Daimōnic Astrology and the Cosmic Return

by Jaime Paul Lamb

Daimonic Astrology
 Source: provided by TMA

Introduction

Genethlialogy, or natal astrology, is predicated on the understanding that the placement and condition of the planets at the moment of a person’s birth explain and contribute to that person’s character and fate. These influences are what gives rise to the notion that one’s soul — or psychē, if you prefer — is endowed with vices and virtues during its planetary descent; a concept rooted in the deepest strata of the Platonic tradition.

On its way to incarnation, the soul passes through the seven planetary spheres, and it is during this descent that it is imprinted with characteristics corresponding to each planet. Therefore, when the astrologer calculates the essential and accidental dignities and debilities of each planet, a synthesized picture of the subject’s disposition becomes clear; a schematic of character begins to emerge. This idea is explicitly stated in the writings of the Neoplatonists of late antiquity through the Renaissance — from Plotinus and Porphyry to Ficino and Agrippa.

Not only did these foundational philosophers view the natal chart as a sort of diagram of the soul, but they also believed that the descent into material incarnation could be reverse engineered and, by aid of the personal daimōn, the soul could be liberated from causality. This process was described as an anagogic planetary ascent, during which vices collected on the descent were surrendered to the planets from whence they came, freeing the soul of the bondage of material, earthly dross and allowing it to slip from the body and to penetrate the sphere of the fixed stars and zodiac into the Empyrean (the highest celestial region) — perhaps without experiencing physical death.

In this article:

1. we will discuss the soul’s cosmic descent through the planets, where it is endowed with personality
2. we will reimagine the natal chart as a document of this journey;
3. we will show how natal astrology’s predictivity is based on character inferences gleaned from the birth chart;
4. finally, we will examine the personal daimōn’s role in the soul’s planetary ascent, culminating in a philosophical death and a mystical union with what the Neoplatonists called “the One.”

The Cosmic Descent and the Endowment of Character

According to Plato’s “Myth of Er,” which concludes Book X of his Republic (c. 375 BCE), the preincarnate human soul stands outside the cosmos — beyond the realm of material causality — where it is coupled with a personal daimōn. The soul is, at this time, a tabula rasa, a “clean slate,” which has yet to be imprinted with individual personality. The daimōn, as both mystagogue (“expounder of Mysteries”) and psychopomp (“guide of souls”), then accompanies the soul down through the seven planetary spheres. At each of these celestial gates, the soul takes on “astral garments” (1) corresponding to each sphere. The natures of the qualities and characteristics allotted to the soul are contingent upon the condition of each of the planets at the time of the soul’s descent into incarnation.

On its descent, the soul first penetrates the sphere of the fixed stars and zodiac (i.e., the ogdoad, or eighth sphere in the Ptolemaic cosmological model), officially entering the causal realm. The first planetary sphere encountered is that of Saturn (the seventh sphere), the farthest classical planet from the Earth. Depending on the condition of Saturn at that time, the soul of the native (the subject of a natal chart) takes on the positive, neutral, or negative significations associated with that planet. For instance, if Saturn is in one of his domiciles, in direct motion, angular, and well aspected, the soul of the native will be endowed with positive Saturnian characteristics such as discipline and prudence. If the planet is in middling condition, neutral Saturnian qualities such as composure and circumscription may be allotted. An unfortunately placed Saturn will likely yield detrimental significations such as cruelty, cynicism, and melancholia. This process is repeated at each sphere until the soul is clothed in a complex array of qualities and characteristics, comprising its individual personality.

The Natal Chart as a Schematic of Character

The particular distribution of characteristics is unique to each individual, just as the placement and condition of the seven visible planets are unique to their natal chart. Another differentiating factor is the guidance of what Neoplatonist philosopher Iamblichus (3rd century BCE) called the “peculiar daimōn,” (2) who acts as the endower of the native’s character. No two people have the same daimōn, so this adds further nuance to the distribution of personal characteristics.

At the prenatal syzygy (the New or Full Moon immediately preceding birth), the human soul, freshly imprinted with personality, is yoked to the physical body in utero. And at the moment of birth, when the native officially becomes an independent entity, the arrangement of the cosmos is captured in the natal chart. Ergo, the natal chart may be seen as a sort of cosmic thumbprint; a unique pattern of the native’s fate and fortune; a schematic of character.

Plotinus (3rd century BCE), the pillar of early Neoplatonism, believed in the predictive efficacy of astrology, insofar as planets being signs — symbols but not causes of terrestrial events. He was somewhat of an outlier, however, in that he critiqued the notion of planetary influence on the development of the soul, particularly in terms of factors such as character and physique. Despite his critical perspective, he noted in his Enneads that planetary influence was in fact the prevailing stance among the astrologers of his time. In the end, even he cedes the point to the Divine Plato when he references the Fates spinning the soul’s destiny on the “Spindle of Necessity” (the central axis of Plato’s cosmology). Further, when discussing the Demiurge (“Craftsman,” a creator entity) of Plato’s Timaeus, Plotinus says:

(O)ur personality is bound up with the stars, whence our Soul takes shape; and we are set under Necessity at our very entrance into the world: our temperament will be of the stars’ ordering, and so, therefore, the actions which derive from temperament, and all the experiences of a nature shaped to impressions. (3)

The proficient astrologer, when analyzing a nativity, can tally the factors of planetary influence on the qualities and characteristics of the native. The astrologer knows that if, say, Mars were debilitated in the chart, then we might expect general patterns of aggression and anger; if Mars were neutrally placed, we might encounter themes of separation and intense energetic expenditure; and if Mars were bonified, qualities such as bravery, courage, and valor would likely come to the fore. The emergence and severity of these significations would, of course, be intermittently activated by transits, annual profections, etc. The astrologer assesses the condition and placement of the planets in the chart and creates a complex portrait of the native; essentially, but not merely, a character study. But, by any standard, this is a daunting exercise, as acknowledged by the great Claudius Ptolemy (c. 100–170 CE):

Ptolemy in 1476
 Source: Portrait by Justus van Gent and Pedro Berruguete, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Such are the effects produced by the several planets, each by itself and in command of its own nature. Associated, however, now with one, now with another, in the different aspects, by the exchange of signs and by their phases with reference to the sun, and experiencing a corresponding tempering of their powers, each produces a character, in its effect, which is the result of the mixture of the natures that have participated, and is complicated. It is of course a hopeless and impossible task to mention the proper outcome of every combination and enumerate absolutely all the aspects of whatever kind since we can conceive of such a variety of them. Consequently questions of this kind are best left to the enterprise and ingenuity of the astrologer, in order to make the distinctions. (4)

While deeming the project “complicated,” “hopeless and impossible,” Ptolemy nonetheless acknowledges that the astrologer alone possesses the “enterprise and ingenuity” to delineate the complex relationships between the planets and their influence in sculpting the personality of the native. This reinforces the notion that one’s character is the guiding principle of their fate, an idea apparently rooted in Presocratic thought.

Ethos Anthropos Daimōn

The Presocratic philosopher, Heraclitus (5th century BCE), famously proclaimed: “ethos anthropos daimōn,” (5) which is often translated as “character is destiny.” The implication is that people tend to act within the confines of their character — that one’s fate is to some extent steered by their personality. In any given situation, a person is likely to behave in accordance with their innate qualities and disposition. Thus, their actions and reactions have a causal basis in the composition of their ethics and character. According to the Neoplatonic view of astrology, these qualities are reflected in the natal chart. Each planet contributes elements to the native’s personality, for better or worse.

One’s fate is primarily directed by internal causes, such as the will and character. These inner motivations, however, are regulated by external causes; and the marriage of these two causal forces — the internal and external — is responsible for human destiny. (6) Since a person is likely to act or react in accordance with their natal planetary distribution and the resulting ethos, then the astrologer may draw general inferences as to how the native might move forward through life’s events and phenomena. Hence, natal astrology’s predictivity.

But this isn’t to say that the situation is immutable. The edifice of personal character may be remodeled; crises of personality may be experienced. And, as we see in the work of Renaissance-era Christian Neoplatonist Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499), temperaments may be recalibrated by Hermetic magical practices. The recitation of the seven planetary Orphic Hymns; auspicious elections (katarchē); the appreciation of sympathetic musical modes; and other contemplative practices may be used to petition the planetary gods and ritualistically modify the soul’s temperament. (7) In this sense, Ficino revived and continued the sort of “astro-theurgy” common among ancient Neoplatonic astrologers such as Porphyry.

The Personal Daimōn

As we have illustrated, the personal daimōn, in its psychopompic role, guides the preincarnate soul on its descent through the seven spheres and into the chthonic realm of materiality and death — but the daimōn can also guide the soul back. By discovering the nature of this entity, learning its name, and calculating the planetary sphere to which it responds, the astrologer may employ the methods of Neoplatonic theurgy (“god working,” a type of ritualized cosmogony) to engage the intercession of the daimōn. This entity may thereby aid the native in the process of their planetary ascent. Astrology is a central component in this process.

According to the Egyptians every one received his proper dæmon at the hour of his birth; nor did they ascend any higher, in order to obtain a knowledge of it. For they alone considered the horoscope. (8)

The personal daimōn, or tutelary genius, has been referred to by many names over the centuries: the Kyrios, the Oikodespotes Geneseos, the Higher Genius, the Perfect Nature, the Almuten Figuris, and the Holy Guardian Angel. The daimōn is, at once, the native’s mystagogue and psychopomp. This entity instructs the soul in the Mysteries of birth, life, death, and the afterlife; guiding it to and from the Underworld. The Underworld, in this sense, being the sublunary (“below the Moon”) region of generation and corruption, in which the four classical elements are in a constant war of change and transformation. Just as Hermes-Psychopompos was the conductor of souls in and out of Hades, so too does the personal daimōn fulfill this role in the native’s life cycle.

Most astrologers of late antiquity — Vettius Valens (2nd century CE), Porphyry (3rd century CE,) and Firmicus Maternus (4th century CE) among them — prescribed ways to determine the personal daimōn by consulting the natal chart. These astrologers varied widely in their methods but usually based their calculations on the consideration of chart rulers such as the Epikratetor (“Predominator”), the Oikodespotes (“House Master”), and the Kyrios (“Lord”). (9) Nearly all authorities admit some degree of confusion on the subject and, consequently, finding the personal daimōn was roundly agreed to be one of the most difficult operations in all of astrology. (10)

The clearest methods appear later in the medieval period and the Renaissance, such as those of Masha’allah (8th century CE), Ibn Ezra (1089–1092), and William Lilly (1602–1681). These methods of calculation employ a weighted, dignity-based point system. The most rigorous method of calculating the Almuten Figuris (“Winner of the Figure”) is probably Lilly’s, as he offsets essential and accidental dignity by subtracting the inverse debility giving, arguably, the most balanced result. It is outside the scope of the present article to minutely detail these daimōnic calculation methods, but they are not hard to find. (11)

The Almuten Figuris corresponds to the ancient Kyrios, or “Lord” of the geniture, and represents the planetary affiliation of the personal daimōn. Once the daimōnic planet is determined, the entity’s name may be derived using a method found in the work of the German astrologer and occultist, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535). The preferred alphabet (usually Greek, Latin, or Hebrew) is cast from the degree of the Ascendant, one letter per degree in zodiacal order (counterclockwise), until it wraps around all 360° of the ecliptic. The letter corresponding to each degree having a resident planet is extracted and ordered according to that planet’s total essential and accidental dignity. (12) This name, and the synthemata (cosmic “signatures”) associated with the Almuten’s planetary sphere, is then used in astro-theurgic ritual in order to form a sympathetic link with the personal daimōn.

Philosophical Death and the Cosmic Return

Armed with the knowledge of the personal daimōn — its name, planetary affiliation, and the appropriate synthemata, such as talismans, fumigations, and hymns (13) — the astro-theurgist may then begin the arduous process of character alignment, ultimately resulting in a cosmic return to the Source of Being, “the One.”

A crucial step in this process is a phenomenon which has been referred to as the “philosophical death.” The Roman Neoplatonist Macrobius (5th century CE) describes the process by which the soul may be released from the bondages of materiality and causality — without tasting physical death.

(S)ouls which in this life free themselves from the chains of the body by the philosopher’s death, even while the body remains intact, find their way to the sky and stars. (14)

Just as the vices are surrendered in the process of physical death, so too may they be resolved while the astrologer-philosopher is still alive. By making certain realignments of character in accordance with the natal chart, the soul may be so purified as to slip from the body and make the planetary ascent unencumbered by physical form.

Corpus Hermeticum
 Source: Marsilio Ficino, Hermes Trismegistus, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The cosmic ascent of the soul, and the accompanying surrender of seven vices or “deadly sins” (i.e., the negative significations of the planets), is probably most explicitly described in a tractate of the Corpus Hermeticum known as the “Poimandres” (c. 2nd century CE). Note that, at each sphere or “zone,” a vice associated with that particular planet is surrendered (brackets below are mine):

Thence the human being rushes up through the cosmic framework, at the first zone surrendering the energy of increase and decrease (the Moon); at the second evil machination, a device now inactive (Mercury); at the third the illusion of longing, now inactive (Venus); at the fourth the ruler’s arrogance, now freed of excess (the Sun); at the fifth unholy presumption and daring recklessness (Mars); at the sixth the evil impulses that come from wealth, now inactive (Jupiter); and at the seventh zone the deceit that lies in ambush (Saturn). And then, stripped of the effects of the cosmic framework, the human enters the region of the ogdoad (sphere of the fixed stars and zodiac). (15)

Clearly, the vices surrendered above directly correspond to the negative significations of the seven visible planets: lunar vices are relinquished to the Moon; negative mercurial attributes are given back to Mercury, etc. Notably, these spheres are encountered in their “Chaldean order,” as one would traverse them beginning from the Earth — an unmistakable planetary ascent. Once these vices are surrendered and the soul divested of their harmful influence — “stripped of the effects of the cosmic framework” — the soul is free to penetrate the sphere of the fixed stars and ascend into the Empyrean.

Conclusion

As we have illustrated in the foregoing, the Neoplatonists believed that the soul was endowed with character on a descent through the planetary spheres. They believed, as did Plato, that the soul was guided and instructed by a personal daimōn, unique to each individual. With this planetary endowment in mind, the natal chart may be seen as a schematic of character, the very basis of genethlialogy’s predictivity. We addressed the notion of a philosophical death, by which the soul may be freed to rise through the spheres. The soul is divested of personality in an anagogic planetary ascent. This process, to Neoplatonists such as Porphyry and Macrobius, as well as to the contemporaneous Hermetists, was the central project of astrology: Henosis; mystical union with “the One.”

References and notes:
1. Porphyry. On What Is Up to Us. 271f.
2. Iamblichus. On the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians. Book IX, Ch. 1.
3. Plotinus, Enneads, III; 9.
4. Emphasis mine; Claudius Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos. II.8. Robbins (trans.).
5. Heraclitus. Fragment 119.
6. Danilo Suster, “Chrysippus, Cylinder, Causation and Compatibilism,” Philosophical Imagination Thought Experiments and Arguments in Antiquity, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021, pp. 65–82.
7. Renata R. Nagy, “Marsilio Ficino’s Astral Psychology: The Inner Cosmos of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese on the Astronomical Ceiling Fresco of Sala del Mappamondo at Caprarola,” Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture, University of Central Florida, 2018. p. 28.
8. Thomas Taylor, Annotation (1821) on Book IX, Ch. 5 of Iamblichus’s On the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians.
9. For a survey of the late antique methods, see: Dorian Greenbaum, The Daimon in Hellenistic Astrology, Brill, 2016, Ch. 7.
10. Porphyry, An Introduction to the Tetrabiblos of Ptolemy, trans. A. Gehrz, Moira Press, 2010, Section 30.
11. See William Lilly’s exhaustive dignities and debilities table: Christian Astrology. 1647. Book I. p. 115 and Book III; Ch. CV on the “Lord of the Geniture.”
12. H. C. Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533), D. Tyson annotation, trans. J. Freake, Llewellyn, 1992, Book III, Ch. 26.
13. Christopher Warnock, Secrets of Planetary Magic, Renaissance Astrology, 2010.
14. Macrobius, Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, trans. W. H. Stahl , Columbia University Press, New York, 1952, p. 140.
15. “Poimandres,” in Hermetica, Copenhaver (trans.), Cambridge University Press, 1992, I:25–26. pp. 5–6.

Published in: The Mountain Astrologer, Cancer Sol 2023.

Author:
Jaime Paul Lamb is a consulting Astrologer and Tarotist living in Phoenix, Arizona. He is a member of the American Federation of Astrologers (AFA), certified in Hellenistic Astrology through Chris Brennan’s Hellenistic Astrology Course, and is a current student of renowned Renaissance Astrologer Christopher Warnock. Lamb is the author of the books Myth, Magick & Masonry (2018), Approaching the Middle Chamber (2020), and The Archetypal Temple (2021). Please visit jaimepaullamb.com for more information.

© 2023 - Jaime Paul Lamb

Taken from this issue:
This article was published in The Mountain Astrologer, Cancer Sol 2023 and can be purchased here.

All articles at a glance