Connecting Sky and Earth

AUTHOR’S NOTE: In his book on the history of the occult tarot ( The Esoteric Tarot: Ancient Sources Rediscovered in Hermeticism and Cabalah), Ronald Decker ventures into astrological symbolism as it may have appeared in some of the early decks. In his discussion of the traditional planetary deities he cites a passage from the magical tome The Picatrix, quoted here in full, that I’m using as a springboard for my own observations.

“You need to know the food, drink, fabric, incense, time, profession, materials, demands, what kind of sacrificial animal, engraved stones or charms, enigmas, astronomical proportions and revealing spirits and everything related to these planets to be able to succeed in connecting the sky’s power with the earth’s power.”

While the purpose of this enumeration was to facilitate “precision in making talismans and invoking planetary spirits through ceremonial magic,” I’m convinced that it underlies the exhaustive tables of correspondences found in many esoteric works such as 777 by Aleister Crowley (although discretion was most certainly applied by the authors in shrinking the scope to manageable proportions). In modern practice, thanks to the writing of Carl Gustav Jung, much of this elaborate scheme has been subsumed under the general heading of synchronicity that was obviously inspired by the Hermetic principle “As above, so below.” (I also see it as the inspiration for sympathetic magic when working with planetary energies; for example, we might wear the “colors of Saturn” on a day we want to be taken very seriously.)

By the time I became involved with natal astrology in 1970, much of this detail had been “sanitized” into a reduced set of keywords that could be assimilated by the average (that is, non-esoteric) student. The focus was psychological where previously it had been mostly anecdotal and practical. I suppose we must thank early-20th-Century astrologer Alan Leo for accelerating this transition as he tried in vain to fend off his legal woes as an accused “fortune-teller” by arguing that his goal was character analysis.

However, Decker’s simplified descriptions of the seven historical “planets” brought up a handful of fundamental points regarding the relationships between them:

Decker calls the Sun and Moon “siblings;” one presides over the day and the other is mistress of the night; they also have an identical angular diameter (0.5 or half-a-degree), a visual coincidence that enables the occurrence of total eclipses. Together with the Ascendant or “rising sign” they produce the calculated “Part of Fortune” for the nativity (which is exactly what you might think: a “lucky degree” that responds to transits and progressions). They also comprise the three fundamental “building blocks” of the human personality.

Venus and Mars are “lovers,” one gracious and charming, the other militant and fierce. A New Age aphorism for this partnership was “Mars goes out and gets what Venus wants,” alluding to their respective active and passive natures. (Do you get the idea that Venus is the boss?)

The “social” planets Jupiter and Saturn share in the societal tasks of governance and administration. (I see Saturn as describing the external architecture of society while Jupiter occupies the edifice and executes the “rule of law” from within.)

As the Sun’s “messenger” (they are never farther apart than 28 degrees in the heavens), fast-moving Mercury is pretty much a free agent that forms no other standing alliances, merely taking on the “coloration” and agenda of any planet with which it briefly comes into contact.

The fiery Sun and Mars are assumed to be sympathetic to one another, as are the watery Moon and Venus (these assumptions are supported by the “essential dignity” of exaltation, Sun in Mars-ruled Aries and Moon in Venus-ruled Taurus). Jupiter and Saturn, however, are of opposite qualities; the former is broadly expansive and the latter is narrowly restrictive, together fulfilling a judicious “regulatory” function. Mercury is a chameleon that can align itself with any of the others, although it doesn’t form strong bonds.

Over the years I’ve evolved into a more traditional astrologer (for example, I pay little attention to the three “trans-Saturnian” planets or the minor “Keplerian” aspects in my natal and predictive work, sticking mainly with Ptolemaic principles). Regarding the contribution of planetary attributes to an individual’s character, I focus more on the classical “temperaments and humours” than on their scientific descendants. When it comes to using astrology in concert with the tarot, this approach dovetails neatly with the seven-planet model of the Golden Dawn’s “Chaldean” system of associations for the Minor Arcana.

Since I don’t use tarot much for psychological profiling, instead preferring a more pragmatic technique that examines action-and-event-oriented trends and tendencies in future circumstances, this minimal toolbox is all I need. For example, I find it sufficient to describe a strong Sun-Mars influence as potentially egotistical and appetite-driven than to get into analytical deconstruction of the psyche, which in a tarot reading can become a matter of diminishing returns for the effort expended. There’s just too much mystical guesswork in it for me.

Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on March 26, 2024.