Proctor, Richard A.: The Great Pyramid: observatory, tomb, and temple (New York, 1883)

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ASTROLOGY.

We are apt to speak of astrology as though it
were an altogether contemptible superstition, and
to contemplate with pity those who believed in it
in old times ; and yet, if we consider the matter
aright, we must concede, I think, that of all the
errors into which men have fallen in their desire to
penetrate into futurity, astrology is the most
respectable, one may even say the most reasonable.
Indeed, all other methods of divination of which I
have ever heard are not worthy to be mentioned in
company with astrology, which, delusion though
it was, had yet a foundation in thoughts well
worthy of consideration. The heavenly bodies do
rule the fates of men and nations in the most un-
mistakable manner, seeing that without the con-
trolling and beneficent influences of the chief
among these orbs—the sun—every living creature
on the earth must perish. The ancients perceived
that the moon has so potent an influence on our
world, that the waters of the ocean rise and fall in
unison with her apparent circling motion round