On Galvah & Her Mathematical and Astrological Aspects

With my recent Enochian workings, I have usually taken to working with Marmara/Carmara, the angel who is something of a high king to the Heptarchy (closest to Baligon, king of Venus—“Love conquers all”!) but also, in my experience, also seems to be high king over (or at least working in concert with) the zodiacal angelic kings. In concert with Marmara, I usually work with Galvah (and also have worked with a form of her in practices outside of Enochian proper). Aaron Leitch did an excellent write-up of Galvah last year and relates her to the mother in heaven in Revelation 12, a theory I see no reason to oppose. There’s also reason to relate her to the Mother of Life in Manicheanism, part of the World of Light (note that 28 of the angels on the Sigillum Dei Aemeth are in four groups: the Sons, Daughters, Sons of Sons, and Daughters of Daughters of Light). I won’t repeat much of what Leitch has written, but wanted to draw out some of the astrological and mathematical information associated with this mother as presented in Revelations, using the KJV translation. This would have been available shortly after Dee’s death and likely reflects some of the theology of the time—though surely can’t be thought as highly representative, given the upheaval in late medieval/early Renaissance England.

First, the obvious: verse one described the mother in heaven as “clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 12 stars.” This is clearly a reference to the ecliptic, the 12 signs of the zodiac, and either a south node lunar eclipse (the south node representing the tail/feet) or the general sense of the moon being the lesser of the two luminaries (giving less intense but also borrowed light).

Verses 2 and 5 suggest speak of her giving birth to a son “who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.” This parallels Manichaeism, in which the Mother of Life giving birth to the Original Man who is sent to Earth (this makes sense, given Manichaeism was influenced by early Christianity).

Verses 3 and 4 describe a dragon with seven heads and 10 horns. Seven of course parallels the number of classical astrological planets: the aforementioned luminaries as well as Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Note that we go from the fixed stars (zodiac) to the more volatile planets: this reminds me of SHWEP’s episode Silent Encounters (brought to us by the unmatchrd Earl Fontainelle), which includes a review of how the fixed stars were considered more divine. In The Ogdoad Reveals the Ennead (or Discourse on the Eighth & the Ninth); the eighth sphere is that of the fixed stars (and that there is a ninth sphere also a hint of a tenth sphere beyond it). Also included in that episode is a reference to ten divine powers in Corpus XIII, “hidden hymn,” which interestingly “purge [Tat] of zodiacal influence” according to Fontainellle. So we see a bit of an opposition between the number 10 and the zodiac across these various texts.

Returning to Revelations 12: Verse 6 has the mother flee into the wilderness for “a thousand two hundred and threescore days,” or 1260 days. 1260 is 35*36, a near square (note that each of the watchtower tablets is 12×13, another near square). 1260 is 2^2 * 3^2 * 5 * 7, the first four primes, with the first two squared, and all four—even the first two squares, 4 and 9–being less than 10. 4 and 9 together, of course, together are reminiscent of 49, the number of leaves of Amzes Naghezes Hardeh and the square of the number 7 which is repeated so often in Enochian. 1260 days is just under 3.5 years (half of 7, or 1/10 of 5*7). The other references to the mother are in verses 14, in which the mother is “given wings of a great eagle“ (like an angel!) and flies to a great wilderness, to be nourished away from the serpent (Satan) for (switching to the NIV here) “a time, times, and half a time,” which is a minimum of 3.5 (the same number we’ve seen before—indeed much of this verse repeats verse 6). Finally, in verse 16, the mother is aided by the Earth itself: “as above, so below.”

As I’ve come to discover, there’s a lot of astrology to be found if you revisit the Bible. However, I wasn’t expecting later Hermetic astrology and Manichaeism to parallel Revelations so strongly!

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