Astrology for a First Lady

Moments in the Flow…an Astrologer’s memoir provokes a question of ethics

Art: Pamela Matthews

Hello again,

There was a post in an Astrology group today that followed an earlier discussion about the astrological relationship between US First Lady Nancy Reagan and her Astrologer, Joan Quigley. The charts show a fated relationship and the power it had over Nancy.

Joan Quigley wrote a memoir, published in January of 1990. What Does Joan Say? gives information about her 7 years as White House Astrologer. The discussion came up because someone posted that in the book she claims she picked the time for the debate between Regan and current President Jimmy Carter. She made sure he would win the debate by choosing a date that had aspects that would throw Carter off and make him seem lesser in the eyes of the public.

Someone on the thread commented that this brings up a question of ethics. But this is a viewpoint from modern times when astrology is everywhere, and countless astrologers are in practice. For most, their clients are regular people who want to know about love, money, jobs, etc.. But it wasn’t always that way.

Historically in the western world Astrologers were used mainly by royalty, heads of state, and the wealthy. This was still the case when Joan was advising Nancy. In my experience, we didn’t have public approval until we found out about this White House relationship. And during that time, we also had the special event called the Harmonic Convergence.

As I said in my last post, I started out at a time when people ridiculed the belief or called it witchcraft. Twice during my first series of lectures in NYC, someone stood up at the back of the room holding a Bible and reading a passage that warns against the evils of prophecy. (Interestingly, the audience handled it both times.)

I had clients, and I lectured and began teaching a few people. But for the most part, I was not promoting myself as an astrologer and didn’t include ‘astrologer’ when meeting someone at a party who’d ask, “what do you do?”.

Then the Harmonic Convergence occurred in 1987 (August 16-17). There was a certain planetary alignment between the Sun Moon and 6 of the 10 planets used at that time. A foremost speaker on the subject was Jose Arguelles, author of the Mayan Factor. This book introduced the Mayan Calendar that pointed to another shift that would follow this convergence in 2012.

He and his wife organized the world’s first Global Peace Meditation. My boyfriend and I attended an event near us. It felt nice but nothing startling happened. Until I noticed how something changed when I mentioned I was an astrologer. People were excited, interested, wanted to know more and have a reading. And so I would say the Harmonic Convergence created a big shift for people’s views of Astrology.

Before this, for those in the category of Presidents, Kings, CEOs of major corporations, the focus of their readings concerned matters of state and finance. Royal houses might seek information about suitable people to marry, but not on the same emotional level as we would have. Their object was to maintain power, popularity, and potential growth. So, the matter of ethics had not been introduced into the study of astrology until the focus shifted to working with the public.

It became important to professional astrologers that a code of ethics was followed. A primary principle was to tell the truth and not to manipulate the client’s behavior, make them dependent on you, or predict things that could cause emotional trauma for the person.

My astrology teacher told me it was unethical to ever predict death…of the client or others they are concerned about. Good reasons for that include the emotional disturbance for the person and, most importantly, it’s easier to see the aspects pointing to death after the fact. There is no set rule that states ‘when you see this it means death’ nor is there absolute insight into the life contract of a person’s soul.

Other Famous People Who Had Astrologers

Elizabeth I

Many people are now aware that during the reign of Elizabeth I, she had an astrologer, the Renaissance ‘magician’, John Dee. He would be charged with finding good times for various things or times to be careful, too. I would imagine he and Elizabeth’s ‘handler’ for 40 years, William Cecil, might have reason to consult each other.

William Cecil, left John Dee, right

Elizabeth was saved from many assassination attempts (aimed at putting a Catholic back on the throne) and to prevent this, Cecil had created the largest spy network ever known. But Elizabeth’s chart could also contain clues to when she was most vulnerable.

Adolph Hitler

The occult and the gathering of spiritually powerful objects factor into the life of Hitler and the Nazi Regime. An astrologer named Karl Ernst Krafft was used as a secret agent, reporting to England and giving bad advice on the timing for attacks including invading Russia. The British also hired their own astrologer.

Louis de Wohl

“Because Allied intelligence feared the Nazis were making strategic moves based on planetary aspects, the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and MI5 hired a Hungarian astrologer named Louis de Wohl. De Wohl was tasked with predicting Hitler’s movements and creating propaganda to show the American public that the dictator was doomed. He later became well-known for attempting to “shadow” Krafft’s astrological decisions. [The Guardian]

Meanwhile Churchill also consulted Indian astrologers.

An unknown resource reports: “The following exchange was recorded by a British spy in January 1943, days before Field Marshal Paulus surrendered to the Soviets at Stalingrad. The interlocutors are Hitler and his chief astrologer Karl Ernst Krafft (a former astrologer, Hanussen had died in 1933, possibly on the orders of Goebbels or Goering, but I suspect the reliability would be the same):

“What do your informants say about Stalingrad?”

Krafft raises his head and shouts:

“HEY, WHAT ABOUT STALINGRAD?!”

After a short silence:

“Well?”

“The battle is won, there is nothing to worry about.”

This was Krafft’s chance to create a serious downfall for Hitler’s army. They lost many men in fighting and succumbing to starvation on the marches in snow and freezing temperatures. Hitler was humiliated at having to surrender in Stalingrad.

And after Stalingrad Krafft was arrested by the Gestapo and incarcerated in a concentration camp. On route from one camp to another, he supposedly contracted typhus and died in January of 1945.

I have often thought there is a “Metaphysical History of the World” that remains unknown. In it I believe we would find a lot more information like this.

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

As always, I welcome your comments and questions. A tap on the heart icon will let me know you liked this post. You are welcome to restack or share so others can read it, too.

Note: Check the current Moondays Report for information about Sunday’s Gemini New Moon and Venus entering Leo. The Moondays Report on July 14^th will have information about Chiron’s shift to Taurus and the Summer Solstice as the Sun enters Cancer, with other information about the week beginning June 15 to June 21st.

See you next time!