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The Beginning of Wisdom
The Beginning of Wisdom is a one of the most important of the basic medieval texts of astrology. Originally written in Hebrew by Ibn Ezra it was translated into old French by Hagin de Juif and thence into Latin by Peter of Abano among others. It served as the backbone to an extensive and quite complete textbook of astrology by Ibn Ezra which which also included The Book of Reasons, The Book of Nativities and others.
- GenresAstrology
Paperback
First published May 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 3, 2021
Favorite Excerpts:
The Fourth House denotes the father, land, houses and fields, and regions, and building, and hidden treasures and all hidden things, and the end of any matter. – Page 87
The Tenth House signifies the mother, government (authority), reputation, and all professions. – Page 89
[Conjunctions] If the two planets are [found] in two separate signs, yet each one is within the influence of the other, they are not said to be joined because they are in different signs, and that is the opinion of the ancients. But, I, Abraham, the scribe of this book, differ with them, as I shall explain in the Book of Nativities. – Page 117
The Fourth House denotes the father, land, houses and fields, and regions, and building, and hidden treasures and all hidden things, and the end of any matter. – Page 87
The Tenth House signifies the mother, government (authority), reputation, and all professions. – Page 89
[Conjunctions] If the two planets are [found] in two separate signs, yet each one is within the influence of the other, they are not said to be joined because they are in different signs, and that is the opinion of the ancients. But, I, Abraham, the scribe of this book, differ with them, as I shall explain in the Book of Nativities. – Page 117
February 2, 2022
Ibn-Ezra was a great Rabbi and astrologer living about 1,000 years ago in Spain. It’s a very technical book (I am a student of astrology and a lot of this was over my head), written more as an encyclopedia or manual of astrology as it was understood at the time. It was fascinating to read such an old text on astrology (written in 1148) and compare/contrast this to our modern relationship with astrology. I appreciated Meira Epstein’s translation and annotations and respect her desire to stay true to the text, and I would love to read about, in a different book perhaps, her own journey of translating historical astrological texts. Lastly, it was interesting to read an astrology text by a Rabbi, as the relationship between Judaism and Astrology has become one that is either very fringe or can only be found in the past. This sparked my imagination for sure!
August 10, 2025
A solid primer if dated and fairly consistent with other astrological tests.
January 17, 2026
我想這是一本含金量很高的書。是我的智慧沒被開啟⋯
是需要讀很多遍的書。
是需要讀很多遍的書。
June 17, 2023
Very technical, but also quite ancient. 1100CE
Upon exploring the work of Masha'allah, I found that Ibn Ezra is surprisingly readable in comparison.
Masha'allah, even with translator's notes, is nigh incomprehensible unless you're used to medieval astrology. It may be a case of translators, but even Al Biruni's book on astrology from this era is more readable than Masha'allah. Ibn Ezra is too.
He covers all the basics, the signs, the planets, the houses, and so on.
He gives extensive descriptions of constellations and tons and tons of lots. For example, just the sense of what I mean by tons, he gives us 11 lots for the 10th house, and a whole lot more. He also gives conditions, circumstances, and judgments. He talks about mitigating factors and harmful factors of which he lists 30 in one chapter and 120 in another.
I would say that this is one of the few Medieval era astrology books that a new astrologer can actually read. That was the case for me, and I am delighted returning to it with more experience, since I can understand closer to 70% of the book rather than more like 30%.
But even if you only get 30%, it's still not opaque to beginners and I enjoyed reading even the parts I did not quite grasp. Apparently Rabbi Ibn Ezra knew that this was a bit of a dense coverage of his topic, and wrote the Book of Reasons to explain and expound on this initial endeavour. Unfortunately, the only translation I can find at the moment costs over $100, so I'll be learning these concepts elsewhere for now.
Rabbi Ibn Ezra what's the Jewish rabbi, and his commentary on the Bible is still respected to this day. However, if you're looking for a distinctly Jewish approach to astrology, Ibn Ezra is not the best place to go, since (based on born my personal understanding, and that of contemporary Jewish astrologer Yaakov Kronenberg) he follows closer to Persian astrology then the more Jewish approach. However, in his defense, apparently R' Ibn Ezra was familiar with Sefer Yetzirah, so maybe some of that made its way into his work. However, I'm not familiar enough with that mystical and astrological text to make any comment beyond simple plausibility.
4.5/5 as far as (Jewish) Persian Astrology (text) Book. I'm glad it was one of my first read astrology books.
Upon exploring the work of Masha'allah, I found that Ibn Ezra is surprisingly readable in comparison.
Masha'allah, even with translator's notes, is nigh incomprehensible unless you're used to medieval astrology. It may be a case of translators, but even Al Biruni's book on astrology from this era is more readable than Masha'allah. Ibn Ezra is too.
He covers all the basics, the signs, the planets, the houses, and so on.
He gives extensive descriptions of constellations and tons and tons of lots. For example, just the sense of what I mean by tons, he gives us 11 lots for the 10th house, and a whole lot more. He also gives conditions, circumstances, and judgments. He talks about mitigating factors and harmful factors of which he lists 30 in one chapter and 120 in another.
I would say that this is one of the few Medieval era astrology books that a new astrologer can actually read. That was the case for me, and I am delighted returning to it with more experience, since I can understand closer to 70% of the book rather than more like 30%.
But even if you only get 30%, it's still not opaque to beginners and I enjoyed reading even the parts I did not quite grasp. Apparently Rabbi Ibn Ezra knew that this was a bit of a dense coverage of his topic, and wrote the Book of Reasons to explain and expound on this initial endeavour. Unfortunately, the only translation I can find at the moment costs over $100, so I'll be learning these concepts elsewhere for now.
Rabbi Ibn Ezra what's the Jewish rabbi, and his commentary on the Bible is still respected to this day. However, if you're looking for a distinctly Jewish approach to astrology, Ibn Ezra is not the best place to go, since (based on born my personal understanding, and that of contemporary Jewish astrologer Yaakov Kronenberg) he follows closer to Persian astrology then the more Jewish approach. However, in his defense, apparently R' Ibn Ezra was familiar with Sefer Yetzirah, so maybe some of that made its way into his work. However, I'm not familiar enough with that mystical and astrological text to make any comment beyond simple plausibility.
4.5/5 as far as (Jewish) Persian Astrology (text) Book. I'm glad it was one of my first read astrology books.
May 15, 2016
Wonderful book. I wish all astrologers were interested in works like these.
Includes detailed descriptions of the signs, houses, and triplicity lords for each house, the seven planets, thirty 'circumstances' of the planets, 120 judgments (for nativities, revolutions, and inquiries), and over 100 Lots.
Includes detailed descriptions of the signs, houses, and triplicity lords for each house, the seven planets, thirty 'circumstances' of the planets, 120 judgments (for nativities, revolutions, and inquiries), and over 100 Lots.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews