Canis Minor

Definition

Canis Minor (Latin 'Lesser Dog') is a small constellation on the celestial equator, the companion to Canis Major. Its brightest star is Procyon (Alpha Canis Minoris), whose Greek name Προκύων means 'before the dog' — it rises heliacally before Sirius, the principal star of Canis Major. In the Behenian fixed-star tradition transmitted through Bodleian MS. 52 and Agrippa, Procyon is the 6th of the fifteen Behenian stars.

In Tradition

In the fixed-star tradition Canis Minor's significance is concentrated in Procyon, which carries a Mercury-Mars planetary nature in the Agrippa lineage — swift action, martial communication, intellectual cunning. The Hermes 15-Fixed-Stars tradition assigns it a talismanic correspondence (agate stone, heliotrope and pennyroyal as botanical correspondences) for favour of God and man, power over magic, and bodily health.

In Practice

When you read a chart for fixed-star influences, you note any natal planet conjunct Procyon (currently c. 26° Cancer per Greer's 2017 longitude). The Behenian tradition treats Procyon as one of the fifteen stars eligible for talismanic election under medieval magical practice. The Mercury-Mars nature makes it relevant when assessing themes of rapid speech, sharp intellect, or martial-communicative function. As a heliacal pre-cursor to Sirius, the constellation also matters historically in Egyptian timekeeping where dog-star heliacal risings anchored the calendar.

Historical Origin

Canis Minor is part of Ptolemy's 48-constellation catalogue in the *Almagest*. Procyon is named in Arabic as al-Shiʿrā al-Shāmiyyah ('the Syrian Shira'), the companion-name to Sirius (al-Shiʿrā al-Yamāniyyah, 'the Yemeni Shira'). In the Behenian fixed-star tradition Procyon is listed as the 6th of fifteen stars in BM Bodleian MS. 52, ff. 44-47, with Agrippa preserving the talismanic schema in *Three Books of Occult Philosophy* II.xlvii.

Etymology

Origin: Latin. Meaning: Canis Minor — 'Lesser Dog' (in contrast to Canis Major, the Greater Dog). Procyon — Greek Προκύων, 'before the dog,' from its heliacal rising before Sirius..

Further Reading

• Bernadette Brady, Brady's Book of Fixed Stars
• Vivian Robson, The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology
• Claudius Ptolemy, Almagest