CHAPTER 2

Name of Journal
Predictions for Aries published in Paris during the same week.
Portents Business Home Love Health
EUe
Jours de France
Images
du Monde
Lucky num- ber: 3 ; Colour: bright red; Lucky Days: Monday, Friday.
Lucky num- ber 48; Lucky symbols: red and violet bouquets, pink pearls, marmalade cats.
Lucky
number:
Lucky
colour:
auburn
3;
Noir
Lucky
et
numbers:
Blanc
10,55;
Lucky day;
Thursday
Rather con- fused, espec- ially for those in creative pro- f ess i o ns . They will waste much time on use- less tasks, and be un- able to do their jobs.
Much energy and daring will enable you to begin something new, or per- haps to tackle a commercial task. Unfore- seen factors will play an important part but re- quire consi- siderable reflection.
Money,
Work:
good.
Organise!
Relations be- tween friends and male re- latives will be cordial, but women will quarrel among them- selves. Ques- tions of self- regard will lead to argu- ments.
Approach your rela- tives and give them proof of your affec- tion. Be care- ful not to break with them. Luck though small children. Pre- pare a pretty room for them.
3rd decan: be constantly on your guard, particularly when travel- ling or when making im- portant de- cisions. 1st decan will prove a good week, which will even fav- our unfore- seen profit.
Your charm and vivacity of spirit wiU help you towards superficial success in the sentimental sphere, but you will tire of your own gaiety.
Chance will bring you into contact with nervous people whom you must try not to contradict, or with adven- turous spirits who will give you harmful advice.
Average
Weakness will not displease
You will suffer from headaches, probably due to eye strain. You may need spec- tacles, but refuse to wear them for reasons of vanity.
Rest during digestion. Avoid bath- ing or viol- ent exercise. Do not ex- pose your- self to risks.
Average
Renewed
stomach
upsets.
THE LANGUAGE OF THE STARS 113
ties clamped down on this form of popular edification. Nowadays enterprising radio-astrologers are reduced to using Mexican transmitters. All in all, the number of astrologers in the United States alone is said to amount to 30,000.
High though this number may appear to us, America runs a poor second to rationalist France — at least in this respect. Officially, divination of all sorts has been prohibited in France for more than 100 years. The penal code^ stipulates maximum fines for professional diviners and dream interpreters [persons qui font metier de diviner, de pronostiquer ou d'expliquer les songes) and imprisonment for up to five days for fortune tellers. All instru- ments, props, and costumes are subject to consfication. The law of 4 October 1945, increased the term of imprisonment to eight days in the case of habitual offenders. All these laws notwith- standing, France is riddled with thousands of professional prophets.
According to a report of the Paris Prefect of Police, 3460 astrological and palmist establishments were registered in Paris alone, in 1935. ^ The most famous pre-war astrologer in Paris used to receive 1400 letters a day, and wrote 5000 replies with the help of a staff of 50. One of his colleagues, who was in- volved in a case of fraud in 1939, had a net annual income of 400,000 francs, which by modem standards is roughly equivalent to ^7000 (free of tax). According to a report by the French National Institute of Statistics, 100,000 Parisians regularly consult 6000 astrologers, clairvoyants, and other fortune- tellers. In the whole of France the total number of professional fortune tellers is given by the same source as 34,000, with a total income of 34,000 million francs (roughly 30 million pounds in 1955.)^ Apart from the many astrological columns in newspapers and journals, France can boast a host of astrological publications, the largest of which has a circulation of more than 100,000 copies.
In view of these figures and those for some other countries, we can make the conservative estimate that the annual world income of fortune-tellers is at least 300 million pounds, of which by far the largest part is earned by astrologers. This sum seems
1 Codepinal, Art 479 ff— Law of 28 April 1832.
* Rhue internationale de Sociologie, Sept.-Dec. 1939.
* Science et Vie (Paris), Sept. 1955, p. 72.
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tremendous, but then human beings spend much vaster sums on much more harmful pastimes. However, the question remains: Do the astrologers really give their customers any return for their investment?
7^ astrology scientific?
For centuries, serious scientists who have looked at this question objectively, have invariably and unequivocally come to a negative conclusion. There is no evidence whatsoever that the stars affect man's fate to any perceptible or verifiable extent — neither their past, their present nor their future. Even were astrology to be brought fully up-to-date, and cleared of all its erroneous ideas, the stars would still leave man severely alone.
Thus, in 1949, the German Astronomical Society, one of the most respected in the world, dismissed astrology as a mixture of superstition, quackery and big business, adding that even those astrological circles which have rejected the stupidities of fair- ground astrology, and which consider themselves purely scien- tific associations, have never provided evidence of their scientific methods and results.
An American commission, under the chairmanship of the astronomer Bart J. Box of Harvard University, after having declared its readiness to test all cases submitted to them by astrologers, concluded that not a single one of the influences attributed to the stars by so-called serious astrologers could be demonstrated. Similar conclusions were reached by a Belgian committee, set up in 1949 by the Rector of Ghent University [Comite Beige pour V investigation scientifique des phenomenes reputes paranormaux) , which consisted of thirty reputable scientists belonging to various fields.
Finally, according to the evidence of the American Society for Psychological Research (1940), "there is no evidence that astrology has any value whatever in revealing the past, the present or the future fate of any human being, and there is not the slightest reason for believing that social events can be pre- dicted by astrology". Similar pronouncements have also been
THE LANGUAGE OF THE STARS 115
published by unesco and by many teachers, writers, and scien- tists.
True, no amount of expert derision is real evidence against the claims of astrologers. Still, the onus of proof is on the proponents rather than on their critics, and astrologers are notoriously (if understandably) loath to support their conten- tions with even the merest shreds of evidence.
The only argument which astrologers can muster is the fact that, despite all their alleged contradictions and failures, millions of people, and by no means the least educated people either, con- tinue to believe in their messages. In other words, astrology must fulfil a deep human need. Now, the attraction of astrology for people who are not normally inclined to mysticism and magic is easily explained by the fact that astrology is a system, and, moreover, a very simple system, that any layman can under- stand. Like all systems, even the most strictly scientific, astrology is based on axioms, i.e. on basic assumptions that cannot be proved theoretically. Essentially, the axioms of astrology are ( 1 ) that everything in nature, and consequently in human life, follows a regular course, and (2) that the stars have a decisive influence on terrestrial processes.
The first of these axioms, which philosophers call deter- minism, is no speciality of astrology. Even if modern science has discarded rigid 19th century determinsim, determinism never- theless continues as a cardinal principle of science, for without it no laws could be established. But in fact, astrology is not really deterministic, for it does not exclude human volition. The stars, even though they might cause us trouble, particularly in love affairs, are at heart very decent, and prefer to leave us a great deal of scope. They limit man's free will but do not utterly reject it or negate it on principle.
After all, astrologers take it for granted that men are always faced with alternatives, for why otherwise would they consult the stars? Astrologers can tell them what is most propitious for them, but the final choice is their own and they can, if they so desire, defy the stars by eating the wrong things in the wrong "houses", by starting love-affairs under the wrong planet, or even by buying lottery tickets with an unlucky number on an unlucky day. They are completely free to do all this, but, of course, they must not blame the stars for the consequences. In
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Other words, astrologers advise their clients to live according to the stars, which, to them, is tantamount to living according to nature. "Live by the stars and you will prosper on earth", is the sum total of all astrological wisdom.
Astrological Morals
Because of this direct personal influence, astrological rules of behaviour must have an individual touch. Thus even when producing collective horoscopes for the daily press and address- ing a large anonymous circle of readers, astrologers nevertheless try to give their message a personal note, or else — to avoid astrological conflicts between, say, the members of a family born under different stars — they simply counsel general peace, harmony, and hard work. Astrological morals are life-positive — men are not bom to suffer but must try to do everything possible to counteract what weaknesses certain constellations have endowed them with. They are meant not only to live but to live well. The stars abhor laziness, and all astrological injunctions have a clear activist character. Men must be ambitious, and constantly on the alert.
True, astrologers do not expect their clients to attain riches and fortune by work alone. They may sometimes use ruses or gamble with lucky numbers. In temperate regions, astrologers usually use a temperate language, but in the tropics, where men are often phlegmatic, they have to be shaken out of themselves. Admonitions become commands. In a large Brazilian newspaper, for instance, Sagittarians are ordered, rather than advised, to "stake on number six, your lucky number" during the week of May 20th-26th, 1956, while those born under Virgo and Libra are told summarily: "Do not gamble!"^
While all the people in question are not likely to fall over themselves to heed this advice, there is no doubt that astrological counsel^ given as it is nowadays on a mass scale, does a great- deal to encourage a somewhat robust form of egotismL__ Frequently the advice is coupled with a call to self-enjoyment, and a life of easy pleasure. We need, therefore, not be surprised 1 O. Jomal (Rio de Janeiro) 20 May 1956.
THE LANGUAGE OF THE STARS 117
that moralists of different persuasion have denounced the stars and their high-spirits as perverters of true morals.
But it is precisely this popular call to selfishness and ease which has contributed more than anything else to the success of astrology. Undoubtedly, the astrological columns of journals and newspapers are read and believed by many, precisely because of this kind of plain speakingl_^strologers are quite blunt about things that are usually concealed and rarely dis-; cussed with even one's closest friends: desire, private passion, greed, anxiety, secret hope, and deep longing. Shorn of all astrological claptrap, their utterances are only too human and 1 very well adapted to their readers' mentality. Astrology is not) literature; it deals with life as it is lived, or at least as people? would like to live it, and even if only the smallest part of a particular prediction comes true, it affects them far more pro- foundly than the most profound philosophical remark or the most moving drama. It is for this reason that people look at what the stars have to say, at first, perhaps, sceptically, but theni with growing conviction. One true prediction, and all the false ones are conveniently forgotten.
And astrology, unlike so many other forms of divination, is not an occult science based on supernatural forces. Astrology is "a science" which rejects miracles and inexplicable phenomena, on principle. It states its axioms openly, and gives written evidence of the way in which it arrives at its conclusions. Every client is at liberty to carry his horoscope home with him, there to read which stars and constellations are responsible for his for- tune or misfortune.
All this may sound very absurd, particularly when we go into details, but there can be no doubt that information gained in this way appears to be more reliable than that obtained by such occult practices as necromancy or fortune-telling. Anyone who cares to do so, can study astrology for himself — no special gift is needed.
It is this tendency towards egotism and pseudo-rationalism which must be considered among the main reasons why modern astrology has not turned into a religion. Even in America, where it is notoriously easy to form new sects, belief in the stars lacks any religious character, although it undoubtedly contains elements that belong to religious faith rather than science.
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Moreover, astrology, with its belief in the unity of different stellar influences, is by no means irreconcilable with monotheism and needs no religious premisses of its own. If this had not been the case, astrology would have perished in the Middle Ages, at least in Christian countries.
Apart from lacking a common religion, astrologers lack cohesion in other respects also. While there are astrological societies, their membership is very small indeed, compared with the vast number of unorganised believers. Those interested in astrology are generally individualists who have little contact with one another. Thus there has never been an astrological mass movement which could, for instance, have affected the out- come of elections or other public events. That is probably why astrologers have generally been left alone by the authorities. They represent an amorphous, unorganised mass, albeit an enormously large one.
It will never be known how many people really believe in the power of the stars, for even if there were an official census, far to many people would be ashamed to own up. After all, which one of us could swear with certainty that his nearest neighbour has never had his horoscope read.? Even so, the estimates compiled in the U.S.A. and France lead one to suspect that at least three per cent of the total population, and probably five per cent of all adults, believe firmly that their future is written in the stars. A frightening number, if we agree that astrology is a form of mental disorder! In addition, there is an even greater number of people who, though not completely convinced of the truth of astrology, nevertheless flirt with it and occasionally act on its advice, particularly if it suits their own book. For this very reason, one must take this international affliction far more seriously than one commonly does, and see to it that its ex- ploiters are not given their head nearly as much as they are.