Seeing with Different Eyes

Essays on astrology and divination originating at a conference held at the University of Kent in 2006 (see above). The title of this scholarly collection of interdisciplinary studies was inspired by a quotation by Plotinus who wrote that we should 'shut our eyes and change to and wake another way of seeing, which everyone has but few use.' Accordingly, a central theme is that divinatory knowledge involves a different mode of insight and a corresponding shift in perception. The essays range over many cultures and schools, including Chaldea, Stoicism, Iamblichus, Theravadan Buddhism, astrology, medicine and Mayan culture. The tension between divination and the normal approach of academic studies is particularly fruitful and brings the reader to a deeper understanding of the meaning of participatory knowledge.