Robert Thomas Cross (born 15 May 1850 in Worstead, d. 1923) was a British astrologer.
Cross was one in a series of editors of Raphael's Ephemeris , started by Robert Cross Smith in 1827, who all took the pseudonym Raphael. Robert Thomas Cross is often confused with Robert Cross Smith due to the similarity in name and the identical pseudonym.
Cross was originally named Frederick Robert Cross, but dropped the "Frederick". He began studying astrology quite young and by the age of twenty-five, already married with two sons, he was teaching astrology and accepting clients, and soon became the editor of The Prophetic Messenger , which he renamed to Raphael's Ephemeris. In the 1870s he obtained the copyright to Raphael's Ephemeris, which the Cross family then owned until 1985 when it was sold to W. Foulsham & Co, the publisher.
In Raphael's Ephemeris for 1913 he wrote: "Nothing has prospered with me except astrology ... I have succeeded beyond my expectations...". In 1893, Cross's almanac sold 200,000 copies. His "Guide to Astrology", published in two volumes in 1877 and 1879 was widely used by astrologers for many years.
In 1895 the Astrologer's Magazine quoted Cross for his support of the idea of forming an astrological society. On 14 January 1896 Alan Leo founded a society with himself as the first president and Cross as vice-president. Raphael's Ephemeris continues to be published, with W. Foulsham & Company Limited.
A followup book under the pseudonym Raphael titled The Key To Astrology was published in 1896. [1]
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindus, Chinese, and the Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, from where it spread to Ancient Greece, Rome, the Islamic world, and eventually Central and Western Europe. Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems of horoscopes that purport to explain aspects of a person's personality and predict significant events in their lives based on the positions of celestial objects; the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems.
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W. Foulsham & Company Limited is a British publisher founded by William Foulsham in 1819.
Robert Cross Smith (1795-1832) was an English astrologer, writing under the pseudonym of "Raphael".
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