A British member of Parliament, from the Conservative Party, is creating a stir by advocating the utility of astrology, especially relating to national health care. He recently told the House of Commons: “I am absolutely convinced that those who look at the map of the sky for the day that they were born and receive some professional guidance will find out a lot about themselves and it will make their lives easier.” He specifically mentioned Iahiri, the “Indian astrological system used by to aid the nation’s government,” according to the British newspaper report.
There’s been some mockery of the parliamentarian’s affinity for astrology, but no doubt he has plenty of admirers as well. Some polls of Americans show that about 25 percent have some regard for astrology. Perhaps many, or most, just see it as a harmless indulgence, while others ascribe to it more importance.
Among the latter, some will recall, was First Lady Nancy Reagan. Piqued by his ouster from the Reagan Administration in the wake of the Iran-Contra affair, former White House Chief of Staff and Treasury Secretary Don Regan penned an acid memoir relating that Nancy had intensely consulted a California astrologer for years to counsel on her husband’s schedule. Her dependence on the astrologer intensified after the 1981 assassination attempt. Regan, who found Nancy to be difficult in multiple ways, thought arranging the President’s travels based on astrology absurd, but he complied.
Regan’s book at the end of the Reagan Administration created a stir, of course. President Reagan, when pressed for his views about astrology, largely demurred, refusing to disavow his wife’s practices, while also declining to acclaim them. The episode recalled First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln’s dependence on mediums, especially after the second death of a beloved son, whom she desperately sought to contact. Reputedly her husband attended some seances, although more skeptically. Eventually, the medium was directly exposed as a charlatan in the Lincolns’ presence, according to the story, although it’s not entirely clear whether Mary completely lost faith in talking with the dead.
Mary was a devout, lifelong Presbyterian, and Presbyterians with all branches of Christianity disapprove of necromancy, which the Scriptures forbid. Evidently her desperation as a bereaved mother overrode her faith convictions. Necromancy was popular in her day, especially among the upper classes, who thought it a novelty. The Civil War’s death toll likely increased its popularity.
Like Mary, Nancy was also brought up Presbyterian, although she has been reticent about her faith. A Time magazine article about the astrology brouhaha contrasted her with her husband, who had a lifelong deep faith in Providence, inherited from his pious mother. Nancy’s beliefs were more haphazard, accumulated over a choppy life. Evangelist Billy Graham, who was close to both Reagans, phoned her after the astrology story broke, befuddled by her astrological interest. But Nancy seems never to have fully disavowed soothsaying as at least a helpful tool in navigating difficult waters.
The Time magazine piece at that time noted that Reagan’s Christian admirers connected to his faith but not so much to Nancy’s, who was to them more nebulous. But she won points near the end of her White House years when she and her husband addressed a rally of Evangelical students. She tearfully recalled that a letter to her dying step father from President Reagan urging him to trust The Lord had moved her spiritually uneasy step-father, who had lost his Christian faith as a child due to a dishonest pastor, to summon a hospital chaplain, finding spiritual peace before his death.
Christianity sees astrology at variance with trusting The Lord, who presides over creation and doesn’t outsource His authority to inanimate objects, least of all stars and the planets, which are to Him mere footstools. Hundreds of millions of people around world, perhaps billions, look to the stars and other aspects of the occult for guidance, for reassurance, for protection and for hoped for windows into the future. Against the pagan alternatives, Christianity built a new civilization rejecting magic and the occult in favor of a rational universe created by God, fallen and in rebellion against Him, yet still ultimately governed by Him. Looking to the stars, or speaking to the dead, rejects God’s authority in favor of a more spiritually defused cosmos, premised not on love but on power, secret formulas and incantations.
Where Christendom recedes, there inevitably will be new public openness to the occult and to magic as reasonable options, even in public policy. No civilization can long remain secular, because humanity is innately spiritual and will find guidance, if not in The Lord, then in alternatives like the occult, which is ultimately worship or at least veneration of the creation.
Interestingly, as much of the West secularizes towards openness towards the occult, hundreds of millions in lands where natural religion and the occult had ruled are now turning to Christianity. They still very much believe in a spirit world, but they look to the Holy Spirit as their counsel, while rejecting the old animistic and folks ways, mostly if not always, as demonic.
So look for more British politicians to hearken to the stars, only to be chastised by Christianized Africans or Asians for behaving like heathen.
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