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Plato, Reincarnation, and Astrology
Part II: So What Does Plato Say

According to Plato’s account in The Republic, in preparation for reincarnation, each person chooses a daemon or deity that will guide him or her through life.

According to ancient Greek thought, this guiding daemon accompanies most people through life as an unconscious guiding force.

It was generally thought that only a select few advanced souls, such as the philosopher Socrates, were capable of conversing and/or interacting with their guiding daemon.

Upon choosing a daemon or deity, each person is then led to the spinning wheel or spindle of the Greek goddess, Necessity. The spinning wheel is sitting in the lap of Necessity.

This is where it tends to gets really interesting for astrology buffs...

Spinning Wheel of Necessity
According to Plato, the spinning wheel or spindle of Necessity is comprised of one outer wheel (the Zodiac) and then seven inner wheels (the Sun, the Moon, and the five known planets).

In Greek mythology and tradition, the goddess Necessity had three daughters: Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos. The three sisters were together known as the Fates.

Lachesis (meaning: she who allots) was the measurer of the thread, Clotho (meaning: weaver) was the spinner of the thread of fate, and Atropos (meaning: implacable, unbending, unyielding) was the cutter of the thread.

In Plato’s cosmological description, he identifies Lachesis as having her hands busy with both the zodiacal signs and the planets, Clotho with the zodiacal signs and Atropos with the planets. Also, of interest, Lachesis is singing of the past, Clotho is singing of the present, and Atropos is singing of the future. Each soul approaches Lachesis first, then Clotho, and then finally Atropos.

• Lachesis: measured the thread, zodiacal signs and the planets - past
• Clotho: wove the thread, zodiacal signs - present
• Atropos: cut the thread, the planets - future

At this point, I think I'll let Plato speak for himself:

“When the souls had all finished choosing their lives, they approached Lachesis in the order the lottery had assigned them. She gave each of them the personal deity they’d selected to accompany them throughout their lives, as their guardians and to fulfill the choices they had made. Each deity first led its soul to Clotho (zodiacal signs), to pass under her hand and under the revolving orbit of the spindle, and so to ratify the destiny the soul had chosen in the lottery.

Then, once a connection has been made with her, the deity led the soul to Atropos (planets) and her spinning, to make the web woven by Clotho fixed and unalterable. Afterwards, the soul set a fixed course for Lady Necessity’s throne and passed under it…” Plato, the Republic translation by Robin Waterfield (620e)
(Italics for emphasis and the words contained within parentheses are mine.)

So what in the heck does all this mean? Glad you asked...

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