Hygeia (Hephaestion of Thebes, 400 CE) 

The Greek Goddess of Healing

Moon in Pisces, Venus in Taurus & Jupiter in Cancer

"Asclepius and Hygeia in Sagittarius and Pisces." 

- Hephaestion of Thebes, 415 AD, Egypt

 

(Roman Statue of Hygeia)

 

 

The Hippocratic oath which modern medical practitioners still swear by originated in ancient Greece. The original oath was sworn to Apollo, Asclepius, Hygeia and Panacea. For a thousand years the cult of Asclepius and Hygeia was renowned in the Greco-Roman world for healing.

Plutarch (447 – 432 BC) was highly impressed by the cult of Asclepius and the goddess Hygeia. He writes in the Life of Pericles that when the Parthenon was under construction in Athens, the most skilled worker accidentally slipped and fell from a great height. His injuries were so severe that the physicians there had no hope of him ever recovering. Soon after, Pericles was visited by the goddess in a dream and showed him how to treat the injured man, which he followed. To everyone’s amazement the man quickly and fully recovered. This incident earned Hygeia a place inside the temple near the altar in the form of a beautiful statue.

The cults of this god and goddess developed and administered natural medicines, the origins of western pharmacists (pharmakoi). They studied and taught people how to practice cleanliness and hygiene to promote health. This cult used intuition and occult practices to discern part of what we now refer to as germ theory which revolutionized modern medicine in the late 1800s. They also employed magicians as healers in their temples, the predecessors of hospitals. Many credible historical sources tell of people visiting the temples with incurable illnesses or injuries that couldn’t be helped by other methods turning directly to the gods. The priests would bring them into the sanctuary with statues of the god and goddess and petition them for a cure. The patient would sleep in the sanctuary and if their petition was answered, many experienced vivid dreams of Asclepius or Hygeia and wake up healed. In other cases, the priests received dreams showing them how to help in ways that was beyond their knowledge.

Hephaestion assigns Asclepius and Hygieia to Sagittarius and Pisces. Salutius says in "On Gods and the World", chapter six, that Asclepius is seen in Apollo, who was the Sun, a natural ruler of healing.  Hygeia is his female counterpart and is suited to the Moon. Pisces is a female, nocturnal and water sign, and Jupiter is a natural ruler of healing as well. 

Porphyry of Tyre mentions Asclepius in his treatise "On Statues" and says that the serpent symbolizes the preservation of the body and soul.

"Of the sun's healing power Asclepius is the symbol, and to him they have given the staff as a sign of the support and rest of the sick, and the serpent is wound round it, as significant of his preservation of body and soul: for the animal is most full of spirit, and shuffles off the weakness of the body. It seems also to have a great faculty for healing: for it found the remedy for giving clear sight and is said in a legend to know a certain plant which restores life."

Hygeia was widely depicted as a beautiful young woman holding a serpent or a bowl. This became a symbol for medicine that still endures today, the Bowl of Hygeia. She was depicted in Rome feeding a python wrapping around her body or a woman drinking from a jug of water. The Celts and Gauls under Roman rule adopted her as the healing goddess Sirona, also depicted with a snake. Sirona was most often the guardian of healing springs throughout Europe. Many of these springs still have stones dedicating them to Sirona with writing, images or both. 

 

 

Source

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 the Sun has been configured in the same way, and Saturn 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/or 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.

Election 

"Asclepius and Hygiea in Sagittarius and Pisces." - Hephaestion of Thebes

“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 the Sun has been configured in the same way, and Saturn likewise happens to be in his own trigon.

Hephaestion places considerable emphasis on the triplicity rulers much like Dorotheus of Sidon five centuries before him. During his life, three triplicity rulers were considered. Two rulers and a participating ruler came into use in the medieval period. He describes the most optimal astrological conditions to use, simple and straightforward, and the reader must find a time that matches it closely enough. This is how Julianus wrote his text on ensouling temple statues with astrological timing. The Moon and significator must not apply to a square or opposition with a malefic. The Luminary of Sect should ideally make applying aspects to benefics and/or their triplicity rulers whenever possible. At a minimum, the triplicity rulers of the significator’s sign should not be severely afflicted. He concludes that all remaining sacred images should be "completed and renewed when the Moon is in the aforesaid signs" (III.7.17–18). 

Election Chart

14 April, 2026   04:40 AM