Regulus and four other stars

Given yesterday's post, I do not want people to believe that I completely ignore the initiated version of late Victorian era astrology. I just happen to be very selective about what I play attention to.

As a regular rule of thumb, assume that the Tropical Zodiac is 24 degrees ahead of the Sidereal Zodiac. You can eyeball this without doing math. Or a full sign ahead if you are doing the initiated version; again no math needed. (If you want to do math, it is about one degree per 72 years from whenever you decide the origin year of the zodiac is.)

The most important part of the initiated version of astrology is the star Regulus, which Mathers allegedly instructed initiates to use as the starting point for the sign of Leo. (I have yet to see anyone produce a document that proves Francis King's claim.) Interestingly enough, I actually do a certain amount of work dealing with Regulus, thanks to belonging to a magical Order ruled by Regulus (to a lesser or greater extent) and the fact that Regulus is located at the midpoint between my Sun and Mercury.

(For those people who believe that my calling of BIORC as a magical Order a lie, just remember that BIORC is probably no longer a true Golden Dawn Order. BIORC is to Golden Dawn as BOTA is to AO--a descendant only in name by the best of standards; by the worst of standards, BIORC will always be a GD Order...make of that what you will.)

Given the importance of Regulus to both the Order I belong to, and to my personal birth chart, I have done a certain amount of research into the Four Watchers of the World--the four stars that the Ancient Persians believed guarded the world. (The quarter that they sit in, and the solar event that they correspond to, was established by the Persians in about 3000 BCE--by modern standards, the symbolism tends to make no sense, especially when looked at by people who do not really understand ancient astrology.)

The Four Watchers are:

Aldebaran, the Watcher of the East, corresponds to the Vernal Equinox (northern viewpoint), a red star called the Eye of the Bull, which nature is of Mars (and somewhat of Mercury, Jupiter, and the Sun). In 1980, it was located at 9 Gemini 31; in 1888, it was at 8 Gemini 14.

Regulus, the Watcher of the North, Summer Solstice, Heart of the Lion, nature of Mars and Jupiter. In 1980, it was located at 29 Leo 33; in 1888, it was at 28 Leo 16.

Antares, the Watcher of the West, Autumnal Equinox, the Heart of the Scorpion, nature of Mars and Jupiter. In 1980, it was located at 9 Sagittarius; in 1888, it was at 8 Sagittarius 12.

Fomalhaut, the Watcher of the South, Winter Solstice, nature of Venus and Mercury. In 1980, it was located at 3 Pisces 35; in 1888, it was at 2 Pisces 18.

And another star that I think that one should keep track of, if one is involved in esoteric Orders, is Sirius, the Dog Star, herald of the Ancient Egypt's flooding of the Nile (the start of the Egyptian year), nature of Jupiter and Mars (less so Neptune). In 1980, it was located at 13 Cancer 48; in 1888, it was at 12 Cancer 31.

For those people who worked with the methods of generating magical names from astrology charts, they might want to examine the use of these five stars to generate a name of power.

777 Book of Correspondences

This is my 777th blog post, so today I chose to talk about (drum roll please)...777.

777 is Aleister Crowley's expanded and modified version of the Golden Dawn document known as The Book of Correspondences. Just like the guide sheet for the creation of Godforms seems to have been restricted to the office of Hierophant, the Book of Correspondence seems to been restricted to the office of Praemonstrator. This is not to say that other members did not know of its existence. Parts of it was spoon-fed to the students of the system in the Knowledge Lectures of the various Grades. By the time that one was an Adept Minor, one had a large part of the Book of Correspondences available to them. Inside the Order, one could assemble the known parts that were circulated among the Knowledge Lectures, and add to it, making a personal copy of the document (much like the members of BOTA end up with a Book of Numbers--think Sepher Sephiroth). Or at least, that is the way I understand the extent of its circulation among the Order.

Crowley was most likely working from Allen Bennett's personal copy. Today, most ceremonial magicians own a copy issued though Weiser. I brought my copy back in September 1994; it is now held together with packing tape. I filled a couple of hardbound journals with some additional material that I mapped to the paths of the Tree of Life.

777 was not the first set of correspondences to be published. Agrippa and several magical calendars predate Crowley's publication, as do some materials focused on astrology. But I will admit that for organization, Crowley is the winner.

In recent times, there have been several books that have expanded the possibilities of information to be included in one's personal copy of the Book of Correspondences. These include The Magician's Companion: A Practical Encyclopdic Guide to Magical & Religious Symbolism (Bill Whitcomb) and The Magician's Tables: A Complete Book of Correspondences (Alan Richardson).

The best expansion of 777 (at this time) is Stephen Skinner's The Complete Magician's Tables. Not all the tables in Skinner's work agree with Crowley's--but that is ok. And I love randomly googling names from his Uniform Timeline.

Needless to say, my favorite version is my own. I think most working magicians and witches would say the same. After all, it is the version that corresponds exactly with the associations that I use in my own personal magical workings.

Combining Astrology Symbols (sort of a Tarot Deck Review)

How the energies of Mercury may manifest in the sign of Leo.

One of the big things that the Picatrix talks about is images of the various zodiac signs and planets, and combining these images to create more complicated symbols. This idea is not new. In fact, you can figure it out from Agrippa. In addition, the Vault of the Adepts can be viewed as a complex astrological image.

(The comment that I just said about the Vault of the Adepts is approved by my Secret Chiefs and not yours, so don't you dare talk about it. Of course, given the fact that the Picatrix is considered Black Magic, one can only presume that the same applies to the works of Agrippa, who may have been using the Picatrix as a source. I wonder if the Vault of the Adepts is Black Magic also.)

Now, astrologers use the idea of blending astrological energies all the time; it is how they read charts. And magicians working with astrological energies use the concept all the time to do magic.

One of the tools I use for helping me think about such things is the Symbolon deck by Peter Orban, Ingrid Zinnel, and Thea Weller. It is a deck of 78 cards (but not a Tarot deck), consisting of 12 cards representing the zodiac signs and their planetary rulers, and 66 cards combining the basic imagery of the 12 basic images into more complicated images.

For instance, let's say that I am trying to understand how the energies of Mercury manifest in the zodiac sign of Leo---my natal Mercury is located in Leo, by the way.

Mercury, and its ruled sign of Gemini, is represented in the Symbolon deck by The Mediator, a winged messenger carrying a scroll.

The Sun, and its sign of Leo, is represented by The Ego, a king enthroned on a lion-headed throne (a symbol that most of Golden Dawn members will associate more with Aries).

The combined energies of Leo and Mercury can be seen in The Actor, which depicts a stage with the Mediator in the background while the Ego walks across the stage, in front of an audience, holding the unfurled scroll.

Hmmm, I see no way that could actually apply to me, a humble blogger---I must have decided to use the wrong card.

(Review Time)

I have owned my Symbolon deck for several years (more than a decade). I am not sure that it is even still in production---but with eBay does it really matter? I do not use it for readings, well, not card readings. The way I use it is exactly what I was talking about in the first part of this blog post; I use it to suggest to me ways that astrological energies might be manifesting when combined in various modes. It is basically, for me, a way to attempt to grok the parts of an astrology chart that I am struggling with.

(And no, I do not struggle with my Mercury in Leo; it is my Moon in Scorpio that causes all the problems.)