This paper analyses architectural alignments and reports the results of interviews with priests and lay persons at those temples in the Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu in which sunlight of the rising or setting sun enters the sanctum, primarily near equinox. The event, known as Surya puja, occurs most frequently in Shaivite temples and is most often understood to be a case of the sun worshipping Lord Shiva. At some temples it is believed the sun suffers from leprosy, which may be associated with an outbreak of sunspots in the late 11th century. Many of today’s Surya puja rituals have strong astrological dimensions, which have probably grown in intensity since the temples were built.

Although astrologers and astrological concepts were instrumental in formulating the core assumptions of the modern New Age movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the increasing number of scholarly studies of the New Age movement pay almost no attention to astrology. The only two English language histories of modern astrology set out the role of the English astrologer Alan Leo (1860-1917) in creating an astrology designed to facilitate spiritual evolution and the coming of the New Age. This paper examines the foundation of an astrology of spiritual development and psychological growth in the USA and examines the key role played by Marc Edmund Jones (1888-1980). Jones used arguments based on the history of astrology, strongly influenced by theosophical theories of history, to justify his reform of astrology.

The explicit astronomical content of the great monument of Antiochus I of Commagene on the summit of Nemrud Dagh warrants the search for astronomical significance in the design of other monuments of this ancient Near Eastern kingdom of the first century BCE. The article advances the hypothesis that the nearby monument of Karakush, built by Antiochus’ son, Mithradates II, as a burial site for the royal women, was astronomically oriented, its three sets of peripheral columns being so positioned that during June Leo would be observed setting behind the lion columns after sunset, Aquila culminating over the eagle columns around midnight, and Taurus rising behind the bull columns before dawn. It is suggested, furthermore, that the astronomical occasion for the foundation of this second monument was a recurrence of significant planetary conjunctions in Leo. The ‘lion horoscope’ of Nemrud Dagh records the conjunctions of 62 BCE; the Karakush site may be related to the conjunctions of 27-26 BCE.

The Mathesis of Julius Firmicus Maternus describes astrological aspects responsible for bestowing divinity and immortality. These conditions have been identified as the major astrological components of the Star of Bethlehem. Moreover, closer examination reveals that Firmicus juxtaposed pagan and Christian themes, which suggests he was a pagan making the transition to Christianity.

Suggestive evidence for a diurnal effect of the Moon was recently published by Francoise Gauquelin using a non-verbal test filled out by 500 ordinary people. The present study is an attempt to replicate the results using a fresh sample of 600 answers rated by three judges who had rated the answers of the previous experiment. The judges’ ratings showed good agreement but no lunar effect was found. For the five Gauquelin planets (MO, VE, MA, JU and SA) the frequency in sectors 1 + 4 + 7 = 10 was not significantly different from chance for answers judge to beeither “extraverted” or “imaginative”. The results were no different for the Moon in sectors 1 + 4 only, for those answers for which all judges were in agreement, or for sub-sets of the answers. The failure to replicate may be due to a lack of validity in the test. Recommendations are made for a better methodology.

The Italian High Renaissance saw the high point of the use of astrology in the timing of both military and political events. It is known that Cosimo I de’ Medici, Duke of Florence, delayed the decisive battle in his war against Siena in 1554, against the advice of his commanders in the field. A previously unpublished astrological prognostic may have influenced his military strategy which, in fact, led to his eventual victory at Marciano on 2 August 1554. This paper presents a discussion of the circumstances surrounding the campaign, and a translation and analysis of the prognostic sent to Duke Cosimo in March 1554 by the astrologer Francesco Formiconi.

An attempt was made to find evidence for relations between traditional aspects and human birth. Gauquelin data on 20,528 eminent individuals representing 11 proofessions were subjected to time series analysis, segmenting a critical A-period of hypothetical influence (A = aspect condition) together with three preceding (P) and three succeeding (S) time periods of equal duration. The requencies of births within sequencs of 3P + 1A = 3S time segments were superimposed for each profession and for each of 15 aspects (conjunction, squares and oppositions between Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn). Mean time series obtained for empirical aspect occurences were compared with mean time series for equivalent random segments as controls. No indication of an aspect influence was found.

This article first examines astrologers’ protestations at growing religious hostility in the 1490s and the involvement of Ficino, Pico and Savonarola in Florence. It then charts the reactions to Pico’s Disputationes both in the anti-astrological camp’s enthusiastic endorsement, and especially in the riposte of professional astrologers across Europe, whose piece-meal replies, intensified by the approaching conjunction of 1524, include a call for internal reform through a rejection of Arabic methods. Pico’s technical and empirical secondary arguments emerge as more effective than the physical and moral primary ones and reveal his singular understanding of practitioners’ mentality.

A literature review is presented which gives a brief overview of the use of astrology in medicine and psychology. Report of a study carried out at an NHS UK Hospital involving the use of astrological counselling with chronic pain patients (n = 6 patients) is also given and includes the presentation of two case studies. Astrological profiles of the patients and the history of their chronic pain were presented to the clinical psychologist in charge of the programme, who then compared them with the psychological profiles. The psychologist concluded that astrological information was provided which enhanced understanding obtained by traditional psychological methods and that the analyses, themselves, were comparable with the results of psychological analyses.

The Raëlian Church is an atheistic religion with a cosmology that is compatible with modern science. Its founder-leader Claude Vorilhon (Raël), whose birth in 1946 is said to herald the new Age of Aquarius, offers a detailed interpretation of Judaeo-Christian scripture that claims a history of encounters a new highly evolved technological society, with the possibility of immortality for those who are worthy. Jung’s theory that flying saucers are a modern myth is used to demonstrate how Raëlianism finds it possible to synthesize UFOlogy and religion.