Ed. Alexander Markin
American supplier: Joseph Polansky, P 0. Box 7368, North Port, FL 34287. Quarterly.
This delightful new astrological quarterly from Britain, edited by a Theosophist, is "designed to promote spiritual awareness among astrologers and to explore the many different ways in which the spiritual dimension can be shown in the chart." Unlike many current" 'rubbishy' or badly written" astrological publications, this one emphasizes quality, for "the subject matter itself demands, and deserves, no less." The first: issue (May 1999) is small, a mere fourteen pages, but full of fresh promise, pithy wisdom, and gems of esoteric insight from six astrologers, British and American. It has no distracting advertising.
One hundred years ago, British Theosophical astrologers like Alan Leo, Bessie Leo, and C. E. O. Carter planted seeds in the field, but astrology in the early twentieth century soon reverted to event-oriented, predictive, and mundane interpretation. Just before the inrush of the "new" astrologers in the late 1960s, a handful may have read Alan Leo's or Alice Bailey's books on "Esoteric Astrology," but hardly anyone understood the concepts. In the early 1970’s no self-respecting astrological convention acknowledged the subject. This began to change by the late 19705. Dane Rudhyar gave a new Theosophical interpretation to Marc Edmund Jones's Sabian Symbols. Steven Arroyo talked about: clues to karma and reincarnation in the horoscope. By the early 1980s, the Seven Rays crept into astrological delineation, with works by Mac R. Wilson-Ludlam and Alan Oken. Finally, by the 1990s, spiritual astrology was openly talked of, and a "general" Theosophical approach was appearing in astrological literature. Because of this evolution in the late twentieth century, it seems only fitting that this journal should have appeared in 1999 as a culmination or fruition of spiritual growth in astrological circles rather than wait to appear in the new millennium.
Beginning astrologers as well as professional ones can benefit from this journal. Both its astrological and Theosophical approaches are sound. And it may whet the appetite for neophytes in either area and help bring astrology and Theosophy closer together since they both deal with the laws of the universe.
-AMY W. FURNANS
May/June 2001