Join us for a conversation with Ione Richards about the lots of Eros and Necessity: fate, fortune, and Hellenistic religious philosophy.
https://astromagia-org.zoom.us/j/88990636311?pwd=t8r99nmgulCUxwyhnJ3AsHbrVF9EXX.1
Astrologers with magical practices often encounter a crossroads, where some outcomes of Fate and Fortune are set, and some may be changed, but how? From an astrological perspective, these allotments can be observed in life-giving places known as hilajical points, which tend to include the lot of Fortune, and sometimes Spirit.
In astrology, lots are a form of sortition derived by the distances between planets, projected from the ascendant. The lots of Spirit (Daimon) and Fortune are cast by the Sun and Moon, and through these life-giving rays, are said to directly influence our livelihood. In Valens’ lot calculations, Eros and Necessity are calculated by way of Spirit and Fortune, thus implicating these same life-giving places in their form and function. All four of these lots are associated with daimons, spirited attendants of the Wheel of Fortune, and together form the image of the caduceus, the magical rod associated with Hermes.
Central to this topic is the interplay of Eros and Necessity as Hellenistic religious philosophies which span far and wide beyond their apparent names. Eros, son of Venus, takes on Dionysian qualities, loosening bonds while making them. Necessity, also known as Ananke, binds to the extent of threatening livelihood, its own form of loosening, and yet dually holds significant connection to Venus and the triple Fates, as well as Mercury, among many other godforms. Necessity compels with such a force that even the gods dare not contest her, and yet some of these deals may be shifted through persuasion, by way of enchanted words or music.
In astrology, these lots are both highly relational, as well as potentially magical. Textual tradition has a tendency to leave us with one dimensional attributes related to the functionality of these lots, often taking significations on one side of an extreme to clearly illustrate a point. While this holds weight, sometimes it misses the myriad other ways these themes can play out in our lives.
Digging deep into the why, how, and what then of it all, this talk will offer both some expanded ideas related to interpretation. It will additionally weave underlying Hellenistic principles to widen the lens of how religious philosophies play out through astrology as a modality, both within and beyond their regional and historical contexts. Eventually, it all arrives back to the original premise, where we alone may bid with the Fates to shift the outcome of an only apparently set Fortune, and where some outcomes must be accepted as set.
Ione Richards (they/she) is an astrologer with a penchant for enlivening the underlying technicalities of classical techniques through myth and story-telling, encouraging an open and curious lens as a guide. In addition to a myriad of other astrological realms, they also offer divinatory and sometimes herbal consults. Currently they are based in Seattle, Washington on stolen Coast Salish land ancestrally tended by the Duwamish, Suquamish, Stillaguamish, and Muckleshoot People.