In the first two posts of this series we contrasted the general aspect doctrine with the Picatrix’s more specific principle of aspected planetary nature. In the third post, we examined the Moon’s aspects to benefic and malefic planets. In the fourth post, we used all the principles we had built up so far to understand the Moon’s aspects to the Sun. These principles in turn allow us to investigate aspects of the Moon to Mercury. In this post we also examine the Moon’s aspects to fixed stars, rounding out the whole range of specific Moon aspects and their nuances.
The Moon’s Aspects to Mercury
In what follows, we will assume for simplicity that Mercury is not retrograde. To be on the safe side, Moon aspects to retrograde Mercury in magical elections should be approached with caution and with the presumption that such aspects are harmful without significant mitigation.
Before we dive deeply into Moon-Mercury aspects, we do note that evaluating them becomes somewhat complicated. The need to do so primarily arises when the Moon’s next applying aspect in a magical election chart is to Mercury. That is, not every magical election will require a complex analysis of Mercury’s condition.
Compared to the other planets we have considered thus far, Picatrix has comparably little to say about Moon-Mercury aspects. We should know, however, that rather than taking you by the hand or spelling out every possible variation, the Picatrix assumes the reader is a capable student and will apply the illustrated principles to other scenarios. It is not a particularly forgiving book, since it asks of you what we often take for granted in modern education and communication. However, knowing what we already know, we can draw upon two important clues with respect to Mercury.
First, in the same section as the one we quoted in the previous post in this series on Moon-Sun aspects, Picatrix states the following about Mercurial talismanic workings:
“In all workings concerning law, scribes, servants of kings, or tenants who give returns to kings, place the Moon aspecting Mercury, Mercury being in Gemini or Virgo, and the Moon full; and then your business will be able to be carried out.”
—Maslama al-Qurtubi, Picatrix, Book II, Chapter 12 (tr. Greer & Warnock)
As with the Sun, Picatrix seems to be telling us here that the nature of Mercury changes according to dignity. When dignified, any Moon aspect to Mercury, including squares and oppositions, will be considered beneficial. Presumably, then, as in our speculative extrapolation in the previous post regarding the Sun, when Mercury is not dignified square and opposition aspects to Mercury will be considered harmful.
This allows us to construct a general purpose, quick-and-dirty guide to Moon-Mercury aspects that follows the one that we produced for the Sun above:
The situation is perhaps a little more complex for Mercury than it is for the Sun, however. Our second clue about Mercury comes from the prayer to Mercury in the section on planetary petitions in the Picatrix. This prayer states:
“[Mercury is] fortunate with fortunes and unfortunate with infortunes, masculine with masculine planets and feminine with feminine ones, diurnal with diurnal planets and nocturnal with nocturnal ones.”
—Maslama al-Qurtubi, Picatrix, Book III, Chapter 7 (tr. Greer & Warnock)
This builds an even stronger case that our evaluation of Moon-Mercury aspects will depend heavily on the essential and accidental dignity of Mercury. Very likely, to fully assess the valence of Moon-Mercury aspects, we would have to examine what aspects Mercury was making themself.
The Picatrix petition prayer to Mercury suggests that when Mercury is applying to or conjoining a benefic planet, we ought to consider Mercury to function like a benefic. Inversely, when Mercury is applying to or conjoining a malefic planet, we ought to consider Mercury to function like a malefic.
In fully Mercurial fashion, this leads to some potentially confusing situations. How are we to evaluate the following scenarios?
- The Moon applies sextile or square to Mercury in Gemini while Mercury is applying by square to Mars.
- The Moon applies sextile or square to Mercury in Pisces while Mercury is applying by sextile to Venus.
In both cases, we have mixed conditions. In the first case, Mercury is dignified and thus considered more benefic, but the applying square to Mars makes Mercury function more like a malefic. In the second case, the conditions are reversed: Mercury is in detriment and fall and thus considered more malefic, but the applying sextile to Venus makes Mercury function more like a benefic. Add in the different aspects the Moon can make, and the layers of conditions become a bit fuzzy.
In complex scenarios such as these, it may be wise to consider the Moon aspect to be neutral at best, and to not reduce it to a simple binary ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ Rather, these scenarios may indicate conditions that bring some good with the bad, or some bad with the good: both/and rather than either/or.
When a Moon-Mercury aspect is neutral or mixed, one can also consider how important Mercury is in the election. For a Mercury election, or for a chart where Mercury is ruling the Ascendant or is the ruler of the Moon, the quality of Moon-Mercury aspects becomes more important because Mercury is more important. A neutral/mixed Moon-Mercury aspect in such cases might be considered more of a negative. If Mercury is less prominent in the chart, a neutral/mixed Moon-Mercury aspect may be deemed more acceptable overall.
Moon Aspects to Fixed Stars in Fixed Star Elections
Finally, we can consider aspects to fixed stars. Our sources here convey ambiguous information.
Notably, Picatrix contains no clear passage we are aware of that instructs us to consider sextile, square, trine, or opposition aspects to fixed stars. However, as Picatrix contains basically no instruction about fixed star talismans, we cannot read much into this absence.
Two passages from De Quindecim Stellis, our foremost family of texts on fixed star talismans, specifically reference the Moon’s conjunction with fixed stars.
“Each of these [stones] ought to be polished and graven or inscribed when the Moon shall be joined with the star pertaining thereto; for when this should be so, their power will be increased a hundredfold.”
—De Quindecim Stellis, Quadripertitus manuscript, Part II, p. 27 (tr. Regulus Hess)
Likewise:
“Now I admonish thee that when the Moon shall be conjunct with the star to which pertaineth a stone, on the ascendant or midheaven, let this stone be placed in gold or silver or iron or led or whatever metal is suited thereto, and thou wilt profit much, by God’s grace.”
—De Quindecim Stellis, Quadripertitus manuscript, Part II, p. 31 (tr. Regulus Hess)
Given that specific aspects are referenced elsewhere in the text, the elision of sextile, square, trine, and opposition aspects here is striking. There is some limited evidence—albeit mostly based on absence—that medieval astrological fixed star magic prioritized the Moon’s application by conjunction to fixed stars.
With that said, by the time of the Renaissance, evidence enters the tradition of mages considering soft aspects to fixed stars as sufficient conditions for making fixed star talismans. Ficino, in particular, writes:
“[Make fixed star talismans] when the Moon passes [i.e., conjoins] the star or looks at it with a trine or sextile aspect, and when the star itself is passing the midheaven or the Ascendant.”
—Marsilio Ficino, Three Books on Life, Book III, Chapter VIII (tr. Kaske & Clark)
Among contemporary practitioners, the variance among sources has given rise to another medieval-Renaissance schism. Some practitioners, following authors that use Renaissance rules (e.g., Ficino and Christopher Warnock), consider the Moon’s sextile and trine aspects to fixed stars an admissible condition for fixed star talismans. Other practitioners, following authors that use medieval rules (e.g., the author of De Quindecim Stellis and Clifford Low), consider the Moon’s conjunction with fixed stars the only admissible condition for fixed star talismans.
We consider ourselves in the medieval camp on this point, not out of loyalty to any specific text or practitioner, but because if you follow through the logic of the Renaissance model it leads to uncomfortable tensions. The Picatrix mentions more than once that the entire 360 degree expanse of the heavens is filled with fixed stars. For example:
“It is in no way possible for any degree of the heavens or the firmament to lack the quality or essence of the fixed stars, because the whole heaven of the fixed stars is so replete with stars. Those who say that a given degree of the heavens is empty of stars at a given time say this only in the sense that it is impossible to see or sense a star there, because only the larger stars can be seen, and there is no way for the others to be discerned by sight.”
—Maslama al-Qurtubi, Picatrix, Book II, Chapter 6 (tr. Greer & Warnock)
Given this truth, if we follow the Renaissance model, the Moon in any degree of the sky will always be making sextile and trine aspects to various fixed stars. But this leads to a conundrum, because it also implies that the Moon would be making square and opposition aspects to other fixed stars, which would be afflictions by definition in the Renaissance model. At any moment, the Moon would have a panoply of fortunes and afflictions due to aspects to fixed stars. This seems overly complex and unnecessary.
Indeed, within the Renaissance model, almost any Sirius talisman made with the Moon applying by conjunction to Sirius would have an applying square to Algorab, and almost any Regulus talisman made with the Moon applying by conjunction to Regulus would have an applying square to Alcyone. Surely these would be considered disqualifying afflictions—and yet safe and beneficial talismans can be and have been made with the Moon applying by conjunction to Sirius and Regulus.
Now, surely this is not the only way to think about the issue, and we are not criticizing Renaissance practitioners or saying that they are wrong. Having presented the two views, we simply make clear where we stand and our rationale for standing there, while respecting that others will come to their own understanding of and position within the traditions.
Aspect to Fixed Stars in Planetary Elections
Among contemporary practitioners, aspects to fixed stars in planetary elections are often ignored or relegated to tertiary considerations. A notable exception is Sphere + Sundry, who perhaps have the best track record of considering and highlighting involvement of fixed stars in planetary elections.
Nevertheless, the Picatrix highlights fixed stars in a couple of places, even though the text as a whole does not focus on fixed stars whatsoever.
Indeed, as we saw previously, the Moon’s conjunctions to fixed stars will color her aspects to other planets:
“[The Moon’s] strength will accord with the nature of the planets and stars with which she is conjoined while in the aforesaid aspects.”
—Maslama al-Qurtubi, Picatrix, Book II, Chapter 3 (tr. Greer & Warnock)
Similarly, we have a passage that instructs us that the “aid” of fixed stars can significantly bolster a talismanic working:
“If you do a planetary working with the aid of some fixed star of the same nature, it will be more complete and more perfect because it will have the vigor of the planet and the endurance of the fixed star.”
—Maslama al-Qurtubi, Picatrix, Book IV, Chapter 4 (tr. Greer & Warnock)
Textual evidence suggests that “aid” here primarily refers to having a fixed star on one of the angles, particularly the AC or MC, or having the significator or the Moon conjunct a relevant fixed star.
In a Renaissance mode we can, following Ficino, also potentially consider soft aspects to fixed stars. If so, perhaps attention to hard aspects to fixed stars would be warranted as well.
In the immediately preceding Picatrix quotation, we are invited to consider whether a given working involves fixed stars “of the same nature.” This encourages us to consider the narrative cohesion of whatever fixed stars are involved in the working. At a simplistic level, this could involve examining whether the Moon is conjoining “benefic” or positive fixed stars or “malefic” or generally negative fixed stars. A Venus working for love might not benefit from the Moon conjoining Algol, for example.
At a deeper level, the fixed stars also share in (or, given the hierarchy of the spheres, are dispositors of) the nature of the planets. Bearing this in mind, it makes sense to examine the planetary affiliations of any fixed stars to which the Moon is applying and whether they interact harmoniously with the significator of the election. For reference, the 15 Behenian fixed stars have the following planetary associations according to the Quadripertitus version of Liber De Quindecim Stellis:
- Algol: Saturn & Jupiter;
- Alcyone: Moon & Mars;
- Aldebaran: Mars & Venus;
- Algorab: Saturn & Mars;
- Alkaid: Venus & Moon;
- Alphecca: Venus & Mercury;
- Antares: Mars & Jupiter;
- Arcturus: Mars & Jupiter
- Capella: Jupiter & Saturn;
- Deneb Algedi: Saturn & Mercury (Jupiter is a modern association);
- Procyon: Mercury & Mars;
- Regulus: Jupiter & Mars (Sol is a modern association);
- Sirius: Venus;
- Spica: Venus & Mercury;
- Vega: Venus & Mercury.
Beyond simple one-to-one correspondences, however, it may also prove useful to search for narrative harmony between the intentions of the election and the magical purposes of the fixed star in question. For example, even though Aldebaran is of the nature of Mars and Venus, its magical signification of riches may make its involvement in any wealth talisman election quite potent.
Concluding Thoughts
At this point, we have examined the Moon’s aspects to benefics and malefics, the Sun, and now Mercury and the fixed stars. Moon aspects to Mercury and fixed stars can get quite complex and add to the narrative nuance of the chart. All of this can be quite overwhelming on its own, and in a future post we will try to break down some general principles and guidelines that may help reduce the complexity. In Part VI, we will examine a few more qualitative factors in magical electional charts before wrapping up the series.