French-American astrologer, one of the most noted and respected astrologers of the 20th century. He was called a modern renaissance man for his ability to express himself in many fields; music, painting, poetry, philosophy and metaphysics. He wrote for national magazines since the ’30s and was the author of many books.
Rudhyar had poor health as a child, a distraction that continued through his life. At 12, he had life-threatening surgery to remove his left kidney and adrenal gland. A bright youth, he passed his baccalaureate at the Sorbonne at 16, majoring in philosophy. Becoming involved in the artistic and musical climate of Paris, he was heavily influenced by the radical ideas of Nietzsche. At this time he had a mystical experience or realization in which he “became intuitively aware of the cyclic nature of all existence and of the fact that our Western civilization was coming to an autumnal conclusion.” He later wrote that it was from this time that he sought to gain a clearer understanding of the cyclic patterns and basic meaning of human existence.
In 1916, at the age of 21, he left his native France and traveled to the U.S., reinventing himself with the name of Dane Rudhyar. Believing in the necessity of a fundamental transformation of our civilization, his change of name was a symbolic reflection of his contribution to that change. The name “Rudhyar” is derived from the Sanskrit God Rudra, the Destroyer and Regenerator.
Attaining a position in the avant-garde art community of the West, he also studied and wrote. His seminal book in which he emphasized integration, “The Astrology of Personality,” was first published in 1936.
With an appreciation for beautiful intelligent women, he married Eya Fechin Branham, Tana Tyler and in 1977, Leyla Rael, his fifth marriage.
Rudhyar died at age 90 on 13 September 1985 in San Francisco, California.
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