the-astrology-book

Contemporary Academic Study of Astrology
Roman civilizations. What he has produced is a pan-cultural decipherment of historical
traditions and ancient astronomical understandings. A more contemporary contribution
along similar lines is Bernadette Brady’s 1998 Book of Fixed Stars.
For a sociological rather than historical investigation of astrology, a leading
contemporary effort is represented in the research being undertaken by Bath Spa University
College’s Nicholas Campion under the auspices of its Department for the
Study of Religions. In his investigation into prophecy, cosmology, and the New Age
movement, Campion is implicitly questioning whether astrology is a belief or belief
system. More specifically, he wishes to determine whether astrology is a New Age
belief and as such whether it is incompatible with more orthodox religious belief—
namely, with mainstream Christianity. The overall import of Campion’s exploration
into conviction concerns the religious aspects of astrology. He is here less interested in
the nature of astrology per se but rather in the external and internal perceptions of
whether it is a religion.
Consequently, Campion identifies his central concern as belief. He considers
faith itself to be the overarching problem that unites both the extent and nature of
belief in astrology, and he argues that contemporary astrological belief is typically presented
as a problematic historical issue: in historical terms, how could anyone believe
in such superstition in an age of reason Campion recognizes, accordingly, that trust in
astrology threatens both scientific skeptics and religious evangelicals.
Part of Campion’s study is indeed historical. In developing an understanding of
the nature of astrology, he must examine its historical relationship with religion—
including the origins of Christianity and astrology’s conflict and accommodation with
it. Campion traces contemporary astrology from the 1890s, and he is particularly concerned
with the development of its esoteric and psychological schools of thought. His
exploration further extends into examining the reasons given for astrological belief in
religious, sociological, psychological, and scientific literature. However, his focus on
New Age spirituality must address whether astrology is itself to be considered a New
Age discipline. He traces the origin of the concept of the Age of Aquarius to the 19th
century and argues that this construct motivated the spiritual and psychological
approaches to the discipline held by such “astrological reformers” as Alan Leo, Alice
Bailey, Marc Edmund Jones and Dane Rudhyar.
This historical perspective, however, extends as well into the development of
newspaper and magazine astrological columns—including the development and history
of popular astrology prior to 1930 in almanacs and birthday books. With the development
of sun-sign astrology by Alan Leo—culminating in the horoscope column of
popular post-1930 astrology—Campion is above all interested in the vernacular
vocabulary that has developed as part of this process. In this light he must determine
the extent of readership, the role of horoscope columns in the media, and astrologers’
attitudes toward these columns. In determining the structure and nature of the horoscope
column, Campion confronts the sociological question of their function, precisely,
“do they offer hope”
Methodologically, Campion is following a two-pronged approach. He wants to
determine the attitudes of astrologers to astrology as well as public attitudes to and
THE ASTROLOGY BOOK
[175]