1 ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF ASTROLOGY - Michael Edwards BA, QHP I was invited to speak on this subject, a few months ago,

by the Astrological Lodge of London. My talk was to last 30 minutes. Although I felt obliged to accept, inwardly I demurred for two reasons. Firstly, the title of the lecture is logically absurd! Philosophy is a human activity, literally the act of love for Sophia, or Wisdom. Philosophy is something you do. So is Astrology. How can one human activity possess another human activity? Secondly, I deplore the ignorant modern habit of reifying such activities. A philosopher loves wisdom, so how can he or she have or possess a philosophy? How can we speak of an astrology? Both philosophy and astrology are generic terms for particular disciplines, or areas of studious activity. A philosopher is a lover of Sophia, an astrologer a disciple of the stellar Logos, Hermes, and wherever Hermes is concerned, there is ever a message. Now, according to the Hermetic Tradition, both astrologers and alchemists of the prescientific era were known as philosophers, and their quest or Art, as philosophy. Hence, we have a second conundrum: what is the philosophy of philosophy? Let us see. Picture 1: John Dees Hieroglyphic Monad The Elizabethan Magus, Dr John Dee, wrote his Hermetickal masterpiece in 13 days in 1564. It deserves long and profound contemplation as an image of creation, indeed, of the subjective Kosmos of Astrologia, and, dare I say it, of the astrology of philosophy! This glorious edifice, this temple, this temporal abode of consciousness emerges from a tiny void at its very heart, which generates Hermes Mercurius, the Logos, whose glyph is composed of all other planetary glyphs, implying his progenerative role in their creation, hence in all creation. The text on the ribbon confirms this, for we read there that Stilbon Greek name of planet Mercury, meaning gleaming one is parent and king of all. For his signs are both human, Gemini being the first human sign in the Zodiackal order. Moreover, both his signs dignify only Mercury. The two wings at his foot show not only

2 the winged messenger, and the glyph for Aries, the fount of life, but also the two brows over our two eyes, one solar and one lunar, from between which a third invisible central eye generates the light of consciousness from the dark void. We also find the glyph of Taurus combining the glyphs of Sun and Moon, as well as the implicit Pisces glyph: the vesica pisces, to remind us that Jupiter exalts Venus in Pisces, that Venus exalts the Moon in Taurus and that the Moon exalts Jupiter in Cancer, in a perfect tripartite union, by trine and two sextiles, of the benefic planets. Surrounding this we find the cosmickal egg of animate life, in all its organic turmoil, in which we can identify 4 zodiacal images: Ram, Bull, Crab, & Lion. Why these signs in particular, and no others? Because the Sun rules the Lion and is exalted by the Ram, and the Moon rules the Crab and is exalted by the Bull. Implied is the union of opposites: of Mars with Venus, of Moon with Sun, rulers of those signs. Note also the Sun on one column of the temple, and the Moon on the other. The two columns are made of fire (ignis) and air (aer), as indicated above, dripping celestial dew on earth below. We should not forget that the Latin word templum meant a portion of sky marked out for augury. It is also cognate with tempus, meaning time, told by Sun, Moon, stars and planets, and weather as determined by the four elements, or triplicities. The design evidently elaborates the glyph of Gemini, Mercurys sign, made of twin pillars, which lies zodiacally between the respective exaltations of Sun and Moon to the oriental side, and their respective dignities, Cancer and Leo, on the occidental side, while Gemini stands at the gate between east and west. Nor should we forget that this lower arc of signs completes itself with Mercurys second sign, Virgo, which he rules and which exalts him. Thus he holds both cardinal axes, one in each hand. Everything about Hermes is dual, including the serpents that entwine his caduceus, like the spirals of planetary motion which constitute the spirals of time. Some relate such features to the Biblical creation myth, as well as to the Christian mystery, and to the Egyptian mystery of Isis and Osiris. European pharmacies still display the caduceus as their emblem, recalling the older name of their Art, Alchymia, twin here below of Astrologia above.

3 Let us also note that all the traditional planets except Mercury have dignity and/or exaltation in the cardinal signs, while only Venus, Moon, Sun, Mars and Saturn have dignity and/or exaltation in fixed signs, leaving the mutables to Jupiter, Venus and Mercury: 6 in cardinals, 5 in fixed, 3 in mutables: Venus alone has major dignity in all three modes. Might this not reflect the astronomical fact that Venus is the 3rd brightest object in the sky? After all, her famous mystical power of enlightenment as the Morning Star, enlightened the Buddha Indias Hermes as he sat in contemplation beneath the legendary Bo tree. Her magickal power to enchant us as an evening star can famously make us fall in love, while the proportions and rhythms of her motion bespeak life itself. The most important philosophical consideration here for my theme is the constant doubling, and the perspective afforded us by two eyes, one for the Sun and one for the Moon, united in the Child Hermes, considering that the Hermetickal Philosophia of Astrologia/Alchymia had one simple philosophical principle, which itself is twice double: That which is Above is like unto that which is Below, and that which is Below is like unto that which is Above or in brief, As Above, so Below, as Below, so Above. In fact, Astrologia is indeed Philosophia of the Above. Its practical application here Below is what we call horoscopy, from horoskopos, the Greek title of the Egyptian priest whose duty was to designate precisely where zodiacal Above meets mundane Below in the orient, where all the lights of heaven rise in temperate zones. We might say that Heaven Above, in the form of the Solar Zodiac with its fixed stars, is the father of our theory, Astrologia, while the sublunary sphere of Earth Below is mother of its practical, horoskopickal application. Between these two spheres, Sun, Moon and planets play the infinite harmonies to which their child, Life, dances. In technical terms, each horoscope constitutes a particular moment of time, to which all past moments have led, and from which all future moments will devolve. Each and every horoscope also constitutes the architecture which expresses this in the mutually reflective correspondance of the annual cycle of 12 starry zodiacal signs Above with the diurnal cycle of 12 mundane houses of human affairs Below. Between them wander 5 stars, Sun, Moon and planets, linking these two cycles in the myriad ways that compose la

4 grammatica della luce, the language in which the astrologer couches his judgement, according to Marco Fumagallis elegant and eloquent preface to Guiseppe Bezzas masterful Commento al primo libro della Tetrabiblos di Claudio Tolemeo. Astrologia embodies her primary principle as Above, so Below anatomically as Melothesic Man, or rather Woman! Picture 2: Melothesic Woman Each part or member of our human anatomy is related to and signified by one of the 12 zodiacal signs, and co-signified by the corresponding mundane house: Aries rules the head, while the horoskopos, or first mundane house co-signifies the head, while Taurus and the 2nd house consignify the neck & throat, etc. This was fundamental to 17th century decumbiture horoscopes, cast for the moment when a person takes to his or her bed sick. By the elaborate doctrine of correspondences and rulerships, an astrologer/physician, such as William Lilly, Nicholas Culpeper, Richard Napier and Girolamo Cardano might diagnose the patients disorder, recommend the astrologically appropriate herbal remedy and prognosticate the outcome. He or she could even do so by timing the arrival of a urine sample and casting the horoscope for that time in order to arrive at judgement and prescribe the appropriate remedy. This urinology lent the title piss prophet to its practitioners. Wealthy hypochondriacs indulged in the habit of sending servants with such samples with ever increasing frequency, such that a new sample often arrived before the physician had found time to judge the previous sample! However, such melothesic correspondence has another more fundamental, philosophical implication. Here we must proceed with care to distinguish between the universe of astronomers and the kosmos of astrologers. The Greek word Kosmos means order, while todays Universe, a Latin word, is a place wherein, we are told by physicists, Chaos reigns. The Greek word Chaos derives from the verb to gape, hence, to quote my dictionary, a yawning, empty space, an abyss; the void, the confusion of matter said to have existed at the Creation; formless matter, confusion; a confused, mixed mass etc.,

5 etc., etc What better definition of their astrophysical universe?! And what better definition of the Hell that awaits the setting Sun in his voyage through the Underworld below, be it Egyptian or Dantesque?! In contrast, we astrologers make Kosmos of such apparent chaos, for we know how to see in it our own reflection: as above, so below! We make of it not an object, alien and lifethreatening, but something miraculous and kosmickal and itself living, like us, simply because it and we are here and now constituted of and reflected in each other as above, so below, as below, so above. Kosmos is human shaped, for we are Kosmos, for each one of us can say: it is I who recognise Kosmos, and endow Kosmos with its order for, like a mirror, it reflects me! As below, so above. Horoscopy itself prizes this same subjective Kosmos, for the ascendant or horoskopos indeed signifies the subject of the chart. So where is the object? Let us look up into our magic mirror above and ask Kosmos. Picture 3: Zodiac with Houses Zodiac means circle of animal life. Have you ever wondered why, then, there should be one sign that is entirely inanimate? Since, as we have seen, we are Kosmos, let Kosmos explain. The one entirely inanimate sign of the Zodiac is Libra, the Balance. Its natural place is in the West, opposite, thus balancing Aries, the Ram - who, in a previous incarnation, was the Herdsman - in the East, where we locate the horoskopos, or ascendant, to signify the subject of the chart. How logical, and natural then that opposite the living subject we should find the inanimate object! Aries the Ram exalts the Sun in his 19th degree, naturally so, for Aries consignifies not only the subject of the chart, but also the orient, where the Sun rises, bringing light and life anew Life being the name of the first house. Conversely, Libra, the object, consignifies the occident, where daylight fades to dark of night as the Sungod embarks on his nightly voyage through the underworld, sending us postcards from Hades as one of my students put it, in the form of dreams.

In the 21st degree, Libra exalts Saturn, He who has fallen into the world of Time, whose Lord he is, Chronos, in opposition to the everlasting light and life of the Sun god. We find their opposition reiterated across the Leo-Aquarius axis, God-Man, as some suggest. Let us simply note here that the two oppositions together form a neat so-called mystic rectangle of aspects in which Sun and Saturn oppose and sextile each other twice, but also trine themselves twice, in which Fate and Free Will tread the light fantastic, like Sufi whirling dervishes! Since the Light of Life daily dies at the anaretic occident, it is only natural that we should find there the Scales of Maat, Egyptian goddess of truth, wherein each soul must be weighed against an ostrich feather so as to be judged and alotted its justly deserved postmortal place, to which it shall be conducted by the Psychopomp, Hermes Mercurius himself. For in fact, it was he who fashioned the pans of these dread Scales from the long, claws of the deadly Scorpion who consignifies the 8th House of Death claws that dangle down to the western cusp. This clearly expresses the simple astrological fact that the 7th place, by sign or house, is creative 5th from the 3rd sign or house, in this case Mercurys Gemini. Hermes also retains possession of these Scales, for Libra is 2nd from Mercurys Virgo! Of prime importance is this, for it clearly confirms that Hermes, Lord of Astrologia & Alchymia, the only two Arts truly worthy of the name philosophy, is indeed final administrator of our fate, though Chronos, exalted in the Scales, be master of it! This story also helps us in our quest for the Philosophy of Astrology for, particularly in horary astrology, the 7th house is the place of the astrologer, while the 1st is the place of the querent. who poses the question. When the astrologer understands the question, and has judged it radical, having found no testimonies warning him or her against judging the enquiry, he or she may weigh up, in the Scales, all the testimonies of the chart before pronouncing judgement. Pronouncement belongs to the 3rd house. The 3rd house from the 7th is the 9th, the house of God, or the gods, indeed of Truth. The astrologer must pray to the divine powers Above, that he truly pronounce the judgement of God.

How important then for us to recall that the 9th, as the house of Truth, is also the house of both philosophy and prophecy, at least from the querents house, the 1st. However, the philosophy of the astrologer is shown by the 9th house from the 7th, which is the 3rd place. In the Zodiac, that is Gemini, of which Hermes, alias Stilbon, is gleaming lord! So John Dee was right. Only by the inspiration of Hermes may the Artist trust his judgements truth. So, if Hermes be Lord of Astrology, if we wish to know something of the philosophy of Astrology, we need look not to the likes of Heidegger, Gadamer, Nietzsche et al, but rather to the 9th place from Gemini. Lo & behold Aquarius! Bringer of the Water of Life, the sign of Man, whose lord is Saturn both by sign, and by triplicity by day, the latter shared aptly with Hermes by night. The philosopher of both Astrologia and Alchymia is Old Father Time, Chronos, leaden Lord of the Golden Age. Time is the mystery that constitutes the philosophy of Astrology. Melothesic Man and woman are composed of time, in so far as each melos or limb is signified by a sign that lasts circa one month, and a house that lasts circa 2 hrs. Besides, the Greek melos, for limb, also means a song, a strain, or the music to which a song is set, an air or a melody. And do we not speak of astrology as the Music or Harmony of Spheres, to which we all must dance? All music has time. I must also thank my wife and colleague, Dr Marie Angelo, for referring me to Bernie Nevilles book, Educating Psyche, 2005, from which I quote a footnote informing us that mathematician and philosopher: Alfred North Whiteheads process philosophy likewise asserts that the universe is not composed of things at all, but of moments of experience. Every so-called thing (including ourselves) is an accumulation of such moments the current moment that we are subjectively experiencing and all past moments that we now prehend. The universe is not composed of its at all, and subjectivity is not confined to humans.

I have no precise time for Whiteheads birth, but I am not surprised to find his prenatal New Moon intercepted in the Placidus musical 5th house at 21Aq07, conjunct Mercury at 28Aq23, for he evidently had intimations of what we know as astrological awareness! So, if time, which is integral to our living, constitutes the philosophy of astrology, it follows that the astrologers task is to predict what events will compose time within the the span of his or her life, if not beyond that. Various critics of astrology have denied and still deny that this is possible. Even some astrologers insist on offering only counselling services, or foist particular so-called psychological notions on our Art, failing to understand that everything under the Sun is already included in Astrology. In this particular case, the Moon signifies Psyche, and Hermes signifies Logos. Any dedicated student of horary horoscopy, which belongs to the lunar sphere, will confirm the strange delight, the surprise, if not shock at making his or her first accurate and concrete forecast from an horary figure. Over time, such minor miracles happen almost routinely, though they never fail to fill me with wonder. Some try to define this branch of Art as divination, as if that explains it. To me, such prediction is an everyday miracle. Whats more, experience shows that it can be taught to any willing student, as if it were an objective method, whereas on the contrary, it is a valid, enlightening experience of our above-mentioned Kosmickal subjectivity. All teaching of horoscopy should commence with it. However, we need not stop here. We may seek the philosophy of anything in life signified by the signs and houses. For example, the 7th place, of the astrologer, is also the house of the marriage partner. The 9th sign from the 7th is Gemini, the twins that lovers aspire to be. The 9th place from the 5th sign Leo, of children, is Aries, who exalts the Sun, his newborn child, the new bearer of life. The 9th place from the 8th sign, Scorpio, of death, is Cancer, the sign of the Moon, the ever fertile Queen of life, whose water of life never dries, , and so the wheel turns, for as Above , so Below, as Below, so Above! Now thats the Astrology of Philosophy.....