"In mediaeval philosophy imagination, not intellect, became the defining principle of the human species, as the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben points out in his book 'Nymphs'. Thought alone was not able to grasp it and express it. Imagination is thus assigned a decisive role where sensation and thought meet, at the crossroads between the individual and the collective, and it is in these encounters when the image becomes alive. One could also say that life is given to everything to which an image is given.
However, this encounter carries the danger of images crystallizing and turning into specters, haunting man. Concerning astrological images, the observation of the sky carries both grace and damnation, the celestial sphere being one of the places where men project their passion for images. In these highly charged encounters, Agamben concludes, "...the capacity to suspend and reverse the charge and to transform destiny into fortune (fortuna) is essential. In this sense, the celestial constellations are the original text in which imagination reads what was never written."
Georgio Agamben, 'Nymphs', 2011 (Italics/bold mine)
