Astrology Community, Mundane Astrology, and Astrology History serve as the primary focus areas of this historical astrological literature. This archival item is the October 1991 issue (70th Edition) of Mercury Hour, “The Astrologer’s Astrological Magazine,” a reader-driven correspondence periodical edited and published by Edith Custer of Lynchburg, Virginia. Structured largely as an open forum of subscriber letters, it documents the working preoccupations of a grassroots American astrological community, with debates over classical versus modern technique, chart-matching blind tests, and the interpretation of stations, midpoints, solar returns, and heliocentric charts. Reflecting its Gulf War moment, the issue features mundane analysis of the Gulf War chart, the USSR’s dissolution, and comparative studies of Saddam Hussein, Jim Jones, and Adolf Hitler; alongside contributions from Ted George, M.J. Makransky, Joyce Wehrman, and Lee Lehman, a memorial for statistical researcher Michel Gauquelin (1928-1991), chart data for figures such as Napoleon and Helen Herron Taft, and period advertisements for early astrological software that capture the field’s transition into desktop computing.
Issue Highlights
Book Review
Working with Astrology by Michael Harding & Charles Harvey – Doris Greaves
Articles
Missing Visa Book – Marie DeLeone
Student’s Corner [the Ascendant] – Annibale F. Verzumo
Jupiter-Neptune, The Celestial Twins, Part I – Ted George
NCGR Conference [report] – Edith Custer
Indications of a Winner *or* Do You Have a Gambling Chart? – Cammille Adams
Planet Watch – Paul O. Hewit
The Natural Disposition, Part II – M.J. Makransky
Michel Gauquelin 1928-1991 – J. Lee Lehman
[USSR charts] Part I – Annibale Verzumo
The Three Amigos, Part II, Conclusion [Saddam Hussein, Jim Jones, Adolph Hitler]– Susan J. Kientz
[Risks of publishing astrological materials] Part II, Conclusion – C. J. Puotinen
Central American Data – M.J. Makransky
Her Proudest Moment [Helen Herron Taft] – T. Patrick Davis
Pluto, Part II, Transpluto – Joyce Wehrman [transcription of talk]
The Gemini Theme, Using the Astrological Language, Part III, Conclusion – Anne Foley
Autumn Equinox September 23, 1991 – Dorothy S. Willis
Discussions
Astrological weather prediction
Solar returns
Chart of Napoleon
Neptune
Gulf War chart
Heliocentric charts
Finding the time of sunrise in birthchart
Chart data
(some incomplete or in question)
Bonaparte, Napoleon
Taft, Helen Herron
Iraq War
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
Nicaragua
Notable contributors
Marion March (semi-sextiles)
Lee Lehman (classical astrology techniques; homosexuality & astrology)
Marc Penfield (the astrology of Orlando, FL & Disney World)