Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) · 87 of 123 · tr. A.E. Waite
17. The Writing Of The Starsd
This day is consecrated to mental enterprises and should be favourable for opportune innovations.
2.
Pope Joan, or Occult Science.
The second day, the genius of which Enediel, was the fifth of creation, for the moon was made on the fourth day.
The birds and fishes, created on this day, are living hieroglyphs of magical analogies and of the universal doctrine of Hermes.
The water and air, which were filled thereby with forms of the Word, are elementary figures of the Mercury of the Sages, that is, of intelligence and speech.
This day is propitious to revelations, initiations and great discoveries of science.
3.
The Celestial Mother, or Empress.
The third day was that of man's creation.
So is the moon called the MOTHER in Kabalah, when it is represented in association with the number 3.
This day is favourable to generation and generally to all productions, whether of body or mind.
4.
The Emperor, or Ruler.
The fourth day is baleful: it was that of the birth of Cain; but it is favourable to unjust and tyrannical enterprises.
5.
The Pope, or Hierophant.
The fifth day is fortunate; it was that of the birth of Abel.
6.
The Lover, or Liberty.
The sixth day is a day of pride; it was that of the birth of Lamech, who said unto his wives: “I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.” This day is propitious for conspiracies and rebellions.
7.
The Chariot.
On the seventh day, birth of Hebron, who gave his name to the first of the seven sacred cities of Israel.
a day of religion, prayers and success.
8.
Justice.
Murder of Abel.
Day of expiation.
9.
The Old Man, or Hermit.
Birth of Methuselah.
Day of blessing for children.
10.
Ezekiel's Wheel of Fortune.
Birth of Nebuchadnezzar.
Reign of the Beast.
Fatal day.
11.
Strength.
Birth of Noah.
Visions on this day are deceitful, but it is one of health and long life for children born on it.
12.
The Victim, or Hanged Man.
Birth of Samuel.
Prophetic and kabalistic day, favourable to the fulfilment of the Great Work.
13.
Death.
Birthday of Canaan, the accursed son of Chain.
Baleful day and fatal number.
14.
The Angel of Temperance.
Blessing of Noah on the fourteenth day of the moon.
This day is governed by the angel Cassiel of the hierarchy of Uriel.
15.
Typhon, or the Devil.
Birth of Ishmael.
Day of reprobation and exile.
16.
The Blasted Tower.
Birthday of Jacob and Esau; the day also of Jacob's predestination, to Esau's ruin.
17.
The Glittering Star.
Fire from heaven burns Sodom and Gomorrah.
Day of salvation for the good and ruin for the wicked: dangerous on a Saturday.
It is under the dominion of the Scorpion.
18.
The Moon.
Birth of Isaac.
Wife's triumph.
Day of conjugal affection and good hope.
19.
The Sun.
Birth of Pharoah.
a beneficent or fatal day for the great of earth, according to the different merits of the great.
20.
The Judgement.
Birth of Jonah, the instrument of God's judgement.
Propitious for Divine Revelations.
21.
The World.
Birth of Saul, material royalty.
Danger to mind and reason.
22.
Influence of Saturn.
Birth of Job.
Day of trial and suffering.
23.
Influence of Tenus.
Themes
◆Correspondencecosmology
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The text systematically links days, Tarot cards, biblical events, and magical outcomes, embodying the Hermetic principle of universal analogy.
Narratives or doctrines of cosmic origin — how heaven, earth, and the primordial deities first came into being. The Kojiki's deities born alone on the Plain of High Heaven, Voluspo's Ginnungagap, Genesis's tohu wa-bohu, the Timaeus's Demiurge fashioning the Receptacle, the Hesiodic Theogony, the Kalevala's egg-cosmogony, Egyptian Nun-and-Atum. Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (structural-ontological cascade), letters_of_creation (mechanism of creation), and apocatastasis/frashokereti (end-state restoration); cosmogony is temporally-narrative beginning.
The structure relies on the Genesis creation narrative (days of creation) to assign meaning to the calendar.