This book is the first in-depth examination of important themes in modern western astrology, focussing on the USA and UK. It is part history, part sociology and part anthropology. It begins by exploring astrology in its millennial or millenarian context, both terms which describe the belief that the world is about to enter a new, better era. It is one of three books which focus on these beliefs, the other two being The Great Year and The New Age in the Modern West. As applied to astrology, this mainly means belief in the coming spiritual New Age, timed by the coming Aquarian Age, and the development of spiritual and psychological forms of astrology in which the focus is on self-development and awareness, rather than prediction. 

The second part of the book examines the extent and nature of belief in astrology, mainly in the English speaking world, but also touching on other countries where I conducted research, including Brazil, Argentina, Norway and Serbia.  I asked around a thousand delegates at astrology conferences about their views on astrology, and whether it’s a science, a spiritual vocation, or a means of predicting the future. I then interviewed fifty astrologers in depth.

My conclusions are, first, that astrology is a mainstream feature of modern popular culture in the English-speaking world (rather than marginal as many previous studies maintain), that it consists of a diversity of practices and theories, and that, in some forms, it is part of modern vernacular religion, by which I mean the total body of what most people believe and do, rather than what is sanctioned by religious or scientific authorities. This is not a matter of astrology’s truth but its cultural function and utility.

The book is important for everyone who has an interest in modern astrology’s nature, whether practitioners or sceptics, and academics in the history of ideas, the study of religions, sociology and anthropology.