Upon further reading, I think the Zodiacal model is an additional layer atop the planetary model. (That is, the planetary model may either include or omit its Zodiacal portion.)
I base this upon the fact that the zodiac is part of the fixed sphere. Souls enter from Beyond in Sagittarius and traverse the zodiac, but even when they are in Gemini, they haven't yet left the fixed sphere. Once they pass the second gate, they descend the planetary spheres to the earth, and upon bodily death, reascend to the Gemini gate. They are presumably tested upon the lessons they learned, but if they have not mastered all twelve, then back again through the Gemini gate and down the planetary spheres, to repeat the process until they have earned the right to go once again back through the Sagittarius gate.
Some versions of the planetary model omit the zodiacal portion; I assume this is because much of the classical tradition was transmitted through Christianity, which denies reincarnation and thus has no religious reason to include that part of the model. But Plato includes it in the Myth of Er (the spindle of Necessity is only reached after the souls go through the downward gate and accept their lot), and Macrobius likewise emphasizes it in his Commentary on the Dream of Scipio.
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Date: 2024-03-24 05:32 pm (UTC)I base this upon the fact that the zodiac is part of the fixed sphere. Souls enter from Beyond in Sagittarius and traverse the zodiac, but even when they are in Gemini, they haven't yet left the fixed sphere. Once they pass the second gate, they descend the planetary spheres to the earth, and upon bodily death, reascend to the Gemini gate. They are presumably tested upon the lessons they learned, but if they have not mastered all twelve, then back again through the Gemini gate and down the planetary spheres, to repeat the process until they have earned the right to go once again back through the Sagittarius gate.
Some versions of the planetary model omit the zodiacal portion; I assume this is because much of the classical tradition was transmitted through Christianity, which denies reincarnation and thus has no religious reason to include that part of the model. But Plato includes it in the Myth of Er (the spindle of Necessity is only reached after the souls go through the downward gate and accept their lot), and Macrobius likewise emphasizes it in his Commentary on the Dream of Scipio.