Finding the Daimon: The Guardian Spirit in Astrology and Magic

The Guardian Angel as envisioned in a 19th century Russian icon.

The idea that we have a guiding spirit or angel that watches over us and guides us throughout our lives is common to spiritual systems all over the world. From the daimonion of Socrates, the prophetic voice that would warn him when he was about to embark on an unwise course, to the fravashi, the Zoroastrian guardian spirit, esoteric lore from many traditions around the globe have this idea of a unique spiritual presence bound to the individual, guiding directing, and implementing the designs of fate for that person throughout life. In Judaism, a guardian spirit known as a maggid would come to mystics during deep meditation in order to reveal divine secrets. The guardian spirit is thus often a revealer, and a guide, an initiator.

 In Plato’s Myth of Er, the wounded soldier of that name, while lying unconscious in a pile of dead bodies awaiting cremation next to a battlefield, awoke at the moment of his funeral, twelve days …