The Astrology Book

Room, Adrian. Dictionary of Astronomical Names.London: Routledge, 1988.

Schwartz, Jacob. Asteroid Name Encyclopedia.St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1995.

AMERICANCOUNCIL OFVEDICASTROLOGY

The American Council of Vedic Astrology (ACVA) was founded in November 1993.

This nonprofit educational organization, located in Sedona, Arizona, is the largest

Vedic astrology organization in the West and is affiliated with the Indian Council of

Astrological Sciences (ICAS), founded by B. V. Raman. The ACVA has offered a

forum for Vedic astrologers of all types and backgrounds, and has served as a network

for them to connect and share their views. ACVA offers a 600-hour certification pro-

gram for learning Vedic astrology through its approved tutors, which is the first real

attempt in the West to teach Jyotish on a broad scale. The council is governed by a

steering committee whose members include: Christina Collins Hill, Dennis Flaherty,

David Frawley, Dennis M. Harness, Edith Hathaway, James Kelleher, William Levacy,

and Chakrapani Ullal.

—Dennis M. Harness, Ph.D., and David Frawley

AMERICANFEDERATION OFASTROLOGERS

The American Federation of Scientific Astrologers was officially incorporated in Wash-

ington, D.C., on May 4, 1938, at 11:38 A.M., Eastern Standard Time. There were 61 char-

ter members, of whom 29 were members of an earlier organization, the American Associ-

ation of Scientific Astrologers (AASA), including Elizabeth Aldrich, Elbert and Eliza-

beth Benjamine, Ernest and Catharine Grant, George J. McCormack, Lewis Weston,

Adrian M. Ziegler, Robert DeLuce, Llewellyn George, Keye Lloyd, and Prem H. Joshi (of

India). In addition, there were 32 members of other astrological associations, including

five members from other countries: Gustave Brahy of Belgium; Cyril Fagan of Ireland;

and Dr. Greville Gascoigne, Charles E. O. Carter, and Rupert Gleadow of England.

Adrian M. Ziegler, president of the AASA, served as interim president of the

new organization, but three days later the convention elected Ernest A. Grant as pres-

ident, Ellen McCaffery as vice president, and Martha E. Knotts as secretary-treasurer.

Ernest Grant served as president until 1941, when he was elected executive secretary,

a post he held until 1959. He was succeeded as president by Paul R. Grell, who held

that office from 1959 to 1970, after which Robert W. Cooper assumed the post. In

1979, Doris Chase Doane was elected president.

The founders intended to establish an organization to assist astrologers and

astrological groups, promote the study and practice of astrology, establish a code of

ethics, institute standards of astrological practice, encourage astrological research, and

establish an astrological library. One of the founding cardinal ethical principles was

that an astrologer should not use any method of analysis—other than astrology—

without expressly stating that his or her conclusions were based in part on some other

art. This principle was the signification of the word “scientific” in the original name of

the organization. However, since it was later found that this was not understood by

the general public, that word was dropped from the name in the early 1940s, and

American Council of Vedic Astrology

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