Tiberius and Thrasyllus

Whenever [the Roman emperor Tiberius] sought counsel on [astrological] matters, he would make use of the top of the house and of the confidence of one freedman, quite illiterate and of great physical strength. The man always walked in front of the person whose science Tiberius had determined to test, through an unfrequented and precipitous path (for the house stood on rocks), and then, if any suspicion had arisen of imposture or of trickery, he hurled the astrologer, as he returned, into the sea beneath, that no one might live to betray the secret [of what Tiberius wished to divine]. Thrasyllus accordingly was led up the same cliffs, and when he had deeply impressed his questioner by cleverly revealing his imperial destiny and future career, he was asked whether he had also thoroughly ascertained his own horoscope, and the character of that particular year and day. After surveying the positions and relative distances of the stars, he first paused, then trembled, and the longer he gazed, the more was he agitated by amazement and terror, till at last he exclaimed that a perilous and well-nigh fatal crisis impended over him. Tiberius then embraced him and congratulated him on foreseeing his dangers and on being quite safe. Taking what he had said as an oracle, he retained him in the number of his intimate friends.

(Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals VI xxi, as translated by Alfred John Church)

John Varley on Uranus

My grandfather[, the "father of water-colour painting" John Varley,] was living at the time in Conduit Street, Regent Street. He had purchased or taken a lease of an hotel, which he used partly as a dwelling-house for his large family, and partly as a studio and gallery for his pictures.

He was, so I have been told, in the habit of consulting his own horoscope each morning, and bringing up directions, etc., to date. On one particular morning (I am sorry that I never took notes of these conversations, and I forget the dates, if indeed they were mentioned) my father related, he was evidently ill at ease and disturbed in mind, and though he had an appointment he did not go out, and about eleven in the forenoon he gave his watch to my father telling him to take it to a watchmaker in Regent Street and have it set to Greenwich time. When he returned with the watch my grandfather was still walking up and down the studio, a proceeding that impressed my father as most unusual, for my grandfather grudged actually every minute that he was away from his easel. At last he remarked, "What is it to be?" and explained that there were some evil aspects in his horoscope which would come into operation a few minutes to twelve on that day. He was so certain as to the evil effects, that he would not go out, fearing some street accident. He said, "I might be run over, or a slate might fall on my head;" that he was uncertain whether his life or his property was menaced, but he saw in the figure that it would be sudden. The difficulty arose from the fact that the effects of the planet Uranus were not yet understood by astrologers, and his agitation increased as the time approached. He asked if my father was sure that his watch was put to Greenwich time, and complained that he could not go on with his work. Sitting down he said two or three times, "I feel quite well—there is nothing the matter with me. I am not going to have a fit or anything of the sort." Then rising from his seat he came towards my father saying: "What is it to be? The time is past. Could I have made some mistake in my calculations?" He took some paper and a pencil to go through the figures again—just then there was a cry of fire from the street. He rapidly made a note in his astrological book as to the effects of Uranus. The house was burned down, all his property was destroyed, and unfortunately he was uninsured. It is a curious fact that on three occasions his property was destroyed by fire, and three times in his life he was tossed by bulls, and whatever warning he may have had from the stars, he was unable to prevent their effects.

(John Varley, Some Astrological Predictions of the Late John Varley, in the Occult Review XXIV i)

Idle Speculation on Number Theology

(As a disclaimer, before I begin, I should note that I am not a magician and everything I say here is entirely speculative. Don't rely on it for anything other than ideas!)

I have an idiosyncratic theory (per Plotinus and the other Neopythagoreans that I have read) that various types of numbers fall into three different categories based on their essential potency:

• The weakest numbers are the even numbers. This is because they may be divided into two equal groups and set against each other, tying their energies up and preventing action. (It is for this reason, I think, that the Pythagoreans considered even numbers passive.)

• The middle class of numbers are the odd composite numbers. These may not be set against themselves—there's always a "tie breaker," a majority, and so there is always direction and the possibility of action—but they may still be divided is some way or other, and thereby weakened.

• The strongest numbers are the odd prime numbers. These may not be divided at all, and thus always possess their essential unity. (And, as Proclus tells us, unity is power.)

(We may as well classify 1 with the prime numbers, even though it is not technically prime, since obviously it is as indivisible as it gets; further, within a class, smaller numbers have greater potency than larger numbers.)

One thing that is common in folk magical practice is the combining of harmonious elements into a whole (e.g. in an amulet, etc.). I wondered to myself whether it were possible to combine elements that were each individually strong (e.g. odd, prime) and strong in combination (e.g. odd, prime). For any two elements it is not, and the proof is trivial: two odd numbers, when summed, form an even number. Therefore, one must add an even number to an odd number to get another odd number, thereby introducing a weakness. However, it is possible with three elements: a couple trivial examples are 1+3+7=11 and 3+5+11=19.

I might suppose a prime number of ingredients, combined in prime terms into a prime total, might be more potent than other combinations. But an esoteric number theory of this sort does not seem to be well-developed: all systems I've seen only assign meanings to 1-10 (and higher numbers are considered in light of those). I'd be curious to see a theory treating the primes as conveyors of essential meaning, but there is an infinity of those...