Between 1691 and 1711, London “coffeehouse” newspapers devoted to a “question-and-answer” format, such as the Athenian Mercury (1691-1697) and the British Apollo (1708-1711), employed anonymous experts to answer readers’ questions and impart simplified knowledge about natural philosophy and phenomena. At the same time, they marketed a “culture of civility” to non-elite individuals, which included encouraging gentlemanly curiosity about the natural world. Not only did the Mercury and Apollo’s editors spend a good deal of effort convincing their audiences they were credible sources of knowledge, an authoritative virtual “academy” of experts, but audience responses can be assessed in the running “conversations” of questions and answers. These papers therefore may be utilized as gauges of public attitudes towards particular topics in natural philosophy, such as astrology, and to what extent astrology was considered a legitimate subfield within “scientific” studies in the early modern period. Both the Mercury and Apollo also served an expressly didactic function, wittily illustrating to their less-informed readers which scientific theories were currently fashionable, and which ideas were the provinces of only “vulgar beliefs”; a comparison of the two papers is a measure of the progressive vulgarization of belief in astrology between 1690 and 1711. Although previous scholars were correct in their claim that many elite natural philosophers largely disavowed astrology (both natural and judicial) by the first decade of the eighteenth century, among the literate cits of London who were largely the audience of the Mercury and Apollo, the legitimacy of astrology was still a matter of active debate.

Georg Joachim Rheticus (1514-1574) was central to the development and popularization of Copernicus’ heliocentric theory. He is most well known for the first published account of the theory, the Narratio Prima in 1539, and his persuasion in obtaining Copernicus’ manuscript for publication, De Revolutionibus (1543). Rheticus’ poem ‘Concerning the Beer of Breslau and the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac’, written circa 1542, sheds light on two aspects of Rheticus’ early involvement with the heliocentric theory. The poem helps us understand the approach to astrology which would prove decisive in Rheticus’ acceptance of the heliocentric theory and offers a glimpse into Rheticus’ association with Wittenberg’s controversial group of young poets. This relationship significantly injured Rheticus’ career and the heliocentric theory in turn

This paper analyzes the role of Israel Hiebner’s Mysterium Sigillorum (1651) in the astrological reform program of late seventeenth-century English astrologers. Hiebner was a professor of astronomy and mathematics at Erfurt, and the translation of his tract into English in 1698 was considered to be a landmark event among reforming and scientific astrologers such as Henry Coley and John Gadbury. In the face of astrology’s declining reputation among learned elites, Coley and Gadbury wished to cleanse their discipline of superstitious dross and illustrate it was ‘experimentally true’ via Baconian induction as well as by incorporation of discoveries in astronomy and natural philosophy. Hiebner’s insistence on accurate planetary observations in making astrological sigils, his use of maps in Hevelius’ Selenographia as guides in stamping his medical amulets, as well as his detailed and precise lists of ascendant planetary aspects thus was appealing to these astrological reformers. This paper also analyzes the role of the Mysterium Sigillorum in the ‘English Sigil War,’ a larger debate that existed among astrological physicians and natural philosophy about the role of these medals in medical healing.

Sigmund Freud’s psychology was influenced both by traditional Jewish mysticism and the cosmobiological theories developed by Wilhelm Fliess (1858-1928). Fliess argued that biological processes were partially regulated by 23-day and 28-day cycles, time of conception and birth, the solar year and the eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. We can term these theories cosmobiological. Freud adopted these ideas although he was apparently hostile to the ‘occult’. He investigated traditional astrology, represented by the casting of horoscopes, but concluded that its efficacy was due to telepathy

The years between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance were troubled by political conflicts and plots generated by an unbridled ambition for power. In those dark ages the figure of the astrologer stands out as a firm reference point in the shrewd and often merciless political game. Biagio Pelacani of Parma perfectly embodies this character of learned adviser. The actions of the powerful men of the time depended on his predictions.

This paper analyses architectural alignments and reports the results of interviews with priests and lay persons at those temples in the Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu in which sunlight of the rising or setting sun enters the sanctum, primarily near equinox. The event, known as Surya puja, occurs most frequently in Shaivite temples and is most often understood to be a case of the sun worshipping Lord Shiva. At some temples it is believed the sun suffers from leprosy, which may be associated with an outbreak of sunspots in the late 11th century. Many of today’s Surya puja rituals have strong astrological dimensions, which have probably grown in intensity since the temples were built.

Although astrologers and astrological concepts were instrumental in formulating the core assumptions of the modern New Age movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the increasing number of scholarly studies of the New Age movement pay almost no attention to astrology. The only two English language histories of modern astrology set out the role of the English astrologer Alan Leo (1860-1917) in creating an astrology designed to facilitate spiritual evolution and the coming of the New Age. This paper examines the foundation of an astrology of spiritual development and psychological growth in the USA and examines the key role played by Marc Edmund Jones (1888-1980). Jones used arguments based on the history of astrology, strongly influenced by theosophical theories of history, to justify his reform of astrology.

The explicit astronomical content of the great monument of Antiochus I of Commagene on the summit of Nemrud Dagh warrants the search for astronomical significance in the design of other monuments of this ancient Near Eastern kingdom of the first century BCE. The article advances the hypothesis that the nearby monument of Karakush, built by Antiochus’ son, Mithradates II, as a burial site for the royal women, was astronomically oriented, its three sets of peripheral columns being so positioned that during June Leo would be observed setting behind the lion columns after sunset, Aquila culminating over the eagle columns around midnight, and Taurus rising behind the bull columns before dawn. It is suggested, furthermore, that the astronomical occasion for the foundation of this second monument was a recurrence of significant planetary conjunctions in Leo. The ‘lion horoscope’ of Nemrud Dagh records the conjunctions of 62 BCE; the Karakush site may be related to the conjunctions of 27-26 BCE.

The Mathesis of Julius Firmicus Maternus describes astrological aspects responsible for bestowing divinity and immortality. These conditions have been identified as the major astrological components of the Star of Bethlehem. Moreover, closer examination reveals that Firmicus juxtaposed pagan and Christian themes, which suggests he was a pagan making the transition to Christianity.

Suggestive evidence for a diurnal effect of the Moon was recently published by Francoise Gauquelin using a non-verbal test filled out by 500 ordinary people. The present study is an attempt to replicate the results using a fresh sample of 600 answers rated by three judges who had rated the answers of the previous experiment. The judges’ ratings showed good agreement but no lunar effect was found. For the five Gauquelin planets (MO, VE, MA, JU and SA) the frequency in sectors 1 + 4 + 7 = 10 was not significantly different from chance for answers judge to beeither “extraverted” or “imaginative”. The results were no different for the Moon in sectors 1 + 4 only, for those answers for which all judges were in agreement, or for sub-sets of the answers. The failure to replicate may be due to a lack of validity in the test. Recommendations are made for a better methodology.