Alexander Boxer - A Scheme of Heaven: The History and Science of Astrology, from Ptolemy to the Victorians and Beyond

Additional praise for

Educated in both the humanities and the sciences, Boxer is uniquely qualified to guide his readers into a fascinating story of mathematical complexity. The overarching theme of our human destiny is inspirational.

Norman Austin, emeritus professor of classics, University of Arizona

Astrologers as the first and most ambitious quants and data scientists? Alexander Boxers remarkable book reveals astrologys mathematical, scientific, historical, philosophical, and literary roots. He shows that astrology is not only an indispensable part of science history but also springs from the same mixture of motives: the desire to control the world and to wonder about it.

Robert P. Crease, author of The Workshop and the World

Through multidisciplinary lenses, Alexander Boxer frames astrology as one of the most ambitious and daring of all human intellectual endeavors. This stellar book is a probe launched into the mysteries of the cosmos, venturing out to rekindle our timeless capacity to marvel at the universe.

Ferdinando Buscema, magic experience designer and magician in residence, Institute for the Future

A SCHEME OF HEAVEN

A STROLOGY and THE BIRTH of SCIENCE

ALEXANDER BOXER

First published in Great Britain in 2020 by

Profile Books Ltd

29 Cloth Fair

London

EC1A 7JQ

www.profilebooks.com

First published in the United States of America in 2020 by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc

Copyright Alexander Boxer, 2020

Cover design: Samantha Johnson

Images: iStock, Getty Images, Wiki Commons, Heritage Images/Andreas Cellarius

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781781259634

eISBN 9781782834090

To my family:
To my parents, Betsy () and Michael (), whove always believed in me, To my sister, Abby (), whos always been there for me,
To my wife, Dara (), the love of my life,
And, newly, my darling Naomi ().

Upon Opening This Book for the Very First Time

Today you find yourself presented with a mysterious opportunity. Take it, even if youre not sure it was really meant for you. The focus you apply at this moment has the potential to reveal a number of unexpected connections, each of which can give you new insights into how things stand around you. Go ahead, trust your instincts. Your intuition has always been a faithful guide whenever youve been true to yourself. Yes, mischievous Mercury has been in and out of retrograde more than once this past year, and this hasnt made justifying yourself to others any easier. But Jupiter, ruler of the sky, is there to reassure you that, right now, its your opinion which matters most. And the Moon? Dont mind her. That scary aspect of hers will look completely different by the time she glides into a new sign in just a few days. Besides, if all of this years transitions have amounted to anything, its that youve emerged from them even more resilient and receptive. Your whole being is now perfectly tuned to appreciate the new perspectives that come with a challenging new endeavor. But remember: even if it was the stars which brought you here, only you can decide how much further youll go.

A SCHEME OF HEAVEN

Do the stars and planets really have something to tell us about the cycles of history, the secrets of love, the reasons your last job was no longer right for you, and why everyone born in May is so incredibly amazing? Astrologys unflinching reply is: yes, yes, yes, and definitely yes. That the configurations of the heavens above can influence our lives here on Earth below is, of course, the basic idea of astrology. Modern science has flatly rejected astrologys claims but this hasnt hobbled astrologys charms, certainly not if the continued popularity of online and magazine horoscopes is anything to go by. Lets leave to one side for a moment all the arguments about whether astrology is wrong, or right, or still wrong even when its sometimes right. Im here to make the case that astrology is fascinating and still tremendously relevant as a challenge to what we think we know and why we think we know it.

For starters, the questions astrology asksquestions about the patterns of the universe and our place within themare about as deep and as captivating as they come. If there really is a way to tap into the hidden rhythms of the cosmos, wouldnt you want to know about it? But even more intriguing, at least from where I stand, is how astrology uses mathematics and data to investigate these questions. Over two thousand years ago, astrologers became the first to stumble upon the powerful storytelling possibilities inherent in numerical data, possibilities that become all the more persuasive when presented graphically in a chart or figure. Although it took a while for the rest of the world to catch on, the art of weaving a story out of numbers and figures, often to encourage a specific course of action, is used everywhere today, from financial forecasts to dieting advice to weather models.

And yet numbers still mislead, figures still deceive, and predictions still failsometimes spectacularly soeven those that rely on exceptionally sophisticated mathematics. So, are the techniques being used today to parse and package quantitative information any more effective than what was devised by astrologers millennia ago?

In order to make that assessment, its first necessary to have a basic understanding of what astrology is and how it works. But that sort of understandingone thats at least adequate to resolve some seemingly straightforward technical questionsis surprisingly hard to come by for such a long-lived and influential craft. Being frustrated in my own search for a simple yet competent overview of astrology, I decided I might just as well write one myself. This, curious reader, is the book you now hold in your hands.