Asclepigenia (flourished 430
- 485 CE), a priestess of the Greek Eleusinian Mysteries
and philosopher of the Neo-Platonist school, is commemorated today.
Asclepigenia lived in 5th-Century
Athens, daughter of Plutarch the Younger who ran the neo-platonic school
there till he died in 430, when she, her brother Hiero and a colleague
inherited its management. The school's philosophy was Syncretic, merging
Platonic and Aristotelian philosophies.
Asclepigenia's interests were in the esoteric principles of metaphysics that control the universe. She applied magic and theurgic principles to affect fate, applying her knowledge of Plato and Aristotle to the great religious and metaphysical questions raised by Christian ethical theory. She believed that there were five realms of reality, namely: the One, Intelligence, Matter, Soul, and Nature. We do not know her work from original sources but from references and influences in those of her pupils.
Believing that fates
might be affected by the means of metaphysics, cosmology, magic, and theurgy, Asclepigenia tended more toward mysticism, magic, and
contemplation of the mysteries of Platonic and Aristotelian metaphysics.
Her most famous student was the philosopher, Proclus (February
8, 412 - April
17, 487).
According to Nigel Pennick (The
Pagan Book of Days, Destiny
Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992), if the weather is good today it
will continue for another 40 days.
Asclepius
Asclepigenia was
named for Asclepius
(Aesculapius; Asklepios; Asklepius),
the son of Apollo by Coronis
(or Arsinoe), the celebrated
physician/deity who had been so successful at preventing mortal death that
he was accused of encroaching on the preserve of Hades. As a consequence
of his bad behaviour, Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt, and in revenge,
Apollo killed the first generation of Cyclopes (the
children of Uranus and Gaia) who had forged the
thunderbolt. Zeus placed Asclepius in the sky as the constellation
Ophiuchus
('serpent-bearer').(More
on Asclepius.)
No comments:
Post a Comment