Why Magic, And Why Now - The Revival of Astrological Magic

by Michael Ofek

We have lost the cosmos. The Sun strengthens us no more, neither does the Moon (…). Now we have to get back to the cosmos, and it can’t be done by a trick. The great range of responses that have fallen dead in us have to come to life again. It has taken two thousand years to kill them. Who knows how long it will take to bring them to life?
~ D.H. Lawrance, Apocalypse

In recent years there has been a great resurgence of interest in astrological magic. Magic practitioners, astrologers, and academic scholars have been gradually rekindling the ancient art and are just beginning to grasp its importance in the history and development of philosophy, religion, and science.

In the astrological community, this was a direct follow-up to the fairly recent, and still ongoing, renaissance of ancient traditional astrology. Since the late 20th Century we have witnessed its resurfacing through the cracks of time, through translations of surviving texts, uncovering ancient theory and practice and astrology’s various phases of development stretching over two millennia. We have learned to appreciate not only the depth and richness of the original system, but also the underlying cosmological and philosophical underpinnings, connecting it to the prevailing schools of its time, as well as the heritage of this archaic wisdom.

The Revival of Ancient Wisdom

To grasp the significance of this revival, and to answer the questions raised in this article, it is important to see this resurgence as a part of a larger cycle. This cycle appears to recur through history every time man is confronted by an anticipated existential crisis, whenever his actions seem to lead him into a blind alley.

In recent decades, many ancient forms of knowledge and practice have been slowly revived and reintegrated. These, together with new ways of seeing and understanding, such as through the modern lenses of psychological and scientific inquiry, have ushered novel perceptions and findings of age-old truths. It is this pollination from the wisdom of the past into the present, which gives us a renewed perspective about our inherent nature, the potential for our growth, and a deeper understanding of reality.

We are now at a very accelerated phase of this cyclic wave, as it crushes on the shores of our unfulfilling cultural structures. The contrast of the pathological nature of our current world climate, whether social, political, economic or environmental, and the intensely growing need to connect back to our origins has never been so great.p>

This is the soul’s nostalgia for the primal experience, for the vitality and meaning gained from our deep-rooted connection with spirit, nature, and natural powers. This is the unavoidable “archaic revival”(1) that seeks to reunite us with our innate potentials and the wisdom of our ancient ancestry.p>

This recurring trend is reflective of a deep longing for something we once knew but is now forgotten, this is the collective amnesia and the strive for anamnesis, or “remembrance”. This recollection of the forgotten is our collective soul retrieval, it is the way we heal ourselves from the long and arduous sojourn away from our real home, and our deeply severed connection with the cosmos.

Searching for wisdom and answers in our past, in not only a moving backwards in time, but an analogical movement inwards, or upwards, to our ontological source. It is the search for our authentic identity, our spiritual origins, as well as our ideal embodied primordial state and connection to the natural kingdom.

It is my belief that the revival of astrology and astrological magic has a big part to play in this current wave of re-membering. As man seeks to reclaim his connection with the earth, imperative to his survival, he will also have to regain recognition of his connection with the sky and appreciate the reciprocal cooperation of both "working the miracle of one thing”(2) within him and without.

The oldest astrological roots are embedded within a magical worldview.

In a time and place where magic was prevalent, and had many forms, techniques, and motivations. Oracular revelations, mystical initiations, healer-priests and magicians, mantics and shamans had a respected place in society, and were part of the cultural landscape. This worldview was of a sentient and animistic cosmos, embedded in an ordered and intelligent design. “All things are full of Gods”, said Thales the first pre-socratic philosopher (6th Century BCE) expressing the general sentiment of his time. “All is full of soul”, said Pimander(3) to Hermes and Hermes to his disciples.

This sentiment of a living cosmos full of animating spirits, was shared by almost all ancient cultures around the world.

The more we go back in time, the more the experience of earth and sky was alive and interacted with reverence and respect. For many of the ancient pagan and shamanic cultures nature was sacred, the mountains, the trees, the water streams, and of course the luminaries and stars, were all filled with spirit beings which could be interacted with and maintained as deities and allies, and were invoked for guidance, healing and protection.

This experience of the world is at the heart of the magical perspective, and it nurtures a very different relationship with the world than we have today, for which nothing is sacred anymore and everything is viewed as a resource to be exploited, humans and animals included. If things are to change, our relationship to the world must change, and the recognition of our innate primordial connection to the beating heart of the cosmos must return.

It is this cosmic perspective which gave birth to astrology and magic, before it became overly rationalized and distant from direct experience. Before the dawn of the first millennium, astrological texts were still written in verse, poetic and obscure, relating to a more inspired intuit and mystical visionary experiences, then a rational scientific description. These revelatory intimations emphasize Insights gained from direct experience, ecstatic inspirations, and participatory engagement with these powers. This non-rational (or meta-rational) direct experience, is the missing element of our art, which became highly intellectual and conceptual, sometimes forgetting the real sky upon which it grounds its interpretations.

To properly orient our understanding of what astrological magic is, or can be, and how integral a part it has to play to bring astrology alive, we must return to some of our basic assumptions as astrologers.

Basic Assumptions of Astrology and Magic

For us astrologers, the correlation of heaven and earth is no theory, it is a fact proven by lifetimes of experience. The cosmos does not always yield to our astrological models, owing to its intricate complexity and its ever-changing inter-relationships. Regardless, we can still empirically witness the light of the cosmic dance reflected in the world and in the waters of our psyche. 

Seeing astrology work, serves as proof of an intelligent order and design, connecting us to an animistic cosmic ecology. This has revelatory repercussions for our individual and collective psyche, when contemplated seriously.

It's the conscious internalization and experience of this intimate connection, once again, which is fundamental if we are to confront our modern pathologies.

This principle of correlation and correspondence, replicated from the whole to its parts, serves as the most basic assumption of our art, through it astrology demonstrates the interconnectedness of our world. The cosmic sympathy underlying the structure of our reality. One cannot accept astrology without accepting at least a version of this basic idea, which implies that the same generating principles function on all levels and scales of being, and that we can deduce correlations from one level or scale on to the other.

This holistic Micro-Macro, Above-Below, Inner-Outer view of the cosmos and its parts, is of course the premise for individual natal astrology - man is a microcosmos, or a ‘little world’, created in the image of the macrocosmos - in the universal sense as well as in the particular, as reflected in the individual birth chart.

According to Hermetic philosophy, Man is the most suited of all terrestrial creatures to mirror the cosmos and has within his individual being all cosmic levels (hypostases) of creation, from the subtle spiritual essence to the dense bodily frame of flesh and bones.

The famous magical text “The Picatrix” spends a whole chapter(4) articulating man's supreme correlation with the cosmos, which gives him his unique place in bridging spirit and matter and heaven and earth. Man is considered a vital link in the chain of being, downscaling the creative powers of the cosmos, able to perceive, understand and affect mind and matter.

Based on this fundamental correlation, we are at any given moment “breathing together”(5) with the cosmos. Thus, the moving powers in heaven, as in earth, move within us always, seamlessly, both within and without. They sustain and animate our being, compelling us to express them in a variety of ways and align to the cosmic flux, just as the Sun compels us to awaken each morning.

Adding to this foundational concept of astrology, astrological magic assumes that man and his unique stature as bearing the cosmic image, and therefore potentially the creative powers of the cosmos, does not passively reflect the Marco, but can consciously participate, engage and willfully act and create within it. Magic reminds us that because the cosmos is alive and co-responsive, it is therefore interactive. It is truly speaking to us if we know how to listen, and it listens to us if we know how to speak.

They marvelled at seeing those things which come last in those which come first, and vice-versa; earthly things in the heavens in a causal and celestial manner, and heavenly things on the earth in a terrestrial way.
~ Proclus - On the Hieratic Art

This correspondence of man and cosmos, on all its levels, is the axis which allows for the human act of magic. Additionally, it is the knowledge of these chains of correspondence within the soul and the kingdoms of nature (minerals, plants, animals etc.) which the magician utilizes to draw and amplify certain creative powers.

The Talismanic Process

The philosophical and practical principles of Talisman making holds many keys for the intentional use of correspondences, for engagement and participation with astrological powers. I will try to elucidate some of these here.

All of the magical operations are based on these invisible sympathetic links or chains (greek - seirá), which connect the planetary Noetic or formal sources (sometime called “seminal reasons”) to their manifestation through a hierarchy of animating powers, expressed in different levels and scales.

These links chain the world from within and without, horizontally and vertically, from the subtle to the dense, and from purer to mixed, as powers in the psyche as well in bodies, natural elements and materials, shapes, colors, sounds, smells, numerical and geometric proportions, and corresponding imagery.

Drawing on, aligning or participating in a certain planetary chain, in achieved by a right attunement to its intrinsic tone, ideally at the times when the planet’s ‘essential power’ (dignity) is fully manifested in the cosmos, under the right astrological election.

This attunement or harmonization is done through planetary correspondences and mimesis (imitations) which serve as ‘receptacles’ of its essence.

Talismanic theory emphasizes the need to align - the magician, place/atmosphere, actions/creations, materials, images etc, and the astrological timing - under the same planetary chain, the more levels/dimensions of correspondence the better. This is done in order to maximize the planetary resonance, stand in its light, receive its virtues, and increase its potency and charge in the talisman, which is created under it.

This may be done for a general augmentation of the planetary essence, or for the fulfillment of a specific corresponding aim.

One of the chief conceptual models of the talismanic process is based on the idea of light or ‘stellar rays’(6), describing the phenomenon of astral light radiated from the heavenly bodies. These rays are inherent in their earthy corresponding elements, symbols and images, which can be used to draw and concentrate their potency, under the right astrological timing. This astral light (which has many levels) is said to be the pneumatic rarefied fire of life, the etheric energy, the spiritus mundi, that charges the cosmos with life and breath. In our modern terms, this is the multi spectral electro-magnetic radiation, which is the field animating and sustaining all life, holding the nucleus of our atoms in place.

In its more biological manifestation, this is the electricity that charges our nervous system and bodies, it is the secret fire, the Qi, or Prana that electrifies life into our flesh. This is not an abstraction, it is a very real energy, which interacts with matter in very real ways. For the theurgist, this is the astral or etherial body or ochema-pneuma which is made of the same essence as the stars.

Other cosmologies put more emphasis on the hierarchy of spirits or daimons, which are invoked to help realize the magic, or ensoul the object.

In my view, one model does not exclude the other, and as light holds within it all potential for life, it holds and animates many levels of being/spirits within it, manifesting through it, and alongside it (like us humans). The term daimon (spirit) in the Hermetica is explained as a ‘power at work’ or ‘manifestation’, which in greek is Energia, the source of our word energy. So, whether the invisible vivifying agent is a sort of light, or spiritual energy, or a type of individual spirit which is akin to a planetary essence, it is still a living agent emanating its unique occult virtues.

To simplify the understanding of the talismanic process, some authors make a division of active spiritual forces and passive material receptacles, following the Aristotelian concept of Hylomorphism (matter and form).

The form is the essence of a thing, it is its soul(7), and matter its body. Fashioning a Talisman is conceptualized as fusing soul and body - the active formal agent (light/spirit) to the passive material receptacle.

Taking these basic ideas in mind, we can derive many ways of participation with the astrological powers, as we create corresponding circumstances in our lives, internally and externally, to act as mimetic receptacles for the planetary power.

For instance, we can make plans for activities proper to the planetary signification, engaging in corresponding undertaking in the proper times (either for a general election, or an individual transit). We can also animate corresponding images in our minds in meditation. Using our intention with vivid imagination is a very powerful internal receptacle for resonating with a planetary potency, more so if we awaken a corresponding state of being through a recollection of emotional memory.

One can express the planetary state and amplify it through trance inducing bodily movement, dancing, qigong postures, singing/humming, breathing exercises, shamanic drumming and journeying and alike. One can make atmospheric changes, light, color, smell (incense), music, symbolic objects, drawing corresponding symbols and images, create corresponding artwork, or just write down his intentions. One can eat corresponding foods, wear corresponding clothes, metals or gems, or create/engrave and consecrate them as talismans under the elected times.

All of these and more can serve to initiate and draw the wanted essences, strumming the wanted string in the cosmic harp. But in order to really learn to play it, one should first learn how to hear its music. This is done through the knowledge of astrology in sync with empirical experience.

Participation is not only in the doing, it is also, and foremost, in the being, it is in learning to become the receptacle, developing the conscious awareness and recognition of the living powers moving within and without, witnessing their inner cycles without an agenda, or specific aim or desire.

Informed by astrological awareness, this is the conscious letting go into the cosmic flow, receiving its intelligent guidance, observing its changing states and internal coloring of thoughts, emotions and energetic movement in the body. Experientially sampling the different cosmic chords as they appear without resistance, slowly paves the way to harmoniously tuning one’s state of being with them, and to finally know how to actively play or transform them when needed.

Reclaiming our Magical Tradition 

The ancient philosophers seem to have brought all their scrutiny to bear on making their life, above all, agree with the heavens.
~ Marsilio Ficino - Da Vita

In its essence, astrological magic is the art of aligning oneself with the cosmos. It is the recognition of our vital inborn connection with the heavenly bodies, and the conscious participation in their creative powers and cycles.

The corpus of astrological magic is deep and intricate, connecting many disciplines and amalgamating a variety of ancient natural and metaphysical philosophies and cosmologies. With these, it strives to explain the underpinnings of the creative process which astrology describes, and through elaborated descriptions of talisman creations, planetary rituals and astrological elections, it teaches the principles of alignment and interaction with astrological powers.

Astrological magic in general, and talisman making in particular, was considered by many ancient authorities as the culmination of all ancient knowledge(8). 

Consideration of Ethical Uses

Most of the magical texts that have survived are full of recipes for obtaining man’s burning desires for power, wealth, sex, and the like, with a fair share of recipes for cursing and manipulating others - although, the underlying principles, philosophical descriptions, and certain initiatory rituals, still carry the essential aspiration of cosmic alignment, an aspiration which is a remnant of its more ancient sources.

This is not to invalidate desire-based magic, although I do condemn its illicit forms. We all desire to experience certain things and aspire to improve and enjoy our lives, but it should not under any circumstance be at the expense or manipulation of other people. I do, however, feel that the real rewards of this art, which does not exclude mundane needs and desires, is in bringing its essence into our lives, its potential to awaken us to the power and vitality of interacting with the beating pulses of our universe. Additionally, its remedial applications and potential use in different kinds of healing, is proving to be very promising.

Before judging astrological magic on the surface of its auxiliary procedures, one should recall that astrological magic in its conception was largely practiced as a stellar religion. It was a way to connect with the gods, draw and participate with their power on earth and/or ascend to the stars (a belief that was prevalent in Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures). This was the re-claiming of one's ‘godly’ aspects, becoming a stellar man, a perfected man.

The overarching theme of cosmic alignment, or re-alignment, reflects a deep spiritual longing for a harmonization and unification with higher ordering creative powers, manifesting through the movement of the heavenly bodies.

This is a longing shared by many ancient cultures around the globe, expressed in a variety of ways in the social and religious structures, as well as the in the architectural structures, aligning and mimicking the heavens.

Do you not know, Asclepius, that Egypt is an image of heaven.
~ Asclepius, Corpus Hermeticum

This longing is at the heart of the ancient western philosophical and mystery schools. It is the Hermetic model for perfecting the soul, aspired by astral priests and advents. The famous ascension through the spheres of the planets, was the underlying motivation reflected in many astral magical rituals (for instance the ritual of ‘perfect nature’) and alchemical symbolism. It was a framework for working with the planetary powers, connecting to their essence, moderating/mitigating their extremes, alchemizing their virtues from their grosser aspects to their most subtle tinctures.

It is the Theurgic strive for the unification with the ‘gods’, or monadic creative principles, and the platonic/neo-platonic quest for perceiving the Noetic realm, and ultimately achieving henosis - oneness, or union with the one.

In his dialog the “Timaeus”, Plato tells us that when we enter the body, as a young soul, we do not control the push and pull of the powers working in nature and through our body. It takes time and experience to set the cycles of the powers in harmony, and the only way to do it is by syncing the internal cycles with the large cosmic ones, (each one according to his own cosmic reflection or natal chart).

The soul does this by also differentiating ‘same and other’, seeing the unity, the sameness in everything, by uniting its same with the cosmic same, it is absorbed in a higher ordering creative power, moving with the will of the demiurge, tuning in to the powers, and gaining their rational guidance.

This is the aspiration to become what we are in potential - an image of the cosmos, to consciously embody its powers and aspire to move in concord with them, disentangling their incoherencies in our soul, striving to perfect them through us, and us through them.

Taking the concrete example of our bodies, and the maintenance of our health, we know that our whole bodily system and its internal cycles and clocks are connected to natural cycles, the most pronounced of which are the cycles of the day, the lunations and the seasons. For instance, the circadian rhythm of the body is connected to the day and night, light and dark cycle, which regulates our cortisol and melatonin hormonal cycle. The more we are in connection and alignment with natural light and its cycles the better our energy is balanced, our sleep is deep and rejuvenating, and our health maintained. This of course, is also true for our mental and emotional balance and well-being.

In simple terms - alignment means health, misalignment disease.

So, just as our bodily health depends on concurring with natural cycles, our soul depends on its internal recognition and alignment with corresponding powers and cycles in the cosmic soul. And, although this might not be in agreement with some of the ancient philosophical schools, who preach that we must ascend the body and turn away from the senses, it is my conviction that It is only through nature that we fully express our astral self, bridge heaven and earth, and embody the gods in the world, in our mind, soul and body.

If nature is an image of the noetic realms, if the gods are in everything, then the more we consciously enter nature the deeper we see into its essence, its source, its roots. The more we expand to recognize the waves of cosmic radiation through nature, the more subtly we can move with them. The more we learn to listen and tune ourselves to the cosmic music, the more we are actively held together in coherence, elevating the planetary functions in us and remediating our weaknesses.

The more we become the image of the cosmos, through our own cosmic image, (our chart) the more we reflect its intelligence and rise to our ideal place and function within it.

This is the “participation mystique” with the cosmos, and our way to become more than our ego-bound selves, as we are raised to our higher potential as co-creators of our reality. Having the cosmos as our ally and moving our soul and body in agreement and harmony with the powers and creative cycles of nature, is the deepest healing act we can aspire to for our being in the world. This Is the ultimate magical power available to us, and our soul-given right.

It is from this view that astrological magic becomes an Initiatory path, it is the path to reclaim the stellar and planetary powers dormant in the soul and participate in their creative intentions. This places astrological magic as a spiritual path, tailored into the astrological cosmos. In many ways this is the Magnum Opus of Astrology, and the path laid out by the philosopher-astrologers of the past.

In conclusion, astrology shows the way to regain the animistic experience and helps guide us out of our individual and collective ignorance of the powers that shape our lives, but it is the magical aspect of astrology that teaches us how to cooperate with these powers, navigate their currents, and create with their aid.

Astrology is the manual of the cosmic interface, magic is the conscious interaction and navigation within this interface, to advance and improve one's state of being.

Astrology gives us the map, literally, but it is astrological magic that teaches us how to walk the territory.

It is my belief that through the experience and development of this unique form of magical and spiritual work, we may breathe life back into our perception of the cosmos and realize our own cosmic roots, further revealing this deep primordial truth of our being and the inter-connectedness of all things. 

This revitalization of our cosmic connection may help orient us for the healing of our individual and collective soul, and pave the way for a deeper understanding of, and engagement with, the living cosmos.

This is in fact, the great promise of astrological magic and the reason why it is so important for our time.

Notes and References:
1 A term coined by Terence Mckenna, mostly with connection to the the revival of Psychedelics
2 From the famous ‘Emerald Tablet’ Attributed to Hermes Trismegistus
3 also known as Poemandres, Poemander is the first tractate in the Corpus Hermeticum. Pimander is a personification of Nous or cosmic Mind the first
4 Book 3, Chapter 6.
5 Quoting the Neo-Platonic philosopher Plotinus (205–270 A.D)
6 this theory was implicit in ancient sources but was thoroughly articulated in the 9th century philosopher Al-Kindi’s seminal work “De radiis” (on rays)
7  For Aristotle the unique formal essence of a living thing is its soul. Although in Neo-platonic philosophy the Noetic Form is a higher Hypostases then the Soul/Psyche, and dwells within it as directing its animation.
8 According to the Picatrix, Thabit ibn Qurra, Pico della Mirandola and others, the Mage should be learned in all primary teachings, such as the seven liberal arts (including Astrology/Astronomy), Philosophy and Theology.