Considerations Astrological Journal Released Online for Free

The publishers behind the astrological journal Considerations recently decided to scan and release their entire journal archive online for free through the website  freeconsiderations.com.

Considerations was one of the few serious astrological journals available over the course of the past few decades.  It was issued quarterly starting in 1983, and under the editorship of Axel Harvey and Ken Gillman over 70 issues were published by the time it stopped being produced in 2006.

Given its relatively long history and unique status as one of the few serious journals for astrology, the Considerations archive features a very diverse and interesting array of different articles on astrology.

A full index of all of the articles and authors from each issue of the journal is available as a PDF on the website.

Here is a list of articles in the archive that I’ve found to be particularly interesting so far:

Olivia Barclay, The Need for Traditional Astrology

Considerations Vol. XII, issue # 3

This is actually a transcript from Barclay’s 1996 Charles Carter Memorial Lecture, where she was introduced by Nick Campion.  Camprion explains at the beginning that Barclay had a huge impact in stimulating the revival of traditional astrology in the late 80’s/early90’s, and it was through her efforts that William Lilly’s astrological textbook Christian Astrology was republished in 1985.  He explains that

The republication of Christian Astrology came at a time when, I think, the consensus was that the future of astrology lay in its marriage with depth-psychology.   Olivia suddenly drew people back into the realization that there was a very precise technical way of working with astrology to make prcise judgments concerning external events.

Karen Christino, Evangeline Adams:  Closet Determinist

Considerations Vol. XI, issue # 3

According to Christino

The famous American astrologer Evangeline Adams (1868-1932) was one of the first to champion the concept of free will.  Yet if we study her methods and the evolution of her work, it becomes clear that she actually believed in a modified determinism.

A statement that she makes at one point in the article about Adams’ public stance being partially the result of legal problems reminded me a lot of similar issues that Alan Leo was going through in England right around the same time:

Her printed assertions about free will resulted from her desire to popularize astrology, and were also an accomodation to legal restrictions in New York City at the time.

Michel Gauquelin, Planetary Types

Considerations Vol. VI, issue # 1

This is actually an excerpt from Gauquelin’s 1988 book Written in the Stars, although it provides a useful introduction to some of his research for those who are not familiar with it.   Along those lines, Axel Harvey gave a very interesting overview of Gauquelin’s life and work in Considerations Vol. VI, issue # 3.

Palden Jenkins, Astrological Cycles in History

Considerations Vol. XXI, issue # 1

An interesting article on long-term outer planet cycles and historical events.    There is even more material like this on Jenkins’ Historical Ephemeris website.

Ken Negus, Kepler as Practicing Astrologer

Considerations Vol. XV, issue # 4

This article is a translation of a somewhat lengthy written astrological delineation that Johannes Kepler did for military leader.  It is useful for providing some insight into some of the techniques that Kepler employed.

Robert Zoller, Astrology in America Prior to 1870

Considerations Vol. IX, issue # 3

This article is useful because it explores a period in astrological history where it is usually thought that there wasn’t much going on, although Zoller is able to show that there was some activity.

Other Articles

As you can tell from the above list, my interests lie more in the history and philosophy of astrology at this point.  There are a number interesting practical articles on specific techniques by various astrologers in the journal though, so there is a bit of something for everyone.

Once again, the Journal can be accessed at  freeconsiderations.com

Thanks to Axel Harvey for the tip about the release of the archive.

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