Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter LIX — Of Divination by Dreams · 1 of 1 · tr. Henry Morley; L. W. de Laurence ed.
Chapter LIX, Section 1
CHAPTER LIX. Of Divination by Dreams . There is also a certain kind of divination by dreams which is confirmed by the traditions of philosophers, the authorities of divines, the examples of histories and by daily experience. By dreams I do not mean vain and idle imaginations, for they are useless and have no divination in them, but arise from the remains of watchings, and disturbance of the body. For, as the mind is taken up about and wearied with cares, it suggests itself to him that is asleep. I call that a true dream which is caused by the celestial influences in the phantastic spirit, mind or body, being all well disposed. The rule of interpreting these is found amongst astrologers, in that part which is wrote concerning questions: but yet that is not sufficient, because these kinds of dreams come by use to divers men after divers manners, and according to the divers qualities and dispositions of the phantastic spirit. Wherefore, there cannot be given one common rule to all for the interpretation of dreams. But, according to the doctrine of Synesius, seeing there are the same accidents to things, and like befalls like, so he which hath often fallen upon the same visible thing, hath assigned to himself the same opinion, passion, fortune, action, and event. As Aristotle saith, the memory is confirmed by sense, and by keeping in memory the same thing, knowledge is obtained; as also, by the knowledge of many experiences, by little and little, arts and sciences are thus obtained. After the same account you must conceive of dreams. Whence Synesius commands that every one should observe his dreams and their events, and such like rules, viz., to commit to memory all things that are seen, and accidents that befall, as well in sleep as in watching, and with a diligent observation consider with himself the rules by which these are to be examined; for by this means shall a diviner be able, by little and little, to interpret his dreams, if so be nothing slip out of his memory. Now, dreams are more efficacious when the Moon overruns that Sign which was in the ninth number of the nativity, or revolution of that year, or in the ninth Sign from the Sign of Perfection. For it is a most true and certain divination, neither doth it proceed from nature or human arts, but from purified minds, by divine inspiration. We shall now discuss and examine Prophesying and Oracles.
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 links celestial influences to the human mind, stating that celestial influences affect the phantastic spirit in dreams.
The ritual practice of discerning hidden knowledge — future events, concealed causes, or the will of higher powers — through a structured technique applied to cards, lots, astrological configuration, entrails, oracle, or other sortilege, rather than through direct unmediated insight. Distinct from gnosis_direct_knowledge (unmediated inner apprehension of ultimate truth, not a technique applied to an external medium) and cosmic_sympathy (the underlying doctrine of hidden affinity that many divinatory techniques presuppose, rather than the practice of consulting it).
The entire chapter is devoted to divination by dreams, discussing its validity, the distinction between true and vain dreams, rules of interpretation, and astrological conditions for efficacy.
The rule of the stars and planetary powers over mortal destiny — the astrological governors whose spheres bind souls to birth, error, and death; in Sethian gnosis the 'error of the stars' that the savior exposes, and from which the incorruptible generation alone is free. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of universal affinity) in being a bondage-to-powers claim, and from archons (the rulers as personal beings) in concerning the astral machinery itself.
The passage states that dreams are 'more efficacious when the Moon overruns that Sign which was in the ninth number of the nativity,' making specific planetary-astrological configurations determinative of prophetic power.