When the Portuguese philosopher António Telmo said in an interview “the ideas I have come from the angels”, he was making a precise ontological claim: thought is not private property of the ego. The human intellect operates as a receptive organ. Just as the eye does not create light but receives it, the intellect does…
I was just reading John Michael Greer on discursive meditation, understood as a process that exercises the capacity to work with symbols in an intelligible way, a deliberate training of the symbolic muscle through repetition. Meditation has always been this, before its modern reduction to the exact opposite, the idea that meditating means emptying the…
In medieval astrology, the main planets to be considered for profession are three: Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Mercury signifies merchants, scribes, men of calculation, technique, and craft; Venus signifies artists, musicians, and all occupations that proceed from the pleasure of form and harmony; Mars signifies warriors and occupations of harsh action, cutting, and conflict. Jupiter…
Today I lost my left earring, which is a silver Ankh. I noticed it was missing while I was in the shower, and I thought I might have lost it in the bathroom, maybe near a drain or somewhere on the floor. Because it has sentimental value, I decided to cast a horary chart. I,…
The most common reading of the Six of Cups associates the card with nostalgia. That interpretation almost always comes from the usual iconography. Children, flowers, simple gestures, “innocent” scenes. Let’s see what nostalgia actually means. Nostalgia comes from the Greek nóstos (return) and álgos (pain). Literally: the pain of an impossible return. The impossibility of…
After doing a reading for William Stoner, I decided to do another one for another stoic figure in American literature: Don Gately from Infinite Jest. Now Don Gately is one of the main staff members at Ennet House, the halfway house for recovering addicts in Infinite Jest. He is a former burglar and addict who…
I was meditating on the Knight of Wands. He is Air of Fire. That combination alone says almost everything. The rational, mercurial, mental element applied to direct and immediate action on the world. It’s the moment when plans are acted upon, when the mind gives direction to the flame. He is the conqueror who brings…
I drew the Knight of Pentacles as my card of the day. First, it is a court card related to the material, to the physical, to Earth (Pentacles). Earth is cold and dry, feminine, heavy, inward-moving, and resistant. It is the element of form, matter, limits, weight, and duration. Things that belong to Earth grow…
I received a question from a querent who wished to know whether her natal chart contained any indication that may explain the repeated failures in her relationships, which she described as being marked by loss, conflict, and recurring frustration. The analysis that follows is conducted strictly within the parameters of medieval astrology. I. Jupiter and…
I received a horary question about whether the querent was capable of participating in and winning a television competition taking place over the coming weekend. The show involves simple but physically demanding challenges, and the querent was still recovering from a minor injury. The Ascendant at 19 degrees Leo confirmed the chart’s radicality, making the…
