I was searching for something online and got way-laid when I stumbled across Chronicling America, which is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress. Just out of curiosity I searched the word “astrology” from 1756 – 1973, and found 74430 results.” I’ve included three articles here: “Mystery and Romance of the Zodiac” from 1916, “Astrology as Old as the World,” from 1934, and “Why Churchill had an Astrologer” from 1959. I’ve also included links to others.
If you think newspaper astrology was only Sun Sign columns, you’d be wrong. I hope you’ll be as fascinated with these historical newspaper articles related to astrology as I was.
Mystery and Romance of the Zodiac
The Row of Starry Animals in the Sky Is One of the Most Ancient Inventions of Man’s Imagination & The Moon Had Her Own Zodiac Once
(Published in the El Paso Herald. (El Paso, Tex.), on April 22, 1916)
“Kindly explain the Zodiac. Is astrology older than astronomy? How did the ancient people calculate the months? It seems to me that the moon is the truest to the months and the sun to the days and years. Mrs. B. G.
The Zodiac is an Imaginary band, belt, encircling the heavens, marked out to eye by a series of twelve constellations, and having the ecliptic or annual path of the sun for its central line. The Zodiac is usually said to have a breadth of 16 degrees, eight on each side of the ecliptic, and the paths of the moon, and the sun and all the principal planets lie within its borders.
Many of its constellations, however, overlap the Zodiac one side, or on both sides, its precise time and place of origin not known, but it is believed to have been invented by the stargazers of the Euphrates valley several thousand years before Christ.
In the beginning there is some reason for thinking there were only six divisions of the Zodiac: afterward they were increased to 11, and finally to 12. These original divisions were called Signs, and when the system had settled into complete form the Signs were named in their order, beginning at the Vernal Equinox, the place where the sun crosses the Equator when coming northward in the spring), and running eastward around the sky: Aires (the Ram) Taurus (the Bull), Gemini (the Twins) Cancer (the Crab), Leo (the Lion), Virgo (the Virgin). Libra (the Balance), Scorpio (the Scorpion), Sagittarius (the Archer). Capricornus (the Goat), Aquarius (the Water Bearer) and Pisces (the Fishes).
With one exception these all represent animals, whence the name Zodiac, from the Greek word Zoon, meaning animal. About 2000 years ago the constellations of the Zodiac, which bear the same names as the Signs and run in the same order, coincided in position with the Signs: but now in consequence of the gradual shifting backward of the equinoctial points owing to the Precession of the Equinoxes, the Signs, which retain their original relation to the Vernal Equinox as a starting point, have retreated each into the constellation next west of it, so that the Sign Aries is now found in the constellation Pisces, and so on around the entire circle.
Or, looking at it from another point we may say that the zodiacal animals have escaped from their cages and are marching in a majestic procession eastward through the open doors of the great circle of the celestial menagerie.
Each of the 12 Signs is 30 degrees in length, so that combined they make a complete circuit of 360 degrees. But the constellations, as now represented on our charts, are of unequal length.
There was once another, similar belt in the sky, called the Lunar Zodiac, which indicated the monthly course of the moon around the earth, and was divided into 27 or 28 Lunar Mansions or Lunar Stations, in each of which the moon was represented as dwelling during one day of the month.
The Lunar Zodiac has not been retained by astronomers, but it still possesses, I think, some mystical significance in the minds of astrologers. It is probable that the Lunar Mansions are older, historically, than the Signs of the Zodiac. Astrology was before astronomy, just as the imagination always precedes science, and generally leads the way to it.
The imagination is the most glorious of man’s gifts, but if he undertakes to live upon it, he finds it as indigestible as a dish of diamonds. Plain science is the bread of the mind. The ancients calculated the months by the revolution of the moon. Going around the earth and the sky in a period of about four weeks, the moon formed a very natural and convenient measure of time in primitive days; but it has long been abandoned as a basis for reckoning the elements of the calendar, because both the days and the seasons depend upon the sun and not upon the moon.
Still for many purposes the moon serves as a celestial clock-hand, particularly among savage peoples, and ecclesiastical periods in civilized lands. In the government of Easter, for instance, she leads the calendars a merry dance, and through the modern “music of the spheres” she wanders like a lost note
There are several kinds of months. There is the sidereal month, during which the moon passes through the 12 Signs of the Zodiac, and whose average length Is 27.32165 days. Then there is the synodic month, 29.6306 days. In average length, in the course of which the moon runs through a complete series of phases, from New through Full and round to New again.
In an anomalistic month of 27.5546 days the moon passes from one perigee to the next that is, from one period of nearest approach to the earth to another; and this is variable in length because the perigee is not fixed, but squirms around together with the moon’s uneasy orbit about the earth.
Then there is the nodal month, useful when calculating eclipses, and having the average length of 27.21222 days. In fact, the moon makes a very “sweet regent in the skies” full of mystery, liberation, and fascination: but the sun possesses a masculine steadiness that qualifies him to be a more satisfactory guide.
ASTROLOGY OLD AS THE WORLD
Claim Made That It Can Be Traced to Adam.
(Published in Montana’s The Ronan Pioneer, Thursday, March 29, 1934 – First published in the Chicago Tribune)
The beginning of astrology occurred a long time ago—so long ago that it was before recorded history. Every period of man’s existence on the planet in his present form included knowledge of planetary influences. The historian Josephus, who lived in the first century, tells us astrology was known and used by a former race that lived on the earth before the flood, stating that “they received their information concerning the zodiac and planets from Adam, who in turn was taught by God Himself.
Josephus also said the flood had been foreseen by Seth, who engraved his prediction on tow pillars of stone. The historian added that he himself had seen the remains of those pillars. He further stated that Noah used and taught the science of astrology, and, with Enos preserved it to the days of Abraham.
Abraham, we learn from other sources (chiefly the works of Bishop Eusebius, one of the most learned and just men of the Fourth Century) was a great adept, or even a master of Chaldean astrology.
The astrology of the Chaldeans was of a secret nature, concealed by everything along the gamut from reverse symbols to an unfathomable code known as “The Priests’ Alphabet,” in which true meanings were recorded, abbreviated, and mixed up. Years of study were required merely to learn this alphabet, we are told, and then the candidate who could at last read the words had practically to learn another language to find out what they meant.
It was unfortunate that such was the case, according to deeper students of this subject today, for many of the great keys to the true understanding of life and the higher laws of nature perished with their possessors. We may have books they left, but we are largely in the dark as to their real message. Moses was known to be a master of astrological wisdom and its application. Pearce, a leading astrologer of the Nineteenth century, says Moses was taught by the Chaldean Magi, who were the instructors of the great Egyptian priesthood. For this reason, it is believed by students, the first five books of the Bible, accredited Moses, might well be part of the mysterious and marvelous literature.
The Romans did all they could to ruin real astrology, for they used it as a divinatory art almost exclusively, pretending to tell fortunes of kings and in other ways using its terms and symbols for personal and political promotion. It is the distortion of astrology which occurred under Nero, Domitian and other emperors that our present day objectors rightfully discredit.
Fortunately, the knowledge we have of planetary influences and their mode of action in the human realm will enable us to reconstruct mast, if not all, of the lost wisdom.
Those who have been powerful links in the chain of knowledge that reaches up to us form from that great civilization under that civilization under the Chaldeans and Egyptians, now slowly being rebuilt for our modern minds, are the scientific leaders of history. The world if forever in debt to Pythagoras, to Plato, to Newton, to Kepler, to Napler, and to a host of other men of vision and penetration, all of whom have spoken definitely for astrology.
Why Churchill had an astrologer
It was to help him figure out what Hitler was thinking! Here’s a long-secret war story
(Published in the Washington D.C. Evening Star – November 01, 1959)
At the very height of the war, when the Allied effort was at its peak, strange rumors started to circulate among official circles here. “Is it true,” asked a distinguished general, “that a new special department has just been created in the War Office and that an astrologer is running it?” “That’s the best one yet,” snorted Churchill’s old enemy, Aneurin Bevan. “The old boy must be going crazy!”
“The use of an astrologer in war councils “ , commented a member of Parliament, “may be a harmless lunacy, but I regard it as a serious threat.”
The strange tale quickly became a subject of heated controversy in clubs and drawing rooms. But running into a stone wall of silence from the War Office, it died out. Now, 15 years later, it turns out that this fantastic rumor was true!
“Astrological warfare”
During World War 11, for the first time in modern history, “astrological warfare” was waged. Churchill’s reasoning was quite simple. Hitler believed in astrology. British intelligence had established that the Fuehrer was being advised by no less than five astrologers and that he seldom made any military decisions without consulting them. It would help the Allies to know what Hitler was being told every day. Unorthodox procedure? “Why not try it?” said Churchill. “It could be fun.”
Today the whole fascinating and somewhat comic story can be told. Louis de Wohl, a 40-year-old Hungarian astrologer, had arrived in Britain from Berlin five years before the outbreak of war.
Son of a cavalry officer, a devout Roman Catholic and author of several books on religious subjects, he had become interested in astrology some years before the war. “It just appealed to my common sense,” he says now in explanation. For years de Wohl had amused himself by drawing up horoscopes of Hitler, Mussolini, and other prominent people in the news. His horoscope of Hiler, drawn in 1931, before Hitler actually came to power, turned out, whether by luck or skill, to be amazingly accurate, it gained him respect in the super exclusive international astrology circles.
Shortly before the outbreak of war, at a dinner party in the Spanish Embassy, in London, de Wohl found himself seated next to Lord Halifax, Britain’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs
“Tell him about Hitler’s horoscope,” said his host,”
Halifax was amused. “If war does break out about the time you predict and if Hitler’s invasion of Poland is going to be as rapid as you have described – I may give you a job.” He remarked jokingly.
The war came just three days earlier than de Wohl had predicted and Poland was overrun in less than a month. In August, 1940, de Wohl, who had joined the British Army and had been to Dunkirk, was approached by an employee of the War Office.
“How would you like to work on a secret assignment?” he was asked. He was introduced to the heads of various service departments, given the rank of captain and a suite in the Grosvenor Hotel where his pay was delivered in cash – the War Office didn’t want his name on a pay roster.
What were they telling Hitler?
De Wohl went right to work. He knew personally all of the five advisers advising Hitler. He had worked for years with Hitler’s Chief Astrologer, William Krafft, and knew his formula. He was now able to tell precisely what kind of advice Krafft and his seers were supplying the Fuehrer.
De Wohl’s first memo to the War Office in early September 1940, stated that there would be no invasion of England by the Germans. He was certain Hitler’s astrologers were advising against it.
In the course of the next five years de Wohl was asked to report again and again on what he thought Hitler’s intentions might be. Often his information proved valuable. But de Wohl didn’t stop with the job he had been assigned. To the amazement and horror of the conservative British officials he insisted on drawing a horoscope for each of the more important officers in the Allied Headquarters in London.
“I felt like a fool,” one of the young officers assigned to help de Wohl told me. “Asking a famous admiral whether he remembered the exact hour of his birth. And de Wohl had to know the minutes and seconds.”
But de Wohl won some converts, because one day in summer 1942 a British officer brought him a small piece of paper. “Here are the exact-to-the-minute birth dates of two men,” he said. “I cannot divulge their names, but we would like you to tell us what is in store for these two this year.”
De Wohl sat down to trace the horoscopes of the two men. Both were born in November under the same sign, Scorpio, in different years, but within two days of each other. They had essentially the same characteristics, according to the language of the astrologers, and were influenced by the war planet – Mars. But the older of the two men, according to de Wohl’s calculations, was entering the peak of his chart. From now on he would climb steadily, while the younger man, equally talented and brave, was on a downhill slope. “The older of the two would triumph,” de Wohl said, in July 1842. “His chart is on the rise and success will follow him from now on.
Montgomery vs. Rommel
The older of the two men was Bernard Montgomery, a then comparatively unknown general in the British Army. The other was Field Marshal Rommel, the famous commander of Hitler’s Afrika Korps. Three months later, on October 23, 1942, Lt. General Bernard Montgomery attacked Rommel’s troops at El Alamein. It was the turning point in the desert war.
That wasn’t de Wohl’s only accurate prediction. In September, 1944, he told the War Office that “the constellations of the heavens are set for a navel event of great magnitude.” He reported favorably on General MacArthur’s horoscope for the period. The Battle for Leyte Gulf, the biggest naval action ever fought, occurred on October 22, 1944, and put an end to Japanese naval power.
In the subsequent months, de Wohl wrote many memoranda about the “negative aspects in Emperor Hirohito’s chart” and warned Churchill that he would “enter a difficult period after the war had been won.” (Churchill’s Conservative party lost out in July of 1945.)
It is difficult to imagine that the seer’s forecasts carried any real weight, or that they remotely influenced Britain’s conduct of war. His initial appointment was probably due to Churchill’s unpredictable impulses: “After all, why should Hitler have a monopoly on astrologers?” the mischievous Prime Minister is reported to have said one time. It is also possible that the imp in him relished the idea of subjecting some stuffy, high powered official to an astrologer’s scrutiny.
As the war ran its course, Louis de Wohl’s assignment came to an end. Unlike Hitler’s chief astrologer Krafft, who after being dismissed by the Fuhrer died in a concentration camp, Louis de Wohl was honorably discharged, resumed writing religious books, and today, a jolly, plump, cosmopolite, he divides his time among London, New York and Vienna.
Khrushchev’s star-gazer
Addiction to astrologers must be an attribute peculiar to Chiefs of State. The current “Bulletin of the American Federation of Astrologers” carries the sensational news that the Kremlin, too, has its official astrologer. His name is Yuri Yamakkin. He had previously served Stalin, but incurred Stalin’s displeasure in 1950 for failing to predict the American reaction to the outbreak of the Korean War. He was sent to the concentration camp of Vorkuta.
In 1952, after the death of Stalin, he was restored to favor by Bulganin and just a few months ago, at Khrushchev’s request, he was moved to an official suite in the Kremlin. There he studies the Red Star in the heavens – a one man GPU of the sky.
Other Historic Astrology Articles from Chronicling America
- “Astrology and Astrologers”
The Elk County Advocate (Ridgway, PA), June 5, 1879, Image 4, col. 4. - “Signs of the Zodiac”
The Middlebury Register and Addison County Journal (Middlebury, VT), July 4, 1884, Image 6, col. 4. - “Points on Astrology: A So Called Science That is Older Than History”
The Evening Bulletin (Maysville, KY) , March 6, 1890, Image 1, col. 2-3. - “Modest Women Deeply Engaged in Studying Stars”
The Salt Lake Herald (Salt Lake City, UT) , December 30, 1894, Page 20, Image 20, col. 3-6. - “There is a Fad for Casting Horoscopes”
The Washington Times (Washington, DC), January 2, 1895, Image 3, col. 3-4. - “Astrology Now the Fad: Society is Taking to Reading Stars Instead of Palms”
The Anaconda Standard (Anaconda, MT), February 6, 1898, Morning, Page 10, Image 10, col. 3-4. - “How to Tell Fortunes–The Astrologer’s Way”
The Evening World (New York, NY), October 26, 1903, Night Edition, Image 11, col. 3-6. - “Astrology More Popular”
The Sun (New York, NY), April 25, 1909, Second Section, Page 7, Image 21, col. 1-7. - “Astrology: What it is, What it will do”
Aberdeen Herald (Aberdeen, WA), June 28, 1909, Page 2, Image 2, col. 3-4. - “The Star of Bethlehem Coming Back?”
The Times Dispatch (Richmond, VA) , October 18, 1914, Image 48, col. 1-3. - “White House Baby to be World President”
The Ogden Standard (Ogden City, UT), March 13, 1915, 4 P.M. City Edition, Image 9, col. 1-7. - “The Best Known ‘Astrologers’ and ‘Prophets’ of Europe Predict”
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, VA), December 26, 1915, Image 41, col. 1-5. - “Mars Will Sway World Until 1944, Astrologist Reveals”
The Washington Times (Washington, DC), December 11, 1921, Sunday Morning, Page 6, Image 26, col. 1-5.