Episode 2 - Tangled Rays: The Complexity of Medieval Astrology

Arcane: The History of Magic

Astrology has incredibly ancient roots and wide-reaching branches that stretch across the globe and the course of human history. Although many people today believe it to be a simple or silly "superstition," in the middle ages it was understood to be a complex science. Despite current attitudes toward the subject, it has fundamentally shaped our history, and the structure of our lives today.

References and further reading:

Barton, Tamsyn. Ancient Astrology. London: Routledge, 1994.

Bell, David. "A Cistercian at Oxford, Richard Dove of Buckfast and london BL Sloane 513." Studia Monastica 31 (1989): 69-87.

Campion, Nicholas. A History of Western Astrology Volume II: The Medieval and Modern Worlds. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2009.

Kieckhefer, Richard. Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Monroe, Willis. "Mesopotamian Astrology." Religion Compass 13, Issue 6 (2019).

Page, Sophie. Astrology in Medieval Manuscripts. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002.

Thorndike, Lynn. The Sphere of Sacrobosco and its Commentators. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949.

Zerubavel, Eviatar. The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.