Athansius Kircher was a Jesuit scholar who lived between 1602 and 1680. He was born in Germany and lived there and in France, until in 1633 the Austrian Emperor called him to Vienna to succeed Kepler as mathematician of the Habsburg court. On the way there Kircher’s ship was blown off course and he ended up in Rome, where he spent the rest of his life. He published 40 books on various subjects in the fields of Egyptology, geology and medicine.

On the Nine Spheres of Heaven

A test of methods for predicting the shape of the face based facial models of John Willner (1991) and the rising decan (Hindu decans).  Majority of examples support the Sun’s sign and not the Sun’s season as the contributor to physiognomy.  Study raises questions on inclusion of Sun’s season in temperament models as recommended by Ptolemy. Thirty-six examples.  Horoscopes sourced from Astrodatabank; no rectified charts used.  57 pages.

A comprehensive literature review of astrological physiognomy from the Greco-Roman period to the present day.  Includes works canonical to the non-astrological physiognomy tradition beginning with the pseudo-Aristotelian Physiognomica (3rd Cent BCE). 71 pages.

"In this brief essay I will explain the history and some of the meanings and uses of the astrological decans. It is not a complete survey, and there are other sources I have not checked. It is mainly designed to give a student of the Western Mystery Tradition a general introduction.