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 …
Empedocles (c.494-c.434 BC), like Pythagoras, is a presocratic philosopher whom contemporary expositors either deride or ignore. Because he is a philosopher who sings, invoking the muse and articulating his doctrines as hexameter poems (D7)[1], if it is presented at all, he is presented as an object of either pity (for his alleged ignorance) or scorn …
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 …