(Celestial alphabet, from Jacques Gaffarel's Curiosités innouies, 1637)

In many cases, it is difficult or impossible to discern the basis upon which occult sigils and symbols are formed. Even so, there is almost always an underlying rationale that acts as the template for such symbols. The alphabet known as Celestial Writing appears in the Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Henry Cornelius Agrippa (Book III, Chapter 30), first published in its complete form in 1533. It is a variation on the Hebrew alphabet -- most of the letters of Celestial Writing bear a strong resemblance to the Hebrew letters with which they correspond.

Agrippa wrote concerning the Hebrew Kabbalists: "There is also amongst them a writing which they call Celestial, because they show it placed and figured amongst the stars, no otherwise than the other astrologers produce images of signs from the lineaments of stars."

(Celestial letters in the stars of the Northern Hemisphere)

This statement is somewhat obscure on its own, and Agrippa included no illustration with his text to indicate its meaning. Fortunately, the librarian of Cardinal Richeleau, Jacopo Gafareli (?1601-1681), also know by the French styling of his name as Jacques Gaffarel, included in his book Unheard-of Curiosities Concerning the Talismanic Sculpture of the Persians, and Horoscope of the Patriarchs, and the Reading of the Stars woodcuts of the starry night skies in the northern and southern hemispheres that clearly show what Agrippa was talking about.

The Celestial letters are to be discerned in the actual arrangement of the fixed stars, which for practical purposes never changes (the stars do move relative to one another, but their movement is so slow that it is scarcely noticeable over a span of centuries). Each letter of the Celestial alphabet is a constellation of stars, similar to the constellations of the zodiac -- or rather, a set of constellations, since the letters occur more than once in each celestial hemisphere.

(Celestial letters in the stars of the Southern Hemisphere)

Names spelled out using the Celestial letters would partake of the occult influences of the stars that define their shapes. In ancient times, each of the brighter fixed stars possessed its own mythology and magical meaning. This was especially true in the magic of the Persians, who were renowned for their skill in astrology and astronomy. Persian Magi attached a host of esoteric associations to the stars.

Among the Gnostics, Hermetists and Neoplatonists of Egypt existed the belief that each star was the heavenly home of a spiritual intelligence -- a higher being that might be prevailed upon to intercede with humanity, provided the correct prayers, offerings and devotions were made. When human souls were perfected, they ascended to take their rightful place in the heavens, and became stars themselves. The influence of these spiritual creatures made itself felt upon the earth by means of rays of light that shone down from the stars, transmitting an occult virtue to the places they illuminated. Based upon this belief is the astrological concept of aspects or angles between heavenly bodies, each aspect with its own benign or malign influence.

It is interesting to compare the version of the Celestial alphabet that appears in Agrippa's Occult Philosophy (see Magic Alphabets, where Agrippa's version is illustrated) with the letters reproduced by Gaffarel, above. Many significant differences are evident. The small circles at the ends of strokes evidently signify bright stars, and may indeed mark all the stars that play a part in defining the letters.