Sepharial – Walter Gorn Old

Architect of Modern Astrology and Numerology

About the Author

Sepharial, pen name of Walter Gorn Old, was one of the esoteric scholars who laid the intellectual foundations, along with Madam Blavatsky, Rudolf Steiner and others for the modern esoteric, astrological and numerological establishment. He can easily be credited as one of the forefathers of modern Astrology and Numerology.

However, what has probably most solidified Sepharial’s position and importance in the modern world was his relationship with W. D. Gann and his position upon Gann’s Recommended Reading List as the most recommended author of all listed. The work of Sepharial, therefore, plays a formative role in the background of Gann’s work, and is therefore studied in its completeness by all Gann researchers.

This has driven the price of Sepharials original editions up to 5-10 times the price as they would bring without the Gann association. Many of Sepharial’s peers published in the same journals bring 10% of the price of Sepharial’s work due to its higher quality such as to be interconnected with Gann’s research. This has cemented Sepharial’s important position forever into the annals of the history of Astrology and western Esotericism as well as Horse Racing.

We publish physical and PDF reprints of Sepharial’s most important work, including everything related to Gann, forecasting, markets, and racing, and will be adding his complete works to our catalog and library in the near future. We are continually discovering and creating unusual collections of rare, unknown or hard to find work like his original horse racing manuscripts, of which we may have the only surviving copy in the world.

These powerful influences upon the history of the Tradition of Cosmological Economics are so great that Sepharial will always remain one of the great thinkers and teachers of our school of thought.

Biographical Information

Early Life and Studies

Sepharial was born as “Walter Richard Gorn Old” in Handsworth, England, March 20, 1864, and began his esoteric studies early in his life, already studying astrology and kaballah by the age of 16. His horoscope and biography in the final February 1932 edition of his column, The Kaleidoscope states that he read all of the works of Swedenborg, Kircher (which were only available in Latin) studied the Scriptures in the original, and from Hebrew went on to Coptic, Hieroglyphics, Assyrian, Sanskrit and Chinese.

He was a dedicated member of the Theosophical Society, acting in a number of high-level administrative positions in England, spent time with the Theosophical Society in India, and predicted the death of Madame Blavatsky, his personal friend, being present at her death-bed. Some say that it is likely that W. D. Gann traveled to India with Sepharial, his friend and research associate.

Founding Member of the British Astrological Society

Gorn Old also played a key role in forming the British Astrological Society, of which he was President for the first two years. He was famous for his predictions, having forecasted the start of World War 1 and the Armistice to the exact day, the bottom of the stock market crash in 1932 four years in advance, and he even predicted his own death.

Mr. E.H. Bailey, editor of The British Journal of Astrology, and close personal friend of Sepharial for 27 years, said of him:

“As an astrologer he was without doubt second to none, and it can be said without fear of contradiction that he was the greatest astrologer since the days of Lilly.”

 Most modern readers of Sepharial are unaware of the depth of his scholarship, and he was indeed an extraordinary scholar by the standards of any age, far surpassing the intellectual achievements of most “metaphysical” authors of today.

Publications