Valens sign descriptions

[Guest guest]

In case members are interested in reading all of Vettius Valens and his sign

descriptions from about 150 C.E., I have appended them below. Whatever

evolution there may have been in the signs in the intervening two millenia,

these are familiar and easily identifiable as we know them. These descriptions

come from a time when the tropical and sidereal zodiac were coterminous.

 

Chris

 

_____________

 

2. Concerning the Nature of the Twelve Zoidia

 

With these tilings drawn up in such a way, we must also discuss the nature of

the 12 zoidia.

 

Aries is the house of Ares, a masculine zoidion, tropical, terrestrial,

authoritative, fiery, free, ascending, semi-vocal, good, changeable,

administrative, public, civic, unprolific, servile, Midheaven of the cosmos and

cause of repute, two-colored (since the Sun and the Moon make leprosies),

skin-eruptions; it is also unconnected, a place for eclipses.

Those who are born in this zoidion in accordance with the rulership relation,

then, will be bright, notable, commanding, just, with a hatred of knaves, free,

authoritative, bold in purpose, braggarts, great-souled, inconstant, irregular,

haughty, up-in-the-air, threatening, quickly changing, well-off. When the rulers

are well situated and testified to by benefics, the natives become kingly,

powerful, and have the power of life and death.

Aries is watery in nature, full of thunder, hail. More particularly, the first

parts up to the equipartite [place] are full of thunderstorms, hail, wind, and

destruction; the middle parts up to the 15th degree are temperate, [while the

following parts are scorching and especially pestilential] for quadrupeds.

This zoidion has 19 bright stars. And it has 13 bright stars through the belt,

27 shadowy ones, 28 underbright bright ones, and 48 faint ones. The first part

of Perseus from the northern regions co-rises with it, as does the remaining

parts and the left part of Auriga, and from the south the back fin and tail of

the Sea Monster. From the north, the [feet] of Bootes set. From the south, the

remainder of Lupus.

These zones are subject to Aries: the front, Babylonia;'the head, Elymais; the

right, Persia; the left, the vale of Syria and the contiguous places; for the

curve of the face, Babylonia; for the breast, Armenia; under the shoulders,

Thrace; for the bcliy, Cappadocia and Susa and the Red Sea and Rhypara; the hind

parts, Egypt and the Persian Ocean.

 

Taurus is feminine, solid, lying in the spring tropic, bony, rising from the

hind-parts, setting upright, of which the greatest part lies in the invisible

cosmos. It is the wealth-bringing zoidion of the cosmos, earthy, rural,

pertaining to freedmen, descending, unprolific, semi-vocal and mute, good,

unchangeable, industrious, incomplete, significant for foundations,

acquisitions. The ecliptic circle lies in the north, rising at some distance.

 

Those born in this zoidion will be good, versed in a handicraft, hard-working,

good at preserving things, pleasure loving, music loving, generous, while some

of them will be husbandmen, planters, builders. And if the bencfics should

somehow incline toward this place, or also, if the ruler should be

well-situated, they will become archpriests, and gymnasiarchs, those who are

deemed worthy of crowns and purple, of images and siatues, those who stand in

the forefronl of priests, notable, bright.

It is a calm zoidion. By parts: From the 1st degree up to the 5th degree, the

place round the Pleiades, it is undistinguished, destructive, pestilential,

thunder-causing, productive of earthquakes and thunderbolts rind generative of

lightning. The next 2 degrees are fiery, and full of log; the parts on the right

near Auriga are temperate, cooling; the parts on the left are undistinguished

and excite motion, and are sometimes chilling, other times scorching; the head

up to the 23rd degree has temperate aii, but pestilential and destructive of

living beings; the [following] axe destructive, undistinguished, full of

pestilence.

It has 27 stars, the remaining part of Auriga co-rising from the north, the_

remainder of the Sea Monster and the first part of Eridanus co-rising from the

south. It is of Aphrodite, Selene, Demeter, Ares, Hermes. Bootes as far as (he

belt and [the shoulders] of Ophiuchus as far as the knees set from the north.

Orion, who has a sword set up in his right hand, [co-rises] from the south. On

the left dwells the so-called Herald, who is sitting in the middle of the body.

The zones subject to it are: for the head, Media and the contiguous places; with

respect to the breast, Babylonia; the part near Auriga, the right side of

Scythia; the Pleiades, Cyprus; the left side, Arabia and the nearby places; for

the shoulders, Persia and the Caucasian mountains; under the hump, [sarmatia];

under the loins, Ethiopia; under the horns, Carthage; with respect to the middle

parts, Armenia, India, Germania.

 

Gemini is masculine, bicorporeal, euphonious, the house of Hermes, ascending,

airy, effeminate, pertaining to freedmen, barren, public.

Those so born, then, become fond of discourse, those who work with letters and

education, poetic, lovers of music, teachers of the use of the voice, capable in

matters of household management, those who receive trust. They also become

interpreters, those with an aptitude for commerce, critics of good and bad,

prudent, curious, initiates in occult matters.

And all the things that the ruler is at times accustomed to produce by its own

nature, whether good or base, or lesser or greater, each one of the zoidia will

also produce according to whether the figure-description of its ruler is

operative or unprofitable, in order that we should not to seem to be writing the

same matters.

It is a calm zoidion. By parts: The 3 degrees are undistinguished, destructive.

From the 3rd to the 7th, mildly wet. It is temperate from the 7th to the 15th.

The south is mildly wet. The last degrees are mixed.

It has 21 stars. It lies in the west wind. In accordance with the doctrine of

spherics, the tail of the Sea Monster, which touches at some part of the

southern pans, lies next to it. From the parts mat occur toward the south within

the line to the south is Satyr, touching [the club], the skin of which is

actually seen from behind from its southern parts. Lyra lies toward the northern

part, Gemini has stepped upon the southern line, being the middle of the north

and south. Under its feet upon the southern line is the so-called Dog in front

of the right foot, and it is cut by the southern pole from its hind parts up to

its head, mounting up vertically with the pole. The remainder of Eridanus and

Orion co-rise from the south. The gods Apollo, Heracles. Hephaistos, Hera, and

Kronos associate with them. Bootes sets from the north, as does Ophiuchus except

for the head, and half of Corona as well.

These zones are subject to Gemini: the front, India and the contiguous places,

and Celtica; the breast, Sicily, Galatia, Thrace, and Boeotia; the middle,

Egypt, Libya, the Roman region, Arabia, Syria.

 

Cancer is the house of the Moon, feminine, tropical, Horoskopos of the cosmos,

slavish, descending, mute, watery, good, changeable, public, popular, civil,

prolific, amphibious.

Those so born, then, will be fond of repute, popular, changeable, theatrical,

cheerful, fond of pleasure and entertaining, public, inconstant in knowledge,

saying one thing but thinking another, those who do not remain with one activity

or two for long, who end up wandering and sojourning abroad.

Cancer is a calm zoidion. By parts: For the first two south-easterly stars it is

undistinguished, destructive, stifling, and productive of earthquakes. From

these up to the 10th degree it makes the air very wet, scorching, having a

downpour of water and continuous thunder-storms. The parts on the right are

undistinguished and destructive.

The Hare and the foreparts of the Dog and Procyon co-rise from the south. It has

4 stars. It is a zoidion of Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Pan, Aphrodite. The head of

Bootes sets from the north, as weil as the star in the knees, and Aquila and

half of Corona.

These are subject to Cancer: the front, Bactria; the left, Zacynthus, Acarnania;

the hind parts, Ethiopia, Schine; for the head, the Sea of Azof and the nations

dwelling around it, the Red Sea, the Hyrcanian Sea, the Hellespont, the Libyan

Sea, Brittanica, and the island of Thoule; for the feet, Armenia, Cappadocia,

Rhodes, Cos; for the last parts of Cancer upon the belly; Troglodytia, Ionia,

Hellespont.

 

Leo is masculine, the house of the Sun, free, fiery, well-tempered, noetic,

kingly, sedentary, good, ascending, changeable, solid, authorita- tive, civil,

originative, irascible.

Those so born are notable, good, unchangeable, just, hating work, insubordinate,

despising flatten', beneficent, puffed up with intentions.

If the ruler should happen to be upon a pivot point or should be with benefics,

they will become bright, esteemed, tyrannical, kingly.

It is scorching. The bright star in the breast is fiery and stifling. It is, by

parts, up to the 10th degree, stifling, pestilential for quadrupeds in the

underlying zones and places. The parts on the right excite motion and are fiery.

The parts in the south are mildly wet. The lower parts are deadly for all. The

parts in the middle and on the left are temperate.

Leo has ... stars. According to the doctrine of spherics, the left arm of Bootes

co-rises from the north. The stern of Argo and the remainder of the Dog co-rise

from the south, as does the remainder of Hydra, whose tail ties alongside as far

as the claw of Scorpio, but the head as far as claw of Cancer. Above it stands

the Lesser Bear, and the head of Serpens, which Ophiuchos holds, stretches down

along the line. Dolphin, Lyra, and Zeugma, Cygnus, except for the bright star on

its rump, and the head of Pegasus set from the north. These zones are subject to

Leo: in the head, Celtica and the contiguous places; the foreparts, Bithynia;

the right side, Macedonia and the contiguous places; the left side, Proponds;

the feet, Galatia; for the belly, Celtica; to the shoulders, Thrace; to the

flanks, Phoenicia, the Adriatic, Libya; in the middle, Phrygia, Syria; lo the

tail, Pisinous.

 

Virgo is the house of Hermes, feminine, winged, human in form, fastidious, set

in the shape of Justice, bicorporeal, barren, pertaining to freedman,

unfruitful, descending, earthy, common, semi-vocal and mute, corporeal,

incomplete, changeable, pertaining to those who practice a handicraft,

dual-natured.

Those who are so born are good, modest, involved with the mysteries, full of

care, those who lead a diverse life, managers of the property of others,

faithful, good at domestic affairs, writers, those who are supported by speeches

and calculations, hypocritical, curious, initiates into occult matters, those

who spend their initial resources but prosper in middle age.

 

Libra is the house of Aphrodite, masculine, tropical, human in form, ascending,

airy, effeminate, vocal, good, changeable, diminishing of one's belongings, the

subterraneous zoidion of the cosmos, public, a place for eclipses, productive of

fruits, wines, olives, unguents, of balances, measures, pertaining to those who

practice handicrafts.

Those so born are good and just, though malicious, desirous of the goods of

others, moderate, those who lose what they have first acquired and those who

have their ups and downs, those who live irregularly, those who oversee measures

and weights or supplies.

 

Scorpio is the house of Ares, feminine, solid, watery, prolific, destructive,

descending, mute, slavish, unchangeable, cause of foul smells. subtractive of

one's belongings, a place for eclipses, diverse.

Those so born are treacherous, knavish, rapacious, murderous: traitors,

unchangeable, those who arc liable to have their belongings taken away,

secretive plotters, thieves, perjured, desirous of die things of others, privy

to murders or sorcery or malicious doings, haters of their own families.

 

Sagittarius is the house of Zeus, masculine, fiery, ascending, vocal, very

watery because of Argo, good, winged, changeable, bicorporeal, dual- natured,

enigmatical, barren, semi-complete, authoritative, kingly.

Those so born are good, just, great-souled, critical, generous, fond of brothers

and friends, those who diminish what they first acquired but acquire them again,

those who prevail over enemies, lovers of reputation, versatile, notable, those

who weave matters in a riddling fashion

 

Capricorn is the house of Kronos, feminine, tropical, earthy, destructive.

unfruitful, descending, chilled, rnute, cause of evils, licentious, servile.

enigmatical, dual-natured, very watery, semi-complete, a zoidion for hunchbacks

and cripples, the setting of the cosmos, indicator of toil and trouble, a

zoidion for stone-cutters and farmers.

Those so born will be bad, of different sorts, good and simple at exposition,

hardworking, full of care, sleepless, fond of laughter planners of great works,

those who make bad mistakes, fickle, mischievous, liars, culpable, shameful.

It is temperate toward both sides. By parts, the first parts are destructive;

the second very wet, having to do with thunder-storms, exciting motion; the

middle parts are fiery; the last parts are destructive.

It has ... stars. According to the doctrine of spherics, Cassiopia and the right

side of Pegasus rise from the north. The rear of Centaurus and the claws of

Hydra as far as the Cup set from the south. The gods are Aphrodite, Selene,

Demeter, Hermes. There is nothing from the north.

These zones are subject to Capricorn: the West and all the South, for the ribs,

the Aegean Sea and the nations dwelling around it and Corinth; for the belt,

Sicyon; for the back, the Great Sea; for the tail, Iberia; for the head, the

Tyrrhenic Sea; for the belly, the middle ol Egypt, Syria.

 

Aquarius is a masculine zoidion in the heavens, solid, human in shape,

pertaining to waterside trades, one of a kind; it is mute, very cold, free,

ascending, effeminate, unchangeable, bad, barren, cause of troubles tlirough

struggle, or of burdens and working in hard materials, pertaining to those who

practice handicrafts, public. Those so born are malicious and haters of their

own families, unchangeable, single-minded, deceitful, treacherous, those who

conceal everything, misanthropists, impious, accusers, betrayers of opinion and

truth, begrudging, concerned with trifles, at times generous through the efflux

of water, incontinent.

It is entirely wet. The first parts are very wet, the upper parts fiery, the

lower parts undistinguished and unserviceable.

It has ... stars. According to the doctrine of spherics, some of the middle part

of the right side of Andromeda co-rises from the north, as well as the remainder

of Pegasus. The southern fish of Pisces except for the head co-rises from the

south. It is of Hera, Heracles, Hephaistos, Kronos. Nothing sets from the north,

but the remainder of Centaurus and the remainder of Hydra as far as Corvus set

from the south.

According to the doctrine of spherics, the river down to the south pole, the

so-called Eridanus, lies near it; also the great Fish which touches the tail of

Capricorn. The so-called Cygnus is in the northern places within the north pole,

beyond which stretches Sagitta, where the so-called Bear is looking closely at

the Dog's Tail toward the north,

[These zones lie near to it:) The zoidion lies in the west wind. It lies near

the zone of Egypt and the nearby cities. From its southern parts as far as

Pselcheus and Dodekaschonos and Sycammon, from the parts toward the west as far

as the Ammoniac region and the nearby cities, from the parts to the east as far

as the Red Sea which it touches, from the parts to the north of it as far as the

places of Sebennytus and the mouth of Heraclea.

[These zones are subject to Aquarius:] the front, Syria; the middle, Euphrates

and Tigris, Egypt and Libya and the contiguous rivers of Egypt and the Indus

river; for the middle of the pitcher, Tanais and the remaining rivers from the

Hyperborei flowing to the southwest.

 

 

Pisces is a feminine zoidion in the heavens, very wet, pertaining to waterside

trades, bicorporeal, prolific, full of eruptions, scaly, sinewy, humped,

leprous, of twin form, mute, restless, rough, opposed to itself because of being

both in the south and in the north. It is also very wet, descending, slavish,

changeable, prolific, bicorporeal, sociable, mutilated, a cause of wandering,

complicated.

Those so born are inconstant, of two minds, those who change from bad to good,

erotic, servile, licentious, prolific, popular.

It is entirely cooling, full of breezes. By parts, the first are temperate; the

middle, very wet; the last, destructive and undistinguished.

It has ... stars. The remaining parts of Andromeda and the remainder of Perseus

on the right side and the Triangle beyond Aries co-rise from the north, while

the head of the southern fish of Pisces co-rises from the south. It is of

Poseidon, Ares, Hermes, Aphrodite, Zeus. Ara and the remaining parts of Hydra

set from the south, white nothing sets from the north.

It lies near the north wind. It iies near the zone of the Red Sea, which has not

a few islands along it, beyond which India and the so-called Indian Ocean He. In

its eastern parts it touches Parthia and the Indian region and the Eastern

Ocean. From its northern parts it touches the Scythian region. From the parts

toward the West it touches the Mouse harbor and the harbor of Orthos and the

nearby cities.

In accordance with the doctrine of spherics, there lies near to the northern

part of Pisces Aquila which is cut by the north pole and for a certain part

Sagitta, but within the north pole not much is divided. The so-called Pegasus is

within the arctic pole. The arctic pole, lying in the middle of everything, is

far from the whole sections, having in itself the Bear that carries the

so-called Dog's Tail from the north to the east, at times also from the south,

and the other so-called Great Bear which rises in the middle of the night. The

so-called Bootes holds them fast while carrying a peritasis for the two Bears.

It is invisible for the issuing forth of the two Bears; for, the one looks

directly at the north, the other at tie south.

These am the zones subject to it by part; the front, Euphrates and Tigris; the

middle, Syria, Red Sea, the Indian Sea, the middle of Persia and the contiguous

places; [under the back], the Arabian Sea and the Borysthenes'river; for the

knot, in the north Thrace, in the south, Asia and Sardinia.

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

I let this post go through, but it might be Robert Schmidt's

copyrighted translation. If this material came from a web site, can

someone point me to the URL?

 

Schmidt may have put Valens in the public domain. I don't know...

 

Thanks,

Therese

 

, Christopher Kevill

<ckevill wrote:

>

> In case members are interested in reading all of Vettius Valens and

his sign descriptions from about 150 C.E., I have appended them

below...