the ascendant. It is also called the Radix Vitae(Root of Life) and comprehends the
whole life of the native, which links it to the Gnostic and Hermetic mysteries of rein-
carnation discussed in the Corpus Hermeticum(attributed to Hermes Trismegistus).
Although the Corpus Hermeticumwe have today dates from the early centuries C.E.,
the cult whose doctrines it embodies began to coalesce in Egypt with Alexander’s con-
quest (323 B.C.E.) around the notion that the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian
Thoth were one in the same, an idea that had been commonly accepted since Plato’s
time. The Hermetic doctrine of reincarnation, which bears resemblance to the Hindu
and Buddhist concepts, is found scattered throughout the libellicomprising the Cor-
pus,but the following are especially relevant: Libellus I,sections 13–18; Libellus III,
section 4; Libellus VIII;and Libellus X,sections 16–22. In Libellus XI,sections 7–8a,
the Moon is referred to as “the instrument by which birth and growth are wrought,”
and we are told that the Moon “divides the immortals from the mortals.”
This new understanding of the antiquity of the parts may not be the final
word. If the parts, as it now seems certain, were used as early as 300 B.C.E., we may be
dealing with a tradition that is far older. The ancient usage of the parts has had an
effect on modern astrological practice. Besides being resurrected in the twentieth cen-
tury in the context of traditional astrology, the concepts underlying the parts have
been influential in modern astrological innovations. For example, the Arabic Parts
prefigure by at least 2,000 years the planetary pictures of the Hamburg School of
Uranian Astrology and similar practices of the chronobiologists.
—Robert ZollerSources:
Al-Biruni, Abu’l-Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad. The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the
Art of Astrology.Translated by R. Ramsay Wright. London: Luzac & Co., 1934.
Benatti, Guidonis. Liber Astronomiae, Traetatus V.Translated by Henry Coley as The Astrologer’s
Guide: Anima Astrologiae.American Federation of Astrologers, Washington DC, 1970.
(Originally published 1676.)
Festugière, Le R. P. La révélation d’Hermès Trismégiste.Paris: Librairie Lecoffre, 1950.
Ganivet, Jean. Amicus Medicorum.Lyons, France, 1508.
Guidonis Bonati Forliviensis Mathematici de Astronomiae Tractatus.Basel, Switzerland, 1550.
Hermetica.4 vols. Translated and edited by Walter Scott. Dawsons of Pall Mall, London: 1968.
Thorndike, Lynn. The History of Magic and Experimental Science.8 vols. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1923–1964.
Von Gundel, Wilhelm. Dekane und Dekansternbilder.Glückstadt und Hamburg, J. J. Augustin,
- Reprint, Darmstadt, Germany: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1969.
Zoller, Robert. Lost Key to Prediction.New York: Inner Traditions, 1980.
ARACHNE
Arachne, asteroid 407 (the 407th asteroid to be discovered, on October 13, 1895), is
approximately 104 kilometers in diameter and has an orbital period of 4^1 ⁄ 4 years.
Arachne was named after a Greek dyer and weaver who, after a competition with
Athena, hanged herself and changed into a spider. This asteroid’s key words are
“entangled” and “network.” According to Martha Lang-Wescott, Arachne indicates
THEASTROLOGYBOOK [43]
Arachne