Category Archives: astrology history

1918 Flu vs. COVID-19

As COVID-19 spreads, many are recalling the influenza pandemic of 1918. With the largest population in the U.S. (5 million), New York City was the worst hit. 33,000 died over a year, a third of all cases in the country. The City’s response was very different than for the 2020 Coronavirus restrictions, as the astrology shows.

When the flu first struck in the spring, it wasn’t serious. But New York was the arrival port for troops returning from Europe in World War I, and that fall influenza became a serious health concern. Young, healthy people were falling ill and dying.

The City’s health system, recently galvanized to combat tuberculosis, advised the public to avoid spitting and to use handkerchiefs – reminiscent of some of the hygiene suggestions we’re receiving a century later. The Health Commissioner ordered staggered work hours to lessen rush-hour crowding. 150 emergency health centers were put to work. But businesses, theaters and schools remained open to avoid panic. Teachers and school personnel were expected to assess children for symptoms and educate them. These measures seem to have worked as the death rate was much lower than in other large cities (about half a percent).

New York City has a dynamic horoscope, with Jupiter rising in Libra: it’s well-known for its focus on business, publishing and the arts. The Sun conjoining the 4th house in Capricorn reminds us that many make their homes here, too, and the T-square with Jupiter in Libra and the Midheaven in Cancer creates a lively, active place. Four planets in Sagittarius put the emphasis on communications and the value of its ports and many immigrants. Venus and Jupiter are in mutual reception and dispose of all the other planets, making New York a rather large and successful city.

As the flu arrived in the spring of 1918, a total Solar Eclipse activated the City’s Neptune conjunct Pluto in air-sign Gemini, and transiting Jupiter conjoined first Pluto, then Neptune in the 9th – allowing for a wide spread of a deadly pathogen by air. In September, when the flu became more dangerous, the progressed Moon in late Capricorn conjoined progressed Venus and the North Node, and squared the progressed Ascendant in Libra. Transiting Jupiter in Cancer conjoined the MC as it stationed on the City’s natal T-square, squaring 1st house Jupiter and opposing Saturn. As is so often the case, the emphasis on angularity made for more significant events.

While the cardinal signs and angular houses are again emphasized, the 2020 Coronavirus scenario is quite different. The authorities’ recommendation to shelter at home and avoid unnecessary travel are clearly shown by the transiting combination of Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn in NYC’s 4th house. With so much Capricorn, there is a more serious, organized and controlled response.

Transiting Saturn conjoined the City’s North Node in the 4th in mid-February, perhaps the time when the infection originally arrived. When the first cases were reported in NY in March, transiting Jupiter in Capricorn conjoined natal Mercury (ruler of the 9th and 12th) in the 4th house. The progressed Ascendant at about 19 Capricorn conjoined the progressed North Node at 20 Capricorn (right on the January Lunar Eclipse at 20 Cancer), further adding to the emphasis on Capricorn and the North Node that we also saw in 1918. But as Mars, Saturn and Pluto have now moved away from these degrees, hopefully the imposed restrictions will help alleviate the contagion.

Evangeline Adams on NPR Podcast

I’m delighted that my biography of Evangeline Adams is featured on NPR’s Throughline podcast. They did a beautiful job of dramatizing her story!

Hosts Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei along with producer Lawrence Wu all did terrific research and learned about astrology before they interviewed me. As objective historians, they covered Evangeline’s story and then moved to the Reagans and astrology in the White House. The result is a beautifully-produced podcast with solid historical information on astrology in the U.S.

Here’s the link to Throughline’s “The Stars” podcast.

Check out my Evangeline Adams biography, Foreseeing the Future.

Mountain Astrologer Review

The Mountain Astrologer reviews my astro-bio, Foreseeing the Future: Evangeline Adams and Astrology in America in their February-March 2020 issue. Judi Vitale writes:

“This biography of one of the 20th-century America’s best-known astrologers never strays far from thoughts of the planets and stars, but Foreseeing the Future does take the reader on a gratifying vacation away from the workaday grind of heavyweight astrology theory and technique. Karen Christino’s tenacious research and passionate reporting give us a tantalizing view of virtually every aspect of Evangeline Adams’ extraordinary life.”

More on Foreseeing the Future here

Robert Zoller

Robert Zoller was an unforgettable character. Despite his focus on Medieval astrology, I always thought of him as a Renaissance man. He liked to call himself a “rogue scholar,” but was also a linguist, dowser, sketch artist and high-wire telephone electrician, as well as a man of extremes. Mild-mannered and modest, he could also be rather opinionated and even imperious (he claimed descent from Irish royalty). Outwardly a regular guy with a light New York accent, his work could be overly intellectual (consider a lecture entitled, “The Role of Hermes as Teacher, Initiator, Heirophant and Psychopomp”). A predictive astrologer, he probably leaned closer to the Fate side of the spectrum than many, yet as an adult he became a Lutheran (a Christian faith with an ideology based on Free Will).

Bob was a footloose vagabond who loved travel and could casually converse in Spanish with NYC waiters. A compelling speaker, his fame in the 1990s followed his translations of Hermes Trismegistus, Al Kindi and Guido Bonatti, and he sometimes lectured to standing-room-only crowds. He may be best remembered for his World Trade Center attack forecast, and while not hitting all the specifics (who could?), it was published in advance and sent to his subscription list in 1999 and 2000.

With no earth in his horoscope, Zoller was not very concerned about the material plane (something he probably thought an “infinite regress”). He lived simply and delved deeply into magic, meditation and spirituality. He argued that “Spirituality is a Saturn trip,” as he considered it involved more renunciation than Jupiterian expansion. He believed in angels and other beings not because the Bible told him so, but because he had experienced them first-hand.

While I had little use for the laborious Medieval astrological calculations he was attached to, I visited the Masonic Library in New York at his request, and accompanied him to W.D. Gann’s grave in Brooklyn (which I’m convinced he psychically found as we had little in the way of a map for guidance). He gave me the opportunity to turn the parchment pages of a 15th century Latin manuscript at the New York Public Library.

Bob’s outlook lay somewhere between radical libertarian and ultraconservative, but it would be wrong to categorize him. He shared subversive 1970s counter-culture classics. He didn’t vote as he felt that election results were pre-ordained. He’d calculate death dates on request from clients (to within 5 or 10 years), though he also felt that in astrological prediction, “If you’re getting 75%, you’re doing really well.” He scoffed at the ideas of evolution or alien UFOs. He suggested he was the reincarnation of Evangeline Adams, as they shared some similar horoscope placements and more than a passing physical resemblance. But as he relished both the profundity of life as well its absurdities, I was never certain whether or not he was joking.

With a consciousness always attuned to the cosmos, I trust that Bob Zoller is now off on another one of his audacious adventures.

Robert Zoller had a number of self-published books, though his one traditionally published title, the Arabic Parts in Astrology: A Lost Key to Prediction is still available at Amazon.com.

About my Amazon links.

Dell Horoscope Review

I was delighted to read Chris Lorenz’ review of my book about Evangeline Adams in the Dell Horoscope 2020 Yearbook!

He writes, “In this deeply researched and fascinating biography, readers can follow the evolution of astrology… as experienced and shaped by Evangeline Adams… Thank you, Karen Christino, for bringing us her story.”

Sorry to see this magazine leave us. It’s come full circle for me, as Horoscope was the first mainstream publication to publish my work.

More about the book here.

Planetary Powers

Patti Tobin Brittain’s book, Planetary Powers: The Morin Method takes the reader through the first steps in understanding how her teacher, Gerhard Houwing and his accomplished source, Jean-Baptiste Morin (1583–1656), may have interpreted a horoscope. As I have a background in this method myself, it was fascinating to see her approach.

This is a clear introductory text that focuses on what the author calls “cause and effect.” Brittain uses stripped-down charts with only a few key elements to show how the ruler of one house placed in another creates meaning. She provides numerous examples to familiarize the reader with these mechanics, almost like drills. They are often illuminating, but it can be unclear whether the examples represent real people or theory.

Another important concept is “analogy.” The Sun has an affinity for the 10th house, and Venus for the 7th, for example. These will vary by sign, ruler, house or aspect and are also clearly illustrated. This is another concept that I had personally absorbed but never reviewed in such detail.

The planets’ essential nature (their basic meanings and whether malefic or benefic) are significant, as is cosmic state (dignities and debilities). Morin used simplified triplicity rulers (different than those in Ptolemy or William Lilly).

Students interested in Morin’s methods should find this book a good, accessible starting point. Houwing emphasized “the concise, the specific, the concrete” and a “systematic approach to reading a chart.” These do reflect Morin’s traditional practices, which are very different from modern psychological astrology.

Houwing “felt it was worse to be unresolute than to be wrong” and Brittain admits this “may sound fatalistic.” I found it so myself when one of her “malefic” examples reflected components of my own chart! I personally strive to be accurate in a more general way than rigorously specific, as the latter can often be misleading, judgmental, or just plain wrong. Horoscopes, like human beings, are complex.

Some intriguing tidbits are mentioned but not addressed and are certainly beyond the scope of the book. But I would’ve liked to read more about what factors could indicate events in childhood, middle or late life, or what placements might show experiences that are fleeting vs. constant and ongoing, for example.

Patti Tobin Brittain died in March of 2019 at the age of 91. Born on 10/28/27 in Forney, Texas, she had the Sun, Moon, Mercury and Mars all in Scorpio in a grand trine with Jupiter in Pisces and Pluto. Her mentor Houwing was born on 10/27/23 – just a day and four years before Brittain, so we can understand their connection astrologically. They share the Sun and Venus in Scorpio and both appear to have been single-minded and incisive. Houwing’s Jupiter closely conjoins Brittain’s Mercury, and he passed along his knowledge and experience to her. But while the teacher had Mercury sextile Neptune, the student had a square between these planets, so something may have been lost in this rendition of Houwing and Morin’s work.

Taking apart a horoscope to understand its working parts may be valuable, but putting an emphasis on isolated elements makes for a somewhat linear and literal approach. Another book is needed to fill in the vast spaces between the simplified examples shown and an interpretation and synthesis of the full horoscopes presented at the end of the book. Nevertheless, Planetary Powers provides a valuable introduction to Morin’s methods.

Check out Planetary Powers (AFA, 2010) on Amazon.com
(About my Amazon links)

Brittain’s birth date is from her obituary.

Houwing’s birth date is from public records on Ancestry.com

Mundane Astrology

The comprehensive astrological textbook Mundane Astrology: an Introduction to the Astrology of Nations and Groups (1984) benefits from the contributions of three accomplished astrological authors – Michael Biagent, Nicholas Campion and Charles Harvey – who raised the level of astrological discourse with their contributions. While readers need a familiarity with basic astrology to understand this book, those interested in the subject, whatever their level of knowledge, will find much valuable information.

This is one of the excellent astrology books published by the U.K. based Aquarian Press in the 1980s. It begins with a concise history of western mundane astrology dating back to the Babylonians. Basic meanings of planets, houses and signs in mundane astrology are provided, along with information on various planetary cycles. Other topics include ingress charts, lunations, eclipses, Astrocartography, the astrology of cities and countries and much more. This book predates Biagent’s Astrology in Ancient Mesopotamia and Campion’s Book of World Horoscopes and The Great Year, and provides an introduction to those works. I had never read Charles Harvey before, and his discussion of planetary cycles is phenomenal, including many references to Andre Barbault’s work. He also addresses midpoints, giving us a better understanding of this topic, too. The work of Charles Carter and John Addey is also covered, and with numerous references to the works of others, the book serves as a resource for more.

A long section pulls the techniques together to analyze World War II, as many European astrologers failed to accurately forecast it (ironically, Americans Elizabeth Aldrich, Louise McWhirter and Evangeline Adams had all predicted U.S. involvement in a conflict years earlier).

While this is a long book, many chapters are inclusive in themselves. The Table of Contents and Index make it easy to find topics of interest.

And it’s time for a reprint! While the book is available second-hand, copies tend to be rather expensive. The charts are small and hand-written, and can be challenging to read. Planetary abbreviations at times also make for a less than fluent read (it took me a while to find the key and realize that SO stood for the Sun!). Notes and sources sometimes follow one chapter and other times are placed further along in the text. The use of a 90-degree dial around the outside of many of Harvey’s charts is not explained until the very end, and it would’ve been more helpful at the beginning. A tiny font detracts from the Index. (Perhaps the 1995 Thorson’s edition may have resolved some of these issues.)

But these are quibbles. Mundane Astrology is a classic of astrological writing, superbly researched and clearly written. The authors generously share their abundant knowledge, and anyone interested in this complex subject will profit from reading it.

Check out Mundane Astrology on Amazon.com

Astrology News Service Review!

I was thrilled to see Armand Diaz’ review of my book, Foreseeing the Future: Evangeline Adams and Astrology in America on Astrology News Service. He says,

“Adams was not only a good astrologer, as Karen Christino’s book clearly shows. She was a real maverick in many ways, including her fight to establish herself in business at a time when women rarely held positions of authority. She was also a master of self-promotion, and one gets the impression that Adams possessed the abilities of a great mystic in liberal combination with the spirit of P.T. Barnum.”

For more on the book and links to order, click here.

Louise McWhirter

Search the web and you’ll find plenty of information on financial astrologer Louise McWhirter, though all of it relates to her 1938 book, McWhirter Theory of Stock Market Forecasting. Her low profile has even led some to speculate she was only a pseudonym for W.D. Gann (a rather sexist theory proposed by a man). But yes, she did exist.

Wikipedia shares information from a family member’s posts on Ancestry.com. Martha Louise McWhirter was born in 1896 in New York City, and we can find additional family information in Census records. Her younger brother was born two years later. Her father, Robert, was from Texas and her mother was from France. By the time Louise was 14, she was living in Maryland, her father had remarried and he was now a gardener and shareholder in a cooperative farm, which must’ve been an unusual situation at that time.

Louise’s parents had divorced and her mother returned to New York, working as a department store clerk. She died when Louise was only 21 years old.

McWhirter married John Mitchell Henry soon after, and the couple settled in Bayonne, New Jersey. They eventually owned their home and had five children – making it obvious why Louise didn’t publish her book until her early 40s. John worked as an assistant engineer at an oil refinery and Louise was a stay-at-home mom. Apparently she used her middle and maiden names for her work for privacy. She had studied the astrology of financial markets for years and one would guess that she made some modest investments herself. Perhaps she did readings for clients.

Evangeline Adams and her teacher Catherine Thompson had used some financial forecasting techniques beginning in the late 1900s. The stock market crash of 1929 brought more interest in predicting the highs and lows of the market. Sepharial and L. Krohn had written a few books on the subject in the ‘teens, W.D. Gann was also writing by that time, and James Mars Langham and L.J. Jensen had published financial astrology texts in the early ‘30s. McWhirter says she originated the New York Stock Exchange chart, and Graham Bates credits her with rectifying it.

We don’t know exactly who Louise’s astrology teachers were. Her home was within commuting distance from Manhattan, where she might have taken classes with one of Evangeline’s former employees like Iris Vorel, Myra Kingsley, Nella Webb or Lynn Wells. Other New York astrologers at the time included Elizabeth Aldrich and Katherine Taylor Craig. Astrologer Juliet Pontin had a home in New Jersey and an office in the city.

McWhirter used the North Nodal cycle, transits and lunations to the NYSE and incorporation charts for long and shorter-term forecasting. She was a Libra with Jupiter in Virgo and her book is a clear and workable instruction manual on how she used astrology to forecast the ups and downs of the markets. As she said, “It is no longer necessary to be wiped out on the Stock Market. That is a sign of ignorance.”

I’ll share more about her book and forecasting methods in a later post.

McWhirter Theory of Stock Market Forecasting is on Amazon.