Medieval Astrology and Free Will Debate: From Fatalism to Spiritual Liberation

Introduction

In these 3 conferences we will embrace a historical period covering more than fifteen centuries of history. As you can understand, in these fifteen centuries many things have happened, making it impossible to treat the discourse in a unified manner. Meanwhile, the first criterion we used in these meetings was to illustrate not so much the evolution of astrological technique and therefore the history of the most famous astrologers of the time, but rather the evolution and reworking that occurred at the base of astrology over time. Astrology indeed undergoes fundamental reworkings during this period that will lead it to radically change attitudes and separate from Astronomy.

To illustrate this process we will use 3 fundamental themes that are useful to follow a discourse that would otherwise be too long considering more than 15 centuries of history. In a certain historical period, themes develop and flourish in astrology that, although already all present since antiquity, nevertheless become precise and flourish in a precise historical period. So while setting up the discourse in chronological order, we have decided to highlight some fundamental themes in the various periods and these themes are: that of the debate on free will (a centuries-long polemic that however has its peak in the XIV-XV century); the theme of philosophical or magical astrology and the theme of interior or spiritual astrology in separation and antithesis to the birth of astronomy.

These three themes are actually deeply linked to each other. The first theme, which is tonight's topic, mainly concerns the discourse of free will, that is, the relationship between man and his destiny. This is a debate inherent in astrology and in all disciplines with a divinatory character. This debate was never resolved if we think that even in the XVII century Galileo was tried precisely for his astrological doctrines that denied the existence of free will... The theme of free will is also the theme for which Galileo was tried in 1604. Galileo himself, as Antonino Poppi demonstrated by finding in 1992 the acts of a Paduan trial forgotten by history, ended up being tried before his heliocentric position precisely for his astrological positions by virtue of this very anathema.

In 1604 one of the main charges was that of having declared that his astrological predictions were infallible and therefore -I quote verbatim- "haver ragionato che le stelle, i pianeti et gl'influenza celesti necessitino" (having reasoned that stars, planets and celestial influences necessitate). This clearly went against free will and was therefore considered at the time a reason for heresy.

This "necessitate" summarizes in one verb the entire polemical debate that occurred from 1300 to 1500 regarding free will. Let's try to understand the meaning of this debate. Don't be mistaken, don't think that this debate did not revolutionize and polarize the attention of the crowds because if today it is not known, at the time it polarized the attention of scholars for centuries, revolutionizing astronomy and astrology at their foundations.

What we will see here is therefore the evolution and change at the base of astrology which during the Middle Ages becomes one of the most fatalistic and superstitious disciplines, denying every aspect and individual freedom to man, totally subjected to his destiny, until becoming, as we will see in the next conference, the instrument of liberation of the individual capable of directing and disciplining the forces of the stars to gain his spiritual freedom.

Astrology and Nascent Christianity

From the beginning, the first Christians realized that the question of astrology was a delicate issue. Because on one hand there was a direct episode, like that of the wise men in Matthew's gospel, on the other hand there was a clear tendency to fall into fatalistic doctrines or into astrolatry, as was customary at the time. So the first Church Fathers, the most important ones like Origen, Clement of Alexandria, etc... practically did not take sides, avoiding talking about it. This was also because at the time there was the doctrine of the Arcane and the most delicate doctrines and arguments were addressed only with those who had been baptized, in secret and not treated publicly.

All that we have regarding the catechetical school of Alexandria in Egypt therefore dates back to fragments of these authors who found themselves having to fight against astrolatry and therefore insist on emphasizing the distinction between celestial bodies and angels.

"The stars, spiritual bodies under the vigilant government of angels with whom they are in relationship, are not causes of birth, but can designate present, future and past realities, regarding climate changes, abundance and scarcity of fruits, pestilences and fevers and of men. Not even in dreams do the stars cause activities, but designate 'present, future and past realities'" - Clement of Alexandria, Extract 54

Each planet then corresponds to an angel and a Christian and angelic intelligence opposed to a demonic power and thus an incessant struggle is unleashed from which man can escape through baptism.

"The 12 signs of the Zodiac and the seven stars that follow them rise now in conjunction now in opposition [...] But both the stars and the powers are of different types: some are beneficent, some maleficent, some right, others left [...] From this contrast and from this battle..."