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Aaron Leitch has recently proposed a revised order for the powers of the Heptarchial Princes that matches those of each Prince to the King of the respective day. His original article can be found here. In a Facebook discussion of said article, I commented that while I found this new order logical and interesting, I was not necessarily convinced that it was the only possible solution to reordering the Heptarchia. This post is an attempt to further clarify what I mean by that statement.
When I work with the Heptarchia Mystica the schema I recommend for the powers of the Kings and Princes is that of John Dee's 1588 text, which is how they appear in Mastering the Mystical Heptarchy. So everything in this post is more a thought experiment than a serious proposal. Let me be clear - I don't necessarily disagree with the idea of reordering the Heptarchia, but rather I'm at the point where I need to see more practical evidence that the new order works better than the original. I do have enough personal experience to say for sure that the original order works, after experimenting with it for many years and carefully tracking my results.
But let's say for the sake of argument that the Heptarchia does in fact need to be reordered to better line up the powers of the Kings and Princes. There are two distinct ways to do it. The first is the method Aaron outlines in his article, matching the power of each Prince to the power of the King that rules the same day. I'm not going to go over that method in detail, as his article explains it quite well. What he doesn't mention at all, though, is the second possible method, grouping the powers of the Kings and Princes by planet rather than by day.
This alternative schema is suggested by the simple observation that, in the Heptarchia, the Kings and Princes are given different planetary attributions. On Sunday, for example, the King is attributed to the Sun, but the Prince is attributed to Venus. This principle holds throughout the Heptarchia, with the complete list of Kings and Princes by day and planet as follows:
These additional planetary attributions suggest that the powers of the Heptarchial angels could also be reorganized by matching the powers of the Prince associated with each planet to that of the corresponding King by planetary aspect, rather than by day.
Grouping the Kings and Princes by planet instead of by day produces the following arrangement:
Now in terms of the powers of the respective Kings and Princes grouped by planet, we wind up with this:
These also appear to be somewhat out of order as well according to the planetary aspects, but it should be noted that several of them do in fact match. Bynepor and Blisdon both rule living creatures, Blumaza and Bagenol rule the Kings and Operation of the Earth respectively, and Bnapsen and Bralges both govern spirits. Furthermore, Brorges' function of "Opening the Gate of Death" could refer to Mercury's function as psychopomp, and "Earth and its Contents" could be a reference to Mercury as the ruling planet of the sign Virgo.
In order for all of the powers to match up, though, the other three do require rearranging. "Wisdom, Science, and Philosophy" needs to be reassigned to Befafes, the solar prince. "Prince of Seas" is then reassigned to Butmono, the martial prince. The final remaining power, "Mysteries of the Earth," is then left to be assigned to Bornogo, the venereal prince. While it doesn't match perfectly with "Aerial Actions," Baligon is (A) a form of Carmara, who also rules the "Kings of the Earth," and (B) the King credited with advising Dee with regards to the shewstone, a divination tool made from the Earth element. Finally, Venus rules two signs in the zodiac, Libra (Air) and Taurus (Earth).
Applying all these changes, we would then arrive at the following arrangement. The starred Princes have powers that have been reassigned from one of the others.
My planetary arrangement, then, requires changing only three of the seven Princes' powers - Befafes, Bornogo, and Butmono. Aaron's version requires changing four of the seven - Butmono, Blisdon, Bralges, and Bagenol.
Once again, this is a thought experiment, not a practical recommendation. One of the problems with it is that you can't simply switch the conjurations for Bornogo or Butmono because they specifically reference their corresponding Kings by day, and Befafes appears to be one of the angels Dee actually did work with as the Tuesday prince. My point is not that this is necessarily something we as Heptarchial magicians should do, but rather an exploration pointing out that a simple juxtaposition may not be the whole story.
I'm left wondering if there's a pattern here that's deeper than simply grouping the powers of the Princes with those of the Kings by day or by planet. That's part of the reason I'm not completely sold on Aaron's reorganization of the Princes' powers. It seems that for the most part in the original Heptarchia the power of the Prince either matches that of the King of the same day or that of the same planet. Furthermore, it is perhaps because of this subtler pattern that John Dee never made the relatively simple changes that Aaron proposes.
So I'm still at the point where I'm looking for more experimental data that can shift the debate one way or another. I will grant that Aaron's rearrangement is more logical and better supported by Dee's sessions than the speculative one I've outlined here. Still, the differing planetary aspects for the Kings and Princes of each day that are present in the original seem to me factors that should not be completely ignored lest some deeper meaning behind the attributions be missed.
The best thing to come of this debate is seeing practitioners start to experiment with the Heptarchia to an extent that I hadn't seen before Mastering the Mystical Heptarchy was published. Hopefully more such work down the line by myself and other practitioners with both arrangements will help settle which one works the best. As I've stated many times, I'm interested above all in what works, and if the data shows that Aaron's new arrangement is indeed better I'm all for using it. Until that happens, though, I'm going to reserve judgment.
When I work with the Heptarchia Mystica the schema I recommend for the powers of the Kings and Princes is that of John Dee's 1588 text, which is how they appear in Mastering the Mystical Heptarchy. So everything in this post is more a thought experiment than a serious proposal. Let me be clear - I don't necessarily disagree with the idea of reordering the Heptarchia, but rather I'm at the point where I need to see more practical evidence that the new order works better than the original. I do have enough personal experience to say for sure that the original order works, after experimenting with it for many years and carefully tracking my results.
But let's say for the sake of argument that the Heptarchia does in fact need to be reordered to better line up the powers of the Kings and Princes. There are two distinct ways to do it. The first is the method Aaron outlines in his article, matching the power of each Prince to the power of the King that rules the same day. I'm not going to go over that method in detail, as his article explains it quite well. What he doesn't mention at all, though, is the second possible method, grouping the powers of the Kings and Princes by planet rather than by day.
This alternative schema is suggested by the simple observation that, in the Heptarchia, the Kings and Princes are given different planetary attributions. On Sunday, for example, the King is attributed to the Sun, but the Prince is attributed to Venus. This principle holds throughout the Heptarchia, with the complete list of Kings and Princes by day and planet as follows:
Sunday: King - BOBOGEL (Sun), Prince - BORNOGO (Venus)
Monday: King - BLUMAZA (Moon), Prince - BRALGES (Saturn)
Tuesday: King - BABALEL (Mars), Prince - BEFAFES (Sun)
Wednesday: King - BNASPOL (Mercury), Prince - BLISDON (Jupiter)
Thursday: King - BYNEPOR (Jupiter), Prince - BUTMONO (Mars)
Friday: King - BALIGON (Venus), Prince - BAGENOL (Moon)
Saturn: King - BNAPSEN (Saturn), Prince - BRORGES (Mercury)
These additional planetary attributions suggest that the powers of the Heptarchial angels could also be reorganized by matching the powers of the Prince associated with each planet to that of the corresponding King by planetary aspect, rather than by day.
Grouping the Kings and Princes by planet instead of by day produces the following arrangement:
Sun: King - BOBOGEL (Sunday), Prince - BEFAFES (Tuesday)
Moon: King - BLUMAZA (Monday), Prince - BAGENOL (Friday)
Mars: King - BABALEL (Tuesday), Prince - BUTMONO (Thursday)
Mercury: King - BNASPOL (Wednesday), Prince - BRORGES (Saturday)
Jupiter: King - BYNEPOR (Thursday), Prince - BLISDON (Wednesday)
Venus: King - BALIGON (Friday), Prince - BORNOGO (Sunday)
Saturn: King - BNAPSEN (Saturday), Prince - BRALGES (Monday)
Now in terms of the powers of the respective Kings and Princes grouped by planet, we wind up with this:
Sun
King: BOBOGEL - Knowledge of Wisdom, Science, Philosophy
Prince: BEFAFES - Prince of Seas
Moon
King: BLUMAZA - Kings of the Earth (Carmara)
Prince: BAGENOL - Operation of the Earth (Hagonel)
Mars
King: BABALEL - King of Waters
Prince: BUTMONO - Mysteries of the Earth
Mercury
King: BNASPOL - Earth and its Contents
Prince: BRORGES - Opening the Gate of Death (not elemental Fire - Brorges appeared surrounded by fire, but he stated this as his actual power. It unnerved Dee enough that he wrote it in Latin rather than English in the conjuration.)
Jupiter
King: BYNEPOR - Life, New Kings, New Governments
Prince: BLISDON - Living Creatures
Venus
King: BALIGON - Aerial Actions (Carmara)
Prince: BORNOGO - Wisdom, Science, Philosophy
Saturn
King: BNAPSEN - Wicked Spirits
Prince: BRALGES - Spirits like Invisible Smokes
These also appear to be somewhat out of order as well according to the planetary aspects, but it should be noted that several of them do in fact match. Bynepor and Blisdon both rule living creatures, Blumaza and Bagenol rule the Kings and Operation of the Earth respectively, and Bnapsen and Bralges both govern spirits. Furthermore, Brorges' function of "Opening the Gate of Death" could refer to Mercury's function as psychopomp, and "Earth and its Contents" could be a reference to Mercury as the ruling planet of the sign Virgo.
In order for all of the powers to match up, though, the other three do require rearranging. "Wisdom, Science, and Philosophy" needs to be reassigned to Befafes, the solar prince. "Prince of Seas" is then reassigned to Butmono, the martial prince. The final remaining power, "Mysteries of the Earth," is then left to be assigned to Bornogo, the venereal prince. While it doesn't match perfectly with "Aerial Actions," Baligon is (A) a form of Carmara, who also rules the "Kings of the Earth," and (B) the King credited with advising Dee with regards to the shewstone, a divination tool made from the Earth element. Finally, Venus rules two signs in the zodiac, Libra (Air) and Taurus (Earth).
Applying all these changes, we would then arrive at the following arrangement. The starred Princes have powers that have been reassigned from one of the others.
Sun
King: BOBOGEL - Knowledge of Wisdom, Science, Philosophy
Prince: BEFAFES - Wisdom, Science, Philosophy *
Moon
King: BLUMAZA - Kings of the Earth (Carmara)
Prince: BAGENOL - Operation of the Earth (Hagonel)
Mars
King: BABALEL - King of Waters
Prince: BUTMONO - Prince of Seas *
Mercury
King: BNASPOL - Earth and its Contents
Prince: BRORGES - Opening the Gate of Death
Jupiter
King: BYNEPOR - Life, New Kings, New Governments
Prince: BLISDON - Living Creatures
Venus
King: BALIGON - Aerial Actions (Carmara)
Prince: BORNOGO - Mysteries of the Earth *
Saturn
King: BNAPSEN - Wicked Spirits
Prince: BRALGES - Spirits Like Invisible Smokes
My planetary arrangement, then, requires changing only three of the seven Princes' powers - Befafes, Bornogo, and Butmono. Aaron's version requires changing four of the seven - Butmono, Blisdon, Bralges, and Bagenol.
Once again, this is a thought experiment, not a practical recommendation. One of the problems with it is that you can't simply switch the conjurations for Bornogo or Butmono because they specifically reference their corresponding Kings by day, and Befafes appears to be one of the angels Dee actually did work with as the Tuesday prince. My point is not that this is necessarily something we as Heptarchial magicians should do, but rather an exploration pointing out that a simple juxtaposition may not be the whole story.
I'm left wondering if there's a pattern here that's deeper than simply grouping the powers of the Princes with those of the Kings by day or by planet. That's part of the reason I'm not completely sold on Aaron's reorganization of the Princes' powers. It seems that for the most part in the original Heptarchia the power of the Prince either matches that of the King of the same day or that of the same planet. Furthermore, it is perhaps because of this subtler pattern that John Dee never made the relatively simple changes that Aaron proposes.
So I'm still at the point where I'm looking for more experimental data that can shift the debate one way or another. I will grant that Aaron's rearrangement is more logical and better supported by Dee's sessions than the speculative one I've outlined here. Still, the differing planetary aspects for the Kings and Princes of each day that are present in the original seem to me factors that should not be completely ignored lest some deeper meaning behind the attributions be missed.
The best thing to come of this debate is seeing practitioners start to experiment with the Heptarchia to an extent that I hadn't seen before Mastering the Mystical Heptarchy was published. Hopefully more such work down the line by myself and other practitioners with both arrangements will help settle which one works the best. As I've stated many times, I'm interested above all in what works, and if the data shows that Aaron's new arrangement is indeed better I'm all for using it. Until that happens, though, I'm going to reserve judgment.
5 comments:
Maybe there is a deeper purpose on why the planets of the kings and princes do not match up. As it is on the Talisman (that re-conciliates one to the Table). See:
http://evocationmagic.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=3219&p=34820&hilit=heptarchy#p34820
That's an interesting thread. I'm going to have to sit down and review it in greater detail. Also, I should take a more careful look at the Pauline Art and see what I think of the similarities between it and the Heptarchial planetary attributions.
Thanks for sharing!
I just came across Nick Farrell's book in which he tackles the powers of the angels of the Heptarchia, and he does some adjustments to them - page 52 here:
https://books.google.ro/books?id=xFTzCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=heptarchia+mystica+powers&source=bl&ots=9HlMrJP9QS&sig=Fix_S6Y_9jxc8LpmFRpvv16NCBQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmiMWm5ovSAhUF1BoKHVl2Czo4ChDoAQgZMAE#v=onepage&q=heptarchia%20mystica%20powers&f=false
I'm not interested in his adjustments, just in the way he interprets certain powers.
He states that the king and prince of Monday (his adjustment) have to do with earthly kings, as in real monarchs and nowadays perhaps this extends to rulers in general, such as presidents.
But can the earthly kings refer to the kings of the physical realm, aka the elemental kings as we know them today? We previously discussed about the Moon ruling the elements, and I've also found an old source which stated the same - as usual I forgot its name, but it's around the time Dee lived in. So perhaps the angels were refering to the elemental kings which Dee might have known about from the writings of Paracelsus.
There are a lot of ways you can switch the Heptarchia around to make the spirit offices superficially match. I just find that it works as is, and it seems to me if the substitutions are so obvious Dee would have made them. He was a very smart guy, after all.
Regarding "the earth" referring to rulers and/or elemental kings - I can see an argument there for Earth as the amalgam of the other elements. That's Wednesday in the original arrangement, not Monday. But it is attributed to Mercury which rules Virgo, mutable Earth. On top of that, though, you also have rulers for watery and aerial operations, so those could also be attributed to the elements.
You do not have a ruler for Fire - Leitch's claim that "the gate of death" somehow alludes to ruling Fire just because that angel appeared surrounded by flames is a glaring mistake. In fact, given that Leitch is generally a decent scholar, when I read that I wondered if Llewellyn made him re-attribute the scary death spell angel because they didn't want anything that dark in their books. But I suppose I'll never know.
Anyway, I can maybe see some associations, but at the same time I'm not clear what you are hoping to do here. Conjure an elemental king by the name of a Heptarchial? Why do that? Also, while I don't follow the GD attributions, I think you can make a better case for the Watchtower Kings to be the Enochian elemental kings, so I would probably just work with them if I were going to do an elemental operation.
I don't want to conjure elemental kings via the heptarchical angels, not to I want to switch the powers between the angels :) I just want to understand their powers more, since they are somewhat vague. Unfortunately for me, I don't have the luxury of sitting down and chatting with them for longer than a few minutes, due to macrocosmic issues on which i have little to no control. And before I create the proper conditions, like moving into a more peaceful area in which i would perform rituals without much disturbance, I need to work fast and get results fast. For that I need to use the right spirits for the right issues.
I've used at least one heptarchical angel for practical traits generally associated with the planet the angel ow attributed, by day not by hour. Like Brorges for Saturn qualities such as binding and banishing. I was somewhat pleased with the results, but i noticed not all of them can be used that way. Btw I don't think Brorges has anything to do with Fire, unless he creates the setting in which someone dies from burning :)
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