The Behenian Stars (Part One)

Hermes Trismegistus, "Hermes The Thrice-Renowned", is a quasi-mystical individual to whom thousands of writings have been ascribed since antiquity. Modern scholars consider him an anthropomorphized syncretism of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. According to the Alchemists and the Kabbalists, Hermes Trismegistus was a contemporary of Moses; but whereas Moses gave Man the Mundane Holy Law, Hermes Trismegistus gave Man the Spiritual Holy Law. 

This spiritual law has been given the collective name of Hermeticism or the Western Mystery Tradition. Some of these materials have been organized and ordered into rational teachings, but many seem to be more random.  Such things as the Tarot, Pyramidology, Alchemy, and certain aspects of astrology draw from the greater Hermetic tradition. 

If there ever was a Hermes Trismegistus, whatever his true name may have been he became the lodestar of generations of cross-cultural teachings that led naturally to adepthood. No one post or single blog can even scratch the surface of the mere history of the Western Mystery Tradition.

Among Hermeticism's additions to astrology was the concept of the Behenian Fixed Stars, fifteen stars with unique astrological properties. According to Claudius Agrippa (d. 1535) who systematized the knowledge of these stars he had culled it all from the ancient writings of Hermes Trismegistus.   

The name "Behenian" comes from the Arabic word "Bahman" for "root." Each Behenian star is associated with a plant and with a gemstone, and each has unique powers which are activated when the planets come within a 6* orb of such stars. Like the signs and planets the Behenian stars have glyphs (these glyphs can vary somewhat as can the identity of a few of the stars, depending on the source material consulted). 

There have been many ways of cataloguing these stars and their attributes, and they are often referred to Hermetically by unfamiliar names. There is also debate on the role of the Sun in Behenian study --- is it a "star" or is it a "planet" and if it is both, then how do we distinguish the different attributes?