The Fixed Stars

Algol

Beta Persei, the Demon Star, Ras al Ghul, the Gorgon's Head, Caput Medusae

The head of the ghoul, from the Arabic ra's al-ghul. It stands at about 26° Taurus (tropical).

One of the fifteen Behenian stars

Medusa's severed head in the hero's grip; the most notorious star in the sky, and a Behenian fixed star.

Beta Persei is the winking Demon Star, marking the severed head of Medusa that Perseus holds. It dims every few days as its companion eclipses it, an unblinking-then-blinking eye the old astrologers read as the most violent point in the heavens. It is one of the fifteen Behenian fixed stars. Robson gives it the nature of Saturn and Jupiter and, unusually, does not soften the reading: misfortune, violence, and, in the plainest old phrase, losing the head.

♂︎ Nature. Saturn and Jupiter.

⚖︎ Workings. one of the fifteen Behenian stars; its talisman was cut in diamond under its hour for boldness and protectiona star to name plainly and handle with respect, not to invoke lightly