A Vibrant Celestial Atlas For Astrologers
Harmonia Macrocosmica (1660), celestial atlas for astrologers from the Dutch Golden Age of cartography, maps the structure of the heavens in twenty-nine extraordinary double-folio spreads. We are presented with the motions of the celestial bodies, the stellar constellations of the northern hemisphere, the old geocentric universe of Ptolemy, the newish heliocentric one of Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe’s eccentric combination of the two — in which the Moon orbits the Earth, and the planets orbit the Sun, but the Sun still orbits the Earth. The marginal area of each brightly coloured map is a hive of activity: astronomers bent over charts debate their findings, eager youngsters direct their quadrants skywards, and cherubs fly about with pet birds in tow.
The Celestial Atlas of Andreas Cellarius (1660)
The life of the Dutch-German creator of the folio, Andreas Cellarius, has only come down to us in skeleton form. He was born around 1596 in a small town near Worms and spent his adult life as a schoolmaster in Amsterdam, the Hague and finally Hoorn. Around 1637 he was appointed rector of a Latin school in Hoorn where he wrote the Harmonia Macrocosmica and all his other scholarly works (including one on designing impregnable fortifications).
Intended as a historical introduction for two-volume treatise on cosmography, only this first part, printed by the Amsterdam publisher Johannes Janssonius in 1660, was ever realised. In 1708, some forty years or so after Cellarius’ death, the Amsterdam publishers Gerard Valk and Petrus Schenk the Younger published a version just containing the plates, and it is this later edition from which many of the images in this post come.
The Aquarius Bus
A metaphysical emporium.
You may be interested in...
Astrology For All by Alan Leo
He was considered the father of modern astrology with Astrology For All. Alan Leo opened up the secrets of divination by the stars to the general public in the early 20th century with a popular line of astrology manuals that
1753 Homann Heirs Solar System Astronomical Chart
1753 Homann Heirs Solar System Astronomical Chart This is a rare 1753 Homan Heirs Solar System Astronomical Chart. Features 23 diagrams including spheres, earth and celestial globes, planetary systems, temperature zones, and projection systems following the style of Schatz. There