The Sky Library · Mansion 3 of 28
Al Thurayya
Ath-Thurayya · The Many Little Ones
Span25°42′51″ Aries – 8°34′17″ Taurus (tropical)
Determinant starsThe Pleiades cluster in Taurus, with Alcyone (Eta Tauri) chief among them
A handful of embers scattered where sailors look for weather.
The mansion of the Pleiades, which Agrippa calls Achaomazon or Athoray, glossed as showering. The old sailors watched these stars to open and close the sailing season, and the mansion keeps that maritime character alongside the hunt and the refining fire.
The Spirit of the Mansion
the square of Jupiter, 34 in every line
a small fire keeps the sill; on the far side, the pin at the heart of the plate answers a touch
Agrippa and the Picatrix transmit different names for the mansion spirits; both are given.
What the number square means
The grid is a kamea, one of the planetary magic squares from Agrippa's second book; every planet has one, from Saturn's three by three to the Moon's nine by nine. In a true square every row, every column, and both diagonals add to the same number, and Jupiter's adds to 34 in every line. Count any line and see. Practitioners engraved these on talismans as the planet's signature written in number, and the gilded cell marks this mansion's own number.
Elections in this mansion
- voyages and the business of the sea
- hunting
- the works of alchemists, refining and perfecting
Agrippa prints the ruling spirit as Amixiel; other transmissions give Anixiel.