The Preservation and Acceleration of Astrology in the Arabic World
Al Simak
http://www.astroconsulting.com/FAQs/arabic.htm
Edmond H. Wollmann
Kepler College: Astrology in Medieval Civilizations
Lee Lehman advising
Second Term, January 3, 2001
Modern astrological fundamentals came down to us via the Hermeticism
and Neoplatonism of the Renaissance; the continued and refined astral
religion of the Babylonians. (1) The Greeks were the first to refine
that astral religion, with Greek geometry and concepts of realism
based on the confidence in reason. This stems from an appreciation of
the physical world and its mechanics as indicative of the will of the
Gods. The rise of the Christian cult and notions of discounting that
physical beauty and exploration of God through the material world and
senses, brought about the steady decline of intellectual pursuits in
the west, and the ages now known as "Dark". The most influential and
wide ranging tenets of Christianity stemmed from the notion that the
physical world and reasoning mind were at best deceptive and at worst
evil. This led to the demise of astrology in that area by the period
of the 5th and 6th centuries AD. (2) But it never completely died out
in the more highly educated and more careful record-keeping Byzantine
area. In this area the Greek works were preserved more carefully, and
during the period of the 8th to 11th centuries astrology flourished in
Islamic lands with the translation of Greek works beginning around 770
AD, with a revival in astrology among the Byzantines around 1000 AD.
This led to the revival in western Europe in the 12th century and a
rightful reinstatement of the proper validity of astrology as one of
the most important arts. Not only did Arabic cultures save
astrological tradition and important notions and aspects of the art,
but because of the inclusion of Hermeticism, Neoplatonic and Neo-
Pythagorean teachings --with the broad acceptance allowed by Islamic
culture of pre-Islamic beliefs including astrology-- reason also
survived, allowing them to add greatly to the astrological knowledge
base. This fostered the techniques and focused applications in
astrology by the Arabic world that continued and enhanced the Greek
tradition of exploring the physical with reason via mechanics. Because
of this perspective, the surviving Greek astrological works were saved
and eventually worked on, advanced, and improved.
Stemming from this belief in reason increasing the free will and
extricating us from necessity, the Arabs had a thirst for knowledge,
and they became aware that the Byzantines, Persians, and Hindus knew
things that they did not.(3) By inviting foreigners to Baghdad and
sending emissaries to other countries to obtain books, the development
of astronomical tables called zij and observatories evolved, leading
to the great achievement of Ulugh Beg's (1394-1449) observatory built
in Samarkland in central Asia with an astronomical table of 1000 stars.
(4) The Toledan Tables prepared by Moorish astronomer al-Zarqali were
translated early and became the model for the Alfonsine tables
prepared under the sponsorship of Spanish king Alfonso X (1226-1284)
that are an important development for western astrologers-- and their
use dominated this aspect of astrology into the Renaissance. During
this period astrology was again accelerating in popularity, and
tables, so essential to astrologers and to the practice of it, are the
evidence of that notion.
The first revision of the Almagest was accomplished by the 10th
century astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (903-86) and in his Book on
the Constellations of Fixed Stars he outlined improved magnitudes,
along with Arabic versions and identifications. This also began the
period when Ptolemaic models and their flaws were beginning to be
questioned. Flaws were observed that ran against the Aristotelian
Greek models of uniform motion especially the equant.(5) After
rediscovering some of these works by the Islamic astrologers it was
discovered that Copernicus dealt with the relatively similar problems
with the Greek notions of celestial mechanics:
....when Ibn al-Shatir's work was rediscovered in modern, times, it
was realized that it employed geometrical devices similar to those
later used by Copernicus, who was like-wise scandalized by the
Ptolemaic equant. Copernicus took the radical step of turning the
Earth into a planet, but when it came to developing detailed models,
many of the problems he encountered were not so very different from
those confronted by his predecessors. In the Commentariolus, a
preliminary sketch of his Sun-centred theory that circulated in
manuscript in the early years of the sixteenth century, Copernicus
used an arrangement equivalent to Ibn al-Shatir's in order to
eliminate the equant and generate the intricate changes in the Earth's
orbit. In the fully developed De revolutionibus (1543), Copernicus
reverted to the use of eccentric orbits, but he used a model that was
the Sun-centred equivalent of one developed at the observatory founded
by al-Tusi at Maragha in Persia. No Latin translation of these Arabic
works has been found, nor is any Latin account of them known. A Greek
translation of some of al-Tusi's writings found its way to Italy in
the aftermath of the fall of Constantinople in 1453, and Copernicus
studied in Italy from 1496 to 1503 and acquired a knowledge of Greek.
(see Hoskin)
As indicated, Ulugh Beg's (1394-1449) observatory falls right within
this period. Despite historians need to separate the two worlds of
east and west sharply not only by literal but philosophic distance,
the Persian and Islamic contributions motivated by astrological and
philosophical concepts of necessity and reason were very important and
powerful indeed.
After Rome's fall the second civilization to rise was based on the
religion of Islam emerging from Arabia with its founder Muhammad
(570-632). The rise of Islamic philosophy is partly the result of --
and developed with-- the translation of a considerable amount of Greek
philosophical literature that had survived the Muslim conquests. In so
doing the Greek astrology was revived and reinvigorated. Muslims
believe that their religion is the completion of Judaism and
Christianity and see the all as one, Islam meaning "surrender to
Allah" (God).(6) Hence they were more tolerant of the continuance of
arts that they believed allowed a full surrender in that way.
Al-kindi (796-873), known as the "philosopher of the Arabs" held a
position at the court of Baghdad and died shortly after 870. He is
recognized as the first Arab philosopher of importance and wrote
extensively on astrology. As a prolific author, he developed ideas on
the basis of Neoplatonized Aristotelianism. He argued the integrity of
blending revelation and reason and that reason compliments revelation
by working through with reason to a valid philosophical theology. He
introduced a brilliant blending and explanation of the distinctions
between the passive and active intellect, thereby blending the
external world and internal world. It is said that it was he who
introduced Abu Ma'shar to astrology.(7) The work during this period
focused on the historical applications of astrology through
conjuctions. This led to the "Golden Age" of Islamic astrology in the
tenth and eleventh centuries. During this period, the transmission of
Islamic astrology to western Europe appears to have been coincident
with the translation of Tetrabiblos in 1138.
The inclusion of the Platonic notions of necessity and of increasing
free will through reason, was saved and eventually carried over to
Medieval Europe, becoming a part of the Renaissance to be carried over
once more into the intellectual revolution of the 17th century.(8)
Because of the notion that reason could mitigate the demands of
necessity, Arabic astrological innovation developed masterfully with
concepts of Solar returns, conjunction patterns of major planets and
other methods of measurement out of the need to understand the will of
God through them, hence, the typical modern presentism fallacy that
the Arabic world of astrology was laden with deterministic
perspectives of unyielding fate, are unwarranted. This defective
thinking is typically the result of the lack of astrological knowledge
and qualification on the part of historical researchers. The focus on
technique in the Arabic world, was a mathematical extension of the
Babylonian notion that destiny was negotiable. These techniques were
developed with the idea of invoking talismat (9) as an extension or
compliment to the judgment rendered through astrological application
(nunjun). Hence astrology enhances free will, instead of denying free
will by simply announcing predestined and unchanging events. (10)
This development was fostered by works such as those delineated by
Mohammed Abu Ma'shar al-Balki (Albumasar).
[11] Jafar ibn Muhammad, known as Abu Ma`shar the astrologer, said to
the lovers of philosophy and the higher sciences, possessors of long
speculation on the wonders of the conditions of the wanderers in the
entire sky: Insofar as the higher bodies signify the things existing
in this world through the powers of their natural motions, then what
is the advantage in being ignorant of this knowledge? [12] He would
achieve this only by the knowledge of the degrees of the <zodiacal>
circle, the number of the signs and their names, the quantity of the
degrees of each one of them, their Lords, their dignities and their
natures, and the natures of the twelve places and the planets; and by
the knowledge of the northern and southern constellations, their
conditions and indications. [13](14)
During the reign of Charlemagne as king of the Franks from 768-814,
Abu Ma'shar (787-886) was the imposing Arabic writer of astrology who
gave up Hadith, the traditions of the prophet Mohammed, in his 30s or
40s to focus on astrology, which lead to his becoming court
astrologer, and professional astrologer and author of some fifty books.
(15) He elaborated on return charts and other timing factors in
astrology. Perhaps not the most popular in his time, but a powerful
application to the modern astrologer was on The Revolutions of The
Years of Nativities or what are now called Solar Returns. Copies exist
in the Arabic text, a Byzantine Greek translation, and a Latin
translation made from the Greek, along with another text of his in
Latin Omne tempus breve est operandi (16) comprising the oldest known
texts on solar returns in the west. A solar return, like the spring
equinox or ingress chart,(17) is drawn for the return of the sun's
longitudinal position it occupied at the time of birth (or of issue at
hand):
All time for working is short, and the work of [making] the revolution
of years is drawn out. It is necessary for us to copy out a few things
from many, so that from the fruit of so great a work we may not slight
everything negligently. And before everything else it must be stated
what utility we can gain from the revolution of years or what reason
there is to revolve the years, since in the ASC of the nativity there
is signified everything that is going to happen to the native, as some
of those who argue against revolutions have said.(18) To which the
reply is that the wisdom of the philosophers testifies to the fact
that the signification of human events cannot be understood from a
single significator, but [rather] from two or more because the
testimony of one thing in so great a matter cannot suffice; therefore,
according to the authority of the greater [philosophers], we ought to
revolve the years because in the revolution of years there are planets
in other places in which they were not [found] in the nativity; and it
is necessary that their significations in the figure be commingled
with the signification of the revolution, so that both the quantity
and the quality of the accident(19) may appear more openly.(20)
The profound importance of the foregoing discourse on the
contributions of Al-Kindi and Abu Ma'shar are more clear to practicing
astrologers than to perhaps anyone on the planet in the acceleration
of consciousness into the 17th century. Because many the of modern
psychological notions of developmental processes (21) that are now
part of astrological processes in modern astrological counsel
eventually evolved from understanding the cyclic conjunctions and
ingress of bodies in astrological measurement--not to mention theories
of child development cycles and stages.(22) The interesting aspect of
Arabic astronomy and astrology during this period, was the fact that
most of this work was theoretical and mathematical instead of
observational, as barely the slightest mention is made of the
supernova of 1054 that was responsible for the Crab nebula.
One of the most interesting astrologers that added to the Arabic
works, was Abraham Ibn Ezra (1089-1167) who not only wrote books on
astrology and astronomy, but commented on the Bible and astrological
works with his own theories. Although the astrological work is clearly
divided between the concepts of good and evil in the planetary
archetypes, Abraham added much in the way of delineation and attempts
to cover a wide array of possibilities for placements, houses and
other delineations in "The Beginning of Wisdom".
Its share in the human body are the chest, and the breasts, and the
upper bowels (stomach), and the ribs, and the spleen, and the lung,
and of the ailments, everything that afflicts these organs. It also
has heaviness in the eyes (impaired vision), and at 22 degrees there
is a cloudy star that denotes eye ailment and defect. The whole sign
indicates pruritus,(23) itch, leprosy, pock-marks, baldness and thin
beard. Of People, in its share are all inferior persons, and common
people, and sailors, and travelers on the road. According to Enoch it
is the sign of the world.(24) According to Egyptian astrologers
Satum's ailment [when found in it) is in the hips, Jupiter's is in the
genitalia, Mars' is in the upper bowels (stomach), the Sun's is in the
feet, Venus's is in the hands, Mercury's is in the neck and the Moon's
is in the head.(25)
In "The Book of The Fundamentals of the Tables" Ibn-Ezra describes the
methods of calculating cusp arrangements we now call Placidus,
"invented" by Placidus 500 years later. By this time period it appears
the aspects of astrology that allowed free will to be gained by the
relief of necessity via reason, was coupled with the increased
understanding of the physical world and the potential for astrology to
enhance control over that world. This concept is the forerunner to the
intellectual advance of the 17th century, accelerated by this interest
by the western Europeans in the translation of the woks from the east.
The Christian denial of the validity of the physical world and senses
had created a psychological void for matters of logical and
mechanistic investigation of the natural world. By about 1125 Adelard
of Bath went to the Islamic world to learn about the culture, and was
one of the first to begin filling this void by translating Arabic
astrological texts into Latin. The most important being "The
Abbreviation of the Introduction to Astrology" which started the flow
of astrological translations of others into Latin and the void the
Christian cult had created drew in astrological and pagan acceleration
that the religion itself had to accept and incorporate.
Latin Christendom in the Early Middle Ages
The centuries of cultural greatness of both Islamic and Byzantine
civilizations enriched the Western world. However, neither Islam nor
Byzantium made the breakthroughs in science, technology, philosophy,
economics, and political thought that gave rise to the modern world.
That process was the singular achievement of Europe. During the Early
Middle Ages (500-1050), Latin Christendom was culturally far behind
the two Eastern civilizations, but by the twelfth century it had
caught up. In succeeding centuries, it produced the movements that
ushered in the modern age: the Renaissance, the Reformation, the
Scientific Revolution, the Age of Enlightenment, the French
Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution.(26)
Observe as we move into these most rapidly transforming periods ever
in history, the synchronous acceleration of astrological resurgence
through translation of Arabic astrological manuscripts and the influx
of translated Greek works into western Europe. This combined with the
psychological starvation by the Christian denial of the positive
aspects of physical reality and accompanying exploration of the
natural world, created a formula and climate ripe for the acceleration
from the Renaissance to Industrial transformations. Every period of
acceleration throughout history has contained the formula of material
and spiritual integration, not separation. To the reasonable being
this is incontrovertible historical evidence, that not only is
astrology the liberator of dogmatic perceptions of necessity in any
life or paradigm, but, as the patterns demonstrate, the essential
element of the reasonable being who understands the purpose of living
must be a journey of explorations that are in essence negotiation
through divination.
1) Nick Campion, "The Concept of Destiny in Islamic Astrology and its
Impact on Medieval European Thought", ARAM Periodical, Vol 1 no. 2,
summer 1989, pages 281-89.
2) James Holden, A History of Horoscopic Astrology, key points, page
147.
3) James Holden, A History of Horoscopic Astrology, The Third Period,
page 99.
4) Michael Hoskin, The Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy, Islamic
Astronomy, page 58.
5) In Greek astronomy, the seat of uniform angular motion. (see
Hoskin)
6) Perry, 144.
7) See Holden, A History of Horoscopic Astrology, page 121.
8) As astrological proof of our collective awakening, Uranus is
discovered in the 18th C.
9) Talismat, is the notion of drawing celestial or supernatural forces
to bear on the events and momentum once a prediction of delineation
had discerned that momentum.
10) This is the common understanding of the modern astrologer, who,
like the ancients, uses astrology as a tool of self-awareness to allow
increased free will through self-reflection and self-awareness, not as
a strict science of what must happen.
11) In pre-modern astrology the primary reference of the term houses
is to the signs of the Zodiac, and less commonly the divisions of the
diurnal circle.
12) Decans are also known in the tradition as "faces."
13) Meaning Mode Cardinal/Fixed/Mutable, Humors or Elements and signs,
and negative and positive or masculine and feminine connotations.
14) From The Abbreviation of The Introduction to Astrology of Abu
Ma'shar, as edited and translated by Charles Burnette.
15) David Pingree on Abu Ma'shar in the Dictionary of Scientific
Biography.
16) See Lynn Thorndike, HMES 1, p. 651 n.1.
17) An ingress chart is a horoscope drawn for the time of the sun's
entrance into a new sign of the zodiac, typically the signs of equinox
and solstice or Cardinal points.
18) The prevailing astrological perspective was that the progression
of the life of the individual and the events that were probable, could
be best indicated by the secondary progressions.
19) An occurrence or event in older astrological literature was called
"accident".
20) From A History of Horoscopic Astrology, page 117.
21) See The Development of Children, Cole, Sheila R., and Michael
(1993)
22) The Development of Children Cole, Sheila R., and Michael (1993).
23) An itching disease without obvious marks or rash.
24) According to Platonist philosophy Cancer was the "Gate of Men"
through which souls descended from heaven into human bodies.
25) The Beginning of Wisdom, Chapter 2, page 39.
26) Western Civilization: A Brief History, "Latin Christiendom in the
Early Middle Ages", Chapter 2, The Rise of Europe.
References
Burnette, Dr. Ch., Tobyn G. Cornelius, Wells V. (1997). Abu Ma'shar:
The Abbreviation of the Introduction to Astrology. Virginia: ARHAT.
Campion, Nicholas (2000). "Babylonian Astrology: Its Origin and Legacy
in Europe" (Campion, extracted from Astronomies Across Cultures).
Campion, Nicholas (1989). "The Concept of Destiny in Islamic Astrology
and its Impact on Medieval European Thought", ARAM Periodical, Vol 1
no. 2, summer 1989, pages 281-89.
Campion, Nicholas (2000). Astrology, History and Apocolypse. London:
CPA Press.
Cole, Sheila R., and Michael (1993). The Development of Children.
Second edition. New York: Scientific American Books.
Copleston, F.C. (1972). A History of Medieval Philosophy. London:
University of Notre Dame Press.
Cramer, Frederick H. (1954). The Rise of Astrology in The Latin World.
Baltimore Maryland: J. H. Furst Company.
Culinau, Peter. (1999). "Astrology", Encyclopedia of Religion.
Epstein, Meira B. (1998). The Beginning of Wisdom. Virginia: ARHAT
Hand, Robert. (2000). Chronology of the Astrology of the Middle East
and West by Period. Virginia: ARHAT.
Holden, James Herschel (1996). A History of Horoscopic Astrology.
Arizona: AFA.
Holden, James Herschel (1988). Abu 'Ali Al-Khayyat: The Judgments of
Nativities. Arizona: AFA
Hoskin, Michael. (1999). The Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy.
United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Kuhn, Thomas S., (1985) The Copernican Revolution. London: Harvard
University Press.
Perry, Marvin (1997). Western Civilization: A Brief History. New York:
Houghton Mifflin Company.
Tester, Jim. (1987). A History of Western Astrology. New Hampshire:
Boydell Press.
Thomas, Keith (1971) Religion and The Decline of Magic. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons.
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's
mind about nothing--to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all
thoughts, not a select party." John Keats
Edmond H. Wollmann P.M.A.F.A.
© 2009 Altair Publications, SAN 299-5603
Astrological Consulting http://www.astroconsulting.com/
Artworks http://www.astroconsulting.com/personal/
The SUN http://www.edmondwollmann.com/
Dave U. Random
Al Simak <al_s...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> The Preservation and Acceleration of Astrology in the Arabic World
> Edmond H. Wollmann
>
>
Sockpuppet abuse noted.
Edmond Wollmann
>
> In article <010ededc-c7b4-484a...@m20g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>
> Al Simak <al_s...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > The Preservation and Acceleration of Astrology in the Arabic World
> > http://www.smbtech.com/e
> >
> >
>
> Sockpuppet abuse noted.
I'm the sockpuppet? And your name is Dave U Random?? You just spammed
AGAIN using a remailer. What is it with you abusers, you call others
sockpuppets while you use one and call others spammers while you spam!!
--
Edmond H. Wollmann P.M.A.F.A.
� 2009 Altair Publications, SAN 299-5603
Astrological Consulting http://www.astroconsulting.com/
Artworks http://www.astroconsulting.com/personal/
Cujo DeSockpuppet
news:4AB268...@earthlink.net:
> Dave U. Random wrote:
>>
>> In article
>> <010ededc-c7b4-484a...@m20g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>
>> Al Simak <al_s...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > The Preservation and Acceleration of Astrology in the Arabic World
>> > http://www.smbtech.com/e
>> > Edmond H. Wollmann
>> >
>> >
>>
>> Sockpuppet abuse noted.
>
> I'm the sockpuppet?
Yes.
> And your name is Dave U Random?? You just spammed
> AGAIN using a remailer.
Wrong again, Pantyhead. He posted a handcrafted message that isn't spam.
> What is it with you abusers, you call others
> sockpuppets while you use one and call others spammers while you
> spam!!
Projection noted, kook.
--
Cujo - The Official Overseer of Kooks and Trolls in dfw.*,
alt.paranormal, alt.astrology and alt.astrology.metapsych. Supreme Holy
Overlord of alt.fucknozzles. Winner of the 8/2000, 2/2003 & 4/2007 HL&S
award. July 2005 Hammer of Thor. Winning Trainer - Barbara Woodhouse
Memorial Dog Whistle - 12/2005 & 4/2008. COOSN-266-06-01895.
"Would you translate that into K00KSPEKE so I can understand it?" -
Raytard
Murphy admits his failure to communicate.
WindsorFox<[SS]>
> Dave U. Random wrote:
>> In article <010ededc-c7b4-484a...@m20g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>
>> Al Simak <al_s...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>> The Preservation and Acceleration of Astrology in the Arabic World
>>> http://www.smbtech.com/e
>>> Edmond H. Wollmann
>>>
>>>
>> Sockpuppet abuse noted.
>
> I'm the sockpuppet? And your name is Dave U Random?? You just spammed
> AGAIN using a remailer. What is it with you abusers, you call others
> sockpuppets while you use one and call others spammers while you spam!!
That's not spam on Usenet according to the definition. See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breidbart_Index
--
"You may have noticed that I continue to use the term
'open-carry' rather than "OC" This is avoid confusion
with Oleoresin Capsicum, a Latin term meaning 'Give me
some water, bitch. This sh*t is melting my eyeballs.'" - dawg23