Evangeline Adams (1868-1932) was one of America’s most famous astrologers. From her New York City studios in Carnegie Hall, Adams served an exclusive clientele. She popularized astrology through her four books and 1931 radio show, making the general public aware of astrology as an important topic of study for the first time. Adams claimed to have predicted the famous Windsor Hotel fire in 1899, one of the worst disasters the city had yet seen. She was tried for fortune-telling in a New York City court in 1914, but was found not-guilty, with the judge stating that she raised astrology “to the dignity of an exact science.” Adams said she helped men like J.P. Morgan and Charles Schwab amass their vast fortunes, and, indeed, she predicted not only the stock market crash of 1929 but also the United States’ involvement in World War II.
How did she do it? In her 1926 autobiography, The Bowl of Heaven Adams talked of many of her achievements, but shied away from discussing most of her astrological techniques in any detail. Her 1930 book, Astrology, Your Place Among the Stars stuck only to the basics of horoscope interpretation. I researched Evangeline’s life and work for over ten years and published What Evangeline Adams Knew: A Book of Astrological Charts and Techniques , which analyzes the astrology of Adams’ life and her famous forecasts. I also wrote Foreseeing the Future: Evangeline Adams and Astrology in America, a biography that fills in many of the gaps in her memoirs.
Most agree that Evangeline Adams was a fascinating character. Frankly, I’m not sure why I’m still so intrigued with her after all these years, except that I feel that she just will not let me go! With more historical archives available online, I continue to find new material and plan to release updated editions of both of my books. I now have an updated digital edition of the biography, Foreseeing the Future.
Evangeline Adams’ Boston puts us a little closer to her time in Boston in the late 19th century.
J.P. Morgan and Astrology looks at the history of the famous phrase that, “Millionaires don’t use astrology, billionaires do.”
How Evangeline Adams Became a Detective talks about my inspiration for the book The Precious Pachyderm.