Parallels between Phrenology and Astrology

Author: Dean, Dr. Geoffrey
Abstract: The story of phrenology is rich in lessons for astrology. But the literature of phrenology is so huge, so clogged with side issues (of philosophy, of politics, of religion, of morality, of society in general), so often tedious to read (wordiness being the style of the day), and so difficult to find except in specialised libraries, that these lessons have gone largely unrecognised. Like astrology, phrenology encourages you to assess yourself and act on its findings to achieve harmony with the world. Like astrology, it flourished because practitioners and clients saw that it worked. It was claimed to be “so plainly demonstrated that the non-acceptance of phrenology is next to impossible.” But the experience-based claims of phrenologists are now known to be completely wrong. Could the same apply to the experience-based claims of astrologers? To answer this phrenology’s social context, history, literature, testimonials, stock objections, and experimental tests, all of which have parallels in astrology, are looked at ending with phrenologists’ views of astrology and vice versa. The conclusion is drawn that, until astrologers can demonstrate otherwise, the answer would seem to be yes.
Keywords: phrenology and astrology,
Notes:
Publication: Correlation: Astrological Association Journal of Research Into Astrology
Issue: Volume 17 Issue 1
Dated: 1998
Pages: Pages 9 – 40