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This article discusses the book "A Fourteenth-Century Chronologer and Critic of Astrology: Heinrich Selder's Treatise on the Time of the Lord's Annunciation, Nativity, and Passion" by Philipp Nothaft. The book examines a biblical chronology text written between 1371 and 1379, attributing it to Heinrich Selder. The text offers rigorous and astronomically sound elements to support its arguments, including the use of dated eclipses. It also includes a rich criticism of astrology, which predates famous anti-astrological texts of the early modern period. The book provides valuable insights into the history of biblical chronology and astrology in the Latin medieval, Christian context. [Extracted from the article]

What did science make possible for colonial rule? How was science in turn marked by the knowledge and practices of those under colonial rule? Here I approach these questions via the social history of Madras Observatory. Constructed in 1791 by the East India Company, the observatory was to provide local time to mariners and served as a clearinghouse for the company's survey and revenue administration. The astronomical work of Madras' Brahmin assistants relied upon their knowledge of jyotiśāstra [Sanskrit astronomy/astrology], and can be seen as a specialized form of the kind of South Indian scribal labor and knowledge that also staffed the company's tax offices. If at Greenwich the division of labor meant observatory work bore resemblances to the factory and the accounts office, in Madras, astronomy and accounting drew on similar labor forms because they were part of the same enterprise. But the company did not just adapt preexisting forms of labor, it also attempted to produce its own at a school built near the observatory to train "half-caste" orphans as apprentice surveyors and assistant computers. The school, staffed by the Brahmins, drew upon knowledge and pedagogical practice associated with the tinnai, the schools in which upper-caste children learned to read, write, and calculate. For a time, the observatory's social order was literally "half-caste." The paper also considers how the relationship between caste, status, and instrument was reflected in the visual and material culture of the observatory, such as in Indian-language inscriptions on its central pillar. For company astronomers, the measurement of time meant reworking the relationships among the Indian past, the colonial present, and an imperial posterity. Science under colonial rule spanned multiple temporal and social registers because it was the result of negotiations between the demands of political economy and the knowledge and practices of colonized others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the long history of feng shui belief and practice in Chinese culture, and its spread worldwide in the past half century. It shows that commitment to the peculiar qi or chi entity is central to feng shui and more generally to traditional Chinese writings on medicine, astrology, philosophy, politics, literature, natural philosophy and science. Despite their centrality and omnipresence, chi claims have rarely been scientifically appraised. This is, in part, because they are stated so vaguely and mysteriously that no definite test is possible. This paper examines, and refutes, the claims of one rare but well-credentialled, multi-university-based research programme affirming the reality of chi. The paper shows that the cost of seriously endorsing a chi-based explanation of any putative effect is a rejection of the entire ontological, epistemological and methodological edifice of modern science. Chi explanations are incompatible with both a methodological and an ontological naturalist understanding of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines how the scarcely discussed problem of force obstruction contributed to shaping Kepler's concept of force, that is, the question whether corporeal forces are blocked when an intermediate body is interposed between the force source and the target body. We explore the role played by this problem in Kepler's works, focusing on his Optics, Foundations of Astrology, Astronomia Nova and Epitome. While the problem is instrumental in abandoning an initially physicalistic framework for astrology, Kepler attempts at different solutions when discussing the forces responsible for planetary motion. These forces are first modelled upon light, and then magnetism (and gravity). However, after considering several ways to get rid of the problem, he is eventually unable to decide why observable effects of obstruction are usually absent. So he accepts this absence at face value, similarly to Newton in his most relevant passages, allowing for a new ontological category that is physical on the one hand, but non-material on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This roundtable brings together contributions from nine senior, mid-career and junior scholars who work on the history of science in pre-1800 Islamicate societies. The contributions reflect upon some of the challenges that have historically constrained the subfield, how they have sought to overcome them, and what they see as some of the more productive and fruitful turns the field has taken and/or should take in the future. A central trend in all contributions is how they seek to confront the combined weight of colonialism, Orientalism, and the teleological history of science that continues to haunt contemporary discussions in both academia and the general public with regards to science in pre-1800 Islamicate societies. Without diminishing the pioneering achievements of the generations of historians who have preceded us, and upon whose work we continue to rely, this combined weight has tended a) to marginalize the study of occult sciences in Islamicate societies; b) to emphasize investigations of content from an etic perspective of how we got to the present, which is primarily seen as how the scientific content is connected to the rise of modern science in Europe; and c) to concomitantly marginalize the study of science in post-1200 Islamicate societies, particularly those with little to no connection to the rise of "Western" science. The contributions build upon conversations that took place among participants in December 2019 at a workshop at New York University (NYU), Abu Dhabi Institute in New York City, funded by a grant from NYU Abu Dhabi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Newlywed couples in Telangana perform various rituals to get blessed with children, which usually take place soon after marriage. In the absence of immediate conception, the couple is advised by the extended family to perform specific rituals to appease fertility gods. This article attempts to document fertility rituals in the Telangana region and the crucial ways in which they help men diagnosed with infertility. It will discuss in detail a commonly performed ritual called Balamma. In addition, the article highlights rituals performed to propitiate snakes, the significance of horoscopes, and consultations with local "healer-astrologer-medicine man/woman". The article suggests that the efficacy of these rituals should not be seen in whether they result in procreation. Rather, the main objective of the rituals is to placate the extended patrilineal family and shift attention and blame from the couple to angry supernatural beings. The article establishes the crucial role played by these rituals in safeguarding men diagnosed with infertility, as they are more reluctant than women to discuss their diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algorithmic media have adopted and adapted divinatory practices and vernaculars of prediction, prophecy, probability, fortune-telling and forecasting – suggesting a possible link between artificial intelligence and pre-scientific modes of speculation. Statistical thinking and magical thinking, too, can be recognised as closely correlated epistemological systems for governing societies and ways of life. In fact, primitive astrological practices of looking up at the stars may represent one of the earliest statistical projects involving sophisticated calculations and data sets. Such pattern-making techniques could even be considered precursory to machine learning. As a point of departure for exploring these eclectic relationships between stars and data, magic and machines, I use a media archaeological methodology to question the historical roles of both astrological and computational divination in mediating methods of control, surveillance and knowledge production across transforming societal contexts. This methodology is especially relevant for examining historical narratives in the field of cultural studies as it makes apparent the hyper-connectedness between objects, cultural representation and sites of hegemonic contention. My findings reveal relationships between celestial pattern recognition and efforts to exert control over and manipulate the natural environment and its populations, the historical impact of meteorological and climatological practices for predicting and influencing future events with artificial intelligence, and links between statistics and algorithmic data biases. This article suggests a speculative genealogy of astrology and artificial intelligence, as well as a genealogy of the theological, scientific and machinic unconscious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critically reviewing historiographical approaches that analyzed Kepler's astrology in terms of a clash between nature and culture, she suggests playfulness instead as a key to understanding Kepler's astrological pursuits. The last essay in this rich collection by William Blair sets Kepler's treatise of the "New Star" in the context of modern astronomy and the ways current telescopic observation reveals the secrets of "Kepler's supernova remnant." This collection of essays successfully places Kepler's treatise I De stella nova i in various intellectual contexts and clarifies its central role in shaping early modern astronomy. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Interest in astrology has surged recently, possibly due to the uncertain conditions in the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While belief in astrology is common and socially legitimized in many cultures, a few instances of excessive engagement with astrological services or "fortune-telling addiction" are indicating a risk of adverse mental health consequences. Aim: To understand the existing research base on correlates of belief in astrology and fortune-telling. Method: We have carried out a scoping review to synthesize the available literature base on belief in astrology and to review the evidence for "fortune-telling addiction" using Arksey and O'Malley's methodological framework. Databases of PubMed, ProQuest, EBSCO, and SCOPUS were searched for relevant studies published in peer-reviewed journals. Results: The search findings revealed the association of belief in astrology with cognitive, personality, and psychological factors such as thinking style, self-concept verification, and stress. Case studies on "fortune-telling addiction" have conceptualized it as a possible behavioral addiction and have reported symptoms such as distress, cravings, and salience. Conclusions: However, further research on the condition along with its psychosocial determinants is necessary for the development of preventative and curative intervention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second, when Thomas recognizes the validity of the predictions of farmers, sailors, and physicians, he is not really talking about astrology. 4 enters practical astrology through an analysis of the anonymous I Speculum astronomiae i and Bacon's I Opus maius i (part IV); Albert the Great, DR notes, devoted only 5% of his writings to this topic. Drawing on these and other writings of Thomas Aquinas, DR asks: "I wonder if Thomas personally held a more expansive view about practical astrology, but did not feel comfortable expressing it. DR writes that "Thomas directly offers support for broader based social and political predictions derived from general astrology or revolutions, but also (and perhaps inadvertently) from nativities" (p. 194). [Extracted from the article]

While the clay used to write cuneiform tablets is well suited to impressing the wedges of cuneiform signs it is not an ideal medium for the curved lines and detailed marks needed to create illustrative diagrams of the heavens well known in neighboring cultures. Yet, in a selection of examples, cuneiform scholars of astronomy and astrology used clay to sketch out complex diagrams of celestial arrangements and schematic representations of astrological concepts. This article will survey the corpus of astronomical and astrological diagrams preserved from cuneiform sources and summarize key observations about the relation of diagrams to texts and tablets and the representation of theoretical knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a previous issue of this journal (53/1), M. Escolano-Poveda published four elaborate demotic-hieratic horoscopes from Athribis. Three of the texts are new (O.Athribis 17-36-5/1741), and the fourth is reedited (ANAsh.Mus.D.O. 633). The present paper engages with two features of these texts. The first concerns the synchronization of the lunar and civil calendars. The editor of the horoscopes claims that the year count as it appears in the Greek P.Ryl. IV 589 is the basis for the correlation between the two calendars in these texts, but this paper shows that the Athribis horoscopes follow the cycle according to the scheme found in P.Carlsberg 9. The second issue is the nature of eight entities listed after the four cardinal points. Escolano-Poveda interprets them as an idiosyncratic system of arranging the places (in Greek, typically τόποι) in the Dodecatropos. Several of the readings for the names of these eight entities, however, must be revised, which leads in turn to a reconsideration of the identification as places. They are better understood as astrological lots (in Greek, typically κλῆροι), and the system partially overlaps with the one known from the canonical Hellenistic astrologers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no reference to a ninth sphere in the I Almagest i but a number of Arabic and Jewish scholars believed that Ptolemy thought there were nine spheres. In his lead-in paper, "The Ancient Ptolemy", Alexander Jones seeks to present Ptolemy "in the round" and begins by asking which "Ptolemaic" works Ptolemy wrote. But when Ptolemy criticizes some astrological theories Pico uses Ptolemy the astronomer to add weight to the criticisms. The section on Greek and Near Eastern Traditions closes with Boyadar Dimitrov's "'Fort.recte': Witnesses to the Text of Ptolemy's I Tetrabiblos i in Its Near Eastern Transmission", which considers a "fragmentarily preserved, possibly pre-Islamic Syriac translation" of Ptolemy's classic work on astrology (p. 97). [Extracted from the article]

By the late Qing dynasty, Western scientific learning had been disseminated among the Chinese literati. However, astronomical knowledge was still interpreted in the traditional Chinese astrological manner and served as an instrument in political affairs, especially in times of crisis. This paper examines controversies over astronomical observations between the proponents of traditional astrology and Western learning by presenting two cases of comet sightings. The first case is of a comet sighting between 1880 and 1882, and the second is of comets sighted before the Chinese Revolution of 1911. The reasons for the recurrence of ancient cometary prognostication in the early 20th century, when modern knowledge of comets was widespread in China, were explored as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the edition of three new horoscopes from Athribis in Upper Egypt (O. Athribis 17-36-5/1741), and the reedition of ANAsh.Mus.D.O.633, identified as part of the same group of horoscopes originating from Athribis. The first three horoscopes date to the reign of Augustus (27, 21, and 6 BCE), and the Ashmolean text to year 8 of Cleopatra, 44 BCE. The Athribis group constitutes the earliest attestation of horoscopes from Egypt. They include the date of birth, name, and origin of the native, entries for the two luminaries and the planets, and the position of the four cardines and Places. Relevant features not commonly present in other Demotic horoscopes are a series of lunar dates following the 25-year cycle of P. Rylands IV 589, the complete listing of the Places, Term rulers in the longitudes, and a short phrase that may be connected to the calculation of the length of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article concerns three archaeologically recovered circular bronze objects found at Gallo-Roman (first century BC–fourth century AD) sites in France. Through comparisons with other more or less contemporary objects of known function, it is argued that one of these disks definitely, and another likely, belonged to gearwork devices for keeping track of simple chronological cycles, while the third belonged to a clepsydra of a type recognized only recently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a proposal is made that the Anonymous Commentary to Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos (Anon. in Ptol.) was composed not before 467 and not after 575 AD. In establishing the terminus post quem and the terminus ante quem, the Author relies on astronomical data provided by the Anonymous himself in his commentary to Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos (=Ptol. Tetr.) II.10 (p. 76, ll. 16-29 Wolf). In this passage, he reports that his master completely succeeded in interpreting the appearance of a celestial beam (δοκός) as a sign of a great loss of trunks, after which a naval battle took place where many ships were sunk; moreover, the master of the anonymous commentator predicted that the comet would remain visible until the end of Mercury's retrogradation, and so it happened. As will be seen below, it is possible to crosscheck all this data to obtain a precise date of the comet's appearance: 467 AD, 1 year before the naval battle of Cape Bon (468 AD). These years are also consistent with the dating that can be obtained from one of the horoscopes transmitted by the anonymous commentary (p. 98 Wolf), which corresponds to a birth that actually took place in Lower Egypt on 25 June 448 AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries Qing officials in China periodically instructed their Mongolian subordinates to make maps of the regions they governed. The Qing were aiming thereby to gain information about the Empire, but the Mongols had other concerns. This article focuses on Mongolian map-making practice and argues that it differed from that prevalent at the time in both China and Russia. Concerned less with conveying practical information than with locating the domain in a cosmological understanding of the world, the Mongol maps were holistic. They were also both 'participatory', involving several different actors in their compilation, and 'relational', concerned to demonstrate the stance of the map-making subject in relation to the map's receiver (the office of the Lifanyuan and ultimately, the Qing Emperor). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of memory techniques in medieval astronomy. Using a mnemonic written by a Franciscan friar c. 1330 as a case study, it shows how astronomers and astrologers simplified the sky for practical purposes, using verses and codes to make their science memorable. The article decodes the mnemonic and its underlying astronomical data, assessing its usefulness, memorability and adaptability alongside some other popular astronomical and calendrical mnemonics of the later Middle Ages. It argues that astronomical learning could be a creative, playful activity. And it situates the astrological practices of this particular friar, who made wide-ranging annotations in a 13th-century astronomical compendium, within the scientific and educational traditions of his order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By 1600 Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II was still unmarried and therefore without an heir apparent. Rudolf was pressured to name a successor, who could take over as long as there was no direct heir. The obvious choice would have been one of this brothers, Archduke Albert VII of Austria among them. Through the meddling of Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, Archbishop of Salzburg, Tycho Brahe became a pawn in a power play between the brothers of Rudolf II. Two letters of Tycho Brahe to Albert reveal how deeply he was involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The text corrects Garin's edition on virtually every page, and Topp's edition is especially strong in identifying the many sources on which Pico draws. As Benjamin Topp rightly points out, Garin's edition fails to meet the standards of a reliable modern edition. Third, Topp determines Pico's intended title for the book, which differs somewhat from the title that later traditions (including Garin's edition) settled on. [Extracted from the article]

Kirch has long deserved an independent biography; a better biographer than Klaus-Dieter Herbst could not be imagined. Herbst has written a biography overflowing of details, so many that readers at times may be overwhelmed, especially by the treatment of the two dozen calendar series that Kirch authored. In this chapter Herbst presents Kirch as an early Enlightenment figure, criticizing astrology but retaining "natural astrology" for weather prediction, agricultural fertility, and medicine. [Extracted from the article]

This article introduces various definitions and criteria for the astronomical phenomena of "encroachments" (close lunar and planetary conjunctions) in pre-modern China. With improvements in observations and mathematical astronomy, the standard of encroachments began to undergo many changes leading to more precise explanations of the phenomena. Before the adoption of Huihui Lifa (Islamic-Chinese calendrical astronomy), traditional Chinese methods could not predict the phenomena of encroachments, and records of encroachments were mainly based on actual observations. These records abound in Chinese dynastic histories, and they play an essential role in the interpretation of astrological omens. In the first half of the seventeenth century, the prediction of encroachments became an effective approach for examining the accuracy of different elements of calendrical astronomy besides solar and lunar eclipses. In the meantime, with the introduction of western astronomical knowledge into China, people had a better understanding of the principle of encroachments, and they began to question its rationality in astrology. Moreover, new knowledge of encroachments also brought new insights and inspired some philosophical discussions on the structure of the cosmos. However, these new astronomical methods still served the old astrology, due to the continued requirements that astronomers interpret astrological omens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

XX.22 is certainly very close to the Latin model which could have inspired this Italian translation (as attested by many common lessons and errors) but is not necessarily its direct source, contrary to what Calcagno claims (pp. 36-43). The edition of the text proposed by Calcagno (pp. 49-128) has the advantage of being faithful to the precise order of presentation of this codex, where the heading I Incomincia el libro delle Cento Parole di Ptholommeo i is followed, as is the case in many Latin manuscripts of the I Centiloquium i , not by the translation of this text itself, but by that of the two appendices corresponding to the I Trutina Hermetis i and the I De cometis i . XX.22 (pp. 21-47), a Latin manuscript from the beginning of the 14th century that belonged to a member of the Florentine oligarchy, Gino di Neri di Gino Capponi (d. 1487), which has been shown by L. Mainini to be the Latin copy of the I Centiloquium i and of two other astrological texts on which the anonymous translator of MS Palatino 641 may have worked. [Extracted from the article]

Astrology, its legitimacy, and the limits of its acceptable practice were debated in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe. Many of the related arguments were mediated by the work of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and the responses to it. Acknowledging the complexities of the relationship between astrological ideas and Christian teachings, this paper focuses on the Catholic debates by specifically considering the decisions about astrology taken by the Spanish Inquisition. The trials of astrologers are examined with the aim of understanding the role of experts in astrology in early modern Spain. This study brings into view the specific nature of the debate on astrology in Spain, the consequences of the actions of the Inquisition and the social control it exerted. The historical events discussed comprise a particular case and also mirror the general debates about astrology taking place in early modern Europe. The experts’ opinions expressed in trials and in reports about the discipline received by the Inquisition reveal two key traits of the debate: the dispute about who had the authority to decide on the legitimacy of astrology and the disagreement about what constituted natural and judicial astrological practices. These led to different opinions about what was to be done with each defendant and about what content in their books ought to be forbidden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English popular science was more than a mid-nineteenth century phenomenon, whether defined as practical, utilitarian and comprehensible knowledge, or as a nexus of ¡deas, rhetoric and practice. All these criteria were fulfilled in four Stationers’ Company almanacs for forty years by Henry Andrews, an astronomer, mathematician, astrologer and meteorologist. Andrews employed these as instruments for an extensive campaign in the history of science education devised to acquaint working class readers with the key figures, ideas and methodologies of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Google Ngram Viewer shows the frequency of words in a large corpus of books over two centuries. In this study, the names of two pseudosciences, astrology and phrenology, were compared. An interesting pattern emerged. While the level of interest in astrology remained relatively stable over the course of two centuries, interest in phrenology rose rapidly in the early 1800s but then declined. Reasons for this pattern are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important text to shed light on the reception of the Alfonsine Tables during the early-to-mid-fourteenth century is the Expositio tabularum Alfonsii, a trenchant critique of their parameters written in Paris in 1347 and variously attributed to Henri Bate, John of Murs, or Geoffrey of Meaux. The article provides the first in-depth analysis of this hitherto neglected text, showing how it can offer new insights into late medieval thought about the role and foundations of computational astronomy and the transmission of Alfonsine astronomy from Spain to France. It also addresses the question of authorship. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the first half of the 17th century, Dutch astronomers rapidly abandoned the practice of astrology. By the second half of the century, no trace of it was left in Dutch academic discourse. This abandonment, in its early stages, does not appear as the result of criticism or skepticism, although such skepticism was certainly known in the Dutch Republic and leading humanist scholars referred to Pico’s arguments against astrological predictions. The astronomers, however, did not really refute astrology, but simply stopped paying attention to it, as other questions (in particular the constitution of the universe) became the focus of their scholarship. The underlying physical view of the world, with its idea of celestial influences, remained in vigor much longer. Even convinced anti-Aristotelians, in explaining the world, tried to account for the effects of the oppositions and conjunctions of planets, and similar elements. It is only with Descartes that the by now widespread skepticism about predictions found expression in a philosophy that denied celestial influence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although astrological divinations, demonstrations of psychic powers and the teachings of non-conventional and New Age spirituality have had a ubiquitous presence in the Australian print and broadcast media for almost a century, they have attracted scant attention from media scholars. This article surveys the history of astrological and psychic content in the Australian media from the 1920s, arguing that such content generated new genres of programming and entertainment, and challenged the established authority of religion and scientific knowledge in the public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a medieval astronomical table on planetary velocity, or the unequal motion of the planets, with focus given to the astrological implications of a column titled "Dieta lunae in circulo signorum" ("Daily progress of the Moon on the zodiacal circle"). The authors argue that the column is unrelated to the Moon's motion and does not necessarily fit in a table on planetary motion. Also addressed is the impact of ancient astronomer Ptolemy's work "Tetrabiblos" on the table

The article discusses engraved Hellenistic ivory plaques depicting zodiacal symbols excavated from Croatia's Nakovana Cave in 2000. The author first describes the excavation of the archaeological site, with emphasis given to the use of wet-sieving to retrieve materials. It is concluded that these ivory plaques represent pieces of an ancient astrologer's board, which was used to understand horoscopes. The plaques are dated to the mid-first century BCE and assumed to have been produced in late Ptolemaic Egypt. The author connects these plaques to the imposition of Greco-Roman culture in Dalmatia during this period.

Citizens in both North America and Europe are apt to read horoscope columns in newspapers and magazines. While some people read these casually and purely for entertainment, some believe that astrology has scientific status and can provide real insight into events and personality. Using data from a European survey, this article explores some of the reasons why some people think that astrology is scientific and how astrology is viewed in relation to other knowledge-producing practices. Three hypotheses in particular are tested. The first is that some Europeans lack the necessary scientific literacy to distinguish science from pseudoscience. The second is that people are confused about what astrology actually is. The third is derived from Adorno’s work on authoritarianism and the occult and postulates that those who adhere to authoritarian values are more likely to believe in astrological claims. Support is found for all three hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article examines the written discourse between astronomers Johannes Kepler and Helisaeus Roeslin regarding comets and novae that were observed in the early 17th century. The author details the astronomers' cosmological and astrological theories on such matters as the movement of the Earth, the presence of the classical elements throughout the universe, and celestial mechanics. The Christian theological implications of both astronomers' cosmologies are detailed, with emphasis given to Roeslin's thoughts on the date of Jesus Christ's birth.

The article discusses the 1541 practica of German astrologer Andreas Aurifaber (1514-1559) and the public transmission of the heliocentric cosmology introduced by Renaissance astronomer Nicolas Copernicus. Practicas were primarily German-language quarto booklets issued annually during the early modern period which presented astrological predictions as well as astronomical predictions such as lunar and solar eclipses. The author explores Aurifaber's relationships with Austrian mathematician Georg Joachim Rheticus and German intellectual Philipp Melanchthon.

The present study examines cross-cultural differences in the Barnum effect. At Stage 1 of the study, 287 respondents (comprising 149 Westerners and 138 Chinese nationals) provided birth details and completed a belief-in-astrology questionnaire. At Stage 2 a week later, 258 of these (130 Westerners, 128 Chinese) then completed a second belief-in-astrology questionnaire before receiving a Barnum profile supposedly derived from either Western or Chinese astrology, which they rated for, among other things, perceived accuracy (a) for themselves and(b) for other people in general. Preliminary analysis offered initial support for a universal Barnum effect. However, this disappeared after respondent gender, age, general education, and psychological knowledge were controlled for. Further analyses revealed little support for cross-cultural differences in either astrological beliefs or susceptibility to the Barnum effect, although surprisingly, Chinese nationals who believed in astrology did perceive their own (Barnum) profile to be more accurate for people in general than did Chinese skeptics. Finally, Barnum acceptance was not influenced by the apparent source of profiles. The role thesefactors play in relation to Barnum susceptibility and methodological limitations of the present study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the paper by Mayo, White, and Eysenck in 1978, a considerable number of papers studied the so-called sun-sign-effect predicted by astrology: people born with the sun in a positive sign are supposed to be extraverted, and those with the sun in a negative sign are supposed to be introverted. In these papers, researchers used ad hoc questionnaires with a few questions related to belief, knowledge, experience, or attitude toward astrology. However, an appropriate inventory with known psychometric properties has yet to be developed to assess the belief in astrology. In the present paper, the Belief in Astrology Inventory is presented with some psychometric data. The participants were 743 undergraduates studying Psychology and Social Sciences at a university in Spain. Correlation of scores on Belief in Astrology and Extraversion was small but significant (r=.22; r2=.04) for positive sun-sign participants. This value accounts for negligible common variance. Women had significantly higher scores on the inventory than men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reflects on the first part of the memoirs of a late eighteenth-century Mugbal prince. Mirza 'Ali Bakht Azfari, who was held prisoner in Shahjahanabad-Delhi until well into his adult years. Later, after he had made his escape from there and gone on after long travels to settle in the territories of the Nawwab of Arcot, Azfari had occasion to look back on his days as an imprisoned prince in a sort of gilded cage. His backward glance takes in such questions as astrology, the thaumaturgical character of members of the Mughal lineage, and other issues--some of which are peculiar to him, while others seem to have been shared in the milieu from which he came. The work thus allows us to reflect on the mental world and categories of political reflection of a would-be Mughal statesman, who never quite managed to seize the reins of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the significant reconstruction of how Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus arrived at the heliocentric theory. Interpretation of a set of notes from Uppsala University; Assessment of the foundation of Copernicus' great discovery; Consideration of the geometrical forecast in the Mercury treatise.

Examines the elongated animal figure with two heads in the Munich computus zodiac. Explanation of the figure's position relative to the zodiac with which it appears; Astronomical and computistical importance of the identification of the figure for the history of the Irish and Carolingian schools; Strong textual affinities of the Munich computus with other surviving manuscripts.

Reports on the early attempts to discover stellar parallax. Robert Hooke as the first Copernican to have tried with a telescope to discover annual parallax; Attempts at providing proof of the heliocentric hypothesis; Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher's study of stellar parallax as decisive evidence for the heliocentric model; Galileo Galilei's support to heliocentrism in his "Dialogo"; Lodovico Ramponi's assumption that Galileo had in fact established heliocentrism by detecting the annual parallax of a star; Use of double stars to detect annual parallax.

Attempts to trace Copernicus's path to his cosmology. Assumption that Copernicus rejected the geostatic heliocentric system because he thought it would make Mars's orb intersect the Sun's orb; Description of a mechanically realizable arrangement for the Capellan system; Belief of Copernicus in the physical reality of the heavenly spheres, as his passage in the Letter against Werner and the actions of Tiedemann Giese and Rheticus suggest.

Studies the professional practice of astrology in Greek Egypt in the second century A.D. Difference between the personal astrology of the Babylonians and that of the Greek; Importance of the horoscopes on papyrus for the reconstruction of the ancient practice of astrology; Feature of the Bianchini tablet.

Discusses issues pertaining to the identification of the zodiacal sign of Judea where the Magi would have monitored the Star of Bethlehem. Reason why popular theories of the star advocated incorrect zodiacal signs determined from questionable sources; Importance of implementing well-documented practices of Hellenistic astrologers to deduce what the Magi would have used to monitor events in Judea.