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On 5/16/2012 @ 3:57 PM, Jon Sharp doth schreibble: > <SNIPS> > One key question for me re: directional issues is whether we believe > place/location to have innate qualities with which we work. If we do > see an intrinsic functional aspect to location then rather than > adjusting the direction of our movements we might focus on an > exploration of magical systems already 'in tune' with that location. Hi, Jon! Since the Stoic model for energetic transactions in the cosmos was primarily a biological one, exploring and determining the qualities inhering in various loci was also a concern of early astrology and astrological medicine and magic - we find astro- cartographical procedures and diagrams in Ptolemy's *Tetrabiblos*, for example (these schemata turn up much later in the work of Kelley and Dee, btw). Entities such as stones, plants, animals, people, towns, cities, countries, &tc. are all nested within the Climes, and they all irradiate and communicate with one another - a 'terrestrial astronomy'. The larger/composite entities - countries/principalities - are tied in with the concept of egregori that we have been discussing recently. These bear some similarity to the concept of nerve plexi or ganglia in the nervous system. See: Egregor (Egregore) by Liora S. Bernstein @Archive.org http://tinyurl.com/85g7q8g " The Stoics, on the contrary, followed the precedent of various Presocratics and of Plato in holding that the 'whole cosmos is a living being (or animal: zoion), ensouled and rational, having as its ruling principle [hegemonikon] æther [typically equated with fire by the Stoics].' . . . What is most remarkable about this 'vitalism' is that the Stoics evidently insisted that the active, life-giving, rational, creative, and directive principle of the cosmos is just as corporeal as is the passive, 'material' principle. " ~ from: "The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics" by Brad Inwood, page 129. (Preview @GoogleBooks) http://tinyurl.com/6tzv23d One late example of the Stoic insistence upon the corporeality of Spirits can be found in the Humoural Physiognomy of the Spirits described in the *Heptameron* and the *Key of Solomon*. For example: Spirits of Saturn: Tall, lean, slender body. Spirits of Jupiter: Sanguine and Choleric, of middle stature. Spirits of Mars: Tall, Choleric. Spirits of the Sun: Large, full and great body Sanguine and gross. Spirits of Venus: Fair body, middle stature. Spirits of Mercury: Middle stature, cold, liquid and moist. Spirits of the Moon: Great and full body, soft and Phlegmatic. See also: *Temperament: Astrology's Forgotten Key* by Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum (Preview @GoogleBooks) http://tinyurl.com/2c6jdz3 *Astrological Physiognomy from Ptolemy to the Present Day* by Bernard Eccles @SkyScript.com http://tinyurl.com/337fw9w *Reading the Human Body: Physiognomics and Astrology in the Dead Sea Scrolls* by Mladen Popovic (Preview @GoogleBooks) http://tinyurl.com/385ywbm *A Contribution to the Study of Palaeologan Magic* by Richard Greenfield (.PDF) @DumbartonOaks.org http://tinyurl.com/6sxb26y *The Humours: Introduction to Decumbiture* by Dylan Warren-Davis http://tinyurl.com/cce7t4 *Astrology and Health: Vitalism and Humours* by Dylan Warren-Davis http://tinyurl.com/2lglm9 Ptolemy's *Tetrabiblos* http://tinyurl.com/dbzttz *Book of the Seven Planets* by Ramon Llull http://tinyurl.com/es787 You might also wish to compare Giordano Bruno's system of Planetary Images: *Giordano Bruno's Images of the Planets* @ReoCities http://tinyurl.com/2apymys Cors in Manu Domine, ~ Khem Caigan <[log in to unmask]> "Heat and Moisture are Active to Generation; Cold and Dryness are Passive, in and to each thing; Fire and Air, Active by Elementation; Water and Earth, Passive to Generation." 'Of the Division of Chaos' -Dr. Simon Forman