today mars leaves Gemini and enters its fall in Cancer.
medieval astrologers of the Islamic world were especially nervous of this transit and wrote it meant:
-Danger and bloodshed in the land of Arabs
-boiling blood and pestilence of chest and stomach
-the changing of kings
-sudden conflict and strife
-imprisonment and betrayal
-a plague of insects
-winds which destroy trees
-the rise of a great rumor
-danger to lesser rulers
-fire in homes
-humiliation of soldiers
-the prominent laid low
they were particularly worried about the conjunction of malefics in this sign which happens every 30 years
For historians these interpretations are interesting. Did the anxiety of conflict stem from the Cancer season and summer months historically being a time of war?
What about the connection with insects? Is that just the symbolism of the crab or was there as season of bugs?
I’m not an environmental historian but I’m curious if the Middle East has a summer of locust or something.
Either way Mars in Cancer was a time of anxiety for them
Belief in the evil eye is found in many global cultures but particularly in the Middle East, Africa, India, and the Mediterranean. It is based on the idea that the malicious or envious gaze of some can disrupt your health and luck
A quick thread
The evil eye is described by some medieval authors as a type of ray
directed either intentionally or unintentionally it can impact health and fortune
jealousy, envy, or a heart which desires strongly can unintentionally direct such rays
hate and malice can send rays directly and intentionally
In Dune the Freman follow Zensunni a future religion derived from Islam and Buddhism with Reverend Mothers like Lady Jessica. Since Zensunni derives from Islam were women religious leaders in Islam historically?
Yes!
A 🧵
The early development of Islam relies heavily in part on the instruction, attestations, and transmissions of Aisha so much so that some historians argue the development of the body of traditions called the sunnah is indebted to her.
She passes on the saying of Muhammad, teaches the Qu’ran, and instructs in religion
In ancient Persian astrology each planet governs & influences one part of your life in successive order so that throughout your life, you will go through different planetary ages. Known as firdaria, they were used to predict events by dividing your life into chapters.
A thread
The firdaria were likely drawn from a fusion of Hellenistic timelords with the planetary ages found in Indic astrology, the yuga and dasha.
In Persian cosmology, the two came together to explain the different historical ages and then eventually the different individual life ages.
Many medieval medical practitioners and writers from the Islamic world relied heavily on astrological theories in their work. They even attributed each zodiac and planet to a part of the body like the image below.
A thread-
The idea of associating the zodiac to different parts of the body can be traced back to Babylonian astrology from where it passes into the Hellenistic and Indic world then is finally adopted by Islamicate writers and thinkers in the 8th and 9th century.
According to this theory:
Aries governs the head
Taurus governs the throat
Gemini governs the shoulders and arms
Cancer governs the chest
Leo governs the heart and abdomen
Virgo governs the intestines
According to @neiltyson there was an Islamic golden age of science from 800-1100 then along came al Ghazali & religiosity takes over & science declines. While I’m sure he’s well-intentioned, his claim is completely false
A thread on the history of science in the Islamic world
First, no golden age is ever as golden as people claim it is just as no dark is age is really as dark as they claim it is. These designations are misleading and often completely fabricated.
That the golden age of science was brought to an end by Ghazali simply doesn’t stand up.
Ghazali lived in the 11th century.
To claim that all scientific inquiry in the Islamic world came to end after him would completely miss that Nasir ad-Din al Tusi lived 200 hundred years *after* al Ghazali in the 13th century.