Astrological Magic

There are twelve sun signs in the Zodiac:

ARIES – The Ram. Energy, love of action and perseverance. Impetuous, yearning to lead and conquest. Element is Fire and Ruled by Mars. Loyal and Quick tempered. Colour is red

TAURUS – The Bull. Steadfast, reliable, practical. Limited outlook and interests, prone to stubbornness. Element is Earth and ruled by Venus. Honest, but wont take advice. Colour is Turquoise

GEMINI – The Twins. Agile, versatile and adaptable. Easily bored, can’t concentrate for long. Element is Air and Ruled by Mercury. Friendly, but doesn’t pay attention. Colour is silver

CANCER – The Crab. Sensitive and protective, and homely. Easily hurt and moody, also clingy. Element is Water and ruled by the Moon. Imaginative, but jealous. Colour is White

LEO – The Lion. Extrovert, magnetic and born leaders. Impulsive, dramatic and opinionated. Element is Fire and Ruled by the Sun. Reliable, but outspoken. Colour is Gold.

VIRGO – The Virgin. Perfectionists, efficient and methodical. Discriminative, hypochondriac and shy. Element is Earth and Ruled by Mercury. Generous, but also critical. Colour is Grey.

LIBRA – The Scales. Balanced, loyal and artistic. Indecisive, restless and afraid of the new. Element is Air and Ruled by Venus. At best patient, at worst hate arguing. Colour is turquoise

SCORPIO – The Scorpion. Passionate, Analytic, and intuitive. Hypersensitive and broody. Element is Water and Ruled by Pluto. Determined but over dramatic. Colour is Scarlet.

SAGITTARIUS – The Archer. Adventurous, generous and confident. Impatient, boastful and impulsive. Element is Fire and Ruled by Jupiter. Humorous, but untidy. Colour is Amethyst.

CAPRICORN – The Goat. Ambitious, hardworking and thrifty. Reserved, worry and can appear cold. Element is Earth and Ruled by Saturn. Efficient, but moody. Colour is black.

AQUARIUS – The Water Carrier. Humanistic, broad and progressive. Eccentric, impartial and outrageous. Element is Air and Ruled by Uranus. Sincere, but impatient. Colour is Electric blue.

PISCES – The Fishes. Romantic, intuitive and imaginative. Hypersensitive, dependent and dreamers. Element is Water and Ruled by Neptune. Compassionate, but delusional. Colour is Seagreen.

HOUSES: First – Personality (Aries), Second – Money (Taurus). Third – Relationships (Gemini), Fourth – Home (Cancer), Fifth – Pleasure (Leo), Sixth – Health (Virgo), Seventh – Marriage (Libra), Eighth – Mysteries (Scorpio), Ninth – Travel (Sagittarius), Tenth – Business (Capricorn), Eleventh – Friends (Aquarius), Twelfth – Fantasies (Pisces)

SEVEN MYSTICAL POWERS (THE PLANETS)

Sun – Rulership, Integration, Creativity, Personality, Will Power, Nature

Moon – Responsive, Reflective, Instinctive, Intuitive, Emotional, Receptive

Mercury – Communication, Intellect, Reason, Adaptive, Perception, Expression

Venus – Harmony, Art, Beauty, Possessions, Love, Affection, Lust

Mars – Discrimination, Bravery, Drive, Energy, Anger, Destruction

Jupiter – Leadership, Generosity, Opportunity, Experience, Luck, Optimism

Saturn – Slowness, Responsibility, Hard Work, Pessimism, Research, Endurance

Also:

Uranus – Hidden depths, Originality, Inspiration, Revolution, Science, Change

Neptune – Occult, Mysticism, Psychism. Hallucinations, Visions, Delusion

Pluto – Mysteries, Secrets, Transformations, Regeneration, Obsessions, Wealth

To find out where the planets were when you were born, you will need an Ephemeris. Please note that the information given will be in Sidereal Time, the Time of the Stars.

You can also download a blank chart from the internet if you would like to work it out for yourself, but you will need an astrology book telling you what the different planets mean in the different signs.

Planetary Symbols and Zodiac Signs:

Please note that there are two different alternative symbols for both Uranus and Pluto, I have given both sets of planetary symbols here for comparison in case you may come across them.

Pallas, Juno, Vesta and Ceres are asteroids that are sometimes accounted for in astrology, though not always. Likewise Chiron is a planetoid in our solar system that has an orbit in between Saturn and Uranus.

Heaven above, heaven below; stars above, stars below;

All that is above, thus also below; understand this and be blessed —Prodromus Coptus Sive Aegyptiacus by Athanasius Kircher (1636)

One of the best known sacramental phrases of Hermeticism,

“As above, so below” is also very much of the core of the worldview of Astrology.

This in turn is associated with the principle that everything that exists in the universe is interconnected and makes up one great whole.

Even though it is a standard practice to speak of astrological events as having an impact upon our lives and our world, this isn’t the most accurate way to describe what is actually occurring.

The relationship between the macrocosm and the microcosm is reciprocal.

It is not so much that the heavens affect us as it is that they are large enough so that we can read what is written there, rather than what is written in a script too small upon the fine fabric of the reality.

One of the benefits of making Astrology a part of your practice if you are a witch or a magician is that helps to train our subtle senses to also read those microcosmic patterns.

The 12 Signs of the zodiac are not the constellations.

The Signs are 30° segments that mark the journey of the Sun through the changes of the Wheel of the Year.

The two solstices and the two equinoxes are the anchors that set the order and the placement of the Signs, and create a quartered circle in astrological charts.

Then, if you divide each quarter into three pieces, you have the twelvefold structure of the Signs.

Sailors in open waters far from land use the stars as surrogate landmarks.

Relative to the short spans of human lives, the stars seem to be fixed points.

When the science of Astrology was being formulated, the collections of stars that we name as constellations were used as navigational points in the deep of the sky.

In fact, because of the slow wobble in Earth’s rotation, the stars do move about 1° every 72 years.

As such the constellations that we see in the night sky do not match up with the Signs of the zodiac.

I have lost count of the number of times that I’ve encountered the assertion that Astrology cannot be valid because the Signs do not line up with the constellations.

In Astrology, the Signs are not about those distant stars; the Signs depict the journey of the Sun through its 12 stations.

As such, the cycle always begins with the northern Spring Equinox marking the beginning of Aries and proceeds from there.

Before going any further I should explain that the Zodiac is actually an ecliptic coordinate system.

In other words, if you take the apparent motion of the Sun across the sky and widen that line by 8° north and south so that it becomes like a ribbon that circles the skies of Earth, you have the path of the Zodiac.

The vernal equinox is the origin point for the degrees of longitude in Astrology within this coordinate system.

This ribbon, this band in the heavens, is where we see the motion of the Sun, Moon, and the Planets that can be seen with the naked eye.

The Zodiac is the road of the Sun, not the stars. My first teacher of Astrology, Ellen Riordan, taught me the Signs as a dance.

She lit a candle in the center of the room and then proceeded to do 12 different styles of motions as she circled around the flame, dancing the dance of the Earth’s relationship to the Sun.

I wish I had recorded a video of her dance. If you follow one of the numerous paths of Witchcraft or Paganism, then the idea of the changes of the seasons marking changes in the energy of the world is very familiar.

Many traditions make use of the change of the seasons as markers for their holy days, although the number of holidays varies from tradition to tradition.

By extension, then, you can understand the 12 Signs as a twelvefold Wheel of the Year. In the chapter “The Astrology of Time,” we’ll explore how the various wheels within wheels of cyclical time relate to each other.

The 12 Signs can be thought of as the 12 styles of human wisdom and human folly.

You could also say that they are 12 modes of human consciousness.

If you wish to think of the Signs as vibrations, then you can think of them as named colors or as notes in a musical scale.

Although it is true that both colors and notes are part of an unbroken continuum, there is great value in naming specific colors and specific notes.

Astrologers and magickal practitioners have been working with and elaborating on the meaning of the Signs for many, many generations.

It is a well-known tenet in many systems of Magick that when people apply thought, emotion, and imagination in a consistent and coherent manner, that over time a thought-form is developed.

Taking this magickal perspective into consideration, it is also clear that in addition to the qualities that are inherent to the Signs, there are also highly developed thought-forms attached to each of the Signs.

In the chapter devoted to the Signs, I will describe the attributes of each of the Signs in some detail.

Many things in Astrology are changeable, but the structure of relationships between the 12 Signs does not change.

The natural order of the Signs starts with Aries and ends with Pisces, and the flow of the Signs is counterclockwise.

Each of the Signs has a unique combination of an Element, a Modality, and the Polarity.

Many secrets and mysteries are encoded into this patterned sequence.

If a person had a deep understanding of the meaning of the Elements, Modalities, and the Polarities but had never been taught anything about the 12 Signs, they would be able to make educated guesses about the nature of each of the 12 Signs with a bit of contemplation on each unique combination .

The Signs can be thought of as the equivalent of adjectives and adverbs because they modify or color the power of a Planet through a unique combination of an Element, a Modality, and a Polarity.

Astrology, the study of the influence of the stars and planets upon life on this earth, is another of the fundamentals of magic. It is studied by witches and magicians alike. In the past, it was as important to the village witch in her lonely cottage, as it was to the wealthy and learned man who practiced magic behind the locked doors of his study.

The basic premise of astrology is contained in the famous sentence from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus: ” Quod est inferius
est sicut quod est superius, et quod est superius est sicut quod est inferius, ad perpetranda miracula rei unius.” (“That which is below is like unto that which is above, and that which is above is like unto that which is below, for the performing of the miracles of the One Thing.”)
In other words, the universe is unity. Vibrations thrill throughout it, manifesting upon different planes as different effects, material or
non-material. These vibrations basically correspond to the sacred number, seven; hence they are sometimes called the Seven Rays.

In our solar system, the planets and luminaries have been named after the gods who rule these Seven Rays, who are known to us as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercury and Luna. The actual planets and luminaries visible to us in the sky are the physical manifestations of these influences and the means whereby they are transmitted to the earth.

Beyond Saturn, the farthest planet visible to the naked eye, are Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. These are regarded generally by astrologers as
higher and more spiritual versions of the planetary influences of Mercury, Venus and Mars, rather like a musical note being repeated an
octave higher. Paracelsus, the great occultist of the Middle Ages, predicted the discovery of other planets, telling his contemporaries that
“there were some stars that had not yet cast their rays”.

It has been objected to astrology that it is founded upon the ancient ideas of astronomy, which pictured the earth as the center of the universe, and the sun and all the planets and stars as revolving around it. Today, the critics say, these notions are all exploded, so astrology must perish with them. However, astrology always has been based upon the apparent motions of the heavens, as seen by us on earth. For us as human beings, for our practical purposes, the earth under our feet is the center of the universe and the sun does rise in the east and set in the west. Astrology, witchcraft, and magic are often most misunderstood precisely when they are most down-to-earth and practical.

A horoscope is a chart of the heavens as they appear to a person on earth at a particular place and a particular time. The so-called ‘horoscopes’ which often appear in the popular press are not really horoscopes at all; they are brief, generalized readings from the current positions of the planets as they affect the twelve different signs of the zodiac.

There. are really two zodiacs, the zodiac of the constellations which can be seen in the night sky, and the zodiac which is the plane of the
ecliptic. The former is called the Sidereal Zodiac, and the latter the Tropical Zodiac. The astrologers of India and the East generally, still use the Sidereal Zodiac; but those of the West mostly use the Tropical Zodiac.

The latter is the apparent path of the sun in a year, as it appears to circle the earth. Like any other circle, this has 360 degrees. These are
divided into twelve signs of 30 degrees each, and these twelve signs are named after the shining constellations of the Sidereal Zodiac. The Tropical Zodiac commences at the spring equinox when the sun appears to enter the sign of Aries, the Ram, and day and night are equal. But owing to the phenomenon called the precession of the equinoxes, this point no longer coincides with the constellation Aries. It is the constellation Pisces, and slowly moving back towards Aquarius. It does in fact pass very slowly backward through all the constellations, in a cyclic movement which is called the Great Year of Twelve Ages, a span of time lasting over 25,00 earthly years.

These Twelve Ages actually reflect the characteristics of each zodiacal sign, and this can be traced in world history, as Vera W. Reid has shown in her book Towards Aquarius (Riders, London, 1 944). We are now in the transition period between the Age of Pisces and the Age of Aquarius; hence the world unrest and breakdown of the old forms of society, and of old-established ideas, manners, and moral codes, which so alarms many of the older generations. But together with this breaking-down process, a building-up is also going on, of the ideas and ideals characteristic of the Aquarian Age which is coming; an age which, occultists believe, will be a happier and more enlightened one than the Age of Pisces, which is now crumbling to decay.

On 5th February 1962, an unusual astrological event occurred. All seven of the oldest-known planets, Mars, Saturn, Sol, Luna, Mercury,
Venus and Jupiter, in that order, were gathered in the Sign of Aquarius. Astrologers regarded this as of great significance; some said that it might indicate the birth of some great soul, who would further the ideals of the Age of Aquarius, which is the sign of the brotherhood of man.
We can only hope that they might be right.

The twelve signs of the zodiac are ruled by the planets and luminaries, called for convenience the seven planets. (The ancients were perfectly
well aware that the sun and the moon are not planets, but it was needlessly awkward to keep making this distinction.) These sacred seven
extend their rulership over everything upon the earth; the day of the week, the colors of the rainbow, minerals, metals, jewels, plants, trees,
animals, fishes, birds; everything in Nature has its astrological correspondence and rulership.

The great importance of these rulerships in practical magic can easily be seen. If, for instance, a witch wants to select a herb to use for a
magical purpose, she has to use one whose astrological rulership is correct for the work in hand. Love charms, for instance, will call for
herbs ruled by Venus. The moon rules psychic things, and a herb of the moon, mugwort, or Artemisia vulgaris, is used to make an infusion
or tea which many believe is an aid to clairvoyance. One of the tasks of the would-be magician is learning astrological correspondences, and the signs and symbols relating to them, from such books as Aleister Crowley’s 777 (777 Revised: A Reprint with Much Additional Matter, The Neptune Press, London 1 956), or The Magus, by Francis Barrett (London, 1 801), (This latter book was a favorite of ‘Cunning’ Murrell, the famous wizard of Hadleigh, in Essex.)

All the older herbals, such as the original seventeenth-century Culpeper’s Herbal (Culpeper’s English Physician and Complete Herbal,
Nicholas Culpeper, first published London, 1 652, and Wehmann, 1 960), contain the astrological rulerships of the herbs they recommend. Old Nicholas Culpeper himself gives many dissertations about the importance of astrology in treating diseases, saying that physic without
astrology is like a lamp without oil. His Herbal, together with William Lilly’s Introduction to Astrology (London, 1 647), were part of the stock-in-trade of many of the later village witches.

Lilly gives many examples of horary astrology; that is, answering questions, discovering stolen goods, etc, by means of an astrological
figure set up for the time of the question or the event inquired about. This was and still is an important branch of magical practice, though
often brought into disrepute by charlatans.

At the present day, a witch is known to me, who is the leader of a coven, makes practical use of astrology in selecting suitable members. If
anyone wants to join her coven, she asks them for their time, place, and date of birth, and casts their horoscope. From this, she deduces whether or not they will make good witches, and if they will be able to work in harmony with other members of the coven.

Although Astrology is a sacred science and as such is a mental undertaking with many rules and procedures, it is also an art requiring the intuition and the way of beauty to reveal its richness.

It is the way of art that guides astrologers, or practitioners using Astrology in their Magick, to know which of many details actually matter and to bring harmony to the flood of data.

This is certainly evident when an astrologer is doing a reading and is also the muse that harnesses the power of Astrology into the design of a spell or ritual.

The imaginative and intuitive part of Astrology’s worldview is best experienced through imagery rather than rational exposition.

The following passage may be read as a mythic story to describe one facet among the many that make up the jewel of Astrology.

You may wish to use it as a guided visualization to more deeply internalize the experience.

Either find a friend or associate to read it to you or make a recording of your own voice.

Read the pathworking slowly and note that where you see “ ” it indicates a pause. Remember that if you have a computer, a smart phone, or even a portable recorder you already have the tools to make a recording of this pathworking that is good enough for this purpose.

The glyph of Mercury consists of the circle that represents Spirit, the semicircle that represents the Soul, and the cross that represents Matter.

Soul is above, Spirit is in the middle, and Matter is below in the glyph of Mercury.

This triplicity reminds us of Hermes Trismegistus (thrice-great Hermes), and Mercury is indeed thoughts, ideas, communication, and is the conduit and the herald between the layers of self and the planes of being.

The position of Mercury in a particular Sign and House shows us how the stream of consciousness is articulated into words, images, and ideas.

It is the way in which we synthesize, categorize, separate, and divide the world into hemes and things that can be named.

Mercury is never more than 28° from the Sun, sometimes in the same Sign as the Sun, and sometimes in the Sign before or after that of the Sun.

This is more than simply a matter of celestial mechanics; it is an indicator of the fact that waking consciousness can only be a certain distance away from the source of being which is the Sun.

Mercury through the power of thought expresses a blending of the capabilities inherent in the Sun and the Moon.

Just as Mercury shows us how we create the internal dialogue of consciousness, it also shows us how we communicate with others.

Mercury is associated with the sphere of Hod in the tree of life, which is the sphere of thought and all systems of notation and knowledge.

It is also connected to Hermes, Thoth, and other divinities that act as messengers and psychopomps.

Just as heralds have their badge office that allows them to safely move through places where others would be barred, and to communicate safely with powers that are potentially dangerous, so too in Magick do we find the Planet Mercury a useful intermediary in numerous operations.

Mercury is neutral and can be said to be all polarities and no polarities at once.

When you take the light of the Planets as mediated by the Signs and project them onto a precise time and in particular place, they fall into the Houses.

The way we normally measure time is through hours, minutes, and seconds.

The way we plot locations is through degrees, minutes, and seconds of longitude and latitude.

If you look at an old-fashioned clock with hands and the numbers 1 through 12 and then you look at an astrological chart, it is fairly clear that they have an ancestor or two in common.

The term horoscope comes from the Greek horoskopos which means “look of the hour” or “marker of the hour.”

The term “horoscope” is often used loosely today to refer to a chart or to a forecast, but it originally meant the marker for the beginning of a House system.

The reason astrologers need to know as exactly as possible the time for constructing a chart is that the placement of the Planets and Signs into the Houses can only occur if you know their starting point.

Imagine again the face of a clock, except this is a special clock: Instead of hands that mark the hours, minutes, and seconds, there is a hand for each of the Planets.

By the way, this special clock also marks their location in degrees.

Most astrological charts are drawn with a vertical line in the horizontal line that is darker or in some other manner highlight four directions.

The point of the top of the chart represents the South, and the bottom represents the North.

The left side of the chart represents the East, and the right side, the West.

This may give you a moment’s pause if you are accustomed to the standard used in most maps and also in diagrams for circles used in Magick.

Once you understand the rationale for flipping the directions, it will be easy to both remember and to understand the default orientation and astrological charts.

At any given time or place it may be night or day, but the chart has to show the entirety of the celestial sphere, both above and below.

If you were born at night or if the chart is being constructed is for an event at night, then the Sun will be below the horizontal line in the chart.

If you were born during the day or if the chart is being constructed for an event during the day, then the Sun will be above the horizon line.

When someone speaks about the Rising Sign (the Ascendant), they are referring to whichever Sign is on the far left point of a horizontal line that represents the Eastern horizon.

The Rising Sign literally is the Sign that is rising and is the anchor of the Houses.

When we look at charts later in the book you will notice that despite the fact that the Signs are all exactly 30° size, the Houses can vary in size.

Depending upon the time of the year and how far north or south you are, the length of the day and the length of the night can have considerable variation.

Remember, the chart is a condensation of several planes of action and is also a projection onto a flat surface.

The 12 Houses still have to add up to the 360° of a circle; the top half of the chart represents day and the bottom half represents night.

The calculations in constructing the chart adjust the sizes of the Houses to reflect the season and the location.

There are many competing House systems for accomplishing this end that you may wish to research if you pursue studies in Astrology.

For the purposes of this book, the charts used in illustrations will be using the Koch House system.

The 12 Houses are actually what happens when the 12 Signs come all the way down to Earth.

Each of the 12 Signs can be said to have a particular temperament, a style of working in the world, and enthusiasm and aptitude for particular activities.

In Astrology we say that each House is ruled by one of the Signs.

In your mind’s eye, see these 12 celestial beings that are the Signs taking aptitude tests before diving down into the workplace that we call Earth.

The result of those aptitude tests would give a variety of jobs or tasks to which that Sign is especially well suited.

Those jobs, tasks, and endeavors revealed in the aptitude tests are the themes of the 12 Houses.

The 12 Houses represent different areas of life, tangible ways in which energy is expressed or received, the parts of the human body ruled by its corresponding Sign, and a myriad of other concrete expressions of the essence of the Signs