From: pisces@cs.mcgill.ca (L. M. P. McPherson)
Subject: Re: Sacred Geometry and Five
Organization: McGill University
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 00:06:58 GMT

Steve (cranmer@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu) writes:
>And Maggie (pisces@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca) writes:
>> The number five, so sacred to Pythagoreans, the number of
>> Mercury, corresponds in astrology to the quintile (and the other
>> aspects in the 5 series). 4/5 is the note we call "me" (in the
>> sequence doe, ray, me, fa, so, la, tee; I think "doe" is "C"
>> here). 3/5 is the note "la", 2/5 is "me" in the 2nd octave
>> (which he claims is a particularly pretty note, suggesting that
>> the biquintile aspect might be worth a second look), and 1/5 is
>> the third octave of the note "me". 
>
> How interesting.  The astrological 'five-harmonic' seems to me to have
> great deal to do with magick ('real' vs. stage -- see alt.magick's FAQ).

Yes, partly because in magick, the mind directs the will.

> The connotation with Mercury brings to mind our old pal Hermes Trismegistus,
> the 'originator' (be he mythical or not) of most of the Western magical
> tradition.

Mercury was also extremely important to the alchemists, who saw Mercury
as the messenger between the masculine and feminine principles (Sun and
Moon), and thus the key to uniting those principles, the goal of the work
(psychological "gold"; gold and the Sun are both symbolised by a
circle with a dot at its centre, a symbol of universality and eternity,
of the sum total of the universe -- the "one").

> Also, the biquintile (which is 2/5 of a circle, right?) is precise angle
> that one moves around a circle to make one stroke of a pentagram.

Nice point! I suppose that the number 5 is important in magick because of
the 5 elements: fire, earth, air, water, and the quintessence. The last
element is, as I understand it, the source of all the others. Perhaps
the point of the pentagram pointing directly up (or down) is associated
with the quintessence?

Mercury rules the lungs, and breathing is important in magick (as in
many disciplines). Magickians sometimes inspire essences of their choosing 
with each breath, do they not? Mercury also rules the hands (which 
naturally have five fingers), and man-ipulation of objects is often part
of magickal ritual. Creating magickal weapons with one's hands is also
part of magickal activity. And magickians recognise the power of the
word, uttered under will. Mercury rules all uses of language. It also
rules thought, and magickians try to master their own thoughts (e.g.,
with various forms of meditation), and sometimes try to alter the
thoughts of others! David Kehoe quotes Susannah Martin, a magickian
executed for witchcraft in Salem: "Why my thoughts are my own, when they 
are in, but when they are out they are another's."

I think the relationship among Mercury, the number 5, and magick is
very clear.

> PS - Maggie, any more 'lessons' in the making?  ....

I'm afraid I just don't have the time (as much as I love to teach). I think
that I covered the hard stuff. It is relatively easy to find, for example,
descriptions of the nature of the signs, planets, and houses. As for
branches of astrology such as transits and synastry, there isn't much
to say. To predict with transits, you look at the house position in your
chart of a transiting planet, and you look at the aspects it forms to
planets in your chart. To gain insight into a relationship using synastry,
you look at the house positions of one person's planets in the other's
chart, and you look at aspects between planets in the two charts. There
are lots of books providing interpretations of the contacts. (See the
resource list at the ftp site.) Once you understand aspects and rulerships,
you can apply this understanding to all the various branches of astrology
(e.g., horary astrology, progressions, returns). Interpretations will
come to you when you have become intimate with the astrological cast of
characters (the signs, planets, houses, and aspects) and, by opening
yourself up to inspiration and contemplating the chart as a whole,
you can intuit an interpretation. Because delineation depends on the
whole chart, which is by nature unique, "cookbook" lists of the
"meanings" of various aspects (e.g., Sun trine Pluto) are of little 
utility. So a lesson providing interpretive advice would be misleading.


____________________________________________________________________________

 ******
*      * Maggie McPherson               And what if I gave you the key
*      *****************************    to the doors of your design...
*      * pisces@cs.mcgill.ca  *   *     lit the corridors of desire? Were it
 ******                       *   *     not so black and not so hard to see,  
14/3/56 11:31 MST (+7) 104W39 50N25     what use to you then any fire?
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec                        (Andrew Eldritch)

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