Plato and
Aristotle taught that the stars were composed of a type of matter different from the four
earthly (classical) elements—an
ethereal fifth element or quintessence. In the "astral mysticism" of the classical world the human psyche was composed of the same material, thus accounting for the influence of the stars upon human affairs. In his commentaries on Plato's
Timaeus,
Proclus wrote the following: Man is a little world (mikros cosmos). For, just like the Whole, he possesses both mind and reason, both a divine and a mortal body. He is also divided up according to the universe. It is for this reason, you know, that some are accustomed to say that his consciousness corresponds with the nature of the fixed stars, his reason in its contemplative aspect with Saturn and in its social aspect with Jupiter, (and) as to his irrational part, the passionate nature with Mars, the eloquent with Mercury, the appetitive with Venus, the sensitive with the Sun and the vegetative with the Moon. Such doctrines were commonplace in mystery-schools and
Hermetic and
gnostic sects throughout the
Roman Empire. Among Muslims the "astral" world-view was soon rendered orthodox by
Quranic references to the
Prophet Muhammad’s
ascent through the
seven heavens. Scholars took up the Greek Neoplatonist accounts as well as similar material in
Hindu and
Zoroastrian texts. The expositions of
Ibn Sina (i.e. Avicenna), the
Brotherhood of Purity and others, when translated into
Latin in the
Norman era, were to have a profound effect upon European medieval
alchemy and
astrology. By the 14th century,
Dante was describing his own imaginary journey through the astral spheres in his
Paradiso. Throughout the
Renaissance, philosophers,
Paracelsians,
Rosicrucians, and alchemists continued to discuss the nature of the astral world between Earth and the divine. Once the telescope established no spiritual heaven was visible around the
Solar System, the idea was superseded in mainstream science. == Astral experience ==