John Goad's Astro-Meteorologica

by Bruce Scofield

(Previously published in a condensed version as John Goad: Astrological Research Pioneer in the NCGR Journal,
Winter 1986-1987, pp. 58-61.)

Abstract

During the 17th century some astrologers attempted to reform the subject of astrology and align
it with the newly emerging experimental methods of natural philosophy (science). Francis Bacon
was in favor of a scientific astrology and Johannes Kepler proposed specific reforms. While
astrologers had no more difficulty in accepting the Copernican hypothesis than did most
scientists of the late 16 th and early 17th centuries, they lacked a means of establishing
measurable units in their subject, particularly in regard to nativities. During the mid 17th
century John Goad applied the astrological scientific methodology of the time, mostly data
collection and correlation, to meteorological astrology and produced a major work on the
subject. In it he analyzed the geocentric angular separations between the planets, Sun and
Moon, and correlated them with weather records he made over several decades. Goad’s Astro-
Meteorologica was probably the greatest single effort to make a science out of astrology in the
17th century. Unfortunately, his research was conducted at a time before instrumentation and
statistical methodologies for processing data were readily available.

In 1686, one year before the appearance of Newton's Principia, John Goad (1616-1687)
published a major work on astrology entitled Astro-Meteorologica, or Aphorisms and Discourses
on the Bodies Celestial, their Natures and Influences.1 In it he compared weather records with
the angular separations of the planets, thus establishing himself as one of the very few
astrologers who attempted to apply the newly emerging experimental method to his subject. A
comprehensive work of over 500 pages, the Astro-Meteorologica presents many difficulties for
the reader not fully versed in the language and concepts of astrology. It is the purpose of this
paper to examine this text for its content and to introduce a generally unrecognized reason for
the decline of astrology in the 17th century.

Within the rapidly changing intellectual climate of the 16th and 17th centuries few astrologers
made efforts to reform, update and apply experimental methodologies to their subject. Johannes
Kepler, himself a practicing astrologer and writer on the subject, advocated the abandonment of
the zodiac and the mundane houses, two cornerstones of classical astrology. Consistent with the
neo-Pythagorean theme of his major work, Harmonies of the Spheres (1619), he suggested an
approach which emphasized the geocentric angular separations between the planets (the so-
called planetary aspects) which he viewed in terms of geometric proportions. But Kepler was
almost alone among his astrological contemporaries in advocating such drastic departures from

1 John Goad, Astro-Meteorologica, or Aphorisms and Discourses of the Bodies Celestial, their Natures and
Influences, (London: J. Rawlins, 1686).
tradition, and the impact of his reforms was minimal. 2 Unlike Kepler, Francis Bacon was not a
student or practitioner of the subject, but he was open to an astrology which studied general
conditions. Bacon was extemely critical of astrological doctrines concerned with nativities,
elections, and inquiries, all of which, he noted, were plainly refuted by obvious physical
conditions. Essentially, he wanted to remove anything occult or mysterious from the subject and
make it a "sane astrology", as reasonable as any of the other sciences. 3 While many of the
founders of modern science were knowledgeable of astrology and somewhat disposed toward it,
it was generally considered to be only semi-reliable and extemely difficult to defend or prove in
a concrete way. For the most part, full-time astrologers during this period continued to defend
and elaborate the classical doctrines.

While the real debate over astrology, which ran the course of these two centuries, centered
primarily on the supposed influence of the planets on man, there was, until the second half of the
17th century, little argument in regard to any general planetary effect on the weather. Of the
various branches of astrology, astro-meteorology4 was taken quite seriously by Tycho Brahe and
Kepler, for example, who were expected by their patrons to make weather forecasts as well as
political predictions.5 In general, the application of astrology to weather forecasting has ancient
origins, and it is even possible that astrology itself, as a discipline, developed out of a kind of
astro-meteorology which originated with the prediction of the seasonal cycle - vital knowledge
for an agricultural community. The biological component of astrology may have originated from
associations between the lunar cycle and mammalian fertility cycles. 6 In any case, at this early
stage, astrology was essentially a heavenly symbolism through which the periodicity of the
seasonal life processes were understood. Eventually the other visible planets were included in
what became an extremely elaborate omen system. Professional interpreters offered
explanations of celestial phenomena to rulers which included weather predictions along with
political forecasts. It should be noted that astrology in Babylon, Nineveh and other
Mesopotamian centers from 700 BC on involved sophisticated observations of celestial
phenomena which were systematically recorded and correlated with concurrent social, political,
economic and meteorological events. 7

Classical astrology was largely a Greek/Mesopotamian synthesis, the Greeks applying geometry

2 Arthur and Peter Beer, ed., Kepler, Four Hundred Years, (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1975), pp. 439-448.
Morinus in France also rejected Kepler.
3 John Robertson, ed., The Philosophical Works of Francis Bacon, (Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries

Press, 1970), pp. 462-466.

4 Astro-meteorology, in fact, is one of two distinct traditions in the history of meteorology. The earth and weather

science associated with Aristotle's Meteorologica, a relatively short work explaining phenomena and describing
physical laws affecting the world, is representative of the other tradition. Associated with this non-astrological
tradition is the weather lore found in Pliny and others, which link certain occurrences (animal behaviors, halos
around the moon, etc.) to changes in the weather.
5 Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971), p.334.
6 Dane Rudhyar, The Astrology of Personality, (Lucis Publishing Company, 1936; reprinted Garden City, New

York: Doubleday Paper-back, 1970), p.12.

7 R. Campbell Thompson, The Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon in the British

Museum, (2 vols., London: Luzac and Co., 1900), and Hodson, F.K., ed., The Place of Astronomy in the Ancient
World“ (London: Oxford University Press, 1974).
to centuries of Mesopotamian observations and speculations on the relationships between the
planets and events on Earth. Among the few surviving authors Ptolemy, author of the
Tetrabiblos, probably best represents the classical synthesis. In his book, Ptolemy places rules
for determining future meteorological conditions well before his sections on nativities. 8

During the Middle Ages, as translations of Ptolemy (with Arabic commentaries and further
refinements) moved into Europe, astro-meteorology became the dominant weather forecasting
technique. This approach did not present any major problems to medieval thinkers; Pliny had
presumed the influence of the stars and this attitude could be read into Aristotle. While no
significant new knowledge about the physics of the atmosphere was added to what the ancients
knew, late medieval astrological approaches to weather forecasting were steadily progressing.9

It was the invention of printing that allowed astrological weather forecasting to reach its
maximum development. In the medieval period and in the Renaissance courts, an astrologer was
able to communicate a prediction only by speech or manuscript and was confined to the limiting
ties of a patron. With the advent of movable type came the almanacs and consequently a wider
audience for the astrologer. Almanacs would contain ephemerides, or listings of the planetary
locations, alongside which would be written weather predictions, or rules for weather predicting,
for each planetary aspect (angular separation). The spread of printed almanacs and calendars
also stimulated systematic weather observation in the practice of keeping notes on the weather.10

During the 16th and 17th centuries, standard astrological textbooks, which were for the most
part continuations of classical astrology with some Arabian additions, usually contained a
section on astro-meteorology along with the usual information on nativities, questions, etc. One
of the few works, and certainly one of the most important, to appear during this period focusing
entirely on astro-meteorology was John Goad's Astro-meteorologica.

John Goad was born in London and became the headmaster of the Merchant Taylors School,
which he had attended himself, in 1661. In 1680 he was charged with Catholic leanings in the
content of some material he had written for the use of his students. He was dismissed from his
post in 1681 but was recognized for his past services in the form of a gratuity. He also received
kind words from friends regarding this incident and from one William Smith, a schoolmaster of
Islington, who described Goad as a person of unequalled qualifications. Goad's opponent in this
affair, Dr. John Owen, was successful in placing his nephew in Goad's former position. Goad
soon opened a private school where he taught until just before his death. In 1686 he declared
himself a Roman Catholic. 11 Among Goad's writings are some sermons, a comment on the
cathechism of the Church of England, a comment on monarchy as a form of government, and a
method of teaching students Latin. He had written a treatise on plagues, but it was destroyed

8 Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1940), pp.207-219.

9 S.K. Heninger Jr., A Handbook of Renaissance Meteorology, (New York: Greenwood Press, 1968), pp. 6,14.
10 Sir Napier Shaw, Manual of Meteorology, (Cambridge: 1926) Vol. I, Meteorology in History, pp. 104-111. A

classic early English almanac is A Prognostication Everlasting by Leonarde Digges, the father of the astronomer
Thomas Digges. Printed at least 11 times, the earliest in 1555, it contains many tables and a set of instructions for
predicting the weather astrologically - by planetary aspects and zodiacal positions.
11 George Smith, The Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 1921-1922), 8:18,19.
while in press during the Great Fire of London (1666). His major work was the Astro-
Meteorlogica which apparently earned him a great reputation. This work was also published in
Latin in 1690. 12

In examining Goad's Astro-Meteorologica, one finds a curious combination of the old and the
new so typical of 17th century science. Goad made his weather observations at a time when the
systems of Aristotle and Ptolemy were under heavy attack but were not yet completly discarded.
A satisfactory alternative to these traditional models of the universe was ironically just emerging
at the time that his work was published. But Goad was not unaffected by the changing times.
Although he used the four elements to explain how the heavens affected the sublunary world,
and frequently referred to Ptolemy, Pliny and other ancient authorities, he also questioned the
need to submit to every tradition in natural science. In terms of historical setting then, John Goad
was a contemporary of numerous contributors to the Scientific Revolution and he was somewhat
familiar with the scientific currents of his time. He speaks of the Royal Society (which was
hostile towards astrology) and even offered it some suggestions. 13 He applied a Baconian
method to his subject by collecting data for some thirty years, which were then used to check
traditional doctrines. Interestingly enough, this experimental approach towards astrology led
Goad to believe that, for the most part, astrology conformed to these doctrines. It should be
noted that an experimental approach applied to meteorological astrology presents far fewer
problems than those posed by the astrology of nativities. Most practicing astrologers worked
with nativities and naturally would have had difficulties in obtaining large samples of exact data
suitable for a controlled study. 14 In addition, and I believe this to be a generally overlooked
point, methodological techniques appropriate for the social sciences (ie. statistical analysis)
were not to develop for some time.

Goad's method of recording meteorological phenomena did not utilize instrumentation. In

Goad’s time the thermometer was still in the process of being developed and it lacked a standard
scale. Goad reports that he observed barometric fluctuations but these do not appear in his
published weather diary. He regrets that he did not use a horizontal plate with a compass for
measuring the wind direction exactly and he only recorded the temperature when it was out of
the ordinary, i.e. extremes. His methods were somewhat crude and mostly subject to his own
judgement, yet they are similar to a suggested method for making a record of the weather written
by his younger contemporary Robert Hooke (1653- 1703).15 Like Goad, Hooke, initially a
believer in astrology though later a doubter, suggested recording the longitude of the Sun and
Moon and their phase angle or angular separation, but her also specifically advocated the use of
three existing primitive measuring devices: the thermometer, the baroscope and the hygroscope.

12 John Goad has been briefly discussed by Lynn Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science, (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1923) vol. 8, pp. 347-349, and by Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic,
pp. 327-329.
13 Goad, Astro-Meteorologica, p. 213. Goad noted that conjunctions of Mars and the Sun seem to affect ocean

currents and suggested that such knowledge could be useful to navigators.

14 One approach, used by Gaurico and Cardan, was to publish case studies which proved nothing since this was

"after the fact" analysis. See D.C. Allen, The Star- Crossed Renaissance. The Quarrel about Astrology and Its
Influence in England, (Duke University Press, 1941; reprinted New York: Octagon Books, 1966).
15 Thomas Sprat, The History of the Royal-Society of London, (London: 1667), pp. 173-179; Thomas, Religion

and the Decline of Magic, pp. 351-352.

In regard to his astronomical views, Goad was also transitional. Copernicanism was still not
completely accepted and in the mid 17th century one alternative was the compromise system of
Tycho Brahe.16 Goad remarked that he leaned to the Tychonic system (in which Venus and
Mercury orbit the Sun which in turn orbits a stationary Earth), but commented that astrological
principles would not be affected in the least. He pointed out that a planet's position relative to
the Earth would be the same no matter which system was correct. 17 The fact that the true
structure of the solar system, and its laws, were of considerably less importance to the astrologer
than a planet's exact location in the sky, accounted in part for the accelerating separation of
astrologers from astronomers during this period.

The lack of a satisfactory explanation of just how the planets affected the Earth was a major
reason for the abandonment of astrology by the scientific community. The Aristotelian universe
had provided something like a causal explanation for planetary effect in the notion of a
separation between pure crystalline spheres and the gross sublunary world and also in the idea of
motion in the region near the Earth having a "natural" direction - i.e. towards the Earth"s center.
Assuming a loosely interpreted Aristotelian view, it would seem logical that if the planets
exerted any powers, they would be felt on Earth. To many observers the comet of 1577 appeared
to cut through these supposed solid spheres of the celestial realm. The novae of 1572 and 1604,
along with Galileo's discovery of sunspots, were blows to another traditional Aristotelian tenet,
the idea of a perfect and changeless universe. These and other events conspired toward the
distrust of and eventual downfall of Aristotle as an authority.18

As for Ptolemy, the other great authority about to be displaced, he was still highly regarded by
Goad and other astrologers for his astrology in Tetrabiblos. But at this same time, Ptolemy's
astronomical system, set out in his major work the Almagest, was being rejected by astronomers.
Thus by continued allegiance to a failing authority, astrologers further eroded their credibility in
scientific circles. But again, Goad was quite correct in pointing out that, in astrology, one is far
more concerned with the exact location of a planet or body in the sky and far less with theories
explaining why it is there when it is. Whether it works or not, astrology is a practical discipline.
It has rarely concerned itself with theory. That was left to the philosophers, physicists and
theologians.

The reasons for the decline of astrology in the 16th and 17th centuries are complex. The
historian of science pursuing this problem inevitably finds himself examining social and
religious change in order to find cause for its abandonment by the intellectual elite of the period.
These shifts in society have been discussed by Allen and Thomas, at least in regard to English
society, but if one is confined to the scientific movement itself, the situation appears somewhat

16 Francis R. Johnson, Astronomical Thought in Renaissance England, (John Hopkins Press, 1937; reprinted New
York: Octagon Books, 1968), p.292. Also see Herbert Butterfield, The Origins of Modern Science, (G. Bell and
Sons, Inc., 1957; reprinted New York: Free Press, 1965), p. 83.
17 Goad, Astro-Meteorologica, p. 121. Goad later remarks (p. 264) that he might be willing to believe that the

Copernicans are correct.

18 See Butterfield, The Origins of Modern Science, pp. 67-88.

different than may be generally presumed.19 There appear to be two major reasons for astrology's
decline among scientists and the first, as we have seen, is the crumbling of the intellectual props
that held it up and justified its claims for so many centuries. This great change in intellectual
fashion was ironically accelerated by those interested in astrology, particularly Brahe and
Kepler. The second major reason was that astrology was impossible to prove given the demand
for mathematical laws popular at the time. Measurable units of astrological influence were
simply not available. Astrology was never disproved, but it failed to prove itself, and in this
regard John Goad took the problem as far as it could be taken at the time.

Throughout the Astro-Meteorlogica Goad maintained a defensive posture against the critics of
astrology. At the same time he displayed considerable confidence that he was not pursuing a lost
cause and he challenged critics to look carefully at his data and to continue to follow his findings
for another twenty five years.20 He remarked that his critics, who want nothing less than exact
effects, do not study nature closely enough and will be disappointed. He clearly pointed out that
his conclusions about the various planetary combinations are not meant to be a total explanation
of natural phenomena, but they reveal a natural predisposition in nature. In other words, the
principles of astro-meteorology cannot be reduced to absolute laws that will work consistently,
but rather patterns can be perceived when one examines the data over long periods of time. Still,
Goad believed astrology could be upgraded, and remarked "how suddenly the celestial
knowledge would be advanced, if our ancestors' defect herin could be made up by some private
re-search, or voluntary contribution". 21 Apparently not many dedicated or affluent persons were
concerned about astrology in Goad's time.

Though Goad's basic principles of astro-meteorology represented a continuation of those of

Ptolemy, there were certain differences. He found that planetary influences on the weather
according to his own observations were generally in agreement with the classical principles set
out in the Tetrabiblos, with the exception of the effects of Jupiter. Ptolemy regarded that planet
as a producer of heat and humidity but Goad found it to be cool and dry. In many respects,
Goad's analysis of the influence of Jupiter on the weather constitutes a kind of discovery in the
history of astrology, the Tetrabiblos having been something of a bible for astrologers for nearly
1500 years. Goad believed that his findings, resulting from an analysis of many observations,
represented a correction of previous defects.22

A difference in astrological methodology from Ptolemy, and one shared with Kepler, is the
departure from making weather predictions based on the planetary configurations occurring at
the time of the new or full Moon immediately preceeding the entrance of the Sun into the
solsticial or equinoctial signs. Kepler pointed out that this approach is subject to gross
inaccu-racies due to the difficulty of timing the exact moment that a Sun-Moon alignment, or the
passage of the sun through a solstice point or an equinox, will occur.23 Both Goad and Kepler

19 See Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, and Allen, The Star-Crossed Renaissance. Thorndike, A
History of Magic and Experimental Science, also contains some relevant information about the decline of astrology.
20 Goad, Astro-Meteorologica, p. 63.
21 Ibid., p. 491.
22 Ibid., p. 29.
23 Johannes Kepler, Concerning the More Certain Fundamentals of Astrology, (1602; New York: Clancy
display a critical attitude towards astrological traditions and choose to work with planetary
configurations, rather than from the signs of the zodiac or the houses of an astrological chart.
This is the most significant feature of Goad's astrology, his de-emphasis of the zodiacal sign
positions of the planets and luminaries and his emphasis on their angular separation. To a large
extent Goad was a follower of Kepler, a practicing astro-meteorologist himself who made
weather predictions for almanacs based on planetary aspects. Kepler's nine year diary of the
weather in Linz and Ulm (1621-1629) was used by Goad to confirm some of his own findings. 24

For Goad, as for Ptolemy, the principal cause of the weather was the Sun. Second in importance
is the soli- lunar cycle, but these two factors in themselves are not enough to explain the great
variations in the weather. If it were, Goad pointed out, the nineteen year cycle would have
become obvious. 25 The other planets known to Goad are then necessary to explain the
phenomena more fully. In the Astro-Meteorlogica each combination of planets is treated
separately. Weather records are correlated with the traditional angular separations between the
planets (Ptolemaic aspects are 0, 60, 90, 120, and 180 degrees) and in some cases with those
aspects added by Kepler (30, 36, 72, 150, and others). Goad noted that these additional aspects
were superfluous and he rejected all but two, 30 and 150 degrees, which his observations
confirmed.26

Goad attributed the cause of meteorological phenomena to the "alteration of the air" which in
turn, he said, is caused by the angular relationships of the planets relative to the Earth. The
wind, according to Goad, changes or shifts according to this alteration of air, and not the reverse.
He noted that the divinatory powers of animals in regard to the weather is not miraculous in the
least; these animals are simply sensitive to the alterations of the air.27 This explanation does not
differ much from that of Ptolemy who associates the angular separations of the planets with
"variations of quality in our ambient". 28

Goad believed that all meteorological phenomena were ultimately reducible to the interaction of
hot and cold in the air, the Sun being the principal warming agent. To explain the fact that cold
conditions would occur when certain planets were at certain angular separations, Goad argued
that it was light, an active agent, from the planets that altered the air and that light could transmit
cold. Goad viewed the Earth's atmosphere as a "terrestrial spirit, regulated according to its
vicissitudes, from the modification of the light celestial".29 This explanation of planetary effect
on the Earth was similar to Kepler's notion of the Earth and its inhabitants as responders to
cosmic harmonies. For Kepler, the angular separations of the planets produced a harmonic
resonance which could be "heard" by the living Earth. There was a more pronounced reaction to
certain proportions or harmonics which were produced when the light rays of the planets were at

Publications, Inc., 1942), pp. 14-17.

24 Goad, Astro-Meteorologica, p. 47.
25 The Metonic cycle brings the lunar month into correlation with the solar year. 235 lunar months equals 19 years

less 2 hours.
26 Goad, Astro-Meteorologica, p. 39.
27 Ibid., pp. 3,7,11,23.
28 Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, p. 45
29 Goad, Astro-Meteorologica, p. 40.
specific angular separations. 30

The Astro-Meteorolgica considers the angular separations of the various planetary combinations
in the order of their frequen-cy of occurence, begining with the Sun and Moon and ending with
Jupiter and Saturn. In Book I, after a lengthy introduction covering his basic principles, Goad
examined the various Sun-Moon aspects. Begining with the conjunction (new Moon), he
analyzed its correlations with the weather over a seven year period of 87 conjunctions. He next
considered the opposition between the Sun and Moon (full Moon). Next come the quarters (90
degrees), the trines (120 degrees) and the sextiles (60 degrees). Goad sought to examine the
frequencies of various kinds of weather patterns occuring during the range of time that he
thought each aspect was effective. If there was a correlation between aspect and weather pattern
more than half the time, Goad maintained that the influence of the aspect was demonstrated.

A closer look at Goad's Sun-Moon data will better serve to illustrate his methodology. He
treated each aspect as a separate study and included the relevant portions of his weather diary
alongside his discussion. In the case of the Sun-Moon conjunctions, this was an account of
seven consecutive years of 87 conjunctions. Conjunctions during this seven year period
occurring in a particular month were listed for that month, necessitating twelve monthly tables.
Using a range of three days for the aspect, the weather conditions in London during that
designated period were recorded. He used a descriptive vocabulary of the variety of
meteorological phenomena to specify the type of weather at that time (windy, dashing rains,
frosty nights, etc.). The direction and nature of the winds, notes on the temperature, and the
exact time of any weather change, or as Goad understood it, the effect of the aspect, were also
noted.

At the conclusion of his study of the five Sun-Moon aspects, Goad examined his findings which
he displayed in a summary table. Each type of weather condition is listed in a vertical column on
the left the number of days that each kind of weather had occurred at each aspect is noted. In
examining his data Goad found that there were more wet days at the full Moon than at the new
Moon. He also noted that the second half of the Sun-Moon cycle, or the later trine, quarter and
sextile, were generally warmer than the first half and he suggested that this was possibly due to
the fact that the Moon rises before the Sun in these positions and adds its apparent warmth.
Goad observed that it rained consistently on the full Moons falling in April and August, and that
the actual meteorological events occurred much closer to the time of the exact opposition (within
four hours) than was the case with the conjunction. A further observation concerning moisture
was in response to the high figures for the first sextile (60 degreees after the new Moon) and the
second trine (60 degrees after the full Moon). This result surprised him; he had expected that the
traditionally more powerful aspects, the conjunction and the opposition, would account for the
most moisture.

In discussing his findings, Goad clearly pointed out that planetary aspects associated with a

30 Kepler, Concerning the More Certain Fundamentals of Astrology, pp. 14-17.

certain kind of meteorological phenomenon in London during the summer, for example, would
have a similar but modified effect in other seasons and climates. 31 If rain is more likely to fall
during a particular climate's rainy season, then he would expect a higher probability of rain to
concur with a planetary aspect associated with precipitation or moisture during that season rather
than during a dry season. If it does not normally rain in a certain month at a certain locality,
Goad would maintain that the moisture-producing aspects occurring during that month would
indicate a possible increase in moisture at that time, perhaps in the form of humidity.

A principal criticism of Goad's approach is that by limiting his observations to the classical
angular separations of the planets, he imposed classical astrological notions on the phenomena.
Also, his table lists the aspects of Sun and Moon in the order that he studied them (conjunction,
opposition, square, trine, and sextile) and not in their natural order in the Sun-Moon cycle. Goad
would have been more "modern" had he presented a daily diary for the entire Sun-Moon cycle
and then analyzed it, something which has been done in the present century. 32

Book II of the Astro-Meteorlogica is concerned with the aspects of the inferior planets, Mercury
and Venus, to the Sun and the other planets. Each planetary pair has its own chapter which
usually begins with an overview of the traditional interpretations along with frequent references
to the opinions of Kepler, Cardan and others. A discussion of Goad's findings follows along
with his weather records, which unlike the lunar tables, cover about thirty years. In the case of
the Sun-Mercury and Sun-Venus conjunctions, those with Venus and Mercury in retrograde
motion (inferior conjunction) are separated from those which occurred when they were in direct
motion (superior conjunction).

Goad's range of weather observations for the Sun and Mercury were dependent on Mercury's
daily motion at the time of the conjunction, this varying from three days at inferior conjunction
to five days at superior conjunction. He observed Mercury to be a rainy planet though he noted
that the ancients considered it windy. He argued that since he is confined to London, he cannot
speak confidently for its influence in other climates. To further examine this possible
contradiction, Goad introduced some nautical observations from a voyage to the East Indies, the
ship's captain having been a friend of his. This additonal data did not prove to Goad's
satisfaction that Mercury was a windy planet and he was inclined to think the evidence
supported his correlation of the Sun-Mercury conjunction with rain.

31 Goad, Astro-Meteorologica, p. 63.

32 Donald A. Bradley and Max A. Woodbury, "Lunar Synodical Period and Widespread Precipitation", in Science,
1962, 137:748-750. A study by Bradley (he used the name Garth Allen for his astrology publications) and
Woodbury examined precipitation data over the continental United States for 50 years (1900-1949) and found that
precipitation over broad areas appears to be related to the Sun-Moon cycle. This study was duplicated in New
Zealand with similar results. I have referred to this piece of modern research not only because it examines the same
phenomena as does Goad in a section of the Astro- Meteorologica, but also because its conclusions appear to be
similar to his. Both modern studies, United States and New Zealand, show above average precipitation just after
the new and full moons, very close to Goad's first sextile and second trine. It should be made clear that Goad's data
measures total days (out of 261) on which rain occurred, while the modern study measures record dates of
maximum precipitation.
While on the subject of Mercury's influence, Goad clearly articulated his most basic position
regarding planetary influence on the weather. He noted that while a few planetary pairs in aspect
tended to show very high correlations with a certain type of weather, in most cases the weather
was conditioned by several planetary patterns. In examining each aspect pair separately, Goad's
only recourse was to try to narrow the range of days around the mathematically exact aspect in
hopes of catching a glimpse of its purest meteorological manifestation, but that was not always
successful. In some cases, particularly with the Sun and Saturn, Goad found the effects to be
strongest when the planets were separated by several degrees. He clearly realized that this
situation, the impossibility of finding a consistent effect for each single aspect, was not likely to
convert many investigators of nature. In his own words:

But this will not convince some men. For how many conjunctions of sun and mercury bring no
earthquakes? If this mercury were of any relation to earthquakes we should hear of them often,
every two months, etc. This objection we meet on every turn; 'tis a Catholic Engine of Battery
against Astrology, and its pretenses, even about the state of the air, and so hath been answered
al-ready: Yet because it will recur even in this very chapter, about the generation of comets, we
will speak to it here also. We have said, we make no one aspect an adequate cause of the effect;
only Eminent and Considerable; which much be assisted with its neigh-bors: We have other
aspects which put in for their share of the business; we shall see them in the following chapters,
and surfeit on them. There is scarce conjunction or opposition, yea, sometimes trine or square,
but steps in to help at a dead lift.33

In his section on Sun-Venus conjunctions, Goad introduced Kepler's diary for further data and
noted that when the aspect occured in a "state of destitution", cool, clear air was produced. If the
aspect was "assisted" by others, that is if other aspects were forming at the same time either to
the Sun-Venus conjunction or separately, the trend was towards warmth, clouds, and rain. He
also suggested that since Venus was closer to the Earth when retrograde its influence might be
more potent when in that position. Perhaps Goad's finest moment comes in his chapter on the
conjunctions of Venus and Mercury, which according to his records, appeared to have an
extremely high correlation with rains and storms. Again a foreign diary is produced to support
what he insisted was an obvious case. His introduction of this diary is particularly spirited:

Ha! How dost thou like this Good Reader? Doth it not sound like Drums and Trumpets? Doth it
not alarm thee? Alas! I have more of this nature. For the might of these configurations is not
seen, unless we range yet further by Sea and Land to tell more Heavy tales of what hath been
done in old time and on the Solid and Watry Pavements of the World. A Philosopher's mind is
boundless, sometimes his Pen. 34

Goad's findings in book II are generally non-specific with the exception of the Mercury-Venus
conjunctions. Mars was found to be associated with varied effects, though it tended toward
storms and tempests when with Venus and towards dryness when with Mercury. Goad pointed
out that because the Sun, Mercury and Venus can never be too distant from each other, there

33 Goad, Astro-Meteorologica, p. 147.

34 Ibid., p. 184.
tended to be a mingling of their respective influences making an exact analysis of their pure
influences nearly impossible. Saturn produced cold when roughly in aspect to the Sun but did
the same when in exact aspect to Venus. Jupiter was found to be cold in some positions and
appeared to be associated with drought. As to the satellites of Jupiter, Goad speculated that they
do not influence our weather but perhaps they affect Jupiter itself. He observed that the zodiacal
sign positions of Venus, when in aspect to another planet, had some bearing on its "effect" but
that he "must believe his eyes" and notice that his results fly in the face of traditional astrological
assumptions about zodiacal influence.

In Book III, Goad examined the aspects between the three superior planets, Mars, Jupiter and
Saturn. Saturn and Mars were observed to correlate with storms and thunders in both his diary
and foreign records. He noted that when Mars and Saturn were separated by exactly thirty
degrees there was usually a violent effect. Goad pointed out that with these slower moving
planets, three or four days for effect meant nothing, they defined longer periods of time, even
months. Jupiter and Mars brought "monstrous frosts", and when in opposition and with
assistance from other planets, thunder and lightning. The longest cycle of the visible planets is
the Jupiter-Saturn cycle of twenty years to which Goad devoted many words. One observation
he made with some confidence was that drought commonly occurred when these planets were in
conjunction and that nearly half the time they "produced" comets.

Throughout Books II and III Goad developed basic principles from his observations. He
generally hesitated to make fixed definitions for the effects of an aspect but he specified the
direction it appeared to incline toward, at least in the climate of London. He was of the opinion
that astro-meteorology was ultimately interpretive in the sense that only rarely was the pure
effect of an aspect felt, more often the blending of several was the rule. Further, the aspects
often did not have to be mathematically exact at the time of the observed meteorological effect.
He noted that in stormy weather the distances between several planets was frequently close to 10
degrees. He observed that snow often fell three to ten days after an exact conjunction of the Sun
and Saturn. Goad was making a case for an interpretive astrology which accepted less than exact
angular separations between planets, what he refered to as "platic distance". For Goad, planetary
aspects had influence when they were within a few degrees of their exact focus. But this was a
traditional tenet of astrology called “orbs.” In sharp contrast was Kepler who stressed that only
exact aspects (known as partile aspects) could produce effects. In order to account for changes
in the weather when no traditional aspects were forming, Kepler proposed numerous additional
aspects to explain the observed phenomena. He compared the angular separations between
planets to musical tones which produce an effect on the listener only when precise intervals
between tones were generated.35 Goad noted, however, that while Kepler did not support the
notion of platic effectiveness in general, he did so in the matter of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions. 36

John Goad's Astro-Meteorlogica is a remarkable piece of astrological writing both in content and
in historical placement. With the exception noted, the direction he was pioneering has not been
followed. What was unique about Goad's approach was his correlation between planetary

35 Kepler, Concerning the More Certain Fundamentals of Astrology, p. 17.

36 Goad, Astro-Meteorologica, p. 446.
alignments and concrete observed events. This is a scientific way of dealing with the material
Goad was investigating. But unlike Kepler working on Tycho's collected data, Goad had no way
of mathematizing correlations and thus lacked the kind of proof fashionable during his time.
Goad had a log book which only showed somewhat higher frequencies of a particular kind of
weather when pairs of planets were in some aspect to each other. Evaluating his observed data
in terms of probability and statistics, which appears to be the next logical step from our vantage
point in the twentieth century, was impossible – such approaches were not to develop until much
later.

Goad had come to a dead end. He had applied experimental methodology to a subject which
required more instrumentation and scientific evaluation technique than was available in his time.
Besides this, the accumulation of certain kinds of data that he needed, such as long term
planetary conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn which occur only every 20 years, required the work
of several life-times or some very accurate historical records. Further, he was testing a subject
that, in the final analysis, did not lend itself to linear analysis and was mostly interpretive in
nature. His evidence indicated that there were few consistent clear-cut effects from any
planetary combination (the Venus-Mercury conjunctions were an exception) because most of the
time several planetary combinations were in effect at the same time. Allowing for his "platic
distance" made this situation worse. Kepler's solution of adding more aspects was not supported
by Goad's observations and he rejected, it leaving himself with an art and not a science. But this
is not to say he was unscientific; modern meteorologists, seismologists, medical diagnosticians,
etc., in making predictions, find themselves working with scientific data which must be
synthesized and interpreted, in much the same way.

The fact that the Astro-Meteorlogica was published just one year before Newton's Principia is
ironic. Kepler's astronomy was a major key to Newton's gravitational theory. Kepler's astrology
was a major influence on Goad's astrology. Although Goad disagreed with Kepler on certain
points, he was for the most part a follower of Kepler and it might be said that he was the one
who took Kepler's reformed astrology of planetary aspects as far as it could go given the
intellectual climate and procedural limitations. Not until the early twentieth century did Kepler's
ideas once again begin to influence astrological theory. 37 Goad himself was recognized for his
pioneering work by the British astrologer A.J. Pearce (1840-1923), but otherwise appears to
have been forgotten by modern astrologers and meteorologists alike.38

37 Alfred Witte (1878-1941), founder of the radical Hamburg school of astrology, utilized some of Kepler's
astrological technique. This school influenced the practice of astrology thoughout Europe and the United States
during the 20th century. While astrology continues to operate well outside the academic and scientific mainstream,
it has had some effect on individual psychologists (including Carl Jung and Hans Eysenk) and does not seem to
show any evidence of internal collapse. If anything the subject, still fraught with contradictions, continues to grow.
See Geoffrey Dean, Recent Advances in Natal Astrology: A Critical Review 1900-1976, (Bromley Kent, England:
The Astrological Association, 1977), and Michel Gaugulelin, Cosmic Influences on Human Behavior, (New York:
Stein and Day, 1973).
38 Alfred John Pearce, The Text-Book of Astrology, (London: 1879-1889; reprinted Washington D.C.: American

Federation of Astrologers, 1970), pp. 348-383.