中世纪星相术与现代星相术有何不同？

How does Medieval Astrology differ from modern astrologies?

首先，必须从赫尔墨斯主义的角度来理解它，把它看作是一种在犹太教、伊斯兰教和基督教社会中幸存下来的、经过修改的后期西方多神论的隐晦和神秘的表现形式。如果我们理解了这一点，我们就会明白为什么中世纪的文本经常是如此的晦涩和不完整。

FIRSTLY, it must be understood in terms of the Hermetic Tradition and as the often cryptic and veiled survival of a modified Late Western Polytheism in Jewish, Moslem and Christian societies. If this is understood, we will perceive why the texts of the Middle Ages are frequently so cryptic and incomplete.

毫无疑问，由于战争、宗教迫害和无能，许多东西已经丢失了，但也有许多东西从来没有被写下来。这是因为多神论的祭司们想要保持对这门艺术的控制，而后来又由于其实践者们对迫害的恐惧。

【资料图】

Much has been lost, no doubt, due to war, religious persecution and incompetence, but much was never put in writing in the first place. This was due to the desire of polytheistic priests to retain control of the Art and later due to fear of persecution on the part of its practitioners.

只有当我们通过赫尔墨斯主义作为这三种社会中的一种地下精神潮流的镜头来观察时，中世纪星相术才能清晰地呈现在我们面前。因此，在阐述中世纪星相术时，我们会经常提到赫尔墨斯主义和那些阐明了中世纪星相术书籍中技巧的实用和哲学的赫尔墨斯文本。

This astrology comes into focus only when viewed through the lens of Hermeticism as an underground spiritual current in these three societies. Therefore, in setting forth Medieval Astrology, frequent reference will be made to the Hermetic Tradition and to the Practical and Philosophic Hermetic texts which elucidate the techniques found in the old books of Medieval Astrology.

这些书籍是什么？

中世纪星相术的传统是我们相当熟悉的，虽然可能有一些文本没有被列入下面的列表，而且虽然随着新的发现，这个列表可能会被修订，但以下内容勾勒出了这个领域的大致情况，并为我们提供了一条指向星相术迷宫出口的阿里阿德涅之线。请注意，这个列表并没有试图给出一个完整的星相术赫尔墨斯文本列表。

What are these books?

The tradition of Medieval Astrology is pretty well known to us and though there may be some texts left out of the following list, and although the list may be revised as new items come to light, the following sketches the general field and provides an Ariadne's Thread through a Labyrinth of astrological error. Note that this list does not attempt to give a full list of astrological Hermetica.

我们所知道的星相术赫尔墨斯文本相当多，而且从希腊化时期星相术和星相术发展的角度来看，它们都非常重要，但对于中世纪星相术传统来说，并不是所有的文本都很重要，因为它们并没有都通过基督教和穆斯林编辑者的审查：

The astrological Hermetica which are known to us are fairly numerous and, while very important from the point of view of Hellenistic Astrology and from the point of view of the development of astrology, they are not all important for the Medieval Astrological tradition as they did not all get past the Christian and Moslem editors:

Nechepso-Petosiris（已失传，只剩下一些片段）

赫尔墨斯之书

Dorotheus 星相诗（由 David Pingree 翻译）

托勒密 四书（由 Ashmand 翻译，Robbins 有另外一种翻译）

Mathesis 由 Julius Firmicus Maternus 著（由 Jean Rhys Bram 翻译）

Vettius Valens 的选集（第一册由 Hindsight Project 翻译）

Antiochus 的 Thesaurus 中的片段（由 Hindsight Project 翻译）

Hephaestion of Thebes 的 Compendium（第一册由 Hindsight Project 翻译）

Masha’allah（关于出生的书，由 Rob Hand 翻译）

Alkindi（星相术作品仍未被翻译成英文）

Abu Ma’shar（简介星相术由 Burnett, Yamamoto & Yano 翻译；大纲星相术也最近被翻译了，他的其他一些作品仍待翻译）

Abu Ali Al-Khayyat（关于出生的书，由 James Holden 翻译）

Ibn Ezra（理由之书和智慧之始（由 Meira Epstein 翻译）（其他一些作品仍在希伯来文中）

Guido Bonatti 的 Liber Astronomiae（几个人在不同的时间翻译了这部作品的一部分：我为 Project Hindsight 翻译了前两部分（第一和第二论）；Bonatti 关于阿拉伯部分和战争星相术的部分。Rob Hand 翻译了第三论。Henry Coley（17 世纪）翻译了 Bonatti 的 146 条考虑

Luca Gaurico（Opera 仍在拉丁文中）

Junctinus（Speculum astrologiae 仍在拉丁文中）

Schöner（Opusculum astrologicum 由 Rob Hand 为 Project Hindsight 翻译）

Lilly 基督教星相术

Morinus（Astrologia Gallica，只有部分被翻译成英文：第 21 册由 Baldwin 独立地由 Little & Mason 翻译。第 22 册由 James Holden 翻译）

Placidus Primum Mobile 由 Cooper 翻译

这个列表可以再加长，也许将来会这样做。现在，您只需要知道上述作品都为这门课程做出了贡献。

其次，中世纪星相术与许多现代星相术的不同之处在于，它几乎完全没有心理学的成分。这在很大程度上是因为在基督教国家，中世纪的教会对任何企图关注灵魂领域的行为，都表示严厉的不满。

SECONDLY, Medieval Astrology differs from many of the modern astrologies in its almost total lack of psychology. This is largely due to the fact that in Christian lands, the Medieval Church frowned sternly upon any attempt to tread on its area of concern - the soul.

他们只承认身体会受到星体的影响。灵魂，以及意志，必须是自由的。

Astral influence was admitted on the body alone. The soul and hence the will had to be free.

在穆斯林国家，正统的观点也足以产生相同的效果。除了少数例外，中世纪拉丁语的星相术著作都非常小心地遵守这些规矩。

In the Moslem lands the orthodox point of view was similar enough to ensure the same effect. With few exceptions, Medieval Latin works on astrology are very careful to observe these parameters.

例外的情况有托勒密的《四书》（第三卷第14章），他谈到了灵魂的疾病；赫尔墨斯哲学家《论出生时星象的变化》（与普罗克洛斯《克劳迪·托勒密四部曲解说者》一起装订，1559年巴塞尔版），其中区分了灵魂的指示者和身体的指示者；亚伯拉罕·伊本·埃兹拉（Abraham ibn Ezra）的《论出生时星象》，他给出了寻找（Almutem figuris）或（Ruler of the Chart）的规则，并告诉我们它是用来判断人类灵魂的（他所指的并不是心理学）。

The exceptions arePtolemy's Tetrabiblos (Book 3.14) where he speaks of diseases of the soul; Hermetis Philosophi De Revolutionibus nativitatum incerto inerprete {bound with Proclus in Claudi Ptoelmai quadripartium ennarator ignoti nominis, Basilieae 1559) where distinctions are made between significators of the soul and significators of the body; Abraham ibn Ezra's Book on Nativities, where he gives the rules for finding the Almutem figuris or Ruler of the Chart and tells us that it is used, in part, for judging the human soul (by which he does not, as it turns out, mean psychology).

但是这种避免心理学的做法并不完全是出于对教会的恐惧。即使是前基督教或非基督教的星相术赫尔墨斯文献也倾向于处理客观、具体、物质的现实，而不是主观的关注。赫尔墨斯主义史学家经常指出，星相术赫尔墨斯文献是最古老的幸存赫尔墨斯文献。甚至比哲学典籍更古老，而且其中几乎没有我们认为是宗教性质的东西（意思是没有礼仪或提到神灵），也没有主观性质的东西（意思是没有心理学）。

But this avoidance of psychology is not entirely due to fear of the church. Even the pre-Christian or non-Christian astrological Hermetica show a tendency to deal with objective, concrete, physical reality rather than subjective concerns. Historians of hermeticism often remark that the astrological Hermetica are the oldest surviving Hermetica. Older even than the philosophical corpus and that there is little of what we would consider religious in it (meaning no liturgy or references to gods) nor subjective (meaning no psychology).

这些文本不寻求推断出生者过去、现在或将来的心理状态。它们绝大部分强调预测具体事件。出生者将会做什么或将会发生什么事情。赫尔墨斯主义炼金术和甚至魔法也是如此。

These texts do not seek to divine what the state of mind of the native was, is or will be. They overwhelmingly emphasise prediction of concrete events. What the native will do or what will happen to him/her. The same is true of hermetic alchemy and even magic

魔法赫尔墨斯文献寻求产生具体结果。炼金术赫尔墨斯文献产生具体物品（宝石、药水、伪造贵金属、制造颜料和药物）。

The magical Hermetica seek to produce concrete results. The alchemical Hermetica produce concrete things (gems, potions, counterfeiting of precious metals, manufacture of pigments and medicines).

只有在公元4世纪初期出现的哲学典籍中，我们才能找到主观性质的强调——例如《普曼德》、《赫尔墨斯典籍》和《The Crater or Monas》中对冥想的描述（“……他们被洗礼或浸入心灵”=冥想）。

It is in the philosophical corpus, which dates from the early 4th century AD that we find subjective emphases - as for instance the descriptions of meditation in The Pymander, the Corpus Hermetica and The Crater or Monas {“…were baptised or dowsed into the Mind ” = meditation}.

佐西姆斯（Zosimus）的碎片，属于炼金术赫尔墨斯文献的一部分，是上述规则的一个例外，它清楚地描述了一个冥想过程。 赫尔墨斯星相术中对预测的强调被中世纪星相术继承了下来，因此使其倾向于预测。

The Zosimus fragments, part of the alchemical Hermetica, form an exception to the rule mentioned above and clearly describe a meditation process. This emphasis on prediction in Hermetic Astrology was inherited by Medieval Astrology and so determined it to toward prediction.

中世纪星相术与一些现代星相术的另一个不同之处是，它是以地球为中心的，而不是以太阳为中心的。这在完整的课程中有更详细的介绍。

Another way in which Medieval Astrology differs from some modern astrologies is that it is geocentric instead of heliocentric. This is dealt with in more detail in the full course.

中世纪的星相家对命运的态度是什么？

What was the Medieval Astrologer's attitude toward Fate?

首先，必须说，如果你假设未来是可以预测的，你也就假设了命运和人们的行为是可以预测的。这对于中世纪星相术和它的前身赫尔墨斯星相术来说是肯定的。但是中世纪星相家对此是怎么理解的呢？

FIRSTLY, it must be said that if you posit that the future is predictable, you also assume fate and that people act in predictable ways. This is certainly true of Medieval Astrology and its precursor Hermetic Astrology. But what did the Medieval Astrologer understand by this?

他认为宇宙（指我们生活的有序世界）是受到一些以数学精确度运行的法则所支配的。这些法则是更大的法则——上帝的意志或法则——的一部分。所有存在的事物都是上帝计划的一部分。由于他堕落、腐败和无知的存在状态，人类个体被认为不可能知道上帝的意志。

He conceived the cosmos (meaning the ordered world in which we live) to be governed by laws which operated with mathematical precision. These laws were part of a larger law, God's Will or Law. Everything that existed existed as part of God's Plan. It was considered impossible for the individual natural man to know God's Will because of his degenerate, corrupt and ignorant condition of being.

这种情况是由受造（根据创世纪第三章的神秘解读，是由堕落造成的）所导致的。

This state of affairs was the result of embodiment (produced, according to an esoteric reading of Genesis 3 through the Fall).

在他未重生的状态下，人类受制于必然性，并受命运的束缚，也就是说，他受自然法则和人类法则（如教会或国王）的束缚。受到这些法则的限制，他的行为被认为在很大程度上，如果不是完全，也是部分可以预测的。

In his unregenerate state, man was under Necessity and was bound by Fate, which is to say he was bound by the natural laws as well as by Human laws (such as the Church or a King). Bound in by such laws his behaviour was considered largely, if not entirely, predictable.

社会法则将他固定在一个特定的角色中，与职业、阶级和国家有关。这不太被认为是星相术的内容，而更多地是物质原因——他的族群来自哪里——在实践中被密切考虑。

Society's laws fixed him in a specific role relative to profession, class and nation. This was not considered astrological so much as the contribution of the material cause - the stock from which he came - which was given close consideration in practice.

这是由于他的属类和种类。然而，在他的星相术中也有一些渗透，从《赫尔墨斯之书》和托勒密的《名望等级》中可以看出。在前者中，出生者决定了他的社会阶层。这在星盘中有所反映，但也反映了他是否能保持它或浪费他的机遇。

This was due to his genus and species. Yet there was some bleed over here into his astrology as is seen from the consideration of the Liber Hermetis and Ptolemy's Rank of Fame. In the first, the native's birth determines his social class. This is reflected in the horoscope, but so is whether he will maintain it or waste his opportunity.

《赫尔墨斯之书》向我们展示了星相家相信他能从星盘中看出出生者在这一生中是否“阶级跃升”或“阶级跌落”。也就是说，在出生于低贱地位时，他是否能克服出生时的逆境，获得名望和财富或者更加堕落。出生于优裕环境时，他是否能维持自己的地位，为家族增光添彩并增加影响力，还是放荡不羁，挥霍自己的遗产（顺便说一下，他可以从父亲或母亲那里得到遗产），并悲惨、贫穷和被唾弃地死去。

The Liber Hermetis shows us that the astrologer believed that he could tell from the horoscope, whether the native "evolved" or "degenerated" in this life. That is, having been born to a lowly station, did he rise above the adversity of his birth and achieve fame and wealth or fall further. Having been born to ease did he maintain his station to his family's honour and increased influence or did he run amok, waste his inheritance (which, by the way he could get from either his father or his mother) and die miserable, poor and vilified.

托勒密也教导我们，一个人可以从相对不知名的前辈中崛起，并达到伟大。

Ptolemy also teaches that one could rise very high in society from relatively unknown antecedents and achieve greatness.

如果你仔细看看他们都说了什么，你会发现他们断言当这种情况发生时（即当一个人超越了自己的地位时），通常会伴随着逆境，并且不会不影响周围人的和平和福祉。个人的才能和能力（影响他的职业和改变他的社会地位）是他出生时星象的结果。

If you look closely at what they both say, however, you will see that they assert that when this happens (i.e. when one rises above his station) it is usually attended by adversities and not without disturbances to the peace and the welfare of those around one.

个体在一个属类中出生的时刻，无论是人类还是其他，赋予了它独特的品质。这样一个出生星盘决定了一个人特定于他的命运。

The individual's talents and abilities (which impacted his profession and alter his social status) are the result of his birth configuration. The moment of birth of an individual in a genus be it human or otherwise, gives it its unique qualities.

这与他或她的种族（伊本·埃兹拉指出，在中世纪，一个有着国王星盘的犹太人不能成为国王，因为散居在外邦人中）或阶级（公爵的儿子可能成为国王，但同一所房子里同一张床上出生的农民的儿子只能希望成为一个商人或国王的总管）所共有的命运不同。

Such a birth horoscope determines an individual's fate as specific to him. This being distinguished from what is true of his or her race (Ibn Ezra points out that in the Middle Ages a Jew with a kingly horoscope could not be King because of the Diaspora {the dispersion of the Jews among the Gentiles}). Or his or her class (the son of a duke might become king but the son of a peasant born in the next bed in the same house at the same time could only hope to be a tradesman or the king's seneschal).

从这些考虑中产生了对一个人命运有不同层次的看法。我们有自己的命运，我们所属社会的命运（它可能由家庭、氏族、城市或国家组成），最后我们有人类的命运。这是我们无法逃避的，尽管其他的可能被超越。因此，通过智慧，我们可能意识到我们与（Anthropos）的合一，并将我们的灵魂与那伟大的心灵相结合，从而达到内在的启明。

From these considerations arises the perception that one's fate has different strata to it. We have our own fate, the fate of the society to which we belong (which may consist of a family, clan, city or nation), and, finally we have the fate of humanity. This we cannot escape, though the others may be transcended. Thus, through Wisdom we may realise our unity with the Anthropos and unite our souls to that Great mind, thereby achieving interior illumination.

但是我们身体的生命是由星盘（由寿主星{这在完整的课程中有更详细的介绍}）所规定的，直到它死亡，我们的身体至少在人类所共有的方面受到物质世界的法则的制约。

But the life of our body is regulated by the horoscope (by the Alcocoden {which is more fully explored in the full course}) and until it dies our body is subject to the laws of the physical world at least in so far as all humanity is.

我们走在地球上，需要食物和住所。圣经（创世纪6:3），与星相术传统一致，将人类生命的极限定为等于太阳的大年，即120年。

We walk on the earth, need food and shelter. The Bible (Genesis 6:3), in common with the astrological tradition, fixes the extreme length of human life as equal to the greater years of the Sun, namely 120 years.

这是指受造的人类生命，正如《阿斯克勒庇俄斯》（第一卷：4至结尾）告诉我们的，个别人是有死的，但人类是不死的。现在亚当意味着人类。因此，只有通过将内在人与Secret Adam、the Agathosdaemon、the Cosmic Christ、黄道相同一，才能获得不朽，同时摆脱必然性或命运。因为那时候一个人就与天命或所有事物来源的数学和谐相一致。摆脱了身体的局限，一个人就摆脱了调节它们的法则，并且自由了。

This refers to the embodied human life, as The Asclepius (Book I:4 to the end) tells us that individual men are mortal but mankind is immortal. Now Adam means mankind. Thus only identification of the inner man with the Secret Adam, the Agathosdaemon, the Cosmic Christ, the Zodiac, can give immortality and at the same time freedom from Necessity or Fate. For then one is identical with the Heimarmeneor the mathematical harmonies from which all things come. Having escaped the limitations of body, one has escaped the laws regulating them and is free.

因此，在神秘文献中，特别是在《普曼德》中，我们得知只要我们受造了，我们就受到星辰的统治，并受命运束缚。

Hence in the esoteric literature, especially in The Pymander, we learn that so long as we are embodied, we are under the rule of the stars and are bound by fate.

Dignification之道在于，身体仍然存在时，提升我们的存在到永恒的认识。

The Dignification consists in raising our being up, while still in the body, to knowledge of the eternal.

通过这种认识，我们被赋予自由，因为灵魂的认识决定了灵魂的形式或形象。知道它是上帝的形象，它就与上帝合一。

By this knowledge we are made free, for the knowledge of the soul determines the soul's form or image. Knowing that it is an image of God it is one with God.

与上帝合一，它就不能被身体所统治。它与身体的认同被打破了，人类就变得自由，在这个世界和天堂中生活，直到分配给身体的时间耗尽，那时他就成为天堂的居民。然而，在那之前，他必须坦然面对他命运所注定的一切。

Being one with God it cannot be ruled by body. Its identification with the body is broken and the human being becomes free living in both this world and in heaven until the allotted time of the body runs out at which time he becomes a denizen of heaven. Until such time, however, he must meet whatever has been decreed for him by his fate.

他的自由在于不被他的身体或经常伴随逆境而来的心理压力所支配或折磨。他拥有这种自由是因为他不完全把自己与尘世有限的肉身等同。是更高的智慧使我们自由，并且有人说，“智慧的开端是敬畏主。”这里所说的“敬畏”可能意味着“敬畏”，但我觉得通常需要恐惧才能让我们走上正确的道路。 这里所说的主是《皮卡特里克斯》中发现的萨比安祈祷中“最高建筑物之主”。这是埃利昂（Elyion），卡巴拉学者们所说的表示上帝的四字母词（Tetragrammaton）。

His freedom consists in not being ruled or tortured by either his body or the psychological torments which frequently accompany adversity. He has such freedom because he knows he is not these things. The higher wisdom sets us free and it is said, "The beginning of Wisdom is fear of the Lord." The "fear" referred to may mean "awe", but it seems to me that it frequently takes terror to set us on the right course. The Lord referred to is "The Lord of the Highest Edifice" of the Sabian invocations found in The Picatrix. This is Elyion, the Tetragrammaton of the Cabalists.

在从事星相咨询或评估自己星盘中反映出来的命运时，必须牢记这些事情。这至少有两个原因：首先，因为这不是现代人的对待命运的态度；其次，因为正如我们很快就会看到的，做到这些事情绝不是一件容易的事情。

It is necessary to keep these things in mind when practising astrological counselling or when appraising one's own fate as reflected in one's own horoscope. This is for at least two reasons: firstly, because this is not the modern attitude and secondly, because as it will soon be seen this is by no means an easy thing to do.

今日人们普遍认为，要改变自己的命运，只需要运用“积极想象”。这种观点的支持者很少研究他们的命主的生活，以验证性格上的变化是否真的发生了。

It is widely held that all one needs to do in order to alter one's fate is to employ "active imagination". Proponents of such a point of view rarely study their subject's life long enough to verify that a change in nature has in fact occurred.

中世纪的观点是，个人的本性是不会改变的。我们有时看到的那些变化是可以从出生星盘中预测出来的。不受生辰佐证的表面上的变化只是表面上的，短暂的和不真实的假装，是不可靠的。

The Medieval point of view is that an individual's nature does not change. Such changes as we sometimes see are predictable from the natal horoscope. Apparent changes unsupported by the natal promise are only apparent, transient and unreal affectations which cannot be relied upon.

而且没有重新设计我们的天赋性格的办法。假装改变自己性格中的这样或那样的方面是没有意义的，因为它是不合适的，也就是说，假装我们是我们不是的东西。 我们能够做到的唯一改变是Dignification，通过它我们彻底舍弃了与尘世有限的肉身完全等同的那个自己，并找回了真正的自我。

Moreover there is no re-designing of our natures. It is unprofitable to pretend to alter this or that aspect of one's personality because it is unbecoming, i.e. to pretend we are something we are not. The only change possible to us is the Dignification whereby we sacrifice all our selves and realise our true Self.

我们不能对我们作为尘世存在者之宿命的一部分或全部讨价还价，因为我们不能控制它们。事实是，我们不是主观能动者。当星相规律在我们身上起作用，我们只是参与其中的体验者，。

We cannot negotiate either the restoration of a part of our beings or the entire lot for we can control neither. The truth is that we do not act. The Self watches while the astrological machinery of the cosmos acts upon us.

如果像许多人今天所断言的那样，真的是“你可以成为你想成为的任何人”，那么就没有人会保持他们现在的样子。

If it were true, as many today assert, that, "You can be whatever you want to be” then no one would remain what they are.

对新奇事物的渴望，对丰富经验永远增加的渴望，以及贪婪这一基本驱动力作用于生活的各个领域，会导致我们所有人改变。

The desire for the novel, the hunger forever increasing intensity of experience, the base drive of greed acting in all areas of life would cause us all to alter.

改变我们的外貌，改变我们的伴侣，搬迁我们的住所，改变我们的生活方式，一直到不仅没有人认识我们，而且我们自己也没有任何身份认同的感觉。

To change our appearance, change our partners, move our dwellings, to alter our lifestyles all the time to the point that not only would no one recognise us, but also we would not have any idea of identity ourselves.

人们通过我们的外貌、言语和行为来认识我们。如果这些都不一致，人们就会说，他们不了解我们。

We are known by our appearance, our speech and our behaviour. If none of these are consistent, people say, they do not know us.

如果上述任何一类中存在相对不一致性，我们周围的人就会变得不安。他们的生活变得无法把控。我们不是与他人脱节地生活。我们的生活和行为不仅影响他人。他们的也影响我们。即使是最个人主义的人，也会在乎别人的意见，尽管他们说不在乎。

If there is even relative inconsistency in any of the above mentioned categories, people around us become unhinged. Their lives become unsettled. We do not live unattached to others. Not only do our lives and behaviour impact others. Theirs affects ours. The most individualistic of us cares, despite what they say, about the opinions of others.

使我们可被辨认的东西，让人们对我们形成意见的东西，让他们信任我们或爱我们或知道我们不值得信赖或他们的爱得不到回报的东西，在我们身上是不变的。那就是我们的性格。

That which makes us recognisable, that which lets people form opinions about us, which allows them to trust us or love us or know we are untrustworthy or that their love is not requited, is unchanging in us. It is our character.

我一直感到困惑的是，那些自称是星相家的人怎么能同时断言星盘可以用来分析性格，但是人们会改变，并且可以根据自己的愿望指导这种改变。

It has always puzzled me how people calling themselves astrologers can simultaneously assert that the horoscope can be used for character analysis but that people change and can direct that change according to their own desires.

反思一下我们多么善变和无常，我看不出有什么可能的目标能够持续足够长的时间来实现。

Reflecting how changeable and inconstant our desires are, I fail to see what possible goal there could be which could be held long enough to be realisable.

我觉得很明显，星盘可以用来准确地判断性格——我们可以根据出生星盘来分析彼此的性格——正是因为我们的性格从摇篮到坟墓都不会改变，仅在出生星盘中定义的狭窄范围内变化。

It seems obvious to me that the horoscope can be used as an accurate judge of character - that we can analyse each other's character on the basis of our natal figures - precisely because our character does not change from cradle to grave, except according to narrow limits defined in the natal horoscope.

反对这种观点的人认为这是宿命论和压抑，并且否认个人做出自己生活选择的自由。

Opponents to this view hold that this is fatalistic and repressive and that it denies freedom to the individual to make their own choices in life.

我回答说，在我作为星相家的经验中，没有人会来问我对他们星盘的解释，除非他们想听听我的意见。

. I respond by saying that in my experience as an astrologer, no one comes to ask for my delineation of their figure unless they want my opinion.

有些人来寻求娱乐，因为他们喜欢听别人谈论他们，并且愿意为此付钱。除非你奉承他们，否则他们不会第二次回来。

Some come for entertainment because they like to hear people talk about them and are willing to pay for it. They don't come back a second time unless you flatter them.

这并不有趣。我试着做一个预言者。也就是说，我试着读星盘，并诚实地说出里面有什么，相信它是现实（虽然我不能说出原因）。

It isn't fun. I try to be a soothsayer. That is, I try to read the horoscope and honestly say what's there believing that it is an accurate measure of reality (though how it is I can't say).

我不讨好别人。我不招揽客户也不告诉他们该做什么。我没有限制他们。他们的性格，他们的命运做了这些，就像我的性格，我的命运规定了我一样。

I do not pander. I do not solicit clients nor tell them what to do. I am not restricting them. Their character, their destiny does that, just as mine restricts me.

不管我们对生活有什么样的哲学，当我们的大限到了，就到了，人们会说我们（或者不说）他们想说的话。我们无法控制他们说什么或是否说。

It doesn't matter what philosophy we have of life, when our time is up it's up and people will speak of us (or not) as they wish. We have no control over what they say or if they say it.

在读星盘时，我试着提供服务。中世纪的星相家也是这样做的。我们的性格不会改变，我们的命运也不会改变。

In reading a horoscope I try to be of service. So did the Medieval Astrologers. Our character doesn't change nor does our fate.

可能会改变的是我们对两者的理解，但前提是这是我们的命运。因为我们的性格不会改变，我们的生活有一个可汇报的历史。

What may change is our understanding of both but only if that is our fate. Because our character doesn't change our lives have a reportable history.

我们可以用连贯和清晰的方式谈论我们的生活——或者至少我们可以这样谈论别人的生活。并不是说我们的生活没有任何一致性——除非是在疯狂的情况下，那也只是相对而言。这同样可以从出生星盘中读出来。

We can speak about our lives with coherence and clarity - or at least we can do so about other people's lives. It is not true that there is no consistency in our lives whatever - except in the case of insanity and then only relatively. This again is readable from the natal horoscope.

有人可能会问，如果没有改变，我们的行动无关紧要，为什么还要费心读星盘呢？答案是，如果你是一个哲学家，并且你真正想要Dignification，你应该知道你是否会得到它。

One may ask, If there is no change, and our actions don't matter, why bother reading a horoscope? The answer is that if you are a philosopher and you truly want the Dignification, you should know if you will get it.

否则，你可能想要知道未来，只是为了清理你的头脑，这样你就可以心平气和地生活下去。接受我们的命运是明智的。它使我们免于不必要和无休止的奋斗。你可能想知道你在某一年会赚多少钱，什么时候结婚，或者会有多少孩子。这些事情可以带来平静的心境。平静的心境是很值钱的。只有那些暂时失去它的人才能珍惜这一点。

Otherwise, you may want to know the future just to clear your mind so that you can get on with living it to the full. It is wise to accept our fate. It frees us from unnecessary and ceaseless striving. You may want to know how much money you will make in a given year, when you will marry or how many children you will have. These things can bring peace of mind. Peace of mind is worth a lot. Only those who have lost it for a time can appreciate this.

你可能是一个想要进行占卜的魔法师。你需要选定一个合适的时间来做这件事。你可能是一个希望在炼金术方面尽可能成功的炼金术士。

You may be a magician who wants to perform a divination. You need to elect the proper time to do so. You may be an alchemist who wishes to succeed as well as he can in alchemy.

你需要在正确的时间开始你的火焰。但无论你什么时候开始火焰，如果你不是一个炼金术士——这在你的性格中，也就是说在你的星盘中——你都不会成功。同样，魔法师之所以是魔法师，是因为他的星盘。同样地，大亨、国王、将军等等也是如此。而且这些命运可能会根据星盘而成功或悲惨。

You need to commence your fire at the right time. But no matter what time you start the fire you will not succeed unless you are an alchemist - that’s in your character which is to say your horoscope. So too the magician is such because of his horoscope. Likewise the tycoon, king, general and so forth. And each of these fates may be successful or wretched as per the horoscope.

你会看到我相当地局限了我们的可能性。我的星盘中有太阳与土星相对，而我写这篇文章时，土星正在经过我的上升星座（双鱼座）。我给你们分享我在过去23年里学到的东西。在其它时候，我可能会写得更自由一些，而其他人现在也会比我给予命主更多的自由。我认为他们在自欺欺人，尽管我认为他们没有狡诈之心。

You will see that I considerably circumscribe the possibilities open to us. My horoscope has the Sun opposed to Saturn and as I write this Saturn is transiting my rising sign (Pisces). I give you the fruits of what I've learned over the last 23 years. At another time I would have written a bit more liberally and others even now would give far more freedom to the individual than I do. I think they kid themselves and others, though I think they are innocent of guile.

我们人类经常犯有傲慢之罪。我知道谦卑已经不流行了。但在我看来，如果我们要成为优秀的星相家，我们必须以谦卑的态度来接近星盘。事实是上帝知道，我们不知道。最能干的星相家能做到的就是准确地读星盘。阻碍我们做到这一点的最大障碍就是我们以为自己已经知道它说了什么。

We humans are frequently guilty of hubris. Humility is not in fashion, I know. But it seems to me that if we are to be good astrologers we must approach the horoscope from humility. The fact is God knows, we don't. The most the able astrologer can do is to read the horoscope accurately. The biggest obstacle to doing this is the belief that we already know what it says.

玫瑰十字会曾经说过，“Summa scientiae nihil scire”（科学之高峰是一无所知）。这就是接近星盘的地方。我们开始时没有任何先入之见。然后我们只是简单地读星盘。也就是说，在学习了星相术的象征语言之后，我们只是把行星在各宫、与其他行星形成的各种配置等方面的意义翻译成简单的英语。

The Rosicrucians used to say, "Summa scientiae nihil scire" {The height of science is to know nothing} This is the place from which to approach a horoscope. We start without preconceptions of any sort. Then we simply read the horoscope. That is to say, having learnt the symbolic language of astrology, we simply translate the meaning of the planets in the houses, in various configurations with each other, etc into simple English.

为了帮助这个过程，在这个课程中，将给出一些规则，它们应该像语法规则一样应用于翻译。这里有一个动词，那里有一个副词，这里有一个名词，那里有一个形容词。要造一个句子，你就把它们按照适当的词序串起来。你不要编造词序——语言有规定的规则。

To assist in this process, certain rules will be given in this Course, which are to be applied as you would the rules of grammar in translation. Here you find a verb, there an adverb, here a noun, there an adjective. To make a sentence you string them together in the appropriate word order. You do not make up the word order - the language has rules which determine that.

我们不需要“创造”，更不用说我们沉溺于联想思维，从我们嘴唇中流出一连串的意识，希望说出一些“正确”的话。我们不“通灵”。作为星相家，我们读星盘。我们只读星盘。没有必要“解释”星盘。我们不能给它增加任何东西。我们的个人贡献只会妨碍它。我们根本无法理解客户。我们没有过他/她的生活。

We need not be “creative”, still less do we indulge in associative thinking running a stream of consciousness out of our liquid lips hoping to say something “right”. We do not “channel”. As astrologers we read the horoscope. We only read the horoscope. There is no need to “interpret” the horoscope. There is nothing we can add to it. Our personal contribution can only get in the way. There is no way we can understand the client. We have not lived his/her life.

虽然这门艺术被称为决断星相学（Judicial Astrology），但是我们对星盘的阅读决断的地方，而不是我们对客户的判断。我们经常被要求判断一个行星会产生一件事，否认一件事，或者在产生之后摧毁它。这需要经验和忠实地运用判断规则。天使的干预、内在的声音和熟悉的神灵的帮助是被坚决反对的，因为它们是自我欺骗、不必要和无益的。

Though the Art is called Judicial Astrology, it is our reading of the horoscope where the judgement takes place, not our judging of the client. We are frequently called upon to judge if a planet will produce a thing, deny a thing or destroy it once produced. This requires experience and the faithful application of the rules of judgement. The assistance of angelic intercession, inner voices and familiar spirits is categorically discouraged as self-delusion, unnecessary and unhelpful.

这种中世纪星相术是一种赫尔墨斯星相术。我们用水星，而不是月亮来系统地得出解释。不能说得够多：星相家不知道未来。即使他通过忠实地实践这门艺术，准确地预言了未来，他也不会比客户更知道它是真的，直到它实现了。、

This Medieval Astrology is an Hermetic Astrology. We use Mercury, not the Moon to systematically arrive at delineations. It cannot be said frequently enough: the astrologer does not know the future. Even after he has, by the faithful practice of the Art, accurately foretold the future, he will no more know that it is true than the client will until it is fulfilled.

星相家不能控制命运或神灵。“诸天述说神的荣耀”，我们只是读“迹象”。

The astrologer does not control fate nor the gods. “The Heavens declare the Glory of God”, we just read the “signs”.

预测过程中最薄弱的环节是星相家。我们在读图时所尽的最大努力也一定是不够的，因为我们的生活经验和智力都不完整或不完美。

The weakest link in the process of prediction is the astrologer. Our best efforts at reading the figure are bound to be insufficient because our experience of life and intelligence is less than complete or perfect.

我们所能希望的最好的情况是传达正确的东西——不是因为我们很伟大，而是因为这门艺术是真实的。在解释中总会有一定程度的直觉，但是把它降到最低，我们就可以消除很多错误的直觉。这样通过的直觉更有可能是正确的。

The best we can hope for is to convey the right thing - not because we are great but because the Art is true. There will always be a certain amount of intuition that finds its way into the delineation but keeping it to a minimum we edit out a great deal of fraudulent intuition. What gets through is far more likely to be right.

黄道是存在的起始和终点，我希望在后面的课程中向你展示。当你对任何问题有疑问时，把它参照黄道，那里包含了所有事物的原则。

The Zodiac is the Alpha and the Omega of existence as I hope to show in subsequent lessons. When in doubt about any issue refer it to the Zodiac where the principles of all things are contained symbolically.

对黄道和其中包含的关系的冥想，将会阐明许多疑惑，并引导你重新表达许多提问不当的问题。通过这种方式，你将会借助超然智慧，它经常会弥补你自己的不足。

Meditation on the Zodiac and the relations contained therein will elucidate many doubts and lead you to re-phrase many questions improperly put. In this way you will draw upon the Supernal Wisdom which will often make good your own deficiency.

这就带我们到了导论的结尾。我相信你已经享受了它，并且从中受益。它为你接下来更实用的课程和你可能会进行的任何中世纪星相术的学习打下了坚实的基础。

This brings us to the end of the orientation. I trust you have enjoyed it and have found it beneficial. It starts you off on a solid foundation for the more practical lessons that follow and any future study you may undertake in Medieval Astrology.

在命盘、时辰、世界和医学星相术中，我发现当我坚持遵循你即将学习的指导原则时，会得到更好的结果。

In natal, horary, mundane and medical astrology I have found the better results are gained where I have adhered to the guidelines that you are about to learn.

但请始终记住你刚刚读过的内容。并且记住没有任何一种星相术方法是百分之百万无一失的，然而，在说了这些之后，我发现中世纪星相术比任何其他形式的星相术都更准确。

But please always bear in mind what you have just read. And remember no astrological method is 100% foolproof however, having said that I have found Medieval Astrology far more accurate than any other form of astrology.

我很高兴与你分享它，并再次祝你取得巨大成功。

I am happy to share it with you and again wish you Great Success.