Margaret Mayo

Our Fate & the Zodiac Margaret Mayo

With its wonderfully florid and poetic descriptions of the denizens of the signs of the zodiac, this 1900 book is a delightful example of the theatrics we associate with turn-of-the-20th-century spiritualism. Stuffed with snippets of classical culture-do you know which month the ancients dedicated to Ceres, goddess of corn?-and bursting with illustrative literary quotes to complement each of the celestial houses, this is a most charming astrology guide. But what makes this work a fascinating artifact of another time is the space reserved, for each zodiacal sign, for signatures by members of that house, for "the reader may find it both amusing and instructive to obtain autograph evidence as to the general truth of theories herein advanced."