The Minor Works of Marsilio Ficino

...that the Moon pours life into all things. Moses The author likely refers to the Book of Genesis, where the Sun and Moon are described as the "two great lights." considers the Sun to be the lord of celestial things by day, and the Moon by night, as if she were a nocturnal sun. All have placed the Sun as the lord in the middle of the world, though for different reasons. The Chaldeans Ancient Babylonian astronomers and astrologers, often cited as the founders of celestial wisdom. indeed placed it in the middle of the planets. The Egyptians, however, placed it between the two "fives" of the world. That is to say, there are five planets above the Sun In this specific Egyptian arrangement: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and perhaps two other celestial divisions, though usually this refers to the fixed stars and the outer spheres., and below it are the Moon and the four elements.

They believe it was placed by divine providence closer to the earth than to the firmament The sphere of the fixed stars, which was the outermost boundary of the visible universe in ancient cosmology., so that by its boiling spirit, the vast moisture of the Moon and the air, as well as the thick matter of earthly things, might be nurtured. The very success and orderly arrangement of the planets declared its central position for another reason as well. This requires an arrangement of them in relation to the Sun in which Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars rise before the Sun, while Venus, Mercury, and the Moon rise after the Sun—as if they were escorting a king traveling in the middle. Those that move otherwise turn out to be weaker. Among them, those are considered more excellent whom the Sun, as lord, has commanded to go before him.

But let us return to the ancients. The old natural philosophers original: "Phyſici ueteres" named the Sun the heart of heaven. Heraclitus A pre-Socratic Greek philosopher known for his focus on fire and change. called it the fountain of celestial light. Most Platonists Followers of the philosophy of Plato, who often used the Sun as an allegory for the "Form of the Good." placed the World Soul The Anima Mundi, a vital force that Neoplatonists believed connected the physical world to the divine mind. in the Sun. This Soul, filling the entire sphere of the Sun, pours out rays through that fiery globe as if through a heart, and from there, it flows like a spirit through all things. By these rays, it distributes life, sense, and motion to the entire universe.

Perhaps for these reasons, most astrologers believe that just as God alone grants us an intellectual soul, He sends it only under the influence of the Sun—that is, precisely in the fourth month after conception. But let them be the ones to look into that. Mercury, certainly, which signifies the movement of our mind, departs least of all from the Sun in its motion. Finally, Saturn, signifying our state...
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