ad Astra

Vanessa Portugal is an historian and art historian and an associate researcher of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Her work has focused on the use of astrological images in seventeenth and eighteenth-century New Spain, which was also the topic of her book, Las imágenes astrológicas en la Nueva España (2018). In this episode she shares some highlights of her work. For more details on h...

In this podcast Günther Oestmann joins us one more to talk about the life and work of Johann Wilhelm Pfaff astronomer and astrologer. Pfaff published an astrological book in 1816 and engaged in the discussion of astrology at a time when this was considered foolish, particularly for an academic. This makes him a unique case in the history of astrology in the modern period. Günther Oestmann research...

In this episode we talk with independent researcher Philip Graves on his life project: the Graves Astrology Library, the result of many years of collecting books, magazines and other materials dedicated to the topic of astrology. The conversation covers only a small part of the library’s contents, highlighting some of its more valuable books and discussing its importance for research on astrologic...

In this episode we speak with Godefroid de Callataÿ, Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Oriental Institute of the University of Louvain. His PhD research was on the Platonic Great Year and its expression throughout history and culture. He published it in his monograph: Annus Platonicus. A Study of World Cycles in Greek, Latin and Arabic Sources (Peeters, 1996). For some years his resea...

In this edition of the podcast we welcome as our guest historian of astrology, H Darrel Rutkin. Currently he is a researcher at the ERC funded project Early Modern Cosmology: Institutions and Metaphysics at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. His research covers a large period of the Western Latin Tradition (1250-1800) and focuses chiefly on the philosophical, cultural and socio-political facets...

In this episode researcher Jeffrey Kotyk joins us to talk about his work on the introduction of Indian and Iranian astrology into China. He addressed this topic on his PhD research titled “Buddhist Astrology and Astral Magic in the Tang Dynasty” (Leiden University, 2017) and in subsequent papers. His has explored many facets of practice of horoscopy in Eastern traditions including astrological ico...

In this episode we have the pleasure of speaking with Professor Jean-Patrice Boudet, who shares with us details on his work and some reflexions on the history of astrology. Professor Boudet is one of the chief researchers in this field and is currently a Professor of Medieval History at the Université d’Orléans. He has published various books and numerous papers on the medieval practices of astrol...

This episode features the research of Levente László, doctoral candidate at the Doctoral School of Philosophy at Eötvös University in Budapest, with a PhD thesis titled “The astrological inceptions of the emperor Zeno’s anonymous astrologer.” The podcast addresses his research on the transmission of Greek, Latin and Arabic astrological texts in Antiquity and Middle Ages, as well the importance of...

Historian of science Petra G. Schmidl, researcher at IKGF-International Consortium for Research in the Humanities "Fate, Freedom and Prognostication" at the University Erlangen-Nuremberg, talks about her project “The Sultan and the Stars”. The project entails the translation of a 13th century Yemeni manuscript, Kitāb al-Tabṣira fī ˁilm al-nujūm ("Enlightenment in the science of the stars”). For de...

In this episode historian of science and technology Günther Oestmann discusses his research on astronomical clocks and the recent publication of his book, The Astronomical Clock of Strasburg Cathedral (Brill, 2020). He also speaks on his ongoing research on collections of horoscopes and shares some details of his current research on the astrological diary of the German astronomer David Fabricius (...

This episode is a supplement to our previous conversation with Martin Gansten. It discusses his recent translation and edition of The Jewel of Annual Astrology, an encyclopaedic treatise on Tājika or Sanskritized Perso-Arabic astrology, dealing particularly with the casting and interpretation of anniversary horoscopes. Authored in 1649 CE by Balabhadra Daivajña, court astrologer to Shāh Shujāʿ, go...

In this episode Martin Gansten talks about the reception of Arabic astrology in India which is related to his upcoming translation of The Jewel of Annual Astrology by Daivajña Balabhadra. As an historian of religion, Martin Gansten has focused his research on the role of astrology in Indic context. The conversation address many aspects of his work as well as some technical, cultural and philosophi...

On this episode we talk with Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum on her academic research on the history of Astrology. The central topic is the astrological mathematical points known as Lots, Parts or Arabic Parts on which she has been researching for many years. Her PhD research is published with the title: The Daimon in Hellenistic Astrology. Origins and Influence (Brill, 2015) - https://brill.com/view/ti...

In this episode we talk to Henrique Leitão about the role of astrology in the history of science and its importance in current historical research. Henrique Leitão is the head of the department of history and philosophy of science at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, and is an expert in Early Modern science in Iberian context. For more about his work see his page: https://sites....

In this first episode of the ab Astra podcast we talk with Professor Charles Burnett of The Warburg Institute on the historical study of astrology. The paramount role of astrology in pre-modern cultures and in the very construction of science are some of the topics addressed. To know more about Professor Burnett's work visit his page on The Warburg Institute: https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/charles-burn...

Ad Astra presents a series of academic conversations with researchers on the history of astrology. It offers to a wider audience the main academic debates and works on the historical role of astrology in culture, science, and society. While it focuses primarily the historical study of astrological practices and methodologies, it also addresses other topics, such as current research, challenges, fi...