The luminaries were what traditional
astrologer
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...
s called the two astrological "
planets
A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young ...
" which were the brightest and most important objects in the heavens, that is, the
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
and the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
. Luminary means, source of light. The Sun and Moon, being the most abundant sources of light to the inhabitants of Earth are known as luminaries. The astrological significance warrants the classification of the Sun and Moon separately from the planets, in that the Sun and Moon have to do with man's spiritual consciousness, while the planetary influences operate through the physical mechanism. The Moon is a luminary in the biblical sense that it affords to Man "light by night". Some early, Pre-Newtonian astronomers to observe and study luminaries include
Pythagoras
Pythagoras of Samos ( grc, Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, Pythagóras ho Sámios, Pythagoras the Samos, Samian, or simply ; in Ionian Greek; ) was an ancient Ionians, Ionian Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher and the eponymou ...
,
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
,
Claudius Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
,
al-Khwarizmi
Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī ( ar, محمد بن موسى الخوارزمي, Muḥammad ibn Musā al-Khwārazmi; ), or al-Khwarizmi, was a Persian polymath from Khwarazm, who produced vastly influential works in mathematics, astronom ...
,
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic Church, Catholic cano ...
,
Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe ( ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe; generally called Tycho (14 December 154624 October 1601) was a Danish astronomer, known for his comprehensive astronomical observations, generally considered to be the most accurate of his time. He was k ...
,
Galileo Galilei
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
, and
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler (; ; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws ...
.
Origins
The Sun and Moon were considered the rulers of day, and night, in accordance with the doctrine of
astrology of sect
Sect is an ancient astrological concept in which the seven traditional "planets" (including the Sun, the Moon and the five starry planets) are assigned to two different categories: diurnal or nocturnal sect.
As can be seen by the example of Mer ...
: ''diurnal'' (or daytime) planets, which were ruled by the Sun, and ''nocturnal'' (or nighttime) planets, which were ruled by the Moon.
The Sun was also the ''sect'' ruler—or the ''luminary of sect'' for all
charts
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabul ...
of events and individuals born in the daytime, when the Sun was over the horizon; and the Moon was the ''sect'' ruler or ''luminary of sect'' for night charts, when the Sun was below the horizon.
Ancient astrologers divided all astrological factors into day and night groups:
essential dignities
Essential dignity, in astrology, refers to the relative strength or weakness of a planet or point's zodiac position by sign and degree, or its ''essence''—what the 17th-century astrologer William Lilly called "the strength, fortitude or de ...
,
Arabian Parts
In astrology, the Arabian/Arabic parts or lots are constructed points based on mathematical calculations of three horoscopic entities such as planets or angles. The distance between two of the points is added to the position of the third (very ...
(or "Lots") and all planetary characteristics. Even each of the
Starry planets themselves "belonged" to one luminary or the other. The luminary "in charge" of any given chart was called the luminary of sect. (See
sect
A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group. Although the term was originally a classification for religious separated groups, it can now refer to any organization that b ...
.)
The luminaries can be found in the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
:
:''And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also. And God set them in the
firmament
In biblical cosmology, the firmament is the vast solid dome created by God during his creation of the world to divide the primal sea into upper and lower portions so that the dry land could appear. The concept was adopted into the subsequent ...
of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.'' (
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
1:16-18,
King James Version
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
)
In modern Western
astrology
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...
, the importance of the Moon and the Sun has even come to outweigh all the other celestial factors. In the interpretation of chart data. In
Hindu astrology
Jyotisha or Jyotishya (from Sanskrit ', from ' “light, heavenly body" and ''ish'' - from Isvara or God) is the traditional Hindu system of astrology, also known as Hindu astrology, Indian astrology and more recently Vedic astrology. It is one ...
, the Moon (and the
Ascendant
The ascendant (Asc, Asc or As) is the astrological sign on the eastern horizon when the person was born.
According to certain astrological theories, celestial phenomena reflect or influence human activity on the principle of "as above, so belo ...
) have that distinction.
Early beliefs of the Sun and Moon
In the early history of all people we find the Sun and Moon regarded as human beings, connected with the daily life of mankind, and influencing in some mysterious way man's existence, and controlling his/her destiny. We find the luminaries alluded to as ancestors, heroes, and benefactors, who, after a life of usefulness on Earth, were transported to the heavens, where they continue to look down on, and, in a measure, rule over earthly affairs. The basis of mythology is the worship of the solar great father, and the lunar great mother. For centuries, people have worshiped and regarded the luminaries as objects of higher powers. Oftentimes, the Sun and Moon have been considered as opposite sexes. For example, the Sun being "the father" and the Moon being "the mother". In Australia, the Moon was considered to be a man, the Sun a woman, who appears at dawn in a coat of red kangaroo skins.
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
speaks of the Moon as "she," while in Peru, the Moon was regarded as a mother who was both sister and wife of the Sun. The sex of each has been disputed and thought of differently over the centuries. This confusion in the sex, ascribed to the Sun and Moon by different nations, may have arisen from the fact that the day is mild and friendly, hence the Sun which rules the day would properly be considered feminine, while the Moon which rules the chill and stern night might appropriately be regarded as a man. On the contrary, in equatorial regions, the day is forbidding and burning, while the night is mild and pleasant. Applying these analogies, it appears that the sex of the Sun and Moon would, by some tribes, be the reverse of those ascribed to them by others, climatic conditions being responsible for the confusion.
Also many cultures believe the Sun and Moon to be husband and wife or brother and sister. From the conception that the Sun and Moon were husband and wife many legends concerning them were created, chief among these being the old Persian belief that the stars were the children of the Sun and Moon. As common with many marriages it was also thought that the sun and moons marriage was an uneasy one. There are many legends of the Sun and Moon that relate their disputes and marital troubles, for mythology reveals that as husband and wife the Sun and Moon did not live happily together, some of these explaining the reason of seasons and weather. The myths and thoughts of the relationship between the Sun and Moon and their role in the universe are high in quantity. Correlations and connections can be made with some of these beliefs but oftentimes many disagree with others.
Luminaries in medicine
In early modern England, the medical effects of the Sun and the Moon had been traditionally explained by a vast symbolic system of "analogies, correspondences, and relations among apparently discrete elements in man and the universe," which had its conceptual origins in the works of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
,
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
, and
Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one of ...
. The ultimate causes of planetary emanations had been considered "occult," an Aristotelian and early modern term utilized when distinguishing "qualities which were evident to the senses from those which were hidden" After the Restoration, many physicians attempted to rid the natural world of occult causes and to explain invisible forces solar and lunar emanations via mechanical, chemical, and mathematical systems.
To explain the medical effects of the luminaries, the English physicians
Richard Mead
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...
(1673-1754) and
James Gibbs
James Gibbs (23 December 1682 – 5 August 1754) was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Aberdeen, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England. He is an important figure whose work spanned the transi ...
(d. 1724) utilized
iatromechanism, which regarded the body as a Cartesian machine, conforming in its functions to mechanical laws. Physiological phenomena could thus be explained in terms of physics. Richard Mead subsequently applied Newton's gravitational theories to Pitcairne's hydraulic iatromechanism and astrological medicine. In De imperio solis ac lunae in corpora humana et morbis inde oriundis
treatise concerning the influence of the Sun and moon on human bodies and the diseases thereby produced(1704), Mead stressed the mechanical effects of solar and lunar emanations, especially the gravitational effects of the tides, on the pressure of vessels and fluids within the human body.
Further reading
*''Luminaries: The Psychology of the Sun and Moon in the Horoscope'' by
Liz Greene
Liz Greene (born 4 September 1946) is an American-British astrologer, psychologist and author. Her father was born in London, and her mother in the United States.
Career
Greene is one of the chief writers for astro.com the website for her compa ...
, Howard Sasportas
References
{{More citations needed, date=April 2014
History of astrology