Winged Signs

wingd synz

greek: πτηνὰ ζῴδια (ptēna zōdia)

Definition

The winged signs (Greek ptēna zōdia) are a minor sign-class Rhetorius draws on for one trade-signification. In his Compendium Chapter 92 the class takes in Virgo, Sagittarius, and the first degrees of Pisces — the last, he says, because of Pegasus. The grouping rests on associations with winged figures: Virgo's wings, the archer-centaur of Sagittarius, and the Winged Horse whose stars fall at the opening of Pisces.

In Tradition

Rhetorius classifies the winged signs through their links to winged creatures and the constellations near them. Holden's note explains the Pisces case: the longitudes of some stars of Pegasus, the Winged Horse, fall in that sign, a paranatellonta-style association that pulls Pisces's first degrees into the class. The classification is specialized and less often cited than the fixed or bicorporeal sign-groups, but it is genuinely attested here, and Rhetorius puts it to a single concrete use — determining a particular trade.

In Practice

Use the winged signs the way Rhetorius does, as a narrow classification for a delineation rather than a general sign-quality. His application is the trade: when Mercury and the Moon fall in the winged signs — Virgo, Sagittarius, or the first degrees of Pisces — he reads them as making falconers or bird-feeders. Treat the grouping as one example of how a sign-class can be built from constellation-associations. Reach for it in that specialized trade-determining role rather than stretching it into a broad statement about the signs.

Historical Origin

The classification is given by Rhetorius the Egyptian, Compendium Chapter 92 (in James Herschel Holden's 2009 translation, p. 143), where Mercury and the Moon in the winged signs — Virgo, Sagittarius, and the opening of Pisces, the last on account of Pegasus — make falconers or bird-feeders. Holden's note ties the Pisces inclusion to the longitudes of stars of that constellation.

Etymology

Origin: Greek. Meaning: winged signs.

Further Reading

  • Rhetorius the Egyptian, Compendium
  • James Herschel Holden, A History of Horoscopic Astrology