Astrology & astronomy

Astrology (the application of knowledge gleaned from the stars) was the basis for weather predictions and anatomical information included in almanacs¹. The compilers of the early Harvard almanacs associated astrology with paganism and did not include weather predictions or anatomical information, focusing instead on astronomy² (the study of planets, moons, stars, and other celestial beings).

Astronomical content, particularly about eclipses, remained in New England almanacs even as astrological content began appearing by 1678³.

The Maine Farmers' Almanac, For the Year of Our Lord 1841; Being the first after Bissextile or Leap Year, and the sixty-fifth - sixty-sixth of our Country's Independence.

The Rhode-Island Almanack, For the Year of our Lord Christ, 1823: Being the third after Bissextile, or Leap Year, and the forty-seventh of American Independence, which commenced July 4, 1776

Bickerstaff's Boston Almanack, or Federal Calendar, for 1789. First after Leap-Year and Thirteenth of Independency

An Almanack of Almanacks, Collected from Poor Job, and others. For the Year of our Lord 1752. From the Creation, by Scripture, 5761. Being Bissextile, or Laap Year [sic].

The Farmers' Almanac, For the Year of our Lord 1821. Being the First After Bissextile or Leap Year, and the Forty-fifth of the Independence of the United States of America

A common belief of the time held that the phases of the moon determined proper times for blood letting, which was used as a prescribed medical treatment for certain ailments and was practiced by many as a periodic cleansing activity. Before blood letting, readers would use an almanac to learn which sign the moon was in on a given day and which body part was governed by the moon. It was believed that a cut in or near the part of the body being influenced by the moon could lead to uncontrollable bleeding and even death. Some readers also believed that phases of the moon determined appropriate times to geld cattle, shear sheep, graft trees, fell timber, and slaughter swine⁴.

Examples of pages with astrological content are below. Some also include astronomical content on the same page, or entirely unrelated information. See the Man of Signs page in this exhibit for further astrology-related examples.

Isaiah Thomas's Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Newhampshire & Vermont Almanack, With an Ephemeris, for the Year of our Lord 1800: Being the IVth after Bissextile, or Leap Year, and 24th of Columbian Independence

The Maine Farmers' Almanac, For the Year of Our Lord 1826; Being the second after Bissextile or Leap Year, and the fiftieth of the Independence of the United States of America

The Christian Almanac, For New-England. For the Year of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, 1828, Being Bissextile or Leap Year, and the Fifty-second of the Independence of the United States

Thomas's Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode-Island, New-Hampshire & Vermont Almanack, With an Ephemeris, for the Year of Our Lord 1785: and Ninth of the Independence of America

The Rhode-Island Almanack, For the Year of our Lord Christ, 1825: Being the first after Bissextile, or Leap Year, and the forty-ninth of American Independence, which commenced July 4, 1776

¹Madeleine Hudson, “Future Events We unto Thee Impart’: A Transatlantic Examination of Almanacs in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries” (Masters thesis, Tufts University, 2015), 16.

²Thomas A. Horrocks, “Rules, Remedies, and Regimens: Almanacs and Popular Medicine in Early America" (PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 2003), 38.

³Horrocks, “Rules, Remedies, and Regimens," 38.

⁴David Harold McCarter, “‘Of Physick and Astronomy’: Almanacs and Popular Medicine in Massachusetts, 1700-1764” (PhD dissertation, University of Iowa, 2000), 35-39.