Eleventh Aphorism: Prima Facies Scorpionis

11. Rumores dicti Luna existente in prima facie Scorpionis, mendaces sunt & compositi.

"Rumors reported when the Moon is in the first face of Scorpio are lies and fabrications."

Ha!  We have come finally to the Eleventh Aphorism, the one that is surely my favorite! 

We have already had occasion to read about the “accursed sign” of Scorpio in our study of the Ninth Aphorism. Not only is Scorpio the sign of the Moon’s depressio, but the first half of Scorpio is also part of the via combusta, an extremely unfortunate region of the sky which extends from 16 Libra through 15 Scorpio, according to most authorities; though there is a minority opinion that the via combusta extends only from 19 Libra (the degree of the Sun’s depression) through 3 Scorpio (the degree of the Moon’s depression). So what does it mean, "the first face of Scorpio"? 

I will tell you what it means: the Five Essential Dignities are Domicile, Exaltation, Triplicity, Term, and Face (facies). Ptolemy did not recognize facies as an essential dignity, however, leading many astrologers to assume that facies was not a legitimate part of the Hellenistic system (in fact, there are frequent references to the facies in other Hellenistic texts). The situation is complicated by the fact that in one passage (Quadripartitum iii.2), Ptolemy lists the five “modes of domination” (oikodespotikoi logoi): "by Trigon" (trigono), "by Domicile" (oiko), "by Exaltation" (hypsomati), "by Term" (horio), and “by Phase or Aspect” (phasei e syschematismo); so that the fifth of Ptolemy’s essential dignities was Phase (phasis, i.e. configuration with respect to the Sun), while for later writers, the fifth essential dignity was Face (prosopon, i.e. the tripartite subdivision of the signs)—yet the Latin word facies is used for both concepts.

The 36 facies are of Egyptian origin. Each “face” is a 10º arc of the ecliptic, so that each of the 12 signs is divided into three facies (also called decanates, or decans). Just as there is a symbol associated with each of the 12 signs, so there are symbols associated with each of the 36 decans. According to certain passages in the Hermetic Corpus (e.g. Stobaeus I.xxi.9), the 36 decans in fact underlie the 12 signs, which are secondary to them. Thus, the real meaning of each of the 12 signs arises from the combined meanings of the three facies of which that sign is comprised. For example, Aries (the Ram) is composed of the three decans Senator, Senacher, and Sentacher (the Hellenistic names of the decans are corruptions of their original Egyptian names).  Senator is described by Cornelius Agrippa as “a black man, one who is standing, dressed and wrapped around with a white garment; he is of massive body, with red eyes and great strength, and looks angry.”  Agrippa describes Senacher as “a woman, outwardly clothed with a red garment, and under it a white, stretching forth one foot,” and Sentacher is “a pale man with red hair, dressed in red garments, holding a golden bracelet in his left hand, and an oaken staff in his right; he is gazing forward, restless and angry because he is unable to attain or perform the good things he desires” (De Occulta Philosophia, II.37).  So how do these three combine to describe the Ram?  It is not too difficult to see the scenario which arises from these three symbols in combination:  an aggressive, sexually dominant Negro male, a sexually wanton white female, and a frustrated and impotent white male who is holding a ring-shaped object (traditionally associated with the female pudenda).  The inner meaning of Aries the Ram may therefore be summarized in terms of a sexual triangle involving certain archetypal anxieties about the Negro male.

In fact there is an important distinction to be made between the Decans and the Faces: although both terms refer to thirds of zodiacal signs, the term “decan” or “decanate” is used of the 36 sub-signs, while the term “face” refers to the planetary rulership of each of those arcs or segments. In fact, Teucer of Babylon (1st century A.D.) writes that "the first decan [of Scorpio] BEARS the face of Mars" (CCAG VII, p. 205), and this is probably an important distinction. These rulerships are assigned to the planets in descending Chaldaean order, beginning with Mars. Thus, the three faces of Aries are ruled by Mars, Sun, and Venus, respectively; the three faces of Taurus by Mercury, Moon, and Saturn; and so on. The cycle concludes with Jupiter (ruling the third face of Libra), and begins again with Mars ruling the first face of Scorpio, so that the three faces of Pisces (the 12th sign) are ruled by Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. Thus, the Zodiac begins and ends with faces ruled by Mars.

But let us return to our aphorism, which warns us of a special circumstance which arises when the Moon is in the first face of Scorpio. This is the 22nd of the faces, and as we have already noted, it is ruled by Mars. Teucer of Babylon, our earliest extant source on the decans or faces, writes of it as follows (CCAG VII, p. 206): kai epi men tou A’ dekanou adikos planeteuontos, polykindynous, epandrous, metrious to bio (“and in the first decan [it denotes] those who wander about lawlessly, facing many perils, manly, self-disciplined”). Now that is a properly martial description! 

As to the decan itself, the name of this decan is Sentacer (Stochneni in Greek), and the old astrologers have provided us with several descriptions of it. According to Cornelius Agrippa (De Occulta Philosophia [1533] ii.37), ascendit mulier bonae faciei et habitudinis, ac duo viri percutientes, et operatio eorum est ad decorem et pulchritudinem et ad rixam, insidias, deceptiones, distractiones, et perditiones (“there ascends a woman of good face and deportment, and two men striking [each other]; and their operation is for comeliness and beauty, and for strifes, treacheries, deceits, dissensions, and destruction.” It is not entirely clear from the Latin whether the two men are fighting each other, or whether they are in fact beating up the woman!  (One of these days I will have to drive over to Cal-State Fullerton and consult the Glossarium Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis of Du Cange, which will perhaps clarify the meaning of percutio in such a context; which I just did, but disappointingly, Du Cange does not even have an entry for percutio--now who will reimburse me for my gas?). 

Agrippa’s descriptions have become the standard ones, but it is interesting to supplement them with descriptions from other sources. Albumasar (9th century) has this to say about it: Oritur in primo eius decano . . . nigellus iactos in manu eius hastile resque cimbalum dicta. Iuxta indos mulier adapte state omnino ydonea cibos gestiens fame flabellas terrasque perambulare. ("There arises in its first decan a small negro [holding] in his hand darts, a cane, and what is called a "cymbal." According to the Indians, a woman very decorously attired, waving food for her hunger like a fan, and walking about the earth," Introductorium majus vi.1). According to the Picatrix of Maslama al-Majriti (10th century): Et ascendit in prima facie Scorpionis vir in eius dextra lanceam, in sinistra vero caput hominis tenens.  Et hec facies est disposicionis tristicie, male voluntatis et inimicicie. (“And there ascends in the first face of Scorpio a man holding a lance in his right hand, but a human head in his left.  And this is a face of sorrowful disposition, ill-will, and hostility”). Ibn Ezra (Principium Sapientiae, 12th century): Et ascendit in eius facie prima posterius equi ac virimum Tauri et vir niger in cuius manu est baculus. Aiunt quoque sapientes indorum illic ascendere imaginem mulieris pulchre corpore ruber. Et ipsa est comedens. (“In the first face there ascends a negro with a stick in his hand.  Indian astrologers say that there ascends the figure of a beautiful woman, her body is red and she is eating”). Giordano Bruno (Ars Memoriae, 1582) described the decan as follows: Ascendit in prima scorpij facie mulier formosa & optimé induta pro qua duo iuuenes inuicem irati se verberibus cedentes fatigantur (“There ascends in the first face of Scorpio a beautiful woman, very well dressed, and before her two young men, enraged at each other, are wearing themselves out by raining blows on one another”). Obviously Bruno understood Agrippa's percutientes in a reciprocal sense!  All of these descriptions, and many more, were collated by Beltrano several years ago in a very interesting treatise, in which he traced the iconography of the 36 decans from ancient Egypt up to the time of Aleister Crowley. Beltrano is also responsible for the translations included here. We will be presenting his entire paper, by and by. 

The Moon passes through all 36 decans in the course of a month. Since the Moon’s average daily motion amounts to 12º51’26”, the average time it takes for the Moon to pass through one decan is 18 hours and 45 minutes. If we apply this aphorism to our Inception Chart, guess what--the Moon is at 4 Scorpio 44 and hence falls right in the middle of the First Face of Scorpio!  I have nothing further to say.

Concerning his study of the decans, Beltrano writes as follows: Gundel, Hephaestio, Lawrence Ave., [excerpts from self-similarity paper (and above, re. Aries)]

            The Decanates (or Decans) are perhaps the single most important (and sinister) concept in all of Astrology.  There are 36 Decanates, three for each of the twelve signs (perhaps on the analogy of the division of each of the four quadrants into three signs).  Each Decanate is 10º (1/3 of a sign) in extent.  This system is Egyptian in origin, and may be of greater antiquity than the twelve signs.  Like the signs of the zodiac, each decanate has a name and a symbol, and each of them is associated with a particular daemonic spirit; each of these spirits can be invoked during the period of roughly 40 minutes each day when its decan is rising in the east.  This concept is pervasive throughout western Astrology, and has lurked just beneath the surface from Classical and Mediaeval times down to the present.  This alternate zodiac is copiously described and depicted throughout the astrological literature. . . . Although very few modern practitioners of Astrology have even heard of this, it is impossible to read the traditional astrological literature without coming across repeated references to it.  

“The classic study on the decans is Wilhelm Gundel & S. Schott (1936) Dekane und Dekansternbilder: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Sternbilder der Kulturvölker, which I have only once succeeded in laying hands on. Typically of German scholarship, Gundel’s treatment of the subject is quite exhaustive. The risings of the 36 decans provide the underlying structure for each astral day.

"Still more esoteric are the risings of the 144 dodecatemoria (twelfths of signs), for which Hephaestio has provided a complete description. Back in the 1980’s, Mary Bliss and I used to do astrological consultations in a storefront on Lawrence Avenue in Chicago. Since we were seldom very busy, we would divert/entertain ourselves by keeping track of the risings of the dodecatemoria (about ten minutes apart, on the average), and trying to correlate these with the occasional queries we received. Whenever a client walked through the door, we would look at each other and take note of which dodecatemorion was rising. For example, at 3:20 PM on 6 November 1984, the Ascendant was at 15 Aries 13, which falls in the 7^th (Libra) dodecatemorion of Aries. According to Hephaestio (Apotelesmatica iii.4), that dodecatemorion concerns “enemies and combat or legal action or judgment”—and sure enough, the client was being sued for breach of contract!”

The picture affixed to the top of this article is indeed rare and special. Here is Beltrano's account of it: 

"The number eleven is of great occult significance in parts of the Caucasus. This picture was taken at the home of a witch in upper Svaneti. The eleven-hour clock painted on the exterior wall is no mere joke. It is a powerful image associated with witchcraft, and identifying the woman residing in the house as a witch. You will notice that it is positioned near the corner, where the two walls meet. In the background you will see the crudely stuffed carcase of a goat; a similar stuffed goat occupies a comparable position at the end of the balcony which extends to the left from the corner where the clock is; the two of them are thus positioned in such a way as to create an effective "crossfire", as it were. Let me just say that we were extremely lucky to get out of that place in one piece! 

"When I am in Georgia, I always listen carefully to the ringing of the church bells, counting the number of strokes. I have discovered that very often, there are eight slow peals, followed by three fast peals. Thus the bell is rung eleven times (more commonly there are twelve peals--nine slow plus three fast). After discussing this matter with many Georgians, I have concluded that most people pay no attention at all to how many times the bell is rung. Could the eleven-peal variant be a cryptic message to those who are listening for it, comparable to a Masonic handshake or a small cross hung upside down?

"The number eleven manifests itself in Astrology in at least three ways: first, if we set up a correspondence between the zodiacal circle and a clockface (which may be seen as an idealized version of the movements of the Sun and Moon through the zodiac, with the hour-hand representing the Sun and the minute-hand representing the Moon, there will be exactly eleven "New Moons" (i.e. moments when the minute-hand overtakes the hour-hand) in the course of a "Year" (i.e. one complete revolution of the hour-hand). Second, we know from the earliest extant Hellenistic astrological books that originally, the zodiac comprised eleven signs, not twelve; Libra was originally part of the "double sign" of Scorpio, and was known as the Claws (chelai) of the Scorpion. Third, at any given time, only eleven of the zodiacal signs are visible; the sign occupied by the Sun is of course overwhelmed/obscured by the Sun's glare. 

"Then there are several important instances of Eleven in the Bible. There are of course the several references to "the eleven" (the eleven Apostles, after the suicide of Judas Iscariot). There are the Eleven Stars of Genesis 37:9. And above all, there were the Eleven Curtains of the Tabernacle (Exodus 26:7); these presumably had something to do with the Great Mirror (Exodus 28:8). Haec in memoriam Kimberly Grove (1956-2004). Requiescas in pace!" 

DISCUSSION QUESTION:

Here are Agrippa's descriptions of the three Decanates of Taurus, whose names are SUO, ARYO, and ROMANAE: "In the first face of Taurus ascendeth a naked man, an archer, Harvester or Husbandman, and goeth forth to sow, plough, build, people and divide the earth, according to the rules of Geometry. In the second face ascendeth a naked man, holding in his hand a key; it giveth power, nobility, and dominion over people. In the third face, ascendeth a man in whose hand is a Serpent, and a dart, and is the image of necessity and profit, and also of misery and slavery." SO--what is the deeper meaning of Taurus the Bull, as derived from the combined signification of the three Decanates which underlie it?

And one more time, for Beltrano, this has been

OLD HAT