Alan Leo

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Leo, the Godfather of modern astrology[1]

Alan Leo was born with the name William Frederick Allan in Westminster (London) on 7th August 1860 at 5:49 (= 5:49 AM ).[2]

The British astrologer, businessman and author, was a Theosophist and is considered the father of Modern Astrology.

Leo's natal chart
Alan Leo's chart in 1919[3]

Biography

Brought up by his mother in difficult circumstances, Leo had no formal education beyond grade school. He worked in various jobs until becoming a traveling salesman. He kept his day job as a salesman until 1898.

He met his future wife, Bessie, when she became a new subscriber to his magazine and placed an ad. They married in 1896, a relationship that was said to be platonic.

Leo was a non-smoker, teetotaller and vegetarian.

He died from an apoplexy on August 30th, 1917, 10h AM in Bude, Cornwall/ England, just one month after his second court case. His wife Bessie published an autobiography after his death, in 1919.

Astrology

In 1885, Leo began studying astrology and met F.W. Lacey (Aphorel) and Walter Gorn Old (Sepharial), members of the inner circle of the Theosophical Society. Through them, he met Helena Blavatsky and became a Theosophist himself.

Using the professional name of Alan Leo, he and Lacey decided on November 12th, 1889 to launch The Astrologer's Magazine, later renamed Modern Astrology. Choosing a publication date of July 20th, 1890, they gave away free horoscopes to subscribers. In the four years between 1890 and 1894, they dispatched more than 4,000 written horoscopes. When Lacey withdrew in 1894 to pursue other interests, Leo became the sole proprietor.

With the success of his horoscopes and publications, Leo was able to found the Astrological Society, which opened on 14th January 1896 in London. Robert T. Cross (Raphael) agreed to become its vice-president and HS Green its treasurer. Meetings took place on the first Friday of every month and the Society had one hundred members by the end of the year.

Sun Sign Astrology

Dana Gerhardt: Sun sign astrology was invented-by a Sun-ruled Leo, of course. Born in August 1860, William Frederick Allan, who later renamed himself Alan Leo, is considered one of the first modern astrologers. Leo strengthened the notion of character as destiny, steering horoscopes away from predictable fates into psychological profiles laced with spiritual themes. But as a businessman, he was particularly astute. With offices in London, Paris, and New York, and a staff of nearly a dozen people, he produced thousands of horoscopes every year. Like any smart CEO manufacturing a product, he recognized the need to simplify his production line. He trimmed the birth chart to just one factor: the Sun sign. With this master stroke, he created a way to divide people into simple zodiac clusters. Everyone knows their birth date. Without any knowledge of astrology's true complexity, people could easily fit themselves into one of twelve astro-groups. And that's how Sun sign columns were born...[4]

Kim Farnell: (Leo's) emphasis on the Sun-sign was also born out of the cosmology of the theosophists (Blavatsky a.o.), which gave the Sun a prominent role...

The Lodge's logo

By 1898, the magazine was doing so well that Leo was able to abandon his sales job and give his full energies to astrology. His Modern Astrology Publishing Company grew steadily and built up a big business in astrological materials. In the early 1900s, he wrote several substantial books as well as a number of short works on astrology. His books were so popular that they were repeatedly reprinted, and almost a century later they are still in print.

Through his publications and tireless efforts, Alan Leo became so widely known that he created renewed interest in astrology, but with a different emphasis than astrologers who came before him. Whether by inclination, philosophy or events of his era, Leo emphasized character description rather than Prediction.

Towards the end of his life, in 1909, and again in 1911, Leo travelled with his wife Bessie Leo to India where he studied Indian Astrology. As a result of his studies in India, he later attempted to incorporate portions of Indian astrology into the western astrological model.

Leo's influence has been described as marking a 'turning point' in horoscope delineation, because, as astrological historian James Holden explains: Thereafter, what has been more recently called "event-oriented" astrology gradually receded in favor of character analysis and vague descriptions of possible areas of psychological harmony or stress.

Leo wrote a series of astrological text-books, founded a successful astrology magazine, and established an organization that remains vibrant some 90 years later. He shifted the focus of astrological work from prediction to personal analysis and is responsible for articulating the popular astrological precept that “character is destiny”.

Cultural Influence

Leo's book The Art of Synthesis (1912) was a probable influence on Gustav Holst's work The Planets, written between 1914 and 1916. In this book, Leo gave the planets' descriptions such as "Mars the Energiser".

Leo's Legacy

Alan Leo's intention, as outlined in the first issue of Modern Astrology, was to establish a more spiritual and psychological form of astrology, concentrating on the delineation of character rather than Prediction. It is this approach that has led to him being called the father of modern astrology.

Charles Carter: If we regard the life of Alan Leo we shall admit that he was of [that] noble race. To set out to purify Astrology from dross and superstition, to rescue maiden Urania from the dragon as it were, was an heroic enterprise for one who had neither money, backing nor education. Like many Leos, he had a saving common sense and a sense of the practicable. He was an idealist, but no dreamer.

Yet, amidst his success, he was twice prosecuted legally for "fortune-telling." In the first case, in May 1914, he was acquitted on a technicality. The following year, 1915, Leo established the Astrological Lodge of London (of the Theosophical Society), and two years later he was brought back into court on a second case. On 16th July 1917 he was fined £25 pounds[5], despite his insistence that he told only "tendencies" and not "fortunes".

After his sudden death the rewriting of his work was completed by his friend and colleague H.S. Greene.

Leo
Leo's chart in old (medieval) style
Alan Leo

See also

Weblinks

A seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the solar system and its corresponding astrological character as described by Leo

Books by Leo

  • Astrology For All. Inner Traditions Bear and Company, 134 pages, Reissues 1973, 1989; ISBN-10 0892811757, ISBN-13 978-0892811755

Google-PDF 1899

  • 1989, Esoteric Astrology. Inner Traditions, Bear & Company. first published 1913. Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, 1989. ISBN 0-89281-181-1 Excerpt (Google Books)
  • 1935, How to Judge a Nativity, 6th ed., Modern Astrology, (originally published in 1903
  • Symbolism and Astrology. Kessinger, Whitefish 2005, ISBN 0766142922
  • The complete dictionary of astrology. Destiny Books, Rochester 1989 ISBN 089281182X
  • The key to your own nativity. Rochester 1989, ISBN 089281179X
  • The Progressed Horoscope. A Sequel to How to Judge a Nativity. United Kingdom: L.N. Fowler & Company, 1906, Inner Traditions Bear and Company; Auflage 1923: Verlag Kessinger Pub Co. ISBN-10 0766105520
Leo's sampler

Bibliography

  • Holden, James: A History of Horoscopic Astrology, American Federation of Astrologers, 2006, page 207. ISBN 9780866904636
  • Howe, Ellic: Urania's Children: The Strange World of the Astrologers. 259 pages. Kimber London, 1967. Extended version: Wellinghborough, 1984 (Astrology and the Third Reich). ISBN-10: 0718300106 ISBN-13: 978-0718300104

Notes and References

  1. ↑ Illustration Copyright by Philip Graves, 2014
  2. ↑ Rodden Rating B
  3. ↑ Chart originally published in The Life and Work of Alan Leo: Theosophist, Astrologer, Mason
  4. ↑ See The Planets: The Sun (by Dana Gerhardt; Astrodienst)
  5. ↑ £25 pounds in 1917 were equivalent to over $3,000 in 2005
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