The Worldview of Astrological Magic: Part VIII – The Cosmic Hierarchy and the Great Chain of Being

As mentioned in the previous lesson, “the” tradition or worldview of astrological magic is perhaps more accurately characterized as a complex blend or syncretism of many different traditions and worldviews. In much the same way as a river is fed by many streams, the tradition of astrological magic borrows much from a variety of sources. In this lesson, we take the Ghayat al-Hakim or Picatrix as our key text and provide an overview of the various tributaries that resulted in this strange tome. In doing so we shall have reason to visit ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, Hellenistic Greece, the magical melting pot of Alexandria, the pre-Islamic Middle East, and the Islamic astrologers. We will build on the previous lesson’s conceptual map of the terrain of astrological magic, distilling out a set of 9 core conceptual constituents of astrological magic that we will use to locate these conceptual anchors in cultural and historical space and time. Establishing a timeline and some geographical signposts will help us have a sense of the transmission of ideas and also provide students with ample directions for further study.

In this first part of this lesson, we will provide an initial sketch of the history and key concepts in the cosmology of astrological magic, including the great chain of being, as well as the development of Hellenistic astrology from earlier astral lore. This will provide us with sufficient background for asking the question “when did astrological magic become astrological magic,” which turns out to be a much more complicated question to answer than it might initially appear.