by Robert Wilkinson
Today is the birthday one of the greatest Stars in the history of Astrology, the amazing Grant Lewi. He pioneered a revolutionary approach to analyzing birth charts, signs, planets, and transits. A Dartmouth Professor, he left academia to embrace an extraordinary career as author, publisher, and one of the most brilliant lights of all time. He died a legend, having predicted his exact time of death from a cerebral hemorrhage months before it happened. Today we give a major happy to an amazing man.
His works inspired me to begin my Astrological journey 53 years ago. Today we celebrate the life and work of this remarkable man, and to that end I'll offer you some things that will hopefully serve as an adequate paean to a unique talent of the ages.
Rather than try to top what I've already written in the past, here are a few things I've written over the years that connect to past articles on his life, his accomplishments, and book reviews on his masterworks, Heaven Knows What and Astrology for the Millions. Written in 1935 and 1940, they are still the benchmarks for anyone wanting to learn about astrology, transits, planets in signs, and planets in aspect.
Though much has changed since Grant Lewi (Birth: 8:35 am, June 8, 1902, Albany, NY – Death: “very early AM” July 14, 1951, Tucson, AZ) walked this Earth, he is the giant in whose footsteps we all follow, since he gave us an entirely different way of looking at the natal chart and transits. As I wrote in an earlier article,
Perhaps Grant Lewi’s greatest contribution to modern astrology was his pioneering explanation of transits in general, and specifically the Saturn return. He was the first astrologer to take it out of the realm of superstition into a view where we could use this time, as well as any difficult transit period, more productively.Before Grant Lewi, the Saturn Return was seen to be a time of fated doom, gloom, and difficulties. Grant pointed out that during the Saturn return it is imperative for us to use our free will and self-discipline to reject obsolete duties and limitations while embracing a new way to live on our own terms.
He may well have been the first “psychological astrologer,” since he believed in free will to the utmost, and offered radically different ways to understand the birth chart than the mechanistic, deterministic models in vogue up to that point in time. His pioneering work, Astrology for the Millions, first published in 1940, was the first time in print we were told that during the Saturn Return we are revising deeply what we can live with and what we cannot, and learn to clear our inner nature of the deadwood of obsolete complexes and sentimentalities.
He emphasized that the Saturn return is one of those times in life when free will works to liberate us of a lot of subconscious refuse, and that nothing that happens to us is as important as our response to it. He admonished us not to “lay the blame at the door of circumstances.” Sounds like free will in dynamic action to me.
I consider Grant and Dane Rudhyar the two who broke the hold of fatalistic and deterministic astrology and opened the door to a wider, more accurate and effective way of viewing astrology and how we can take command of our lives as living Soul/Spirits. Interestingly, both of these pioneers were contemporaries and both dealt a death blow to deterministic astrology.
As I've written or offered at my talks and classes countless times these past 50 years, Rudhyar was the first to amalgam Humanistic Psychology, Astrology, and Holistic Philosophy into an entirely new branch of astrology which we call Humanistic Astrology. This psycho-spiritual approach has impacted millions around the world.
While I believe Grant Lewi is the pioneer of "Free Will Astrology," with an emphasis on destroying the illusion of determinism so we can claim our power to shape our future, our karma, and our destiny, Rudhyar put that into the psycho-spiritual field with a galactic approach to our human-centered existence. Between these two giants of the craft, we have all the tools we need to take command of our destiny and ex-press our spiritual Self into the world as conscious cooperators with our own creative evolutionary process.
For more on this remarkable man, please go to A Happy Birthday to Grant Lewi - One of the Greatest Astrologers of All Time. There's even more in an earlier article, The Gemini Pioneer of Free Will Astrology, Grant Lewi. (In the comment stream in the second article, we veered off into the history of my meetings with Rudhyar and Jones.) You really should check them out, since Grant was truly one for the Ages!
Happy birthday, Grant. I loved hanging with our friend and Brother Carl Payne Tobey while he was here, and I'm sure the two of you are having a blast with the other Astrological greats in whatever frequency of Heaven you're celebrating. Thanks for everything you've given me, since you've changed the lives of thousands of clients and friends over the years. Aum and blessings to you, my Brother and teacher.
Heaven Knows What by Grant Lewi - A Book Review
Astrology For The Millions - A book review In a nod to that work, here’s the part titled Why I Believe in Astrology by Grant Lewi © Copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson ps - Happy Birthday to my old friend Crawford, who holds the light in Alabama! May your next year be a great adventure in health, wealth, love, and perfect self-expression!
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