Editing Astrology (section)

=== Enlightenment period and onwards ===

[[File:Seven spiritualists 1906.jpg|thumb|[[Middle-class]] Chicago women discuss spiritualism (1906).]]

During [[the Enlightenment]], intellectual sympathy for astrology fell away, leaving only a popular following supported by cheap almanacs.<ref name="Porter-2001">{{cite book | title=Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World | publisher=Penguin | last=Porter|first= Roy|author-link=Roy Porter | year=2001 | pages=151–152 | isbn=978-0-14-025028-2 | quote=he did not even trouble readers with formal disproofs!}}</ref><ref name="Rutkin-2006">{{cite book|last= Rutkin|first= H. Darell|year= 2006|chapter= Astrology|editor1= K. Park|editor2= L. Daston|title= Early Modern Science|series= The Cambridge History of Science|volume= 3|pages= 541–561|publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]]|chapter-url= https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-science/astrology/17E3D5BB41AE55616C6B9AB7949FE0F1|isbn= 0-521-57244-4|quote= As is well known, astrology finally disappeared from the domain of legitimate natural knowledge during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, although the precise contours of this story remain obscure.|access-date= 6 June 2022|archive-date= 22 December 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221222192125/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-science/astrology/17E3D5BB41AE55616C6B9AB7949FE0F1|url-status= live}}</ref> One English almanac compiler, Richard Saunders, followed the spirit of the age by printing a derisive ''Discourse on the Invalidity of Astrology'', while in France [[Pierre Bayle|Pierre Bayle's]] ''Dictionnaire'' of 1697 stated that the subject was puerile.<ref name="Porter-2001"/> The [[Anglo-Irish]] [[satire|satirist]] [[Jonathan Swift]] ridiculed the [[Whiggism|Whig]] political astrologer [[John Partridge (astrologer)|John Partridge]].<ref name="Porter-2001"/>

In the second half of the 17th century, the [[Society of Astrologers]] (1647–1684), a trade, educational, and social organization, sought to unite London's often fractious astrologers in the task of revitalizing astrology. Following the template of the popular "Feasts of Mathematicians" they endeavored to defend their art in the face of growing religious criticism. The Society hosted banquets, exchanged "instruments and manuscripts", proposed research projects, and funded the publication of sermons that depicted astrology as a legitimate biblical pursuit for Christians. They commissioned sermons that argued Astrology was divine, Hebraic, and scripturally supported by Bible passages about the [[Biblical Magi|Magi]] and the sons of [[Seth]]. According to historian Michelle Pfeffer, "The society's public relations campaign ultimately failed." Modern historians have mostly neglected the Society of Astrologers in favor of the still extant [[Royal Society]] (1660), even though both organizations initially had some of the same members.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pfeffer |first=Michelle |title=The Society of Astrologers (c.1647–1684): sermons, feasts and the resuscitation of astrology in seventeenth-century London |journal=The British Journal for the History of Science |date=2021 |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=133–153 |doi=10.1017/S0007087421000029 |pmid=33719982 |s2cid=232232073 |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:630ab701-eb53-4efc-b1f3-05146f9e8957 |access-date=2 January 2023 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326031907/https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:630ab701-eb53-4efc-b1f3-05146f9e8957 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Astrology saw a popular revival starting in the 19th century, as part of a general revival of [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]] and—later, [[New Age]] philosophy,{{sfn|Campion|2009|pp=239–249}} and through the influence of mass media such as newspaper horoscopes.{{sfn|Campion|2009|pp=259–263}} Early in the 20th century the psychiatrist [[Carl Jung]] developed some concepts concerning astrology,<ref>{{cite book | author=Jung, C.G. | title=C.G. Jung Letters: 1906–1950. | publisher=Princeton University Press | location=Princeton, NJ | isbn=978-0-691-09895-1 | author2=Hull | editor-first=Gerhard | editor-last=Adler | others=in collaboration with Aniela Jaffé; translations from the German by R.F.C. | year=1973 | quote=Letter from Jung to Freud, 12 June 1911 "I made horoscopic calculations in order to find a clue to the core of psychological truth." | url=https://archive.org/details/letters0001jung }}</ref> which led to the development of [[psychological astrology]].<ref>{{harvnb|Campion|2009|pp=251–256}}: "At the same time, in Switzerland, the psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) was developing sophisticated theories concerning astrology&nbsp;..."</ref><ref>Gieser, Suzanne. ''The Innermost Kernel, Depth Psychology and Quantum Physics. Wolfgang Pauli's Dialogue with C.G.Jung'', (Springer, Berlin, 2005) p. 21 {{ISBN|3-540-20856-9}}</ref><ref>Campion, Nicholas. "''Prophecy, Cosmology and the New Age Movement. The Extent and Nature of Contemporary Belief in Astrology.''"(Bath Spa University College, 2003) via {{harvnb|Campion|2009|pp=248, 256}}.</ref>