THE LAW OF VALUES: An Exposition of the Primary Causes of Stock and Share Fluctuations

This is one of the oddest books of financial advice ever written, one that ascribes astrological import to the movement of dollars and assigns signs of the zodiac to countries (England is, apparently an Aries, and France a Leo). Here we learn that Saturn brings "national depression due to political reversals" and Mercury "a sense of instability," that the Boer War may have been triggered by Neptune (the planet, not the deity), and that by learning how to read the stars the earthbound investor may prosper. It remains unclear whether Sepharial, who published this curious work in 1912, saw dark celestial clouds brewing for October 1929. "Sepharial" was the pseudonym of British mystic WALTER GORN-OLD (1864-1929), one of the most prolific writers on and teachers of astrology in modern times, and the first president of the British Astrological Society. Among his more than 60 books are Astrology Explained, Cosmic Symbolism, Science of Foreknowledge, and The Silver Key.