Kocku von Stuckrad
University of Groningen

From Astronomy to Naturphilosophie, from Matter to Spirit:
Astrology in German Romanticism

At the end of the eighteenth century, astrology had more or less disappeared from the learned discourse of continental Europe. Many astronomers polemicized against astrologers, and Enlightenment thinkers used to ridicule astrology as meaningless or even dangerous irrationalism. Such polemics, however, did not result in the final dismantling of astrology; rather, it fostered a transformation of astrological discourse that ultimately led to the emergence of modern astrology. One important chapter in the genealogy of twentieth-century astrology was the revaluation and ‘spiritualization’ of astrology in German Romanticism during the nineteenth century. The paper looks at influential figures in German Romanticism and analyzes their interpretation of astrology. With their critical response to Enlightenment polemics they provided a philosophical referential framework that was to become prominent in subsequent astrological theory and practice.

Kocku von Stuckrad is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. His fields of research include the history of astrology and religion in European culture. His most recent book is Locations of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Esoteric Discourse and Western Identities (Leiden: Brill 2010).