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Select Works of Plotinus · 177 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 182

Section 6 6. But in fact everything follows its own Kind; the birth is a horse because it comes from the Horse Kind, a man by springing from the Human Kind; offspring answers to species. Allow the kosmic circuit its part, a very powerful influence upon the thing brought into being: allow the stars a wide material action upon the bodily part of the man, producing heat and cold and their natural resultants in the physical constitution; still does such action explain character, vocation and especially all that seems quite independent of material elements, a man taking to letters, to geometry, to gambling, and becoming an originator in any of these pursuits? And can we imagine the stars, divine beings, bestowing wickedness? And what of a doctrine that makes them wreak vengeance, as for a wrong, because they are in their decline or are being carried to a position beneath the earth- as if a decline from our point of view brought any change to themselves, as if they ever ceased to traverse the heavenly spheres and to make the same figure around the earth. Nor may we think that these divine beings lose or gain in goodness as they see this one or another of the company in various aspects, and that in their happier position they are benignant to us and, less pleasantly situated, turn maleficent. We can but believe that their circuit is for the protection of the entirety of things while they furnish the incidental service of being letters on which the augur, acquainted with that alphabet, may look and read the future from their pattern- arriving at the thing signified by such analogies as that a soaring bird tells of some lofty event.
Themes
◆Body As Obstacleanthropology

The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.

The author distinguishes between bodily constitution (influenced by stars/climate) and the mind/ideas (derived from another Principle), implying the body is subject to external limitation.

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◆Correspondencecosmology

The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.

The argument regarding augury and stars foretelling individual events implies a legible map of cosmic forces reflected in human life.

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◆Cosmic Sympathycosmology

The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.

The passage explicitly discusses 'sympathetic relations with the heavenly bodies' as a determining factor for growth and human constitution, which is the core of this doctrine.

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◆Divine Providencetheology

Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.

The text debates the extent to which the 'universal circuit' or 'monarch of the All' orders human affairs versus individual free will, central to discussions of Providence.

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◆Microcosm Macrocosmcosmology

The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.

The astrological theory critiqued in the passage relies on the premise that human fate and constitution reflect the positions of the heavenly bodies.

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◆Self Knowledgesoteriology

The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.

The passage emphasizes the need to distinguish 'our individual act' from what is 'thrust upon us,' requiring recognition of one's own agency.

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◇Monadcosmology

The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

[auto] The passage explicitly concludes that the universal circuit is the monad, identifying it as the central unifying principle.

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◇Unity Of Beingtheology

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

[auto] The passage describes a universal circuit and sympathetic relations connecting plants, animals, humans, and the cosmos into a single determined system.

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Related passages · 4 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 6 (part 7)
“That which Sol (the sun) is spiritually becomes corporeal in Luna (the moon)." ( Signature , ix. 24.) After the world of stars had begun to exist, the sidereal life appeared by the power of the former—that is to say, that living organisms…”
Both passages discuss the influence of celestial bodies on earthly beings, including humans. They explore the relationship between cosmic forces and individual characteristics, though from different mystical perspectives.
◆greek_mystery|Orphic Hymns|Front Matter, p. 4 (part 16)
“This heated paper we may compare to a certain relation of inferiors to superiors; and its approximation to the lamp, to the opportune use of things according to time, place, and matter. But the procession of fire in the paper aptly represe…”
Both passages discuss the interconnectedness of all things in the universe and the influence of celestial bodies on terrestrial life. They explore the concept of similitude and sympathy among natural elements, and how these relationships manifest in various forms, such as plants and celestial orbs.
◆platonism|Plato: Timaeus|Section 1p
“Now, when they should be implanted in bodies by necessity, and be always gaining or losing some part of their bodily substance, then in the first place it would be necessary that they should all have in them one and the same faculty of sens…”
Both passages discuss the influence of celestial bodies and divine beings on human character and fate. They explore the idea of cosmic order and the role of the stars in shaping human life, though from different philosophical and mystical perspectives.
◆western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi)|17. The Writing Of The Starsb
“It was included in the work of Montfaucon on the religions and superstitions of the world, and also in the treatise upon Magic published by the mystic Eckartshausen. Scholars, moreover, are not agreed upon the configuration of the letters…”
Both passages discuss the influence of celestial bodies on human life and the interpretation of celestial patterns. Passage A focuses on the stars' influence on character and vocation, while Passage B delves into the symbolic and mystical interpretations of star configurations. Both explore the idea of celestial bodies as bearers of meaning and influence, albeit from different cultural and philosophical perspectives.