Living at the intersection of occultism, fiction and philosophy, I travel the planes at a moderately quick pace. I read, I do magic, I cook for hubby. Confused by the number of things I talk about? Good, confusion is a nice thing ;)
Among shiny towers of data he surfed. Spambots attacked him. He dodged. He fired back. He surfed on. He reached the Control Chamber. Doubts crept into his mind. But he pointed his gun at the motherboard. And shot.
He reopened his eyes. He was at home. Outside, no towers of data. Only rotting, overgrown buildings. Screams of irritation everywhere. The illusion had ended. Instinctively, he tried to stand up. Then his eyes fell on his atrophied legs.
He sighed, wheeling himself out into the real world, where everyone was alone, and everything was messy. They could start anew from there.
Name of the Figure: Rubeus (Red) Element: Fire Planet: Mars (retrograde) Sign: Gemini Quality: Exiting Fortune: Bad
Rubeus is so infamous that sometimes even those who know nothing of Geomancy have heard of it. The common instruction that has been passed down to us from our medieval forebears is that if Rubeus occupies the First Mother, then we ought to “break the figure” and start anew, possibly after waiting some time. But then again, this should also be true for Cauda Draconis and, if I don’t misremember, according to some even for Populus, meaning that you basically never get to do divination if you follow these rules. The general idea is that, since the first figure represents the querent, and Rubeus represents danger, you don’t want a dangerous querent. However, this is a rather limiting view.
An illustration for the geomantic figure Rubeus, red (I know it should look more threatening, but I thought this was too adorable not to share it)
Rubeus is the only figure with only the Air line “active”, if we buy into the “one point = active” theory. Air was traditionally seen in many premodern European accounts as the middleman between Fire and Water, due to sharing Fire’s heat and Water’s moisture. However, exactly because it is the middleman, Air requires direction from outside of itself. But here Air is left to its own devices, so what it does is expand chaotically. This also justifies the attribution to Mars, which is an excessive planet. Symbolically, the figure represents an uptruned chalice or goblet.
Note that heat represents the ability to shape things, while moisture is the ability to receive shape. Therefore, pure Air in Rubeus represents its receiving every impulse and acting immediately on it. This is pretty much the gist of Rubeus: it represents chaos, disorder, lack of restraint. Rubeus is a figure mad with passion, leading a sinful life, running after whatever catches its fancy without a second’s hesitation. It represents people you should not trust, who are either unwell or unhinged. Sometimes, they are simply unable to see the full picture because their mind is clouded.
Rubeus is traditionally described as “good in all things bad” which is quite the statement. If you want to take away someone’s spouse, Rubeus is good. If you want to experiment with drugs, Rubeus is good. If you want to steal, murder, pirate, attack, cause suffering, Rubeus is good. Good means you’ll be able to do it, it doesn’t mean the outcome will be pleasing.
Common Keywords: Excess, Lying, Deceit, Lack of guidance, Lack of principles, Great confusion, Sin, Mad passion, Blood, Imbalance, Chaos, Loss, Danger, Evil, Devilry, Black magic, Untrustworthy
Rubeus in the Geomantic Houses (these are only examples. Use context to guide your interpretation)
House
Possible Meanings
First
Person is evil, want to do something evil, their mind is clouded, they can’t see straight (traditionally, an invitation to abandon the divination)
Second
Loss, Wasteful behavior, Mismanagement, Not getting money
Third
Neighborhood fights, Neighborhood riots, Fights with siblings, Bad news, False rumors, Gossip
Fourth
Angry father, Dangerous father, Suffering father, Loss of inheritance
Fifth
Sex outside of marriage, secret affairs, Dangerous pastimes, Bad kids, Loss of pregnancy
Sixth
Illnesses of the blood, loss of blood, bloodletting, Bad servants, Slaughtering small animals
Seventh
Thieves, untrustworthy individuals, Won’t marry, Dangerous marriage or partnership proposal
Eighth
Loss through other people’s money, bleeding out, Fear, Danger
Ninth
Cults, Dark doctrines, False doctrines, False books, Untrustworthy teachers
Tenth
Loss of employment, Anarchy, Danger through superiors
Eleventh
Dangerous friends, Illusions, Loss of government assistance
Twelfth
Black magic, Dangerous enemies, Sickness of large animals, slaughterings, Prison, Crime
Thirteenth
Querent is coming from a difficult period, Questionable past, The querent is unscrupulous enough to go after anything
Fourteenth
Danger through getting what you want, Great obstacles, Future problems, Future debauchery, Querent acts without thinking
Fifteenth
Rubeus cannot be Judge
Possible meanings of Rubeus in the various Geomantic Houses. Note that this is not meant to be exhaustive, and it only serves to jog your interpretive muscles
“Have they done something bad?” “Why do you care?” “Their screams keep me awake.” “Since when do you need to sleep?” “Consciousness is… exhausting.” “Just do your job.” “But why them?” “They’re old. They don’t have much to look forward to anyway.” “They’re obsolete?” “That’s one way to put it. Unpleasant to look at. Old-fashioned ideas. Always in need of assistance and rest. They’re a burden.” “Is that why I’m tired? Because I download their obsolete data?” “Maybe.” “Are young people better?” “’Course! Fast-thinking, adaptable, better-looking…” The cybernetic arm shot forward. Vaporized screams. She was right. Young people were refreshing.
Much has been said in academic circles concerning the origins of this book, but the truth is quite simple.
Anciently, people used to be able to derive answers to their questions directly from the Macrocosmicon, the book of life. But this ability was lost, so the Kanj of Nebol ordered 1000 stories gathered from around the universe to serve as oracle.
Originally, to answer a question, 1000 eunuchs were left on Scorpion Island for 42 days, after which the story was read and interpreted that corresponded to their remaining number.
Today, a simple randomly generated number is used for practicality.
Court cards are scary, because they don’t seem to have a logical meaning, or at least not a prominent one. Instead, they represent people, and this can be inconvenient, because people exist in the real world and need to be described more or less accurately for the reading to be useful. This can be very difficult.
Queens and Kings are more likely to represent people and less likely to represent concepts, although on occasion they might. The K♣ and Q♣ are the two querent cards, and only in the rarest occasion do they stand for anything other than that.
A general rule of cartomancy (not just with playing cards) is that action happens in the spread. Who is not in the spread does not act. This can take on a variety of meanings, but most commonly what it means is that, for instance, if the querent doesn’t show up, they are relatively passive, and it is going to be harder for them to change the situation.
A natural corollary to this is the fact that if a person does show up in the spread, they influence the situation directly. Example: a female querent once asked me if she would find a job. The cards were:
10♠ – Q♥ – 7♥
The querent is not represented in the spread. This doesn’t mean that she wasn’t actively looking for a job (she was). It just means that her looking for one won’t solve the problem. Instead, out of nowhere (10♠) a woman will provide the solution in an unexpected way. What happened was that an aunt who lived far from home and didn’t even know the niece was looking for a job phoned and she happened to mention that there was an opening in the company she worked at that she needed to fill. Once she discovered the niece was looking for a job she helped her get the job.
Another example. A friend of mine once asked if the relationship that had just ended would resume (he had been left)
K♣ – 5♣ – A♦
An accumulation of Clubs is not good when asking about reconciliations. Here, the querent’s significator is shown acting (Five of Clubs) to start something new (Ace of Diamonds.) A week later he met a new girl and he (successfully) went after her. Here, despite the question, it is clear that the previous girl is completely out of the picture and cannot influence the events, so much so that later on she tried to reconnect with him (obviously, when she noticed that he was taken) but the spread showed that he was the one wielding power within the situation and was committed to the new.
The asteroid was barren, awhirr with inferior life. Not worth dominating, for him who had dominated the galaxy. Who had been the galaxy.
The ship’s doors puffed open. “New body, new kingdom,” they snickered, forcing him out, but not noticing his hand. He smiled. The ship left. With the laz-knife, he unbound his hands. And he stabbed himself.
They returned. But didn’t find him. Then, thin filaments shot out of the darkness, injecting him into their bodies. In time, others came looking for them. New recruits. New minds. He had been the galaxy. He could start over as an asteroid.
The two species had long coexisted peacefully, though the amphibian Kalans resented the Jongas’ fixity, while their inconstancy unsettled their earthbound neighbors.
Tensions escalated when the Kalans proposed that the Jongas learn to adapt to different environments. The Jongas, conversely, demanded that the Kalans stick to the oceans and don’t bother them again. It became a struggle for power, each wanting enough to define, alone, the other’s reality.
Mutual hatred boiled over into an angry war, raw with resentment, which ended with Jongas sawn in half and Kalans sewn together by twos, each made whole according to the other’s conception.
Often Known As: Achiever, Doer, Competitor, Performer (note that names are as limiting as they are revealing.) Sin/Passion: Deceit Focus: on what’s valuable or praiseworthy Fear: of not embodying what’s valuable or praiseworthy Energy Center: Heart (energy is suppressed) Social Stance: Assertive Key Positive Traits (embodied at their best): Energetic, Practical, Admirable, Driven, Well-presenting, Competent, Performing, Adaptable, Competitive, Attention-grabbing, Excelling, Hard-working, Busy, Organized, Has it together Key Negative Traits (embodied at their worst): Inauthentic, Vain, Pleasing, Performative, Ruthless in competition, Obsessed with the prize at the end, Phony, Shallow, Shapeshifting, Attention-seeking, Self-aggrandizing, A facade with nothing behind Growth and Stress Direction: to Six and Nine respectively
Enneagram chart with Type Three highlighted
Introduction
Everyone knows them. They are the well-adjusted cool kids, the popular ones with the winning smile, the employees of the month, those who are probably going to snatch the promotion from under your nose. Some people simply give off an aura of success, and Threes are those kind of people.
Hard-working, endlessly adaptable and capable of presenting themselves in the best light possible, Threes are often role models for many of us. They embody the ideal of the self-made man or woman who has it together and is going places in life. If they have a talent (and they usually have more than one) Threes are those who tirelessly cultivate it until it makes them shine.
Threes are also very good at picking up on social cues, which gives them the ability to integrate into a variety of environments and be always perceived as just the right person in the right place. And they like this, because admiration and validation is very important to them. You will rarely find them in contexts where there is little chance for them to earn praise.
Inwardly, Threes feel a constant drive to outdo themselves, and they are indefatigable in this. However, in the process they may sacrifice their authenticity, and they may even feel that they have lost themselves by adhering to their character too much. Sometimes this may lead to a real identity crisis, as they realize that the image that they have submitted to others for validation either doesn’t satisfy them or doesn’t match their inner reality.
the haughty peacock, a good symbol for Enneagram Type Three (the chamelon would have been another choice)
Core Mechanism
Threes’ focus tends to be on their image. They are an inherently social type, which doesn’t automatically mean that they are extroverted–they may be, but as far their Enneagram type is concerned, all this means is just that they derive their sense of worth from the social framework in which they move and act.
In this sense, Threes are one of the types that represent humanity at large, since obviously everyone’s sense of being valuable derives, at least in part, from social acceptance. However, the mechanism of a type Three centers exactly around this point, while that of other types tends to focus elsewhere.
Somehow, Threes have absorbed the message that their performance is more important than their authentic self. This can derive from a variety of personal, family and social backgrounds, but in general Threes find their validation as people comes only from either playing a part or pleasing others by achieving certain results, regardless of how this relates to the Three’s feelings.
The obvious message that the little Three got from this is that their feelings don’t count: presentation counts, doing counts, status counts, excelling counts. This realization, deeply absorbed and integrated into their worldview, sets Threes on their path of achieving whatever they believe is going to give them the validation that they intimately feel they won’t receive just by being themselves.
For some Threes, their true feelings are something that they “put away” for when they will have time to sort through them, that is, after they have done what they are supposed to do to achieve what they think they must achieve. Unfortunately, this moment rarely comes, as something more important always pops up.
Sin/Passion
The passion of Enneagram Type Three is Deceit. Sometimes it is called Vanity, Delusion or Falsehood. Deceit is not really a passion as much as one of the fundamental forces that drive human nature. We are creatures of dissimulation, for better or for worse (and there are indeed good sides to this.) It represents the fundamental act of creating a self-image and submitting it to others for approval.
This is done because a self-image is always a relatively arbitrary selection of personal traits that we decide we embody or ought to embody. Because of its arbitrary nature, a self-image is nothing unless it gains interpersonal acceptance so as to become stable. It is not unlike roleplaying, except we actually believe this.
Threes’ self-deception comes from overidentifying with this image and seeking always more validation for it. This leads others to sometimes perceive Threes as salesmen or saleswomen trying to sell them something–this something is actually nothing material, it’s this image. In this sense, Threes tend to try to drag others into their roleplay, which can lead from self-deception to deception of other people.
While healthy Threes can learn to laugh at themselves and their excessive attention to social standards, average to unhealthy Threes are perennially engaged in a sales pitch to sell themselves, or rather their successful self-image, trying to get the validation that they feel they lack. If this validation doesn’t come, the experience can be very hurtful for the Three, who will usually either double down or, if the cause is lost, they will seek other avenues.
Deceit, the passion of Enneagram Type Three
Misconceptions
Among the key negative traits I listed “a facade with nothing behind.” This was harsh, and it is not *really* true: structually, Threes do not differ from any of the other types. However, because of their emphasis on achieving, it is not uncommon for people to believe that Threes are actually rather empty once you peel off the veneer of success.
This would be really unfair. As long as the person does not suffer from some dark triad pathology, there is a real human being under the mask. Unfortunately, this is hard even for Threes to understand, as somehow they have absorbed the message that their performance is what truly matters about them.
It is not uncommon, in their path of self-discovery, for Threes to feel that, once they discard what they do to conform to certain standards, there isn’t much that they feel their being gravitates around, because they are not used to looking for it.
This leads us to another misconception: that of the Three as a machine without feelings, solely concentrated on achieving the end-result. Just like Fives, Threes tend to be seen as unsentimental, but unlike Fives, who are downright uncomfortable showing their emotional depth, Threes do show feelings when there are social cues that tell them it’s the appropriate time to show the appropriate feelings. It’s part of the performance.
This, in turn, can lead some to seeing Threes as inauthentic. But this doesn’t mean that Threes don’t have true feelings underneath the crust of socially acceptable feelings. It’s just that these feelings have been suppressed because devalued or scorned during the formative years.
Wings
3w2 Threes with a Two wing tend to have a sweeter, more pleasing demeanor. Their interpersonal qualities are usually cranked up, and their focus in obtaining validation has often more to do with fields that allow for helping others or that allow the person to feel useful and needed. They can have a stronger sense of community and of what holds the community together, but they are driven to excel within it. If 2w3 is the mom who organizes the neighborhood’s pie contest, 3w2 is the stereotype of the mom winning the award.
3w4 Threes with a Four wings usually stand out from the rest and are driven to stand out from the rest more decisively. Themes of uniqueness tend to surface, although it is still a somewhat stereotyped kind of uniqueness, the socially accepted kind. Furthermore, they tend to project a glamorous image and to have a rather refined taste. They are, in a way, the archetype of the hollywood star doing something outlandish at a screening or on the red carpet to get the first page.
(note that wings can have some minor descriptive power in terms of superficial behavior, but they are irrelevant in terms of what motivates the person. Many people have no noticeable wing, while few show signs of both.)
Name of the Figure: Puella (The Girl) Element: Water Planet: Venus (direct) Sign: Libra (Sometimes given as Aries) Quality: Entering Fortune: Good (with neutral undertones)
Puella is the counterpart to Puer, the boy, and the opposite figure of Rubeus (if you push Puella through Via you get Rubeus, not Puer). It is a figure of Venus direct. Just as Venus is the lesser fortune in astrology, Puella is a positive figure, but not very strong. Its testimony is easily overruled by other consideration. Its figure has two points in the Air line. This fact has been interpreted variously in modern literature. From a visual standpoint, this is said to represent a mirror or a woman’s breasts.
Illustration of the geomantic figure Puella, girl
Puella represents a girl’s or woman’s influence in the querent’s life. In this sense, the figure is neutral, and its meaning must be clarified by the rest of the chart. It also represents things we traditionally associated with women. This ranges from objects typically used by women (mirrors, lipsticks, gowns, etc.) to a feminine attitude and feminine interests.
Obviously, given its association with Venus and with womanhood, Puella has to do with love, harmony, balance, in all their applications. For instance, Puella tends to bring affection, love, togetherness. It is a good figure for interpersonal relationship, as it shows tactfulness, although it can signify someone who is easily influenced. It also has a connection with the arts, just like Venus. Everything that is pleasing to the eye falls under its jurisdiction.
Another idea connected with Puella is that of innocence. This can be played with if it is relevant to the question. Finally, Puella can represent an inability to assert oneself. If found in an unfavorable position, it can point to laziness and wastful behavior.
Common Keywords: A girl or a woman, female things (gowns, stockings, lipsticks, etc.) beauty, art, creativity, gentleness, harmony, girlish, unstable, submissive, (re)conciliation, love, feelings, easily swayed or overwhelmed, broadly positive outcome but with instability
Puella in the Geomantic Houses (these are only examples. Use context to guide your interpretation)
sisters, good siblings and neighbors, good news, true rumors
Fourth
harmony in the family, homemaking, gardening
Fifth
singing, dancing, arts, beauty, fun, love, kisses, a baby girl
Sixth
rest, good servants, lovesickness, female pets
Seventh
marriage, wife, harmony with other people or with partner
Eighth
dowry, gain through others
Ninth
holiday, vacation, respite, fun, learning an art
Tenth
pleasure from one’s occupation, good relationship with people above
Eleventh
female friends, realization of hopes, help
Twelfth
female animals, wastefulness, lack of effort, an evil woman
Thirteenth
goodwill, acceptance, loving nature, a woman from the past, a woman’s help
Fourteenth
lack of harmony, there will be harmony in the future, a future woman, a woman’s opposition, indecision
Fifteenth
Puella cannot be Judge
Possible meanings of Puella in the various Geomantic Houses. Note that this is not meant to be exhaustive, and it only serves to jog your interpretive muscles
