Evangeline Smith Adams (February 8, 1868 – November 10, 1932) was an American astrologer based in New York City. She ran a thriving astrological consulting business, gained widespread notability for successfully defending her astrological practice in court,[citation needed] and produced a number of popular books about astrology, including Astrology: Your Place in the Sun (1927), Astrology: Your Place Among the Stars (1930), and her autobiography, The Bowl of Heaven (1926). While Aleister Crowleyghostwrote her books on astrology, Adams is an acknowledged contributor to Crowley's own astrological text The General Practice of Astrology. She has been described as "America's first astrological superstar".[1]
Adams was born on 8 February 1868 in Jersey City, New Jersey, to a conservative family. Her father died when she was 15 months old. Before Adams began working as an astrologer full-time, she became engaged to a Mr. Lord, who was believed to be her employer. Although she said that she was initially in love with him, she lost any feelings that she had for him and subsequently broke the engagement.
Thousands of subscribers to her astrological newsletter followed her advice to invest in stocks during the run-up to the Stock Market Crash of 1929.[2] Evangeline Adams died in 1932.[3]
Astrological practice and controversiesEdit
It was towards the end of her career that Adams took to publishing books and raising her profile within popular media. For most of her working life, she ran a thriving astrological practice based on consultation by person or mail. This grew to employ several assistants and stenographers. For a number of years Adams employed Crowley as a ghost-writer. Their business relationship eventually turned into an acrimonious one, which brought copyright issues of "who really wrote what", with regards to Crowley's General Principles of Astrology (now settled with the book being attributed to Crowley but with a recognized contribution by Adams).
Adams was arrested three times in New York City for fortune telling, in 1911, 1914 and 1923. Although practicing astrology was not legal at that time, all the cases brought against her were unsuccessful and the May 1914 trial brought particular notability due to the judge's acquittal "of all wrong doing" and praise of her skill, after she gave him an astrology reading describing the character of his son from his birth data.[citation needed]
Adams was well paid by her clients for her predictions. She was reputed to successfully predict changes in the stock market. However, author Carol Krismann noted that:
Skeptics point out that Adams had no knowledge of economics and that her predictions were always fuzzy, foretelling disaster but not specific disasters, and telling that the market would go up when in fact the country was in a period of remarkable growth in the stock market. People who believed often forgot the erroneous predictions and used the ones that happened to come true to "prove" that she was accurate.[4]
Adams' most infamous failed prediction was that the "stocks might climb to heaven" a few weeks before the 1929 crash. Investment analyst Kenneth Fisher has written that her few successful predictions were publicized whilst her misses were ignored by those desperate to believe. He described Adams as an "obvious quack with no real investment knowledge."[5]
ReferencesEdit
^Bromley, David G. The Future of New Religious Movements, p.50. Mercer University Press, 1987. ISBN9780865542389.
^. PBS American Experience. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07.
^Pelham, Libby (16 June 2016). "The Biography of Evangeline Adams". Retrieved 19 July 2016.
^Krismann, Carol. Encyclopedia of American Women in Business: A-L. GreenWood Press, 2005. p. 7. ISBN0-313-32757-2
Parker, Derek (1970). Astrology in the modern world. New York: Taplinger. ISBN0-8008-0490-2.
External linksEdit
Video footage of Adams with early newsreel coverage of her famous trial on YouTube, from the TV series 'Secrets in the Stars' (1999) narrated by Leonard Nimoy.
October 21, 2023
evangeline, adams, evangeline, smith, adams, february, 1868, november, 1932, american, astrologer, based, york, city, thriving, astrological, consulting, business, gained, widespread, notability, successfully, defending, astrological, practice, court, citation. Evangeline Smith Adams February 8 1868 November 10 1932 was an American astrologer based in New York City She ran a thriving astrological consulting business gained widespread notability for successfully defending her astrological practice in court citation needed and produced a number of popular books about astrology including Astrology Your Place in the Sun 1927 Astrology Your Place Among the Stars 1930 and her autobiography The Bowl of Heaven 1926 While Aleister Crowley ghostwrote her books on astrology Adams is an acknowledged contributor to Crowley s own astrological text The General Practice of Astrology She has been described as America s first astrological superstar 1 Evangeline Adams Contents 1 Biography 2 Astrological practice and controversies 3 References 3 1 Works cited 4 Further reading 5 External linksBiography EditAdams was born on 8 February 1868 in Jersey City New Jersey to a conservative family Her father died when she was 15 months old Before Adams began working as an astrologer full time she became engaged to a Mr Lord who was believed to be her employer Although she said that she was initially in love with him she lost any feelings that she had for him and subsequently broke the engagement Thousands of subscribers to her astrological newsletter followed her advice to invest in stocks during the run up to the Stock Market Crash of 1929 2 Evangeline Adams died in 1932 3 Astrological practice and controversies EditIt was towards the end of her career that Adams took to publishing books and raising her profile within popular media For most of her working life she ran a thriving astrological practice based on consultation by person or mail This grew to employ several assistants and stenographers For a number of years Adams employed Crowley as a ghost writer Their business relationship eventually turned into an acrimonious one which brought copyright issues of who really wrote what with regards to Crowley s General Principles of Astrology now settled with the book being attributed to Crowley but with a recognized contribution by Adams Adams was arrested three times in New York City for fortune telling in 1911 1914 and 1923 Although practicing astrology was not legal at that time all the cases brought against her were unsuccessful and the May 1914 trial brought particular notability due to the judge s acquittal of all wrong doing and praise of her skill after she gave him an astrology reading describing the character of his son from his birth data citation needed Adams was well paid by her clients for her predictions She was reputed to successfully predict changes in the stock market However author Carol Krismann noted that Skeptics point out that Adams had no knowledge of economics and that her predictions were always fuzzy foretelling disaster but not specific disasters and telling that the market would go up when in fact the country was in a period of remarkable growth in the stock market People who believed often forgot the erroneous predictions and used the ones that happened to come true to prove that she was accurate 4 Adams most infamous failed prediction was that the stocks might climb to heaven a few weeks before the 1929 crash Investment analyst Kenneth Fisher has written that her few successful predictions were publicized whilst her misses were ignored by those desperate to believe He described Adams as an obvious quack with no real investment knowledge 5 References Edit Bromley David G The Future of New Religious Movements p 50 Mercer University Press 1987 ISBN 9780865542389 The Crash of 1929 PBS American Experience Archived from the original on 2016 03 07 Pelham Libby 16 June 2016 The Biography of Evangeline Adams Retrieved 19 July 2016 Krismann Carol Encyclopedia of American Women in Business A L GreenWood Press 2005 p 7 ISBN 0 313 32757 2 Fisher 2007 p 265 Works cited Edit Fisher Ken 2007 100 Minds that Made the Market Wiley ISBN 978 0 470 13951 6 Further reading EditParker Derek 1970 Astrology in the modern world New York Taplinger ISBN 0 8008 0490 2 External links EditVideo footage of Adams with early newsreel coverage of her famous trial on YouTube from the TV series Secrets in the Stars 1999 narrated by Leonard Nimoy Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Evangeline Adams amp oldid 1180248437, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
