Throughline - The Stars (2020)

Episode Date: October 21, 2021

Astrology has existed for thousands of years and has roots that span the globe. But is it a science or a religion or just a kind of personality test? And why is it more popular than ever? This week, the story of how finding our fates in the stars moved from the fringes to the mainstream and became a multi-billion dollar industry.[This episode originally aired on February 20, 2020]Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for this podcast and the following message come from the NPR Wine Club, which has generated over $1.75 million to support NPR programming. Whether buying a few bottles or joining the club, you can learn more at nprwineclub.org slash podcast. Must be 21 or older to purchase. These late eclipses in the sun and moon Portend no good to us Love cools, friendship falls off Brothers divide

In cities, mutinies In countries, discord In palaces, treason In cities, mutinies. In countries, discord. In palaces, treason. To me, astrology is the influence of the planet Sun and Moon on life on Earth. It goes back to an indeterminate time. It began in Mesopotamia when it was mainly for the kings. Then spread to Egypt and from there to ancient Greece.

A man who lived long ago believed he could read the future in the stars. He called himself an astrologer. Spread out through the Greco-Roman world into the Byzantine world, the Arab world and so on. There were popes that had their astrologers and world leaders that had their astrologers. And even the great astronomers then were also astrologers. So somebody like Kepler.

Johannes Kepler. He were also astrologers. So somebody like Kepler. Johannes Kepler. He was an astrologer. Ptolemy, St. Thomas Aquinas, Al-Gharouni, the greatest Islamic scholar of the Middle Ages. Shakespeare had some knowledge of it. It always had a learned and highly educated clientele and group of adherents. But with what they call the Enlightenment,

science became dominant. Thinking became more, I wouldn't say irreligious, but secular. And people saw things a different way. The rise of reason as something to worship in itself. That man is the measure of all things. People can figure out everything for themselves, explain everything, and in effect explain it away. And that was when astrology fell into this favor.

A man who lived a long time ago believed that he could read the future in the stars. He called himself an astrologer and spent his time at night gazing at the sky. One evening, he was walking along the open road outside the village. His eyes were fixed on the stars. He thought he saw there that the end of the world was at hand, when all at once, down he went into a hole full of mud and water.

There he stood up to his ears, in the muddy water, and madly clawing at the slippery sides of the hole in his effort to climb out. His cries for help soon brought the villagers running. As they pulled him out of the bath, one of them said, You pretend to read the future in the stars, and yet you fail to see what is at your feet. This may teach you to pay more attention to what is right in front of you and let the future take care of itself. What use is it, said another, to read the stars when you cannot see what's right here on the Earth.

Apo tus mythos tu esopu, o astrologos. From Aesop's Fables, The Astrologer. Chances are you've been asked, what's your sign? Astrology is becoming more and more popular among millennials millennials and actually in some cases even more so than religion. The psychic services industry, including astrology, is growing. On matters from love and money to life and death. An increasing number of stock pickers are apparently looking to astrology to determine where to put their money. Astrologers and investors are seeing opportunity where the stars and technology align. It may not be scientific, but astrology is once again popular.

You're listening to ThruLine from NPR, where we go back in time to understand the present. Hey, I'm Rondanda Dveta. I'm Ramtin Adablui. And on this episode, astrology. I don't like the word science. It's not science. This is Karen Cristino. She's a writer and was a practicing astrologer for decades. You need to know where the planets were in order to calculate the horoscope. But that has nothing to do with interpreting the meaning of it.

And that's the art. That is an art. Still, according to a National Science Foundation survey from 2014, about 40% of people between the ages of 18 and 34 believed astrology is sort of scientific or very scientific. Older Americans tended to be more skeptical. But the thing that we're really interested in isn't whether you're a Leo or a Taurus or a Cancer like me or Gemini like Rund, but how astrology has made such a stunning comeback in the U.S. today after its demise during the Enlightenment. I feel like people are going to come for me because I'm a Gemini.

Just by the way. I'm serious. I come for you. People have strong feelings. I didn't know that. No, they have really, really strong feelings about Gemini. My sister tells me this all the time. Oh my God.

Your sister is like, what's your sign? Your sister's like so into that. She's very into it. Very into it. You know, honestly, whether you believe astrology is a bunch of baloney, a fun cocktail party conversation, or a window into the meaning of the universe, it is a growing part of our culture. So we're going to tell you two stories. One from the perspective of an astrologer who popularized it in the U.S. and made a lot of money along the way, and the other from the perspective of someone who sought out astrology for solace and brought it into the most powerful office in the country.

Taken together, they can help us better understand how astrology went from a fringe, sometimes outlawed practice, to a multi-billion dollar industry. Hello, my name is Raghad. I'm a sister. I'm a Virgo. Shout out to all the Virgos out there. And you're listening to ThruLine from NPR. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today, or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. Part 1. What Evangeline Knew.

She says she made America astrology conscious. And she did. She did. The way I got involved with Evangeline Adams in the first place was because I was skeptical. One of the first things I looked up for her was she supposedly, she said she was descended from John Quincy Adams, the president. And they have books at the library, the genealogy of the presidents, and you can just open them and look at that. She wasn't in there. This got me thinking, well, where did that come from? I wanted to find out what was true and what wasn't.

Karen Cristino wrote a whole book about Evangeline called What Evangeline Adams Knew. But figuring out fact from fiction would prove difficult because most of what we know about Evangeline Adams is in her own words from her autobiography, which might not be completely reliable since she had a tendency to embellish things. She was a saleswoman and seemed to have an incredible knack for marketing herself. In fact, it's even hard to say exactly when she was born. She would change her birthday from document to document. But most historians believe it was February 8th, 1868 at 8.30 a.m., which means Evangeline was an Aquarius.

Aquarius are characterized as independent and enigmatic. Rebels at heart who despise authority. They believe in the nature of change and evolution, that they may not always be the same people they were when they were born. And they can be masterful at hiding their true feelings because they have a dark side, which they would not want to bring out. Evangeline Adams' story began in Andover, Massachusetts. Which is a seminary town. So she grew up with a very conservative Christian background. Early on in her life, a couple of things happened that led her towards astrology.

First, when she was just a baby, her father died. The mother was left with a family of five. And she was the youngest. She was the only girl, and I think she was always aware that she had to earn a living. I found myself facing the double problem of supporting myself and providing most of my mother's livelihood. This was no sacrifice to me, for my mother had given herself to the last limit of her strength for her children.

When she was a teenager, she enrolled in a private school that was modeled after a theological seminary. One of her professors at the school had a big brouhaha because he had a little more progressive ideas. Her professor and several others ended up facing a public trial for those ideas. Her professor and several others ended up facing a public trial for those ideas. Evangeline, who was often full of doubts, was unsettled by her school's close-minded approach

and started to become disillusioned with the church. She had a lot of questions about faith and spirituality and how the universe works. And then in her late teens, she came down with an illness. And we don't know what she had, but it could have been TB, could have been diphtheria.

You know, they had a lot of these diseases. She was very ill. She was very ill. And she took months to get better. And in those days, they had many homeopathic physicians. And that's who her doctor was. So he used to talk to her. They talked about all sorts of things, philosophy, religion, what lay beyond this life.

And then he introduced her to another doctor. Dr. J. Hubbard Smith, who was an astrologer. In their first meeting, Dr. Smith asked Evangeline what time she was born. She said 7 a.m. He responded, If you had been born at that time, you would have been very beautiful, and corrected the time to 8.30 a.m. Evangeline, who knew she wasn't the most conventionally attractive,

was shocked, but also impressed. I remember how amazed I was to see my whole life, past and present, spread out on the table between us. Suddenly, everything comes together. Then, he made a prediction about her future. You are not only a born astrologer and should take up the study of the science, But you should go a long way with it. Astrology seemed to offer her the answers she'd been searching for, a way to make sense of the world. But to be clear, astrology wasn't exactly respectable at this point.

Most doctors would have thumbed their noses at it. In fact, many people felt threatened by it. It was a scary thing that challenged their faith in God. But Evangeline started reading all about it anyway, learning how to trace the patterns in the sky and how to interpret them. During the day, she worked as a secretary to support herself and her mom. And at night, she escaped into this new world. She said that even when her family had little, she always found a few extra dollars for a new world. She said that even when her family had little, she always found a few extra dollars for a new book. Even the cost of a book was a big thing to consider

when it meant going without a new hat. She had one foot in traditional astrology and one in the modern camp. This is Benson Bobrick. He wrote a book called The Faded Sky, Astrology and History. The most modern practice of astrology revolves around sun signs, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, etc. It was popularized in the late 1800s by a British astrologer named Alan Leo. He became obsessed with the idea that one's sun sign was the principal feature of astrology to pay attention to. Sun sign predictions were much more marketable,

simpler to follow, and easier to circulate, say, in a newspaper column. Modern astrology is something of a, you know, a mishmash of, at least in my view, of half-baked New Age notions with very little foundation in the learned past. Eventually, Evangeline began to do readings for friends on the side.

Her family, however, didn't approve of her growing interest in astrology. She was unconventional in a lot of ways. She was unmarried and uninterested in finding a husband. She was a working woman supporting her mother in the 1800s. And she rejected classic religion in favor of astrology, at a time when astrology was toxic. It was not only embarrassing to discuss in polite society, but because of various laws that had been passed in Europe and some states,

which outlaws fortune-telling, astrology, and other so-called black arts, it was illegal to practice it. So astrologers were confined to the shadows, along with... With fortune tellers and acrobats, men who beat their wives, all sorts of other scurrilous and disreputable characters. Christian groups in particular strongly opposed astrology, because if a person could predict the future, then do we have free will? And where does God factor into that? Still, Evangeline continued to steep herself more and more in astrology. And word began to spread about her abilities. Strangers started coming to her,

asking for their horoscopes or palm readings and offering to pay. She said people would come in to see her with their hats pulled over or a scarf over their head, that they didn't want to be seen going to an astrologer. It was disreputable. It was not common. Seizing the opportunity, Evangeline convinced a local printer to make her some business cards,

publish promotional pamphlets to advertise her services, and set up shop. Before long, it took over her life. In 1899, Evangeline decided to leave Boston for New York City, hoping that she'd encounter less hostility there. At the time, New York was nearly six times bigger than Boston. It was a popular destination for artists, musicians, writers, people who wanted to live freely, without judgment. When Evangeline arrived in New York, she made her way to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, a hotel her family had visited for generations, and asked the manager there if she could rent space for her astrology business.

He refused. I found myself suddenly homeless on the sidewalk of Madison Square. The dignity of my beloved science had been insulted. I had been insulted. In short, I was mad clear through. I was in a mood to defy assistance and the world. Furious, Evangeline left the hotel, and after some thought, she tried her luck at another hotel called the Windsor. The proprietor there, a man named Mr. Leland, welcomed

her. In her autobiography, Evangeline recounts that he seemed excited to have an astrologer in his hotel, and even asked her to read his horoscope. She agreed. I saw that there was evil in store for him somewhere, according to his horoscope, and told him so. I told him that I foresaw evil not only for him, but for all New York. In fact, I believed that the next day would be marked by some dire calamity.

The next day, a fire consumed his hotel. Mr. Leland lost his wife, his daughter, and his livelihood in a single moment. The fire made headlines and Evangeline's prediction along with it. One paper, the Morning Journal, reported, Mr. Leland bethought himself of Ms. Adams' prediction. He pointed to a straight, well-defined groove in his palm, ending at the base of the second finger. This is the fatal line she told me of, he said. She said it would bring me evil, and I laughed at her.

But she was right. Mr. Leland died less than three weeks later. But Evangeline made sure the story lived on. She continued talking to reporters, and with Mr. Leland gone, she could add some drama, some flair to the story. And no one would be the wiser. She recognized the potential for making herself more and more famous and for earning income from it. People began lining up at her door. People wanted the information and she had the information.

This was the early 1900s, a time when uncertainty was becoming a hallmark of American life. Industrialization had happened at lightning speed, allowing American capitalism as we know it to flourish. Financial crises and economic downturns were frequent. Business speculation was on the rise. Risk was becoming a new kind of currency. And nowhere was this more evident than in downtown New York. On the trading floors of Wall Street. Financial people, particularly investors, they're always looking for some system.

They're willing to take a risk even though they tend to be conservative thinkers. They were open to anything that might shed light on a pattern in an otherwise unpredictable industry, including astrology. So they went to one of the most well-known astrologers in the city, even though it was technically illegal. Dear Ms. Adams, you will oblige me by seeing what the stars have for me during the consecutive months of 1908. Your forecasts for the present months were singularly correct. Yours truly, Jacob Stout, formerly president of the New York Stock Exchange.

She said she managed to make believers out of skeptics, even bigwigs like J.P. Morgan. The first time he came to my studio, his attitude was frankly one of curiosity tinged with suspicion. I had a heavy Chinese screen in one corner of my studio, and I remember how Mr. Morgan pulled his huge frame out of his chair and looked curiously behind the screen before beginning the interview? But that attitude melted away at the first meeting. I read his horoscope many times, explaining the changing position of the planets and their probable effect on politics, business, and the stock market. No further proof of his interest in the sciences required

beyond the fact that he renewed this service from year to year. And she was very professional. She did things with a lot of decorum. She kept confidences. Evangeline knew that optics were everything. She was already running an illegal operation, so she had to work extra hard to convince people that she wasn't shady and that there was no shame in seeking out her help.

She rented a suite of rooms in Carnegie Hall, one of the most revered buildings in the city to run her business out of. When you see pictures of her, she always had the latest fashions. She didn't look like a girly girl. She certainly was not classically attractive, but she always dressed really well. And sometimes, to boost her credentials, she went by Dr. Evangeline Adams, though she never got a medical degree or degree of any kind. Other times, she spiced up her name, calling herself Evangelina as Adams. She had a brand, and it was her. It was who she was, and she always gave a very good presentation, and she always only said the best things about herself. As Evangeline's business took off,

the government began cracking down even harder on astrologers, and the cops were on the lookout for them. Evangeline soon became a target and was arrested in 1911. You know, I think at that time, it was classed the same as prostitutes. You pulled in, you pay the fine, you go back. And that's it. A few years later, an undercover cop masquerading as a client walked into her office. When the woman, the detective, came in, she had her reading done. And actually, Evangeline told her she would meet someone very charismatic this year.

She also, in this half an hour reading, asked about her two daughters and her son. And Evangeline quickly drew up their charts. And she said one daughter would likely marry much better than the other. She also said the detective's son might soon die as a result of an electrical wire accident, or very suddenly. Words that would come back to haunt her. A couple days later, the detective arrested Evangeline. But this time, Evangeline says, Instead of paying a fine and just letting it go, she decided she wanted to go to trial. It was important for her to make astrology

as something that was true and viable, as widely known as possible, because she also could see that the whole tradition of astrology had been at risk of disappearing. And so it was her mission to make sure that it survived. When we come back, Evangeline Adams goes to court. Hello, this is Rohan Dharan from Washington, D.C., and you're listening to ThruLine from NPR. I just want to thank you all for making me sound smart.

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Autograph Collection Hotels, with over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else. Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at AutographCollection.com. Part two, the Bowl of Heaven. This case presents two considerations. The trial was held under Judge Jay Freshy.

Evangeline was on trial for fortune-telling, and the judge wanted to determine whether she had claimed she could predict the future. First, the question of fact, in order to determine what actually was stated by the defendant. Secondly, whether such a case comes within the meaning of the words pretends to tell fortunes of the statute alleged to have been violated. And she was a little cranky in the transcript because they keep asking her over and over as these lawyer types do this, kind of the same questions.

Do you remember just how you did speak of that? No, I really don't. This is the language she claimed you used. Your son should be very careful as he will die as the result of accident or just like that. Did you say that in that way? And she said no? No, sir. Not that way. Do you remember what you said about the son?

How did you put it? Did you say that the son would be killed? I did tell her he had ability along electrical lines, but that he ought not to work in high voltage because of this aspect in his horoscope, which indicated danger of accidents and even accidental death. I said it just that way. Well, can you tell me a little more about this? I would not like to say now. I am tired. I really can't. I'm tired, she comes to the point of saying. If she says, in no uncertain terms, your son will die with an electrical accident, that's wrong. You can't say that. If she says, well, he has Uranus square his sun, he should stay away from employment and high wire activities, that's acceptable.

And she made the argument in court. In other words, she wasn't predicting his death outright. She was simply warning, based on his configuration of planets, that something like that could happen and that he should be on the lookout for it, which was less definitive. So this was the back and forth, basically. She was very much put on the defensive. And to have the law against her, it could have ruined everything in her life, basically, if she was found guilty. If she had to stop practicing, what would she do at that point? So there was this level of anxiety at the same time as wanting to prove a point.

And then, Evangeline says, she read a chart for the judge. And demonstrated to the judge how astrology worked. He was flabbergasted by it. Yeah, and from the lawyers I've spoken with, that really was inappropriate. That has nothing to do with the charge of what she said to the detective when she came to see her, you know. But he was kind of a loosey-goosey guy, I think, and he could see that she was sincere, he does say, even in his conclusion. Counsel contends that the defendant did not pretend to foretell any event,

that all that occurred was an attempt on her part to explain the positions of the planets and read their indications without any assurance by the defendant that such reading was a prognostication of future events. The defendant raises astrology to the dignity of an exact science. And acquitted her. Evangeline Adams had won the trial. Not only that, she now had a judge on the record saying that she had raised astrology to the dignity of an exact science. And as a result of her trial,

she really, I think, I don't want to say legitimized astrology, but she raised the level of the discourse, certainly. The trial and that one conclusive line from the judge turned out to be a public relations goldmine for her. She told that to all the newspapers after that, and it is a great line. It was big news. And thereafter, she attracted a wide range of famous people. Evangeline's self-reported list of clients was impressive. Mary Pickford, the top film actress of the time. Eugene O'Neill, the playwright.

Fritz Heinz, the Montana Copper King. Lillian Russell, a very popular Broadway star. Charlie Chaplin, Enrico Caruso, the opera singer. Joseph Campbell. Charles Schwab, the elder, and various other people that found her predictive skills very useful in their own lives and in predicting the ups and downs of the stock market or whatever it was that they had a question about. She took advantage of her fame and in her own way commercially exploited it. She charged $20 for half an hour. $20 then would be about $510 now. So that's over $1,000 for an hour.

I don't know any astrologers that charge. Some high-end astrologers in Manhattan, they might charge $450, $500. I don't know anyone that charges that much and that does one right after the other. So she did very well. And for people who couldn't afford her in-person rates. She also had mail order you could send away. And for a lesser fee. About $255 today, which was still not exactly cheap.

You could get a rundown of your birth chart. And she had like a dozen, two dozen at one time. Secretaries typing these things up. Sun in Cancer, Moon in Capricorn, Venus in Leo. So you could get a little something. Evangeline's business grew and grew and grew. You might be wondering why so many people, famous or otherwise, were seeking out Evangeline's readings at this time. Sure, it was less taboo now, but why the increased demand?

At times of uncertainty, people tend to turn toward astrology. People were very disillusioned after the First World War. They were kind of turning their backs on traditional culture. It was a youth culture. And they were looking for something new. King Tut's tomb was discovered in the 20s. So that was something that people were excited about because it was old, but it was new. And astrology, too, at that time was seen like something old but new and we can bring it back.

There was a whole movement of astrologers from the shadows into mainstream culture. And Evangeline was the face of this movement for a reason. She was the one who'd made it possible for astrologers to operate above ground without fear of retribution. Plus, she continued to find new ways to get her name out there. She wrote books, published newspaper columns with sun sign horoscopes, not unlike the kind we still see in magazines and on websites today. She was also on the radio, which was a big deal. And I think 1930, 1929, 1930, it was the early days of radio. And she had a syndicated program across the country in prime time. So she was reaching so many more people. Also in 1929, a catastrophic event happened that Evangeline had predicted.

She forecast the stock market crash. The day that Wall Street collapsed. The greatest crash in the history of the world. The day the Depression began. She did that years before she's telling all her clients, but she gave it a range, 1927 to 1929. And in 1927 and 1928, everybody was doing really, really well. But in 1929, you had the crash, and then she was deluged.

If the uncertainty was bad before, now it was astronomically worse. People were desperate for information, anything that could give them some reassurance, some sense of agency over a situation that was spiraling out of control. So while the crash was terrible for the country, it was great for the astrology business. Evangeline Adams died in 1932, but not before making one ominous prediction. You know, I found documentary evidence that she forecast World War II.

She died in 1932. She forecast a war for the United States between 1940 and 1944. Her death, like much of her life, made the headlines. It was covered in all the papers. Then they recapped her history. The New Yorker magazine said Evangeline had built the greatest astrological business in history. Harper's wrote that astrologers are flourishing as never before in generations. And in her autobiography, Evangeline reflected on the dramatic change in public opinion towards astrology over the course of her lifetime. In something less than 30 years, today the practice of astrology by competent astrologers is a respected, honorable profession. The law recognizes and protects it in many parts of the country as it does the practice of medicine.

Prominent men and women come openly to my studio in Carnegie Hall. They consult the stars as naturally and confidently as they would consult a reference book at the public library. When we come back, astrology moves from Carnegie Hall to the White House. Hi, my name is Chad Bates. I'm from Mapleton, Utah, and you're listening to ThruLine on NPR.

And I love your show. Thank you for helping me be a better person. Part three, the age of Aquarius. You and your forebears built our nation. Now, please help us rebuild it. March 30th, 1981. It was supposed to be a completely ordinary day. The president had come to the Hilton Hotel to deliver a routine speech to members of the building and construction unit. Didn't make much sense, Henry. When the speech ended, the president walked to his limousine.

President Reagan! And his hand goes up, he looks his way, When the speech ended, the president walked to his limousine. And his hand goes up, he looks his way, and then... Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. Get him out! Get him out! Get him out! Get him out! Get him out! Details are very sketchy at this moment. We don't know precisely what happened. We don't know the sequence. And we all watched the president, at least I did.

I didn't think he'd been hit. One of the bullets ricocheted off, I think, part of a post or a car or something and landed in Reagan's chest right next to his heart. He was pushed into his limousine and immediately taken away to safety. To go to George Washington Hospital just moments after the shooting. Reagan is rushed into the operating room and tells his doctors, I hope you're all Republicans. You know, the sort of the Reagan sense of humor. This is to confirm the statements made at George Washington Hospital,

that the president was shot once in the left side this afternoon as he left the hotel. His condition is stable. John Hinckley was a young, obviously somewhat deranged man in love with Jodie Foster, the actress and taxi driver, and in his twisted thinking, figured out that if he did something really noteworthy and substantial, good or bad, it would get her attention. And so what better to get her attention than assassinate the president of the United States? And he survived, obviously, but it really rocked Nancy Reagan. Where were you when you heard the president been shot? I was at a luncheon, and I just had the feeling I had to get back to the White House.

She was back at the White House at the time. She was not with him. And I kept wanting to see Ronnie here. And they kept saying, well, he's all right, but you can't see him. And I kept saying, well, if he's all right, why can't I see him? And finally they let me see him. I think that really solidified that she was going to do everything she could to protect her Ronnie. My name is Barrett Seaman. I was a 30-year employee of Time magazine, both as a correspondent and as an editor.

Barrett was covering the White House for Time a few years after the assassination attempt. And towards the end of Reagan's second term, a strange thing happened. Reagan's former chief of staff, Don Regan, came knocking at Barrett's door. Don Regan was treasury secretary, and then he became chief of staff. He liked to be called chief.

Anyway, he had run afoul of Nancy Reagan from the beginning on a whole range of issues. And ultimately, Nancy got Don Regan fired from the job. Ronald Reagan would do just about anything to please his Nancy. I mean, he adored her. And after Regan was out? He decided to write his tell-all book. It was his revenge, I guess. And he really focused a lot of it on Nancy Reagan.

Don Regan's publisher gave Barrett an advance copy of his book. I was on my way to the Bahamas on vacation, and I took this box which contained the manuscript and opened it up as we sat down to get into the flight, and bingo, right off the bat, here is this bombshell on the first page. Reagan claimed that Nancy Reagan relied heavily on the advice of an astrologer.

Whom he did not name and did not know, but relying on an astrologer for advice on when the president should do various things. And I, you know, blurted out some expletive on the plane. Yeah, and everybody looked around, and I kind of went quietly back to the book. But by the time I had gotten through the thing, I realized this was a pretty big story.

You know, it wasn't the end of the world. It wasn't Watergate. It wasn't, you know, what we're going through now. But it was of significance. Barrett didn't know much about astrology. I really didn't. This sort of got thrown at me. But it wasn't a foreign concept to most Americans. Astrology had experienced another boom in the 60s and 70s, spurred on by a widespread countercultural movement. People were frustrated

with the status quo and uncertain about where the world was headed. In 1963, we have Betty Friedan writing The Feminine Mystique, and then we have the civil rights marches, the Beatles, the war in Vietnam. Hair was on Broadway with the song The Age of Aquarius. People were looking for something else. They were disillusioned. That was part of the counterculture, as was astrology and a lot of other kind of New Age beliefs that people glommed onto at that period of time. Evangeline Adams' books were reprinted during this time, and astrologers found a new platform in television. But the idea that the president of the United States was being influenced by it?

Well, that might freak people out. Barrett had a few weeks before the story would go to press, so he set out to answer two big questions. Exactly how much had astrology factored into Ronald Reagan's presidency? And who was the astrologer in the White House? I had a source in the White House, who knew, who did not want to tell me directly, but in effect said, if you can find her, I will confirm it for you.

It was kind of like Rumpelstiltskin. If you can come up with a name, you win the prize. Barrett quietly began digging around for more information. Because we were doing it independent of everybody. Nobody else knew about this because the book had not been circulated. He quickly discovered that people inside the Reagan administration were in on this secret. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Inside the White House, everybody knew, which is remarkable when you think about it, that nobody talked about it.

They sort of shoved it off into a corner. It was just what Nancy Reagan did. And, you know, you tolerate it and you go about your business. I suspect if there had been some interference with a serious policy matter, somebody very well could have blown the whistle and said, look, this can't go on. This is, you know, this is doing damage to our country. But I don't think anybody felt that it was, that it reached that level. It was just kind of this tinkering that was going on on the side, and you sort of roll with the punches. Most of Nancy's tinkering revolved around scheduling. What days are good, what days are not good for the president to do various things. So if the astrologer said,

Tuesday the 21st is really not a good day to do anything because the stars are misaligned for this and this reason, then she would weigh in and say, I don't want this and such to happen, particularly if it involved travel, if it involved leaving the White House. For example? The Baltimore Orioles had their opening day thing,

and they asked the president to come out and throw out the first pitch, which is kind of a standard thing. Well, it turned out that that day was not a good day in his stars, according to the astrologer. And she did everything she could to try to cancel that trip. Well, of course, there was only one day when you're going to do this. So either you did or

you didn't do it. And Don Regan overrode her wishes and they went ahead and went to Baltimore, snuck them out the back door and off they went. It's not very far, as you know. But she was livid, absolutely livid at this, and it was just one more nail in Reagan's coffin that he would defy her in this way. That was a relatively minor thing. But Don Reagan speculated that astrology had influenced more substantial things, like the timing of Reagan's announcement to seek re-election,

military actions in Grenada, the attack on Libya, and delicate negotiations over disarmament with Mikhail Gorbachev. As Barrett heard more and more stories from White House staffers, he concluded that Ronald Reagan didn't really buy into astrology all that much. He was kind of indifferent to it, I guess probably that's the best term. He had apparently felt no need to rely on anybody for such advice. He was a very practical guy.

He wasn't a terribly spiritual man. I mean, he went to church and he quoted Scripture now and again in speeches, as all politicians do. But, you know, I don't think his spiritual life was a big piece of who he was. Nancy, on the other hand, had dabbled in astrology ever since they'd lived in California during the 1970s. And that terrifying day in March 1981 was a pivotal moment for her. The intense relationship she had with astrology was sparked by the assassination attempt. In her autobiography, Nancy Reagan shared her side of the story. She said, I often cried during those eight years. There were times when I just didn't know what to do or how I would survive. Astrology was simply one of the ways I coped with the fear I

felt after my husband almost died. The fact is that nothing like March 30th ever happened again. Was astrology one of the reasons? I don't really believe it was, but I don't really believe it wasn't. But I do know this. It didn't hurt, and I'm not sorry I did it. There was a kind of inchoate spirituality about her and a need for some higher being or some force that she could turn to and rely on. But again, it wasn't associated with any particular faith. So she was kind of a natural to fall prey, if you will, to astrology and its promises.

As Barrett was trying to report this story for time, he read a piece in the San Francisco Chronicle that asked whether a California-based astrologer named Joan Quigley was advising the White House. Barrett sifted through the White House guest list to see if that name came up. And eventually boiled down to this one woman from San Francisco named Joan Quigley. And there was no connection she had with an embassy or anything. There was no obvious connection. He called up Time's San Francisco bureau and asked them to find out more about her. And it really didn't take too long to find out that this one leading socialite, Joan Quigley, who Nancy Reagan had known since the 1970s, just casually.

Time was running out for Barrett. The story was set to run soon, so he recruited the help of his colleagues to track down Joan Quigley. On Thursday, a stringer from the San Francisco Bureau got on an airplane in New York that was making a stop from a flight from London on its way to San Francisco where we knew the Quigleys, Mr. and Mrs. Quigley, were on board. So he got on the flight and tracked her down in her seat and she was very nice and he said, I'm so-and-so from Time magazine. And is it true that you have been consulting the First Lady on astrological science and stuff? Of course, she was absolutely yes. So I was able to get back to the source. I said the name.

He said, how'd you find her? NBC's Andrea Mitchell tells us tonight, new reports of Mrs. Reagan's reliance on an astrologer raise new questions about national security. At first, it seemed too strange to be true. But even former White House Chief of Staff Donald Reagan has acknowledged the significant role that astrologer Joan Quigley played in the Reagan White House. It's amazing. The President of the United States was guided by an astrologer.

Astrology and serious politics and statecraft don't mix, or they shouldn't. I mean, it's kind of an unstabling thing. It's still, however broadly and in a kind of benign way it is accepted by society, it is still looked on as kind of quirky. And I think that was the attitude. So it wasn't a great danger, but it wasn't normal. The Reagans got some heat from the press, and the Democrats had a field day with the story. But the general public wasn't really mad at Nancy. They could relate to the fear that had driven her to astrology.

Most people did not feel any kind of animus towards her for this. They were sympathetic, even at the same time they thought it was kind of weird. But those two things can coexist, because people understood what she was going through. And pretty soon, the story began to fade. Then, of course, his presidency came to an end, and off they went to California. If you're wondering what happened to the astrologer, Joan Quigley... My name is Joan Quigley. I'm an astrologer. Well, she used this as an opportunity to make a name for herself. She wrote a tell-all book, did a press tour,

and, in the spirit of Evangeline, made a headline into a business. Are you surprised at all at the presence of astrology and kind of American life today? I'm less surprised about it today than I would have been back then, simply because the Internet has exploded all of this stuff. I mean, like everything else. I mean, there's now a platform for it that makes it all go viral at the drop of a hat. I read polls that say that people are turning away from standard religions that we've been used to.

And just from my personal experience, I think a lot of astrologers are people that are disillusioned with their religion and are looking for something that is a little spiritual, that kind of explains life, that gives you a sense of being part of things. Yes, there's a yearning for spirituality that astrology to some degree feeds and nourishes even in its most debased form. Astrology is on the rise today, reaching millions of people and making billions of dollars. The sense of uncertainty that drove previous generations to astrology is back in full force.

But the perception of astrology continues to range widely. ThruLine listeners shared some of their own reflections on what astrology means to them. Well, first off, I'm a Capricorn sun, Cancer moon, and Libra rising. I'm an Aquarius close to a cusp in January. According to my mom, that makes my behavior confusing. I'm a Taurus, although that's of little importance to me.

I'm on the cusp of Libra and Scorpio. Everyone's saying, oh, I'm this, I'm a Taurus, although that's of little importance to me. I'm on the cusp of Libra and Scorpio. Everyone's saying, oh, I'm this, I'm a that. Oh, that means that you've spent a whole lifetime of understanding. It's like, no, I think it's just a shortcut for an identity. Astrology is like a personality test to me. It's fun. Even if it's not real, which it most likely isn't, it's still a fun way to get to know yourself. As Christian, astrology doesn't really mean anything.

Astronomy, I think, informs us as to how vast and huge the world is. To me, it just is representative of what I see as kind of an overall decrease in the scientific literacy in this country. I have been using astrology basically for the last decade and I am a scientist. As a queer person, I think that it is something sort of similar to religion, but maybe safer for those of us who might have felt a bit excluded by religion. Helps me through a really difficult time

because it helps put my life into a larger framework of the universe and how I relate to it. That's it for this week's show. I'm Randa Abdel-Fattah. I'm Ramteen Arablui, and you've been listening to ThruLine from NPR. This episode was produced by me. And me and our star-studded team. Hi, I'm Lane, and I'm a Cancer. This is Lawrence, and I'm a Taurus.

I'm Jamie, and I'm a Capricorn. It's Lou, and I'm a Scorpio. This is Austin, and I'm a Sagittarius. I drink Adrien. Pisces. Fact-checking for this episode was done by Kevin Vogel. Thanks also to Anya Grunman and Joanna Kakisis. Our music was composed by Ramtin and his band, Drop Electric,

which includes Anya Mizani, Naveed Marvi, Sho Fujiwara. Special thanks to Melissa Gray, Will Jarvis, Robert Smith of Planet Money, and Alex Gallifant for their amazing voiceover work. Thanks for listening. Thank you. Satisfaction scores would rise, and everyone would be more productive. That's what happens when you give Grammarly to your entire team. Grammarly is a secure AI writing partner that understands your business

and can transform it through better communication. Join 70,000 teams who trust Grammarly with their words and their data. Learn more at Grammarly.com. Grammarly. Easier said, done.