In Podcast Episode 316, Dr. Justin Sledge and Chris Brennan discuss the relationship between astrology, philosophy, and religion in the ancient world.
Our focus is on discussing the ways in which astrology influenced some of the various philosophical and religious schools in the Greco-Roman world, from the Hellenistic period through the Roman Empire and into the early Middle Ages.
We will also discuss the questions of what was the philosophy behind the practice of astrology in ancient times. To what extent did ancient astrologers express a personal philosophy? What was the purpose of practicing astrology in the ancient world?
During the discussion, we touched on topics such as what is the mechanism of astrology (whether it works through signs or causes), issues related to fate, free will, determinism, as well as the role of various schools such as Platonism, Aristotelianism, Stoicism, Hermeticism, Gnosticism, Christianity, etc.
This was originally an interview for Justin’s Esoterica YouTube channel, where he interviewed Chris based on his book. Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortunebut then we agreed to release the discussion as an episode of The Astrology Podcast at the same time because it was a fantastic discussion that was very relevant to both of our audiences.
Find more ancient philosophy and mysticism videos on Justin’s channel:
This episode is available in audio and video versions below.
Time signs
Here are some timestamps for the topics covered at various points in the episode:
00:00:00 Login
00:05:50 Hellenistic world
00:07:50 Astrology and coping philosophies
00:08:50 Secular astrology
00:09:18 The first birth charts dating back to 410 BC
00:13:57 How a Hellenistic astrologer defines astrology
00:19:00 Fate in the Hellenistic world
00:21:33 Stoic philosophy and Hellenistic astrology
00:29:02 Inner and outer destiny in astrology
00:32:20 The influence of Plato’s myth of Timaeus and Er on astrology
00:39:20 Names of gods applied to planets
00:47:21 Causal Astrology: Aristotle and Ptolemy
00:56:00 Stoic eternal recurrence model of the universe
00:58:16 Ptolemy and determinism
01:02:55 Reaction against determinism from Christianity
01:16:10 How Justin used to teach Greek philosophy
01:18:10 How astrology was used to justify the birth of Jesus
01:20:00 Jesus’ birth chart controversy
01:21:30 Length of life technique
01:24:10 Astrological magical tradition
01:28:05 Increasing popularity of astrology
01:33:24 Augustine’s criticism of astrology
01:38:12 Different levels of astrology in society
01:39:38 Ronald Reagan’s astrologer
01:40:40 Levels of magic in society
01:43:30 Technical Hellenistic manuals translated into verse
01:44:55 Lost source texts of the 1st century BC
01:47:33 Astrological texts in verse
01:53:34 Dorothy verse example
01:55:10 Origin of Horary Astrology
02:02:15 Astrology is the boundary between science and religion
02:05:03 Astrology is a practical technology
02:06:40 Future Debate: Philosophical Challenges to Astrology
02:07:29 21st Century Astrology Practice
02:08:11 Addressing ancient skeptical criticisms of astrology
02:14:20 Closing remarks
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Transcription
Here is the full transcript of this episode: Episode 316 Transcript
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