Astrology in European Religious History

Even in today’s daily horoscopes in magazines and newspapers, we can still see traces – albeit only faint ones – of astrology’s almost 4000-year history: An all-encompassing worldview that depicts humans and the cosmos as tightly linked. The movement of celestial bodies, their ascents and descents, and their alignments in the sky during a solar eclipse are interpreted as an expression of a divine guiding hand that lends meaning and orientation to humans’ lives. This link between the cosmos and humans – ‘above’ and ‘below’ – forms the foundation from which astrologers of all ages have striven to glean knowledge about humans and society. It has survived to the present day with a language that since its Mesopotamian beginnings has been as symbolic as it is vivid. Yet the worldviews that supported astrology have shifted: Celestial deities became celestial intelligences (Aristotle), these celestial angels (Aquinas) then morphed into ‘living forces’ (virtutes animales) that reside in celestial bodies (Kepler), and finally into ‘archetypes’ as psychic forces (Jung). From its beginnings to the present day, astrology and its worldview have taken various guises without ever losing sight of its principal concern – assigning human action a meaningful place in the cosmos.

This cultural and religious study is an analysis of astrology as part of European tradition. It is not intended as a new ‘History of Astrology’ from its beginnings in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt to the present day, but as a way of comprehending the various philosophical foundations on which astrology has been based throughout its history. As it is not possible to include every stage in astrology’s history, prominent periods will be selected to showcase astrology’s respective foundations in how they took shape in their different religious and cultural contexts. On the one hand, this approach assumes a core inventory of continuity that makes it possible to use the term ‘astrology’ in a general, overarching way to encompass an array of teachings and practices that correlate humans and the cosmos.

On the other hand, it is assumed that this history of astrology will also present discontinuities which, as worldviews changed, constantly provided new astrological teachings for shifting conceptions of religion, nature and society. Nevertheless, key components of one collective ‘astrology’ are retained throughout the ages and its many transformations. In terms of religious history, this study aims to comprehend these features of continuity as types of astrology and their cultural backgrounds shifted. Priority is therefore given to the most important turning points in astrology’s history with their respective theoretical and practical foundations.

The key to a historical understanding of the European astrological tradition lies in Mesopotamia. It was here that the unity of the cosmos and humans as well as the cosmos and nature was first fundamentally recognised, systematised, and put into practice on the basis of precise astronomical calculations. This Mesopotamian basis, often referred to as omen astrology in present-day Oriental studies,¹ reached its full theoretical and practical expression in the Hellenistic period in Ancient Greece. If the origins of European astrological tradition lie outside Europe, in Mesopotamia (and to a certain extent in Ancient Egypt), the European tradition being discussed here is made more open and relative. Strictly speaking, it would be more appropriate to discuss an Oriental-European tradition that also comprises elements of Ancient Egyptian astrological teaching. Academics generally concur that Mesopotamian calculation techniques and divinatory interpretation of the planets and the signs of the zodiac were the direct basis for Greek – and therefore European – astronomy and astrology from the sixth century BCE onwards. This is laid out, or at the very least assumed, in all standard works on the history of astronomy and astrology. Starting from its arrival in Greece, however, it is possible to trace specific European forms of astrological teachings from the Hellenistic period and the Latin tradition, so this will be referred to as a European tradition.

A second key turning point is the contemplation and application of astrology in the early-modern period as part of a gradual shift away from the geocentric model. On the one hand, astrology’s foundations up to that point were updated, while on the other, they assumed new foundations and fresh momentum thanks to the protagonists of the new worldview. This update to astrology that accompanied the switch from the geocentric to the heliocentric model was followed by the third historical period to be studied – from the nineteenth century to the present day. This period is particularly interesting, less as part of a new popular sense of religion and spiritualism, and much more (albeit appreciated much less in both scientific and public debates) as the subject of discourse on the theory of science, philosophy, and psychology. Not only did – and do – researchers on religion take an active part in this discourse, but also – as will become clear in the course of this study – renowned philosophers, psychologists and social scientists. Such discourse puts astrology into the context of contemporary religious culture, not least because the topic of astrology helps understand modern, individualised religious trends.

The study of religions is traditionally divided into two main directions – the history of religions and the classification of religions. This study focuses on classification, contemplating the different forms of astrology as embedded in their respective cultural contexts and uncovering their essential structures. Early Mesopotamian cultures, the early-modern period, and the modern period in Europe all have their own religious, philosophical, epistemological and practical explanatory model, each lending its own different framework to the relationship between the cosmos and humans assumed in astrology. However, it remains possible to trace a consistent basic structure across different cultural contexts; one that lends an unmistakable continuity to different astrological teachings and practices.

Astrology’s significance as part of the religious and cultural history of the ancient world is also widely recognised and for the most part has also been thoroughly investigated in the historical disciplines that deal with Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages in Europe, and the Renaissance. The same is not true of the modern period. This may owe to the fact that, since the shift away from the geocentric model, astrology has lost all serious underlying rationale, making it appear unsuitable as a research topic. Scientific publications therefore often associate astrology with a diffuse way of interpreting the world, usually under the umbrella of ‘parasciences’ and ‘pseudosciences’ or ‘pseudoreligions’ (Wunder 1997, 125f; Zinser 2006, 1792). A key focus of this study is to establish why and in what way astrology remains a plausible and self-consistent system for interpreting the world, one which belongs to the field of discourse comprising modern religiousness and that can exist alongside any other religious interpretation system with its own foundational arguments.

However, one limitation does need to be made: As set out previously, the European astrological tradition began outside Europe, in Mesopotamia. This applies to both the calculation methods and the key elements of a specifically astrological perception of the relationship between the cosmos and humans and between the cosmos and nature, which also includes identifying the cosmos as inhabited and animated by gods and godlike forces. Along with the westward direction that Mesopotamian astronomy and astrology took, it also underwent an eastward expansion into Asian cultures, particularly India and China. This history of astrological teachings’ expansion and reception would require a separate analysis and is not to be taken into account in this study. The aim of this study is to represent astrology as part of European religious history and its significance in modern religiousness in European and European-influenced societies.

a) Astrology in the Present Day

First, it is important to point to some noteworthy developments and events that emphasise astrology’s topicality in modern-day religious culture in European societies. It is crucial to establish that astrology is not only accepted as a marginal societal phenomenon – it reaches far into the heart of society, just as with other esoteric disciplines. Modern astrology certainly lost the significance and the power to shape society that it had in the Greek and Roman or early-modern period long ago, but in the present day it remains a factor that is not to be overlooked and that assumes a greater unseen significance than commonly assumed in a society that considers itself enlightened and rational, including at society’s turning points and in its decision-making processes.

Astrology’s permanent presence in magazines and television shows has made astrology widely popular in recent decades. It is not always easy to account for its position within modern religiousness because the relationship between the cosmos and humans remains unexplained and often raises associations with misunderstood sciences. This impression changes when reading specialised magazines on astrology that consider themselves academic journals and consciously showcase ancient worldviews, hermetical philosophy, early-modern esotericism, modern theosophy and analytical psychology as its traditions. In the German-speaking world, these are principally ‘ASTROLOGIE HEUTE’ (‘ASTROLOGY TODAY’), which calls itself a ‘Journal of Astrology, Psychology and Esotericism’ (Weiss 1984–), and ‘Meridian – Fachzeitschrift für Astrologie’ (‘Meridian – Academic Journal for Astrology’, Jehle 1991–). Even if the religious context appears somewhat fragmented here, it is unmistakably present. The psychology and esotericism represented here place themselves in the tradition of Carl Jung and theosophical teachings; horoscope analyses are frequently referred to as ‘karmic horoscope analyses’. This astrology oriented towards esotericism and depth psychology states its aims as ‘self-knowledge’ and ‘release from determinism’. A considerable proportion is devoted to current issues in politics, economy and science, however, which are interpreted esoterically and astrologically.

It may come as a surprise, but astrological interpretations of ‘mundane’ – political and economic – events are not solely the preserve of professional astrological circles; astrology was and is used in the world of politics too. Its presence in politics in the course of the twentieth century is not unknown. There is comprehensive and extensively researched literature on the study of astrology among leading Nazis, including Adolf Hitler himself, as detailed by British historian Ellic Howe in his comprehensive analysis titled Urania’s Children: The Strange World of the Astrologers (Howe 1995).

For obvious reasons, it is difficult to ascertain the extent to which astrological analyses are consulted in making important political and geopolitical decisions. Astrology remains the hallmark of an unenlightened view of the world: sources are hard to find, and information is sparse and often only comes in the form of revelations. But the fact that, even in Western countries, astrology has increasingly found its way (back) across the political spectrum – increasingly so in the second half of the twentieth century – cannot be overlooked. French president François Mitterrand and Spain’s King Juan Carlos I both called on French astrologer Elisabeth Teissier to advise them on many important political discussions, including during operations in the Gulf War (1990–91) and when setting the date for the Maastricht Treaty in 1991 (Teissier 1997, 25 and 81). Likewise, American astrologer Joan Quigley liaised with Nancy Reagan to exert considerable influence on important political decisions made by former US president Ronald Reagan during his time in office. The rapprochement with the Soviet Union and the disarmament talks with Mikhail Gorbachev, for example, took place based on astrological advice. Not only has this been recorded in detail by the astrologer herself in her book What Does Joan Say? My Seven Years as White House Astrologer to Nancy and Ronald Reagan (Quigley 1990, 122ff), but also in no less detail and at a critical distance by the former US Treasury Secretary and White House Chief of Staff, Donald Regan. In his memoirs on his time as Chief of Staff between 1985 and 1987, Regan writes that all important political and personal decisions only took place in consultation with Quigley (Regan 1988; Seaman 1988). As Chief of Staff, Regan was repeatedly confronted with situations in which his advice was not followed because Joan Quigley’s astrological advice contradicted it. During the Iran–Contra affair, Regan advised the president to go public in order to defend his position more aggressively. The president understood but acted differently. Donald Regan writes the following on the matter:

Prior to Donald Regan’s appointment, Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver had been tasked with including the horoscopes Joan Quigley delivered in the president’s appointment calendar and categorising days as ‘good’ and ‘bad’. This applied to all public and private appointments, particularly where the president’s health was concerned (Regan 1988, 28, 68ff, 289).

However, astrological advice is also widespread at the lower levels of local politics. In October 2008, prominent Norwegian politician Saera Khan tripped up on astrological advice – which she first denied and later admitted – regarding her political work and which she had paid for with official expenses while a member of Oslo’s city council between 1999 and 2005. By this time, Khan had become a member of Norway’s national parliament, but stepped down from her seat at the next elections following the scandal (Wolff 2008). It is telling that, in all of the above cases, the politicians involved attempted to keep this practice from the public, which would suggest that the actual extent of astrological advice in politics is significantly greater.