Showing all posts tagged picatrix image of the sun

In art, scholarship, witchcraft

First Complete Set of Picatrix Images

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

I began this series of Picatrix planetary images back in February of 2023 with the (now very rough looking) image of mercury according to Apollonius. With the completion of the image of the Moon according to Mercurius, back at the end of May, I finally have finally completed a full set. I present them as such, here, for the first time.

I plan to eventually release them as a “booster pack” of tarot-sized cards through DriveThruGames. I may also make them available as transparent stickers to slap on novena candles, or even as larger prints, if there’s any interest in that. First I need to re-do the Mercury and Venus images to better match the others, stylistically (my digital illustration skills have improved a lot over the last couple years). Then I need to settle on a frame. And then I need to design a back. And then I either need to have a couple really good sales months, or look into crowdfunding… assuming its even still legal to publish shit like this, by the time I’ve done all that, what with the swiftly-escalating fascism.

I’m still experimenting with frames. Of the handful of designs I’ve done up, so far, I like this simple geometry best. Part of me really wants a more elaborate Art Nouveau or Arabesque pattern, but that’s a little outside my design wheelhouse and I haven’t yet found one I like that I’m certain is in the public domain.

I have no idea what to do about a back design. Something minimalist and easy to write over for petition / paper talisman purposes? Something pentacle-tacular and extra witchy? One of my Baphomet devotional images? One of my occult art photographs? (I am definitely open to suggestions, here.)

I’m only a few images away from a complete second set, too: another Moon, for which I already have two sketches to choose from; another Jupiter and Venus, both already sketched; another Mars; another Mercury. Then I’ll be on to fixed stars and lunar mansions. Maybe I’ll even do all the decans, eventually.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these.

In art

Picatrix Image of the Sun According to Apollonius

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

The image of the Sun, according to the opinion of the wise Apollonius, is the shape of a standing woman, placed on a chariot drawn by four horses, holding a mirror in her right hand and a staff bound above her breast in her left hand; above her head she has the likeness of a flame. – Picatrix Book II, Chapter 10, Paragraph 22 (Attrell and Porecca, 2019)

This image was interesting to me in that it features the thing I do best (figure drawing) AND one of the things I do worst (animals, especially horses). I also, probably obviously, picked it because I get uncomfortable when an image set I’m working on is so wildly dominated by images of men.

Following a suggestion from @gildedragon on bsky, I have interpreted the “staff bound above her breast” as the charioteer’s whip. His suggestion also gave me the keyword that found me references for the horses: quadriga. If I make another bid at this image, I will probably look to one of the many “helios and his chariot being pulled by four horses” images that have survived in the form of red and black figure vases, and make a super explicitly femme!Helios version to scandalize the astrobros.

As always, you are welcome to download and print this astrological image for your personal magical use. A higher resolution version of this image is available on Patreon. You can also support me and my work on Ko-Fi if, for whatever reason, you don’t like Patreon.