The Sacred Book of Hermes to Asclepius on the Thirty-Six Decans is an astro-magical hermetic handbook written in the first century milieu of Greco-Roman Egypt. It gives instructions for creating magical gemstone rings for each astrological decan in order to avert illnesses. When we read this text in English translation, we assume that it is a straightforward rendering of the original text.
This next instalment of my AM series of talks on the Egyptian decans will focus upon transmission of the Sacred Book itself which travelled across many countries before reaching contemporary eyes. What myriad roles were played by earlier authorities and mythic deities who informed the authors themselves, followed by the long line of orators, scribes, book collectors, private libraries, monasteries, merchants, universities, professional copyists, museums, editors of critical editions, and translators who all had a hand in passing on the wisdom of an ancient text to future generations?
The Egyptian Thoth, credited with inventing writing, was the patron of both scribes and magicians. Giving something a name by writing it down was considered a magical act that gives life to a notion. How do the scribe, the editor, and the translator take on the power of the magician who not only imbue the words with renewed life, but also shape, modify, substitute and add to text they receive, whereby the changes become part of the tradition itself?
Finally, this talk will discuss some of the challenges encountered in the actual translation of the Sacred Book regarding the accurate identification of the Egyptian deities invoked and the plants and gemstones of Greek taxonomies of the natural world so that the text may be used as a practical manual, as well as a historical document?
Demetra George, scholar, translator, and practitioner, brings the practice of contemporary astrology back to its ancient roots. Early in her career with the publication of Asteroid Goddesses (1986), she looked to cross-cultural mythologies to draw out the archetypal meanings and psychological expression of newly available planetary bodies. She then turned to Greek and Latin texts, articulating the history, cosmology, and techniques of traditional astrology. Author of seven books, her most recent is Ancient Astrology in Theory and Practice: A Manual of Traditional Techniques, Vols. 1 &2 (Rubedo Press, 2019,2022).