Robert Fludd’s Geomancy – Book II Pt. 4

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Fludd explains some of the meanings of Caput Draconis, Cauda Draconis, Albus and Rubeus.

Caput Draconis

In the First House, good and sweet fortune, a man wise, eloquent and prudent, and who keeps his affairs secret, and has firm and stable thoughts in all things. This figure is very good.1
In the Second House, profit and gain in commerce, wealth, good fortune, and secret acquisition of all things.
In the Third House, good relatives, good neighbors, good faith, slowing down the journey for something good.2

In the Fourth House, profit and the acquisition of inheritance, a good house, a good estate, a discreet father, a good end, peace in one’s work.3
In the Fifth House, love of children, good children, joy, secret letters, pregnant women, being honestly satisfied with the love of a woman, good love.
In the Sixth House, a long illness, profitability in all things, secret and discreet servants, good and useful animals, a long secret illness.

In the Seventh House, a good marriage, a good and chaste woman, good company, subtle and strong enemies, good change (or removal), good profits in trade, bad for going away.4
In the Eighth House, death or illness,5 gain of money, love and recovery of lost property, secret death, receipt of money from death, security from fear.
In the Ninth House, journeys and return of him who is abroad, letters, good faith, slowness of a journey, good faith, a holy man of the church, knowledge in all arts, good for the church, honor.

In the Tenth House, good judgment, much wealth, a wise king, great honor of dominion and office, much riches, conciliation through the grace of the judge,6 and a discreet judgment.

In the Eleventh House, good luck, happiness, good and faithful friends, good hope, good profit.
In the Twelfth House, poverty, long imprisonment, good animals, good letters.7

In the Thirteenth House, the return of one who is abroad, one’s superior’s profits, good news from the absentee, a profitable and good change.
In the Fourteenth House, good fortune, good hope, long life, and profit in everything.
Note, when this figure is in the first house, it denotes a prince or judge of good counsel, having fair hair, who is proud

Cauda Draconis

In the First House,8 bad for acquisition, poverty, bad journey, harassment and anger, no acquisition of the desired thing, a bad and angry person.
In the Second House, loss of all good and misfortune in all matters.
In the Third House, anguish of a relative and little gain, a bad brother, bad relatives and neighbors, a bad journey, a bad dream, evil in all.

In the Fourth House, a bad house, bad inheritance, and a decrease in profit.

In the Fifth House, loss due to evil (deeds) by bad children, through fruits,9 by enemies, bad tidings, bad letters, bad children, sadness of heart, vexation and anger, doubt lest the child perish in the womb, no loves or kisses, but quarrels and strife with one’s woman, and all evil according to the house.
In the Sixth House, death or illness, illness of animals, bad luck, serious illness and distress, bad servants, evil to receive dowries from women,10 injuries.

In the Seventh House, an evil woman, a thief, robbery, an evil companion, a quarrelsome woman, a lustful woman, robbers, all evil for (buying or selling) merchandise, or for all matters of travel and news, nothing but the discovery of evil in the place where one intends to go and do business.
In the Eighth House, death, loss of goods, property and inheritance, loss in a foreign country, fear, despair, loss from death, surrender, loss from the enemy of the petitioner, anger and confusion.
In the Ninth House, leaving of a high place of dominion, a bad journey and tears (if it is multiplied in the figure, it is a bad sign of treachery, whippings and wounds on the way), a bad dream, evil for the church and for the people of the church, useless skills and knowledge; teaching will bring no good or profit.

In the Tenth House, coming out of a good place and dominion,11 which someone will lose, it is also a sign that someone has been conquered, and expelled from his lands and benefits; it threatens much evil according to the nature of the house.
In the Eleventh House, the discovery of hope,12 believing enemies to be friends, friends who are lascivious, evil, traitors and liars, bad luck, loss in merchandise, a sign that the thing (sought) will be lost, the return of the absent (won’t happen), or that it will be repelled by a stronger hand,13 bad hope and being met with hatred.
In the Twelfth House, escape and flight due to debts, death of a sick person, release from prison, loss of animals, an enemy, terror, a wounded horse; rebellious and ferocious enemies, traitors and deceivers.

In the Thirteenth House, bad for recovering lost things, a change of path, the dangerous anger of the querent,14 disputes and bad luck.
In the Fourteenth House, enemies instead of friends, loss in merchandise, a bad end for what is claimed, bad in all.
Note, when this figure is found in the first house, it denotes loss and a man of average stature, a round face, a long nose, a large mouth, large teeth, a bald head, and a large beard.

Albus

In the First House, the attainment of the desired thing, happiness, good letters, a prudent man, rich, receiver of all goods, but (this figure) will delay journeys for some positive thing, white and useful things
In the Second House, money and profit in merchandise, riches in silver, reception of promised things, multiplication in all things.
In the Third House, getting one’s desire, good brothers, good relatives, good parents, good neighbors and benefactors, good faith, good news, business a little delayed.

In the Fourth House, gaining a lot from the father and mother, a good house, a good estate, a good position for the father, a good and happy end.
In the Fifth House, good children, good letters, joy, good white fish, hugs and kisses from one’s lady or beloved.
In the Sixth House, serious disease, profit from beasts and servants, comfort and good fortune in white beasts.

In the Seventh House, a good and peaceful woman, a good company, profits in trade, peace from enemies, useful marriage.15
In the Eighth House, mortality and a diseased state, security from fear, profit in a foreign country, lost wealth, good change and a good journey.
In the Ninth House, profit on the journey, faithfulness but some delay in the journey, good skills, a well-educated man, a wise man of an ecclesiastical order, a faithful man.

In the Tenth House, joy, health, good fortune, good to the king and the kingdom; if it is found in the Twelfth or Eighth house, it denotes the enemies of the king,16 a good judgment from the judge, the obtaining of what is desired from the superior, and good service.
In the Eleventh House, good luck, good friends, profits in trade, hope, peace, love.
In the Twelfth House, profitable beasts, good debtors, slow to come out of prison, weak enemies who ask for peace.

In the Thirteenth House, profits on the road and from some lord.
In the Fourteenth House, profit from friends and escape from enemies.
Note that this figure, found in the First House, represents a white man, 17well-bearded and often engaged in white things, and he stays near the water.

Rubeus

In the First House, blood, fights, wars, an angry man, full of rage, danger from fire and blood on the journey and elsewhere, enemies and bad change.18

In the Second House, poverty, loss of money through violence, harmful things.
In the Third House, wrath, bad faith, good siblings or good friends angered towards their fathers and parents and neighbors.19

In the Fourth House, blood, dryness and heat in the air, few seeds, loss of parents, loss of inheritance and patrimony and of all firm things, burning of houses, invasions and conquests of castles, shedding of blood, evil in everything, evil end.
In the Fifth House, bad children, bad life, bad letters, bad news, wild and choleric children.
In the Sixth House, diseases from red choler20 or blood, such as abscesses, ulcers, heat of the blood, evil beasts, bites from rabid dogs, injuries, dejection, armed men.

In the Seventh House, quarrels, wars, bad marriage, false company, a bad woman, hot-tempered and quarrelsome, aggressive with insulting words, robbers, murderers, quarrels with public enemies, deceptions and the like.
In the Eighth House, bloodshed, fear, loss of inheritance, loss by force, bad death by arms or by the sword, death in a foreign nation, loss of enemies, fear of death, loss to him who goes away, all evil for the absent party, hindrance of all gain to those making the journey, who will not find anything profitable in the place where they (plan to go).
In the Ninth House, falsity, a bad journey, robbers on the road, corruption on the road, a man of bad faith, little knowledge in his art or teaching, violence in the church, departure from favors and lies.

In the Tenth House, evilaction of the lord, false justice, wrath and anger of the lord, evil for the kingdom, evil for profit, departure from office by violence, refusal of dominion, bad sentence by the judge, execution.
In the Eleventh House, rigor and litigation, refusal by the master, bad luck, bad officials, bad children, bad hope, bad in dealing with friends and in having ownership.
In the Twelfth House, enemies, debts, evil thoughts, loss, death in prison, evil beasts, a vicious condition, damage by beasts, fierce and passionate enemies, evil and hellish prisons, diseases, imprisonment or death of those imprisoned, the rigor of justice.

In the Thirteenth house, loss from the superior, bad journey and change, loss for the absent party, short life for the one who hides himself from his enemies.
In the Fourteenth House, loss and anger, poverty, bad luck, accumulation of evil, reception of nothing , evil for all business; and this should be for the house of the geomantic shield, when it is generated by evil figures, or is associated with them.21
Note, when this preceding figure is in the First House, it signifies a red man, and of clever speech, longing for battles, and delighting or rejoicing in the shedding of blood, and whose work is connected with fire.

MQS

Footnotes
  1. The connection with stability comes from Caput’s entering or incoming quality. The connection with secrecy, which Fludd uses a lot, is unclear to me. ↩︎
  2. Fludd considers Caput a somewhat slow figure. ↩︎
  3. “Magisterium” ↩︎
  4. Because Caput implies arriving rather than going away. ↩︎
  5. It is unclear to me why Caput would indicate death. However, in very old texts, both lunar nodes are associated with evil things and sometimes with death. ↩︎
  6. I don’t understand this. Possibly it implies conciliation thanks to the judge’s intermediation. ↩︎
  7. I don’t understand the connection with letters. ↩︎
  8. Fludd doesn’t seem to share here the idea that finding Cauda in the First House warrants the destruction of the figure ↩︎
  9. Probably fruits from the earth, signified by the Fourth House. ↩︎
  10. Dowries are usually signified by the Eighth House, which is the second from the Seventh. Here, Fludd gives it to the Sixth which is the second from the Fifth, which rules love affairs. It doesn’t make much sense. ↩︎
  11. The same description is used for the Ninth House, but it applies more to the Tenth, which is the high place of the chart. ↩︎
  12. “spei inventionem”. It probably means making up a hope, which is therefore illusory. ↩︎
  13. I don’t understand this. ↩︎
  14. The Thirteenth House is the Right Witness, given usually to the querent. ↩︎
  15. From an economic standpoint, probably. ↩︎
  16. I don’t understand the reference to the Eighth House, but the Twelfth is quite obvious. Note that Albus is given to Mercury, which is always somewhat morally dubious. ↩︎
  17. White man doesn’t mean ‘white’ in the current ethnic or cultural sense. ↩︎
  18. As with Cauda, Fludd doesn’t seem to think Rubeus in the First House invalidates the figure. ↩︎
  19. This is very odd. Rubeus in the Third should indicate wrathful siblings or neighbors. ↩︎
  20. One of the humors of traditional Western medicine. ↩︎
  21. This sentence is a bit obscure, but it possibly means that a figure stemming from evil figures is worse than when it comes from good ones. ↩︎


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