Scientific Magic: Five Books That Reconnect Us to Astrology

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From Tor.com:

Astrology is on the rise among millennials and post-millennials, arguably strange considering within the last two hundred years science has become an almost universally accepted paradigm. Perhaps this new interest constitutes a counter-reaction to the sway of science-as-truth, or maybe it’s a symptom of our uncertain times. It might be the profoundly human desire to know when we might fall in love or strike it rich (after all, who wouldn’t?), but there is no arguing that astrology and its accompanying paraphernalia (tarot decks and apps, sacred grids, crystals) hold a major appeal for this generation.

In my novel Wonderblood, I use astrology as a tool for examining faith, specifically, what it means to have faith in a dire prediction. But just as much as I love the threat of a good apocalypse, I love reading and writing about the tools astrologers use to make their predictions. Perhaps astrology is so appealing because it can seem an awful lot like science, with its charts, angles, degrees and timelines.

. . . .

Prophecy by S.J. Parris

Another entry set in the early 16th century, Prophecy by S.J. Parris (the pen name of journalist Stephanie Merritt) concerns dire predictions, Queen Elizabeth’s personal astrologer and famous occult philosopher John Dee, and murder most foul. Dee remarks in the opening pages “…This transition into the sign of Aries at the end of our troubled century has been prophesied by many as signifying the end of history.” The protagonist here is none other than Giordano Bruno himself, an excommunicated friar who believed, among other things, in the infinity of the universe and that stars are “other suns with their own planets.” As the investigative hero in this historical thriller, Bruno sets out in the year of the Great Conjunction to discover if black magic has indeed killed one of Elizabeth’s handmaids.

Link to the rest at Tor.com

5 thoughts on “Scientific Magic: Five Books That Reconnect Us to Astrology”

  1. ” but there is no arguing that astrology and its accompanying paraphernalia (tarot decks and apps, sacred grids, crystals) hold a major appeal for this generation.”

    I would argue that this is BS.

    • I would hope so but I’m not so sure.

      The most visible part of the current generation hasn’t shown much skill at critical thinking and a bigger propensity for magical thinking than previous generations. The educational system has done them no favors.

    • The Great Hoax that has been with us for thousands of years is that This Generation is special. It appears to be a time-tested method used by older generations to socialize This Generation. This Generation hasn’t yet figured out it’s a trap.

      The Rosetta Stone laid out the basics.

      • The objective is to teach them just enough to be obedient little followers. But sometimes it backfires.

        The WP this week had a piece of one unavoidable example. And after profiling the kid, they still had no clue…

  2. The fact that astrology goes back thousands of years and appears in many separate cultures suggest that readers’ interest in it may outlive us all. After all, the 3 Magi were astrologers by trade and understood the biblical Star of Bethlehem.

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