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I wonder whatever happened to Jim Critchfield and Jerry Hopkins ? I found their little book, which attempts astrological humour, "You Were Born on a Rotten Day", in a secondhand bookshop. It was published in 1969/70, Los Angeles, 5 printings (!) That's surprising.
A quick search via Google informed me that Jim Critchfield passed away in 1998, and Jerry Hopkins now has many books to his name, some best-sellers, and is still busy writing.
"You Were born on a Rotten Day" has provided me with a couple of monthly posts in the past. I fear the quality of its astrology isn't improving, nor is the standard of its humour!
It's a curiosity, and a piece of astrological history. It's an example of what happens when writers try to be funny about a subject on which they appear to be almost totally ignorant. (NOTE: For some good modern astrological humour by an astrologer and blogger, see Matthew The Astrologer's blog, there's a pearl of a seasonal chuckle from Matthew HERE, and others in his archive.)
Here are Jim and Jerry's words of wisdom concerning Rotten Day Capricorn:
"People born under the sign of Capricorn make excellent cheapskates. If you were born on the 18th, you were one day older than people born on the 19th -- but it doesn't matter because they're all cheapskates anyway.
Your love-life is governed by the distant Planet Fringus (which is only 3 inches in diameter), and you have a tendency to be shy when undressing outdoors.
You must fight your primary weakness -- delusions of adequacy. However, with concentration and dedication, you can become average. But never forget you're a sub-standard person.
Financial matters with Capricorns are always lousy, and you are unlucky at love and finding water. This birth sign is a veritable hex, historically filled with gangsters, misfits, perverts and TV repairmen. Your general health will continue to deteriorate and you probably won't make it till the next full moon. Always be of good cheer."
There follows, for each sign, a list of comical predictions for "A typical miserable month for......." Actually, some of these are funnier than the preceding section, which, of course, isn't saying a lot!
Examples:
"Keep emotionally active. Cater to your favorite neurosis"
"Don't move or act through a third party. Two parties in one night is your limit"
"Set your house in order. Start by picking up your socks"
"You could get a new lease on life - if only you didn't need the first and last month in advance."
A quick search via Google informed me that Jim Critchfield passed away in 1998, and Jerry Hopkins now has many books to his name, some best-sellers, and is still busy writing.
"You Were born on a Rotten Day" has provided me with a couple of monthly posts in the past. I fear the quality of its astrology isn't improving, nor is the standard of its humour!
It's a curiosity, and a piece of astrological history. It's an example of what happens when writers try to be funny about a subject on which they appear to be almost totally ignorant. (NOTE: For some good modern astrological humour by an astrologer and blogger, see Matthew The Astrologer's blog, there's a pearl of a seasonal chuckle from Matthew HERE, and others in his archive.)
Here are Jim and Jerry's words of wisdom concerning Rotten Day Capricorn:
"People born under the sign of Capricorn make excellent cheapskates. If you were born on the 18th, you were one day older than people born on the 19th -- but it doesn't matter because they're all cheapskates anyway.
Your love-life is governed by the distant Planet Fringus (which is only 3 inches in diameter), and you have a tendency to be shy when undressing outdoors.
You must fight your primary weakness -- delusions of adequacy. However, with concentration and dedication, you can become average. But never forget you're a sub-standard person.
Financial matters with Capricorns are always lousy, and you are unlucky at love and finding water. This birth sign is a veritable hex, historically filled with gangsters, misfits, perverts and TV repairmen. Your general health will continue to deteriorate and you probably won't make it till the next full moon. Always be of good cheer."
There follows, for each sign, a list of comical predictions for "A typical miserable month for......." Actually, some of these are funnier than the preceding section, which, of course, isn't saying a lot!
Examples:
"Keep emotionally active. Cater to your favorite neurosis"
"Don't move or act through a third party. Two parties in one night is your limit"
"Set your house in order. Start by picking up your socks"
"You could get a new lease on life - if only you didn't need the first and last month in advance."
Ok, so that's a little extreme. However, I like to take pot shots at Capricorn, having done so on my 12/21/07 post. They are easy targets, to be sure, but then I know a little about it myself having both Mercury and Venus in Capricorn.
ReplyDeleteThanks for mentioning my site on your post about the Christmas star. I enjoy your site. Kudos to you!
Hello Beth
ReplyDeleteThanks for your visit.
You weren't too hard on the goats, in your of the 21st - I enjoyed it.
What irks me about the book I featured is the almost complete lack of even basic knowledge about even Sun sign astrology. Without proper information they couldn't hope to be funny, unless their reader were similarly uninformed- which they probably were! :-)
I've a few thoughts on Capricorn and Saturn of my own coming up tomorrow.
(I have Mercury in Cap. too).