This early works on Occultism is a comprehensive and informative study of Astrology, Palmistry, Thaumaturgic Art, Hypnotism & Mesmerism, and the Occult Arts. It is a fascinating read with much of the information still useful and practical today. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900's and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
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THE VOLITIONAL FACULTY—THE WILL AND IMAGINATION—ADEPTSHIP—ASTROLOGY —KABALISM—TALISMANS—NUMBEROLOGY —PALMISTRY—HYPNOTISM, ETC., ETC.
A MANUAL OF OCCULTISM
SECTION 1
CHAPTER I ASTROLOGY
THE astrologic art is held to be the key to all the occult sciences. Certainly it is the most ancient, and that which most readily lends itself to scientific demonstration.
Much that is contained in this and the following chapters is traditional knowledge, but some portion of it is the result of modern discovery and experiment. Thus the nature and significations of the signs of the zodiac and the planets, the aspects and some other parts of the groundwork of astrology, have come down to us from times immemorial; but the methods of computing the periods, the exact times of events, together with some methods of interpretation, are of modern or comparatively recent origin. Of course, all that is known of Neptune and Uranus is the result of modern discovery.
The subject before us can be divided into three parts:—
1. The alphabet.
2. The reading.
3. Time measures.
I will deal in this chapter with
THE ALPHABET
This includes the symbols and names of the planets and the signs, their groupings and dominions.
The PLANETS (including, for convenience of phrasing, the Sun and Moon) are nine in number. Stated in the order of their distances from the earth they are as follows:—
The Moon, which returns to the same place in the zodiac in about 27 days, and to its conjunction with the Sun in about 29 days. Every 19 years the New Moons fall in the same part of the zodiac.
The Moon’s characteristic is change or mobility.
Venus, which returns to the same part of the zodiac about the same date in 8 years. It is at its nearest to the earth when in inferior conjunction with the Sun. Its characteristic is placidity or peace. It is called by the Greeks Aphrodite.
Mercury, when in inferior conjunction with the Sun, is next in distance from the earth. It returns to the same longitude on the same date in 79 years. Its characteristic is activity.
The Sun is the chronocrater of our system, and all time is measured by its apparent movements. It has an apparent motion round the earth in 24 hours and 4 minutes, and an annual motion through the zodiac in 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 49 seconds. The earth is nearer the sun than it used to be, the day is shorter, and the precession of the equinoxes is greater. The equinoxes pass through each sign in about 2,160 years. The vernal equinox is now in the constellation Pisces, and in about 700 years will be in Aquarius. The characteristic of the Sun is vitality.
Mars returns to the same part of the zodiac about the same time at the end of 79 years. Consequently it forms its conjunction with
in the same part of the zodiac at the end of that period. Its characteristic is energy.
Jupiter returns to the same longitude about the same date every 83 years. It is called the Greater Fortune. Its characteristic is expansion.
Saturn has a period of 59 years, after which it comes to the same longitude about the same date. It is called the Greater Infortune. Its characteristic is privation.
Uranus has a synodic period of 84 years. Its characteristic is disruption.
Neptune has a period of about 165 years and its characteristic is chaos.
The periods of the planets according to the Chaldeans are—
4 years,
10 years,
8 years,
19 years,
15 years,
12 years, and
30 years. Thus the
rules the life from birth to 4 years of age and is succeeded by
up to 14, then
to the age of 22, followed by the Sun from 22 to 41, to which
succeeds until 56, and is followed by
, who rules the life up to the age of 68, the last 30 years, up to the age of 98, being dominated by Saturn.
These are the periods recited by Shakespeare in his famous passage in As You Like It, beginning “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” Thus the
is the babe, “mewling and puking in its nurse’s arms.”
is the scholar,
the lover,
the soldier,
the judge “with good capon lined,” and
the “lean and slippered pantaloon.” The last stage of all is that of
(disruption), the paralytic senility of which condition is so aptly described by the Bard.
Planetary Colours.
Neptune.—Mauve, lilac, heliotrope (admixtures of pale blue and scarlet).
Uranus.—Grey, black and white mixed, in checks or stripes.
Saturn.—Dark brown, black.
Jupiter.—Violet, purple.
Mars.—Scarlet, crimson.
Sun.—Orange, gold.
Venus.—Pale blue, turquoise.
Mercury.—Indigo, dark blue.
Moon.—Opal, iridescent sheens, yellow, and in watery signs (
,
,
) sea green.
Planetary Numbers.
The following numbers transmitted by John Heydon in the sixteenth century have been proved correct:—
Planetary Metals.
(unknown);
uranium;
lead;
tin;
iron;
copper;
quicksilver;
silver;
gold.
The atomic weights of the ancient metals are not presumed to have been known to the ancient astrologers, yet we find they named the planets and ascribed their dominions in the mineral world in exact accordance with the facts of modern science. The specific gravities of the various pure metals known to them are contained in the following glyph:—
This seven-pointed star is read from the ray marked
towards the left. The result is—
iron, specific gravity 56;
copper, specific gravity 63;
silver, specific gravity 108;
tin, specific gravity 118;
gold, specific gravity 196;
quicksilver, specific gravity 200;
lead, specific gravity 207;
Read alternately in the reverse order we have
ruling Sunday,
ruling Monday,
ruling Tuesday,
ruling Wednesday,
ruling Thursday,
ruling Friday,
ruling Saturday,
If we read from point to point so as to make a heptagram or seven-pointed star, or a star of seven angles, we have the order of the planets according to the Chaldean system:
