Phul

What this is

Phul is the Olympic Spirit of the Moon in the Arbatel, governor of the nearest and swiftest-changing sphere. The tradition names him Silver-Crowned Lord of the Tides. He is the spirit of water, tides, and the silver light that rules the night, the closest of the seven to the body and to the changing moods of ordinary life.

What it governs

He presides over the Moon and over Monday, and over the 7 provinces of heaven assigned to him, the smallest number, for the Moon is the lowest of the seven heavens and nearest the earth. His dominion is water and all its creatures, the transmutation of metals into silver, the healing of dropsy and the diseases of water, the granting of long life, and the familiars of the waters. He governs the tides of feeling, the body's rhythms, and the safe crossing of waters.

Its properties

His colour is silver, his metal silver, his stone the pearl, and his number is 7 kings, the planetary number itself, reckoned at 28 years. The Arbatel says he changes quicksilver into true silver, cures the dropsy, gives the spirits of the water as servants, and prolongs life. The upright lunar virtue is sensitivity, memory, the soul that reflects and nourishes; the shadow is moodiness and illusion, the changeable heart that mistakes its own tides for truth. He teaches that to feel the tides is wisdom, to be drowned by them is not.

Where else it appears

Phul is the Moon-note in another skin. It sounds again as the archangel Gabriel of Monday, as the sephirah Yesod, Foundation, the sphere of the astral tides and the subconscious, as Greek Selene and Artemis, as Roman Diana, as Egyptian Khonsu and Isis, as Norse Mani whose day Monday keeps. Silver the metal, silver the light, the nine of Yesod, the pearl, the reflecting water: each is the one Moon seen from a different shore.

Where you meet it on the Oracle

On The Day, Phul is the tradition-face of Monday, the day of the Moon, beside the archangel Gabriel, the wolf, Gyokuro tea, and the lunar pentacles. When his is the day's face, the day belongs to feeling, rest, dream, and the body's rhythm: tend yourself, listen inward, do not force what wants to flow at its own pace. Read him as the day to honour your tides rather than fight them.

Why it matters

The Moon is the bridge between the heavens and the earthly body, the nearest light and the one that visibly changes. He matters because everyone lives by tides they did not choose, and he is the friendly face of those tides. He asks you to be gentle with the changing parts of yourself.

Correspondences

planet

Moon

element

Water

zodiac

Cancer

number

7

sephirah

Yesod

day

Monday

colour

Silver

metal

Silver

stone

Pearl

tarot

The High Priestess