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Porphyry seems to have held the view that the soul receives certain "powers" from each of the planets
-- right judgment from Saturn, proper exercise of the will from Jupiter, impulse from Mars, opinion and imagination from the Sun, and (what else?) sensuous desire from Venus, from the Moon
the soul receives the power of physical production
(cf. Hegel, p. 430)
-- and that these powers enable to the soul to know things both earthly and heavenly.
This theoretical knowledge of the powers of the planets, then, would have made the more practical knowledge of astrology quite useful and meaningful for an individual soul seeking to know itself as such.
The usefulness of astrology for Porphyry, in this regard,
probably resided in its ability to permit an individual, through an analysis of his birth chart, to know which planet
-- and therefore which "power" -- exercised the dominant influence on his life.
In keeping with the ancient Greek doctrine of the "golden mean," the task of the individual would then be to work to bring to the fore those other "powers" -- each present to a lesser degree in the soul, but still active -- and thereby achieve a balance or sôphrosunê
that would render the soul more capable of sharing in the divine Mind.
The art of astrology, it must be remembered, was in wide practice in the Hellenistic world, and Plotinus' rejection of it was an exception that was by no means the rule.
Plotinus' views on astrology apparently found few adherents,
even among Platonists, for we see not only Porphyry,
but also (to an extent) Iamblichus
and even Proclus declaring its value --
the latter being responsible for a paraphrase of Claudius Ptolemy's astrological compendium known as the Tetrabiblos or sometimes simply as The Astronomy.
In addition to penning a commentary on Ptolemy's tome,
Porphyry also wrote his own Introduction to Astronomy
(by which is apparently meant "Astrology," the modern distinction not holding in Hellenistic times).
Unfortunately, this work no longer survives intact.
-- right judgment from Saturn, proper exercise of the will from Jupiter, impulse from Mars, opinion and imagination from the Sun, and (what else?) sensuous desire from Venus, from the Moon
the soul receives the power of physical production
(cf. Hegel, p. 430)
-- and that these powers enable to the soul to know things both earthly and heavenly.
This theoretical knowledge of the powers of the planets, then, would have made the more practical knowledge of astrology quite useful and meaningful for an individual soul seeking to know itself as such.
The usefulness of astrology for Porphyry, in this regard,
probably resided in its ability to permit an individual, through an analysis of his birth chart, to know which planet
-- and therefore which "power" -- exercised the dominant influence on his life.
In keeping with the ancient Greek doctrine of the "golden mean," the task of the individual would then be to work to bring to the fore those other "powers" -- each present to a lesser degree in the soul, but still active -- and thereby achieve a balance or sôphrosunê
that would render the soul more capable of sharing in the divine Mind.
The art of astrology, it must be remembered, was in wide practice in the Hellenistic world, and Plotinus' rejection of it was an exception that was by no means the rule.
Plotinus' views on astrology apparently found few adherents,
even among Platonists, for we see not only Porphyry,
but also (to an extent) Iamblichus
and even Proclus declaring its value --
the latter being responsible for a paraphrase of Claudius Ptolemy's astrological compendium known as the Tetrabiblos or sometimes simply as The Astronomy.
In addition to penning a commentary on Ptolemy's tome,
Porphyry also wrote his own Introduction to Astronomy
(by which is apparently meant "Astrology," the modern distinction not holding in Hellenistic times).
Unfortunately, this work no longer survives intact.
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