xxiv Introduction Paris and Greenwich Observatories, were founded for these utilitarian purposes, which, rather than astrology, appealed to the rulers who founded them. Astrology was losing its presence at European courts and court astrologers had largely disap- peared. The late 17th century saw a major movement of astrological reform involv- ing Placidus in Italy, J. B. Morin in France, and John Gadbury and John Partridge in England. Reformers took different paths, either hoping to refound astrology on an empirical basis like Gadbury or to purify it by returning to Ptolemy like Placi- dus and Partridge, but in any case their efforts turned out to be in vain as the gap between astrology and science widened. Enlightenment Decline As Europe entered the 18th century, the idea of an age of reason in which vulgar and archaic superstition would be rejected in favor of a more “scientific” worldview took hold, and astrology like other branches of magic suffered as a result. Although many ordinary people continued to believe in astrology, most scientists, intellectu- als, and members of the social and political elite had ceased to take it seriously. Elements of astrology, such as the belief that the stars could influence the weather, persisted in the Enlightenment period, but astrology itself was in its decline, and there is no significant astrologer in Europe between the death of John Partridge and the rise of Ebenezer Sibly. The belief that astrology was superstition, unworthy of the educated, established in the Enlightenment would have a long history to the present. 19th- and 20th-Century Revival The 19th century saw a major revival of Western astrology, beginning in England. The work of Ebenezer Sibly was followed by the establishment of almanacs by “Raphael” and “Zadkiel” that brought astrology back into the public eye. But what really transformed astrology was the occult revival of the mid-19th century and particularly the founding of the Theosophical Society, an occult group founded in 1875 that attracted numerous astrologers. Their astrology was now integrated into an occult system focused on personal spiritual development. The- osophy not only revived Western astrology but contributed to the revival of Indian astrology. A Theosophically influenced English astrologer, Alan Leo, transformed astrology by providing cheap character analyses based on the sun sign. In the 20th century, sun sign astrology, in the form of the newspaper horoscope column, would become by far the most widely circulated form of astrology. The revival of astrology in the 20th century also affected politics, from the inner circles of the Third Reich, to newly independent nations raising their flags at an astrologically chosen moment, to the astrological advisers of President Ronald Reagan. The 20th century was also marked by an increased participation of women in astrology, which up until that point had been a heavily male profession. The increasing prominence of women astrologers such as Evangeline Adams in Amer- ica and Elisabeth Ebertin in Germany accompanied the rise of women as a target market for astrology. Hollywood women were a crucial constituency in the rise of such popular American male astrologers as Carroll Righter and Sydney Omarr.
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