The Astrologer (1975) Plot Summary Explained

Craig begins working as a carnival psychic as a hustle, exploiting people's curiosity about the supernatural. However, when he correctly reads a woman's palm, he discovers his abilities are genuine, which fundamentally changes his approach to using his talents. This moment marks the turning point where he transitions from pure con artist to someone who genuinely believes in his own supernatural powers.

• carnival
• psychic
• hustle
• palm reading
• abilities

The wealthy Abernel couple approaches Craig during a graveyard picnic with an offer to smuggle diamonds in Kenya. Despite the obvious risks, Craig's growing confidence in his psychic abilities and his desire for wealth and status make him accept the proposition. The opportunity represents his first major step from small-time carnival hustler into international criminal activity.

Foreshadowing: Earlier scenes establish Craig's willingness to use his abilities for personal gain, setting up his acceptance of criminal offers.

• diamonds
• smuggling
• Kenya
• Abernel
• couple

During the expedition to retrieve hidden jewels in the Kenyan jungle, Alexei Abernel is bitten by a cobra and dies from the venom. Craig responds by shooting the snake, then takes the jewels and leaves with Kate. This incident removes the husband from the picture and allows Craig to consolidate control over the treasure.

Foreshadowing: The jungle setting and dangerous wildlife foreshadow the fatal encounter that eliminates Alexei.

• cobra
• jungle
• death
• Abernel
• jewels

After accepting a boat from a man in exchange for a woman, Craig later discovers the man with that same woman. In a fit of jealousy or rage, Craig shoots and kills him. This violent act demonstrates Craig's escalating willingness to use lethal force when he feels wronged or betrayed, even when the situation was of his own making.

Foreshadowing: The earlier deal itself shows Craig's moral flexibility, hinting at his capacity for violence.

• boat
• woman
• murder
• jealousy
• violence

After returning from Tahiti with wealth, Craig offers his psychic services to the U.S. Navy to help locate a ship that vanished in the Devil's Triangle. His success at this task propels him to even greater fame and validates his public image as a genuine mystic, leading directly to the creation of a movie about his life.

• Navy
• Devil's Triangle
• psychic
• ship
• vane

Craig locates Darrien, his missing girlfriend from his early career, working as a sex worker in a hotel. Despite her occupation, he chooses to marry her, and their wedding becomes international headlines. This decision suggests Craig still holds genuine emotional attachment to her, though his subsequent violent behavior when she cheats undermines any romantic narrative.

Foreshadowing: Darrien's mysterious disappearance early in the film creates the emotional thread that leads to their reunion and troubled marriage.

• Darrien
• marriage
• prostitute
• hotel
• reunion

After marrying Darrien, the couple gets into an argument at a restaurant. When Darrien cheats on Craig with another man, Craig shoots the rival in a jealous rage. This violent reaction completes his transformation into a character who resolves personal conflicts through murder, mirroring his earlier killing of the man with the woman from the boat deal.

Foreshadowing: Craig's history of violent responses to perceived betrayals foreshadows this killing.

• shooting
• infidelity
• jealousy
• murder
• restaurant

When Craig's old carnival sidekick reappears near the end and delivers this line, he directly exposes the film's central irony: Craig's entire identity as a psychic and mystic is a facade built on his genuine abilities used for selfish and violent purposes. The line crystallizes that Craig is fundamentally dishonest about his nature, he is not the spiritual guide he pretends to be, but rather a morally bankrupt opportunist who uses people and commits murder.

Foreshadowing: Craig's entire arc, from carnival hustler to murderer, builds toward this ultimate judgment of his character.

• final line
• judgment
• hustle
• moral
• character

After the cobra kills Alexei and Craig takes the jewels, he travels to Tahiti where he attempts to sell the diamonds at a bar. When that proves difficult, he加入s a pearl diving scheme to raise funds. The diamonds ultimately finance his reinvention as a legitimate psychic practitioner and fund his lifestyle upon returning to California.

• diamonds
• Tahiti
• pearls
• selling
• wealth

Darrien vanishes early in Craig's career while he is still building his carnival act. By the time Craig finds her years later, she has become a sex worker. The summary does not explain the circumstances of her disappearance or how she entered that profession, leaving this transformation as one of the film's unanswered questions about what happened during her years away from Craig.

Foreshadowing: Her mysterious early disappearance sets up the later revelation of her changed life.

• Darrien
• disappearance
• prostitute
• missing
• transformation