Your Own Personal Daemon

“[The soul is drawn to] the star which is in harmony with the character and power which lived and worked in them; and each will have a god of this kind as its daimon.”

Plotinus, Enneads, III, 4.6.27-29

Throughout history, the daemon has been associated with the individual’s relationship to fate and has been largely considered synonymous with one’s ‘higher genius’. Farm animals, locations (cities, temples, water fountains, etc.) and inanimate objects (boats, weapons, tools, etc.) were also believed to be inhabited by an indwelling spirit, or daemon; some of which were to be propitiated or otherwise placated, in the hopes of securing their good fortune.

In the philosophy, mythology, theurgy and astrology of the civilizations of the ancient world, the concept of the daemon (Greek: daimon, English: demon) was accepted as a given. We can trace its presence all the way back to its first emergence in the Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures, through the Homeric epics, through Plato and Aristotle, through the various sects of the Alexandrian milieu (Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, Gnosticism, etc.) and all the way into the Florentine Academy in the early Renaissance and beyond.

The Demonization of the Daemon

While the concept of the daemon informed the largely Abrahamic idea of the (guardian) angel, overtime, the word ‘demon’ has been, well, demonized. Anciently, a distinction was drawn between a good daemon (agathodaemon) and a bad daemon (kakodaimon) but, over time, the difference seems to have blurred, leaving the angel with the majority of the positive significations and the negative relegated to the daemon.

This tide may gradually change as we learn more of the practices of the ancient world through modern translations of ancient texts. Those studying ancient philosophy, theurgy and astrology, particularly, would benefit from becoming more familiar with the history of these entities, as well as by testing the efficacy of some of theoretical and technical methods by which the personal daemon may be astrologically determined and theurgically utilized to liberate the native (the subject of a natal chart) from their fate.

According to Plato’s ‘Myth of Er’ (a legend concluding his Republic), the nature of the daemon is said to be formed as the soul of the native passes through the planetary spheres, taking on a certain quality from each, on its way to incarnation in the terrestrial sphere.

Porphyry and the Daemon

There is a method, outlined in Porphyry’s Introduction to Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblios (four books of astrological theory), by which one may discern the planetary identity of their personal daemon. According to Porphyry, the natal chart was integral to this process.

“Concerning the peculiar daemon, it must be inquired how he is imparted by the lord of the geniture, and according to what kind of efflux, or life, or power, he descends from him to us? And also, whether he exists, or does not exist? And whether the invention of the lord of the geniture is impossible, or possible? For if it is possible he is happy, who having learned the scheme of his nativity, and knowing his proper daemon, becomes liberated from fate.”

Porphyry, Letter to Anebo

Daemonic Astrology

It is not the purpose of this blog post to outline the process of determining one’s daemon in any significant detail, as it is quite involved, but the main points are as follows:

First, the predominator (Arabic: haylāj, or “hyleg”) is determined. This is usually the luminary of the sect in favor – the Sun in a diurnal chart, the Moon in a nocturnal – providing the sect light is angular (in an “aphetic” place) and in aspect to the lord of its domicile. If neither light meets these requirements, the Lot of Fortune or the lord of the ascendant may be used.

Second, the bound lord (the planet ruling the bound/term) of the predominator is used as the oikodespotes (“house master”, Arabic: kadhkhudāh, or “alcocoden”) and, according to Porphyry, this is the planetary ‘familiar’ corresponding to the daemon of the native. The condition and dignity of the oikodespotes are also considered – sometimes ruling the planet out. Later, Porphyry also considers the Kyrios (“lord”, or “lord of the geniture”, later the almuten figuris) as a planetary contender for the daemon. The Kyrios is also determined by essential and accidental dignities.

The Theurgical Application of the Daemon

It certainly gets confusing – and ancient accounts vary widely – but the contenders may be narrowed down on a case-by-case (or nativity-by-nativity) basis. Similar to the process of temporal chart rectification (which is usually employed when the exact birth time is unknown and involves a sort of reverse delineation by which significations are considered as to when/how they have manifested in the biography and chronology of the native), a species of rectification may be employed in the discovery of the personal daemon.

In summary, the discovery of one’s personal daemon – though an arduous and intricate process – is integral to the construction of personally efficacious, theurgic rituals involving the sympathetic “chains of being” linking the native with their personal daemon and, ultimately, freeing the native from the bonds of fate.

For more information on this fascinating process, see:

Greenbaum, The Daimon in Hellenistic Astrology, Brill, 2016

Brennan, Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune, Amor Fati, 2017

www.sevenstarsastrology.com

As well as source works, such as Plato’s Republic & Timaeus, Plotinus’ Enneads, Vettius Valens’ Anthology, Porphyry’s Letter to Anebo and elsewhere in ancient Hermetic & Neoplatonic texts.