Straggling Astrologer, The.
Or, Magazine of Celestial Intelligences / Or, Magazine of Astrology, Geomancy, and Occult Philosophy / Master Key of Futurity, being a Complete System of Astrology, Geomancy & Occult Science.
Other titles: Straggling Astrologer of the Nineteenth Century / The Astrologer of the Nineteenth Century
1824--1824 Weekly

London, England. Publisher: William Charlton Wright (1800-1850); Members of the Mercurii. Succeeds: The New Prophetic Almanack (1821-1824); The Prophetic Almanack (1825-1826)
Succeeded by: Urania, or, the Astrologer's Chronicle, and Mystical Magazine-->The Prophetic Messenger
Corporate author: The Mercurii
1/1-22, June 5 to October 30, 1824. 4 pence a week, 16 pp.

This was a weekly astrological and magical journal issued for 22 weeks in 1824. It had beautiful plates, some in color. When the journal first appeared it was noted as by "the editor of the Prophetic Almanack," i.e., "Sir Willon Lilly Brachm" or "Lilly Brachm," who is unknown but who has been surmised to be R.C. Smith. With the eleventh issue in August the journal announced the cooperation of the "Members of the Mercurii," an astrological and occult group, more familiar to legend than to history, and after the first 12 numbers was edited by "Raphael" (Robert Cross Smith, 1795-1832), the first and foremost of those to bear that name. After the series expired it was reprinted in boards with an index in October 1824 as The Astrologer of the Nineteenth Century; or Compendium of Astrology, Geomancy and Occult Philosophy (London and Dublin, 6th ed.), which reproduces the original journals with their pagination and which has supplied the version in iapsop.com, and then was again republished with additions as a book, The Astrologer of the Nineteenth Century, or the Master Key of Futurity, a Complete System of Geomancy & Occult Science, etc., etc. (7th ed.) with a preface by Merlinus Anglicus, Junior, Gent. (Smith), praising the antiquity of astrology and the great success of the previous editions. The book was divided into 10 "Circles," each dealing with an antiquarian hodgepodge of the occult arts, especially geomancy, necromancy, ceremonial magic, charms, talismans, incantations, "the Ancient Practice of Raising Spirits and Invocating the Dead," astral influence, omens, mythology, prophecies, remarkable nativities, ghost stories, "Descriptions of the Ancient Danish Calendar," curiosities like how to determine astrologically whether a fiancee was a virgin, etc. The journal displayed the learning of the period, including notably a curious reference to the power of magical herbs, including hashish: "The following extraordinary magical virtues of herbs, &c. are extracted from an ancient manuscript in the possession of ‘Raphael.' -- ‘Anoint thee with the juice of canabus and archangel; and, before a mirror of steel, call spirits, and thou shalt see them, and have power to bind and to loose them.'" Other than in astrology, however, the journal did not pretend to great originality, being satisfied to give regular excerpts and citations to curious works by the likes of Charles Maturin, Dom Calmet, Jeremy Bentham, Francis Barrett, etc., and giving translations by Thomas Taylor. The journal also published certain "Astrological Fragments by Her Royal Highness Princess Olive of Cumberland," presumably the painter Olivia Serres who claimed the dubious distinction of being the daughter of Henry, Duke of Cumberland. The painter and astrologer John Varley contributed nativities to the journal, including his own. The last two issues of the serial journal carried Wright's offer to sell the journal, but no one came forward and Wright went bankrupt the next year. When the bound "7th ed." was published in 1825 it still bore Wright's name but announced it was printed for Knight and Lacy of Paternoster Row. BL; NYPL; Brown University; Syracuse University; Cleveland Public Library; Northwestern University; Harvard University; BL.

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