THE VOICE

Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

19 September 1931

(page 7)

The Book-Lover.

London’s Latest Insanities.

We remarked the other day that Great Britain is becoming more and more superstitious. “Spiritualism” is quite a vogue; the Philosopher’s Stone will probably soon be revived, and the sheer idiocy of Astrology now received regular space in London’s most widely read journals. Thus the “Sunday Express” (Lord Beaverbrook) gives two columns every week to the most ridiculous moonshine, under the heading “What the Stars Foretell,” which is duly credited to Britain’s Leading Astrologist. And now we find the weighty London “Sunday Referee” (Sir Oswald Stoll) allowing the “Elements of Esoteric Astrology,” by H. E. Thierens, Ph.D. (Rider, 10/6 net), to be thus reviewed by Victor B. Neuburg, who seems to belong to the lunatic fraternity of astrologers. We give the review as an interesting illustration of view as an interesting illustration of London’s latest insanities, but would certainly not give ten farthings for the book. Thus:—

Since my distinguished fellow-national Einstein caught the universe bending a change has come o’er the spirit of the world dream. We begin to realize that if we don’t know where we are it is because we are everywhere at once. This, patient reader, seems to be the secret of astrology, the Logos of the stars. If, as Blake affirms, one thought fills immensity, one point centres it—a point that, being everywhere at once, is really nowhere at all. Every star is that point where around all other stars circle; and, correspondingly, so is every man, for every man is unquestionably the centre of his own universe, around which revolve all the rest of mankind. This is undeniable, and it is of the marrow of the science of astrology. The theory is that man the microcosm is a reflection in miniature of the macrocosm, which, changing eternally (though never the same in essence), at any given moment is reflected in a certain way, no two of these ways being precisely identical. The said “given moment” is that in which the native’s first breath is drawn at birth. The sceptic will exclaim out at us crying, Proof! Proof! Where there is no proof! He is welcome; for there is proof. Here it is:

There are twelve signs of the Zodiac or Life-path, beginning with Aries and ending with Pisces. Every human is born with one of these signs as his “first house,” and this “first house” gives the clue to the native’s personal appearance. The odds against anyone trying to guess the correct sign are therefore, eleven to one. The practised astrologer can guess right every time. This is demonstrable, and to call it coincidence is mere insanity. This is the first step in astrological theory. If it be true, should we turn back? For ourself we prefer the spiral path that goes back to origins.

The old idea of orthodox science was that astrology could not be true, because it was absurd to claim that the stars could have any influence on human life. But astrology makes no such claim; the theory being that constellations do not influence, but correspond, in their natures and inter-relationships with the life of man and its eventualities. If the poet was right in saying that you cannot stir a flower without troubling a star, it may follow as a corollary that the movement of his own particular leading star may reflect and bode-forth a man’s movements and actions, always, of course, in harmony with other stars, as his life is lived in harmony or otherwise with the lives around him. Dr. Thieren’s work is an advanced text-book; modestly he calls it “Elements,” but it is more than this. Actually it is a detailed account of an ancient and honorable science, now, after an interregnum of exile, returning to its true place among the arclights of life.

On a basis mainly theosophical Dr. Thierens has re-erected for our day the figure of Urania. He claims that it is impossible to isolate astrology from the sister-sciences of human nature; and I hold for myself that herein he is right. Astrology is an integral part of world-theory, or it is mere superstition, unprovable and futile. Within the bounds of this volume there is a complete grammar of Uranian science. The symbolism of astrology is learnt easily, for the main symbols are really hieroglyphs. The alphabet presents few difficulties to the intelligent, and this mastery is the portal of a new and delightful science. “Elements of Esoteric Astrology” is a valuable record of parallel symbolisms, all enlightening, as star science should be. The book is valuable also as a storehouse of curious and recondite lore, reaching back to the beginnings of knowledge. Dethroned soon after the time of the Revival of Learning, Astrology is returning to World-Empire just before the Revival of Wisdom.

“Voice” readers will note that Victor B. Neuburg is sane enough to consider it necessary to deny that astrologists claim that the stars influence human life, but promptly entangles himself in something so little different that the distinction is not worth discussing, namely that we all have “a particular leading star which reflects and bodes forth a man’s movements and actions.” The astrological prophet of the “Sunday Express” even forecasts Stock Exchange activities during the follow week after consulting some heavenly body that “bodes forth” the rise and fall of shares. The only trouble is that the stars lead him astray.