"Son of Jupiter" Degree of Exaltation

"They made also another Image of Jupiter for a religious and glorious life, and advancement of fortune; whose figure was a man having the head of a Lion, or a Ram, and Eagles feet, clothed in Saffron colored clothes, and he was called the son of Jupiter." (Second Book of Occult Philosophy, chapter 39)

Source materials like Agrippa and Picatrix say that a Jupiter talisman crafted under the correct astrological conditions promotes gain, profit, favor, love, peace, the favor of judges and public officials, and practically every desirable thing. These talismans were made when Jupiter was in its Degree of Exaltation, believed to be its most powerful placement, with the Moon exalted in Taurus.

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486 - 1535) was court secretary to Charles V, physician to Louise of Savoy, a Catholic theologian, solider, knight, and philosopher. He became an expert on occultism as a student of Johannes Trithemius, the occultist and inventor of modern cryptography. Agrippa compiled an immense amount of information from Trithemius's manuscripts into his Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Some of the second book is derived from Picatrix and his work went on to have a significant influence on John Dee and many others. Agrippa sought to integrate all the occult sciences from the ancient world into the framework of Kabbalah, Hermeticism and Neoplatonism. 

In chapter 39 he describes three images of Jupiter that bear a strong resemblance to Zeus imagery. The man with a ram or lion's head may be derived from Zeus-Ammon or Jupiter-Ammon, which was the first Greek and Egyptian god to be merged when Alexander became pharaoh. Egyptians depicted Ammon as a ram or lion while the Greeks depicted Zeus as a bearded man, and these were merged into a man with ram horns. 

Jupiter-Ammon, Rome (around 100 CE)

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 Neoplatonist and member of the revived 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 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