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The Origins of all Astrologies, Part 1.5
Thank you, Herman for your best wishes; my journey will never end, and I know that this life’s journey was not the first one in which I spent my life trying to unravel the mysteries of the Universe, and of the ancients.
Danny, the Hellenistic era astrologers all referred back to King Nechepso, who ruled Egypt around 600B.C., and Petosiris, an Egyptian priest of the 4th century B.C. Scholars even believe that most references made to "The Ancients"; "The King"; or "The Great, Wise, and/or Sage," by Hellenistic authors, that these astrologers were referencing Nechepso and Petosiris of Egypt.1 Some examples of Hellenistic era astrologers are:
• Marcus Manilius
• Tiberius Claudius Thrasyllus
• Tiberius Claudius Babillus, Thrasyllus’ son, and court astrologer to the evil Emperor Nero, et al.
• Critodemus
• Dorotheus of Sidon2
• Claudius Ptolemy, now known to have been a fraud
• Vettius Valens of Antioch
I found Chinese astrology to have so many similarities, that it was somewhat tickling to see what happened to astrological teachings which, more than two thousand years ago were considered ancient, once they made it past India. What Indian astrologers call navāmśas, are what Hellenistic astrologers called leitourgoi, which means “ministers.” This is the origination of our modern day Decans, although they are not the same as the modern version.
Beyond Chinese astrology, the Mayan calendar almost seems like the final distillation of the ancient Egyptian wisdom. At first glance, the confusing calendar is just, well, confusing. And, although I don’t understand it, nor do I have even a vague understanding of its meaning, I’ve spent enough time looking into it, to be able to say that it really does look like an offshoot of Chinese astrology. I don’t want to spend too much time researching Mayan calendrics, because I don’t want to start believing the world’s going to end soon.
Vettius Valens was born in Antioch, but moved to Alexandria Egypt. He lived from 120-c. to 175, and his work, entitled The Anthology, which consists of nine books, is the most complete ancient astrological work to come down to us.3
Anybody want to guess how many bounds there are within each zōidion? Another thing I think is quite intriguing, (I’m sure you’ve thought of this one, Herman) is that each of the elements, within each of the signs, in Chinese astrology, can be either yin or yang. We already have the similarity of Five planets, and five bounds, but now we add another duality. While the duality of the signs—Pig opposes Snake; Cancer opposes Capricorn—is an obvious correlation, there is another, which I would like to point out.
Within the Western astrological traditions, from the Hellenistic era, on up to the Medieval, there is a duality that is completely nonexistent in modern astrology, called “sect.” After calculating and casting the horoscope chart, sect would have been the first thing the ancient astrologer would have determined, prior to even attempting to make a judgment about the destiny of the native.
What is sect? Sect defines which “political group” is in power. In classical times, there were 5 planets known to humans. Hmm, that “5 planets/5 elements” thing again. Anyway, astrologers who study the modern tradition are mostly unaware of this concept, and those who learn about it, tend to have such a difficult time understanding it. Actually, it’s a simple concept, and I think those of you who are not familiar with it, will appreciate learning about it.
• If the native born during the day—with the Sun above the horizon—then the diurnal sect is in control; and conversely, if the native was born at night—if the Sun wasn’t shining—then the nocturnal sect is in favour.
This gets even more interesting. That element of Earth, in Chinese cosmology/astrology/elemental theory is special, right? I’m not saying that it’s the only one that can alternate between yin and yang, but it’s the odd one. Mercury, in the Hellenistic tradition, was special too.
• With sect, it is clearly defined that Mars and Venus are nocturnal planets (they are yin).
• Jupiter and Saturn are diurnal planets (they are yang).
• Mercury can go both ways, depending on his synodic cycle.
Of course correlating Mercury with Earth is sloppy at best—it is a very loose correlation, but nonetheless, it is a correlation. The element Earth is treated with a bit more ambiguity than the other four elements.
When I found out about classical feng shui, I was happy to find out that the system was more complex than the 8 aspirations and ba gua mirrors. I didn’t know, until I got toward the end of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Feng Shui, that even though the “stars” of flying stars had nothing to do with astrology, that feng shui, because of the Four Pillars of Destiny/Luck, is astrology, even if there are no planets (eh-hem…Tai Sui?).
This was supposed to be a simple comment back, but I think it deserves a blog of its own. Perhaps I should write blogs in a series, providing some information that highlights the similarities. Although astrology of all sorts appears to have originated in Egypt, the earliest texts we have date to the Hellenistic era. And we are fortunate that the Greek’s Western manner of scholarship aimed to translate, and restore the system as set forth by the Egyptians—a system that was already ancient to them—because by doing so, they have left a bread crumb trail.
In the early 1990s, Project Hindsight, headed by Robert Schmidt and Robert Hand, began the laborious task of translating and restoring the Hellenistic system, just as the Hellenistic astrologers did 2000 years ago, with the system from Egypt. It’s amazing how history really does repeat itself.
1For more information, see A History of Horoscopic Astrology, by James Herschel Holden. In order to be simple, only Nechepso and Petosiris are listed here as the ancient references. However, the Hellenistic era astrologers referred back to others, such as Hermes, Hanubius, Aesculapius, and Abram. It is unknown if any of these men really lived, at least under those names. Many Hellenistic authors also wrote under the names of the ancients.
2Arabian authors called him “Dorotheus the Egyptian.”
3Vettius Valens’ The Anthology appears to have been written as a textbook for his students. Its format is a bit strange, and it is obvious that it was added to, because it contains horoscopes of people who were born after the death of Valens. However, most of it is original, and it has taken almost 20 years for Robert Schmidt to properly translate the work. It’s not quite complete, but should be done within the next few years. Of course, there is controversy over this within the astrological community, but I feel that if it took the Hellenistic authors a bit more than a century to translate and restore the Egyptian system, that we’re doing good with 20 years.
Danny, the Hellenistic era astrologers all referred back to King Nechepso, who ruled Egypt around 600B.C., and Petosiris, an Egyptian priest of the 4th century B.C. Scholars even believe that most references made to "The Ancients"; "The King"; or "The Great, Wise, and/or Sage," by Hellenistic authors, that these astrologers were referencing Nechepso and Petosiris of Egypt.1 Some examples of Hellenistic era astrologers are:
• Marcus Manilius
• Tiberius Claudius Thrasyllus
• Tiberius Claudius Babillus, Thrasyllus’ son, and court astrologer to the evil Emperor Nero, et al.
• Critodemus
• Dorotheus of Sidon2
• Claudius Ptolemy, now known to have been a fraud
• Vettius Valens of Antioch
I found Chinese astrology to have so many similarities, that it was somewhat tickling to see what happened to astrological teachings which, more than two thousand years ago were considered ancient, once they made it past India. What Indian astrologers call navāmśas, are what Hellenistic astrologers called leitourgoi, which means “ministers.” This is the origination of our modern day Decans, although they are not the same as the modern version.
Beyond Chinese astrology, the Mayan calendar almost seems like the final distillation of the ancient Egyptian wisdom. At first glance, the confusing calendar is just, well, confusing. And, although I don’t understand it, nor do I have even a vague understanding of its meaning, I’ve spent enough time looking into it, to be able to say that it really does look like an offshoot of Chinese astrology. I don’t want to spend too much time researching Mayan calendrics, because I don’t want to start believing the world’s going to end soon.
Vettius Valens was born in Antioch, but moved to Alexandria Egypt. He lived from 120-c. to 175, and his work, entitled The Anthology, which consists of nine books, is the most complete ancient astrological work to come down to us.3
Anybody want to guess how many bounds there are within each zōidion? Another thing I think is quite intriguing, (I’m sure you’ve thought of this one, Herman) is that each of the elements, within each of the signs, in Chinese astrology, can be either yin or yang. We already have the similarity of Five planets, and five bounds, but now we add another duality. While the duality of the signs—Pig opposes Snake; Cancer opposes Capricorn—is an obvious correlation, there is another, which I would like to point out.
Within the Western astrological traditions, from the Hellenistic era, on up to the Medieval, there is a duality that is completely nonexistent in modern astrology, called “sect.” After calculating and casting the horoscope chart, sect would have been the first thing the ancient astrologer would have determined, prior to even attempting to make a judgment about the destiny of the native.
What is sect? Sect defines which “political group” is in power. In classical times, there were 5 planets known to humans. Hmm, that “5 planets/5 elements” thing again. Anyway, astrologers who study the modern tradition are mostly unaware of this concept, and those who learn about it, tend to have such a difficult time understanding it. Actually, it’s a simple concept, and I think those of you who are not familiar with it, will appreciate learning about it.
• If the native born during the day—with the Sun above the horizon—then the diurnal sect is in control; and conversely, if the native was born at night—if the Sun wasn’t shining—then the nocturnal sect is in favour.
This gets even more interesting. That element of Earth, in Chinese cosmology/astrology/elemental theory is special, right? I’m not saying that it’s the only one that can alternate between yin and yang, but it’s the odd one. Mercury, in the Hellenistic tradition, was special too.
• With sect, it is clearly defined that Mars and Venus are nocturnal planets (they are yin).
• Jupiter and Saturn are diurnal planets (they are yang).
• Mercury can go both ways, depending on his synodic cycle.
Of course correlating Mercury with Earth is sloppy at best—it is a very loose correlation, but nonetheless, it is a correlation. The element Earth is treated with a bit more ambiguity than the other four elements.
When I found out about classical feng shui, I was happy to find out that the system was more complex than the 8 aspirations and ba gua mirrors. I didn’t know, until I got toward the end of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Feng Shui, that even though the “stars” of flying stars had nothing to do with astrology, that feng shui, because of the Four Pillars of Destiny/Luck, is astrology, even if there are no planets (eh-hem…Tai Sui?).
This was supposed to be a simple comment back, but I think it deserves a blog of its own. Perhaps I should write blogs in a series, providing some information that highlights the similarities. Although astrology of all sorts appears to have originated in Egypt, the earliest texts we have date to the Hellenistic era. And we are fortunate that the Greek’s Western manner of scholarship aimed to translate, and restore the system as set forth by the Egyptians—a system that was already ancient to them—because by doing so, they have left a bread crumb trail.
In the early 1990s, Project Hindsight, headed by Robert Schmidt and Robert Hand, began the laborious task of translating and restoring the Hellenistic system, just as the Hellenistic astrologers did 2000 years ago, with the system from Egypt. It’s amazing how history really does repeat itself.
1For more information, see A History of Horoscopic Astrology, by James Herschel Holden. In order to be simple, only Nechepso and Petosiris are listed here as the ancient references. However, the Hellenistic era astrologers referred back to others, such as Hermes, Hanubius, Aesculapius, and Abram. It is unknown if any of these men really lived, at least under those names. Many Hellenistic authors also wrote under the names of the ancients.
2Arabian authors called him “Dorotheus the Egyptian.”
3Vettius Valens’ The Anthology appears to have been written as a textbook for his students. Its format is a bit strange, and it is obvious that it was added to, because it contains horoscopes of people who were born after the death of Valens. However, most of it is original, and it has taken almost 20 years for Robert Schmidt to properly translate the work. It’s not quite complete, but should be done within the next few years. Of course, there is controversy over this within the astrological community, but I feel that if it took the Hellenistic authors a bit more than a century to translate and restore the Egyptian system, that we’re doing good with 20 years.
4 Comments
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Comment by Danny VdB on February 27, 2008 at 8:18am -
David,
Perhaps you can add the corrections in a completely new post, then delete the old one (normally you can see these little red cross button to delete any of your posts or comments wherever you want).
It will be easier for the readers.
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Comment by Danny VdB on February 27, 2008 at 8:21am
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By the way.
Is perfectly good you started a new blog post when you want to write longer piece.
The comments is really for short comments.
Easier for everybody.
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Comment by David Stanford on February 27, 2008 at 12:42pm - Thanks. WIll do. I'm barely getting used to the online world outside of myspace. That was my first introduction to discussion groups. I know that sounds weird, but the horoscopic astrology group there is probably one of the most active online, with some of the world's best astrologers discussing there.
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Comment by Mary Catherine Bax on February 27, 2008 at 6:05pm -
Hi David,
It will be interesting to determine what astrology system can be considered the first.
I have only become interest in Chinese astrology since discovering Feng Shui. Western astrology is Chinese to me ;-)
The 10 stems and 12 branches also known as the 12 animals used in the Chinese astrology system, 4 Pillars, may have been around since about 2500 BC.
Mary
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