Here's a little story about 20th century American astrologer Grant Lewi. It's taken from the preface to his book "Heaven Knows What", first published 1935, my second-hand edition is 1947, and has a preface by Carl Payne Tobey, another American astrologer who was around at the same time as Grant Lewi.
We're told in the preface that Grant Lewi was "restless Sun-in-Gemini conjunct the node of Uranus, with Leo on the ascendant, Sun in opposition to Uranus". He didn't believe in paying for life insurance because he said he had no intention of dying right away. When he was 48 and a half he changed his mind and bought life insurance. Right after his 49th birthday he died of what was thought to be a cerebral hemorrhage. So he had saved himself 30 years of life insurance premiums. He finally paid one premium and the insurance company had to pay off!
Carl Payne Tobey recalls that he was told by folks in Tucson, Arizona where Lewi lived, that they thought he knew he was about to die. As well as the story about insurance, there were reports that he had refused to make any appointments for the month of August. He told people "I'll consider it if I'm still here." He had joked about not knowing whether he would even be around in August. He died on the morning of July 14th 1951. People were sure that he had been ready.
Apart from my little gripe about Grant Lewi's take on Aquarius Sun with Aries Moon (me), which I feel is undeservedly harsh, I warm to his style. It's said that he didn't use progressions or fixed stars - which information immediately recommends him to me ! "He wasn't concerned with why astrology works. He was more concerned with the fact that it does." Hmmm. I should try to emulate him in that respect myself, I guess.
I do like the astrologers of Grant Lewi's and Carl Payne Tobey's generation. Their general attitude and style of writing occasionally appear dated, but that's to be expected. What they have to say can be refreshing and enlightening. Second-hand copies of their books are available for next to nothing at Amazon and Alibris.
We're told in the preface that Grant Lewi was "restless Sun-in-Gemini conjunct the node of Uranus, with Leo on the ascendant, Sun in opposition to Uranus". He didn't believe in paying for life insurance because he said he had no intention of dying right away. When he was 48 and a half he changed his mind and bought life insurance. Right after his 49th birthday he died of what was thought to be a cerebral hemorrhage. So he had saved himself 30 years of life insurance premiums. He finally paid one premium and the insurance company had to pay off!
Carl Payne Tobey recalls that he was told by folks in Tucson, Arizona where Lewi lived, that they thought he knew he was about to die. As well as the story about insurance, there were reports that he had refused to make any appointments for the month of August. He told people "I'll consider it if I'm still here." He had joked about not knowing whether he would even be around in August. He died on the morning of July 14th 1951. People were sure that he had been ready.
Apart from my little gripe about Grant Lewi's take on Aquarius Sun with Aries Moon (me), which I feel is undeservedly harsh, I warm to his style. It's said that he didn't use progressions or fixed stars - which information immediately recommends him to me ! "He wasn't concerned with why astrology works. He was more concerned with the fact that it does." Hmmm. I should try to emulate him in that respect myself, I guess.
I do like the astrologers of Grant Lewi's and Carl Payne Tobey's generation. Their general attitude and style of writing occasionally appear dated, but that's to be expected. What they have to say can be refreshing and enlightening. Second-hand copies of their books are available for next to nothing at Amazon and Alibris.
I have been looking for this. Would you be able to provide the full preface or sell your copy?
ReplyDeleteI don't fancy copy typing the whole preface, Alex, and am not quite ready yet to sell my copy, but there appear to be some hard-backs like mine cheaply available via Amazon, published the year after mine (or perhaps they are exactly the same - the front page illustration shown is the same as mine.)
ReplyDeleteLong link, but it works if copy-pasted into our good friend Google. :)
https://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Knows-What-Grant-Lewi/dp/0875424422/ref=pd_sbs_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0875424422&pd_rd_r=8244695e-91cb-11e8-b1e3-d9d12a7382ae&pd_rd_w=FQDUe&pd_rd_wg=XoQHu&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=f9e73f8b-e90f-46a6-8123-a09c49edb7a8&pf_rd_r=HXT54VT42N5ZTA0R9QF4&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=HXT54VT42N5ZTA0R9QF4