Vol. 5 no 2

Arkadiusz Sołtysiak
The Bull of Heaven in Mesopotamian Sources
pp. 3-21.
Abstract. This paper deals with the imagery of the constellation Taurus in the cultures of ancient Mesopotamia. The constellation appears explicitly in the well known story about Gilgameš, in which the Bull of Heaven attacks Gilgameš on the order of Inanna, the deity associated with the planet Venus. It can be argued from other sources that as early as the third millennium BCE the Bull was particularly related to this goddess and to An, the god of heaven, both of whom were worshipped in the city of Uruk, itself ruled by Gilgameš according to Mesopotamian tradition. The Bull of Heaven was represented pictorially in association with the gate of the heavenly palace of An. The later traditions and the iconography of the Bull of Heaven are also explored in the paper.

Demetra George
‘Manuel I Komnenos and Michael Glykas: A Twelfth-Century Defence and Refutation of Astrology’,
Part 2: Manuel I Komnenos' Defence of Astrology
pp. 23-51
Abstract. Manuel Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 1143-1180, utilised astrology in his political and personal life, as well as supporting translations of occult literature in his court. When the Church Patriarch presented Manuel with a letter from a simple monk claiming that the astrological teaching was a sacrilege, Manuel could not allow a charge of heresy to be levelled against him. He composed a defence of astrology, asserting that it was compatible with Christian doctrine. This treatise is his only surviving document, and this is the first time that it has been translated from the Greek into any language since its composition in the twelfth century. The commentary takes up specific points for clarification.

Garry Phillipson and Peter Case
‘The Hidden Lineage of Modern Management Science: Astrology, Alchemy and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator’
pp. 53-72
Abstract. Beneath the surface of some significant contemporary management practices there exists evidence of pre-modern cosmology. The influence of astrological and alchemical ideas on organisational conduct has not, however, attracted very much serious social-scientific attention to date. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is described and reasons discussed for considering it to be a prime example of the underpinning of the modern by the pre-modern. C.G. Jung’s role as mediator between pre-modern and modern is considered, with some investigation devoted to the four function-types and two attitude-types which he propounded, their origins in earlier symbolism, and their influence on subsequent psychological theory and practice. An astro-genealogical account of the development of the MBTI is offered, taking into account its debt to Renaissance and earlier forms of thinking and symbolism. In conclusion, a warning note is sounded: the modern need to place psychology on an entirely scientific footing can manifest as a dogmatic, belief-driven revisionism that produces a fragmentary, potentially alienating, view of the individual.