The Thema Mundi and the Cave of the Nymphs
"The Nymphs in Melissani" Maria Randuleskou, oil on canvas
In this blog post, we are going to discuss how the Thema Mundi may be seen as a key to understanding a crucial component of the rationale supporting Porphyry’s On the Cave of the Nymphs in the Odyssey (3rd century CE). In his commentary, the Neoplatonic philosopher, Porphyry of Tyre (234-305 CE), posits that the cave is an astrological/cosmological allegory describing the process by which the human soul enters and exits manifestation via the cosmic “gates” of Cancer and Capricorn, respectively, in the manner of Plato’s “entrances” in the “Myth of Er,” which concludes his Republic (10.614–10.621). We will also see how the Thema Mundi illustrates the astrological theory supporting the Neoplatonic notion of henosis, or union with the One, which is symbolized by an ascent through the planetary spheres via the zodiacal gates of Cancer and Capricorn.
The Thema Mundi.
The Thema Mundi (Latin, meaning “World Theme”), or the mythical birth chart of the cosmos, was a doctrinal teaching device, used primarily during the Hellenistic period. Unlike the tropical orientation of your typical astrological chart, which would position Aries on the first house (in the whole sign house system), the Thema Mundi has the sign of Cancer in this position, implying a solstitial – not equinoctial – orientation. This arrangement obviously does significant damage to the modern delineation system known as the “Twelve Letter Alphabet” [A term believed to have been coined by Zipporah Dobyns in the 1970s.], wherein planet, sign and house significations are often blended (Mars = Aries = 1st house; Venus = Taurus = 2nd house; etc.), thereby making the chart somewhat unintuitive in the context of modern astrology. The arrangement of the Thema Mundi, however, does much to explain the rationales behind both sign rulership and aspect doctrine. We will quickly address the inherent doctrine of sign rulership, as aspect doctrine is outside of the scope of the present post.
The Thema Mundi
In this chart, the Moon is in Cancer on the first house; the Sun is in Leo is on the second; Mercury in Virgo on the third; Venus in Libra on the fourth; Mars in Scorpio on the fifth; Jupiter in Sagittarius on the sixth; and Saturn is in Capricorn on the seventh house. According to the Thema Mundi, the planets are placed in 15° of their day houses – though they are also understood to be extended through their night houses (Mercury in Gemini; Venus in Taurus; Mars in Aries; Jupiter in Pisces; Saturn in Aquarius). The astronomically conversant astrologer will note that Mercury and Venus are impossibly placed, as their furthest elongations from the Sun (28° for Mercury; 47° for Venus) are exceeded in this model. The planets are in what is often called their Chaldean order – that is, in the order of the rapidity of their apparent orbital transit across the ecliptic from the perspective of the Earth – the Moon being the fastest; Saturn being the slowest.
Therefore, we find the Cancer/Capricorn axis representing the extremities, or two cosmic gates, of the zodiac. This axis is twofold: it is solstitial in that these two signs host the Sun during the summer and winter solstices, but also planetary in that it implies the order of the celestial spheres from that of the Moon (ruler of Cancer) to that of Saturn (ruler of Capricorn). The 3rd century philosopher/astrologer, Porphyry – and probably every other Hellenistic astrologer – would have been familiar with the Thema Mundi and its underlying logic, and this knowledge would have informed his cosmological/astrological interpretation of Homeric myth, as we shall see.
The Cave of the Nymphs.
The thirteenth book of Homer’s Odyssey contains a sequence popularly known as “The Cave of the Nymphs.” It refers to a cave wherein the Naiads, or water nymphs, were worshipped and where Odysseus was abandoned by the Phaeacians while sleeping. The pertinent passage from this ancient epic is as follows…
[…] and at the head of the harbor is a slender-leaved olive
and near by it a lovely and murky cave
sacred to the nymphs called Naiads.
Within are kraters and amphoras
of stone, where bees lay up stores of honey.
Inside, too, are massive stone looms and there the nymphs
weave sea-purple cloth, a wonder to see.
The water flows unceasingly. The cave has two gates,
the one from the north, a path for men to descend,
while the other, toward the south, is divine. Men do not
enter by this one, but it is rather a path for immortals.
[Homer. Odyssey. Book XIII. As cited and translated by Lamberton. p. 21]
Dissecting this passage from Homer, in the interest of unraveling its cosmological import, we first encounter the “slender-leaved olive,” which may be in reference to the Axis Mundi (Latin, meaning “World Axis”). The Axis Mundi is the understood to be the rotational axis of the cosmos and is often represented by a tree in comparative mythology. The cave itself may be interpreted as a microcosmos (Greek, meaning “little cosmos”; a model or fractal unit of the cosmos), which is the foundation of Porphyry’s commentary. The mention here of “kraters and amphoras,” which are large, two-handled vases and/or mixing bowls, may be seen as representing the concentric planetary spheres, in the manner of the Aristotelian physics and Ptolemaic cosmology. The water, unceasingly flowing through the cave, is likely an allusion to the Milky Way – the stellar ‘river’ whose flow bisects the zodiacal ‘cave.’
Lastly, the cave is described as having two gates – one to the north, “for men to descend,” and one to the south, which is divine. Cancer, being the zodiacal sign hosting the summer solstice, when the Sun is at its northernmost declination, represents the gate through which the soul enters in the theurgical operations of the Neoplatonists. Capricorn, being the zodiacal sign hosting the winter solstice, when the Sun is at its southernmost declination, represents the gate through which the soul exits the causal planetary spheres and passes into the sphere of the fixed stars and zodiac (compare to the Hermetic Ogdoad, or the Qabalistic sephirah of Chokmah). The Moon rules Cancer and is closest to the Earth; Saturn rules Capricorn and is the furthest visible planet from the Earth. These planets and the signs they rule represent the lowest and highest rungs on a seven-rung cosmological ladder. After passing through the planetary spheres and alighting the cosmic ladder, the soul is liberated from Fate and free to reintegrate with the One, attaining henosis – the goal of Neoplatonic theurgy.
Porphyry interprets the cave as a cosmological/astrological model in the following passages from his commentary which are pertinent to the present study…
Since, however, a cavern is an image and symbol of the world, as Numenius and his familiar Cronius assert, there are two extremities in the heavens, viz., the winter tropic, than which nothing is more southern, and the summer tropic, than which nothing is more northern. But the summer tropic is in Cancer, and the winter tropic in Capricorn. And since Cancer is nearest to us, it is very properly attributed to the Moon, which is the nearest of all the heavenly bodies to the earth. But as the southern pole by its great distance is invisible to us, hence Capricorn is attributed to Saturn, the highest and most remote of all the planets. Again, the signs from Cancer to Capricorn are situated in the following order: and the first of these is Leo, which is the house of the Sun; afterwards Virgo, which is the house of Mercury; Libra, the house of Venus; Scorpio, of Mars; Sagittarius, of Jupiter; and Capricorn, of Saturn. But from Capricorn in an inverse order Aquarius is attributed to Saturn; Pisces to Jupiter; Aries to Mars; Taurus to Venus; Gemini to Mercury; and in the last place Cancer to the Moon.
[Porphyry. pp. 26-27]
Theologists therefore assert, that these two gates are Cancer and Capricorn; but Plato calls them entrances. And of these, theologists say, that Cancer is the gate through which souls descend; but Capricorn that through which they ascend. Cancer is indeed northern, and adapted to descent; but Capricorn is southern, and adapted to ascent. The northern parts, likewise, pertain to souls descending into generation. And the gates of the cavern which are turned to the north are rightly said to be pervious to the descent of men; but the southern gates are not the avenues of the Gods, but of souls ascending to the Gods. On this account, the poet does not say that they are the avenues of the Gods, but of immortals; this appellation being also common to our souls, which are per se, or essentially, immortal.
[Porphyry. p. 27]
He likewise elsewhere speaks of the gates of the Sun, signifying by these Cancer and Capricorn, for the Sun proceeds as far as to these signs, when he descends from the north to the south, and from thence ascends again to the northern parts. But Capricorn and Cancer are situated about the galaxy, being allotted the extremities of this circle; Cancer indeed the northern, but Capricorn the southern extremity of it.
[Porphyry. pp. 32-33]
According to the Thema Mundi, Cancer is on the first house (with the Ascendant at 15°) representing the sphere of the Moon in the Aristotelian physics and Ptolemaic cosmology. Capricorn, correspondingly, is on the seventh house (with the Descendant at 15°) representing the sphere of Saturn, which concentrically envelops the other planetary spheres. This arrangement is in opposition to the more common placement of these signs on the MC/IC axis. The sphere of the fixed stars and zodiac lies outside the confines of the Saturnian sphere (hence the planet’s association with boundaries, confinement and circumscription) and, beyond that, lies the Primum Mobile (Latin, meaning “First Moved”), where the soul is henostically liberated from the fatalism of the elemental and planetary spheres. The gate of Saturn is, therefore, the gate of liberation from the mechanistic causality of the planets.
The Roman god Janus seated on a cloud at centre, holding a large key and a mirror (?) with number '365'; the zodiacal sign of Aquarius beyond. 1698 Engraving.
This also seems to inadvertently explain the rationale behind the assignment of the month January to the commencement of the Julian and Gregorian calendrical year. The word January ultimately issues from the Latin Ianus meaning “gate, arched passageway” [Entry: “January”; https://www.etymonline.com/word/january; retrieved 12/7/2021] and is the name of the patron deity of beginnings and endings, Janus. January hosts the Saturnian gate of the cosmos, since Saturn – presiding at 15° of the sign, per the Thema Mundi – rules Capricorn and its association with the month of January and, thereby, the winter solstice. The denotation of Ianus as “arched passageway” is also interesting, considering the solstitial arches of the heavens through which the Sun passes.
La materia della Divina commedia di Dante Alighieri, Plate VI: "The Ordering of Paradise" by Michelangelo Caetani (1804–1882)
Themes of Anabasis and Katabasis.
Motifs involving planetary ascent and descent, such as those employed by Porphyry in his commentary, have an established precedent in the mythology and Mystery Traditions of the ancient world. These processes of ascent and descent are referred to as anabasis (a ‘going up’, such as ascending the planetary spheres) and katabasis (a ‘going down’, such as a descent into the Underworld). Some notable occurrences of these motifs include: the “Descent of Inanna” sequence from the Epic of Gilgamesh, wherein the Venusian goddess descends through the seven gates of the Underworld; Plato’s aforementioned “Myth of Er”; the planetary initiatory cycle in the Roman cult of Mithras; as well as patterns of ascent/descent found in the theurgical cosmologies of Gnosticism, Hermeticism and Neoplatonism – traditions finding their origins in Hellenistic Alexandria, thereby having recourse to the Thema Mundi.
Common to each of these cycles is the entrance into, and exit out, of zodiacal gates which correspond to the seven visible planets in their Chaldean order. One ascends to the Primum Mobile (Latin, meaning “First Moved”) or descends into the chthonic regions of the Underworld through the planetary spheres, which are themselves accessed by their corresponding zodiacal gates – e.g., Cancer to pass the sphere of the Moon and Capricorn to pass the sphere of Saturn. If Porphyry’s cosmological interpretation on the Homeric “Cave of the Nymphs” is accurate, then we can certainly say that this is a very ancient and ubiquitous motif indeed.
Conclusion.
As we have illustrated above, the Thema Mundi, in which the signs of Cancer and Capricorn appear on the ASC/DSC axis rather than the MC/IC axis, does much to illuminate the astrological rationale behind Porphyry’s commentary on the “Cave of the Nymphs” sequence from Homer’s Odyssey. This perspective illustrates the presence of two gates – one of ascent; one of descent – into and out of an astrological/cosmological cave. The implications of this model may readily be extrapolated into the domains of astrological magic and theurgy, the goal of which being the union of the human soul, liberated from the causality of the planetary spheres, with the One.
Bibliography
Lamberton. Porphyry on the Cave of the Nymphs: Translation and Introductory Essay. Barrytown, New York: Station Hill Press. 1983
Porphyry. On the Cave of the Nymphs in the Thirteenth Book of the Odyssey. 3rd century CE (Taylor translation. 1823). London: Watkins. 1917
Brennan. Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune. Colorado: Amor Fati Publications. 2017