The Imaginal Cosmos: Astrology, Divination and the Sacred
The Imaginal Cosmos: Astrology, Divination and the Sacred gathers together the papers presented at the international conference held at the University of Kent, Canterbury, in October 2004, with two additional papers related to the conference theme and an introduction by Geoffrey Cornelius. The contributors, who include leading scholars and practitioners of analytical and archetypal psychology, esotericism, the history and theory of astrology, medieval philosophy and religious studies, consider the nature of divination from widely varying perspectives, broadening and deepening the approach to a phenomenon which until now has tended to be subsumed under other academic categories. In this volume new theories and methods for the study of divination are suggested: most significantly, a phenomenological approach, which considers divinatory knowledge and practice on its own terms. As many of the authors are practitioners of astrology and divination, the divide between ‘etic’ and ‘emic’ perspectives begins to close, pointing towards a new methodology not only for divination, but for religious studies in general. Many of the papers give prominence to the role of the imagination as the organ of symbolic insight, locating divination in the mundus imaginalis of theophany and revelation. The relationship of creative imagination with the sacred is deeply rooted in Western esoteric traditions and practices which unite religion, philosophy and psychology. From this perspective, divinatory vision may be explored by looking both inwards and outwards: from the alchemical symbolism at work in human relationships to history, cosmology and science.
Cover design by Belinda Hunt
Contents
Geoffrey Cornelius Introduction ; Joseph Milne ‘The Cosmic Sense’; Dorian Giesler Greenbaum ‘Rising to the Occasion: Appearance, Emergence, Light and Divination in Hellenistic Astrology’; Gregory Shaw ‘ The Talisman; Magic and True Philosophers’; Patrick Curry ‘ Divination, Enchantment and Platonism’; Maggie Hyde ‘ The Cock and the Chameleon: Divination, Platonism and Postmodernism’;Charles Burnett ‘Astrology, Astronomy and Magic as Motivation for the Scientific Renaissance of the Twelfth Century’; Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke ‘The Weave of Fate: Sixteenth Century Prognostications and Twentieth Century Prediction in the Context of Western Esotericism’; Leon Schlamm ‘C.G. Jung’s Visionary Mysticism’; Frank McGillion ‘Does Prophecy have a Future?’; Jean Hinson Lall ‘Watering the Roots of Astrological Theory and Practice: Gaston Bachelard’s Contribution to a Philosophy of Divination’; Liz Greene ‘Love, Alchemy and Planetary Attrractions’; Angela Voss ‘ Father Time and Orpheus’.