Blaqmercury In Mind

“The Lunarium Wheel, a broadside of the Table of the 28 Lunar Mansions with cognate references. Compiled by Ouroboros Press and printed by artist and printer Joseph Uccello.

The Lunar Mansions are arcs of 12 degrees, 51 minutes, which divide the ecliptic into 28 stations and mark the motions of the moon during a lunar month.

These mansions comprise the Lunar Zodiac used in ancient times by Arab, Indian, and Chinese astrologers. Each of these systems had their own names for the mansions which are: Manazil (Arabic), Nakshatras (Indian) and Sieu (Chinese).

There are very slight variations between these three systems, and these are cleared up by the use of fiducials (from the Latin, faith - fixed points in the sky - often fixed stars, which are used as a basis of comparative measurement).

It was the Arabic system, which had the greatest influence on the West via the Moorish-Spanish lore exchange and the Hermeticism of magicians such as Giordano Bruno and Marsilio Ficino.

Of course one may find these mansions among the Three Books of Occult Philosophy of Agrippa, which is where Francis Barrett took them for use in his book The Magus. Each mansion has its individual influence, which is transmitted to sub-lunar creatures by the Moon.

Magical images, angels, metals or stones, and suffumigations or incenses were among the correspondences applied to them. In the astrological magic found among grimoires such as the Picatrix, the idea was to invoke the angel of the mansion when the moon was in the correct station while burning the incense and visualizing the magical image in order to create various talismans or add specific lunar influence to other magical workings.

In this same manner one may request the knowledge over those things which the angel of the mansion has jurisdiction.

In addition to the name and number of each mansion, the table also includes the zodiacal sign and degree of occurrence as well as featuring the eidolon of Sahariel, the archangel who teaches about the lunar mansions.“

Text from a description of “The Lunarium Wheel” from Ouroboros Press.

Hayao Miyazaki on AI

EDIT: I took this from Bluesky without checking the full context (didn’t really think I needed to because it seemed like something Miyazaki would say. Still I should have) since then it has come to my attention that he was specifically talking about ableism here and not directly about AI.

I’m attaching the whole excerpt here:

Can someone please explain to me why I forgot to share the High Priestess, on of my favouritest favourites?!?! What am I, a Fool?

The High Priestess

She sits astride a great staircase which descends from the cosmic void. Rich, fertile, nourishing blood cascades from the maw of the universe, and is continued in the implications of her robe.  The three gold eyes on her robe are her introspection and emotional intelligence. Two jays, the garrulous voices of the local spirits, blindfold her to earthly concerns that she may more fully understand the hidden world around her.  The black stars of Carcosa decorate the sky above her as she sits firmly in a liminal space which is neither here nor there, but a beautiful conduit to both.

"XVI (The Tower)" watercolor, 2025.