ASTROLOGIA MUNDA - Classical Astrologer Weblog

Book IV – Astrologia Munda
Introduction
Introduction by the Editor
Many people have written me, asking if there is some «beginners» text book on
mundane astrology, I can recommend. Of all the branches of astrology,
mundane astrology is probably the field that has lacked the most effort to
restore, at least with the same level of effort as has been invested in horary,
natal and even electional astrology.
The reasons for this are probably many, but the most obvious reason is that
until the last 5 or so years, we have lacked a real working knowledge of just
what the ancients taught and practiced with regard to mundane astrology. Most,
if not all, translations of relevant mundane texts have been made by scholars
studying the historical significance of astrology and astrologers on science and
a rather large body of translations has grown from the efforts of scholars such
as the late David Pingree, E.S. Kennedy, Charles Burnett, Keiji Yamamoto,
Michio Yano and many others working through the Warburg Institute, the
University of Tokyo, The Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science
and academic publishers such as Brill to name only a small number. In most
cases, it is in Academic Institutes and Universities that these translations of
original manuscripts have been confined; slowly but surely these translated
texts and manuscripts are now making their way into the circles of astrological
scholarship. But for the most part, these are not «beginners» books but rather
books containing instructions and philosophies requiring a certain competence
and understanding that cannot be termed «beginner» or novice.
There are several texts written on mundane astrology in the late 19 th century
such as we have from Raphael, Sephrael, and C.E.O. Carter etc. But these are
strongly revisionist texts based on Theosophical and modern humanist doctrines
that don’t believe prediction is possible in the first place!
In other words, there is a very real dearth of published commentary or
compilations of traditional mundane teachings today. With the exception of
perhaps Robert Zoller, 1
there is very little effort to recover these ancient
teachings and test them.
1
Robert Zoller has not published any commentary or teaching but has held two intensive workshops
on ancient mundane astrology.
1