Canis Major

Definition

Canis Major ('Greater Dog') is a southern constellation lying south-east of Orion, dominated by its principal star Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris), the brightest fixed star in the night sky. In astrological reception, Canis Major is named most often through Sirius itself: the star carries Greek Σείριος ('scorching'), Latin Canis Maior, and Arabic al-Shiʿrā ('the leader'). Sirius is the fifth of the fifteen Behenian fixed stars catalogued in the Hermetic talismanic tradition.

In Tradition

Across Hellenistic, Arabic-Persian, and Renaissance traditions, Canis Major is treated through Sirius and read as a fortunate fixed star of Jovian-Martian nature — honour, fame, royal favour, and, in talismanic reception, mediation of peace between rulers and between spouses. The heliacal rising of Sirius gave the Romans their term 'dog days,' the hottest stretch of late summer, and the Egyptians their New Year.

In Practice

Astrologers note Canis Major in a chart through Sirius, conjunct one of the personal planets or angles within a tight orb (typically 1° to 2° for fixed-star work). Conjunctions to the Ascendant, Sun, Moon, or Midheaven are read as marks of fame, public visibility, or unusual fortune; the Behenian talismanic tradition recorded in Hermes on the Fifteen Fixed Stars uses Sirius with golden beryl, savine juniper, wormwood, bistort, and serpent's tongue for the favour of spirits, peace between rulers, and harmony between spouses. In modern Western fixed-star practice (Robson, Brady) Sirius is one of the most commonly assessed stars because of its brightness and its prominence in the calendar.

Historical Origin

Sirius is one of the earliest astronomically observed stars in the historical record. In Egyptian tradition (Belmonte-Lull, Astronomy of Ancient Egypt) it is identified with the goddess Sopdet/Sothis, whose heliacal rising heralded the annual inundation of the Nile. Greek and Roman authors named it Σείριος / Canis Maior; the Arabic Behenian-star tradition assigns it the talismanic profile preserved in the Hermes on the Fifteen Fixed Stars treatise transmitted via BM Bodleian MS. 52. The modern fixed-star tradition (Robson 1923, Ebertin, Brady) carries the doctrine forward.

Etymology

Origin: Latin. Meaning: Greater Dog.

Further Reading

• Vivian E. Robson, The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology
• Bernadette Brady, Brady's Book of Fixed Stars
• Diana Rosenberg, Secrets of the Ancient Skies