Saturn is the supreme intellect among the angels by whose rays souls in addition to the angels are illumined and inflamed and are raised continually with all their might to the intellectual life. Whenever souls are converted to this life, they are said to be under Saturn’s rule in that they live by the understanding. Consequently, in this life they are said to be regenerated by their own will because they choose to be reformed for the better. Again, they are said to grow young again daily (that is, if days can be numbered then) and to blossom more and more. Hence the words of the Apostle Paul, “The inward man is renewed day by day.” Finally, fruits are said to be supplied men in abundance, produced unbidden and in a perpetual spring, and this is because there- not by way of their senses and laborious discipline but by way of inner light- men enjoy to the highest degree the tranquility of life and pleasure, along with the wonderful spectacles of truth itself.
-Marsilio Ficino
Didn’t Ficino always refer to Saturn being evil/negative?
Or crazy. See Wittkower’s art history title, ‘Born Under Saturn.’
Ficino found that he, like other “philosophical personalities”, was under the strong influence of Saturn, and thus prone to melancholy. For Ficino, it was all a matter of balance, like invoking more the rays of Venus through song and other means, to balance such tendencies out. Too much of one was harmful, the right balance of all brought health both of soul and body.
Saturn is only balanced when paired with Jupiter.
Saturn = restriction
Jupiter = expansion
Ficino’s neo-Platonic view of the soul is clearly wedded to his interest in astronomy/astrology and 15th century humanism.
Interesting quote.