Edward H. Lowe
From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers
| |||||||||||
Texas-born Edward H. Lowe (September 19, 1908 - December 17, 1987) was a spiritualistic roootworker, numerologist, and professional astrologer. During the 1920s, he migrated to Chicago’s South Side Bronzeville district, where, as "Chicago's Noted Astrologist," he utilized "the science of the Zodiac" to cast natal, progressed, and transiting horoscopes for his African-American clientele.
Lowe called himself an "Astro-Numerologist," and in 1937 he published the "Spiritualistic Dream Book: New Scientific Specification of Numbers; Invaluable to Number Speculators" -- namely, lottery bettors. The text combined dream interpretations with numerology for those who wanted to find luck in gambling. This narrow booklet went through at least two editions, with identical contents but differing advertisements for Lowe's products.
The back cover of the "Spiritualistic Dream Book" contained an advertisement for Lowe's 12 Month Astrological Forecast: "YOU CAN NOT BEAT THEM - When you're in hard luck - MAKE A HIT - KNOW THY SELF - Says Chicago's Noted Astrologist. - His Astrological forecast will guide you through 12 months of ASTROLOGY - Brief Guide 50¢ - Daily Guide $1.00 - SEND BIRTH DATE - Send all orders to EDWARD H. LOWE 329 E. 58th STREET CHICAGO 37. ILL."
Inside was an ad for Prof. A. F. Seward's popular hand-held mechanical planetary hour calculator. Seward, "America's Foremost Astrologer," was the first great popularizer of the Sun-Sign system of zodiacal character analysis. He was also located in Chicago during the 1920s and 1930s, and the two men became friends and collaborators. Not only did Lowe promote the classical planetary hour system of spell-casting through Seward's handy calculators, but Seward, an excellent pen-and-ink artist, provided cover art for Lowe's "Spiritualistic Dream Book," depicting an exotic Turkish "harem girl" similar to those he drew for his own books on clairvoyance and crystal gazing.
In 1941 Lowe was interviewed by Mathilde Louise Bunton of the Works Progress Administration a book called "The Negro in Illinois," which remained unpublished when the government withdrew funding for it in 1943. Lowe enlisted in the United States Army during World War Two, and served from August 1943 to September 1944. After his military duties concluded, he returned to his spiritual supply shop. The 1945 book “Black Metropolis: a Study of Negro Life in a Northern City” by St. Clair Drake and Horace Roscoe Cayton drew upon Bunton's earlier interview and described Lowe's display of Adam and Eve Roots, Policy Player's Oil, Genuine Live Lodestone, and Lucky Oil of Mystery.
From the 1920s through the 1960s, Lowe sold policy tickets for illegal betting, sold spiritual supplies and curios manufactured by Morton Neumann's nearby King Novelty Company, compounded and marketed his own brand of lucky Algiers Oil, and spread astrological knowledge into the African-American community. Because of his influence, Chicago became a major center for the promulgation of astrological conjure, as Neeumann's competitor, the Standard O & B Company of Chicago, distributed Zodiac-themed coin talismans, perfumes, anointing oils, and candles to hoodoo rootworkers nationwide via mail order and through ads in the Chicago Defender, the largest Black-owned newspaper in America.
Edward Lowe filed an application for Social Security retirement benefits in September 1969 and died in Chicago at the age of 79. He and E.P. Read, the hoodoo herbalist of Philadelphia, were the two men most responsible for helping astrology expand into Black neighbourhoods during the 20th century
Credits
This page is brought to you by the AIRR Tech Team:
- Author: Catherine Yronwode
- Contributors: Papa Newt, nagasiva yronwode
- Images: Unknown Photographer and typesetter; photo-edited by nagasiva yronwode and cat yronwode
