Message #108400

[Bianca]

                                                 Growing Attacks on Astrology






Yet as the popularity of astrology grew, so did criticism against it.

The Catholic Church became uncomfortable with the spiritual, magical nature of astrology to the
extent that it might contravene established doctrine. More specifically, the Church voiced concern
over the perceived implication that, if in fact the stars absolutely determined all actions, then astrology denied man's free will.
   
One of the most famous works condemning astrology was Pico della Mirandolla's Disputations against Divinatory Astrology published in 1496, which detailed problems with astrological theory and technique and condemned the denial of free will that Mirandella saw in current astrological practice. Interestingly enough, the date of Mirandolla's death was predicted accurately by a Renaissance astrologer.

Anthony Grafton, Cardano's Cosmos (Harvard, 1999) page 51.




As this antagonism gathered force, astrologers had to contend with direct persecution by church authorities. In 1586, Pope Sixtus V issued a papal bull condemning magic and all forms of divination, including horary, electional and natal astrology.

The Italian astrologer Jerome Cardan was arrested and held under house arrest by the Inquisition under suspicion of violating Sixtus' bull.

In England, a Protestant country, astrologers were periodically hauled before church courts, although astrologers in London, like William Lilly, appear largely to have escaped prosecution.