with fortune-telling and doing business without a license—despite the fact that San
Jose had not issued fortune-telling licenses for ten years. Shortly thereafter, the man-
ager of her retirement community evicted her and her husband.
The Sunderbruch affair, which required raising money for lawyers, and serious
thought about how to mount a long-term challenge to laws inimical to astrology, was
critical in molding AFAN’s purpose and shaping its direction, and furthermore gave it
a distinctive standing in the astrological community as an advocate for the rights of
astrologers. Although many were timorous about getting involved in legal matters,
citing the community’s lack of experience and resources, others argued that the right
to practice astrology was on the line—we would have to learn along the way. The
activists’ opinions prevailed; AFAN’s Legal Information Committee was launched.
Sunderbruch was eventually exonerated under the Spiritual Psychic Church of Truth,
Incorporated v. the City of Azusa decision, two years later.
During the same period of time, it became evident to AFAN’s founders that
they would be unsuccessful in gaining a foothold in the AFA, so in late 1983, the ad
hoc “negotiating committee” officially became the first “steering committee,” AFAN’s
somewhat decentralized governing body. As it approached its first anniversary,
AFAN’s legal committee was very active and involved, either directly or in an adviso-
ry capacity, in astrologers’ legal problems in New York, Alabama, Wisconsin, and sev-
eral cities in California.
In 1984, AFAN held a counterconvention in a hotel down the street from the
biennial AFA convention, an event firmly signaling its final move toward becoming
something more than an auxiliary to the older organization. Just a little over one year
later, AFAN became involved in a variety of local legal situations, city council meet-
ings, and court cases. Near Cleveland, Ohio, a federal district court found an antias-
trology law unconstitutional, influenced by material and testimony submitted by
AFAN. The AFAN newsletter printed the first “What to Do in a Legal Crisis,” outlin-
ing the steps to take if arrested for fortune-telling, and in Yonkers, New York, 19 peo-
ple were arrested at a psychic fair. This occurred within days of the long-awaited
Azusadecision, which resulted in Shirley Sunderbruch’s exoneration.
On August 15, 1985, by a six-to-one vote, the California Supreme Court
affirmed in the Azusacase that prohibiting astrology was an infringement on the free-
dom of speech guaranteed by both the California and U.S. constitutions. This deci-
sion set aside a previous decision, Bartha,which had held that astrology was commer-
cial speech, and thus not entitled to such protections. Among other effects of this
decision, Shirley Sunderbruch’s case, AFAN’s first, was dropped.
Even though the Azusadecision did not have force outside California, within
a short time it became useful in AFAN’s legal efforts, and was used to dampen the
enforcement of similar laws in other states, discourage the passage of new laws, and
overthrow the old ones. The lessons learned during the first two years of AFAN’s legal
work became the basis for its Legal Information Committee, and today a call or email
to AFAN is often the first thing done by an astrologer facing a legal challenge.
Over the ensuing years, the meaning of AFAN’s acronym was changed to its
present form. It incorporated as a nonprofit in 1988, and it took on a variety of otherAssociation for Astrological Networking
[60] THEASTROLOGYBOOK