Reply Obj. 1:  The multiform movements of the human will are reduced to some uniform cause, which, however, is above the intellect and will.  This can be said, not of any body, but of some superior immaterial substance.  Therefore there is no need for the movement of the will to be referred to the movement of the heavens, as to its cause.

Reply Obj. 2:  The movements of the human body are reduced, as to their cause, to the movement of a heavenly body, in so far as the disposition suitable to a particular movement, is somewhat due to the influence of heavenly bodies; also, in so far as the sensitive appetite is stirred by the influence of heavenly bodies; and again, in so far as exterior bodies are moved in accordance with the movement of heavenly bodies, at whose presence, the will begins to will or not to will something; for instance, when the body is chilled, we begin to wish to make the fire.  But this movement of the will is on the part of the object offered from without:  not on the part of an inward instigation.

Reply Obj. 3:  As stated above (Cf.  I, Q. 84, AA. 6, 7), the sensitive appetite is the act of a bodily organ.  Wherefore there is no reason why man should not be prone to anger or concupiscence, or some like passion, by reason of the influence of heavenly bodies, just as by reason of his natural complexion.  But the majority of men are led by the passions, which the wise alone resist.  Consequently, in the majority of cases predictions about human acts, gathered from the observation of heavenly bodies, are fulfilled.  Nevertheless, as Ptolemy says (Centiloquium v), “the wise man governs the stars”; which is a though to say that by resisting his passions, he opposes his will, which is free and nowise subject to the movement of the heavens, to such like effects of the heavenly bodies.

Or, as Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. ii, 15):  “We must confess that when the truth is foretold by astrologers, this is due to some most hidden inspiration, to which the human mind is subject without knowing it.  And since this is done in order to deceive man, it must be the work of the lying spirits.” ________________________

SIXTH ARTICLE [I-II, Q. 9, Art. 6]

Whether the Will Is Moved by God Alone, As Exterior Principle?

Objection 1:  It would seem that the will is not moved by God alone as exterior principle.  For it is natural that the inferior be moved by its superior:  thus the lower bodies are moved by the heavenly bodies.  But there is something which is higher than the will of man and below God, namely, the angel.  Therefore man’s will can be moved by an angel also, as exterior principle.

Obj. 2:  Further, the act of the will follows the act of the intellect.  But man’s intellect is reduced to act, not by God alone, but also by the angel who enlightens it, as Dionysius says (Coel.  Hier. iv).  For the same reason, therefore, the will also is moved by an angel.