Jupiter in Pisces - Number Square on Large Amethyst (Agrippa)

"They say that if it be impressed upon a silver plate with Jupiter being powerful, and ruling, it is conducive to gain, and riches, favor, and love, peace, and concord, and to appease enemies, to confirm honors, dignities, and counsels, and dissolve enchantments" (Agrippa, Second Book of Occult Philosophy, Chapter 22)

 

Number squares or kameas are an ancient form of magic, known to have been used in prehistoric China since 2200 BC. According to Chinese legend, they were inspired by closely observing the geometric patterns on tortoise shells which revealed subtle patterns linking the heavens and earth. 

In the western world, number squares are deeply rooted in Pythagorean theology, which explains everything in existence as an emanation of number. They were used as charms, talismans and amulets throughout the Hellenistic and Roman world, and continued to play an important role in medieval Arabic occultism and later in Renaissance Europe. 

In Heinrich Agrippa's Occult Philosophy, number squares were used as a means of contacting spirits, by deriving sigils from mathematical formulas. They were crafted in the same way as other astrological talismans, during specific time windows when the planet was in a powerful position in the heavens. They emanated a potent influence on their environment, and according to the Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy were used to induce prophetic dreams and as a powerful aid in rituals for conjuring planetary spirits. 

Agrippa explains that numbers are a means for contacting a higher order of existence, called Supercelestial Intelligences, which are similar in nature to the World of Forms.

"It is affirmed by Magicians, that there are certain tables of numbers distributed to the seven planets, which they call the sacred tables of the planets, endowed with many and very great virtues of the Heavens, as they represent that divine order of Celestial numbers, impressed upon Celestials by the Ideas of the divine mind, by means of the World Soul, and the sweet harmony of those Celestial rays, signifying according to the proportion of effigies, Supercelestial Intelligences, which can no other way be expressed than by the marks of numbers and Characters.

"For material numbers and figures can do nothing in the mysteries of hidden things, but representatively by formal numbers, and figures, as they are governed, and informed by Intelligences, and divine numerations, which unite the extremes of the matter, and spirit to the will of the elevated soul, receiving through great affection, by the Celestial power of the operator, a power from God, applied through the soul of the universe, and observations of Celestial constellations, to a matter fit for a form, the mediums being disposed by the skill and industry of Magicians." Second Book of Occult Philosophy, Chapter 22

 

Agrippa's number squares were also used alongside the planetary pentacles in the Key of Solomon and are the source for the sigils of the Intelligence and Spirit.

Each facet of these large amethysts were engraved. One side contains the number square, and the others are engraved with the Seal, Intelligence and Spirit of Jupiter. 

Election Standard

Jupiter is rising in his day and hour in 23 Pisces, with exalted Venus co-present, which is a very potent combination. The Moon in Capricorn, which she rules by Triplicity, applies to sextile both Venus and Jupiter, and trines Mercury in Taurus where she is received by Exaltation. 

22 April 2022, 0445 - 0530 am (Augusta GA, EST)

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