Persian Nativities 3 available now; other upcoming books

[Ben]

Hi all,

This note is to announce the third and final volume of Persian Nativities, my translations of core medieval works in natal astrology, all available now. There are also upcoming works for 2010 and the Essential Medieval Astrology cycle.

Persian Nativities III: On Solar Revolutions

Abu Ma’shar (787-886 AD) was among the most famous of the medieval astrologers, both in the Arabic East and the Latin West. His On the Revolutions of the Years of Nativities is among the lengthiest discussions of the annual predictive techniques among the Persians and Arabs, with comprehensive treatments of profections, transits, directions through the bounds, planetary periods (firdariyyat), the “Indian” ninth-parts, and the chart of the solar revolution itself.

This translation draws on the surviving medieval Latin and Greek versions of the more complete Arabic text, accompanied by over 50 pages of introductory notes and explanations. Along with Book IV of the Book of Aristotle by Masha’allah (in Persian Nativities I), this work is indispensible for traditional predictive techniques in natal astrology.

Appendices include additional texts by pseudo-Ptolemy and a guide to natal topics across all volumes of Persian Nativities. (238 pages)


Forthcoming, 2010: Introductions to Astrology

This work translates two important medieval introductions to astrology: Abu Ma'shar's Abbreviation of the Introduction, and al-Qabisi's Introduction to Astrology, supplemented with excerpts from Abu Ma'shar's Great Introduction. Designed as a reference text for students, it covers all basic areas of traditional astrological concepts and terminology: signs, houses, planets, Lots, configurations and aspects, predictive techniques (natal and mundane). Of special interest is the reworked list of configurations, which show more subtle meanings within the Arabic than was previously known, preserving and building on Hellenistic practice. This work acts as a companion to all other texts in the Essential Medieval Astrology cycle.


Forthcoming, 2010: The Search of the Heart

This rare and largely unknown work on horary is an original text by Hermann of Carinthia, one of the famous 12th Century Latin translators of Arabic astrology. Hermann designed this work as an introductory text to horary astrology, with information on methods, Lots, tables of correspondences, example charts, and comparisons between Sahl, 'Umar, and Masha'allah.


Forthcoming, 2010-11: The Book of the Nine Judges

This famous medieval work is a compendium of nine other books on horary, all by Arabic-era astrologers: Sahl, 'Umar, Jirjis, al-Kindi, and others. Rather than put the works back-to-back, the medieval compiler divided the books up according to topics: readers therefore get the perspective of nine classical astrologers on each question! This work will form the core of the horary portion of the Essential Medieval Astrology cycle, and covers every type of horary question, from wealth, siblings, and illness, to pregnancy, travel, and horse-racing.


The Essential Medieval Astrology Cycle

Until the past few years, few works of traditional astrology were available to students in English translation. Recently, I have mapped out the Essential Medieval Astrology cycle, a set of translations based on core works by Persian and Arabic authors in all branches of astrology. It contains books covering introductory material and readings, natal astrology, horary, elections, and mundane techniques. Authors include Masha'allah, Sahl bin Bishr, 'Umar al-Tabari, al-Kindi, Abu Bakr, Abu 'Ali al-Khayyat, al-Rijal, and others. The cycle will also be accompanied by independent and encyclopediac works on all standard branches (such as Bonatti's Book of Astronomy and al-Rijal's On the Judgments of the Stars), as well as astrological/Hermetic philosophy and magic and an astrology course.

The current scope of the cycle is laid out in a free PDF available at my site, http://www.bendykes.com.

Most of these works are expected to be completed by 2015, with several to be completed by the end of 2011.
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www.bendykes.com
Medieval Astrology Services and Info

[Philip Graves]

Keep up the excellent work, Ben! Your productivity never fails to impress me.

Since you are now distributing your works through print-on-demand sources, I imagine that your translations will now be finding a wider reach, through being listed in online bookstores, both specialist and general. I have ordered your Volume III through TheBookDepository.com.

Looking at your coming projects, I think the Book of the Nine Judges is going to be something to look forward to especially for many astrologers. The title itself has a certain mystique, and James Holden's description of the book in his section on Arabic astrology in 'A History of Horoscopic Astrology' made it sound extremely interesting. It really is not before time that a suitably-qualified scholar got to work on this text, and I must congratulate you on responding to the challenge!

It sounds as though you are going to be offering some differences in your translations of Abu Ma'Shar's 'Abbreviated Introduction' and Al-Qabisi's 'Introduction' compared with the existing translations by Charles Burnett et al. Personally I think that it is good for the study of historical texts when there are multiple translations made available, however scholarly each individual translator may be, in much the same way as applies to such works as the Bible ultimately.

I also think it's important that the work you are doing is fully supported by the community of astrologers and historians that will benefit from the knowledge, since ultimately if you did not get enough sales to support your work, it wouldn't be viable for the work to be done. So I just wanted to encourage everyone reading Skyscript who might not already have done so to support your work by buying your translations, just as I would equally encourage them to buy the translations (and in some cases critical editions) by Meira Epstein, Shlomo Sela, Robert Hand, Dorian Greenbaum, Robert Zoller, James Holden, Charles Burnett, David Juste and Robert Schmidt, each in his or her own respective field of epochal and cultural speciality. While a few of these scholars may hold university posts that allow them to devote time on the side to their translations as labours of love, irrespective of commercial considerations, it certainly isn't the case with all.

[margherita]

Hello Philip

[Philip Graves]

Hi Margherita!

Yes, my shortlist of translators etc. was not exhaustive. Francesca Rochberg-Hamilton and Herman Hunger also merit a mention among the living Babylonian scholars (since we lost David Pingree and Erica Reiner in quick succession a few years ago now), and then there's Wolfgang Hübner in Germany.

Thank you for reminding me of Bezza's 'Arcana Mundi'. However, it remains absolutely impossible to get hold of new or used, and has been for as long as I have wanted a copy, which is more than six years now. I feel that this condition of long-term total unavailability is a little ridiculous for such a recent work (1995), and a shame for one so important and acclaimed.

I firmly believe that if the time is taken to make these translations in the first place, they should be available enduringly to astrologers and scholars, and not only to the few who are quick enough on the draw to buy them until their extremely limited first and only printings sell out. I cannot imagine that there can have been more than about 500 copies of Bezza's work printed, if that, and I would dare suggest that another 500 would have sold since the first printing sold out if a second printing had been made.

Ben Dykes has the right idea: when his limited first printing of his Bonatti translation sold out in two years flat, he was quick to issue reprints through print-on-demand, thus making his work enduringly available. I wish Dr. Bezza would do the same!

[margherita]