Alan Leo

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Alan Leo

Alan Leo (pseudonym, actually William Frederick Allan , born August 7, 1860 in Westminster , England , † August 30, 1917 in Bude , Cornwall , England) was an English author , theosophist and astrologer . He is considered the "father of modern astrology".

Life

Childhood, Professions and Marriage

Alan Leo was born on August 7th, 1860 in Westminster , in the center of London, into poor conditions. After attending primary school, from 1876 he worked with little success as a textile dealer, in a drugstore , for a grocer and as a seller of sewing machines and sweets. In addition to other, mostly equally unsuccessful casual jobs, he was often unemployed.

On September 23, 1895, he married Ada Elizabeth Murray Phillips , later known as Bessie Leo (1858-1931). They met when Bessie ordered a horoscope from Leo and was so enthusiastic about it that she then sought personal contact with him. It is unclear whether they had children.

The astrologer

In 1885 he got to know astrology , later he changed his name to Alan Leo according to the zodiac sign Leo . Shortly afterwards he joined The Celestial Brotherhood , where he came into deeper contact with astrology as well as occultism , mediumism , numerology and geometry . Together with Frederick Lacey he founded Astrologer's Magazine on November 21, 1889 . This included a tempting offer: when you subscribed to the paper you got a free horoscope for yourself. Within a year he was able to sell 1,500 subscriptions, an enormous success for the time, in 1895 there were already 4,000.

From 1893, in addition to the free standard horoscope for a fee, he offered a more extensive and detailed calculation, and it became a bestseller. He ran the Astrologer's Magazine alone from 1894 and changed its name to Modern Astrology in July 1895, with the content now being oriented more towards theosophical ideas. Strengthened by his economic success, he founded the Astrological Society on January 14, 1896 in London and in 1898 gave up his already less successful activity as a salesman to devote himself entirely to the commercial sale of horoscopes.

He started a "horoscope company" and his secretary Harold Scrutton had a far-reaching idea. Scrutton noted that the interpretations often contained largely the same texts and that it would make work easier if a standard text could be used for a certain star constellation . This would make the time-consuming reformulation of the interpretations, which had always been necessary up to then, superfluous. Leo immediately took over Scrutton's suggestion and set up a real "horoscope production". For each aspect he designed a standardized text on a separate page and simply stapled these loose sheets together according to the respective horoscope. It can therefore be seen as the forerunner of today's computer horoscopes, which work according to the same system. In 1903 he already employed nine people.

At that time, astrology was sometimes equated with witchcraft and accordingly viewed with suspicion. In 1917 there was a trial against Leo. He was accused of not only describing trends in his horoscopes, but of making a claim. After much back and forth, he was found guilty and sentenced to a fine. Shortly after the trial ended, he died of a cerebral haemorrhage . Numerous supporters of Leo later blamed the unpopular court decision for his untimely death at the age of 57.

His widespread popularization of astrology contributed significantly to its revival in Great Britain. He wrote more than 30 books on astrology, some of which are still considered standard works in this subject.

The theosophist

Through his acquaintance with Sepharial he came into contact with theosophy and in 1890 he joined the Theosophical Society (TG). After the division of the TG in 1895, he followed the Adyar direction and was a member of the Adyar Theosophical Society (Adyar-TG). The influence of theosophy was felt in his astrological works and gave them a spiritual note.

Together with his wife Bessie he traveled to India in 1909 to study Jyotisha (Indian astrology). They also met Annie Besant, the then president of the Adyar-TG. On another trip in 1911, they were one of the first to join the newly established Order of the Star in the East in India . They returned to England with Besant and Jiddu Krishnamurti .

In 1915 Leo founded the Astrological Lodge of the Theosophical Society within the Adyar-TG with his wife Bessie as president. This still exists today under the name Astrological Lodge of London , but independently of the Adyar-TG.

Works (selection)

  • Alan Leo's Astrological Textbooks, 5 volumes . Rohm, Bietigheim 1971–1976.
  • Esoteric astrology, of the essence of man . Ullstein, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-548-35752-0 .
  • Symbolism and Astrology . Kessinger, Whitefish 2005, ISBN 0-7661-4292-2 .
  • The complete dictionary of astrology . Destiny Books, Rochester 1989 ISBN 0-89281-182-X .
  • The key to your own nativity . Destiny Books, Rochester 1989, ISBN 0-89281-179-X .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Leo, Alan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Allan, William Frederick (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English author, theosophist and astrologer
DATE OF BIRTH August 7, 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH Westminster
DATE OF DEATH August 30, 1917
Place of death Bude , Cornwall , England