Doane, Doris Chase (1913-)

Doris Chase Doane, one of America's outstanding astrologers, was born April 4, 1913, at Mansfield, Massachusetts. After high school she left New England for California to attend the University of California, Los Angeles, from which she received her B.S. in psychology in 1944. She had previously become interested in astrology and associated herself with Elbert Benjamine and the Church of Light. She taught astrology while going through the complete Church of Light curriculum, which she completed the same year as her work at UCLA.

She emerged as one of the organization's leading figures. She began writing in astrology and the next year was ordained by the church and married to one of the church's ministers, Edward Doane, who succeeded Benjamine as its head in 1951. Besides her works in astrology, at a time when the selection of even basic books was extremely limited, Doane gave a considerable amount of time to changing laws that prevented astrologers from operating in some states and cites by equating astrology with fortunetelling. In that endeavor she became a strong advocate for training, professionalism, and certification of astrologers. In her mature years Chase has received many honors from astrological organizations. She was elected president of the American Federation of Astrologers in 1979.