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In England, John Dee (1527–1608) also knew people in high places. He was a mathematician, a magician, a mapmaker, a master of stage craft, a philosopher, a bibliophile who compiled the best private library in England, a collector of astronomical and mathematical instruments, an astronomer who supported the radical theory that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the universe, and an astrologer who was accused of treason for casting charts for Queen Mary, her husband, and her half-sister Elizabeth, a charge he was somehow able to dodge.

When Elizabeth became queen, he became her advisor, the role for which he is best known. Dee tutored her in astrology, chose the time for her coronation in 1559, advised her regarding foreign policy, calmed her fears about a large comet, and received her more than once at his home, although he never received quite the recognition he wanted from her, or the money.

In 1582, Dee became embroiled with a charismatic medium, alchemist, and convicted forger named Edward Kelley. An aficionado of the occult, Dee had long tried to see images in crystals and to communicate with angels, skills he longed to possess. Kelley, a flamboyant Leo with an eighth house Sun, assured him that he had those gifts. And so began a drama-filled association that developed in England, migrated for several years to eastern Europe, and was dominated by angelic communiqués. Once, for instance, Kelley had visions — a message on a scroll, a scantily clad angel — which he understood to mean that Kelley and Dee must share their wives. This was a spiritual crisis for Dee, but he went along, and nine months later his wife Jane gave birth to a child they named Theodore: gift of God. When Dee returned to England shortly thereafter, he discovered that his famous library had been vandalized: a crushing blow. He never saw Kelley again but he learned that his former compatriot had been knighted by Emperor Rudolf II in Prague and later, when his alchemical skills proved inadequate, imprisoned. Dee returned to casting horoscopes. He never ceased trying to communicate with the angels.