Life
Lilly was born to a farming family in Leicestershire, went to London as a servant and taught himself astrology. During the English Civil War his almanacs and prophetic pamphlets sold in huge numbers and made him the best-known astrologer of his day. In 1647 he published Christian Astrology, one of the first comprehensive astrology textbooks in English, which lays out horary astrology, answering a specific question from the chart of the moment it is asked, illustrated with many of his own cases.
The system
- Horary: judging a question from the chart of its moment.
- Essential and accidental dignities of the planets.
- Teaching through worked cases.
Key works
- Christian Astrology (1647)
- History of His Life and Times (autobiography)
Where to start
- Christian Astrology, Books I and II (public-domain facsimiles and modern editions exist).
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