An Astrological Librarian, with Philip Graves

In episode 502 of the podcast, I’m joined by astrologer and historian Philip Graves to talk about his work as an astrological librarian and the publication of his new book, Technical and Planetary Developments in Astrology.

This is the first volume in a new series, Graves’ Studies in the History of Astrology, which showcases the fruits of his decades-long project to build one of the largest and most comprehensive private astrological libraries in the world.

Technical and Planetary Developments in Astrology and is available now on Amazon and from other booksellers.

The Life of an Astrological Librarian

We begin the episode by discussing Philip’s journey into astrology and how he began amassing his vast collection of astrological texts. His library includes not only modern books but also rare original editions from as early as the 16th century, alongside an extensive collection of astrological journals, periodicals, and almanacs.

We delve into the fascinating world of antiquarian book collecting, touching on topics such as:

The importance of first editions.
The challenges of preservation, including issues like “foxing,” “worming,” and rebinding.
How to handle very old books.
The limitations of older, poor-quality digital scans and abridged reprints, and the value of comparing them to original source texts.

Research from the Library

A major theme of our discussion is how having access to this wide range of primary sources allows for a more accurate and nuanced understanding of astrology’s history. Philip’s collection serves as a massive research database, enabling him to trace the development of astrological concepts through time.

His new book is a collection of essays that demonstrates the value of this approach. Some of the historical questions we explore from his research include:

The Development of Uranus: How did astrologers in the early 19th century figure out the meaning of Uranus? We look at surprisingly early and accurate delineations from journals in the 1820s and 1830s, showing the empirical process astrologers used to determine its significations.
The Outer Planets: We contrast the empirical approach used for Uranus and Neptune with the more mythological approach applied to Pluto shortly after its discovery in the 20th century.
The Meanings of the Houses: Philip’s book contains a detailed survey of the significations of the 12 houses, tracing their continuity and changes from the Hellenistic tradition through the Medieval and Renaissance periods.
The History of Minor Aspects: We discuss the timeline of how harmonic aspects were developed, starting with Kepler and being gradually adopted and expanded upon by later astrologers.
The Origins of Sun-Sign Astrology: Research from Philip and others has pushed back the origins of newspaper Sun-sign columns much earlier than the commonly cited 1930s date.

Ultimately, our conversation highlights how astrology has never been a single, unchanging system, but a dynamic tradition that has always been growing and evolving.