Gnosis
For centuries Christian mystics read the heavens as Scripture written in light: Christ as the Sun of righteousness, the twelve apostles and the twelve tribes on the twelve signs, the four evangelists on the four fixed signs. The early Gnostics saw seven rulers in the seven planets, and above them Sophia, Wisdom, waiting to lead the soul home.
These are esoteric readings, from Agrippa's Scale of Twelve, the Church Fathers, and the Gnostic texts they described. Mainstream Christian churches do not teach astrology; what follows is the mystical and esoteric tradition that grew up alongside them.
The evangelists on the fixed signs
The Scale of Twelve
Agrippa set the twelve signs beside the twelve apostles, the twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve angels who rule the signs.
The seven archons
In Gnostic cosmology seven rulers, the archons, hold the seven planetary spheres between the earth and the eighth sphere of the fixed stars, the Ogdoad, where Sophia dwells. The soul ascending must pass each one. Irenaeus lists them in planetary order, from Saturn down to the Moon.
- ♄︎Ialdabaoth · SaturnIaldabaoth is the chief archon, the Demiurge of many Gnostic texts: the lion-faced son of Sophia who made the material world and wrongly believed himself the only god.
- ♃︎Iao · JupiterIao, a name drawn from the divine name, is the second archon, ruling the sphere of Jupiter.
- ♂︎Sabaoth · MarsSabaoth, from the Hebrew for hosts, is the third archon, ruling Mars.
- ☉︎Adonaios · SunAdonaios, from Adonai, is the fourth archon, ruling the Sun at the center of the seven.
- ♀︎Eloaios · VenusEloaios, from Elohim, is the fifth archon, ruling the sphere of Venus.
- ☿︎Horaios · MercuryHoraios is the sixth archon, ruling the sphere of Mercury.
- ☽︎Astaphaios · MoonAstaphaios is the seventh and lowest archon, ruling the Moon, the gate between the earth and the planetary spheres.