Hand, Robert – Ancient Philosophy and Spirituality In Astrology

This workshop will deal with the interaction of astrological ideas and ancient philosophy and show how it affected them, drew upon them, and became in fact completely integrated with them in a grand synthesis, much of which extended into the Middle Ages. But as a result of the later stages of this synthesis Astrology became a “science” in the medieval sense of the world and in doing so lost something of its mystical and spiritual foundation; it split in two, into “scientific” and magical” branches. In the latter was preserved the original spiritual nature of astrology which can be used to build a new philosophy of astrology so that once again astrology can be, as ancient astrology was, thoroughly involved with, and rooted in, the philosophy.