UTSKRIFT 🔗
Speaker:
00:00:00
Hellenistic Astrology refers to the practice of astrology during the
Speaker:
00:00:03
Hellenistic period of Ancient Greece.
Speaker:
00:00:06
Astrology is a divination practice of deriving meaning from the
Speaker:
00:00:09
planets and cosmos, but Hellenistic Astrology has the concepts of
Speaker:
00:00:13
fate and fortune woven into it.
Speaker:
00:00:15
In this episode, we'll explore how this is similar yet different
Speaker:
00:00:19
from contemporary astrology and why it matters on a larger scale.
Speaker:
00:00:23
Let's begin.
Speaker:
00:00:25
Thank you for tuning in to an episode of Merwin's Philosophy, where I explore
Speaker:
00:00:28
the connection between spirituality and psychology and how that coincides
Speaker:
00:00:32
with social issues we face today.
Speaker:
00:00:35
Now here's the show.
Speaker:
00:00:37
So in an old blog post, I wrote about wanting to change directions
Speaker:
00:00:42
and rebrand from a fiction writer.
Speaker:
00:00:45
I do have two books out.
Speaker:
00:00:46
One is a chap book.
Speaker:
00:00:49
So a small book of poetry and another one is an actual novel.
Speaker:
00:00:53
But I was wanting to do something a little bit more closer to real life, not so
Speaker:
00:00:59
close to fiction, because I read way more nonfiction books than I do read fiction.
Speaker:
00:01:04
And it wasn't until I read a book on Western Esotericism.
Speaker:
00:01:08
That it made a lot more sense.
Speaker:
00:01:10
It seemed a lot more interesting.
Speaker:
00:01:12
So that's where we're going with this, in this podcast, and probably
Speaker:
00:01:16
from here forward, but we'll see.
Speaker:
00:01:17
But basically, Western Esotericism is a field of study that examines
Speaker:
00:01:22
philosophies and practices, often of a spiritual nature, that have
Speaker:
00:01:26
been rejected from common knowledge.
Speaker:
00:01:28
And yet they have influenced religion and philosophies today.
Speaker:
00:01:32
And these groups of philosophical and sometimes religious, but often
Speaker:
00:01:38
spiritual practices have been viewed in a negative light and pushed out
Speaker:
00:01:43
of academic and religious studies, despite their historical importance.
Speaker:
00:01:47
And some of these esoteric practices are still being done today.
Speaker:
00:01:51
Now in the list of examples, you don't know exactly what I'm talking about.
Speaker:
00:01:54
astrology, alchemy, magic.
Speaker:
00:01:57
People have heard at least of astrology and alchemy and have felt one way or
Speaker:
00:02:02
another on both sides of the extreme.
Speaker:
00:02:05
It's nonsense and delusion versus it's divine knowledge.
Speaker:
00:02:08
But what's interesting is that from these more esoteric beliefs,
Speaker:
00:02:13
we have what's more acceptable and part of common knowledge now.
Speaker:
00:02:17
So for example, from astrology came astronomy, because they were one
Speaker:
00:02:21
and the same back in ancient times.
Speaker:
00:02:24
From alchemy developed chemistry and from magic developed what
Speaker:
00:02:28
we call the natural sciences.
Speaker:
00:02:30
Now, even in the realm of Christianity, you have the Kabbalah and Gnosticism,
Speaker:
00:02:35
which are more esoteric beliefs within that religion of Christianity.
Speaker:
00:02:40
And so due to the prejudice passed down from the church and academic
Speaker:
00:02:45
institutions, unfortunately, the general public labels these as delusions and
Speaker:
00:02:50
superstitions without Any thought to their cultural and historical relevance
Speaker:
00:02:55
and because the church labels this as blasphemy because a lot of it is from
Speaker:
00:02:59
pagan beliefs not so much from the gnosticism in kabbalah because it was
Speaker:
00:03:03
again very associated with Christianity or the Abrahamic religions of some sort,
Speaker:
00:03:08
but the astrology, mostly astrology, was viewed as more of a pagan belief.
Speaker:
00:03:14
And there's others too, that I want to get to in a later episode.
Speaker:
00:03:18
I just finished reading a book called Western Esotericism A Guide for the
Speaker:
00:03:23
Perplexed by Wouster Honengraaff, I know I mispronounced his name, but I just
Speaker:
00:03:28
finished my second read through of the book to understand the very complex and
Speaker:
00:03:34
complicated knowledge that is within it.
Speaker:
00:03:36
I will definitely do a separate episode about that because
Speaker:
00:03:39
it is worth its own episode.
Speaker:
00:03:41
Western esotericism is a modern label put on a very wide spectrum of esoteric
Speaker:
00:03:48
practices, philosophies, and beliefs.
Speaker:
00:03:50
So we'll look into that at a later period.
Speaker:
00:03:53
But this episode is more so about Hellenistic astrology or
Speaker:
00:03:58
astrology during ancient Greece.
Speaker:
00:04:00
And as usual, I'm going to break this down into three parts.
Speaker:
00:04:02
Number one is the overview of Hellenistic astrology.
Speaker:
00:04:05
Part two is the culture and philosophy behind the practice.
Speaker:
00:04:09
because that is very important when we're talking about esoteric
Speaker:
00:04:13
beliefs, such as astrology.
Speaker:
00:04:15
And part three, why does any of this matter?
Speaker:
00:04:17
Most of the knowledge that I'll be talking about is from a book called Hellenistic
Speaker:
00:04:22
Astrology, The Study of Faith and Fortune, written by astrologer Chris Brennan.
Speaker:
00:04:28
And this is the first book that I've read that uses information from
Speaker:
00:04:31
archaeological findings to explain the techniques and the rationale behind
Speaker:
00:04:36
these techniques, and also credits the various astrologers of the time.
Speaker:
00:04:40
It gives.
Speaker:
Load full transcript
00:04:41
this subject a more academic approach, which is something I've been looking for
Speaker:
00:04:45
because sometimes, or a lot of times, honestly, articles on websites are
Speaker:
00:04:50
the most common and immediate source of information, but they don't have
Speaker:
00:04:54
that rigorous fact checking that a more academically inclined book will have,
Speaker:
00:04:59
and those sites can spread misinformation and have too much of an enchanting and
Speaker:
00:05:04
fantastical view about it instead of a more balanced view that is rooted in
Speaker:
00:05:09
history and not so much personal belief.
Speaker:
00:05:12
So let's talk about Hellenistic Greece for a minute.
Speaker:
00:05:15
The Hellenistic period of Greece started when Alexander the Great
Speaker:
00:05:19
died in 323 BC, all the way until the Roman Empire took over in 30
Speaker:
00:05:24
BC after the death of Cleopatra.
Speaker:
00:05:26
Before then, Alexander the Great was the king of the Greek Empire.
Speaker:
00:05:32
He's called The Great because he went on a campaign to basically take over as much
Speaker:
00:05:38
of the Asian and Mediterranean world as he could and he did he took over a lot.
Speaker:
00:05:42
But after he died in 323 BC began the War of the Diadochi which basically
Speaker:
00:05:48
translates to the War of his Successors.
Speaker:
00:05:50
So a lot of his generals fought over the land that he conquered which
Speaker:
00:05:54
stretched from present day Greece all the way up to the Balkans , all the
Speaker:
00:05:58
way around the Mediterranean, all the way from present day Greece
Speaker:
00:06:01
down to India, so the Middle East.
Speaker:
00:06:04
The Western part of Asia, all the way down to India all the way
Speaker:
00:06:08
around North Africa, where Egypt is.
Speaker:
00:06:10
There are three main kingdoms that took over.
Speaker:
00:06:13
When it comes to Hellenistic astrology, the one that Brennan mentions the most in
Speaker:
00:06:17
his book is called the Ptolemaic dynasty.
Speaker:
00:06:20
And basically this is the area around Egypt in North Africa.
Speaker:
00:06:23
After the War of the Diadochi, there was a lot of Greek influence
Speaker:
00:06:26
into these other areas that Alexander the Great had conquered.
Speaker:
00:06:31
And there was a lot of mixing of Greek and the culture that was already there.
Speaker:
00:06:36
For example, one major figure that comes to mind is Hermes Trismegistus,
Speaker:
00:06:41
and this was a combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth.
Speaker:
00:06:46
There's a lot of astrological writings attributed to him within Hellenistic
Speaker:
00:06:51
astrology, as well as other religions and philosophies such as Hermeticism, which
Speaker:
00:06:57
is a philosophical and religious movement that is attributed to this Hermes figure.
Speaker:
00:07:03
But that as an example of how the Greek and other cultures were mixed together.
Speaker:
00:07:09
Now, what we learn in school , at least what I learned in school, was
Speaker:
00:07:13
classical period of Greece, which makes sense because the classical
Speaker:
00:07:17
period of Greece is a time when there was much flourishing of the culture.
Speaker:
00:07:21
There was a lot of developments in art and literature in science and philosophy.
Speaker:
00:07:26
A lot of the main Greek philosophers that I've heard of actually
Speaker:
00:07:30
come from the classical period.
Speaker:
00:07:31
This would be Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, as well as Pythagoras, who created
Speaker:
00:07:37
the Pythagorean theorem that we still use and are taught in school today.
Speaker:
00:07:41
But this Hellenistic period is after that classical almost golden period of Greece
Speaker:
00:07:48
And so Hellenistic astrology or astrology in general actually
Speaker:
00:07:51
derives from the ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures.
Speaker:
00:07:55
The Greeks just developed the techniques and significations of the planets a
Speaker:
00:08:00
little further . They expanded the significations of the planets as well as
Speaker:
00:08:04
the houses, which are the sections of the sky that is along the elliptical, which
Speaker:
00:08:09
is the path that the sun takes across the sky, and the planets through the
Speaker:
00:08:14
constellations or the Zodiac, which I'll explain a little bit more in part two.
Speaker:
00:08:19
But astrology was a big factor of the culture, or at least that's
Speaker:
00:08:23
what I gathered from Brennan's book.
Speaker:
00:08:25
And it continued on through the Roman Empire until it fell and
Speaker:
00:08:30
then Christianity took over.
Speaker:
00:08:32
So if you've looked at Roman history, you will realize that the Romans actually
Speaker:
00:08:37
adopted a lot of the Greek culture.
Speaker:
00:08:40
As a matter of fact, when I was doing a little bit of research on this Hellenistic
Speaker:
00:08:44
period, there's this, I can't say it verbatim, but there's this idea or
Speaker:
00:08:49
this saying that even though Rome took over Greece, Greece heavily influenced
Speaker:
00:08:55
Rome and their culture, almost as if Greece still took over Roman ideas.
Speaker:
00:09:00
Because again, Romans adopted the pantheon of Greek gods and
Speaker:
00:09:04
just gave them Roman names.
Speaker:
00:09:06
I've always found it fascinating how Greek deities have a Greek and a Roman name.
Speaker:
00:09:11
. Part of the culture that they took over was the idea of astrology
Speaker:
00:09:14
being so pervasive in the culture.
Speaker:
00:09:16
However, Christianity took over, denounced it as pagan and blasphemous,
Speaker:
00:09:21
and denounced it from Western Europe.
Speaker:
00:09:23
However, it continued in the East because at that period the Greek
Speaker:
00:09:28
empire, was broken into two.
Speaker:
00:09:30
So you had , where Greece is now and the other areas of the Mediterranean
Speaker:
00:09:35
Sea, but then where Turkey is on through the Persian area, that's called
Speaker:
00:09:39
the Byzantine Empire at the time.
Speaker:
00:09:41
And when you study a little bit about Greece, that's
Speaker:
00:09:44
called the Byzantine period.
Speaker:
00:09:46
And so that's where more of the Greek culture continued on while the Western
Speaker:
00:09:51
area of what used to be the Greek empire, continued on to a more Christian thought.
Speaker:
00:09:57
And I'll do another episode on the continued history of astrology
Speaker:
00:10:03
because it's actually fascinating.
Speaker:
00:10:04
It goes on into the Medieval period to the Renaissance and continues
Speaker:
00:10:08
on until we have the modern and contemporary version of astrology today.
Speaker:
00:10:12
But there are several components that will definitely be part of
Speaker:
00:10:15
later episodes, it's beyond the scope of what I want to talk about today.
Speaker:
00:10:19
But the major components are the planets in the sky that the
Speaker:
00:10:23
ancients could see at the time.
Speaker:
00:10:26
And they included the moon and the sun because to them it was a big planet.
Speaker:
00:10:30
Those were big planets, but you have Mercury, Mars, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter.
Speaker:
00:10:36
In contemporary astrology, there's other planets, Neptune, Pluto, however, they're
Speaker:
00:10:40
too far away for the naked eye to see.
Speaker:
00:10:43
So those are not included in traditional or Hellenistic astrology.
Speaker:
00:10:47
Then you have the 12 zodiac signs.
Speaker:
00:10:49
Now these are the constellations, the main constellations in the sky.
Speaker:
00:10:53
And we'll talk more about that in later episodes, but they
Speaker:
00:10:55
are very important as well.
Speaker:
00:10:57
Then you have what's called the 12 houses or the Greek
Speaker:
00:11:00
translation of what means places.
Speaker:
00:11:03
Again, those are those 12 sections of the sky that the planets
Speaker:
00:11:08
and the sun travel across.
Speaker:
00:11:10
Then you have what's called the configurations, which are the
Speaker:
00:11:12
relationships between planets in the sky.
Speaker:
00:11:15
And they're measured in degrees, which we'll talk about in just a minute.
Speaker:
00:11:18
All of these, the configurations, the planets, the houses, the zodiac signs,
Speaker:
00:11:23
all of these are configured onto a chart.
Speaker:
00:11:26
And most of the times you see them on natal charts, which is a chart of all
Speaker:
00:11:29
the planets and their configurations to each other on a chart drawn up at
Speaker:
00:11:34
the day and time of someone's birth.
Speaker:
00:11:37
But the main point of all of this is that the ancients believed that
Speaker:
00:11:41
the planet somehow influenced our mind and actions, as well as signify
Speaker:
00:11:46
future directions of our life and the challenges that we'll face.
Speaker:
00:11:49
It was part of more of a philosophical debate that I'll get into in part two.
Speaker:
00:11:52
But astrology in itself is just an example of divination and fortune
Speaker:
00:11:57
telling practices that have existed since ancient times till today.
Speaker:
00:12:01
They're not mainstream or not really known about in a deep historical
Speaker:
00:12:06
sense, due again to the Christian rejection of anything pagan, but
Speaker:
00:12:10
there is a resurgence of it due to the internet and social media.
Speaker:
00:12:14
I've heard people mock about astrology or make jokes about certain astrological
Speaker:
00:12:20
aspects such as Mercury in retrograde.
Speaker:
00:12:22
That's just proof that it hasn't disappeared, obviously, but
Speaker:
00:12:25
there's not a lot of thought given to the historical elements of
Speaker:
00:12:31
astrology, which are very important.
Speaker:
00:12:33
And it brings us to part two, where I talk a little bit about the culture
Speaker:
00:12:37
and philosophy behind astrology.
Speaker:
00:12:40
Now, when I was doing my own independent research before I found
Speaker:
00:12:43
Brennan's book, one name that kept coming up was Claudius Ptolemy.
Speaker:
00:12:47
Now, he was a Hellenistic astrologer as well, but he did a lot more research
Speaker:
00:12:52
within the idea of natural science.
Speaker:
00:12:55
And modern times, we believe that he is the most influential
Speaker:
00:12:58
and representative of the time.
Speaker:
00:13:00
Like he was the most representative of Hellenistic astrology.
Speaker:
00:13:03
However, that's not true.
Speaker:
00:13:04
He did write four books called the Tetrabiblos, which lists out important
Speaker:
00:13:09
techniques and relevant philosophies.
Speaker:
00:13:11
And he also made a connection between the constellations and the seasons.
Speaker:
00:13:17
For example, when the sun enters the constellation, or the zodiac of
Speaker:
00:13:22
Libra, that's the beginning of fall.
Speaker:
00:13:24
When the sun ingresses into Cancer, that coincides with the start of summer.
Speaker:
00:13:29
He made that connection at first.
Speaker:
00:13:32
And the reason he did this is because he tried to make astrology into a natural
Speaker:
00:13:36
science, even though other astrologers at the time disagreed with him.
Speaker:
00:13:41
He did make a lot of impact into astronomy.
Speaker:
00:13:45
He created something called astronomical tables, which is still
Speaker:
00:13:48
used in the field of astronomy today.
Speaker:
00:13:51
And this is because he focused so much on the natural world and
Speaker:
00:13:54
cosmos and trying to bridge those into the idea of natural science.
Speaker:
00:13:59
And lastly, why he's
believed to be the most influential is because his work
Speaker:
00:14:04
has been the most transmitted over time.
Speaker:
00:14:06
And so us in modern day will tend to overhype him in a way that overshadows
Speaker:
00:14:11
the other astrologers of the time, such as Vettius Valens, which when I was reading
Speaker:
00:14:16
Brennan's book, there was many techniques that are attributed to Valens and led
Speaker:
00:14:21
to a lot of development within astrology or at least Hellenistic astrology.
Speaker:
00:14:26
A lot of Hellenistic astrology has been lost as most of what
Speaker:
00:14:31
contemporary astrology seems to be taken from Medieval tradition, but
Speaker:
00:14:36
we'll get to that in a later episode.
Speaker:
00:14:37
I still need to do research on that one myself.
Speaker:
00:14:39
And that brings us to the main philosophical debates, which
Speaker:
00:14:44
this is part of Brennan's title.
Speaker:
00:14:46
It's called The Study of Fate and Fortune.
Speaker:
00:14:48
And so fate and fortune were the two aspects of astrology that was
Speaker:
00:14:53
caused for philosophical debate.
Speaker:
00:14:55
Now, the Mesopotamians, and I think to some degree, the Egyptians
Speaker:
00:14:58
believed that the planets were signs from the gods of something to come.
Speaker:
00:15:05
So they were almost as omens.
Speaker:
00:15:07
However, when we get to the Hellenistic period and the Greeks, there was
Speaker:
00:15:11
debates between whether the planets were just signs in the sky of moments
Speaker:
00:15:15
to come of the future events, or if there was a causality to them.
Speaker:
00:15:20
Did they cause us to behave a certain way, or do they cause us to have to
Speaker:
00:15:25
go through certain events in our life?
Speaker:
00:15:27
Do they cause certain things to happen in history?
Speaker:
00:15:31
Astrologers debated and fell into a spectrum of, "yeah, it totally causes
Speaker:
00:15:37
us to have to go through certain periods in our life, and the planets do cause
Speaker:
00:15:41
certain events" and then others fell into the camp of, " no, they're just omens".
Speaker:
00:15:46
And then with the concept of fate, are we completely beholden
Speaker:
00:15:50
to what our natal chart shows?
Speaker:
00:15:53
Whatever fate that is present in that chart?
Speaker:
00:15:56
Or is it just partially true and we have free will to change it.
Speaker:
00:16:01
And so there was another spectrum of , are we completely beholden to
Speaker:
00:16:04
fate or is it just partially fate and we have the way to change it.
Speaker:
00:16:08
Alongside this development of Hellenistic astrology was the development of the
Speaker:
00:16:14
philosophy called Stoicism, which is the belief that in order to be a virtuous
Speaker:
00:16:18
person, and I'm heavily paraphrasing this, in order to be a virtuous person,
Speaker:
00:16:22
you had to just accept the way life is.
Speaker:
00:16:25
There was no reason arguing against fate.
Speaker:
00:16:27
We have little control over what happens in life.
Speaker:
00:16:30
That was that idea and you just had to accept that.
Speaker:
00:16:33
It reminds me of the modern day, and I've said this before in other episodes,
Speaker:
00:16:38
but this kind of reminds me of the modern day idea of serenity, which is
Speaker:
00:16:43
the idea of seeking a balance in life.
Speaker:
00:16:45
Even in Christianity, there's something called the Serenity Prayer, which is
Speaker:
00:16:50
the idea of, or really I could just recite it, Which goes, God grant me the
Speaker:
00:16:55
serenity to accept the things I cannot change, but the courage to change the
Speaker:
00:17:00
things that I do have control over.
Speaker:
00:17:01
I'm paraphrasing.
Speaker:
00:17:03
And that idea of serenity that I just said falls back to the idea of Stoicism.
Speaker:
00:17:09
As When I looked up the Serenity Prayer and who created it, there
Speaker:
00:17:13
was an idea of it being connected to this ancient Greek idea of Stoicism.
Speaker:
00:17:18
Now, with the concept of fortune, there's this idea of good and bad fortune.
Speaker:
00:17:24
If you look on a chart done during Hellenistic times, or even a modern
Speaker:
00:17:29
chart using a Hellenistic idea, there are places within the chart,
Speaker:
00:17:33
that are called good fortune, good spirit, . And then on the opposite
Speaker:
00:17:37
side, bad fortune and bad spirit, right?
Speaker:
00:17:40
So there's this idea of fate within the chart.
Speaker:
00:17:44
And what separates Hellenistic astrology, in my mind, in my understanding,
Speaker:
00:17:48
from contemporary astrology is this idea of external circumstances
Speaker:
00:17:53
versus psychological influences.
Speaker:
00:17:55
In modern astrology, I learned that when you look at a person's chart, it shows all
Speaker:
00:18:01
of their kind of psychological influences.
Speaker:
00:18:03
The sun represents our path in life and the major part of our personality.
Speaker:
00:18:08
The moon represents our emotions, Mercury represents our thoughts,
Speaker:
00:18:11
Venus represents our desires, right?
Speaker:
00:18:13
And so on and so forth.
Speaker:
00:18:14
However, when I was learning about Hellenistic astrology, our
Speaker:
00:18:18
personality and physical body was depicted as the Ascendant.
Speaker:
00:18:24
It's the horizon.
Speaker:
00:18:25
But everywhere else on the chart represents external circumstances
Speaker:
00:18:30
that we may face in our life.
Speaker:
00:18:32
It's not so much our psychology and parts of our personality, but it's
Speaker:
00:18:36
more so what we will encounter in life.
Speaker:
00:18:39
Or at least that was from my understanding.
Speaker:
00:18:41
And I found that very interesting.
Speaker:
00:18:43
There's a
lot of negative and misinformed judgments on social media
Speaker:
00:18:48
based on very immature and quick judgments and misinformation, honestly.
Speaker:
00:18:54
For instance, if your sun sign is Scorpio, then that means you're
Speaker:
00:18:57
a very manipulative person.
Speaker:
00:18:59
Or if it's in Cancer, you're a very overly emotional person.
Speaker:
00:19:02
These very extreme ideas and the idea that the sun is almost the one point on a chart
Speaker:
00:19:10
that represents your whole personality.
Speaker:
00:19:12
If someone ever asked you, "what's your sun sign", and they thought they had a
Speaker:
00:19:15
good reading on you based on your sun sign, that's a very immature way of
Speaker:
00:19:19
trying to judge somebody because then you get people saying, " Oh, I can't
Speaker:
00:19:23
date Scorpios" or "I can't date Geminis".
Speaker:
00:19:25
That's very weird.
Speaker:
00:19:26
And I've even heard not horror stories, but complaints about people who
Speaker:
00:19:31
have had their chart read by these very, I'm going to just continue the
Speaker:
00:19:35
word immature, who have had their charts read by these people, and
Speaker:
00:19:39
felt extremely judged and confused.
Speaker:
00:19:41
Or you'll have people saying, I don't really feel like my Sun sign, right?
Speaker:
00:19:46
And it's because your Sun is just one of the many planets within astrology
Speaker:
00:19:51
that tells a much bigger story.
Speaker:
00:19:53
You have to look at the whole chart
Speaker:
00:19:55
. Now, because astrology is so connected to astronomy, or at least it was, it involves
Speaker:
00:20:01
a lot of mathematical equations that are relayed in degrees and geometric shapes.
Speaker:
00:20:06
So for Instance,, an astrological chart is expressed in a
Speaker:
00:20:10
circle, and it's 360 degrees.
Speaker:
00:20:12
When planets are 120 degrees apart, that relationship is called a trine,
Speaker:
00:20:17
which corresponds to the 120 degrees of external angles of a triangle.
Speaker:
00:20:23
If the planets are 90 degrees apart that is called a square,
Speaker:
00:20:26
which a square has 90 degrees.
Speaker:
00:20:29
Also the elliptical, which is the path that the sun takes across the sky, has
Speaker:
00:20:34
different names and degrees as well.
Speaker:
00:20:36
So the ascendant is the horizon.
Speaker:
00:20:38
The midheaven is called the highest points in the sky that the sun
Speaker:
00:20:42
travels across, which for us would be in the middle of the afternoon.
Speaker:
00:20:47
The setting place is where the sun sets in the eastern sky
Speaker:
00:20:50
before it dips below the horizon.
Speaker:
00:20:52
And what is opposite from the midheaven, the highest point of the sky where the sun
Speaker:
00:20:57
is, that's called the subterranean, which would be the lowest point out of view.
Speaker:
00:21:02
Now all of these calculations and degrees and relationships on the chart
Speaker:
00:21:07
has esoteric explanations behind them.
Speaker:
00:21:11
This is for me where it turns from just astronomy to astrology,
Speaker:
00:21:16
to a more esoteric spirituality philosophical understanding, right?
Speaker:
00:21:21
There are plenty astrologers who will connect these themes that will
Speaker:
00:21:26
be reflected in a chart, either in a person's life, or if there are
Speaker:
00:21:30
planets that are making specific configurations to each other, there's
Speaker:
00:21:34
a theme that will be derived from it that will match certain events that
Speaker:
00:21:40
do end up happening in life, almost again like divination, fortune telling,
Speaker:
00:21:44
but a lot of times they come true.
Speaker:
00:21:46
Because of these coincidences, many people , lie in three camps, or at
Speaker:
00:21:50
least a spectrum of these three camps.
Speaker:
00:21:52
Some believe that astrology is an example of divine knowledge.
Speaker:
00:21:56
Some believe that it's just pure coincidence, and some believe
Speaker:
00:22:00
that it's absolute nonsense.
Speaker:
00:22:01
But either way, I do believe that it's an important and a reflection
Speaker:
00:22:06
of a culture, which brings us to part three of why any of this matters.
Speaker:
00:22:11
Astrology and really esotericism in itself, is part of history that has
Speaker:
00:22:16
been left out due to the Christian agenda and the academic elitism.
Speaker:
00:22:21
Because so much of esotericism is based on philosophical reasoning and
Speaker:
00:22:26
coincidences that are hard to prove scientifically and replicate, this
Speaker:
00:22:31
leaving out of history makes sense.
Speaker:
00:22:34
But there's this prejudice against it.
Speaker:
00:22:36
For example, when someone says they're not religious or they're spiritual but not
Speaker:
00:22:40
religious, some people will have a more nuanced take on Christianity, and they
Speaker:
00:22:46
won't be so prejudiced against Christians.
Speaker:
00:22:48
Even though, throughout history, Christians have been very
Speaker:
00:22:51
prejudiced against non Christians, and this is an example of that.
Speaker:
00:22:55
Christians were very prejudiced against Pagans, basically.
Speaker:
00:22:59
And as we've gone on into the Enlightenment movement and further
Speaker:
00:23:04
on, a lot of the academic elites and the thinkers, again, also look
Speaker:
00:23:09
down on pagan beliefs as well.
Speaker:
00:23:12
And because of this philosophical aspect of it that's, again, very hard
Speaker:
00:23:17
to prove scientifically, I personally put it in the camp of spirituality,
Speaker:
00:23:21
even though it has contributed to modern science, like I said.
Speaker:
00:23:25
Now with all that said, and I believe Brennan said this in his
Speaker:
00:23:29
book, how books can give you a
more nuanced and historical information.
Speaker:
00:23:33
A book that is written from a more historical and rigorous standpoint
Speaker:
00:23:37
than online, which can be more personal and can give you more
Speaker:
00:23:42
personal interpretations that could very well be very vague and negative.
Speaker:
00:23:46
But the reason it matters is because this is a part of history and a part of culture
Speaker:
00:23:51
that will challenge the beliefs that people have come to think are true today.
Speaker:
00:23:56
And I find that very fascinating.
Speaker:
00:23:57
And that brings us to the conclusion.
Speaker:
00:23:59
Again, astrology is part of history.
Speaker:
00:24:01
It's not just spiritual nonsense, and we'll learn way more about it
Speaker:
00:24:06
when I explain more about these components in later episodes.
Speaker:
00:24:10
But the truth of the matter is that both royalty and regular citizens
Speaker:
00:24:14
consulted astrologers for major decisions in ancient times and even today.
Speaker:
00:24:19
I believe that Nancy Reagan consulted an astrologer for
Speaker:
00:24:24
major events and for advice.
Speaker:
00:24:27
There's a lot of celebrities that have consulted astrologers and even just
Speaker:
00:24:31
regular people have consulted astrologers for major moves and things in their life.
Speaker:
00:24:36
Which is another reason why I connected to the realm of spirituality.
Speaker:
00:24:40
And some astrologers, even in ancient periods, taught classes, and wrote
Speaker:
00:24:45
books that have survived today.
Speaker:
00:24:47
Again, I've said about Claudius Ptolemy, writing his four books called Tetrabiblos.
Speaker:
00:24:52
Vettius Valens transmitted a lot of information, wrote down a lot
Speaker:
00:24:56
of information, which thankfully, some have survived to date.
Speaker:
00:24:59
As a matter of fact, Brennan has a whole chapter listing out over 10
Speaker:
00:25:04
different astrologers of that period whose works have survived with example
Speaker:
00:25:10
charts, their own philosophies, people that I have never heard of.
Speaker:
00:25:14
And so that brings me to my last statement that I want to say.
Speaker:
00:25:17
When we allow ourselves to stop being curious and ignore information
Speaker:
00:25:22
out of fear or arrogance, that's when we stop learning and our
Speaker:
00:25:26
understanding of life becomes stagnant.
Speaker:
00:25:29
Now some people are okay with this.
Speaker:
00:25:31
Grandma or their preacher or their parents taught them this
Speaker:
00:25:34
and they're not deviating from it.
Speaker:
00:25:36
Those are the authority figures in their life.
Speaker:
00:25:38
That's what they're going to believe 100%.
Speaker:
00:25:40
They don't want to change.
Speaker:
00:25:42
Other people are curious, but they're letting fear stop them.
Speaker:
00:25:45
They don't want to learn about this information that is blasphemy, or
Speaker:
00:25:49
that is scary to them, or delusional, or devil worship, or whatever.
Speaker:
00:25:55
They're scared of that.
Speaker:
00:25:56
And other people may have the similar thought that I have,
Speaker:
00:26:00
which is knowledge is power.
Speaker:
00:26:02
There's a sense of expansion of your life when you learn a lot more.
Speaker:
00:26:06
Now you don't have to blindly accept everything, every new
Speaker:
00:26:10
information that you're taught.
Speaker:
00:26:11
But it does give you a more holistic view of life and it expands your
Speaker:
00:26:16
perspective when you learn more about something that you had no idea.
Speaker:
00:26:21
Especially when it's related to history, or learning more about a certain
Speaker:
00:26:24
culture that is different from your own.
Speaker:
00:26:26
You step out of that ignorance that you once had, and you're able
Speaker:
00:26:31
to learn more and actually form a more nuanced opinion about life.
Speaker:
00:26:36
I'll talk more about Hellenistic Astrology in later episodes.
Speaker:
00:26:41
But for right now, this is just an introduction into it.
Speaker:
00:26:45
Trying to explain the philosophy a little bit more, which will
Speaker:
00:26:49
become much more clear once we get into the different components.
Speaker:
00:26:54
That's gonna be it for now.
Speaker:
00:26:57
Thank you for listening to this episode.
Speaker:
00:26:59
If you're watching on YouTube, be sure to leave me a comment and subscribe for more.
Speaker:
00:27:03
For those of you listening through a podcast app, make sure you
Speaker:
00:27:06
subscribe and leave me a review.
Speaker:
00:27:08
Click the link in the show notes or head on over to merwin mccrady.com
Speaker:
00:27:13
to leave me a comment there.
Speaker:
00:27:14
Thank you so much, and I'll see you in the next one.