Charles Harvey was born on June 22nd 1940 in Little Bookham, England. His name became synonymous with the attempt to restore astrology’s creditability and to rescue it from its associations with fairground fortune-telling. From a young age he became devoted to what he felt astrology’s insights could do for humankind. Charles became deeply involved in the organisation and development of astrology on an international level. His connection with the Astrological Association and with John Addey (who became his mentor) began in 1963. Three years later he qualified for the diploma of the Faculty of Astrological Studies, and later became its President. He was a Council Member of the Astrological Association of Great Britain for more than twenty-seven years. He spent twenty of these as its President, and then became its Patron.
As President, he played a crucial part in developing the Association’s annual conferences, the Astrological Association Journal, and Correlation, the world’s only journal of scientific research into astrology. He encouraged the proper training of professional astrologers and spearheaded the development of the Urania Trust, an educational charity which, until recently, ran the Astrological Study Centre in London. He was also co-director, with Liz Greene, of the Centre for Psychological Astrology from 1992 until his death. His last major contribution was the creation of the Sophia Trust, dedicated to the establishment of astrology in mainstream British universities.
As an astrologer in his own right, he was best known for his work in mundane (political) astrology, and as a financial consultant discreetly providing advice for private clients and companies in Britain and America. His books include Mundane Astrology (1984, co-authored with Nicholas Campion and Michael Baigent), which explores astrology’s role in the analysis and prediction of politics, economics and world affairs: and Working with Astrology (1990, co-authored with Michael Harding), about contemporary technical methods of horoscope interpretation such as midpoints and harmonics. With his wife Suzi he wrote two popular introductions to astrology: Sun Sign, Moon Sign (1994), and Principles of Astrology (1999). Anima Mundi: The Astrology of the Individual and the Collective is published by the CPA Press posthumously, created from edited transcripts of two of Charles’ seminars and extracts from two articles which he had published in Apollon magazine.
Charles died of lymphatic cancer in February 2000, aged fifty-nine. The impact of his death on the astrological community has been enormous, for he was one of the best-loved and most widely respected of all contemporary astrologers.