Book Reviews

Matheseos Libri VIII by Firmicus Maternus, translated by Jean Rhys Bram

This is one of the great works of traditional astrology. No cookie cutter light reading here; Firmicus Maternus is far out.

Though his theory of astrology in eight books is the longest work of Greek astrology that survives (written in Greek, that is; Maternus was Sicilian), it has not gotten nearly as much press as Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos or even other works by practicing Greek astrologers like Valens & Dorotheus. Part of this has to do with translation - Jean Rhys Bram was a classicist, not an astrologer, so she didn't really understand the material. With a new edition due (someday) from Project Hindsight, hopefully in coming years more people will discover the treasures of Firmicus Maternus.

Foremost among the many jewels of the Matheseos is the emphasis on the two techniques of antiscia and duodecima. Since Firmicus was so emphatic about these two methods, when first reading this book a few years ago I decided to check them out. Lo and behold, chart after chart, I have found them to be every bit as important and revealing as Firmicus claimed. I now view the regular positions of the chart itself as only part of the story. Antiscia and duodecima are another part, and the Greek lots (also called Arabic parts) are yet another part. To all you modern astrologers who may be reading this, forget about sorting through the baffling array of midpoints - just check the antiscia and the duads and everything will become clear.

It continues to be my view that both of these techniques could reinvigorate astrology. If this has piqued your curiosity, I gave a talk last fall entitled Antiscia and Duodecima, Two Amazing Greek Techniques Revived. It is available from Sun Recordings and Steve Pincus at 650-9686-4513. Cost is $20 plus tax and shipping.

Back to Firmicus. I rather like a guy who tired of the 'dog-eat-dog' confrontations of the law business to practice astrology, but I'll be the first to admit this work isn't for everyone. Even for a seasoned astrologer like me it is challenging reading. As is often the case with older authors, he'll say something is true without explaining why - yet we are used to getting the why first, then the examples as backup. The other price of entry is your ability to drop concerns about having a bad death. Apparently life in 4th century Italy was pretty rough, because Firmicus elucidates this topic at length. Yet if you can get over the 'but what about my chart syndrome' and concentrate on why one example is a challenging chart and why another one a good chart, there is much to learn.

A difference from contemporary astrology is *how much* things differed when the chart is day (Sun above horizon) or night (below horizon). This essential distinction underlies the entire work and informs virtually all his comments on the effects of planets

Another interesting section describes the effects of the Moon's movement (from one planet to another) on the life. He also distinguishes between left and right aspects, something that astute observation has proven true in my own practice. Maternus also has his own method of determining the chart ruler, and while it sounds fishy everything else he does seems to work, so I'll say it warrants investigation.

From the work of Firmicus, it is safe to say that what we think is astrology is only a small fraction of used to be astrology. I greatly look forward to the works from Project Hindsight which is making the historical effort to translate the key works of Greek astrology. Having astrologers translate instead of university scholars who don't know their way around a chart will make a tremendous difference in accuracy and usability of the material. But their edition of Maternus will be a while, so in the meantime if you want some idea of the real stuff then check out this version.