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astrology, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy

The Geomancy of Peter of Abano – Book I Pt. 4

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Abano quickly summarises the meanings of the planets in traditional Western astrology, so that the geomancer may better understand the meanings of the corresponding figures.

In order to make it even easier to make a judgment, we shall now consider the planet of every figure, and conveniently we shall list the virtue and meaning of every planet.1

Saturn is always evil, wherever it is, and it means sick or vile people, malady, poverty, blind or maimed people, laborers, problems and toil, prison and prisoners. Adversities and obstacles, loss of wealth. It is only good for building and in agriculture and in things that need to last. Its two figures are Tristitia and Carcer.

Jupiter is always good, wherever it is, and it means Church people, prelates, noblemen, rich people, merchants, captains, courtesans and friendly people. It is good and pleasurable, useful in every thing. It is only bad for the sick and the prisoner, whose trouble it prolongs. Its figures are Acquisitio and Laetitia. Acquisitio is the better one.

Mars is sometimes good and sometimes bad, depending on the question, but inclining to evil, and it means malicious people, wrongdoers, traitors, thieves, ruffians, harlots, murderers. It is only good in things of wars and when blood is concerned. Its figures are Puer and Rubeus, and Puer is the worse one.2

Venus is good, but its goodness is minor, for good or ill, depending on the question asked. It means people who are friendly, happy, young, with little troubles in life. But also harlots. Its figures are Puella and Amissio. Puella is the more noxious for travel and sickness and prison. Amissio is the better one.3

Mercury is a mixed planet in terms of good and evil. It means servants, messengers, letters, embassies, writers, scholars and painters, science and doctrine. Its figures are Albus and Conjunctio. Conjunctio is the worse one, as it always shows malicious intention or duplicity, and hexes.

The Sun and Moon are mixed planets in their good and evil import depending on the question, but the Sun is the better of the two,4 and it means nobles, kings, emperors and people of high station, who have dominion. Its figures are Fortuna Major and Fortuna Minor. Minor means more trouble than prosperity.

The Moon is also a mixed planet, but mostly bad, and its figures are Via and Populus. Via is only good for travel, Populus is good for dealing with people, and it means abundance and lots of water.

Caput and Cauda are associated with the planets Jupiter and Venus (Caput) and Mars and Saturn (Cauda).5

MQS

Footnotes
  1. The elaborate psychological attributes that modern astrology assigns to the twelve zodiac signs are virtually unknown to premodern Astrology, having been invented relatively recently to make up for modern astrology’s inability to make verifiable predictions. Instead, traditional astrology relies much more heavily on the planets as celestial actors. ↩︎
  2. This is not the first time Abano alludes to Puer being worse than Rubeus, although in other places he seems to contradict this statement. ↩︎
  3. This statement is also odd, and it reeks of either mistake or blind. ↩︎
  4. In Medieval Astrology the Sun was often considered a benefic when aspecting other planets, but a malefic in conjunction (planets conjunct to the Sun are said to be combust or burned up, except when they are very close, in which case they are said to be in the heart of the Sun and strengthened). The Moon’s evaluation, quite ironically, fluctuated depending on the author, but in general she was believed to be a benefic when waxing and a malefic when waning. ↩︎
  5. The practice of assigning the two Nodes to the benefics and malefics seems to have started possibly with Medieval Muslim philosophers, or at least in the Latin West. In the original Western tradition, the Hellenistic one, there doesn’t seem to have been much talk of the Nodes except in negative terms. ↩︎
astrology, Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Occultism and Esoterism, Playing Cards, Uncategorized

Is This Course for Me? (Playing Cards Reading and Horary Astrology)

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I’m always on the look-out for opportunities to deepen my knowledge of esoteric topics. Since the esoteric world is filled to the brim with junk covering a couple of pearls on the bottom (but don’t worry, things don’t get much better outside of lalaland) it is very useful to know some forms of divination to supplement my bullshitometer.

I recently came across a certain course on traditional Italian witchcraft which passed all my preliminary tests (no mention of Wicca or neopaganism, relating anecdotes on practices I’m already familiar with and know are valid, etc.)

Still something was off, though I couldn’t put my finger on it. On thing was probably the reference to authors, like Raven Grimassi, who have been largely debunked. I asked the heavens for a sign, and then pulled some cards. Let’s start with the cards. They were:

4♣ – 2♠ – K♦ – 2♣ – 6♦

Right off the bat, I don’t like the teacher being represented by a King of Diamonds. The King of Diamonds is the merchant, the banker, the one whose end goal is money. If he had been the King of Hearts or even the King of Spades I would have been reassured. You may argue that obviously a course is offered to earn money, to which I respond that there is a difference between earning through your passion and earning through other people’s passion.

I am unsure about the preceding combination of Four of Clubs and Two of Spades, but it likely represents contradictory (2♠, arguments, going apart) doctrines (4♣, that which is told). The Two of Clubs and Six of Diamonds traditionally represent limping (insecure steps). The King of Diamonds is not secure enough in his knowledge. Limping is still better than being bed-ridden, so there is something good to the course, but probably not enough to offset the negatives.

Horary Astrology Reading

Let’s look at the horary chart:

Is the course good for me?

The Moon is the Lady of the Ascendant and thus represents me. Magic is higher knowledge, so it’s Ninth House. This is Jupiter. The two malefics Mars and Jupiter are present in the Ninth house, and are both peregrine, so they afflict the house.

The Moon is in her sign, but she’s also tucked away in the very malefic Twelfth house. Interestingly, the Twlefth house represents witchcraft, but only in the sense of something done behind the querent’s back to hurt him, not magic in general (which, again, is higher knowledge). So while I’d be capable of learning (Moon in own sign) my position is not good. There’s something iffy.

Jupiter is mildly dignified by term and in the succedent Eleventh house. The Moon is in sextile with Jupiter, which is technically good, but it is separating from it, indicating growing divergence. The Moon’s next aspect is a square of the Sun, which is negative. The Sun rules the second house, the house of money. So proceeding would put a strain on my finances. This isn’t necessarily to say that it costs too much in absolute terms, but it costs too much compared to its quality. Interestingly, Jupiter is disposited by Venus, which is in detriment and moving toward the Sun, which hurts her, so Venus has a rather excessive love of my money compared to the necessary love of knowledge.

All in all, based on both readings, I would say that the course would probably contain some valuable information, but would not be a great investment in my education.

MQS

astrology, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling

Is She Alright? Horary Astrology Reading

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Horary astrology is a centuries old form of divination. The word ‘horary’ means ‘of the hour’, because unlike natal astrology, which predicts from someone’s natal chart, Horary looks at a chart for the time and place a meaningful question is asked.

The fascinating thing about Horary is the way it works: it doesn’t require you to shuffle a deck or cast dice. There’s nothing for you to manipulate. Once someone asks a (relatively) serious question to someone else who can cast a chart, the answer is there. In a way, it presupposes a view of the universe as an unraveling system of self-answering questions or self-solving problems.

As I strive to create a coherent philosophy of divination, Horary is definitely one of my most important sources of inspiration. I will probably start offering cheap email horary readings in the near future in exchange for feedback, in order to gain experience. In the meantime, here’s an example from yesterday.

Is she alright? Horary question answered with the App Aquarius2Go

Background: A woman my husband is involved with for some projects had disappeared for a couple weeks after the death of her father. She didn’t answer any message my husband or the other people involved sent her, so naturally they were all worried that she might have fallen into depression and done something silly. So the question he asked me, knowing I’ve started dabbling in Horary, was “Is she alright?”

My husband is signified by the Moon, lady of the Ascendant. The woman is not really his friend (Eleventh house) but rather his colleague, so she is signified by the Seventh house and its ruler, Saturn. This is appropriate, as Saturn rules solitude.

Since the question is about this person’s wellbeing, we are looking at potential afflictions that Saturn may be suffering from. It’s peregrine, that is, it is in no dignity. Peregrination is a minor affliction. It also describes her very well: “peregrine” means “wanderer”, and she has disappeared. Saturn is also in a cadent house, the ninth, which however is not especially malefic. On the other hand, Saturn is Sextiled by Jupiter. This is a positive aspect, and Jupiter is a protective planet. My idea was that she wasn’t especially fine, but she wasn’t in any great danger either.

My husband (and probably the other people involved) is the Moon. The Moon is in her fall and inside the Via Combusta, i.e., the stretch of Zodiac that goes from 15 Libra to 15 Scorpio, which is bad for the Moon, as it is said to indicate turmoil. This is a good description of their apprehension. Mercury is slow in motion and squaring the Ascendant: communication is a problem.

The Moon is in exact Trine (to the minute) with Saturn. Trines are aspects of amity, so obviously they want to know that Saturn (aka the woman) is fine, and are worried (Fall, Via Combusta) about her.

Since Saturn doesn’t seem to be in any grave peril, it stands to reason that the woman will be back in contact (we would need strong testimonies to show the contrary). The fact that the Trine aspect is exact doesn’t allow us to say whether it is still applying or separating, but considering all the chart, it seems to be an indication that she will soon resurface. This is also shown by the fact that the Moon is near the end of the Via Combusta, so I judged that she would write my husband soon. Another possible indication is that the First House Cusp is nearing the end of Cancer, so the situation is in its late phase and is about to change. But I’m on the fence about this testimony.

Result: yesterday (day of the question) after weeks of not hearing from her, my husband got a message from her three or four hours after this chart was cast. The woman was of course not in top shape, but she was relatively fine.

MQS