William Lilly and His Book Christian Astrology

Episode 221 of the podcast features an interview with Nina Gryphon about the famous 17th century astrologer William Lilly and his book Christian Astrology.

Lilly published Christian Astrology in 1647, and it was the first major textbook on astrology that was written in English. Most western astrological texts were written in Latin up until that point in history.

The book has had a deep and enduring impact on astrology in the west over the past few centuries since it was published, and Lilly is usually regarded as one of the most influential figures in the western astrological tradition.

Nina has been studying Lilly’s work for the past two decades, and in this episode we provide a detailed overview of his life and work.

For more information about Nina check out her website NinaGryphon.com

This episode is available in both audio and video versions. You will find links to each at the bottom of the page, just after the episode outline and gallery.

Episode Outline and Show Notes

Here is an outline of the main points we touched on in this episode. This is an edited version of our show notes, which Chris and Nina collaborated on before recording the episode.

* William Lilly (1602-1681).

* One of the most prominent and influential astrologers of the 17th century.

* Worked as a practicing and consulting astrologer in London most of his adult life.

* Doing many consultations per day, for rich and poor, as evidenced by casebooks.

* Wrote the first major English language textbook on astrology.

* Christian Astrology was first published in 1647.

* Important because in England prior to this, astrological literature was in Latin.

* Inaccessible to all but a small minority with a classical education.

* Only prior English text was a short treatise on medical astrology.

* Miscellaneous almanacs or predictive texts.

* Inspired a number of key astrological writers to write in English:

* Nicolas Culpeper, John Gadbury, William Ramesey, Joseph Blagrave, etc.

* Also translated Anima Astrologiae: A Guide for Astrologers (1676).

* Excerpts from Guido Bonattti and Gerolamo Cardano.

* Discussed with Nina previously in episode 108 on Bonatti’s considerations.

* Continued to be highly influential after his death, in various forms.

* Was involved in publishing almanacs; publishing 36 (1647–1682).

* He was easily the best-selling almanac writer of his time in England.

* Selling more than 30,000 almanacs each year.

* Almanacs contained weather predictions, political predictions for England and elsewhere, and some astrological text for instruction.

* Perhaps his most famous prediction was that of the Great Fire of London of 1666.

* Was involved in the politics of his day.

* Strongly pro-parliament/anti-monarchist, though consulted with powerful people in both camps, going as far as advising Jane Whorwood, one of the King’s confidants, in helping the King make his escape from the locations where held by Parliamentary forces (King did not listen).

* Employed as propagandist via his almanacs, leaflets, and other publications, in an astrological context.

* Always a question of how much he honestly saw astrologically, and how much was propaganda favoring the Parliament’s cause.

* Christian Astrology: scope and contents

* Divided into three books.

* Book 1: Basics of astrology