Re: [Megillot] Horoscopes

[Dierk van den Berg]

4Q186 deals with the predestination of man by his sign of zodiac, his to be expected spirit disposition, subdivided into nine good or evil (dark or light) parts acc. to the human gestation time as well as his to be expected physiognomy (similar to what we might extract from the Ptolemaic Zodiac of Dendera). The dualism of good and evil from the very beginning is quite similar to Zoroastrism, though the decisive difference is the over-directed split of the antagonistic spirit-twins (cf.Yasna 30) into nine parts and, thus, the option which spirit is to choose is taken off from man’s free will as it was in Zoroastrism. In other words: within the world of 1Q186 the odd-numbered spirit parts predetermine the fate of the newborn. Interestingly enough, this astrology prevents the easy family (or clan-) succession of office bearers within the Yachad (cf. the ‘Galileans’ within the later zealotry), for it would be not that easy to reach the necessary 8:1 spirit-goal to ‘produce’ a future Mebaqqer or Maskil.   - Dierk