The Sky Library · Mansion 22 of 28
Sa'd al-Dhabih
Sa'd adh-Dhabih · The Luck of the Slaughterer
Span0°00′00″ Capricorn – 12°51′26″ Capricorn (tropical)
Determinant starsAlgedi (Alpha Capricorni) and Dabih (Beta Capricorni), on the Goat's horn
A hard-named luck that opens doors and loosens fevers.
The first of the four lucks, named for an old sacrifice at the winter gate. Agrippa lists it as Sadahacha, Zodeboluch or Zandeldena, glossed a pastor, and despite the grim Arabic name he gives it to escape and to recovery.
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
- the escape of servants and captives
- the curing of diseases
- slipping free of what confines
Agrippa's gloss, a pastor, softens the Arabic; the manzil name reads the Luck of the Slaughterer, from the seasonal sacrifice made when it rose. Picatrix spirit name not verified; the surviving Picatrix Book IV text has a lacuna at the twenty-second mansion, so no spirit name is transmitted for it.