THE ASTROLOGER’S QUEST TO UNDERSTAND THE HUMAN CHARACTER
(London: Macmillan, 2004), pp. 444, hdk ISBN 0-333

This book has been translated into Czech, Estonian, Latvian, Greek, Portuguese and Turkish

‘Peter Marshall’s impressive history is a well-argued and absorbing account of astrology’s grip on the imagination, and an eloquent defence of its importance in our lives … fascinating’.
Gary Lachman, The Guardian

‘It’s excellent: wise, witty and warm, and of course highly informative.’
Robin Waterfield, author of Hidden Depths: The Story of Hypnosis

‘Peter Marshall’s whistle-stop tour through the origins, history and relevance of astrology is as dazzingly vast as the night sky … Whether you agree or not, World Astrology is paradoxically the perfect book for day dreamers.’
Scott Anthony, Ink

‘Why the future’s still bright for stargazers’
Lucy Bowen, Irish Times

Peter Marshall set off on a world-wide search to explore the questions that astrology poses. Can we foretell events? Can we map character traits? How do star configurations at the time of our birth influence our futures?

“My world-wide study of astrology has confirmed that the astral knowledge of China, India, Mesopotamia and Egypt has common roots, possibly as a legacy from an earlier lost civilization. The core of astrology, the language of the stars, is a lingua franca, expressed in geometrical shapes and numbers and embodied in myths and symbols, which covers the whole world and transcends local cults and beliefs.”

World Astrology travels through the ancient world, tracing the origins and development of modern astrology. Ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, Mesopotamia and India all had systems with which to read the stars, and the discovery of a 4th-Century Chinese star-map shows that they had been star gazing for millennia. Peter Marshall examines both Western and Eastern astrology, explaining how each culture developed a unique way of interpreting the stars, while at the same time illuminating their common ground.

From the Chinese I Ching and Feng Shui, to the astrological implications of Plato’s philosophy; from Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos to the medieval Book of Hours, Peter Marshall analyses the different astrological methods and beliefs to build a picture of a much misunderstood art, along the way meeting practising astrologers and asking serious questions about the nature of astrology. How does astrology relate to the modern world? Is it science or superstition? Does it deny free will? Is the final version of your life in your hands?

World Astrology is the definitive study of a discipline that has intrigued humanity for millennia.