The Ear of the King’s Lady: Musings on Joan Quigley, astrologer to Nancy Reagan

When I was studying astrology at Kepler College, I remember one of my teachers mentioning that Ronald Reagan used an astrologer during his presidency. I made a mental note to look into that at some point. It was incredible to think that someone in recent history worked as a modern-day court astrologer, providing consultations just as they did for kings in antiquity. Even more incredible was the idea of a president actually employing an astrologer.

That astrologer was the late Joan Quigley. She wrote a book about the experience: “What Does Joan Say?” My Seven Years as White House Astrologer to Nancy and Ronald Reagan. I finished reading it recently and want to share my thoughts here.

I’ll start with the background, because I think this is probably a story that not many younger astrologers know much, if anything, about. It’s important for all astrologers to know about this, as the ramifications are enormous. Imagine if Trump used an astrologer. If he did, he might not have gotten shot last summer. I digress.

This post summarizes the details around Joan’s job as presidential astrologer. I also give some of my comments on the book itself. I plan to do a follow-up post diving into the specific astrology that Joan discusses in her book.

Joan Quigley served as Nancy’s Reagan’s personal astrologer during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, from 1981 through 1989. It’s well-known now that Nancy consulted an astrologer, however it was kept secret throughout her husband’s presidency.

Astrologers of the time guessed that someone was providing astrological insights to the president. Famously, Reagan announced he would run for a second term at a press conference held late on a Sunday night. That timing raised eyebrows and we now know that Joan elected this time as particularly auspicious. The average person probably thought it was weird, but shrugged it off. Astrologers, however, looked at the chart and knew something was up.

An inner circle of people at the White House were aware of Joan, though most of them seemed to turn a blind eye until Donald Regan published his book. Regan served as the White House Chief of Staff from 1985 to 1987. He published a memoir in 1988 entitled For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington. It became a bestseller because he revealed that Reagan, specifically Nancy, consulted an astrologer.

Regan made some very unflattering comments about Nancy in that book. He and Nancy did not like each other and she was thrilled when he stepped down/was fired. It was obvious that he intended to damage Nancy’s reputation by revealing she employed an astrologer. He also commented that it was good the astrologer truly seemed to care about astrology above all else, given the extremely sensitive nature of the information she was privy to.

He has a point. As Regan points out in his book, Joan was a huge national security risk. She was essentially a stranger, not on the White House payroll, who only corresponded with Nancy via telephone. Through Nancy, Joan had intimate knowledge of the President’s daily whereabouts. Indeed, if we take her at her word, Joan actually dictated a lot of Ronald Reagan’s travel. More on that below.

Regan’s book caused a media frenzy, as journalists tried to suss out the identity of the astrologer who had the ear of the President – or at least his wife – throughout his entire eight-year term. Once they figured out it was Joan, she was swarmed with attention, most of it none too flattering.

Joan makes it clear at the start of her book that she takes astrology very seriously. She discusses how rigorous you need to be as a professional astrologer and how much work it takes. She acknowledges there are many charlatans in the field, which give all of us a bad name. (Amen, sister.) All of this remains true to this day, to the continued chagrin of professional astrologers around the world.

Even though Joan kept her work secret, I think she always hoped that, if and when the news did come out about her work with Nancy, it would help legitimize astrology. She reminds me of some astrologers working right now, notably Chris Brennan, who want to see astrology restored to its former status as a respected profession.

But after Donald Regan’s book came out, the opposite occurred.

I’m too young to remember this firsthand, but when the news broke about Reagan using an astrologer, and when reporters confirmed Joan’s identity a little while later, it was a media sensation. Both Nancy Reagan and Joan became the butt of many jokes. It was a long-running bit on the late-night talk show circuit of the era. Rather than legitimizing astrology as a serious and valid profession, this incident cemented it as silly, frivolous nonsense.

That had to hurt. I can only imagine how much that pissed off Joan, even more than Donald Regan’s criticisms.

However, Joan continued to remain silent about her work during the Reagan presidency, until Nancy Reagan published her own memoir, My Turn, in 1989.

My Turn was a rebuttal to Regan and in it, Nancy seriously downplayed her relationship with Joan and the influence that Joan had over Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Nancy brushed off her use of an astrologer as something that arose from her paranoia after the 1981 assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. So, she reinforced the widespread commentary that astrology was nothing more than a meaningless hobby used by neurotic women.

That was the last straw for Joan. She broke her silence about her work for Nancy and Ronald in her own book, rebutting both Donald Regan and Nancy Reagan. Thus, by publishing “What Does Joan Say?”, Joan Quigley aimed to set the record straight and tell her side of the story.

Joan comes out swinging with an aggressive tone right from page one. Her hurt feelings are quite obvious and my heart went out to her. However, that sympathy was pretty quickly stifled by Joan’s haughty tone and grandiose claims about her astrological prowess.

Joan states that Nancy’s book was evasive and reads like fiction. Joan argues it leaves out much about the way Nancy used astrology during her husband’s presidency. Joan makes some very bold claims right from the start:

“I had contributed ideas and astrological advice that shaped administration policy with the U.S.S.R. and with regard to other crucial matters. Through Nancy, I had a direct line to the President. That the astrological work I did for both Reagans affected the top level of government is now a matter of history. […]

I was responsible for timing all press conferences, most speeches the state of the Union addresses, the takeoffs and landings of Air Force One. I picked the time of Ronald Reagan’s debate with Carter and the two debates with Walter Mondale; all extended trips abroad as well as the shorter trips and one-day excursions, the announcement that Reagan would run for a second term, briefings for all the summits except Moscow, although I selected the time to begin the Moscow trip. I timed congressional arm-twisting, the second Inaugural Oath of Office, the announcement of Anthony Kennedy’s Supreme Court nomination. I delayed President Reagan’s first operation for cancer from July 10, 1985 to July 13, and chose the time for Nancy’s mastectomy.”

That’s quite the resumé.

If we take Joan at her word, she did a ton of work throughout the presidency and really did have a critical role during the Reagan era. Even if you don’t believe in astrology, this was a person tasked with scheduling most of the president’s key travel plans, speeches and other events. That’s no small thing.

And if you do believe in astrology – well, then Joan may very well have had a pivotal role in Reagan’s successes and failures, and therefore in the major American political events of the 1980s.

I recommend “What Does Joan Say?” to any and every professional astrologer and astrology student/enthusiast. Not because it’s a great book (it’s not), but because it’s a critical piece of contemporary astrological history. It’s also an excellent cautionary tale about the dangers of being a public astrologer, especially when your main client is the modern equivalent of a king. This remains as true today as it was in antiquity.

It’s worth knowing this story, especially in light of 2025’s transits and what’s coming in the second half of this decade.

That said, be forewarned that the book can be a struggle to read. As I mentioned previously, the tone is challenging. Joan is very aggressive right from the start and while I can sympathize with the reason for this combative stance, she’s downright obnoxious at times.

Joan clearly had a very big ego and thought very highly of herself and her work. Granted, if I had done daily work for the President of the United States and had the First Lady on speed dial, I’d probably have a huge ego too.

Still, I was constantly reminded of my own personal dealings with that particular brand of astrologer. Huge egos abound in astrological circles. It’s exhausting. The constant arrogant, self-congratulatory comments get old fast, and threaten to derail the reader’s interest early on. It’s also not the best way to win the audience over, especially if she’s trying to garner sympathy for the injustice that she feels was done to her at the hands (or rather, pens) of Donald Regan and especially Nancy Reagan.

It’s true that Joan was betrayed by Nancy, who was not only her top client, but also someone that Joan clearly considered a friend. I just wish that Joan had kept her ego in check a little bit more, and showed us more of her vulnerable side.

However, when you see Joan’s chart, it becomes immediately obvious why she was never going to go for a warm and fuzzy approach. Here she is:

With Mars near the Midheaven in Gemini, opposite Saturn in Sagittarius and square Mercury in Pisces, Joan is someone who will naturally gravitate towards combativeness and “fighting words.” Also, her Mars and Midheaven, as well as her Ascendant in Virgo, are all ruled by a very debilitated Mercury in Pisces on the Descendant. While a dignified Jupiter is close by and seeks to boost Mercury’s fortunes, this is the kind of placement that will make communications very tricky for the native. Her Leo Moon is proud to the point of vanity, and since it falls in the twelfth house, always carries the risk of being the source of her own self-undoing.

Donald Regan’s book was published on May 1, 1988, right after Joan’s 61 birthday. The eclipse cycle that year was in Virgo and Pisces and was therefore more impactful for Joan, due to her Ascendant in Virgo. Indeed, there were eclipses across Virgo-Pisces just a couple of weeks before her solar return that year, when she was in a first house profection year.

Side note: I’m writing this the day before the start of September 2025’s eclipses season, when the eclipses are also across Virgo-Pisces and therefore pinging Joan’s chart. Even though Joan died several years ago, her chart lives on and continues to be activated at certain times.

Those spring 1988 eclipses combined with a striking Uranus transit to make that time period especially impactful for Joan. Transit Uranus was right on her natal South Node alongside transit Saturn and Neptune, and all of that was square her natal Uranus. The publication of that book and the ensuing chaos that it caused certainly fits with themes of Uranian upheaval.

I’d like to do another post talking about the actual astrology that Joan discusses in her book. Though, spoiler alert: I was disappointed that Joan didn’t dig very deep into this. Granted, I think she probably wrote it for a non-astrology audience and didn’t want to alienate the reader with a lot of technical astrological jargon. Plus, her ego suggests that she wouldn’t want to share her techniques openly, or have them held up for scrutiny by other astrologers.

Still, she gives enough clues throughout the book that you can deduce a fair amount of her interpretation techniques and approaches. Stay tuned for a second post looking at some of that.