Renaissance Astrology

Recharging Talismans?

2012-01-29T16:43:00.002-06:00

I checked out some of our traditional sources and they seem to support the common sense idea that talismans do indeed wear out.

Picatrix, for example says that the talismans made using the fixed stars have more enduring effects than planetary talismans. Picatrix Bk IV, ch 4, Greer & Warnock translation LA page 246.

Ficino says that wood talismans quickly lose their power unlike gems and metals that "retain it longer" Three Books on Life, Bk III, ch 13, Kaske & Clarke trans p 309.

I was thinking I had a traditional source for talismans lasting forever, but since I can't track it down, I can't use it!

Anyhow since talismans wear out, it would be useful to be able to "recharge" them and additional consecrations would seem to be an ideal way to do this. After all the initial consecration provided the initial charge.

I've moved away from the concept of "charging" though this is certainly not an unreasonable way of looking at the process.

What I prefer is the idea of ensoulment of the talisman, that the spirit or spirits invoked in the consecration have taken up residence in the talisman or that the talisman is a conduit and connection to their sphere or realm.

Rather than a spiritual battery recharge of impersonal forces, akin to plugging in your Ipod, I'd rather think of additional consecrations as strengthening one's connection to the spirit of the talisman. The more consecrations you do, the better your connection to the spirit and the stronger and more obvious the effects of spirit.

What’s Happening When You Ask a Horary?

2012-01-29T16:07:00.002-06:00

The great English early modern astrologer William Lilly, in his Christian Astrology, says that chart of a horary question should be erected for the time that the astrologer “perceive[s] the intention of the Querent…” Christian Astrology, page 166.

Lilly says, for example, if he is receives a letter that contains a horary and then carries it around for several hours that when he opens it up, reads it and understands what the querent is asking as a horary, that’s the time he uses. Logically, since the understanding of the question by the astrologer is the event used to fix the time of the question, it is the location of the astrologer that is used.

This causes a good deal of confusion among clients, particularly those with a smidgen of knowledge of horary or a scintilla of awareness of traditional astrology. Modern astrologers find horary itself to be almost inexplicable!

Use the time the astrologer understands the question? Use their location? But it is MY question!

And indeed considering the question to be metaphysically mine makes sense to moderns. After all I am the center of the universe, as much as we are outwardly conditioned to deny this as selfish, we all, in our heart of hearts know it to be true. So the basic thought process is that I came up with the question and somehow the stars are arranging themselves to me and to my question. This thought process is pretty automatic and almost unconscious, quite logical under the modern atheistic/materialistic worldview. After all under this view any order is either produced from physical laws (eg gravity, Newtonian physics, magnetism, etc.) or from conscious human intervention (somebody thought about the pattern and conscious put it into operation).

But is it truly MY question? To answer this, let’s step back a bit.

How does horary even work? After all we can see how a birth chart might reflect some sort of beams or energy field at the time of your birth (Jupiter beaming some sort of waves from angle?) but horary? The chart of the time of asking a question (no matter how you determine this) gives the answer?

Hermetic philosophy provides an answer. Since every individual thing ultimately proceeds from the One (not a being, spirit or individual, but the unity of all things and the origin of all) everything is bound to everything else in an intricate web of spiritual sympathy and interconnection.

We can think of this in terms of direct causality, ie spiritual rays, see Al-Kindi’s On the Stellar Rays. These are not electro-magnetic, however, so still not acceptable to modern science.

We can also think in terms of things cycling together, without being directly connected. I like to think of 2 alarm clocks. Alarm clock A has no hands but a bell. Alarm clock B has not bell, but has hands. Both are set to the same time. When the hands on clock B reach 8:00 the alarm on clock A goes off. No direct connection, but useful nonetheless. This is the explanation given by Plotinus in Ennead II: Tractate 2.

There is a third explanation of causality, which we might term the magical one. This has less application to horary and more to astrological magic and posits the planets, stars, etc., as personalities that can be interacted with.

So given these different traditional ways of explaining the entire Cosmos, what’s happening when you ask a horary?

The medieval Italian astrologer Guido Bonatti says there are three things that cause a querent to ask a horary.

The first is the motion of the soul, when someone is moved by his intention to pose a question. The second is the motion of the superior bodies [stars & planets] namely when someone asks what they are impressing into the quesited thing, what will come of it. The third is the motion of the free will, which can itself be an act of the person asking. Because even though the soul is moved to ask, it does not suffice unless the superior bodies lead him to pose the question; nor does the motion of the stars suffice, unless from the motion of the free will the act of asking is reached.

Book of Astronomy, Tr V, 146 Considerations, Consideration 1 Dykes trans (Cazimi Press 2007) at 264.

So, now we are getting closer! What’s happening is not just that I ask a question, but that there is an interaction of multiple factors which Bonatti identifies as the soul, which appears to be emotional or at least thought colored by emotion, the cycles of the planets and stars and the free will, basically the higher reason and divine wisdom of the querent, all interacting.

As Bonatti explains it we can see that the question is as much the planets’ and stars’ question as it is ours! The question only manifests when all the factors line up. If just our wanting to know the answer isn’t enough, it also seems logical that our own asking isn’t enough. We need to manifest the question and complete the celestial circuit by asking the question of the astrologer.

What Can I Get From A Horary Question?

2011-12-18T18:03:00.002-06:00

1. Precise, accurate, concrete answer

Must ask reasonably precise question about concrete situation

“Will I marry X?” Works!

“What is the meaning of life?” No way! Vague, broad, not concrete question

2. Focused answer

Must ask focused, ie yes/no question,

can’t ask multi-variable question with multi-variable answer

“Should I move to Cedar Rapids?” Works!

“Should I quit my job and move to Rio de Janeiro?”

Too many variables, maybe you should quit your job, but shouldn’t move to Rio. Maybe you shouldn’t quit your job, how are we going to pull the correct answer out of the chart?

3. Objective view of situation

can’t necessarily get “solution” to problem

“Will my ice cream business be a success in Anchorage this winter?” Works as a question, since the answer is likely no.

“How can be elected President of the US?” All you are getting out of this question is no, not a roadmap for your inauguration.

4. Clear view of flow of events

Variation on #3, horary will tell you what is likely to happen not how to make reality conform to your desires

5. Headline question answered

Can’t always get secondary information

What do I mean by headline?

“When will I marry X?” Headline question actually is “Will I marry X?” positive answer is assumed in the question, but this doesn’t alter the fact that both negative and positive answers are possible to almost any question.

Therefore, timing, physical description, location are typically all secondary information. Maybe they can be answered, maybe not!

Natal Astrology Course Review

2011-11-21T18:15:00.002-06:00

Here is a review from the first student to graduate from my Natal Astrology Course

"I have recently completed and passed Mr Warnock's Renaissance Natal Astrology Course. I thought that [others] would be interested in how I found it, so here is a short write up…

In summary, the course was excellent: very clear and comprehensive. I am now doing natal chart readings and getting very positive feedback, such as "I am amazed at the depth that it goes into and how accurate it is", "spot on in many ways" and "that was spookily accurate - how did you know that?".

I started the course in May and so it has taken 6 months to complete. Having said that, I did work on the course quite intensively and had already taken the Astrological Magic course, and so the course could take some people a good while longer. My advice would be to take as long over each lesson as is required to feel that you have really grasped the fundamentals. Mr Warnock was always on hand to answer questions and help me with any sticking points. A lot of supplementary materials are provided in addition to each lesson, and I found it very useful to take the time to read and absorb all of that as well.

On that subject, I'd like to mention that the course completely fulfilled something that Mr Warnock promised: doing this course means that all the many pre-1700 English books that are out there in facsimile, and the many being translated into English by the month are now understandable and accessible to me - I can make sense of them. This I find amazing, given how impenetrable these works were to me before.

The course registration page says that "The material presented in the Renaissance Natal Astrology Course is difficult and requires commitment to master". I would not disagree with this, but want to say that this should not put any serious students off. However - if you want to be 'spoon fed', this is not the course for you.

A word of encouragement/advice for anyone who has started the course: many of the concepts on the course were unfamiliar and there were times when I felt 'stuck' and wondered if I'd ever get my head around it. What I found was that if I allowed myself a few days to let these concepts sink in, and if I read the course materials over and over again very carefully, I always got through these stumbling blocks. The course does not 'spoon feed' you and you will need to work a lot of stuff out for yourself - but there is method in that - that is the way that you come to really understand the materials.

The course also comes with many example readings which are very informative.

I think that the course is excellent value for money given the depth of information that it conveys and the skills it transfers. It is very enjoyable and interesting and as always it is a pleasure and a privilege to have Mr Warnock as a teacher."

Brian
Yorkshire, England

I want to thank Brian for the review and congratulate him upon being the very
first graduate of my Natal Astrology Course!

Brian was my "beta tester" and made many useful suggestions that have improved
the course. Brian's feedback here is especially pleasing to me because the areas he touches on are exactly what I had hoped to achieve with the course.

His point about the course not "spoon feeding" students is spot on! While I don't throw students in at the deep end, it is very important to be able to work things out for yourself. As Brian mentioned, one of my key goals was to teach students enough so that they don't need to rely on my teaching or my course, but can delve into the huge resources available on traditional astrology, either in the 17th century English texts or in translation.

I was also very pleased with his comments about not getting frustrated, but reading about concepts and techniques and then letting the knowledge sink in for awhile. One problem I've had with students is trying to water ski through this material at 60 mph. I deliberately make students slow down a bit, by having a homework correction day every 3 weeks or so. Since I want to make sure students have mastered the earlier lesson before going on to the next, this ensures that material can really sink in before you get in deeper.

Ultimately, my goal is to assist students in developing their own individualistic approach while still staying within traditional astrology.

Thanks, Brian, for the great feedback, and again congratulations!

Christopher Warnock

Trying to Get Astrology To Do the Heavy Lifting

2011-11-10T11:09:00.003-06:00

I understand the attraction, but it is hard for some clients to accept that you can't ask, "What should I do with the rest of my life?" and get the answer, "In 3 months, two day and five hours, call this number, talk to Joe and all your wishes will be granted." After all it would be nice to have a magic answer machine!

The reality is that with a horary, if you ask a broad, general question you get a broad general answer. Asking, "Where should I move?" will get something like, "Not far away to the East" as the answer. It really isn't that surprising that you need to ask a specific question to get a specific answer. With horary the best way to do this is to ask a yes or no question without multiple possible answers.

Let's give some examples. As noted, "What" questions are often going to be to broad. Also a "what" question tends to be expecting that the horary will solve their problem. "What should I do to be elected president?" is an extreme example of this approach.

Similarly the "When?" question. Again, "When will I be elected president?" assumes a positive outcome to the question. This is a particular problem with job question. "When will I find a job?" Often clients who are unemployed are unconsciously looking for reassurance that they will find a job. Unfortunately, as in all questions both a negative and a positive answer are possible. I ask these clients if a "no" answer will be helpful to them, if not, don't ask!

What I call trying to get astrology to do the heavy lifting most often manifests itself when the client wants to use astrology too early in the decision making process. Since the best horary is a yes or no, single outcome question, if you can't decide between moving to Cleveland, Buffalo, LA, NYC, San Francisco or Reno it is still too early to be asking horaries. Some clients realize that you can't ask about multiple outcomes in one question and try to ask separate questions, "Should I move to Cleveland?" then "Should I move to LA?" then "Should I move to Reno?" I don't refuse to do these sets of questions, but I am starting to recommend against doing this. These questions, usually asked within a relatively short time of each other, don't seem to be as "juicy", or have the emotional punch of a good horary.

It is better, in my experience, to go through your decision making process, narrow down your options to one, and then use horary to confirm that option. I have a sense that when you are still dealing with multiple possibilities that you haven't manifested their reality at the same power as when you finally make your decision.

Now this is a different approach from the modern idea that prediction somehow robs clients of their precious Free Will and that we can do anything we want with sufficient positive thinking. The Renaissance view is that Fate and Free Will both exist simultaneously while the wondrousness of Free Will and the evil of Fate is part of the modern worldview.

I don't see much Free Will operating even in my own life. I have no ethical problem predicting the future for clients, I am just part of the seamless web of Fate and Free Will. My main concern is to accurately predict. When I understand what seems to work for accuracy and communicate that to my clients, I'm doing my job better as a traditional astrologer.

Malefics: Merely Weak or Actually Powerful for Evil?

2011-11-05T11:16:00.004-05:00

Generally we are doing talismans for benefic purposes and doing horaries looking for a positive result. When we are looking for a positive result it doesn't much matter to us whether a planet is simply weak or is actively and powerfully malefic, it is not contributing to our positive result.

But clearly there is a difference between being strongly evil or simply weak, how can we see this in the chart?

If you want a powerful talisman you want to make a powerful placement of the planet, benefic or malefic. "Now we shall have the Planets powerfull...when they are in Angles, especially of the rising, or Tenth" Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Bk II, ch 30.

Now for a benefic purpose the election is straightforward. Put the planet in its sign or exaltation or otherwise dignified, rising or culminating, in its day or hour and unafflicted.

But what about for a malefic purpose? Now things get interesting. For example, a benefic planet can be accidentally malefic in a particular chart, Ramesey says, do not

"...think the making a fortune: viz. Jupiter or Venus (which are but generally so) significators, will be beneficial: for it will often prove contrary : for all men are not ruled by Jupiter and Venus; neither (as I say) are they always fortunes: for accidentally they may be infortunes: and when they are Lords of the eighth, twelfth and sixth, they are occasions of sickness, poverty, imprisonment, mischief and death as effectually as Saturn or Mars;"

Astrology Restored p 123-4.

So, for example, if Jupiter in Pisces rules the 8th this can be powerful for death, though likely of a more benign type being Jupiter.

Similarly, if a malefic like Saturn or Mars is strongly dignified, they lose much of their malefic quality, all other factors like house rulership not being considered. Bonatti, Book of Astronomy, TR 5, 34th Consideration, Dykes trans at 289.

On the other hand, being in detriment or fall can powerfully cause evil. A planet in fall "signifies sorrow and prison and distress" Abu Ali Khayyat, "Judgments of Nativities" 9 in Dykes, Introductions to Traditional Astrology at 50.

Yet being combust, a serious affliction as well, indicates weakness. Bonatti, Book of Astronomy, TR 5, 52nd Consideration, Dykes trans at 294. This is because the strength of the combust planet is wiped out by the Sun.

Malefic aspects of malefics are particularly dangerous. The applying square or opposition of a malefic "will destroy [the matter in question]..." Bonatti, Book of Astronomy, TR 5, 34th Consideration, Dykes trans at 289.

So this helps us understand the electional instructions for the pest control talisman explained by Agrippa, which is a malefic talisman at least for the pests! Rats Begone!

In this talisman we use a variety of means of exerting malefic power.

[A]nd thou shall make unfortunate the ascendant, and lord thereof, and the Lord of the house of Mars; and thou shall make unfortunate the lord of the ascendant in the eighth house and let them be joined with an aspect malignant, opposite or quadrant:

Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Bk. II, Chapter 50, p. 402.

While I don't personally work with malefic talismans or elections, understanding how they work, in particular the difference between merely being weak and actually being powerful for evil is very useful in understand the nuances of traditional astrology.

Zen and Astrology?

2011-10-20T11:02:00.005-05:00

I will be away from Friday October 21st to Tuesday, October 25, 2011 for a sesshin (intensive meditation) at Ryumonji Zen Monastery At the sesshin I am scheduled for my Jukai/lay ordination.

I haven't said too much about my Zen Buddhist practice, but I thought it might be useful to talk about it a little. We live about 1/2 a block from the Iowa City Zen Center, very convenient! Since we were so close, we thought, "clearly a sign!" and started attending zazen.

This particular Zen center is affiliated with Shoken at Ryumonji Monastery. Shoken is a dharma heir of Dainan Katagiri in the Soto Zen School.

Ok, what does that mean? Buddhism arose in India and passed to Southeast Asia, China, Korea and Japan. In the middle ages in China the Chan (Chinese for dhyana or meditation) School arose as reform movement within the Chinese schools and lineages. It passed to Japan as Zen. In Japan there are 3 schools of Zen, Rinzai, Obaku and Soto. Over simplifying Rinzai focuses on koans, impenetrable statements like the classic "what is the sound of one hand clapping?" while Soto is very focused on zazen, sitting meditation. Rinzai does zazen, of course and Soto can use koans. Obaku is a later import of the Chinese Rinzai lineage. Here's a little taste of Zen from the Matrix.

One key tenet of Zen is the idea of direct transmission from master to student. Earlier Zen masters basically confirmed that the student had had a basic enlightenment experience called kensho or satori. Nowadays dharma transmission is basically the last step in being an osho (monk/priest) and doesn't necessarily indicate anything about enlightenment experiences.

Unlike many Western spiritual traditions Zen has an unbroken tradition and lineage. I can read Dogen (the "founder" of Soto Zen) and he is describing the ritual and teachings that my teachers tell me.

I have done zazen (sitting meditation) every day now for a year. Up till last year I found it impossible to meditate at all. I could not even sit still. Now I am doing an hour a day. At sesshin we do about 15 hours of meditation over 2 1/2 days and a full day. At Rohatsu, an 8 day meditation session, they traditionally stay up later and later each night and all night meditating on the last day. I don't think I am quite up to that yet.

The meditation has had clear positive effects. For example, I am much calmer and less likely to react immediately emotionally. This is not the main point, however. I am convinced that the accounts of kensho and other enlightenment experiences are correct and that they can be obtained through Zen and other spiritual traditions.

Now, what does this have to do with astrology and magic? First, my Zen teachers have been very supportive of my astrological work. Zen, to Americans, seems like an atheistic/materialist iconoclastic spiritual tradition, easy to fit into their modern ego based consumer lifestyle. It is, in fact, very ritualized and does a good amount of what can only be described as magical ritual and invocation. This is
just not as major a focus as it would be in Shingon or other Vajrayana/Tantric Buddhist schools.

Secondly, there is a long tradition of syncretizing local spirits and native spiritual cultural elements into Buddhism and Zen. The Hindu devas, Chinese Taoist immortals, and Japanese Shinto kami were blended into Buddhism. The stars and planets are already part of Chinese & Japanese Buddhist practice, so my adding in the Western style astrological spirits, basically as dharma protectors and cosmic gods, is not much of a stretch.

And why do I want to integrate them at all, doesn't astrological magic stand on its own? I've found astrology and astrological magic useful from a practical standpoint, after all it is great to be able to accurately predict the future and to do practical magical tasks. But the most valuable quality of practicing traditional astrology and magic is that it confirms for moderns, steeped in atheistic/materialism, that the spiritual exists. Once we know that then following a spiritual path and affirming the primacy of the spiritual over the material becomes logical and, for some, inescapable.

I'm pleased that I have found a living spiritual tradition that allows me to continue my practical studies and work in astrology and magic, but points me to a path leading beyond the material, beyond merely attempting to sate the ego self.

The Teacher/Student Relationship

2011-10-17T14:33:00.004-05:00

I have Saturn in Aquarius rising, so it is probably no surprise to traditional astrologers, at least, that I am a rock ribbed traditionalist, albeit with some unconventional leanings. A modern astrologer would likely expect me to be a dancing hippie. And I have say this song does give me a lump in my throat and I have long hair. But then mix that in with being a lawyer!

Aquarius has a quality of being unconventional, but since it is ruled by Saturn, that unconventionality expresses itself as a deep traditionalism.

One area that I can see this clearly is in the teacher/student relationship or more traditionally the master/disciple relationship. Immediately the modern hackles rise! In two areas, first, the modern archetype of equality and the fact that some teachers make abusive use of the relationship.

For moderns the advances in political equality, one of the few real achievements of the Enlightenment, have extended to all areas. We are all equally qualified, apparently to pilot a 747 or do heart surgery.

The reality of the lack of knowledge of the student is rationalized with equality by treating the teacher as a functionary or employee with some bits and bobbles of useful knowledge that the student can quickly pry out and appropriate. Certainly it makes no sense to follow the teacher’s curriculum or lesson plan. You already know 99% of what you need to know, just ask a few questions, follow your own [lack of] knowledge, after all, who does this dude think he is? Also since you and the teacher are on the same level, feel free to criticize the teacher and argue with them. You have a right to your own opinion and that opinion is just as valid as the teacher’s, in fact, probably more so since you wouldn’t have an opinion that you knew was wrong. If you disagree with the teacher their job is to convince you, in fact they should cater to and serve you.

One problem with this modern automatic assumption of equality or even superiority of the student is that it interferes with learning and on a deeper level, it is a profound misunderstanding of the respective roles of teacher and student.

At its most basic, the student must realize that they lack knowledge and recognize that the teacher has this knowledge. They must be willing to learn.

The teacher must have the knowledge that the student seeks and be willing and able to teach it.

Both of these are honorable roles, but logic as well as the traditional view both dictate that the teacher is superior to the student in knowledge.

It follows that not only is the teacher superior in the knowledge sought itself, but also in knowing the method to impart knowledge.

Therefore the student needs to submit to the teacher’s method as well as open themselves to the information that the teacher imparts. Openly acknowledging this submission is painful and often unacceptable for the modern student.

Of course, this is not granting absolute power to the teacher. The student should investigate the teacher beforehand, checking out their training, their lineage and their teachers, reading their writings, talking with their students. But once the student decides to study with the teacher they should accept them wholeheartedly as their teacher. That doesn’t mean that they should let themselves be taken advantage of by the teacher and sadly some teachers have abused their students financially, sexually and in other ways. The student, as well as the teacher, always retain the right to end the relationship.

In my view, respect is at the core of the student/teacher or master/disciple relationship. If a student disrespects their teacher, they show that they do not value the knowledge that the teacher is giving them and ultimately, lack self respect.

I have been blessed with excellent teachers and as a student never felt inhibited about traditional ritualized forms of respect. For example, when I studied with Mehdi-Hairi Yazdi, an Iranian ayatollah, we all stood when he entered the room. As a Buddhist when I do dokusan, an individual interview with Shoken, my Buddhist teacher, I do three full prostrations to begin. I enjoy showing respect and in fact, feel ennobled to be part of these ancient lineages.

I don’t expect my astrology students to do prostrations, but in order for me to teach and pass on the tradition, I do need them to trust me enough not to be constantly looking for mistakes or arguing with me. It is hard enough to grasp this material without fighting me all the way.

When I teach it is not factory style mass production lectures with multiple choice testing in the educational/industrial complex, but the traditional method of one on one, albeit via the Internet or phone.

The traditional method works, I’m living proof of that. It is not that I am better than my students, just more knowledgeable. Besides, I was once a student and my students will be teachers. This knowledge is not mine, I am merely the conduit for passing on the tradition. Respect to the teacher is really respect to the lineage of teachers before them and ultimately to the knowledge itself.

These are Talismans not Jewelry: Switching to Bronze

2011-09-26T11:03:00.003-05:00

When we first started casting talismans at Renaissance Astrology, we used to occasionally cast in gold, but the price quickly became stratospheric. Ok, we'll use silver. But we've had to slow down our castings drastically in 2011 because of the tremendous increase in the cost of silver. When we started casting silver was $8 an ounce, it reached over $40 this year. Because we need to make multiple talismans at once and then wait to sell them, the cost of casting had become prohibitive. So, after much thought we have decided to switch to bronze as our main talisman metal.

I still occasionally get people that ask for a custom "pure" gold talisman, thinking that it is going to be $25 or maybe $50. The gold itself would be over $1500 and the cost of molds, casting, design, puts a gold talisman somewhere in the $4000-$5000 range. Plus you can't easily cast 24 karat gold, it tends to get blobby, sticky and won't pour smoothly.

The whole "custom talisman" thing is problematic. While custom talismans sound cool, they end up being about 10 times as expensive and a lot weaker than our standard talismans. This is because we sometimes have to wait years for the perfect time to cast standard talismans and casting a custom talisman costs a lot. Also currently even if you wanted to pay $2000 and the right time was available we have no open slots in our casting schedule for custom talismans. I tell clients, If you are interested in a talisman, definitely go for the standard ones, they are super powerful and the price is right!

Here's the key problem, basically people are approaching talismans as jewelry, not as objects of magical power. Jewelry adorns you, it is an expression of your personality, it shows your wealth, your taste, it is YOURS. Clients get obsessed with the appearance of talismans, worry about miniscule pits or blemishes (inevitable with hand casting) or get hung up about whether to replace the cord with a chain.

Alternatively they've seen the standard planetary metal assignment

Saturn = lead
Jupiter = tin
Mars = iron
Sun = gold
Venus = copper
Mercury = mercury
Moon = silver

And want a solid tin Jupiter talisman (tin is too brittle and lightweight for a talisman) or a lead Saturn talisman (toxic) or a mercury Mercury talisman (super toxic and how do you cast a metal that is liquid at room temperature?).

Of course there are other planetary metal lists, Agrippa in Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk II, ch. 22 says lead for Saturn, silver for Jupiter, with specialized Jupiter uses for red coral, Mars has iron and for specialized uses, cornelian and red brass, Sun, gold, Venus has silver again and for specialized uses, brass, Mercury has silver, tin, yellow brass, virgin parchment and Moon, silver.

Picatrix Bk II, ch. 10 has Saturn with iron and gold, Jupiter, lead (!!!), Mars, ruby, Venus, red brass, Mercury, mercury, tin, and Moon silver.

Picatrix Bk III, ch 7, says Saturn is lead, Jupiter, tin, Mars, bronze, Sun, gold, Venus gold/silver alloy, Mercury, fixed mercury, Moon, silver.

But even if you use the "canonical" planetary metal list you are missing the point, the power of the talisman is not in the metal out of which it is made and the point of a talisman is not to look pretty or please your aesthetic sense, these are points of contact with powerful spiritual beings!

The power of an astrological talisman comes primarily from the carefully elected time of its making and the consecration to the appropriate spirit. Materials are much less significant.

As Thabit Ibn Qurra says, "you should begin to work on the image [i.e., talisman], that is, by means of casting it in the form you have made from gold or silver or copper or lead or tin. It does not matter of which of these metals the image is made, because its health and strength require nothing else; it is perfected by the exactness of the ascendant alone." De Imaginibus, Chapter V.

We have two factors operating here, unconscious modern atheistic/materialism and a traditional push for "natural magic". As moderns, even if we try to be spiritual, our reality is basically materialistic. "Obviously" the power of a material item comes from its material form and what it is composed of. Also the material is tangible and we understand it, whereas the astrological timing is complex and unknown. Ficino and other Renaissance mages were under a great deal of suspicion and pressure not to be dealing with spirits so they tended to explain talismans as operating "naturally" without the need for consecration, when in fact this is the key to astrological magic! Natural magic dovetails nicely with modern materialistic thought.

So whether we use gold, silver or bronze, the power of the talismans comes from the timing of their making and subsequent consecration. Gold and silver look nice, but are not necessary. A 24k gold talisman cast at a time inappropriate for the Sun will be weaker than a paper talisman made at the appropriate time.

We will continue to cast a few talismans in silver, but bronze, in both the ancient bronze, traditional reddish color and white bronze, make attractive, hefty, and above all POWERFUL talismans.

Our next casting, in early December, will be the ever popular Algol anti-curse talismans. These are our most powerful curse and spiritual protection talismans. Silver Algol talismans will have a pre-order price of $400 and regular price of $500. Ancient Bronze Algol talismans will be $200. E-mail me at chriswarnock@renaissanceastrology.com for more info!

Electional Problems

2011-08-21T15:06:00.002-05:00

Our traditional sources are not as helpful for electional as horary because they tend to list all 50 things it would be nice to have in an election and only occasionally give a nod to reality and say, "well, if you can't get all 50 things, just get the Moon waxing"

When it comes to using natal charts, again traditional sources tend to unhelpfully make broad, abstract pronouncements about how important the natal chart is and then neglect to give any practical advice about how to use the natal chart.

Gadbury's Nauticum Astrologicum is the exception. This is why I recommend it for anyone interested in traditional electional. Gadbury is talking about ships, but he gives 3 ways to do elections, from the natal chart, from a horary or just getting a good election plus actual examples!

Interestingly enough his first two examples, using the natal and horary as a start are not good elections. Very typical! It's hard enough to get a good election without trying to throw in extra natal or horary factors. My approach simply to try to get a good election without trying to monkey with the natal chart.

Couple of other comments about elections.

Whatever little consensus there may be about horary or natal, goes completely out the window with electional. Modern electional is almost completely just "make it up as you go along" and even traditional electional is highly idiosyncratic. It's hard to test, much hard to see whether electional is effective as opposed to horary, plus the fuzziness of traditional electional sources. It's a good area to pontificate about and then rip on other people's elections, easy to do since NO ELECTION IS PERFECT!

Generally clients take elections a bit too seriously, which is why electional clients are often a pain. Elections are not going to overthrow your natal chart, so if your finances are @#@%# in your chart, a good election is unlikely to make you a millionaire. Also elections are subject to the other higher cycles of fate like your city, country, the economy and the world's fates. So a good election for starting as a real estate agent in Las Vegas is also not going to do the trick all by itself.

I do elect important events, but sometimes I get the impression that clients think I don't step out the door without checking with the stars.

Renaissance Astrology Talismans in the British Museum

2011-08-20T12:23:00.003-05:00

I am very pleased to announce that two Renaissance Astrology astrological talismans have been added to the permanent collection of the British Museum!

More info and links here. The British Museum website is loading rather slowly and takes awhile.

I think this is a real tribute to the incredible time, energy and effort we put into making authentic astrological talismans, following the ancient sources closely and penetrating through to the essence of the tradition.

Full Evocation to Physical Manifestation?

2011-08-20T10:36:00.002-05:00

I had a post recently alluding to "full evocation to physical manifestation" This is one of the ideas bouncing around in contemporary magic and has come to mean that invocation of spirits isn't really complete unless they can be seen, heard, etc., physically.

I find it telling that our modern test of the efficacy and even existence of a spiritual being is its material manifestations. We have such an ingrained skepticism about the spiritual that unless we can touch, feel or see it, we question its existence. This again seems very natural, but is it a standard we even apply consistently?

When people ask me, "do you REALLY believe in astrology, magic, etc.?" I ask them in return, "Do you believe in atoms?" And that sounds like a nonsensical question to them. One believes, despite the sheer absurdity of it, in things like Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairly, angels and God. On the other hand, despite having never seen, heard, touched or tasted an atom, despite it being impossible to ever have anything but a second or third hand experience of an atom, we have no doubt of their reality.

So with atoms we have an underlying constituent of matter, invisible, only discernible second hand, but consistent with the modern atheistic/materialist world view. On the other hand, spiritual beings or the Platonic Forms, similarly invisible, discernible materially only second hand through their effects on matter, we doubt because the spiritual is incompatible with the modern worldview.

Traditionally, the spiritual underlay the material and was the ultimate basis of the material. The closer the material corresponded to the spiritual, the more perfect it was.

The modern view inverts this, the ultimate test of truth is the material. This accounts for the popularity of the 13th sign, aka the constellational Zodiac.

I don't doubt that it is possible to physically see spirits and for them to manifest materially. I personally haven't done this, though I certainly see spirits from time to time, in my "mind's eye". What I question is the idea that physical manifestation is the appropriate test for the success of an invocation and seemingly the point of invocation.

It is definitely useful to be able, as I did yesterday, to invoke the 3rd Mansion of the Moon, and have a huge amount of business. But, as Jason Miller recently noted in a post for his Sorcery class, if you want to make money you'd do better getting an MBA and going into banking than using magic. I've often thought that the material results of magic and astrology are like shiny baubles that an infant is attracted to and reaches for. It may get us started on the path, but the fact that magic and astrology really do work and what that means in terms of the nature of reality is actually more significant.

Incorporation for Astrologers & Magicians?

2011-08-16T11:33:00.003-05:00

I had an interesting question on one of my discussion groups asking if it wasn't a good idea to incorporate or form a limited liability company ("LLC") to protect against lawsuits if you were a professional astrologer or magician.

Well, good thing I am actually an attorney so I can give some more focused advice regarding incorporation, whether as a corporation or limited liability company.

Key point for any business is that you are not going to be able to insulate yourself from liability for anything you do personally by setting up a corporation you control. If you commit malpractice or are negligent, etc., you are personally on the hook for it. Your corporate stock or LLC ownership interest, is an asset, just like your house or bank accounts and they can all be seized.

Now, a corporation or LLC makes sense if you own property or have employees. If you own a building, for example, you have it as a corporate asset and if someone slips and falls, through no personal fault of yours, then only the corporation's assets, including the building, are at risk. You have corporation and have an employee, they injure someone, you had nothing personally to do with it, again only the corporation's assets are at risk.

Now astrologers and magicians in particular. Is there really any need to be concerned about being sued? I've heard crazy stuff like you should get malpractice insurance. First off, you can never stop anyone from filing suit, there's nothing anyone can do about that. Being incorporated or an LLC will NOT stop lawsuits. But seriously folks, there is almost no chance that an astrology or magic malpractice lawsuit could succeed. First off who sues over a reading that cost less than $100? Secondly, how are they going to prove malpractice, getting a prediction wrong isn't enough. Are they going to call in another astrologer or magician who testifies that you failed the national standard for astrology or magic or aren't licensed? No court is going want to hear conflicting testimony about astrological analysis or magical practice!

Being incorporated and being sued is for "legitimate" businesses, while astrology and magic are just borderline legal. You can still get prosecuted simply for being an astrologer in some cities and states. This is more of a problem than a lawsuit, depending on where you live and practice. Normally these cases get thrown out on 1st Amendment grounds with the courts saying even if we don't like astrology, we can't legislate people's philosophy or spiritual beliefs. But suing an astrologer or magician is like suing a priest, the courts are just not going to want to get involved, nor should they, unless there is actual fraud involved. Actual fraud would be someone who didn't believe in astrology just using it as a scam.

This is general advice and as always consult an attorney licensed in your locality.

Amazon Picatrix & Green Magic Mini-Course Launch

2011-08-14T20:55:00.004-05:00

I want to celebrate the full fledged launching of the Complete Picatrix, now “official” with an ISBN, and available on Amazon! or the Renaissance Astrology website, Complete Picatrix

The Complete Picatrix will now be available in several newly revised editions, the Liber Atratus, “the Black Book” which is the edition available on Amazon, the Liber Viridis “the Green Book” our Green Magic edition (keep reading for info on the new Green Magic Mini-Course!) and the Liber Rubeus, “The Red Book”.

Each of these editions contains our authoritative complete translation of Pingree’s critical edition of the Latin Picatrix, but each edition adds its special material and has a different look.

The Liber Atratus and Liber Rubeus use black letter decorative fonts and woodblock engravings for a “goth” medieval look. The Liber Atratus adds a section on astrological poisons from Ibn Washiyya’s Book of Poisons. The Liber Rubeus adds a rather macabre section on the creation of a divinatory head.

The Liber Viridis uses Renaissance calligraphic display fonts and lavish foliage illustrations for a more Renaissance, “florid” look. The Liber Viridis adds a Green Magic introduction and special Green Magic Index.

Everyone that pre-orders through the Renaissance Astrology website before August 27, 2011 either the Liber Atratus, Liber Viridis, Green Magic Mini-Course or Liber Rubeus will get two free Picatrix pdf books.

The first free pdf is “Sigils from the Arabic Picatrix” this is 8.5 x 11 with 15 pages of sigils from the Arabic Picatrix. Very interesting and useful to compare with the sigils in the Latin Picatrix.

Second free pdf is the 77 page, “Picatrix Selected Translations” this contains selected Picatrix translations, some from the Arabic Picatrix, but more importantly my commentary on significant passages.

Here’s the standard order info, but if you already bought a copy of our translation of Picatrix Books I & II or the blue version of our complete Picatrix translation, keep reading for a GREAT deal!

The Liber Atratus is available from Amazon and from the Renaissance Astrology website Liber Atratus

The Liber Viridis is available only from the Renaissance Astrology website
Liber Viridis

As part of the Picatrix full launch extravaganza I am also introducing the new Green Magic Mini-Course. This course is an introduction to using traditional astrology and astrological magic for planting, harvesting and ecological magic through the Moon and her phases, Mansions and in the signs. The Green Magic Mini-Course also discusses how to use planetary rulerships and advanced Green Magic.

The Green Magic Mini-Course on CD includes a free copy of the Complete Picatrix Liber Viridis Green Magic edition, plus TPHP, the planetary hours program and Mansion Tracker, lunar mansions software. It also includes over 1000 pages of material on traditional gardening with traditional green magic material. The normal cost will be $69.95 plus shipping, you can order here

The Liber Rubeus is only available from the Renaissance Astrology website and only available intermittently on special request. Liber Rubeus orders will only be initiated when the Moon is in her 5th Mansion and each Mansion set will bear the date of its initiation.

You can order the Liber Rubeus here, Order before August 20, 2011 to catch the August 21-22 Moon in the 5th Mansion

If you have a copy of the earlier blue version of the Complete Picatrix with Nigel Jackson’s illustrations, you are in luck because this first edition is now out of print! You can expect to see the price increase as the antiquarian booksellers start jacking up the price.

But I have an even better deal. If you already bought a copy of our translation of Picatrix Books I & II or the blue version of our complete Picatrix translation you get an additional $10 off if you pre-order through the Renaissance Astrology website before August 27, 2011 either the Liber Atratus, Liber Viridis, Green Magic Mini-Course or Liber Rubeus.

E-mail me at chriswarnock@renaissanceastrology.com and let me know the approximate date and e-mail address you used when you bought Picatrix Books I & II or the blue version complete Picatrix from me or just tell me the 2nd word in the 2nd chapter of the 2nd book of Picatrix. I will then e-mail you the special discount order page!

So let’s recap, new versions of the Complete Picatrix + Green Magic Mini-Course, free pdfs if you pre-order before August 27th and special $10 discount for pre-orders if you already bought a copy of our earlier editions! These special deals are not available if you order the Liber Atratus through Amazon, the special deals are just for orders through the Renaissance Astrology website!

Guardian Angel & Almuten Figuris

2011-08-04T15:46:00.009-05:00

The guardian angel/personal daimon is extremely important in traditional theurgy and traditional astrology does indeed have a role to play here. The key part that astrology plays is in the identification of the planet of the personal genius.

Agrippa says,

Now the ancient Phylosophers teach us to know the nature of the Genius of every man, by Stars, their influx, and aspects, which are potent in the Nativity of any one; but with instructions so divers, and differing amongst themselves, that it is much difficult to understand the mysteries of the heavens by their directions.

For Porphyrie seeks the Genius of the Star, which is the Lady of the Nativity: but Maternus either from thence, or from the Planets, which had then most dignities, or from that into whose house the Moon was to enter after that, which at the birth of the man it doth retain. But the Caldeans enquire after the Genius, either from the Sun above, or from the Moon. But others, and many Hebrews think it is to be enquired after from some corner of the heaven, or from all of them. Others seek a good Genius from the eleventh house, which therefore they call a good Demon; but an evil Genius from the sixth, which therefore they call an evil Demon.

Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk III, ch 21.

My tendency is to agree with Robert Zoller's identification of the personal daimon/guardian angel with the almuten figuris whose calculation is provided for in Ibn Ezra's Book of Nativities. The almuten figuris, literally the ruler of the chart, is found through determining the almuten over a series of points in the natal chart.

Here is the Ibn Ezra method as set forth by Robert Zoller, which I use.

Find the essential dignities of the 7 planets in the degree of the Sun, the Moon, the Ascendant, the Part of Fortune, the previous syzygy (i.e. New or Full Moon closest to the nativity).

Add the point values for each planet. sign =5 , exaltation=4, triplicity ruler (day ruler by day or night ruler by night only) =3, term=2, face=1.

Then add 7 points for the day ruler, and 6 points for the hour ruler

Then add the following accidental dignity points to each planets' score

1st house =12
2nd= 6
3rd=3
4th=9
5th=7
6th=1
7th=10
8th=4
9th=5
10th=11
11th=8
12th=2

The highest scoring planet is the almutem figuris.

The almuten figuris is indeed connected with the personal daimon or guardian angel. Iamblichos, in Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans and Assyrians, notes that the personal daimon can indeed be determined from the natal chart. Wilder trans. (titled Theurgia at 270.

Iamblichos notes that,

"This [daimon] therefore is present as an exemplar before the souls descend into the realm of generated existence. As soon as the soul chooses him for leader the [daimon] immediately comes into charge of completing of its vital endowments and when it descends into the body it unites with the body and becomes the guardian of it common living principle. He likewise directs the the private life of the soul and
whatever the conclusions we may arrive at by inference and reasoning he himself imparts to us the principles."

Theurgia at 271.

Zoller citing Picatrix says,

"If the Almuten figuris is the Sun, the native will want to lead, express his creative power and be recognized. If the Moon, s/he will want to care for, be cared for, eat and make love, dream, etc. If it is Mercury, s/he will be diligent in the sciences, business and communications. Id it is Venus s/he will be a lover of beauty, of music, of men and women etc. If it is Mars, s/he will fight in order to dominate. If it is Jupiter, s/he will philosophize and teach. If it is Saturn he will retire from society, investigate hidden things and suffer adversity."

So the role of astrology is initially to simply identify the planet of and planetary spirit ruling the almuten figuris.

Next it is also possible to determine the name of one's personal daimon or guardian angel using traditional astrology. Agrippa lays out the method for this at Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk III, ch. 27 and explains various methods for assigning Hebrew letters to the degrees of the Zodiac for a particular natal (or other) chart and then deriving the name of the ruling spirit or angel. Note that this will not be Michael or Gabriel or another angel you can Google, but unlike the almuten figuris, will be unique to you and not shared with anyone else unless they were born at the exact same time, date and place.

I provide both the almuten figuris and name of the guardian angel/personal daimon as part of my Astrological Checkup and
Spiritual Path Reading and Full Natal Reading

Once the planetary ruler of the personal daimon is identified then we have a good idea of the type of spiritual path we are best suited to, and a beginning idea of the method of contacting the personal daimon. For example, if Saturn is the almuten figuris, our path and method of contact is to "retire from society, investigate hidden things and suffer adversity"

Iamblichus in De Mysteriis, says that, "...the invocation of daemons is made in the name of the single god who is their ruler, who from the beginning has apportioned a single daimon to each individual and who in the theurgic rites reveals according to his good pleasure the personal daimon to each...when the personal daimon comes to be with each person then he reveals the mode of worship appropriate to him and his name and imparts the particular manner in which he should be summoned." IX 9-10 trans. Clarke & Dillon (SBL 2003) at 341.

So traditional astrology can be of immense assistance in the process of identifying and contacting the guardian angel/personal daimon. I can also say that doing the rituals and astrological talismans of the almuten figuris can be quite beneficial. I have had excellent results from mine!

Elections & the Higher Cycles of Fate

2011-06-30T16:13:00.004-05:00

When I talk to clients sometimes I get the impression they think I don't step outside my door without doing an election. Having done elections for over a decade I realize that it just isn't practical. And while it's probably not that great for hard selling, frankly elections aren't as all important as client appear to think.

Definitely for important activities it is nice to get a good election, to start with the flow rather than fighting against it. But again, I get the impression that some clients feel that if they only found the "perfect" election that success is 100% assured. A good reason, therefore, to be super prickly and insistent about getting the election of the century from 9-5 Monday-Friday in the next 5 days!

Think about it, if I pick an absolutely fabulous time to announce my candidacy for President of the US, will I be elected?

This mono-focus on the time of the election loses sight of the fact that elections are just one of multiple, interlocking circles of fate and while significant are probably the least important. If we pick a good time for an investment, for example, this is dependent on our personal fate, as set forth in our natal chart and the fate of our family which conditions how much money we have and our training, the fate of our locality, the fate of our nation, plus the local, national and world economies.

Lilly has an excellent discussion along these lines,

..for a Beggar's child may have a Nativity [natal chart] equal with a King's but then they are not both the sons of Kings...[while] a King obtains extraordinary or very great honour upon the influence thereof: the young Beggar having the very same [chart factors] has no more falls to his share, then either to fall to some course of life, not so sordid as to beg. A King has Loans or Moneys of his Subjects; it happens the Beggar has some more than usual bountiful Alms from some good people. A King performs some honourable exploit: a Beggar has more than ordinary respect among his fellow-beggars..."

Christian Astrology, pages 616-7.

I've often thought that if you had an extremely positive natal chart or election in Poland in 1939 you'd get to be a penniless refugee rather than being dead.

So let's consider planting. Clearly, even if you had a superlative election if you plant tomatoes in Iowa in January, they will not thrive. I planted mine a bit early, but covered them from the last cold snap and now they are doing great, without an election. The higher cycles of fate, here of the seasons, overcome the lack of an election.

Now certainly if you can elect, it is often worthwhile to do so. I once elected the planting of 20 seeds and every single one germinated, which was far better than normal.

This explains, however, why I have a more relaxed attitude about elections than some of my clients. They are like astrological magic, most useful in addition to taking practical action, not capable of totally overthrowing all of the other cycles of fate by themselves.

At the End of My Rope with Electional Clients

2011-06-23T11:21:00.004-05:00

I'm at a point where I am seriously considering dropping doing elections altogether, it's just too much aggravation!

How did I get to this state? Let me lay out the typical electional client scenario. The client knows a little bit about modern natal astrology. They have a limited date and/or time range available, usually in the next 30-90 days, but often less. I had a recent client who had less than week available.

I look at the date and time range, and give what I consider to be the best of the times and dates available.

The client gets the analysis, in which I layout the factors I considered and invariably says, "I'm worried about X or Y or Z" They then say, "I like date A, B or C better, could you please look at them for me?"

From the client side this is all very understandable, they are trying to find the absolute best time to do whatever it is they want to do, and from their knowledge of astrology they can see that there are MAJOR PROBLEMS with the election I propose, whereas the election they suggest is MUCH, MUCH BETTER!

The problem is that the client doesn't understand the following:

(1) Traditional astrology is different than modern astrology

(2) Electional astrology is different than natal astrology

(3) NO ELECTION IS PERFECT!

How about some examples? Traditional versus modern: A recent client was concerned about Saturn in the 1st, except that Saturn was dignified by exaltation, triplicity and face and finally direct. As Bonatti says in his Aphorisms

The 44th is, To consider if the Significators, Fortune or Infortune, be in his own House, Exaltation, Triplicity, Terms or Face (but the latter being not of that virtue with the rest, ‘tis necessary it should be assisted with another Dignity, which is Hayz or Light); for in such case the Infortune loses his sting; and being rein’d in like a wild horse from doing mischief, his malice is converted into good, and though this seems strange, yet the ancients affirm and I myself have often found it true by experience.

Natal versus Horary: same client was concerned about the Moon square Saturn, and was not particularly mollified when I pointed out the aspect was separating. In horary and electional applying versus separating is a key different, applying showing current and future events, separation past or events that will not come about Christian Astrology pages 109-10

NO ELECTION IS PERFECT! This is the hardest concept for clients to grasp. Again the client yesterday, I explained it by saying, "What if I was a matchmaker and you said, 'get me the best date that walks down the street in the next 20 minutes' I do and they say, 'Hey this guy is short and fat, I want someone like Brad Pitt or maybe George Clooney' How likely is it that Brad Pitt is going to walk down the street in the next 20 minutes?

We are almost always dealing with a very small set of possible elections due to practical considerations, often we are limited to business hours, for example. We usually have a limited date range to deal with. This means that we cannot get the perfect election and invariably have to settle for the best that we can get, rather than the election of the century. There will almost always be negative factors in the chart, and the best we can do is minimize the negative and maximize the positive as much as possible.

This is not what client want to hear. They want to hear that everything is wonderful with their elections. I'd love to be able to do that, but I have to work with what the Heavens provide me with.

This problem is compounded by the client, not understanding traditional and/or electional astrology and thinking that innocuous factors are negative or otherwise misunderstanding how traditional elections are done. A constant problem is looking at irrelevant houses, "I don't like Saturn in the 3rd" in a business election for example. In natal astrology, yes we look at all the houses. In horary and electional we concentrate on certain key houses. Besides, Saturn and other negative factors have to be SOMEWHERE in the chart, we can't whisk them out of existence!

Finally the client is worried, worried they won't get whatever they are hoping for from the election, worried about X, Y or Z from their limited astrological knowledge and worried that clearly I don't know what I'm doing since I gave them such a piece of $^%& election.

So they tell me, "I'm worried" and they suggest other elections. What I don't understand about this is, if I am so inept that I overlooked important negative factors in my suggested election, isn't my opinion worthless? Why bother with me further at all, why try to get my seemingly useless seal of approval on further elections?

From my standpoint, 99% of the time the concerns that the electional client expresses are either irrelevant, confused or factors that we are stuck with due to the limited range of dates and times available. For $55 I don't have time to spend an extra hour, patiently explaining the intricacies of traditional electional and going through endless elections until the client is satisfied, when they don't know what they are doing.

Ultimately the problem is that what electional clients are looking for is a secretary or personal assistant to pop up charts for them to repeatedly reject, until they finally find one that they like.

As an attorney, this is like having a client want to edit my briefs and change my legal arguments. It's definitely the clients' role to decide the ultimate objective and to set the practical parameters, time, date and location for the election. At that point I take over and use my expertise to get the best possible election that I can using these parameters. The client can decide that they will not use the election, but it is rude and foolish to try to micro manage an expert. If you know enough to micro manage you can do the work yourself presumably!

So I don't know. If I didn't have to earn a living, I think I might just quit doing elections. It's a no win scenario! I thought I would put this out there as a warning for fellow professional astrologers and also to see if anyone had a bright suggestions about how I can perhaps alter clients' expectations or better deal with them in the context of elections. I have started doing a big disclaimer on my website, which is also sent to every electional client. See Electional ordering with disclaimer

Making Money As an Esotericist Through New Techs Paradigms

2011-06-21T10:33:00.004-05:00

I got into a "how can you accept payment for the sacred art of X, Y and Z?" discussion on a group that got me thinking and I realized that books, whether as hard copy or electronic media, were likely to be considered more broadly acceptable. Of course, the "everything I want should be free" contingent won't like any of this, but nobody gets paid for nothing clearly isn't a viable option for the economy.

I'll still run into people that tell me they have written a book, or worse, a novel and are looking for an agent, so they can get a publisher. Folks, this is a very 20th century approach! This is still thinking in terms of printing technology where you do big print runs, store the books in a warehouses, sell through intricate distribution chains from a distributor to book stores. The publisher takes big risks and has big capital costs for author advances, printing, marketing, editing etc. The focus is on bestsellers and mass sales with a tiny profit per sale. Very hit or miss and only for the big boys.

Or alternatively you can do the tiny occult press thing. Again a big, big risk because you need to sink a huge amount of money into your print runs. Sales are slow, then you sell out your print run after many years and suddenly with the book out of print the price skyrockets and the used books dealers get the profit.

The game has, or rather, is changing drastically. Amazon killed the local bookstore. But they never had the titles I wanted anyway, even a huge Borders only had 100,000 titles, while Amazon has everything in print, literally millions of titles.

But the real change is print on demand (POD). Instead having to sink money into print runs, you publish by uploading a pdf and then when the customer orders it, the printer prints the book for them. The cost per copy is higher, but you don't need to have any money upfront. No risk means you can take more chances in terms of sales.

Put that POD book on Amazon and customers can't tell the difference between you and Random House. They order the book and it shows up looking like the paperback or hardcover they are used to.

Now Amazon takes a hefty bite and POD is more expensive, but you aren't paying the bookstore its 40% trade discount and you've cut out the publisher and distributor.

Couple of other points. First, you can target a much smaller, niche audience profitably. Our translation of the Complete Picatrix has sold less than 300 copies, which seems miniscule, but since we aren't splitting the profits with a publisher or distributor and we have no overhead, it's been profitable from the first copy. We even used the POD concept for our high end handmade cloth bound and leatherbound Picatrix editions.

Rather than doing very expensive print runs, the customer orders a copy and we had a local book binder do the binding. This meant that every customer of the cloth and leatherbound got a special dedication page with their name on it, the leatherbound, they could choose the color of leather, designs, sigils, etc, as well.

Basically we are back to the 14th century! Before printing was invented, each manuscript was done only after an order and could be done uniquely for each client. Modern technology has changed the publishing paradigm.

And this is just for hardcopy books! I'm not a big fan of selling pdfs because they are ultra easy to pirate. I know that some of the esoteric heavy hitters do have good luck with pdfs. I'm not quite ready to do Kindle or other e-book readers, but I think these have potential too. I was thinking I would do a pdf with a Creative Commons license that people could freely distribute it if they didn't change or charge for it, to get some useful information out there along with some advertising.

Any hooooo, when I heard on Jason Miller's Sorcery course (very interesting by the way, I love his practical approach) that a popular idea for making money with esoteric stuff is opening a bricks and mortar occult shop, I again, had to say, how 20th century! Heavy overhead, big time commitment and limited to local business. It might be worth it if you used the shop as marketing tool for your Internet business, but otherwise, no way!

I know that there are plenty of people out there that magic, etc., are just hobbies for or are something they do for free for friends and family. That's great, but there are increasing numbers of us that are so serious about this that they want to do it full time and give value for the $.

For those people, don't get locked in the past. We haven't really thought through how to use Internet and these incredible technological changes, but the opportunities are really out there! Don't get locked into the paradigms of fading technology!

Astral High Magic: De Imaginibus of Thabit Ibn Qurra

2011-06-17T19:21:00.008-05:00

I am very pleased to announce the launch of the newest book from Renaissance Astrology, Astral High Magic: De Imaginibus of Thabit Ibn Qurra. Here is a link for MORE INFO

"What's this Chris?" "Don't you already have a translation of De Imaginibus?" "What's it about anyway, I've never heard of it?"

Ok, first this is a brand new and greatly expanded translation. I did the earlier translation, John Michael Greer, whose Latin is far better than mine, did this second and much improved translation. One thing that makes a big difference is that this translation uses two different versions of De Imaginibus, where the earlier translation was just based on one. So significant and important improvement! I've also gone ahead and revised my already extensive commentary and added several example talismans and charts, so you can see these talismans in action. Finally, Astral High Magic features the art of Robert Place, a very talented visionary artist.

But what is De Imaginibus? Why is it important? De Imaginibus means "On Images" or more loosely, "How to make talismans" This is the most important book of astrological magic after Picatrix. Everybody who was anybody, Albertus Magnus, Ficino, Agrippa and even Picatrix, quote from and use De Imaginibus. And truly it is the highest of high magic since it combines ceremonial magic with house based talismans the height, the acme, the summit of astrological magic.

This is a key text and if you are at all interested in astrological magic you want to have a copy, particularly of this newest, highly revised edition with a new, bigger translation.

The cost is $24.95 plus shipping, Here is the info page

Here's what John Michael Greer, the translator had to say about Astral High Magic: De Imaginibus of Thabit Ibn Qurra:

First of all, Chris isn't overstating the importance of this book. It's not an equivalent of Picatrix in any way; where the unknown author of Picatrix was a collector and editor who assembled every scrap of magical lore he could get into one big volume, Thabit ibn Qurra was one of the major intellectual figures of his time, a brilliant scholar and astrologer who wrote on a wide range of subjects and received patronage from the very top end of the political scene. De Imaginibus is Thabit's own work through and through, a description by one of history's greatest astrological magicians on his methods of casting elections for world-class talismans. Translating it was a little like sitting in a corner of Thabit's study and looking over his shoulder as he worked; I tried to catch some of that quality in the translation.

Second, while Chris tends to be overly modest about his Latin abilities, I had a huge advantage in making my translation that he didn't have -- since I was working off two different Latin translations of the Arabic original, which routinely used different words and grammar to communicate the same point, I was able to get a much more precise sense of Thabit's meaning. There are some places in each version where the Latin is ambiguous, and in making his translation from one version, Chris was forced to guess at the meaning; his guesses were good ones, by and large, but as it happened, some of them were wrong -- and that led him to misstate some important details of the magical work. Even if you've got the older translation, in other words, , you need the new one.

And if you don't have the older translation, and you're going to be practicing astrological magic -- well, in that case, you need the new one!

Why the Moon in the 1st is Meaningless: Traditional Astrology is NOT Reductionist

2011-06-12T14:03:00.003-05:00

I definitely have a tendency to get cranky, certainly part of that is Mars in Leo retrograde opposed to Mercury, not an excuse for a character defect, but perhaps a partial explanation.

The other more reasonable explanation for crankiness is that it's hard to swim against the stream. What do I mean?

I frequently get questions like, "What does the Moon in the 1st mean?" and no other info! We don't know if this is a horary, election or natal chart, we don't know the surrounding life situation and we don't know the time, date and place of the chart. Under these circumstances, the Moon in the 1st is meaningless, because we don't know the context.

This is hard for the questioner to understand because the question seems natural to them. They almost certainly haven't thought why this is "natural' way to proceed, but it is, for most students of astrology and likely astrologers.

What they are doing is trying to break down the chart into its smallest constituent parts and then find the meaning in these individual parts. They can then take all of these meanings, string them together and understand the meaning of the whole chart. This is analytical reasoning "The process of separating something into its constituent elements." This is very basic to the modern scientific method.

We always have a worldview and a philosophy that we apply to organize and filter our experiences. "I don't have a philosophy" just means that we are unconscious of it. The standard scientific approach is reductionism Wikipedia article on reductionism "an approach to understanding the nature of complex things by reducing them to the interactions of their parts, or to simpler or more fundamental things" Understanding this method of organizing our understanding makes it perfectly understandable why it would be "natural" to want to break a chart down to understand it.

However, is this how a chart works?

I was watching some new BBC updating of Sherlock Holmes recently, which is a very good example of analytical reasoning. Holmes, looks for tiny details, the multiple scratches on a cell phone charge slot (modern) or scratches on a watch key slot (original), and deduces that the owner is frequently drunk or the burns on a discarded hat indicating the wearer has gas lights. Seeing all these tiny details separately, Holmes deduces the facts of the cases he investigates.

In fact, this NOT typically how actual detectives solve crimes. For example, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets is a 1991 book written by Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon describing a year spent with detectives from the Baltimore Police Department homicide squad. What is notable about the murder cases that are successfully solved in the book is that either the detectives get a lucky break, slog, slog, slog or if there is a flash of brilliance, it is of a singularly intuitive, holistic nature. In one case, a very experienced detective comes into the crime scene and intuitively points to a glass sitting casually on the counter, with nothing apparently distinctive about it. The crime lab fingerprints it and it comes back with the fingerprints that turn out to be those of the suspect! The detective had been in many crimes scenes and the glass just "felt" out of place in the context of the entire scene. But what alternative is there to reductionist thinking? Was the detective just making a wild guess?

While the word "holistic" has been super New Age-ified, it does identify an alternative to reductionism. Wikipedia alternatives to reductionism
Quoting from Wikipedia,

"many systems are so complex that it will not ever be possible to describe all their details. Drawing an analogy to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle in physics, he argues that many interesting and relevant ecological phenomena cannot be replicated in laboratory conditions, and thus cannot be measured or observed without influencing and changing the system in some way. He also points to the importance of interconnectedness in biological systems."

An astrological chart is not a long list of discrete bits that are best understood by breaking down into bite size pieces. This is a "cookbook" methodology "Moon in the 1st means X" "Sun in Leo means Y" "Jupiter trine Saturn means Z" All of the constituent parts of the chart need to be considered together so we can look through the chart and see the underlying pattern of the situation that the chart reflects.

So while holistic has connotations of loosey-goosey fuzzy New Age gibberish, while analytical seems very rigorous and scientific, in fact, when it comes to traditional astrological delineation, the holistic method gives the most voluminous, most precise and most accurate predictions.

Admittedly we need to start with a cookbook method at the very beginning of our astrological studies. But just like looking at Hitler's chart and others where we know the outcome already, these are kindergarten methods, not how we want to proceed if we wish to be masters of traditional astrology.

The traditional astrological learning process is not, as one would surmise from the analytical/reductionist methodology, just a process of piling up more and information. Invariably my students seem to bumble around when they get to actual charts and then suddenly "AH HA" a light goes on and they can put all the pieces together.

But this leaves me with a dilemma. How do I respond when someone asks "What does the Moon in the 1st mean?" For them this is a perfectly normal and natural question and if I am going to be a helpful teacher or source of information I should answer them and give a brief bite sized explanation of the Moon in the 1st, eg "You may feel more nurturing today. Feeling like mothering people and showing you care. Your emotions will right on the surface. You may feel more vulnerable on this day." online astrologer

This is like being a cab driver and having a passenger want to go to the Air & Space Museum on Sunday at midnight. Are you helping them by doing what they ask, when you know the museum is closed?

I suppose from now on, I can give them a link to this post!

Talisman Consecration Ritual

2011-05-28T11:26:00.002-05:00

I had a recent request for a talisman consecration video. One of the things I really like about the Internet is the proliferation not just of written information, but also visual info. For example, I have hosta, popular lily type plant, in my yard. It grows like crazy and you are supposed to split them periodically. How to do it? About 100 videos that tell you how. Having never done it, I think I can pretty easily now.

So, I'm sympathetic to wanting to see how talisman consecrations are performed. Personally, I don't have any videos that I have done on this. Main reason is that the production values that the modern audience demands, even for free videos on Youtube, is very high. I get complaints about the sound quality of my videos made before I had a professional quality microphone and a recording expert buddy who does the sound recording and editing for me. To film a ritual would require multiple cameras, makeup, costuming, lighting, video editing, etc., if I wanted to avoid getting pounded by critics for not making the super glossy, professional free videos that today's discerning Youtuber clearly demands.

But I want to reassure everyone about ritual. In our atheistic/materialistic world ritual is something alien to most of us. We likely haven't had contact with anything other than dead ritual, haven't been able to see or participate in a living spiritual ritual where the participants trusted that the ritual was meaningful and effective.

The basic template for ritual and for consecration in particular, in the Western tradition, is fairly straightforward with three steps: Open, Do the ritual, Close.

(1) Open

You set up your sacred space and begin the ritual by separating the sacred space from the mundane. Alternately you can think of this as opening up a window or door into the spiritual. Or, finally you can think of it as recognizing the true spiritual nature of all reality and briefly dropping our illusory views of mundane reality.

I open by sprinkling water, and invoking divine names. I call on the 4 archangels (Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel) of the directions and sprinkle water in their respective directions.

Not only does this demarcate the beginning of the ritual, but it cleans out the space from any spiritual hangers on that are attracted by the spiritual energy/work being done there. Also blesses the space and ritual.

Now, the Picatrix style ritual that I use differs significantly from the standard ceremonial magic, particularly Goetic or outright demonic ceremonial magic, in that there is no magic circle and nothing is done to protect the mage from the spirits who are invoked. This is because we are invoking celestial spirits who are basically angelic. We do not need to protect ourselves from them nor can we command them, as one would do with a Goetic spirit or demon.

(2) Ritual

Essentially an astrological talisman consecration consists of invoking or calling upon the respective spirits by name and asking them to take up residence in the talisman.

We have a reasonable number of invocations in our traditional sources, particularly Picatrix Bk III, ch 7 for planets and Bk IV, ch 9 for Mansions of the Moon, but for fixed stars and decans we have to write our own.

Generally the Picatrix invocations call upon the planets by various names and then list their attributes, which can be both positive and negative.

While we are reading the invocation we generally have one or more candles burning and have incense burning as well. These spirits, like most benefic ones, tend to like candles and incense.

A key part of ritual is suffumigation which is simply moving the talisman back and forth through the smoke of the incense, while saying the invocation.

(3) Close

We end the ritual, closing the sacred space and returning to the mundane world. I usually say divine names and just say, "I now end this ritual"

I am very precise and rigid when it comes to astrological timing, but ritual is way more free form. I am increasingly moving towards short but heartfelt ritual as opposed to long, tired ritual. There is a wide variety of things you can do in ritual so long as they are appropriate.

Appropriate? First of all, be respectful! This is not a joke, these are actual, existent and very powerful beings. We can also figure out what is appropriate by looking at planetary rulership. Sun rules yellow, ok, yellow candles. Sun rules frankincense, ok, frankincense is good solar incense.

I can tell, however, that a lot of people are afraid of doing consecrations, in particular afraid that if they make a mistake, that it will blow up like a grenade. This is going to the other extreme of taking consecration as a joke. It is not a joke, but neither is it deadly serious or dangerous.

Couple of influences. First, as mentioned, this is new to most people. Second, 1000 years of anti-magic propaganda by organized religion, jealous of its monopoly on the spiritual. Third, the quite reasonable concern about Goetic spirits and down right evil demons.

My experience with celestial spirits has been overwhelming positive. Treat them respectfully and appropriately and a wide range of ritual, inspiring to you, is possible and effective!

Horaries about the News?

2011-05-20T11:32:00.002-05:00

Not infrequently I get asked to horaries about topics in the news like Obama's re-election, or the outcome of a celebrity scandal.

Ok, I wouldn't like to say that this sort of horary was impossible, because Lilly used to do political horary questions. However, the problem is that unless you are personally and viscerally involved in a situation asking a horary about it lacks serious emotional punch. The further you get from a question that affects you personally and directly, the closer it gets to idle curiosity and the less "juicy" and focused the chart is.

The other problem is that with a binary question (guilty or not guilty) you can guess, get it right (?) and fool yourself in to thinking you predicted it. This is a common problem with presidential and other political election horaries. Really you need to be able to get multiple factors correctly predicted in a chart to be able to say that you nailed it.

Part of my problem, too, is that I am a professional horary astrologer. I am typically doing 2 sometimes 3 horaries a day. I find any reading exhausting because I have to really tune in on the situation and I have client who is paying for an accurate prediction. I don't do "freebies" or horaries for fun anymore than most people go into to work on Saturday and put in a few hours for their beloved boss and company for free, "just for the fun of it!"

I do get asked occasionally by the media for this sort of prediction. They like it, it's flashy, it's a topic in the headlines. From my standpoint it's a bit too dangerous because there is too much on the line. I don't feel that an astrological prediction will be judged fairly. The standard modern world view of atheistic/materialism KNOWS that astrology can't work, so an astrological prediction is judged on a much higher and more rigorous standard than say, economics, which is awful at prediction but rests on a more acceptable theoretical basis, so its errors are excused.

Plus when I make a prediction I am not only putting my own competence on the line, often to be judged unfairly, but the very efficacy of traditional astrology itself. If a particular prediction isn't 110% then not only am I fraud, but so is astrology itself.

So, I wouldn't want to say that this sort of prediction is impossible or wrong, but personally, I don't do 'em!

Renaissance Natal Astrology Course

2011-04-26T19:28:00.004-05:00

I put on a huge burst of speed and I have now finished all of the lessons in my new Renaissance Natal Astrology Course! We are ready to start taking pre-orders with shipment starting on May 16, 2011!

I was really pleased as I got into working on the Natal Course because I realized that the Renaissance method, which you could almost describe as "quick and dirty" really works well. The Renaissance Natal Astrology Course is based heavily on William Lilly and John Gadbury and could just as easily be described as a horary method of natal astrology, where our focus is on houses and house rulers, rather than the more individualistic, idiosyncratic medieval methods of Bonatti, based on the older Arabic methods. They work too, but take a lot more work to master. The Renaissance method is much, much easier to learn.

That's not to say that we don't use some more complex methodologies. For example, let's look at lesson 10; Manner of Death. This uses what initially seems like a complex technique using the Sun, the Moon, violent signs (?) and violent fixed stars. However, if you sit down and work through it, it's very logical and straightforward and what interesting results you get from it!

One of the things that was important to me in the Renaissance Natal Astrology Course was to strictly avoid "celebrity" charts. We will not be looking at Hitler's chart! Why? Because if you know the native (person whose chart you are reading) and their life you can simply fit the chart to what you know. This is not prediction! In the Renaissance Natal Astrology Course we use charts from real people, with the locations and their identities concealed, but most importantly, you don't know the outcome or results of these charts. You really learn how to predict! We take off the "training wheels" so to speak, go out on a limb and learn how to deal with charts whose results are unknown. If you want to be a true astrologer and particularly if you want to read for clients, this is KEY!

Let's look at the Course lessons

Lesson 1: History of Astrology & the Traditional World View

Lesson 2: Planets, Signs & Essential Dignities

Lesson 3: Traditional Charts & Houses

Lesson 4: Aspects & Accidental Dignities

Lesson 5: Natal Introduction & Temperament, Wit & Manners

Lesson 6: Income & Career

Lesson 7: Health & Illness

Lesson 8: Relationships & Children

Lesson 9: Spirituality

Lesson 10: Manner of Death

Lesson 11: Timing in the Natal Chart

Lesson 12: Natal Talisman Prescriptions

The Masterpiece: Final Readings

Just like my other full courses, we learn the basics of traditional astrology. You don't need to know anything to start my courses and in fact you are almost ahead of the game if you haven't studied modern astrology, since you don't need to unlearn anything. We go step by step, clearly and straightforwardly through the material. I fully explain everything in the lessons and since you are studying with me personally, if you have any questions about the current lesson you can ask me, either by phone or e-mail. There are no grades, you just need to master the material in each lesson before you go on. If you need more material to work with, I create it for you. You can take as much time as you want, there are no deadlines for completion!

Is this a "complete" traditional natal course? I don't think anyone can honestly say that their course is truly complete, the area is just too big to cover everything. What I have done is to focus on those areas which I feel I have mastered, where I can give a very precise, accurate answer. The Renaissance Natal Astrology Course teaches how to give my Full Natal Reading and clients have been very happy with these readings recently. "Astoundingly accurate" or even "Disturbingly accurate" is what they've been saying. Certainly the hot areas that clients want to hear about are covered, money, career, love, health & illness, children, spirituality, even manner of death and timing using firdaria and solar revolutions.

One of things I am really glad I dealt with in the course, however, is working with our 17th century texts. I explain how to read these texts and how to "translate" them, really not a big deal! This opens up 1000s and 1000s of pages of material and allows you to work with any area of traditional natal astrology that exists by making you savvy enough to use original sources. I should mention that included with the course are two free paperback traditional astrology sources Ferrier's Judgment of Nativities and Poole's Country Astrology

On the Course CD are the traditional texts in pdf:

* Johannes Angelus' Astrological Optics
* Al-Biruni's Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology
* Guido Bonatti's 146 Aphorisms from his Liber Astronomiae
* William Lilly's complete Christian Astrology in facsimile and
selections from Christian Astrology Book III in modern font
* John Gadbury's Doctrine of Nativities
* Henry Coley's Key to Astrology-Natal Portions
* John Patridge's Mikropanastron-Natal Portions
* John Gadbury's Collection of Nativities
* John Gadbury's Nativity of King Charles

This allows you to really become a "complete" natal astrology since you then have access to the whole range of traditional materials. This includes all of Ben Dykes' great translations of Arabic astrologers. Though if you read these you will find that the real problem with traditional sources is not the s's that look like f's or the the older style of modern English, but the concepts! This is what taking a course is really excellent for, mastering step by step the complex concepts and techniques.

It's not really a surprise, I guess, that my interest and expertise in astrological magic shows up in the Renaissance Natal Astrology Course! There are lots of cool magical areas you can delve into in natal astrology. For example the name of your guardian angel/spirit can be determined from your birth chart. Agrippa mentions this in book III of TBOP, but is very confusing. I teach how to do this process manually and the course also includes the great Daimon Name Calculator standalone software by quaero lux. Zip! What would take an hour or more is done in a second and all the English, Kabbalistic, Hebrew, evil daimon etc, etc, names listed by Agrippa are right there! I also include traditional images for each of the 360 degrees, very cool, 300 years older than the Sabian Symbols.

What's really exciting, however, is a whole lesson on prescribing astrological remedies based on the natal chart! Before now astrologers could just predict, now with astrological magic, we can actually DO SOMETHING with the birth chart. I explain how to analyze a chart for all types of talismans, in particular planetary talismans. How to figure out which planets are good, fair or to be avoided for a natal chart. But we go further in depth in analyzing problem chart areas and what to do about them, planetary charity for afflicted planets and planetary meditation. very, very useful for yourself and very helpful for reading charts for clients and unique to the Renaissance Natal Astrology Course.

So sounding pretty good! But I want to encourage you to pre-order the Renaissance Natal Astrology Course so there are some special bonuses for pre-ordering, which you can do until May 15, 2011.

First, pre-orders will include the following bonus pdf traditional natal astrology texts:

Christopher Heydon, the Wisdom of Solomon, 234 pages
Kirby, the Marrow of Astrology, 131 pages
Salmon, Soul of Astrology, 800 pages
Searle, Introduction to Astrology, 92 pages
Worsdale, Collection of Nativities, 59 pages
Worsdale, Natal Astrology, 261 pages
Young Student's Guide to Astrology, 270 pages

That's almost 2000 pages of material on traditional natal astrology! Some of these sources I have never even heard of before and all of them are available only from Renaissance Astrology and as part of the Renaissance Natal Astrology Course.

Plus there's more! I have created a special Renaissance Astrology Traditional Natal Astrology page for Solar Fire. This needs a copy of Solar Fire to run, but is very cool! This page has everything you need to judge a natal chart, right on one page. A traditional square chart, aspect grid, essential dignities set up just the way we use them in the Course, fixed stars, planetary speeds, a bunch of useful natal Arabic Parts, and very, very useful, lunar phases with the all important pre-natal syzygy (previous Full or New Moon) for the guardian angel name, PLUS, the complex almuten figuris calculation of Ibn Ezra built right in! Wow! Again, for now, this is only available if you pre-order the Renaissance Natal Astrology Course!

Ok, how much is the Natal Astrology Course? I went back and forth about this, but these prices will be the same whether you pre-order or not. I thought the most fair thing to do was to give a discount to all my students all the time and give the additional pre-order bonuses, too!

If you have never taken a Renaissance Astrology full course, then the Renaissance Natal Astrology Course is $299.95 plus shipping and you can order here

If you have taken either the Horary, Electional or Astrological Magic Courses, then the Renaissance Natal Astrology Course is $50 off!!! Just e-mail me at chriswarnock@renaissanceastrology.com for the payment link.

Pre-orders and bonuses end and shipping begins May 15, 2011. If you want to lock in the bonuses you can start with a $50 layaway payment, so long as you pay the first installment before May 15, 2011. Just e-mail me at chriswarnock@renaissanceastrology.com for the layaway payment link.

No One Practices "Astrology"!

2011-04-25T10:39:00.002-05:00

It's one of those very useful tests. If someone says they are an astrologer and you ask, "What kind?" and they say "you know, astrology" then they are a modern astrologer. Those practicing Hellenistic or traditional Western astrology or Vedic astrology know enough to know that there is no astrology in general, just a variety of schools and systems.

Western or European astrology originated in Babylonia and Chaldea around 2,000 B.C. The planets were equated to gods and celestial events observed for omens. Most cultures observe heavenly omens, but Babylonian religion was particularly astral based and by 1,500 B.C. had collected systematic observations of Venus and other planets. The key invention was Zodiac around 600-400 B.C. which allowed for precise description of location of planets and complex system of delineation. This horoscopic astrology diffused to Greece and throughout the Hellenistic world and became part of the science and philosophy of the Roman Empire. The astrology of classical Greece and Roman from 400 BC to around 500 AD is Hellenistic astrology.

With the fall of the Roman Empire and the onset of the Dark Ages in the 6th and 7th centuries, astrology was preserved in Byzantium and the advanced Islamic civilization of the Middle East. This astrology, enriched by the addition of observations and techniques, some from the Vedic astrology of India, passed to medieval Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries. There it flourished until the Enlightenment and went of out fashion due to the new materialism and mechanistic philosophies introduced in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The phase of this astrology in Europe from 1200 to 1700 is referred to as traditional astrology while the first period, 1200 to 1500, is known as medieval astrology and the terminal period, 1500 to 1700, is known as Renaissance astrology. Arabic astrology, practiced from around 800 to 1000 AD is the source of Western traditional astrology.

It would be a shame to fall into the fallacy of modern astrologers that every style of astrology other than modern is somehow classifiable together as "other". Hellenistic and traditional astrology have many significant differences, For example, aspects, where Hellenistic astrology has sign to sign aspects, traditional astrology uses aspects by degree and applying and separating aspects.

For the modern other systems of astrology exist as a great boneheap of history, a huge jumpled dump of assorted techniques and methods that can be sorted through and bits and bobbles pulled out and individualistically crammed together in the mashup that is modern astrological technique. This compulsion to combine disparate methods and techniques from different schools & systems is the essence of modern astrology.

Hellenistic and traditional Western astrology, like the Vedic astrology of India are systems unto themselves. The pieces don't work separately, there is no "astrology" in general, there are a variety of schools and systems that are internally consistent. If one doesn't know what school they belong to, if one practices "astrology" then one is a modern astrologer! And certainly one is free to call themselves whatever they wish, Hellenistic, traditional, etc., though if one mixes and matches systems, this is a bit like me calling myself Catholic, because I do an Ave Maria daily, but never go to Mass, never take communion and never was confirmed.

Fossilized Techniques

2011-04-06T13:27:00.002-05:00

I had a recent question about an oddity of traditional essential dignities, the exaltation of the Moon's Nodes!

The fact that the Dragon's Head, Caput draconis, or the North Node of the Moon is exalted in Gemini and the Dragon's Tail, Cauda draconis, the South Node of the Moon is exalted in Sagittarius, and in particular at the 3rd degree of these signs, does indeed appear in traditional sources. Al-Qabisi, Introduction to the Science of Astrology, 1.15, in Dykes, Introductions to Traditional Astrology (Cazimi 2010) page 45.

Ben footnotes this and notes that exaltation of the nodes derives from Persian or Indian lore, because this does not appear in Hellenistic astrology.

An excellent example of fossilized technique in traditional astrology! What do I mean by fossilized technique? Often our sources will mention some technique or method in passing, but then not explain how to use it or not use it at all. The exaltations of the Nodes are indeed mentioned, but I've never seen them used in a delineation.

This is a bit odd to modern thinking. There is this sense that everything should be open and obvious and logical in a linear fashion. If I don't understand something clearly the fault lies in the material, throw it out! That there are these pockets of technique that we know about but whose origin or use are mysterious is simply wrong.

However, the traditional astrology mindset is more appreciative of the past and willing to take a wait and see attitude. Through translations like Ben Dykes the really old Arabic techniques are being unearthed and revived. Even if the technique is not revived however, there is no harm, for the traditionalist, in recounting what the sources say even if we ourselves don't understand it.

Of course the automatic modern response will be to speculate about the origin and use and start spinning theories to understand the exaltation of the Nodes. For me, I just file it away for possible future study when more has been revealed to me!

More Effective Magic?

2011-03-21T10:50:00.004-05:00

I am beginning to realize that there are a variety of different approaches possible to astrological magic. Members of my discussion group Spiritus Mundi will be familiar with my distinction between seeing the planets like batteries charging talismans with energy and individual entities with distinct personalities. These approaches dictate a different response in many ways, in how we invoke the planets and make talismans and how we might approach See deconsecration.

The "battery" approach falls in line with a general attitude that the purpose of astrological magic is, first and foremost, getting exactly what we want as soon as possible. If the talisman doesn't work fast and give us the immediate, desired results, it didn't work, or someone made a mistake or the whole magic thing is a disappointment or a fraud. We are using magic as a last resort, as a last ditch way to be saved and we ought to be able to put 10 cents of effort into it and get $100,000 results out. We could call this "gimme" magic!

In this line of thinking, Venus is for love and especially for getting the love of a particular person. Why else would you bother?

Unfortunately, the "gimme" approach is hit or miss. Sometimes I have clients that get results as soon as they buy a talisman and before they have even received it. Others are frantically e-mailing me a day after they consecrate a talisman, freaking because, "NOTHING IS HAPPENING!!!!" ie they didn't win the lottery that day or find a $100 bill on the ground or X, their long lost love, is still in Seattle.

But magic is not exempt from the general rules of reality. It is more effective the easier the task it is applied to. It is more effective the more experienced you are at using it. It is more effective the more effort is put into it and for a longer period of time. Contrawise, having never done any magic before, taking little effort for a short time and attempting to accomplish a hugely difficult task immediately, is likely not to be successful. "Ah, I knew it, the talisman, maker, magic itself, are bogus!"

I had someone e-mail me the other day to complain that their "spells" were only 10% effective and did I know a secret to make them "100% effective" Yes, there must be someone to make reality conform to me!

But let me tell a real secret, which is one way, certainly not the only way, to make magic more effective. Essentially Wade and I are now celestial priests, priests of the stars, planets and heavenly spirits. One of our key practices is to invoke the planet that rules the day, every day, whether we want something or not. And for me, while I do ask for things, I am more often simply asking the planetary, stellar, etc., spirit to infuse a talisman with their spirit or to grant me their own particular powers, whatever they may be and however the spirit feels is most useful and effective for me.

My practice is devotional and long term. I am not telling the planets what to do, I am accepting their advice and kind assistance in guiding me towards what they feel is best. I have a long term relationship with the planets, a relationship of respect.

What's the point if I can't get what I want NOW!!!? Well, I am currently supporting myself at a very nice middle class income based 100% on astrology and astrological magic. I don't have a boss, I do work I really enjoy and I get to help people everyday doing it. Now I didn't get here instantly, it took years of work, but I know the celestial spirits played and continue to play a big role.

So it's definitely a good idea to get to know all of the planets and to make the talismans of those planets unafflicted in your chart as well as invoking all of them.

Energy & Spiritual Factors Involved in Divination

2011-02-08T12:23:00.002-06:00

I wanted to mention a very interesting blog post on the energy and spiritual factors involved in divination

At first this may not seem to apply to astrology, after all we are a spiritual science, not some storefront fortuneteller. I know when I first started doing readings, people would ask me, "are you psychic?" and I would say, "No this is a science, I am just reading the chart." But then I realized that while we de-emphasize the individual "psychic abilities" or intuition of the astrologer in traditional astrology, that it nevertheless plays a key role.

The very first aphorism of the Centiloquium traditionally attributed to Ptolemy, aka the Liber Fructus, says,

1. A Te & Scientia; from thyself and learning: for it cannot be, that he who is skilful should pronounce particular forms of things; nor can the fancy undertake a particular, but general notion of the sensible matter; in such things we must use conjecture. None but those endued with Divine Inspiration predict particulars.

In other words, you can get about 75-80% of the information for a reading from the chart and from applying traditional technique, but to get 100% involves tuning into the situation. I remember that when I did my Chandra Levy event charts which turned out to be highly accurate, I kept seeing people on the street and seeing their heads as skulls for about a week. And indeed Chandra was dead!

There is a tendency, particularly among modern astrologers, to see astrology as somehow acceptably "scientific" as opposed to other forms of divination which are "psychic" and ultimately illegitimate, similarly to their views of magic! Cornelius Agrippa, for one, would not have agreed with them. He lists all sorts of different forms of divination in Three Books of Occult Philosophy and explains why they work. For example,

"Chap. liii. That no Divination without Astrology is perfect.

We have spoken in the foregoing Chapters of the divers kindes of Divinations: But this is to be noted that all these require the use and rules of Astrology, as a key most necessary for the knowledge of all secrets; and that all kinds of Divinations whatsoever have their root and foundation in Astrologie so, as that without it they are of little or no use; yet Astrological Divination, in as much as the Celestials are causes and signs of all those things which are, and are done in these inferiors, doth give most certain demonstrations by the situation, and motion onely of Celestial bodies, of those things which are occult or future; of which we shall in this place speak no further, since of this Science huge Volums have been wrote by the Ancients, and are everywhere extant. Therefore whether the Physiognomists look upon the body, or countenance of forehead, or hand, or the Soothsayer, searcheth by dreams or Auspicia, that the judgment may be right, the figure of heaven is also to be enquired into. From the judgements whereof, together with conjectures of similitudes and signs, are produced true opinions of the significators."

While Agrippa gives precedence to astrology, he accepts the accuracy and value of many different types of divination all of which depend on the spiritual sympathy and interconnection of all things for their ability to predict. And indeed this is a key part of Hermetic and Neoplatonic thought. Plotinus, the great 3rd century Neoplatonic philosopher in his Ennead II, treatise 3, "On Whether the Stars are Causes", says,

"There would be no signifying if particular things did not happen according to some order. Let us suppose that the stars are like characters always being written on the heavens or written once for all and moving as they perform their task, a different one: and let us assume that their significance results from this, just as because of the one principle in a single living being, by studying one member we can learn something about a different one. For instance we can come to conclusions about someone's character and also about the dangers that beset him and the precautions to be taken by looking at his eyes or some other part of his body. Yes they are members and so are we; so we can learn about one from the other. All things are full of signs, and it is a wise man who can learn about one thing from another...Then what is this single linked order? If there is one, our auguries from birds and other living creatures, by which we predict particular events are reasonable. All thing must be joined to one another; not only must there be in each individual part what is called a single united breath of life, but before them all and still more, in the All. One principle must make the universe a single complex living creature..."

Ennead II, 3. p. 70-1.

By doing divination, we are, in fact, involving ourselves, connecting ourselves spiritually to the patterns and situations we seek to predict. I, for one, find doing readings very tiring. First, because reading these patterns is not easy, but also, I am realizing, because of the heavy emotional and spiritual weight of many of the situations I am dealing with. I need to start thinking more about spiritual cleansing!

What are the Effects of Talismans?

2011-02-04T09:09:00.007-06:00

I recently had a question about the effects of some of the pentacles from the Greater Key of Solomon, which led into a discussion of the effects of talismans in general.

In terms of the effects of the pentacles frankly I have to question whether some of them literally work. For example, the Fifth Pentacle of the Sun, "serveth to invoke those spirits who can transport thee from one place unto another, over a long distance and in short time." I've sold these, but I haven't had anyone come back and say they were instantly zipping across country. On the other hand, it would make sense if you found that you were moving through airport security easily with a 5th Sun pentacle, and your trips seem to go faster.

Similarly with the the Third Pentacle of Venus, "...this if it only shown unto any person serveth to attract love. The Fifth Pentacle of Venus, "When it it only showed unto any person whatsoever inciteth and exciteth wonderfully unto love." Not sure that this would instantly cause someone to fall under your sway, more typical effects from Venus and love talisman in general are all of a sudden getting calls and contacts by ex-boy/girl friends or out of the blue calls from people you are interested in romantically, finding it easier to socialize, having attractive people more attracted to you.

I often have to say to people, "this isn't like the movies, lightning bolts aren't going to come out of your fingertips if you get a talisman" On the other hand, magic works! I've said magic is the art of creating coincidences and very often the spiritual works through these rearrangements of the material world. All of a sudden after working with the Pleiades mage talisman
and Alkaid talisman, which being a circumpolar star has to do with guidance as well as protection, I began stumbling on to this hidden esoteric lore, eg in one week I discovered a Pleiades invocation in the Greek Magical Papyri and 36 ancient decan sigils.

My experience with wealth talismans is that big bags of gold don't start materializing out of thin air and you don't get a talisman and next day win the Powerball, instead they give you more opportunities to make money and start drawing in money faster. With any talisman, you need to be willing to do some practical footwork and give the magic a chance to work in your life. For myself, when I work with wealth talismans, I can see more customers calling and more orders coming in.

But we don't want to be entirely focused on immediate, tangible material effects of talismans. This focus is understandable, given the Modern World view which says that nothing really exists except matter and energy. In the traditional world view the material is underlain by the spiritual, the spiritual provides the ultimate patterning for the arrangement of the material world and is more perfect and in fact a higher level of reality. By working with these underlying spiritual connections and sympathies we can cause change in the material world, but it may, in fact, be more significant that we can work with the spiritual, in the world and within ourselves. Seeing that the spiritual actually exists is ultimately of greater value. In addition, we shouldn't downplay the power of magic on a purely spiritual level, what moderns would consider an internal psychological level, but also in terms of theurgy, using magic as a spiritual path.

But it's MY Question! Asked or Received Horary Charts

2011-01-25T14:10:00.004-06:00

I wanted to do some additional followup regarding an earlier post about the proper location to be used for horary charts. Do we use the asked chart, the time, date and place of the querent when they first asked the question, or do we use the received chart, the time, date and place the astrologer receives and understands the question?

Lilly says,

"...for let us suppose a Letter is sent or delivered to me, wherein I am desired to resolve some doubts; perhaps I receive the Letter into my hands at three o'clock in any day of the week, but in regard of some occassions, do not read it until four or five hours after; that very hour and minute of hour when I break it open, and perceive the intention of the Querent, is the time to which I ought to erect my Figure, and from thence to draw mine Astrological Judgment: This way and manner have I practiced, and found success answerable..."

William Lilly, Christian Astrology, page 166.

Lilly's practice, therefore, was to use the received chart. Some querents find this confusing. After all, "It is MY question, why don't you use MY location, time and date?" Some of the force behind this view comes from the Modern World View in particular the idea that "The basic unit of the Modern World View is taken to be the individual." The view that an idea might have a person, rather than a person having an idea seems odd to the modern.

But look at the Wrong Zodiac Meme an excellent example of an idea or concept going viral, seemingly a metaphoric, but actually a pretty accurate description of how the same idea "infected" millions.

So is it really MY question? Traditional astrology says not quite! The medieval Italian astrologer Guido Bonatti says,

1st Consideration. on those things which move a man to pose a question (and there are three motions). The first is the motion of the soul, when someone is moved by his intention to pose a question. The second is the motion of the superior bodies, namely when someone asks what they are impressing into the quesited thing, what will come of it. The third is the motion of the free will, which can itself be an action of the one asking. Because even thought the soul is moved to ask, it does not suffice unless the superior bodies lead him to pose the question; nor does the motion of the stars suffice, unless form the motion of the free will the act of asking is reached.

Guido Bonatti, Book of Astronomy, Tr. 5, 146 Considerations, trans Dykes (Cazimi Press, 2007) at 264.

In other words the querent is part of a larger patterning, that they are not under the complete control of (fatalism) nor are they entirely able to choose any option (complete free will) rather they play a role in a complex patterned interaction and flow.

I tell querents that I prefer to use the received time because it gives a more accurate and more objective view of the situation. The asked chart often seems subjective, affected in its accuracy by the emotional state, hopes and fears of the querent. Let me give a concrete, personal example.

I had had a contractor do some work on my house. Unlike all my other contractors this one was an acquaintance/friend. They had previously done a good job, came in under the estimate and so foolishly, I didn't get an written estimate for the latest work and just relied on an oral estimate. When they gave me the first bill, before any visible work was done on the house, the bill was already high. I made my displeasure known and the contractor claimed to be "2/3s done" When they gave me the final bill, however, it turned out that they were not 2/3s done and had billed me way, way, way higher. I was angry, send them a check and told them take it or leave it, having judged that the contractor didn't have the stomach for a fight. However, they surprised me by getting a lawyer and threatening a lawsuit!

Here is the chart of my question, "How will the contractor case turn out?" asked once I got the lawyer's letter. 2:25 pm CST December 11, 2010 Iowa City, IA USA. 11 Taurus rises and it is Mars hour. As Mars is the mixed ruler of earth signs, the chart is radical or rooted which means it has internal signs of accuracy.

As Taurus rises I am signified by Venus, who is dignified by triplicity, but in detriment, conjunct the 7th house cusp.

The Moon is peregrine in the 11th house.

The contractor as legal opponent is signified by Mars, ruler of the 7th house, exalted and conjunct the North Node.

The Moon sextiles Mars, significator of the legal opponent, then Mercury, then trines Venus, my significator. Mars is currently moving to sextile Venus, my significator, but will not perfect the aspect as Venus speeds up.

Analysis

Wow, am I @#$% My significator Venus, while dignified by triplicity (+3) is in detriment (-5) overall -2. Worse, I am in the sign and conjunct the cusp of the house of my opponent, a sign of defeat. Christian Astrology page 373. His significator Mars, ruler of the 7th, is the natural ruler of warfare and litigation, very strong, and he is feeling very strong about his position since Mars is exalted. Comparing the strength of my significator Venus -2 to his significator Mars, +4 I also lose. Christian Astrology page 373.

Ok, now the Moon sextiles Mars, without reception so that indicates settlement, but with some battling it out first. Christian Astrology page 372. Mars, his significator, looks like it is applying to Venus, my significator, but Venus speeds up and gets away before the aspect perfects. This could indicate an attempt at settlement, likely by him, that doesn't pan out.

Look at my 2nd house ruled by Mercury, peregrine and retrograde, ouch, losses for me. His house of wealth, the 8th is ruled by Jupiter dignified by sign and the Sun dignified by triplicity is there along with his significator exalted and conjunct the North Node. Much better in terms of money for him than me.

So, I felt that I was in a terrible position, that the case would settle but that I would have to end up paying a lot because I was so weak and he was so strong. I was particularly bothered by the fact that my personal opinion of him was that he didn't want to fight, but here he was Mars exalted in the chart and he had hired a lawyer.

Ok, now the outcome is very interesting. Seeing this chart, I immediately changed course, and switched from being aggressive to trying to settle the case. I call the contractor on the phone and suggested we meet and work things out amicably. At first he agreed then his lawyer called and aggressively refused to meet in person and insisted on me making a settlement offer. I made an initial low ball offer and amazingly enough the contractor took it! The lawyer was somewhat embarrassed that the client just folded. I ended up settling the case for not much more than the initial oral estimate and saved a huge amount of money off the original bill.

So the chart was correct as far as showing settlement, but rather than showing the actual state of the parties, it showed my emotional attitude at the time of the question! I was really surprised and unhappy to get the lawyer's letter.

Now, we cannot entirely rule out that the chart simply was inaccurate, except that I have done plenty of received charts that were quite accurate. Also I have been noticing that legal charts that I do are leaning towards being more negative in the chart than in the actual outcome. All of these possibilities need to be considered. However, ultimately, this reminds me of what sometimes happens to me with tarot or I ching readings. Occasionally when I do these readings when I am upset about a situation, instead of forecasting the situation they come back saying, "yes you are upset!"

Certainly our traditional sources often manifested skepticism about the ability of an astrologer to be dispassionate enough to read their own chart. eg Guido Bonatti, Book of Astronomy, Tr. 6, Chapter 4, trans Dykes (Cazimi Press, 2007) at 264. It does appear that for the highest degree of accuracy that it is very useful to have another astrologer not only judge the question, but also take the received
chart.

Personal Lucky Stars?

2011-01-21T10:21:00.003-06:00

I had a question recently asking if a particular star was rising (conjunct the Ascendant) in one's natal chart, whether that made it a "lucky" star for the person and contrawise, if the star was on the Descendant (conjunct the 7th house cusp) that made it personally "unlucky".

It appears that the original Hellenistic use of the angles, ie 1st house cusp or Ascendant, 10th or Midheaven, 7th or Descendant, 4th or Imum Coeli ("below heaven") was as a measure of strength, with the Ascendant being strongest, closely followed by the Midheaven.

While the houses now have additional meanings, eg 2nd is money, 4th real property, etc., the angular houses retain their use as indicating strength and prominence. See Bonatti, Book of Astronomy, Tr. 2 Ch 4 Dykes trans at 94 "...four are called "angles", name the 1st & 4th and 7th and 10th. And these houses are the stronger and firmer parts of the Heavens..."

The most prominent part of a house is conjunct the cusp. A planet that is not in a house, but in the previous house within 5 degrees of the cusp of a house, strongly influences that house, even stronger than if it were say, 20 degrees into the house. This is the "5 degree" rule of Ptolemy. Tetrabiblos, Bk III.

So a planet, fixed star, etc., conjunct the Ascendant or Midheaven is giving the strongest possible influence over the strongest houses in the chart. The orb will vary depending on whether this is a planet (perhaps up to 8 degrees) or fixed star (within 1 degree usually) or varying for Nodes, etc.

In any case, a planet or fixed star conjunct the Ascendant or Midheaven will be very influential for the chart and very prominent in the life of a person if it is a natal chart.

Now, how it will affect the person or manifest depends on what the nature of the star is and the person's life situation. But merely being conjunct the Ascendant or Midheaven doesn't change the nature of the star. Algol conjunct the Ascendant in your natal chart, doesn't generally make Algol a "lucky star" for you, rather it makes you metaphorically lose your head and make bad choices or occasionally is an indication of violent death by literally losing your head. Now this does not rule out the possibility that you can tap into the energy of Algol more easily since it is so prominent but Algol stays Algol. Of course, my experience with Algol shows me that he or she is powerful, but quite useful in the proper circumstance as well. See, for example Large Algol Talisman and Small Algol Talisman.

I do notice that there is a tendency for astrologers to assume that the Heavens re-arrange themselves based on our personal birthcharts. If Saturn, for example, rules the 7th in your chart, he foretells, among other factors, your love life. This does not, however, make Saturn a love talisman for you, because this is not his nature.

We are the result of the mingling of celestial forces, not the arbiters of their nature!

Wrong Zodiac Meme

2011-01-14T09:42:00.006-06:00

It's a tribute to the amplifying power of the Internet that the "Wrong Zodiac Meme" ie, constellations have moved, there are 13 signs, etc., has now gone viral. I've had multiple posters try to put up links on it, I even got called by a TV reporter for comments on it.

In short the "Wrong Zodiac Meme" says, "Throw away your watch, the only accurate way to tell time is with a sundial!"

But this is nothing more than the tired, old, moth eaten Constellational Zodiac argument. I got so tired of questions about it, that I did a whole webpage on it awhile ago.

This is a perfect example of what is wrong with modern astrology and the "New Age" in general. As the bastard child of Science, Victorian Theosophy and New Thought, it utterly lacks a coherent underlying philosophy. Ask a modern astrologer how astrology works and they are either going to give some variation of energy fields, or gravity beams or string theory, or they just won't have a clue! The "Wrong Zodiac Meme" is going to totally flummox them, since they believe in scientific causality and this is an argument based on scientific causality.

But wait! What is the point of making a technical argument based on scientific causality when astrology itself is completely unscientific? This is like saying, "A new scientific study shows that the Catholic Mass needs reform because chemical analysis shows that white wine is closer to actual blood chemistry than red wine."

But as I mention on the webpage If you find the "Wrong Zodiac Meme" argument convincing, you are an unconscious atheistic/materialist! Nothing wrong with that, good thing to know, but a real stumbling block to working as a traditional astrologer or magician.

When to Ask a Horary???

2011-01-06T11:58:00.003-06:00

I was recently asked about how I timed the asking of a personal horary question. The questioner asked me, assuming I knew where the planets were at any given time, how did that affect when I asked a horary.

Using astrological software causes me to think in terms of celestial snapshots, lots of individual charts, rather than really being aware of the current position of planets. To tell you the truth, off hand I can't tell you the current position of any planet other than Saturn (in Libra) and Jupiter (in Pisces). Part of this is calculated because I don't want to base a horary on my knowledge of the planets' position and part comes from always using astrological software.

Of course, even if you know all the position of the planets, it is a lot more difficult to know who the current house rulers are and this is really the key to a horary analysis.

I have had clients who attempted to control horaries by worrying about the Moon being void of course, or Mercury retrograde or trying to ask the horary at a good time. My view of this is that it is about as effective as going through a tarot deck and taking out all the bad cards. You can force a positive divination, but it is likely to be inaccurate!

So I strongly advise querents not to base the timing of the asking of a horary on one's astrological knowledge. The easiest way to do that is not to be aware of the state of the Heavens at all, or at least do your best not to let it influence you.

What I recommend to clients is that they ask a horary when they just can't stand it any longer and HAVE to know the answer. Bonatti says, "For matters spring up according to the amount of worry and hope and money of the querent."

Guido Bonatti, Book of Astronomy, Tr. 6, Part 2, On the Particular Judgments of the Stars, trans Dykes (Cazimi Press, 2007) at 371.

It is useful to consider exactly what is happening when a querent asks a question. Bonatti says,

1st Consideration. on those things which move a man to pose a question (and there are three motions). The first is the motion of the soul, when someone is moved by his intention to pose a question. The second is the motion of the superior bodies, namely when someone asks what they are impressing into the quesited thing, what will come of it. The third is the motion of the free will, which can itself be an action of the one asking. Because even thought the soul is moved to ask, it does not suffice unless the superior bodies lead him to pose the question; nor does the motion of the stars suffice, unless form the motion of the free will the act of asking is reached.

Guido Bonatti, Book of Astronomy, Tr. 5, 146 Considerations, trans
Dykes (Cazimi Press, 2007) at 264.

There is an automatic tendency for us to think, "This is my question, I thought of it myself" and to think that this is our free will operating. In fact, we are in tune with the Heavens and our emotions, which are really what is driving us to ask the question, are under the influence of the planets and stars.

This view that, "this is MY question" also causes me repeated problems because querents, usually after they get a "no" answer to their relationship question and want to go back and start making technical attacks in hoping of turning the answer to "yes" freak out about using a chart for the time, date and place that the astrologer understands the question.

Lilly says,

"...for let us suppose a Letter is sent or delivered to me, wherein I am desired to resolve some doubts; perhaps I receive the Letter into my hands at three o'clock in any day of the week, but in regard of some occassions, do not read it until four or five hours after; that very hour and minute of hour when I break it open, and perceive the intention of the Querent, is the time to which I ought to erect my Figure, and from thence to draw mine Astrological Judgment: This way and manner have I practiced, and found success answerable..."

William Lilly, Christian Astrology, page 166.

I have found that the "received" chart is much more accurate and objective than the "asked" chart, which is much more subjective and tends to be colored by the attitude and emotions of the querent. Bonatti's explanation of the multiple causes of a horary helps us understand why it isn't simply the querent who is the cause and the be all and end all of a horary question.

House Based Talismans & the Tree of Wealth

2010-12-17T10:00:00.003-06:00

The absolute height of astrological magic, the most difficult to elect and the most powerful astrological talismans are the house based talismans. These are based, not on the power of a single planet, star or other astrological factor, but on the combination of multiple planets ruling key houses. While the typical astrological talismans requires 4-5 factors, house talismans can call for up to 15 separate factors.

Our key source for house based talismans are Picatrix and De Imaginibus On Images or Talismans, by the Harranian Sabian sage Thabit Ibn Qurra. When my students get to the house based talisman lesson, which is one of the last lessons in the Astrological Magic Course they have already mastered planetary, Mansions of the Moon, fixed star and decan/face talismans. Everybody finds house based talismans tough to do, because finding elections for them with so many factors are so difficult. But the work is worth it, since these are truly the most powerful, most intense talismans.

There are important differences between planetary and house based talismans and I've had to do some real thinking about what is actually going on when we worth with a house based talisman. When we make a planetary talisman we get the basic energy of that planet. We can check out how the planet is in our natal chart to see if we are compatible with its basic energy, but its house placement in our natal chart doesn't change the basic energy of the planet. Just because we have Saturn ruling the 7th, doesn't turn Saturn into a love talisman!

I look at house based talismans like a celestial repertory theater. "A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation" The planets are the actors, the houses are different roles they can take on, and the chart for specific election, for a particular time, date and place, shows the complete script for a play. A curse talisman, with afflicted planets and bad aspects, is a tragedy, a benefic talisman, with dignified planets and good aspects, could be a love story, with the 1st and 7th (love & marriage) houses and their rulers well dignified and well connected with good aspects or house placement, or a rags to riches story with the focus on the 1st, 2nd (wealth) and 10th (success, fame, career) houses. Now each of the planets is capable of ruling any house and playing the role of that house well if highly dignified. If we line up the natural rulership with the house rulership, it is like type casting, have John Wayne play the cowboy.

We've been blessed for the past few years with Jupiter, the natural ruler of wealth and prosperity, well dignified. We've been able to do some beautiful Jupiter talismans and we've been able to type cast Jupiter as a key component in some very powerful house based wealth talismans. First the Great Wealth talisman, now sold out, with the last one selling for $900. Then the Fountain of Wealth, which are almost sold out and going for $499.95 and finally the newest and last of our Jupiter "type cast" house based wealth talismans, the Tree of Wealth

The Great Wealth, I looked out for the next 50 years and could not duplicate the conditions. The Fountain of Wealth, at least 12 years, before we can make them again. This means that the Tree of Wealth is really your last chance to get these strongest of wealth talismans, at least until Jupiter goes into Cancer in 2013.

The Tree of Wealth election has a tiny window, just about 5 minutes, when everything lines up right. This means that Wade, our jeweler/mage, is only going to be able to make a tiny amount of the Tree of Wealth talismans. I had started out with pre-orders at $199.95 plus shipping and we have now sold out this slot, and the pre-order price is $249.95 plus shipping.

We have only a few slots available at that price and the price will increase to $299.95 as soon as the talismans are cast and are in stock. You can, if you want, do a layaway and hold that $249.95 price, if you want to pay at least $100 now and the remainder when the talismans come in in January. Contact me if you want more info. But otherwise, the price of the Tree of Wealth talismans are going up and up and up!

Let me just say a bit about the election and the talismans themselves. In the election, which you can see here our key players are a very dignified Moon waxing in Taurus, who rules the 1st house of the user of the talisman and the 2nd house of wealth, making the user strong, powerful and increasing in strength as well as pumping up their wealth and income. Jupiter, natural ruler of wealth rules the 10th of success, fame and career. The Moon sextiles Jupiter, and there is a nice transfer of light as she aspects the Sun who aspects Jupiter.

The Tree of Wealth talisman image was created by the visionary contemporary artist Robert Place and feature his Tree of Wealth design with a beautiful tree blossoming with coins stamped with Moon & Jupiter sigils. On the tree itself is Robert's vision of the infinite wealth sigil!

These talismans are the first of our new streamlined designs. We've tried out many different sizes and thicknesses of talismans over the years and have had feedback requesting that we try out a more sleek design, so the Tree of Wealth talismans are about 1.1 inches in diameter, rather than the standard 1.3 inches and a bit trimmer.

House based talismans really represent the height of mastery of astrological magic and it has been exciting to delve into their mysteries. Only now I am beginning to understand how lucky we are to have found these super wealth talisman elections! And I can tell you from personal experience that they work! The elections for these wealth talismans have coincided with huge surges in my business, fame and income. While I can't always predict exactly what will happen, I KNOW that these talismans WORK!

Definitely worth thinking about, even if you just want to put a down a layaway payment.

More info on the Tree of Wealth talismans

Thoughts on Deconsecration

2010-12-15T10:02:00.002-06:00

Recently I had a couple of requests from clients and students for information about deconsecrating talismans.

Basically the method I use for deconsecration is pretty straightforward. Repeat whatever ritual you used to consecrate the talisman in the first place, but thank the spirit(s) for their efforts on your behalf and ask leave the talisman or withdraw their powers from it. Then respectfully dispose of the talisman. In the case of paper talisman they can be burnt, other talismans can be thrown into running water.

However, in thinking about deconsecration, I realized some bigger issues were involved. Personally, I have only ever deconsecrated one set of talismans. These were Jupiter talismans that I made on Jupiter day and hour, but with Jupiter in detriment and retrograde! Needless to say a very bad idea and I promptly started losing large amounts of money. These were not wealth talismans, they were poverty talismans!

Other than that, however, I haven't deconsecrated any talismans. I hadn't really thought about it before, but I don't feel comfortable getting rid of talismans. As I think about this feeling, I realized that it comes from my basic approach to talismanic magic, which is only one of several ways to orient yourself in this area.

One way to look at talismanic magic is what could be termed the "modern" approach. Here spiritual forces are analogized to scientifically verifiable forms of energy and matter. Jupiter, for example, puts out certain waves or a force field or something and consecrating a talisman is basically like charging a battery. Just like a battery, when you are through with it, you throw it away. Worrying about the feelings of the battery or the battery charger would be ridiculous! They are inanimate, dead objects separate from you, who exist simply to serve you.

The next possible approach comes from traditional ceremonial or grimoiric magic, particularly goetic magic. Here the magician and their will is paramount. The magician stands at the center of their protective circle and commands the spirits to appear. The magician needs various types of protection against the spirits, but through knowledge and above all will, forces the spirit(s) to do their bidding.

Finally there is what might be termed the "devotional" approach. Here the planets, stars, etc, are seen as gods or basically angelic spirits, from a higher sphere. The mage does not really command the spirits, but always strives to be respectful of these powerful beings who are basically benign, if properly approached. While you can petition for particular effects from these spirits, they are more looking out for your long term interests, rather than necessarily granting your short term desires. The devotional approach is typical of Vedic astrology.

Now depending on which approach you take, your attitude toward deconsecration is going to differ. For the modern approach, when you are done with a talisman or if you are not immediately satisfied with it, you just toss it out. Similarly with the goetic approach, once you are done, toss it, but in this case you would want to make sure that you thoroughly deconsecrated the talisman so you didn't get any blowback.

With the devotional approach, however, tossing a talisman is like tossing out a gift a friend gave you and telling them. Or perhaps like defriending your rich uncle on Facebook. If you are just dealing with impersonal forces, or if you are the center of the universe and most powerful being in it, then you needn't worry about how your actions come across. If, however, these are powerful beings with personalities then you have to start thinking about etiquette!

I've gravitated to the devotional approach because it suits me and seems to most accurately reflect my experiences as well as being in line with many traditional sources. Certainly the ceremonial magic approach is traditional as well, though it is somewhat of an extension to use that approach with astrological spirits. If we look at the Picatrix invocations, in particularly the lengthy planetary invocations attributed to the Harranian Sabians in Book III, chapter 7, the commanding of the spirits is de-emphasized, though still present and most of the invocation consists of listing the attributes of the planets. The protective circles, clothing and equipment, so characteristic of goetic invocation are missing. Certainly the invocations involve petitions and specific requests but the adaptation of these invocations from the standard religious and devotional practice of the Sabians is evident.

One of the reasons that I like the practice of planetary charity which comes from the Vedic astrology of India, is that it derives from their basically devotional approach.

So, personally my preference is for the devotional approach. That is not to say that this is the "BEST" for everyone in all situations, but it has its advantages. Early on when we were just starting to work with the Mansions of the Moon, a magician with a strong Goetic connection decided to invoke a Mansion spirit using the full Key of Solomon style ritual with the strong imprecations and commands, etc. The being he got claimed to be a Mansion spirit, but then proceeded to make a deal with the magician for rum and tobacco and then not carry out what he promised to do.

On the other hand, I have a very strong personal connection to the spirit of the 3rd Mansion of the Moon, who I invoke every time the Moon enters the 3rd Mansion. I simply praise her and thank her for her efforts, ask her to continue to bring "all good things" and burn a candle and incense. Having done this for about 4 years now, I invariably get a boost in business around her day each month and 3 months this year, the 3rd Mansion day was the biggest business day of the month!

Ficino says,

"I have said elsewhere that down from every single star (so to speak Platonically) there hangs its own series of things down to the lowest...Under the celestial Serpent or the entire constellation of the Serpent-bearer, they place Saturn and sometimes Jupiter, afterwards daemons who often take on serpent's form, in addition men of this kind, serpents (the animals), the snake-weed, the stone draconite which originates in the head of a dragon, and the stone commonly called serpentine..

Ficino, Three Books on Life Bk. III, Chap. 14, p. 311.

My sense is that the Goetic magician, in using Goetic methods, summoned a Goetic spirit in the chain of the Mansion, rather than the Mansion lord.

Ultimately, it seems that what you put out and the attitude and methods in which you do your magic comes back to you!

Credit Card for William Lilly!

2010-12-07T19:30:00.006-06:00

Yesterday I got this letter in the mail!

All William needs to do now is provide his date of birth, 1 May (O.S.)/11 May (N.S.), 1602 and SSN and he can start buying stuff on credit. Thanks, Bank of America! This gives me new found faith in the accuracy and careful vetting done by our financial system.

I've heard about dogs getting credit card offers and dead people getting them isn't really that surprising, except Lilly has been dead over 300 years!

At first I was, "hey, why didn't I get one of these offers?" and then I realized I'm on the "Do Not Solicit for Credit Cards" list. I can see William needs to get on this list too!

The Deeper Soul Horary

2010-12-05T20:28:00.003-06:00

I thought I might share some thoughts I had recently as a result of working with a long time client. This client and I have had a long relationship. I do lots of different work for them, often having to do with business. I have a reasonable record of horaries with regard to individual business deals. The client would like me to be able to do financial trading horaries, but my record with these is rather hit or miss. I did, however, do some personal romance horaries for this client recently and they were blown away by the accuracy.

Why the difference? I think the key and the client confirms this, is that the romance horaries, really hit the deepest emotionally. It's certainly not that the client doesn't care about the financial trading horaries, they want to make the money and worry about losing it. It's just that these questions don't really get into the root of the person, even if they are worried.

I've certainly never had much success with stock trading or other financial speculation horaries. They just don't seem like "juicy" questions to me. I know lots and lots of people would love to be able to use astrology this way. Certainly my poorer clients want to win the lottery with astrology and my middle class clients want to hit it big on the stock market, same difference really. I've certainly met lots of astrologers that want to be able to predict the markets and have lots of confidence that they have a foolproof method. I guess that when they do make their millions, they just want to keep quiet about it because I never seem to hear about this!

But romantic relationships? These get people at their very core and give very good charts, very easy to read and very accurate. I guess this is a good thing because I get more of these than any other question.

And this really is the key to horary isn't it? The emotional involvement of the querent. Bonatti says,

1st Consideration. on those things which move a man to pose a question (and there are three motions). The first is the motion of the soul, when someone is moved by his intention to pose a question. The second is the motion of the superior bodies, namely when someone asks what they are impressing into the quesited thing, what will come of it. The third is the motion of the free will, which can itself be an action of the one asking. Because even thought the soul is moved to ask, it does not suffice unless the superior bodies lead him to pose the question; nor does the motion of the stars suffice, unless form the motion of the free will the act of asking is reached.

Guido Bonatti, Book of Astronomy, Tr. 5, 146 Considerations, trans
Dykes (Cazimi Press, 2007) at 264.

The relationship question goes deeper into the soul than the trading question, at least so it seems to me!

How to Do Fixed Star Talisman Elections

2010-11-30T09:49:00.004-06:00

My software guy, Peter, was working on a new program, Stellis, for fixed star elections, but he is having problems with illness in his family so I don't know if Stellis is going to get off the ground. Basically it would have automated the process of fixed star elections for the 15 fixed stars discussed by Hermes.

But, lacking that, we have to do things by hand. (heh, heh, heh!) Well, maybe not strictly by hand since we can use astrological software.

Here is the recipe:

(1) Fixed star rising or culminating, ie within 3-5 degrees of the Ascendant or Midheaven. Rising, start within 3 degrees of the Ascendant in the 1st house, middle of time range should be star right on the Ascendant and end when star is 3-5 degrees into 12th house. Similarly on Midheaven, start 3-5 degrees in the 10th house, middle of election when star is right on Midheaven and stop when star is 3-5 degrees into 9th house.

(2) Moon applying to fixed star. Best is conjunction, sextile or trine also usable. Must be applying, not separating.

(3) Moon and fixed star unafflicted,i.e., no applying oppositions or squares of any planet, no applying conjunctions of Saturn, Mars or planets afflicted, or South Node. Moon and star not combust, (within 8.5 degrees of Sun).

Ok, how to do apply this recipe?

If you have Solar Fire or other astrological software, you can use it, basically following the instructions below, but hopefully if you already have astrological software you know how to change the date and time.

A good free online chart drawing program is Astrodienst at astro.com
Here are their free horoscopes

Choose Chart Drawing, Ascendant

Go ahead and put in your location and current date and time.

Click continue and you get a chart.

Look and see what sign the Moon is in. Right now, 10 am CST, November 30, 2010 the Moon is at 2 Libra.

Go to Hermes on the 15 Fixed Stars and look for a star that does what you want it to do. For example, Spica is good for wealth. Look and see where Spica is in the Zodiac as listed on the page, Spica is at 23 Libra 47, or 23 degree of Libra and 47 minutes. Degrees are close enough so Spica is at 23 degrees of Libra.

Ok, so go to your chart and at the top right hand it says "edit data" for whatever you have named the chart. I named mine Spica.

I changed the date to December 1st, 2010, still 10 am CST, and the Moon is at 16 Libra, getting closer.

December 2, 2010, 10 am CST and the Moon is at 0 Scorpio, too far!

So December 1st, 2010 is the possible day for Spica. At 10 am CST, the Moon is past the Midheaven, so let's try 8 am CST, at that time Midheaven is 9 Libra, so we need to go a bit later. 8:30 am CST is 17 Libra, getting closer. Since we need 23 Libra on the Midheaven, I kept adding smaller and smaller increments of time, until I got 8:50 am CST on December 1st, when 23 Libra is on the Midheaven.

Moon is at 15 Libra 48, a bit less than 8 degrees from Spica and the Midheaven at 23 Libra, and applying.

Moon is not making any bad applying aspects and Moon & Spica are unafflicted.

Ok, 8:50 am CST is the middle of the time range. 8:40 am gives us 20 Libra on the Midheaven, so that's a good start, though you could push it back further and 9 am, with 26 Libra on the Midheaven, is a good stop time.

So I would start my talisman creation at 8:40 am CST on December 1, 2010, and then get started on my consecration ritual before 9 am CST. If the consecration takes longer than the election time range that's fine, just try to get the talisman made during the elected time and start the ritual ASAP.

That's how it's done!

Official Governmental and Scientific Attitude to Astrology

2010-11-25T20:11:00.003-06:00

Ok, finally, I have it, the official statement of the scientific community and the United States government with regard to astrology. This is from the National Science Foundation which is an official US government agency and specifically from the National Science Board's Science and Engineering Indicators 2006, chapter 7 Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding, Belief in Pseudoscience

"A recent study of 20 years of survey data collected by NSF concluded that "many Americans accept pseudoscientific beliefs," such as astrology, lucky numbers, the existence of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), extrasensory perception (ESP), and magnetic therapy (Losh et al. 2003). Such beliefs indicate a lack of understanding of how science works and how evidence is investigated and subsequently determined to be either valid or not. Scientists, educators, and others are concerned that people have not acquired the critical thinking skills they need to distinguish fact from fiction. The science community and those whose job it is to communicate information about science to the public have been particularly concerned about the public's susceptibility to unproven claims that could adversely affect their health, safety, and pocketbooks."

Note that this report does not limit itself to stating that astrology is outside the purview of science, but denigrates it as a "pseudoscience" and that belief in astrology indicates that one has "not acquired the critical thinking skills they need to distinguish fact from fiction."

What is also telling about the report is that it repeatedly equates the term "scientific" with being valid and unscientific with being false. Interesting that it stops with astrology, ESP and UFOs and isn't honest enough to label transubstantiation, angels and God as unscientific also. Well, that would violate the science/religion truce in which science gets to define reality, using atheistic/materialist philosophy, but the religious get to keep on believing irrationally in that which clearly does not exist as matter or energy.

The College of Astrology Trap!

2010-11-12T20:13:00.007-06:00

I stumbled across a new "esoteric" institute today and immediately noticed that they wanted to be cool, hip and with it and associate themselves with astrology, alchemy and magic, but they wanted to be official, legitimate and academic at the same time. They had cool sounding classes, but also a plagiarism policy. They had classes "about" esoteric subjects, but not actually teaching any practical applications and all their faculty members needed academic degrees. Ah, the latest either victims or perpetrators of the College of Astrology Trap!

Kepler College was the probably the most famous example of the College of Astrology Trap. Kepler was set up with great hoopla and huzzahs, particularly from the modern astrological "community" Kepler was going to be a degree granting, fully accredited university of astrology. Eventually hopes were that it would have a campus, but to start, students would travel in regularly after having correspondence courses most of the time. Kepler would follow the standard American academic model, have academically qualified lecturers, obviously the best way to teach.

Frankly I was always skeptical, right from the get go. Personally, I had a great time at college in the US, but I can't say that I really learned that much. Law school, in terms of learning, was an utter and complete waste of time and landed me with $50,000 in debt. Certainly from the standpoint of social prestige college and particularly law school was useful and I got my union card punched, but it was an extremely wasteful and expensive way not to learn. And let's face it, the real point of college is to get a job. Which college you go to ranks you and your grades rank you and then employers use this ranking to hire you for something that has nothing to do with what you ostensibly studied.

This made Kepler College particularly ridiculous. First of all, it was NEVER going to get accredited. They had a heckuva time even getting the provisional right to grant degrees, while the opposition from the atheistic/materialist elite completely blocked any chance of granting accredited degrees. Secondly, even if they had managed to get accredited, how were you going to get a job with an astrology degree? So in other words, from a usual, practical standpoint of a normal American college education you would have wasted thousands of dollars getting a useless degree.

From the standpoint of actually teaching astrology, on the other hand, Kepler was also really off base. My opinion is that the standard American style university teaching method is a terrible way to learn anything. While that's certainly debatable, it certainly is extremely expensive. For what Kepler students were paying for a year of the multi-year programs, you could take all of my courses, Deb Houlding's courses, Zoller's course that New Library "liberated" from him, a whole slew of other traditional astrology courses, though it might not also stretch to John Frawley's 2,000 pound horary course.

Of course, the other problem that Kepler had was that it was trying so desperately hard to be accepted by the academic establishment that it had to keep de-emphasizing actual astrology and keep pushing more and more deeply into studying "about" astrology and those silly, misguided, quaint old souls long ago, who actually bought into its foolishness. Those who can't or rather refuse to do it, teach it. Truly the motto of modern academia, particularly when atheistic/materialism is the required philosophical outlook.

So Kepler ended up being overpriced, teaching less and less actual astrology, but not being academic enough and denying astrology enough to get accredited, thus being the most famous victim/perpetrator of the College of Astrology trap. They were not the first and will not be the last to try to bridge the unbridgeable, just like those that insist that science and spirituality are drawing closer together.

Now, of course there are those that merely fly under false colors, without trying to reconcile the irreconcilable. We have the academics who get a frisson of excitement from the unwary and author learned treatises on astrology while denouncing those that would be so irrational as to actually practice it. We have the bogus granting of "degrees" by schools of astrology, aping the academics.

It saddens me, however, that we cannot see how corrupt and empty the American system of "education" is. Traditional astrologers are very lucky that Kepler College did not succeed because it might well have taken us down the wrong path. We need to structure our teaching in a traditional manner so our student really do learn traditional astrology, not in some stripped down, twisted, expensive distortion as part of the American dis-education machine in the atheistic/materialist establishment.

I have a very spiritual friend that was a wandering hippie in the 70s. He never went to college and only eventually got his GED. Nevertheless he is one of the most educated and erudite people that I know. People regularly mistake him for a professor of English or Literature, but he is so widely read that he taught himself. For myself, I am almost entirely an autodidact. In addition, I was extremely lucky to be able to study traditional astrology with a teacher who had both theoretical knowledge and was a very experienced practicing astrologer. This apprentice/master method is the absolute best way to learn and I am proud to take my place as first a student and now a teacher in the great Chain of traditional astrological education. Free your mind and the rest, will most certainly follow!

Ritual Use of Candles & Free Beeswax Candle with Talisman Order

2010-11-06T19:33:00.002-05:00

I just thought I would post a few thoughts regarding the ritual use of candles. Lamps, which use a fuel that is liquid at room temperature and a wick, were more prevalent in the classical period in the Mediterranean, but by the Middle Ages and Renaissance, certainly in northern Europe, candles, which use a solid fuel and wick, predominated.

Picatrix, written circa 1000 AD mentions both candles and lamps for magical and ritual use. Agrippa has a whole chapter on lights, colors and candles at Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk I, ch 49. Light, says Agrippa, has very special properties, originating in the mind of the One and diffusing through the 3 Worlds, Divine, Celestial and Material.

"Also there are made artificially some Lights, by Lamps, Torches, Candles, and such like, of some certain thing, and liquors opportunely chosen, according to the rule of the Stars, and composed amongst themselves according to their congruity, which when they be lighted, and shine alone, are wont to produce some wonderfull, and Celestiall effects" Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk I, ch 49

Agrippa lists the various colors appropriate to the planets:

For all colours, black, lucid, earthy, leaden, brown, have relation to Saturne.
Saphire and airy colours, and those which are alwaies green, clear,
purple, darkish, golden, mixed with Silver, belong to Jupiter.
Red colours, and burning, fiery, flaming, violet, purple, bloody, and
iron colours, resemble Mars.
Golden, Saffron, purple, and bright colours, resemble the Sun.
But all white, fair, curious, green, ruddy, betwixt saffron, and
purple, resemble Venus, Mercury, and the Moon.

Moreover amongst the houses of the heaven, the first and seventh hath
white colour: the second, and twelfth green: the third, and eleventh
saffron: the fourth, and the tenth red: the fift, and ninth honey
colour: the sixt, and eighth, black.

Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk I, ch 49

Until the 19th century candles were typically made of beeswax or tallow (animal fat). Now most commercially available candles use paraffin which is made from petroleum. Paraffin candles can be dyed so in rootwork and hoodoo (Southern Folk magic) in the early 20th century colored candles began to be widely used.

For rootwork the candle colors were task based:

white -- spiritual blessings, purity, healing, rest
blue -- peace, harmony, joy, kindly intentions, healing
green -- money spells, gambling luck, business, a good job, good crops
yellow -- devotion, prayer, money (gold), cheerfulness, attraction
red -- love spells, affection, passion, bodily vigour
pink -- attraction, romance, clean living
purple -- mastery, power, ambition, control, command
orange -- change of plans, opening the way, prophetic dreams
brown -- court case spells, neutrality
black -- repulsion, dark thoughts, sorrow, freedom from evil

Lucky Mojo candle magic

When I first started doing astrological magic over a decade ago, there was very little authentic medieval or Renaissance astrological magic ritual available so I began with rootwork as my first magical practice. The basic rituals I provide with Renaissance Astrology talismans still have this flavor since I suggest colored candles for various planets. As you can see, however, this makes sense given Agrippa's discussion of candles and colors of lights, even though medieval and Renaissance magicians would not have been using colored candles.

I have actually gone back to medieval and Renaissance practice and started using beeswax candles. Paraffin candles can cause sensitivities due to their fumes. Beeswax candles smell like honey! Beeswax candles are a rich yellow honey color as well. I have been using them for all my ritual work with good results! Now couple of things to mention, they are more expensive than paraffin candles and they do take some futzing around with. You need to keep the wick trimmed and if you get the votive style beeswax candles they can "tunnel" burn down inside and leave thin wax walls. I just fold these in so the candles burns evenly.

I'd like to encourage the use of beeswax candles, so if you buy a talisman from today, November 6 to Sunday November 14, 2010, just remind me and I will include a free 2 inch beeswax votive candle! These are 100% natural, organic and smell just like honey when they burn.

Ok, let me describe how I use candles. I'm very big on mirrors and lights for my altars. If you take a look at one of my earlier altars you can see that I have white votive candles burning on the altar. I try to keep a candle burning in front of the planet of the day. If I am not in the room, out goes the candle! Safety first! DO NOT LEAVE CANDLES BURNING UNATTENDED!

In addition to the constantly burning candle for the planet of the day, I also invoke the spirits of the 3rd and 13th Mansions when the Moon is in those Mansions every month. I start the candle when I do the invocation and then let it burn completely, putting it out and restarting it, when I am in the room. I do the same thing, starting a candle and letting it burn out, when I do any invocation for a talisman.

I really do feel like burning a candle is about the minimum you can do for an invocation. I am rather sensitive to incense smoke and tend to just do micro amounts. For the 3rd and 13th Mansion, I might do just one or two beads of natural resin on a very small piece of charcoal. I certainly couldn't have incense burning all the time, nor do I burn clouds and clouds of it when I do invocations. Still some sort of sacrifice, ie burning incense or at a minimum, a candle does seem necessary. I once was trying to do a Jupiter talisman workshop and we couldn't do incense and the candles didn't work either. So I did the invocation without them and 15 minutes later my Jupiter talisman disappeared! Something had to be sacrificed if there were no candles or incense!

So, personally, I use lots and lots of candles. I buy white or natural beeswax by the case and use them for all my ritual work. This seems to work, but appropriately colored candles work well too. I also tend to use just one candle, though again you can use an appropriate number. Agrippa, in Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk II, ch 22 gives the following numbers

Saturn 3 or 9
Jupiter 4 or 16
Mars 5
Sun 6
Venus 7
Mercury 8
Moon 9

For me, it just wouldn't be a real invocation or ritual without candles and my altar would look bare without its perpetual planetary candle going! So like I said, if you buy a talisman from today, November 6 to Sunday November 14, 2010, just remind me and I will include a free 2 inch beeswax votive candle! These are 100% natural, organic and smell just like honey when they burn. Try out the original, just like Picatrix or Agrippa would have used!

My Take on Reception

2010-10-10T12:23:00.002-05:00

Ok, reception is another area where we can see change and simplification over the entire range of traditional astrology. The later Renaissance astrologers had simplified the medieval astrology of Bonatti who had already simplified the very complex early medieval Arabic teachings of astrologers like Abu Mashar and Mashallah. Reception is a good example of this, since by the 17th century reception simply meant two planets each in each others sign or exaltation or a combination of sign and exaltation. Thus the Moon in Leo and the Sun in Cancer, or the Moon in Aries and the Sun in Taurus, or the Moon in Aries and the Sun in Cancer. What me might call "17th century reception" is basically mutual reception, by the Renaissance reception and mutual reception have become synonymous.

However, this is another Renaissance simplification. Guido Bonatti, the medieval author of the encyclopedic Book of Astronomy says of reception,

"...if some planet is joined with the Lord of the sign in which it is (or the Lord of the exaltation of the same sign, or with the Lord of the bound [term] or triplicity or face) whether by body [conjunction] or aspect, that planet who is the Lord of the sign (or some dignity of it) commits and gives his own disposition and nature and virtue to it.

It is for instance true if it is joined with the lord of the domicile [sign] exaltation or two of the lesser dignities...but if it is joined only with the lord of the bound [term] or with the lord of the triplicity or with the lord of the face [then] the lord of those dignities or bounds by only one, does not receive him, because they are not of so much virtue that one alone can make reception without the help of another."

Bonatti, Book of Astronomy, Tr III, chapter 13, Dykes trans at 223.

Ok, so what Bonatti is saying is that to have reception you need:

(1) an aspect between the planets [note that because of the nature of separating and applying aspects in horary and electional we need an applying aspect for reception]

(2) At least one of the planets in the dignity of the other.

So, the Sun in Cancer and Moon in Leo would not be in reception according to this definition! Instead in medieval style traditional astrology the Sun in Cancer and Moon in Leo is an example of generosity. See Abu Mashar, Abbreviation of the Introduction to Astrology, trans Burnett, (Arhat 1994) at page 28, note 1, citing the Abu Mashar's Great Introduction.

Now we can get into all sorts of complex permutations of terminology, but I like the clarity of reception requiring an aspect and generosity simply indicating being in the dignity of a planet. Either way this these show a connection and/or special relationship between the planets that are in reception or in generosity and the people or things they signify.

So what difference does reception make? Bonatti, in his section on horary explains that reception makes an aspect more positive, for example a trine or sextile, both good aspects, with reception makes things come easily, while a square with reception indicates it takes effort to get the thing or person desired, while a square without reception requires great trouble.

Bonatti, Book of Astronomy, Tr VI, chapter 2, Dykes trans at 362.

Ok, so this is how I explain reception and generosity. This is certainly not the only way, nor is it the "BEST" way since I don't think that there is one, perfect, best for everyone for all time method. Of course at the same time there are lots and LOTS of plain wrong methods!

Essential & Accidental Dignity

2010-10-10T11:58:00.003-05:00

Essential and accidental dignity in astrology derives from a very key traditional philosophical concept, that of qualities that are essential to a thing and those that are accidental. For example, it is an essential quality of water that it is wet, as this is an essential quality, no water can be found that it not wet. However, being salt water or fresh water is an accidental quality because water can possess these qualities or not without altering its basic nature.

Thus essential versus accidental dignity uses this basic philosophical concept though it is a bit altered in astrology. The essential dignity of a planet tracks its course through the degrees of the Zodiac, it is a measure of its basic power from very strong to weak to very afflicted.

Accidental dignity is analogized to accidental qualities and includes things like angularity, (being angular, succeedent or cadent) benefic or malefic house placement (eg, 8th house is succeedent, but malefic) being combust, being retrograde, aspects to malefics or benefics, various conjunctions to fixed stars, house cusps or parts, etc. These are considered to be in addition to the basic power of planet as expressed by its essential dignity.

You can see how Lilly splits up the essential and accidental dignities at Christian Astrology page 115. I agree with the split, if not with the way he has given points to many accidental dignities or the automatic tendency to start add up all these disparate numbers. More on this later!

One possible way to consider this is to think of essential dignity as the qualities of the planet itself and thus the person or thing signified by it, while accidental dignity consists of qualities affecting the person or thing, but external to it. This is not a hard and fast rule, but useful in chart delineation.

Thus we can see why Frawley would say that 2 peregrine planets interacting would be like 2 drunks or 2 sick people helping each other, because they have weak essential dignity. So let's do some more examples, dignified Jupiter applying to trine Venus in detriment, a rich friend helps out a friend in dire straits. A dignified Jupiter applying to oppose Venus dignified, a powerful man argues with an equally powerful enemy. Jupiter afflicted applies to sextiles Venus dignified, the poor man tries to help the rich woman, Mars dignified separates from a square Venus afflicted, the strong warrior leaves his distraught inamorata, &etc.

Ok, the numbers game! In my discussions with Ben Dykes he has alerted me to the fact that the 9th-10th century Arabic astrologers were innovating like crazy. We had a recent discussion about the relative ranking of essential dignities which was in flux in early traditional astrology, but settled down as sign = 5, exaltation = 4, triplicity = 3, term = 2 and face = 1. Correspondingly detriment = -5, fall -4.

The original function of these rankings was to give an idea of relative strength and is certainly useful for that function. The problem is when the numerical ranking takes over and we lose the nuance of the dignities. For example, Bethem's Centiloquim, or his 100 Aphorisms, quoted in John Partridge's Mikropanastron
(London, 1679) pages 322-332, says,

Aphorism 13-A Planet in anothers house who rules the same Trigon, is as a man in the House or Castle of his friend.

Aphorism 14-If Cadent from his House or Exaltation, he is as one absent from his abode.

Aphorism 15-A Planet in his House or Exaltation, is as one in his Castle or strong hold.

Aphorism 16-If in his House or Exaltation Retrograde, he is as a Sick man at home.

These aphorisms give us much more useful information than simply saying 3, 5 or 4!

Where we really go off the rails is starting to assign numbers to the accidental dignities. There is perhaps some value in a very basic sense of getting an idea of their relative strength and affliction, but assigning numbers then invokes an almost unbearable compulsion to start adding the numbers together.

"Just....can't...stop...magnetic...forces...too...strong!!!"

This is problematic with accidental dignities because unlike essential dignities they are very heterogeneous. Being angular is qualitatively not like being retrograde which is not like being conjunct Algol. Then we really run off the rails by adding in the essential dignity rankings. It is not unusual to get astrologers saying, "Jupiter is +21" or "Mercury is -7" which is not only much less illuminating than "Jupiter is in sign and triplicity, rising and trine Venus", or "Mercury is in detriment and cadent" but can be downright misleading.

The key problem is that the accidental and essential dignities are so different from each other. Adding their numbers together is as fallacious as that old joke about making a camel & rabbit stew with equal amounts of camel and rabbit, ie one camel and one rabbit. As a very preliminary way to get a round about idea of approximate strength, numbers are fine for accidental dignity, but even with essential dignity, we risk losing nuance if we rely too much on numerical ranking.

Book of the Treasure of Alexander Now Available!

2010-10-02T19:04:00.005-05:00

I am extremely pleased to be able to launch a new Renaissance Astrology publication, the Book of the Treasure of Alexander!

Leafing through the Book of the Treasure of Alexander, we realize that the movie and other fictional depictions of magic and astrology are pale imitations of the real thing. This is a true book of magic, a real glimpse into the hidden spiritual powers scattered among all Nature. Here the ancient mages speak to us, truly revealing their secrets and the secrets of magic. It sounds incredibly romantic, but the reality is even better than the illusion!

The Book of the Treasure of Alexander, attributed to Alexander the Great and his tutor, the philosopher Aristotle, is a medieval Hermetic text of alchemy, astrology and astrological magic. This is the first complete English translation of this key text, originally written in Arabic, which explains a wide variety of practical applications of occult virtue and the hidden powers of Nature. Originally written in Arabic, our text was translated into Portuguese from a critical edition of three Arabic texts and then translated by Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold into English. I then extensively edited the text in order to make sure the astrology and astrological magic was accurate and usable. Despite being attributed to Alexander and Aristotle, Hermes Trismegistus and Balinus, our usual suspects when it comes to hermetica, pop up all over the place. This is a classic work of Arabic Hermeticism, with lots of links to Picatrix, but lots of new material, I've never seen either in Picatrix or other works.

First off, the Book of the Treasure of Alexander has extensive new information on Arabic alchemy. There is a long, detailed step by step discussion of how to prepare various "waters" which culminate in the Great Elixir or Philosopher's Stone. What's interesting here is that the usual complex and often confusing symbolic language of alchemy is dispensed with and clear, step by step recipes are provided. Quite fascinating!

The next sections are fairly controversial, in my opinion, because they provide a whole set of different poisons, including the "Royal Water", the "cold poison" and the "poison that kills through laughter". First off, many of the ingredients are difficult or impossible to obtain for the poisons and the instructions for these chapters are often confusing. These poison chapters explain why this book could have been referred to as the Mors Animae, the Death of Soul! Still, just a physician needs to understand the actions of poisons to cure, so too must the mage and the Book of the Treasure of Alexander has a whole set of corresponding chapters on antidotes.

I was inspired, however, by these poison chapters to bring out an entire Poison edition! This is available only in hardcover or deluxe cloth bound, not in paperback, and includes the astrological poisons of Ibn Wahshiyya, most famous for his Nabatean Agriculture and a key medieval mage and scholar. These astrological poisons are really fascinating since they are said to work through sight and sound, not by ingesting the poisons! Very interesting astrological elections and even new planetary invocations are provided. Deadly, but very, very illuminating for the Hermetic scholar. If this interests you, get the Poison Edition, if not get the Standard Edition!

What I am most excited about the Book of the Treasure of Alexander are over 30 new astrological talismans, none of which I have seen before with a whole set of new astrological talismans images from the original Arabic manuscript! Wow! One of the most interesting chapters includes planetary talismans made at the exaltation degrees of each of the planets. I've included the variant versions of the planetary exaltation talismans, but this set is new to me. We have new talismans for wealth, love, health, power, revenge and some fascinating city-wide talismans and talismans used for protecting huge swathes of territory. All very exciting, all new! We even have a new set of planetary invocations for Venus, Mars and Mercury accompanying its section on creating astrological statuettes.

If you are at all interested in Hermeticism, alchemy, astrology or astrological magic, you need to get a copy of the Book of the Treasure of Alexander. This is an original text, straight from sages of the Middle Ages, silent for a millennium, finally speaking to us clearly and succinctly. My major concern as an editor and translator is produce a clear and usable text and the Book of the Treasure of Alexander is definitely that!

The Book of the Treasure of Alexander is available in the following editions. All of the editions have an extensive introduction, appendices, over 120 footnotes and bibliography. All editions contain a variant source appendix with special planetary exaltation talismans.

(1) Paperback, standard edition,
6 x 9, lulu print on demand paperback, 114 pages, decorated with
alchemical sigils and symbols, $34.95 plus shipping

(2) Hardcover, standard edition,
6 x 9, lulu print on demand hardcover, 114 pages, decorated with
alchemical sigils and symbols, $79.95 plus shipping

(3) Hardcover Poison edition
6 x9 lulu on demand hardcover, 134, includes the astrological poisons of Ibn Wahshiyya, decorated with danse macabre motifs, $79.95 plus
shipping

(4) Deluxe hand cloth bound Standard or Poison Editions 8.25 x 11 imperial octavo, cloth bound, leather endbands, endpapers,
stamped gold leather spine label, hand made slip cover.

Standard edition, 114 pages, decorated with alchemical sigils and symbols, $299.95 plus shipping.

Poison edition, 134 pages, decorated with danse macabre images, including astrological poisons of Ibn Wahshiyya, $299.95 plus shipping.

These are stunningly beautiful heirloom editions. Each one will be handmade specifically for the owner and can be specially dedicated to you by name. Planetary consecration (Saturn or Mercury are probably most appropriate) is available on request.

Ok, now the pre-order period extends from 4:10 am CDT Saturday, October 2, 2010 to Sunday October 10, 2010. If you order during the pre-order period you get special bonuses as follows:

(1) All pre-orders will receive a special pdf of the complete 28 talisman images from the Book of the Treasure of Alexander. These images are magnified about 200% from the book and can printed out and used for personal talismans.

(2) All pre-orders will receive a pdf copy of the seminal article on the Book of the Treasure of Alexander by the scholars that translated it from Arabic to Portuguese. The article by Alfonso-Goldfarb AM, Jubran SA., "Listening to the whispers of matter through Arabic hermeticism: new studies on The Book of the Treasure of Alexander" The article is in English and provides a fascinating scholarly look at the Book of the Treasure of Alexander and its history, particularly with regard to alchemy.

(3) All pre-orders of the Poison Edition, whether hardcover or clothbound, will receive a pdf of the complete text with introduction of Ibn Wahshiyya's Book of Poisons! This is 130 pages, double column, and was released separately as a book. It is a complete Arabic medieval book on the subject of poisons. Ibn Wahshiyya was the author of Nabatean Agriculture and a key source for Picatrix. Whoa, definitely worth the pre-order!

An incredible book and NOW, during the pre-order phase, is the time to order the Book of the Treasure of Alexander!

Astrological Spirit of a City

2010-09-22T14:11:00.006-05:00

I was just asked where to find instructions in obtaining the guardian/angel astrological spirit governing a particular city.

From an astrological standpoint you would go about this in the same way as you would with any chart, normally we think of natal charts for this, but you can get the name of the spirit of any moment, by looking at the chart for the time, date and place.

I use Agrippa's method from Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Bk III Chapter 26. Very interesting that yesterday, I put this chapter up on my website! I am currently working on my new Traditional Natal Astrology Course and am including some magical natal astrology as part of the course.

Basically I use the "Arabian" method in which you assign a letter to each degree of the Zodiac starting with 0 Aries. Another method that Agrippa describes is starting with the degree of the Ascendant, but then this would vary for every chart.

Then we determine the five hylegical places. These are used in natal length of life calculations and are the degree of the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Part of Fortune and prenatal syzygy. The prenatal syzygy is the New or Full Moon immediately preceding the chart date.

We take the degrees, find the letters that correspond and this is the name of the spirit of that particular time, date and place. Quaero Lux has a special online daimon name calculator I kept getting different English results until I realized it didn't have J, V or W, following Latin spelling.

The problem for a city is that sometimes we don't know the date, but even more problematic is the time, that a city was founded. For example, Iowa City, IA, my location, was founded on May 1, 1839 and had to be founded before midnight legally, so officially it was founded at 11:55 pm, but the account then says that dawn came early!

Of course, this is not the only method. Our illustrious predecessors would have also used dreams and visions, plus direct contact with spirits to obtain this sort of information.

It's interesting but I've often speculated that the angel of America, likely a Dominion or at least Archangel in the Celestial Hierarchy attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, looks like the Statue of Liberty, "give me tired, your poor..." while the demon or fallen angel of America has the head of an eagle, a sort of Assyrian mailed body and is clutching the 13 arrows like the US seal, but they are dripping with blood.

Deneb Algedi Mirrors & Talismans

2010-09-21T14:51:00.003-05:00

I was very pleased with our recent Deneb Algedi election! I had my best mirror etching yet, thanks to help from my wife Kathleen, with the stencil cutting. I got a real sense of peace and contentment from doing this election. We had a lot of participation from Spiritus Mundi members and a lot of Deneb Algedi talismans made.

I wanted to mention that we now have Deneb Algedi small and large mirrors available! Deneb Algedi is the Tail of Capricorn, excellent for peace, particularly in the home, safety and "increase of wealth" And seriously folks, as much as I like wealth, I suppose peace, particularly peace of mind is what I am really looking for. Though wealth is nice, too!

The small Deneb Algedi mirrors are 3 x 3 inches, and $79.95 plus shipping

I had just one 10 x 10 inch Large Deneb Algedi mirror (I kept the
other one for myself!) and it is $199.95 plus shipping.

All of the mirrors are hand etched by me personally and consecrated.
This is a picture of both my large and a small Deneb Algedi mirror on my fixed star altar.

I have three working altars, the fixed star altar and a Mansions of the Moon and planetary altar, this is an slightly older version of the planetary altar with a few non-planets on it.

Wade says that the casting of silver Deneb Algedi talismans went very
well and you can pre-order silver talismans for $199.95 plus shipping

Which One is the BEST???

2010-09-05T12:49:00.004-05:00

In traditional astrology it is not unusual to have variant lists, for example there are many house systems, eg Placidus, Regiomontanus, Porphyry, Campanus, Alcabitius, different lists of terms, eg Ptolemaic, Egyptian, different lists of Mansions, eg Picatrix Bk I, ch 4, and Picatrix Bk IV, ch 9. I am often asked "which is the BEST one?" with the unconscious assumption that there can be only one that is best.

This almost automatic assumption is conditioned by our world view. When science says that cholesterol is deadly, no, a new study says cholesterol is vital for life, no, wait, a new study says cholesterol kills on sight, we seem to roll with that as confusing as it may be, because we have unconsciously accepted scientific objectivism, which holds that there is one, single objective reality out there separate from us and if we eliminate all subjectivity (BAD MONKEY!) we can find the ONE TRUE ANSWER, which we know must exist to all questions.

The typical approach used by contemporary astrologers, both modern and even those trying to be traditional, is to try to be "scientific" and experiment, to test different house systems or lists. One standard method is to look at one's birth chart using different house systems and then decide which one is "most accurate" "Oh, I am definitely more of a Pisces than Aquarius rising!" Of course this is highly subjective, not that I necessarily object to subjectivity, but it is a bit odd to be trying to find "objective" reality that way! Additionally these tests look at an extremely tiny sample, just one's own birth chart is often all that is used, or perhaps a few celebrities or relatives, again suspect from a "scientific" viewpoint.

Finally, the real problem of this sort of testing is one that plagues modern astrology in general. Because modern astrologers are so keen on evolution, progress and individuality, they are constantly inventing new methods, "A NEW TECHNIQUE that REVOLUTIONIZES astrology" It never seems to work for anyone else and eventually stops working for them. We may not necessarily understand why traditional astrologers used a particular technique, but stop using or change and watch your results get more and more inaccurate.

But why are we so intent on finding the "BEST" which must be a single method, good for all time, for everyone. We can look to our modern worldview and objectivist thinking. Since this is our basic modern view of reality, we are therefore confused by the fact that Robert Burns, for example, says, "My love is like a red, red rose" while Shakespeare says, "Love is a smoke and is made with the fume of sighs" Well, which is it? While this is perhaps a bit facetious an answer, here is one a bit closer to the mark, traditionally in Europe white is worn for weddings and is thus a happy color, while in parts of Asia white is associated with funerals and is a negative color. Is white positive or negative?

Where we get confused is classing love and this color symbolism as merely subjective and thus conventional, simply randomly assigned. Or we fall into total relativism, saying that if there is not one single objective reality that all views of reality are equally valid. It seems to me that there is a middle path here, of recognizing that there are a variety of systems, paths and approaches, some better mappings of reality than others, and that we are personally suited to some and not to others. Finding a path with "heart" that is appropriate to you, is our quest.

So, probably the best approach with these variant house systems, Mansion listings, etc., is to follow the shoe size example. My shoe size in the US is 10 in Europe 44. Which is my REAL, CORRECT size? Well if I am buying shoes in Cedar Rapids, 10, in Dusseldorf, 44. If you are using the book I mansion, use them! The book IV mansions, use them! Regiomontanus or Placidus, use either, just pick one and stick with it, don't jump around chart by chart.

New Planetary Charity Page!

2010-09-05T12:43:00.003-05:00

I have a new Planetary Charity page.

Planetary charity comes from the Vedic astrology of India and is a great way to work with the energy of planets that are too afflicted in our birth charts to use their talismans.

By doing charity and dedicating it to a planet, we can work with the energy of the planet and help diminish its negative effects on us. Of course, planetary charity is not just for planets that are afflicted in our natal chart, it can be used to good effect with all planets.

In doing planetary charity we time the donation we make according to the nature of the planet we wish to propitiate, making the donation on the planetary day and hour ruled by the planet. We make the donation to a person, organization or thing ruled by the planet and ideally the donation itself is an item ruled by the planet. Typically, however, it is more practical to make a monetary donation. We start by invoking the planet and making a vow to make a set number of donations, at the appropriate time. We then carry out the planetary charity.

Synastry in Traditional Astrology

2010-08-30T10:42:00.004-05:00

I had an interesting question recently asking whether "synastry" was used in traditional astrology. Synastry is a modern term for comparing two natal charts and allegedly provides information about the compatibility of the two people usually for romance.

While he doesn't call it synastry, Lilly has a very interesting section in Christian Astrology in the natal section at page 637-9, entitled, "Whether there may be Concord or Unity between two." in other words will two people get along. While this is placed under the 11th house of friends, I have used it for 7th house romantic relationships as well since the techniques are not house dependent.

Lilly says to look at the two natal charts and compare particular factors, in particular he compares the Ascendant rulers and looks to see whether certain planets are at the same location in both charts.

Lilly also uses the traditional concept of the friendships and enmities of the planets, ie Saturn's friends are Jupiter, Sun, Moon according to Lilly and his enemies are Venus and Mars. CA 637. The problem with the friendships and enmities are that there are lots of different and contradictory lists and sometimes you have weirdness where planet A is listed as a friend of B, but then planet B is listed as an enemy of A in the same list. A bit too confusing for ease of use! I've just left this out when doing traditonal "synastry".

Let me say a bit about synastry in general. It is pretty standard in modern astrology because modern is natal, natal, natal and they don't have any other way to try to forecast the specific relationship between two people. As far as I can see there are no generally accepted methods for modern synastry, everyone just makes it up as they go along. As is generally true for modern, typically the answer is that "YES, you are compatible with X! and will live happily ever after"

Couple of problems. First, the lack of set rules and general positive modern outlook heavily biases the modern reading towards a positive answer. Secondly, compatibility is used as a proxy for the question of whether or not the relationship will actually take place or last. The assumption that if two people are compatible, they will automatically be madly in love and thus in a committed relationship is clearly way off base. I used to joke that I am completely compatible with Scarlett Johansson, and I can just hear the wedding bells ringing there!

Horary is really the best method here. It goes right to the heart of the matter and can answer accurately and precisely, "Will I have a committed relationship with X?" Synastry can't answer this accurately even using traditional technique, let alone using whatever passes for technique in modern astrology.

More on Horary Astrology

Aspects & Orbs with Non-Planets

2010-08-25T11:54:00.003-05:00

I had a very interesting question recently regarding the Moon aspecting a fixed star. The questioner wanted to know whether you used the full orb of the Moon or her moiety, half her orb. Good question!

Orbs are zones of power spreading out from the exact aspect, known as perfection. According to the English astrology William Lilly, in his 1647 Christian Astrology at page 107 the Moon's orb is either 12.5 or 12 degrees. Here is Lilly's orb table.

First off, don't use orbs like a cliff, use them like a gentle slope. Lilly himself says "I sometimes use the one [orb measurement], and, sometimes the other, as my Memory best Remembereth them, and this without error." Christian Astrology page 107. It is not as if the orb of the Moon is fully effective to exactly 12.5 degrees and then at 12.51 degrees we ignore it completely. The closer the aspect to perfection the more powerful, the farther it is the less powerful it is until it basically fades out. Orbs are reasonably flexible rules of thumb. I set the orbs on my astrological software way out so I can see all the aspects the planets are making even if technically out of orb.

Secondly, orbs and moieties. I am told that in modern astrology it is the aspects that have orbs, but in traditional each planet has an orb. This is split in half for a moiety. So if the Moon's orb is 12, her moiety is 6. With aspects of planets to planets you add the moiety of each planet to see if they are in orb. Thus Moon orb 12, moiety 6, aspecting Mercury orb 7, moiety 3.5, 6 + 3.5 = 9.5 orb of Moon/Mercury aspect is 9.5. Again don't just ignore an applying aspect of the Moon to Mercury if it is 10 degrees, it is just a lot weaker than 3 degrees away!

Now when we pass to planets aspecting non-planets like house cusps, Parts, Nodes, fixed stars, outer planets, etc., for the orbs we need to delve deeper into the background of aspects. Aspect comes from the Latin, aspectus, literally looking, seeing or facing. Only planets make aspects, ie, they alone see or face. Similarly, only planets rule signs or houses. Planets are the real actors in the chart. True the signs are sometimes said to "rule" illnesses, parts of the body and places, but I like how Lilly says they "signify" these things, that is they correspond to them, rather than actively rule or cause them like a planet.

So as it always seems in traditional astrology, we have exceptions, however, when it comes to aspects it is solid, only planets aspect. So this means we use the full planetary orb, not the moiety, since the non-planet has no orb and thus no moiety of its own to contribute. Thus if, for example, the Moon was 7 degrees from the Midheaven and as her orb is 12, the aspect is well within her orb.

Treating the planets as the most "active" and in a different fashion from Parts, Nodes, house cusps, etc., is a major difference between traditional and modern astrology. In modern astrology the nuance has been lost and everything acts likes everything else, eg Parts aspect house cusps aspect Nodes, rather than planets being the primary actors.

Moving Fixed Stars

2010-08-19T19:00:00.002-05:00

I had a question recently about trying to get the exact position of a fixed star for an election. This question comes up because the fixed stars are only fixed by comparison to the planets, from the Greek planetos or wanderer, who are bopping all over the place. The fixed stars do slowly move.

Firstly, some astronomy! The planets all orbit fairly close to the plane of the ecliptic, the path of the Sun, but the fixed stars are spread out all over the 3-D sphere of the Heavens. This means that their positions are distorted significantly when they are mapped onto the ecliptic from 3-D to the 2-D of the chart.

Saying this I can feel the modern reaction rising instantly, "ah, we must follow like robots the 'actual' material position of the stars". Not so fast! Now some philosophy. There are ways to use the heliacal rising and setting of fixed stars, Google this for more info, but our system of astrology doesn't use this, any more than Bach needed to use Indian raga quartertones to play incredibly beautiful music or I need German umlauts to write in English. Mapping the fixed stars onto the ecliptic gives us a whole set of "sensitive" points, a way of timing when the spirits of the fixed stars can be contacted, various sets of fixed star cycles in which the physical location of the stars imperfectly reflects more perfect underlying spiritual cycles, archetypes and Platonic forms.

Ok, now some practical considerations. The key here is "imperfectly". So analogous to the way matter imperfectly reflects the Platonic forms, so the ecliptic mapping of the fixed stars distorts their positions somewhat. Then we need to consider that precession, nutation, aberration, parallax and proper motion [google them for more info!] all cause individual differences such that we need to individually determine the Zodiacal location of stars, we can't simply apply a single formula to exactly adjust the current location for every star.

Finally, and I have been mentioning this a bit recently, when we do astrological talisman elections we do a time range, not an exact time, because we can't make a talisman instantly! For fixed stars I tend to use the rough rule of thumb of 3 degrees before and 3 degrees after their conjunction with the Ascendant or Midheaven. The influence begins to build and build as the fixed star moves toward the Ascendant or Midheaven, climaxes, then slowly fades out. It is actually likely more effective to consecrate longer and take advantage of the total range and total energy put out during the range. Anyhow it is not as if we had any choice, until we can work in the twinkling of an eye!

Bottom line is that like being unable to determine exactly when Sunrise happens, there is a point beyond which our attempts to be precise in terms of the exact degree, minute and second Zodiacal longitude of fixed stars simply is not effective. By using the time range, we can be sure that we can covered the most powerful time, even if we can't precisely determine what that is.

A Necessary Synthesis #3 Leopold's Talismans

2010-07-31T15:13:00.003-05:00

If we wish to practice traditional astrology we need to stay within the tradition. This is less of a moral judgment than simply one of keeping our labels straight. We do not wish, as my mentor in magic Robert Zoller said, to be flying under “false flags” calling ourselves traditional astrologers because we like the sound of it and consciously or more likely unconsciously practicing modern astrology.

As we have explored in earlier posts, we face the delicate task of being true to the essence of the tradition without blind and slavish adherence to every jot and tittle of every traditional text.

We can perhaps say that we have begun to master the essence of traditional astrology by when we have followed our traditional sources carefully and delineated, say 500 charts or created 100 astrological talismans using only traditional methods. At this point we can begin to see through the letter of the rules to the essence.

Let’s look at an example. What follows are a literal and then a “synthesized” version of a translation from a passage in Leopold of Austria’s “Compilatio scientie astrorum” Compilation of the Science of the Stars, dating to about 1271. This passage is included in F J Carmody’s “The Astronomical Works of Thabit b. Qurra” (Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1960) at 172-3.

First here is a literal translation of the passage by our own John Michael Greer,

For having the love of somebody, make an image of the one whose love you want to acquire on the day and hour of Jupiter, under the ascendant of the nativity or question; a fortune ascending, and (a fortune) the lord of him (the ascendant,) and keep the malefics away from it; let the lord of the tenth be a fortune. And let it be joined with the lord of the ascendant, with corporeal reception or a good aspect, and name the image you make with the name by which that person is known; put another image with the first so that they embrace each other, and wrap in a clean cloth. And (what you did) with the lord of the first image, (do) to both images; the power is not in the metal of which they are made or the wax or clay, because the observation of the ascendant suffices with the conditions you should keep in mind.

Next, here is my “synthesized” translation,

In order to have the love of someone, make images for the acquisition of love in the day and hour of Jupiter under the Ascendant of the nativity [of the person whose love you wish] or of a horary question [regarding this person]; with a fortune rising and the Ascendant ruler fortunate; and remove malefics from the Ascendant; and make fortune the ruler of the 10th house and unite it with the ruler of the Ascendant with bodily reception or a good aspect, and name the image with the name of the person for whom it is made; and place the second image with the first image and cause them to be embracing and place them in clean cloth. And the lord of the first image is lord of both; the power is not in the metal out of which they are made or wax or clay, because it is enough to observe the Ascendant and be mindful of it when creating [talismans].

Ok, let’s look at the changes I made. First of all, the literal translation says “make an image” while I say “make images”. This is because later in the paragraph it makes a big deal out of a second image and making the two images embrace each other. This is a key part of the whole talisman creation process because embracing images cause the targets to embrace. The literal translation even says to do the same with the second image as the first!

Next another key is basing the election for these images on a natal chart or a horary. As we can see in De Imaginibus, we use the natal chart of the target or a horary that gave us a favorable outcome concerning them. The problem is that the literal translation goes on to say that you should make a fortune ruling the Ascendant. The fortunes are Jupiter and Venus, they rule Sagittarius, Pisces, Taurus and Libra. So what if the natal chart of your target has Capricorn rising? I have substituted “make the lord of the Ascendant fortunate” This preserves the concept of fortunating the Ascendant, which is what having a benefic rule it does, while also preserving the ability to focus the power of the talisman on the target. Similarly, making the lord of the 10th a fortune limits the signs that can rise, so I make a similar adjustment there.

We can see that the “synthesized” translation does not do anything that goes outside the usual traditional practice and in fact, it resolves the confusion the literal translation causes while still giving a recipe for a powerful talisman.

Translation, in fact, is an excellent analogy about how we need to approach traditional sources, even in English. Translation is an art, it cannot be done word for word, and we must balance fidelity to the literal words of the original with creating a translation that is meaningful to us, but still faithful to the original.

A Necessary Synthesis #2 Agrippa's Synthesis

2010-07-22T21:24:00.002-05:00

As contemporary practitioners of the authentic Hermetic arts of traditional astrology, alchemy and magic, we are caught between a rock and a hard place, or Scylla and Charybdis, for the classically educated. On one hand, if we stay in the modern atheistic/materialist worldview, generally unconsciously, we will inevitably distort and destroy any chance of truly understanding or applying Hermeticism, which entirely depends on the spiritual connection of all things stemming from their origin in the One. “But I’m not an atheistic/materialist!” A good test is the “sidereal” (actually constellational) versus Tropical Zodiac. If you find the constellation Zodiac compelling, your unconscious thinking is atheistic/materialist. This is not a disaster, just good to know!

For the newbie and student, the first step is to immerse yourself in the tradition, learn the authentic pre-1700 philosophy of Hermeticism and the pre-1700 techniques of astrology, alchemy and magic. Learn the methods, learn the rules at the same time working from the other end trying to grasp the ubiquity of the modern worldview and understand the traditional worldview.

One of my favorite methods for this stems from my legal training. In a legal brief or before a judge, you are expected to be able to cite an authority, typically a court case decided by an appellate court, statute or regulation to support your position. I have my students cite to specific sections of traditional sources, giving the title and page. This is a useful exercise since it keeps us from straying into modern thinking and methods.

However, this dependence on traditional methods and sources ends up being the second big problem for more advanced students or picky talisman buyers who require complete, 100% adherence to traditional sources. Ok, then what do you do when the sources contradict each other?

But let’s go further, the purpose of learning the rules is to immerse yourself in them and penetrate to the essence of the tradition. The rules themselves should be treated respectfully and are not tossed aside at some mythical level of mastery. Rather one understands the reasons behind them and when the rules occasionally contradict the essence of the tradition or the essence can be preserved if the ruled is not observed, then 100% adherence is not required.

While this is a process reserved for those with a mastery of the philosophy and practice of traditional astrology and astrological magic, let me give a concrete example showing how Agrippa worked with Picatrix within the tradition.

As is indicated by the Latin critical edition of Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy, (Brill, 1992) edited by Compagni, the source of the Mercury talismans in Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book II, chapter 43 is Picatrix, Bk II, ch. 10.

We have recently finished translating Picatrix so we have those talisman descriptions available to us. Bk II, ch. 10 has two separate planetary sections, one is a listing simply of images of the planets according to various sources and the second section lists images plus the astrological conditions they are to be made under and
their effects.

Here is the first section of Mercury images:

The form of Mercury according to the opinion of the sage Beylus is the form of a young man with a beard with a dart in his hand. And this is its form.

The form of Mercury according to the opinion of Mercury is the form of a man with the head of a rooster sitting on a throne and his feet look like those of an eagle and in the palm of his left hand he has fire and under his feet are the signs stated before. And this is its form.

The form of Mercury according to the opinion of Picatrix is the image of a man standing erect and to his right side having wings that extend and on his left having a small rooster [?] in his right hand having a dart and in his left hand a round shell and on the middle of his head
the crest of a rooster. And this is its form.

The form of Mercury according to the opinion of the other sages is the form of a crowned nobleman, riding on a peacock in his right hand a reed pen and in his left having a book and his clothing is of many mixed colors. And this is its form.

Picatrix, Bk II, ch 10.

Here is the second section of Mercury images:

Image of Mercury. From the images of Mercury make the image of a baron seated on a chair with the head of a rooster and the feet of an eagle, and in his left hand fire and under his feet are the signs [figures in text] in the hour of Mercury, Mercury exalted and rising, in emerald, and if this stone is carried into a prison it liberates
prisoners.

From the operations of Mercury, when he rises, make this sign in his hour in emerald, and carrying this stone you will be served by scribes and notaries and all those who are the nature of Mercury.

From the operations of Mercury make the image of a lion in emerald or another image is the image of head of a lion, in the hour of Mercury, Mercury rising in Gemini, and above the head write a "A" and below the head a "D" and whoever has this image they will evade infirmities and fear and good things will be said of them.

Picatrix, Bk II, ch. 10

Now here are Agrippa's Mercury talismans from TBOP, Bk II, ch 43

Of the Images of Mercury.

From the operations of Mercury, they made an Image at the hour of Mercury, Mercury ascending in Gemini, the form of which was an handsome young man, bearded, having in his left hand a rod in which a serpent is twyned about, in his right carrying a dart, having his feet winged; They report that this Image conferreth knowledge, eloquence, diligence in merchandizing and gain; moreover to beget peace and concord, and to cure feavers; They made another Image of Mercury, Mercury ascending in Virgo, for good will, wit and memory; The form of which was a man sitting upon a chaire, or riding on a Peacock, having Eagles feet, and on his head a crest, and in his left hand holding a cock or fire.

By comparing Agrippa's talismans with his original source Picatrix, we can see that Agrippa is basically mixing and matching the various Mercury images listed in Picatrix. For example Agrippa’s first image is Mercury in Gemini, with a bearded young man and a dart, but Picatrix doesn’t specify a sign for the bearded young man with a dart. Of course Gemini makes sense being Mercury’s sign. Agrippa adds in a rod with a snake twined around it, but then this is the famous caduceus of Mercury, quite appropriate if not in Picatrix. Also Agrippa has the image with winged feet, again classic for images of Mercury, while Picatrix just says “winged”. Does this make feet wrong, hardly!

So Agrippa is neither inventing out of whole cloth, nor is he simply slavishly following the source, because this is clearly not necessary. He is inspired by Picatrix and adds in other appropriate, traditional elements.

A Necessary Synthesis #1 Flowers' Hermetic Magic

2010-07-20T11:45:00.002-05:00

Hermetic Magic by Stephen Flowers is subtitled “The Postmodern Magical Papyrus of Abaris”

I was definitely prepared to dismiss this as another frothy New Age production with the term “hermetic” used as a synonym for esoteric, occult or simply “cool”. Instead Flowers does a good job of outlining the true history of classical Hermeticism, explaining its mixed Greek and Egyptian roots, its subsequent history, cosmology, Hermetic gematria and the operative magical use of Hermeticism in the Greek Magical Papyri.

I’m not wild about the term “postmodern” which already has a current definition that to my mind doesn’t fit how Flowers uses it, because postmodernism is still atheistic/materialistic. On the other hand, what should we call the worldview that is necessary for astrology, alchemy and magic? A bit of a conundrum! Flowers is entirely correct, however, in pointing to a change from the modern worldview as a prerequisite for true contemporary Hermeticist.

I also wasn’t wild at first about the “Epistle of Abaris” which is Flowers’ own creation of a Hermetic text. Then I realized that this was totally traditional! Flowers’ epistle is certainly within the mainstream of Hermetic thought and one would not balk at it if it was part of a newly found ancient Hermetic manuscript.

Ultimately, I realized that basically any problem I had with Hermetic Magic stemmed from bad vibes off of the “postmodern” title. In point of fact, this is a very good introduction to the history, theory and practice of magic within classical (1st to 4th centuries AD) Hermeticism. Flowers points to all the key sources, the Corpus Hermeticum, the Greek Magical Papyri, which you can then read in the original. Ultimately, I think that Flowers’ approach, seeing the origin of Hermeticism in synthesis and then immersing oneself in pre-modern Hermeticism and then finally producing a new synthesis, within this tradition, is the correct approach.

Current Chart: Sun Talisman

2010-06-22T16:48:00.002-05:00

I wanted to mention my new current chart, a Sun talisman

This is for the Sun in Leo. Sun elections are nice because they are easy to find, Sun hour on Sunday always being Sunrise and the Sun being in both sign and triplicity in Leo and sign and triplicity in Aries on Sunday at Sunrise. The Sun, not surprisingly, cranks out good elections like clockwork (?) indeed! being the original timekeeper along with the Moon.

Sun is good for promotion, fame, reputation, leadership, wealth, and good for general health as the ruler of the heart and center of the body.

Sun talisman is particularly appropriate for you with Sun in Leo, Aries, or Sagittarius. Yellow flag (caution) on Sun talismans if he is in Aquarius or Libra. He can't be combust or retrograde! Bad aspects, bad house placement or rulership doesn't seem to affect talisman choices much.

This one is particularly easy to adapt to your own location. Just do Sunrise on August 8 at your location! Check US Naval Observatory Sunrise Data

And folks, Dawn is Sunrise and Sunrise is when the Sun comes up in the morning! A staggering number of people have no idea what Dawn is and ask me things like "should I adjust to Eastern time?" or just seem very confused by the concept. Even Sunrise confuses many. Oh, man, if we needed any confirmation that moderns were totally out of whack with Nature, not knowing what Dawn is or being confused about when Sunrise is, really shows it.

Mirror Madness #1: Moon Mirrors!

2010-06-15T16:43:00.002-05:00

I got so caught up with Picatrix and other business that I wasn't able to give a heads up about a great Moon election yesterday, but I used it to make Moon mirrors and Wade cast Moon talismans!

This was an excellent Moon election with the Moon culminating, Moon day and hour, Moon dignified by sign and face and waxing! Wow! The Moon moves so quickly that getting good Moon elections can be very difficult.

Ok, but so what? you may ask, why bother with the Moon? I know what you mean, the Moon is mysterious and her incredible power is hidden. This is entirely appropriate, as the Sun, light of the day is blindingly obvious, while the Moon, light of the night, is inscrutable.

The Sun is the cause of all life, controls the weather, regulates the day and the year. But the Moon is equally important. The month is hers, and through her regular and orderly waxing and waning, she controls everything in the Material World, known very appropriately to the ancients, as the sublunar Realm.

Picatrix says,

"You should pay attention to the Moon in all workings, as the foremost of the planets, because she has the most manifest effects and judges all things in this world, and to her belong the powers of generation and corruption, and she is the mediatrix of their effects; for she received the influences and impressions of all the stars and planets, and pours them down onto the inferior things of this world. For this reason you should pay attention to what we have said above concerning her fortunes and infortunes, and the waxing and waning of her light, because after she separates from the Sun her powers are balanced; thereafter they change when she is in sextile, square, trine, and opposite aspect. Her strength will accord with the nature of the planets and stars with which she is conjoined while in the aforesaid
aspects. "

Picatrix Bk II, ch 3, Greer & Warnock trans at page 70

For the astrological mage, we cannot and must not neglect the Moon because she is so key to our magic. Picatrix says,

"You should know also that magic is gained by actions and works in one way, and more subtly in another. That which is gained by actions and works is gained from the magistery that is worked by the sage in the world beneath the sphere of the Moon..."

Picatrix Bk I, ch 2, Greer & Warnock trans at page 29.

If we are to perfect our art, we must be masters of Lunar magic! And what better way to work with the Moon, the luminary of the night, then through a talisman that is itself lightbearing, our Moon mirrors? We will, of course have silver Moon talismans available cast on this date as well.

The more I work with mirrors, the more I begin to appreciate their special magical qualities. Agrippa says the Moon table,

"...renders the bearer thereof grateful, aimiable, pleasant, cheerfull, honored, removing all malice, and ill will. It causeth security in a journey, increase of riches, and health of body, drives away enemies and other evil things from what place thou pleaseth;."

Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk II, ch 22.

In addition, mirrors add a visionary and dream like quality to talismans, opening up the realms of the spirits, allowing you access into their spheres. The hypnotic quality of incense flowing over mirrors can be quite intense!

I made these Moon mirrors personally, acid etching using the Moon table and my own special design. I consecrated them to the Moon and they are ready for ritual use. "What do you do with mirrors?" Of course you can scry with them, but I have them on my altar space and they really look fabulous as well as being ideal foci for my ritual and beaming off all that fabulous astrological energy.

Cost of the 3 x 3 inch Moon mirrors is $79.95 plus shipping. Order
and more info here

Magical Casuality?

2010-06-13T11:30:00.005-05:00

One of the real problems we face in attempting to work with magic is our utter lack of personal experience and societal support and understanding with regard to the spiritual realm.

I get this constant drumbeat of unreasonable hope and unreasonable fear with regard to astrology and talismans. People are hoping that their whole life is going to be turned around instantly with one talisman or even one election. Or they are freaking out that they got the candle color wrong in their consecration ritual or that their new talisman HAS COMPLETELY RUINED THEIR LIFE!!!!

A real problem in this regard is accurately following casual links. This goes both ways, people unreasonably finding magic successful or being convinced that it was unsuccessful. With no personal experience with magic or social training in what it can or cannot do people get very superstitious. If someone said that "once I was almost run over by a redhead, so now I refuse to be in the same room with a redhead" you'd likely think they were not assessing the situation properly. Throw in magic and suddenly they are freaking out!

What's lacking is trust. I don't like the word "faith" because in the modern context that tends to mean believing in something despite the fact it has no "rational" read atheistic/materialist basis, in fact believing in something rather foolish like Santa Claus or God.

Trust, I like better as a basis. Trust can be reasonable, based on personal experience, on logic and philosophy and on the reasonable reports of others.

Moderns don't trust magic because they have been taught by science and the prevailing atheistic/materialism that it doesn't exist. And despite 300 years of atheistic/materialism there is still strong, though deeply buried social programming, stemming from the jealousy of the established religions to magic or any form of spirituality not under their control.

Personally, I have worked with astrological magic for over 10 years now. I have seen how that my life has improved both materially and spiritually over that period. Astrological magic is rooted in Hermetic and Neoplatonic philosophy which is rational, once you accept the existence of the spiritual, and can be part of a positive, right hand spiritual path. (Left hand path is also possible with it, just not really my thing!) I have a rational basis for trusting that astrological magic works and that it works positively if done properly. Minor mistakes don't, in my experience, blow up like a grenade in your face.

If I am going to say that I think astrological or other magic has worked in a particular circumstance, I am going to need reasonable casual links. For example, every month I do a consecration of my 3rd Mansion talisman, when the Moon is in the 3rd Mansion. The 3rd Mansion is for all good things. Invariably within 24 hours, either before or after, my business booms. It is not unusual for the 3rd Mansion day to be the biggest day of business for the whole month. And this has not just happened once, it is as regular as clockwork. In this case we have a reasonable casual link because we get an appropriate effect within a close time range and can say that it appears that the 3rd Mansion magic is working.

Our clues to casual links are connections in terms of time and in terms of effect. If I do the 3rd Mansion consecration and 15 days later I get a boost in business, the link is less clear. This is not saying that there is no link, but the connection is not as evident. If 3 months later I fall down the stairs or get fired from my job, there is very little linking this occurrence with the 3rd Mansion talisman, neither timing nor effect.

This confusion over casuality is an area where atheistic/materialists have a point. "Magical" thinking, ala "step on a crack, break your mother's back" is likely to confuse us and lead us astray. Now personally I am somewhat superstitious, I don't walk under ladders or use the number 13, if I can help it, for example, but I don't try to rationalize this. I regard it as simply my own foibles that I feel more comfortable not crossing. Absolutely nothing wrong with indulging personal preferences.

Spiritual causality is pretty tricky since we are dealing with subtle forces. It is easy to see connections out of hope or fear, since we really don't trust magic. It's easy when things we don't like happen to point to magic since magic is weird and dangerous. Still, by all means, if magic freaks you out or you feel that magic is responsible, don't do magic! You won't see me opening up and messing with my circuit box, I leave it to an electrician.

Wearing or Hiding Astrological Talismans?

2010-06-09T17:56:00.003-05:00

I had a recent question asking whether you could openly wear astrological talismans or should hide them.

If there is any mention of this issue at all in Picatrix it does tend toward hiding talismans. Picatrix Bk I, ch 5, Greer & Warnock trans, page 42, "An Image to Increase Wealth and Trade" says to guard the talisman and keep it secret so no one sees it.

De Imaginibus has you burying talismans, eg Chapter VII, though this doesn't necessarily mean the talisman has to be hidden.

I do personally wear talismans openly, even the Great Wealth and Fountain of Wealth talismans based on the Bk I, ch 5 recipe that says to keep them hidden. Perhaps part of this is vanity, since I think Renaissance Astrology talismans are beautiful pieces of jewelry. I have certainly not noticed any ill effects. I don't let all and sundry handle my talismans, but actually I have been rather surprised by the almost total lack of curiosity and interest that my talismans evoke.

I mean, here I am, wearing 2 planetary rings and 4 talismans and nobody asks me about them! I had one guy recently ask me about my Regulus talisman, but that was first time anyone asked in 2010! If I mention the talismans I generally get a very brief purely polite response with zero followup. Maybe people are so weirded out that they can't wait to change the subject; I really have no idea.

My sense of astrological talismans is moving further and further away from the charged battery model to the ensouled entity, dwelling place of the spirits model. I get the sense the astrological spirits like their beautiful talismans. I know I feel like I should keep them polished. My compass in all my dealings with the astrological spirits, be it ritual, meditation or talismans, is "am I being respectful?"

Personally, I don't feel that openly wearing astrological talismans is disrespectful, but this is my personal opinion. Valuable, in that I am basically top of the heap in terms of contemporary astrological magicians, but in particular cases, like the Picatrix Bk I chapter 5 wealth talismans, not in line with this important traditional source.

It's important to be clear about this. We don't want everything frozen in 1647 or 1000, but then we don't want to change merely because the modern worldview insists that everything new is better than everything old and everything my ego thought up in 15 minutes is better than what took Plato a lifetime to conceive. I feel like I am still operating within the tradition, but I want to be perfectly clear that this is my personal idiosyncrasy.

This has particular relevance because there are astrologers out there insisting that they are "traditional" but being very, very vague about what traditional sources say and what they do personally. Nothing wrong with doing your own thing, within the tradition, but let's be crystal clear about what is in traditional sources and what is our own personal thing.

Time is Running Out on Picatrix Pre-Orders!

2010-06-02T19:12:00.004-05:00

I went to my bookbinder today and picked up the final versions of the amazing goatskin leather bound and cloth bound Picatrix(es). [Picatrices?]

Wow! Take a look at the fabulous archival box that comes with the leatherbound Picatrix. Just scroll down to the bottom above the order buttons. I was thinking cardboard and my binder gives me this incredible custom cloth bound box with a leather label hot stamped with "Picatrix" and inlaid with gold leaf. I was joking that I need a box for the box!

Then take a look at the final version of the cloth bound Picatrix. These also have this beautiful leather label hotstamped in gold with "Picatrix"

Here are ordering details and time is running out on the pre-order discount prices and bonus pdfs. Come June 11th, the official launch date, up the go the prices and no more free bonus astrology books and articles. If you are interested in a cloth or leatherbound version, remember that layaway is available, just contact me at chriswarnock@renaissanceastrology.com

In a way, though, that begs the question, since you may well be asking, "What do I need a copy of Picatrix for?"

Let's consider this from the purely practical level. I had a poster who just asked about a Jupiter talisman can look in Picatrix Bk II, chapter 10, Greer & Warnock tr, page 106 and get very specific instructions on the necessary conditions for making a Jupiter talisman. Picatrix contains 268 different talismans recipes!

What shape should the talisman be? Look at Picatrix, Bk III, ch 5 Greer & Warnock tr, pages 147-8.

What material should the talisman be made out of? Look at Picatrix, Bk III, ch15 Greer & Warnock tr, pages 132-6.

How do I consecrate the talisman? Look at Picatrix, Bk III, ch 7 Greer & Warnock tr, pages 159-80.

It's all there in detail, the secrets of talisman making all laid out for you!

But Picatrix goes beyond just the practical details and explains why talismans work, how the spirits are attracted by the mage and ensouled in a talisman, truly what the magical nature of the Cosmos is. The author says he consulted over 200 books of magic, astrology and occult philosophy and extracted all of their wisdom in Picatrix.

But for me there are even more reasons to own Picatrix. This is not a movie prop, not a work of fiction, but a 1000 year true book of MAGIC! Picatrix could never be published in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It circulated in manuscript only and mages would work feverishly to write its pages by hand so they could possess their own copy. Mere possession of Picatrix would have you brought before the Inquisition out of fear of the forbidden knowledge it contained. This folks, is not some dry academic treatment, it is truly magical. In the introduction, John rightly compares Picatrix to the Necronomicon, but Picatrix is real, not fictional. We had a hard choice in translating many sections of Picatrix, personally we could never use some of the talismans or create many of the "confections" but like reality itself Picatrix contains the potential for both great good and great evil.

When we consecrate the leatherbound and cloth bound editions we are merely completing the process of spiritualization. Picatrix is an uncanny book, a book of knowledge and a book of power. It has been my constant companion for the past 12 years. I learned Latin to translate Picatrix. We spent 2 years on the translation itself.

Picatrix speaks to me as it speaks to the few, chosen to plumb its depths. If the path of the mage is yours, then Picatrix is an essential guide on that path.

Now, before the pre-order period runs out June 10th, is the time to
get the Complete Picatrix!

Complete Picatrix Pre-Orders!

2010-05-24T19:45:00.003-05:00

Faster than I ever could have expected, we can now begin pre-orders for the Complete Picatrix!

There are four different versions, leatherbound, clothbound and print on demand hardcovers and paperbacks.

You will be among a select few to have the first copies of this occult classic, available now in a clear and intelligible, beautiful and usable translation.

Pre-orders begin now and end June 10, 2010 If you put at least a 20% deposit down on the clothbound or leatherbound before the end of the pre-order period you get the pre-order bonuses and prices

Pre-orders get discounted prices!

All pre-orders get the special bonus pdfs, including Heydon's "Astrology: Wisdom of Solomon" (London 1792) 234 pages, "The art of determining future events by the only true method the radical figure of birth" including "A curious collection of Nativities"; an article "Ibn Washiyya and Magic" on the Nabatean Agriculture, a key esoteric text heavily excerpted in Picatrix; David Pingree's article, "Some of the Sources of the Ghayat al Hikam" on the sources of Picatrix; and Boulton's "Complete History of Magick, Sorcery and Witchcraft" (London, 1715) 294 pages.

The Picatrix Astrological Magic Course Upgrade is also available for current students of the Astrological Magic Course. You get a free copy of either the Lulu print on demand paperback or hardcover Complete Picatrix plus a new Course CD. The Astrological Magic Course has been updated to fully integrate the Picatrix into the lessons, plus updated talisman examples, plus ten academic articles on Picatrix and astrological magic with every article cited in the Complete Picatrix bibliography, plus a new lesson, Robert Zoller: The Secret Instructions, which includes secret teachings passed on to me by my magical master, Robert Zoller. The upgrade is free to current students who order the clothbound or leatherbound complete Picatrix. You can also enroll as a new Astrological Magic Course student and get the free paperback Picatrix and upgraded course CD. The paperback Complete Picatrix replaces the Secrets of Planetary Ritual as a free course text.

BREAKDOWN BY PRICE

* Custom handmade ultra deluxe leatherbound Picatrix, $1800 plus
shipping includes free Astrological Magic Course upgrade for current
students & pre-order bonus pdfs. More information on the leatherbound Picatrix.

* Custom handmade clothbound Picatrix $399.95 plus shipping,
includes free Astrological Magic Course upgrade for current students and
pre-order bonus pdfs, price after preorders will be $450. More information on the clothbound Picatrix

* $150 plus shipping, Astrological Magic Course upgrade for
current students plus free Lulu hardcover Picatrix & pre-order bonus pdfs, price after preorders will be $160 plus shipping. Order the Hardcover Upgrade here

* $125 plus shipping, just Lulu hardcover, & pre-order bonus pdfs, price after preorders will be $130 plus shipping. Order the Hardcover here

* $99 plus shipping, Astrological Magic Course upgrade for current students plus free Lulu paperback Picatrix & pre-order bonus pdfs, price after preorders will be $110 plus shipping Order the Paperback Upgrade here

* $60 just Lulu paperback & pre-order bonus pdfs, price after preorders will be $65 plus shipping. Order the Paperback here

MORE INFO

The text for all four versions is the same, but the leatherbound, clothbound and lulu editions all have different layout, fonts and illustrations. All editions include extensive introduction, over 400 footnotes, glossary, bibliography and index.

The leatherbound and clothbound editions are handmade and custom made to order. You can have your name or the name of your choice listed in the leather or clothbound versions. The leatherbound version can be consecrated to the 7 planets on request. The cloth bound versions come in planetary series limited editions for each of the 7 planets and can be consecrated to the planet of their series on request.

Pre-orders of lulu paperbacks and hardcovers will be sent to the printer for fulfillment and shipping, paperbacks are typically printing within less than a week, hardcovers, less than two weeks. Shipping can take a week. Astrological Magic Course CDs may need to be shipped separately from Complete Picatrix orders, but the cost is the same. Cloth and leatherbound versions can take up to 30 days.

More info

Follow the Books! Review of "Grimoires" by Davies

2010-05-23T19:48:00.003-05:00

In getting ready for the Picatrix launch, I was idly searching and popped up a few pages on Picatrix in a book I had never heard of, Grimoires: A History of Magic Books by Owen Davies. Davies is an English academic who wrote another book I enjoyed, Popular Magic: Cunning-folk in English History. So I thought, what the heck! Get a used copy and read about Picatrix.

Well, I was very surprised because "Grimoires", while it is a very good survey of magical books in the West from the Middle Ages to the present, actually is much more, the best one book study of esotericism in the West I have yet seen.

And here's why. In "All the President's Men" the source Deep Throat says, "follow the money" because that's how all of the seemingly disparate secrets are connected. When it comes to astrology, alchemy, magic and esoteric knowledge in the West, it's follow the book, or rather the books! In the East there are traditions that have continued their oral and direct transmission of wisdom and technique until the present day. In the West oral transmission essentially ceased and the esoteric traditions of the West from the Middle Ages onward have been heavily literary, dependent to a great extent on learning from books. Therefore, when you trace the history of grimoires, books of magic, as Davies has done, you can see the
importance of magic books.

I was particularly taken by the incredible notoriety of DeLaurence, who I'd always taken as a plagiarist and publisher of pulp [Davies has a whole chapter called Pulp Magic!] In South America, in the Caribbean and especially in Jamaica, DeLaurence became notorious and the possession of his "Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses" the key to magical credibility. Amazingly enough I encountered this personally recently. I shipped a talisman to Jamaica recently and of course included my usual instruction booklet. The talisman was confiscated by Jamaican Customs! When I checked the Jamaican Customs regulations I found that there was no restriction on jewelry, but that magic books published by DeLaurence were specifically banned in Jamaica. What a synchronicity! Particularly since Davies mentions the Jamaican Customs regulations in his book.

So we have everything, King Solomon, Greek Magical Papyri, Hermes Trismegistus, Picatrix, Ficino, Agrippa, Key of Solomon, 17th & 18th century Europe and America, Petit Albert, Red Dragon, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Books of Moses, Freemasonry, Joseph Smith, Voudun, Santeria, Allen Kardac, Hoodoo, Paschal Beverly Randolph, the Golden Dawn, Crowely, Necronomicon, Anton Levey, Gardner and Wicca. All the disparate strands of Western esotericism, all connected by grimoires!

I'm reading this and saying, "Why haven't I heard of this book before?" Well it was only published in 2009. Excellent, really excellent! This is exactly what an academic study is useful for, placing things in historical perspective. Definitely extremely useful and worth getting!

Here is a link to Amazon for Grimoires by Davies.

Meditation on Planetary Images?

2010-05-15T13:55:00.004-05:00

I had a question asked recently about images of the planets in all their dignities and debilities to be used for meditation and contemplation. The easy answer is that we have a lot of image descriptions, but not a lot of actual images. Basically we have woodblock images of the 360 degrees and 36 faces from Johannes Angelus, the incomplete face/decan murals in the Schifanoia Palace, some cartoonish images in Pingree's Latin Picatrix and Nigel's work.

In addition, the concept of doing planets in signs and as a meditation is not how our traditional sources worked. Firstly they are generally doing images in order to create talismans, that is to say, in order to invoke a particular astrological spirit or spirits. This could be for practical, magical purposes or more devotional, but in either case they were thinking more about the requirements of an external spirit, rather than internal meditation. The only explicitly meditative image I know of is from Ficino's Three Books on Life where he discusses construction of a model of the Cosmos, either as a sort of armillary sphere or as a painting on the inside of the walls and ceiling of a room, "You will, however, fashion a better image within yourself..." Three Books on Life Bk III, ch 19 Kaske & Clarke, p 347.

Secondly, we do have images of the planets in their dignities, for example, the Sun in Leo and in Aries from Agrippa,

...they made an Image at the hour of the Sun, the first face of Leo ascending with the Sun, the forme of which was a king crowned, sitting in a chair, having a Raven in his bosom, and under his feet a Globe; he is cloathed in Saffron coloured cloathes...They made another Image of the Sun in a Diamond, at the hour of the Sun, it ascending in his exaltation; the figure of which was a woman crowned with the gesture of one dancing and laughing, standing in a Chariot drawn with four horses, having in her right hand a looking glass, or buckler, in the left a staffe, leaning on her breast, carrying a flame of fire on her head;

Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk II, ch 41.

But as far as the planets in the debilities, there are a couple of problems. First in terms of talismans, these are curse talismans, like the Rats Begone! Talisman. This accounts for why our sources don't even list images for say Saturn or Mars in detriment. Going further with this, the image of Saturn in detriment would not be something that you would want to consecrate and thus energize and ensoul since it would start putting out negative vibes. Indeed, Picatrix, after discussing an image of Saturn for discord, made when in his hour, when he is rising, thus not even afflicted, says, "Be careful not to carry this image with you." Picatrix Bk II, ch 10, Greer & Warnock, Complete Picatrix, page 106.

We should consider further that to meditate on an image is a method of consecrating it, but with the further effect of strongly stirring up the celestial spirits and energies that lie within us as well as increasing our connection, through our spirit & soul to the World Soul and Spirit (Anima & Spiritus Mundi). To be filled with the energy of a dignified planet is generally positive, an afflicted planet, however, is another story. Picatrix says of Saturn for example, that he signifies,

True speech, hope, blackness, age, buildings, fear, great thoughts, cares, angers, betrayals, sorrows, anguish, death, inheritances, orphans, old places, appraisals, proper elocution, secret sciences, secret meanings, and profound knowledge: he signifies all the foregoing when he is direct in his motion.

When he is retrograde, however, he signifies misfortune, debilities or infirmities, prisons and evils suffered in all things, and if he enters into aspect with any other planet, he weakens it and damages all the qualities of the other planet. If he is retrograde and you ask him for something, what you seek will come about with delays and miseries and great labor. If he is retrograde in any of his dignities, his maledictions are augmented and increased; while if he rises in his powers and dignities, then he will be easier and gentler.

Picatrix, Bk III, ch 7.

This reminds me of a decision I made awhile back with regard to psychological profiling. I found this to be an interesting and unusual modern method of synthetic reasoning, most typically used for tracking serial killers by trying to understand their psychology and motivations, to get into their heads. Having had just the slightest exposure I realized that I would be exposing myself to the most negative possible influences, what medievals would rightly consider demonic, and that was not a good idea! It is too easy to fool oneself into thinking that this is study, when it is in fact stirring up evil, both internally and externally.

And ultimately, this is a problem with curses and malefic magic. While the ostensible focus is external, the mage cannot help but be affected by the forces they are invoking. Look at what happened to me with the rat talisman.

I am not advocating that we be ignorant of evil, or that malefic energy and malefic planets should be forbidden and beyond the pale. But as the Centiloquium attributed to Ptolemy so rightly says, the malefics are like poisons, and while capable of being used for healing, we must still remember that they are dangerous. The idea of meditating on the planets in all of their dignities and debilities is an interesting one, reminiscent of Ficino's Cosmos image, but we need to have a healthy respect for spiritual energy, both benefic and malefic and realize that we are connected to, and affected by, everything that we see, do and think.

Mathematical Talismans with Amicable Numbers

2010-05-11T19:02:00.003-05:00

Picatrix provides, in Bk II, chapter 5, a very interesting talisman using the power of a special type of number,

An image for enduring love. Make two images, and put one of the Fortunes at the ascendant and the Moon in Taurus conjunct Venus. Write on one image a number – that is, a figure of al-Khwarismi, the sort that begin with 0 -- for 220 in the proper place, and on the other image write the same kind of figure for 284 in the proper place. Join the two figures together in an embrace, and then there will be perfect and lasting love between the two.

These are amicable numbers because 220 is evenly divided by 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 20, 22, 44, 55 and 110, but if you add all these numbers together you get 284; and 284 is evenly divided by 1, 2, 4, 71, and 142, which if you add altogether you get 220. Thus these numbers have a very close and intimate relationship, they create each other!

We have a very interesting addition to this in Picatrix, Bk III ch 11 giving us more practical examples of how to work magically with these numbers,

The one who first compounded this stone by his own labor was King Behentater, who was one of the kings of India, and a great sage. It was he who built the city of Manif, in which he built mighty buildings, and in those buildings constructed images that spoke. He it was who discovered how to use numbers to make computations for love, which is one of the great wonders the Hindus have. When two people were given these numbers in food or drink or in any other manner, they became great friends and well pleasing to each other. If the aforesaid numbers were carved in wood, and bread or anything else edible was sealed with them and you gave it to someone to eat, he will delight in you with a great love. If those numbers are written on your clothing, your garments cannot be taken away from you; and if you write them on banners that are put in the street to draw business, they will draw business to you.

The lesser of these numbers is 220, and the greater is 284. The way to use these numbers is as follows. Write the smaller and the larger number in the figures of al-Khwarismi. Give the lesser in food to whomever you wish; you should eat the larger. The one who receives the smaller will be obedient to you as the lesser is obedient to the greater, and you will be delighted by him because of the marvelous property and power of the aforesaid computations. These computations may be done similarly with raisins, and pomegranate seeds, and eating whatever other fruit you wish. This is done by the number, and not by the figure. I have experienced the aforesaid computations many times, and have found truth in them as narrated above.

Picatrix, Bk III, ch 11.

Nowadays amicable numbers are just an odd number coincidence, an amusement for elementary math students. But let's look at the cast of characters associated with amicable numbers. Iamblichus, the foremost Neoplatonic adherent of theurgy, divine magic, attributed these very amicable numbers to Pythagoras, Thabit Ibn Qurra, author of De Imaginibus, found an algorithm for discovering amicable numbers, al-Majriti, possible author of Picatrix, is also associated with amicable numbers. But why did they bother?

Picatrix explains to us, " Magic is difficult to understand because it uses connections hidden from our senses and our sight. This is because these connections are divine powers placed before things to lure them upwards...By sages magical images are called talismans...To work victoriously he makes [talismans] with mathematical proportions and influences and uses celestial writing." Picatrix Bk I, ch 2.

While in one sense astrology depends on mathematics because of the calculations necessary to plot the position of celestial bodies, in a deeper sense astrology and astrological magic work because of the spiritual correspondence and sympathy of all things, which can be seen quite clearly in mathematical ratios and relationships. Here the amicable numbers, perfectly acceptable mathematically to moderns, fascinated our illustrious predecessors who discerned the true magical nature of reality though the relationship, which they saw as love, between these numbers. Once the underlying relationship is seen, the practical magical and talismanic use becomes obvious!

What treasures await us in Picatrix! What knowledge so long hidden, lost for three centuries, is soon to be revealed to us!

House Protection Talisman

2010-05-05T13:12:00.002-05:00

I got what I call a rabbit hole question asking me about house protection talismans. It seems like a small question, but when you explore it it keeps expanding.

I thought, well let's see what our traditional sources say, surely there must be house protection talismans? I look through Picatrix, Agrippa, but no! The closest we have is Deneb Algedi, in Hermes on the 15 Fixed Stars,

"said gives grace in causes, brings peace to houses in which it is, preserves its bearer always from harm and removes discords."

However, the JF translation of Agrippa says of Deneb Algedi,

"Under the tail of Capricorn they made the image of an Hart, or Goate, or of an angryman; it bestoweth prosperity, and increaseth wrath."

Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk II, chapter 47

Let's look at the Latin critical edition which speaks of,

"..imaginem cervi vel hirci vel hominis irati dat prosperitatem et auget divitas"

The image of a stag or he-goat or angry man which gives prosperity and augments prosperity [alternatively lengthens life]."

Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk II, chapter 47, ed Compagni (Brill 1992) page 367.

As is typical, whenever there is confusion it is in the JF translation, not the original Latin.

So, Deneb Algedi it is!

But perhaps we can do something extra here, a combo fixed star/house based talisman?

Here is an interesting election for this talisman, 1:05-1:30 am CDT, August 14, 2010 for Iowa City, IA. We have Deneb Algedi culminating, right on the Midheaven at around 1:18 am CDT at 23 Aquarius, with some space on either side to start and stop making the talisman and doing the consecration.

The Moon trines Deneb Algedi and in this case we throw in the Ascendant ruler Mercury who is dignified by sign and exalted (I don't give Mercury in Virgo full sign + full exaltation dignity, he seems more like +6 or +7 really). He is in the 4th house of the home, though nearing the end. The 4th ruler of the house is the Sun dignified by sign and the Moon also sextiles the Sun. Nice!

So, thanks for the question, I really started falling down the rabbit hole on that one. Due to our busy August casting schedule we can't cast silver talismans on that date, but we will cast Deneb Algedi talismans in September! If I get enough interest, e-mail me at chriswarnock@renaissanceastrology.com I will make small Deneb Algedi mirrors either at this August election or in September. Cost would be $69.95 plus shipping.

Of course you can always make your own talismans, adjusting the election to your location using a chart, not time zone adjustment. Put the sigil of Deneb Algedi on it, plus the Sun and Mercury and invoke the spirits of this star and planets.

Christopher Warnock

Head and Tail of the Dragon in Traditional Astrology

2010-05-04T20:46:00.003-05:00

The North Node of the Moon is known as the Caput Draconis, the Head of the Dragon and the South Node as the Cauda Draconis, the Tail of the Dragon. The Nodes are not material objects, but rather the points where the orbit of the Moon intersects the Ecliptic, the orbit of the Sun. (Uh, oh, where's the rays and beams?)

Here's Lilly's 17th century take on the Nodes,

The Head of the Dragon is Masculine, of the nature of Jupiter and Venus, and of himself a Fortune; yet the Ancients doe say, that being in Conjunction with the good he is good, and in conjunction with the evil Planets they account him evil.

The Tayle of the Dragon is Feminine by Nature, and clean contrary to the Head; for he is evil when joyned with good Planets, and good when in conjunction with the malignant Planets. This is the constant opinion of all the Ancients, but upon what reason grounded I know not; I ever found the North Node equivalent to either of the Fortunes, and when joyned with the evil Planets to lessen their malevolent signification; when joyned with the good to increase the good promised by them:

For the Tayle of the Dragon, I always in my practise found when he was joyned with the evil Planets; their malice or the evil intended thereby was doubled and trebled, or extreamly augmented, &c. and when he chanced to be conjunction with any of the Fortunes who were significators in the question, though the matter by the principal significator was fairely promised, and likely to be perfected in a smal time; yet did there ever fal out many rubs and disturbances, much wrangling and great controversie, that the businesse was many times given over for desperate ere a perfect conclusion could be had; and unlesse the principal significators were Angular and wel fortified with essential dignities, many times unexpectedly the whole matter came to nothing.

Christian Astrology page 83.

Lilly doesn't really explain the approach of the 8th-10th century Arabic astrologers. Al-Qabisi, aka Alcabitius, the 10th century astrologer says,

The Head of the Dragon is a benefic. Its nature is composed of the nature of Jupiter and Venus. It indicates rulership, good fortune and property. Some say its nature is to increase. If it is with the benefics it increases their good fortune; if it is with the malefics it increases their bad fortune...The Tail of the Dragon is a malefic. Its nature is composed from the nature of Saturn and Mars. It indicates lowness, falling and poverty. Some said its nature is decrease. If it is with the benefics it decreases their good fortune; if it is with the malefics it decreases their bad fortune. Thus it is said that the Head is a benefic with the benefics and a malefic with the malefics; the Tail is a malefic with the benefics and the benefic with the malefics.

Sections 45-8, Chapter 2, The Introduction to Astrology, tr. Burnett, Yamamoto (Warburg, 2004) pages 88-9.

Very interesting! Even Al-Qabisi was using the Head = good, Tail = bad that the 17th century astrologers use, but he explains the alternate division of growth and decrease. This is another example of how much more nuanced traditional astrology is, particularly the early Arabic variety.

Finally we even have talismans of the North and South Node from The great Renaissance mage Cornelius Agrippa,

Chap. xlv. Of the Images of the head and Tayle of the Dragon of the Moon.

They made also the Image of the head and taile of the Dragon of the Moon, namely betwixt an Aeriall and fiery circle, the likeness of a Serpent, with the head of an Hawke tyed about them, after the manner of the great letter Theta, & they made it when Jupiter with the head obtain'd the midst of Heaven:

Which Image they affirm to availe much for the success of Petitions, and would signifie by this Image a good and fortunate Genius, which they would represent by this Image of the Serpent; for the Egyptians and Phenicians do extoll this creature above all others, and say it is a divine creature and hath a divine nature; for in this is a more acute spirit, and a greater fire than in any other, which thing is manifested both by his swift motion without feet, hands or any other instruments; and also that it often reneweth his age with his skin, and becometh young again:

But they made the Image of the taile like as when the Moon Ecclipsed, in the Taile, or ill affected by Saturn or Mars, and they made it to introduce, anguish, infirmity and misfortune; and they called it the evill Genius; such an Image a certain Hebrew had included in a golden Belt full of Jewels, which Blanch the daughter of the Duke of Borbon (either willingly or ignorantly) bestowed on her husband Peter King of Spain, the first of that name, with which when he was girt, he seemed to himself to be compassed about with a Serpent; and afterwards finding the Magicall virtue fixed in the girdle, for this cause he forsook his wife.

Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk II, ch 45.

Christopher Warnock

Wearing Multiple Talismans?

2010-05-02T17:52:00.004-05:00

I had a poster ask me about using or wearing multiple talismans. A very good question and one that comes up frequently. We don't have any guidance in our traditional sources on astrological talismans with regard to the interaction of multiple talismans.

This is my take, based on my personal experience and personal logic. I used to be worried about combining talismans of planets that were inimical to each other. There are variant traditional lists of which planets are friends with each other and enemies to each other.

However, I personally wear a Saturn ring on my right hand and Sun ring on my left with other pendants, at the moment a Jupiter in Pisces, plus Regulus and Alkaid. I have never noticed any interaction problems.

I have three altars, a planetary altar, Mansions of the Moon altar and fixed stars altar. I have lots of different astrological talismans and mirrors on these altars and again, seemingly no interaction problems.

Now each planet, fixed star or Mansions has their own special place and their own image on the altar. Just like in the Heavens each one has his own orbit, area or sphere. The planets get along fine in the Heavens, so if that placement is replicated on Earth, they seem to get along fine here too.

These talismans are the ensouled spirits of the planets, fixed stars or Mansions, respect and honor them and you are fine!

This is not to say that there might not be situations where there are negative interactions, but I have not personally experienced this given the parameters I have laid out above.

Note that this "getting along" is just among astrological spirits, not any and all magical talismans of whatever source or power and certainly not of non-astrological spirits. Different spirits, be they Goetic or from a different tradition, like Santeria, are a whole different story and should not be mixed willy nilly. Similarly, I would not be shocked if others had astrological talismans interaction problems, but so far I haven't and haven't had specific instances reported to me.

Sidereal[sic] Mansions Redux Again?

2010-05-02T17:33:00.005-05:00

Boy, it just doesn't stop with the sidereal[sic] onslaught. I had a poster quoting my Mansions webpage about the Sun and the ecliptic being like the Moon in her Mansions and demanding to know how I could use the Tropical Mansions. Too bad they didn't bother to read the next section!

This raises a bigger point however. Part of the problem with the onslaught of the sidereal[sic] Zodiac is that it obscures thinking about the question of choice of Tropical versus Constellational placement of various astrological factors.

Traditional astrologers used the Tropical Zodiac which is oriented to the seasons, but they did precess fixed stars, how about that? This is just more ammunition for a general attack on the use of the Tropical Zodiac if we don't think carefully about it.

Let's think about Arabic Parts for a second. Arabic Parts, the most famous being the Part of Fortune, do not represent actual, material bodies. They are derived from the Zodiacal longitude of 3 points, often the distance from one planet to another then projected from another point. For example the Part of Fortune is the distance from the Sun to the Moon or Moon to the Sun, depending on whether it is day or night [I've probably got those switched, but this example doesn't depend on it] projected from the Ascendant.

But, what's going on here? Where are the beams, rays or fields from something "actual" that MUST be causing astrological effects. Whoops! There aren't any. What we are seeing is that the Arabic Parts expose the deep patterning and unity of the Cosmos, rather than the "actual" position of a material body.

Let's think about the fixed stars again. Yes, traditional astrologers do precess their Zodiacal longitude, but unlike the planets who are all basically orbiting in the path of the Sun, the ecliptic, the fixed stars are placed all over the 3D sphere of the Heavens. We project them from this 3D "actual" position on to the flat 2D Zodiac thus severely distorting their position unless they happen to be placed near the ecliptic. But the traditional method of fixed stars works! They actually accurate predict and ensoul talismans even though their "actual" position is not being used. How can this be?

In point of fact, like the Arabic Parts, the fixed stars are revealing deep underlying patternings, not apparent from their "actual" placement.

Crazy to the atheistic/materialist, but just plain common sense to the Hermetic/Neoplatonist!

Natal Factors in Elections?

2010-04-18T10:30:00.002-05:00

I was asked by a poster about the use of natal factors in elections. While traditional sources often insist on using the natal chart for elections, they rarely give any practical advice on how to do so. One of the few sources to explain how to use natal charts for elections is Gadbury's Nauticum Astrologicum, which actually gives actual examples of how to elect using a natal chart, a horary chart and just straight elections.

Nauticum Astrologicum is available as part of my Renaissance Electional Astrology Compilation also available at Amazon

Essentially what Gadbury suggests in the use of natal factors, is making favorable aspects between significant houses and planets in the natal chart and in the election.

More typically we get sources like Ramesey who say to use the natal rulers in elections without explaining exactly how this is done.

What is notable about Gadbury's examples and also real life examples, is that when you try to use natal factors in elections, you end up with some pretty pathetic elections. The problem is that you can generally only select for say 3-5 factors in the chart and if you are limited by the natal chart already it messes up your election. Gadbury does say that you can do a good election without natal factors at all. I personally endorse this approach

It sounds appealing, particularly to moderns who have natal on the brain and use it for everything, but trying to import natal factors into an election has serious practical limits. It is very easy to pontificate about elections and supremely easy to criticize ANY election, but invariably when it comes time to actually come up with an election, the pontificators' and critics' charts are truly godawful.

I just try to get a good election, then, if I can add in something like the same rising sign as the elector (person using the election) that's nice. This is certainly an area in which views differ and I recognize that my approach is not in line with many traditional sources. However, these sources never seem to give any real examples! As a professional astrologer I cannot say to a client, "forget about filing those court papers until Saturn is no longer afflicted 6 years from now since you have Aquarius rising." Besides I do have Aquarius rising and I managed to do lots of good elections when my Ascendant ruler was afflicted. So while this is a bit of a rough and ready approach, it does have the advantage of being practical and usable.

Solar Return Travel?

2010-04-15T18:36:00.002-05:00

I had an e-mail the other day asking what I thought about the idea of Solar Return travel. First, I need to explain what a Solar Return is. This is what modern astrologers call the traditional Solar Revolution, which is when the Sun returns to the exact degree and minute it occupied when you were born. There are many versions of revolution, most importantly the Aries Ingress, when the Sun goes into the 1st degree of Aries, ie 0 Aries.

Basically as astrologers we can use the return/revolution as a way to forecast the upcoming year. It is not used by itself in traditional astrology but along with natal timing techniques like primary directions and firdaria and then trigger timing is done using transits. Now there is some controversy over whether or not to use the natal or current location for solar revolutions. Morin endorses the use of the current location.

Solar Return travel has grown up as a modern practice in which modern astrologers advise clients to travel just for the day of their Solar Return to a specific location which maximizes the positive and reduces the negative factors of their natal chart. Perhaps that nasty afflicted Saturn can be moved off the Ascendant in Cincinnati and pushed into the 12th house if you go to Tahiti for your birthday.

Now my initial reaction to the idea of Solar Return travel was that traveling for one day wasn’t going to work. But then I mentioned it to my wife and she said, “well maybe there is something magical about it.”

Ah, ha! Now, I had a handle on how to think about Solar Return/Revolution travel. Basically if you treat it as a predictive technique then it is going to be an [broadly] accurate method of predicting the upcoming year for the location you use for the return. If you do your solar revolution with Chicago as the location it will give you a prediction of what will happen to you if you live in Chicago. The Tahiti revolution, as nice as it is, isn’t going to be an accurate predictor unless you permanently move there.

The only reason that going to Tahiti for the day of your solar revolution would make a difference would be if there was something magical going on. And indeed this seems to be how it is characterized by some modern astrologers,

“Take charge of your life! and receive the support of the stars. Travel on your birthday to the best destination, location to energize a positive focus for your current year’s Solar Return. Empower your intentions, your goals, and your desires for the year unfolding.”

www.beyondclarity.com

They don’t call it magic, because that gives them the heebie jeebies or they simply don’t recognize that that is what is going on. Still it does makes sense that you could use your solar revolution as a magical election.

That being said you are going to need to do something with this election other than simply showing up! If the energy of the moment of the solar revolution is special then you need to fix it somehow. This is exactly what astrological talismans do. Being created at a particular moment they capture the energy and power of that moment and preserve it. At the very minimum you would need to do an invocation of the appropriate astrological spirits.

My sense would be that you treat solar revolution magic like a house talisman. Invoke the key planets or even all of them and inscribe their symbols on a talisman as we do for house based talismans like the Fountain of Wealth talisman.

Once again the fact that modern astrologers really don’t have a clue as to how astrology works causes endless confusion. In this case, the Hermetic and Neoplatonic philosophy that underlies traditional astrology and our experience with astrological magic gives us an excellent template for evaluating solar return travel.

Course in Old English?

2010-04-11T16:22:00.005-05:00

The issue of "old English" comes up frequently with my course material. It does not mean any English over 20, 50 or even a hundred years old.

As far as the term "old English" this has a specific technical meaning. Old English is the form of English spoken from the 5th to 12th centuries and is essentially a foreign language. The most famous work in Old English is Beowulf.

Middle English was spoken from 1200-1400 and its most famous author was Geoffrey Chaucer whose most famous work was the Canterbury Tales.

Early Modern English dates from the 16th & 17th centuries and its most famous author was Shakespeare.

Modern English dates from around the 18th century till the contemporary period.

Lilly and the other Renaissance English astrologers wrote in Early Modern English, not "Old English", and in a form about 50 years after Shakespeare when spelling had settled down a bit. An educated, native English speaker really has no excuse for not reading Early Modern English. It takes a bit of practice. If English is not your native language then you may need to take some extra effort with it.

Two points. First, what is most complicated about Lilly's Christian Astrology, written in 1647, is not that the f's look like s's, though that's what jumps out at you, but the concepts and methods themselves.

Secondly, there just isn't much of a substitute for reading these 17th century authors. Christian Astrology is the key text for horary, Ramesey for electional. Ben Dykes has sold out his English translation of Bonatti's Book of Astronomy which is about the only other text you could use which is not in Early Modern English.

Insisting that, "I only want to study traditional astrology in modern English not 'Old English' [that is to say Early Modern English]" reminds of potential students that call me up and say, "I want to study traditional astrology with a teacher right here in Houston!" Sure and I want to teach students right here in Iowa City. Too bad the twain never meet since there are only about two teachers of traditional horary astrology in the whole US!

If you want to learn traditional astrology in English, you will eventually have to tackle Early Modern English texts.

Half Right = Half Wit

2010-04-10T11:20:00.005-05:00

I just got a post about a dude that wanted me to judge his "sidereal" chart even though I am a traditional astrologer who uses the Tropical Zodiac. The poster said that they thought it was really strange that the dude did enough research to think I was wrong, but still wanted me to do his chart.

I totally agree, which leads me into my other rant de jour, which is students that insist on arguing with me. Just this week I had to fire a student, who was without a doubt the absolute best student I have ever had in terms of their use of traditional sources, because they would not stop arguing with me.

What I found most bizarre about the situation was exactly the point the poster made, if I am so consistently wrong why would you want to study with me at all? Furthermore, if one, as student, is in the position to be able to decide that individual portions of what the teacher teaches are wrong, what do you need a teacher for?

I told this student that I am not insisting that my methods are infallible and I expect my students, after they finish my courses, to pursue their own idiosyncratic style. I don't follow my teachers exactly in my practice. However, when I studied with them, I followed their directions and did my level best to try to understand how they did what they did.

There are two levels of misunderstanding that students fall into. The first is not learning the rules, and the second is thinking that the rules are all there is to traditional astrology. Many students don't want to take the time to learn all the myriad of traditional techniques and methods. They will get nowhere as this is a necessary first step.

However, a more subtle trap is thinking that all that you need to do is look up techniques in our traditional sources which are the final arbiter. This is the mistake my rebel student made. First we master the rules, then we penetrate to the essence of traditional astrology which is grasping the pattern that is presented by an actual chart be it natal, horary, etc. This is not a pure academic discipline, this is the application of knowledge for a practical purpose, prediction of events in advance.

What the sources cannot teach, and what an actual teacher is vital for, is the situation where, after mastering the rules, you run up against an actual chart. We do not throw the rules away, but neither do we rely on them as the be all and end all of our practice. Each master of traditional astrology, while still working within the traditional system, develops some idiosyncratic methods. A master could be loosely defined as someone who has judged say 500 to 1000 actual charts using traditional methods.

Beyond this is the issue of respect for both the teacher and the tradition that they represent. Personally, I have very carefully checked out my teachers in advance, but once I decided they knew their stuff, I followed their directions. Of course they had personal faults, but I was always very appreciative of their knowledge and experience and of the fact that they were passing on this great tradition to me. I might ask for clarification of a point, but it simply never entered my head start an argument with a teacher. I can't really remember disagreeing with a teacher because how was I in a position really to think I was right? Beyond that, even if I did disagree, I would either keep it to myself or express myself in a very respectful manner. If I truly did disagree with a teacher I would really have to stop being their student.

I know that this goes very much against the grain of the modern mythos of EQUALITY. I very strongly agree with political and legal equality, but clearly when it comes to knowledge and experience we are not equal. This itself is a very traditional view and the traditional view of a student and teacher was of a master and disciple. Now this can obviously be abused, but personally I cannot function as a teacher with students that argue with me.

Traditional astrology is hard to learn. The rules are not easy to master and then trying to judge actual charts is even harder. It is difficult enough to teach when students are cooperating with me and doing their absolute best to work with me and understand what I am trying to teach. When a student refuses to accept what I have to teach and fights my methods, then teaching becomes impossible.

Trust is necessary. The student needs to trust that the teacher knows the subject and knows the best, or at least a workable way to teach the subject. If the student doesn't trust the teacher, and manifests this by arguing, then they really shouldn't be studying with them at all.

Now Sidereal is Uranus!

2010-04-10T10:21:00.005-05:00

When I first started doing traditional astrology over a decade ago, I was constantly having to defend the use of traditional techniques. One favorite area of attack was the use of the outer planets, ie Neptune, Pluto and Uranus (urinous, you're anus? I've heard it pronounced Ouranos to avoid that whole mess). 500 separate posters seemed to be under the impression that they had come up with this great idea on their own, "Hey, if there are more planets, asteroids, comets, etc., you HAVE to use them!"

One of the reasons I set up my personal discussion group Spiritus
Mundi and was part of the group that set up the Society of Astrologers was so traditional astrologers could have some safe zones where they could be free from having to justify doing what Western traditional astrologers have been doing for a 1000 years and free from relentless attack from moderns.

I've been very pleased to see the number of traditional astrologers grow along with knowledge of traditional technique and the constant barrage of "Uranus, Uranus, Uranus" has died off. However, a new and sinister astral red herring is rearing its anus, the SIDEREAL [sic] ZODIAC!!!!!

The hoof beat of the sidereal herd became so thunderous recently that I had to write a whole web page on the subject of the Tropical, Sidereal and Constellational Zodiacs. I thought that this would be sufficient to fully articulate my views, which are, as much as possible, simply an expression of what traditional astrologers would have said on the subject. Unfortunately, this is turning out to be about as effective as lecturing lemmings as they swarm into the proverbial abyss.

Just this week I got a call from a fellow that wanted me to read his "sidereal" chart. When I informed him that I was a traditional astrologer, he informed that the Tropical Zodiac was "wrong". I asked him if he had read my Zodiac webpage, that was "wrong" too because, and I actually am quoting what he said, "They were uneducated after the fall of the Roman Empire, they were using the Roman numerals, not the Aramaic numerals. Once there were the Crusades then they used the Aramaic numerals!" I am not kidding about this being an exact quote. Needless to say, I did not take this particularly well, which flabbergasted the fellow. "Gosh, I don't know why you are so defensive, can't you see that you are completely wrong?", stateth he.

So this is fair warning folks, don't contact me and ask me why I foolishly insist on using the Tropical Zodiac! Don't stick your hand in the cage on that one since you'll be the 500th caller. My views, and as much as I could, the views of traditional astrologers are laid out at my Zodiacs page

If you are drawn to using the Sidereal Zodiac, by all means do Vedic astrology or be a modern, if you are drawn to the Constellational Zodiac, be a modern, but you cannot be a traditional astrologer and use anything other than the Tropical Zodiac anymore than you can be a classical musician and play ragas on an electric guitar. These are systems, folks, where the interactions of the whole are paramount, they are not a bunch of little parts that can be broken down and reassembled. The mix and match method of modern astrology strikes me as being like using a Mercedes body, Honda transmission, Chevy engine and wheels from a bicycle. "Boy, in my head I thought this was going to be great!" Learn and respect the systems!

More on "Malefic" Talismans

2010-04-08T09:41:00.003-05:00

I want to expand a bit on the use of "malefic" talismans. Let's look at the fixed star Algol as an example. Vivian Robson in Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology (admittedly a modern source but with a lot of good traditional material) says of Algol in a natal chart, "It causes misfortune, violence, decapitation, hanging, electrocution and mob violence, and gives a dogged and violent nature that causes death to the native or others. It is the most evil star in the heavens." at 124.

However, as a talisman Algol, "gives animosity and audacity, guards the members [of the wearer] and makes victorious over what you wish." Hermes on the 15 Fixed Stars. Silver Algol Talisman

This at first seems paradoxical, how a "bad" talisman be good? Firstly, it appers that one use of malefic talismans is to direct that "bad" energy outwards away from you as protection. This certainly fits what Hermes on the 15 Fixed Stars says, plus I have been getting pretty consistent reports about how the Algol talisman works. Algol is described as "a bulldog" and you go through an initial stage where he is rather rambunctious. The day I put my Algol talisman on my fixed star altar my electronic thermostat went blooey! and my Internet connection inexplicably went out. However, once this initial stage is over, people describe Algol uniformly as the most powerful protection talisman they have ever dealt with, actively going out and neutralizing threats to you.

This initial stage of problems is also not surprising giving that indeed we are dealing with a malefic talisman, note that Hermes says the Algol talisman gives "animosity", so along with the very powerful benefits we have some problems. Malefics tend to be like that in horaries or natal charts, since even when fully dignified and thus capable of providing benefits they always seem to have a bit of an edge. I have Saturn in Aquarius, his sign and triplicity, but still get a certain amount of Saturnine melancholy.

Finally we have the issue of inconsistencies among our sources. Robson says of the Pleiades star cluster, "They are said to make their natives wanton, ambitious, turbulent, optimistic and peaceful; to give many journeys and voyages, success in agriculture and through active intelligence; and to cause blindness, disgrace and a violent death. Their influence is distinctly evil and there is no astrological warrant for the oft-quoted passage Job (xxxviii. 31) "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades…?" which is probably a mistranslation." at 182.

Yet Hermes on the 15 Fixed Stars says the Pleiades talisman, "protects the light of the eyes, gathers daimons and spirits of the dead to come and speak and makes [the wearer] to know of secret and hidden things."

Which is "right?" Personally I am not sure that there is one correct interpretation here. I have used the Pleiades talisman and found that it is excellent for discovering occult secrets. Silver Pleiades talisman. Yet at the same time I have used the Pleiades in horary as a negative indication and gotten correct readings.

Perhaps this is another example of the inadequacy of the scientific idea of a single objective reality when applied to the spiritual realm. Not all subjective realities appear to be accurate, but at the same time, it sure doesn't seem like there is a single objective reality either!

Benefits of the Malefics?

2010-04-03T11:37:00.004-05:00

I had question recently about why one would want to use the talisman of a malefic planet, after all aren't they bad?

We have to be careful not to simply think malefic = 100% bad and benefic = 100% good. As the Centiloquium or Liber Fructus the 100 Aphorisms attributed to Ptolemy says,

"In election of days and hours, make use of the two malevolent planets Saturn and Mars; for even so doth the expert physician use poison moderately for cure of man."

Aphorism 10.

While Jupiter's expansive acquisitive qualities and Venus' fun loving pleasures are more attractive, Mars' strength, power and courage and Saturn's discipline and deep wisdom are also necessary qualities. Jupiter and Venus can almost be seen as secret malefics since they can turn into excessive pleasure and enjoyment. Not a popular view in the modern world, but then we have lost our balance, haven't we?

So what else can we do practically with malefics and affliction? Let's look at an example, my Rats Begone! talisman

This is a definitely a malefic, even a curse election. However, it is only malefic for the rat that I want to get rid of, as far as I am concerned what's bad for him is good for me.

Here's another example of the use of malefics and affliction. Being too close to the Sun, known as combustion, is considered in general to be a severe affliction. However, the medieval Italian astrologer Guido Bonatti says,

"And when [the Moon] is under the rays of the Sun she signified secrets and things that have been hidden, and also she signifies matters that must be hidden; wherefore, at that time it is good to manage things that must be hidden and do those things which we wish to conceal from people before the Moon should be separated from the the Sun, but to be sure, at the time after she is separated from the Sun, [we must do] those things which we want to be hidden before she goes out from the Sun's rays."

Liber Astronomiae, Book III (Arhat ed.) page 38.

But approaching this as "hey, what have the malefics done for me recently?" ultimately misses the point. In Hermetic and Neoplatonic philosophy the Cosmos itself proceeds from the One and the Celestial World, in particular, retains that connection and unity. Each planet and star has a necessary role to play. Shakespeare says of Mars, for example,

O great corrector of enormous times,
Shaker of o’er-rank states, thou grand decider
Of dusty and old titles, that healest with blood
The earth when it is sick, and curest the world
O’ the pleurisy of people!

The Two Noble Kinsmen Act v. Sc. 1.

As difficult and unpleasant as the effects of the malefics can sometimes be, they are a necessary part of the unity of the Cosmos.

Christopher Warnock

Necessary Elements of Astrological Ritual?

2010-04-01T09:52:00.002-05:00

I got a post on my discussion group insisting that it was always necessary to make an offering to the spirits, basically a donation of an item ruled by the planet or star to a person or entity ruled by the planet or star, as an invariable accompaniment to any magical rite.

There are many commonalities among magical systems and there are many differences, so we need to be careful in assuming that what is done in one system is universally applicable. Similarly we need to be careful not to assume that what works for us personally even in a particular system works for others in that system.

I would agree that a sacrifice, which could be an offering, is definitely part of traditional astrological magic. Picatrix is full of animal sacrifice, which I personally won't do. I consider the use of candles and incense to be a sacrifice because they are consumed by flame. What you describe as an offering is something I have been suggesting for awhile following the example of planetary charity in Vedic astrology.

While I agree that the offering you describe is entirely appropriate and would be good to do, I disagree that somehow following this method is required. If we look at Picatrix Bk IV, ch 9, with regard to the creation of Mansion talismans, there is no mention made of an offering, for example,

"The second mansion is Albotayn, and it is for the removal of anger [from between two people]. When the Moon has passed around to this Mansion, take white wax and mastic and melt them together over a fire. After [they are well mixed], remove them from the fire and form from it the image of a crowned king. Cense this [image] with lignum aloes, and say: "Thou, O Enedil, drive away this anger with NN from me, and let me be reconciled with him, and let my petition be agreeable to him." And you should carry this image close by you, and it shall be done as you wish. And know that Enedil is the name of the lord of this Mansion. And this is his figure."

The key elements to creation of a Mansion talisman are the creation of the talisman, burning of incense and invocation at the astrologically appropriate time. If you do this, as I have done, you will create a magically powerful talisman.

Certainly one can do more, and certainly an offering as you describe will be a useful addition, but it is not vital as we can see from Picatrix.

Fate, Providence and Traditional Astrology

2010-03-18T15:33:00.002-05:00

I was just re-reading Gregory Shaw's Theurgy and the Soul (Penn State, 1995) on the late Neoplatonic philosopher Iamblichus.

At page 43, Shaw discusses Iamblichos' views on providence and fate which restrict the choices of individuals due to the emanation of the Cosmos from the One and the spiritual connection of all things. "Embodied life could be experienced as a bondage to fate or as an opportunity to live under divine providence, depending on how the soul used its powers."

Because there is a patterning to reality and existence, all things are not possible. We can see this as an evil external force restricting our ego choice, ie fate, or see the underlying purpose of the patterning, which in the Hermetic and Neoplatonic view, despite the existence of evil, is good overall, though not necessarily good as the individual ego may see it.

Think of the small child that wants to get into the cupboard and eat all of the cookies. "Oh mala fortuna, that I cannot gorge myself" Yet he is thereby saved from a gut ache! Greater wisdom brings greater understanding.

As far as giving people bad news and telling them things they do not wish to hear, this is indeed part of the work of a traditional astrologer, if the astrologer wishes to tell their clients the truth. Since traditional astrology is accurate and precisely reflects reality, we can hardly avoid giving bad news on occasion. But this is hardly restricted to astrologers, doctors, lawyers, accountants, many professions have a similar function.

A long time ago I decided I would prefer to be accurate than always satisfy my clients. My better clients appreciate it and come back. I do, of course, have a steady stream of clients who are unconsciously paying me to tell them that everything is going to be fine. They are disappointed when I say it won't be.

Now Lilly advises us not to oppress our clients with our judgments and there is no reason to hit people over the head with bad news. But the fact is that these clients are going to be unhappy no matter what. They go to the 900 psychic who says "everything will be great!" but it isn't and the client is unhappy. They come to me, I saw it won't work out, it doesn't and the client is unhappy.

Christopher Warnock

Basics of Consecration in Astrological Magic

2010-03-06T12:48:00.002-06:00

In life in general and in magic in particular, it is very tempting to want the "best" or the "right" way to do things. I get lots of e-mails and calls from clients that are very worried about whether they got the right shade of blue for the candles or the right brand of incense, etc.

What is the essence of what we are doing when we invoke astrological spirits? What is necessary and what is a bonus? What is a hindrance?

To a certain extent these are my personal views, but they are views informed by long study in traditional Western magic and my recent encounter with the Japanese Shinto tradition.

First of all, our cast talismans are consecrated when they are created. This is the key election for the talisman and it is the one that we are most concerned with.

The personal consecration that you do with a talisman when you get it has two purposes, in my view. First and most importantly the energy/spirit in the talismans are tuned to you, you contact the spirit. Secondly, every subsequent consecration renews the initial one, renews your contact with the spirit and helps "recharge" the talisman.

What is key with regard to consecration? The ritual and timing should be appropriate and your attitude should be respectful.

In terms of the ritual and timing being appropriate this gives wide, but not unlimited latitude. Our traditional sources list many colors for Jupiter, so for your candles, altar cloth or even clothes you could use "Sea-green or Blew, Purple, Ash-colour, a mixt Yellow and Green." Lilly, Christian Astrology 63. You could not use black, since that is almost unanimously the color of Saturn in traditional sources.

Personally I use white votive candles, since I buy candles by the case and burn them constantly. White is a good neutral color.

In terms of incense, again appropriate incense for Jupiter is pretty wide, something smelly would not be appropriate since this is again ruled by Saturn.

Don't use a Mars invocation for Jupiter, don't use invocations for spiritual beings in other traditions, without checking with an expert that this is ok. No Shango for Jupiter, for example, without carefully getting this checked.

I am more and more in favor of the short, heart felt invocation, rather than the long, if bored and exhausted, consecration. On the other hand, if the timing says go now even if you don't feel like it at the moment, you may need to do the invocation. I don't always feel totally enthused and excited, particularly if I have to get up at 3 am. On the other hand, if you are just completely freaked out and/or feeling very ill, then no, this is probably not the best time for an invocation. Basically though just do the invocation! Better to do it with a somewhat tired attitude than not at all.

Timing, day and hour for the planet is good. Nice if the planet is dignified, but I have been doing a continuous invocation of the planet of the day for the past 5 years or so, regardless of dignity. Moon phase not a biggie, though waxing is good for increase.

Necessary basics, a candle, some incense, appropriate timing and respect. What do I mean by respect? Don't treat the invocation as a joke. Clean yourself up, move children and animals and other distractions out of the ritual space. Don't use the talisman as a frisbee or the ritual candle as an ashtray. Don't stop the ritual halfway through to answer your phone. Treat the spirit to be invoked in all ways as an honored guest.

Picatrix Now on Amazon!

2010-02-25T20:05:00.003-06:00

We really debated back and forth whether to put our English translation of the Latin Picatrix Books I & II on Amazon. On one hand Amazon takes a big chunk of the profits, but on the other hand, being on Amazon makes a book so much more accessible to a huge audience. We decided that ultimately, we wanted Picatrix to have the widest possible distribution.

So now Picatrix books I & II are available directly from Amazon! Gosh, we have reviews, look inside the book and everything! Plus a significant discount, now just $42.99, 22% off.

Well heck, I guess we need to do the same on our website so by golly here is Picatrix directly from us at 22% off

Now it's great to get direct sales from the website and Amazon's not taking it's cut then, but frankly I personally buy a lot of stuff from Amazon. I like the super-saver shipping and Picatrix qualifies for that if you buy it with another book, hey how about Secrets of Planetary Ritual, our translation of the lengthy Sabian planetary invocations from Picatrix book III?

Follow the links from this post and we get Amazon Affiliate credit, which is nice!
We are really chugging along on the Picatrix translation, folks! Help us get over the hump on books III & IV by getting a copy of our earlier translation and other books.

What is a House Based Talisman Really?

2010-02-08T19:45:00.003-06:00

I was asked recently what spirits we invoke when consecrating a house based talisman versus a planetary talisman. This is actually a very good question actually since it gets to the root of what a house based talisman really is.

A planetary or fixed star talisman is pretty straightforward. A planet or fixed star has certain attributes, eg Jupiter, wealth; Venus, love and if we make the talisman of the planet we can get those virtues. Equally straightforward is the idea that we invoke the spirit of the planet or star for its talisman.

A house based talisman, however, is more difficult to get your head around. When we make a talisman based on the 2nd house for wealth or 10th house for fame, what exactly are we doing? I like to think of the planets as a repertory theater, with 7 actors, the 7 planets and 12 roles they can play, the 12 houses. Each of the planets can rule any of the 12 houses and do it well, if they are dignified. Some planets are type cast. Having Jupiter do a wealth talisman would be like having John Wayne do a Western.

In terms of what to invoke when we make a house based talisman we get a clue from Agrippa and his source is clearly Thabit Ibn Qurra's De Imaginibus. After discussing the talismans of the Mansions of the Moon, Agrippa says, "Moreover together with the foresaid Images, they did write down also the names of the Spirits and their Characters, and did invocate and pray for those things which they [wished] to obtain." Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk II ch 46

Then we note that in making a house based talisman, in particular the anti-scorpion talisman, we are advised to "let there be writ upon the image the name of the ascendent, of the Lord thereof, and of the Moon, and of the lord of the day, and of the Lord of the hour." Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk II, ch 50.

Basically we are reverse engineering here, deducing the fact that you invoke the spirits whose symbols you write on the talisman.

Now there are spirits of the 12 signs, which Agrippa lists at Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk III, ch 24

And logically there are spirits of the 12 houses, but I haven't seen any listing of them. Still sticking with the planets who rule the houses even when looking at a house talisman makes sense because this is what you do in traditional astrology, look to the house ruler. The planets are the true actors whose power is filtered by the nature of the signs they are in.

Now an additional option would be to use the name of the spirit of the election. Typically we think in terms of Agrippa's explanation in Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk III, ch 26 of the name of the spirit of a chart as relating to birth charts. But this could be used for a house or other talisman as well in addition to the planets involved.

Cazimi in Longitude & Latitude?

2010-01-19T17:31:00.003-06:00

I had an interesting question recently regarding the definition of Cazimi (Kasmimi) found in Ben Dykes' wonderful translation of Bonatti's Liber Astronomiae.

"And when it [the Moon] is with the Sun in one degree, so that there are 16' or less between them, both by latitude and longitude (which rarely happens), it is said to be united, and then it is made strong, because it is said to be in the Sun's forge, that is, in his heart. And many of those dealing with the stars, and particularly in my time, agreed in this, that when a planet is distant from the Sun by 16' or less, it is made strong, and it is said to be in the heart of the Sun. Indeed I am in agreement with them, but not purely and simply. Because for a planet to be in the forge or in the heart of the Sun, it is necessary that it be distant from the Sun by less than 16' according to longitude and latitude - and this was the intention of the philosophers. Because if a planet is distant from the Sun by less than 16' in longitude, and according to latitude it is distant by more than 16', nevertheless it is combust, because the distinction between combustion in latitude and combustion in longitude is practically imperceptible." [Bonatti, "Book of Astronomy", trans. Benjamin Dykes PhD, Cazimi Press, 2007. , Treatise 3, Part 2, Chapter 7, page 211.]

Generally in astrology we are concerned only with Zodiacal longitude, the location of planets, stars, etc., in the 360 degree circle of the Zodiac. Latitude, being above or below the ecliptic, doesn't even come into the picture, particularly in the later, less complex Renaissance style of traditional astrology.

Being cazimi, in the heart of the Sun, is basically a conjunction, albeit a special one. It appears that it was not unusual in early traditional astrology to consider latitude in cazimi. Al-Qabisi (Alcabitius), for example, does include longitude in his definition of cazimi. Introduction to Astrology, Ch III, sec 5, trans Burnett, Yamamato, (Warburg 2004) at 93.

This concern with latitude as well as longitude does appear to be a consideration with all conjunctions in Hellenistic astrology as Ptolemy says that conjunctions or aspects are only valid if the planets are both either in North or South Latitude. Tetrabiblos I, ch. 24. This Hellenistic concern with both latitude and longitude in conjunctions seems preserved with the early traditional definition of cazimi.

We have a similar issue with regard to the fixed stars. Unlike the planets, which are basically fairly close to the ecliptic, the fixed stars range all over the sphere of the heavens. They are projected from this 3 dimensional space on to the 2 dimensional space of the ecliptic, which greatly distorts their position. Nonetheless, all traditional astrologers use their projected positions, while precessing their positions.

From a practical standpoint, I have always used cazimi just in terms of longitude, not latitude. How exactly you would "test" this I don't know due to the multiple variables. Getting nor not getting the expected results even multiple times is certainly not definitive proof!

An argument could be easily made that if we are going to use latitude with cazimi, that we really need to use it with all aspects, I'm not sure that there really is any significant difference between conjunction with the Sun and conjunction with other planets.

Ultimately, if the mechanism of astrology is some sort of rays or beams from the
physical planets, then the longitude plus latitude definition makes sense because then the physical bodies of the planets are superimposed. Of course then we have the problem of other aspects, which seem to work perfectly well with just longitude. Plus the question of how to work with the latitude of the fixed stars!

An alternative explanation is that the cycles of the Heavens are an imperfect material manifestation of deeper, more perfect spiritual cycles. In this case it makes sense to be less concerned with the actual physical position of the planets and stars and more focused on their cyclical relationships, as a means to view the underlying spiritual cycle.

In any case, for now I am going to continue to follow Renaissance practice and view cazimi, like all other aspects, as requiring longitude only. With the proviso, however, that if cazimi or any aspect is both in longitude and latitude, that will increase its power.

Fourth House and Family in Traditional Astrology

2010-01-16T12:58:00.004-06:00

I was asked recently if the 4th house included "just blood family or the sort of family that can arise between very close friends or family that is self-chosen." At first my tendency is to say family and the 4th house includes relatives by blood or marriage only, which would not include one's friends.

Ok, but why is that and have there been variations on what the 4th house covers in traditional astrology?

In ancient Rome the term familia was more inclusive, since it took in not only members of the family by blood and marriage, but also slaves and others living in the household.

In English the term house, as in House of Windsor, probably approximates the term familia, including relatives by blood and marriage and their retainers and dependents.

So I think we can look at the 4th house in several ways, first as members of your immediate household, people that you live with. This gets a little amorphous with temporary roommates, but even these shorter term situations involve sharing living space.

Secondly, our current social structure is pretty much based on a nuclear family or a smaller set of people sharing living space. We don't have a social set up with broader coalitions of extended families plus their dependents. So this would pretty much define family as blood or relatives by marriage. This is also 4th house. Of course keep in mind that in traditional astrology there are lots of different houses for specific relatives, for example, 3rd is brothers, sisters, cousins.

Oh, being adopted, I should add, the adopted children do seem to fit into the chart in a similar way to children one is actually related to, both in the 4th and 5th house contexts.

Thus my view is that you can refer to those sharing your living space, particularly on a more or less permanent basis, plus one's immediate relatives by blood or marriage as 4th house. Friends, even close ones, that you don't live with have a perfectly good house, the 11th, to be signified by.

This tendency to start fudging the definitions of houses and making classifications on very subjective grounds is very typical of modern astrology. Think about how I have laid out the 4th/11th distinction, basically if you don't live together and aren't a blood/marriage relative, then you get classified as a friend, fairly straightforward.

But how do you determine whether someone is a good enough friend to switch out of the 11th house into the 4th house very close friend category. Always would be a source of confusion and if you can't assign houses properly you can't judge the chart properly.

We have similar fuzzy subjective house assignments, with mothers and fathers. Traditional is very clear, Mothers are 10th house, fathers 4th. I've seen modern astrologers say that the 4th is the "dominant" parent. Wow, how on earth would you ever be sure you had that assigned properly?

More on the 12 Houses in Traditional Astrology