The Influence of the Stars: A Book of Old World Lore

About this book

Before horoscopes became a daily newspaper habit, astrologers built elaborate systems to describe the influence of the heavens on earthly life. Rosa Baughan introduces readers to that older vocabulary.

Her book explores planetary characteristics, signs and traditional associations that circulated through European astrology. Its predictions should be understood as cultural beliefs, not demonstrated causal effects of the stars. The interest is in seeing how generations of observers turned the visible night sky into a symbolic language for character, fortune and change.