Chris Brennan has written to tell me about his new book, on Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune.
Ancient astrology is something that I ought to know about, but don’t. There’s a whole class of ancient texts like Vettius Valens which incorporate information. Probably if we knew more about it, we would see references to it in all sorts of works.
Chris himself is an astrologer, and well aware of the hostility that the profession attracts. But a book written by someone who actually knows how to cast a horoscope, ancient or modern, must be a useful insight to those who need to know.
Here’s the description.
Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune is a survey of the history, philosophy, and techniques of Hellenistic astrology, which is a tradition of horoscopic astrology that was practiced in the Mediterranean region from approximately the first century BCE through the seventh century CE.
Although Hellenistic astrology is the source of many of the modern traditions of astrology that flourish around the world today, it is only recently that many of the surviving texts of this tradition have become available again for astrologers to study.
During this process many techniques and concepts have been recovered that were lost in the transmission of astrology over the past 2000 years.
The product of over a decade of research, this book provides one of the first comprehensive treatments of Hellenistic astrology in modern times. … Learn the history and origins of western astrology. Explore the philosophical foundations of astrological practice. Become acquainted with the works of the most influential astrologers of antiquity. Understand the original conceptual motivations for many techniques that astrologers use today. Recover powerful timing techniques that were lost during the transmission of astrology. 50+ diagrams and tables, which provide rich visual illustrations of the concepts covered. 100+ example charts, which demonstrate how the techniques work in practice. A detailed bibliography of works related to the study of ancient astrology.
A table of contents is available at the site, and the price is $48. Worth a look for those interested in ancient Astrology!
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