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 Castigo de Tirésias (Poesia)

Pietro della Vecchia, Tiresias transformed into a woman, 1626-1678.

Nantes: Musée d Arts de Nantes.

O Castigo de Tirésias

Do falo agora vulva

A ofídia desmedida

Cego o sábio gesto

De Hera a punição

Como mulher viveu

Tirésias o adivinho

26 de Abril de 2020

RMdF

Criação (Poesia)

Boucher, François, The Birth of Venus, 1740. Estocolmo: 

Nationalmuseum. 

https://www.wga.hu/

Criação

Atrás do tempo___________

________ segue a madrugada

No humano a palavra vencida

Agora eleita imagem repetida

Traduzindo de Narciso a água

_______________________

Vence pois o autor a obra sua

Tornado ele relíquia a vaidade

________ e perdendo-se hoje

A obra-prima _____________

De liberdade origem a criação

_______________________

Segue solitário atrás do tempo

O autor a obra uma madrugada

3 de Maio de 2020

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De Abril a Maio (Poesia)

Parlamento Português (Wikipédia)

De Abril a Maio

Confinado o Abril

Imenso é o nome

De ser Liberdade

Nas suas gentes

Ontem o amanhã

Mas na sua casa

Hoje p'ra sempre

De Maio primeiro

Esperança nossa

De labor um leme

Direito a trabalhar

Sem deixar de ser

A luta a dignidade

Em Abril em Maio

19 de Abril de 2020

RMdF

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.

Reflexão Astro-Filosófica 11

Reflexões Astro-Filosóficas

Contributos para uma Filosofia da Astrologia

#11.

   Epicteto, nas suas Diatribes, diz-nos seguinte: «– Que ordens eu te darei? Zeus já não te deu as ordens? Não te deu as tuas coisas desimpedidas e desembaraçadas? E as que não são tuas não são impedidas e entravadas? Aqui chegaste com certas ordens. (4) De que decreto precisas ainda? “Vela pelas tuas coisas por todos os meios”, “Não almejes as de outrem”, “É tarefa tua ser leal”, “É tarefa tua ser digno”. Quem pode tirar essas coisas de ti? Quem te impedirá de usá-las senão tu mesmo? E como tu impedirás a ti mesmo? Quando te ocupares das coisas que não são tuas, perderás as tuas. (5) Possuindo tais conselhos e ordens da parte de Zeus, quais tu queres ainda da minha parte? Sou melhor que ele? Mais digno de confiança? Se velares por essas ordens, de quais outras precisarás ainda? Mas ele não te ordenou essas coisas? (6) Toma as pré-noções, toma as demonstrações dos filósofos, toma o que ouviste muitas vezes, toma o que disseste para ti mesmo, toma o que leste, toma o que praticaste.» (Diatribe I.25, 3-6). O filósofo estóico do século I EC apresenta-nos um exercício espiritual, um modo de viver. Devemos, segundo esta diatribe, colocar a nossa atenção naquilo que somos, no que nos é próprio e nos convém e devemos, por outro lado, evitar, negando, o que próprio do outro e não nos convém.

   Numa perspectiva astrológica, a proposta de Epicteto representa as fundações da astrologia natal ou genetliacal. As ordens de Zeus são os decretos do destino, são as marcas da Providência num tema natal. Desta forma, de acordo com os ditames de uma natividade, cada um deve primeiro aceitar e depois seguir o que ela determina. A astrologia antiga privilegia de tal forma o tema natal que a maior parte da pronoia astrológica, ou seja, do conjunto de técnicas preditivas é calculado a partir dele e não de elementos externos, nomeadamente, os trânsitos. A profecção e a distribuição dos regentes do tempo são disso os melhores exemplo. Esta centralidade do tema natal reforça a necessidade de nos focarmos naquilo que o tema natal oferece e não invejarmos os decretos que os outros receberam. Melhor ou pior, mais tenso ou mais harmonioso, o nosso tema natal é aquilo que nos convém. Devemos assim tomar o que é nosso.

Bibliografia

Epicteto, 2020, As Diatribes de Epicteto, Livro I, trad. A. Dinucci. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra.