Category Archives: astrology history

Andrew Ross Sorkin on Evangeline Adams

Andrew Ross Sorkin, author of the bestselling book Too Big to Fail, takes on the great stock market crash in 1929.  But in his thumbnail sketches of Evangeline Adams and astrology, his research skills completely fail him.

In his introduction, Sorkin claims “more than eight years reporting and thousands of hours of research.”  He’s been writing for the New York Times since high school, has a show on CNBC and edits a financial news service.  But when it comes to Adams and astrology, all he can do is regurgitate questionable bits from a nearly 50-year-old book.  You can’t track down every fact, but the rumors and innuendos are perpetuated.

Astrology is the colorful, sexy subject that many want to laugh at.  Adams is mentioned in over a half dozen online reviews of Sorkin’s book, yet she only plays a tiny role in it.  She was probably included in the press release as a fascinating part of the history.  Sorkin himself compares horoscopes to fortune cookies in an interview, seemingly only aware of Sun sign astrology.

Of course, Andrew Ross Sorkin is an over-achiever who probably had assistants compile much of the information in 1929.  The few short parts on Adams are all directly from The Day the Bubble Burst, a 1979 book about the crash.  In order to look like they did more research on Adams, Sorkin also cites Maury Klein’s 2003 book The Crash of 1929.  But academic Klein also swiped the same skewed anecdotes directly from Bubble Burst.

In both, Evangeline Adams is a regular at the Plaza Hotel dining room, where she “had her own reserved table… surrounded by several star struck young men.”  On September 2, 1929, she predicted on a radio show that “the Dow Jones could climb to heaven,” which it obligingly did.

On Black Thursday, October 24, 1929, Adams held a group session in her office for worried clients, telling them that things were looking up.  She then supposedly contacted her broker, who said she’d lost $100,000 on the market, and told them to sell it all ASAP.

I could verify none of these stories, and much sounded bogus to me.  (Evangeline said she ate lunch at her desk; she was a workaholic with the Moon in the 6th house.)  The original authors gave no specific source notes and were clearly biased against Adams from the start.  Sorkin repeats the same prejudice.  Evangeline made a great forecast, but cared nothing for her clients as long as she could profit from their loss.  The astrologer as charlatan and fraudster is such a tired trope.  How would anyone know how much she had or when she sold?  I don’t even think she owned stocks; she always said her chart was unlucky for speculation (with Cancer on the 5th house and the Moon in the 6th opposite the Sun).

I shouldn’t complain.  Of the 100+ people on Sorkin’s cast of characters list, Evangeline Adams, “astrologist known as the stock market’s seer” (another attribution I could never confirm), is the only woman portrayed in 1929’s exclusive men’s club.

Sorkin, interestingly enough, has the Sun and Moon in Pisces and Mercury and Mars in Aquarius, signs he shares with Adams.  They helped him create a varied and comprehensive story.  His T-square of Mercury conjunct Mars opposite Saturn in Leo and square Uranus in Scorpio has clearly made market crashes a preoccupation.

Yet with a grand trine of Venus, Saturn and Neptune, Andrew Ross Sorkin will likely continue on his merrily ignorant way.  Until, of course, the calamitous day there’s a sudden major reversal he can’t explain, leaving him crushed and in need of direction, and ignorant of what astrology could do to help.

Astrologers won’t find anything enlightening on Evangeline Adams or astrology in 1929.  The many other character profiles might help understand their individual horoscopes.  Reviewers compliment the writing, but I personally wonder how such a seemingly intelligent man can be so oblivious to a subject that has become standard in market forecasting.  In this astrologer’s opinion, 1929 is a missed opportunity.

Sorkin’s birth information is from Wikipedia.  We have no time of birth.

For the real story on Evangeline Adams, read my books, Foreseeing the Future and What Evangeline Adams Knew.

Astro Speculation on Wall St.

Evangeline Adams’ 1927 autobiography revealed her personal association with financiers like J. Pierpont Morgan and Thomas W. Lawson. She said she could forecast the swings of the market and advise when individuals should invest. In “Astrological Speculation on Wall Street,” Carrie Tirado Bramen explains how Adams shared similar messages with the financial forecasters of her day. Prediction involved both a logical analysis as well as metaphysical hunches or astrological insight.

Bramen presents a fascinating history. The word speculation was first used by Scottish economist Adam Smith in 1791, and like the word consider, “was originally about contemplating celestial matters.” Financial advice literature in Adams’ day sought to separate speculation from gambling by emphasizing rationality, analysis and calculations. They even used charts.

Aquarian Evangeline also tried to normalize her practice, stressing her knowledge, authority and skill. She, too, had great expertise, analyzed data, and presented it in chart form. And yet neither could escape the fact that both also relied on something beyond ordinary rationality: the intuition or impressions.

Bramen asks the question “Who has the authority to predict the future?” Adams agreed with a well-known literary magazine that the clergy, realtors, and stock and bond traders could do so with impunity, but not astrologers. With market forecasting unregulated and in its infancy, and the first female member of the New York Stock Exchange decades away, financiers benefited from Adams’ astrological advice and she from their patronage.

Carrie Tirado Bramen’s academically-written piece reflects a clear understanding of the literature and attitudes of the times, and is full of intriguing connections and historical facts. It’s thought-provoking reading for those interested in the history of astrology in the U.S., especially financial astrology.

“Astrological Speculation on Wall Street” from the Journal of Cultural Economy. (May present a pay-wall.)

More on my biography of Evangeline Adams, Foreseeing the Future.
And my book on Adams’ astrological techniques, What Evangeline Adams Knew.

Jeane Dixon

Jeane Dixon was often called an astrologer but was primarily a psychic.  She wrote a daily horoscope column for years, though she used her crystal ball (literally) to get impressions for each sign.

Some of Dixon’s predictions were legendary.  In 1956 she forecast a Democratic presidential win in 1960, but that the president “will be assassinated or die in office” (possibly referencing the 20-year Jupiter-Saturn pattern of deaths in office).  She’d forecast a win for Harry Truman in 1948, when most commentators expected him to lose.

Dixon foresaw a wiretapping scandal for Richard Nixon, though she thought it would “help his image.” Twenty years before Bill Clinton’s impeachment, she could see a president “implicated in misconduct, or worse.”

Jeane Dixon wasn’t always right, but she had some remarkable hits.  She read for Ronald and Nancy Reagan when he was governor of California, and was invited to the White House to meet with Franklin Roosevelt and Nixon.

Dixon’s focus on world leaders is shown by her dignified Saturn in Aquarius conjunct her MC; it disposits much of her chart.  Her Gemini Ascendant closely trined Saturn: an immediate connection.  Her reputation was for her unusual Aquarian metaphysical skills, and she was one of the best known psychics in her time with an extremely stable career.

Her Gemini writing ability also popularized her work.  She wrote seven books, including an autobiography, a book on dog horoscopes and an astrological cookbook.  She had a Dial-a-Horoscope service in the mid-1980s, and wrote a quarterly celebrity forecast column for the gossipy supermarket tabloid The Star for over twenty years.

Mercury in Aquarius in the 9th house ruling the Ascendant gave Dixon a wide readership.  Mercury sextiles Venus in Sagittarius in the 6th house, and she seemed to love her work and its divinatory aspects.  Mercury was also inconjunct Neptune in the 2nd and she wrote from inspiration.  She was also a religious Roman Catholic who attended mass every day and felt her talents were divinely inspired.  Dixon believed that all events were foreshadowed and that she was only a messenger.

There’s a wide yod in Jeane Dixon’s chart with Neptune at the apex, and quincunxes to the Mercury-Venus sextile, connecting her Neptunian values with work and her ideals about sharing her message with a wide audience.

Jeane must have enjoyed the spotlight with her Moon in Leo in the 4th house.  She came from a family of ten children, which must have been lively with the Moon’s opposition to Mars, but never had children of her own.  She and her husband partnered in a real estate firm, with the Moon’s ruler, the Sun in Capricorn, placed in the 8th, and associated with business earnings through commissions.

But many of Dixon’s placements also relate to psychic sensitivity.  The Moon’s opposition to Mars would have given her strong impressions, and some of her predictions were spontaneous.  Pluto in her 1st house in Gemini closely trined Mars in Aquarius in her 10th house and sextiled the Moon, giving her deep perceptions that obviously went well beyond what most observed.  A Pluto in Gemini transformation in her life related to her name change from Lydia Pinckert.

The Sun in the 8th is also connected with the metaphysical world.  It sextiles Jupiter in Pisces in the 11th house, making her popular and adding an oracular touch, but Jupiter in this sign also placed Dixon within a religious and spiritual community.

Jeane Dixon died on January 25, 1997 at the age of 93 of a heart attack, in keeping with the Moon in Leo.  A museum dedicated to her life and work opened in 2002, but only lasted about six years.

Jeane’s bio on Wikipedia.   Astrodatabank rates her birth data AA.

About the Jeane Dixon Museum

Dixon’s autobiography, My Life and Prophecies.

 

Joan Quigley and the Reagans

1988 was a great time to be an astrologer.  Nancy Reagan’s use of astrology in the White House was suddenly revealed to the public, and it was big news.

Former chief of staff Don Regan’s memoir came out in early May, and the press leapt on the news.  It was no surprise to astrologers, who were aware that the Reagans had consulted Carroll Righter and other astrologers during their Hollywood years.  Don Regan didn’t know the identity of the San Francisco astrologer that the First Lady used, but the press soon found out:  Joan Quigley, who Nancy may have consulted as early as the early ‘70s.

Quigley was the daughter of a successful hotel owner, and she and her sister grew up in a penthouse and were featured in the society pages attending events and charitable functions.  We can see her inherited wealth and social standing in her Aries Sun in the 8th house trine her Moon in Leo in the 11th.  With a Virgo Ascendant, she was attractive and always perfectly dressed, seemingly without a hair out of place.  Joan graduated with an art history degree from Vassar College.  Her Ascendant closely trined Venus in Taurus, so she had good taste.

After college, Joan returned to San Francisco, where she started practicing astrology and continued volunteer work.  Her Venus in the 9th showed her attraction to art studies, and since it also ruled her second house of income, her ability to earn through sharing her astrological knowledge.

She was choosy about her clients since she didn’t need the income.  Her Moon also trined Saturn in Sagittarius in her 3rd house; while she published three books, the first, Astrology for Adults (1971) very much used Evangeline Adams’ 1930 book Astrology: Your Place Among the Stars as a direct source.

Quigley’s Mars and Pluto were in the 10th house and her focus was on her career.  Mars squares both Mercury and Uranus in the 7th, attesting to the short-term nature of consultations.  She never married, probably a good choice as she needed freedom in relationships.  The 7th also shows her clientele and public outreach.  Jupiter in its own sign of Pisces, closely conjunct the 7th house cusp, added to her independent spirit, as well as her ability to come before the public.  Quigley made regular appearances on the Merv Griffin show and he was probably a client.  Though with Pluto in Cancer in the 10th and Saturn in the 3rd, the astrologer was discreet and typically didn’t reveal anything about her clients.

Jupiter also shows that Quigley could serve some notable patrons.  She had volunteered for Ronald Reagan’s campaigns for California governor and then president.  After the assassination attempt on President Reagan on March 30, 1981, Nancy began to rely on Joan regularly.

Quigley was 54 years old at the time.  Her progressed Jupiter conjoined 7th house Uranus, opening her to an unusual relationship.  Her progressed Midheaven conjoined her natal Moon in Leo in the 11th, nicely describing her association with a regal kind of woman, and she was also experiencing a lunar return.  Joan’s Mercury had progressed to her 10th house, and was a few degrees from conjoining her North Node and squaring natal Uranus.

Pluto transited her 2nd house of finances and values at 23-1/2 Libra, equidistant from a trine to 10th house Mars and opposition to her 8th house Sun, showing a rewarding career opportunity.  Neptune through her 4th house trined her natal Neptune in the 12th, and she was hired as a consultant and counselor, but had to keep it secret.  The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in early Libra that had foreshadowed the assassination attempt on the president was transiting Quigley’s first house, so a long-term (Saturn) partner (natal Jupiter conjunct her 7th) had come to her (first house).  Both exactly opposed natal 7th house Uranus within a few months, bringing a new relationship.

Quigley’s Mercury in Pisces and Uranus in Aries in the 7th house square Mars in Gemini in her 10th shows the potential for sudden upheavals in relationships from time to time.  The pattern suited Joan’s consulting work with Nancy, especially as they did it remotely, by telephone (Uranus).

When the news broke in early May of 1988 about Joan Quigley’s influence on President Reagan’s schedule, transiting Saturn and Uranus were closely conjunct in Capricorn and squared her 7th house Uranus, creating a break.  Of course, her seven-year stint represents a Saturn cycle, and the relationship had begun when Saturn conjoined Jupiter and both opposed her Uranus.  Transiting Pluto in Scorpio through her 3rd house was less than a degree from squaring her Moon:  the relationship with the powerful First Lady had ended.  Quigley said that Nancy only spoke with her once after the public got the news.

Nancy Reagan couldn’t deny what had happened, but distanced herself from astrology, describing her use of it out of fear.  Joan Quigley felt compelled to speak out, and later write her own book, where she detailed her influence on the Reagan administration, including encouraging the president to work with Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev on arms control agreements and ending the Cold War.

Some astrologers felt that Quigley had betrayed a confidence.  Her leonine integrity and dignity had been questioned, and she wanted all to know what astrology could really do.  With five planets in fire signs and an angular Mercury and Jupiter, she shared her truth.

Quigley’s book on the Reagans has interesting facts, but her ego comes off a little strong.   What does Joan Say?  My Seven Years as White House Astrologer to Nancy and Ronald Reagan.

Roger Bacon and Incorruptibility

Meagan S. Allen’s book Roger Bacon and the Incorruptible Human, 1220-1292: Alchemy, Pharmacology and the Desire to Prolong Life shows how alchemy, astrology and medicine were interconnected in the medieval world.  Roger Bacon was a 13th century philosopher and Franciscan friar, who, like many others of the time, was influenced by both the Bible and medical works, and believed that the extension of life was a valid pursuit.

Allen explains Bacon’s ideas in a consistently clear and lucid style. And while she mentions astronomy much more than astrology, at that time they were a united subject.  But given the context, it seems to me that the astrological meaning is generally intended.

Adam and Eve were given the potential to live forever, eating the fruit of the Tree of Life in Eden, which would sustain them forever.  But eating from the Tree of Knowledge, they had to leave.  And human bodies have lost their balance compared with the much longer life spans of the biblical patriarchs.

Our bodies will eventually be incorruptible through God after the resurrection, and a physical resurrection that included both body and soul was the accepted idea.  There would then be no tension between them, as both would be completely subject to the soul’s will.

Bacon was familiar with astrological works by Arabic authors like Abu Ma’shar and al-Kindi, and Greek works such as Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos. Many texts attributed to Galen had also been translated into Latin by that time.

Not unlike today, the medical establishment offered little help for the aging process, since their focus was on disease.  People could support their health with an improved diet and natural remedies that might help extend life (prolongatio vitae).  And Bacon felt there were risks to relying on medical advice.  Prescriptions needed to suit one’s age, constitution and horoscope, but doctors often weren’t good astrologers, alchemists, diagnosticians or apothecaries.  Without these skills, treatment was left to guesswork and luck.

Lunar aspects should be considered when taking medicines, and herbs needed to be collected at the proper times.  Helpful astrological patterns could pass celestial virtues onto alchemical medicines.  Alchemical techniques (which might be termed astrological magic today) could also enhance food and stones to bring one back to health and prolong life.

The ideal was a corpus equale – a body with the elements in equal proportions, which was so balanced that it would be incapable of decay (as gold and the immortal resurrection body).  Like everything else in the universe, stars and planets were made up of four essential elements and simple humors:  sanguine blood (air), phlegm (water), choler (fire) and melancholy (earth).  Our natal horoscopes give each of us differing elemental balances.  The challenge, then, or the “secret of secrets” (secretum secretorum) lies in balancing out the qualities of the humors in the body.

A thousand years earlier, Galen and Hippocrates’ medicine also based human health on the balance of the four humors.  As medical astrology still does today, alchemy was built on this foundation.

Bacon felt that the theory of the transmutation and purification of metals could be applied to human medicine, and that alchemical medicines could theoretically help us approach immortality.  A universal health elixir would be perfectly balanced and therefore incorruptible, able to restore bodies to health.  Bacon claimed he had seen it work with skilled doctors and patients.

Meagan Allen even shares the recipe, which included a combination of honey, fruit, seeds, spices and flowers, all fermented and boiled down with various powdered gem stones and gold, and placed “under the sky” for a week or so to take advantage of the “heavenly powers.”  Other key ingredients could include the flesh and bones of the Ethiopian dragon (a large winged snake) and the Tyrian viper – which was good for old age and aided memory.

And best of all, no one need worry about a diagnosis, since the elixir had a universal nature that cured anything.  A panacea, it did not require a diagnosis, and would balance humors, lessen pain, clear vision, calm disease and slow aging, support the brain, stimulate joy and prolong life.

Those interested in medical astrology, the medieval mind or alchemy’s connection with the cosmos should enjoy reading Roger Bacon and the Incorruptible Human, a well-researched and abundantly annotated work.  Since Meagan S. Allen is a college professor, her book is another example of how ancient and medieval world views that support astrology continue to be legitimately explored today.

As an academic book, Roger Bacon and the Incorruptible Human is unfortunately rather expensive.

About my reviews and links.

Goods of the Dead

I always feel that Evangeline Adams introduced me to genealogy.  Her Pluto conjoined my Moon, and as I researched her life, I uncovered many government and church records that provided key information about her.  After that, I more easily researched other families as well as my own.  Pluto unearths things and can be relentless in its action.  It kept me focused on genealogy research for a long time.

The National Archives had their records center on Varick Street in downtown Manhattan in the 1990s, and I spent some time there.  It was a quiet, library-like setting with helpful clerks.  You’d first search for a name in Soundex listings, which phonetically accommodated different spellings.  That would lead you to particular Census records, all originals scanned onto microfilm.  As I scrolled through the wide microfilm rolls on the big old microfilm viewing machine, it was exciting to find Evangeline and her family in Andover in 1890 and Boston in 1900 Census records.

Chatting with an adopted woman who was searching for her birth parents, I realized that I could find my own family records, too.  I returned another day to find my father’s family in Manhattan and Brooklyn and my mother’s in central New York in the early 20th century.

With home-loving Cancer on my fourth house cusp and its ruler, the Moon, prominent in the first, I’ve always found family stories compelling.  But I think that Saturn in the 9th trine my Ascendant gives me the ability to find old records.  To my mind, Saturn, ruling old things and permanence, as well as the Moon, are key significators for genealogy.

I still remember an old astrology book describing Saturn careers having to do with “goods of the dead,” one of those ultra-specific key phrases that left me shaking my head.  It wasn’t until I was in my forties that I took a part-time job with an estate lawyer.  He had Saturn in Cancer and handled wills and court proceedings for heirs,  marshaled decedents’ assets and distributed them.  Goods of the dead, I realized one day with a start.

But the best part of the job for me was access to Ancestry.com, which helped us create family trees and prove family relationships in court.  I did much of the genealogical research for many estates over fifteen-plus years, regularly proving ancestry to first cousins of the decedents.

I was in the Kings County Surrogate’s Court record room one day waiting for the clerks to bring me another old file, when I realized that some of my own ancestors’ records might be there, too.  Transiting Pluto was close to conjoining my Saturn at the time, and it opened up an entirely new set of records to me.  I quickly looked in the old fashioned card catalog and found the index card that was created when my great-grandfather died in 1936, and the clerks pulled the file.  My grandfather had been the executor, and it was fascinating to see the will, so similar in language and format to that used today, with all of my grandfather’s siblings’ information and releases included.  Saturn also relates to consistency and tradition, which still exists in many court papers and proceedings.

Saturn rules our ancestors, and the Moon relates to our family connections.  Both also have to do with cemeteries, another wonderful place to dig up family history.  We found a photo of my great-grandmother on the family monument she had purchased 100 years ago in Holy Cross cemetery in Flatbush, just a few miles away.

These, too, are what they used to call “goods of the dead.”  Some of the old associations are still valid today.

Edgar Cayce and the Magi

Who were the Magi that traveled to see the baby Jesus, and what was the star they followed?  The Edgar Cayce readings support and add to the scientific and historical record and also give us personal insight into some of the people involved. 

Matthew tells us in the New Testament that the Magi asked Herod, the king of Judea, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him… and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.” (Matthew 2:2-10)  This report suggests that the Magi already knew of the birth and that the star led them to their destination.

Most translations of the Bible refer to the visitors as wise men.  Some use the term “magi,” which suggests priests or magicians.  The Good News Bible calls them “some men who studied the stars” and Wycliffe’s Bible literally uses the word “astrologers.”  Maybe some of the signs they followed were astrological.

The Christmas “star” has been seen as a comet, a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction and a supernova.  Many believe it was simply a miraculous event.  The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction has gotten the most support from astronomers, astrologers and historians, and a conjunction was recorded by Babylonian, Chinese and Egyptian astronomers before Herod died around 4 BCE.

The 17th century astronomer Johannes Kepler, who famously formulated the planetary laws of motion, knew that the Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions repeated every 20 years.  As an astrologer, he also knew that they bring notable changes to humanity, often relating to new regimes or rulers.  They complete a full circle around the zodiac every 800 years, a cycle initiating more significant turning points, often called World Ages.  Projecting the cycles backwards, Kepler identified a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction from 7 to 6 BCE in the sign of Pisces (the fishes), which is associated with Jesus and Christianity.

Well before Kepler, when astronomy and astrology were intertwined, a tradition had already developed around these cycles.  The ancient Persian astrologer Gjamasp al Hakim had written an important book on the Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions by the 6th century BCE.  The Jewish Persian astrologer Mashallah studied the conjunctions in Baghdad in the 8th century, as did the Muslim Persian astrologer Abu Mashar a century later.  These prominent historic figures passed on a longstanding tradition that pre-dated the birth of Jesus.

Many today believe that the Magi were Zoroastrian priests from Persia (ancient Iran), who are known to have used astrology to understand history and cycles.  In a 1937 reading, Cayce said, “The entity… was among the Persians who had been of the teaching class, and… [his son] became among the Wise Men.” (1378-1)

According to the readings, Zermada, a Syrian-Persian astrologer, had independently concluded “… that the looked for changes were coming in the Holy or Promised Land… and … there came more communications and interpretations of those records or signs that eventually brought the journeys of some of the Wise Men, of which we have records.” (2880-2)  Perhaps like Herod, she knew of the prophecy recorded in Micah 5:2 stating that the child would come from Bethlehem.  But since Zermada was an astrologer, the records she studied could have certainly been astrological as well.

In a reading for the reincarnation of Thesea, Herod’s third wife, Cayce stated that “There was more than one visit from the Wise Men… They came from Persia, India, Egypt and also from Chaldea, Gobi and what is NOW the Indo or Tao land.” (2067-7)  So there were more learned visitors and more visits than in the Bible account.  There were notable astrological traditions in India, Egypt and Chaldea.  The same could be said of China, perhaps what was meant by the “Tao land.”

Some of the Magi seem to have been Persian priests who were knowledgeable about astrological traditions and cycles.  It appears that the “star” was a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction that foretold significant developments for the world.  Even if the star itself occurred miraculously, Cayce suggests that the Magi had studied the skies and expected a momentous event.

I wrote about the Magi and the Dalai Lama here.

My review of Courtney Roberts’ Star of the Magi

I wrote more about the Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in America in my book Tecumseh’s Curse.

Morrison on Pluto in Aquarius

In June, 1991, Al H. Morrison’s article, “Two Centuries of Pluto in Signs” appeared in The Mountain Astrologer magazine.  He began with a backward look at Pluto in Gemini through Scorpio, then added a forecast of what he considered likely with Pluto in Sagittarius through Aries (ending in 2097).  Here’s his take, over 30 years before the fact: 

Pluto will enter Aquarius on November 21, 2024. Traditionally, Aquarius is ruled by Saturn. In modern times we assign it to Uranus, the most reactionary of all planets. The action of Saturn is to hold everything as it is or was, in stable order. The situation/structure is a return to a vacuum, an empty space with perhaps some clutter of shattered bits and pieces of what has been.

The action of Pluto is revolution, mutation of individuals, and changes of consensus caused by such mutation. Aquarius has been thought to rule science, individual intellectual freedom, logic, fixed systems of rules, and independence (for individuals as well as groups or nations). It follows that Pluto arriving in Aquarian territory will upset our entire culture and change the way people think (or permit computers to manage everything). Aquarius is a very dry sign, not a very propitious environment for projects based on emotional or sentimental concerns.

We may have a planetary totalitarian regime during this tour of Pluto in Aquarius, perhaps required to cope with climatic changes, global nuclear and chemical pollution and other environmental problems. The most serious problem has not been addressed in the west in this latter part of the 20th century: what to do about overpopulation. First raised by Malthus early in the 19th century, it was countered by religious dedication to maximum birthrates. The mandate is yet to bring forth children “to fill the earth” in most religious groups.  The basic question comes to such crisis as to force world action while Pluto tours Aquarius…

It is even probable that scientists will discover while Pluto is in Aquarius that time itself is not constant or uniform, but merely another confusing variable.

(Pluto enters Pisces on March 1, 2043.)

The article above is an excerpt from The Best of Al H. Morrison.

Buy on Amazon.com.

Biden’s Saturn Cycle

I expected Joe Biden to be a one-term president.  If we look at the Saturn cycles of past presidencies (of which Biden is the most recent), the astrological limitations imposed on him are obvious.

Biden’s 2021 Inauguration horoscope has a close (3 degree) Sun-Saturn conjunction, so I reviewed charts for previous administrations with the Sun conjunct Saturn.  This is important because they reiterate the close Sun-Saturn square in the U.S. horoscope.

Zachary Taylor was inaugurated on March, 5, 1849, almost a decade before the Civil War, and he faced contentious issues between the north and south over slavery.  With the Sun conjunct Saturn (in Pisces) he overate cherries and milk at a 4th of July party, suffered stomach pains for almost a week, and died after only a little more than a year in office.

Rutherford B. Hayes also had the Sun conjunct Saturn in Pisces in 1877.  He came to office in a disputed election decided by Congress in the Reconstruction period.  He pledged to serve only one term and did so.

John F. Kennedy’s 1961 Jupiter-Saturn inauguration had Saturn in Capricorn conjunct the Sun in Aquarius (about 8 degrees apart).  He served during the post-World War II Cold War and the beginning of military involvement in South Vietnam.  Civil rights issues and Martin Luther King’s rise to prominence again showed issues of racial justice coming to the forefront during this time.  He was assassinated in November of 1963.

Civil rights and racial justice continued to be important during Joe Biden’s administration, common themes in all these Sun-Saturn election charts.  He pointedly selected Black women for Vice President and Supreme Court Justice.

But the Sun-Saturn pattern also showed two presidents who died before completing their 4-years in office, and a third who chose to serve only one term.  I didn’t know exactly what would happen this time, but concluded in my 2020 book Tecumseh’s Curse that “An inaugural Sun and Saturn has correlated with…  administrations that were limited in time and by circumstances.”  I had also noticed in 2020 that “Pluto in Aquarius will also square his Moon throughout 2024. Joe Biden had suggested he will not run again, and this transit coincides with a move or departure after four years. “

At my writing in 2020, there was that suggestion, which was supported by the astrological patterns, though the candidate later changed his mind.  The inaugural Sun-Saturn conjunction symbolized the entire term and did not change.  Of course we know that Biden stepped aside on July 21, 2024 in favor of his Vice President Kamala Harris.

Linda Goodman on the Aquarian Age

Linda Goodman was a true believer in the Age of Aquarius, perhaps because it was so obviously connected with the astrological signs.  As Pluto is still near the 0 degree Aquarius point of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction of December 2020, Goodman’s observations on the New Age may have some resonance today.

Although an accomplished astrologer herself, Linda rarely wrote about astrology beyond Sun signs.  She was a product of the 1960s and ‘70s and used the modern rulership of Uranus over Aquarius, sharing some cogent thoughts on the polarity of Aquarius and Leo, the latter symbolizing the youth culture and sexual revolution.  An Aries with Mercury in Taurus, she was impatient with the technical arguments about when (or if) the Aquarian Age had begun.  She also disliked scientists and expressed her feelings strongly.

The piece that follows was published in her book Gooberz in 1989, though it was most likely written earlier.  Goodman references a  John Lennon song from 1969, campus protests in 1970, and uses slang that was outdated by the ‘80s.  I have edited the piece and regularized punctuation for clarity.

Challenge

Do not listen to those smug prophets and Cassandras who argue endlessly and monotonously that the Aquarian Age is technically not yet upon us, and who babble and quarrel among themselves about the stern astronomical Precession of the Equinoxes, ignoring the Procession of Children with lighted candles chanting Peace.  All we ask, is give Peace a chance.

We are well within the orb of those unpredictable Uranus vibrations, sounding the chords of humanitarianism and individualism, and yes, the flat notes of insanity too.  Once again, under the ancient Law of Polarity, feeling the reflected influence of the sign opposite Aquarius: Leo, the Lion of Love, of Idealism and Youth.

Aquarius, the Water Bearer: Seeker of Truth, the unpredictable advocate of Change, whatever the cost (through violent revolution, if necessary) as a means to justify the end – of prejudice.

The eccentric, half genius, half mad Uranus vibrations of Aquarius, blending a compulsion for Progress with the hot rays of Leo’s ruling Sun, reflecting back the Lion’s firm hold over Youth and Love.  “We will have Change!  We will have Brotherhood!” rings out the clarion call of the individual’s right to do his or her own thing, and “let’s make love, not war!”  “Let’s worship Youth!” roars the fierce, hot-blooded Lion as he rolls in sensuous ecstasy with his mate.

Is it any wonder, then, that we’re having a sexual revolution, that we shake under the Uranus-Aquarian thunder of individuality of hair styles, clothes, politics and religious convictions, with riots on campus introducing the Seventies, taking their toll?

Didn’t you see it all coming, Mister Gallup and Mister Poll?  Didn’t you feel Kent State coming?  Or do you scoff at the stars and ignore the planets too, as blind astronomers and other scientists are wont to do?’  Einstein might have made it all more clear than any similar peer who knocks and raps astrology if it’s fashionable to do so.  Or than the shrinks and sociologists, stubborn astronomers, and the frightened astrologers themselves, who wrangle with one another, in unceasing competition refereed by prejudiced, pre-judgmental, know-it-all science wearing the dark glasses of dogma.

I see them squatting in their Kindergarten of Knowledge, the professors and the shrinks, the scientists and astronomers, the sociologists and poll takers, and an occasional politician, playing with Truth as children play with colored blocks lettered A B C for Apathy – Blindness – and Cop-out.

Then, when their blocks topple over, they rage in childish petulance and bang each other over the head with the offending chunks of wooden facts.

Do not bang me over the head with you’re A B C blocks colored with half-truths, you disciples of Thomas, the Doubter.  You will not break the Ram’s tough horns!

The Aquarian Age is here!  And its pulsating, powerful, unpredictable orb, mixing with the Sun rays of the roaring Lion, is ominous, if not heeded.  Locking the New Age in your scientific closets with boring, tiresome technicalities will not make it disappear.  Yes, the vibration of Aquarius is here, and much too close for comfort.

It burns my soul and sears my mind with unanswered questions.

Linda Goodman’s horoscope is on Astrodatabank.

From Gooberz, p. 184 to 185

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