Mundane Astrology

There is considerable evidence to suggest that the sunspot cycle has an effect on climatic, economic and political trends. The raw data on sun spot numbers is available from the Solar Physics Group at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

Nick Campion's Mundane Astrology Course

This course is currently being prepared. It will be designed at the level appropriate to MA studies at a UK university, with an appropriate appreciation of theoretical models.

The course will examine the tradition of 'Revolutions', or mundane astrology (world astrology, from the Latin mundus). Inextricably linked with classical and medieval historiography and prophetic traditions, such astrology has few clients in the modern west (Ronald Reagan and Francois Mitterand being exceptions), but is represented in a popular form in belief in the coming New Age of Aquarius. The course will examine the practices of mundane astrology from the canonical tradition set out in Claudius Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos (2nd c) with particular reference to Persian conjunctional theory (8th c) and the causes and consequences of Johannes Kepler's attempted reform (17th c). The documentary material will be placed in the context of the Platonic tradition, from Plato's Idealism and teachings on world ages to C.J. Jung's theory of archetypes and the collective unconscious. Critiques, such as Karl Popper's theory of historicism will be examined.

For further details please contact Nick Campion at mundane@caol.demon.co.uk

Mundane Astrology: the Astrology of World Affairs.
'The Greeks have designated the world by a word that means 'ornament', and we have given it the name of mundus, because of its perfect finish and grace'. (Pliny, De Natura Rerum, Book 2, III, 8)

Mundane Astrology is the application of astrology to world affairs, taking its name from the Roman word mundus – the world.

In the middle ages it was more commonly known as the study of Revolutions – meaning the study of the revolutions of the planets in their apparent orbits around the Earth. This is the origin of the idea of the political revolution – the rise and fall of states in line with celestial revolutions.

It had two purposes. One was to look back and explain history, looking for patterns and a sense of some greater purpose in apparently chaotic events such as the rise and fall of empires or religions. The other was to predict the future. Some philosophers believed that the world could be saved from disaster if future troubles could be predicted – and averted. Politicians were more likely to be interested in gaining personal advantage over their rivals.

Although it was originally developed in ancient Babylon there have been three subsequent major periods of developments. In 120 AD the Greek astrologer Claudius Ptolemy set down the fundamentals of mundane astrology in his 'Tetrabiblos'. In the ninth and tenth centuries the astrologers of the Islamic world added many more techniques, particularly the use of the cycles of Jupiter and Saturn to identify the rise and fall of states and religions. The twentieth century saw a major proliferation of techniques mainly based on the use of planetary cycles rather than, as had always been the case the intepretation of planetary positions in horoscopes.