The Stars to Watch

on winter and the Behenian Fixed Stars

Jacob’s Dream, William. Blake, 1805

Hello friends,

Like many winters in the past, this January has felt particularly long. On top of the usual blahs and uptick of illness typical of this cold season, we have had to continue to metabolize tragedy. The Los Angeles wildfires have taken dozens of lives (and counting) and displaced countless more, robbing many of security and financial stability. The continually urgent issue of climate change is all the more glaring, as are the merciless impulse of landlords or property developers to put profit over people.

It seems that Palestine and Israel have come to a ceasefire agreement some fifteen months after the genocide began in October 2023. This moment is bittersweet. With at least tens of thousands murdered by a genocidal regime (reports are already saying that the 45,000 death toll originally reported is too low) and the whole of Gaze leveled, the work of supporting Palestinians is far from over. On top of that, it is all but confirmed that Israel will continue to bomb Gaza.

All of this is coalescing with gratitude for my own life: a house that still stands, freedom of movement and safety from harm. Space to dream, feel, create, connect.

I am reminded of a vital word introduced to me by A.S Katoch: oneirocide or the systematic destruction of our dreams are the hands of violent, oppressive structures:¹

It is not just the material losses that harm us: it is the way this violent, cruel world seems to strip us of even our internal freedom and imagination.

For where else can we turn to, regardless of outside circumstances, than to spirit?

Even when things feel bleak in the world at large or my immediate, wintry surroundings, there is always the stars. The stars keep us in touch with the illumination of spirit. Staying in touch with their divine light doesn’t just provide hope for our current lives but dreams for better futures.

But, as Audre Lorde puts it in “Poetry is Not a Luxury,” “there are no new ideas still waiting in the wings to save us as women, as human”. To fortify our future, we must draw from our past: “There are only old and forgotten [dreams'], new combinations, extrapolations and recognitions from within ourselves, along with the renewed courage to try them out”. We must look backward, inward, to our essential natures, to find the imagination of our dreams.

On the Behenian Stars

Today I want to talk about a particular group of stars, both known for their power and serving as a particularly apt antidote for dark cold nights, literally and metaphorically: the Behenian Stars.

If you want to dive into the fixed stars but, dazzled by their multitudes, don’t know where to start, these fifteen stars are your friends.

They are, as follows:

• Algol, 26º Taurus

• The Pleiades, 0º Gemini

• Aldebaran, 10º Gemini

• Capella, 22º Gemini

• Sirius, 14º Cancer

• Procyon, 26º Cancer

• Regulus, 0º Virgo

• Alkaid, 27º Virgo

• Algorab, 13º

• Spica, 24º Libra

• Arcturus, 24º Libra

• Alphecca, 12º Scorpio

• Antares, 10º Sagittarius

• Vega, 15º Capricorn

• Deneb Algedi, 23º Aquarius

These stars are often singled our for their power and I have found them to always be loud when they show up in a natal chart.

I began to specifically focus on these 15 stars over a year ago when I start working on my book, forthcoming with Weiser/Red Wheel. I wanted to really dive deep on a handful of stars and the Behenians are not only consistently highlighted throughout the astrological tradition, we have more extant texts and correspondences on these stars than any of the others.

And, more importantly, my direct experience with them underscore their power. Over the past year, I endeavored to perform rituals with each of these stars at least three times, with the intent of understanding them directly and being able to elucidate their powers for other curious practitioners. I can directly attest to their strength, not just in visions but in charts and in our lives too.

Though I believe all stars have the same magical potency and vast richness of these fifteen, you can never go wrong beginning your stellar practices with them.

Their name, Behenian, also belies an interesting connection between the stars and the dark of winter. Though it is thought that the word “Behenian” derives from the Arabic “behen,” astrologer and scholar JM Hamade actually traces the word to the Persian “baham,” which means both the penultimate winter month of the Persian calendar and a snowy avalanche. Hamade theorizes that this etymological connection to the wintry months and their chilling desolation only serve to highlight the brightness of these stars. Even in the darkest of times, we can return to the Behenians as guiding lights, sources of potency and wisdom that can aid us when things on earth seem impossible to bear.

I, for one, have found much succor in spending time with all of the Behenians. When the outside world seems difficult or intractable, I can pray. I can call them down. In their mysterious way, they always seem to answer.

By working with the stars directly, by performing rituals to speak to them ourselves, we can make space beyond what we can currently imagine, create possibilities our mind alone couldn’t conjure. Though I have achieved greater intuition, increased success and an improved social life from doing magic with the stars, I have also benefitted just from knowing that they’re there. Through the Behenians I am reminded that spirit is always here, that we are never alone.

I want to help you understand these mysterious, powerful stars and demystify both how to practice them and how to discern the proper magical uses of them.

To kick off this passion project, I will be releasing an Introduction to the Behenian Stars Lecture in just a few short weeks. This lecture will be the first in a series where I dive deep into all of the Behenians, though this first offering will be foundational to understanding them in context while also giving you a comprehensive overview of each of these rich stars.

Stay tuned for more info the offering, plus juicy tidbits on the power and majesty of these stars.

For now I leave you this link to a directory of Gofundmes for Black families displaced by the Los Angeles wildfires.

If you can donate, do so here.

1. I deeply recommend Katoch’s work, particularly his groundbreaking writing on the Lot of Dreams, and their role in astrology, psychoanalysis, the spirit, etc.