Abu Ma'shar, Al-Kindi, a Grande Conjunção e o Conhecimento por Revelação: Exemplo Textual

 

North, J. D., 1989, Stars, Minds and Fate: Essays in Ancient and Medieval Cosmology, 63-4.

  Abu Ma'shar's work on conjunctions seems to have been much influenced by his teacher al-Kindi, the first great philosopher to have written in the Greek tradition in Arabic. Al-Kindi firmly believed that knowledge through revelation and prophecy is superior to the truths of unaided reason. He wrote on astrology, and, in a letter which is still extant, attempted to predict the duration of the empire of the Arabs on the basis of planetary conjunctions. Broadly speaking, the rarer the conjunction affecting political and religious events, the more potent its force. This is the doctrine central to my survey, and al-Kindi's editor, O. Loth, thought it began with him.

   In order of the slowness with which they traverse the zodiac, Saturn comes first (29.5 years), followed by Jupiter (11.9 years) and then Mars (1.88 years). Roughly speaking, Saturn and Jupiter meet every twenty years, while Mars meets with Jupiter about every two years and with Saturn marginally more often. Although it is impossible to be very precise without being inordinately tedious, we can say that the conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter which are separated by a triple period, that is, about sixty years, will occur rather less than ten degrees apart. They can therefore occur within a single sign (30°) of the zodiac, if the first of the trio is close enough to the beginning of the sign. The character of the sign in which the conjunction occurred was thought to be important, but for the moment we need not go into details. Since the three signs in which successive conjunctions occur are likely to be equally spaced, comprising what is called a triplicity, three suitably chosen conjunctions in a series will be associated with one triplicity - which like the signs themselves was thought to have characteristic properties (fiery, earthy, aery, or watery, and so on). he successive conjunctions, occurring every 20 years, are simply the 'great conjunctions' of the title of Albumasar's book. There was also defined a coniunctio maior, which took place every 240 years, and a coniunctio maxima, which occurred every 960 years. The definitions of these were frequently misunderstood. Bacon, for example, gives a very hazy account in his Opus maius, and leaves us with the impression that he was paraphrasing Albumasar very carelessly. I will explain the periods of 240 and 960 years briefly, and those whose sympathies are with Bacon may omit the next paragraph. 

   Albumasar opens his Great Conjunctions with a detailed and rather precise account of the mean movements of Jupiter and Saturn, which we can summarize by saying that the conjunctions marked '0' and '3' in the series on the accompanying diagram will be thrice times 2°25'17"10'"6'v apart, or about 7 1/4º.11 We begin as near as possible to the beginning of Aries, in the fiery triplicity. Conjunction number 13, however, will fall into a new triplicity. If we reckon 20 years between great conjunctions, then the 'greater conjunction', when we pass from one triplicity to the next, should happen after 260 years; or, as Albumasar has it, the conjunctions may stay within a triplicity for about 240 years. They will then, by a loose extension of the argument, be in other triplicities for three similar periods, making 960 years in all, after which they will return to the original triplicity. Coniunctio maxima is that conjunction which marks the return to Aries. By virtue of the retrogradations of the planets in practice, and the fact that the figures quoted for the angles are not convenient sub-multiples of 360°, the argument is not precise and not worth discussing in any greater detail.12 What matters is that henceforth those who wished to find patterns in history had three convenient historical periods to conjure with, namely periods of 20, 240, and 960 years.

North, J. D., 1989, Stars, Minds and Fate: Essays in Ancient and Medieval Cosmology. Londres/ Ronceverte: The Hambledon Press.

Kleper, a Astrologia e os seus 1.170 Horóscopos

 

Rublack, U., 2015, The Astronomer & the Witch: Johannes Kepler's Fight for his Mother,135.

In the late sixteenth century, people usually explained personalities through astrology. Astrology formed a routine part of elite education, and was part of many universities’ curricula. Kepler, too, had learnt to cast horoscopes and predict the weather in Tübingen as part of studying mathematics, which in turn was integral to studying theology and the arts. During his career, he went on to compile a vast collection of more than 1.170 horoscopes for over 850 individuals. Although commissions from clients near and far provided him with welcome additional income, Kepler also collected horoscopes and data from a broad range of other practitioners in order to study them. When news reached him of an illness or the death of a particular person, he updated his records in order to verify his predictions. Horoscopes of famous, or ordinary, ill-fated people, such as a woman executed in Tübingen for infanticide, were closely scrutinized for patterns and causes. This immersed him in contemplating many different biographies. It made him curious about others. Anything but a distant academic dissociated from ordinary lives, he mined this information as a tool of empirical observation, so as to understand human nature through the movements of the stars.

Rublack, U., 2015, The Astronomer & the Witch: Johannes Kepler's Fight for his Mother. Oxford/ Nova Iorque: Oxford University Press.

A Relação Saturno/Lua a partir da Leitura de Liz Greene do Liber Novus de Jung: Exemplo Textual

Jung, The Red Book: Liber Novus, Elijah and Salome.

Greene, L., 2018, The Astrological World of Jung's Liber Novus: Daimons, Gods and the Planetary Journey,75.

Like Elijah, the Scholar lives in isolation with his daughter, far from the world with its extraverted, banal life. Unlike Elijah, he is neither a prophet nor a magus; he is a grief-stricken recluse, echoing Ficino’s association of Saturn with grief as well as solitude. In the ‘small, old castle’, the hall is lined with ‘black chests and wardrobes’ – a colour Jung associated directly with Saturn – while the Old Scholar’s study reveals ‘bookshelves on all four walls and a large writing desk, at which an old man sits wearing a long black robe’. The sheets in the tiny chamber in which Jung is offered a bed are ‘uncommonly rough’, and the pillow is hard. Associations of the colour black with Saturn abound in antiquity as well as throughout the medieval and early modern periods, and today the association still lingers in the present-day attribution of black gemstones such as jet, obsidian, and black onyx to this planetary god.

The air in the room is heavy, and the Old Scholar seems ‘careworn’. He has given himself tirelessly ‘to the material of science and research, anxiously and equably appraising, as if he personally had to represent the working out of scientific truth’. In this description Jung seems to be recreating the portrayal of Saturn given by a long list of astrological authors over many centuries, but in an extreme and highly personalised form. Jung at first believes the Old Scholar leads ‘an ideal though solitary existence’. Although no image of him appears in Liber Novus – only his stone castle – his description mirrors Waite’s image of The Hermit in the Major Arcana of the Tarot, standing alone in a barren, mountainous landscape with a lantern and a staff. 

But the Scholar, although he belongs to the same chain of senex images as Elijah, is a sad and self-destructive figure. His personality is lopsided, and he seems to personify what Jung experienced as his own rigidity of intellect – the same rigidity that ‘poisoned’ the giant Izdubar. The Scholar is ‘petrified in his books, protecting a costly treasure and enviously hiding it from all the world’. The old man keeps his daughter imprisoned, fearful of allowing her to confront the dangers of worldly life. (...)

Greene, L., 2018, The Astrological World of Jung's Liber Novus: Daimons, Gods and the Planetary Journey. Londres/ Nova Iorque: Routledge.

Os Eclipses e as Observações de Gregos e Babilónios: Exemplo Textual

Steele, J. M., 2000, Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Early Astronomers, 95-6. 

There has been much debate over the years concerning the source for the Babylonian observations in he Almagest. As I have suggested above, Ptolemy probably obtained them from Hipparchus. But how did Hipparchus come to possess them? Did he travel to Babylon himself and persuade a Babylonian astronomer to translate the records for him, as has been suggested by Toomer (1988: 359)? Or was knowledge of Babylonian astronomy widespread among Greco-Roman astronomers? Certainly, Babylonian mathematical astronomy must have been known fairly widely. The Oxyrhynchus papyri show that astrologers both used and understood Babylonian ACT methods, and there is nothing to suggest that the Oxyrhynchus material would differ from that which would have been found in any other medium size city had the conditions for survival of papyri been as good. But the transmission of actual observations is a different matter. To be of any value in determining, say, some parameter of a lunar theory, not just any lunar observation will do. Eclipses, of course, are the most useful, but even then what one really needs are eclipses fulfilling tions. Furthermore, these conditions certain condiare in part dependent upon the theory that one is developing. Thus, a Greek astronomer wanting to use Babylonian eclipse observations would probably have to obtain a long run of records, from which he could select certain ones at a later date. 

The Babylonian records described by Ptolemy range in date from 721 BC to 382 Be. Even if these represent the earliest and latest reports available to him, Ptolemy must have had access to records covering a period about 350 years. Furthermore, this list of eclipses must have been fairly complete. It has generally been supposed that the original source for these records was the Babylonian Astronomical Diaries. However, there are good reasons for doubting that this was the direct source from which Hipparchus made his compilation. A typical Diary covers a period of six months, during which there will be one, or occasionally two, lunar eclipse possibilities (i.e., observations or predictions). In compiling a collection spanning 350 years, therefore, one would have to consult about 700 tablets. It seems unlikely that a Babylonian astronomer would read through all of these tablets, even if they were all preserved, and then explain them at the request of a visiting Greek. There is, however, another ready-made source which would have been of much greater use to Hipparchus: the large compilation of eclipse records, preserved in part on LBAT * 1414, LBAT 1415 + 1416 + 1417, and LBAT *1419.

Steele, J. M., 2000, Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Early Astronomers. Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business Media.

A Caverna das Ninfas, as Portas do Sol e da Lua e o Thema Mundi: Exemplo Textual

Akçay, K.N., 2019, Porphyry's On the Cave of the Nymphs in its Intellectual Context, 146-7.

The Sun’s and the Moon’s paths are essentially the same in the same direction: the Sun’s route is the ecliptic, as previously noted, while the Moon is inclined at approximately 5 degrees to the ecliptic. The Moon’s crossing of the ecliptic from South to North symbolises an ascent and its crossing of the ecliptic from North to South symbolises a descent. The Moon’s crossing points of the ecliptic, the ascending node (ὁ ἀναβιβάζων σύνδεσμος) and the descending node (ὁ καταβιβάζων σύνδεσμος), are also related to the lunar nodes depicted as the Mithraic torchbearers with raised and lowered torches in the tauroctony (De Antro 24.13-25.1). As Beck rightly observes, the Sun’s rays has a function of apogenetic power, and its characteristics such as superior, high/up, heat/fiery, male are compatible with the ascending path of the soul, whereas the Moon asthe nearest to the Earth is inferior, down/low, cold/eartly, female.

Porphyry’s primary concern about the association of the gates of the Sun and the Moon with the two celestial openings of Plato in Republic 10 is ethical, rather than suggesting simply an astrological interpretation. The ascending path towards the Sun can be compared to the escape of the liberated prisoner from the Platonic cave, representing a choice towards a philosophical life instead of slavery to the material world. The path through the Sun symbolises the bright side of the soul under the guidance of its rational part, as is the case with the diurnal houses of the seven planets; similarly, the path through the Moon can be considered to be a symbol of the dark side of the soul under the guidance of its irrational part, as is the case with the nocturnal houses of the seven planets. 

Akçay, K.N., 2019, Porphyry's On the Cave of the Nymphs in its Intellectual Context. Leiden/ Boston: Brill.

O Deus da Lua de Harã, as Observações Astronómicas Sumérias, Assírias e Babilónicas e a Génese da Astrologia Genetliacal: Exemplo Textual

Green, T. M., 1992, The City of the Moon God: Religious Traditions of Harran, 42-3.

  Although there are records of observation of the appearance and disappearance of the planet Venus as early as the seventeenth century B.C.E. (during the reign of Ammisaduqa at Babylon), prior to the eighth century B.C.E., the only clearly demonstrable scientific interest in charting the "wandering stars" is found focused on the moon and the sun; and, in fact, it was only beginning with the reign of Nabonassar (747 B.C.E.) that accurate records of eclipses were kept and that the reports of the court astronomers were regularly recorded. Certainly the importance of the moon in the interpretation of various celestial omina (including the meteorological) had developed quite early in Mesopotamia, but by the very nature of the lunar cycle, these forecasts could not be long-range.

  In any event, divination through celestial phenomena was just one aspect of prophecy; much more popular during the Babylonian and Assyrian periods were incubation and haruspicy. Even that royal champion of the Moon god, the sixth century B.C.E. Nabonidus, was commanded to restore the temple of the Moon god at Harran through a dream. Further support for this view is found in the seventh century B.C .E. copies of the collection of celestial omens known as the Enuma Anu Enlil, which is dated in its earliest form to around 1000 B.C .E., and probably contains even earlier material. Most of its contents may be considered to be descriptive rather than analytical; only one quarter of the omens may be regarded as ''astrological,'' i.e., specifically concerned with the stars and planets. Yet, within two hundred years of Nabonassar, a shift in interest may be observed, for a cuneiform tablet dated 523 B.C. E. indicates the ability to calculate the monthly ephemerides of the sun and moon, the conjunctions of the moon with the planets, and of the planets with each other, and eclipses.

  Despite these relatively rapid advances, however, Neugebauer has posited a date no earlier than the fifth century B.C. E. for theregularization of the solar-lunar intercalated calendar, which knowledge would be necessary for the development of a genethialogical astrology. It was Naburimanni, a "descendant of the priest of the Moon god," who early in that century devised the lunar computational tables, used to determine the true date of the full moon, by which at least lunar eclipses might be predicted. It has been suggested that the growing interest in the astral deities and astral prophecy in the Near East during this period was a direct consequence of the conquest of Mesopotamia by the Persians, whose own religion contained many astral elements. 

Green, T. M., 1992, The City of the Moon God: Religious Traditions of Harran. Leiden/ Nova Iorque/ Köln: E. J. Brill.

A Melothesia Babilónica: As Origens da Astrologia Médica

Geller, M. J., 2014, Melothesia in Babylonia: Medicine, Magic, and Astrology in the Ancient Near East, 79.

  Unlike in Greek, there is no single text devoted specifically to melothesia in cuneiform texts,3 although Reiner has discovered melothesia in an important source, in a Late Babylonian medical commentary from Nippur (Reiner 1993: 21f.). These medical commentaries are crucial for understanding contemporary scholarship of the Persian and Hellensitic periods in Babylonia, and their significance must not be underestimated. The entry which caught Reiner’s attention is a learned comment on the typical medical phrases, ‘If a man’s spleen hurts him’ and ‘if a man’s kidney hurts him’. What the commentary explains is that the spleen is equated with Jupiter, and the ‘the Kidney-star is Mars’ (Reiner 1995: 60, Civil 1974: 336: 7). Reiner correctly concludes that the intention of the commentary is that Jupiter governs the spleen and Mars governs the kidneys, which are clear examples of melothesia, as we know from Greek sources.

  In other words, the essential elements and ingredients were available within Babylonian astronomy to construct a theory of melothesia. For one thing, within standard astronomical texts such as Enūma Anu Enlil, diseases were often connected with celestial omens, and it was an easy step to take to associate diseases with zodiacal phenomena; this idea was previously discussed by Rochberg, in her edition of a Late Babylonian tablet of lunar eclipses within the zodiac (rather than the more traditional appearance of an eclipse on a certain day of the month). (...)

Geller, M. J., 2014, Melothesia in Babylonia: Medicine, Magic, and Astrology in the Ancient Near East. Boston/Berlim/Munique: Walter de Gruyter.

A Astrologia como Astronomia Cultural: Exemplo Textual

Campion, N., "Astrology as Cultural Astronomy" in Ruggles, C. L. N., 2015, Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, vol. 1, 104 (103-16).

Astrology, from the Greek, astro-logos, is the assumption that the stars and planets contain meaning and significance for terrestrial affairs. Logos is simply translated as “word”, so astrology is, then, the “word” of the stars: the stars “speak”. However, in the context of classical thought, we may also consider that the stars possess reason or a kind of logic that can provide important information. Until the seventeenth century, the word was frequently interchangeable with astronomy, the “regulation” or “law” of the stars. Most non-Western countries do not employ different words to distinguish traditional astronomy from astrology, except where the distinction has been imported from the modern West. In India, both are jyotish, the “science of light”; in Japan, they are onmyōdō, the “yin-yang way”; and in China, li fa (calendar systems) and tian wen (sky patterns) are suitable terms (Campion 2008, 2012a, p. 100). Astrology appears to be a universal feature of human culture and may be understood as a form of cultural astronomy; an important contribution to the understanding of astronomy’s cultural uses, applications, uses, and functions; and an indication of society’s attitudes to the stars.

Ruggles, C. L. N., 2015, Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, 3 vols. Nova Iorque: Springer.

Agamben, a Astrologia como Potencialidade e o Caso da Melothesia: Exemplo Textual

Colilli, P., 2015, Agamben and the Signature of Astrology: Spheres of Potentiality, 10-11

Astrology is a potentiality precisely because it contains data that is (im)potential and void until it comes into contact with something that activates the content into a communicable entity, while still conserving its impotentiality. Along with being a potentiality, astrology is also a signature that gives rise to an unprecedented ontological epistemology: “Only because astrology . . . had conjoined heaven and earth, the divine and the human, in a single subject of fate (in the work of Creation)” writes Agamben in Infancy and History, “was science able to unify within a new ego both science and experience, which hitherto had designated two distinct subjects.” In a subsequent chapter we will explore the extent to which this intuition offered by Agamben opens up the potential for an “astrological” reading of his theories. Astrology’s contribution was to have created a link between the stars’ pneumatology and the experiences lived by the human body, thus creating a sort of bio-pneumatology. This is consistent with the astrological tradition where there is the contamination of the celestial body with the human body, eternity with the transitory nature of historical time, as in the specific case of melothesia, that is, the assigning of various parts of the body to the influence of the various signs of the zodiac. One of Agamben’s writings that particularly lends itself to an astrological reading of his thought is, as lready intimated, The Open, whose purpose was to continue the line of investigation found in the previous works such as Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life (1995), and Remnants of Auschwitz: The Witness and the Archive (1998), but with an eidetic orientation.

Colilli, P., 2015, Agamben and the Signature of Astrology: Spheres of Potentiality. Lanham/ Boulder/ Nova Iorque/ Londres: Lexington Books.

Astrologia Helenística - Os Três Contributos Babilónicos ("Caldaicos"): Exemplo Textual

Rochberg, F., 2010, In the Path of the Moon: Babylonian Celestial Divination and Its Legacy, 143.

In the scientific literature of the Hellenistic period, references to “Chaldeans” in connection with astrology and astronomy are numerous. The implications of such references, for the history of astrology, however, depend on a closer assessment of the nature and extent of the Babylonian contribution to that branch of Hellenistic science, but an assessment based on cuneiform sources. Three elements which re demonstrably Babylonian in origin yet form basic and integral parts of Greek astrological doctrine provide the focus of discussion here. They are: l) planetary exaltations, 2) the micro-zodiac, and 3) trine aspect. The differences between the Babylonian and Greek use of these three elements are exemplary of the fact that despite the incorporation of Babylonian elements at the inception of Greek astrology, the overall character and rationale of Greek astrology remains entirely a Hellenistic Greek product.

Rochberg, F., 2010, In the Path of the Moon: Babylonian Celestial Divination and Its Legacy. Leiden/Boston: Brill.

A Grande Conjunção, a sua Esfera de Influência e o Grande Cisma: Exemplo Textual

Rutkin, H. D., 2019, Sapientia Astrologica: Astrology, Magic and Natural Knowledge, ca. 1250-1800, vol. I, 424-5.

Proferred in many cities throughout Europe, annual prognostications also articulated an astrological framework for understanding the broader patterns of history, namely, the theory of great conjunctions, which were given renewed credence in the work of Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly (1350–1420).5 The basic patterns of historical astrology have already been described, so I will be very brief here. It is an astronomical fact that the two outermost planets of the premodern planetary system, Jupiter and Saturn, conjoin every 20 years, that is, they meet each other at the same degree of longitude on the zodiac. Or at least very close to the same degree, for a conjunction need not be exact to have an astrologically significant effect, since each planet has its own accepted sphere of influence, as discussed in my Excursus to the overall introduction. This conjunction is called a “great” conjunction simpliciter. These conjunctions would then continue to occur in a strikingly triangular pattern within the bounds of the same elemental triplicity for 240 years (i.e., twelve great conjunctions), at which time the conjunction would then switch to the next triplicity, say, from earth to air; this would mark a “greater” conjunction. Finally, after 960 years, the conjunctions would return to the initial point of departure, thus marking a “greatest” conjunction.

A great deal of ingenuity was expended during the Middle Ages and beyond to fit the major events of history to this model. In particular, major transformations in politics and religion were associated with the greater and greatest conjunctions. This view of history was introduced by Messahalah in the late eighth and early ninth centuries; it was greatly promoted soon after by Albumasar.10 Such an analysis was used to great effect by Cardinal d’Ailly to interpret the cataclysmic events of the Avignonese papacy (the so-called Babylonian captivity, 1309–1378), and the Great Schism (1378–1414), for whose resolution he was in good measure personally responsible, thus indicating an important area where astrology had a significant impact on society.

Rutkin, H. D., 2019, Sapientia Astrologica: Astrology, Magic and Natural Knowledge, ca. 1250-1800, vol. I: Medieval Structures (1250-1500): Conceptual, Institutional, Socio-Political, Theologico-Religious and Cultural, 424-5. Basileia: Springer Nature Switzerland.

As Origens Gregas da Astrologia: Exemplo Textual

Pingree, D., 1997, From Astral Omens to Astrology - From Babylon to Bīkāner, 21-22.

The science of astrology was developed in, most probably, the late 2nd or early 1st century B.C. as a mean to predict, from horoscopic themata draw up for the moment of an individual’s birth (or conception), the fate of that native. This form of astrology, called genethlialogy, is rooted in Aristotelian physics and Hellenistic astronomy, but also borrowed much from Mesopotamia and some elements from Egypt as well as developing many theories of its own. The adaptation of this form of astrology to determine the best time for initiating actions is termed catarchic astrology. These are the two main forms of astrology known in the West; interrogational astrology was developed in India in the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. on the basis of Greek catarchic astrology, and historical astrology in Sasanian Iran in perhaps the 5th or 6th century A.D. on the basis of continuous forms of Greek genethlialogy All of these types of astrology depend on the notion that the planets, in their eternal rotations about the earth, transmit motion (change) to the four elements and to the assemblages of elements, animate and inanimate, in the sublunar world. This theory is completely different from that of celestial omens, in which the gods, whose physical manifestations are the constellations and planets, send messages concerning their intentions regarding kings and countries by means of celestial phenomena. That these divine intentions con be altered by the use of propitiatory rituals (namburhis in Mesopotamia, śāntis in India) emphasizes the fundamental conceptual difference between omens and astrology.

Pingree, D., 1997, From Astral Omens to Astrology - From Babylon to Bīkāner. Roma: Istituto Italiano per L'Africa e L'Oriente.

A Astrologia Política e a Polémica em torno da Grande Conjunção: Exemplo Textual

Hübner, W., 2014, "The Culture of Astrology from Ancient to Renaissance" in A Companion to Astrology in The Renaissance, ed. B. Dooley, 29-31.

   Political astrology was dominated by the special lore of conjunctionalism, which was first established by the Arabian astrologers Al-Kindi, Māšaʿallāh (Mashallah) and Abū Maʿšar. About every twenty years a “great conjunction” takes place between the two slowest planets (as known in that time), aturn und Jupiter, and people observed in particular the quality of the zodiacal sign where the conjunction occurred. Astrologers believed that the order of conjunctions determined the succession of political rulership as well as of world religions. Christianity for instance was favored by the conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury because the Son of God was identified with the pagan Ἑρμῆς λόγιος. With regard to the zodiac this was supported by his daily “house,” Virgo, identified with Maria. Thus the great importance attributed in literature and painting to the first decan of Virgo (first third of a sign, in this case Virgo 1°–10°), which Abū Maʿšar describes as a figure of maiden nursing a child whom some call Jesus.

   Conjunctionalism was forbidden in Paris and Oxford in 1277 and was still being combated in the 14th century by the German rector of the Sorbonne, Heinrich von Langenstein, in his writing Contra astrologos coniunctionistas de eventibus futurorum (1371). But this did not hinder its enormous persistence. To give some examples: On the 16th of September 1186 almost all planets came together in Libra, and this was interpreted as an ill omen for the conquest of Jerusalem by the Egyptian sultan Saladin in 1187. The great conjunction in Scorpio on the 25th of November of the “annus mirabilis” 1484 was thought to be related both to the outbreak of the Syphilis in Europe and to Martin Luther’s nativity as well, whereas the conjunction of all three exterior planets in Cancer in the transit from the year 1503 to 1504 was related to the death of pope Alexander VI. Six planets joined in Pisces in February 1524. Now, Pisces concludes the zodiac and the triplicity of water, which is formed only by beings very different from human shape (Crab – Scorpion – Fish), so it has a special affinity to the element of water. No less than 56 authors in 133 conserved writings predicted, a great flood for that year—but the flood did not come. In May 1583 however, Saturn and Jupiter joined once again in Pisces, so once more astrologers announced an accident caused by water for the year 1588, and in this case the prediction was fulfilled actually by the destruction of the Spanish Armada.

Hübner, W., 2014, "The Culture of Astrology from Ancient to Renaissance" in A Companion to Astrology in The Renaissance, ed. B. Dooley, 17-58. Leiden/ Boston: Brill

Kepler: Astronomia e Astrologia, uma Harmonia Geométrica

Boner, Patrick J., Kepler's Cosmological Synthesis: Astrology, Mechanism and the Soul, 42 e 42 n.20.

Yet despite the many differences Kepler identified between astrology and astronomy, he claimed the two shared in geometry the same metaphysical foundations. As a consequence, Kepler applied geometrical principles to the two areas by way of analogy. He also extended these principles to the study of music. In fact, Kepler argued that all material phenomena, from the motions of the planets to the effects of the heavens on the weather to the production of particular melodies, derived from the same singular set of geometrical principles. Seen in this way, astrology, astronomy, and music shared the same archetypal origins. Kepler even described astrology as “a silent music” whose appreciation was made possible by a soul that could “dance to the tune of the aspects.” As Kepler made clear, the universal nature of geometrical principles accounted for the underlying consistency of the cosmos, where the idea of harmony encompassed far more meaning than our modern understanding. On the occasion of accepting three new aspects as influential, Kepler wrote to Herwart in 1599 on his discovery of an “absolute analogy” between astrology, astronomy, and musical theory:

. . . The analogy [analogia] with music and astronomy is absolute. I show that the analogy must necessarily be seen in this way, since the origins of all things are derived from geometry. Nature confirms these principles in the creation of a single species and employs these principles in everything that is capable of them. This occurs in music, the motions of the planets, the operation of the planets [on earth], the measure of musical notes according to time, the dances of men, and the composition of songs. For although these things are the discoveries of men, nevertheless man is the image of the creator.

n.20: JKGW, 14, no. 130, 640–651: “. . . perfecta sit analogia musices et astronomiae. Quam analogiam necessariò spectandam hoc medio demonstro, quia omnium rerum origines ex eometria petitae sunt, et quas natura rationes probat in creatione unius generis rerum easdem adhibet in omnibus omninò rebus, quae earum sunt capaces. Propterea in musica, in motibus planetarum, in operatione planetarum, in dimensione notarum musicalium causâ temporis, in hominum saltationibus, in ratione carminum. Nam etsi sunt haec hominum inventa, tamen homo imago conditoris est.”

Fonte:

Boner, P. J., 2013, Kepler's Cosmological Synthesis: Astrology, Mechanism and the Soul.

Leiden/ Boston: Brill.

Biblioteca III: Duas Histórias da Astrologia Antiga

  Apresento aqui algumas sugestões para uma biblioteca astrológica. Contudo, como critério de coerência, não irei apresentar nenhum livro que não tenha lido. O objectivo é apresentar sobretudo títulos que permitam aprofundar os conhecimentos astrológicos e que, por norma, não sejam os mais comuns. Um dos piores erros em que pode cair um astrólogo é cingir-se ao superficial e cair no lugar-comum e na frase-feita. Deve-se portanto procurar como se nunca nada se encontrasse. Um livro lido deve assim servir de ponte para o seguinte.

Beck, Roger, A Brief History of Ancient Astrology.

Malden, Oxford & Carlton: Blackwell Publishing, 2007

ISBN: 978-1-4051-1087-7

Páginas: 159

Preço: 32,16€ 

(Preço Amazon.es) 

Barton, Tamsyn, Ancient Astrology.

Londres: Routledge, 1994.

ISBN: 978-0415110297

Páginas: 245

Preço: 40,29€

(Preço Amazon.es) 

   Os dois títulos apresentados são, de facto, duas abordagens introdutórias ao estudo da Astrologia Antiga, todavia, os vectores de análise são totalmente distintos. O livro de Beck assenta numa abordagem temática, e não histórica, que é, por vezes, demasiado simplista. A constante depreciação da astrologia também não ajuda. Quando diz, por exemplo, "While I will of course respect the scientific distinction between astronomical fact and astrological fantasy, I will not be overly concerned with it." (16), está a recorrer a um mecanismo académico de defesa que, nossos dias, já se revela ultrapassado e, na verdade, pouco rigoroso.  O tom de paternalismo positivista relembra, para quem teve a oportunidade do ler, o texto de referência de Bouché-Leclercq de 1899, L'Astrologie Grecque, persistindo assim, a bem de uma pretensa superioridade académica, a necessidade de reduzir a astrologia a um lugar entre a superstição e a pseudociência. A visão de Beck torna-se, desta forma, limitada e demasiado centrada na distinção entre astronomia e astrologia. A sua notória preferência pelos textos ptolemaicos também não contribui para a divulgação da multiplicidade do pensamento astrológico antigo. No entanto, a forma como descreve a construção de um horóscopo ou tema natal é um dos aspectos positivos do livro e que faz merecer a sua leitura.

   Beck divide a sua obra em nove capítulos. Os dois primeiros abordam o lugar da astrologia na Grécia e Roma Antiga e no seu desenvolvimento a partir da Babilónia. Nestes capítulos, a visão de Beck, acima descrita, é bem evidente, todavia, no capítulo 3, inicia-se a parte fundamental do livro que assenta na compreensão do sentido por detrás da construção de um horóscopo, ou seja, como o mundo helenístico produziu um sistema que persistiu no tempo de forma quase inalterada. Do capítulo 3 ao capítulo 7, encontramos a génese conceptual da astrologia genetliacal e Beck, apesar dos preconceitos, criou uma boa síntese desta criação. O último capítulo, antes da conclusão, aborda o tema controverso dos métodos antigos para determinar a duração da vida. Mais um vez os preconceitos de Beck tornam-se evidentes, sobretudo ao não conseguir compreender o papel destes métodos, nem a profundidade dos sistema astrológicos praticados por Trasilo e Balbilo. Na conclusão, Beck tenta justificar o papel da astrologia antiga no século XXI, porém, como parte de premissas fundadas num juízo de valor prévio, as suas teses tornam-se necessariamente tendenciosas. No entanto, sem ter isso como finalidade, acaba por concluir que a base do sistema astrológico assenta no sentido, no processo de significação, próprio de uma representação da realidade e não de um método científico. Se tivermos uma consciência prévia da visão do autor, podemos, apesar de por vezes pensarmos que estamos a ler um livro do século XIX, encontrar o seu valor e dedicar-lhe um lugar numa biblioteca astrológica.

   O livro de Barton é radicalmente diferente. Neste livro, podemos encontrar uma verdadeira história, embora sintética, da astrologia antiga. Barton inicia a sua introdução ao que dizer que a "Astrology is a remarkably resilient discipline" (1), o que, na verdade, é uma das suas virtudes. De seguida, faz - e bem - a distinção entre o cliente antigo e o actual, ou seja, afirma que na Antiguidade procuravam-se previsões e não aconselhamento. No entanto, convém referir-se que, por exemplo, Trasilo e Balbilo fizeram mais do que previsões para os imperadores que serviram, pois foram, de facto, influentes conselheiros. Porém, o esforço de Barton pretende mostrar que a astrologia descrita no seu livro não é aquela que surge em jornais e revistas, mas sim uma forma "séria", como ele própria define, e que pode estar hoje presente em meios académicos, como qualquer outra disciplina intelectual. Esta premissa inicial é completamente diferente da de Beck, todavia Barton não deixa de referir que "The image of astrology today discourages scholarly investigation. Academics, if they do find themselves in the field, tend to concentrate on safer areas, such as the history of mathematics and astronomy revealed in astrological texts, or confine themselves to the manuscript tradition, so that they are not at risk of being perceived as moving outside the borders of acceptable scholarship" (4). No entanto, sem este caminho inicial não se poderá chegar a lado nenhum.

   Barton divide o livro em sete capítulos com várias subdivisões ao longo das cerca de trezentas páginas. No primeiro capítulo, são abordados os antecedentes históricos da Astrologia Antiga, ou seja, os contributos babilónicos, egípcios e gregos. Os exemplos textuais apresentados por Barton permitem ao leitor compreender a evolução de um modelo proto-astrológico, essencialmente mântico, para um sistema astrológico profundamente conceptual. O segundo capítulo trata da astrologia na Grécia e em Roma. Barton demonstra que a cultura astrológica foi transmitida essencialmente em grego, o que comprova que a astrologia era um saber intelectual, tal como qualquer outro saber ensinado em língua grega, e completamente inserido no seio de todas as formas de conhecimento da época. Neste capítulo, podemos também perceber como a astrologia se relacionou com o poder, em particular com o poder imperial, e como teve com a lei romana uma relação complexa e hostil, que contraria o exemplo da sua prática, em especial, na corte. No terceiro capítulo, encontramos a forma como a astrologia conviveu com a génese e triunfo do cristianismo. O quarto capítulo, um pouco à semelhança de Beck, explora os princípios da astrologia, ou seja, a sua matriz teórica. No quinto capítulo, Barton apresenta a prática astrológica antiga e a forma como se constrói um horóscopo ou tema natal, sobretudo a partir do exemplo do tema natal do Príncipe Carlos. Este capítulo é extremamente completo, tanto pela erudição dos textos apresentados como pela rigor da análise astrológica. No sexto capítulo, é introduzido o universo social em que se insere o astrólogo antigo, bem como a variedade das suas mundividências, que são transferidas naturalmente para os seus tratados. Este capítulo retrata alguns aspectos que nem sempre são abordados noutros livros como, por exemplo, o tratamento das orientações e práticas sexuais e as mortes violentas. Por fim, o sétimo capítulo apresenta algumas das ramificações da Astrologia Antiga, como a medicina e a magia, e algumas reflexões nomeadamente acerca da astrologia mundana e da relação com o culto de Mitra.  

   A leitura dos dois livros poderá iniciar o leitor no estudo da Astrologia Antiga e os contributos de Beck e de Barton mostrar-se-ão como complementares. A leitura das bibliografias de ambos os livros abrirá também os horizontes para novas leituras, pois esse é o valor inestimável de um livro.       

A Definição de Astrologia e de Astrólogo de Abū Maʿšar

Abū Maʿšar, Grande Introdução à Astrologia (Kitāb al-mudḫal al-kabīr ilā ʿilm aḥkām an-nuǧūm), Parte III, 1, 2.14a-b.

(...)

   We have dealt with55 the definition of astrology and the astrologer, and 2.14a what the master of astrology should examine. We shall ⟨now⟩56 mention the six things that follow this.57 We say that astrology has a starting-point, an origin, a branch,58 a proof,59 a fruit, and a finishing-point.60 The starting-point for judgements that are passionately desired is outstanding61 knowledge of the science of existing things and interest in them. Its origin is the knowledge of the quality and quantity of the movements of celestial bodies. The branch of this knowledge is to judge by them matters existing in this changeable world.62 The proof of the judgements is the correctness which comes about by prediction from the conditions of the stars and their action in the thing about which information is sought, among the things which will happen.| The acquisition of this science only comes about with difficulty and 2.14b labour,63 and correctness concerning existing things by opinion and estimation64 may be available ⟨only⟩ to a special kind of people at certain times. From this point on we have decided to begin65 with the knowledge of the conditions of the stars; then we shall subsequently add to it the judgement, in order that one should not think that the judgement of the stars is only guessed at randomly by conjecture and opinion, without knowledge of the positions, conditions, and indications of the stars. The fruit is the correctness, 66 benefit, and usefulness because of it for those who are possessors of the knowledge of the excellence of correctness. The benefit through correctness is the completeness.67 Everything that does not have completeness is lacking, and things are established68 only by completeness.

Fonte: 

Yamamoto, K. & C. Burnett (ed.), 2019, The Great Introduction to Astrology by Abū Maʿšar, vol. I (2 vols.), 240-243.  

Leiden/ Boston: Brill.

Māshā'allāh, a História do Mundo e a Grande Conjunção

Māshā'allāh, Acerca das Conjunções, Religiões e Povos (História do Mundo), f 214v, 1-16.

   [f 214v, 1] In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate; Lord, make smooth the way by Thy mercy. [2] Praise unto God, the Praised, the Glorious, the Creator, and Raiser of the dead, the Doer of whatever He desires, the Maker of [3] night and day, the Knower of what is on land and sea, the Discoverer of the hidden in science [4] and secrets as an indication to His worshipers of His grandeur, and guidance for them unto His wisdom, [5] and an impulsion for them toward the worship of Him alone, there being none associated with Him and nothing to complete Him in any thing. He is the Creator of [6] every thing, and He is the Mighty (one) the Wise (one). 

   However, after (the foregoing), verily there have preceded (something) of our sayings and what [7] we have collected of science in the art of astrology in the first two parts of this our book as to [8] what has passed. (Now) we mention in this part what Māshā'allāh arranged concerning [9] the times of conjunctions occurring between Saturn and Jupiter, and their transfer (or shift) among the triplicities, [10] and what he set forth of the form of heaven at the famous times among them and recorded events [11] which occurred in them involving the pure prophecies and the dazzling miracles [12] and what he judged about it for all of these things and (what) he disclosed as to its evidence, and what [13] Hermes and others mentioned concerning judgments based on conjunctions and world-year transfers (that is, vernal-equinox horoscopes), [14] as to what the ancients had to say concerning judgments on nativity years and so on as to what follows it of the dura-tion (of the reigns) of [15] kings and governors, and the times of wars, and mentioning the condition of prices [16] (illegible) with the assistance of God and the goodness of His help.

(...)

Fonte:

Kennedy, E.S. & D. Pingree, 1971, The Astrological History of Masha'allah, 39-40.

Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.

Ibn Ezra, o Livro do Mundo e a Grande Conjunção: Exemplo Textual

Ibn Ezra, Abraão, Livro do Mundo: Primeira Versão (Sefer ha-'Olam), ed. S. Sela, 20-21:

20 (1) In a great conjunction, then, observe the sign of the ascendant at the moment of the luminaries’ conjunction or opposition, whichever of them occurs last before the Sun enters Aries. (2) Also observe the sign of the ascendant at the moment of the luminaries’ conjunction or opposition before the Sun enters the quadrant where the great conjunction will occur. (3) Also observe the sign of the ascendant at the moment of the luminaries’ conjunction or opposition, whichever takes place <last> before the great conjunction, during the month when the conjunction takes place. (4) Now, if the conjunction takes place in Aries, there is no need to observe another sign of the ascendant; only one <is necessary>. (5) But if <it takes place> in any of the other quadrants, sometimes it is necessary to observe another sign <of the ascendant> together with the first and sometimes it is necessary to observe two <more>. (6)This happens when the conjunction does not take place in the first sign of the quadrant.

21 (1) At the time of the conjunction observe the characteristics of Saturn and Jupiter. (2) Find out which of them is closer to apogee or perigee on their great circle, whose center is different from the center of the Earth. (3) Also observe which of them is closer to apogee on its epicycle, whether both are direct in their motion or retrograde, whether their latitude is southern or northern and how many <degrees> is its latitude, and observe which of them has lordship in its place. (4) So if you find that Saturn is closer to apogee than Jupiter, or that its latitude is northern whereas Jupiter’s is southern, or that it is on the ecliptic, or that Saturn’s northern latitude is greater than Jupiter’s northern latitude, or that Saturn is on the ecliptic whereas Jupiter’s latitude is southern, or that both are southern but Saturn’s latitude is less than Jupiter’s, or that Saturn is in a place where it has lordship, then it [Saturn] portends that an ancient nation, regardless of where it resides, will not be defeated and will not go into exile. (5) Due to Saturn’s nature, hate, jealousy, enmity, contention, hunger, and various illnesses will increase in the world. (6) But if Jupiter has all the power we have allotted to Saturn, it portends that a new people will overcome the ancient people and that royal authority will pass from one nation to another.

Fonte:

Sela, S., 2010, Abraham Ibn Ezra: The Book of World - A Parallel Hebrew-English Critical Edition of the Two Versions of the Text, 64-67.

Leiden/ Boston: Abraham Ibn Ezra’s AstrologicalWritings, Vol. 2, Brill.

Jung e a Astrologia: Exemplos Textuais

Carl Gustav Jung, CW 15, “Richard Wilhelm: In Memoriam” (1930), par. 81:

[81] Its value is obvious enough to the psychologist, since astrology represents the sum of all the psychological knowledge of antiquity.

Carl Gust Jung, Letters I, “To L. Oswald, 8 December 1928”:

You are quite right in supposing that I reckon astrology among those movements which, like theosophy, etc., seek to assuage an irrational thirst for knowledge but actually lead it into a sidetrack. Astrology is knocking at the gates of our universities: a Tübingen professor has switched over to astrology and a course on astrology was given at Cardiff University last year. Astrology is not mere superstition but contains some psychological facts (like theosophy) which are of considerable importance. Astrology has actually nothing to do with the stars but is the 5000-year-old psychology of antiquity and the Middle Ages. Unfortunately I cannot explain or prove this to you in a letter.

Carl Gustav Jung, Letters I, “To Sigmund Freud, 12 June 1911”:

My evenings are taken up very largely with astrology. I make horoscopic calculations in order to find a clue to the core of psychological truth. Some remarkable things have turned up which will certainly appear incredible to you. In the case of one lady, the calculation of the positions of the stars at her nativity produced a quite definite character picture, with several biographical details which did not belong to her but to her mother – and the characteristics fi tted the mother to a T. The lady suffers from an extraordinary mother complex. I dare say that we shall one day discover in astrology a good deal of knowledge that has been intuitively projected into the heavens. For instance, it appears that the signs of the zodiac are character pictures, in other words libido symbols which depict the typical qualities of the libido at a given moment.

Fonte:

Jung, C. G., 2018, Jung on Astrology,
Selected and Introduced by S. Rossi and K. Le Grice, 23-25.
Londres/ Nova Iorque: Routledge.