The decans (or faces/ πρόσωπα) constitute an enigmatic form of rulership in ancient astrology. Rumored to have originated in Egypt,[1] the decans were associated with particular stars whose faces shone through the constellations, thus giving rise to their alternative designation as “faces.”[2] Yet, after the inception of Hellenistic astrology and the transition to a tropical …
“No man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre… not because the former is no hero, but because the latter is a valet.”—Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of History. The concept of the Ascendant is pivotal to Western Astrology, representing the Eastern horizon over which planets and stars step forth into visibility. It marks the boundary …
This essay examines books VIII-IX of the Republic and sets forth Plato’s account of the characterological decay of the individual soul. Just as city’s degenerate with time, falling from philosophical aristocracy to timocracy, timocracy to oligarchy, oligarchy to democracy, and democracy to tyranny, so too do the individuals who live within them. Indeed, Socrates notes …
I recently came across Dr. Elaine Aron’s work on high sensitivity. Aron posits high sensitivity as a trait exhibited across a variety of species that favors awareness and evaluation over unreflective action. While some animals, hoping to catch a tasty snack, may immediately dart after something new in their environment, others may stay back and …
The term “alchemy” conjures a host of polyvalent associations. Primitive man, mad-scientist, magician, and multi-level-marketer all come to mind. Given the primordial origins of the term, such polysemy is not surprising, for the practice of alchemy has its roots in an experience antedating recorded history. It springs from an age where the cosmos was perceived …
In his book Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New Worldview, Richard Tarnas presents a sustained case for the contemporary applicability of the ancient art of astrology. The first hundred pages or so are devoted to an exposition and critique of the modern mechanistic world picture and the adumbration of what Tarnas believes to be …
Pico Della Mirandola’s Oration on the Dignity of Man defined the spirit of the Renaissance, an age ours lauds as a rebirth of the classical tradition and a rediscovery of empirical science. It is thus surprising to learn that Pico’s supposedly enlightened text unequivocally advocates the practice of magic. Pico claims, for example, that magic …
The distinction between the conscious and the unconscious has become a cultural commonplace. We recognize when our co-workers, friends, and family act unconsciously, repeatedly manifesting meaningful patterns of action they claim to be purely accidental. Wider society also capitalizes on the unconscious by designing its propaganda (marketing) to appeal to our deep longings that rarely …