Astrology still survived in the academic milieu as iatromathematics in the sev-
enteenth century. But with the progress of medicine as an empirical science, medicine
ultimately became a distinct field of investigation. At the same time, the slow process
of the evolution of astronomy as a descriptive science, which had begun with the new
Copernican tables (1551), gradually widened the gap between divinatory astrology
and scientific astronomy.
Astrology continued to be practiced throughout the sixteenth century in vari-
ous parts of western Europe. In France, another member of the Medici family, Cather-
ine, previously in contact with the astrologer Luca Gaurico, contributed to the spread
of astrology in that country. She married Henry II and, after many years without chil-
dren, consulted astrologers. The birth of her first child strengthened her faith in
astrology. Among the astrologers invited to work at her court was Nostradamus
(Michel de Nostredame, 1503–1566), an astrologer who became notorious for his
prophecies written in quatrain in the poem called Centuries(1555). Working at Henry
II’s court, Nostradamus became known throughout the whole country, publishing
almanacs and medical works that advocated the use of astrology for medical purposes.
While Copernicus’s heliocentrism was gradually introduced into England
through the works of Thomas Digges and Thomas Bretnor, lay societies of profession-
als, not necessarily tied to the universities or to the Church, began to organize to dis-
cuss the new science. In England the Royal Society of London was chartered in 1662
by Charles II. At the time, England and Holland were the only two countries in
Europe to offer freedom of thought during a period of strict censorship by both the
Catholic and Protestant churches in all the other European countries. Astrology was
not included among the principal subjects discussed by the Royal Society, but some of
its members were practicing it.
In the seventeenth century, astrology was no longer debated in European uni-
versities. Also, there is little in the historical record regarding astrologers in the 1700s
and 1800s. Astrology did not die during this period; it was merely neglected in acade-
mic and scientific debate. Modern thought, which began with the Enlightenment,
excluded astrology as an empirical science. It was not included, or even mentioned, in
the entry on astronomy in Diderot and d’Alembert’s extensive Encyclopediain 1781.
Astrology and its symbolism survived the Enlightenment, however, in esoteric
circles. Various occultists revived the magic writings of the Picatrixand the Corpus her-
meticumof the Renaissance and kabbala to give a new, more esoteric interpretation, of
the movements of the stars. Precursors of this “modern” vision of astrology were
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) and Franz Anton Mesmer (1733–1815). The
European astrological revival in the nineteenth century began in England. Francis
Barrett, who wrote The Magus(1815), an important synthesis of magical lore, and
Nicolas Culpepper, an astrologer, had already devoted their time to the study of
occultism. But interest in astrology reawakened with the publication of certain books
on the subject. In 1816, James Wilson wrote A Complete Dictionary of Astrology,and a
few years later Robert C. Smith (1795–1832), whose pen name was Raphael, wrote
the Manual of Astrologyand compiled his Ephemeris.New works on astrology followed,
such as Ely Star’s Les mystères de l’horoscopein 1887. Also important was Eliphas Lévi
THEASTROLOGYBOOK [319]
History of Western Astrology