Logos & Light Lecture Series:
Traditional philosophy for astrologers and occultists
Expand your knowledge of astrology and esoteric thought with the Logos & Light audio series: downloadable, college-level lectures and courses on CD at a fraction of the university cost! I have drawn on my extensive experience as a college instructor and ceremonial practitioner, distilling these fascinating philosophies of life into digestible portions without sacrificing important details.
The Logos & Light series introduces modern students of astrology and occult/esoteric thought to traditional philosophy, which is embedded in all aspects of the Western Tradition. It is ideal for people with some knowledge of traditional thought but who want to enrich their understanding.
The series has three goals: to instruct, to provide constructive materials for a philosophy of life of your own, and to offer critical perspectives on assumptions we make about ourselves and our world. You will not only study the "big questions," but practice adopting important attitudes towards emotional balance, techniques of sacred geometry, and much more.
Lectures are 45 - 60 minutes and may be downloaded individually or purchased as collections on CD. The Orientation lecture is free. Downloadable lectures come with a free limited outline, collections with a more extensive guide. Everything may be purchased via PayPal.
Downloads: after purchasing, you will be directed to a login page for your download(s). You will receive an e-mail at the address you use for PayPal. This e-mail contains the login information.
New! Lecture 22: Introduction to Plato
New! Lecture 21: Geometry and the Aspects
Coming Soon: Lecture 23: Plato's Forms I
Future Topics: Click for list
Free Orientation Lecture |
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Lecture 1: OrientationThis free lecture introduces the series and outlines the three types of goals: teaching, constructive, and critical. Several examples of applying traditional philosophy to astrology and esoteric thought are explored, as are some criticisms of modern thought. |
Free Guide |
Lecture Download |
Free Select BibliographyThis PDF bibliography and recommended reading list is continuously updated. It reflects most, but not all, sources used in the Logos & Light series. |
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Collections on CD |
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Introductions: Get All on CD for 20% Less!The Orientation and Introduction lectures (1-8) are now available as MP3s on a single CD, with expanded guide notes in PDF form. Get it now for 20% less than separate downloads! (6.2 hours) |
$27.95
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The Presocratics: Get All on CD for 30% Less!The Presocratic lectures (9-21) are now available as MP3s on a single CD, with expanded guide notes in PDF form. Get it now for 30% less than separate downloads! (11.1 hours) |
$45.00
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Introductions: |
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Lecture 2: Introduction to Traditional Astrology Part 1This lecture contains a historical overview of the figures, themes, and changes in traditional astrology, from the Babylonian period to the 20th Century. |
Free Outline |
Price: $4.99 |
Lecture 3: Introduction to Traditional Astrology Part 2Eight major differences in technique, attitude, and approach distinguish traditional astrology from modern types. After describing them in some detail, Dr. Dykes applies some traditional principles of delineation to two charts. |
Free Outline |
Price: $4.99 |
Lecture 4: Introduction to The Golden DawnExplore the background, history, and grade structure of this most important and still-active ceremonial Order, The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, from John Dee's Enochian magic to the Anna Sprengel myth to relationships within the Qabalistic Tree of Life. |
Free Outline |
Price: $4.99 |
Lecture 5: Introduction to Traditional Philosophy Part 1A lengthy preview and summary of the figures and themes explored throughout the Logos & Light series: historical figures, branches of traditional philosophy, typical attitudes and approaches of the traditional philosophers. |
Free Outline |
Price: $4.99 |
Lecture 6: Introduction to Traditional Philosophy Part 2Conclusion to the preview and summary of the series. Dr. Dykes concludes the discussion of the branches of traditional philosophy, and concludes with a "typical" traditional-style philosophy developed for this lecture. |
Free Outline |
Price: $4.99 |
Lecture 7: Models of the Human Condition: Wisdom, Utopia & Fall Part 1Overview of several traditional models of the human condition, and the mess we're in now. Visit the Garden of Eden in the Bible, the Fall according to the Golden Dawn, the Tower of Babel, John Dee and Genesis on Adamic language, Plato and Iamblichus on the Golden Age and the importance of the "barbarous" Divine names, and the Gnostics on that troublemaker, Ialdabaoth. |
Free Outline |
Price: $4.99 |
Lecture 8: Models of the Human Condition: Wisdom, Utopia & Fall Part 2The overview of traditional models continues: the original, natural and healthy condition of humans according to Plato and Rousseau; the standard human developmental models of Aristotle and the Stoics; and a composite version of the modern model of progress, evolution, and utopia. Criticisms of the modern model and reminders about the traditional ones, plus questions and exercises. |
Free Outline |
Price: $4.99 |
Get All Introductions on CD for 20% Less!The Orientation and Introduction lectures (1-8) are now available as MP3s on a single CD, with expanded guide notes in PDF form. Get it now for 20% less than separate downloads! (6.2 hours) |
$27.95
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Pre-Socratic Greek Teachings |
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Lecture 9: The Milesians: Thales, Anaximander, AnaximenesWhat does everything come from? Learn three strange and intriguing answers: water, the Indefinite, air; a link to Qabalism and theology. Existence itself as a condition of injustice and making reparations. The Babylonian and Egyptian links to the original philosophers; astrology and astronomy as marks of a philosopher; the destruction and renewal of the world by fire and water in Firmicus Maternus. |
Free Outline |
Price: $4.99 |
Lecture 10: Heraclitus - Fire and StrifeHeraclitus claims there is a Cosmic Logos, and that the universe is Fire and Strife. Are you awake and recognize the Logos, or are you asleep? Learn about the unity of opposites, unity in diversity, how there could be stability in change. The astrological quadruplicities as expressing metaphysical principles; astrology as reading the signs given by the Logos, and a Golden Dawn prayer about Nature as a text written by God. |
Free Outline |
Price: $4.99 |
Lecture 11: Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the AtomistsFor Empedocles the world is full of immutable particles combined by Love and Strife; the world is in a state of Strife, but we will achieve total love when we are destroyed. The early Greek notion of health as elemental balance. Anaxagoras says the world is ruled by Mind (Nous), but can he explain how? The beginning of the cosmos as a whirling motion. The atomists think that oddly-shapen atoms swarm around until they get stuck together, but where does motion come from? Democritus's early view of moderation of desires. |
Free Outline |
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Lecture 12: Parmenides & the Eleatics Part 1The goddess Justice shows Parmenides and his followers that only Being is, and that Non-being does not exist--and neither does change or motion. Most of us do not understand this because we follow the path of mere mortal opinion. The world is really a perfect uniform sphere, and nothing can come to be or pass away. Can even a flower come to be or pass away? And how are thought and being the same? |
Free Outline |
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Lecture 13: Parmenides & the Eleatics Part 2We look at the prologue to Parmenides's poem: is he being taken into the 9th house by a team of solar horses? Is there a relation to the Thema Mundi in his poem, and what does that mean for the early days of Greek astrology? A gnostic message in Parmenides. His follower Melissus. Zeno tries to prove that motion is impossible, and Aristotle solves the puzzle by actualizing space with his mind. |
Free Outline |
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Lecture 14: Intro to Pythagoras Part 1The discoveries and philosophy of Pythagoras are still with us today. Learn about the life of his community: healing through music, vegetarianism, reincarnation--sounds like most of my friends! This lecture reviews his primary doctrines about number, music, and some of his cosmology; the Golden Dawn Zelator Ritual and the Book of Revelation, and more. |
Free Outline |
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Lecture 15: Intro to Pythagoras Part 2Conclusion of the introduction to Pythagoras: assigning elemental qualities to the seasons, the four causes below the sphere of the Moon (God, Fate, Choice, Fortune), and their relation to other philosophers; the air is full of souls and daimons; ethical teachings hidden in cryptic "symbols"; musical therapy, reincarnation; how knowledge is like the number 3, the composite chart and trines; educational system and the quadrivium; treating animals justly, rejecting greed and materialism, the spiritual value of eating properly, the danger of pleasure; courage and friendship; how you rate on a scale of human types; your mind as a dirty rag. |
Free Outline |
Price: $4.99 |
Lecture 16: Pythagorean Number Part 1An in-depth look at Pythagoras's theory of metaphysical principles and number: number as qualitative; the table of opposites based on the Limit and Unlimited; triangular, square, oblong and other figural numbers; gnomonic, perfect, and friendly numbers; side-diagonal numbers, the square root of 2 and other irrational numbers; the particular numbers 1 (the Monad) and 2 (the Dyad) and some relations to other philosophers and esoteric thought. |
Free Outline |
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Lecture 17: Pythagorean Number Part 2A continuation of particular numbers in Pythagoreanism, according to Iamblichus and other authors: 4, 6, and 10. A possible connection between the Pythagorean 6 and some basic definitions in Hellenistic astrology (and the Goddess Hecate). |
Free Outline |
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Lecture 18: Pythagorean Music and the TetraktysAn in-depth look at Pythagoras's musical theory and how the central Pythagorean image, the Tetraktys, encodes principles of harmony and geometry. The music of the spheres and Plato's Lambda. Links to the Qabalistic Tree of Life. |
Free Outline |
Price: $4.99 |
Lecture 19: Sacred Geometry Part 1The Tetraktys, Qabalism, and divisions of the zodiacal signs. What is Sacred Geometry? The Zero and One. How to understand and construct sacred geometrical diagrams of important irrational numbers in nature: the square roots of 2, 3, and 5. The Vesica Piscis and Christ symbolism, the Golden Dawn Altar, and the reciprocal paths on the Tree of Life. (Ruler and compass recommended) |
Free Outline |
Price: $4.99 |
Lecture 20: Sacred Geometry Part 2The irrational number Phi and the Golden Section or Golden Rectangle, and the Pentagon. Complete thought as a kind of proportion, from Aristotle's logic. Phi as an expression of the Christian Trinity. Fibonacci numbers and other roles of Phi in nature. Why the pentagram is a symbol for the human being and the Microcosm. Side-Diagonal numbers and Aristotle's ethical notion of "the mean." (Ruler and compass recommended) |
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Lecture 21: Geometry and the AspectsHow to construct the astrological aspects using Pythagorean principles; other links between Pythagoreanism, astrology, and music. The meaning of the kentra or "angles" in the chart. |
Free Outline |
Price: $4.99 |
Get All Presocratics on CD for 30% Less!The Presocratic lectures (9-21) are now available as MP3s on a single CD, with expanded guide notes in PDF form. Get it now for 30% less than separate downloads! (11.1 hours) |
$45.00
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Plato |
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Lecture 22: Introduction to Plato (Nov 1, 2009)Summary of Pre-Socratic themes so far. Life of Socrates and Plato and Plato's Academy; Plato's style and the chronology of the dialogues; some famous myths in Plato, such as Atlantis and the soul as a chariot (see Chariot card in Tarot); preview of Plato's views on Ethics, the Forms, the Soul, Reincarnation and Knowledge. |
Free Outline |
Price: $4.99 |
Future Topics
Following are future Logos & Light topics:
- Aristotle (multiple)
- Stoicism (multiple)
- Values in traditional astrology
- What are the elements?
- Freedom, fate, the will, responsibility
- Neoplatonism (multiple)
- Christian theology
- Christianity, astrotheology, Egyptian thought
- The Chaldean Oracles
- Hermetism and Hermeticism
- Gnosticism (multiple)
- Pseudo-Dionysius
- Intelligences, angels, and planets
- Magical and astrological worldviews: the Picatrix, al-Kindi, Abu Ma'shar
- The medieval philosophy and cosmos (multiple)
- Medieval philosophies of light
- Jewish Qabalism (multiple)
- Magical and Christian Qabalism
- Cosmologies of the grimoires
- The Renaissance and early modern periods
- Rosicrucianism
- Alchemy
- Modern astrology, evolution, and psychology (multiple)
- Modern myths: atheism, progress, evolution, utopia
