View source for Linda Goodman

{{Short description|American astrologer}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2022}}
{{use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Linda Goodman
| image =
| caption =
| pseudonym =
| birth_name = Mary Alice Kemery
| birth_date = {{birth date|1925|4|9|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Morgantown, West Virginia]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1995|10|21|1925|4|10|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Colorado Springs, Colorado]], U.S.
| occupation = {{hlist|[[Astrologer]]|[[Numerologist]]|[[Palmist]]|[[Writer]]|[[Poet]]}}
| influences =
}}

'''Mary Alice Kemery''', popularly known as '''Linda Goodman''' (April 9, 1925<!-- as per birth certificate info (see below) --> – October 21, 1995), was a ''[[New York Times]]'' bestselling American [[astrologer]] and [[poet]]. She wrote the first astrology book to make the [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''New York Times'' Best Seller list]].

==Early life and background==
Linda Goodman was born in [[Morgantown, West Virginia]]. Although she never revealed her year of birth, swearing even her father to silence, it emerged posthumously that she was born in 1925. According to data collector Frank C. Clifford, Linda was born in Morgantown on April 9, 1925, at 6:05&nbsp;a.m. Clifford cites Linda's birth certificate as his source. Her father's name was Robert Stratton Kemery; her mother's maiden name was Mazie McBee. By her own account, Goodman was born in her maternal grandparents' house on 115 Kingwood Street. She attended and graduated from [[Parkersburg High School]] in 1943 aged 18 years.

==Career==
Linda Goodman assumed the name 'Linda' during [[World War II]] for a popular [[WVNT|WCOM]] [[radio show]] in Parkersburg that she hosted called ''Love Letters from Linda''. Each show consisted of her reading letters written between soldiers and their loved ones. Each letter was punctuated with a popular song of the day. While working in radio, she met her second husband, Sam O. Goodman, and took his last name.

She began her career writing for newspapers in the eastern and southeastern United States. She also wrote speeches for black American [[civil rights]] leader [[Whitney Young]], who served for several years as president of the [[National Urban League]].

===Astrology/writings===
Books written by Linda Goodman include:
*''Sun Signs''. Taplinger, New York, (1968). {{OCLC|251596293}}.
*''Venus Trines at Midnight''. Bantam Books, New York, 1978. {{OCLC|883246978}}.
*''Linda Goodman's Love Signs''. Harper & Row, New York, 1978. {{ISBN|0-06-011550-5}}.
*''Linda Goodman's Love Poems: Levels of Love Awareness''. Harper & Row, New York, 1980. {{ISBN|0-06-011643-9}}.
*''Linda Goodman's Star Signs: The Secret Codes of the Universe'' A Practical Guide for the New Age. St. Martin's Press, New York, 1988. {{ISBN|0-312-95191-4}}
*''Gooberz''. Hampton Roads, Norfolk, 1989. {{ISBN|0-9624375-0-6}}
*''Relationship Signs''. Bantam, New York, 1998. {{ISBN|0-333-74030-0}}

Some have suggested that Linda Goodman was responsible for accelerating the growth of the [[New Age]] movement through the unprecedented success of her first [[astrology]] book ''Linda Goodman's Sun Signs''. This was the first astrology book ever to earn a spot on the [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''New York Times'' Best Seller list]].<ref name=Horowitz>{{cite book |last=Horowitz |first=Mitch |title=Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation |publisher=Random House Digital |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-553-80675-5 |page=253}}</ref> It was followed by ''Linda Goodman's Love Signs'', which also made the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list and set an industry record with $2.3 million being paid for the paperback rights.

In these books Goodman explains her astrological theory, which implies that a planet or other celestial body has no effect at all until it is discovered in "its proper time in the universal plan".<ref>{{cite book |title=Linda Goodman's Sun Signs |location=New York |publisher=Taplinger |year=1968 |isbn=0-8008-4900-0 |pages=231-232}}</ref>

''Gooberz'', begun in 1967, is a long poem riddled with myriad [[occult]] references and [[symbol]]ism. It is also a thinly veiled [[autobiography]], which explores two of her significant romantic relationships: her marriage to William Snyder and her love affair with marine biologist Robert Brewer. It also touches on the births of her four children: Sally Snyder, Bill Snyder, Jill Goodman and Michael Goodman. The book surveys her ideas on [[reincarnation]], [[karma]], [[love]], and [[miracle]]s.

==Personal life==
Goodman was mother to four children: Sally and William (Bill) Snyder from her first marriage, and Jill and Michael Goodman from her second marriage. She also had at least one other child, a daughter who died in infancy.

===Daughter===
Linda Goodman's books also reference what she referred to as the "disappearance" of her eldest daughter, 18-year old Sarah "Sally" Snyder, in the 1970s, and the mystery around her reported death. Linda's husband Sam Goodman had identified the body at the New York morgue, and had the body cremated, but recanted the identification a few days later. Linda never accepted the official police closure report as a suicide or accidental suicide, and spent much money, and continued to search for Sally for the rest of her own life. Finally, she believed that her daughter was dead but would return by reincarnation.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hall |first1=Sarah |last2=Rein |first2=Richard K. |title=Why Did Her Lover Flee? Is Her Daughter Dead? Linda Goodman Seeks Answers in the Stars |url=https://people.com/archive/why-did-her-lover-flee-is-her-daughter-dead-linda-goodman-seeks-answers-in-the-stars-vol-11-no-19/ |website=[[People (magazine)|People]] |access-date=16 August 2018 |ref=People}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/25/us/linda-goodman-writer-turned-astrologer-dies.html |title=Linda Goodman, Writer Turned Astrologer, Dies |author=Robert Mcg. Thomas Jr. |date=25 October 1995 |access-date=17 November 2023 |website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

===Death===
Goodman made [[Cripple Creek, Colorado]], her home during the latter part of her life. She first lived in a small Victorian house on Carr Street ( "the little crooked house on the crooked little street" ) and later moved to a newer home on the outskirts of the main town. Both homes still boast her spiritually themed stained-glass windows. The house on Carr Street is now a [[bed and breakfast]]. She died in [[Colorado Springs, Colorado]], on October 21, 1995, at the age of 70, from complications of [[diabetes]].

Crystal Bush, a businesswoman from Ireland, befriended Goodman at the end of her life and obtained the publicity rights to the astrologer's name at her death. Bush then published the book ''Linda Goodman's Relationship Signs''.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite magazine |last=Bayer |first=Ann |title=A Grand Tour of the Zodiac |magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] |volume=67 |number=13 |date=September 26, 1969 |pages=60–77}}
*{{cite book |last=Holden |first=James H. |chapter=Linda Goodman and Sun Signs |title=A History of Horoscopic Astrology |publisher=[[American Federation of Astrologers]] |edition=2 |year=2006 |isbn=0-86690-463-8}}
*{{cite magazine |last=Nobile |first=Philip |title=Love According to the Stars |magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |volume=78 |number=18 |date=March 12, 1979 |page=13}}
*{{cite magazine |last=Seligso |first=Marcia |title=Stars Fell on the Pentagon: Astrology and the Draft |magazine=Life |volume=72 |number=13 |date=April 7, 1972 |page=22}}
*{{cite magazine |last=Travis |first=Neal |title=Rating Lovers Brings Bonanza |magazine=New York |volume=11 |number=48 |date=November 27, 1978 |page=9}}
*{{cite book |last=White |first=Michael |chapter=Astrology Is a Pseudoscience |editor-last=Wand |editor-first=Kelly |title=Astrology |series=Fact or Fiction |location=Detroit |publisher=Greenhaven Press/Thomson Gale |year=2007 |isbn= 978-0-7377-3506-2}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20021017032750/http://www.consciousevolution.com/Astrology/AboutLinda.htm "Spiritual pioneer Linda Goodman sought the secrets of life from more than just the stars" ]
*[http://www.linda-goodman.com Linda-Goodman.com]

{{New Age Movement}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, Linda}}
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:1995 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American astrologers]]
[[Category:American astrological writers]]
[[Category:New Age spiritual leaders]]
[[Category:American radio personalities]]
[[Category:American speechwriters]]
[[Category:Deaths from diabetes in the United States]]
[[Category:New Age writers]]
[[Category:Parkersburg High School alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Colorado Springs, Colorado]]
[[Category:People from Morgantown, West Virginia]]
[[Category:People from Parkersburg, West Virginia]]
[[Category:Writers from West Virginia]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:People from Cripple Creek, Colorado]]
[[Category:American women non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Palmists]]