Phaleg

What this is

Phaleg is the Olympic Spirit of Mars in the Arbatel, the War-Captain among the seven governors. His name carries the old root of division and battle, and the tradition crowns him the Iron-Crowned War-Captain. He is the cutting edge of the heavens, the force that decides and defends.

What it governs

He presides over Mars and over Tuesday, and over the 35 provinces of heaven assigned to him. His dominion is war and the honour won in arms, courage under pressure, victory in any contest, and the clean decisiveness of a thing settled by strength. He governs every situation that must be fought for and every fear that must be walked through.

Its properties

His colour is red, his metal iron, his stone the ruby, and his number is 35 kings, five times the planetary seven, reckoned at 350 years. The Arbatel says he raises people to honour in wars and grants courage and victory. The upright Mars-virtue is courage, the will that acts when action is costly, the protector's strength; the shadow is cruelty, the temper that breaks what it could have built, force used because it is easy. He teaches that the sword is for the defence of what you love, not the proof of what you are.

Where else it appears

Phaleg is the Mars-note in another skin. It sounds again as the archangel Samael (or Kamael) of Tuesday, as the sephirah Geburah, Severity, the rigour that prunes, as Greek Ares and Roman Mars the field-guardian, as Norse Tiw whose day Tuesday keeps, as Hindu Mangala the red planet of the warrior. Iron, red, the five of Geburah, the bloodstone: each is a doorway onto the same fierce will.

Where you meet it on the Oracle

On The Day, Phaleg is the tradition-face of Tuesday, the day of Mars, alongside the angel Samael, the hawk, Lapsang Souchong tea, and the Martial pentacles. When his is the day's face, the work is to act, to defend a boundary, to do the brave hard thing first. Read him as a call to courage and as a caution: aim the force, and never let the heat outrun the cause.

Why it matters

Mars is the principle that some things are worth fighting for and that the will, rightly aimed, can change the world. He matters because the day comes for everyone when nothing but nerve will do, and he stands at the front of it. He asks you to find what you would defend and to be equal to defending it.

Correspondences

planet

Mars

element

Fire

zodiac

Aries, Scorpio

number

35

sephirah

Geburah

day

Tuesday

colour

Red

metal

Iron

stone

Ruby

tarot

The Tower