APHRODITE - GREEK GODDESS OF LOVE & BEAUTY

Brass Statue

Venus in Libra 

"From Venus...the virtue of causing loves and enthusiasms and expelling sorrow and sloth, invigorating the appetite, increasing generation, multiplying children...." (Picatrix)

“[Spica] will increase gold, accumulate riches, bring victory in lawsuits, and free men from evil and anguish.” (Quindecim Stellis)

Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of fertility, beauty, love, and pleasure. Her name is the origin of the word aphrodisiac. In Homer's Iliad, she was a daughter of Zeus and played a key role inciting the Trojan War.  To the Romans, she was known as Venus. Her attendants were the Charites or Graces.

(Birth of Venus, 50 AD, Pompeii)

The practice of ensouling sacred images (collectively referred to as talismans) using astrological timing dates back to at least the Roman period. The best-known instructional texts on the subject were written in the medieval and Renaissance era, but some older sources have survived the passage of almost 2,000 years.

This Neoplatonic practice is detailed in older sources, which contain instructions for enshrining the agalma, meaning temple statue or idol, of certain gods and goddesses under carefully chosen astrological conditions.

Julianus of Laodicea was an astrologer and Neoplatonist who penned a short treatise on using inceptions (elections) for temple statues and sacred images, part of a larger practice called theurgy. He lived in the Eastern Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Justinian I. Julianus was likely a student while the famous Proclus headed the Neoplatonic school. The Neoplatonists include Plotinus, Porphyry, and Iamblichus.

Let the ensoulment of chthonic and nocturnal gods take place with Selene (Moon), Aphrodite (Venus) and Zeus (Jupiter) in harmonious aspects and Kronos (Saturn) in harmony with them. For male and diurnal gods, place Helios (Sun) in the midheaven or ninth house. If the image is Ares (Mars) then use suitable considerations for Ares. For Kronos (Saturn) then consider Saturn, because the same rules apply to all.

For celestial gods or gods of the air, consider the spring quarter; for the heavenly and fiery gods the summer quarter, for those of the earth the autumn, and gods of the water element the winter. The divine works come into being in this way. Choose a time with a fixed zodiac sign of long ascension, and the planets are making strong supporting aspects, and the Moon’s aspects are numerous and favorable." Julianus of Laodicea (480 AD)

Hephaestion of Thebes was a Hellenized Egyptian astrologer who lived in Roman Egypt during the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Around 400-415 AD, the same time that Emperor Theodosius issued his decree ordering the destruction of all pagan temples and making their practices a capital crime in Rome’s provinces, Hephaestion wrote his three volumes on astrology. In the third volume “On Inceptions” he provides instructions for crafting temple statue and sacred images of many ancient gods.

“In the temples one must enthrone the statues (agalmata), after they have been made in the fitting form, and of suitable material, as the wise Egyptians and the rest of the ancients have transmitted, when the Moon is filling and has appeared in her phase.  The powers of such images, when they are completed in harmony with the heavens’ movement, are produced more ‘theōdéstera’ (more god-filled) and ensouled.

“And each of the sacred objects and statues is advantageous to fashion and enthrone while the Moon is in Jupiter’s trigon [triplicity] and while Jupiter is harmonious with her. That is, in the same trigon, and likewise when Helios has been configured in the same way, and Kronos likewise happens to be in his own trigon.

“And for the rest of the stars [planets] one must in the same way prepare both the sacred objects and the statues. It is auspicious, whenever they themselves are in their exaltations and domiciles, to fashion them, if no malefic stars [planets] opposes.”

(Hephaestion of Thebes Book III 7.13-18)

Hephaestion of Thebes requires a considerable number of factors to be present for the ensoulment of a sacred image. The triplicity rulers according to Dorotheus are considered, as well as the luminary of sect (Sun in day and Moon at night) having a harmonious configuration. The three triplicity rulers signify the beginning, middle and end.

He adds that they should be crafted when the exaltation or domicile ruler is present in the god’s sign, which is standard for a planetary election. The significators must not make hard aspects with the malefics, Saturn and Mars, and be made with suitable material.

Hephaestion’s work pairs well with the writings of Julianus of Laodecia. Around 480 CE, Julianus wrote a short treatise on the use of astrological elections or inceptions, meaning “beginnings” or the moment in which a temple statue is ensouled. He was a pagan philosopher and member of the New Academy and likely studied there while Proclus was head of the school. His treatise was written during the reign of Justinian, who effectively outlawed the New Academy in the Eastern Roman Empire and caused many philosophers to flee to Persian territories. This is believed to have been the cause of the Academy founded in Harran, which later provided much of the material that became the Ghayat al Hakim or Picatrix.

From a historical standpoint, these two texts are significant because they both predate Catholicism as the state religion of Rome. Hephaestion lived in Egypt when it was a province of the Western Roman Empire and Julianus in Athens, part of the Eastern Roman empire.

Like many works of Hellenistic astrology, these are short compared to medieval sources. The recommended astrological considerations are numerous and stringent, and place a notable emphasis on doryphory, also called attendants or spear-bearers as well as the sect (day or night). Nocturnal charts are used for chthonic (underworld) gods and diurnal for the celestial. Both recommend that the Moon in night charts and Sun in day charts aspect at least one planet for support.

“Sweats (life) will be [produced] if the gods are chthonic, with Selene, Aphrodite, and Zeus testifying (bearing witness) to one another, and let Kronos also testify to them in harmony….with male gods….the same rule applies to all.”

Julianus recommends that the Moon, Venus and Jupiter aspect each other and Saturn lend his support for nocturnal gods and goddesses of the underworld, and to apply this principle for the diurnal gods. The Moon aspecting both benefics ensures that the most benevolent astral influences are imprinted into the image, and Saturn will not hinder it. These astrological configurations complement those of Hephaestion. When paired with the more thorough details found in Picatrix, they are a fascinating look at one of the most heavily suppressed branches of knowledge from the ancient world.

(Marble statue of Aphrodite, 2nd century)

Creation 

These statues were created using a technique called sand casting, using a forge, crucible, and a clay mold of Aphrodite which I sculpted by hand based on Classical Greek statues. This clay mold was packed in sand and then removed, leaving an empty space imprinted for the molten metal to fill and solidify at the precise time.

The brass was heated for 20-30 minutes until it was molten and poured into the sand at the correct moment, just before sunrise. According to Thabit Ibn Qurra, the moment the statue solidified is the moment of its birth. 

Because newly solidified statues are as hot as lava, they are quickly placed in water to cool for a half hour, then removed and placed around frankincense smoke for suffumigation. I then poured a small amount of frankincense oil on them and placed them inside cloth bags and small wooden boxes for storage until they could be polished under correct astrological conditions.

Because of the extreme heat required, the statues will have scorch marks on them immediately after they're made. The severe restrictions on the use of correct astrological timing make it impossible to polish them immediately. For the next two years, I polished them only when the Moon was in Cancer, per the Book of the Treasure of Alexander.

Astrological Conditions