LILLY, WILLIAM
William Lilly (1602–1681) was the most important astrologer in England at a time
when astrology itself had attained a richness and a degree of influence unmatched
before or, probably, since. This stature manifested itself in two ways: his role as an
astrologer in the wider social and political world, and his place in and impact on the
astrological tradition.
Lilly rose to national prominence in the context of the English Revolution,
including the Civil War (1642–49) and so-called Interregnum, lasting until the
Restoration in 1662, which saw the return of a king, House of Lords, and bishops. In
this time of unprecedented upheaval, astrology—liberated from strict censorship—
was among the many ideas that, for a time, took national center stage. And Lilly was,
during his lifetime, universally recognized as astrology’s preeminent practitioner. Even
his disputacious peers made him the leading figure of the London Society of
Astrologers, who met annually for a sermon and feast in 1647–58. Lilly consistently
issued dire warnings as to the likely fate of Charles I, backed up by inspired and precise
astrological exegesis. (Typically, though, he also supplied the beleagured king with pri-
vate advice, through a royal emissary, as to how to escape it.) His value as chief
prophet of the Parliamentarian cause was estimated as equivalent to several regiments,
and his annual almanac, Merlinus Anglicus,from its start in 1644, rose to sales of near-
ly 30,000 copies a year throughout the 1650s. There were bitter complaints (particu-
larly by his enemies the Presbyterians) that people put more trust in his almanacs than
in the Bible, and that on the occasion of an eclipse in 1652, many in London were too
frightened by his dire prognostication to venture outdoors.
After the Great Fire of 1666, Lilly was examined by a parliamentary commit-
tee because he was widely believed to have predicted it in a pamphlet of 1651. (A
woodcut therein showed twins—Gemini, long held to be ruling sign of London—
hanging suspended above a fire that men are struggling to put out.) But on this and
other occasions, Lilly was protected by powerful political allies. One was the alchemist
and astrologer Elias Ashmole, a firm Royalist and Controller of the Excise after 1662;
despite their very different political convictions, the two men became lifelong friends.
In 1652, Lilly left for Hersham, in Surrey, where he became churchwarden of
St. Mary’s Church in Walton-on-Thames, and married for the third and final time.
Here he continued the astrological practice that had begun in his house “by Strand
Bridge” in London. From the 1640s through the 1660s, Lilly averaged nearly 2000
consultations a year, and his clients ranged from serving girls to politicans and aristo-
crats, with a scale of fees paid accordingly. By 1662, he was reported to be earning
about 500 pounds a year, a very comfortable sum. He also, however, dispensed free
advice and treatment to the parish poor. In 1670, he obtained formal permission from
the archbishop of Canterbury to practice medicine as well. Lilly died on June 9, 1681,
and was buried in St Mary’s, where his marble tombstone, bearing an inscription paid
for by Ashmole, can still be seen.
In addition to this remarkable life as an astrologer, Lilly’s claim to fame rests on
his authorship of the first astrological textbook in English, Christian Astrology(1657,
with a second edition in 1659 and a facsimile reprint in 1985 that is still in use). WhileLilly, William
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