The Magus was the second-highest level of attainment in the degree system of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The magus went out of favour in the Enlightenment, together with belief in their magical arts. His real prototype may have been a German astrologer and alchemist, Johann Georg Faust (1480-1540). Faust sold his soul to the devil in exchange for vast knowledge. 1609), court astrologer to Elizabeth I and the popular literary figure of Dr. Notable among them were the German physician-astrologer nicknamed Paracelsus (1493-1541) English polymath John Dee (1527- ca. The magus as expert of astrology and alchemy, together with more magical practices, influenced the intellectual life of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Although the early Church fathers disagreed on whether or not astrology had a rightful place in the new religion, the idea that special signs in the heavens presaged royal births attracted many believers in Antiquity. Presumably astrologers possessed foreknowledge of special nativities that could be read from the heavens. In Christian tradition the magi were either from Persia, Babylon, or the Arabian Peninsula (the ancient source of myrrh and frankincense) or a mix of countries the first two locations being nearly synonymous with astrologers. Magi is traditionally translated as “wise men” or the “three kings” although the Bible does not mention their number or any royal status. The New Testament gospel of Matthew (2:1-12) contains the only mention of magi visiting the baby Jesus, after following the Star of Bethlehem.
Although there is little evidence that Zoroastrian Persians invented astrology, their conquest of Babylon in 539 BC made them a likely conduit of astrology, to both the East and West. The Greek historian Herodotus named the Magoi as one of the tribes of Medea, a region of ancient Babylon also noted for its diviners. Pythagoras, in turn, was credited with inventing some of the number symbolism of Hellenistic astrology. Although the Greeks differed on the originators of astrology, some believed that Zoroaster invented astrology, dream- and omen-interpretation, and divination through communication with the dead (necromancy.) Some ancient Greeks believed the religion’s founder Zoroaster was a Chaldean by birth, an ethnic term nearly synonymous with astrologers in ancient times and that their own ancient sages such as Pythagoras studied with him.
The Greeks equated the “ Magoi” with the Zoroastrians of Persia.
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