By Gary Lorentzen

In the Spring of 2013, I was in San Francisco and attended a preliminary outreach and exploratory meeting regarding ‘Queer Astrology’ held at the California Institute of Integral Studies. The meeting led to the organization of the first Queer Astrology Conference. It was a fascinating discussion and presentation but, although it seemed a novel idea to most everyone there, the idea was not at all new to me. I am a gay man in my seventies, have been active in the world of astrology since 1972, and, although this idea of queering astrology is only now taking hold, the conversation took me back some thirty to forty years.

There was a significant group of gay astrologers who were very influential in the 1970s-1990s, and we had the same discussions, the same thoughts, ideas and came to the same conclusions four decades ago that I heard in this initial Queer Astrology presentation. The difference is that this new generation of astrologers who had gathered there felt liberated enough to take the discussion beyond conceptualization and make something happen. I suppose this speaks to the success and awareness of gender, feminist, and queer theory as intellectual pursuits that have developed since the 1970s and become mainstream academic interests. In itself, this is both a testament to the social changes regarding acceptance of alternative sexualities, as well as to the attitudinal changes within the astrological community regarding its own LGBT members.  This new generation of astrologers is apparently well-versed in ideas like queer theory and this opens the possibility that they actually begin ‘queering’ astrology. Our community was not so open and accepting thirty to forty years ago. There could never have been a Queer Astrology Conference in 1980 for many reasons, but, in general, minds were just not open to the idea.

So, I would like to present to you some of the ideas that we older gay astrologers had about queering astrology, but really didn’t have the wherewithal to do anything about. That is, the world of astrology had not changed enough yet to embrace a queer approach to the practice, but gay astrologers were still creating among themselves a theoretical basis for what now is being called ‘Queer Astrology.’ Then I would like to introduce many of these gay men all of whom may not have been ‘out and proud’ because they didn’t feel safe, but nonetheless, they had a significant influence in changing astrology in its study, practice, application and professionalism over the last forty years.

There were a few of us who talked about gay issues just among ourselves, but we were reluctant to open up the discussion to others. I remember, whenever I tried, the reaction was always a nervous glance, hesitation, then an immediate change of subject. So, it was something that we talked about quietly together at conferences or, in my case, with my friend, Bruce Hamerslough—one of the first astrologers to just matter-of-factly come out and even say he was HIV positive—we sat down and decided to prioritize issues we wanted to know more about. Our clientele in Seattle was increasingly gay, and neither of us felt that we had any meaningful way of approaching an astrological counseling session with them without coming out to them ourselves in order to make them feel more comfortable. But we were concerned that doing so would make the session more about us than about them, so there had to be another way. We began to realize that there was something wrong with the astrology, or at least with the approach and interpretations in which we had been schooled. It was a little disconcerting to think that we had no theory or interpretive framework for dealing even with ourselves much less with gay clients.

One of the first issues I remember studying with Bruce was the idea of a ‘gay signature’ in the birth chart. Based on the literature, there were many different ‘signatures’ suggested by the astrologers of the day and those from earlier in the century, all of which reflected the misinformed opinion that there was something pathological with homosexuality. For example, there was the commonly held belief that ‘hard’ aspects between Venus and Saturn in a man’s chart made it difficult for him to relate to women, so his sexuality would constellate around an erotic attraction to a father figure. The same sort of ‘interpretation’ was given to ‘hard’ Moon/Saturn aspects. Another was any ‘hard’ Mars/Venus/Uranus aspect pattern perverted the sexual impulse and redirected the ‘natural attraction’ away from women and towards men. Lesbians suffered from Mars/Neptune ‘afflictions’—they were simply confused and sought sisterly affection from their female friends, but with the right man, all would be well. You see the problem immediately looking at it from today’s experience and perspective!  Somehow, it often escaped astrologers that even heterosexuals have such aspects in their charts and they weren’t considered as signatures for heterosexuality. I often heard these offensive interpretations at conference presentations and read them in articles as well as in sections of books. Yet, in spite of the fact the American Psychiatric Association had de-pathologized homosexuality in 1973, attitudes and interpretations were very slow to change in the astrological community.

Even within my Boomer generation of astrologers, many of whom were influenced by Jung and archetypal approaches stemming from Joseph Campbell’s work in mythology, there was difficulty in reconciling concepts like ‘syzygy’ (reconciliation of opposites, i.e., male and female archetypes in the psyche) and its manifestation in male-female sexual attraction, and the realities of same-sex attraction. The late Tony Joseph and I had conversations about this problem and even he, as an archetypal astrologer and gay man, could not comfortably conform Jungian theory to a homosexual orientation. But then, within Jungian circles, there was also controversy over how to explain homosexuality within the limits of Jungian theory. If depth psychology was going to be used for astrological work, then theories like analytical psychology had to be applied. At least that was the conventional wisdom.  Freud’s idea of a universal ‘latent  homosexuality’ was being discredited in academia, so for astrology the Jungian archetypal approach seemed a better fit, but it didn’t provide any real answers either.

Thus, chart interpretations were (and often still are) hetero-centrically biased and ignorant in their assumptions about sexuality. It is no wonder that astrologers didn’t feel comfortable openly discussing queer and gay issues. There was no theoretical basis within the literature or schools of thought for doing so. Astrologers all too often, like psychologists prior to the 1970s, conflated the effects of society on the emotional lives of gay people with their sexuality. That is to say, the depression, anxiety, emotional stress and self-loathing that actually come from being closeted in an intensely homophobic society, were rather seen as a result of a pathological sexuality, and not seen as stemming from the oppression of living in a frighteningly hateful world, in which, until the 1970s, gay men were subject to ten years imprisonment and sterilization in many states. Some of that ignorance is still around because astrology is too often a self-study and the old materials and books with questionable interpretations and assumptions are still available and being used.

Obviously, at this point in time, it is pretty well established that there is no astrological signature for homosexuality. Sexuality is now seen more as an identity and orientation to the world based on a multiplicity of factors from genetics to very early responses to the environment, not unlike culture, nationality or gender, none of which can be ‘found’ in the planetary placements of the birth chart. There are probably as many different ‘signatures’ for sexuality as there are people, and this fact requires us all to be acutely sensitive to our clients’ individual sexual orientations and gender identities.

Yet, gay people who go to astrologers often experience the same old prejudices that I experienced in astrology forty years ago. In general, we still too often see the Uranus/Neptune/Pluto/Venus/Mars combinations as potential indicators of homosexuality, rather than seeing the client simply as a sexual being, whether gay, straight, bi, or transgendered, and interpreting the planetary dynamics as to how they come to know and deal with their sexuality. But this is exactly what gay astrologers were beginning to formulate back in the early 1980s and what today’s younger astrologers, whatever their sexuality, are trying to do today with their ‘Queer Astrology’. There needs to be a body of work on the subject that becomes the basis for a new, less hetero-centric approach, in order to make this somewhat separate queer branch of interpretation more accepted and generalized in common practice.

There is an important, oft forgotten reason for the lack of a body of queer astrological work from the 1970s through the 1990s. Aside from the historical, theoretical and interpretive problems in astrology regarding sexuality, dealing with gay clients and acknowledging gay practitioners, there was also the added terror of the AIDS epidemic that began in the early 1980s and made the situation much worse for gay astrologers. Although I would like to believe that my astro-colleagues were, for the most part, less paranoid of their gay counterparts than, say the general population was, it was still problematic. People mentioned ‘gay’ only in side conversations and whispers, which made many of us very uncomfortable. But then our colleagues started dying of AIDS, and it simply couldn’t be ignored anymore. Some of us began to realize staying quiet (i.e. closeted) was not a good idea. My friend, Bruce, and I had long heart-to-heart conversations about coming out, making the astrological community more aware, and imploring them to be more compassionate as we began losing many of our best and brightest astrologers.

I first met Bruce Hamerslough in Atlanta in 1978. Originally, from New York, he was living in Athens, and I had just moved to Atlanta. I immediately joined the Metro Atlanta Astrological Society, for which Bruce then was the Vice President, and we started a congenial professional relationship. I moved back to Seattle in late 1979 and Bruce moved there in the early 1980s. We became good friends, and I spent a lot of time with him and his business partner and fellow astrologer, Dennis Flaherty, before Bruce died. Bruce believed he had been HIV positive probably since 1980 or ’81, so the subject was emotionally close to him. He and I discussed at length the issue of HIV and sexuality in astrological interpretation, and we wanted to have open discussions about the AIDS crisis with others, but it wasn’t at all a welcome conversation. We realized then it felt too risky to promote such a thing in the community-at-large, because there was so much fear and confusion around the subject. As a result, our notion of ‘queer astrology’, that is, making the community open and welcoming to gay practitioners, dealing appropriately with gay and lesbian clients, and publishing articles and perhaps even books on sexuality, never went anywhere except as an interesting topic of conversation among ourselves and a few other gay astrologers. The very idea of researching and creating a body of work around the issues of homosexuality was becoming less and less likely.

During the 1980s, because of the slow response to the crisis, gay people all over the world started getting angry and holding massive protests regarding gay rights and AIDS. Governments simply dismissed the diseased initially as a ‘gay disease’ and there was not much of a concerted effort to deal with it. It took a great deal of ‘acting up and out’ to get their attention. Finally, there was an appropriate response to the epidemic, but the delay meant the death of millions. Within the astrological community, men started dying of AIDS and AIDS related problems, which Bruce and I thought required some kind of response from astrologers. At least, the gay astrologers needed to stand up and make it known. Bruce and I decided we would not stay closeted, but we were both a bit shy about it because we were concerned about our reputations in the community. We didn’t make any dramatic announcements, but starting in 1983, we simply let it be known through normal communication with others that we were gay. Of course, no one seemed to care. Yet, at the national level, many of our best astrologers, who also happened to be gay, were not coming out, and they were dying. It was a terrible situation, yet no one was talking about it or dealing with it. I believe it was in 1986 at NORWAC that Bruce outed himself publicly during a keynote speech, or something similar, in which he told the audience he was gay, HIV positive and had AIDS.

It turned into a tragic period in the history of modern astrology, because we lost many brilliant young astrologers to the AIDS epidemic in the late 1980s and 1990s, including my friend, Bruce. It was a devastating blow to the global astrological community, and many of us lost close friends and teachers, not to mention the loss of continued research, writing and general contributions to the discipline and profession, and most specifically in the area of sexuality and queer theory. I think it is time to remind ourselves not only who these men were and that they were very important to the global community, but also of what we were trying to accomplish in the field of astrology. Since the movement for a Queer Astrology is gaining momentum again, I would like to introduce these gay men to remember and examine what came before the current movement, to be inspired by their work, and, if nothing else, just to appreciate them.

Here is a list of American astrologers who paved the way for what is happening today in astrology, and who ultimately died of AIDS related illness or complications:  Robert Cole, Frederick Davies, Jack Fertig, Bruce Hamerslough, Jesse Portis Helm, Richard Idemon, Tony Joseph, Richard Lovell, Buz Myers, Marc Robertson, Howard Sasportas, James Farrell, Stephen Wirmusky, and Johnny Lister. I don’t know how complete this list is. These are the names that I am aware of, and I certainly hope there aren’t more. If you did not know or were not aware of these men, then perhaps it is time to become acquainted at least with their names. To that end, here is a short biography and commentary, as much as I could find or remember, for many of those listed above. Where it was possible, I included the birth and death data. I wish I had known all of them, but for those I knew or with whom I was acquainted, I offer my impressions and memories.

Robert Cole (May 7, 1948, 5:18AM PDT in Henderson, NV) was an astrologer from the Bay Area who was best known for his book, The Book of Houses. He was a bit of a controversial figure who often poked at the flimsy professionalism of some astrologers and whose letters to the astrological publications were often confrontational and provocative. But he made us think and reflect on what we were doing and what we were saying to our clients. He played the role of our conscience in many ways, and helped us with our integrity. He died of AIDS on August 13, 1992.

Jesse Portis Helm (August 31, 1947, 10:35AM EDT in Brooklyn, NY) was a working astrologer who was known for his acute observations and solid, common-sense advice. As a result, he had a large practice and lectured and taught in Manhattan most of his life. Later, he moved to the Raleigh-Durham area and toward the end of his life he went to Miami. He was also a gifted Tarot reader and a student of the Kabbalah. He never really promoted himself much on the national stage, preferring instead always to focus on the people in his locality, many of whom were LGBT. It is assumed he shied away from the national scene because he was very ‘out’ in New York and the national astrological community was not perceived as very gay friendly at the time. His writing career included a culture and entertainment column for Gentlemen’s Quarterly, and although he never published an astrological book, his writings for his classes, lectures and workshops were legendary. His lasting legacy in astrology is the human face he brought to the discipline with his openness and compassion for his clients and students and probably some of the best teaching and self-generated astrological materials of his day. Jesse died in Miami in June of 1989 and was preceded in death by his husband of many years, Phillip Weathers, who also died of AIDS.

Richard Lovell (no birth data are available) was also from Brooklyn, NY, and was known for his sardonic wit and his one-liners about the male and female stereotypes of each sign. Richard is probably one of the least known astrologers of the era, but he used to go to every possible conference and often rattled our cages with his irreverence and his obvious attempts to deflate egos, yet he never made people uncomfortable with his humorous attacks on self-importance.  He became ill with AIDS fairly early on and spent nearly a decade struggling with his health, which took him away from his astrological practice and the lecture circuit. He died in 1993.

Howard Sasportas (April 12, 1948, 1:46AM EST in Hartford, CT) was one of the most influential astrologers of his day. He received his MA in Humanistic Psychology from Antioch University-NYC and in 1973 moved to London to study astrology at the Faculty of Astrological Studies. He received his FAS Gold Medal in 1979 and began teaching for them. He also studied for a degree in Psychosynthesis and in 1983, together with Liz Greene, founded the Centre for Psychological Astrology in London. He had a reputation for being a very kind, approachable professional who touched many people’s lives and for his body of work that integrated psychology and astrology so well. Howard died on May 12, 1992 at 05:12PM in London, England. Here is a list of his published works:  The Twelve Houses; The Gods of Change; The Inner Planets; The Development of the Personality; Dynamics of the Unconscious.

Tony Joseph (December 7, 1946, 12:35AM in Cleveland, OH) was also a hugely popular and influential astrologer of the 1970s and early 1980s. He was especially known for his vast knowledge of mythology and its relationship to astrology, and together with Eleanor Bach and Demetra George, probably the most knowledgeable about asteroids. He was one of the first ‘archetypal’ astrologers who were intellectually influenced by Joseph Campbell and C. G. Jung. Tony was charming, handsome, collegiate and very articulate. His lectures were always inspiring and his ability to connect with people whom he met for the first time was amazing. He often wanted to let people know that he was gay, but he would do so with a touch of humor and euphemism. For example, when I first met him, he asked me grinning slyly and with a sparkle in his eye, whether I was also ‘puer aeternus’ (Latin for ‘eternal youth’ or ‘forever young’), which made me laugh. We became good professional acquaintances at that point, and he stayed with me when he came to Seattle for presentations, lectures, and workshops. Tony became the Director of the National Council for Geocosmic Research in 1979 and was active in the organization of astrology along new intellectual lines until his death. He died on June 6, 1986 at 3PM in San Francisco.

Steven Wimursky (June 27, 1956, no time available) was a New York astrologer who had a passion for the theater. His professional life encompassed both astrology and the theater, and he was enthusiastic about both. Steven took astrology and his practice seriously, and he wanted to see the field become more professional and more legitimate. He always sought to improve his knowledge and his skills both with techniques as well as with his clients. He studied for and passed his professional certification from NCGR-Professional Astrologers’ Alliance. He had a significant astrological practice which included consciously and purposefully serving the gay community, but he was also the Director of Operations for the Circle in the Square Theater. Many older astrologers might remember him from the UAC conference in Washington DC in 1992 when he was the stage manager for Michael Lutin’s ‘Alien Follies’. Steven began exhibiting HIV related symptoms shortly thereafter, and he died November 22, 1993 in Brewster MA.

Bruce Hamerslough (October 26, 1948, 06:45PM in New York, NY) grew up in Scarsdale NY, studied biology and education in college, and did his student teaching and became a public school science teacher in Vermont. But he had a passion for astrology and abandoned his teaching profession to become an astrologer. He moved to Athens, GA where he opened a metaphysical bookstore and practiced his astrology. He was instrumental in the early days of the astrological association in Atlanta, serving both as Vice President and President of that organization. He studied for and received his professional astrological certification in 1983 and moved to Seattle. There he formed a business partnership with Dennis Flaherty, and they opened the Greenlake Metaphysical Center.

Bruce was one of the first openly gay astrologers to come out as both gay and HIV positive. He had a successful practice in Seattle and he often expressed concern about gay and ‘queer’ issues in astrology, especially when it came to serving his gay clientele. Bruce was known for his sense of humor and ability to laugh at himself as he became more ill. He developed pneumonia in late 1995, and realizing his body couldn’t fight off the disease, he refused further treatment so as not to prolong the inevitable. Before he died, he asked to have this as his epitaph: “Having a wonderful time! Wish you were here!” He often said that you can lose your health, but you should never lose your sense of humor. He lived that philosophy to the end. He died December 27, 1995 at about 07:30AM in Seattle. Bruce published two books, Forecasting Backwards and Forwards and The I-Ching Manual.

Robert “Buz” Meyers (November 9, 1941, 06:48PM in Painesville, OH) was another incredibly influential and popular astrologer the 1970s-1990s. He had a passion for Native American philosophy and spirituality and often infused those perspectives into his work. He was a standard fixture at all the conferences both national and international, had a very popular tape series, and wrote books that had such a unique perspective on astrology and its applications that it was hard not to read his material from cover to cover in one sitting. He was known for his sharp insights, wit, and brilliant ideas. He was dynamic and charismatic in public, yet a quiet shy man in private and often preferred the limelight shine elsewhere. Buz was one of the few astrologers who did great deal of work in sexuality, sexual identity and orientation. His groundbreaking lecture series and resulting book, simply titled, Sexuality, turned out to be one of the first attempts to ‘queer’ astrology and move beyond stereotypes and pathological descriptions, although Buz would probably not have labeled his work ‘queer’ at the time. Other publications include Getting On-Time with Your Life and The Moon as Trigger for Transformation. Buz died March 12, 2000 at 08:38PM in Portsmouth, VA.

Marc Robertson (February 8, 1937, 05:48AM PST in Mount Vernon, WA)  I am including Marc here, although his ‘reported’ cause of death was heart failure. I knew him personally; he and his colleague, Joanne Wickenburg, were my teachers at the old Astrology Center of the Northwest. He probably had more influence on my understanding and application of astrology than any other astrologer at the time. He was a very quiet, withdrawn, shy man who was a brilliant astrologer and, in spite of his reserved nature, could give a terrific public lecture. He could also be a bit of a tyrant and a diva to those around him. His body of written work, however, is incomparable and his contribution to astrology with his ‘cosmopsychology’ can’t be underestimated.

He had a fascination with human sexuality and he and I had a couple of in-depth conversations about the subject, in which he hinted at his sexual orientation, but never said he was gay. But then he never revealed anything about his personal life to anyone, ever, not even inconsequential little details that people normally discuss with others in general conversation. His book, Using the Birth Chart to Determine Sex, Mind and Habit, is a significant early contribution to Queer Astrology, but Marc’s social conditioning and closeted nature are still evident even in his attempt to move beyond such personal limitations. Other important works include Transit of Saturn; Engine of Destiny: Planets and Personality; Not a Sign in the Sky but a Living Person; Time out of Mind: The Past in your Astrological Birth Chart and Reincarnation; Eighth House: Sex, Death and Money.  Marc Robertson died September 26, 1984.

Richard Idemon (There are no birth data available for Richard because he never revealed his birthday, and even those who know still respect his wish that no one knows his birthday and time.) Richard was the charismatic astrological educator par excellence during the 1980s. He was famous internationally for his incredible lectures, depth of research and, probably most significantly, for his work in depth psychology together with Liz Greene. He was also the teacher for many of our most successful astrologers today. He had a tape series which was very popular both in the States and in Europe. He never wrote a full astrological book while he was still alive, but thanks to the work of Gena Ceaglio and the late Howard Sasportas, two books were published posthumously based on transcriptions of Richard’s lectures, workshops and other written work:  The Magic Thread and Through the Looking Glass. Richard was one of the most popular and influential astrologers and teachers of the 1980s. He died in San Francisco around noon on February 22, 1987.

These astrologers left a remarkable legacy and their deaths were hard to comprehend or accept. They were our colleagues, friends, teachers, mentors, and heroes, but their memories live on, their works are still here to be read and studied, and their influence will reach far into the future.  Collectively, they formed the basis for what we are now calling Queer Astrology and the door is now open for the next generation of astrologers to complete the work and fulfill the promise of an astrology stripped of its narrow stereotypes, judgments, prejudices and misinformation about human sexuality and relationships.

Acknowledgement and thanks go to Erin Sullivan, Donna Cunningham and Alan Oken for their insights and input in helping me remember and reminding me of some of the details about these men and events since the 1970s.