The Theosophical Society had a major effect on spiritual pursuits in America as well as abroad. It’s inclusive doctrine of eastern philosophy and occult studies reached far and wide, well beyond the official membership of the Society. Theosophical philosophy rippled out, ushering in an era of alternative (where alternative means ‘non-christian’) spiritual practice, particularly in the west.

One area in which the membership of the Society had an extremely lasting effect was that of astrological practice. The practice and perception of the use of astrology was basically changed forever by Theosophy’s influence, and the reason this occured is rather easy to pinpoint: the work of the astrologer and Theosophist Alan Leo.

We can examine Leo’s contributions on a number of levels, one much more tangible than the other.[i] On the more tangible level, he contributed much in the way of technical developments which allowed astrology to be utilized by the general populus. On a less tangible level, he wove the beliefs of Theosophy into a palatable tapestry with astrology’s techniques and uses, and so doing, inadvertantly set the path for future astrologers. The concept of ‘psychological astrology’ in particular has Leo to thank for its existence.

Theosophy, Blavatsky & Alan Leo

So, we have said that one of Alan Leo’s accomplishments was to weave the beliefs of Theosophy into his astrological technique. Just what were the beliefs of Theosophy which influenced Leo so greatly, and thus affected astrology so much?

The founder of the Theosophical society, and hence, the person most responsible for the beliefs of many of its members, was Helena Blavatsky. In her work, The Secret Doctrine, she draws heavily on Eastern ideas. One concept which became very popular with members, and was touted heavily by Blavatsky, was that of reincarnation, and with it, the idea of Karma. In her work, Blavatsky explains Karma as “a law of retribution.” [ii] Blavatsky sees Karma as the spiritual differentation between the evolution of matter (as in, the physical body), and the evolution of the spiritual self. This is closely related with her idea (taken from Buddhist beliefs) that man is constantly evolving between a more spiritual self and a less spiritual self.

Blavatsky’s writings on the matter are convoluted, but the basic concept which we need to understand here is that Blavatsky taught that man had a spiritual destiny which he carried with him between lifetimes, which was passed on through Karma and reincarnation. When we examine Leo’s astrological approach and its effect on future generations, this belief will become very relevant.

Blavatsky doesn’t say much about astrological technique directly in The Secret Doctrine, though she does address the history of the zodiac, [iii] and the relationship of solar and planetary cycles. A few excerpts of her writing on the topic are below, some of which Leo would later quote in his work Esoteric Astrology[iv]. The following excerpt is edited somewhat for brevity and context:

“... But the chief features of one's life are always in accordance with the "Constellation" one is born under, or, we should say, with the characteristics of its animating principle or the deity that presides over it, whether we call it a Dhyan Chohan, as in Asia, or an Archangel, as with the Greek and Latin churches. In ancient Symbolism it was always the SUN (though the Spiritual, not the visible, Sun was meant), that was supposed to send forth the chief Saviours and Avatars. ...

Yes; "our destiny is written in the stars!" Only, the closer the union between the mortal reflection MAN and his celestial PROTOTYPE, the less dangerous the external conditions and subsequent reincarnations -- which neither Buddhas nor Christs can escape. This is not superstition, least of all is it Fatalism. The latter implies a blind course of some still blinder power, and man is a free agent during his stay on earth. He cannot escape his ruling Destiny, but he has the choice of two paths that lead him in that direction, and he can reach the goal of misery -- if such is decreed to him, either in the snowy white robes of the Martyr, or in the soiled garments of a volunteer in the iniquitous course; for, there are external and internal conditions which affect the determination of our will upon our actions, and it is in our power to follow either of the two. Those who believe in Karma have to believe in destiny, which, from birth to death, every man is weaving thread by thread around himself, as a spider does his cobweb...”

So here we can get a taste of Blavatsky’s writing style, and more importantly, her vehemence about the effects of Destiny and reincarnation. Note that she rejects Fatalism here, but supports the idea of “a ruling Destiny” of man. What’s the difference between the two? She says: “he has the choice of the two paths that lead him in that direction...” implying that man has a choice to build his Karma positively between lifetimes, and follow the spiritual path through directed action.

Leo’s Philosophy

So, we must go into an investigation of Leo’s astrological contribution knowing that his work was influenced heavily by Blavatsky’s beliefs as they are stated in The Secret Doctrine. He put much stock in her ideas, and thus, he needed to approach astrology from a standpoint which allowed free will and the spiritual development that was necessary to achieve one’s karmic destiny.

The tenets of his particular brand of what we may as well call Theosophical Astrology can be found scattered throughout his work Esoteric Astrology.[v] Why “esoteric” astrology? The dictionary definition of the word ‘esoteric’ – something secret or private – doesn’t really apply to the Theosophical use of the word. Blavatsky used the terms ‘esoteric’ and ‘exoteric’ to describe the duality between the spiritual world and the physical world. That which is ‘esoteric’ is subtle and spiritual, related to inner development. That which is exoteric is external, tangible, related more to circumstance. The combination of the two makes up a whole person, according to Theosophical beliefs.

Up until Leo’s time, astrology was practiced in what Leo would refer to as a solely exoteric way:

completely based on physical (rather than spiritual) observation. He says it best himself in the introduction to Esoteric Astrology:

“Esoteric Astrology deals with the abstract cause, the philosophy and the inner or more subtle point of view; whilst Exoteric Astrology is content with the effect, the practice, and the concrete or outer expression, preferring the more tangible and evident to the speculative and theoretical.” [vi]

By this quote it would seem as if Leo would go on to say that his form of astrology, Esoteric Astrology, serves to be only spiritual in nature, but rather, he states that the it is the goal of the Esoteric astrologer to serve both sides of this duality. [vii] Further, and very relevantly in the context of his Theosophical influence, he says:

“The Esoteric Astrologer looks upon the whole expression of life as proceeding from one central and primal source, and therefore seeks to understand the subject from the point of view of the One flowing into the many.”

Curry desribes Leo’s approach well by saying “...astrology supplied a symbolic key to the individiuals temperament (the prime circumstance for the present life) and thereby both the traces of his or her past and the possibilities for future development.”[viii] This description not only applies to Leo’s form of astrology, but to what we now call “psychological astrology” in modern applications.

Part of Leo’s purpose for using astrology to examine the spiritual path of the subject was certainly in order to help the subject choose the proper path in this lifetime. Reincarnation, and it’s co-hort, Karma,were major aspects of the Theosophical worldview, as we’ve seen. Through the examination of the spiritual opportunities of the subject, Leo’s Esoteric Astrology existed as an aid to Karma and Reincarnation of the individual.

The approach to astrology as a way of looking at the spiritual self and the psychological self, as well as the physical life events of the subject, was brand new. It has become so commonplace in modern astrology that it’s difficult to step back from the concept of ‘spiritual astrology’ in order to understand that Leo must certainly have ‘invented’ it, insofar as such a thing can be invented.

Technical Developments

There have been many astrologers with unique and new viewpoints in the history of astrology, but some of Leo’s particular views have permeated modern astrology as we know it. This is probably at least partially because the effect of the Theosophical Society was so far reaching that the general public (who were soon to be Leo’s audience) was ready to ingest at least some astrological concepts. However, the means by which Leo found himself offering delineations to clients inadvertantlky placed him prominently as one of the founders of modern psychological astrology, and especially as the father of the type of astrology known to the general public in the west through modern times.

In November 1889, Leo was deeply entrenched in the Theosophical Society. At this time, he and a fellow Theosophist, F. W. Lacey, founded a magazine aimed at providing astrological ideas to the general public. It was called, simply, The Astrologer’s Magazine. [ix] The magazine was successful, in part because it aimed to present a less scientific and clinical view point of astrology. An important aspect of the magazine’s offering was that it included a promise of a free horoscope to each new subscriber. This no doubt drew in subscribers (approx 1500 in the first year alone [x]), but more importantly, the vast work involved with writing out these chart interpretations gave rise to one of Leo’s more important technical contributions to astrology.

Leo found himself inundated with requests for chart intepretations and personalized horoscopes. A few years later, he began charging for the horoscopes that he mailed off to clients, but he was still very much overworked as he attempted to write back to each person who sent an inquiry. He would do each deliniation by hand, interpreting them and dictating the intepretation to his secretary.

Ten years into this endeavor, with no sign of the work slowing, Leo and his secretary came up with a very useful solution.[xi] They realized that Leo was basically repeating similar intepretations of the placements in each horoscope: For example, a inquiry from someone with the Sun in Aries would cause the same meaning and interpretation to be sent as had been done for the last person who had the Sun in Aries. This idea is commonplace to astrologers (and to the general public who reads the horoscopes in the paper) now. But at the time, it was a very helpful revelation to Leo that he could simply write a single interpretation for, say, the Moon in Pisces, and make a copy of it to send to anyone who happened to have the Moon in Pisces in their horoscope.

This revelation, beyond solving a number of clerical issues for Leo, was basically the birth of what we now see in nearly every modern book on Astrology: the canned or ‘cookbook’ intepretation of various planetary placements in an individual’s birth chart. The simplest example of this is the proliferation of sun-sign astrology columns in newspapers and magazines. It can be said that without Leo’s compartmentalization of astrological interpretation, these columns would never be possible.

Of course, it was not just that Leo found a way t o simply the delineations he was providing to his customers, but that his magazines and other publications served to supply easy to understand astrological lessons to the interested public. Beyond sending out his horoscopes via mail, he also offered pocket manuals [xii] and very popular “test horoscopes” through advertisements in papers. This is the first example of an astrologer offering simplified astrological readings to the public, a practice which continues to this day. Leo also authored numerous manuals on astrology, including a series called Astrology for All, of which his work Esoteric Astrology was only one volume. The title of the series accurately desribes Leo’s ambitious (and successful) attempt to provide astrological education to the common man.

Finally

Without the influence of Theosophy’s Eastern and spiritualist doctrines, Alan Leo, and astrologers who followed him, would not have been inspired to create a more spiritually oriented form of astrological practice. In addition, the influence of Theosophy and spiritualism on the population provided a fertile ground for Leo’s efforts to popularize astrology. These two things – Theosophical beliefs and Leo’s populist approach – served to indelibly mark the future of astrology in the western world.