Abstract:

In this paper I seek to outline a conception of astrology in which nature—
not a modernist Cartesian nature but the living and sensuous natural
world—is central. This involves contextualizing astrology as, in effect, a
divinatory practice in which the Earth and its animist apprehension is
indispensable. Such a move runs counter to much discourse, both by hostile
critics (religious and scientific) and astrologers themselves, which is
viewed in Weberian and neo-Weberian terms as part of an attempt, damaging
if ultimately unsuccessful, to rationalize and thus disenchant astrology.
The positive implications for an openly animist and pluralist
astrology are then briefly explored.

Author: Patrick Curry