Do you ever wish you could distinguish the truth from lies in a horoscope? An astrologer does just that using an event horoscope. A story was told to the famed astrologer, Abu Ma’shar, about another skilled astrologer at Baghdad’s royal court who unmasked a purported miracle worker as a charlatan. A self-styled magus had told […]
These three Considerations represent some of the key themes to which Bonatti will return multiple times in the Considerations – the meaning of malefic planets as significators, the speed with which events occur (hence the sloth), and the meaning of lunar aspects.
The Moon in Aquarius will shortly square Mars in Taurus, and I am reminded of a Moon-square-Mars-in-Taurus story. This is part of a larger list of astrological precepts of Abu Ma’shar that I am compiling from Lynn Thorndike’s 1954 translation of *Albumasar in Sadan.* Here is the story: A group of travelers, including Abu Ma’shar, […]
Bonatti’s Considerations 24, 25, and 26 all describe the consequences and meaning of debilitated planetary significators. They are illustrated by those Saturnian reptiles – crocodiles and alligators. My favorite is the Gavialis gangeticus – the Ganges-dwelling gharial.
Success in astrological magic depends on the devotional relationship of the magician to the planetary deities. If there is a particular planet whose goodwill you want, regular devotions – conversations in a sacred environment, prayers – can be just the thing to help you create a long-term relationship with the planet. Astrological magic devotions have […]
Major texts on talismanic magic rely on the term “images” to explain the means by which celestial bodies impact the sublunar sphere that is our world. In this context, “images” are essentially Platonic forms, or idealized concepts, we receive from the stars and planets, which we can access magically. For example, a key image of […]
Saturn will be in his own sign for the next several years as he passes through Capricorn and Aquarius, granting astrological mages the opportunity to create talismans and craft petitions specific to the kinds of boons that Saturn bestows. Saturn and astrological magic together usually evoke dark and destructive rituals, and it’s true – […]
I created a new one hour horary lecture entitled “Horary of Current Events,” and it’s a unique enough lecture topic that it merits an article of its own. One of the challenges that horary astrologers often face is that they try to use the techniques of personal horary questions on charts asking about current events, […]
Sometimes we are asked to interpret horaries to determine if an ill person will live or die. I am reading Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Book of Interrogations (Sefer Ha-She’elot), and here is what he has to say: If the querent poses a question about an ailing person—whether he will die from his illness or recover—observe: if […]
Keep an eye out on the fixed star Castor this summer. It’s at 20 Cancer, and represents the mortal half of the Castor-Pollux twins. Castor was the tamer of horses, while his immortal brother, Pollux, was a skilled boxer. Upon his death, Castor was to dwell among the dead, while Pollux would be elevated to […]