Jupiter Degree of Exaltation 

"The Image of Jupiter. Under the influence of Jupiter, make the figure of a crowned man sitting on a throne with four feet carried by four winged men and the man who is sitting on the throne is raising his hands as though he were praying. Make it in the hour of Jupiter when Jupiter is rising in his exaltation and make it in a clear and white stone. Those who carry this image will have increase of riches and honor and lead a good life, and have many sons, and be able to perform good things and not be injured by enemies." (Picatrix Book 2, Chapter 10)

"They made also another image of Jupiter [in exaltation], in a white and clear stone, especially in crystal, and it was a naked man crowned, having both his hands joined together and lifted up, as it were deprecating something, sitting in a four-footed chair, which is carried by four winged boys, and they affirm that this Image increases felicity, riches, honor, and confers benevolence and prosperity, and protection from enemies." (Second Book of Occult Philosophy, Chapter 39)

Zeus is the ancient Greek name for “sky father” believed to originate from an older Bronze Age name in Europe. He is well known from Greek mythology as the ruler of Olympus. During the Hellenistic era after the conquests of Alexander the Great, the name Zeus became commonly used for the creator deity of many different people. Among them was Jupiter of the Romans, and when Hellenistic astrology spread from Ptolemaic Egypt the planet Jupiter was assigned the name of Zeus.

Many of the Jupiter images in Picatrix and Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy strongly resemble the older Zeus/Jupiter imagery, a bearded man on a throne accompanied by an eagle or winged angels.

Jupiter with his attendant Nike in his hand and flanked by his eagle. Rome, 1st Century (Source: Wiki Commons)

Source

Picatrix is the most thorough work of its kind, compiled around one thousand years ago. Its author is still unknown and will likely remain a mystery. The author compiled astrological magic instructions from over 200 different sources, some of it clearly of Greek origin and even more from pre-Islamic kingdoms of the Middle East and Central Asia. Like the Sabeans of Harran, the author consolidated the pagan lore with the philosophy of Aristotle and Neo-Platonism. 

Around 480 AD in Athens, Julianus of Laodecia wrote a short treatise on the use of astrological elections or inceptions, meaning “beginnings” for temple statues. 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.

Much of Julianus’s writings are lost to time, but Franz Cumont compiled and published many obscure Greek astrological texts from 1898 to 1953, which includes his work on temple statues. It is short compared to medieval sources but contains interesting information. The recommended astrological considerations are lengthy, and have an emphasis on doryphory, also called attendants or spear-bearers. He gives considerable attention to the use of the ninth house for dream incubation and obtaining oracles from sacred images, which was a widespread practice in ancient times. Interestingly, Agrippa provides a similar formula in his Second Book of Occult Philosophy over a thousand years later.

Julianus provides instructions for crafting statues of the seven Greek deities that correspond to the seven planets, and makes mention of the “ram-headed Zeus” or Zeus-Ammon and Isis of the Egyptians, as well as their use of uncarved stones.

Hephaestion of Thebes was a Hellenized Egyptian astrologer who lived in Roman Egypt during the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Around 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. In his third volume “On Inceptions” he provides instructions for crafting many different temple statues and sacred images.

“In the temples one must set up 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 waxing and has appeared in her phase; for 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, it 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 one must in the same way prepare both the sacred objects and the statues; furthermore it is auspicious, whenever they themselves are in their exaltations and domiciles, to fashion them, provided none of the malefic stars is opposing.”

(Hephaestion of Thebes Book III 7.13-18)

Like Julianus, Hephaestion of Thebes requires a considerable amount of factors to be present. 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. He adds that they should be crafted when the sign’s exaltation or domicile ruler is present and not opposed by the malefics, Saturn and Mars, and made with suitable material.

The Degree of Exaltation originates in Hermetic lore around 2,000 years ago with the Thema Mundi. It means “World Theme” and was used as a sort of mandala for contemplating the deeper meanings underlying the tropical zodiac. It shows the planets at the hypothetical beginning of creation when they are all in a state of perfection and expressing their nature to the fullest.

14o Cancer is the ascendant of the Thema Mundi and it is used to determine the signs of exaltation for each planet. Traditional sources state 15 degrees but until relatively recently, the tropical zodiac did not use the number zero and simply listed 0o of each sign as the first degree and requires one degree to be subtracted. For example, the Sun’s Degree of Exaltation is listed as the nineteenth degree of Aries and in modern terms should be 18o. The angles of the Thema Mundi (ascendant, midheaven, descendant and Imum Coeli) are all in signs of the equinox and solstice. Cancer is the first house of the Thema Mundi. Aries, the sign of spring, may seem to be the more logical choice but Cancer, the sign of the summer solstice, has deeper meanings that have become overlooked.

Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius was a Roman philosopher who wrote two important works on the esoteric lore of the ancient world around 430 AD, Saturnalia and Commentary on the Dream of Scipio. Both are incredibly valuable because they are uncensored commentaries on subjects that suddenly found themselves suppressed by the newly empowered Roman Catholic Church. Saturnalia remains the most vivid account of the famous Roman festival. The Dream of Scipio is an influential work by Marcus Tullius Cicero (101 BC – 43 BC) a famous Roman Senator and philosopher who was educated by the Middle Platonists in Greece. It vividly describes the ancient view of dreams, the world of matter and the spiritual world being inextricably linked.

Macrobius provides a fascinating bit of ancient lore regarding the solstices. He says that the watery Cancer is the “womb” for souls entering the earthly sphere via the summer solstice and that Capricorn, the cold, earthy sign in which the winter solstice occurs, is the “exit” for souls leaving the earth. This is especially interesting because ancient societies as far back as the Stone Age carefully aligned henges and megalithic tombs with the solstice. He also says that the nearby constellation of Crater the Cup emanates an intoxicating influence on the descending souls, causing them to have amnesia at birth.

“When the soul is being drawn towards a body in this first protraction of itself it begins to experience a tumultuous influx of matter rushing upon it This is what Plato alludes to when he speaks in the Phaedo of a soul suddenly staggering as if drunk as it is being drawn into the body; he wishes to imply the recent draught of on rushing matter by which the soul, defiled and weighted down, is pressed earthwards.  Another clue to this secret is the location of the constellation of the Bowl of Bacchus (Crater the Cup) in the region between Cancer and Leo, indicating that there for the first time, intoxication overtakes descending souls with the influx of matter; whence the companion of intoxication, forgetfulness, also begins to steal quietly upon souls at that point.” (Chapter 12, 4)

The River Eridanus is also intersecting the waters of Cancer and this corresponds to the River Lethe, the river in the underworld bordering Elysium where souls drink the water of forgetfulness and lose memories of their prior incarnation. In the Roman world this constellation was considered the celestial counterpart of the River Po. Eridanus also had links in mythology to the Rivers Acheron and Styx and linked the heavens and underworld by encircling the earth.

Election Standard

Jupiter is rising in his day in the Degree of Exaltation, 14o Cancer, said to be Jupiter’s most powerful placement. 14o Cancer is the ascendant of the Thema Mundi or “Horoscope of the World” which features prominently in Hermetic teachings.

Julianus says,

“..if the gods are chthonic [earthbound or nocturnal], with Selene, Aphrodite, and Zeus testifying [bearing witness, aspect] to one another, and let Kronos also testify to them in harmony.”

Selene (Moon), Aphrodite (Venus) and Zeus (Jupiter) harmoniously aspect each other while Kronos (Saturn) is favorably placed near the midheaven and not making an applying aspect to any significator. Saturn is retrograde but is in the fiery triplicity.

The Moon, the sect leader, sign ruler, first triplicity ruler and secondary significator, is in Taurus, the 11th house and applying to sextile Jupiter as well as her sign ruler Venus with mutual reception. Here the lesser benefic Venus is acting as the attendant or spear-bearer for Jupiter, the greater benefic. Saturn is well placed but not harming the significators, fulfilling all the criteria that Julianus recommends while minimizing the influence of Saturn. The water triplicity rulers are the Moon and Venus, both highly dignified. The third triplicity ruler, Mars, is in detriment but angular and otherwise unafflicted, fulfilling all the requirements from Hephaestion of Thebes.

The election standards of these ancient texts are extensive. This is a rare instance of all of them being present. Jupiter is the second slowest moving planet after Saturn and is only in the Degree of Exaltation for approximately two weeks every twelve years. With the additional factors for the Moon and avoiding afflictions by the malefics, this is one of the rarest and most desirable elections available for many decades.

How They Were Made

Quartz, silver, gold, tin, lapis lazuli and other gemstones were used. All of these are excellent materials according to later sources. I chose lapis lazuli not only for its beauty but because of its strong likeness to the sky. Its unique shades of blue, combined with pyrite flecks of gold and silver, bear a strong resemblance to the Sun’s rays and the stars. Images of the Zeus/Jupiter were engraved by hand, modeled on classical Greek and Roman images. The name Zeus is engraved in Koine Greek. The other Jupiter images are taken from Picatrix and Agrippa. When Jupiter began to rise in the Ascendant, all of the materials were quickly engraved with the symbols of Cancer and Jupiter and the images were carved and completed while the sign of Cancer was rising, per the Book of the Treasure of Alexander. They were suffumigated with frankincense, myrrh and Jupiter incense made from a recipe in Liber Razielis.

15 August 2025, 02:53 am