Message #27635

[Bianca]

Extensive discussions have taken place in the past as to whether Newton was an astrologer or whether it was something he rejected.

In an unpublished biography by his nephew-in-law John Conduitt, Newton is quoted as saying "I was soon convinced of the vanity and emptiness of the pretended science of judicial astrology."

It is unconvincing to perceive this statement as an outright condemnation of astrology. What is more likely is that, in the same vein as Kepler's 'foolish daughter', Newton had little time for what he saw as the trivialities of astrology.

Both Kepler and John Dee, known for drawing up the electional chart for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth I, were obliged for financial and political reasons to produce almanacs and charts for the wealthy and the general public.

Newton, free from all such constraints, was able to concentrate on the deeper symbolism of astrology, particularly as it related to alchemy and chronology.

It is reasonable to assume that judicial astrology held no attraction for him for the reason that he believed the answers to the mysteries of the universe lay in the observations of the past, not of the future.