Why Classical Astrology works?

Traditional Astrology  was essentially practical. Astrologers read the message of the skies to know about EVENTS, facts. The winner of some war, the future of a kingdom or the destiny of a ship lost in the dangerous seas were the big questions. People wanted to know practical things concerning real life.
However in the XVII and XIX Century, materialism prevailed ideologically, and the World was seen
as a complex mechanism which men were sooner or later put under their absolute control since destiny and fate, were now consider old superstitions. This was the era of the "free will".
That is why classical, predictive astrology became psychology. The old malefic planets Mars and Saturn were now "teachers". The red planet didn't revealed the winner of a battle but the level of "spiritual energy" available for the client.
Saturn now is not a malefic but teaches us "prudence" or the virtues of moderation.
The great old Astrology of masters like William Lilly became a pale pseudo-psychological mumbo-jumbo whose only purpose was to make the consultant happy. Victorians didn't want to know about events or the future, so the new astrologer just told these clients what they wanted to listen...(All the fairy tales must have a happy ending.)
The traditional rules of the science and art of astrology were deliberately forgotten and denied.
The astrological experience of  thousands of years became a concoction of psychoanalysis and New Age.
But some astrologers said NO to this decadence and went back to the lost secrets and rules.
Classical, traditional astrology works because is the authentic Astrology, the millenary art and science of the Stars, and not wishful thinking