once the proper methods are applied.
Many leads have been made available by tion of Egyptian art
particularly prone to tear sors
and
assumed
to build to be
politicians,
the symbolic interpreta-
and architecture. The Pharaohs of Egypt were
new
down
temples erected by their predeces-
ones in their stead. This has always been
an ancient instance of a modern commonplace:
out of
spite,
and psychological cunning, glorifying
themselves at the expense of their forerunners.
De
Lubicz maintains that Egyptian temples were not destroyed,
but deliberately and systematically dismantled
which they were consecrated had outlived
to
when their
the principles
span of
astrol-
ogically-determined relevance.
An
old temple
was not merely
a
quarry for the new;
it
was
literally the progenitor. Stones and inscriptions were chosen from
the superannuated temple as the symbolic germinal material from
which the new temple grew. built into the rising temple at
great deliberation
embedded
And
this material
in the foundations, in the cores of the
columns, and in other strategic spots, no
subsequent
was not simply
random, but was carefully and with less
precisely for
its
invisibility.
The Egyptian temple was not an instrument of Pharaohonic was a living analogue of the life process itself; a work of art in a state of perpetual renewal, and perpetual consecration to the principle from which all true art must spring. self-glorification. It
Now, the profusion of taurine imagery, and arian or ‘fiery’ symbolism during the appropriate ages is evidence that an astrology existed, and one that was organized from the top down and therefore able to *
impose
its
will
upon the
art
and architecture of the
According to de Lubicz it is a mistake to refer to the Egyptian ‘Neters’ and goddesses; rather they stand for cosmic principles, and in hieratic art their dress, position, and gesture provide the keys to the knowledge the particular work has incorporated within it. as gods
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
50
period; but
it
does not
tell
much about
us
the particulars of that
astrology.
However, from the Egyptian habit of tearing down and erecting temples to astrological considerations,
it
may be possible to reDe Lubicz discusses
construct something of their ancient science.
various still-extant tablets in which one Pharaoh or another has inscribed into a
new
temple his opening speech. Thought by
scholars to be merely a formal rite, de Lubicz
- but not
addresses convey an accurate
the heavens at the
was used temples.
moment
shows
precise
-
how
these
description of
of inauguration. Astronomical data
in determining the dimensions and proportions of the
would seem, now, that
It
with appropriate
scholars
qualifications could re-deduce the astrological principles behind all this
architecture,
though
it
principle
what
may
and embodied within
be at present,
would provide
Astrology,
it.
nevertheless
still
a basis
with which
to
the ruins divulged. For
it
may
Egyptian knowledge, their astrology
is
chaotic
and in compare and test
is
with
us,
be that, like the rest of written into the stones of
the temples.
ASTROLOGY AND MEDICINE
IN
EGYPT
What we know of Egyptian medicine comes from only nine papyri, most of which are fragmentary, and which appear to be copies of about how to date both the papyri and the information contained in them. But recently it has been shown that, when copies were made, they were made in the language of the original. Therefore, data couched in older language earlier papyri. Scholars disagree
is
held to be the more ancient
:
and
this
has in turn 'revealed the
whose originals appear oldest are most devoid of magic, whereas the more recent ones have gradually peeled off their medicinal knowledge and kept only the disquieting paradox that the papyri
superstition’. 'Scientific
medicine produced
at the time of the
Dr is
its
masterpiece, the Smith papyrus,
Pyramids in the dawn of Egyptian History.’
Paul Ghalioungui, Professor of Medicine at Cairo University,
at pains to dispel once
and
for all the idea that
Egyptian medicine
was developed out of superstition. But he is disinclined to speculate upon its origins. Nor does he express any desire to pursue the astrological/magical/incantatory side of Egyptian medicine any further.
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED
51
But in the light of leads furnished by de Lubicz, certain conclusions become astrologically intriguing. Ghalioungui believes it essential to take the legends of secrecy seriously.
be feared, however, that these papyri do not contain the whole
It is to
of pharaohonic medical knowledge, for level teaching
was purely
oral.
[revealed, as opposed to
Strabo
who
how
relates
.
.
.
‘esoteric'
it is
probable that above a certain
The imposition
of limits to exoteric
teaching
or secret]
is
by Eudoxus
attested
the priests of Egypt kept from Plato and
the greater part of their knowledge, even after these had spent thirteen
years in Egypt. This
is
confirmed by Arab historians. ...
It is also
amply
demonstrated by quotations in the papyri. The Book on the Heart and Vessels
.
.
.
starts thus
ledge of the heart’s
matter of
fact, this
:
The
beginning of the physician's secret
movement and knowledge
of the heart’;
:
know-
and
as a
book contains notions on the circulation of the blood
that escaped the Greeks.’*
16
In this fragmentary but impressive medicine that has come to us from Egypt, the time at which remedies and medicaments are ad-
ministered given.
A
is
of the utmost importance,
treatise
on eyes
lists
and precise instructions are which to do one
six different times at
thing or another. Similarly, elaborate instructions are given for the
proper time to pick herbs and prepare remedies.
Presuming that these instructions are not mere caprice, their existence leads us to believe that they must have been astrologic-
would seem that the Egyptians believed - or them different principles corresponding to the principles symbolized by the planets and by the signs of the zodiac, and similarly with the various diseases, and with the human body itself. The curious diagrams of Cosmic Man so prevalent in medieval times, in which the various parts and organs of the body are supposed to be under the domination of various planets and signs, are shown by de Lubicz to have come down from Egypt (see plate 6). The symbolism of the Temple of Luxor exactly matches the ally determined; it
knew -
that different herbs embodied within
medieval drawings. This sort of analogical medical thinking
by the
rigidly orthodox, but the fact
is
may
be scoffed at today
that the
same
principles
apply in homeopathy and, in a different way, in acupuncture, both
which
of *
are receiving serious attention these days.
There
is
con-
‘Ancient science was the product of very few men; and those few to be Egyptian.’ Neugebauer, op. cit., p. 91.
happened not
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
52
temporary evidence planets and
show
to
men change
that the electrical potential of both
according to the phases of the moon, the
time of the day, and the season of the year; and other properties of the
human and
natural world change as well.
that healing properties
And
may vary
as time goes on,
stands to reason
It
accordingly.
some of the more absurd and revolting
notions of the ancients are found to be based
upon sound medical
understanding. The much-derided ‘dreckapotheke’ (neat in the Ger-
man, this translates clumsily into ‘sewage pharmacology’), which recommends the application of moulds, urine and dung for various tantamount in many cases
disorders, turns out to be
to the use of
natural penicillin and antibiotics.
would appear, then, that much
of what ancient Egypt bequeathed us in the medical realm is sound - and an overwhelming amount remains a mystery since Egyptologists cannot figure out It
what
the recipes and instructions refer
to. It is
an undeniable fact
that the Greeks were deeply indebted to the Egyptians for their
medicine, as were the Arabs; and from the Greeks and Arabs, medicine
- or what remained
of
Christendom in general. Does it really matter if not another?
Is a
- came down
a patient
to
Medieval Europe and
given a drug at one time, and
is
herb collected at a certain time, and prepared at
a certain time efficacious,
And
another time?
it
but not so
if
collected
and prepared
at
are these related to the positions of the planets
at these times?
Modern
discoveries in a
number
of fields
make such
questions
reasonable. Should this aspect of Egyptian medicine turn out to be
founded largely or partially on legitimate grounds
its
importance
could scarcely be over-emphasized.
But
this is a
matter for hypothetical Egyptologist /Physician/
Astrologers, just as coaxing Egyptian astrology out of the stones of the temples will require Egyptologist/Architect/Astrologers.
Such specialists are in short supply at the present moment, and from the reception given to Schwaller de Lubicz’s work (see
Appendix
Though
I) it
appears unlikely that a surfeit
the structure of astrology
is
is
at
such that
hand. it
could not have
‘evolved’ out of accurate astronomical observation and idiotic de-
ductions
made upon
the basis of these observations; and though
sufficient evidence suggests that today’s astrology
has always affirmed
it
to
is
what legend
be - a part of an ancient doctrine that at
DREAMS THE CHALDEANS NEVER DREAMED
53
philosophy and science into one internwhole - the academic attitude towards it remains curiously unchanged. ‘Compared with the background of religion, magic and mysticism, the fundamental doctrines of astrology are pure science/ 17 declares Otto Neugebauer And compared with the food, the chef, and the recipe, the stove is ‘pure science’ as well. Professor
one time fused
art, religion,
ally consistent
.
.
.
.
Neugebauer is ‘exceedingly sceptical of any attempt to reach a synthesis - whatever this term may mean’. But he is meanwhile convinced that ‘specialization .
.
.
that
is
the only basis of sound knowledge’
may mean. Although perhaps he means by studying the stove minutely enough, ‘science’ will ulti-
whatever those terms
mately understand the chef.
The Whore of Babylon
2
When
Jupiter stands in front of
be slain, or a great
When Mars
army
Mars there
.
.
will be corn
and men will
will be slain.
approaches Jupiter there will be great devastation in the
land.
When Mars
approaches Jupiter, in that year the king of
and the crops of that land
die
When
the
Moon
Akkad
will
will be prosperous.
rideth in a chariot, the yoke of the king of
Akkad
will prosper.
When
moon
the
is
of a far country will
When Mercury Leo
low in appearance, the submission
come
culminates in
Tammuz,
there will be corpses.
dark, the heart of the land will not be happy.
is
of Kings
(of the people)
to the king.
Long
When
live the
Lord
from Asandu. When Jupiter goes with Venus, the prayers of the land will reach the heart of the gods. Merodach and Sarapanitum will hear the prayer of the people and will have mercy on the people. .
.
.
them send me an
Let itir.
!
ass that
it
may
ease
my
feet.
.
.
.
From Nirgat-
18
B.C.), King of Assyria, received the above from his magicians and astrologers. Marked confidential, and intended only for the king, these reports, inscribed in cuneiform upon clay tablets, were among the thousands recovered from the ruins of the library at Nineveh. Egyptian astrology must be deduced from its medicine and architecture, but the magicians and astrologers of Nineveh have provided us with an astrology that sounds all too familiar. Marked ‘unconfidential’ and put in less orotund language, it might come right out of a contemporary newspaper; no esoteric interpretation as far as we know can be made of
Assurbanipal (668-626
as daily reports
these reports.
On
the other hand, the astrologers and magicians of Nineveh and
Babylon
may
not be quite as guilty of superstition and/or char-
latanry as they appear.
We do not know how
conclusions. Accurate astronomical data
And
if
on
was
they arrived at their available to them.
their tablets they predicted disaster because Jupiter stood
THE WHORE OF BABYLON in front of Mars, they
who,
may have been no guiltier
after a battery of tests
55
than the physician
and examinations,
his
tells
layman
patient that because he has high blood pressure and a coated tongue
The method by which the expert arrives at no concern to the non-specialist. The accuracy of the diagnoses is another matter. We have never heard anyone suggest that the magicians of Nineveh and Babylon he ought
go
to
his diagnosis
may have
is
to bed.
of
been right, or at
least right fairly often.
No
one has
proved the contrary. Perhaps Assurbanipal was not so big a fool as
he looks, and was receiving sound advice. Or perhaps the reports were formal
rituals
not taken seriously by anyone. Or perhaps there
an esoteric meaning
is
can fathom. involving
It is
to
them which neither we nor anyone
conceivable that even a situation such as
what appears
to be astrology of the
else this,
lowest order, ought
not to be taken at face value.
The prophet Daniel,
living a century later,
was renowned
being wiser than the magicians and astrologers at their
for
own game
and was made master over them, according to The Book of Daniel; though if the chronicler tells truly, wisdom was not the salient feature of Nebuchadnezzar’s court. Nevertheless,
wise
men from
it is
impossible to judge the knowledge of genuine
their behaviour at court.
biblical hint that a
And
there
is
at least
one
more sophisticated astrology may have been
going on in the background. In 597, the prophet Ezekiel, along with King Johakin of Juda, exiled to Babylon. Prophesying the sufferings of Israel, Ezekiel
was
6) testifies, quoting the Lord, as He appeared before vision T have appointed thee each day for a year.’
(4
:
him
in a
:
To an
astrologer this looks very
of prediction
still
used, in
a year in another. thirtieth
day
That
which is,
a
much
it
scale
is
system
equated with
the position of the planets on the
after the birth of a child will in
his thirtieth year. (Illogical as this
that
like a reference to a
day on one
may
some way
prevail in
appear, astrologers insist
works.)
Now,
Ezekiel’s
symbolism
is
famous vision of the Wheel with its Sphinxsaw things in astrological terms
a strong hint that he
(mystics typically describe their experiences within the context of their particular beliefs) and the reference may not be merely arbitrary. 19
Mesopotamia, lacking the natural borders and defences of Egypt,
HI
56
STORY AND
T
ECHNIQUE
more fragmented and chaotic historical picture. The construction of the Ziggurats in three, four or seven tiers,
presents an even
and the prevalence of such geometric symbols as the seven-pointed from the earliest times an esoteric tradition of some sort must have existed. From earliest antiquity Babylonian star indicate that
boundary stones were marked with the symbols of the sun, moon and Venus; and from the days of King Sargon (c. 2800 B.c.) the stars are
mentioned, in conjunction with the inspection of the
livers
means of prophecy. The Mesopotamians were avid and inveterate star-gazers, and their astronomy had attained a high level of observational precision at a very early date. The movements of the planets were being of sacrificial animals, as a
recorded in cuneiform at least as early as 1700 B.c. In
astronomy there
is
no mention
of astrology; yet
does appear in the reign of Assurbanipal of astronomical precision, in a
No
dent rather than incipient.
into the elegant Zodiac with
all
this
astrology
does so with no mention
form that could be considered decaamount of prophesying on the basis
Mercury
of Leo darkened and
it
when
in
Tammuz
could organize
its polarities, triplicities
itself
and quadru-
ple ties. Schwaller de Lubicz has pieced together the tradition behind the actual history of Egypt, and
Mesopotamian history
is
esoteric traditions must,
it is
probable that the tradition behind
not dissimilar - whatever their differences,
by
definition, agree in essentials.
Certainly, the histories of both cultures differ
:
in Egypt, tradi-
from the surface of life, though the outer manifestations of Egyptian political life seem not unreminiscent of the Vatican with its closed doors, internal rivalries and varying degrees of tyranny and corruption. Mesopotamia, on the tion can never
have been
far
more reminiscent of New York; sprawling, infinitely which anything goes. But the history of Mesopotamia - to a lesser extent of Egypt more remarkable for what we do not know than for what we do.
other hand,
is
faceted, a society in
is
And
while de Lubicz
oral tradition
and
may
satisfactorily
account for secrecy of the
for the lack of written evidence for
it,
he does
not account for the strangely fragmentary state in which
knowledge has reached Recently, however, a
this
us.
number
of books have appeared
which may
help to explain the mystery. Legends everywhere are
rife
accounts of cosmic disasters of varying proportions.
Amongst
with
4
THE WHORE OF BABYLON
57
few proponents of ‘catas trophism’, but since Lyell and Darwin such notions have been distinctly unpopular and unorthodox to the point of heresy.
scholars there have always been a
Father Xavier Kugler, the scholar largely responsible for destroying the hypotheses of the Pan-Babylonian School of Archaeology (believing that all the great civilizations had their roots in Babylon),
had come to the conclusion that the civilizations of Mesopotamia had undergone violent physical disruptions far exceeding the normal, or even the abnormal limits. 20 The discovery of vast underwater ruins off the island of Thera has given further impetus to catastrophe adherents. And a book just published by James Mavor, an oceanographer, develops this theme still further. According to Mavor the disaster that plunged Thera beneath the waves and destroyed the civilization of Crete was five times as great as that which blew up Krakatoa in 1888; (the latter killed thirty thousand people, sent tidal waves around the world levelling most of the ports of the Pacific, and reddened the sunsets with volcanic dust for three years). If the earthquake that destroyed Thera was five times as great as this, it means that virtually nothing around or
near the Mediterranean could survive.
Evidence from other quarters suggests that tremendous as this disaster
may have
been,
it
was not
localized to
diately adjacent civilizations. Claude P.
had come
Thera and the imme-
A. Schaeffer, a French
1948 that the whole of had been shattered on five separate occasions between the third and second millennia B.c. The greatest of these he dated c. 1500 b.c., tying in with the strongly supported archaeologist,
Middle Eastern
to the conclusion in
civilization
dating of the Cretan disaster.
And
finally, the boldest
and the most despised of these scholars,
Immanuel Velikovsky, contended
in a
number
of books 21 that
these disasters were world-wide in scope, and that they were caused by planetary disturbances - specifically by Venus, which, accord-
ing to Velikovsky, historical past;
is
a
new
planet, born out of Jupiter in the recent
and which, before
settling into orbit, buzzed the earth (causing the catastrophe of 1500) and then continued behaving erratically for the next eight hundred years, ultimately engag-
ing in a cosmic duel with
Mars bringing on
the final series of
disasters.
Since Velikovsky’s theories run counter to history, geology, archaeology,
all
that
is
accepted in
astronomy and anthropology
it
is
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
58
no
surprise that they
were and are regarded with an unbeneficent
eye by experts in the affected areas. Subsequent discoveries in science over the past
twenty years, however, have tended
to bear
out some of his more outrageous contentions and predictions; while
only a few relatively minor points have been conclusively refuted. 22
The arguments pro and con Velikovsky tend
we
dictions
to
be complex, so
only mention a few of the most striking points and contra-
shall
Venus
:
in her role as
morning and evening
seems so
star
well established in Egyptian mythology that her very recent birth is
unthinkable; and the sun,
upon the
earliest
moon and Venus symbols
inscribed
Babylonian boundary stones ought not to be over-
looked. Yet one of the strongest pieces of evidence Velikovsky
brings to bear supporting a Venusian disturbance
is
his account
Ammizaduga astronomical tablets c. 1600 B.C., which, at a time when astronomical precision was being practised with great deliberation in Babylon, showed Venus behaving in an erratic and of the
incomprehensible manner. Scholars attribute the inscriptions to faulty observation. Velikovsky argues that tions are precise to a remarkable degree,
if all
why
the other observa-
should the observa-
tions on Venus be faulty? Velikovsky also cites Aztec astrology which portrays Venus as a bloody and avenging force, to be feared and propitiated. 23
But we should expect this to be reflected in Western astrology As we have said, the changing character of planets is not necessarily due to arbitrariness, but to the emphasis placed upon as well.
one or another aspect of that planet at a particular place or time. Velikovsky asserts that in one of these historically-recent disasters the earth shifted
on
its axis,
bringing on
‘ice ages',
altering
the climate permanently, and the entire ecology of the surface of the earth.
A
vast
amount
of geological evidence
is
brought in
to
support the theory of cataclysm; most convincing to our minds, the incidence of
mammoths
in the Siberian tundra.
He
points out
that these sub-tropical animals, weighing several tons, were frozen
had no time to decompose. When mammoths are dug out of the permanently frozen earth of the tundra even their eyeballs are intact, and the meat can be fed safely to dogs. Yet,
so quickly that they
examination of the contents of their stomachs reveals a diet of subtropical herbs.
Velikovsky argues that nothing short of a
the axis of the earth could freeze five tons of
and keep
it
frozen.
mammoth
shift in
instantly,
THE WHORE OF BABYLON But Velikovsky holds that
59
and
this took place in historical times
seems to be impossible in the light of the history of Egypt.
this
The pyramids most
certainly antedate the catastrophe of 1500.
These structures are deliberately and unmistakably oriented wards the cardinal points; and the star-charts paintings on the
to-
ceil-
show the same picture of the sky over Egypt as found today. The positions of the stars are given with such
ings of the tombs is
accuracy that, with minor disagreements, scholars date the charts to 4240 B.c. If Velikovsky were right, a star chart of the Egyptian sky would be unrecognizable today, and the pyramids would be
aligned with nothing. Moreover, Egyptian climate in
its
own way
would have changed as drastically as Siberian. But the earliest tomb paintings show a way of life that is unmistakably Egyptian, and which does not change in four thousand years.
Whether Velikovsky
right or not the event that destroyed
is
Crete around 1500 B.c. and most of the Mediterranean world substantiated from a
number
of sources and
tered the traditional doctrines irreparably.
is
it may well have scatEven Egypt never at-
tained her former heights.
which Velikovsky postulates c. 700 B.c. to the history of astrology. But we significant more could be even do not know of any subsequent scholarly work done which either
The
series of disasters
substantiates or contradicts him.
What
is
certain however,
is
that before the seventh century B.c.
both Eastern and Western history
is fragmentary and incomplete; while thereafter - with certain important gaps - it becomes more
or less coherent, and this
is
surprising, since the heights of art
and
architecture in Egypt, in South America, and to a certain extent in India
and China antedate
this period.
Moreover, in the centuries immediately following, civilized
pendently, taught doctrines which reverberate
Yet
it
is
all
over the
world a spate of great teachers arose who, apparently inderemarkable that
all
these
men
down
to
our times.
refer for their authority
to the legendary wise men of the past. Is it not unlikely that Buddha, Lao Tse, Pythagoras and Zoroaster should all, independently of each other, hit upon the same scheme for impressing
back
the gullible with their credentials? assert
- man
at this time took a step
And
if
higher level of consciousness and civilization, less
reason to refer back to the 'sages of
-
some scholars new and there would be still as
forward towards a old’.
HI
60
STORY AND TECHNIQUE
Meanwhile, the only astrology we know from this period comes from Babylon and Nineveh, and seems to have been of a low
to us
order.
And yet
‘Pythagorean'. Legend insists
call
- that these
principles are
She Seduces Greece Pythagoras
.
.
much
.
580-500 B.c.) may well have been the single greatest development of Western thought. Like so many of the
world's great teachers, he
left
accounts of his work and his
many
questioned. But
pendium
older than Pythagoras.
(c.
force in the
where, for
what we today would - and Schwaller de Lubicz proves
the principles of astrology are
nothing in writing, and subsequent life
have been distorted
to the point
years, even his actual historical existence
was
now accepted that he was not a mere comand that he taught his famous doctrines at his
it is
of legend,
‘school' in Croton, opened after his return from prolonged unauthenticated - travel in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
if
Pythagoras has always been given credit for the discovery of the laws of harmony and the geometrical Rule of Pythagoras, and he has been condemned by logicians for fostering the superstition that numbers had meanings, which led in turn to many further despised superstitions, among them the famous ‘Harmony of the Spheres' which is, of course, central to astrology. It is, however, impossible to avoid Pythagoreanism. Even the logician, in his monochrome world of yes-or-no, pays tacit homage. For if two were not different in meaning from one, there could be no distinction between true and false. While in the subtler worlds of mathematics and physics, ‘Neo-pythagoreanism' is a recognized movement. 24
not
It is
tised
known
if
Pythagoras himself taught astrology, or prac-
it.
Victorian and classical scholars, tracing their intellectual genealogies, and, like
nouveau-riche industrialists, anxious to prove them-
selves of noble lineage, successfully pretended for several centuries
that the Greeks were untainted
Alexander brought
until
it
by astrology
altogether; at least
back with him from his conquests; at
which point it was supposed to have spread unchecked. But by 1900 this view was contested by Franz Cumont. .
.
.
another pupil of Plato, the astronomer, Eudoxus of Cnidos de-
THE WHORE OF BABYLON dared
‘No credence should be given
:
to the
Chaldeans,
who
6l
predict
and
mark out the life of every man according to the day of his nativity.’ Certain modern philologists - who doubtless look upon Greek history as a kind of experiment in a closed vessel, which a providence anxious to
exclude every disturbing element conducted for the fullest instruction
of the savants of the future
- certain
philologists,
whether Eudoxus in the fourth century could
condemned
oriental genethlialogy (prophesying
But
birth).
treatise
like
on
Eudoxus, Theophrastus, a
‘Celestial Signs'
Chaldeans
:
say,
I
really
have doubted
have known and
from the moment of
little later,
spoke of
it
in his
he regarded with surprise the claim of the
be able to predict from these signs the life and death of and not merely general phenomena, such as good or bad
to
individuals,
weather.
The
insatiable curiosity of the Greeks, then, did not ignore astrology
its hazardous doctrines, and their keen was able to distinguish the scientific data observed by the Babylonians from the erroneous conclusions which they derived from them. It is to their everlasting honour that, amid the tangle of precise observations and superstitious fancies which made up the priestly lore
but their sober genius rejected
critical sense
of the East, they discovered and utilized the serious elements, while
neglecting the rubbish.
As long
as Greece
remained Greece,
gained no hold
stellar divination
on the Greek mind, and all attempts to substitute an astronomic theology for their immoral but charming idolatry were destined to failure. The efforts of philosophers to
impose on their countrymen the worship of
the ‘great visible gods', as Plato terms them, recoiled before the might of a tradition
And
supported by the prestige of art and literature
the time comes
when
25 .
the son of the nouveau-riche indus-
repudiates his father’s crasser pretensions and
trialist
owns up
to
the scoundrel at the root of the family tree, insisting, however, that
he was Robin Hood.
How sense’
are
we
to reconcile that 'sober genius’
with a concomitant
belief in idolatry
- be
and ‘keen it
critical
never so charm-
ing or immoral ? *
How could
these Greeks
on the one hand
sift
the science out from
the superstition of Babylon and on the other bestow ‘prestige’
upon
an art and literature founded entirely upon idolatry? *
Even allowing
who
for the subjectivity of language; to call, say,
and devours his father and commits incest with somewhat permissive. castrates his father
his children - or his
Oedipus -
Kronos -
who
slays
mother - ‘charming' would seem
:
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
62
It is
obvious that a nation of such sub-Sagittarian creatures (half
genius, half-jackass) never existed.
Sober genius and a keen
critical sense
have nothing
belief in or a repudiation of astrology. Socrates
and and
a
keen
who
critical sense,
but the bureaucrats
to
do with a
had sober genius
who put him
to death,
expressed the will of the majority at that time, did not.
A
is the hallmark of a decadent and for several hundred years in the Greek citizenry were too busy fighting both their enemies and themselves to succumb to this particular form of national despair. In Cumont’s time, no pre-Christian horoscopes had been found. Yet it is possible to deduce from the testimony of Eudoxus and Theophrastus that genethliacal astrology must have existed at least as early as the fourth century B.c. And it was not unreasonable to suppose - accurate astronomical data being available - that
widespread passion for prophecy society,
the Chaldeans had at their disposal
some systematic method of
cal-
culating and prophesying, conceivably dating from antiquity
though
this
view has been challenged by Robert
Eisler,
-
among
others It
follows then that the claim of the various ‘Chaldean' and ‘Egyptian’
star-clerks writing in
pay
Greek for a Hellenized public able and willing to on the secular, nay millennial
for ‘nativities’, to base their forecasts
experiences of their respective ancestors, was and
healthy bouncing
Never
lie.
Assyrian, Babylonian,
or, for
at
is no more than a good, any time did an early Sumerian,
the matter of that, an old Elamite, Hurrite,
or Hittite astrologer writing in cuneiform script on clay tablets ever establish
any
relation whatsoever
between the position of the planets in
the various zodiacal signs and the fate or character of any individual 26 child - royal, noble or plebeian-born or conceived at a given hour.
Yet despite the conviction with which rests
upon the assumption
this
view
that Eisler had read
all
is
expressed,
it
the Sumerian,
Assyrian, Babylonian, Elamite, Hurrite and Hittite tablets that
were ever written and that ever will be found. This assumption turns out to have been premature. Recent discoveries (1952) have brought to light the postulated horoscopes of the Babylonians, in which planetary and Zodiacal positions are noted.
back
to
This to
The
earliest of these
horoscopes can be dated
27
29 April, 409 tells us that personal, genethliacal astrology - as opposed
mundane
B.c.
astrology,
which
predicts national or local events, in
THE WHORE OF BABYLON
63
conjunction with the future of the king, such as that of Nineveh existed centuries before it was supposed to have begun; and in Babylon.
But
it tells
us nothing about that astrology
itself.
And
here, just
where it might be possible to learn something, scholarHaving gone to the considerable and commendable trouble to unearth and translate all this new data, no attempt is made to evaluate or interpret it, and we are left with mere ‘informa-
at the point
ship stops short.
tion’.
Reduced
may be seen as the struggle of civilizawith barbarism predominating - since it
to essentials, history
tion against barbarism,
takes a thousand civilized
men
a
hundred years
while a single barbarian with a howitzer Certain societies
- Egypt seems
to
to build a cathedral
flattens
have been one -
it
in a minute.
effect a
balance
for a time. In others, civilization runs like a thick visible thread
through the barbarian tapestry, holding builders of the so-called is
Dark Ages. In
it
together - the cathedral
a truly dark age, the thread
invisible.
Scholars cannot legitimately talk about ‘religion’,
‘art’,
or ‘astrol-
ogy’ without specifying which level of religion, art or astrology
they mean.
By
patiently following the connections of mathematical and astro-
we moved from period to period and from civilization to Our road often went parallel to the road pointed out by
nomical theory civilization.
alchemy and many other
historians of art, religion,
surprising. It only underlines the intrinsic unity of role of
astronomy
is
perhaps unique in so far as
it
fields.
human
carried in
is
not
culture.
The
This
its
slow but
steady progress the roots for the most decisive development in
human
modern exact sciences. To follow this specific history seems to me worthy of our efforts, however
history, the creation of the
aspect of cultural
fragmentary our results
But
may
be
28 .
‘the road ... of religion, art
and alchemy’ goe$ in exactly the which in any case
opposite direction from that of the exact sciences
are not exact, but merely quantitative. ‘Decisive’ for ‘valuable’.
The A-bomb was
is
not a synonym
the most ‘decisive’ event in the
history of Hiroshima. Civilizations operate
The
upon
a
number
Beatles, accomplished in their
own
order as Bach. Billy Graham’s religion
of levels simultaneously.
not of the same incommensurable with
right, are is
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
64
Meister Eckhart's.
It
is
not a matter of better and worse, but
of higher and lower.
That such
a hierarchy exists
to falsify history hopelessly.
any instrument that
And it is
is
is
But
unmistakable. it
To overlook
it is
cannot be measured - not by
an extension or refinement of the
five senses.
this that provides scholars with their loophole.
Arbitrary, metaphysical standards - such as measurability - are erected.
Everything
is
then subjected to this standard as a
cation for ‘serious' consideration. the fault
is
does not
fit
held to
lie
qualifi-
When the standard is inapplicable,
in the subject. If
cannot be measured,
it
if it
Red China, it is detrue - except that in the
into the plan, then, like ESP, or
clared non-existent.
A vote may be taken,
discussion preceding the vote
all
who
point back to the long-since-
forgotten original arbitrariness of the standard are branded cranks
and excluded from the vote as mentally incompetent and the universe is then, by a unanimous vote of experts, decreed or dreamers
spiritually flat.
Unaware ogy
a
first
of the crucial idea of ‘level',
and misguided attempt
to
Neugebauer
sees in astrol-
quantify knowledge.
He
Greek development, with the height of in the second century B.c. as Euclidean geometry
believes astrology to be a activity falling
and improved Greek astronomy were grafted on to Chaldean superBut this is impossible, since the astrological canon with its dance and fusion of numbers is a whole, clearly implicit in all that
stitions.
is
known
of Pythagorean teaching.
Did the Pythagoreans actually have and teach like the Egyptians,
keep
it
astrology, but,
to themselves?
Admittedly, falling back upon secret doctrines every time the evidence
fails
us smacks of dcus cx machina.
Still, it is
common
knowledge that the Pythagoreans took pledges of secrecy.* Was a knowledge of astrology among the secrets? We don't see how it could have been missing. Pythagoras, and Plato after him, taught that man is a microcosm, and that in him are contained all the laws applicable to the macrocosm of the universe. This is a fundamental principle of astrology. Empedocles, a fairly early Pythagorean (c. *
‘The mysteries most jealously guarded by the Brotherhood (of Pythawere of supposed cosmic and practical importance. It is both tragic
goras)
were preposterous nonsense.’ doubly tragic and ironic that E. T. Bell did not secrets, and so was talking through his hat.
and
And
ironic that they
E. T. Bell, op. cit., p. 198.
know
the nature of those
THE WHORE OF BABYLON
65
has been credited with the invention of the 'four elements’.
450
B.c.)
We
have seen that these are a part of Egyptian mythology. They
are also central to the astrological doctrine. Pythagoras taught that
harmony was but that expression of cosmic harmony to which our organs of sense had access; an earthly taste of the 'music of the spheres’. The same mathematical ratios of the musical musical
applied to astrology, produce the astrological doctrine of
scale,
'aspects’.
Was
unknown
all this
to the
Egyptians and Pythagoreans and
only grafted on later by clever eclectic con-men ?
Our own
guess would be that Pythagoras and his followers
the principles of astrology, but that their study of
it
knew
was confined
symbolism of the zodiac and the planets and the harmonic relationships between them; an early Pythagorean would be more to the
meaning of Mars in Scorpio than he would which Mars in Scorpio manifested itself in the personality of X, born under Mars in Scorpio. And if he concerned himself with whether X, born under Mars in Scorpio, should buy a interested in the abstract
be in the
poodle
was
way
in
when Jupiter stood in conjunction to Sirius because Sirius known as the 'Dog Star’ and Jupiter symbolizes good for-
also
tune, he
would be dismissed from the Brotherhood. And he might
then set up business in the agora as a 'Chaldean’. This brings us back to the notion of
but at
least
picture that
making is
it
'level’,
complicating matters
theoretically possible to present a historical
not a priori a
lie.
The examples above roughly distinguish the principal levels of astrology - symbolic, psychological, and fortune-telling. But the levels are not mutually exclusive. Or, to be more precise, while it is possible to practise the lower
without knowledge or regard of the impossible to study the higher without knowledge of the lower, though it may be impossible to put it into practice. A hypothetical example a king, acting upon the advice of his
higher,
it is
:
Wise
Men (many
know in advance that youth was in the stars, and perhaps take measures to gear educational methods to the changing conditions; thus consciously directing all that energy - in itself neutral - into useful instead of destructive channels. didn’t,
one gathers) might
a generation of particularly chaotic
But
as history
existed, unless
it
makes
clear,
Nevertheless, once astrology C.F.A.
3
no such
multi-level astrology has
existed in Egypt. 29 is
seen in terms of level, a
number
.
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
66
of otherwise
themselves;
among
Cumont who,
speak-
inexplicable questions resolve
them, that raised by a baffled and irate Franz
ing unofficially for the entire academic brotherhood, asked
spread and force
could this absurd doctrine
arise, develop,
upon superior
century after century?
...
cination
brain
intellects for
:
.
.
.
'How itself
this hallu-
the most persistent that ever haunted the
human
.’ .
.
The answer
is,
by
of course, that superior intellects,
virtue of
their very superiority, recognize the validity of the principle of
Such men knew that the important
'leveF.
facts of the universe
will never yield themselves to tape measures wielded cripples;
and they were therefore open
by emotional
to the belief that the
sym-
bolism of astrology, as the epitome of Pythagorean thinking, provided a key into the otherwise inaccessible nature of these deeper universal truths - a belief that subsequent lifelong study did noth-
ing to dispel.
The wave
by Pythagoras and mementoes the Greek
of genuine civilization represented
Plato passed swiftly over Greece, leaving as
number
temples, Greek art, a
of streams of Pythagorean teach-
ing in varying degrees of impurity, and a thriving but chaotic astrology.
By
the third century B.C., improved astronomy and geometry
permitted astrologers to
make more
horoscopes, though
impossible to gauge the effect this had on
it is
their interpretive skill
open
fire
30 .
precise calculations in erecting
(The master chef can do more with an
than the novice with a gas range.)
ing astrology was
carried throughout the
And
this scientific-look-
then-known world by
Alexander. Aristotle's
most famous pupil largely succeeded in the physical
realm in emulating the intellectual achievements of his master; and in the guise of harbinger of enlightenment, managed to misunderstand, pervert
and destroy nearly
of his predecessors.
As
all
that
was valuable
in the
work
Aristotle distorted the teaching of the
Pythagoreans and substituted the arrogant and false notion that man, through the exercise of intellect alone, could arrive at a knowledge of the real world; so Alexander, pursuing a parallel path,
ground the palace of Darius, and with it the great wisdom that had managed to survive other conquerors and catastrophes; and by way of compensa-
burned
to the
library then containing the all
THE WHORE OF BABYLON the city of Alexandria in
tion established
Nor
did the parallel quite stop there.
The
honour
67
of himself.
particularly malignant
aspect of Aristotle’s teaching mentioned above did not infect the
West
until
it
was
falling apart
from other causes anyhow; while
through no fault of Alexander’s, Alexandria became in spiritual
thriving centre for the exchange of esoteric
turn the
the world, melting-pot of cultures, and a
of
capital
its
all
manner
of astrological
and
knowledge.
Over the course of several centuries, scholars collected and modern scripts and tablets. Undoubtedly, new work was undertaken; and another famous library, the Museion, grew to a reputed 700,000 volumes.
studied ancient and
If
horse-racing
is
the sport of kings, then book-burning
sport of conquerors; and
it is
partially
due
to this
is
the
pastime that
knowledge of the teachings of the past is so hopelessly fragmentary. During Caesar’s wars, the Museion was burned, destroying most of the astrological texts.
Babylon, over
Nineveh, and A.D., the
its
long history, was destroyed repeatedly, as was
the seats of ancient culture. In the second century
all
Emperor Septimus Severus pillaged the Egyptian temples which was subsequently destroyed or
of all their sacred literature, scattered about the world.
The
Serapeion, the library slowly built
from the remains of the Museion and from the accumulated
memories of
scholars, incurred the
wrath of the Bishop Theophilus
three centuries after Caesar; 200,000 offending scripts were lost.
Remnants found their way to Byzantium where they were momentarily safe. Meanwhile, the Emperor Constantine decreed that his version of Christianity - which bore a certain resemblance to the Christianity of today, but none to that of Christ - was to be the only and official religion of Rome, and burned all the pagan archives. In
Byzantium, Theodosius
century; not only closing
all
II
followed suit in the fifth
the universities
still
teaching Greek
philosophy but putting to the torch what had come to Byzantium from Alexandria. In Alexandria itself, however, the indefatigable
nth generation of scholars was piecing together what was left of and for several centuries lived in peace to enjoy what was left of .
the fruits of
its
.
.
labours. In 641, however, Alexandria again
Scholars begged the
Arab
general, ‘Amr, to spare the library.
fell.
But ‘Amr, a proto-Logical Positivist, declared the matter a pseudoproblem. ‘Either,’ he reasoned, ‘these books contain what is already
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
68
written in the Koran, in which case they are unnecessary; or else
they contain what
And
is
not in the Koran, in which case they are
the library burned. (This legend, alas
!
is
false.’
held to be apo-
cryphal.)
.
.
She Corrupts Rome
.
The
earliest
our
own day
complete astrological is
treatise
that has survived to
the Tetrabiblos of Claudius Ptolemy, Alexandrian
neo-platonist, astronomer, geographer, mathematician, astrologer,
of the second century A.D.
Seven centuries had elapsed since Pythagoras - the span of time separating the
Magna
Carta from ourselves. During this time
astrology flourished on every level the lower
Out
- and
- with increasing emphasis on
in every corner of the Hellenized world.
of these seven centuries comes astrology as
today - very volved in
its
it is
practised
has been added or changed. Yet the steps
little
in-
supposed development remain unknown, making the
history of astrology
more
Who first decided
elusive than ever.
Mars should be God of War; and that the Mars should therefore be important in the horoscopes of soldiers? And by analogy (Mars /Iron /Weapons /etc.) the planet of Butchers and Surgeons? Saturn was already playing his tradithat
planet
Egyptian myths. Mercury, the and Thoth to the Egyptians is invariably messenger to the gods; he rules the intellect; is the planet of writers (and of magicians, jugglers, pickpockets). Who first thought of this? And upon whose authority was it accepted? Did hundreds and thousands of independent astrologers scattered over the Hellenized world all suddenly agree that this was Mercury’s function ? If the scholars are right, and the meanings assigned to both the signs of the Zodiac and the planets are utterly arbitrary without even a grain of truth, then the historical fact that in two thousand years these meanings have gone unchallenged - and by the best, not the worst minds - stands as a psychological enigma too great to be shunted aside. In the pre-Christian era no known single astrologer, and no tional role in the earliest of the
Hermes
of the Greeks,
known
astrological or esoteric school, possessed the authority to
impose decrees upon hosts of independent astrologers of every pos-
THE WHORE OF BABYLON
69
and religious persuasion. And in the Hellenized was world there no organization big enough or stable enough to carry on systematic astrological observations - which would require sible philosophical
the detailed records of generations. Eisler (op.
p. 79) scoffs at
cit.,
the Chaldeans for boasting that their divinatory art of millennial experience.
Why is
there
no
What
was the
fruit
has happened to those records?
single instance of such massive statistical compila-
tion extant?
These are legitimate objections. them. But his oblique defence
moment
And
the astrologer cannot meet
interesting. Putting aside for the
is
the aesthetic satisfaction of astrological symbolism, astrol-
two thouno one has seriously attempted
ogers have actually been working with the material for
sand years. Yet, in these millennia to revise the astrological
was
canon.
No
really saturnine in character, or
moment
that astrology
is
one has claimed that Venus
Mars
jovial.
Suppose for the
absolute rubbish, and that the results
returns are always and inevitably false. It
who
is
it
possible then, that for
were so benumbed by its symbolism, so awe-struck by the imaginary authority of remote Chaldean dreamers, that not only did they fail to repudiate the
two thousand years
all
practised
it
doctrine, but they did not even attempt to radically reorganize
it
and fragments give
a
upon
more
a
clue as to
effective basis. Certain hints
how
this astrology
may have managed
through the centuries, more or
down
to percolate
less intact.
There was, for instance, Berosus,
a
Babylonian priest of Baal
who
opened an astrological school on the island of Cos in 280 B.c. We do not know what he taught, or how, but there is usually something behind a reputation that becomes legendary.
The
was Posidonius. work, but second-hand reports and a num-
greatest teacher of the pre-Christian era
Nothing remains
of his
ber of works from other writers for their ideas provide clues. So
who were indebted known that his
it is
based largely on Plato’s Timaeus - which entirety
- and
is
to Posidonius
teaching was
Pythagorean in
its
that he incorporated into his doctrine elements of
the rather ornate mystical doctrines then
coming
in
from the
East.
In his day, only Epicurus (preaching an altogether different doctrine) rivalled
him
as a teacher.
age were his pupils,
A number
among them
Cicero
of the great
(who
men
of the
later bitterly repu-
diated astrology).
Posidonius was by repute one of the most ardent advocates
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
70
astrology ever had. Apparently he inspired a long astrological
by the Roman, Manilius, which
among
in turn
had
poem
a long-lasting influence
astrologers.
Hipparchus, the greatest of Greek astronomers, was an astrologer - much to the regret of contemporary historians.
But it would appear that the Greek contribution to astrology was technical, not interpretive. The advanced astronomy and mathematics of the Egyptians of the Early and Middle Kingdoms had been lost, or otherwise vanished, and the Greek mathematicians and astronomers Aristarchus, Seleucis, Hipparchus and others, were forced to rediscover it for themselves. The application of improved astronomy and geometry permitted the calculation of an accurate horoscope. And to this was applied the already extant canon of symbols and meanings - no doubt to some extent adulterated and confused
As
by
this time.
the founders and adherents of Stoicism, the Greeks also
provided a philosophical atmosphere in which an astrology could flourish that
was not Pythagorean symbolism, nor cheap market-
place prophecy, nor even psychological study, but a philosophical
prop used to support Stoical pantheistic materialism; a doctrine in
many ways (in
its
similar to the atheistic materialism prevalent today
varying guises of 'Humanism', 'Existentialism', 'Ethical
Religion', etc.).
Like
modern materialism, Stoicism was
influential
among
the
and astrology served Stoicism in the same emotional capacity that modern science serves modern materialists. Astrology was to the Stoic the study of the manifestation of divine will; modern science is to the materialist the study of the manifestations of undivine accident - but both
ruling and
intellectual classes of the day;
presuppose the ineluctable operation of cause and
modern counterparts, the
effect.
were unhaving and taken this step were aware unable to reconcile the idea of free will with that of cause and effect. And while, in a universe pre-determined by divine will, just as in one in which meaningless effect follows automatically upon accidental cause, an interest in the nature of the causes is an absurdity, the Stoics could not help wanting to know - like their modern descendants - which effect would follow which cause; Like their
Stoics denied or
of the principle of ‘level',*
*
‘Never speak of the higher or the lower in evolution.’ Charles Darwin, quoted by Marjorie Grene, The Ktiowers and the Known, p. 266.
THE WHORE OF BABYLON
Jl
two thousand years later, was pressed into providing this cheerless and futile information. By the time of Claudius Ptolemy, astrology had 'developed' or perhaps more accurately 'conglomerated' into the recognizable
astrology, like science
parent of the astrology
still
practised today. Christianity was, at
many conflicting beliefs vying for prominence; all of which in one way or another concerned the supposed nature of the 'soul', and all of which in one way or but another of the
this time,
another took astrology into account. But
if
astrology could be cast
its techniques were more sceptical practitioners such a manner that no subsequent revisions
into every imaginable philosophical image, settled
- never
but, as
we have
to the satisfaction of its said, in
have been made that withstood the For
all his
test of time.
excellence as a geographer, astronomer, and mathe-
matician, Ptolemy's knowledge of the physical universe
scanty as anyone
else's of his age.
But
in his astrological
was as works he
attempts to account for astrological 'influence' by scientific explanations.
He
replaces the personalities ascribed to the planets with the
de-humanized terminology of Aristotle’s 'primary to the
modern
ear sounds ridiculous
qualities',
which
31 .
Ptolemy does not invent astrology; he attempts
to
apply what
he believes to be physical science to the vast corpus of rules-of-
thumb
that have
come down
sources. Thus, explaining
to
how
him from unknown
or
rumoured
the planets determine the kind of
death to be expected, he maintains
:
'.
.
.
if
the dominion of death
be vested in Saturn, he will produce death by means of lingering diseases;
cough, rheumatism, flux, ague, disorder of the spleen,
dropsy, colic, and complaints in the
womb;
and, in short, by
such diseases as proceed from the super-abundance of cold, moist, dry are so-called 'primary qualities'.) Jupiter effects death
cold.’
by quinsey, inflammation of the lungs, apoplexy,
spasm, pains in the head, morbid performance of the heart, and by diseases arising
all
(Hot,
from superabundance of
air,
all
and from immoderate and
impure respiration.
Mars causes death by constant fevers, semitertians, sudden and spontaneous wounds, diseases of the kidneys, expectoration of the blood, and haemorrhages of various kinds; by miscarriage, or abortion, and by by erisipilas, and, in short, by such diseases as proceed from abundant and immoderate heat. Venus produces death by disorders of the stomach, and of the liver,
child-birth,
.
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
72
by scurvy and dysentery;
also by consumption or wasting away, and by and poison, and by all diseases incident on the super-abundance or poverty of moisture, and its corruption. Lastly, Mercury causes death to proceed from fury, madness, melancholy, epilepsy, falling fits, coughs and obstructions, and by all diseases as arise from superabundance or disproportionate dryness. ... if it happen that Saturn be in fixed signs, and in quartile or opposition to the Sun, and contrary in condition, he will produce death by suffocation, occasioned either by multitudes of people, or by hanging or fistula
strangulation. ...
If
he [Saturn] be posited in places or signs of
form, the native will be destroyed by wild beasts, and,
same time badly
offer testimony, being at the
if
bestial
Jupiter also
afflicted, the
death will
then occur in public, and by day; for example, by being exposed to
combats with wild
beasts. If
Saturn be posited in opposition to either of
the luminaries in the ascendant, he will cause death in prison
configurated with Mercury, and especially
if
he be
if
:
near the constellation of
the Serpent in the sphere, and in terrestrial signs of the zcdiac, he will
produce death by venomous wounds or beasts.
And, should Venus
bites,
and by
and wild and Mercury
reptiles
also attach herself to Saturn
thus combined, death will then ensue by poison or female treachery.
watery signs, and configurated with by means of water, by drowning and suffocation and if found near Argo, by shipwreck Mars, if in signs of human form, and posited in quartile or in opposition to the Sun and Moon, and contrary in condition will operate death by slaughter, either in civil or foreign war, or by suicide if Venus add her testimony, death will be inflicted by women, or by assassins in the employment of women and should Mercury also be configurated with If
Saturn be in Virgo or
the
Moon, he
Pisces, or
will operate death
.
;
.
:
:
them, death will happen from robbers, thieves, or highwaymen
What
has happened to Pythagoras?
Egyptian sages?
How
Is
32 .
.
,
this the legacy of the
could Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos remain an
And how could a sane man commit such nonsense to papyrus in the first place? Half the men in the world are born with Saturn in a ‘bestial astrological textbook for sixteen centuries?
sign’.
Of
Jupiter.
those, at least
Even allowing
century Alexandria, are
thousand
How
men were
one in twenty are in
for a
we
to believe that twenty-five
torn apart
by wild
could such a notion arise?
half a dozen
men were
killed
by wild
Is it
out of every
beasts in public
combat?
possible that at one time
examining happened to have Jupiter; hence it passed
beasts in the arena;
their horoscopes, astrologers discovered that all
Saturn in
‘malefic’ aspect to
high incidence of violence in second-
‘bestial signs’ in malefic aspect to
—
:
THE WHORE OF BABYLON
73
into the astrological canon that all men born under such conditions would be torn to bits by wild beasts, and, having been incorporated, went unchallenged forever after? Could it have been that at another time, four different men were done in by their woitien; each was found to have a similarly unfavourable Venus; and it >vas concluded that all who have ill-aspected Venuses are doomed to die
violent female-inflicted deaths?
it
Modern scholars believe that this is the answer. And, certainly, must be part of the answer. A keen, critical sense has never been
the general rule
such
among
Thus, even today, statements
astrologers.
much
as the following are
less rare
'Saturn has a reputed temperature of 270 fore the “icy” planet of the heavens.
0
As
than they ought to be
below zero; and
is
there-
every schoolboy knows,
heat expands while cold contracts.
'When,
therefore, a
woman
born with Saturn mixing his rays
is
with either the Sun or the Moon, her restricted
and cramped.
.
.
.
Saturn
is
life
becomes
a very sincere
much
too
and conscien-
was and appeared in in print 1954, Prediction magazine (November 1954); its perpetrator, A. W. Pole, tious planet,
but he
is
essentially the planet of fixity/ This
written, incredibly enough, in
in a subsequent advertisement calling attention to his services, des-
cribed himself as 'The World’s
But
Most
not the whole story.
it is
complete textbook on astrology
Praised Astrologer’.
First, it
must be
realized that a
an impossibility; a foredoomed attempt to quantify the qualitative. Each horoscope is a whole. Each horoscope is individual.* And every astrologer knows is
(Ptolemy certainly knew) that to abstract individual elements from the horoscope is to eliminate part of the truth. Thus, it is misleading to it
say that Venus in opposition to Saturn means 'thus-and-so’. For only does under special circumstances when a myriad of other
enhance the probability of
factors
the subject at
generalizing
all,
it is
the astrologer
its is
working out. But
to talk
forced to generalize.
about
And
in
impossible to talk in the sort of infinite conditional
tense the subject demands.
Let us put Ptolemy’s grand-Guignol sense of illustration aside for the moment. Not many men are actually murdered by women, or even
type of
by
assassins hired
man who
by women. But there is a recognizable mercy of women. He has been
lives his life at the
* In Part Three we shall deal with the problem of horoscopes of children born almost the same minute, but otherwise unrelated. c.f.a.
3
*
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
74
known
and dramatists from time immemorial.
caricaturists
to
own
Obviously, every henpecked husband has his a
modern
astrologer
would not be surprised
if
peculiarities,
but
a test group could
be selected upon a pre-arranged and satisfactory scale of henpeckedness
show
-
by statistical methods, and, Mars /Venus /Saturn affliction.
indeed, to
to see this validated
a high incidence of
Ptolemy and other astrologers of his age took astrology seriously. Though even from this era very little written evidence has come
down
number
to us, a
were making
of sources attest to the efforts astrologers
improve and refine their art. Vettius Valens, a near contemporary of Ptolemy, tried to make statistical observato
unaware
tions,
made use
of the subtleties of statistical techniques. Doctors
and prescriptions, without had disour mind one of the many good reasons to take the
of astrology in their diagnoses
The high
great success one gathers.
appeared - to
science of Egypt
catastrophe theory of ancient history less lightly; of of
human
knowledge, medical knowledge ought
to evaporate.
By
form original
astrological
The demise
all
to
the varieties
be
least likely
the end of the second century the impetus to per-
of the
work had
Roman
died.
Republic and the inauguration of the
Empire was the beginning of
a
heyday
for the marketplace astrol-
oger that lasted four full centuries.
The
accession of
astrologers, despite
had coins
cast
Augustus to the throne had been predicted by heavy odds, and Augustus was so impressed he
bearing
his
sun-sign
(Capricorn).
Subsequent
emperors relied heavily upon their star-gazers.
But Rome never was a
Though
civilization in
civilizing currents ran
through
it
our sense of the word.
-
early Christianity, the
purer forms of neo-platonism, certain of the gnostic sects tion never reached the
defensible
upon grounds
vapidity of
its
emanating from
By
Roman
art its
-
civiliza-
population at large; a generalization
of the paucity of
and sculpture, and the
Roman
literature, the
spirit of
bureaucracy
architecture.
the time of Christ the fervour of the Republic
Empire had nothing to offer in its place but bread and in this atmosphere of bored frenzy the masses turned
had
died; the
circuses;
and
to the street-
corner soothsayer for advice and solace.
Rome and the United States - and, with it, Western world - have been made often enough, and are valid
Analogies between the
THE WHORE OF BABYLON
75
enough. (The current wave of pop astrology comes as no surprise.) But conditions in Rome under the Empire for this sort of entertain-
ment were even
better than they are today.
of people could actually
view the open
air
Only
TV
a limited
the newspaper had not yet been invented, and those
need
number
in the amphitheatre;
who
felt
the
maintain 'an intelligent interest in current events’ were
to
forced to rely
upon the
agency of rumour for their and misinformation. Psychoanalysts had was the astrologer who performed spiritual
less satisfactory
daily ration of titillation
not yet appeared, and
it
phlebotomies upon the rich
33 .
Instant horoscopes were cast in the streets. If a client did not the exact moment of his birth - and few did - a stick was thrown upon the soothsayer’s marble zodiac; where it fell marked the ascendant. It was believed that if the stars impelled the passerby to inquire into his destiny, then the stars would see to it that
know
the stick indicated the correct degree
34 .
Pythagoras played no more of a role in this astrology than he does in today’s newspaper astrology. But
draw
it
would be
a mistake to
too close a parallel between the corner ‘Chaldean’ in
Rome
(every pop astrologer called himself a ‘Chaldean’) and his apparent
descendant. gist.
The Chaldean was no mere
journalist-cum-psycholo-
His economic and psychological part in society was greater.
He
combined in himself the triple function of manufacturer, adverts ing agency and retail outlet; and his product of garbled mysticism and spurious hope differed from the material products of today principally in that, when it had served its emotional purpose, it left no disposal problem in its wake.
The
was by no means new. Centuries
situation
earlier,
the
prophet Isaiah had issued his famous pronouncements against the
and get thee into darkness, oh daughter Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy astrologers
:
‘Sit
thou
of the Chaldeans.
.
.
counsels. Let
now
silent .
.
.
.
the astrologers, the star-gazers, the
prognosticators stand
have come upon
up and save
monthly which
thee from those things
thee.’
But resounding prose has little effect upon the course of empires. Jerusalem fell in due course, and Rome in her time followed suit.
Whether lifespan
is
astrology added or subtracted as
an open question.
much
as a
day from her
:
3
Foolish Daughter Carries
For several centuries astrology,
the
church
Christian
not actually embracing
if
On
at
least
tolerated
Since the fundamental
it.
doctrine of astrology presumes the coherence of the universe, and
purports to be the means of understanding the divine will of the macrocosm as
it
manifests
no fundamental
there can be
rift
the microcosm of men,
itself in
between astrology and any genu-
ine religion. But the actual practice of astrology
is
quite another
matter. St Augustine, in the third century,
had consulted astrologers
himself before his conversion, and did not deny that their predic-
were often accurate, but being more theologically astute than his predecessors or contemporaries he understood the dangers of astrology in relation to faith. Augustine contended that astrology replaced the will of God with purely mechanical motions of the tions
stars;
that
it
led
men
Augustine held to
to exist
themselves to fate instead of appeared to deny free will - which
to resign
struggling towards grace; that
it
only insofar as
it
granted
man
the freedom
choose or refuse salvation.
The
potential evil of astrology heavily outweighing
its
potential
good, Augustine threw the full weight of his authority against
move
it
and politically - judging from the level of astrology then practised throughout the Empire. Astrology was not banned by the Church, nor quite driven underground; but its de-emphasis was sufficiently strong to preclude its resuscitation a situation that prevailed into the Middle Ages. a wise
theologically
The Neo-Platonists
of Alexandria were chiefly responsible for the
survival of astrology in the West. Plotinus, the great expounder of Plato and Pythagoras (third century a.d.) argued against a fatalistic interpretation of astrology.
a
number
continued.
And
it is
due
to Plotinus
and
of gifted followers that astrology as a serious study Proclus,
the
most distinguished of the
later
Neo-
Platonists (fifth century), wrote a paraphrase of Ptolemy’s Tetra-
FOOLISH DAUGHTER CARRIES ON was largely through was handed on. tradition the and
biblos
Where
it
there
is little
the Neo-Platon is ts,
this
work
that
what remained
77 ol
evidence of actual astrological practice by
going on it may be that a certain amount was ‘Hermetic the as us to down come What has
behind the scenes. Writings’ - fragments from a gigantic work allegedly containing two thousand volumes, which burned with the Museion in Caesar s time - was to be found in Alexandria. These strange and tantalizing
books contain what was
left of (allegedly)
Egyptian knowledge; a
mixture of alchemy, astrology, magic, medicine;
much
of
it
obscure,
35
and apparently deliberately so. Meanwhile, in other corners of the by
now dismembered
Empire,
an interest in astrology flickered on. Aetius of Amida, physician to the court of lioti,
Byzantium
(sixth century) published his Tetrabib-
from earlier works. Much book brought about a revival of
largely a compilation of excerpts
respected, and popular,
this
Ptolemy’s ideas which had been forgotten in the East, including his idea of the earth as a sphere. Aetius also drew attention to the much older
works of Philolaus
(d. c.
390
asserted, designed a cosmological
B.c.) a
Pythagorean who, Aetius
system in which the earth was
to the sun and moon, whirling about 36 ‘eternal fire’. somewhat abstract a And in Western Christendom the direct stream of Pythagorean thought was kept alive by Boethius, the last philosopher who could be called technically a Roman. Writing at the turn of the sixth century, when Rome itself was a crumbling town with but a few thousand inhabitants, and what remained of the Imperial Court had moved to provisional safety in Ravenna, Boethius in two books, De Institutione Aritmetica and De Institutione Musica attempted to reconstruct what was then known of the teachings of Pythagoras.
merely another planet, similar
,
Boethius wrote with that brilliance and fervour that seems to settle
upon
a
few chosen men
at the dissolution of a civilization,
and his
books exerted a persistent influence throughout the Dark Ages unjustly maligned, though crude and incommodious, these Dark
Ages were pitch black only to those who believe ‘illumination’ contingent upon electricity the art that survives this period, the Book of Kells, for example, was not created by simpletons. Though :
not directly astrological, Boethius’ works at least served to keep alive
the numerological and harmonic principles
astrology
is
based.
upon which
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
jS
Among
the various pejoratives hurled at astrology perhaps the
most common
is
‘medieval’ (see p. 14). But in fact the medieval
resurgence of astrology was due entirely to the Arabs.
Unlike almost every other great as
an esoteric
religion, Islam did
discipline. Rather, the warlike faithful of
reconquered and unified the Eastern and African
first
of the former
Roman
Empire, and
it
- the astronomers,
territories
was only afterwards, when the
martial enthusiasm abated, that the Sufis)
not begin
Mohammed
Mohammedan
doctors, scholars
mystics (the
and mathematicians -
came to the fore. A great astronomical observatory was built in Baghdad and systematic observation of the heavens began; many new fixed stars were discovered and named. And, because the Arabs, like every other pre-industrial people, did not understand the value of compiling facts for the pure quantitative joy of astronomy was unthinkable without astrology.
Muslim Spain was
And
in
the greatest of the
Arab
it,
centres of learning.
Granada and Seville astrology, along with the other ancient was studied on its symbolic and psychological levels, and
sciences,
with a particular emphasis upon
its
supposed relationship to
medicine. Throughout Islamic Spain, the Jews were
among
the
foremost philosophers, astrologers and physicians. Tolerated by the
Arabs
as ‘Children of the Prophets’,
Catholic Church as the cause of
and not yet
all its
vilified
by the
woes, for several centuries
the Jews lived unmolested amid the Arabs, yet were free to travel
and transtwo irreconcilably opposed forces. Welcome for their learning and their medical lore, the Jews also brought the rejuvenated Arab astrology into Europe. The debased soothsayers of Rome had been forgotten. The Augustinian objections - entirely valid for their time - were no longer binding; the greatest of the medieval churchmen with almost no exceptions warmly embraced the study of astrology, especially for its symbolic meaning. St Thomas Aquinas, one of the more in Christendom,
and so served
as unofficial go-betweens
mitters of culture between the
hesitant, gave
it
his blessing only in principle, not in practice;
Grosseteste, first chancellor of Oxford,
championed
it,
as did
Roger
Bacon, the ‘father’ of the experimental method.
There can be
little doubt that the medieval concept of the world But the contempt in which the Middle Ages are now held is a measure of the misunderstanding of this epoch and the result of a world view that is equally distorted.
was
one-sided.
FOOLISH DAUGHTER CARRIES ON To to
the
modern mind, the universe
an infinity of constituent
facts.
which phenomena
a symbol; in
reflections of the will of to matters of fact, the
is
To
79
a gigantic fact, reducible
the medieval
mind
was
it
were but
in all their diversity
God. Indifferent, or downright hostile
medieval mind was interested only in the
To
modern mind, facts count, and The scientist distrusts or even denies the reality of inner experience; he relies upon the evidence of his senses or those instruments which are extensions of his senses - if he can measure it, it is 'real’. The medievalist called the world of sense an illusion; only inner experience was real. He believed the world was flat but knew the universe to be a hierarchy of value. The modern thinker knows the earth is round, but thinks value ‘subjective’, a mere invention of man. The medieval mind ignored the facts of the physical world, and so produced a society that was all cathedrals and no sanitation. The modem mind ignores the
principle behind the fact.
the
principles take care of themselves.
values of the spiritual world and so has produced a society that all
and no cathedrals. Rationalists
sanitation
rejoice
and
is
call this
But the increasingly fraught psychological state of our sanitary society seems to indicate that in the end cathedrals may
progress.
prove to be a necessity, sanitation the luxury. For the two extremes are not opposite and equal. Fact pursued
and produces H-bombs and Value pursued to the exclusion of fact is merely foolish, but dangerous if carried far enough to produce an environment so unhealthy and uncomfortable as to to the exclusion of value is insane
striped toothpaste indiscriminately.
make
the values themselves appear irrelevant.
Moreover, the present has no monopoly upon pedants. Thinking about values order of
is
mind
not the same as acting upon them.
And
the
same
responsible today for linguistic philosophy and the
Ages was engaged upon the construction of vast and equally inutile conceptual schemes. The famous angelologies and demonologies were in effect various ‘philosophies’ of science, in the Middle
attempts to apply reason to the recorded experiences of the great saints
and mystics, despite the admonitions of the same
saints
and
mystics that this was impossible.
Roughly speaking, the world was an arena
in
which the
forces
of Good, or order, were engaged in eternal battle with the disruptive forces of the Devil (the quaint
the Second
Law
name given by
of Thermodynamics).
And
the medievalists to
astrology, studying
and
So
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
purporting to explain the multiplicity of interactions between the
movements
of the heavenly bodies
and the things of
earth,
became
the instrument par excellence for the establishment of prodigiously
complex
systems
describing
the
operations
of the
forces
of
order.
The danger, indifference to
were concerned, lay in their the way in which the physical facts conformed to
as far as the medievalists
the theory. Obviously,
judging an idea, there
when harmony
is
is
the only criterion for
nothing to restrain the imagination; and
while the symbolic hierarchy of medieval thought
may
well have
been an accurate schematic plan of the structure of the spiritual world, there was nothing to prevent the addition of every of scholastic
whim and
manner
caprice.
Actually, most of the connections for which the Middle Ages take the blame had been established in the astrological past.
alchemists had long associated the metals with the planets.
The The
shows the Saturn-lead connection earliest antiquity; and the other traditional relationships may be Egyptian as well - in any case they are at least as old as the Hermetic fragments (which are held to be Egyptian in 37 origin). The planet-herb connections were studied by the Arabs, and by the Jewish astrologer-physicians; while Ptolemy, the greatOsiris legend
with
its
lead coffin
stemmed from
est
geographer of his time, carefully attributed zodiacal dominion to
the various states and cities of his time.
The Hermetic
texts proclaimed, 'As above, so below',
and medie-
val thinkers sought replicas of the zodiac everywhere and in things.
Man,
all
the microcosm, contained the zodiac within himself,
and the various members and organs of his body (see plate 6) were supposed to be under the dominion of the various planets and signs. The four humours - phlegm, blood, choler and black bile corresponded to the four elements, and diseases were held to result from imbalances, excesses and deficiencies of one humour or another. A proper balance was called a 'good humour’ and medicines were prepared that were supposed to effect such a balance. Though medieval medicine seems to have been somewhat less appalling than currently reputed, it was far from efficient, and the medieval disdain for empirical method must have helped stave off the overpopulation problem.
But
if
the principal astrological correlations were ancient, the
medieval mind with
its
obsession for classifying and pigeon-holing
FOOLISH DAUGHTER CARRIES ON
8l
make a single tapestry of the innumerable threads that had come down to them from Arab, Neo-Platonic and Byzantine sources. Because it made little differwas responsible
for attempting to
the physical facts corresponded to the principle, it does not seem to have bothered astrologers unduly that their astrology
ence
if
was unsatisfactory, and they did not attempt to improve it. It was spiritually more rewarding to look for as yet undiscovered connections and correlations. At its worst, this produced such theories as the one claiming that because there were seven planets there were, necessarily, seven orifices in the
human
body.
determination to see connections everywhere may be absurd, but it is no more absurd than the equal and opposite determination
A
to see connections
nowhere. For example, a well-known physicist
38 ,
having alertly contrasted the crudity of the first man-made stone implements to the incredible complexity of the hand that fashioned them, then marvels that the hand should be the product of 'unconscious forces’; a conclusion put forward in the service of ‘the search for objective truth’. to
But the objective truth would seem
be that in the face of such thinking the medieval numerologists
and demonologists need not hang
their heads.
Indeed, in certain respects, medieval numerology was not only
under the circumstances, logical within the context then-known physical world. The number seven had been invested with magical and mystical significance since time immemorial, as the sum of Heaven and Earth, or Spirit and Matter, respectively symbolized by the numbers three and four. The folk lore of innumerable peoples and the traditions of all the great civilizations are rife with seven the seven Pleiades, the sevenheaded dragons, the seven-branched candelabra, the seven strings of Orpheus’ lyre, the seven Sirens of the seven spheres. The periodic justified, but,
of the
:
table of elements
quantum
with
its
octaval structure, the discreet energy
would come as no surprise to the medieval mind, but above all, and by far the most evident and conclusive proof of the significance of seven, was the apparent fact that there were seven planets, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, levels of
Saturn, each in
Who
its
theory,
crystal sphere, circling serenely about the earth.
blame the medievals for accordingly looking for seven everywhere and in all things? will
Astrology went out of fashion.
It
was
not, nor has
it
ever been,
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
82
disproved, either in fact or in principle, and the reasons for falling into disrepute are
more complex than
its
historians acknow-
ledge.
The
decline of astrology
is
generally attributed to the rediscovery
by Copernicus, to Kepler’s laws, Newton’s mechanics, the discovery of Uranus and Neptune, and, last but not least, to modern man’s healthy scepticism and more conof the heliocentric system
sidered
deployment of
his intellectual faculties. This account of the
decline of astrology has
become
so general that
no longer even
it is
questioned. Yet, with the exception of the discovery of the these scientific milestones in
no way
the practice of astrology; a fact
new
planets,
affect either the principles or
known and
accepted by Copernicus,
Kepler and Newton, and obvious to anyone acquainted with these principles.
For several centuries - roughly from the time of the cathedrals
break-up of medieval society around the end of the fifteenth century - astrology’s practical limitations were less important than to the
its
symbolic soundness. Astrologers were far more interested in the
many
numerological, mystical, alchemical, and cabalistic implica-
tions of their art,
gained
its
and Roman-style
fortune-telling
had not yet
re-
hold over the masses.
But in the increasing chaos of Europe, largely brought on by the simultaneous growth and power of states, and by disenchantment with the corrupt and manifestly unspiritual Church, astrological prophecy again became fashionable. Most of the Renaissance popes consulted astrologers on a more or less openly acknowledged basis.
Melancthon, Luther’s right-hand man, was an ardent astrologer, and Luther himself was not above providing the preface to an astrological
work by Johannes Lichtenberger - in which he
declared
the signs in the heavens to give warning to the godless.
Meanwhile, a few individuals were attempting
to refine
the
techniques of astrology.
Johann Muller (1436-76), mathematician and astronomer, improved upon the crude theory of 'houses’ that had held sway since
was Muller, writing under the euphonious Latinized pseudonym, Regiomontanus (Muller came from Konigsberg), who provided the astronomical basis for the twelve houses, and related them in function to the twelve signs. The basis for this had been established by Ptolemy’s division into Ascendant, Midheaven, Ptolemy.
It
FOOLISH DAUGHTER CARRIES ON
83
Descendant and Nadir, but it was Regiomontanus who worked out the rather complex mathematics involved. In theory, the twelvehouse division was accepted by astrologers
all
over Europe; in
practice unfortunately, defining the exact boundaries of the houses
between the angles
is
a problem that bedevils astrologers today as
much
as then. For a variety of technical reasons, there are argu-
ments
for
and against the different methods of
division,
and while
almost everyone agrees as to where the angles should be, and that there should be twelve houses corresponding to the twelve signs,
the conflicting systems
more degrees
to the
may make
boundary or
a difference of five, ten, or even
one of the houses. Thus,
'cusp' of
powerful configuration of planets in the ‘personality'
method
by one method of house
of division fall in the second
first
division,
house
(or
may by
another
house of attachment
and attitude towards the corporeal world). Obviously,
make
a
house, the house of
this
ought
a big difference in the interpretation given to the
to
whole
horoscope; and the problem of house division remains an embarrassing and unsettled one. So,
with interest in the spiritual
side of astrology declining,
and
with an augmenting public demand for astrological prophecy - met,
and neurotics - the very real inadequacies of astrology, and even more so, astrologers, became increasingly apparent to thinking men. A situation was created in which the worst aspects of astrology were stressed, while at the same time a new breed of predominantly secular and cerebral thinkers was coming to the fore. These men were immune to symbolic or hierarchical thought, and so this increasingly debased astrology was seized upon and ridiculed for being what it was never intended to be, and never would have been, had a decadent and as always,
by
a
new wave
of charlatans
aimless society not provided the breeding ground.
This icus,
is
a far cry
Kepler and
from the customary contention that Copern‘destroyed' astrology between them.
Newton
Copernicus (1473-1543) in fact was led to his rediscovery of the by his study of Pythagorean ideas, with which he became acquainted in Italy, at the school begun by the theoloheliocentric system
gian and mystic, Nicholas de Cusa (1401-64); whose teaching was based upon Boethius.
Thus, the heliocentric theory was very
among
much
the scholars of the Renaissance. But
it
a topic of discussion
remained for Copern-
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
84
icus to go to the considerable trouble to confirm
it
through observa-
tion.
—
Ultimately, opinions on astrology - Copernicus’ or anyone else’s either Mars in Scorpio means something are of no importance :
does not. But since historians insist that the great names of early science failed to repudiate astrology only through force of habit, muddled religiosity, or fear of public reproach, it is worth or
it
devoting some time to this otherwise barren controversy. Trained as a diplomat, Copernicus was able to apply that training to his life,
and recognizing the psychological potency of his
covery, wisely refrained from publishing during his lifetime
caution that seems to have been characteristic.
what Copernicus thought of he thought his theory might have upon for instance,
We
dis-
-
a
do not know,
astrology, or of the effect astrology.
We
do know,
however, that among his close friends was Joachim Rheticus (who saw to the posthumous publication of Copernicus’ ideas), an ardent astrologer and author of
N arratio
Primo (1540), a book that
used the Copernican theory to make astrological predictions of the
imminent Second Coming
of Christ.
These being the inclinations of his likely that
closest friends,
it
seems un-
Copernicus should have been particularly hostile to
astrology. But the situation is ironical. Copernicus, taking his cue from the Pythagoreans, proved the point that was to usher in four
centuries of rational, anti-Pythagorean thought. ican theory,
which
in
no way
astrologers to base their interpretations
vations
-
is
And
the Copern-
- beyond allowing upon more accurate obser-
affects astrology
credited with bringing about
its
downfall.
No
one remembers Joachim Rheticus. Surely there are few today who study arratio Primo. But in reality it was the flood of
N
books of
this genre,
books conceived in support of astrology, that
were responsible for astrology’s decline. There was no Second Coming. And sceptics were increasingly disinclined to give credence to the astrologers who predicted there would be. Galileo (1546-1642), responsible for the final public triumph of
was happy
the Copernican theory, predicting a long and
who
a practising astrologer life for
(famous for
his then patron, the
Duke
of
nowhere intimates only to make a bit of money practised on the side, or that that he he privately repudiated the subject. Indeed, Galileo was willing to stand up to the whole of the Inquisition to defend his beliefs, and it
Tuscany,
died a fortnight later), and he
:
FOOLISH DAUGHTER CARRIES ON is
unlikely that such a
85
man would keep a disdain for astrology secret.
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) was an outspoken champion of astromade one discovery that did more to disrupt the psychological faith in astrology than any other single scientific fact. Brahe proved that a Nova which flared in the sky was a fixed star. Since Aristotle, astrologers and everyone else had believed that the fixed stars were eternal, unchangeable, immutable and that they were gods. Astrologers had always welcomed a new light in the sky with a noisy abundance of predictions - usually dire - but a logy, yet, as an astronomer,
strange silence
supposedly of
its
own.
fell
over them
when
‘fixed' star, living a life,
And
while this
new
fact
they learned that here was a
and apparently dying a death was seized upon by astrology's
opponents who, just then, were beginning
most astrologers managed
to
overlook
it
to voice their objections,
altogether. Particularly
vulnerable was the elaborate system of relationships built the
medieval
astrologers
upon numerological and
up by
theological
grounds, and which the astrologers as well as their opponents by
not symbolically. Facts change, but prinatoms and galaxies disintegrate but the harmonic principles upon which they are formed remain. Yet our intellect this
time took
literally,
ciples are eternal;
seems incapable of accepting religion
and tradition
to intellectualize
is
this in
good grace, and the history of
invariably the story of man's attempting
what must, by
right, be
understood
.
In Brahe's time, the mass of believers in astrology - almost
everyone - as well as the astrologers themselves, believed astrology to be the effect of causes which could now be shown up as illusory the literal hierarchy of the seven spheres, the literal immutability
and divinity of the fixed stars, and so on. Confronted by the confirmed experimental results of Copernicus and Brahe, most astrologers turned their backs, stuck their heads in the sand, shouted ‘fraud' or simply rationalized
-
for example, the
astronomer
who
away
the facts
refused to countenance the
moons
of Jupiter because if they were too small to be seen by the naked eye they were of no importance, and if they were of no
importance, they did not exist. In short, astrologers reacted in
manner as do modern scientists when faced with phenomena of ESP, or with massive statistical surveys proving beyond a shadow of doubt that the position of a planet at birth exactly the same the
influences the later choice of profession.
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
86
And Brahe himself was no exception. Though able to reconcile own discovery of exploding Novae with his astrological beliefs,
his
he was never able to countenance the Copernican heliocentric theory, which he repudiated on theological grounds; and to account for
undoubted observed
data, invented
an elaborate geocentric
theory of his own.
By
this act of wilful obtuseness,
beliefs intact,
but made
it
Brahe not only kept his pet
easy for future historians to classify him.
Though an indefatigable observer and experimenter, and endowed with great technical ingenuity, 39 Brahe’s anti-Copernicanism and unabashed advocacy of astrology make him a 'forerunner’ of science
- not
a scientist, but a
man
of the transitional period.
‘With
the overthrow of the authority of Aristotle and Ptolemy and the
ever increasing emphasis placed on accurate observation and experi-
ment, a
new
phase in men’s outlook developed. Full freedom of
unhampered by religious limitations, took many cen40 turies to mature That is to say, men had not yet degenerated / to the point where the exercise of pointless curiosity (the same kind that killed the cat) would take precedence over understanding; indifference to value - called ‘intellectual freedom’ - had not yet supplanted an interest in values themselves. No one had as yet tried to graft two heads on to a dog just to see if it could be done. Brahe may be safely classified Not a Scientist. But his successor speculation,
.
.
:
Observatory of Prague, Johann Kepler (1571-1630), keeps getting his elbows stuck outside the pigeon-hole. Kepler made at the
observations and experiments and let the chips
fall
where they
might. Yet he was, at the same time, an intensely religious man, a Neo-Platonist, whose scientific approach was part of a grander
scheme
to
provide empirical confirmation of the
harmony
of the
spheres.
Because his salary depended upon the emperor, and because the emperor had other matters on his mind and did not take kindly to being reminded, Kepler was in permanent financial straits. To supplement his erratic income he wrote astrological almanacs predicting events in the coming year, and cast personal horoscopes; both of which he regarded as a waste of time. ‘Astronomy, the wise mother/ he commented, ‘astrology, the foolish little daughter, selling herself to as to
any and every
maintain her wise mother
Had
client willing
and able
to
pay so
alive.’
the matter stopped there, subsequent scholars
would have
:
FOOLISH DAUGHTER CARRIES ON
87
been free to attribute Kepler’s astrological interests entirely to discretion;
but the matter does not stop there.
'A most unfailing experience
(as far as it
can be expected in
nature) of the excitement of sublunary natures by the conjunctions
and aspects of the planets has instructed and compelled
my
un-
willing belief / 41 Kepler repeatedly writes to friends of his intention slag’. He issues 'a warning to certain and philosophers who rightly reject the superstitions of the astrologers, not to throw the baby out along with the bathwater’. And declares: 'nothing exists and nothing happens in the visible heavens that is not echoed in some hidden manner by the faculties of Earth and Nature the faculties of the spirit of this world are affected in the same measure as heaven it42 self / Yet upon this basis such Kepler scholars as Mark Graubard
to separate the
'gems from the
theologians, physicians
:
find
it
possible to
remark
Kepler’s attitude to astrology
is
as inconsistent, irrational
most people's attitudes toward dying
valent, as are
institutions in periods of rapid change.
.
matician and scientist and an obstinate
was
sopher, Kepler
a great mystic
.
if
.
and ambi-
institutions, or to
Beside being a great mathe-
not profound religious philo-
and dreamer, an ingenuous personality
without a trace of slyness, cant or insincerity in him.
Much
of astrology is mysticism, poetry or harmony to him, and cerby no stretch of the imagination natural law. ... He struggles with astrology at every turn because he is a lover of its folklore. But his efforts are those of an animal trapped in a cage, or more correctly tainly
.
of a
man
But
web of his
trapped in the
Mr
beliefs
.
.
43 .
Graubard’s club-footed figures of speech, meant to be
complementary, only
trip
each other up. The animal trapped in a
it is trapped. The man trapped in own beliefs never struggles because he does not know trapped. The man trapped in the web of his own beliefs
cage struggles because the
web
he
is
it
knows
of his
believes himself to be free, enlightened, sentient
and when he
and progressive,
not putting Galileo to
trial,
signing manifestoes, or
carrying placards for social reform he
may
be found hard at work
is
on paragraphs such
as those just quoted.
Kepler’s attitude towards astrology
was
and
entirely consistent,
expressed unmistakably in the passage already referred to 'An unfailing experience has compelled my unwilling belief / 'Now that Kepler has been, as it were, on the couch before us/
is
:
.
Graubard continues,
.
.
'the
.
.
most conspicuous feature of his attitude
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
88
...
inconsistency.
is
which he
accepts,
personality finds
This
is
It is
obvious that t&ose parts of astrology
he believes in because he inherited them and his
harmony with
so 'obvious’ that
it is
their tenets/
exactly the opposite of
what Kepler
himself says. According to Kepler, he was initially sceptical of the
matter in it
its
and only
entirety,
after
having practised
compelled that 'unwilling belief.
it
did he find
was the blind and un- that he
It
empirical belief in astrology - the heritage of his age
ranted and inveighed against.
Experience and observation objectivity.*
Men
discoveries of science
new way what
is
not in
what they want
see
itself
to see.
any guarantee of
And many
of the
have been the result of one man’s seeing in a
everyone had always seen but overlooked. So
managed
possible that Kepler
to
delude himself over
all
it is
those
decades of astrological practice. But scientists and historians of
and sometimes the only valid method of acquiring knowledge. Kepler was one of
science value experience
and observation
the very greatest of scientists, a
as the best
man who
fully understood the
value of experiment and observation. Kepler a practising astrologer,
and
made
his living as
after a lifetime of astrological experience
and observation concluded there was something to it. The scientists and historians of science have never erected a horoscope. Yet on this basis they call Kepler 'irrational, inconsistent rejoice that
modern man no longer
lives in
and ambivalent’, and an age of ignorance
and superstition. ... as a serious and systematic world view claiming the allegiance cf
many it
of the best intellects in every rank of society, astrology
be asked what dethroned astrology the answer
gress of science
lies in
and scholarship. Astrology had been born
world and the Copernican revolution dealt
it
is
dead. If
the general proin a geocentric
a shattering blow.
The
predictions of the astrologers do not survive the test of the experimental
method. Scholarship, in
its
concern with the history of
ideas,
shows how
Johnson Abercrombie, The Anatomy of Judgement. The author, a shows how science students, learning to read X-ray plates, are incapable of distinguishing between what is actually shown and what they believe to be shown. Interestingly enough, the initial reaction of the students, when confronted by proof of the extent to which preconception influences their judgement, is surprise and anger. Only after long - and painful - training do they achieve anything approaching objectivity. And this, it must be remembered, is in the ability to read X-ray plates, which must be as emotionally unfraught an activity as any in human existence. * See L.
psychologist,
FOOLISH DAUGHTER CARRIES ON
89
genuine elements of knowledge can combine with illusory notions form grandiose systems of thought in which the mind is content to
easily to
dwell for a time
44 .
So shattering was the blow of the Copernican revolution that its two greatest exponents, Kepler and Galileo, were practising astro-
Figure
9.
According
to Kepler, the orbits of the planets circumscribe
them the
perfect solids.
logers
Somewhere along
!
the line
it
may
within
not be disrespectful to
question the putative ‘general progress of scholarship’
if
not of
science.*
Kepler’s astronomical discoveries (of the elliptical orbits of the planets, life’s
*
and of the
work
From
ratios
between
their distances)
were part of his Pythagorean
to find the literal, physical proof of the
a psychological point of view, the last sentence of the
quoted above
is
of particular interest
:
its
author
is
a Marxist.
paragraph
90
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
o"
Figure
io.
5 2
$
$
? S
cf
Orthogonal projection. Orbits of Mars, the Earth, Venus, and
Mercury around the sun.
FOOLISH DAUGHTER CARRIES ON notion of the
harmony
of the spheres.
He
91
attempted to demonstrate
that the distances between the planets could be related to the perfect solids (see
figs.
re9 and 10) which in turn bore harmonic - relationships that were believed to be
lationships to each other
not coincidence but keys to the meanings of these shapes and 45
Using rather complicated mathematics, Kepler tried to by the planets and contended that this music could only be ‘heard' by the sun, which stood
forms.
calculate the exact literal sounds emitted
embodiment of the Divine had found the key to it
as the
Principle.
And when
he thought
he exulted, believing he had re-discovered the secret of the Egyptians; an interesting remark in that it shows that Kepler knew, or thought, that these relationships were known to the Egyptians. that he
These being his
all,
interests, it is quite
understandable that he
should chafe at having to cast horoscopes to finance his work. But
when
the ‘foolish daughter’* quote
is
trucked out as evidence of
no mention is ever made of the fact was astronomy carried out in the was not the quest after ever more distant
Kepler’s disbelief in astrology
that the astronomy Kepler praises
name
of Pythagoras;
it
and meaningless astronomical
facts,
And
principle behind the facts.
but the attempt
for that
it
was
to get to the
first
necessary to
discover the relevant facts. In short, Kepler’s astronomy
what
a
modern astronomer would
call
astronomy
:
it
was
was not
astrology.
Astrology in Disgrace affair. But if we deal with it on and symbolic astrology, (2) Psychoand medical astrology, (3) Fortune-telling - a clear picture
Astrology’s decline was a complex three levels logical
-
(1) Spiritual
will emerge.
Since Ptolemy, no one had given a satisfactory account of the
physical basis of astrology this
didn’t matter;
:
the
HO W?
the emphasis
physical nature of reality.
To
of
it.
In medieval Europe
was on the
the
spiritual not the
medieval mind, astrological
symbolism was an instrument for understanding. *
It
was not
so
Actually, the word Kepler used was buhlerische which means ‘whoring’ or ‘wanton’ rather than ‘foolish’. But since generations of Keplerian scholars have translated buhlerische as ‘foolish’ we feel it would be indecorous to
break with tradition.
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
92
much
a system of acquiring
nature of the universe. To
knowledge
make
ability to think in terms of ‘level’
By
as a
key
to the hierarchical
use of this sort of astrology, the is
essential.
Kepler’s time, the ability had largely vanished. In principle,
the quest for factual knowledge and the quest for spiritual under-
standing should go hand in hand. In practice, in the Western world, they have been by and large mutually exclusive. Kepler
few men who attempted to combine the two quests, had already turned and there were almost none who
was one
of the
but the
tide
would follow his example. Religion was swiftly degenerating into Fundamentalism (the belief in the literal truth of Scripture), dogmatic Catholicism, and various systems of empty ethics. The spiritual quest went on, not exactly underground, but in isolation and opposed to the intellectual current of the time. (Splinter groups of Rosicrucians, Alchemists and Freemasons - however much or little they may have retained of the old traditions; Boehme, William Law, Fenelon, Swedenborg, Goethe.) But apart from a few individuals, no one was interested in or capable of understanding the astrological symbolism. To pass muster astrologers were expected to provide a satisfactory physical explanation for astrology,
and
they could not do, though not for lack of ideas.
this
One
respected old theory held that the stars transmitted their influence
through the dew - that pervasive the stars influencing everything
according to the position of the
With
fluid
it
which
at night dripped
from
touched; the influence changing
star.
the realization of the nature of condensation this theory
was abandoned. A more serious notion, holding till the sixteenth century, was that the stars and planets exhaled winds and vapours according to their sign it
were.
and position, and the newly-born inhaled his ‘soul’ as learning that the atmosphere does not even reach
Upon
the planets, this theory
The Renaissance
was abandoned in turn. had ‘explained’ astrology
astrologers
in terms
of the principle of musical resonance: just as a glass vibrates in
the
room when
a violin
is
played at a certain pitch, so the
vibrates to the music of the spheres. This, of course,
is
‘soul’
not an
explanation but an analogy, and the intellectuals of the seventeenth
and particularly the eighteenth century would have none of it. (Later, however, we shall see that this idea has a renewed lease of life.) But astrologers could no more explain How their astrology
5
FOOLISH DAUGHTER CARRIES ON
93
worked than musicians could explain how their music worked, and the temper of the time was such that the musicians were allowed to keep fiddling with no questions asked, but the astrologers were not. Kepler had warned the growing band of sceptics not to throw out the baby along with the bathwater. But few were in a mood to and there was an inordinate quantity of bathwater. Astroon its psychological and medical levels was essentially Ptolemaic. Only two technical refinements - and those disputed had been applied to the astrological method. One was Regiomontanus’ method of house division, the other Kepler’s contention that the harmonic basis of the aspects demanded its logical expansion. 0 That is if the 90 angle (corresponding to the 4th Harmonic) was operative, then its harmonic fractions and multiples of those 0 0 fractions, the 45 and 1 3 angle, should also be sensitive points, and should be incorporated in the interpretation. But these were minor improvements in view of the general nebulousness of the accumulated doctrine. 46 listen,
logy
:
Unable
to explain
how
astrology worked, honest and less credu-
lous astrologers were forced to admit that
and that to make it work at all by definition can be taught to one and
well,
was the
it
it
all)
but
interpretation that counted, and
impossible to
come
to
any
did not
work very
required not science (which artistry; in the
on
this basis it
end
was
sort of definite conclusion. In other
words, while the advice not to throw out the baby with the bath-
water
may have
In
over a century astrology declined from a serious pursuit
little
practised
it was impossible to diswhat was baby and what bathwater.
been sound, in practice
tinguish categorically between
by the
best
minds of the age
game.
to a parlour
John Dee (1527-1608), astrologer, magican, occultist, and early experimenter in ESP phenomena, had been the trusted adviser and confidante of Queen Elizabeth. But by 1638 astrology had become so unfashionable (at least in France) that the astrologer,
Morin de Villefranche, had the exact
protocol
physician
moment
be hidden behind the arras to record
XIV.
would have given him the place .
.
.
susceptible to
By
to
of birth of Louis
A of
generation earlier,
honour over the
but then the French have always been particularly reason, as their past and present history testifies.
the time John
Aubrey (1626-97) was
writing,
necessary to adopt an unmistakably defensive tone
it
had become
when
favouring
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
94
‘We have not that Science yet Desiderata. The way to make it perfect is
astrology: the
true Genitures in order
whereunto
I
perfect,
one of
’tis
to get a Supellex of
have with much care collected
,’ 47
these ensuing
.
.
Aubrey’s empirical approach was admirable, but upon; and even had
it
been, nothing
it
would have
application of statistical methods to astrology
is
was not acted resulted
:
the
a delicate matter,
beyond the resources of the seventeenth century. Meanwhile, as astrology’s prestige diminished, no really brilliant astrologers appeared. Granted that for every Kepler there were a thousand fakers and incompetents, still, the sixteenth century had produced a number of erudite and impressive men who, as practising astrologers, had established widespread reputations for themselves. Also, there can be no doubt that the predictive and analytic aspects of astrology depend to a certain extent upon the mood of far
the recipient.
The most widespread tion of a deluge of
junction of
The
all
of
all
astrological prophecies
-
the predic-
Noachian proportions following the grand con- failed to materialize.
the planets in Pisces in 1524
rich built arks
and
all
Europe was in a turmoil, but nothing
happened, and the astrologers continued plying their trade. 1588 was supposed to be a particularly grim year. Yet apart from the single spectacular event of the Spanish
Armada (which
was, after
only bad for Spain) nothing untoward happened. astrologers were not put out of business. But eighty years all,
And
the
later,
the
William Lilly, specifically and accurately predicted both the Plague and the Great Fire which devastated London in successive years in 1665 and 1666. And all that happened was that Lilly was brought before the House of last of the
Commons
A
renowned
astrologers,
suspected of having provoked these disasters.
learned and in
many ways
admirable man, Lilly included the
following in his Epistle to the Student of Astrology, which, along with Kepler’s incessant invective, tells us something about the true state of astrology
Be humane,
and
its
decline.
curtius, familiar to
all,
easie of access:
afflict
miserable with terror of a harsh judgement; direct such to to divert his
judgements impending over them
an estate; give freely to the poor, both
:
be
civil,
call
not the
on God,
sober, covet not
money and judgement;
let
no
worldly wealth procure an erroneous judgement from thee, or such as
may dishonour
the art.
FOOLISH DAUGHTER CARRIES ON From
this,
we may justifiably
day did commonly
all
95
conclude that the astrologers of the
those things Lilly admonishes the student
not to do.
example inspired no new school of ethical and enlightened astrologers. And with no champions of intellectual stature, the decline went on apace. Contemporary scholars may But
Lilly's
attribute all this to the ‘progress of science
and scholarship’, but
it
then remains to account for the fact that, while in 1685 most members of the educated classes were either opponents or highly sceptical of astrology, the subject that occupied these progressives at that particular time
was witchcraft. Were
there, or
were there
not witches? Chief Justice Hale declared that there had to be witches, since there were laws against them. Others were not so sure.
Meanwhile, any number of witches were
And
tried
and put
to
was in this climate of scientific progress that Newton’s Principia Mathematica was published (1687), a work which 48 it is contended - demolished astrology once and for all. death.
it
Curiously enough, this corollary to his work does not seem to
have occurred
to
Newton, which brings up an anecdote famous
astrological circles. It
is
in
Edmond Halley
said that the astronomer
Newton for his alleged defence of astrology, at which Newton is supposed to have loftily replied ‘I have studied
once berated point
:
the subject,
Mr
Halley, and
you have
not.’
There
is, it
appears,
no
evidence in support of this tale. On the other hand, historians maintain with varying degrees of indignation that Newton was
immune
such interests, and this is patently untrue. Newton’s alchemy never flagged, and over a long life more of his time was spent studying what would now be called ‘occultism’ than what would now be called ‘science’. As a young man, at any rate, he had studied astrology. ‘Newton’s last undergraduate year was the seminal period of his mathematics when his interest in astronomy and, on his own admission, astrology, needed a fair knowledge of contemporary mathematics for their proper underto
interest in
standing.’
49
This division of labour not occultism’s gain. For
may have all
been science’s
loss,
but
his mathematical brilliance
it
was
Newton
had no inkling of the principle of ‘level’; he was a devoutly religious man, but his religion was a barely mitigated Fundamentalism. It is however, worth repeating that if Newton does not defend astrology he does not condemn it either. The Copernican revolution
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
96
and yet Newton, the greatest scientific mind of the day, did not claim that Copernicus’, or any of the discoveries following, including his own, invalidated
was already
a century
and
a half old
astrology.
In the false
dawn
of the Enlightenment,
the exercise of reason
not get at the
all
Kingdom
men
believed that through
problems could be solved. Reason could
of
Heaven (reputed by Scripture
to he
not
here nor there, but within) and therefore reason dispensed with the lish
Kingdom as a primitive illusion. such a Kingdom democratically,
which, carried to
its logical
Instead, reason
would
estab-
right here on earth; a faith
conclusion, culminated in the mystic
Illumination at Hiroshima.
Of
these early
champions of reason, there was none more out-
spoken than Jonathan Swift, none faculty to the conduct of his
Astrology at relationships itself.
At
its
its
highest
is
lowest, astrology
is
irrationality
is
harmonic
intrinsic to life
both irrational and unreasonable.
was only this lower had existed him, and equally a matter
arrived on the scene, there
astrology in evidence - and even it
capable of applying that
irrational, expressing the
whose fundamental
By the time Swift
less
own life.
if
a higher astrology
would have been incomprehensible
to
for derision.
But it so happened that a popular almanac-maker of the day, who went by the name of Partridge, incurred the Dean’s displeasure.
And
taking the
name
of Isaac Bickerstaff, Swift published a
almanac in which he promised to go one better than the pusillanimous prophets of the day. Bickerstaff claimed that he would avoid the vague generalities indulged in by the ordinary astrologers, rival
and instead would publish precise and verifiable forecasts. At that time (1708) feeling was running high against France, and Bickerstaff predicted the deaths of most of the French notables. Included amongst these forecasts there was one predicting the death of Partridge, the almanac-maker, on 29 March 1708. Partridge uncoopera tively lived through the fateful day in perfect health. But Bickerstaff refused to acknowledge the fact and published a pamphlet entitled, ‘An Account of the Death of Mr Partridge, the Almanac Maker, Upon the 29th Instant, in a Letter from a Revenue Officer to a Person of Honour’. Partridge published a furious rebuttal, but in vain. The joke had
4
.
FOOLISH DAUGHTER CARRIES ON acquired a
life
of
its
97
own, and people refused to believe Partridge's He would be stopped in the
testimonies to his continued existence. streets
and asked
for
money
for his coffin, etc.;
while at the
had been taken seriously (bureauname had been stricken from Partridge’s and change) crats never the rolls. Public derision actually forced him out of business (he
Stationer's Hall BickerstafFs tract
returned, unrepentant, several years later, with a
new
almanac).
While few could understand Newton, there was no mistaking Swift, and astrology had been subjected to a bout of ridicule which
made it taboo
in educated society.
In France the same sort of process was at work, and the finishing
touches were applied by Swift’s counterpart, Voltaire, another sedulously its
managed
to
who
keep separate the preaching of reason from
practice.
Two
Comte de
Boulainvillier, and a professional had independently predicted Voltaire’s the age of thirty-two. And some thirty-four years after this
astrologers, the
astrologer called Colonne,
death at
time had elapsed Voltaire, in a published letter, begged the humble pardon of these gentlemen for upsetting their predictions. As a literary gimmick, it lacked the magnificent ingenuity of Swift’s attack, but
it
was enough
to set all literary
served to hasten astrology on
its
way
France laughing, and
as a ‘serious’ interest there.
Voltaire, however, forgot to mention that at the age of thirty-
two - the year of his predicted death - he was insulted by the Duke of Rohan, replied with his customary acerbity, and not long after
was
set
upon by thugs, and bastinadoed, with the Duke
of
Rohan
looking on. Finding nobody to take his part, after some three
months Voltaire found himself obliged to challenge the duke to a duel, which he most assuredly would have lost. But on the morning of the duel he was providentially arrested and sent to the Bastille (for some past libel), in all likelihood saving his life and granting him the opportunity of jeering at the astrologers for failing to predict this closest of possible shaves
Two
.
.
would have been cited from an example of good predictive
centuries earlier, this story
one end of France astrology
to
another as
50 .
In the fifteenth century
men would
believe anything about astrol-
ogy; in the eighteenth and nineteenth they would believe nothing.
And
while
we make no
brief for predictive astrology
the percentage of right predictions C.F.A.
—
must be
-
negligible
statistically,
-
still,
over
g8
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
(he long course of astrology’s history there have been so great a
number
and documented predictions that to and not a little silly. For instance: in the Austrian court of Maria Theresa, the court astrologer still found employment. At the birth of Marie Antoinette (the same day as the Lisbon earthquake - 1740) the reading of the horoscope was so dire that the celebration which would have dismiss
of accurate, precise
them
all
as ‘coincidence’ is indefensible
ordinarily taken place at the birth of a royal princess was called off, and the entire court was plunged in gloom. Now, in all of history there can be few characters whose lives were more ill-starred and unhappy than Marie Antoinette’s. Yet this story is cited by Hilaire Belloc in his biography of Marie Antoinette to illustrate the unen-
lightened state of an Austrian court, superstition, astrology a fraud
and
- which
is
still
believing in that exploded
rather like attacking medicine as
as evidence citing all those
who have
been cured.
4 Sleeping Beauty Awakes
For two centuries Newtonian theory was so successful in solving mechanical problems that it was generally believed all problems
would ultimately yield to a mechanical explanation. And though this notion was hotly and effectively contested by a minority of thinkers - most brilliantly by Goethe (1749-1832), whose scientific work is not generally known to those familiar with his literary 51 reputation - it prevailed until twentieth-century physics showed it
to
be mistaken from a purely physical point of view.
But secure in this mistaken Newtonian cosmology (scientists ‘make mistakes'; everyone else is ‘superstitious') and the philosophy that accompanied it, astrology had been dismissed from serious consideration long before the one discovery was made which really did affect both
by Herschel
Of
its
theory and
its
practice
:
the discovery of
Uranus
in 1787.
the septenary examples furnished by nature, none had
all
been more convincing to the medieval mind than the seven planets.
Though
the Copernican system
of the seven did not
conform
made
it
clear that the
arrangement
to pleasing geocentric notions, there
were, nevertheless, seven (not counting the earth) and astrology itself
remained self-contained and in need of no revision. The
dis-
covery of Uranus, and subsequently Neptune and Pluto, while not invalidating the principle of celestial ‘influence' most certainly
threw the matter open
to
question on every possible level, and
these questions remain open today.
Throughout the nineteenth century astrology was accounted it was merely in a state of suspended animation. While popular and even psychological astrology had nearly vanished with the exception of a few almanac-makers and gipsies - a localdead. But
ized but intense interest in the Pythagorean level of astrology
was
maintained. Goethe himself took pains to note his exact moment of birth; he cast horoscopes, seems to have considered them of some value,
and was pleased
radix sun (5
0
to
note the relationship between his
Virgo) and the radix
moon
own
in the chart of Christiane
100
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
Vulpius, perhaps the most important of his mistresses. lowers of Goethe's scientific
work
(itself
And
fol-
descended from Sweden-
borg, alchemy, and surviving fragments of traditional teaching)
never ruled out astrology. The well-known and otherwise muchrespected psychologist, Fechner (1801-87), held that the stars and planets had 'souls' and were not merely the
sum
of their physical
view that was not sympathetically received. A scientist named Schleider, in a rebuttal entitled 'Moonshine Phantasies of a Natural Philosopher' (1857), replied forcefully: constituents
-
a
Except the forces of gravity, light and heat, we know of no powers which pass down from the heavenly bodies to our earth. All our scientific investigations, astronomy and physics with their tremendous resources of observation and experiment have not enabled us to perceive the slightest trace of further influence. Thus, today, for the
man
of
sound judgement no other opinion is possible. Dreamers, however, and fools would conspire with ‘the man in the Moon’ against healthy human intelligence. 52
And
today, in a world of cosmic rays, X-rays and
gamma
rays,
bathed by proton streams and refreshed by the solar wind, exploring the ever-greener pastures of the interplanetary electro-magnetic there is also but one possible opinion for the man of sound judgement which is that the man of sound judgement of a century ago would have done well to have expressed his only possible opinion with a bit of caution. fields,
:
But men of sound judgement prevailed a century ago and interest was virtually invisible; though it must have existed, since the one- thousand page Astrology compiled by E. Sibly around in astrology
the end of the eighteenth century in 1826; little societies of
was reprinted
in 1812
and again
gentlemen took a dilettantish but perhaps
not altogether superficial interest in astrology along with the 'occult' in general,
and
concrete evidence,
it
as a
pure surmise for which
we
can offer no
seems possible that somewhere in Europe
were passing on the handed down from the builders of cathedrals. There is no point in pursuing this point further beyond remarking that it is difficult to imagine the coherent and systematic exposition of ancient tradition as expounded by Schwaller de Lubicz and by Rene Guenon cooked up out of thin air. It is scientific to explain a mystery by attributing its cause to 'coincidence' but romantic to postulate the possibility of an esoteric tradition coming to the sursplinter groups or even isolated individuals
tradition
SLEEPING BEAUTY AWAKES face only
The
when
the time
is
ripe for
it
- still,
revival of astrology, however,
it
owes
101
53 remains a possibility.
itself to
more
traceable
causes.
Somewhere, the 1857) had observed
August Comte (1798no importance; quantity is the
positivist philosopher, :
‘Quality
is
of
only positive criterion’ (or words to that itself a
effect).
This assertion
is
value judgement, and therefore qualitative, and therefore,
by Comte’s own standard, of no importance; but despite its unimportance it may be safely regarded as the motto of the modern and including our own day. way of life it engendered inspired the revolt in literature and the arts called romanticism, which was but part of a larger but inchoate distrust of ‘progress’ that was bound up with a renewed interest in matters that might be lumped toindustrial state,
down
to
This philosophy and the
gether as ‘the supernatural’.
One specific manifestation of who, around 1850, used America to investigate approach
to
‘spiritism’.
what now has
to
was the group of people Mr Fox in This was an unsystematic
this interest
gather in the house of a
attained quasi-respectable status as
was undreamed of and it was out of ‘spiritism’ that the familiar seance was developed with its spirit guides, ectoplasm, mysterious rappings and the rest. How much of all this was real we cannot say, but not all was fake, and spiritism attracted the attention of a number of otherwise sane and educated men and women. By 1873 interest was running high in America and in Europe. But as yet ‘spiritism’ was not a ‘movement’, a philosophy or a religion, but more of an emotional reaction against that materialism which pretended to have all the answers* and yet furnished so ‘parapsychology’. Back in Fox’s day, however, the Zener card
little satisfaction.
And
into this emotionally-fertile chaos, with characteristic fan-
came Madame Blavatsky - declaring that everything that everyone was trying to do along these lines was wrong, but that she
fare,
possessed the answers, having been vouchsafed the esoteric secrets
by
initiates in
Helena *
P.
Egypt, Tibet and India.
Blavatsky (nee Hahn) (1831-91) was forty at this time,
The chemist,
Berthelot, in 1888, declared that science
had discovered
everything of importance that there was to be discovered; only details remained. Lord Kelvin expressed a similar opinion.
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
102
and her history, though known only from what she chose to tell of it, was incon trover tibly exotic. Born of wealthy parents in Russia, as a child she displayed
remarkable ‘psychic’
Blavatsky,
faculties.
At
the age
the seventy-year-old general, Nikifor
of seventeen she married
who bestowed upon
her her invaluable name, legally
upon Helena the freedom to leave the parental home and then, it would seem, vanished from the scene. From this time on (1848) Mme Blavatsky roamed the world, seeking out esoteric knowledge. She spent time in Egypt where the
conferred
otherwise
unknown
‘Brothers of Luxor’ initiated her into their
went
doctrine. In 1855 she
to Tibet,
then virtually inaccessible to
foreigners (this trip seems to have been authenticated sources) and studied under the
Lamas
for seven years.
by outside From Tibet
she went to India and studied there.
Her appearance in America caused a sensation, and a wave of which though largely derisory did not prevent her from converting into a recognizable movement the energy being wasted publicity
in milling
about with
‘spiritism’.
In 1875, with her pupil, Colonel Olcott, she founded the Theosophical Society
Mme Blavatsky
which spread swiftly about the world. Meanwhile, threw her energies into teaching her doctrine, fero-
ciously but gleefully battling her hosts of detractors, and yet some-
how
finding time to churn out her voluminous
(1877),
works
The Secret Doctrine (1888) and which she made her knowledge
in
Personally,
we
a
number
we do not
of other
minor
public.
we do not
to special individuals to
believe that
and
While willingly special knowledge has
trust her sources.
conceding that, over the course of history, sions,
Unveiled
find Blavatsky’s endless talk of ‘Initiates’
‘Adepts’ repellent, and
been vouchsafed
Isis
Mme
accomplish special mis-
Blavatsky was one of these.
Purporting to effect a synthesis of the great traditions of the world, Blavatsky creates a hodge-podge. Nevertheless, she was a
woman
of prodigious learning
and great
personal power, and at least some of the ingredients in the hodge-
podge are authentic.* *
When
was believed that the major problems had all been solved, summed up the almost unanimous conception of the structure of matter ‘No material constituent of a body, no atom, is in itself originally endowed with force, but every atom is absolutely dead, and without any inherent power to act at a distance.’ it
Professor Philip Spiller
:
SLEEPING BEAUTY AWAKES
103
Blavatsky and the Theosophical Movement she founded that astrology owes its revival. ‘Yes, our destiny is written It
is
Mme
to
not superstition, least of all is it fatalism. proved that even horoscopes and judiciary astrology are not quite based on fiction, and that stars and constellations consequently have an occult and mysterious influence on, and in the stars
...
.
!
.
This
.
is
now amply
It is
connection with, individuals.
And
if
with the
latter,
why not
with
and mankind as a whole?' As a piece of Blavatsky somewhat unrepresentative, both for its comparative
nations, races,
prose this clarity
are
is
and
relative restraint;
drawn from purely it is, is
simply
Mme
typical in the
to reverse the
mistaken notion that astrology
But had
it is
way conclusions
by no means ‘amply not quite based on fiction, and to main-
proved’ that horoscopes are tain that
but
assertive premises. It
is
is
commonly held and
equally
amply disproved.
Blavatsky been a model of coherence and caution
would have remained unimpressed - as they have in the number of cautious and coherent works covering similar
the sceptics face of a
ground - while the diminution of the movement’s apocalyptical flavour
would have
restricted its appeal
In
any
case,
theosophy,
one blow, brought knowledge of the existence of ancient and Eastern traditions to a multitude of people, and it inspired a rein
newed and
serious inquiry into astrology, first in England, then not
long after in Germany, France and America.
By bringing in ideas prevailing in Indian astrology, and Indian philosophy (or perhaps due to Blavatsky herself - it is very difficult, detail, to know what is what Blavatsky) the extremely embarrassing question of the new planets, Uranus and Neptune, was side-stepped, and the rigid numerology of the medieval Church shaken loose.
without going into the matter in great tradition,
Indian astrologers had always maintained that
man
manifested
twelve ‘layers’ of consciousness, corresponding to the twelve signs of the zodiac,
whether we
and
see
also to twelve postulated planets
them or not
Blavatsky, however, asserted:
appears inert.
A
wooden
which
are there
54 .
\
.
.
Matter
or a stone block
is
is
the most active
when
it
motionless and impenetrable to
and purposes. Neveitheless, and cie facto, its particles are in which is so rapid that to the physical eye the body seems absolutely devoid of motion; and the spatial distance between those particles in their vibratory motion is - considered from another plane of being and perception - as great as that which separates snow flakes or drops of rain. But to physical science this will be an absurdity 55
all
intents
ceaseless eternal vibration
.
104
As
history and technique a conceptual scheme, this
was particularly useful
since
it
answer the more embarrassing questions facing astrologers, and the appeal of theosophy, in any case, depended in part upon its high disdain of experiment and observation. A new wave of astrologers, led by the English theosophist, Alan Leo 1860 seemed
to
(
1920 ), was gathering force - which while appearing as a tsunami to the astrologers
concerned was in fact not yet a visible ripple in
the world of science
Mercier in
'Astrology
is
already dead.
It
has been dead
it
Physicians in 1913
How
:
no longer stinks/ announced Dr Charles Arthur the Fitzpatrick Lectures before the Royal College of
so long that
.
statement struck Alan Leo
this
we cannot
say,
but his
works were, by this time, a considerable financial success. Leo combined a sincere and by no means shallow interest in the esoteric side of astrology with a keen commercial sense and a crusading spirit. Under his aegis the Astrological Lodge of the astrological
Theosophical Society was founded, dedicated to a serious study of the matter. Leo’s brand of astrology
old-lady
and
had about it that whiff of well-meaningendemic to theosophy: reading a
anti- vivisection
'good book’ was a means of combatting malefic planetary influences;
and country walks were also high on the list of antidotes sound advice as it turns out country and seaside air being charged with bracing negative ions). And contributors to Leo’s magazine had the disconcerting habit of taking grandiose seaside
(scientifically
pseudonyms
:
for themselves
:
Sepharial, Charubel, Aphorel.
Leo and his associates stirred up interest. And by concenon the characterological aspects of astrology - at the expense of prophecy - attracted a number of people who were keen enough to see that what passed itself off as modern 'psychology’ was not only inadequate but leading nowhere. Societies were founded in France and in Germany; and little magazines of varying quality appeared, airing the innumerable differences of opinion on the innumerable unsettled astrological Still,
trating
questions.
Meanwhile, in the universities of Europe, orthodox scholars were laying out the presumed corpse with procrustean solicitude, and a quite fantastic concern for detail in view of the lack of mourners. Since, a priori, there
was nothing
to
be learned from astrology
itself
these multi-volume histories stand as landmarks to inutility. Their
SLEEPING BEAUTY AWAKES
105
them safe from the public. Other scholars were already convinced both that astrology was superstition and that it was dead. And the one question that was worth asking was
scholarly nature kept
left
open
could
(as
men
by Cumont;
see p. 66) or not posed at all:
how
otherwise not dissimilar to ourselves have believed in
such nonsense for millennia ? Ironically,
the beneficiaries of this scholarship were the
themselves,
astrologers
who were
free
to
reject
new
the scholarly
opinions while making use of the scholarly facts and their possible application to astrological practice.
After the First particularly in
World War interest in astrology increased sharply, Germany. The weird atmosphere of inflation, mili-
and moral and psychological chaos seems to have invaded even the universities, and in this unsettled air it was possible tary defeat
Herr Doktor not only to become interested in to it without undue loss of prestige or position, a situation that prompted Jung to predict that the acceptance of astrology as a serious academic study was just around the for a fully qualified
astrology but to
own up
corner.
This was certainly premature (and possibly altogether mistaken).
The
new
was enough in had become fashionable among astrologers to call astrology a ‘science'. But despite attempts to up-date the medieval terminology and to incorporate the new planets into the astrological scheme, it was essentially the astrology that had come down from Ptolemy, and sceptics were not theosophical cast of most of the
itself to
taken
scare off the orthodox.
56
astrology
Meanwhile,
it
in.
Actually, practical astrology
is
something of a science, something
of an art; rather akin to practical medicine, but
and more
elusive; the
medicine chest
is
more complicated
untrustworthy, and for two
thousand years there have been no research workers, only genera] practitioners.
Only
in
Germany,
in the 1920s,
was this unsatisfactory state of up to. And many attempts
the astrological medicine chest faced
were made, some of them bizarre,
improvements. Multimost remarkable being the ‘Hamburg School' of Alfred Witte which postulated no less than eight planets beyond the orbit of Neptune. Precise ephemerides tudes of
new
to effect
theories proliferated, the
(astronomical tables listing the daily latitudes and longitudes of the C.F.A.
4*
HI
106
STORY AND TECHNIQUE
planets) were calculated for these hypothetical planets, dictions
No
made upon
and
pre-
these calculations, claiming impressive results.
canon was held sacred; everything was thrown open to question. The spate of erudite and highly technical astrological magazines reached amazing circulation single tenet in the astrological
and between rival schools and theorists, so bitter and acrimonious were the disputes, so intense the hostilities, so paranoiac the insistence upon protocol and precedence, that an outsider looking on might well have mistaken the ancient esoteric tradition for figures;
an incipient exact science.*
But
it
was
not.
Out
of considerable activity
energy, a few seeds were chief lesson learned
sown
was that
was worth, did not lend
and expenditure of
that today bear modest fruit.
traditional astrology, for
itself to
The
whatever
it
the quantitative methods of science
so easily. Aubrey’s old idea of 'a Supellex of true genitures’
was
a naive over-simplification.
Naturally, in
Germany
as elsewhere, a
phecy flourished alongside the more 'serious’ astrologers
made
popular interest in pro-
'serious’
astrology.
(Many
their livings out of this sort of thing as
had Kepler and others from antiquity - astrologers have to eat, too.) The frenetic political situation throughout the twenties ensured a constant market for mundane astrology, and there was a keen public interest in the horoscopes of the various
political
most of which were public knowledge. An astrologer, Frau Elsbeth Ebertin, had scored a bull’s eye on Hitler’s horoscope, though she had been given only his date of birth and not the precise minute. In her book of predictions for the year 1923 she had predicted that this was a man who would bring trouble to Bavaria (commonsense, perhaps, as much as astrology) but that any attempt he made to seize political power would end disastrously. This was the year of the famous putsch, which culminated with Hitler in jail. Frau Ebertin and other astrologers had leaders,
* \ some eminent scientists become almost paranoid about protocol, and are capable of sensing a deliberate slight in the failure to be invited to a conference their typical vanity is to attend more conferences than they can grasp the significance of Professor John Ziman, Public Knowledge, The Social Dimension of Science, p. 134. \ is it reallv true that a good or genuine scientist is, or should be, indifferent to matters of priority, caring only for the Advancement of Learning and nothing for who causes it to come about?' P. B. Medawar, The Art of the Soluble (Methuen), p. 126. .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
SL
E E
PING
AUTY
B E
A
WAKE S
107
generally stressed that Hitler’s horoscope boded no good, and so,
when
Hitler actually did
come
to
power, astrologers were persona
and several leading Nazis opposed astrology on ideological grounds. In the years immediately preceding the war the little erudite magazines vanished, and astrologers with any sense of
non
grata,
self-preservation said nothing in public about Hitler’s horoscope. It
was, however, only in
made
to
Germany
that concerted efforts were
put astrology on a respectable footing. In France, a few
on a statistical claiming impressive results, but finding almost no one willing to give them a hearing. In France, too, a number of unorthodox and brilliant psychologists began looking into astrology, not so much as a means of prediction, or even as a means of analysing character from the actual birth data, but as a tool for the description and individuals were attempting to justify astrology basis,
understanding of
human
nature far subtler and yet more compre-
hensive than the rigid and ultimately unsatisfactory attempts at ‘typology’
enough
current
among
psychologists,
which though
valid
as far as they went, invariably stopped short before they
what good is it to know Tennyson and the strong-man in the circus were mesomorphs? Or that Kafka and the shy grocer around the corner were both introverts? Psychologists such as Rene Allendy and Adolphe Ferriere saw, and saw rightly, that character approached through the symbolism of astrology suddenly acquired perspective. And on a still higher plane, a small number of French scholars (Schwaller de Lubicz, and Rene Guenon were among them) were setting out the inner meaning of the various esoteric traditions coherently, thoughtfully, unsensationally 57 making it possible to see - among many other things - astrology as an integrated part of divulged anything of value. For example, that both
,
a civilization.
In England, Alan Leo had died, and his thriving astrological lodge was taken over by the late Charles E. O. Carter, perhaps the best of astrology’s
modern general
practitioners.
Articulate, practical, and personally impressive, Carter
managed
put astrology into acceptable modern terminology, something few other contemporary astrologers had even come close to. Readto
ing Alan Leo and others of his era and persuasion, the unwary student might be led to believe that a combination of unfavourable aspects
would
wild beasts.
still
portend death in a public place, torn apart by
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
108
In Carter's manuals of instruction there are no exhortations to
and healthy
life,
talk of the ‘etheric bodies'
and
lead a clean
no Old Testament admonitions, no 'astral planes' so
dear to theosophists
but so annoying to those seeing the matter otherwise. to read Carter’s
It is possible
books without feeling that the headquarters of the
Inquisition are just around the corner, and that an unfavourable
motion over the position the moment of birth) would bring a visit -
transit (the passage of a planet in its actual
of another planet at
that
knock on the door may well be the man coming
for the telly,
or a writ to appear in court, but the charge will not be heresy
.
.
.
Carter was, however, sceptical, even distrustful, of the attempt to
make
astrology too scientific, and, after a few rather amateurish
sallies into statistics, settled for a traditional
approach. Carter relied
upon personal or collective intuition tested against experience as the best means for improving astrology, setting a stamp upon a school of British astrologers which, at its best, was characterized by and practicality at the expense of adventurousness. But with that knack the British have for being respectable to the point of comedy and at the same time flagrantly indiscreet - the
solidity
man
up the escalator London tube past advertisements that until recently a 42nd Street bookshop would have had to sell under the counter - it was in England that the current fad of newspaper astrology first began. In 1930, rather in the spirit of a joke, the Sunday Express printed an astrological article upon the horoscope of the newly-born Princess Margaret, which incited such an avalanche of mail that the astrologer responsible for the article, R. H. Naylor, was commissioned to write a series. The response was enormous, and quite unexpected; circulation soared, and so eager were rival papers to inform and enlighten their readers that, first in England, then in France, Germany and America columns of astrological predictions became a feature of the popular press. This early pop astrology was not the blanket-prediction sort prevalent today (in which all those born under Leo will suffer financial losses, while Scorpios will meet an attractive stranger), in the bowler hat carrying his umbrella rides
in the
but time-honoured and largely inaccurate
same that
Mundane
Astrology, the
Isaiah inveighed against.
Naylor, the first of the astrologers to make a splash, was also the most colourful, certainly the most courageous, and, in the end, perhaps less inaccurate than most. Unlike most of his colleagues, he
:
SLEEPING BEAUTY AWAKES dared to
make
precise
and
verifiable predictions.
When
right,
109
none
crowed louder than Naylor; when wrong, none main‘Since 1919 I have consistently predicted that peace would be rationalized faster
tained between the great nations of the world.
researches
now
assurance; the
March
1936).
convince
shadow
me
of the
that
we no
My
astrological
longer have the same
war darkens the world'
(
Prediction
,
58
April 1936: Naylor predicted that Edward VIII would marry within three years, but that he would be idolized as no king had before.
(Interestingly enough, ,the
famous palmist, Cheiro,
pre-
dicted Edward's abdication.)
August 1936: Naylor predicted that Roosevelt would 'squeeze' in but that it was improbable he would finish his second term. In October 1938, however, he predicted a third term for Roosevelt.
TEN YEARS' PEACE WORLD TO DISARM !
;
More astound-
ing Prophecies' read the cover of Prediction for June 1939.
September 1944 The days of Franco are numbered.' On the other hand, Naylor, in 1944, disagreed with a US forecast based upon a statistical study, calling for a European war :
between 1966-70. Naylor instead saw the US during a state of internal chaos and at war in Asia. June 1951 Naylor predicted a Russia-China clash.
this period in
:
This fever of public interest accomplished very
little
for astrology
on any of its meaningful levels. But it provoked infuriated rebuttals from rationalists of all stripes, from the science-minded, and most interesting, from eminent scientists, none of whom can be said to have acquitted themselves with distinction (see p. 117 ff.).
The
astrologers
were unable
to reply to these rebuttals
without
brushwood is cleared aside the argument was simple the scientists demanded proof upon acceptable scientific terms that astrology was valid. The astrologers admitted that there was no such 'proof', but that this was not the fault of astrology - if the scientists wanted 'proof' let them put the matter to the test, which had never been done, and, until producing
a note of hysteria, but once the emotional :
disproof, reserve their opinions.
But nothing came out of all this controversy. By the 1930s, from view astrology was at least conceivable - relativity and the quantum theory having shattered the simplified a scientific point of
material universe of
Newton and
Laplace - but there were no
scientists willing to look into the possibility directly,
even though
110
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
by the
late
1930s there were also a
number
of scientifically attested
facts that began to look suspiciously astrological. Still, it was now impossible to pretend that astrology was dead.
And however much
the academic community may have ridiculed the
whole business, its resurgence could not be denied. At least as a psychological and sociological phenomenon it could not be ignored.
The Second World War put
temporary halt
was, but added to
activity,
such as
of Hitler
and his alleged
it
a
its
to
astrological
history the strange footnote
astrologers.
Since Hitler’s accession to power, astrologers had been looked
upon with
disfavour; nevertheless, in England, a
rumour had been
assiduously circulated by a refugee astrologer called Louis de
Wohl
and that he followed a not-implausible contention, since it was known their advice that a number of higher-ups in the Third Reich maintained an
that Hitler personally consulted astrologers
interest in the
more grotesque aspects
of
magic and the
‘occult’,
including giving credence to the cosmological scheme that held live
not on the surface of the earth but inside
towards
its
surface.
According
to de
Wohl,
it,
Hitler’s
we
and look out astrologer was
K. E. Krafft, an eccentric but in his own way quite brilliant man who, since the twenties, had been on a one-man campaign to put astrology on a sound statistical basis. 59 After the war it was pretty well established that Hitler had not had a private astrologer and that he never took astrological advice. Krafft, it appears, had toyed with Nazi ideas in the beginning, and had been given some subordinate and temporary position in Goebbels’ propaganda ministry. But when he learned to his surprise that the political leaders did not share his interest in pure astrology
The reward of foolish integrity was prison, on the way to Buchenwald in 1945. In England, however, de Wohl succeeded in convincing the
he refused
and he
to cooperate.
died, finally,
British High Command that Krafft was in the pay of the Nazis and was giving them astrological advice; and accordingly the British created a one-man counter-astrology agency, giving de Wohl the rank of captain, and he went through the war attempting to advise the high command on the moves Hitler would be making according to astrological interpretation.
Apart from
its
60
value as a historical curio, there
the Hitler astrology affair that
is
is
one aspect of
of genuine astrological interest. In
SLEEPING BEAUTY AWAKES a review of Hitler's rise to power, his brilliant
coup
at
111
Munich
in
one 1938, his swift campaigns in Poland and Scandinavia, there is of glory that stands out above all others, one brief period
moment
during which he was unmistakable master; his blitzkrieg invasion of Holland and the Low Countries followed by his humiliation of the French.
moment may be this moment is
This
enough,
May 1940, and, oddly written into Hitler's stars so unmistak-
pinpointed to 10
ably that any astrologer might well conclude that Hitler was acting
upon the advice
of his
own
astrologers; or, learning that this
was
unlikely, use Hitler's campaign as a singularly impressive example of a
man
being compelled by his stars to
In this book
it is
act.
the principles and functions of astrology, the
evidence for and against
it,
that concerns us, rather than
nique; but since astrology as a (dubious)
means
role with which most people are familiar,
we
its
of prophecy
techis
the
shall use this oppor-
tunity to describe briefly the methods used by astrologers in
attempting to make their forecasts.
The
first,
Transits’.
simplest,
The
and almost
logical
method,
position of the planets at birth are
is
to look at the
known
as their
root or 'radix' positions. In the course of their revolutions about the
heavens the planets cross or otherwise form
'aspects’
with these
radix positions which are held to be sensitive points. Naturally, the
varying speeds of the planets in orbit mean that a predictable but infinitely varied
sequence of transits
is
forever in progress, and
from the various combinations the astrologer attempts
to
make
his
forecasts.
Looking at Hitler's horoscope, 10
we
can see that on the night of
May
1940 his transits could not have been better. As fig. 11 shows, Saturn was forming trines first
well-aspected moon, then to his radix Jupiter.
-
war - made
The
to Hitler’s
transiting
Mars
and a sextile to the radix Mercury. Jupiter - planet of success - was moving into a conjunction with the radix sun, traditionally the position, above planet of
a trine to the Ascendant,
all others, standing for success in undertakings. While the moon, which moves so swiftly that it runs through the gamut of aspects once a month, was in exact trine to Uranus - planet of revolution, surprise, 'blitz', of the unexpected - on the very hour the attack was launched.
Yet an astrologer advising Hitler would not have restricted
M.C.
u. Hitler’s horoscope with transits (see Fig. 1). Further salient and their interpretation: Saturn high in the sign of Leo, in the tenth house; traditionally the symbol of a man who climbs high, with burning ambition, but is in danger of losing his position. Saturn in double square to Venus and Mars danger will become reality. Mercury in opposition (i8o° distance) to Uranus: an indication of misguided (at times brilliant) ideas and violent hysteria. Saturn in a not very strong sextile (6o°) from Uranus gives a tendency to use these (disagreeable) traits profitably in furthering the ambition. Uranus less than 6° from the Ascendant, but in the twelfth house leads to violence. Neptune and Pluto are close to each other in Gemini in the eighth house; death and destruction caused knowingly, and possibly an indication of suicide. On the positive side: Sun in Taurus in trine (120°) to Moon and, less powerfully, to Jupiter, the latter two being in a benevolent conjunction. This is not only the ‘animal-lover’, but also lends the personality of a strong attraction and, with Sun in 7, a Figure
features
:
public appeal. This ceived
it
(Saturn),
man
‘married’ his public with high ideals, then de-
own
(unfavourable Mars and Venus also in
7) for his
and in the end was impotent and unable
to fruitfully
ambitions
consummate
this weird marriage. (It is interesting that many planets in the seventh house is a feature in the charts of many dictators, among them Mussolini
and Stalin.) The symbols drawn on the outside of the chart signify the positions of the planets as they actually were on 10 May 1940, 1.15 a.m. Greenwich Meridian Time. Broken lines mark the principal aspects.
3
SLEEPING BEAUTY AWAKES He would
himself to prophesy on the basis of transits.
what
into
are called 'secondary directions'. It
think Ezekiel
Of
the
many
bly none
referring to
is
dispense with
it,
some symbolic fashion what happens
in the
it
maintains that in
makes it happen in
life
will
on
on
it
Hitler's fifty-first
does
day
- within broad bounds - what
his fifty-first year.
These indications were
secondary directions with their
own
Astrologers tried to
wishful thinking that so
make themselves
own
interests. Yet,
without taking the astrologers or anyone
it
many
World War.
believe that the stars
not allow Hitler to act fatally against his his moves,
far less
was by incorporating the
it
astrologers kept predicting peace before the Second
consideration,
day will axis in a
possible to predict
favourable than the transits, and
made
a
its
the same 'influences' as
in a year, thus the position of the stars
of
proba-
is
few practising
heavens in
reflect itself in life in a year; just as the earth turns itself to
one day'.
no matter that they are
quite unable to justify the procedure. Briefly,
day, and thereby exposes
also look
canon, there
illogical than this, yet there are
who would
1
this that astrologers
talks of 'one year for
illogicalities in the astrological
more
astrologers
when he
is
1
would having
else into
does remain a fact that Hitler's one brightest
moment was easily detectable, astrologically, and coincided with his actual moment of triumph. But we do not propose to defend astrological predictions with any enthusiasm.
We
bring up Hitler and his stars partly as an
excuse to illustrate the rudiments of
commonly used
predictive
techniques, and partly to bring our extended look at the astrology of the past full circle to the present. If there is any history of the future, it will mark the Second World War as the turning point of civilization, and, depending upon the state of the new civilization, it may well mark the turn-
ing point for astrology. It
is
an astronomical
fact that,
due
to the precession of the
equinoxes, the sun will soon rise at the spring equinox in the sign
on what astrologers call ‘the Age of AquaNow astrologers have always held that this astronomical fact is of profound significance, and that the period of transition between one age and another is invariably one of chaos, conflict and indecision; old traditions crumble, new formulations are born; of Aquarius, bringing
rius'.
in
between
it
happening or
is
will
impossible to say with any certainty
happen.
what
is
114
HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE
That we stand there
is,
such a historical
at
naturally,
no need
with astrology. Perhaps,
moment
to believe that this
like the
is
Golden Section in nature,
the appearance and evolution of organic
life
on
and the astronomical
signs
may
among small,
be explained by 'coincidence’
whom
principles, to
is
-
the solution of
spiral
shape of
shift of zodiacal
that Sherlock all
like
earth, like the
harmonics of the periodic table of elements and the galaxies, the current chaos
a truism. But
has anything to do
Holmes
mysteries, big and
‘elementary’.
Still, it is
interesting,
that the same
impetus
war
to science,
have made astrology crediting.
it
and perhaps not altogether coincidental,
that polished off the past also provided the
whose
disclosures over the past fifteen years
possible to prepare a defence of just that despised
which an
earlier
science
had prided
itself
upon
dis-
Part
Two
Objections
The Queen of Humbug
By regarding astrology
terms of
in
‘level’,
and by taking the
accounts of legend and tradition with some seriousness, the history from the picture put together
of astrology looks rather different
by Victorian scholars and reproduced - with embellishments - by their followers.
We have stressed of astrology, but
up
the total absence of physical scientific disproof to
now have
only touched upon the objections
to astrology as they have been put forward. Clearly,
these are
if
irrefutable, actual physical disproof becomes superfluous. So let us
examine the objections, as they have been raised by eminent scholars and scientists, wherever possible allowing these authorities to
speak for themselves.
The Queen of Humbug, by Dr Harold Spencer Astronomer at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich (1)
HM
Jones,
Astrology claims that the heavenly bodies - the sun, moon, planets and stars
- have an influence on human
position of these bodies at the
affairs. It is asserted
moment when
a person
is
that the dis-
born
is
a direct
influence on his personality, and that by studying their positions at
any time
after birth,
guidance for the future can be obtained.
These claims are sufficiently extensive and
startling.
But they do not
nearly exhaust what astrology can do. Diseases can be diagnosed.
Weather can be
course of world events can be foretold.
people even believe that seeds grow better
if
predicted.
The Some
planted according to the
state of the heavens.
Such claims are absolute rubbish. No astronomer could possibly say else. But they pander to the desires of many people to peer into
anything
the future.
our
They
foster the primitive instinct to cling to the belief that
lives are directed to
The
- for a fee, of course.
who
is
It is
an observer of the
the stars It is
some extent by supernatural
forces.
astrologer will cast a horoscope and will advise about the future
who
is
significant that stars,
nor do
I
I
do not
know
of
know of any any
astrologer
serious observer of
an astrologer.
the task of the astronomer to observe and to study the stars, and
by slow and patient observation
to learn
something about them.
On
the
.
OBJECTIONS
Il8
what he has
learnt, it is his duty to come into the open and to and unreservedly that astrology is rubbish, a mere collection of empirical rules that have come down through the dim mists
basis of
declare firmly
of the past
Any
.
.
amused if he were any book on astrology. I have never yet seen any argument put forward in support of it which had the slightest scientific foundation. I have never seen any statement which would bear the least scientific serious student of science could not help being
to read
investigation. I
have sought
activities.
I
books on astrology some justification for the
to find in
supposed all-pervading
effects of the
heavenly bodies on
human
have found general statements, such as that there
is
life
and
a coinci-
dence of earth events with those taking place elsewhere in the solar
system (the only exemplifications given for earth
is
influenced by sun spots) and that
all
this
men
is
that weather on
are subject to the laws
by which the earth is governed. I have found nothing more substantial. As an astronomer hesitate to say that
on which
to base
I
it
many
have had shoals of
the belief in
do not
such far-reaching assertions.
Unfortunately, there are astrology.
I
consider that altogether too slender a foundation
I
who
people
letters,
many
of
believe implicitly
them
tragic, telling
in
how
has ruined homes which until one of the partners took
it
up were happy
ones.
I
would say that whereas astronomy .* is the Queen of Humbug
is
the
Queen
1
of the Sciences, astrology
.
.
still has millions of followers, but is so far removed (2) Astrology from anything resembling science that it does not seem worthwhile to discuss it. The theory that sun spots cause depressions ... is the last respectable survival of the ancient view that human affairs are linked .
.
.
with astronomical phenomena. 2 (3)
The belief in astrology is excusable; it is an indolent man’s philoThe advantage of a belief in astrological absurdities is that one’s
sophy.
acts are predetermined
and
stars.
.
.
.
by the motions and
Obviously,
if
we can
responsible for our acts, our morality deteriorates,
worry. Astrology
is
timorous people and (4)
stars
*
Astrology
:
A
upon human
a
moon we are not and we cease to
'influences’ of the sun,
convince ourselves that
comforting philosophy, adapted to the needs of
idiots.
3
pseudoscience which deals with the influences of the affairs
and the
Dr Spencer
foretelling of the future events.
.
.
.
Jones was also well-known for his prophetic views on space asked by a journalist in 1957 what he thought of the possibility, Spencer Jones replied ‘Space travel is bunk.’ Two weeks later the first Sputnik was launched. travel.
When
:
THE QUEEN OF HUMBUG
of the seventeenth century (in Europe) the interest in
From the middle
this pseudoscience declined.
Africa and
is
means
a
the ignorant classes in (5)
One
am
flourishes,
It still
many
of livelihood to all
countries.
however, in Asia and
definition of superstition
many
is
who
charlatans
prey upon
4
Synthetic Superstitions and Bogus Science, by
disagree with
119
B. S.
J.
‘Other People’s Religion’.
Haldane 5
I
certainly
points in other people’s religious opinions, but
not going to attack them here. Religious doctrines, even
are untrue, are generally part of a system in
which some
I
when they
intelligent
and
thoroughly decent people believe. I
propose to discuss the synthetic superstitions which are being manu-
factured as ‘opium for the people’, particularly astrology. Large of
Sunday newspapers keep
a
tame
astrologer,
and
I
numbers
sometimes look at
their columns.
Now
I
don’t despise real astrology.
an attempt
began thousands of years ago
It
up happenings in the earth with those of the sky. It led to the keeping in Babylon, and other cities of what is now Iraq, of exact records of eclipses and other celestial events which have been of the greatest use to modern astronomers. in
And
to link
in the late middle ages, it developed into
rules. In order to cast a
horoscope you had to
an art with elaborate
know
the positions of
all
the planets at the time of a person’s birth. Indeed for accurate predictions the exact
hour
is
needed. Each planet was supposed to have a good,
bad or neutral influence.
And
the sky
was divided up into
human
‘houses’ concerned with various
your birth Saturn and Mars were in conjunction in the House of Death, you were likely to meet with an early and violent death. A given day was or was not lucky for a person whose birth-hour was known, according to very complicated
aspects of
life.
Thus,
if
at the time of
rules.
The
were supposed
rules
embody
to
the
wisdom
of the ancient
Chaldeans. Astrology had a great influence on the thought and language
Such common words as ‘consider’, ‘disaster’, ‘inand ‘conjunction’, all derive from astrological theory. Astrology received shattering blows when two large new planets, Uranus and Neptune, were discovered, not to mention one moderatesized one, Pluto, and about a thousand dwarf planets. The wise men of the East had never discovered them, and the attempt to fit them into a
of ordinary people. fluenza’,
horoscope
is
like putting a
motor car into
For astrology, like heraldry, has
though rather
futile
hobby.
If I
great tradition of the ‘science’,
Sunday newspaper
were I
its
a
a coat of arms. rules,
and
is
a quite
amusing,
genuine astrologer following the
should be even more angry with the
practitioners than with complete sceptics.
OBJECTIONS
120
These ladies and gentlemen predict your lucky days on the
month I
which you were born. was born when the sun was
Now, according But
in the constellation called the Scorpion.
to traditional astrology, this
the lucky planets,
if
basis of the
in
Venus and
fupiter,
alone doesn’t
were there
tell
too,
me much. I may
then
look forward to certain kinds of good luck. But,
if
astrology
true,
is
it is
as ridiculous to predict a person’s fortune
from the position of the sun alone as it would be to diagnose a disease by looking at a patient’s tongue without taking his temperature or pulse rate, or is
making any other examination. Another of
palmistry If
.
.
these bogus sciences
.
the astrologers and palmists
want
to
convince scientists of the truth
of their ‘sciences', they have an easy task.
No
doubt
(if
their claims are
must have discovered that millions of young men were going to die between 1914 and 1918. So they ought to be able to predict the dates of future wars. When they get a few dates right, I shall take them seriously. But I am not much impressed by a few lucky shots. However that may be, astrologers and palmists are very useful to the right) they
cause of capitalism. They help to persuade people that their destinies is true as long as enough enough people learn how the joint fate of us all can be altered, things will begin to happen which will mean the end of capitalism as well as of astrology and palmistry.
are outside their control. And, of course, this
people believe
From
it.
But
all this it
if
appears that the
critics are
uniformly ignorant
of the Pythagorean principles that provide astrology’s foundations.
To them, pop astrology is the only upon this assumption, the attacks fact,
and almost
astrology that exists. But even that are levelled are devoid of
as free of valid theoretical objections.
The Astronomer Royal
(1)
can find no statement that
the least scientific investigation’. That fic
investigation.
as ‘too slender a
Meanwhile, he
is,
there has been
‘will
no
bear
scienti-
jettisons the sunspot correlations
foundation upon which to base such far-reaching
conclusions’. Indeed
it is.
But
it is
a foundation
and surely worthy
of scientific investigation.
and were then, a number of astrologers who were also And from time to time the astrological journals publish letters from astronomers who admit to an interest in astrology but who elect to remain anonymous for fear of professional repercussions. Apart from this, unless he has studied the matter on his own an astronomer knows no more about astrology than a radio mechanic knows about music. To ask an astronomer There
are,
astronomers.
THE QUEEN OF HUMBUG on the subject
for his ‘expert' opinion
is
useless.
Yet
it is
121
curious
that in our considerable research we have never come across a statement by an astronomer to the effect that he had not studied
astrology and therefore did not know.
Our shy of
other critics are equally quick to
Astronomer Royal.
facts as the
condemn but
Mr
Gardner
as equally
(2) offers sun-
spots as the ‘last respectable survival of the ancient view that
human
affairs are linked
the ancients
with astronomical phenomena',
commonly were aware
as
though
of sunspot correlations (actually
by the time Gardner was writing had been made of these. no mention
the Chinese were). Moreover,
(1957) far
more impressive
firmly established. There
Alfred
Still (3)
people and
may
correlations than the sunspots
is
finds astrology a proper philosophy for ‘timorous
idiots',
making one wonder what Mr Still’s credentials him to put Plato, Plotinus and Kepler in this
be that permit
class.
Out
of all this verbiage,
only the geneticist,
it is
J.
B. S.
Haldane,
who, despite inaccuracies, presents some genuine objections. The discovery of the new planets was and is a problem, though by no means the ‘shattering blow’ Haldane suggests.
Haldane
Secondly,
stumbling block -
and if
astrology
is
whom
He
out
a
major
astrological
cites as
an example the millions
killed
should have death written into their stars
valid.
However, the objection
is
offered as though, over the course of
astrology’s millennial history,
of
picks
the relationship between individual destiny
large-scale events.
in a war, all of
rightly
no one before Haldane had thought
it.
In fact, Ptolemy devoted considerable time to just this problem.
He
contended - and modern astrologers would agree - that
the destiny of the individual
is
subsumed
in the greater destiny
of the state, nation, race, tribe, or geographical area (e.g. earth-
quake
victims). Accurately determining the ‘horoscope' of a race,
or state or geographical area,
is
another problem altogether. But
the difficulty or even impossibility of ever determining such a
horoscope does nothing to invalidate the astrological principle of terrestrial /celestial correlation. It is
means
that astrological prophecy
and no sensible astrologer would maintain otherwise. But Haldane’s objection to astrology on political grounds must
unreliable,
be regarded as something of
a scientific
masterstroke.
OBJECTIONS
122
Though
thousand years astrologers have been
for over four
working hand-in-glove with exploit the secret until
capitalist imperialists in a
working classes, the liaison has been unmasked by Professor Haldane.
scheme
to
skilfully kept
Subsequently, a right-wing plot has been successful in preventing
the masses from learning
and
altered,
of astrology,
However,
it
is
is still
with
a school of
will cease to
learn that
wage
their fate
easily
might be
us.
humanitarians,
on Haldane's psychological
Once people
how
for this reason that capitalism, to say nothing
it.
base their methods up-
hope to put a stop to war. them - it is argued - they
insight, soon
war
And
who
is
bad for
once war
is
done away with, there
will be
time to concentrate upon the abolition of capitalism and astrology.
Doubtless there will be individuals
A
insist that
theory does
page from Professor Haldane's
not so easily become practice, but a
own biography
who
should permanently silence such sceptics.
staunch Communist, Haldane tolerated the Stalin regime
throughout the long period of
atrocities
and purges
in the 1930s;
but learning that the Russians were championing the worthless genetical arguments of Lysenko,
Communists were not
that the
Haldane immediately intuited
interested in the truth for
sake,
and he withdrew his support.
The
material quoted so far comes from
writers
and may
criticism
But
it
own
and science
be regarded as a fair sampling of the level of
commonly
may
scientists
its
directed against astrology from this quarter.
be argued that despite the uncompromising tone of
the criticism, none of the critics
make any
particular claim to
have studied the subject. In our history
we mentioned
ancient astrology by a
number
the academic attention paid to
of scholars over the past century,
and touched peripherally upon the views of Franz Cumont and Otto Neugebauer and others. Following are some extensive excerpts from The Royal Art of Astrology by Robert Eisler, 6 a well-
known Babylonian
scholar. Since this
book
is
one of the very few
devoted wholly to the destruction of the astrological premise, the objections raised in
To
this
it
should be of particular interest.
day the devotees of astrology never
tire of
repeating the bitter
3
THE QUEEN complaint
Alfred
of
who wrote
John Pearce,
HUMBUG
OF*
2
Textbook of
his
in
1
men of Astrology (1911), the nineteenth and the present century have denied that there is any
‘Why
truth in astrology?
is it
The
that the great majority of learned
reply is: Because they had never investigated
being too prejudiced against
it,
it
do
to
so.'
This wanton accusation against modern scholarship cient proof of either an absolute lack of good faith or
in itself suffi-
is
an almost unbe-
work dedicated to the study of Frenchman Saumaise ( Salmasius 1648), the correspondent of Milton, to our own age which saw the deciphering, editing and translating of the most important Mesopotamian and Egyptian astrological texts, the publication in more than a
lievable ignorance of
all
the learned
astrology from the time of the great
,
dozen volumes of the Catalogue of Greek Astrological Manuscripts, under the direction of Franz Cumont and Wilhelm Kroll, the rediscovery and publication of the Sphaera Barbarica by Franz Boll (1904), of the astrological texts of Flermes Trismegistus by Wilhelm Gundel (1936) and the searching investigation of
such
men
as
all
the available material by
A. Bouche-Leclercq (1899), Carl von Bezold (1914), Reginald
Campbell Thompson (1900), Charles Virolleaud (1905 ff.), Aby Warbug a whole group of younger men inspired by their example. Not one
and
item of the
list
of their books given below,
ever quoted by any
is
one of the defenders of astrology. They will not acknowledge honestly the decisive fact
that their futile practices have been investi-
gated with the greatest care and impartiality by the foremost scholars of the leading
Western nations
not one has failed of
to
what was once attempt
sophical verse
.
.
for
now
condemn them
almost three centuries, and that
as the stale, superstitious residue
a great, pantheistic religion to
and
a glorious philo-
to
explain the uni-
understand and rationally
?
So great was the care and impartiality with which these scholars studied astrology that in the preface of his
work Bouche-Leclercq work with astrology
excuses himself from actually attempting to
and examine the
basis of its
symbolism with
:
'We do not waste
our time in studying upon what others have wasted attitude
commended warmly by
a lecture
8 .
Franz
with never having himself erected
impartially
way.’
Eisler
The
'We
Boll,
theirs.'
An
challenged at
a horoscope, replied
mad enough to waste our time in this and careful Franz Cumont has already been
are not yet
impartial
discussed.
As
far as
we know, without
a single exception,
no
critic of
astrology has ever attempted to put astrology seriously to the test
:
OBJECTIONS
124
own
would not by fond quickly ‘proves’ that music cannot produced parents, be by such an instrument - it would at least be a move worthy of scholars and scientists in search of ‘objective’ truth of his
experience, and though
-
be decisive either
fust as metals
it is
true that this
the tone-deaf child, given a violin
were associated with the planets by an undue generalunfounded
ization of the celestial origin of meteoric iron, an equally
generalization of the celestial origin of meteoric stones led to the belief that
all
precious stones had fallen from the sky, imagined to be a vault
of blue sapphire or lapis-lazuli studded with the
diamonds of the white,
the rubies of the red, the emeralds of the greenish stars, etc.
The connection between names
responsible for such is,
and
stars
their planets (the astro-botany
as ‘sun-flower’, 'helianthus*
’
and
‘flos
Jovis
of course, a development of a particular group of notes in the star-
calendar.
As
the peasant would note the star in the calendar signalling
the sprouting, blossoming and fruiting of corn, barley, vines, date-
palms, sesame,
etc.,
the gardener in charge of the medicinal herb garden
would do the same
under his
for the plants
care.
A
empirical correlation would be expanded in the usual
amount
slight
way by
of
the verbal
or other associations of ideas so dear and indispensable to the mystic
and magician believing in ciples of ‘universal
a cosmic
The ‘anthropomorphic’ sun and moon as to a
‘holist’ prin-
interpretation of the sky as a face, and of
and
‘the right’
‘left
eye’ in
it,
would necessarily lead
human head and one mouth - with the seven planets in the Hebrew Neo-Pythagorean treatise Sepher Yezirah
development correlating the seven sense organs in the
- two eyes, two as
system pervaded by the
‘
sympathy’ and sacra analogia ’.
we
find
it
ears,
two
nostrils
The equally
(‘Book of Creation’, literally ‘Formation’ or ‘Design’).
anthropomorphic idea of a sky-god or sky-goddesses arched above the earth, so familiar to Egyptian art, would suggest a coordination of the seven limbs of this divinity - one head, one trunk, one generative
organ, two arms,
Egyptian tombs
we
two
legs
- with the same seven
planets. In
see the thirtv-six decan-stars methodically distri-
buted over the body of the sky-goddess Nut. In the Pseudo-Hippocratean treatise
On
Heptades
sixth century
compared head,
to a
(Peri
B.C., Ionia,
hebdomadon), written by a physician in the
a
human body
map of
of the then
known
inhabited earth,
which the Peloponnesus
the Isthmus of Corinth
is
is
said to be the
the neck or spine, Ionia
the spleen
and Cimmerian Bosporus the feet, Egypt the belly, the Maiotis the bladder and the Black Sea the rectum. A division of the celestial body of the ‘Big Man’ or Makranthropos above us into twelve parts would result in an astrological (phrenes), the Hellespont the leg, the Thracian
THE QUEEN OF HUMBUG correlation of these with the twelve sections of the zodiac as
diagrammatically represented in
‘phlebotomic’
the
we
125 find
it
used by
figures
astrologer-surgeons and barbers for the purpose of determining the propitious times for such operations as blood-letting, cauterization, etc.
A
knowledge of the zodiacal signs or decan-stars supposed to rule over afflict them with all the diseases to which the mortal flesh of the suffering human race is subject, would enable the limbs of man, and to
the ‘star-read' medical practitioner
who
called himself for this reason the
‘iatro-mathematician' to ‘calculate' and to compose for each patient the
proper phylactery guarding
when
the
name
him
‘influenza' or
against malevolent astral ‘influences'
‘flu'
- or curing the
-
‘star-struck' (astero-
by one of the maladies catalogued in these lists, as the ‘Hungarian physician' who gave Erasmus an ‘astrological' drinking mug shaped like a lion. Having taken his beverage from this vessel for some time, Erasmus felt better, but doubtful whether the improvements were due to its use or not. All these correlations - completely devoid of any empirical scientific foundation - are said to be derived from divine revelations vouchsafed by the Egyptian Hermes Trismegistus to his son, the divine physician bletos) already affected
Asclepius *Lc
.
.
.
style
est
Vhomme mime' Madame
Blavatsky and John
Hazelrigg (see n. 56, p. 265) are models of precision and clarity compared with Eisler. And the reader, trampled underfoot by this
mob
of erudition,
But once that there ideas as
may
justly
this splenetic
very
is
how
to
little
wonder what
it is
that
is
cuneiform has been decoded, being
the planets
being it
said. Eisler offers as 'fact' his
came
to be
said.
develops
own
connected to metals,
precious stones and plants, and ultimately maintains that there is
no empiric evidence
to
enough. But equally there
back up these claims, which is
no empiric evidence that
is
true
refutes
them. Finally
any
will prevent
it
wall,
window pane
or even the thinnest sheet of cloth
[planetary ‘influence’] from reaching the
newborn body embryo enclosed in the maternal body, which any radiation of warmth or light reflected from
at all not to speak of the is
quite impervious to
the planets.
On
the contrary, the recently discovered, deeply penetrat-
ing cosmic rays which really reach us
all
the time from the depths of
space were and are never taken into account by the astrologer.
9 .
.
.
Should the astrologer, with our ancient authors, compare the planetary influence to ‘the attraction of straw by amber' - i.e. electricity - or to ‘the attraction of iron by the lodestone' - i.e. magnetism - the simple
:
OBJECTIONS
126
answer
to
such
pretence would be that the modern physicist
a silly
dis-
poses of the most delicate instruments for detecting and measuring
electro-magnetic disturbances in our atmosphere, and that such dis-
known
turbances are
which only their
to
come from the
specific radiation of
own.
Less lucky than the
but ten years It is
sun, but not from the planets,
and send out no
reflect the sunlight
now
to
make
man
it
took
his direct intellectual heir look as foolish.
well established that Jupiter certainly, and other planets
probably, emit radio waves,
and no one knows what
The
sound judgement of 1857,
of
tirade
to
all
the planets carry magnetic charges,
expect next.
above was directed principally against Ptolemy for
his attempt to account for the physics behind astrology's influ-
ence.
Amusingly enough,
then
Eisler
turns around
and uses
exactly the same explanation to account for the effects of the
moon upon
the mentally disturbed
Anyone who has had the misfortune to live in the neighbourhood knows how much noisier its inmates are on moonlit
of a mental hospital
and not dark nights, and
nights, simply because these nights are clear
therefore less conducive to deep and undisturbed sleep. But to
understand that
and witch-doctor 'loony' or ‘lunatic'
it is
as easy
simple fact must have led the primitive magician
this
to believe that neurotic or psychotic patients
were
10 .
.
.
Less easy to understand
is
why
this
simple fact never occurs to
the wardens of the mental hospitals,
who, instead of hiring additional help for the period of full moon, should just pull down the blinds; since, as Eisler contends, The thinnest sheet of cloth will prevent it from reaching’ the subject. By 1946, a variety of phenomena had been observed to show periodicity corresponding to the phases of the moon. This is all attributed blithely to the moonlight itself by Eisler, who forgets that in this case there should be no periodicity at all - the
phenomena being contingent upon 4
“Selenotropism"
of
certain
clear or
flowering
flowers toward the
moon
quite analagous
the heliotropism
to
in
cloudy weather. plants
turning
the night has been observed. of plants
their It is
turning toward
sunlight in daytime, and presumably to be explained by a similar
mechanism.' 11
But no one knows what the
‘similar
mechanism’
is,
or
why
THE QUEEN OF HUMBUG some plants turn
to the sun,
12J
while others turn to the moon, and
others do neither. .
.
.
Anyhow,
these perfectly natural
all
phenomena
are quite suffi-
by peasants and gardeners over the world concerning the advisability of planting seeds and
cient to explain the widespread beliefs held all
seedlings while the
The
moon waxes. 12
Madame
thesis of
Kolisko - set forth in her book on The
Moon
and Plant Growth published by the Anthroposophical Society - that according to laboratory experiments, all plant growth, without disis more rapid and generally satisfactory if sown or propagated two days before the full moon, the effect being reversed if the sowing or propagation is made two days before the new moon - with unexplained exceptions noticed around the Easter moon - has been tested by
tinction,
Messrs.
J.
Maby, bsc,arcs, fras and
T. Bedford Franklin, ma, frse, joint
authors of a remarkable book The Physics of the Divining Rod (1939), the ‘general conclusion’ at the end of the period from February to July
1938 ‘being that no sure distinction could be made between
and
full
moon
results of the given period’. This finding
significant since
it
new moon
is all
the
more
can clearly be seen from the context and from the
very open-minded and unprejudiced investigators’ announcement of the intention to repeat the
have
welcomed, a positive
eliminating certain conditions which might outcome that they expected and would have
test,
led to this negative
result.
13
Written possibly under the new moon, or perhaps while the author was shielded by a thin screen from the effects of the full, this its
passage
is
at first glance rather un-Eislerian, and, apart
from
tortured, tell-tale syntax, almost rational.
Two
scholars with
many
letters after their
names have put
to a
laboratory test the dubious contention of another scholar with no letters after
her name, concluding after several months of testing
that the latter’s results remain uncorroborated.
The
stated inten-
tion to repeat their test stands as proof of their objectivity.
But eight years had passed between the time of the stated intenand Eisler’s writing. Have these gentleman failed to repeat
tion
their test because of the outbreak of a test surely is
war? The intention
not tantamount to actually re-running
of poking about the library reveals another
it.
to re-run
And
a bit
minor scholarly over-
sight.
mention that Mme Kolisko’s ‘thesis’ is the result hundreds of supposedly rigidly controlled laboratory experi-
Eisler forgets to
of
OBJECTIONS
128
ments extending over a period of a dozen years, published in a illustrated with a prodigal number of photographs substan-
book
tiating the effects of the
moon upon plant growth.
There can be no mistake about
Either
this.
Mme
who
Kolisko
and the moon affects plant growth, or else she has fabricated hundreds of photographs and charts
right,
a spurious theory
Messrs
Maby and
14
It is
.
According
a fraud
to
back up
possible that the inconclusive results of
Bedford would be improved
promised but undelivered
is
is
if
subjected to that
re- trial.
the animistic, anthropomorphic cosmology of Empe-
to
- projecting our purely human or animal valuations into the universe and its remote silent depths - the world is ruled by Love and Strife. So the astrologer tries to discover curiously enough by means of geometry, the ‘sympathies' and ‘antipathies' pervading the sky and dividing the zodiacal belt into rival bands of allies and adversaries. ‘Utque sibi coelum, sic tellus dissidet ipsa' (‘As the sky's a house divided, so's the earth against itself’) says Manilius - the truth being that human docles
wage war against each other as the barbarian still do to this day which Firmicus Maternus transcribes ‘from the books of Abraham' ( !) supposed to have brought this sorry wisdom from Ur of the Chaldeans, can beat any other astrological dogma for sheer absurdity 15 folly believes the stars to
inhabitants of this planet
.
.
.
.
Odd
that Eisler cannot see in this ancient Pythagorean notion
and
of ‘love'
'strife'
its
modern counterparts
of attraction and
repulsion, positive and negative. Odd, too, that since his dismissal of the ‘warring’ stars, radio astronomy has brought us
news of Could the ancients have known of these? Probably not, but perhaps Velikovsky is right, and such events happened within the solar system within historical colliding (or ‘warring’) galaxies.
memory.
Why
not? There
is
in fact
no
‘proof’ that
such things
are impossible; nor even a theory to that effect.
In a sense, cution.
it is
unfair to call in Eisler as star witness for the prose-
The Royal Art
parody of
all
that
is
of Astrology
is
or has ever been
not scholarship, but a
wrong with
scholarship.
There is, in the end, something magnificent about it; for there no academic shortcoming or excess that Eisler does not carry its
extreme
trate a
:
it is
as
though Goya had been commissioned
is
to
to illus-
Complete Encyclopedia of Pedantry.
Swift and Voltaire, whatever the state of their private
lives,
5
THE QUEEN OF HUMBUG managed to bring the ideal of reason Eisler makes his no less ardent appeal
129
into their prose styles. But to reason over the course of
296 pages of perfectly sustained apoplexy. Yet, for all its length and relentless invective, The Royal Art of Astrology produces no
more hard evidence than the winded opponents. We have now quoted from
common
paragraphs of
fact-free
a
number
a hostility towards astrology
of sources
less long-
who
and a lack of
share in
ability to
produce hard evidence or even sound theoretical objections against
But there is beyond this a common communality of attitude obvious, yet
it.
understand
difficult to
grateful to Eisler
initially.
who, with
And
‘tone’ to their strictures, a difficult it
is
to pinpoint,
here that
and
we may
be
his great gift for excess, parodies the
matter into unmistakable focus.
He
'explains’ religious experience, the mystic’s 'vision’.
But some people are so
.‘fascinated’
apparently senseless pattern,
any length
of time into
normal attention is
started.
The
in the inkwell
from
reflected
subject
may
is
or, for
an inkwell or into a
‘dispersed' or
a
fall
at a
random, irregular
crystal sphere, that their
unloosened and a flow of day-dream
‘rapture’ is increased is
by looking
the matter of that, by staring for
if
the darkness of the black mirror
combined with a dazzling splendour, such as the light crystal or from a diamond. Indeed, the contemplating into
what
is
called a ‘trance', a ‘sober drunkenness' as
the ancient mystics described the state of the soul induced by the con-
templation of the splendid pattern of variously coloured glittering points of light
on the velvety black or deep blue of the heavenly sphere. 16
And
so at last the mystery is solved. Not understanding that Kingdom of Heaven was an optical illusion, Christ died upon the Cross. Too dull to advise their adherents to furnish themselves with crystal balls, Buddha, Lao Tse, Zoroaster, the Hindu rishis
the
and the
Sufis of Islam
preached a lifetime of concentration, con-
templation and relentless work in order to set will above the chaos of fleeting sense impressions
The deluded Zen Master
that
toils for
is
man’s ordinary condition.
years to subdue his personality
so that, in one magical instant, hand, brush,
and mountain fuse
and become one upon paper. All folly he need only stare down his own inkwell. Since history began sages have meditated, monks :
have prayed, dervishes have whirled; temples, cathedrals, mosques and pagodas have been erected; sacred art, music and poetry were developed, and C.F.A.
—
all
of this quite needlessly; all because our primi-
130
OBJECTIONS
and semi-conscious ancestors persisted in believing that between the lucid ecstasy of the saint and the reveries of the
tive
self-hypnotized scholar there existed a qualitative difference.
Thanks
to Eisler it
now becomes
he and his fellow scholars and
why
possible to understand
scientists feel as
they do about
astrology and, indeed, about almost everything that has
come
to
us from the past.
These men,
who have
never built a cathedral, danced a dervish
dance, or meditated for half an hour, deny the possibility of such a qualitative difference.
They
believe such activities to have been
own
merely the harbingers of their towards past art
is
disciplines.
Their attitude
therefore one of sentimentality and/or con-
descension while their attitude towards past science best)
As
avuncular contempt far as astrology
critics believe that
other
:
is
one of
(at
concerned, judged a priori a fallacy,
its
.
any objection
raised against
astrology can't work, therefore
it
it is
know
good
as
as
any
doesn't.
Nevertheless, there are objections that are valid are not. Astrologers
is
17
and those that
the difference, and the valid objections
are the subject of intense discussion. Because
extremely intricate and technical
we
many
of these are
will touch only
main elements. And though we have mentioned some
upon
their
of these in
the course of our history, for the sake of completeness let us
itemize
all
of the chief objections to astrology
between them.
and then distinguish
Queen’s Counsel
2
Copernican heliocentric theory exploded astrology, which
1.
was based upon
The
2.
a geocentric conception.
new planets cannot be incorporated into and entirely disrupts the ancient system
discovery of the astrology,
traditional
based upon the septenary of the ancient planets.
For astrology to work, there must be ‘action at a distance’
3.
and
this
4.
The
has been disproved by modern physics.
The sun
is
nothing but a mass of incandescent material.
planets are nothing but globes of
more or
less
solidified
mineral, metallic and gaseous matter, therefore they cannot fluence’ life 5.
on
Astrology
equinoxes,
‘in-
earth. fails
and
to
take into account the precession of the
therefore
bases
itself
upon
imaginary
an
zodiac. 6.
According
to genetic theory, all that
we
inherit
comes
to us
moment of conception, when sperm and ovum join. It is at moment that physical and, by and large, mental character-
at the this
are permanently fixed. If there
istics
at
all, it
which
may
were anything
should base horoscopes upon the
is
practically impossible
take place as
much
to
moment
to astrology
of conception,
determine since fertilization
as twenty-four hours after the actual
sexual act. 6a. Twins and time twins babies born the same minute in the same place according to astrological theory would be identical. 6b. Induced births if astrology is valid, it would have to con:
:
tend that induced births radically alter the subsequent character of the 7.
baby born.
How
can astrology account for mass tragedies? Did
all
the
Jews murdered by Hitler have death written into their stars? 8.
The zodiac
itself is
astrological principles
but an imaginary
circle,
and
all
other
such as houses, aspects and the meanings
attached to the planets are purely arbitrary and have no basis in empirical fact.
OBJECTIONS
132 1.
Copernican Theory The rediscovery of the heliocen tricity of .
was
the solar system destroyed medieval cosmology and
a
blow
to
the medieval age. But astrology studies the putative influences of the planets astrologers
they stand relative to
as
were
as
unhappy
earth
the
to learn that the
Presumably,
.
sun did not revolve
around the earth as were the scholastics, but their astrology was none the worse for it. As we have pointed out, Copernicus, Kepler
and even Newton never suggested that astrology was affected by the Copernican discovery. Moreover, it seems unarguable that the Egyptians and Pythagoreans knew the actual state of affairs, as did the Indians and Chinese, all of whom had astrology. 2. New Planets. Indubitably a problem and one that cannot be approached satisfactorily with astrology in its present state of disrepute. Large-scale research
what
the
new
would be necessary
planets ‘mean', and
how
to
determine
them
to incorporate
in the
canon. Traditionally, the law of seven, the
sacred as the
tenary of five
law of the octave, is held and matter and the convenient sepplanets, sun and moon made a splendid physical
sum
of spirit
‘proof' of the sacred
were regarded
when
nature of the law, particularly
they
which could
as serenely circling the central earth
then be excluded as outside the sacred seven.
The discovery
of the
new
planets does nothing to invalidate the
law of seven. Only that law does not manifest medieval astrologers thought it did. And lacking
itself
as
facilities
the for
organized research astrologers are quite unable to support with cold facts
any of the often
conflicting theories that have been put
forward to explain the astrological roles of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
In a general
way agreement
has been reached. Uranus
is
as to the nature of the
is
‘watery' and
a planet of the occult, of drugs, of
ticism, of subtle reaches of the
planets
the planet of revolution, violent
change, ‘democracy' and technology. Neptune
somewhat mysterious,
new
mind. Pluto
is
roman-
held to be a planet
responsible for the unleashing of subterranean powers, a planet of totalitarianism
and cataclysm -
as its
name
implies.
No
matter
that the name is supposedly made up to commemorate the astronomers Perceval Lowell and C. W. Tombaugh, astrologers are as loath to ascribe anything to coincidence as scientists are eager to ascribe everything to
it.
queen’s counsel How
did astrologers
collective
come
Hindu
By
to these tentative conclusions?
hunch; by analogy; by the
the symbolism of
133
‘feel’
new
of the
by
planets;
astrology which has always postulated
twelve planets with their twelve corresponding and increasingly spiritual functions to
would be
science
match the twelve
validity to such conclusions? to
adequate controlled
quandary. Generally, is
No
new
attendant
The
new
to incorporate the
planets into
astrologers find themselves in a confessed it
that the discovery of the
felt
is
not entirely a chance corollary of the
new
development, a widespread access to
the
by what in any
there be
one will know until they are put
rather that the rise of science represents a
which the
Can
tests.
Meanwhile, in attempting their interpretations,
planets
signs, in short
called ‘hypothesis formation’?
rise of science,
new
phase of
new but
human
intellectual faculties (of
industrial revolution constitutes the prime misuse), and
planets symbolize
these
new
opportunities and their
pitfalls.
astrological
argument
haps none the worse for that
is
unashamedly
analogical, but per-
18 .
Stars are born, they mature, they die. (Science puts inverted
commas around they
die.
organic
human
the terms.)
Human
Analogically, organic
life
ought
beings are born, they mature,
life
and the
to be subject to the
human
same
race within
process,
which
in
beings certainly (we cannot speak for the stars) proceeds
by abrupt, and discreet steps. When a child reaches puberty, ‘influences’ which but months before were undetectable manifest themselves in striking fashion.
may
be happening at the
And
moment on
it is
a
this sort of thing that
grand scale
to
humanity
in
general, say the astrologers.
Because the
new
planets
move
so slowly, the objection
may
be
between them last for several years, meaning that all children born during that time would share these aspects. Astrologers speculate that something of this sort may lie behind
raised that aspects
the so-called ‘generation gap’.
The usual
historical explanations
phenomena are in fact only descriptions after the fact, and would be interesting to see if astrologers could successfully predict the psychological differences that ought to exist between a generation born with, say, Neptune in Libra, and one born with Neptune in Scorpio. Along this speculative line, astrologers are also of the opinion
of such it
OBJECTIONS
134
that the
new
planets do not manifest themselves in the conscious-
ness of individuals in
humanity
at large, except in a
-
ingly gifted, or ‘developed’ individuals particularly
immune
new
In attempting to incorporate the
new
planets into the ancient
generally held that
it is
planets constitute the beginning of a
conserving the
thought
to
Law
concept being
to scientific investigation.
concept of the harmony of the spheres, the
this latter
few outstand-
new
‘octave’ (thus,
Neptune and Pluto more spiritual octave
of Seven). Uranus,
represent
‘higher’
a
or
are of
Mercury, Venus and Mars respectively. It
goes without saying that none of this can be called ‘science’;
pure speculation based upon astrological assumptions that are time-honoured but largely unproven and extremely difficult to
it is
prove. Nevertheless, as evidence of celestial/ terrestial correlations
accumulates, the hypothesis formations of the astrologers
may
prove to be as inspired as the hypothesis formations of the scientists.
And
meanwhile, the
new
planets present astrologers with a
grand and intriguing problem. 3. Action at a distance is impossible. This notion was commonly used to support the theory of a mechanical universe in which ‘empty space’ was supposed to prevail between the planets. The action at a distance argument was used by Eisler as late as
1946. But the well-known sunspot cycles and a host of other
phenomena remove 4. Solar
this objection (see Part Three).
and planetary influence
impossible
is
.
The sun
is
but a
mass of incandescent material, etc. This common objection is not an objection but a statement of negative faith. It asserts in effect that the universe
is
meaningless. But
demonstrate this than
And
if it is difficult
it is
to
to
it
is
no more
possible to
demonstrate the contrary.
imagine the sun and planets possessed of
as we do their chemical conwe may, as an analogy, take the case of a blood cell our own bodies. Possessed of consciousness of a sort, is the
consciousness and will,
knowing
stituents,
within blood
cell
capable of imagining that the reason for
accelerated velocity
lies in
Astrologers, whatever the disagreements
adhere to the ancient principle of
system
is
its
miraculous
our suddenly becoming angry?
‘as
among them may be, The solar
above, so below’.
believed to be an ‘organism’ and the planets are expres-
sions of the functions of this ‘organism’ just as the various organs
of the
human body
are expressions
and instruments of
its
func-
queen's counsel Of
tions.
135
course, demonstrating the functions of the planets
problem of another order. But meanwhile astrology
the objection
a
that
no more than rock
invalid because the planets are
is
is
and gas must be discarded; it is the same as maintaining that man no more than the sum total of his chemical constituents (a theory actually advanced by behavioural psychologists but op-
is
posed even by fellow scientists
who
for
some reason
find this
logical premise repellent).
Astrology
account the precession of the equinoxes. The so-called Tropical' zodiac, the one used by most 5.
astrologers,
is
fails
to take into
Each year begins
fixed.
to the precession of the
equinoxes (see
However, due on the actual day
at o° Aries. p.
ff.)
47
- the spring day that is divided equally between day and night - the sun no longer rises in o° Aries, but 0 has gradually precessed and at the moment rises in 7 Pisces. This means in practical astrological terms that a man born on 24 March
of the vernal equinox
is
bom
said to be
under Aries, but in
man
rising deep in Pisces. Is the raise
Critics
upon
its
status in astrological circles.
Schwaller de Lubicz all
its
sun of
this
time
is
objection without ever bothering to check
this
nized for centuries. Ptolemy
in
fact the
an Arian or a Piscean ?
is
The problem has been
may have known
right, the Egyptians
of
it.
recog-
And
if
were fully aware of
it
complexity, and their three calendars, operating con-
comitantly, are a reflection of this knowledge.
At
the
moment,
in
England and America, there
noisy contingent of astrologers zodiac Pisces
who
is
a small but
contend that the Sidereal
- the one that moves, which would have our Arian born in - is the only true one, and that, largely due to Ptolemy (in
whose day, the Tropical and
Sidereal zodiacs coincided) astrology
has been becoming progressively more wrong. The Siderealists
contend that only the moving, Sidereal zodiac is the true one, and they have tried to buttress their argument with elaborate statistical studies.
Their opponents (the majority of conventional astrologers)
contend that the
and
insist
statistics
that their
can be interpreted in a number of ways,
own
collective experience
testifies
to
the
validity of the standard Tropical zodiac.
But taking a cue from the Egyptians,
it
seems possible that
the two zodiacs are not inimical and mutually exclusive. Obviously, the laws governing
life
on earth have not moved in accord-
OBJECTIONS
136
ance with the Sidereal zodiac. The vernal equinox 22 March; and the is
anything
first
day of spring
to astrology,
is still
still
o° Aries.
occurs on
And
there
if
then the same laws should obtain to
man
as to organic life.
On
the other hand, the precession of the equinoxes cannot be
devoid of astrological significance either.
It is
the precession of the
equinoxes that brings about the Taurean Age, Arian Age, Piscean
Age, and the impending Aquarian Age.
An
analogy
may
help to clarify the problem. Imagine a
self-
contained village within an enormous empire. The village has
own
feasts, holidays, local saints
life.
To
the
casual
observer
its
and heroes, its own rhythm of appears autonomous and un-
it
changing. But actually this village
is
bound up
in the greater laws
governing the empire. From time to time messages and instructions arrive; minute but progressive changes are made in the rites and the regulations. To the villagers themselves it appears that nothing significant has changed, and it is only through a study of
monuments left by ancestors that the extent change becomes clear. The village, of course, corresponds records and
of the to the
day-to-day Tropical zodiac, favoured by most astrologers;
empire
to
the Sidereal zodiac
whose
leisurely imperatives
the are
almost indiscernible.
From
a
practicable point of view, then,
it
would seem
that
astrologers are (theoretically) largely justified in sticking to their
conventional Tropical zodiac.
Making conscious use
of the Sidereal
zodiac was a possibility for the Egyptians, perhaps, but not for us.
now be busy building appropriate structures consecrated to the Age of Aquarius, designed to attune men to their time. Instead we fly to the moon. 6. All that we inherit comes to us at the moment of conception. If it
If
were we should
there
is
anything
moment
to astrology at all ,
it
should base horoscopes
We
have already spoken of the bequeathed upon likelihood Trismegistus, all Books of Hermes in the scholars of Alexandria by Egypt. These fragmentary works
upon
the
of conception.
include detailed rules for determining astrologically the of conception. Recent research of a
moment
Czech psychologist, Eugen
Jonas, seems to bear out certain of the old theories (see pp. 174
But this does not answer the objection. the ancients were aware that the logically important
moment
It
ff.).
merely contends that
of conception
was
and that they dealt with the problem.
astro-
What
.
queen's counsel moment
137
which is decisive in determining the personality of the newly-born? Does this not run counter to everything discovered by modern genetics ? Not entirely. But the argument from genetics at least makes of the astrological notion that
it is
the
of birth
sense and deserves to be dealt with seriously.
we
Genetic theory contends that
According
of our genes.
gene
are ‘nothing but' the product
Penguin Dictionary of Science, a
to the
hypothetical unit, comprising part of a chromosome.
is ‘a
The gene
is
.
.
regarded as being a particular molecular configuration
of the nucleic acids ... at the particular point
chromosome.
.
.
.
See Genetic Code.’
And
on the length of
then, ‘Genetic Code.
a
The
code by which inherited characteristics are handed from genera-
The code
tion to generation.
figuration of the
expressed by the molecular con-
is
chromosomes of cells.'
Heredity then, according
to genetic theory,
depends upon the the chromo-
configuration of these hypothetical units within
But what determines the configuration? The
some.
answer
‘coincidence'.
is
But astrologers say
‘the stars'.
scientific
And though
they can as yet prove nothing, the theoretical possibility of tial
celes-
determination improves with time. The hypothetical gene has
never been observed, and level,
and
is
therefore
delicate nature. tivity
A
reactions
electro-magnetic conditions, terrestrial factors.
upon
a molecular
be open to influences of a most
to
wealth of evidence
chemical
of
exists, it exists
it
if
bound
to
which
the
now
testifies to
prevailing
in turn
the sensi-
magnetic and
depend upon extra-
Astrologers can defend, at least theoretically,
the possible validity of the moment-of-conception horoscope.
Still,
no way justifies the horoscope calculated from the moment of birth, which is the mainstay of genethliacal astrology. Can a child with his first breath of air acquire any properties he did not this in
have a moment before? It is
no argument
as far as the geneticist
is
concerned to mention
the millennial experience of countless astrologers; nor
is
there
any point in mentioning accounts of the descent of the soul into the body as it comes to us in the Egyptian and Tibetan Books of the Dead, and from other esoteric sources. The modern scientist 19 dismisses such works The argument against astrology from the standpoint of genetics .
is
only as good as genetics
of science, each C.F. A
.
— £*
new
itself.
And
in genetics, as in all
branches
discovery tends to open rather than enclose
:
OBJECTIONS
138
the vistas of knowledge. Excerpts from an account of a recent
experiment
may
serve to illustrate our point
Until a few years ago, the science of heredity - though an immensely
complex one - was
at least closely defined. It concerned genetics, the
study of the genes within the nucleus of the that genetic material
-
DNA
- can
instance in the sub-cellular particles
cells.
The
recent discovery
also exist outside the nucleus, for
known
as mitochondria, has stirred
up the pellucid waters of Mendelian genetics. Now these waters have been muddied even further: a paper just published suggests that genes
may not
be the only factors involved in inheritance.
Roger Williams, a biochemist from the University of Texas found that among rats which had been inbred for 101 generations so that .
.
.
their genes should be all but identical, large differences existed in the
chemical composition of their urine, even though
all
the experimental
were eating the same diet. Since then he has shown that ‘enormous’ variations - up to 6o-fold or more - can be found among inbred animals rats
in features such as the voluntary stuffs,
and the tendency
What
consumption of alcohol, choice of food-
to exercise.
two parameters which are determining an individual’s individuality - genetic complement and environment plus the interaction between the two - are identical? Williams has a theory about this. He has toyed with the idea that there exist unknown factors - aside from genes and environment - involved in the control of the intricate process of differentiation, in which a complex organism, containing hundreds of millions of cells of different types, develops from a causes
these variations,
normally reckoned
if
the
to be all that are involved in
single fertilized egg.
With
Eleanor Shorrs, Williams
now
reports
on the study of 16
of armadillo quadruplets (Proceedings of the National Sciences, vol. 60, p. 910).
They
sets
Academy
of
studied 20 parameters, including organ
weight and biochemical features, and confirmed that all varied widely within any given quadruple set - some parameters by as much as 140fold.
Williams’ hypothesis
The
is
apparently borne out.
implications of this experiment are profound.
summed up by
saying that genes aren’t necessarily
all
They can be important in
inheritance four italics] - a pretty revolutionary notion. Many of the most deep-seated and important characters of a race - form, intelligence, speed, fertility, strength and so on - vary too continuously among that race to be explainable in terms of single genes. Normally, in assuming that genes are the carriers of intelligence, geneticists assume that these sort of characters involve multiple genes.
But
there are factors outside of the genes and
if,
as
Williams postulates,
which can control the genes
queen’s counsel [our italics], factors present in different types of
on the sion,
fairly
random way
cell
that depend solely
that a cell's contents are distributed at divi-
then these continuously varying characters can be explained
more
And
easily.
biologists that
repressors -
there
139
is
much
plenty of evidence from the molecular
such cytoplasmic gene-controlling factors - inducers and
exist
20 .
.
.
So the responsibility has been shifted from the genes to the equally hypothetical inducers and repressors - preserving a decent materialist outlook. Williams’s experiment does not, of course,
prove the validity of any astrological premise whatever. But effectively destroy the objection to astrology
of genetics
the discoveries of
:
modern
it
does
from the point of view
genetics do not invalidate
the principles of astrology. Astrologers have long contended that inherited characteristics were determined
by the moment
of con-
ception (which, in theory, ought to be detectable in the horoscopes of the parents,
ever astrology could be sufficiently refined) while
if
the 'personality’
is
contingent upon the
moment
of birth.
But meanwhile, under the general heading of genetics, it is number of specific and interesting objections
possible to raise a
such as that of Twins.
The perennial question
much
Ten minutes’ one twin all
of identical twins interests astrologers as
as geneticists. In theory, in astrology,
is
difference in birth can
mean
every minute counts. that the ascendant of
placed in a different sign from the other, and with
the ‘houses’ change as well.
On
it
the other hand, the ten or even
twenty minutes’ difference in birth hour can make almost no discernible difference in the horoscope
if
the ascendant falls in the
middle of a sign (rotating once in twenty-four hours, the earth stays in a sign for
two hours). Yet
in practice,
on the
basis of the
horoscope alone, astrologers can rarely distinguish those twins
which
are virtually alike
to complicate the sion’ If
is
and those which are vastly
matter
still
different.
And
further, the question of ‘house divi-
entirely unsettled.
the problem admits of an answer,
interpretation of the
we have
seen,
quadruplicities,
meaning
the zodiac
is
it
must
lie
in a refined
of the individual degree areas.
divided into polarities,
and the dodecad, according
to
As
triplicities,
Pythagorean prin-
ciples.
Seen in terms of wave harmonics, this corresponds to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th,
and 12th harmonic. But
if
these harmonics have
any
OBJECTIONS
140
significance
must
multiples
their
also
mean something. And,
indeed, from ancient times astrologers have attempted to utilize a
number
of different divisions.
The 30 °
signs are divided in three
equal sections each yielding ‘decans’ (the 36th harmonic),
work with
astrologers
specific 3
0
Hindu
areas (the 120th harmonic) while
number of systems exist, both old and new, purporting to ascribe specific - but usually symbolic - significance to the individual a
is consonant with astrological theory. Twins born few minutes apart would indeed differ in the ranges of these higher harmonics. But attacking the problem practically is another matter, and the more practical-minded astrologers concentrate upon more immediate problems.
degrees. This just a
same minute in the same place no matter that they are from different mothers. In a disorganized way, considerable material has been collected, and the fact is that babies born at the same time often share features in common. With amazing frequency, time twins will have the same name, will marry wives or husbands with the same name, will work at similar occupations, succeed or fail in similar ways and die of the same or similar causes (see plates 10-13 for a few visual examples. And Appendix 2 for a sample - out of many - case histories). Can all this be ascribed to the great God, 6a.
Time
ought
to
twins: Babies born the
be identical,
Coincidence, as well ?
meanwhile admit that the cases they have collected are those that for one reason or another have been newsworthy enough to relate. Undoubtedly, there are Astrologers think
many But
time twins
as
is
it
who
unlikely, but
bear very
little
resemblance to each other.
always the case with astrology,
critics criticize
ignorance, while defenders are disorganized and can
concrete beyond a
but insufficient
number
to justify
out of
show nothing
of case histories, provocative enough,
any conclusion beyond that time twins
bear a psychological and physiological resemblance to each other too often to attribute
it
to coincidence.
whose character than had it
6b. Induced births: do astrologers maintain that a child
birth
is
induced will have a very different
been born normally? Difficult as
it
may
be to countenance, the
no choice but to maintain it. But like the question of twins, this one is so complex and so unpromising that most astrologers prefer to admit their incompetence in the matter and astrologer has
get
on with
their
work.
!
queen’s counsel Did
141
murdered by Hitler have common and valid objecHaldane and discussed brought by B. S. up tion to astrology was J. briefly, but it is an important point and worth repeating. Astrologers contend that the individual’s destiny is subsumed in the 7.
Mass
tragedies:
the Jews
all
death written into their horoscopes? This
greater laws governing his city, state, nation or race.
But astrolofrom the
gers are unable to distinguish satisfactorily the general particular,
insofar as
and perhaps were never able to - Egyptian astrology, we know, used personal astrology for medical purposes,
not for prophecy; and their prophetic astrology served the vast, general purposes of the state and the epoch, consecrating
cities,
vemples, whole territories to the set of cosmic principles (or astrological sign) ruling the particular city,
temple or territory.
we do
Egyptians arrived at their conclusions
we know how
How the
not know. Nor do
were -
successful or relevant these conclusions
except that the four thousand year span of Egyptian civilization
cannot be disregarded; for a civilization to
last
four millennia
something has to be right Astrologers persist in the practice of
mundane
astrology. Their
nor will
results are unlikely to impress the scientist or statistician,
their apparently arbitrary
methods convince the
problems they deal with ought gists,
and
What races,
but the
sceptics;
to interest psychologists, sociolo-
social scientists. is
it,
makes
actually, that
for the differences
between
between nations, between regions, even between neighbour-
ing villages ?
Anyone vaguely awake
to his
own
impressions
knows
that 'character’ changes from one region to another; that the
'atmosphere’ at one point on the river
is
altogether different from
another point two miles down; that one city seems indisputably
an hour away is benign. National and frowned upon by right-thinking rationalists, but they survive because something in them rings true, no matter that it is an extrapolation and exaggeration of only unpleasant
hostile while another half racial stereotypes are
traits.
There
is
no known way
to
measure
it,
yet the Germans are
predictably Germanic, and the French unalterably French.
Astrologers
know
that ‘genotype and environment’
explanations but descriptions
:
are not
labels applied to a mystery. Astro-
logers cast horoscopes foj the dates of important historical events,
the signing of crucial treaties and constitutions, dynasties of kings or of lines of successive leaders and ministers, and for the dates of
OBJECTIONS
142
important geological and climatic phenomena (earthquakes, floods, famines, plagues,
etc.)
looking for striking frequencies within the
and aspects of a planet or planets, which a particular city, nation, or race are not satisfactory, but some of the
signs, the recurrent positions
and
specific degree areas to
'sensitive’.
is
The
results
studies provide leads that
may
fairly be called tantalizing.
The zodiac is an imaginary circle, and the other principles of astrology - houses, aspects, etc - are equally arbitrary and correspond to no objective realities This is, of course, the master objec8.
.
.
But to put it forward simply because it sounds 'reasonable’ no demonstration of its validity. Evidence must be produced. Equally, evidence must be produced by the astrologers. Without evidence, there can be no scientific discussion. Meanwhile, there remains at least one good theoretical reason tion.
is
not to dismiss
it,
at least not until the evidence
is
produced. In
1954, the eminent mathematician and physicist, P. A.
M.
Dirac,
which modern physical theory is subjected in modern times, there is just one rock which weathers every storm, to which one can always hold fast - the
wrote ‘With
all
the violent changes to
assumption that the fundamental laws of nature correspond to a
means
beautiful mathematical theory. This
simple mathematical concepts that so that one has pleasure
From
it.
of astrology,
aesthetic sense as final arbiter or truth
For
it
might be
theory based on
21
working with
the point of view
a
together in an elegant way,
fit
is
this
appeal to man’s
particularly interesting.
said that, in the general absence of
hard evidence,
has been astrology’s profound aesthetic attraction that has for so many centuries ensured its survival (cf. Franz Cumont, p. 66). it
The
ancient Egyptians, according to Schwaller de Lubicz,
dis-
emanated only from the head; to get to the truth, they insisted that it was necessary to ‘think with the heart’. When Dirac says that 'the fundamental laws of nature must correspond to a beautiful mathematical theory’, he is in fact talking trusted thinking that
ancient Egyptian.
Nor
is
this appeal to aesthetics sentimental.
the most unregenerate materialism
is
Ultimately even
based upon value judgements,
upon unproven and unprovable assumptions - e.g., the assumption that life on earth is an accident, is no more logical and that
no
is,
less
metaphysical than the assumption that
basis, all
other factors being equal,
it
it is
not.
Upon
would seem more
this
‘logical’
QUEERS COUNSEL to believe in a
that
was
We We
have
143
theory that was aesthetically satisfying than in one
not.
now
dealt with all the principal objections to astrology.
find that there
is
nothing in modern science that invalidates
astrology from a theoretical point of view, and, as
we have
re-
no body of factual evidence disproving is now an accumulation of direct and indirect evidence substantiating the fundamental premise of celestial /terrestrial correlation, and there is some evidence
peatedly insisted, there it
empirically.
On
is
the contrary, there
that suggests that such astrological principles as aspects, houses
and the meanings assigned as arbitrary either.
to the planets
can no longer be regarded
Plate
i.
Aerial view of the
Temple
of Luxor, Egypt.
Plate
The
2.
Colossus
Rameses
II
of
super-
imposed upon the plan of the Temple.
Plate
3.
Newly-born baby superimposed
upon
the plan of the inner cov-
ered temple at Luxor.
Plate 4.*
Plan of the Temple of Luxor
with a standard anatomical eton superimposed
upon
skel-
it.
Plate
7.
The Pyramid and Mortuary Temple
of
Cheph-
ren.
Plate
6.
Astrological attribution of the parts of the hu-
man body
to the
was incorporated tical to that
dominion into the
of the signs of the zodiac
Temple
of Luxor,
and
portrayed in medieval drawings.
is
iden-
Plate
5.
Schema showing
principal (as-
trologically relevant) stages of
growth
of the
human
body, in
rapport with the dimensions of the Temple.
Plate
8.
Schist triad, Mycerinus, Hathor,
and the Goddess
nome.
of the jackel-
ROFLAS
Plate
9.
Grand Central Station, New York, is the first American installation of Astroflash, a computer programmed to deliver astrological horo-
The
cause of the crush in
scopes and forecasts.
Plate 10.
Jean Henderson and Joyce Ritter and their families.
Plate ii, a
and
b.
Albert Einstein (left) and
Otto Hahn, were both great physicists and both were born on March
Plate 13, a 20, 1890,
and
b.
14, 1879.
Born the same day, March
Beniamino Gigli
(left)
Melchior are renowned tenors.
and Lauritz
Part Three
The Evidence
.
The Evidence
The attempt disciplines,
to
and
put astrology into terms acceptable to
apply what
is
to
valuable in these disciplines to
astrology, has occupied the time of a
number
of astrologers since
The aims
the revival of interest at about the turn of the century.* of astrology in the light of science
summed up by John M. Addey,
and the modern world were
president of the Astrological
Association of Great Britain, in an address in 1959
Most
modern
of us think of the present century as having
:
marked the begin-
ning of a gradual rebirth or re-emergence of astrology. The position today
is
that
some useful advances have been made and that thanks to the work
of practical horoscopy
there
is
now
in various branches of
many
a widespread curiosity abroad in our science
astrologers
-
a kind of
latent interest, widely diffused but as yet unfocused.
what has been accomplished looks rather small when work waiting to be done. So far as the practical rules of concerned there are a host of uncertainties - the zodiac,
Nevertheless, set against the
horoscopy are
the houses, aspects solved
by
all
present intractable problems which can only be
work; the philosophical basis has yet
careful, persistent
to
be
adequately re-expressed in modern times; the metaphysical laws and principles of our subject are uncoordinated; our records are scattered
and contain many
errors; valuable traditional elements lie buried in the
writings of the past which need translating, and
home and abroad
are neglected for
want
of those
new developments at who can follow them
up and interpret them to us The chief obstacle [in acquiring more students] is the opposition of the scientific fraternity, and to silence or check their criticism would seem to be the first step in presenting our case to a wider public and so attracting more students .
.
Addey
.
.
.
goes on to successfully adumbrate astrology’s elusive
* But this number constitutes a deplorably small percentage of astrologers. Most remain dedicated GPs, content to use traditional methods and knowledge, no matter how faulty; while in other quarters a brand of misty metaphysics prevails, regarding astrology as sacrosanct and altogether untouchable by the tarbrush of reason and experiment.
THE EVIDENCE
148
requirements like
an
art;
no sooner does one call it a 'science' than it looks no sooner does one call it an art than it becomes :
apparent that a
scientific approach But having recognized the need
to astrology, a
number
of factors
is
what’s needed.
to
apply the
come
method
scientific
into play to complicate the
matter.
To begin
with, research into astrology, like every other form of
money and
research, requires
trained personnel, both of
which
are
conspicuously lacking. Then, astrological experiments are intrinsically unrepeatable. is
The
relationship of the planets to each other
in a state of perpetual change,
and
it is
therefore impossible to
completely any one factor or group of factors and study
isolate
them apart from the whole.
As an example, scientifically the
let
us suppose
meaning -
it is
any -
if
decided to try to determine
of
Mars
would
in Scorpio. It
be a simple matter to collect a test group of individuals born
during the time that Mars
transiting the sign of Scorpio. But
is
each of these individuals will have his Mars in different relationship to
all
the other planets, particularly the swiftly
moving ones
such as the moon, Mercury and Venus. Ascendants and Midheavens will be spread around the zodiac, and
made
to
narrow the
test
group
to, let
if
the attempt
is
us say, those with Mars in
Scorpio in conjunction with a Scorpio ascendant, then the test it would be extremely draw generalized conclusions from the results. Compromise is possible, but it requires recognition
group will be so narrow that
difficult to
of the fact
that astrology can never be reduced to quantitative rules. Quantiexist, certainly, and can be abstracted from the whole with some degree of statistical significance, but it is essential that the meaning of the whole is not forgotten in the process of
tative factors
studying the part.
Then, in attempting research into astrology
as
it
affects
human Time
beings, the principle of level cannot be overlooked either.
twins’
show
may
be born the same minute and at the same place and
striking similarities, but live out their lives
on
different
psychological levels, and even on different social levels (see Appen-
dix
2).
Conceivably, astrological factors might be isolated that in
certain cases
would connote
a susceptibility to a certain disease
but that, in other cases would work out in a detectable psychological pattern. In other words, research into astrology
would have
THE EVIDENCE out with a
to be carried
149
flexibility, a willingness to accept the
unexpected, an ability to apply unabashed intuition, and a grasp of the concept of the istic
whole that cannot be said
to
be a character-
of scientific research today.
But supposing these obstacles could to speculate as to
all
be overcome,
possible
it is
what might be expected to yield results. which accounts for astrology’s popucredulous and ill-repute among the educated, is
Astrological prophecy, larity
among
the
almost impossible to approach scientifically, since
it
impossible to define in acceptable and precise terms.
An
was the
early attempt
illustration
of
statistically
by the Renaissance
this
is
almost
amusing
refute astrology
to
scholar, Pico della Mirandola, ‘The
Scourge of Astrology’. Pico tested the weather predictions of the astrologers for astrologers
30 consecutive days and gleefully declared that the
1
were right only
But by modern
six times.
statistical
methods these figures constitute a remarkable example of negative significance. To know what weather to expect, one would merely have
to
the opposite of the astrologers’ predictions to
believe
achieve ninety-five per cent accuracy.
would seem
It
using a statistically unacceptable approach. it
would be very prophecies;
to
difficult to get a
tests
might
And
consensus
two
result in
that Pico
was
terminology apart,
among
astrologers as
astrologers achieving
accurate results consistently while ten others achieved such results
seldom, or never, or in spurts short, there
on
would be
little
when
the
mood was on them.
hope of putting
In
prophecy
astrological
a scientific basis.
Better results test astrology’s
associate
might be expected from experiments designed psychological validity.
qualitative
Though
from quantitative
to
impossible to dis-
factors,
tests
could cer-
tainly be organized to determine the influence of particular planets
upon
groups thought to have factors in if
and vice versa -
particular groups born at specified times;
common might
these factors could be determined astrologically.
this latter
method has already produced
be studied to see
As we
shall see,
interesting results.
But the aspect of astrology most accessible to scientific tests is which deals with celestial /terrestrial correlations in the phy-
that
world. Traditional astrology has always insisted that planets and herbs are ‘influenced’ by different and specific planetary con-
sical
figurations; moreover, that the organs of the diseases are ‘influenced’ or ‘dominated’
by
body and
specific
astrological factors as
150
THE EVIDENCE
well.
Such testing would require relatively little money or special and some of the evidence we shall be quoting suggests
training,
that these old attributions Finally, there
is
may
not be devoid of truth.
symbolic astrology, the astrology of meaning,
the spiritual astrology that held the attention of the great of history. This astrology testing,
is
but there can be
minds
not directly accessible to quantitative little
doubt that
if
by some miracle
research into astrology were begun and results began accumulating,
no matter what
researchers,
face
up
their original attitude,
to the fact that their results
would have
to
were achieved because the
components of the solar system had meaning, and they would be thrown up against symbolic astrology, willingly or not. As it stands, however, there have been almost no tests organized by astrologers with an understanding of the requirements of science. There have been a few tests organized by scientists with no understanding of astrology, whose aim was to demolish the astrological premise. Finally, there
run by
have been a number of but whose
scientists uninterested in astrology
research took
them into
fields
areas that directly or indirectly bore
the astrological premise, and
it is
from the
tests
latter sources that
of
upon
much
of our evidence has been drawn.
There
is
and a positive aspect to this situation. On because the evidence comes from sources indif-
a negative
the positive side,
ferent or hostile to astrology, there can be
no suspicion of the
experimenters’ organizing their experiments with a view to proving their astrological preconceptions.
On
the negative side,
ignoring the astrological connotations of their
own
by
work, each of
the experimenters operates in a vacuum. Their results do nothing to
implement each other, nor do they
scheme. The result
is
that
many
fit
into
any
larger conceptual
experiments carried out inde-
pendently simply prove the same point over and over but carry the matter
no
further. (In such cases
we mention only one
of the
representative experiments.)
Thus, the
-
scientific
evidence supporting astrology
is
-
ironically
largely the result of accident. Quite possibly, experiments de-
signed to test deliberately for astrological factors would yield more
and directly relevant data. As it stands, however, the reader must judge for himself whether or not sufficient evidence is now available to make astrology again a subject worthy of serious
striking
attention.
the Evidence
151
Statistical Evidence
early inquiries With the development of statistics, astrologers have attempted make use of this potentially useful weapon.
to
But until quite recently, those organizing the experiments had training in statistics, and
it is only from their mistakes begun to realize how difficult it is to apply statistics to astrology - largely due to the multiplicity of factors to be taken into account and to the difficulty of isolating those factors being tested. To give just one example of the sort of thing experimenters overlook initially due to the elliptical orbits of the planets and their varying velocities relative to the earth, they often appear to be stationary in any given sign, or may appear to move backward through a sign in a retrograde motion. This means that over limited periods of time each of the planets will spend varying amounts of time in each of the signs, all of which must be taken into account when making calculations for - let us say - the number of musicians born with Venus in the sign of Libra.
but
little
that today’s astrologers have
:
Of
these early experiments, perhaps the best
Carl Jung,
who
astrological
known
is
that of
understood something of the depth and richness of
symbolism
as
it
applied to psychology.
Jung made an interesting but elementary attempt astrological factors in the horoscopes of married couples.
to look for
He studied
mutual relationships of the Sun, Moon and Ascendant and initially was achieving impressively significant results, but as his experiment continued, and his test group grew, his results tailed off, though even so they remained statistically significant. But Jung seems to have lost interest in the experiment and pursued it no further. It seems odd that in running his test Jung should have failed to look for mutual relationships between Mars and Venus, traditionally the planets of male-female attraction. But in any case, in an inquiry of this sort, the difficulty is in defining what is meant by 'attraction’. Surely, it is safe to say some sort of relationship must exist - or must have existed - between married couples that does not exist between unattached men and women. But defining the the
precise nature of the attachment in astrological terms
matter altogether.
is
another
THE EVIDENCE
152
Other experimenters made similar mistakes. Before World War, an American professor, Farnsworth, out
the Second to disprove
astrology, collected the birth dates of seven thousand musicians.
Music
is
traditionally linked to
Venus, Venus
is
supposed
to ‘rule’
no more musicians were born under Libra than under any other sign and therefore considered that he had disproved astrology. This was premature. To effectively discredit the music/ Venus relationship, it would be the sign of Libra. But Farnsworth found that
Venus may play in the charts - and this Farnsworth failed to do. Again, the problem is knowing what to look for. It is true that musicians have their music in common, but music is a necessary to look into the other roles of musicians
-
aspects, houses, angles, etc.
broad subject. Astrologers would not expect the tympanist to have in common with the flautist, and factors linking flautists with each other and tympanists with each other - if they exist -
much
would be submerged be delighted
in the statistics. Admittedly, astrologers
if statistics
than under other signs, a
number
would
show more soldiers born under Aries and more musicians under Libra, but after did
of such statistical onslaughts
it
has become clear that the
universe demands a certain finesse before deigning to reveal
its
astrological secrets.
Two
other early statistical attempts are worth mentioning, prin-
cipally because
- though subsequently shown
to be
they have led to recent experiments in which, at
inadequate last,
genuine
results begin to appear.
K. E. Krafft, the Swiss
who was thought
to
have been Hitler's
private astrologer, spent years accumulating data of every imaginable sort in an attempt to put astrology
on a scientific basis as it and psychology. well-known French astrologer, devoted
related to heredity, physiology
And much
Paul Choisnard, a
time to the compilation of
logical factors at
work
statistics
claiming to prove astro-
in heredity, in the position of the ascendants
of 'superior' persons, and in the position of the planets in the
horoscopes of those
claimed that his
work
who had
statistics
suffered violent deaths. Choisnard
proved significant astrological factors at
Sun-Mars relationships in Mercury-Moon relationships in the Sun-Moon aspects in the charts of celebri-
in such astrological concepts as
the charts of early mortalities; charts of philosophers; ties
and aspects of Mars in the charts of soldiers.
Though
the academic establishment ignored the
work
of Krafft
THE EVIDENCE and Choisnard, astrologers for statistical
many
work was sound and
153
years firmly believed that this
that astrology
had been
vindi-
cated.
MICHEL GAUQUELIN In 1950, Michel Gauquelin, a graduate of the Sorbonne in statistics,
became interested
in the claims
out to investigate them -
or, to
put
it
made by astrologers, and set more accurately, to disprove
them.
Working with sophisticated modern methods, Gauquelin soon showed that both Choisnard’s and Krafft’s results were based on faulty methods or else upon insufficient test groups. By the time he had finished, Gauquelin was able to maintain that not one of the claims made by Choisnard or Krafft would stand up to scrutiny.
There remained only the work of a French astrologer, Leon Lasson,
who
in a small
book had presented
statistics correlating
the
positions of the planets in their houses as applied to various professions.
Lasson had found that with a frequency far beyond what
chance would allow, Mars was
to
be found aspecting the ascend-
ants and descendants in the horoscopes of 134 politicians; Venus, the ascendants of 190 artists, Mercury, the ascendants and descendants of 209 actors and writers.
Though
Lasson’s test groups were too small to stand unequivoc-
ally, his figures
were impressive. This aspect of astrology had not
yet been tested by Gauquelin, and accordingly he compiled an acceptable test group of 576 eminent professors of medicine. To Gauquelin’s surprise, he found Lasson’s thesis confirmed. Both
Mars and Saturn aspected the ascendants and descendants of these eminent professors significantly, indeed gigantically, beyond what chance would dictate.
No little dismayed, Gauquelin compiled a new group of 508 eminent doctors. Again, Mars and Saturn aspected the ascendants and descendants in striking numbers. Taking both groups together, the odds worked out to 10,000,000 1 against the results being the outcome of chance. Having set out to statistically disprove astrology once and for all, Gauquelin had uncovered at least one correlation between planets and profession that was inexplicable, by any means other :
than astrology. Incapable of letting the matter rest there, and
— 154
the evidence Mid-heaven
Rising
Setting
Mars
200
—
Rising
Figure
i
1 2.
Mars and
Jupiter in the charts of 3,142 military leaders.
Setting
:
THE EVIDENCE
1
55
happily unaware of the treatment in store for him at the hands of his professional colleagues,
Gauquelin
set
out to pursue his results
wherever they might lead. In Continental Europe, unlike Britain or America, the
moment
of birth has always been noted in birth registers, as well as the
Gauquelin collected data from
date. Laboriously.
making up
large groups of eminent
members
all
over France,
of other professions
soldiers, politicians, artists, musicians, writers,
sportsmen,
clerics.
In every case, with no exception, differing only in the extent of degree of significance, Gauquelin’s test groups categorically demonstrated that
between the choice of profession of eminent
the position of certain planets at the
not conception
!
)
moment
men and
of their birth (birth,
was an impressive and inexplicable
there
cor-
relation.
But curiously, Gauquelin’s ished. (Gauquelin accepts the logical history,
distaste for astrology was undimindreaming Chaldean theory of astro-
and every other variety of anthropological, archaeoand sociological myth, as long as it has the
logical, psychological
imprimatur of
'science’
upon
it).
Not only had
his statistics borne
out a major astrological premise, but they had borne
it
out in a
- though not wholly - consonant with traditional astrology. Mars and Saturn figured strongly in the charts of scientists and academicians, as any astrologer might have predicted: similarly, Mars and Jupiter showed strongly in the charts of sportsmen; while in the charts of artists and musicians, Mars and Saturn significantly fled from the rising and culminating
manner
that
degrees (see
was
fig.
in large part
13)
an unexpected but entirely orthodox discovery;
but Venus and Mercury did not show significantly in the charts of musicians
and painters, which astrologers would have
antici-
pated, given the other data.
Gauquelin published his
statistics in
1955 in L’Influence des Astres
(Denoel), repeatedly maintaining that his results did not validate
astrology at
all
but rather another, hitherto nameless
influence having nothing to do with astrology,
celestial
which was like contending that Shakespeare’s plays were not written by William Shakespeare, but by someone else, also named William Shakespeare, who happened to be living at the same time and in the same place. But no matter. By whatever name Gauquelin cared to call his
156
THE EVIDENCE
His book was received with unanimous and impassioned neglect. The French popular press was moved to extensive coverage;
rose, science smelled a rat.
des Astres
L’ Influence
astrological journals (a
Figure
13.
was discussed at length in the detested of modern astrologers have taken
number
Chart showing distribution of Saturn and Mars (combined) in
the charts of 2,048 musicians and painters as opposed to 3,305 scientists.
the trouble to equip themselves with a knowledge of statistical techniques) but from the bastions of orthodoxy Gauquelin en-
countered only silence. The experts could not be moved even to review the book,
much
less criticize it publicly.
M.
unwilling response was provoked from tor of the
National Institute of
Porte attacked Gauquelin’s cal niceties .
1
confined his
But
finally
an
Jean Porte, administra-
Statistics.
work on
a
number
of arcane statisti-
But his principal objection was that Gauquelin had inquiry to France. Gauquelin’s statistics had shown
an overall correlation between planets at the time of birth and
:
THE EVIDENCE choice of profession of eminent
men
1
57
of an order of a million to one
against chance. That this correlation occurred in the horoscopes of
Frenchmen has very
little
to
do with the matter. Porte con-
tended that, despite the near-irreproachability of his statistical technique,
Gauquelin had merely uncovered a national
fluke.
same methods applied to other countries would produce quite different and chance results, an approach that would have done credit to Alice in Wonderland or Alfred Porte maintained that the
Jarry.
In 1953, a Belgian committee of scientists had been set
up
for
the express purpose of studying serious inquiries and research into
any
field
considered 'paranormal’.
Astrologers had already clashed with this committee earlier
when
a French astrologer,
M.
Legrand, had taken up a challenge to
astrologers to prove their claims.
Legrand had replied
me the place, date and hour of birth of ten persons of forty or whose past history has been recorded. For each of them give me
Give over,
two or three approximate dates of decisive events in their lives; this is enable me to rectify the exact time of birth which is always given
to
approximately.
Of
these persons
I
am
to
know nothing
but the sex.
In the following eight to ten days, in your presence and in front of witnesses, at the
microphone of Radio Nationale
I
will give each of these
persons (without seeing them - they can be behind a screen or even on the telephone) an account of the most characteristic trait of their personality and the principal dates in their past, giving the precise character of the event concerned.
They can then confirm
or deny
what
Paul Coulderc, astrology’s staunch enemy, and a
I
say.
member
of the
Belgian committee, had publicly and gleefully declared that the
committee had been given no work
to do. Nevertheless, the
mittee took three weeks to reply to Legrand, and
it
com-
then maintained
would prove nothing. Correspondence dragged on for six months, and in the end the committee declined to take Legrand up on his proposal. 2 that such a test
Gauquelin, despite his violent anti-astrological
no more
of a hearing for his embarrassing statistics.
bias,
No
could get
one under-
took a detailed study of the figures, but Gauquelin recorded a
number et les
of unofficial reactions in his subsequent book, Les
Astres (Denoel, i960).
Hommes
158
THE EVIDENCE
Marcel
Boll, a
committee member, declared
Tour
:
conclusions
and the same inquiry in and Russia you would come out
are nothing but pulp-romances, the worst sort of proof, issue
without hope; for
is
if
you undertook
USA
Great Britain, Germany, the
the
with nothing but national idiosyncrasies / 3
And
Professor Dauvillier, Professor of Cosmic Physics at the
College de France, asserted correlation,
it
:
‘If
there
is
something resembling a
can be nothing but a fluctuation showing that the
group was insufficient/ Gauquelin another time, proposed that ‘those
also quotes Dauvillier
who
who,
at
are even the least advanced
in natural philosophy will understand
how
fortuitous the astro-
nomical and physical causes of our existence have been, and they will refuse to
human
race /
examine a link between the
solar
system and the
4
Gauquelin now had two choices. Either he could drop the matter and begin work anew on some less delicate subject, or he could accept the strictures of his peers, ridiculous though they may have been, and carry out the same experiment using data from other countries.
With admirable courage and
tenacity Gauquelin chose the latter
course, and, with his wife, began methodically travelling about
Germany,
Italy,
registers for his
Belgium and Holland collecting data from birth
new
test
groups.
The results, of course, were the same. The same planets showed up significantly in the charts of eminent men of the same professions, mitigated only by factors that could be called truly national. For example, Gauquelin found that Mars aspected the angles of Italian soldiers
with far greater frequency than
it
did in the charts
German soldiers 5 This may seem superficially at variance with what one might expect; but it is so only superficially. No one of
.
would dream
more warlike race would seem that the Germans do not need a
of proposing that the Italians are a
than the Germans.
It
powerful Mars in their horoscopes
to
make
soldiers
out of them;
while the Italians, in keeping with their image, require an overdose.
(A
joke
making the rounds not
so long ago included ‘The
War Heroes’ among the list of the world's And the New Scientist, reporting on the results of
Encyclopedia of Italian shortest books.
an experiment in thresholds of pain, claimed that in given circumstances of duress, Italian
complain, while Irish
and Jewish women were the first to bore up considerably longer, and the
women
THE EVIDENCE traditionally stiff-lipped
New
1
59
Englanders could not be made to
flinch.)
Gauquelin’s
test
group had
now grown
to over 25,000, including
from France. In the charts of 3,305 scientists, Mars was found on the angles 666 times. Chance predicted 565 the original 5,000
times.
The odds
against this are
1 :
500,000.
In the charts of 3,142 military leaders, 634 had angles, chance level
was 535. Odds against:
1
:
Mars on
stood on the angles 644 times, against a chance level of 525.
odds
:
1 :
times, as against 253 at it
The
50,000,000.
In the charts of 1,485 athletes so
the
1,000,000. Jupiter
went on; every one
chance
Mars showed on the angles 327 The odds: 1 500,000. And
level.
:
of Gauquelin’s groups repeated the lesson
implicit in the original study
from France.
These results were duly published in the second book, Les
Hommes et
which Gauquelin, with redoubled ferocity, was not evidence for astrology There is not one point of rapport, from a strictly scientific point of view, between the structure of the results obtained, and still less between the spirit with which my statistics are obtained and les
Astres, in
insisted that his evidence
astrology.’
:
6
In the pages of the lively astrological journal, Cahiers Astrologiques, a
running and heated battle had been going on ever since
the publication of the original data. In a nutshell, the astrologers heartily agreed that Gauquelin’s one-track quantitative spirit
was
utterly opposed to that of the astrologers; but they insisted that
Gauquelin’s data was in the main a vindication of traditional astrology, demonstrating apodictically the age-old allegation that
the position of the planets at the factor,
anyway
moment
of birth
was the
decisive
a decisive factor, in the subsequent personality of
the subject, and therefore with his chosen profession. Moreover,
had - with several and interesting exceptions - proved precisely the connections astrologers had always recognized - Mars /soldiers, ath-
the astrologers insisted that Gauquelin’s data significant
letes;
Saturn /scientists; Jupiter /actors,
clerics, etc.
But the official academic reaction to Gauquelin’s new book was no more exuberant than it had been towards the first. True, under the tutelage of Professor
Hans Bender,
of Freiburg
University, a well-known investigator of paranormal phenomena,
Gauquelin’s
first
book had been studied by
a
group including an
THE EVIDENCE
l6o
astronomer, a statistician and a psychologist. Unable to fault Tornier, specialist in
Professor E.
the mathematical
it,
theory of
probability at the University of Berlin, sent the book and their
on to colleagues at Harvard University - whence no furword was heard. But this had been about the only official
findings ther
ripple to date.
Three well-known f.
M.
statisticians
now
studied the second book:
Faverge, Professor of Statistics at the Sorbonne, E. Tornier,
mentioned above, and fean Porte, whose original strictures had forced Gauquelin into a European repeat of the original French experiment.
No
fault could be
found with the
statistics,
the methods em-
ployed in the gathering of the data, or in the calculations.
Counter-experiments were performed to double-check the find-
With no exceptions, control groups of horoscopes selected random yielded results according to the laws of chance. Even more impressive (and rather baffling), Gauquelin's test groups had been made up of the most eminent men in their respective
ings. at
professions;
when
control groups were formed of
men
in sub-
ordinate positions in the same professions, the results were also at the level of chance
At
now
7 .
this point, Jean Porte
be no doubt about
it
:
had the grace
to
admit that there could
the position of the stars at birth had a
upon the profession a man was later to follow. That influence upon nine distinct professions could be accepted as proved. Tornier, however, declared that it was the absurd expresdefinite influence
sion of an absurd experience; in other words, though proven,
it
was meaningless.
Even the famous committee for investigating paranormal phenomena now had to agree to study the data, though only after many letters from Gauquelin. Originally, Marcel Boll had written saying
:
‘What, do you expect everything
can take ten days
reminded them
off to
that,
to stop so that the experts
pluck your feathers?' Gauquelin politely
not so long ago, Couderc had been complain-
had nothing to do. And when, finally, the committee did get around to examining the data, they too were unable to fault it. However, they reserved their official opinion as ing that the committee
to the validity of the findings, so conscientiously that to date
have yet find fault
to divulge to the public the fact that
with Gauquelin’s
statistics.
they
they were unable to
THE EVIDENCE The following
shows those
table
l6l
Gauquelin found
results that
to be statistically significant.
Rising and
Significant
Average
Significantly low
setting of
frequency
frequency
frequency
MARS
Scientists
Politicians
Writers
Doctors
Actors
Painters
Athletes
Journalists
Musicians
Executives
|
U
P
IT
Team
E R
Solo athletes
Painters
athletes
(boxers, etc.) Soldiers
Musicians
Scientists
Politicians
Writers
Doctors
Actors Journalists
Playwrights
SATURN
Scientists
Politicians
Actors
Doctors
Soldiers
Painters Journalists
Writers
MOON
Politicians
Scientists
Athletes
Writers
Doctors
Soldiers
Painters
Musicians Journalists
Outside the interest shown by Bender’s Freiburg group, and the hostile capitulation of the Belgian committee, as far as
been able
to discover
we have
Gauquelin’s ten years of work were ignored.
For astrologers, however,
Gauquelin’s work, though
it
there
is
raises a
to
little
number
be learned from
of interesting ques-
which in turn could yield valuable new insights. Gratifying though Gauquelin’s results may be, few astrologers possess the tions,
necessary objectivity not to react to his persistent denigration of
both astrologers and astrology.
But Gauquelin’s work proves once and that there It
is
something
does not prove that astrologers C.F.A.
6
for
all,
and incontestably,
to astrology.
know what
they are doing.
the evidence
162
does not prove that an astrologer can
It
store for him.
But
doubt, that there
it is
What
is
more,
it
also proves that
are consonant with, or at traditional less
a client
what
is
between the position
a direct correlation
the planets at birth, and the profession a tises.
tell
in
does prove, beyond any possible shadow of
astrological
any
man
of
subsequently prac-
most of these correlations
rate not in disagreement with,
precepts (meaning that anyone slightly
blinded than Gauquelin by modern science would be hard at
work attempting
to
apply his results
to the tradition, to
winnow
out the great percentage of chaff, rather than go on insisting that
he has discovered a brand new
‘science' whose precepts had been by primitives back in the distant past). But perhaps the same tenacity that permits Gauquelin to press on with his arduous and thankless task also prevents him from admitting, or even from seeing, that he is proving astrology, plain old-fashioned astrology. Whatever the case, neglect has done nothing to deter him, and in the nine years that have elapsed since the
accidentally discovered
Hommes
publication of Les
et les
Astres Gauquelin has continued
his research.
Having proved the relationship between planets and profession it by any known scientific hypothesis, while an explanation in traditional symbolic terms was to him unthinkable. ‘We reject from the onset occult explanations, according to which the planet, at its rising, “casts a spell" more or less immaterial or symbolic upon the newly-born, a spell which will follow at his feet the duration of his life, and will decide his destiny. Such aphorisms are of no interest, for in science one canhe was quite unable to account for
not propose hypotheses except that they be firmly material, limited,
and precise / 9 fied
No
matter that modern science
by the nature
of ‘material' (which insists
is
thoroughly mysti-
upon vanishing
into
and anti-particles), man-imposed, and there-
a regress of hypothetical quarks, elusive bosons,
forgetting that ‘limits' are,
by
definition,
and therefore value-judgements, and therefore immaterial and metaphysical. Gauquelin will have his correlations ‘scientific' and not astrological.
fore
arbitrary,
Looking for a ‘material’ cause lin,
to
account for his figures, Gauque-
with his customary thoroughness, has studied the planetary
configurations governing heredity, believing that
if
planetary links
could be discovered between the horoscopes of parents and their children, the laws of genetics could be called upon,
and the spectre
*
#
THE EVIDENCE astrology
of
would
then
slink
behind
the
arras
163
muttering
anathemas, saving the day for science. Realizing that
the planets played a lawful part in heredity
if
laws would have
these
not merely for
to obtain for the
men who had
Gauquelin collected
a test
the planetary positions at
risen to
population at large, and
eminence in
their professions,
group of 15,000 couples and compared their birth with the positions of their
more than 300,000 planetary positions. living astrologer, Gauquelin found a astonishment of no To the children, in all taking in
statistically significant correlation
between the parental and
filial
with Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the moon, but this time taking in Venus as well. The odds against Gauquelin’s findings being chance were 500,000:1. And as a countercharts, again operating
made up of the horoscopes of people whose birth had been induced, the correlation with the horoscopes 10 of the parents was at the chance level. From this, Gauquelin concludes that his statistics do nothing more miraculous than uncover a new aspect of ‘heredity’. And, having placed his data behind the aegis of this magical word, he imagines that he is contributing to science. In fact, his statistics indicate only that the modern concept of heredity is inadequate. check, in a control group
Supposedly,
we
are the fortuitous products of a conjunction of the
(hypothetical) genes. It
would now appear that the genes
are in
some way determined by the positions of the planets at the moment And, in turn, the moment of birth is in some way linked to the horoscopes of our parents - ad infinitum. of conception.
modern science has still much to teach us about the rapport man and the cosmos; let us continue along the new road opposed to astrology, upon which we have begun, but this time accompanied by qualified experts [savants chev rones ] 11 Gauquelin suggests. Helas The savants chevrones seem disinclined to keep him company along that psychologically perilous road. Mean‘For
between
!
while,
it
remains an established fact that heredity
is
at least in
part a function of the positions of the planets; equally
it is
established fact that the position of specific planets at birth related to the profession later pursued.
that
if
Thus
it
seems
and when the savants chevrones decide
an is
fair to predict
to
investigate
Gauquelin’s work, they will have to learn to practise not materialist
or
science but an astrology of
some
sort
-
called cosmo-biology,
astro-psychology or whatever. For in proving that specific
THE EVIDENCE
164
planets are related to specific professions with a high degree of
Gauquelin has given quantitative expression
statistical significance,
an ancient qualitative
to
belief:
that the planets, and the
i.e.
positions of the planets relative to each other, are meaningful.
study and interpretation of lin
seems destined
to
go
this
down
meaning
is
astrology;
The
and Gauque-
in the history books as L'Astrologue
M algre Lui. JOHN Of
M.
ADDEY
the various statistical inquiries into astrology, none carries
quite the dramatic weight of Gauquelin’s. But from an astrological
point of view, there are several which are more informative, and, in their
own way,
just as conclusive.
Recognizing the need for a
M. Addey (see p. 147) decided to investigate the charts of 970 nonagenarians, taken inscientific starting
clusively
point to astrology, John
from Who's
Addey
Who
.
checked for significant deviation in the sun signs.
first
Are they?
(Capricorns are reputedly long-lived. to the text-books, tend to
be short-lived.
Addey’s figures corroborated what
commonplace no detectable analysis.
:
is
Is
there
Pisceans, according
any truth
now becoming
in this?)
a statistical
the sun in the various signs seems to play almost role in
whatever
Addey found
as
that
it is
is
undergoing
many nonagenarian
statistical
Pisceans as Capri-
and so on around the zodiac, just as Gauquelin had found soldiers born under allegedly peace-loving Libra as he had under the ‘martial’ signs, Aries and Scorpio. 12 Nor could Addey find statistical evidence for any of the other corns,
as
many
And while one may and say that nonagenarians have nothing in common, really, except their longevity, it seemed to Addey that this alone was enough to merit a connection in some fashion. And it is at traditional astrological pointers of longevity.
rationalize
this point, incidentally, that
two equally
scientific
seeking to disprove statistical
it,
an important difference
And
factor.
arise in
avenues had been explored, while the astrologer, feeling
from experience that a correlation must ing.
may
The opponent of astrology, would have given up after the more obvious experiments.
ultimately
Addey
did
find
at
exist,
will keep look-
least
one significant
13
Astrologers have long recognized a qualitative difference be-
tween an aspect that
is
applying and one that
is
separating. For
THE* example,
if,
in a horoscope, the
slow-moving planet, ‘applying’; the
sun
is
is
sun
is
in io° Aries,
Aries, that aspect
closing in, as
Analogically, astrology
when when
action;
0
it
is
would compare the process
a
said to be
upon Saturn.
were,
165
and Saturn,
were reversed, then the aspect would be
positions
effect:
12
in
EVIDENCE
If
the
‘separating’.
to the
Doppler
‘applying’, the aspect breeds tension, excitement, ‘separating’, it signifies a release,
dilation, passivity.
Addey
an extension, a
discovered an impressively significant
preponderance of separating aspects in the charts of his 970 nonagenarians. And though no one had thought of it before, a pre-
ponderance of separating aspects makes astrological sense; nonagenarians might typically be expected to share an ability and
propensity to conserve energy, not to waste or play havoc with their physical resources, and so on, and this was the effect conferred by the separating aspect according to astrological tradition. So, looking for a correlation of one sort, Addey found another one altogether. But this, in turn, led to a still more interesting
(and ultimately important) experiment.
was
It
still
possible, despite the
high level of significance ob-
were a fluke, and he therefore determined a group of people from whom the opposite - a preponder-
tained, that his statistics to test
ance of ‘applying’ aspects - might be expected.
As
a teacher in a polio hospital,
of particular interest from
this
Addey had astrological
a built-in test
viewpoint.
group
It
is
a
medical fact that polio victims conform closely to a recognizable ‘type’
-
bright, nervous, active. Dull, plodding types rarely con-
tract polio.
Doctors characterize polio as a mild disease, except
when some unknown nervous
barrier,
normally
resisting,
is
not
functioning and the weakened brain allows the virus to invade.
To
the astrologer this connotes
Mars/Mercury (nervousness, some way related to Saturn
intellectual stimulation, excitement) in
(held to rule the brain,
Addey reasoned
that
cf. if
Gauquelin’s saturnian
scientists).
nonagenarians showed a preponderance
of separating aspects, then polio victims, characterologically op-
posed,
might be expected
to
show
a preponderance of applying
aspects.
A
This hypothesis was borne out with a high degree of significance. group was analysed and applying aspects were found to occur
significantly
more frequently than separating
contradistinction to the nonagenarians (see
aspects; in gratifying
fig. 14).
l66
THE EVIDENCE
In studying the wave forms of his charts, their recurrent nature. tible to
He
Addey was
struck by
were suscep‘wave analysis’, in which
realized that these forms
the statistical technique called
Figure 14 Applying aspects in the charts of polio victims. Note similarity .
of
wave forms from two
data are broken is
down
separate hospitals.
into their
component harmonics. This method
currently being exploited in studying natural cycles, ‘biological
clocks’, celestial
and a variety of other phenomena directly correlated
and planetary
cycles.
Through wave
analysis,
to
Addey
believed, the widely mistrusted traditional genethliacal astrology
could be brought into line and interpreted - at least in part - in a
manner modern
with the rigorous quantitative demands
consistent
ot
disciplines, yet without sacrificing or distorting astrology's
Pythagorean principles.
Though
‘the
music of the spheres' had been a part of astrological
many
language since Pythagoras himself, and
of
the greatest
astrologers devoted their time to attempts to correlate musical astrological theory, none,
up
to
had hit upon studying wave forms, and this, to our mind,
to the present,
astrological data in terms of
may prove ultimately
and
be of great importance.
Immediately, a number of otherwise baffling astrological prob-
lems become comprehensible. Addey's polio victims were clearly
- the statistics could not conceivably factors were common to no known astro-
linked by astrological factors all
be flukes. But these
logical tradition.
sign zodiac, or
was
rence that
No
interpretation in terms of the usual twleve-
any other sign-zodiac made
sense. It
was the
recur-
This recurrence created a wave form.
significant.
This wave form corresponded to a harmonic - in this case of a year,
which corresponded Re-interpreting
to the
fundamental.
the data in
terms of sun-signs,
Addey now
found that while the traditional divisions into Aries, Taurus, Gemini, etc., yielded nothing, if one neglected these preconceived divisions
and watched
wave forms,
for
distinct patterns emerged.
Polio victims tended to be born according to the twelfth harmonic,
and, most strongly of
out of
statistical
all,
according to the
noth harmonic. Taken
language, Addey's chart indicates that a child
born every third degree (irrespective of the zodiacal division) thirty-seven per cent
more
liable to contract polio
is
than a child
born in the two intermediary degrees. The odds against Addey's chance are 1 1,000. And a control group of non-polio
figures being
:
children selected at
What do
random
Addey's
yielded chance results.
mean? No one
Does tell which child will contract polio and which will not? By no means. But it does mean that Addey has isolated at least two astrological factors - applying aspects, and the 120th harmonic - in the susceptibility to polio; and he has opened up a field of astrological research which if explored with any thoroughness could yield important results. He has also - in our opinion - solved the mystery presented by this
mean
statistics
as yet
is
sure.
that an astrologer, can, from birth data alone,
an impressive
statistical survey run in the US in the early 1950s by Donald O. Bradley, an astrologer who is also a statistician.
THE EVIDENCE
l68
Bradley assembled the birth data of 2,593 clergymen from Who's in America looking for astrological correlations, but
Who
,
with the idee
fixe of a twelve-sign division. In
such
a_
division,
if
more clergymen actually are born under Leo and less under Scorpio -than chance would anticipate, then peaks and troughs ought to fall in
the middle of the respective signs.
Working out
data, Brad-
found that peaks and troughs did indeed occur, meaning that statistically significant astrological factors of some sort were at work. But these peaks and troughs did not occur in the middle of ley
the signs where according to statistical theory they belonged. It was then pointed out to Bradley, however, that if he used the Sidereal, not the Tropical Zodiac, then the peaks and troughs would fall in their proper places, and this convinced Bradley, who has been a champion of the Sidereal Zodiac ever since. But to most astrologers this made little sense. It seemed that Bradley, and the siderealists were chucking the whole of astrological
make one
tradition just to
scheme.
And
in
statistical
survey
fit
into a preconceived
the astrological journals a fruitless discussion
ensued, arguing the validity of more clergymen being born under Pisces according to the Sidereal
Zodiac or under Aries according to
the Tropical.
Addey’s insight into the harmonic nature of his - and Bradley’s
-
statistical
appears,
data avoids this problem of zodiacs. These data,
are outside
zodiacal sign. It (or,
is
the generalized scope of
meaning
it
of the
not that more polio victims are born in Leo,
using the Sidereal Zodiac, Cancer) but rather that children
to the 120th harmonic were more same token, clergymen, for whatever reason, susceptible. By the were more likely to be born on days corresponding to the 7 th harmonic (100:1 against chance). And, interestingly enough, a repeat of Bradley’s experiment undertaken by Addey, but using
born on days corresponding
birth
data of British clergymen,
results (see fig.
A
1
strongly confirmed Bradley’s
5).
further statistical study by
Addey
into the birth charts of
100 red-heads again proved that astrological factors played a significant role - not in that the position of the planets at birth caused red hair, but that red hair seems to be one element of a 'type’
which can
be isolated astrologically,
among many
even though at the
say exactly what that 'type’ is. This particular experiment, though most interesting from an
moment no one can
THE EVIDENCE astrological point of view, involves a fairly specialized
of astrology
and there
is
no point
In his survey of red-heads
169
knowledge
in illustrating our point further.
Addey
is
principally concerned with
from Who's Who. The top chart and shows the birth dates of British clergymen. The middle chart was compiled by Donald O. Bradley from the American Who's Who. Most interesting is that whatever the non-random factors operative may be, they obviously corroborate each other. The curves unmistakably follow a similar pattern. Figure
Birth dates of clergymen taken
15.
was compiled by the
British Astrological Association
developing and exploring the techniques for studying traditional concepts with modern methods
14 .
concerned with making astrology
forward will
Unlike Gauquelin, he
‘scientific’
but rather
is
is
not
looking
day when science in its own interest some extent astrological. Addey's work demon-
to the hypothetical
become
to
strates that almost all the principal factors of traditional astrology
- the
aspects,
the houses, the significance of degree areas, the
position of planets within the houses
and that these statistical C.F.A.
realities are,
approach 6*
15 .
-
are based
to a certain extent,
upon
realities,
amenable
to a
70
THE EVIDENCE
upon Living Organisms
Celestial Injluence
FRANK
A.
BROWN
Virtually every living organism lives according to
mined rhythms. For many
set,
years, the nature of the
responsible for the regulation has been disputed.
thought believed the organism responded
to
predeter-
mechanism
One
changes in
school of air ioniza-
Another school postulated an internal ‘biological clock’. But it was impossible to explain how or why air ionization should cause the apparently purposeful and intelligent - though unconscious - behaviour of the organisms under consideration, while it was equally impossible to locate any physical mechanism capable of serving as a ‘clock’ - yet every cell in the body was responsive to the rhythm; the elusive ‘clock’ was at once everywhere and tion.
nowhere. Ultimately, a truce was declared between the opposing factions.
was shown that
It
air ionization
mutually exclusive. The
difficulty,
and
biological clocks
were not
however, remained. Even
when
mutual support, the combined theories could not account for the phenomenon. Frank A. Brown, Professor of Biology at Northwestern University, disagreed with both prevailing hypotheses, and with a team offering
of workers, after ten years of experimentation, offered impressive
evidence supporting an alternative theory attributing the logical clock’ to celestial
‘bio-
rhythms, obviating the need for an internal
physical mechanism.
In a well-known article in Science (4 December 1959) Brown described these experiments.
Brown and his co-workers ran long series of tests on the nocmovements of beans (Bean Sleep Movement), on the amount of running performed by rats during the course of the day (Rat turnal
Running);* the variations in the colour of
Colour Change) and the sleep patterns of
Brown
fiddler crabs
flies
(Crab
(Fly Emergence).
all followed a definite, recognizable, and though the shape of the curve differed from one another. These tests were performed under strictly con-
discovered that
similar cycle, species to *
Not
to
be confused with the Rat Race, a sociological phenomenon and much longer, subtler astrological rhythms.
manifestation of
THE EVIDENCE and
trolled conditions,
it
was
clear that these
1J
rhythms must be
due, not to external climatic changes, but to influences of a pervasive and cosmic nature. factors involved
The
principal
and most obvious cosmic
were the sun and moon.
and fiddler crab showed 16 and monthly (lunar) periodicities These rhythms were characteristically most depressed at the new moon, and most active at the full moon; they were indifferent to temperature, and even to drugs. A rat, under control conditions, in a darkened cage, was tw ice as active when the moon was over Organisms
as dissimilar as the potato
unmistakable yearly
the horizon than
(solar)
when
.
was beneath
it
it;
thus bearing out the
insistent testimony of all those generations of old wives
and
gar-
deners.
But perhaps most impressive of
all
was Brown’s experiment with
oysters.
Oysters open and close their shells in a distinct rhythm, attuned to the tides.
And
it
has been supposed that the physical action of
the tides, not the effects of the moon, were responsible. Brown,
however, took oysters in light-proof containers from Connecticut to Evanston, prepared pans of
salt
Illinois,
New
Haven,
and placed them in specially
water in a darkroom.
Within two weeks the oysters had adjusted their opening and rhythms to the lunar phases of Evanston; that is, to what would have been the tidal rhythm in Evanston, had there been tides there, proving that it was the moon and not the actual action of the water which provoked the periodicity. closing
And
this discovery led to a
living organisms,
from algae
to vertebrate animals. It
massive study of a vast variety of
to flowering plants,
from invertebrate
was found that the metabolic rates of
all
were quite independent of the immediate external conditions. Tt has all
now become living things
quite clear that under such constant conditions
have continuously imposed upon them from the
environment metabolic rhythms of exactly the natural geophysical Brown wrote. An astrologer, however, would dispute
frequencies,’
would maintain simply that Brown’s natural geophysical frequencies were but instances of what Pythathe use of ‘imposed’, and
goras called the
As
Harmony of the Spheres. Brown naturally steers
a scientist,
clear of metaphysics. Yet,
in his attempt to explain the action of the solar
revealed
by
his experiments,
and lunar rhythms
he inadvertently draws close
to
an
1J1
THE EVIDENCE
explanation that verges on the symbolic. Having dispensed with the need for the hypothetical 'clock’.
manner
which minute
in
Brown had
to
account for the
differences in the energy level can bring
about such dramatic changes in the entire organism. a ‘trigger mechanism’,
upon the
whereby
(which
‘trigger’
is,
a
He
postulated
minute application of energy
incidentally, as physically hypothetical
as the ‘clock’) sets off a chain reaction
culminating in the relatively
amount of energy expended by the organism. As an analogy Brown cites a train schedule, in which the complex processes of the railway are set in motion by the schedule, which is its ‘trigger’. But this analogy is perhaps better than Brown intended. For a
vast
train schedule does not just ‘happen’; the actual physical schedule
(energy)
the manifestation of the decision to operate trains at
is
such and such a time. This decision
And
it is
been made. But, since
own
We
undemons trable. it
is
a
mental event.
It is invisible.
cannot prove that a decision has
has been made by men,
we know from
experience that a train schedule could not be
our
made without
this original idea, or decision.
Rats and potatoes operate on a schedule far subtler than our railways.
And we
schedules. But
it
have had no part in the organization of their quite unwarranted, and in fact unscientific
is
(because contrary to experience ) to imagine that our schedules require thought, but that Nature’s schedules just happen.
While
Professor
Brown
did not
analogy, they are implicit in
Brown
also learned that if
they maintained
their
it,
draw
these conclusions from his
legitimate,
and
difficult to avoid.
he kept various organisms in the dark,
normal night-day rhythms despite the
absence of light. However,
if
an unnatural rhythm of
artificial
night and day was imposed upon them, the organisms could be
They could be made to respond to a ‘day’ more than the usual twenty-four hours. But, interestingly enough, outside interference would be tolerated only up to a point. Beyond that point - about a thirty- or an eighteenhour day - the organism would stand for it no longer, and would
forced into obedience. that
was
less or
‘break away’, reverting to
its
system was imposed upon
it.
seem
to
imply that hope
fiddler crab.
with man?
And
if
is
rhythm no matter what Viewed theologically, this would natural
built into the very molecules of the
this is the case
why
should
it
be otherwise
THE EVIDENCE
LEONARD Dr Leonard
RAVITZ
J.
Ravitz of
J.
electrical potential
people,
173
Duke
University, plotting changes in
emitted by the body in normal and insane
found marked changes coinciding with the phases of the
moon, and with the seasons. The more disturbed the patients were, the more they were affected. On the basis of his findings, Ravitz was able to predict successfully the emotional states of his patients, and he ratified the ancient
was more unrest among the insane when the moon was full. (Though Eisler would doubtless conclude that the more disturbed patients were those standing closest to the window,
belief that there
hence the only ones Ravitz asserted
:
to
be affected by the moonlight.)
‘Whatever
we may be we are all electric may be mobilized by periodic
else
machines. Thus energy reserves
universal factors (such as the forces behind the to aggravate
moon) which tend
maladjustments and conflicts already present/ 17
Other Experiments Because there
is
no recognized organization working
to follow
the implications of experiments such as Brown's and Ravitz's, at the
moment
impossible to say in
what
precise
way
up
it is
these findings
will corroborate or contradict traditional astrological beliefs.
no deeper into astrology it seems worth describing briefly at least a few of the experiments that swell the file of quantitative evidence. It is also worth mentioning But even though
it
will take us
that in his latest book,
Gauquelin
lists as
V Astrologie
devant
la
Science, Michel
references in his bibliography forty-two scientific
papers and books which treat of celestial /terrestrial relationships.
Yamahaki studied the frequency of 33,000 and found a significant frequency occurring at the full and new moons; the least frequency occurred one or two days before In 1938, in Japan,
births
the
first
and
last quarter.
18
Meneker, an American gynaecologist,
confirmed this from a study of half a million births. 19
Gutman and Oswald, studying
10,000 cases of menstruation
over a period of fourteen years, found a definite full
and new moons. Arrhenius,
to a similar
maximum
earlier in the century,
at the
had come
conclusion from the study of over 11,000 cases. But
THE EVIDENCE
174
other researchers have not been able to isolate such a rhythm.
After reading of the experiments carried out by the Italian chemist, Giorgio Piccardi (see p. 182 of Psychiatric Research at
Canada, decided
to see if
ff.).
Dr Abram Hoffer,
Director
University Hospital, Saskatchewan,
mental patients under his care were
to the same external influences as were the chemical
subject
precipitates of Piccardi.
He found
that depressives reacted strongly, their worst periods
unmistakably in March. Neurotics, on the other hand,
falling
showed
periodicities,
but of another nature altogether, with peaks
and
of neurosis in January
showed
July, while schizophrenics
themselves remarkably insensitive to any form of outside influence.
Hoffer
made
the interesting observation that, since neurotics were
the most nearly normal,
and July
it
might be worth looking into January
as psychologically significant
among
the population at
large.
Dr Edson Andrews, an American
physician,
was
told
by
his
nurse that his patients were haemorrhaging significantly more frequently at certain times than at others. at the idea, but a
rough
test
seemed
to
Andrews
confirm
it.
at first scoffed
A more elaborate
and organized inquiry revealed that in 1,000 cases of
tonsillecto-
mies, eighty-two per cent of the bleeding crises occurred between the moon’s
and third quarters. The disproportion was even
first
greater than
appeared,
it
were admitted near the
Andrews
full
moon.
claimed, since fewer patients
A
re-check by another doctor
yielded similar results.
EUGEN JONAS The
striking role played
by the moon
in so
many
experiments
involving living organisms seems to be corroborated in a particularly dramatic
Dr Eugen tric
and directly
Jonas, a
Department
Czech
astrological fashion in the
of the State Clinic,
In dealing with female patients, Jonas noticed that
them manifested
work
of
and director of the PsychiaNagysurana. 20
psychiatrist,
many
of
and sexuality independently of their menstrual cycles and he began to look for an explanation. At the same time, he also became interested in deformed, defective and underdeveloped children, with whom his clinic often
had
cycles of unusual vitality
to deal.
His interests led him into the biological writings of the ancient
:
THE EVIDENCE
175
Egyptians, Greeks and Indians, and he noticed that some of the beliefs of these ancient writers
modern
were beginning
to
be borne out by
findings.
This, in turn, led
him on
to research,
from which he draws three
unusual conclusions 1.
That the
ability of a
mature
woman
to conceive tends to
occur
under exactly that phase of the moon (sun-moon relationship)
which prevailed when she was born. 2. That the sex of the child depends on whether,
moon
is
at this time, the
in a positive or negative field of the ecliptic (sign of the
zodiac). 3. That the viability of the embryo is influenced to a great extent by the positions of the celestial bodies at the time of conception. Jonas declared ‘At first I regarded these things as fantastic and I could not bring myself to believe in their truth. However, my observations and examinations, running into thousands of cases in the gynaecological clinic in Pozsony [Bratislava] showed me that the more obstetric cases I studied and the more exact the astronomical calculations I carried out, the more did the results show the existence of a hitherto unknown law of nature/ Jonas’s work has attracted considerable attention in his native Czechoslovakia, as well as in Germany and Austria. In the Englishspeaking world, as far as we know, it has been ignored except by astrologers - and it must be admitted that even astrologers find some of Jonas’s theories difficult to believe. It goes without saying, therefore, that the opposition from :
professionals has been in of information
makes
it
many
cases intense.
But our one source
appear that every time his ideas have been
subjected to examination they have been vindicated.
Testing his
own
theory of the determination of the sex of
off-
spring against a group of 250 birth charts, Jonas found himself
87 per cent correct. A Hungarian investigation, using Jonas’s method, arrived at a similar percentage, and separate investigations in Czechoslovakia - one of them an official, government-sponsored test
-
yielded 94 per cent and 83 per cent respectively. (Chance is 50 per cent.)
level in these tests
may be interesting as an astrono particular value. However, the Jonas claims of being able to warn women that conception
Predicting the sex of offspring logical parlour ability
game, but
it is
of
at certain astrologically-determined times bears the risk of produ-
THE EVIDENCE
176
cing a defective child would be very valuable indeed; as would be his ability to predict for
women
their fertile days, a process
which
Jonas claims works above, or alongside, the scientifically-accepted
Knaus-Ogino
cycle,
not invalidating the
latter,
but implementing
it.
We
have been
an American professor of psychology
told that
now
at Stanford University is
theories. It will be
engaged in studies to most interesting to find out, first,
again vindicated, and,
what the
if so,
test Jonas’s if
they are
reactions of the
Western
establishment will be.*
scientific
Experiments oj the Anthroposophists
-
Followers oj
Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), philosopher and noted authority on Goethe, was leader of the
German
section of the
theosophist
movement. But having quarrelled with Annie Besant, Mme Blavatsky’s successor, Steiner broke away and established a school of his own, preaching ‘Anthroposophy’ or 'Wisdom of Humanity’, with headquarters in Switzerland.
The anthroposophical movement nizable features
common
incorporates a
to all traditions,
number
but with
its
of recog-
distinctly
Germanic cast, and following the lead of Steiner - with his own deep regard for Goethe - the movement has placed considerable emphasis upon modern science, and includes among
number * Since
of qualified scientists. this
was written,
at least
appeared in the Western press. 13
November
Many
its
members
a
years of organized, directed
one reference
to
Jonas's
Dr Miriam Moore-Robinson (New
work has Scientist,
1969) discusses the strong possibility of being able to determine
the sex of offspring within the next five years, and mentions Jonas’s claims,
but concludes rather disparagingly, ‘Such that
it
is
the inventiveness of inventors
upon Dr Jonas’s empiricism wind to beget a boy.’ And it is agree with the author on this point. The researchers men-
will probably not be necessary to rely
nor, to quote Pliny, await a cold northerly difficult
not to
by Dr Moore-Robinson are busy separating male from female sperm by means of sedimentation and centrifugation, passing a weak electric current through semen, and rendering the vaginal secretion acid or alkali; and the advantages of such enchanting methods over merely relying upon the moon will be self-evident to every scientific-minded reader. But what is perhaps most interesting about the article is the author’s willingness to tioned
cite Jonas’s
claims without a priori dismissing them.
THF EVIDENCE research have produced interesting results, in relevant to astrology. But this
work seems
many
1JJ
departments
rarely to find
its
way
into the popular press, to say nothing of the scientific journals. The scientific work of the anthroposophists seems to be carried
out under control conditions as strict as those prevailing elsewhere. Anthroposophical publications invite inspection by outsiders. And, while it is true that anthroposophical research is based upon the
assumption of a coherent and meaningful universe, this is in no way less scientific than orthodox research which is based upon an assumption of the contrary.
We have mentioned the long series of experiments carried out by Mme Kolisko, culminating in her book, The Moon and Plant Growth (Anthroposophical Publishing Company, 1938). Despite its airy dismissal by Eisler, based upon conclusions reached after a single experiment by Maby and Bedford, ‘joint authors of a remarkable book, The Physics of the Divining Rod’, the findings of Frank Brown and many others enhance the possibility that Mme Kolisko’s twelve years of research was no fluke, and that her data was
not cooked to
fit
into a preconceived plan.
In theory, of course, experiments such as these can - and ought to
- be performed by anyone interested in such phenomena. But
the experience of the anthroposophists indicates that in this case
Some
most interesting and ostensibly most convincing experiments seem to depend upon ‘theory' chooses to be uncooperative.
who may
performs them
!
This
is
no myth.
And
perhaps this idea
known
science has to
no
is
mind can influence
matter.
satisfactory theory to account for ‘mind’,
is let
it
sounds.
thousand years, and science
new
account for ‘matter’, so this
mystery than
it
probably
is
not as unscientific as
for at least three
for at least three weeks, 21 that
though
to say that, ‘unscientific'
appear, the gardener’s proverbial ‘green thumb’
Yogis have
none
of the
fact
is
Orthodox
and equally
more
far
of a
on. All esoteric traditions, however, insist that
both ‘mind’ and ‘matter’ are but manifestations of the same Higher
To
Consciousness.
over ‘matter’ a
is
this
way
of thinking,
the
power
of ‘mind’
but an expression of the natural hierarchy;
mystery certainly, but
in
no way
a philosophical
problem or
paradox. In any case,
Mme
Kolisko’s experiments appear
dramatic proof of the influence of the
moon
to
provide
over plant growth,
and, apart from the single brief and inconclusive experiment by
THE EVIDENCE
178
Messrs
Maby and
we know nothing
Bedford,
that contradicts her
work. Equally interesting results were obtained from another anthroposophical experiment described in Fyfe.
Moon and
Plant
by Agnes
22
Rudolf Steiner maintained that is was possible to prepare a remedy for cancer from mistletoe, but that the effectiveness of the remedy would depend upon the time the plant was picked. Accordingly, when a cancer research laboratory was set up in 1949, anthroposophists decided to test mistletoe to see
supposed variations in
on white mice was
its
if
these
properties could be measured. Its toxicity
tested regularly
and
its
PH- value (degree of
acidity) measured.
The sap
was also put through a process called which the sap is allowed to rise in a
of the mistletoe
capillary dynamolysis, in
piece of filter paper. This forms a pattern which,
can be photographed.
And
when
stained,
over the course of time the photographs
can be compared for changes in pattern. After 70,000 such experiments had been performed, definite,
complex harmonic wave-patterns were
established, both long-term
and short-term. The patterns were quite insensitive ate
weather conditions, but violently affected by
factors, eclipses in particular.
Without jumping
to
any conclusions
as to the effectiveness of mistletoe in cancer treatment, it
theless
reasonable
enough
formed by the mistletoe sap medicinal properties
Given these
to
results, the
is
never-
suppose that changing patterns
may
- whatever
immedi-
to the
extra-terrestrial
well represent a change in
these
may
its
be.
Egyptian insistence upon the time that
remedies are both prepared and administered appears quite reasonable, at least in theory.
23
Celestial Influence in the Phjsical
World
CELESTIAL PHENOMENA AFFECT RADIO DISTURBANCE IN THE ATMOSPHERE John H. Nelson, an electrical engineer, was hired by RCA
to look
into the possible connections between fluctuations in radio dis-
turbance and celestial phenomena. 24 Checking records in radio disturbance back in 1932, Nelson discovered that most magnetic
5
THE EVIDENCE
1
79
storms - which cause radio disturbance - occurred when two or 0 more planets were in conjunction, or in 180° or 90 aspect to the sun. On the basis of his original data, Nelson was able to predict 25 disturbance in the atmosphere with accuracy up to eighty per cent.
And
subsequent research has allowed Nelson
to refine his
methods,
and including Pluto. At present he is able to predict radio disturbance with up to ninety-three per cent accuracy, and is continuing work intended to refine his sysand to include
tem
still
all
the planets
up
to
further.
From an
view Nelson's discoveries are of
astrological point of
the utmost interest. For as long as there has been astrology, the
conjunction has been held to be ‘neutral' in effect will
depend upon other
factors,
insofar as
itself,
while the 90
0
aspect
-
its
the
square - and the 180° aspect - the opposition - have been held to be ‘disharmonious’ (or ‘maleficent’,
depending upon
‘evil’, ‘difficult’
the time, the function, and the emotional psychological predilections of astrologers).
Nelson’s research into the highly unemotional
field
of radio
disturbance unequivocally supports this old astrological theory
-
which, during the long dark age of Newtonian mechanics, was subjected to
more
ridicule than almost
any other
facet of astrol-
ogy-
Moreover, Nelson found that predictably good, disturbance-free fields
were formed when a number of planets lined up in 60
120° angles to the sun - the astrology,
‘sextile’
and
from time immemorial the
0
and
‘trine’ of traditional
‘good’,
‘benificent’,
and
‘harmonious’ aspects. Nelson also found that the more planets involved in the various aspects, the more pronounced the disturbance, or lack of
it.
And
still
further refinements indicated that
harmonics of the principal aspects could also be counted upon
make themselves
felt
-
tained that such tongue-twisting aspects as ‘sesquiquadrate’
- 150° and
Nelson found that
to
which mainthe ‘quincunx’ and
justifying Kepler’s theory, 0 1
35
— should be taken
into account.
harmonics of the square and opposition (the 0 ‘hard’ aspects) produced detectable effects the 45 aspect, a 22-5° all
:
0
0
and even a 7-5 aspect. 1 This both corroborates and amplifies the usual view of astrological aspects. It gives further credence to Addey’s theory that, through the study of wave harmonics, astrology can be improved
aspect, all multiples of
far
beyond
its
present state.
And
it
indicates that the
complex
180
THE EVIDENCE work currently undertaken by
astrological
on a valuable track and
'hard’ aspects
German
pays particular attention
this school
:
the
astro-
under the directorship of R. Ebertin,
logical institute in Aalen,
their harmonics.
is
to the
26
Though Nelson's
discoveries were widely reported in the popuand in scientific journals the obvious connection with astrology was either ignored or tactfully side-stepped "Evidence
lar press
:
and unexplained correlation between the positions of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars in their orbits around the sun and the presence of violent electrical disturbances in the earth's upper of a strange
atmosphere
.
.
.
seems
to indicate [that]
the planets and the sun
share in a cosmic electrical-balance mechanism that extends a billion miles
balance
is
from the centre of the
solar system.
Such an
not accounted for in current astrophysical
reported the
New York
Times That .
this balance
electrical theories,'
was very much
accounted for in ancient astrological theory was doubtless considered
by the Times
Though Nelson
as
news
prefers
astrological questions, his
automatically
any
effect
reception
To
:
unfit to print.
not
to
embroil himself in directly
work poses one
direct question almost
do these celestially-correlated magnetic storms have
on earthly
life
beyond disturbing short-wave radio
?
the best of our knowledge,
no one has performed experiments
with the express purpose of testing given predicted magnetic storms against
life
rhythms, or medical data. But
that the earthquake studies of the late in
it
seems likely
Dr Rudolf Tomaschek
tie
with Nelson's findings.
Tomaschek, Society, a
who was chairman
of the International Geophysical
well-known physicist and an astrologer
(rarest of
com-
binations) carried out a statistical analysis of 134 major earth-
quakes.
He found
that the positions of the planets at the time and
place of these quakes
was non-random
degree. In particular,
in a statistically significant
Uranus, Pluto and Jupiter tended
to
be
moon apparently were commonly of the
involved in the configurations, while the sun and
played no part at
all.
0
These configurations
"hard' variety (90 and harmonics thereof); and the greater the magnitude of the event, the more likelihood there was that the planets would be configured in the "horoscope' of the earthquake. Though by no means conclusive, Tomaschek's data lends support to the collective hunches of modern astrologers who have
:
THE EVIDENCE
l8l
and ‘explosive’ characters to Uranus and Pluto, while the involvement of Jupiter may mean that the thunderbolts unleashed by this ordinarily benevolent god may not ‘revolutionary'
attributed
be entirely a figment of the Greek fancy
27 .
In attempting to account for the correlation between earthly
Tomaschek eschewed the naive physical hypotheses put forward by Gauquelin and other orthodox scientists whose work inadvertently relates to astrology. Tomaschek supported a symbolic view consonant with tradition, and because he and
celestial events,
was both
a physicist
and an astrologer his views
particularly interesting.
We
shall return
to
in this respect are
them
in our final
chapter.
work has been done successfully linking sunspot terrestrial phenomena. And the following
Considerable activity is
with a variety of
but one of
At
many
reports of the positive findings
a recent session of the
Communication
Popov Radio Engineering and
carried out over a
found a relation between road accidents and solar statistics
showed that the day
also
italics!
.
by
been obtained by workers in
human
flare
much
as
as four
times above the
than at other times.
Hamburg and Munich. He
response to stimulation
Interest in the relationship
amount
Their
Podshibyakin mentioned that similar findings had
that
many
has existed for
activity.
after the eruption of a solar flare, road
accidents increased, sometimes
average [our
Electrical
Dr A. K. Podshibyakin reported that research number of years at the Tomsk Medical College had
Society,
years.
is
between
When
of ultraviolet radiation
is
also claimed
generally slower during a solar
solar
and
phenomena
terrestrial
a solar flare occurs
an immense
produced. This increases the ionization
of the terrestrial atmosphere to such an extent that during that period
short-wave communication on earth solar flares
may
interesting idea
Indeed
it
disturbance
also
have some
is
effect
likely to be disrupted.
Whether
on the human metabolism
is
an
28 .
is.
may
Particularly since Nelson has
shown
that radio
be predicted with ninety-three per cent accuracy
from the positions of the planets. Reflecting for a moment upon the extreme delicacy and the minute scale of the body’s actions and
would seem almost more reasonable to put the matter it would be surprising if these world-wide magnetic and electrical phenomena did not affect human metabol-
reactions
the other
ism.
it
way round
:
the evidence
182
EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL INFLUENCES INORGANIC CHEMISTRY Of
all
the fields of science, none appears so devoid of mystery as
that of inorganic chemistry
X
IN
where - we are taught
-
in school
will always combine with Y at a given rate in a given ratio form XY. But in fact the matter is not quite so simple. There are skeletons
to
in the inorganic chemist's closet. Colloids ticular refuse to
water, the
conform
commonest number
exhibiting any
known
to
and precipitates in par-
chemical standards of behaviour, and
of liquids,
is
also
the most mysterious,
of embarrassing aberrations.
to chemists, this
wayward behaviour has
Though long
generally been
overlooked, ascribed to faulty equipment or laboratory mistakes, or frankly put
down
However, an
to ‘freaks of nature’
Italian
chemist,
and ignored.
Professor
Giorgio
Piccardi
of
Florence University, became interested in these matters in the
1930s and after long and persistent experimentation has that
these
chemical
shown
anomalies are caused by extra-terrestrial
factors.
Most impressive in 1951
of Piccardi’s experiments was one beginning and extending through 1958, performed as a contribution
to the International
Using
Geophysical Year.
specified, pre-arranged
methods, following a pre-arranged
plan, Piccardi and other scientists in laboratories around the world
prepared a precipitate of bismuth oxychloride in water, under strictly controlled laboratory conditions.
was discovered that the rate of precipitation varied from day The possibility of quirks in equipment had been eliminated, as had the possibility of carelessness in organizing the experiments. When a copper sheet was placed over the experimental vessels, the precipitate formed at a constant rate meaning that copper voided 29 the effects of whatever it was that caused the fluctuations. Over the course of seven years, more than 200,000 separate experiments It
to day.
were performed. Piccardi found that the rates of precipitation followed a definite
and predictable cyclical pattern throughout the year, with a miniin March. He also found variations according to latitude interesting in view of cycles research which indicates that biological, ecological and even economic cycles follow similar patterns;
mum
.
THE EVIDENCE
183
corresponding not only to latitude but to the earth’s magnetic
The
field as well.
cyclical pattern
was shattered violently when-
ever there were sharp magnetic disturbances in the atmosphere.
And
the yearly cycle
was ‘enveloped’
in the familiar
1 1
sunspot cycle. All of this corroborated cyclical data from a of fields,
•
1
year
number
with the exception of the sharp yearly fluctuation in
March. This fluctuation could not be accounted for in terms of earthly phenomena, nor even in terms of
known phenomena within
and Piccardi boldly hypothesized that the March fluctuations were due to factors that are galactic the confines of the solar system,
in origin.
The earth
which in turn races towards the constellation of Hercules, meaning that the earth describes in space not a flat orbit, but a complex spiral, whose action in March is
revolves about the sun,
unique.
The in
its
and While denying
old idea of ‘empty space’ has of course been discarded,
now
place science
talks of ‘fields of force’.
astrology Piccardi theorizes that the singular displacement of the earth within the galactic field of force during the
month
of
March
results in the curious fluctuation in the speed of chemical reactions
during that month. chemical experiments have for
Piccardi’s
many years been He has shown
accompanied by research into the anomalies of water. that water
is
particularly sensitive to outside influences 0
between
0
temperatures of 30 and 40 C and that colloids, subsequently, share in this strange sensitivity. ‘There is no need to underline the
importance of
this fact,’ Piccardi asserts;
takes place in an aqueous
‘Water
is
and
‘it is
well
known
colloidal system’ (p.
1
that
life
5).
and is capable most varying circumstances to a degree
sensitive to extremely delicate influence
of adapting itself to the
by no other liquid. It may be that it is this infinity of makes the existence of life possible’ (p. 33). ‘. electro-magnetic fields of low frequency and therefore of very little energy [our italics] are capable of acting upon water’ attained
possibilities that .
33 )Piccardi has
(P-
found that results were most striking in the VLF (Very Low Frequency) wavelengths. Experimenters in other fields have also found that VLF waves caused marked biological changes. ‘Electromagnetic radiations and field variations entire
.
.
.
strike the
mass of a body, and thus of an organism, and provoke the
.
THE EVIDENCE
184
oscillations, excitation or, at
any
rate, the resonance, so to speak,
of all the structural elements capable of responding to their stimu-
wherever they are found. Their action
lus
is ...
tot aV (our italics;
P- 135)* *. these elements which, depending on their geometric form and their internal energetic relationships are able to respond to .
radiations of approximate frequencies, are the structural elements .
.
there can be
.
no resonance without
structure’ (p. 125).
This latter would ring familiar in the ears of the medieval astrologer;
and in those of the architects
of the cathedrals
and of
the temples of Egypt, as well. For the structures they built were
designed consciously to provoke just that desired resonance within the hearts and heads of beholders. So
among
all
it is
strange that Piccardi,
these experimenters, should publicly decry traditional
astrology.
CYCLES AND SUNSPOTS The connection between was The
first
the sunspot cycle and earthly
prices of
wheat seemed inexplicably
cycle of sunspot frequency.
And
tury intermittent efforts were
them -
phenomena
noticed in 1801 by Herschel, the discoverer of Uranus.
made
and utilize was not until
to isolate cycles
principally as they related to business. But
it
was begun.
the 1920s that systematic research
At Harvard,
year
to follow the 11-1
throughout the nineteenth cen-
a team of workers under Professor Ellsworth Hunt-
everywhere
ington
discovered
inexplicable
looked.
A
of books ensued that provoked considerable
number
scientific head-scratching,
an
irate disclaimer
‘All this
may
.
.
whoops
data
of delight
from
they
astrologers,
and
from Huntington himself.
suggest astrology.
astrology, however, .
cyclical
is
like that of
The relation of modern chemistry
.
.
.
this
to
book
to
alchemy.
Nevertheless, the cold fact as to millions of births leaves no
doubt that on the average people born in February or March
differ
decidedly from those born in June and July/ 30
And
was that nothing known to orthodox any of the other cyclical phenomena that Huntington and his team were uncovering. After the
still
colder fact
science could explain this discrepancy, or
decades of work, however, Huntington, without actually mention-
THE EVIDENCE much
ing the forbidden word, as
evidence
sufficient
is
to
as left the door
open
185
The
:
warrant the working hypothesis that
atmospheric electricity, due presumably to the sun, but perhaps also to the
whole
solar system,
a cyclic factor closely associated
is
with psychological rhythms/ 31 Cycles had been found operating in biological, economic, meteorological, geophysical,
human, animal, and
virtually every other
sphere.
They could be shown to be highly un-random. Certain definite showed up time and again, while others never occurred
periodicities at all.
For example, a 9*6 year cycle manifests
phenomena from the
size of
io-6 year cycle.
random and due
when
That the distribution was nonthan chance was demonstrated
to factors other
cycles turned
And,
up again on schedule. 32
as a further demonstration, the cycles invariably manifested
themselves harmonically, that
but never in
fives or sevens.
is,
and
in double
Thus
treble progressions,
there are three distinct 15 year
cycles enveloped in a greater cycle of 45 years, etc. Cycles were a fact. They could be accounted for earth.
to tree ring
USA, but nothing has been found
widths, and cotton prices in the that follows a
variety of
itself in a
salmon catches in Canada
The
was And, meanwhile, the
logical place to look
researchers declined to do.
pleased with the
new
by nothing on
the heavens but this cyclesastrologers,
cycles data, could not account for
it
though
in terms
of traditional astrology.
Huntington’s cycles
- 41 months, 9 6
fell
into astrologically
years, 11 2 years,
awkward - none
18 years
time-slots
of
which
coincided with the speeds of the planets in orbit seen geocentrically.
Astrologers would have liked to see neat 12 year cycles corresponding to Jupiter; 28 year cycles corresponding to Saturn, and so on.
In 1950, in America, the Foundation of the Study of Cycles was
inaugurated, in affiliation with the University of Pittsburgh.
This foundation, which has scribing
now grown
to ten
thousand sub-
members, though observing due caution in openly
sing astrology, has never been inimical to
it.
Indeed,
discus-
among
the
Lieutenant-Commander David Williams, a well-known astrologer and author of numerous articles for astrological magazines, who evidently makes no effort to conceal Board of Directors
his
is
astrological interests.
stantial
And
in recent years,
evidence for astrology piles up,
as
the circum-
the Foundation leans
l86
THE EVIDENCE
further and further towards an open interest in
Edward
Dewey, President
R.
the subject
of the Foundation, declared in
1967:
The
really important aspect of the comparative cycle study is the
possibility that italics]
terrestrial
tunately, thing.
will lead to the discovery of hitherto
it
environmental forces that
phenomena.
we do
...
If
.
.
.
What
affect life,
could these external forces be? Unfor-
not yet know, but
such forces are
unknown [our many other
weather and
seems clear that they are some-
it
real, as
we
said in the beginning,
it is
a
matter of utmost significance to mankind. The proof of the existence of such forces will push back the frontiers of knowledge as single discovery
I
can think
of.
much
as
any
33
In September 1968, in Cycles, Professor
Dewey
published an
Dewey many cycles-researchers had felt that the planets some way bound up with sunspots, and therefore with the ‘A Key
article entitled
to Sunspot-Planetary Relationship’.
wrote that while
were in whole complex of cyclical phenomena, no one had been able to discover what this relationship was. But it had been remarked that, though sunspot frequency followed the familiar 111 year cycle, this was not a true cycle. Sunspots are magnetized and normally occur in pairs. In one 1 1 1 1 year cycle north spots lead and south spots follow, and in the next cycle south spots lead and north spots follow. Therefore, Dewey reasoned, a true cycle would be 22-22 years.
The 22-22 year cycle was then removed from the The data remaining were then subjected
spot data.
harmonic
analysis,
and the most important
figures
original sunto a
form of
were
isolated.
In other words, only the data that were not directly correlated to the 22-22 year cycle remained.
And
these figures were then com-
pared to the average times of the conjunctions between the outer planets.
The
results are
Dewey’s next step
shown on
will be to
five
the table, p. 187.
examine the relationships between
sunspot harmonics and the conjunctions of the inner planets. But it
would now appear
as
confirmed that the conjunctions of the
planets (with the strange exception of Neptune) coincide with
sunspot activity. Since
it
has been established that sunspot activity coincides
phenomena, it seems logical to conclude some way connected with the conthe planets and we are again in the realm of astrology.
with a host of that these
terrestrial
phenomena
junctions of
are in
-
THE EVIDENCE Planetary
Average
Period of Sun-
Conjunction
Synodic Period
spot
Saturn + Uranus Jupiter
-
1
Percentage
Harmonic
Difference
yrs
45-47 yrs
0-2
13-81 yrs
13-78 yrs
0-2
4436
Uranus
Jupiter -I- Saturn
19-86 yrs
19-78 yrs
0-4
Jupi ter -1- Pluto
12-46 yrs
12-40
0-5
126-95 yrs
123-72 yrs
2-6
Saturn + Pluto
33 42 yrs
32 05 yrs
4-3
Saturn + Neptune
35-85 yrs
37-73 yrs
5-2
+ Neptune
12-78 yrs
None None None
Uranus -{-Pluto
Jupiter
Uranus -I- Neptune
171-40 yrs
Pluto + Neptune
49200
It all
should
now
yrs
be apparent that, though
it is
we have described into common the denominator
of the experiments
package, influence
all
have in
upon
187
impossible to
of extra-terrestrial
And, while it would be unfair call their work ‘astrology', it
terrestrial affairs.
the scientists responsible
to
fit
a neat conceptual
equally unfair of the scientists to imagine that astrology
to is
only
is
concerned with predicting whether or not tomorrow will be a favourable day for buying poodles. Still, if
the evidence does not
fit
together neatly,
it
does, as
com-
many of which touch upon various traditional astrological precepts. Gauquelin's work is direct corroboration of the influence of the planets upon personality; Nelson's work bears out the validity of the theory of aspects; cycles study seem to imply that on a huge scale human and animal psychology is affected by cyclical factors which in turn depend upon the solar system, and so on. In presenting the evidence, however, we have nowhere given
pensation, cover a wide field of interests, directly
an inkling as is
to
how
celestial influence operates. In a sense this
not essential. Scientists and engineers were making use of
tricity for a
think
it
many
areas
century before they understood
safe at is
this point
a fact.
to
assert
how
it
worked.
elec-
We
that celestial influence in
it is far more satisfying if a reasonphenomenon can be supplied, and we
But
able explanation of the
think that this can be done, not by direct evidence,
it
is
true,
but by what in our opinion seems to be a singularly powerful analogy.
l88
THE EVIDENCE Wave Forms
Cymatics: The Study oj
Cymatics study of matter
name given by its founder, Hans Jenny, to the wave forms and the way in which wave forms influence is
the
34 .
Essentially, Jenny’s
menon examined by Ernst Chladni,
who
work
discovered that
a plate attached to a violin, violin, the
but a vast refinement of a pheno-
is
German physicist, when sand was scattered over
the eighteenth-century
sand arranged
itself
and
different notes played
on the
into a variety of beautiful patterns,
which changed according to the note that was played. In science these figures are well-known as ‘Chladni figures’. But Chladni’s methods permitted few refinements, materials were limited, and the frequencies difficult to control or to alter in the course of the experiment. But the form was in some way a function of the frequency of vibration; this was clear enough. Jenny decided to investigate this phenomenon, and accordingly invented equipment which would allow him to subject a wide range of materials to a wide range of frequencies, all under a flexible control system. Sands, powders and liquids were spread on metal plates, or otherwise vibrated at different sound frequencies, producing a spectacular array of forms and patterns 35 and one series of
experiments perhaps merits particular attention from our
point of view.
Among to
Jenny’s inventions
is
the horoscope’, a device designed
convert the vibrations of the
human
When
voice,
and of sound in
was spoken into, photosound were obtained, and it was found, for
general, into visual terms.
graphs of the shape of example, that the spoken
this
letter ‘O’
produced
a perfectly spherical
photograph.
Of
all
the ancient and primitive beliefs, few have been more
by modern critics than the notion that words and names were imbued with magical or other properties - beyond universally ridiculed
the arbitrary act of inventing a
word or name
to stand for a thing
or person. In ancient Egypt precautions were taken to prevent the extinction of the eighth or Name-soul. ... In the pyramid texts
God
called
that of a
Khern,
human
i.e.
Word:
being.
the
Word
The Creation
we
find
mentioned
having a personality
of the
a
like
World was due
to
.
THE EVIDENCE the interpretation in
words by Thoth of the will of the deity
189 .
.
.
Children are often similarly anxious to conceal their names; and just as children always demand what the name of a thing is (never if it has a
name) and regard the name all have names
the stars
.
In some
we know
as a valuable acquisition, so
ways the twentieth century
suffers
more grievously than any
previous age from the ravages of such verbal superstitions
The
that
.
.
.
.
persistence of the primitive linguistic outlook not only through-
out the whole religious world, but in the work of the profoundest thinkers,
is
indeed one of the most curious features of modern thought
36 .
The rational mind is immune to such nonsense; and the rationaknows that had - say - Vladimir Nabokov elected to name his famous nymphet Hepzibah it would have made no difference. list
Yet Jenny’s photograph of the vowel 'O’ stands there, per-
manently thumbing
its
nose at reason. For unless Ogden and
Richards are prepared to dispense with
all art, literature,
poetry,
music and architecture, as the purely 'emotive’ residues of primitive superstition, it
would appear
many
others, the Egyptians
by its which
are afterwards interpreted
structure,
ever these
that in this instance, as in so
were dealing in
realities.
Art
affects
us
by the sensory vibrations which it sets up, and by our aesthetic faculties - what-
may be.
Jenny’s tonoscope
designed so that sound vibrations act upon
is
whose action can be photographed. 'O’ not only 'O 37 By merely pronouncing the material can be made to conform to what might be
inert material
sounds
like ‘O’, it looks like
vowel, inert called the
Law
of O.
‘It
may
voice have specific effects
’.
be said that the sounds of the
on various materials
human
in various media,
producing what might be called corresponding vocal figures .’ 38
The Egyptians and
primitives look ever less superstitious and primi-
science has already admitted that
tive
:
the
growth of
plants;
it is
sound waves can influence
but a short and logical step
to the ad-
mission that the repetition of sacred formulas and chants (sound
waves) can objectively cure diseases.
If
music can
affect plants,
why should viruses and bacteria be immune?
We
have already discussed the Law of Three, the Law of Re-
lationship for
- symbolic traditionally of ‘Spirit’ - which insists that to happen in the universe three forces, not two, are
anything
necessary, but that this third force is
is
ineffable. Jenny’s
essentially the study of this elusive third force
which
Cymatics so stead-
:
THE EVIDENCE
190
fastly remains
immune
our reason
to
it is
:
the ‘idea’ between the
sculptor and the block of wood; the ‘desire’ that mediates between
man and woman; to
Holy Ghost of the Christian Trinity. work lies in the ability of cymatics
the
The importance
of Jenny’s
expose this third force, to allow scientists to study
But
tions quantitatively.
it
must be
mean
that the third force has been explained;
ever
:
in this case
ing
agency of
power
it is
is
but
without
it
it is
as mysterious as
‘vibration’,
this
Professor
like
the manifestation of a conscious decision;
neither matter nor energy,
guistically, yet
manifesta-
applied to matter through the mediat-
is
‘vibration’;
Brown’s train schedule,
its
stressed that this does not
it
refuses to be pinned
down
lin-
Jenny would have no patterns, Professor
Brown no train schedule. To repeat: form is impossible without frequency, and frequency is inexplicable. Can this fact be behind the meaning of ‘In the beginning was the Word’? Is this what the Egyptians meant when they credited Thoth with creation for his interpretation in It
words of the divine
seems
will
?
work opens an important approach astrology - and the physical aspect of
to us that Jenny’s
to the physical aspect of
is of course the only aspect to which the scientific method can be applied. Cymatics makes it clear that the ancient concept of the Harmony of the Spheres must be taken literally. The medieval analogy of resonance, long discarded as impossible in a Newtonian mechanical universe in which planets whirled about in empty
astrology
space,
The
now returns solar
the planets
as
system
demonstrable
is
move slowly
hundred thousand years invisible,
to
fact.
a coherent, vibrating whole. in orbit. But, to a being as a second, the solar
but audible, (providing such
To our
who
senses
considered a
system would be
a being’s senses
were attuned
magnetic and electro-magnetic and not merely atmospheric
dis-
turbances). Like every other vibrating system, the solar system
is
bound to produce a multitude of interacting harmonics, the effects of which constitute the research we have been describing. Jenny’s experiments show that form depends not only upon the frequency of vibration, but also upon the nature of the material being vibrated. Different materials vibrated at the same speed produced different patterns. This qualitative difference.
And
is
to attempt
a
visual demonstration of
to explain it
away
in terms
:
of the atomic structure of the materials
THE EVIDENCE
191
simply to beg the
issue;
is
the apparently simple arithmetical addition of electrons also results in qualitative differences between the basic elements. And in music
same note played on a violin and on an oboe affects us difis no good maintaining that there is no ‘real’ difference the notes beyond the sum total of the respective harmonics the
the
ferently. It in
:
difference in effect
is
as ‘real’ as the calculations.
The situation in the solar system is analogous to an orchestra. The planets (instruments) are composed of widely diverse mass and density, they orbit and these speeds are ceaselessly each other, and also in the distances and
hugely
materials, they differ
as to
(vibrate) at a variety of speeds,
changing in relation
to
angles at which they interact. are
now
accepted that the planets
magnetically and electrically charged; Jupiter and the
all
earth, at least, are
we
It is
known
to
emit radio waves, and
it is
obvious that
are only beginning to learn the true physical natures of the
planets.
But
it
should also be incontestable that the ‘influences’ of
it is no mistake that Saturn, not Venus, up in charts of scientists in Gauquelin’s statistics, etc. And the work of Nelson, Piccardi, Dewey, Jonas and the others makes it equally incontestable that every atom of every molecule of the 39 earth has no choice but to respond to this cosmic tune Sperm unites with ovum; the so-called ‘genetic code’ determines out of the infinity of possibilities what the foetus shall inherit from its parents. But what is the genetic code? What is the precise nature of the ‘message’ which the messenger RNA carries to
the planets vary widely;
turns
.
the
DNA before
selves, is
the latter can operate? It
but their arrangement
the result of an act,
which
is
in other words, it
in itself
is
of united
Is it
is
is
prevailing at that
,
it
contingent upon
not possible that the genetic code
sperm and ovum
not a thing
neither matter, nor energy.
In Jenny’s experiments, arrangement (form)
frequency.
not the genes them-
is
the response
complex of cosmic frequencies
to the
moment?
Though couched
terminology,
different
in
been contending that
this
was the
of course they
have further contended
concerned, the
moment
ing factor. That this
is fact,
fact in physical terms is
not supposition,
statistical
And
that, as far as character is
of birth, not of conception,
Gauquelin’s and Addey’s
have
astrologers
case since history began.
is
is
the determin-
amply proved by
work. But to account for this
probably impossible, and this book
is
not
THE EVIDENCE
192
the place for a dissertation on the nature of the ‘soul\ or even
resume of traditional teachings on the subject. (See the bibliography for further reading on this esoteric aspect of astrology.)
for a
We
shall restrict ourselves to the observation that the
sum
of
rhythms and harmonies of a piece of music does not constitute the meaning of the music, nor can this meaning be derived from such a quantitative assessment. In a similar fashion, we may measure all the alpha and other rhythms of the frequencies, tonalities,
man
brain of the
calculating a train schedule; but this
nothing of the meaning of his
The harmony
of the spheres,
speech, but reality. Yet clusion that
we
then,
we must guard
are ‘influenced’
is,
us
is
no fanciful figure
of
against the too-facile con-
by the music
in a subtle but ineluctable fashion,
logy
tells
efforts.
we
of the spheres; for,
are that music.
cated to the interpretation of
its
astro-
meaning.
Proof of the Pudding: Astrologers Stand Up In presenting our evidence
we have
state of present-day astrology,
logers
And
or should be, the discipline, half art, half science, dedi-
who
practise
sources, all of
it,
whom
avoided discussing the actual
and the qualifications of the
beyond quoting
freely
to the Test
a
number
astro-
of astrological
admit that matters are unsatisfactory,
and drastically in need of revision. But despite these strictures, it remains a fact that an astrologer who gives up astrology in disgust or despair is a rarity. Is there then enough validity even in present-day astrology to justify the time spent on it by apparently otherwise sane men? Or are they deluding themselves? Is it possible, as Gauquelin contends, that cosmic influence is an incontestable fact, but that the whole of the astrological edifice
is
superstition,
and
astrologers, even serious
astrologers, are charlatans or fools?
Gauquelin, champion of fact and figure, supports his contention
with no
facts
- only vague
allusions to challenges issued to
and never taken up. As we have seen, other opponents of astrology, from Voltaire and Swift down to Haldane, Eisler, Couderc and Patrick Moore, have issued condemnations with conastrologers
viction but an equal absence of fact or figure. logers
- until very recently
a despised
Meanwhile,
astro-
and uninfluential minority
THE EVIDENCE
- with no
- have
issued bitter rejoinders in their unread journals
facts to
support their case but at least with justice on their
view of the lack of evidence, obligation
hedge
to
critics
would seem
to
193
side.
In
have a moral
their criticism until appropriate
testimony
can be brought to bear.
The truth
is
that
it is
exceedingly difficult to devise methods of
putting astrology, and astrologers in particular, to tests that satisfy
requirements without forcing astrologers to distort their
scientific
methods in order
However,
to
comply with the
test.
two concerted efforts have overcome these difficulties. One by Professor Hans
in recent years, at least
been made to
Bender, the actual results of which, unfortunately, unsuccessful in obtaining, and can report only
we have been
what has come
that the astrologers in general scored high
us second-hand:
character analysis, but poorly on predictions,
which comes
as
to
on no
surprise.
But the
results of the second test are available in detail.
This elaborate series of experiments was devised by the late
Vernon it
American psychologist who became
Clark, an
in astrology
seemed
to
-
initially
interested
because for a supposedly extinct superstition
be showing remarkable
vitality.
And, without having
contact with astrologers themselves, he noticed in the early 1950s
number of the purely scientific upon the astrological premise.
a
which seemed
results
to bear
His interest piqued, Clark then took the rare step of actually studying the subject for himself. That thirty years minutely
astrology, all of
whom
is,
instead of spending
examining the works of are convinced a priori of
'authorities' its fallacy,
on
Clark
began casting horoscopes. Soon convinced that somewhere, some-
how, there was something test in the
attempt
put on an acceptable Clark
first
40
moment
of birth, future talents
and
capabili-
could be predicted.
He in
scientific basis, or at least a statistical one.
decided to test the astrologers' claim that, from the
data provided for the ties
he decided to devise a newly acquired conviction could be
to the business,
to see if his
contacted a
number
of the
England and America, of
twenty-three agreed to co-
though one dropped out en route, and
operate,
determined to take as
twenty
most highly regarded astrologers
whom
to reply.
C.F.A.
7
test results
in the
end
it
only the answers of the
was first
:
194
THE EVIDENCE
Clark then selected the horoscopes of ten people on the basis of
some well-defined profession, five male, five feThe group included a herpetologist, musician, bookkeeper,
participation in
male.
veterinarian, art teacher, art critic, puppeteer, librarian, prostitute
and pediatrician. These horoscopes were chosen on a first-come, first-served basis. No attempt was made to select ‘casebook’ horoscopes - which cooperatively obey all the rules - or ‘problem’ horoscopes - which obey none of the rules. But the following stipulations were made 1. The Native* must have followed his or her profession for a considerable length of time - people who had switched jobs often were ruled out. Professions
2.
made
to
had
to
be distinctly defined, though no attempt was
prevent overlapping functions, as with the veterinarian
and herpetologist, or with the art critic and the prostitute. 3. Natives had to be between forty-five and sixty-five years of age. This ruled out implicit hints, e.g. had a senator been included in the selection and had several of the horoscopes pertained to Natives in their twenties, this would obviously have made matters easier. Birth in the
4.
USA
was made
bility of geographical hints
:
a condition to eliminate the possi-
a chef
who
satisfied all
other condi-
was eliminated because he had been born in France. The hour of birth was ascertained as precisely as was possible.
tions 5.
Finding Natives
who
Clark found, rather
less
complied with
all
these requirements was,
easy than he had thought. But with the
task accomplished, the horoscopes
were erected and sent
off to
the participating astrologers.
The
were told only the nature of the professions. match up the professions with the horoscopes, according to their order of likelihood, i.e. the astrologer was to select the horoscope most likely to be that of the art-critic, next most likely, and so on, down to the fifth most likely. As a counter-experiment, Clark gave exactly the same test to a control group of non-astrologers - professional psychologists and social workers - who were to make blind selections. This group
Their
astrologers
test
was
to
yielded a chance return. *
The term
‘Native’ for the subject of the horoscope has a quaint
medieval flavour, but its
to
it
dates only
from
1508. Astrologers retain
it
and
despite
unscientific connotations, perhaps because no better word springs easily mind. Horoscopee obviously won’t do, and astrologee is even worse.
THE EVIDENCE
195
astrologers did considerably better, returning answers at
The
a -oi level of significance above chance.
100 to
That
is:
the odds were
against the astrologers’ answers being attributable to
1
chance.
And
going further into the data (since
statistics are
open
to
a number of refinements and subtleties) it was discovered that the results would have been even better had the newest and most advanced statistical methods been employed. But these remained
not because of the astrologers, but because orthodox
unofficial,
statisticians
tended to distrust these methods.
Clark found that using his original scoring technique, sixteen out of the twenty astrologers scored above the chance
level.
But
using a bull’s-eye-only technique of scoring, seventeen out of the
And by
twenty were above chance. astrologers
who had
been
been omitted from the
last to
test
- the
adding the scores of the two
answer - and
who
therefore
had
results also would have been im-
proved.
From
was
this test, then, it
possible to conclude tentatively that
men’s characters are influenced by or determined by the position of the planets at birth,
and
that, using birth data alone, astrologers
could distinguish and delineate character. Still
And
was tentative. 100 to 1 shots do come in. was criticized on a number of minor among them that possibly the astrologers had
the conclusion
Clark’s experiment
counts,
chief
achieved their results through ESP.
Both of these difficult test
was
distinguish. Test
The had an
had to be tested. And an even more 1 showed only that astrologers could 1 was set up to see if they could also predict. were given ten pairs of horoscopes. Each pair
possibilities
devised. Test 1
astrologers
attested history attached,
with dates of important events
in the life (honours bestowed, crucial journeys, deaths, etc.).
astrologers
were
told that
one of the pair belonged
The
to the history
while the other belonged to someone of about the same age and sex,
born in the same vicinity, but whose history was
(Actually, the false horoscope
dom
for a time
course did not Since
it
was
and place near the true chart
know
different.
a spurious one, ‘cooked’ at ran:
the astrologers of
this.)
was impossible
for Clark to
have any information on the
(hypothetical) people corresponding to the cooked charts, the possibility of
ESP was minimized, though not obviated
(it is
almost
THE EVIDENCE
196
impossible to exclude the possibility altogether) the ability to predict, at least in retrospect
-
if
:
and
it
would
test
an astrologer could
on the basis of birth data alone that an accident or a marriage or award belonged to horoscope A rather than horoscope B, it meant that in theory at least the astrologer could have predicted an event of this nature before the fact. tell
In this
the astrologers again scored above the -oi level of
test,
significance.
The returns
of all twenty-three co-operating astro-
were utilized this time. Three had matched up all ten horoscopes with the histories, eighteen scored above chance, two scored
logers
chance.
Two
long shots in a row
is a rarity. But Clark decided to had been demonstrated that astrologers, on the birth data alone, could distinguish and predict. It was now
100 to
1
test still further. It
basis of
decided to see
ESP
On
if
remained
still
this
new
they could categorize.
the possibility of
Clark did only the organizing. The task of
test,
selecting the Natives
was performed by
a board of physicians
psychologists, and the charts were erected
who was
And
a factor.
by an outside
not told what the charts were supposed to divulge,
tively ruling out the possibility of
and
astrologer effec-
ESP between Clark and the
participating astrologers.
Again the test was set up in pairs. This time, one of each pair was a victim of cerebral palsy, while the other was someone with a quite similar chart who was above average in intelligence and in some way or other exceptionally gifted. The astrologers had no case histories to go on, no dates of important events, no personal information to go on whatsoever beyond that one chart of each pair belonged to a victim of cerebral palsy. Their task was to determine which. Again the astrologers scored above the -oi level of significance. As every horse player knows, three 100 to 1 shots in a row make a good day at the races. And while Clark's astrologers were not returning scores of the order of Gauquelin's million to one it must be remembered that the astrologers were being on the totality of their knowledge, and in a manner far more demanding that what would ordinarily arise in a professional
category, tested
capacity
41 .
Clark, however,
trained
to
science,
and attempting
to
win
approval for astrology, bent over backwards to minimize the
THE EVIDENCE He
significance of his tests. tests did
1
97
pointed out meticulously that his
not ‘prove’ astrology, but that they
‘failed to
disprove
it'.
‘With years of experience behind them in working with this hypothesis, they [the astrologers] are hardly in need of proof that 42 But mankind is indeed reactive to his planetary environment .
our
scientific friends
must
still,
for a while, be treated
ceremony due to parlour guests; we must be them in their own language, and which we know ahead of time will be to address
suggested
with the
careful, as hosts, to offer
entertainment
their liking,' Clark
43 .
Clark's experiment
was subjected
to scrutiny
by
statisticians
and could not be faulted. Throughout the course of the experiment, unusual precautions had been taken to ensure proctoring by nonastrologers to forestall accusations of fraud.
‘Never again,' Clark insisted, ‘will
be possible to dismiss the
it
and mystical business - or as merely the
astrological technique as a vague, spooky,
- or
as the plaything of undisciplined psychics
profitable device of judice,
wish
to
unscrupulous quacks. Those who, out of pre-
do so will have
to
remain
silent, or repeat these
experiments for himself .' 44
But none of Clark's
scientific friends was entertained. Cernone repeated the experiment. As far as we know, Clark’s results, like Gauquelin's,* were reported in none of the scientific journals. Only Cosmopolitan a magazine with a limited scientific following, saw fit to give Clark's work a public airing. And small wonder. Did Clark seriously imagine that by assiduous
tainly
,
verbal sugar-coating his pill could be
strangely ingenuous coming from a
made
man
palatable?
It
seems
trained as a psychol-
ogist.
For though
less ‘hard’
than the experiments of Nelson, Piccardi
more human variables and therefore subject to more mysterious, more capricious laws), Clark's experiments were designed to test the astrologers on their own ground, and or Gauquelin (involving
the astrologers passed these tests.
Adding
this to the total of the
evidence accruing,
it
becomes
* Gauquelin, cherishing the notion that he and other savants chevrones
were on the eve of inventing
a
new
Clark’s
work
in
any
of his
own
no relationship whatever convenient not to mention
science bearing
to ancient or present-day astrology, also
books.
found
it
198
THE EVIDENCE
increasingly difficult to avoid the impression (and pointless at this stage of the
on the subject St
game
to
employ more
politic phraseology) that,
of astrology, Pythagoras, Plato, Plotinus, Ptolemy,
Thomas Aquinas, Albertus Magnus and Johann Kepler were
right
-
at least in principle
- and
all
of
modern
science wrong.
Part Four
The Future and Significance of
Astrology
The Future and
Significance
of Astrology
is bound up with the complex of attitudes moment, a situation unique in astrological On the one hand there is the resurgence of pop lowest level, on the other, the discoveries of
The future
of astrology
towards
and, at the
it,
history prevails.
astrology on
its
physical science have vindicated the basic premise of astrology
which, nevertheless,
among
the very scientists responsible for the
discoveries, retains the stigma of superstition that has attached to it
for centuries.
Though opposed,
two prevailing
these
attitudes are
by no means
mutually exclusive.
The mass
interest in astrological
prophecy
may
be regarded in
straightforward historical terms as the inevitable corollary of a society in the last throes of decline
surprise
and degeneration. The only
that three centuries of materialism, rationalism, and
is
technology should prove so unconvincing and emotionally unsatisfactory,
men
and turn store.
that it is
moon
who
switch off the set
sit
enthralled watching
when
newspaper horoscope
to their daily
Actually, this
men
may
be a hopeful sign.
are less superstitious than they
And
the
show is over what is in that it means
to see
Not
in
have ever been, but that
more difficult than is believed to impose one form upon them to the exclusion of all others.
far
stition
fact
and that the same people
land on the
interesting, too,
from the
of super-
historical point of view,
is
the
that the passion for prophecy has seduced astrology's op-
ponents as well, though in this
camp
it is
not called 'prophecy'
but ‘Future Research', 1
and elaborate scientific, economic and psychological excuses are put forward to justify the activity. Nobody studies the stars. Rather, ‘think tanks' are set up, university
money is used if possible, and the variables are fed into a computer making such inquiries respectable. But the motivations behind ‘future research' and pop astrology are the same, despite the dissimilarity of the jargon employed.
Both betray an incapacity
to live in the present,
and both proceed
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
202
upon the assumption that by forecasting the future it can be acted upon with miraculous wisdom despite the chaos and blundering so evidently prevailing at the time the actual forecast
both 'future research’ and pop astrology
theless,
made. Never-
is
fulfil
an obvious
emotional need, and, concentrating upon the latter manifestation of decadence, let us review the various guises
what is being sold. Newspaper astrology
pop astrology
takes, to
see
tends to
tell all
of course, the
is,
Geminis,
all
Cancers,
month holds in store for them. By this time it should be evident of a horoscope
is
a
complex and
most familiar of
all Leos, etc.,
what
what can
(it’s
Most people know
is
mul-
delicate business involving a
—
your RISING-Sign?
rule your Luck, Love
&
Happiness)
Aries BIRTH-Sign in the Zodiac whatever it is. But very few indeed know their RisiNG-Sign, the Sign in the ascendant on their Birth-Date. This is the secret part of a Horoscope the secret their
Capricorn, Cancer, Leo
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
for a
which
must be researched individually
man
or
.
.
woman. And
.
.
.
.
.
.
personally
usually a costly business for but not now Once
it’s
astrologers charge a highish fee.
am
.
.
.
part that
!
new and unique astrological advance for the ordinary man or woman who can’t spend high fees on Horoscopes. I can not only tell you YOUR Rising Sign, but tf.ll YOU WHAT IT HAS MEANT IN YOUR LIFE IN THE PAST ... AND WHAT IT CAN MEAN IN THE FUTURE
again
I
first
with a
vital,
!
new
free
You can
learn
over
fust send 8d in stamps to cover postage,
18.
all
about
this great
service
you are
if
and
tell
me
your full name, full address and full Birth-Date (without FULL Birth-Date I cannot help you) and I will send you a new gay, gorgeous astrological Reading, Star-Linked to
your
Luck,
Love and Happiness.
First
&
Best
pre-
week or
to the reader that interpretation
You know your BIRTH-Sign But what
all. It
the
.
MADAME
.
.
Always!
X
OXFORD STREET OBSERVATORY, LONDON,
W.l.
:
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY titude of variables
much
to
and
that, at its best,
be desired. Newspaper astrology
can be said in titillate. Polls
its
favour
is
indicate that
modern astrology
is
203 leaves
devoid of value. All that
that is does not aspire to do more than few among the multitude of readers take
the prophecies very deeply to heart;
it
unlikely that
is
much
damage is done. Were a ban placed on newspaper astrology, the empty columns would only be filled with still more murder and cataclysm, and seen this way it might even be possible to count it a minor blessing. More interesting from our point of view are the services offered by the fairly large community of hard-sell professional astrologers (see facsimile advertisement on p. 202). One may legitimately wonder what Imhotep, Chief of the Observers, would have found worth observing at this London Observatory.
On
the other end of the spectrum, an
American
astrologer,
George Cardinal Legros, counsels Be in harmony with events.
up
your
in
life
.
.
.
Know what
know what
a great difference in
your
important events are shaping
action to take and
when
affairs ... all the difference
aimlessly and profitlessly and
...
it
can make
between drifting
moving toward contentment and abund-
ance.
Be in harmony with yourself.
you
.
.
.
tials. It
and
Know
master your hidden talents and
the physical and psychological traits,
can make a difference to your personal
your undiscovered potenlife
... in your business
social progress.
But light
first
of all
your path
know your
to a fuller
one who has mastered not only the skilled
The Science
astrologer.
and happier
life
ONLY
of Astrology can
if its
practitioner
is
one who has accuracy of long experience, but the talent and it
both as a Science and an Art
sensitivity to perceive the subtleties
scope unique and different from
all
.
.
.
and nuances that make your horo-
others.
Birth Horoscope Analysis $250. Forecast for one year $300. Horary Chart $25. Consultation or private lesson (one hour) $25. Correction of birth time $5o. 2
Unfortunately, neither our curiosity nor our research fund was strong enough to put his imaginative fee
Mr
he
Legros’s competence to the test. But for
more comprehensive service than The latter, researching out the seconds' worth of calculation. The result
offers a
the Oxford Street Observatory. secret rising sign (sixty is
then looked up in the printed ephemeris) promises only a gay
FUTURE and significance of astrology
204
gorgeous horoscope, but
Mr
knowledge, self-knowledge, tion of hidden potential,
Legros promises in one stroke fore-
social success,
and that
even these great boons fade
contentment, the realiza-
summum bonum
before
which
profit. In short, for
to insignificance :
mere $250 Mr Legros extends the the American Dream.
a
It
astrological
open sesame into
scarcely matters that astrology cannot deliver such goods.
Nothing
else
can
either.
As
countries such as
Sweden and the
United States indicate, profit and contentment are not necessary corollaries. 'More'
whole
and
‘better’
are not
of technological civilization
is
that they are. Professional astrologers
long
if
synonyms - though
the
based upon the assumption
would not be
in business for
the truth began creeping into their advertisements. Their
clients are interested in other things. to an English astrologer, P. I. H. Naylor, the two quesmost commonly asked are ‘When am I going to get some more money?’ and ‘When is my husband /wife going to die?’ And while it is possible that such queries would arouse the wrath
According
tions she
is
:
of St Augustine, closer analysis reveals that
Mrs Naylor’s
clients
are interested in obtaining for themselves a higher standard of
and a greater degree of personal freedom; precisely the aims championed by science and every mass-circulation newspaper and magazine. At its worst, then, this level of astrology is no worse than the society that creates a demand for it; and at its best it may serve a minimal purpose: not all clients are interested only in money or the demise of their wives or husbands. Some come with legitimate questions. Some have a more or less accurate picture of themselves and their capabilities. Good astrologers are, by their nature, good psychologists - otherwise the interpretation of a horoscope would be an impossibility - and it is possible that these 3 clients can get something for their money beyond titillation. That astrology of this sort provides an easy living for fakes and char4 latans cannot be blamed upon Pythagoras. Its appeal is permanent, but varies in intensity according to the state of any given civilization. Beyond this there remains one new wrinkle that the sooththe comsayers of Rome and Babylon might well have envied living
:
puterized horoscope.
The computer has been
now
enlisted into astrological service. It
is
possible to feed birth data into the computer and in a trice
out pops a shiny character analysis with predictions for the year to
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
205
untouched by human hands. Given the unsatisfactory state of astrology, and the extreme delicacy of approach analysis of the horoscope requires, at first glance this morganatic marriage come,
all
of astrology to the
machine accomplishes nothing.
Yet the computer has interesting astrological potentialities despite its
unavoidable drawbacks (the computer cannot break the
when insight or intuition demand that rules be broken; it cannot make value judgements; its value judgements are programmed into it from the start, and, given limited and inflexible rules
premises, its
own
it is
logic
-
an electronic A.
like
down
J.
Ayer - doomed
to internally consistent
to follow
but often manifestly
The machine has no finesse). But it has its gigantic memory. The information packed into it is as good, but no better, than the information possessed by the programmer. If the programmer happens to be an experienced and
ludicrous conclusions.
knowledgeable astrologer, the machine
may
dispense better astro-
logy than what might be obtained from a personal session with a charlatan or a neophyte.
programmer
bias of the
And
while the computer will mirror the
(just as the
IQ Test and other
‘objective’
psychological tests mirror the bias of psychologists) at least that
be dependable and will not change from day to day,
bias will
permitting reliable comparative analyses.
works
But since the average astrological his or her future,
it is
are important, not so
astrology
ment
Above
the computer
all,
at prodigious speed.
is
client
interested only in
is
the astrologer’s insight and intuition that
much
his speed,
no improvement.
Its
value
in astrological research, in
and in
this sense
lies in its
which
computer
potential employ-
specific test
groups are
investigated in the search for specific astrological factors: there
is,
Scorpio.
say, in late 1978, a conjunction of
A
test
group of children born under
might be prepared, in an
Mars
in Scorpio
effort to find
means when
in
this configuration
out what,
in conjunction
e.g.
Mars and Uranus if
anything,
with Uranus.
In view of the intense interest in computerized astrology (see it would have pleased us had we been able to provide an adequately researched critique of it in operation. Unfortunately, lack of funds forbade our running a test group through the com-
plate 9)
puter.
As
a token gesture, however,
we
sent to
Time
Pattern
Research, Inc. of Rockaway, Long Island, the birth data of Adolf
Eichmann under
a
pseudonym.
And
with dispatch received for our
:
:
future and significance of astrology
206
$20 a handsomely produced eighteen-page
Time
Pattern Report'
euphemism for ‘Horoscope Analysis'). Without pretending that our report was better than most, worse than most, or par for the course, we can summarize it as follows.
(which
Two ment
is
of course a sleek
pages devoted to an admirably concise, no-nonsense state-
and the fact that No gay gorgeous horoscopes here; nor any Chamber of Commerce theosophy promising both profit and the Kingdom of Heaven. The only two sour notes: a white lie to the effect that astrology is at the moment of astrology’s antiquity,
evidence
is
basic premise,
its
accumulating in favour of astrology.
being re-examined by scientists; and the declaration that
‘a
know-
ledge of your time pattern will be of inestimable value because
it
you to exercise your free will to its full dimensions', both of which are largely wishful thinking. The character analysis contains many of the double entendres and contradictions that opponents would leap upon as mutually enables
exclusive
much of a pioneer and a power drive are sometimes exercised in an objective detached manner and expressed in originality and very progressive ideas and aims. There is something galvanic about you, but something diffuse and indeterminate, too. .
.
.
you are an
idealist
and an
individualist,
reformer. Independence and a strong
Is
such a thing possible? Actually,
of the report
is
at liberty to select
ized traits those
which
flatter his
it is,
but clearly the subject
from the range of his computervanity while discarding the rest
as mistakes.
You poetry,
are very artistic, and also very sentimental.
and any other
art
may
form
Your
taste in music,
will reflect the latter quality. ...
At first
you have a refined, urbane yet detached personality. On getting to know you better they will recognize that it can also be very conservative, taciturn and unyielding. acquaintance people
An
get the idea that
anyone can arrive would be impossible to argue the point. On four occasions, however, the computer made statements that are singularly relevant to Eichmann's case, at
opponent might
scoff that
whatever interpretation
on
this basis
suits his fancy.
And
it
and quite unequivocal. In the page devoted to
Tour
Character - Flaws' there
is
a
paragraph that reads
The
quality that most needs to be kept under control
is
a streak of
:
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY ruthlessness it
may
which occasionally shows
itself in
your
be well camouflaged at times, nonetheless
critical junctures. It
does so in a rather curious
for failing the people to
Though
it
is
attitude.
it
way -
207
Though
reveals itself at
in
your weakness
whom you owe most.
not generally known,
it
a fact that before
is
Eichmann’s Nazi career he was intrigued, indeed, almost infatu-
with the Jews, their culture, and everything pertaining to Judaism. His friends were Jewish; his artistic tastes were shaped by
ated,
Jewish acquaintances, and at times Eichmann seemed almost proud to consider himself a sort of Jew-by-association.
Further on, the report declares There
is
asset to
a detached, objective element in
you
if
and when you decide
ship or group activity, as the
it
your make-up which will be an
to enter into
any working partner-
suggests that your feelings will not gain
upper hand in dealing with the people concerned. You will
who has a magnetic perand possibly something of an exhibitionist but who has a creative spark and can be relied upon to be loyal. Partnerships should be arranged on terms which permit them to be reviewed
probably find yourself linked with someone sonality
who
is
after not longer
self-confident
than a ten-year interval, as they might deteriorate after
that period. If
your occupation necessitates your working under the authority of
your make-up should enable you to adjust to your superiors, particularly if, as seems likely, they are somewhat exacting individuals.
others, the detached, objective element in
Perhaps somewhat yourself fortunate in
less to
the
mark is
:
money matters
"...
on the whole consider you are, as it were,
Indeed,
providentially protected, not only against material catastrophe,
but from any cataclysmic misfortune/
But the report concludes pattern
is
its
character analysis with
:
Tour
an especially unfavourable one for any form of
time
litigation
any time that necessitate legal intervention, always endeavour to have the matter settled oht of court’; upon which further comment is superfluous. This is, of course, but one instance, and one opinion is as good as another on the interpretation. An organized test on the computer would be an amusing project, but to the best of our knowledge no such test has been attempted. The closest approximation was a gimmick dreamed up by Gauquelin, who sent the birth data of nine notorious criminals to the computer set up by his long-time in the courts. If circumstances arise at
208
future and significance of astrology
enemy, the
astrologer,
Andre
Barbault. Needless to say, the com-
puter which, by necessity, must generalize, and which most
would never be programmed
certainly
to tell
anyone that he or
she was an actual or potential murderer, failed to divulge this
At which
information.
point Gauquelin burst gleefully into print,
maintaining that he had demonstrated the worthlessness not only
had Gauquelin been interested in truly testing out the machine, and not merely in showing up Barbault, he might have done better to select from one of his own test groups a dozen athletes with Mars directly on the ascendant, or a dozen scientists with Saturn there, and feed them into the computer to see what - if anything of computer astrology but of astrology in general. Yet
emerged.
would
It
a less silly
one
still
be a parlour game, but at least
it
would be
5 .
The Potential oj Astrology If
our attempt to depict astrology as a multi-level discipline has
been at
all successful, it
should
now
be clear that the astrology of
gay, gorgeous horoscopes and of profit-propelled illumination was
not the astrology that intrigued Plotinus or Kepler. Meanwhile, the scientific evidence
we have
collected
shows that despite the
fatuity of popular astrology, celestial/ terrestrial correlations indu-
bitably exist. Tradition insists that at one time astrology
high science
and that success
it
was put
we cannot
to
many
was
a
not modern, sense of that word)
(in the traditional,
purely practical uses, with what
judge. But again, our evidence suggests that an
unprejudiced re-examination of what
is left
of the ancient discipline
might well yield useful knowledge, while wide-scale research into the fields opened up by Gauquelin, Addey, Nelson, Piccardi, Jonas, etc.,
could easily yield information of incalculable practical value.
Since
we
live in
an age in which the educated public tends to
think in practical terms,
it
may
potentialities of astrology,
if
for
what modern
science
is
be in order to examine these no other reason than just to see
missing out on.
ASTROLOGY AND MEDICINE Twenty-five hundred years ago, Hippocrates declared that a doctor
who was
not also an astrologer was not worth his
salt. It
now
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY seems possible that Hippocrates
knew
astrology of a
20g
more advanced
order than scholars have been willing to countenance, and that the
medical /astrological knowledge at his disposal was to some extent valid.
The
electrical
potential of the
And
phases of the moon.
most of
patients varies this fact to
all.
human body
varies
with the
the electrical potential of disturbed
Surely
the hypothesis that
it is
but a small, logical step from
many
other factors apart from
electrical potential alter with the phases of the
moon; and with
the planets as well; seeing that positions of planets affect magnetic
storms in the atmosphere. Scientists are already
studying the relationships between the
body’s electricity and susceptibility to disease. Meanwhile,
been demonstrated that chemical reactions are affected by
has
it
celestial
conditions, as are the properties of plants.
There are astrological linkages here that could be explored with great profit. Possible susceptibilities to certain diseases could be
determined on
the
basis
of birth
data
measures taken from the onset. Equally,
alone, it
and preventive
might be possible
to
determine which remedies were effective for which individuals or types of individual on an astrological basis, while the efficaciousness of remedies under specific celestial conditions
would
also
require study.
The
ever-intriguing possibility of favourable days for the con-
ception of children remains open, and equally the possibility for the favourable
must be
hour
for their birth,
trustworthy in this respect. fated days, or hours, cate. is
even
said that astrology has a long
Another
determining
if
induced; though
to
go before
it
fertility
made
it
will be
the avoidance of particularly
ill-
not too far-fetched, as Jonas’s studies indi-
possibility, again a logical extension of Jonas’s
that birth control
Blavatsky
is
Still,
way
might
just be feasible
if
work,
astrological factors
could be isolated and sufficiently refined
(Mme
this suggestion).
Medical astrology
is
of particular
interest
at
the
moment.
Because
its
possible
that research into medical astrology could begin even
potential benefits are obvious, almost tangible,
it is
today, given a minimal surge of interest.
ASTROLOGY AND CRIMINOLOGY If
current research into genetic causes of criminal behaviour
is
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
210
established,
it
may
then be possible to establish sound astrological
connections as well. Astrologers might well be able to determine criminal propensities from their horoscopes alone. Further, astro-
might be able to distinguish between habitual criminals and criminals whose unsocial acts were triggered by rare planetary configurations, and who could be counted upon to behave normlogers
ally
be
during the interim periods. Conceivably, the law
made
itself
could
account in the
to take astrological considerations into
process of passing sentences.
Research would be cheaply and easily organized for ideal test groups.
And
react to the phases of the
prisoners
make
:
already proven that the insane
if it is
moon,
it
would seem only
extend research to criminal types and
their
test
logical to
moods, their
adrenalin flows, metabolism rates and other factors against lunar
and planetary events.
ASTROLOGY AND ECONOMICS It is
a fairly widely
known
fact that
many
individual businessmen
consult astrologers today in pursuit of personal advantage, as do
any number of
politicians.
A source we
trust
but are not
at liberty
MPs who
regularly
to disclose assures us that there are at least ten
consult astrologers, and the same source informs us that insurance
companies use astrology
to
determine insurance risks - a shrewd
but singularly repellent practice. Edward R. Dewey, President of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles, has also complained that cycles-study has been forced to concentrate far too heavily
upon
economic factors principally because these studies were financed
by large business firms interested in stealing the march upon competitors, and quite uninterested in the scientific importance of the revealed cycles.
But whatever the motives,
cycles-studies
phenomena affect every manner recent work seems on the verge
of
life
on
show
earth.
that periodic
And
the most
of discovering the relationships
between cycles and the celestial rhythms - relationships which astrologers have always believed to exist. Should today's pathological consumer society ever give way to one in which humanity took what earth and gave direct
it
back
its
it
legitimately required from the
due, then astrologers might be able to
an economy that would make rightful provisions for the
seven lean years and the seven fat years; astrology might be able to
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY when to plant, what hoard and when to spend. advise
ASTROLOGY
and where
to plant,
when
to
EDUCATION AND PSYCHOLOGY
IN
Modern education
to plant
211
committed
is
to instilling in the
and values of materialism, to prepare
them
young
the facts
for unedifying vocations
by materialism and necessary for its survival. And though a growing (but still small) minority of students realize they are being hoodwinked, and react against The System’ there is no way created
out of the vicious
Teachers are capable of teaching only
circle.
what they know, and all they know is materialism. Even rebels have to eat, and only the lucky and imaginative few can find gratifying professions or trades.
Meanwhile, gress.
6
sociologists
occasionally deplore, but
mass occupational boredom
accept,
And
behavioural psychologists, dedicated to the gloriously
Swiftian quest to quantify personality
while B
is
more even-tempered than
how
themselves not with
how
(A
C by
is
-56 kinder than B,
a factor of -32), concern
individuals are to escape mechanization
knock the rough edges off the individuals, the reign of uniform ignominy that such psychologists
but rather with facilitating
more often
as a necessary price for pro-
to
regard as an ideal.*
Astrology, on
but
all
its
lowest level, stresses the differences
between individuals, and the object of good horoscope analysis
is
some understanding of the factors that make him different from and not similar to everybody else. 7 Since both these aims are quite inimical to present day educational and psychoto give the individual
logical
practice,
welcomed into
it
is
highly unlikely that astrologers will be
either of these fields in
astrological experience
may
any number. And
a recent
be taken as typical of the reigning
attitude.
In Scotland
by *
a period of
it was found that groups of children, separated only some months in age, achieved significantly disparate
‘As individual nations become ever
web
of civilization, the social maverick
more
closely
becomes
less
bound together by the and less tolerable. The
author foresees that the techniques of experimental psychology will be increasingly used in the future to “save these brands from the fire”, and eventually to inculcate the whole of society with a suitable responsible
Headline to an article, ‘The Technology of Consent’, by Eysenck, Professor of Psychology, Maudsley Hospital, London. In
attitude.’
Scientist, 26
June 1969.
Hans
New
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
212
on IQ
scores
both striking
Since the groups were large and the deviations
tests.
and
scientifically inexplicable,
England determined
logical Association of
see
members to
of the Astro-
study the results to
the differences could be attributed to astrological factors.
if
John Davy, former science editor of the Observer - one of the rare journalists who understands something of astrology and is therefore not inimical to
it
- was
interested in the project,
and the
Observer agreed to provide modest funds to finance the survey.
The
well-known psychologist, Professor John was that of the University of Edin-
sceptical support of a
was
Beloff,
also obtained as
burgh. Yet despite the respectability of the sponsors, Scottish Board of Education learned that their data
when was
the
to
be
scanned for possible astrological factors they refused to allow access to
it.
The irony
is
that
precisely in the fields of education and
it is
psychology that present astrological knowledge
make immediate
Mundane
astrology
anything about
is
good enough
to
beneficial results a possibility.
in
it
speculative at best, and no one can do
is
any
case.
Few
astrologers
confidence in medical astrology in
its
would express much
present state, nor would
on the statistical accuracy of their But the one strong point of modern astrology, the one aspect of it upon which astrologers are consistently willing to astrologers like to take bets predictions.
stake their reputations in public, ter
upon the basis
We
is
their ability to analyse charac-
of the horoscope.
have discussed Clark’s
results,
and have
cited the French
astrologer, Legrand’s, challenge to the hostile Belgian
allegedly formed
to
Committee
study paranormal phenomena. In England
1968) the English astrologer, Ingrid Lind, appeared on
(April
television analysing ‘blind’
persons
number
unknown
to her.
the characters and histories of four
So accurate were her readings that a
of journalists reviewing
the
programme paid her the
supreme compliment of doubting the honesty of the experiment. Given a chance, good astrologers can analyse character and provide vocational and psychological guidance with impressive assurance. But the prevailing attitude remains that of the Scottish
Board of Education. Nevertheless, promising cracks are beginning to appear in the facades.
At
a conference held in
London (September 1969)
to discuss the
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY Patrick Harding,
future of astrology,
213
Jungian psychologist,
a
work with delinquent and disturbed children. By studying their horoscopes Harding claimed that he was able to predict the periods during which his charges would be particularly liable to be troublesome. From the charts he was also able to described his clinical
and thus to would otherwise be wasted in destruction and meaningless rebellion. Asked how many of his professional colleagues knew and approved of his astrological work, Harding replied about half a dozen. Hardly a psychological locate strengths
and
talents within their personalities,
divert energy into constructive channels that
revolution, but better
than none.
And
results
if
are achieved
through astrology that cannot be achieved through orthodox methods, eventually astrology must win out
:
the parents of
dis-
turbed children are less interested in professional orthodoxy than in seeing their children well
Nor
are
Dr Harding and
and happy. his half
dozen interested colleagues the
only psychologists currently looking into astrology. In America, according to
Mrs
Julienne Sturm, president of the newly-formed
International Scientific Astrological Research Association, at a recent psychological conference an entire panel
reading astrological papers.
At
Stanford, as
was dedicated
we mentioned
with university support, a Harvard-trained psychologist ing
Dr
Jonas's
work and repeating
his experiments to see
to
earlier,
is
study-
if
similar
Kosmos, the journal published by Mrs Sturm's organization, has been infiltrated by interested students into at results are achieved.
least five university libraries,
and actual courses
in astrology are
being given in a handful of accredited American and Canadian universities.
Dr Baldur
Ebertin, of the Kosmobiologische Institut of Aalen,
reported that interest in the institute
Germany, and that
of
its
was growing
one hundred members
steadily in
at least ten
were
professional academics.
And groups
in all countries astrologers are being asked if
- by student
not by the faculty - to lecture at universities.
it must be re-instituted in the universiwhich can provide funds and facilities for research. The instances we have cited numerically amount to very little, but it must be remembered that while universities are pathetically open to any new idea as long as it is quantitative (the rash of wholly
For astrology to develop
ties
imaginary social
‘sciences'
erupting everywhere) for astrology to
:
FUTURE and significance of astrology
214
make
inroads at all, the demand must be high, the evidence impresand the savants chevrones insecure in their own right. This combination prevails at the moment and there is every reason to believe that each element within it will intensify and augment in the years to come. And if a few psychologists and educators make
sive,
use of astrology in their professions and can air their results publicly and in professional journals, the atmosphere, at least in those areas immediately affected,
may
ease considerably.
ASTROLOGY AND SCIENCE The
late
Dr Rudolf Tomaschek
listed the four theories currently
being advanced to explain the established correlations between earthly and terrestrial events
1.
That the
celestial bodies actually operate
2.
That the
celestial bodies precipitate
upon
terrestrial events.
events which are ripe for mani-
festation.
That the celestial bodies synchronize with terrestrial events. That the celestial bodies symbolize organic cosmic forces which are qualitative functions of time and space. 8 3.
4.
Theories
1
and
2 are those
commonly advanced by
materialists
(Gauquelin's 'heredity' and Brown's ‘trigger') but these Tomaschek dismisses as inadequate to account for the qualitative nature of It is Saturn not just any planet, aspecting midheavens of Gauquelin's scientists; Mars, the ascendants and
the proven correlations.
,
not just any planet, on the ascendants and midheavens of athletes
and
soldiers.
Radio disturbance
is
pronounced when planets
in the traditional disharmonious aspects, but
when they
the traditional harmonious aspects radio reception
is
line
line
up
up in
particularly
static-free.
Nothing material can account
for these facts.
To
call it ‘heredity’
or to propose that Saturn ‘triggers' a bent for science simply replaces one mystery with another.
Theories 3 and 4 must be brought in. Saturn symbolizes those cosmic functions which, under the proper circumstances, work out in the twentieth century in the ability scientist.
When
a child
is
and
desire to
become
a
born with Saturn on one of the angles,
might be unfancifully maintained that at that moment the whole of the solar system is striking a ‘scientific' note. Scientists
it
:
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
2
1
5
deplore the search for spiritual significance behind physical facts.*
Nevertheless, the physical facts supporting astrology continue to
accumulate and
it
materialistic terms.
is
impossible to account for these facts in
And
since these facts are not isolated, since
they do not comprise a miraculous new spiritual science of their own, but relate to all the recognized orthodox branches of science, it becomes increasingly and embarrassingly clear that these disciplines
cannot be explained in materialistic terms
Science pushes ahead and the universe reveals
either. itself in
realms of
same time, increasing coherence. some function, that does not perform some task. Only science becomes increasingly chaotic. Having ordained the supremacy of quantity, it can do nothing but increasing complexity, but, at the
Nothing
*
exists that does
not
fulfil
Commenting on D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, On Growth and Form, Medawar remarks: 'He [Thompson] stopped short of supposing that act of integration would eventually irrupt upon matters of the spirit
P. B.
the
"Of
how
nothing
.
it is .
.
me how goodness shines in one man’s face, And Medawar continues ‘But D’Arcy
that the soul informs the body, physical science teaches
nor do
I
ask of physics
and evil betrays itself in another”.’ makes no other mention of these matters, and nor shall we.’ P. B. Medawar, The Art of the Soluble, Methuen, 1967, p. 29. The attitude is understandable enough to the eunuch, the sultan's passions are incomprehensible. But when, with a smirk, he exalts his own infirmity into a virtue and is hailed for it, the realm cannot long endure. The questions Thompson just refrained from asking, and which Medawar derides, are of course those the Egyptians asked, and apparently, answered :
:
successfully.
In science, answers are given to those questions that are correctly asked. Because the sages of Egypt asked their questions they built temples for four thousand years; because our modern sages ask their questions we have nerve gas.
The Golden Section determines the relationship between the notes of the musical scale. The rate of growth of the human body and the proportions between its members may be expressed in terms of the Golden Section. The Golden Section applies to the distances between the planets and to their speeds in orbit.
The Fibonacci Numbers which
serve to describe the form paradigm of the Golden Section. The relationships between the perfect geometrical solids are multiples and fractions of the Golden Section. ‘Curiously, this series [Fibonacci numbers] is the expansion of the Golden Section. This sort of coincidence has tempted the anticipator of Nature. Perhaps he is led to think, there are similar harmonies to be discovered in every department of nature.’ Rom Harre, The Anticipation of Nature, Hutchinson, 1965, p. 80. But most curious of all, perhaps, is of living organisms are a
Professor Harre’s a priori ascription of
all this to
‘coincidence’.
future and significance of astrology
216
new disciplines in the attempt to catch up with and new discoveries, and this prodigious and mounting
proliferate
digest all the
disorder
No
is
regarded as a sign of success.*
at what time or how the symbolism of was developed. But that it is a coherent and self-sufficient whole of marvellous ingenuity and complexity is undeniable. And we believe that the evidence available today makes it possible to assert in broad and general terms that the soundness of this symbolism has been proven. Meanwhile, it is clear to astrologers and to those few scientists capable of thinking in other than material-
one knows where or
astrology
istic
terms that the vast corpus of scientific fact can be
comprehensible by relating
it
to
made
system which recognizes
this
functions as manifestations of principles which in turn are manifestations of intelligence. Or, to
put
bluntly:
it
if
the universe
showing
itself ordered, coherent, purposeful and intelliand science persists in showing itself disordered, incoherent, aimless, and mindless, it must be science that is on the wrong track,
persists in
gent,
not the universe.
But the task of relating science to astrology is a vast one calling for long, careful study by legions of researchers. Lacking such a task force, interested individuals can only theorize, and these theoretical systematizations are bound to be more or less incomplete and open to criticism. Nevertheless, there are at least two such attempts which seem to us steps in the right direction. In The Nature of Substance Rudolf Hauschka, a chemist and anthroposophist, examines the chemical elements and the formation of inorganic and organic compounds and relates their functions in earthly processes to the fixed cross of Fire, Earth, Air,
Water;
to the planets,
and
to the signs of the zodiac .
In The Theory of Celestial Influence
Ouspensky, follows the
number
‘as
Rodney
,
9
Collin, a pupil of
down
above, so below’ analogy
a
of avenues, maintaining that such disparate systems as the
table of elements, the functions of the
human body and
ture of the solar system are intimately related
10 .
the struc-
In attempting to
update the ancient theory that assigns the various parts and organs of the
human body
to the
* According to Sir Peter prise
human
be said
dominion of the planets, Collin postu-
Medawar, science
is
beings have ever engaged upon'.
that ‘Leukaemia
is
‘the
By
most successful
the same token
it
enter-
might
the most successful enterprise white blood
corpuscles have ever engaged upon.’
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY model of the
solar
of considerable astrological interest because
it is,
lates that the
endocrine system in particular
system. This
is
ought
or
the adrenal glands. If this
adrenal flows in subjects
and
is
a
to be, susceptible to physical corroboration.
Collin maintains that the planet
tial',
2\J
to ascertain
is
true,
who
Mars corresponds it
ought
to
For example,
in function to
be possible to measure
are thought to be particularly 'mar-
whether aspects and configurations of Mars
actually do influence the activity of this gland.
Both these books have their shortcomings. Hauschka elegantly relates the planets to the metals
and metal
salts
and
their respective
functions. But finding that the 'new' planets do not
scheme, he dismisses them as hors de combat in a
fit
in with his
line.
This won't
meaning for the processes of the earth, the ‘new' planets cannot be assumed meaningless simply because they happen not to fit. Possibly the ‘new’ planets are, as some astrologers contend, actually new, and signify the beginning of a new planetary octave. But one way or another they must be accounted for. And Collin, in his somewhat medieval enthusiasm to find connections between all things, tends to stretch analogy beyond the limits of credibility. The theory may be sound enough; if the universe is One, then everything must be, in one way or another, connected. It may be permissible to begin upon the basis of known facts and build to speculative conclusions, but these conclusions should not be offered as foregone - which Collin For
do.
if
the ‘old' planets are fraught with
tends to do.
Whatever that drives
must
exist.
errors of detail
them But it
and until the
is
all
sound
Hauschka and Collin make, the motive these correlations and relationships
:
must remain
scientific
a matter of speculation unless
atmosphere
alters
dramatically so that
research into these matters becomes a principle concern of science as a
body, instead of the independent efforts of a handful of heretics.
Astrology and
Many
serious
the Press
and dedicated astrologers believe that the charlatans
and pop astrologers are in large measure responsible for the perpetuation of astrology’s bad name. In our opinion, however, this
is
of less importance than several other linked, contributing factors, of
which the most by the press.
tion
salient
is
the continued deliberate misrepresenta-
:
218
future and significance of astrology
Until recently, astrology was mentioned but rarely by the press,
and never by the
At
‘serious’ press.
the year’s end,
some paper or
another could be counted upon to take a consensus of astrological predictions for the
some
bit of
coming
year,
and there the matter ended, unless
charlatanism or credulity turned up that was in some
way
sensational or sordid enough to make it newsworthy. But mention was never made of the astrologers who, rightly or wrongly,
dedicated themselves to a serious study of the matter, nor was
any extensive coverage given to the astrological and quasiwas accumulating. At best the subject was treated with avuncular joviality; at (the more common) worst, there
astrological evidence that
with unconcealed derision. In the past two years, however, astrology per se has become the subject of full length
feature
articles
in
a
number
of
mass-
and magazines, among them the New York Times the London Observer, Time, New York, and Life. The very nature of journalism ensures the inadequacy of such articles. Short of commissioning a literate astrologer to do the job, or at least of finding a journalist to some degree informed on the subject, the article is bound to be written by a staff reporter who circulation papers ,
has been given a fortnight or a apparently, efforts are qualify Editor,
them
made
month to
to ‘research’ it out;
assign writers
whose
interests
for the job. Time, for instance, selected Associate
Douglas Auchincloss, ‘Interested in the occult ever since a
family maid told his fortune from tea leaves
when he was
boy’. Moreover, in pursuit of the assignment, not only did closs
though,
have a pair of horoscopes
cast,
young
but he also consulted a palm-
reader and interviewed a clairvoyant. So
which the
a
Auchin-
much
for the doctrine to
minds throughout the ages have devoted lifetimes. Though a priori inadequate, these articles need not be the best
deliberate perversions of the truth that appear in the
‘information’; the Is
New
there anything at
York Times
all to
reporter,
Tom
the claims of astrology?
name
of
Buckley, writes
As
recently as a
and unanimous ‘no’. The few experiments and statistical analyses that had been performed, the best known by Carl Jung, who became interested in the archetypal symbols of astrology, had proved negative or at best inconclusive. Astrologers lack the objectivity or the academic training to do decade ago the verdict would probably have been a
flat
acceptable research. Science has more pressing tasks. ‘Life is short
and there
is
a lot to
do/ said Professor Gibson Reaves of
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY the
Department
who
fornia, 'I
of
Astronomy and
of the University of Southern Cali-
has studied astrology because of
can either work on something that
astrology.
Some people say they
219
I
don’t see
its
with astronomy.
roots
know will be useful or on how astrology could work/
he went on, ‘but nobody has ever proved finally that it doesn’t. The only really useful question is whether or not it does work, and I see very little
evidence that
dees. It’s the social scientists,
it
missing a bet by not looking into
While no
its
I
think,
who
are
influences.’
serious scientist appears to regard the casting of horoscopes
and predictions of the future as more than arcane flapdoodle, there are at least a couple
who
think that the electro-magnetic
moon and the planets closest many still unrecognized ways.
to the earth
may
fields of
influence
life
the sun,
here in
Dr Frank A. Brown, Jr, Morrison ProNorthwestern University, have led him to believe be exquisitely sensitive receivers of even the weakest
Experiments carried out by fessor of Biology at
that organisms
may
of these impulses, although their specific effects
have only just begun
to
be investigated. 11
This single column
is
the only one, out of twenty, devoted to the
and experimental side of astrology. And while no one would expect a journalist to be aware of Sch waller de Lubicz or to
serious
have read Plotinus or Plato, the
ability to get facts straight should
in theory be his forte.
Up
to 1950, statistical inquiries
clusive,
had proved negative or incon-
but since 1950 they have proved positive and very conmention the work of Gauquelin,
clusive indeed. Buckley does not
Addey, Vernon Clark or Bradley. Was he unaware of them? If so then he cannot be charged with deliberate misrepresentation but merely with incompetence. An interview with any knowledgeable astrologer
would have been enough
to apprise
him
of the existence
of these unassailable statistical inquiries.
The common
journalistic
gambit in an astrological
article is to
interview an astronomer and present the result as 'expert opinion’ as
Buckley has done with Professor Reaves -
who
eschews the
frivolous delights of astrology for the 'useful’ study of astronomy.
We
have discussed astrology’s potential in
cine, the law, education, etc.
According
to a
fields
New
such as medi-
Scientist article,
the majority of astronomers do not interest themselves in the solar system, or in
that impression
problems relating
may
to space travel
- much
as
be given. Rather, they are engaged upon the
study of our and other galaxies. Perhaps Professor Reaves
is
:
220
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
engaged upon is
trying to
matters? Or possibly he by the astronomy review,
‘useful’ research into these
win the £50 prize
The Observatory
offered
(6 April 1953) for the best essay devoted to the
age of the universe ?
Having
finally succeeded in
sowing the land with
in developing a breed of woolless sheep,
it
chaff,
and
would appear that
Lagado has turned his talents to astronomy. Buckley briefly mentions Brown’s experiments, but to do so while failing to mention the volume of corroborative evidence Swift’s great savant of
constitutes a travesty of journalism,
and such
travesties are the
when
journalists attempt to deal with astrology. But no single no matter how determined, can hope to match the institutionalized performance of Time magazine - which deserves examination in some detail
rule
reporter,
Language Inaudible
to
Man:
It is
in the interpretation of a given
chart that determines whether an astrologer or bad.
And
it is
is
adjudged good, mediocre
here that astrology’s scientific pretensions are tested,
and fail. If astrology works in any way other than intuition on one side and faith plus hope on the other, the key question for modern man is 'how?' The how of things seldom bothered the Babylonians, for whom a mountain might fly through the air or the sun stand still. Later it was assumed that some kind of emanations issued from heavenly bodies to affect the characters and destinies of men. When scientists found no emanations powerful enough, sophisticated astrologers abandoned causality altogether and eagerly embraced Jung’s theory of 'synchronicity’ - that everything in the universe at any given moment participates through that moment with everything else that shares the same unit of time.
These days, though, the emanations
may
be staging a comeback.
Some
astrology apologists point to the fact that experimental oysters trans-
ported from Long Island Sound to Evanston,
111 and shielded from light and temperature change, gradually altered their rhythm of opening and closing from the tidal cycle of Long Island to what it would have been in Evanston - if Evanston had a tide. Apparently, the moon was communicating with the oysters in some language as yet inaudible to man. Japanese Dr Maki Takata found that the composition of human blood changes in relation to the eleven-year sunspot cycle, to solar flares and sunrise and during eclipses. French science writer, Michel Gauguelin, foresees a new science of astrobiology, which could vindicate the in-
tuited conclusion
human tion
.,
of the scientists that extraterrestrial
forces effect
same time explode the anachronistic conglomeraof myth and magic cluttering up modern astrology. life,
and
at the
.
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
221
to
uphold
the fancy that particular planets influence particular facets of
human
Lucky Break. In the meantime, astrologers must continue personality or specific events
The statement are tested
and
'it is
fail’ is
.
.
here that astrology’s scientific pretensions
an outright
lie.
The only
and Bender’s and both appear
Clark’s
tests
can back up their ‘pretensions’ well above chance It
curious
is
Why
‘apologists’. it
does not. If
that
it
who
those
that
then there
affects oysters
level.
12
Brown’s experiments are
‘apologists’? Either the
could affect other forms of
it
cite
run have been
prove that astrologers
to
moon
is
affects oysters or
every reason to believe
including our own.
life,
Sophisticated astrologers never abandoned causality theories for
synchronicity.
Jung’s
Sophisticated
astrologers
the
attributed
operation of astrology to ‘synchronicity’ long before Jung applied
name
that particular logers
who
to
attempted
Having paid
to
it.
was only the unsophisticated
It
lip service to
Brown and Takata, Time might
berate misrepresentation allusion to
lines
contained in the
is
brief,
back-handed
Gauquelin who, in one deft verbal manoeuvre, not only
name
has his
well
on all the others to whom But perhaps the most flagrant example of deli-
have squandered a few more ‘apologists’ refer.
astro-
account for astrology in causal terms.
mis-spelled but
according to Time, he
is
not
is
innuendoed into insignificance:
‘statistician,
Michel Gauquelin’ (who
actually carries out research) but merely ‘science writer, Michel
Gauguelin’.
Gauquelin
Poor
!
All his
anti-astrology
invective
gone for
Having spent ten years compiling his massive group of 25,000 people; having demonstrated beyond possible doubt that
naught
!
particular planets do influence particular facets of
off
by Time’s resident mystics,
That the journalists responsible evidence
person-
labours go unremarked, and his demonstrated premise
ality, his
sloughed
human
is
self-evident.
for the article are
Time could
is
as ‘a fancy’.
aware of the
scarcely refer to Gauquelin
without knowing the results of his work. Moreover, we know from personal contacts that Time interviewed Mrs Sturm of ISAR at length
twice,
and the secretary of the English Astrological
Association once, and ultimately declined to use any of the infor-
mation furnished by them because they were ‘serious’. Yet a fair presentation of the scope of the evidence available
would demand
little
in the
way
of space; there
would
still
be ample
222
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
room
to deride
pop astrology.
And
this little space
devoted to the
bulk of actual evidence would certainly suggest
to millions of
was
worthy of serious consideration. Clearly, Time, Life, the New York Times, the London Observer, New York, and the other magazines have no intention of creating readers that astrology
at least
this impression.
To understand
may
the reasons for this,
we
shall
have
to
make what
appear to be a digression into contemporary philosophy, but
which
will shortly lead us back into astrology,
aspects of
it
and into those
that intrigued the great philosophers of the past.
Materialism:
Or, The
Battle Against Ignorance
and
Superstition In a talk broadcast on the BBC, Dr Henry Miller, a psychologist and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Newcastle, gave his views on the ethical problems raised by organ transplants.
My that
approach
is,
to
To me the
my
to this
problem
is
based on a philosophical viewpoint
mind, none the worse for being currently unfashionable.
history of
man
is
the history of his increasing understanding
and control of the physical world, and of an unremitting struggle to maintain supremacy over his biological competitors. With this has come a decline in the influence of religious and other superstitions, and an increasing conviction that attempts to improve the here and now should take precedence over the search for consolation in a hypothetical hereafter.
The
present unpopularity of such an orientation
very success of the
scientific
is
due in part
mastery of our environment.
the fearful to maintain that the gains
we owe
It is
to the
easy for
to the scientific revolution
and are outweighed by the perils inherent in the failure of political competence to keep abreast of scientific achievement. For the present, our ability to understand and manipulate the physical world has clearly outrun our capacity to devise an appropriate social framework for the effective application of new knowledge and new skills. But the honest materialist must admit that the difficulties of the politician and the triumphs of the scientist reflect the relative intractabilities are insubstantial,
of their materials rather than the respective skill of the operators. In
my own
we need look no further than the conquest of which has already relieved more human suffering than has been caused by all the wars of the present century. The fact is field of
medicine
bacterial infection,
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY that, despite its actual
and hypothetical dangers
to
223
mankind, the advance
had already improved the quality of life for millions of the world's inhabitants. Although scientific materialism is an unfashionable philosophy, and an optimistic materialism is even more out of tune
of science
with the cultivated pessimism so popular today, this is in fact the on which most of us organize our lives, whatever
philosophical basis
we
creed
profess.
The reader may reasonably scientific attitude
reply
the
is
simple.
first
precludes
The reason
object that the moral neutralism of the
its
My
relevance to the subject in hand.
for a
moral code
is
pragmatic, and arises in
instance from our need to live together without killing one
more advanced stage of sophistication from our need from making life too uncomfortable for one another. The scientist's approach to morals is utilitarian and even Benthamite. The fact that it quite often happens to coincide with the attitudes of Christianity indicates that even the most improbable of religions has to keep its feet on the ground if it is to remain relevant. The utilitarian opposes slaughtering people because he’s concerned that others should have no excuse for slaughtering him. This is the basis of law which is the essence of human civilization. And although the condition of the world today furnishes many arguments for pessimism in the short term, it's worth remembering that some kind of law now obtains over a wider area of the earth’s surface than at any time in history 13 another, and at a desist
to
.
Though
expressed with admirable conviction, this exemplary
materialist text
By see
is
marred by several debatable points.
carefully ignoring
it
logical competitors',
count
all
the facts of history
in terms of the struggle to 'maintain
it
is
possible to
supremacy over
bio-
but once the actual facts are taken into
this bio-Marxist
view becomes
difficult to defend.
ac-
Man’s
re-
corded history shows his struggle to have been almost entirely be-
tween human, not literature
of
biological, competitors.
anthropology makes
it
Meanwhile, the vast
quite clear
that so-called
primitive tribes do not regard the necessary hardships imposed
by
nature as 'competition’ to be mastered, but rather as a pantheon of forces to
whose rhythms man must harmonize
While Dr Miller may regard
his life
14 .
religion as superstition, the fact
that the Bible (and all other sacred texts in their
own
is
words)
admonishes man to seek the Kingdom within, not 'hereThat this utterly unmistakable injunction should be subsequently misinterpreted by savants chcvrones is hardly the fault
clearly after’.
of religion.
FUTURE and significance of astrology
224
Dr
Miller then lashes out at cowards
who
see scientific gains as
insubstantial. Yet these days the scientific journals are consistently filled
with reports of symposiums held by cowardly
scientists
on
such imaginary problems as nuclear, chemical and bacteriological warfare, world-wide soil depletion, pollution, pesticides, and so on.
Dr
These, no doubt, are the gains to which
The
upon which Dr Miller measures
scale
ing prevented by medicine against
must stand
Miller refers; the
mastery of our environment’.
'success of the scientific
human
that
human
suffering caused
as a twentieth-century miracle of metrication.
story quoted
by
Sir
William
Dr
illustrate the pertinence of
was controlled
suffer-
by war
And
a
kbe, and others, will help
Slater,
Miller’s contention. 'Before malaria
in one area of Africa only
two children out of ten
survived to one year. After a campaign to stamp out the disease the
number called
of survivors
on the chief
had
risen to eight.
to receive his
The doctor
thanks and praise. Could he, the
doctor asked, do anything else for the chief? "Yes,
would you ’
dren?’’
Dr
15
tell
This story
is
me who
is
The
going to feed
man
old all
said,
these chil-
not apocryphal, apparently.
then contends
Miller
responsible
that
scientific
materialism
is
un-
would be difficult to defend. Scientific materialism is certainly what prevails among scientists, and as 16 the aims, attitudes and methods Jacques Barzun ably illustrates fashionable. But this view
,
of science
have
infiltrated every other scholarly discipline includ-
ing history, art criticism, and even the
arts,
such
as
they
are.
Then, neither optimism nor pessimism can be called philosophies; rather they are attitudes, emotional stances taken towards
theoretically neutral data.
And
finally,
should find
it
on
this
same point, we wonder
why Dr
Miller
necessary to call attention twice to the putative un-
As an honest materialist he can only does popularity make? It is curious that
popularity of his philosophy. be right;
what
difference
purveyors of superstition such as Buddha and Christ never
need
felt
the
to apologize for lack of public support, the latter, indeed,
not
even upon the Cross.
On
the same level of
argument
is
the assertion that the scien-
and even Benthamite’. Dr Miller does not seem to have read The Double Helix by James Watson, a scientist whose approach to morals and everything else is tist’s
approach
to
moral
is
‘utilitarian
hardly utilitarian and by no means Benthamite.
Dr Watson
!
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY wanted the Nobel
Prize.
225
Interestingly enough, with very few
exceptions, reviewers in scientific journals found this candour re-
freshing and the morality far from reprehensible, indeed, typical.
And
equally indefensible
He
moral code.
is
Dr
view of the origin of a
Miller’s
seems to believe that in Christianity the supersti-
and the morality was only tacked on as an afterthought. The most superficial reading of the Gospels, the Old Testament, or any other religious text is sufficient to show that tion
came
this is
first
not the case.
And
Dr
last,
Miller’s interpretation of the genesis
ence of law seems particularly open to question. that endures
is
never utilitarian, as
Dr
The
and prevallaw
basis of
Miller contends. Rather,
invariably and inextricably entwined with a moral code
is
usually with a religion
and
origins
in
its
-
that
law
we
is
enforceable only
declaration that ‘some kind of law
area of the earth’s surface than at
now
any time
by tyranny.
obtains over a wider
in history’
is
are able to judge, in
What Dr history.
perhaps
all
and anthropology we can think of no single instance of that lived without law. tains over a
its
Dr Miller’s assertions. For as far as what we have read of history, archaeology
most meaningless of
the
held to be supra-human in
right to compel obedience without external coer-
cion. Historically, utilitarian
The
is
it
- and
Miller perhaps
means
is
a society
that law enforcement
now
ob-
wider area of the earth’s surface than at any time in
And
if
this is his
meaning, then
it is
impossible to
dis-
and Benthamite countries such as Red China and Russia such law seems particularly to obtain, and one wonagree. In utilitarian
why
ders
criterion
ungrateful intellectuals persistently try to it
for there
flee.
By
this
seems rather a pity that Nazi Germany succumbed:
was an area
of the earth’s surface over
which the law
really obtained If
the impending physical
scientific
dooms due to ‘the very success of the mastery of our environment’ were not enough to inspire
the blackest pessimism, the prevalence of
Dr
Miller’s
brand of
philosophizing would be. For, were this curious tapestry of credulity
and hubris in any way extraordinary,
pathetic. But, alas,
it is
it
might be dismissed
a quite typical declaration of unfaith,
thousand examples, no better no worse,
may
and
as a
be culled at will from
materialist literature.
Thus, in the name of C.F.A.
—
8
logic,
Bertrand Russell, doyen of material-
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
226
champion of such utilitarian Lyndon Johnson in absentia for
ism, founder of symbolic logic, and
and Benthamite causes war crimes, demolishes
as trying
religion; declaring that since all religions
one can be true
therefore, logically, only
disagree,
17 ;
which
is
exactly equivalent to saying, 'six chefs give different recipes for
apple pie, therefore logically, only one can be apple pie/ In the preface to the book in
which
wisdom
this
Edwards, Professor of Philosophy
New
at
is
disseminated, Paul
York University,
des-
cribed Russell as 'the world’s greatest living philosopher’.
Haldane, with characteristic bluntness,
B. S.
J.
premises upon which his materialism 1.
2.
is
founded
lists
the two
:
That there was material before there was mind. That there were events before there were any minds
to per-
ceive those events.
That these
beliefs
are metaphysical
and undemons trable has it did Haldane. That in
bothered Haldane’s admirers no more than fact
such
beliefs
run precisely contrary
schedules must be thought
to
human
experience (train
of, before they can exist) makes such
statements the height of un-reason. The book in which they appear is
Science and Life: Essays of a Rationalist.
called
:
Now,
in
or for
such an atmosphere there can be no room for astrology,
any doctrine that
so
much
as hints at the existence of a
coherent, meaningful universe in which
man
has been created ex-
pressly to fulfil a purpose.
As we have stressed, astrology on its higher levels is an essential and honoured component of most genuine religions or traditions. These religions or traditions are to the
initially created to instruct
nature of their cosmic purpose
theological terminology, let us call
it
(to
men
as
avoid emotionally-loaded
the attainment of a higher
form of consciousness) and to provide the practical framework within which men may work towards the attainment of that aim. But perhaps necessarily subject to the same inexorable laws of birth,
growth, maturity, senescence and death that apply
the
cell,
human body and
to the
the stars, even the greatest traditions
degenerate.
week the Nixon family worshipped there again, with David They heard a typical Peale sermon called ‘Never Doubt God Is on Your Side’, which reflected the indomitable optimism of his book The Power of Positive Thinking. ‘That God loves you is the greatest truth ever enunciated,’ said Peale. ‘God doesn’t want anyone to be .
.
.
Last
as their guest.
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY hungry and oppressed. He just puts 18 hugs them up against himself
his big
227
arms around everybody and
.
Only
a very determined
man
could confuse religion on this level
with that motivating the Cathedral of Chartres or the Upanishads Tao Te Ching. But such determination is common among
or the
And from
materialists.
the outside
it
would appear that
all
the
great religions have degenerated to a stage not significantly elevated
above that represented by
Dr
Peale.
Thus, by recognizing the
exist-
ence of only this level of religion, the materialist can put forward a case against
Religion
is
it
that has a superficial validity.
typically held to be be a combination of psychosis,
sentimentality, wilful ignorance, and, above
all,
cowardice; while
the materialist in turn sees himself as tough-minded, rational,
utili-
and Benthamite, willing to face up to the facts in a brutal and mindless universe; he is a John Wayne of philosophy sitting tall in the saddle of truth; impartial, just, stern, an intellectual tarian
Lone Ranger pitting philosophy against the eternal forces of
‘ignor-
ance and superstition’.
But in
fact materialism
is
not a philosophy at
all.
Based upon indefensible premises, and physically undemonstrable, it is a to
what
bogus religion which, by applying the name of reason
mere negative belief, secures for itself the who have never dared push their emoexperiences beyond a first bleak brush with adolescent is
in actuality
allegiance of timid souls tional
nihilism
The
19 .
self-styled
straight-shooter
is
an emotional greenhorn,
thrown ignominiously before he has even managed to get a foot and dejected, he limps back to the ranch where he unites with others whose experiences have been similar. There is safety in numbers. At a certain point it is unanimously in the stirrups. Bruised
agreed that horseback riding
is
impossible, and that
maintained otherwise are ignorant and superstitious.
all
who have
If it is
pointed
out to them that right out there on the range, in front of their very noses,
men
are horseback riding, the honest materialist turns his
back, and looking through his fine telescope in the other direction declares that
he
sees none.
But
in
any
case,
impossible, since everyone back at the ranch are savants chcvroncs
- agree that
By simply denying
horseback riding
- and
all,
by
is
this time,
it is so.
that the infinite harmonies and the prodi-
gious subtleties and wealth of form displayed by the sensible world
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
228
are manifestations of Higher Consciousness, or
the materialist feels safe. criptive
words
to
code’), as
any consciousness,
he can dream up new
as
apply to inexplicable phenomena (‘natural pressure’,
‘selection
tion’,
As long
‘mutation’,
survival
value’,
des-
selec-
‘genetic
long as he can convince himself that these descriptions
are explanations, he can attribute
The arch-enemy
them
of materialism
is,
to ‘coincidence’.
of course, religion,
and
it is
true that religion cannot be put on to a satisfactory empirical basis.
But
its
hand-maiden, astrology, can be - at
To acknowledge
terrestrial events is to
tem.
Once
it is
least to a certain extent.
the proven correlations between celestial and
acknowledge the coherence of the
solar sys-
demonstrated that particular planets do influence
particular facets of personality
it
becomes almost impossible
to
deny the objective existence of meaning and value. And once this acknowledgement is made, unless it too can be called ‘coincidence’, the materialist position becomes untenable. But if science is supposed to be the search for ‘objective truth’, what is it that accounts for the unwillingness to abandon an untenable position? To provide a satisfactory answer we must distinguish between the attitudes of religion and credulity. The religious man, the mystic, knows; his knowledge is a matter of hard work and personal experience, and this knowledge is inviolable - its degree of inviolability depending upon the mystic’s own stage of development; on his own ability to distinguish between what he knows and what he merely believes. The credulous man only believes - whether in materialism, communism, fascism, socialism, democracy or any other spurious and surrogate doctrine (instantly detectable by the assumption, either overt or tacit, that man can modify society without first modifying himself).
The mystic does not understood.
care personally
He may, from
if
he
is
appreciated or mis-
the depth and richness of his
experience, try to convey to others
its
his teaching, the popularity or unpopularity of his philosophy
him
a
own
value, but the reception of is
to
matter of indifference.*
* Since
madmen
are also
- Freud
commonly immune
to the opinions of outsiders,
example - often equate mysticism with madness. But those of us who are neither quite mad nor yet mystics must use our judgement to decide whether some qualitative distinction ought not to be made between [elalladin Rumi, St John of the Cross, the authors of the
materialists
for
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
229
To the credulous man, on the other hand, public opinion is of supreme importance. Because his beliefs are rooted in nothing that is his own, his only criterion for evaluating them is the reception accorded them by outsiders.*
Seen in these terms the hostility towards unorthodoxy - be
it by - becomes less paradoxical. The furore inevitably aroused by every new ESP experiment; the witch-hunt spearheaded by left-wing, liberal-minded astronomer, Harlow Shapley, to suppress Velikovsky’s work and to impugn his scholarly standing; the 'common front of silence' erected by Egyptologists to shield them from Schwaller de Lubicz's massively docu-
science or bogus religion
mented but revolutionary interpretation of ancient Egypt; all become comprehensible to the bemused or baffled outsider once the issue
is
For,
seen in proper perspective. the
in
all-important
no true individuality or requires for
its
of the world.
spiritual
He
materialist does not 'exist'.
is
'soul',
the
and
its
of
the word,
of his credulities.
same order
The it is
as the is
the
has
counterfeit, his self-image,
materialist cannot afford to be is
wrong. For back
tantamount
to death.
quite obvious that the astrology that occupied
the attention of the great minds throughout history
distinction
He
survival the esteem of colleagues and the approval
at the Bar-all-opposition ranch, discredit
So though
sense
sum
pop astrology
never made.
in today’s
And though
was not
of the
women’s magazines,
this
Brown’s, Piccardi's and
other experiments obviously relate to and apparently corrobor-
some
ate
of the basic precepts of ancient astrology, this almost in-
escapable conclusion
is
as a priori impossible,
dismissed
by the experimenters themselves
and astrology retains
its
stigma.
Rig Vedas, the painters of Sumei paintings, the composer of the
Quartet and the
certified
A
Minor
insane with their incoherent and above
all
incommunicative productions. * This
subtle
universality,
is
quite admirable.
but peculiarly abject form of slavery, by virtue of
its
commonly not recognized as slavery, but as something True happiness is never attained by acquisition of a better
television set, or a faster outboard motorboat. It is most certainly attained by climbing up the ladder of our complex organization to positions of attainment and respect' (our italics), Vannevar Bush, Science Is Not Enough, Morrow, 1969, p. 139. *.
.
.
is
it
really true that a
good or genuine
indifferent to matters of priority Soluble,
Methuen,
p. 126.
...
?’
P.
B.
scientist
is,
or should be,
Medawar, The Art of the
:
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
230
It is
much
not so
that materialists do not
want
to face the con-
sequences of the astrological evidence available, but that they cannot; they are not free to do
Free Will or
When,
No
free will.
Free Will?: The Eternal Question
at a social gathering, the subject of astrology arises,
revealed that one
compounded hostility
and
an astrologer, there
is
However,
Is
there
The question
is
relationship to
no free
mean
that
we
in,
are pre-
will ?
as old as astrology. ‘level’,
it is
evidence has been sketched
does this
:
and
a predictable reaction
the hostility stops short of a total
listen, after the
the question invariably arises
determined ?
if
is
and equally intense male
of intense distaff curiosity disdain.
unwillingness to
its
They have no
so.
time,
(And
it is
and
this question
and Pythagorean principles under-
lying astrology that engaged the minds of the ancient philosophers. Astrology’s practical applications in medicine, education,
the law,
etc.,
important though they
may have
ceivably become, were of less interest to these
been, or could con-
men
than the
spiri-
and philosophical implications of astrology. This preoccupaby no means as selfish and impractical as it may appear. If men know why and how they come to be on earth, they stand at
tual
tion
is
least
a
chance of living amicably upon
enough, there
is
nothing so
utilitarian,
astrology - and,
the study and practice of philosophy and science - at
Most
astrologers
vehemence that
it.
Ultimately, oddly
nothing so Benthamite,
as
of course, of religion, art,
this level.)
- but not
all
- would
assert
with some
free will exists, despite their persistent efforts to
use astrology as a means of prophecy.
This
An
is
not quite the contradiction in terms that
old astrological
not compel.’ There
saw maintains is,
:
capable of acting against their
own
The
first is
To what extent
inclinations,
examples taken from astrological literature will lem.
appears to be.
however, considerable scope for discussion
over the degrees of inclination and compulsion.
men
it
‘The stars incline but they do
if
at all?
are
Two
illustrate the prob-
quoted from Madeleine Montalban, the
astrolo-
ger responsible for the monthly astrological column in Prediction
magazine
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY of the best astrologer in the world
The advice not abide by
is
of
no
231
you do
avail if
it.
A woman
once consulted
problems, but just wanted to
me about herself. She had no particular know what main dangers lay in her map.
I found Jupiter badly affected by planets, place and house and I warned her never to go to law or to ride horses. (Jupiter rules both of
these things.)
‘Oh, but
love horses and
I
I
must
ride
!'
she exclaimed.
‘My
would
life
be empty without horses.’ I
repeated
by
lulled
my
warning. For a year she took
my
advice - and then,
a false sense of security because nothing happened, she
went
an accident with a motor cyclist and both she and the motor cyclist were badly injured. The result was a court case which ended with her having to pay the damages. She then consulted me as to how to get out of it There was nothing
The horse
riding.
bolted, involved her in
!
The warning had been given in time, the so-called ‘hammer blow’ was written in her map. She would have avoided it by accepting
I
could do.
the original advice given, but had preferred not to do so.
She had freedom of will; the horse had not. Yet she had been warned Astrologers continually come up against these problems. We can only !
advise.
We
cannot alter the course
when
things have happened
20 .
The second story concerns the astrologer, Alan Leo, who once warned a client that financial troubles were imminent. To avert the danger, the
man
Three weeks
Could
transferred
later his wife
this
man have
all
his belongings into his wife’s
name.
ran off with the chauffeur. avoided his financial ruin?
Was
Miss
to keep off horses and away from lawsuits? Most modern philosophers as well as most astrologers would agree with Miss Montalban that they were. In Sartre’s opinion, for example, a waiter is a waiter because at some time he has made the conscious and free decision to become a waiter, and this concept is shared by most existentialists. The linguistic philosopher, Anthony Flew, cites as an example of free will in action a couple who decide to marry, there being no external compulsion forcing them to do so - and this example would meet with little opposition from Flew’s particular philoso-
Montalban’s client free
phical school. It
ence
does not seem to matter that testifies to
common and
universal experi-
the extreme untenability of these philosophically-
determined positions. Does Sartre suppose that the waiter in question could have been a prize fighter? Or a philosopher? Or a
.
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
232
A
neuro-surgeon?
multiplicity of demonstrable genetic and en-
vironmental factors cuts the waiter’s choice perhaps some equivalent
which
to
tellectual capacity, as well as his
down
waiting and
to
and inthem constrain
his psychological bent
aims -
or lack of
him.
Flew staves off the obvious objection to his example, contending even if behavioural psychologists should prove that the
that
couple, due to their emotional involvement, could not have refrained from marrying,
word
according to
still,
common
usage of the
couple, acting without external compulsion, were
‘free’, this
acting ‘freely’, and therefore free will exists.
Yet one need only take the illustrate its
weakness - the
logical opposite of the
classical case of
example
unrequited love.
Is
to
the
forlorn lover ‘free’ to stop caring for his uncooperative beloved?
There
is
no external
force compelling
him
to suffer. Surely, if ‘free
will’ is as readily available as the logician contends, the
lover need merely avail himself of
The Time magazine The good
feature
unhappy
it.
on astrology concludes
astrologer senses the
mood
of his client, perceives his prob-
most positive way of fitting them into the context of his horoscope. Then he looks ahead, shaping his predictions so that they amount to constructive counsel. The client might have been better advised to consult a psychiatrist, marriage counsellor, physician, lawyer
and
lems,
finds the
or employment agency- But there are
many
troubled people
to accept personal responsibility for their lives, insisting that
force
is
in control
.
who
.
Yet in the same issue of Time an article describing an Egypt flare-up contends ‘These warnings served chiefly
Israeli/
,
to illus-
:
trate the fact that violence
Time have
it
refuse
some outer
both ways?
If
momentum of its own violence has a momentum of
has a
.’ .
.
its
Can own,
then the acceptance or non-acceptance of personal responsibility irrelevant.
And
succeeded in accepting personal responsibility for his so,
is
has the author of the astrology feature himself
perhaps he would do well
to stop
own
life? If
wasting his time denigrating
astrology and instead walk over the water to the Middle East to teach
them the
secret.
For
it is
obvious that
personal responsibility for their
momentum of its own. BBC 21 Dr
have a
:
‘The ways
to
if all
violence
men would
accept
would no longer
Stephen Rose, a biologist, dechange men’s minds permanently are two and
In a talk over the clared
lives,
:
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
233
by the use of rational argument, and by changing the The two great triumphs of humanity are man’s capacity for rational thought and discussion, and his capacity to modify society.’ In all of history we can think of no single instance of a man’s mind (to say nothing of men’s minds) being permanently changed only two
:
structure of society.
through rational discussion; nor does Dr Rose’s faith in free will seem justifiable. Never in history has the volume and intensity of rational discussion been greater than at the present
moment. Yet
never before has triumphant mankind been faced simultaneously
CBW,
with the Bomb,
wide pollution and
momentum
violence that has a
moment
overpopulation, imminent famine, world-
modify
its
and of man’s shameful incapacity
to
society.
Does
we
of
stands as apodictic proof of
futility of rational discussion,
strife and that own. Indeed, the present man’s helplessness, of the
ubiquitous racial
soil depletion,
this
mean, then, that there
exist in a fantastically
is
no
Do
free will after all?
complex, but pre-determined web of
cause-and-effect? This view has
supporters as well, no less em-
its
phatic than their opponents. Philip Barford, an astrologer, declares If as astrologers
we
cosmic harmony, then regard as evidence.
and manifesting ness can ascend.
accept the overall implications of any doctrine of
we have
The
solar
ideal relationships
At any
cosmic mechanism
is
we
admit the implication of what
also to
system
by which conscious-
a functional whole, regulated
is
on every plane
to
single instant in the life of this system, the
manifesting a
pattern of structural relations
and absolutely determined by the
imparted
to it
at the instant of its ideal conception. Astrologers often like to
com-
entirely
initial 'spin'
promise by stating that astrology simply indicates the prevailing fluences and opportunities within
which we have freedom
between possible alternatives. This
is
basic astrological principle. will
is
a
moment
ally, it is
Any
in-
to choose
absolutely inconsistent with the
choice
made
in the conviction of free
expressing a pre determined cosmic pattern. Pragmatic-
impossible to believe in free will and remain an astrologer.
myth. Our only freedom is the seems unpalatthe notion of cosmic harmony, and with it,
Logically, the doctrine of free will
is
a
intellectual recognition of necessity. If this conclusion
one can always reject any attempt to predict future events or
able,
But
it is
not that
Mr
Barford's conclusion
that, despite his pontifical tone, C.F.A.
— 8*
to read character is
on the map
unpalatable;
22 .
it is
he stands self-condemned. In the
:
FUTURE and significance of astrology
234
very paragraph denying us free will opportunities to use
it
:
first,
we
we
two
are already given
are told that our only freedom
is
which is already and then we are given the alternative of rejecting the notion of cosmic harmony, which is also free will. the intellectual recognition of pre-determination,
free will;
Barford’s conclusion
would have part to
based upon a bizarre cosmology that
is
'consciousness’ bring the solar system into being, im-
it its 'spin’
and then vanish, presumably
To be
equally cheerless systems.
consistent,
if
to create other
the solar system
is
held to be a manifestation of consciousness, then consciousness
with
its
concomitant free will would seem bound
of the system
itself.
Clearly,
in rejecting Barford’s
we
to
be an attribute
are at liberty to use our free will
Newtonian notion
of Divine Mechanics.
Equally restrained are the views of the well-known geneticist, C. D. Darlington In genetics
all
behaviour
is
gentically determined, but
it
is
also
environmentally determined ... the division of determination into two systems, genotype (the genetic make-up of the individual) and the
environment, entails as a corollary the successive interaction of those
two systems and the introduction of one into the other. It is this interaction which gives us the illusion of free will ... a choice seems so to us because in every fresh contingency
and environment
new
reaction of genotype
deities,
Genotype and En-
it is
a
23 .
Here, those two famous woodland
vironment, impart that
initial 'spin’.
Darlington presumes that
both these 'systems’, though dynamic, are closed. To save beating about the philosophical bush,
to
destroy this contention
it
is
enough to cite the recent experiments proving that, as the yogis have always maintained, man can gain control over even his involuntary functions. This means that environment can be altered through the exercise of will. Environment is not a closed system.
The future
is
therefore unpredictable, not because of
plexity, but because of
its
very nature.
And
free will is
its
not an
comillu-
sion.
On
the other hand, as
triumph’ which
is,
we have pointed Dr Rose,
according to
out, humanity’s ‘great
the capacity to modify
reduced to absurdity by every daily newspaper. would appear that we have free will and that we do not have it, a situation summed up pithily by Schopenhauer, who declared, ‘Man has free will, but not the will to use it.’ Since this is a parasociety, is It
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY dox, the contemporary philosopher will dismiss to the
unrequited lover
makes perfect
it
it
235
as nonsense,
but
sense.
FREE WILL - VIEWED PHILOSOPHICALLY AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY The paradox
only apparent, and vanishes once the unnatural
is
strictures of logic are dispensed with.
no,
triad of relationship.
alternative dyad, yes-or-
problem must be approached through the
inapplicable; the
is
The
And
Professor Darlington, in maintaining the
absence of free will, unwittingly supplies the key to
According
to
him, the illusion of free will
action of genotype and environment. But
if
is
free will
‘interaction'
is
not.
Yet what
is
this ‘interaction’? Certainly it is
environment.
is it
not material, a thing.
It is
upon something. Yet
ing
out
it
‘illusion',
not genotype.
Nor
is it
Nor
energy, act-
how
would have any meaning.
the mysterious ‘Third Force' that
is
an
is
unsusceptible to measurement, with-
neither genotype nor environment
it
‘Interaction’
existence.
cannot be dismissed, for no matter
how
impalpable, no matter
its
caused by the inter-
is
a necessary
party to every event upon every level of the universe. In
Hans
Jenny's experiments will was represented by ‘frequency’; between lover
and beloved
wood
of
it
is
it is ‘desire’;
‘inspiration’; it
Trinity fundamental to
between the sculptor and the block is the Holy Ghost in the Divine
all traditions.
Will, or the Third Force, manifests itself in values, which are registered
by the emotions but undetectable by the by the logician and utilitarian.
senses,
and
therefore dismissed
Nevertheless, the universe presents itself to the utilitarian just as
it
does to the rest of us as a hierarchy of values
If a utilitarian trips
hurl
against the wall. But
it
though
.
over a footstool he may, in a if
he
trips
fit
of pique,
over his young daughter,
he will almost certainly respond differmomentarily that Darwin decreed evolution free
just as piqued,
ently; forgetting
from principles of higher and lower.
And
while
it is
possible to
maintain that the utilitarian refrains from slaughtering his daughter because he does not want to give her any excuse for slaughtering
him
(cf.
Dr Henry
Miller, op.
cit.,
sible that the utilitarian exegesis of
p.
222
ff.) it is
equally pos-
morality leaves something to
be desired.
Our
lives are
organized upon scales of value, and
we cannot
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
236
escape from that fact.
The
The
utilitarian values utility.
logician
extols logic because the exercise of this useful but prosaic faculty affords
may
him
the keenest pleasure he
argue that
is
capable of experiencing. Both
values, including their
all
‘merely emotive', but this
under no obligation,
is itself
own,
are subjective,
and we are
a value judgement,
logical or otherwise, to accept
or even to
it;
waste our time worrying over such logical distinctions. For values are
by
then logic
definition non-sense,
is
by
if
definition
worth-less.
Meanwhile, who
is
provided by the emotions
to say that data
are less trustworthy than data provided
by the senses? True,
it is
impossible to prove emotional data. But the instruments used to
prove the data of the senses are no more than extensions of the senses themselves,
and so are tautologies
:
the senses simply cor-
roborate themselves. Scientists then assume that this data corres-
ponds
and these assumptions are buttressed by often based upon hypotheses having no
to the real world,
mathematics that
is
observable relationship to If this is
possible to say
it is
music than the
a clear conscience that
at all
-
that
Beatles, that Chartres
London Hilton, that
Bach is
we know -
in-
if,
objectively better
is
objectively better archi-
was objectively a on an objectively higher of consciousness than a cabbage, which in turn lives at a higher of consciousness than a stone. These conclusions, based upon
tecture than the better
level
with
we know anything
deed,
level
‘reality'.
the case, with ‘knowledge’ derived from the senses, then
man
than Hitler and that
man
St Francis
lives
common
emotional experience, can be said to be quite as objective
in their
own way
as the ‘hard’ experience of the senses,
turns out to be not so ‘hard’ after
Our emotions
tell
us that levels exist.
And
traditions teach
all
that man’s special purpose in the cosmic hierarchy
from the there
is
level at
which he
is
born
to
man must
possibility
and the necessity
Obviously,
if
it
to ascend level.
But
this process.
An
recognize that levels exist and that the
the process
is
exist to
go from one level
to another.
must be
willed.
say honestly,
all else
not automatic, then
we must have free will. As a matter of practical experience, we can being equal, that we are ‘free’ to go and buy
For
is
another and higher
nothing automatic or fortuitous about
individual
which
all.
it
to be willed
a
newspaper
now
or
wait and buy one ten minutes from now. But as matter of equally
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY indubitable experience, the bigot
and Negro
is
not
month and come
can
out railing against religion
of rational discussion; the unrequited lover
with bonds more secure than a galley keep his temper; the lazy
do morning exercises; and, a
man as
finds a
Time
recognize the Jew
‘free’ to
as his equals; the materialist
237
live in
Chartres for a
and singing the praises chained to his misery
is
slave’s; the
hot-head cannot
hundred good reasons not
to
so rightly observes, violence has
momentum of its own. There
we
no answer
is
not?’ Rather,
to the
we may
question ‘Do
we have
do
free will or
say that as long as our emotions are not
we have it. But no sooner do our emotions become inwe lose it. And since, as a matter of common experi-
involved,
volved than
ence, our emotions are involved in all but the
we have no
thoughts and actions, in effect position is
Men
trail.
chains,
trivial of
free will.
Our
our
actual
by every smell - what bloodhound on a particularly frag-
that of dogs in a park, distracted
is
called ‘strong will’
rant
most
and
is
simply a
are not born free.
die in chains unless
We
are born in chains, live in
we wake up
to the situation
and
attempt to extricate ourselves.* Yet, that
it
cated
if
the free will question
is
so readily approachable,
everywhere misunderstood?
is
men
How
why is
it
can supposedly edu-
maintain that by means of rational discussion men’s
minds can be altered and society modified ? Perhaps because feel
this illusion is flattering,
educated and magnanimous, and, above
because all,
it
makes one it is com-
because
forting. For the actual emotional recognition of one’s true lack of free will
is
a sobering, even devastating experience. (Philosophical
determinists
may
verbally deny free will, but in their private lives
they behave just as does everyone else -as though they possessed
it.)
LITERATURE AND FREE WILL For confirmation of this
we may
turn profitably to the example fur-
nished by literature, where, without undue oversimplification, * This
is
it
not to be taken as vindication of behavioural psychology, which
maintains that
human
behaviour
is,
and can
be,
nothing but the learned
response of an organism to a stimulus; unalterable except through an external agency, such as the therapist.
Behavioural psychology ‘works'.
Its
observations are sound as far as
they go; but they concern only will-less men. Studies of the reactions of yogis and Zen masters would swiftly contradict the theories of this particularly misleading school of thought.
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
238
might be Beckett’s
- from Oedipus
said that every dramatic situation
plays and Kafka’s novels -
dicament regarding free
is
to
an illustration of man’s preexcept accord-
will; of his inability to act
ing to pattern in circumstances that require the inner freedom to act otherwise.
The
oppressive and compelling power that dramatic literature
exercises over us If
we
good evidence of the measure of
is
actually had free will at our beck and call
the trials and tribulations of tragic heroes
have any
literary discrimination at
all,
‘happy end’, by ‘romances’ which in will to heroes
we
silly.
its
truthfulness.
we
But
are repelled
effect attribute
should find
as
it is, if
we
by the cheap
unlimited free
and heroines who have earned none; and we accept
as ‘real’ the plight of the protagonist ensnared in his
own
per-
sonality and unable to avert his destiny, or even to alter his re-
action towards his destiny.
And yet the possibility is there, no matter how remote. Though we may know from the onset that Lear will die, that the three sisters will
never get to Moscow, that K. will be forever denied
entrance into the castle, were the possibility absent there would be no tension; and our belief in the situation would be suspended.
Tension
But
is
if
created
literature provides
lack of free will, principle of
tempting
by the pull
it
generally
of opposing possibilities.
an accurate picture of man’s fails to
Dramatic heroes expend
‘level’.
cerned with
own
their emotions at-
all
brought about by
to alter external situations usually
flaws in their
characters. Secular literature
w ill-less
effective
give as good an account of the
men, whose tragedy
is
is
invariably con-
that they are incapable
of seeing themselves as they are. If Othello could see himself as
something of an
ass,
there
would be no tragedy
24 .
Sacred literature, on the other hand, invariably concerns man’s struggles to acquire a measure of free will. Since this struggle, the
only true drama, takes place within a man, and there are few
any external manifestations
of
it,
sacred literature
allegorical or symbolic terms. (Christ’s
ness,
The Bhagavad
Gita,
is
if
couched in
Temptation in the Wilder-
The Conference of the Birds.) Without and importance of ‘level’, sacred and incomprehensible.
a recognition of the existence
literature seems
both dull
FREE WILL AND LEVEL Men
pay homage
to the principle of level in
innumerable ways.
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY One
of the
most
common and most
obvious
is
239
in our recognition of
excellence and of degrees of excellence.
We
would not say there was a difference of ‘lever between one stone and another, or between one cabbage and another, or even between one dog and another. But who would say that the work of the skilled butcher takes place on the same ‘level’ as that of the skilled brain surgeon? Or that Escofher’s achievement was of the same order as Leonardo’s? The potentiality to exist at different levels seems to be an exclusively human trait, shared by nothing else in
nature as far as
we can gather.
‘level’ between butcher and brain surgeon cannot be called a ‘consciousness’ of level - the brain surgeon does
Yet the distinction in
not choose to become a brain surgeon instead of a butcher, or vice versa.
Both merely follow
their natural inclinations, largely
but per-
haps not wholly determined by their genotype and environment.
From the point
of
view of ‘consciousness of the recognition of their both are on the same level. Seen esoteric-
effective lack of free will, ally,
to
both are
slaves. Indeed, seen this
way,
an understanding of the problem and
the free will that price’) is
But
if
on a
is
is
a butcher
who has come
taking steps to acquire
his birthright (that scriptural ‘pearl of great
far higher level
than the brain surgeon.
genotype and environment largely account for the uncon-
minor and submore important conscious awareness of level. an insight into the matter, and another does not;
scious difference in ‘level’, they appear to play but sidiary roles in the far
One man and
gets
has very little to do with a man’s talent, or even with his intelligence, but rather with impalpables such as ‘taste’ and ‘sensitivity’, qualities that cut across all known genetic and this insight
class barriers.
Of course, those who maintain that there is no ‘real’ difference between Bach and the Beatles will dismiss all this as a pseudoproblem, but there are others who will consider that differences are both real and important. We believe that an understanding of the problem can come only through an acceptance of time
as multi-
dimensional.
TIME AND LEVEL Talk of time as the ‘Fourth Dimension’ has become a commonplace since the development of the Theory of Relativity. Time, regarded as the fourth dimension - added to the customary dimen-
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
240
Width and Height -
employed by mathematicians and physicists in their calculations, but usually with the proviso that this fourth dimension is not to be regarded in any sense as ‘real’, but rather, like the square root of minus one, as an sions of Length,
imaginary aid whose existence tions.
is
facilitates the solution of calcula-
Mathematicians point out that equations can be
up
set
requiring dozens or hundreds of similar ‘dimensions' for their solution.
But these assurances do not solve the problem of time. There nothing in our experience that corresponds sions.
But we most certainly seem
not a ‘dimension', then what
Modern philosophy
is
is little
to
to experience time.
And
flow.
But
who
flow,
a
an
is
this
illusion,
if it is
it?
A.
help.
Ayer, for example,
J.
misses peremptorily the notion of multi-dimensional time ‘flow' of time
is
dozens of dimen-
Ayer contends. Time does not
autruchine argument
unconvincing.
is
dis-
25
The
.
we we
flow,
If it is
what is it we flow towards? And from whence? Against framework of what? Set in motion by what accident? How did
that accident evolve? sion shared
If
by one and
the flow of time all.
What
is
an
illusion, it is
an
illu-
survival value has this illusion?
(For in a materialist universe nothing can survive unless
it
pos-
sesses survival value.)
There are some eminent physicists (Louis de Broglie, Henry Margenau and Herbert Dingle among them) who seem not to have read Professor Ayer, and
who
are willing to take multiple dimensions
of time seriously since there are certain purely physical problems
that require not only regarding time as a
but the addition of a Chief
among
fifth
and probably
these problems
is
‘real'
a sixth
fourth dimension,
dimension as well.
that of potential energy.
No
cause-and-effect explanation seems able to account for the exist-
ence of potential energy - cause-and-effect being a function of the
dimension of time.
same
difficulty
is
And from
phenomena as which the future seems both to exist and
presented by such well-attested
pre-cognitive dreams, in to
a psychological point of view, the
be susceptible to change.
The problem
of free will
is
misunderstood largely because
unflattering and uncomfortable to face
seems
to
it.
it is
But the problem of time
be misunderstood largely because the
human
intellect,
un-
it;
and
are accustomed to applying our unaided intellects to
any
aided
by emotional understanding,
since
we
is
not equipped
to grasp
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
241
and every problem, understanding eludes us. So-called ‘primitive' peoples seem to have less trouble with time than we do. The Australian aborigines talk of the illusory time in which they live and die as incorporated
subject to flux
much
that
And
and flow.
this
is
un-
corresponds
dimension, the dimension of eternity, appears to be
to the fifth
very
Dream Time’, Dream Time, which
within the ‘Great
a living reality to these people; yet so astute a scholar as
admit that when by himself
seemed
St
Augustine was forced
to
him that he understood time, but as soon as he was asked about he no longer understood it. J. G. Bennett has coined the ex-
it,
to
it
tremely useful phrase ‘Eternity-blind’ to describe our normal condition.
We
not attempt
shall
to deal at all
pects of the dimensions of time
and
level
logical
is
sound,
we may
and non-technical
26 .
But
with the mathematical if
be able to approach
side
as-
our analysis of free will it
from a psycho-
which, though sketchy,
may
prove
useful.
Free will
is
bility exists.
phenomena
a reality. Levels are realities.
But what
is
This means that possi-
possibility? In time, as
we know
it,
all
are subject to cause-and-effect. If this ceaseless flow
were the whole story, then genotype would interact with environ-
would be no more than the name which of the manifold alternatives was pre-determined to work its way out in any given situation. But as we have seen, ‘mind’ influences ‘matter’ and this can be proven. Possibility exists. But what is a possibility if it stands outside the laws of cause-and-effect? And where is possibility if it lies
ment
we
and
to infinity,
possibility
applied to our ignorance of
outside the flow of time?
The problem
is
complicated in that our experience of time, to say
nothing of eternity, is
the past? and
is
is
incomplete.
The
bright child asks,
told not to ask silly questions.
or mathematician cannot answer unless time as a
Where
But the physicist fourth dimension
is ‘real’.
Our
senses perceive the world as in a state of perpetual becom-
ing, miraculously creating itself
out of the void of the future, and
streaming behind us into the equal void of the past. Yet believe that this
is
actually the case.
either the future or the past
present
In
is
all
On
we cannot
the other hand, crediting
with a reality equal
to that of the
almost as difficult to believe.
probability,
much
of the difficulty stems from language
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
242
which has been constructed
account for the illusion of past and
to
future that the senses provide us with, and which in turn makes it
impossible for us to think of time in other terms
not cerebrate without language. Yet
if
-
we employ an
we
since
can-
analogy, and
imagine time as an endless movie film in which the present
is
a
single illuminated frame, then the ‘reality’ of that length of film
already
shown
both are as
The
film
is
is
a whole,
beginning or end, see
the past, that
which
is
it is
a totality.
would
it
still
but one frame at a time
Even
due
an
‘event’.
if it
were
endless,
we can cor-
we did not perceive the we would perceive it as a if
This would be a glimpse of eternity -
what drowning men and others near
to be
without
which
to the projector
film in terms of ‘flow’ but all at once,
which seems
come is the future, and any given moment.
be a totality, a whole. That
is
responds to our sensory apparatus. But
‘point’ in time, as
to
the frame illuminated at
‘real’ as
the point
of death experience.
But nothing
is
possible in a finished film; its possibilities have
been exhausted in
its
creation.
The system
is
closed. Cause-and-
effect prevail.
So
when we apply our analogy to life as it is lived in time, we care. Our lives are films in the making, as it were. The
must take system
is
not yet closed, at least not in theory.*
Let us suppose that our butcher and brain surgeon are timetwins, born within minutes of each other,
and both bestowed with
blazing tempers by a Sun-square-Uranus aspect from a Fire to a
Water sign. Like most hot-tempered
men
the brain surgeon sees himself as
a paragon of reason, righteously indignant at the foibles
of the world.
He
believes
he has
free will;
he has a
and
follies
‘social con-
and he attributes the world’s reluctance to modify itself to conform to his model of it as proof of the world’s unreasonable-
science’,
ness, justifying his indignation.
The butcher, on
the other hand, though perhaps
of the world’s foibles
the fact that
and
follies,
by perpetually
has
no
less
aware
somehow become aware
of
losing his temper he not only fails to
modify the world but becomes personally ever more deeply ensnared and enslaved by * If
this
analogy
is
it.
valid,
Recognizing his actual position in it
opens interesting
ethical,
re-
philosophical,
psychological and astrological questions into the nature and effects of in-
duced
births.
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY gard to free will, he attempts to acquire
make use
ent course; and
own
The butcher begins to would otherwise end
of his possibilities. Situations that
with perfect predictability in a tantrum
his
it.
243
little
by
little
now
begin to take a
differ-
the butcher actually begins to modify
the lives of those within his sphere, and, in his
life,
own
small way, society.
Our
hypothetical butcher
he
is
which he was born; he
that to
operating upon a higher ‘lever than has, at least in those
moments when
capable of exercising his hard-won free will, transcended the
is
laws of cause and effect proper to nature, and subject to time; he has, as
he a
were, a toehold on eternity.
it
And
in those
moments when
capable of exercising a measure of free will, he will experience
is
heightened consciousness commensurate to his
turn will assure
him
that eternity
is
level,
which
in
not merely a woolly meta-
physical term signifying nothing, but a reality; indeed, as far as
he
concerned, the reality.
is
TIME AND DESTINY But
this does
mean that the butcher can suddenly become a any more than the poppy seed can become an oak
not
brain surgeon, tree.
The question
of ‘destiny’
- another favourite among
astrologers
and among dramatists - seems almost independent of the question of free will.
The seventeenth-century French
Villefranche wrote
:
men
by Providence
are enchained
communal
of the is
by
‘the birthdates
in
realization of destiny, in such a
birth destined, for example, to die
fail to
so /
It
by
way
that he
who
assassination does not
who must be unhappily woman who shall see to it that
is
27
interesting
examples. John astrologers
some
Morin de
encounter his assassin, and that he
married will invariably seek out the it is
astrologer
and the events in the lives of view of a necessary concourse
F.
to
test
Kennedy,
such a statement against concrete for instance,
was warned by
a
dozen
and clairvoyants of the dangers of assassination, and by
of the precise danger period.
But
it is
clear that, even
had he
been impressed by the sincerity and number of these predictions,
was such that he could not have heeded them, while was such that he would not even take the customary precautions. As for unhappily married couples, they seem common enough, and the reader is at large to choose a selection
his position
his personality
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
244
from his or her own experience and
to test
them against de
Ville-
franche’s eloquent but forbidding pronouncement.
But what of those
What as
who have
of the yogi, the saint
bound
Taking
spent a lifetime acquiring free will?
and the Zen master? Are these men
to their destinies as the
appear that these
more. Yet
it
is
ordinary enslaved free citizen?
examples - Christ, Buddha, Socrates,
historical
men
sometimes hard to avoid concluding
some and ignominious
as the deaths of these
chosen deliberately, perhaps as ultimate liberation
We
from the
knows whether
-
cross of the flesh,
men on
men
may
it
Even
that, grue-
were, they were
tests of the state of their
and the
do not pretend to know. Moreover,
the motives of
etc.
are just as subject to the laws of fate.
coils of time.
it is
impossible to judge
And no
a higher level than one’s self.
one
or not the details of these stories are factual history
or symbolism or both.
Perhaps
it
can be said that destiny
is
the boundaries of the laws of fate, the
measure of
free will
free to
is
but the
'written’
important manner in which one meets one’s destiny
man who
move, while the
is
all-
Within
not.
has achieved a
rest of us are totally
helpless.
And
if
the objection
young men
killed in
is
raised
What
:
of children
who
wars before they have even had time
about free will and the lack of
it?
we
die,
and
to think
confess ignorance. But
if
forced to choose between beliefs that correspond to nothing within
our personal experience,
we would
tend to take the word of those
responsible for cathedrals above that of those responsible for the
H-bomb and
the electric toothbrush, and
normal
a cosmic sense inaccessible to our
we would hazard
that in
level of consciousness, in
the dimensions of eternity, innocence goes uncondemned, while
ignorance does not - in ance,
is
from
a
the only sin, and
Hindu philosophy, it is
avidya, wilful ignor-
interesting that the
word
'sin’
derives
word meaning To miss the mark’.
TIME, REINCARNATION,
RECURRENCE
A survey carried out in America revealed that seventy-five per cent of the professional astrologers replying to the questionnaire be-
-
mind unlikely to attract Vernon we would imagine that a similar Germany would produce a somewhat lower
lieved in reincarnation
a cast of
Clark’s 'scientific friends’, though
survey in England or percentage.
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY According
to
Ouspensky,
it is
largely the difficulty
245
men have
in
grasping the concept of multiple dimensions of time that has led to
the belief in reincarnation (the endless cycle of rebirths of
oriental religions)
and
to the idea of the ‘hereafter' of Christianity.
Both of these are mistaken attempts to grapple with eternity in the cause-and-effect language of time; an almost unavoidable trap, since the language of time
is
the only language
we can
speak, or
can ever speak, while eternity must be glimpsed with faculties that are but latent in ordinary
we
men.
and brain surgeon, the butcher, in Ouspensky’s theory, does not, after death, by virtue of his proper efforts to subjugate his personality and acquire free will, thereby become reincarnated as a brain surgeon. Nor does the brain surgeon by virtue of his wilful ignorance get his due by reappearIf
revert to our hypothetical butcher
ing in a future
life as
a butcher. Rather, the butcher lives his life
perpetually in eternity, or over-and-over in time,
moving up the
path (Jacob's ladder?) to that state called variously ‘liberation’ or ‘salvation’
insofar as
Our he
-
so,
Augustine’s assertion that
man
has free
will,
only
he chooses or refuses salvation.
illumined butcher reaches a state at which, freed from time,
lives in eternity,
time and his
life
while the unregenerate brain surgeon
lives in
exists in perpetuity in eternity at the literally in-
human
level he has chosen; eternally losing his temper whose minds refuse to be changed by rational discussion.
at those
LEVEL UNDECTABLE BY ASTROLOGY Though
and time has been any astrology that is to aim higher than predicting future financial windfalls and the probable demise of spouses must take such matters seriously. long, this digression into free will, level
a necessity. For
Astrology studies the meaning of the cosmic moment, as
it is
revealed in the conjunctions and configurations of the planets
against the symbolical background of the zodiac. In this, astrology
an inquiry into the Third Force of the Triad. Just as the sound frequencies applied by Hans Jenny represented the w ill of the experimenter, so the magnetic and electro-magnetic frequencies produced by the planets represent the w ill of the solar system. is
The horoscope
is
a
map
of potentiality. Both birth
tion charts represent a cosmic
moment
and concep-
existing in eternity
every level with multitudes of possibilities at each of these
upon levels.
246
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
Though stowed
astrologers customarily talk as
though the
stars be-
upon the individual, it would perhaps be more accurate and more fruitful if the same data were regarded in terms of what the stars demanded from the individual. this or that personality
But from the birth chart alone, the astrologer cannot 4
level of the individual.
He
can, with
some
tell
the
finesse, distinguish the
future butcher from the future ladies’ hairdresser. But he cannot, with anything near the same accuracy, distinguish the butcher from the brain surgeon. The astrologer cannot tell from birth data alone which of the possibilities open to the individual are being utilized, or at
To put
it
what
level.*
another way, the astrologer can
of the seed, but
he cannot
tell if
tell
the general nature
the seed has fallen on fertile or
stony ground, or by the wayside.
Nor can he
tell
if
in
the
dimension of eternity the seed has already taken root. This rules.
is
not a shortcoming of astrology, but
Were
it
otherwise,
it
would be
is
written into
its
a violation of all that tradi-
from birth data was in truth an illusion, or, still worse, that it was contingent and distributed preferentially, making a permanent mockery of Divine Justice - a notion difficult enough to countenance these days, and then only through tion holds sacred. If ‘level’ could be determined
alone,
would mean
it
either that free will
the constant awareness that the state of society fault of
The
man
is
entirely the
himself.
inability of astrology to distinguish ‘level’
may
be called
* Earlier we mentioned the sixth dimension, postulated by certain mathematicians and physicists as a necessity. This dimension is, according to Ouspensky, that one in which all possibilities are realized. Just as it is possible to approach the dimension of eternity by asking where the past has gone, so it is possible to approach the sixth dimension by asking what has happened to all the unused possibilities. If possibilities are ‘real’, they cannot exist in a state of perpetual becoming any more than can the
physical world interpreted by our senses. In the sixth dimensional consciousness of the universe, then, blind track
we happen
all
other possible worlds are just as
to be following
through time, and
to
‘real'
as the
which we give
the name, ‘reality’.
In the light of this mind-cracking concept, the African bushman’s account
by more than primitive poetry. The Bushman maintains that ‘we are being dreamed by a dream’; a concept echoed by the eminent physicist, Sir Arthur Eddington, who observed that modern physics made the universe appear far more like a gigantic thought than a gigantic of creation seems inspired
machine.
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY but there are
literally ‘providential'
recognize
it
as such,
many
astrologers
who do
247 not
and by the application of insight by hindby
sight attempt to account for historically significant characters ferreting out
and
isolating every
manner
of arcane astrological
nicety. Still it cannot be done. Given Goethe's horoscope, the astrologer would predict an intelligent and imaginative man with a propensity for an impressive number of love affairs, but he would miss that one quality that makes Goethe worth studying today - genius. Similarly, from Hitler's horoscope, no astrologer would have predicted the apotheosis of mediocrity that Hitler was ultimately to
represent.
In actual practice, however, the potential Goethes can be
dis-
tinguished from the potential Hitlers at a fairly early age; and,
and utilizing astrology on even could conceivably be fostered and psy-
in a society capable of developing its
practical levels, talents
choses warded off or diverted.
But
is sound, modern man's illusory conception and time makes it largely impossible for him acknowledge the potential validity of astrology despite the
if
our argument
of free will, ‘level'
even to
accumulating evidence. The chances of actually developing astrology up to
its
potential are therefore remote
hypothetical future; and
with the
gift of
Nevertheless,
we do not
and pushed into a
pretend to have been endowed
prophecy. it
seems
fitting to close a
book on astrology with
a glimpse into the future. So, taking a multiplicity of psychological, political, social,
as
we
economic and aesthetic factors into account
are able, bearing in
mind what
astrological climate proper to death of
new
as well
tradition teaches us as to the
an old age and the birth of
and applying to this what seems to us to be the faculty of commonsense, we would expect the future to depend upon the a
age,
following contingencies.
What The
Next?
revival of astrology will
genuine
civilization; that
of the word;
which
is
is
rule
depend upon the re-establishment of
to say,
by the
an aristocracy in the true sense
best.
(Who
is
‘best'?
‘He
who
is
furthest along the road towards acquiring free will,' might be one
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
248
definition. It
mine who
is
noX very
is 'best’
much more
in this sense than
difficult in practice to deterit is
to
determine
who
is
the
best cook or tennis player.)
To
and apply astrology, there must be a legitimate hierarchy, at whose pinnacle there are men capable of understanding both the cosmic symbolism of astrology and the mundane needs of the society in which that astrology is to be used. These men must be in a position to direct the organized research of legions of individuals whose values approximate to those of their superiors: that is, their aim must be something less contemptible than ‘positions of attainment and respect'. There are no spiritual Nobel prizes. For such a civilization to arise, two requirements must be met. First, the mass of men must become thoroughly disillusioned not only with materialism as such, but with materialism’s thick-witted janizaries, reform and revolution. Second, an individual or a number of individuals must appear wielding the inner authority that compels men to freely pay allegiance to a doctrine that requires them to accept personal responsibility for their acts and for their thoughts, and even for resuscitate
their emotions. In other words, Buddha-like or Christ-like indivi-
duals.
condition sounds implausible,
If this latter
in former times,
The
we can only
as spiritually
say that
bankrupt
as the
- though
present arise
under conditions
and
to a
less physically doom-laden - such leaders did certain extent stemmed the descent into barbarism.
possibility should not be ruled out.
But less so.
if
messiah-predicting
Men
are
men, values
or government that
man’s need
is
risky, the future of materialism is
is
and any system of thought ‘level’ and bound to produce mass dis-
are eternal,
not based upon a recognition of
to transcend himself is
content.
The
universality of
mounting
and insanity rates, boredom with the mindless toil engendered by technology, the sodivorce, suicide
the universal dissatisfaction and
and equally mindless
leisure
called ‘sexual revolution’ sex,
but
is
simply the easy
meaninglessness of modern
(which has almost nothing
way
to
do with
out of the all-engulfing apathy and
life),
the undirected but intense quality
of student revolts all over the world, all testify to the total failure
Even such formerly trusty palliatives otism and ‘education’ have lost their savour. of materialism.
as war, patri-
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
24Q
Meanwhile, despite the long-range optimism of thinkers such as Norman Vincent Peale and Dr Henry Miller, it is clear that more and more people are hungry and getting hungrier, no matter that God has given them a great big bear-hug, and science wishes them well.
With
the talk about pollution, pollution continues; the
all
‘mastery of the environment’, which
is just rape, proceeds apace, nature of materialist values and the worst outrages - given the
are irreversible
Should It is
it
be
and unstoppable. In human terms, rape
less so in
extension of
And
itself.
remain open
revival
a crime.
therefore inconceivable that the twentieth century should
no more than a grotesque us that only two broad possibithe holocaust unredeemed by a
be followed by a twenty-first that
lities
is
cosmic terms?
:
and restating
barism; or
we
it
seems
mankind
to
faces
is
of tradition resulting in unmitigated bar-
face the
same holocaust but guided through it by founding a civilization upon the ruins.
spiritual leaders capable of
Meanwhile, the actual physical nature of the holocaust remains conjecture. Perhaps
it
will not be the
Bomb, or the Bug, or
a
new
Black Death, but the lesser evils of conventional warfare, total
moral collapse and widespread
Whatever the it.
case,
civil disorders .
28
self-indulgence to dwell for long
it is
We can do nothing about
it.
All
we can do
is
upon
recognize our
own
position. It is clear
enough that matters must get much worse before they
can get any better. there
is
And
it is
equally clear that for the vast majority
no hope. Perched before
what they read
their television sets, believing
in their newspapers, they are
swept along with the
current. But as the pace quickens, and the situation grows sillier
and more
sinister, it
realize that
does seem likely that a growing minority will
not far downstream the sharks await them, and that
mankind’s proper activity
may
struggle upstream to the source.
is
upon the proven correlations phenomena - and materialism’s total inability to account for these phenomena - as at least one opportunity to repudiate materialism and all it stands for. Having repudiated materialism, it then becomes less difficult to face up to This minority
between earthly and
well seize
celestial
the spiritual implications behind these physical correlations and relationships,
which
problems of free
in turn
will, ‘level’
may
lead to an insight into the crucial and time. At this point, if not swim-
ming against the current then
at least faced in the right direction,
250
FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTROLOGY
these individuals will, according to their abilities facilitate the study,
and
a generally re-awakened interest in traditional values
The more evidence is
that
is
and teachings.
accumulated, the more attention that
paid to astrology, and the more serious students
greater will be
inclinations,
spread and re-acceptance of astrology, as part of
the discomfiture of materialism,
it
attracts, the
the closer
its
necessary demise and the less hopelessly distant the prospect of a
new and genuine
civilization in
which men
realize that they
were
not created to be cerebrating apes.
Should such a civilization
arise there can be little doubt that a and refined astrology would play an invaluable role within it; on a purely ‘utilitarian and Benthamite' level in medicine, law, economics, education and psychology, and on a more rarified and symbolic level in religion, science, art and philosophy. Properly regarded, these are the pillars of wisdom which treat respectively of man’s soul, body, emotions and intellect as they relate to the earth, and to the hierarchy of the heavens; and in a civilization in which religion, science, art and philosophy were not the mutually exclusive charades they are today, it might well be astrology that served as link or mediator between them, at once a scientific art and a sacred philosophy; a legitimate eavesdropper
resuscitated
into the conversations of the gods.
:
Appendix
i
The Quarrel of the Egyptologists In 1949, the appearance of R. A. Sch waller de Lubicz’s
first
book,
Le Temple dans I’Homme, caused something of an uproar within the highly specialized circles of Egyptology.
Though ordinarily such a scholarly dispute would never way before the public, this proved to be an exception. Over the
years, while at
the evidence for his
new
tradition, de Lubicz
work
at
find
its
Luxor and Karnak collecting
‘symbolist’ interpretation of the Egyptian
and his team had had the opportunity
to
exhibit their evidence and explain their approach first-hand to visitors at the site.
Among critic.
these
was Andre Rousseaux, an eminent French
literary
Rousseaux had become a staunch advocate of the symbolist
interpretation and had been following the scholarly dispute closely.
new
Finally, enraged at the treatment the
man were
doctrine and
its
spokes-
being accorded at the hands of the Egyptological estab-
lishment, he put his view of the matter before the non-specialist public of the literary magazine, Le
As
a philosopher
and
orientalist,
M ercure de France (July
1951).
de Lubicz himself had no means
of access into the specialized journals of Egyptology, but for a
number
of
years
the
symbolist
case
had been professionally
advanced for him by Alexandre Varille, a fully qualified archaeologist
and Egyptologist, who,
many others at the site, had the new interpretation - but
like so
become convinced of the validity of who, unlike the others, had in effect to throw over his career in order to espouse them openly. So, concentrating upon the running battle between Varille and the orthodox camp, Rousseaux briefly explained the symbolist approach and its potential importance to the future of Western thought, and then, supporting his claims with extracts from numerous letters and documents, maintained that 1.
Though
Varille adhered rigorously to every scholastic con-
vention in presenting the evidence for the symbolist case; though the evidence he presented
was
in fact unassailable;
he was never-
252
APPENDIX
1
by orthodox Egyptologists
theless dismissed
as a ‘fantasist'. Ulti-
mately, the justification for the dismissal was that
all
other ortho-
dox Egyptologists agreed that he was a fantasist, therefore he had to be one - an argument used by similar scientific minds centuries earlier to 2.
condemn
Galileo.
Varille insisted that de Lubicz and the symbolists
had un-
covered evidence that proved Egyptology as currently practised to It was not that the Egyptologists were wrong, but that they were merely scratching the
be in need of total revision. specifically
surface.
Texts which appeared
when
deciphered according to
common
practice
and inconsistent - and were therefore ascribed
illogical
and inconsistency of the authors of the texts suddenly, when interpreted symbolically, made a perfect sense within a consistent world view that had obvious links to Hindu, Christian, and other traditions. to the alleged illogicality
Briefly, Varille
maintained that Egyptian texts could not be
and examined from the point of view of modern scholarship; rather, they had to be interpreted and understood in the spirit in which they were intended. It was merely deciphered
literally
necessary to ‘think Egyptian’. This, said the experts,
was absurd,
since the texts as they
were
currently deciphered by experts, did not disclose any such need for interpretation. 3.
Finally Rousseaux claimed that the archaeological journals
consistently refused to publish Varille’s dissertations
which were
submitted according to standard procedure, and Varille was then accused by his opponents of failing to produce ‘evidence’ to support his case.
Rousseaux then
cited certain specific criticisms levelled at
the
and supplied Varille’s answers - which to an outsider and non-specialist seemed convincing. And Rousseaux concluded ‘symbolists’
by suggesting
that, in
view of
its
potential importance to Egypto-
logical study, a confrontation be arranged
which experts
tecture, hieroglyphics, art, etc.
hand, and This logists,
if
possible discredit
article
M.
on the
site at
Luxor, at
- archi- meet, review the evidence first
in the various fields of Egyptological study
drew furious
it.
rebuttals
from two eminent Egypto-
Etienne Drioton, General Director of the French Service
:
AP of Egyptian Antiquities (and the target of
PENDIX
much
1
253
of Rousseaux’
and M. Jean Sainte-Fare Garnot, Director of Studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. Principally, both scholars insisted that there was no real quarrel
criticism),
(Rousseaux’ article had been entitled La Querelle des Egyptologues) since all recognized Egyptologists agreed that Varille
And
Drioton remarked approvingly on ‘the
was wrong.
common
front of
by Egyptologists to withstand the symbolist attack, upon unanimity of opinion as ‘evidence’ of the un-
silence’ erected
again calling
soundness of the opposition’s argument.
Drioton then raised a number of to Varille’s earlier article,
specific Egyptological objections
and concluded by turning down Rous-
seaux’ invitation to meet on the site at Luxor, claiming that
Egyptologists had too
many
important things to attend to before
wasting their time travelling to Egypt
to discredit a
handful of
However, he suggested that if the symbolists cared to present their case, they were welcome to come either to Istanbul or Amsterdam, scenes of forthcoming archaeological conventions, at which they were welcome to submit papers. Varille was then given space - denied him in the scholarly journals - to answer the orthodox objections point by point. And
cranks.
he turned down the counter-invitation to come to Istanbul Amsterdam, apparently feeling that neither the Dutch Egyptian ruins nor the Turkish Egyptian ruins were proper settings for the on-the-site confrontation the symbolists were attempting to finally
or
arrange.
Unfortunately, by the time this second article appeared in print, Varille ists
had
As
had been
killed in
an automobile accident, and the symbol-
lost their chief official
far as
we know, no
spokesman.
further attention was paid to de Lubicz’s
ideas until his massive three-volume
Temple de
VHomme
appeared
1958 (almost the entirety of the edition of Le Temple dans VHomme having been destroyed by an earthquake).
in
Again, Andre Rousseaux brought the matter to the attention of the public, this time in the literary and philosophical quarterly Les Cahiers du
Sud (No.
358), again
summarizing the symbolist -
interpretation but this time providing the following description of particular interest to our subject of astrology
Egyptian monuments, when
they were the living emanation of
Pharaohic humanity, manifest a complete play of correspondences with
appendix
254
1
the rhythms of nature and especially with the sovereign and ordained rhythm written into the movement of the heavenly bodies. Thus, the :
first it
thing there
is
in its entirety,
by vague rigorous
to
is
be said about an Egyptian temple, in order to grasp
that
allusions, but
harmony with
Among
it is
a
monument
by precise links
to
to the
image of heaven
:
not
astronomical periods, and in
astral revolutions.
the contributors to this article
was Arpag Mekhitarian,
Secretary of the Fonda tion Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth (Brussels),
the one orthodox Egyptologist willing to violate the
‘common
may
be fairly
front of silence', and as such Mekhitarian’s opinion
regarded as carrying particular weight.
.
.
.
each of us [orthodox Egyptologists], within the
little
sphere of his
must have the courage to verify the elements with which he is most familiar; he must check, on the site if necessary, the assertions made by M. de Lubicz, and he must call unself consciously for help from colleagues and technicians able to throw light upon domains which formerly have been closed to him; above all, he must not reject a priori as inconceivable that which exceeds his understanding. ... the symbolism of M. Schwaller de Lubicz ... is not a simple personal and fantastic interpretation of facts, but conclusions drawn from precise and objective evidence which up to now has escaped the acumen of Egyptologists. speciality,
This seems clear enough. But following the publication of Le
Temple de
VHomme no
Egyptologists have either openly espoused
the symbolist view, or (apparently) heeded M. Mekhitarian’s advice. Meanwhile, the death of Schwaller de Lubicz, of his wife, and of Clement Robichon (archaeologist and architect who, along with Varille, had academic status) has precluded further concentrated
work on the
site.
Research
Lubicz’s step-daughter, and
Outwardly
it
is
by
carried a
on by Mile Lucie Lamy, de
few scattered
would appear that
‘the
individuals.
common
has been effective, and that, shielded behind
it,
front of silence’
orthodox Egypt-
ologists feel free to cite the blinkered constructs of
Wheeler, Bor-
and continue research into that nevernever Egypt of primitive materialists who produced all those chardt, et
al.
as ‘authorities’
masterpieces without ever conceiving a clear idea of the
But there
is
afterlife.
one indication that the labours of the symbolists have
not gone entirely unremarked or unheeded. France at any
rate,
without so
much
as
And
this is that, in
mentioning de Lubicz or
.
:
:
:
.
APPENDIX acknowledging a debt as hard-line
to the symbolist point of view,
1
255
masquerading
orthodoxy, symbolist-tainted notions are beginning to
creep into Egyptological journals and books - where they are
by Mile Lamy, and matched up against those relevant passages of Schwaller de Lubicz’s work which have been their collected
conscious or unconscious inspiration.
Though often technical and involved, and, taken out of context, somewhat difficult to understand, it is nevertheless clear that working from the orthodox point of view passages such as the following
would be impossible (we cite but two of the fifteen such ‘borrowby Mile Lamy which in turn were selected from
ings' furnished us
a
much
larger collection)
Here again,
well-known Egyptian conception, that composed of four couples of divinities representing the diverse forms chaos assumes upon taking consciousness and beginning to differentiate, from which emerges the Sun Creator, in the form of an infant emerging from the lotus .
.
.
this concerns a
of the Hermopolitan ogdoad,
1
.
That Egyptian myths represent the conscious genesis of the myths deliberately and in full knowledge
universe, and that the
depict the descent of unity into multiplicity are central points to
the symbolist interpretation of Egypt, and quite foreign to the
orthodox conception which would regard fabricated
De
it
all
as fairy stories
by dreamers on watchtowers.
Lubicz writes
In admitting a source-cause of the universe, this
unique
.
Creation accomplishes
One and Two; and created Universe
Unity
We is
is
of necessity
.
creates
may
.
therefore entirely through the
numbers
.
.
by ‘regarding
call this
indivisible,
itself
duality will be the fundamental characteristic of the
itself
.
.
unity God, or unpolarized energy insofar as unity
and God Creator, or polarized energy insofar as unity
is
conscious of itself. The universe is thereby nothing but consciousness and presents in
all
appearances nothing but an evolution of consciousness, from
its
its
origins to its end, religion
‘initiatic’
mingling
which is
to
is
the return to
teach
the
2 .
Another Egyptologist declares
way
its
origin.
The
that leads to
goal of every this ultimate
APPENDIX
256
Throughout there It
is
this
1
long examination
reason and systemization in
seems
to
me
all
I
have
tried to
emphasize that
Egyptian decoration.
increasingly apparent that, for the Egyptians,
the
all
elements of a design have a value and an implied meaning. Naturally,
we must guard
against over-subtilization, of putting into our interpre-
more ingenuity than the
tations
originators had in mind. But their
desire to give to a design a significance
possible
so often apparent that
is
it
and
seems
as great to
me
an
cfficacity as
was
necessary to look into
the minutest details in order to arrive at an understanding of their intentions
3 .
This is, of course, precisely the point that was emphasized over and over by de Lubicz, Varille and the symbolists, and as often and as hotly denied by orthodox Egyptologists. It is therefore of particular interest that
M.
Lacau, author of the above paragraph,
was among the most vehement of all the enemies of the symbolist interpretation when it was first put forward twenty years earlier. Our other examples are equally and as obviously derived from a knowledge of the symbolist interpretation. But what is interesting is
not that de Lubicz’s ideas are being pillaged without his being
acknowledged
as the source
but that these ideas are being infiltrated
into official journals in apparent good faith, as orthodoxy.
From here
it
Lubicz’s work. tance,
will be
most intriguing
Under no
to follow the future of
de
illusion himself as to its potential impor-
he was, of course, concerned not with revamping Egypto-
logy as such, nor with refurbishing the 'image’ of the vanished builders of the temples and pyramids, but rather with providing
the key to a tremendous, coherent and valid doctrine, the study of which might permit at least those engaged upon it to free themselves from the sterility, stupidity and fallaciousness of the materialism that is today making our planet uninhabitable. 'Egyptology can be a profession for excavators and despoilers of tombs, or it may become a most marvellous source of knowledge for a
world
to come,’ de
Lubicz declared.
and - we depend upon the courage of the young 4 are compelled to add upon their becoming aware that such an Egyptology is in fact possible, which under present conditions ’
‘It
will
would seem
.
to require at least as
much
.
.
luck as courage.
9
Appendix
2
Time Twins twin’ was Samuel Hemming who was born same time on the same day as George III of England (4 June
The most famous Time at the
1738).
Hemming and George
looked very similar and their lives ran
III
Hemming set up on the day George succeeded to the throne. Both were married on 8 September 1761, both begot the same number of children of the same sex, both became ill and had accidents at the same time, and both died on 29 January 1820 of in close parallel,
though on
their respective levels.
his ironmonger’s business
similar causes.
The life of the profligate George IV was also mirrored in the life of commoner Time twin’, born within the same hour. This man, though he became a lowly chimneysweep, was - on his own level and within his own circle - equally renowned for gambling, philandering and spending, and both were addicted to racing. The a
prince raced thoroughbreds and the sweep raced donkeys.
On
the
day the prince was kicked by a horse, his Twin’ was kicked by a donkey, and both were incapacitated for the same amount of time.
When Two
the prince
unrelated
a hospital in
went bankrupt,
so did the sweep.
women, both named Edna, met
Hackensack,
New
Jersey.
for the first time in
Both had been born on the
same day, and were now in the hospital for their first confinements. Their babies were born within an hour of each other, and both had been named Patricia Edna in advance. Both women were married to men named Harold, who had both been born on the same day. Both men were in the same business, owned the same make, model, and colour automobile. Both couples had been married on the same day. Both women had the same number of brothers and sisters and practised the same religion. Both families had a mongrel named Spot.
A man
named
C.F.A.
—
Patrick
O’Connor was
arrested
and detained
in
an
APPENDIX
258
2
army guard room, charged with
desertion. It took four
days before the authorities discovered that although
and
a half
this Patrick
O’Connor was born on the same day, had the same National Insurance Number, the same dental fillings and the same operational scar that served to identify the wanted man, he was not in fact that man - who was, of course, also named Patrick O’Connor. After Rudolph Valentino’s death, movie-makers began a search for
men who
looked enough like him to take his place. They found and one of the three was an Italian, Giordano Venturini, born in the same region, on the same day as Valentino. three,
In
New
pened
to
Negrelli,
York, a furniture manufacturer called Richardson hap-
meet a man who looked exactly like him. This man, named had been born in Italy, on Richardson’s birthday. Four
was run over by a car, and died two days later. In a different part of town, Negrelli had been run over by a car, and though this had been two weeks earlier, both Negrelli and Richardson died on the same day of injuries years after the chance meeting Richardson
incurred.
Plates
11
and
12
speak for
themselves.
Hahn and
Einstein,
both born 14 March 1879, were both great physicists. James Stephens and James Joyce, both born at 6 a.m. in Dublin, 2 Feb-
an astrologer, the Capricorn ascendant is particuobvious), were both renowned for their almost obsessive
ruary 1882 larly
(to
regard for language.
Beniamino Gigli and Lauritz Melchior
(plate 13),
both great tenors,
were born 20 March 1890. Both were members of the Metropolitan Opera Company of New York. Joyce Ritter and Jean Henderson (plate 10) came to live next to
each other in White Plains, this
New
selves
six.
From
girls
them-
York, at the age of
time on not only teachers but the parents of the
had trouble distinguishing between them. Both had been
born in the same nursing
home within
five
minutes of each other.
Not only were they remarkably alike physically, but they shared the same likes and dislikes. Both came from families of five children. Both had fathers
who
held similar jobs at the same airport.
APPENDIX
2
259
King Umberto I of Italy was introduced to a restaurant proprietor and remarked upon the similarity of their appearance. Upon inquiring it was learned that the king and the restaurateur had been born on the same day, at the same time, had married wives with the same name, and both had a son called Vittorio. The restaurateur had gone into business on the day the king ascended the throne.
was to take part in which he was delegated to present and the king expressed the wish to meet his double
The king then learned that match the next day
a shooting
the prizes;
the restaurateur
in
again.
But when the time came the king learned that his time twin had been killed accidentally while cleaning his gun.
And
before he
could be taken to the scene of the accident, the king himself was shot and killed by an anarchist assassin.
would probably be possible to document several hundred such cases from existing records. But to continue listing them would be tiresome, nor would it prove anything from a scientific standpoint. It
Astrologers, however, insist that the documentation
is
now
suffi-
ciently strong to provoke the interest of the scientifically-minded.
Astrologers are confident that large-scale research would prove
beyond a doubt that cases of ‘time twins' are not ascribable to and psychological similarities could be expected to recur. This would be particularly interesting for coincidence, and that physical
those intrigued
by the question
of
‘level'.
,
Notes 1. 2.
Introduction Paul Ghalioungui, Magic and Medical Science Hodder and Stoughton, 1963, p. 36. Paul Couderc, ‘L'Astrologie’,
Que
in
Ancient Egypt
Sais-je?, 1952.
Part One: History and Technique Chamber's Encyclopaedia, 1966. Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers, Hutchinson, 1968, pp. 19-20. 3. At different times, and in different places, the zodiac has been divided in other ways sometimes 8, 16, or 20 sectors. The 12 sign division has long prevailed in the West, but this does not necessarily mean that other means of division are wrong, or that all are wrong. Rather, it depends upon the meanings assigned to the divisions. 4. We are indebted to J. G. Bennett for this illustration. See The Dramatic Universe, Hodder and Stoughton, 1956 (especially Vols. I and II), for a discussion of the meanings of systems, and the relationships between them. 5. Rudolf Hauschka, The Nature of Substance, Stuart and Watkins, 1.
2.
:
1966. Eisler, The Royal Art of Astrology, Herbert Joseph, 1946. Quoted by Paul Ghalioungui, op. cit., p. 47. 8. I. E. S. Edwards, The Pyramids of Egypt, Penguin Books, p. 52. 9. Le Temple dans VHomme, Le Caire, Cairo, 1948. This edition, meant to be preliminary to a larger work, was destroyed almost in its entirety in an earthquake. Le Temple de VHomme, Caracteres, Paris, 1958, 3 Vols. This is the masterwork in which de Lubicz elaborately sets out the mathematical, artistic, architectural, astronomical and coterie knowledge of ancient Egypt. The social and philosophical implications of this knowledge were 6.
Robert
7.
discussed in: Le Roi de la Theocratie Pharaonique. Flammarion, 1961;
and in Le Miracle Egyptien, Flammarion, 1963 (published posthumously) Schwaller de Lubicz presented a condensed more-or-less unspecialized
resume of the Egyptian
None
tradition.
of the above have been translated into English.
The
three-
,
volume Temple de VHomme, key
to the rest,
is,
due
NOTES
261
to its size
and
restricted market, priced hopelessly out of the reach of the average
reader, nor
is it
to be
found in any but the largest of public
libraries.
however, two books by the late Mme Ischa Schwaller de Lubicz, Her-bak - Chick Pea Hodder and Stoughton, 1953, and Her-bak
There
are,
,
Hodder and Stoughton, 1961, in which the attempt is made to Egypt's wisdom down within the unfolding of a novel. But these
Disciple, set
books can only be considered partial successes; the Egyptian teaching they embody
lives,
who
but the actual Egyptians
are supposed to serve
framework for the story do not. Perhaps it is impossible to get close enough to the ancient Egyptians to portray them as three-dimensional living characters; but meanwhile Mme de Lubicz is laudably successful in making extraordinarily difficult and abstruse ideas accessible, even as
exhilarating. 10.
to
Certain physicists,
e.g.
Eddington, Schroedinger, de Broglie, seem
be inclining towards a view of this sort;
the neurologist,
it is
implicit in the
work
of
C. Eccles, etc.
Gothic cathedrals and the temples of the East are constructed
11.
upon
J.
similar principles, but
it
would seem under conditions that did not
permit them to emulate the Egyptians. The Egyptians did not build to
produce ‘monuments'. Their architecture was the performance of perpetual sacrament; a conscious and deliberately assumed
upon the understanding spirit as the
was
it
also been told that sacred
to astrological principles to
we have been unable to find anything specific on 12. The Golden Section, usually written , is
O =
found
and
6103398
to
determine the
has
long
the
minds
to de Lubicz,
165
112,
134,
Plant Growth, The, 127,
177-8 Moore, Patrick, 15, 192 Moore-Robinson, Miriam, 176 Muller, Johann, 82 Museion, the, 67, 77
Narratio Prima, 84 Nature of Substance, 216 Naylor, P. I., 204
Naylor, R. H., 108-9 Nelson, John H., 178-80, 181, 187, 191, 197, 208 Neo-Platonists, 76-7, 81
Neo-Pythagoreanism, 60, 124 Neptune, 24-5, 82, 99, 103, 105, 112, 119, 132-3, 134, 186-7; see
new
planets
Neugebauer, Otto,
new
Mercier, Charles A., 104 Mercure de France, 251 81,
bols of, 48, 56
Moon and
also
Melancthon, 82 Mendelssohn, Kurt, 45 Meneker, 173
Mercury, 24-5, 54-6,
213;
162-3,
214-16, 222-9, 2 4 °>
211,
209-10,
175, 219; and plant growth, 126-7, 170-71, 177-8, 209; sym-
Manilius, 70, 128
Margenau, Henry, 240 Mars: positions of, 15,
126,
58, 68, 72,
148,
152-3,
47, 51, 53,
64
planets: aspects of, 133; dis-
covery of, 82, 99, 119; and earthquakes, 180; problems of, 25-6, 105, 121, 132, 134, 217; and Velikovsky, 57
New 219
Scientist,
13,
158,
176, 211,
INDEX
284
Newton, 82-3,
109,
95, 97,
132;
theory, 90, 190
New
York Times,
Pliny, 176
Plotinus, 16, 76, 121, 198, 219 Pluto, 24, 25, 99, 112, 119, 132,
180, 217
Nineveh, 54, 60, 63, 67 Nova, see planets
134,
179,
180;
see
new
also
planets
Podshibyakin, A. K., 181 polarity, see laws
Observatory, 220 Observer, The, 42, 212, 217 Oedipus, 61, 238
Porte, Jean, 156, 160
Posidonius, 69 Prediction, 73, 109, 230 Principia athematica, 95 Proceedings of the National Aca-
Ogden, 189
M
Olcott, 102
On Growth and Form, On Heptades, 124
215
organisms, living, 170-72 Origin of Species, The, 35; see also evolution, theory of
Oswald, 173 Ouspensky, P. D., 244, 2460
Ptolemy, Claudius, 68, 71-7 86, 91, 93,
105,
121, 126,
,
80,
135,
198
The Social Dimension of Science, 42, io6n
Public Knowledge:
parapsychology, 101
pyramidologists, 43, 45, 47 Pythagorean number theory, 41,
Partridge, 96, 97 Peale, 225-6,
demy of Sciences, 138 Procelus, 76
249
Pearce, Alfred
123 J., Penguin Dictionary of Science, 137 Philolaus, 77 Physics of the Divining Rod, The,
43, 45, 60, 64-5, 73, 90-91, 120. 132, 139, 167, 230; see also
Copernicus; Egypt Pythagoras, 16, 59, 61, 66, 68, 72, 76, 83-4, 128, 171, 197
127, 177 Piccardi, G., 14,
182-4, 191,
174,
197, 208, 229 Pisces,
22,
25,
168; age
Queen
of
Querelles 72,
135,
94,
des
The, 117 Egyptologues, Les,
165,
253
136
of, 47,
Humbug,
planets,
15, 51, 77, 81, 99, 111, 117, 126, 131, 134-5, 142, i5i>
and horoscopes, 23, 209; and magnetic storms, 191;
28,
179,
180, 181, 214; nature of, 25, 65, 68,
1
24-5
;
observation
and organs of body,
21, 30, 49;
51-2, 81,
125,
personalities
149,
of,
221, 228, 246;
71,
and
175,
62,
83,
87,
108,
186; see also Mars,
new
216;
187, 195, professions,
152-70; relationships 55,
of, early,
of, 25, 41,
148,
169,
Venus
etc.;
planets
Plato, 16, 35, 51, 60, 61, 64, 66, 69, 76, 121, 181, 187, 198,
219
Ram, sign
of, see
Ravitz, Leonard
Aries
173 Reaves, Gibson, 218-19 J.,
Regiomontanus, 82-3, 93 reincarnation, 244 relativity, theory of,
239
Rheticus, Joachim, 84 Righter, Caroll, 24
Robichon, C., 40, 254 Rohan, Duke of, 97 Rose, Stephen, 282, 284 Rousseaux, Andre, 251-4 Royal Art of Astrology, The, 1223,
128
Russell, Bertrand, 225
N D EX Alfred, 118, 121
Sagittarius, 25
Still,
Salmasius, 123
Stoicism, 70
Sarapanitum, 54
Sturm, Julienne, 213, 221 Sufis, the, 78
Sartre, Jean P., 231
24-8, 68, 71-4, 80-81, 111-12, 119, 153, 155-6, 159,
Saturn,
161, 163, 165, 180, 185, 187, 214 Schaeffer,
Claude
P.,
Schmidt, W., 35; see also evolution, theory of Schwaller, see de Lubicz Science, 170
is
77,
81,
112,
117,
132,
23,47,72, 118, 126, 185; periodicity of, 171, 174, 185; signs of
horoscope, 25, 164; symbols, 56,
58
and
Life,
Essays
of
a
Rationalist, 226
Science
73,
151-2, 165, 219; composition of, 131, 134; Kepler, 91; and living
organisms, 171; and magnetic storms, 179-80; motions of, 20-
57
Schleider, 100
Science
sun,
285
not Enough, 299
sunspots, 118, 121, 134, 183; and
Science Journal, 45 Science of Prediction, The, 14 scientific point of view, 64, 79, 99, 109, 117-22, 150, 164, 177, 197,
214-17, 222-9, 236; and Gauquelin, 156-62, 169; see also
Sunday Express, 108 Sunday Times, 14 cycles, 184-7,
Swedenborg,
210 220 >
92, 100
Swift, Jonathan, 96-7, 128, 192 Synthetic Superstitions and Bogus Sciences, 119-20
maTakata, Maki, 220
terialism
Scorpio, 25, 65, 84, 108, 120, 133, 148, 164, 168, 205
secondary directions, 113
Taurus, 23-4, 25, 27-8, 30, 32, 49, 112, 167; age of, 48, 136 Temple de VHomme, Le, 253-4
Secret Doctrine, The, 102
Tetrabiblion, 77
selenotropism, 126
Tetrabiblos, The, 68, 72,
Severus, Septimus, 67
76-7 Textbook of Astrology, The, 123 Theophilus, Bishop, 67 Theophrastus, 61-2 Theory of Celestial Influence, The, 216
Shapley, Harlow, 229 Shorrs, Eleanor, 138
Theosophical Society, 102-3, 104, 176
Seleucis,
70
Sepher Yezirah, 124 Serapeion, the, 67 seven, law of, 81, 132
Sibley, E., siderealists,
100 135-6, 168
Sirius, 47,
65 William, 223 Smith papyrus, 50 Socrates, 62 Sphaera Barberica, 123 Sphinx, at Thebes, 38, 48, 55 Spiller, Philip, 102 spiritism, 101-2 Slater, Sir
stars, fixed,
85-6
Steiner, Rudolf. 176, 178
Thompson,
D'Arcy Wentworth,
215
Thompson, R. C., 123 Thoth, see Mercury time,
dimensions
of,
240-5; see
also destiny, level, reincarnation
Time, 218, 220-22, 232, 237
Tomaschek, Rudolf, 180-81, 214 Tombaugh, C. W., 132 tonoscope, 188-9 Tornier, transits,
E.,
160
111—13; scc a ^ s0 aspects
286
INDEX
problems 257-9 Uranus, 24-5, 82, twins,
of,
131-9,
140,
148,
99, 103, 111-12,
119, 132, 134, 180-81, 184, 187,
205, 242; see also
new
planets
Valens, Vettius, 74 Varille, A., 40, 251-3, 256; see also de Lubicz
Velikovsky, Immanuel, 57-9, 128, 229; theories of disaster, 57-9
Venus:
effects of, 71-4, 120, 152;
interpretation
of,
24-5,
27-8,
54. 57, 81, 134, 148, 151-3, 155,
163; symbols, 56-8 Virgo, 25, 28, 32, 72, 97 Virolleaud, Charles, 123 Voltaire, 97, 128, 192 Vulpius, Christine, 100
Warburg, Aby, 123 Watson, James, 224 wave-forms, 88-91 wave harmonics, 139, 179; see also
Addey, John M.
Wheeler, N. F., 43-5, 254 Whitehead, A. N., 36
Who's Who, 164, 169 Who’s Who in America, 168-9 Williams, David, 185 Williams, Roger, 138-9 witches, 13, 95 Witte, Alfred, 105 Wohl, Louis de, 110
words, properties
of,
188
Yamahiaki, 173 ziggurats, the, 56
Ziman, John,
42,
io6n
zodiac, 47-8, 147-8; characteristics of,
22,
68,
72,
245; and con-
sciousness, 103; divisions of, 23,
28-34, 56. 82-3, 139, 159, 216;
and organs of the body, 51, 80; and reality, 131, 142; signs of, 25, 62, 65; and sex, 175; sidereal, 135-6, 168; tropical, 135-6, 168;
and wave-forms, 167; Scorpio, Gemini etc. Zoroaster, 59, 129
see also
caseforastrologyOOwest caseforastrologyOOwest
THE CASE FOR ASTROLOGY History and Technique: The Birth of Astrology— The Principles of the Zodiac
—The Types of Astrology— Astrology in the Ancient World— Medieval Astrology— Astrology in Modern Times
The Objections to Astrology The Evidence: Gauquelin— CelesInfluence on Living Organisms— Celestial Influ-
Statistical— The Experiments of tial
ence in the Physical World — Extra-Terrestrial Influences— Cycles and Sunspots— Cymatics, The Study of
Wave Forms
The Future and
Significance of Astrology:
Astrology and Medicine — Astrology and Criminology-Astrology and Economics— Astrology and Science
The Question of Free Will: Time and Destiny— Time, Reincarnation and Recurrence-Time Twins