Grant, Ernest A. (1893-1968)

Astrologer and cofounder of the American Federation of Astrologers (AFA). Grant was born in Detroit, Michigan, on June 4, 1893. As a teenager he moved to Washington, D.C., and held a variety of jobs as stenographer, court reporter, and eventually secretary to a U.S. senator. He married and through the 1920s both he and his wife, Catherine, studied astrology. She became a prominent astrologer and had a number of prominent Washingtonians among her clients. Through the 1930s they increasingly saw the need for a professional organization for astrologers, whose work was still held in disdain by many. Numerous laws against fortune-telling hampered the development of the profession in many parts of the country.

Together with Anna May Cowan and Swen Erickson, Grant led in the founding of the AFA, now the largest and most prestigous of the several professional associations for astrologers. He was its first president (1938-41) and then became its first executive secretary (1941-59). The association was headquartered in the Grant home. In 1949 he quit his other jobs and devoted full time to the AFA. Two years later he led in the purchase of a small parcel of land adjacent to the Library of Congress where a new headquarters was erected.

With his wife, Grant began work on a set of basic textbooks in astrology, and he published a set of ephemeris volumes for the important years associated with the founding of the nation (1776, 1777, and 1781). Together they also founded the National Astrological Library, a publishing house and retail book outlet. While Catherine Grant continued to see clients, Ernest Grant specialized in teaching astrology and research. He also developed a special interest in political astrology.

Grant died on March 6, 1968. His wife continued as an astrologer and eventually sold the library to the AFA. In the early 1970s, along with the AFA, she moved to Tempe, Arizona, and worked there into her early 90s. She died in 1988.

Sources:

Grant, Ernest. Astrological America. Washington, D.C.: National Astrological Library, 1949.

——. Ephemeris for the Year 1776. Washington, D.C.: National Astrological Library, 1944.

——. Tables of Diurnal Planetary Motion. Washington, D.C.: National Astrological Library, 1948.

Grant, Ernest, and Catherine T. Grant. Grant Textbook Series. 4 vols. Washington, D.C.: National Astrological Library, n.d.

Holden, James H., and Robert A. Hughes. Astrological Pioneers of America. Tempe, Ariz.: American Federation of Astrologers, 1988.