Resources
The instrument garden
Calculators, explorers, and correspondence tables for working the traditions rather than only reading about them.
- Working instruments
- 38
- Collections
- 6
- In the workshop
- 3
The sky now
The hour at your place
The planetary day and hour, the tattvic tide and the Moon, read on your place's own clock by the instruments themselves. Each reading opens its instrument at the same place.
Reading the sky for your place
Start hereNew to the instruments
Four first instruments
One door into each of the larger traditions, and the two instruments each one leads on to.
Astrological
Planetary Hours
Begin with the hour. The unequal hours and their Chaldean rulers are the grammar every other timing instrument assumes.
Then go on to
Qabalistic
Tree of Life
The map most Western correspondences hang on: ten sephiroth, twenty-two paths, and what the Golden Dawn set on each.
Then go on to
Chinese cosmology
Five Phases Wheel
Two cycles, generating and controlling, run through every Chinese instrument here, from the trigrams to the organ clock.
Then go on to
Qabalistic
Hebrew Letter Explorer
Twenty-two letters, each a sound, a number and a path. Learn them and gematria and the kameas open up.
Then go on to
The collection
38 working instruments, in six collections
Each is drawn from the instrument's own tables: the hours from its solar arithmetic, the trigrams and phases from its data, the letters from its alphabet. Those marked reckons now read your clock, and most of them your place.
14 instruments
Celestial timing
The hours, the tides, the Moon and the stars, reckoned for your date and place from sunrise, sunset and the Moon's longitude.
- AstrologicalReckons nowPlanetary HoursSunrise-based unequal hours and their Chaldean rulers, for any date and place.
- AstrologicalReckons nowPlanetary DayThe planet that rules the day, which runs from sunrise to sunrise.
- TheosophicalReckons nowTattvic TidesFive elemental tides of twenty-four minutes from sunrise, each with five sub-tides.
- AstrologicalReckons nowMoon PhasePhase, age and illumination, with the next new and full moons.
- Astral magicReckons nowLunar MansionsThe Moon's place among the twenty-eight mansions of the zodiac.
- AstrologicalReckons nowDecan CalculatorThe Sun's and Moon's decans, ten degrees each, with their Chaldean rulers.
- AstrologicalReckons nowZodiacal HoursTwelve periods from sunrise to sunrise, led by the sign the Sun is in.
- AstrologicalReckons nowFixed StarsThe Sun and Moon measured against a short list of fixed stars.
- Across traditionsReckons nowAstrolabe CompassA live 3D astrolabe whose horizon turns with your phone’s compass to true north.
- Across traditionsReckons nowSundialA dial drawn for your latitude and longitude, with the Sun’s live shadow on it.
- Across traditionsReckons now24-Hour ClockOne turn of the hand for one day, with day, twilight and night laid round the dial.
- Electional astrologyReckons nowElection PlannerThe next ten days ranked for a purpose by their ruler and the Moon.
- AstrologicalReckons nowCelestial TimingPlanetary day, Moon phase, mansion and decans together on one bench.
- Christian liturgicalSacred CalendarSolstices, equinoxes and feasts of the Christian year, as dates for study.
4 instruments
Hermetic and Qabalistic
The Tree of Life and the correspondence tables of the Golden Dawn and its sources: planets, elements, keys and colours.
- QabalisticTree of LifeTen sephiroth and twenty-two paths with their letters, names, colours and keys.
- Golden DawnGolden Dawn CorrespondencesSephiroth, planets and elements with the Order's colours and symbols.
- Golden DawnTarot CorrespondencesThe major keys set against the Hebrew letters and the paths of the Tree.
- HermeticPlanetary CorrespondencesColours, incense, metals, stones and plants of the seven planets.
5 instruments
Letters and numbers
The twenty-two Hebrew letters, their values, and the magic squares and sigils built from them.
- QabalisticHebrew Letter ExplorerEach letter's form, name, sound, value and Sefer Yetzirah class.
- QabalisticGematriaAdd up a Hebrew word's letter values and transliterate it, letter by letter.
- QabalisticHebrew Alphabet TableThe twenty-two letters with their names, sounds and values in one table.
- AgrippanPlanetary KameasAgrippa's seven planetary squares proved line by line; names traced as sigils.
- Golden DawnRose Cross Sigil WheelSpell a name in Hebrew and trace its sigil across the rose of twenty-two petals.
2 instruments
Divination
Two casting instruments that show their working: the Yijing by coins or yarrow, and the geomantic shield.
8 instruments
Taoist cosmology
Polarity, the Five Phases, the trigrams, the number diagrams and the calendar of stems and branches, from Wuji to the ten thousand things.
- TaoistTaijitu PolarityYin and yang as a cycle, through the Four Images to the trigrams.
- Chinese cosmologyFive Phases WheelWood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water in their generating and controlling cycles.
- TaoistBagua InstrumentThe eight trigrams in their Earlier and Later Heaven arrangements.
- Chinese cosmologyHe Tu and Luo ShuThe River Diagram and the Luo Writing compared, number by number.
- TaoistTaoist Cosmology MapFrom Dao and Wuji through Taiji, the Phases and the trigrams to manifest form.
- TaoistTaoist Correspondence MatrixThe Phases matched to seasons, directions, trigrams, organs, tastes and virtues.
- TaoistTaoist Symbol IndexDiagrams, characters and emblems, each with its provenance and review status.
- Chinese cosmologyReckons nowTaoist CalendarThe Four Pillars, the twenty-four solar terms and the lunar date of any moment.
5 instruments
The subtle body
Taoist and Tantric maps of channels, centres and circulation, offered as models for study, not as medical guidance.
- Chinese medicineReckons nowTaoist Organ ClockTwelve two-hour organ periods through the day, for study, not diagnosis.
- Chinese medicineMeridian ExplorerThe twelve primary channels in their yin-yang pairs and Five-Phase groups.
- Taoist neidanMicrocosmic OrbitThe ascent of the Du Mai and descent of the Ren Mai, as a study diagram.
- Taoist neidanInternal Alchemy MapJing, Qi and Shen, the dantian, Kan and Li, and the language of refinement.
- TantricChakra ObservatoryThe seven centres with their petals, elements and seed syllables.
Still in the workshop
3 more, not yet working, and not counted among the 38.
Test moduleAstrological
Celestial Instrument
A console for the live sky, chart casting, episode timing and electional gates.
Reachable, but it runs on a mock calculation adapter, so its figures are not real readings yet.
Read its noticeComing soonAcross traditions
The Stratified Human
A comparative atlas of subtle-body systems, held for a future release.
The page holds the place and says what is planned; there is nothing to use yet.
Read its noticeComing soonElectional astrology
Timing Journal
A private journal for elected moments and their outcomes, waiting on accounts.
The page holds the place and says what is planned; there is nothing to use yet.
Read its notice
Curated source shelf
Practitioners, authors and historical sources
A living reference list for the Aetherica research library: starting points for study, citation, guest research and future bibliography pages.
Modern practitioners and authors
- Ike BakerAetherica host, author, esoteric teacherProfile
- Benebell WenAuthor, Taoist studies, tarot, I Ching, folk magic
- Jaime Paul LambFreemasonry, astrology, symbolism, initiatic historyProfile
- Samuel DavidModern esoteric scholarship and practice
- David PantanoWestern esotericism and initiatic traditions
- Gregory ShawTheurgy, Neoplatonism, Iamblichean studies
- Wouter HanegraaffAcademic study of Western esotericism
- Peter Mark AdamsEsoteric symbolism, mysticism, visual culture
- Daniel WisemanAlchemy, herbalism, Secret Fire ApothecaryProfile
- Mark StavishHermeticism, alchemy, esoteric practice
- David RankineGrimoires, Qabalah, magic, ritual history
- David Chaim SmithKabbalah, mystical symbolism, contemplative art
- Marlene Seven BremnerHermeticism, alchemy, esoteric art and philosophy
- John Michael GreerOccultism, Druidry, esoteric history
- Shannon GrimesGnosticism, magic, ancient religion
Historical sources
- Heinrich Cornelius AgrippaRenaissance magic, occult philosophy, correspondences
- ParacelsusAlchemy, medicine, signatures, natural philosophy
- PlotinusNeoplatonism, soul, intellect, the One
- IamblichusTheurgy, ritual, divine ascent, late Platonism
- PlatoPhilosophy, cosmology, forms, soul, initiation myths