This is a poem in this series of 144 poems that I’m writing based on the dodeks, or twelfth parts, of the Zodiac signs. As far as I know, everybody else calls them dodekatemoria, but that’s a very complicated word to say, so I just call them dodeks.
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Scorpio of Taurus: The Madam’s Boudoir
15° TAurus 00′ to 17° TAurus 29′
Her tastes run to velvet, satin or silk,
old oiled leather, and mahogany:
carved Gothic church thrones, and things of that ilk,
share space with skulls and tchotchkes pagany-y.
It’s all red or black. Is torture her thing,
or is she just into the aesthetic?
Does her indulgence need sex with death’s stick?
Is her funeral-black raiment prophetic?
The windows are shielded with heavy drapes,
partly to shield from the life-loving Sun,
but also for darkness where longing sleeps
and dreams, where unconscious hopes are begun.
Whether you enter for delight or rest,
she won’t let you stay — unless you’re the best.
Image: A woman bars a balding man from entering her luxurious bedroom.
Important Relationships
- Part of Ptolemy’s Term of Jupiter
- Part of Decan II of Taurus (administrated by Moon): The Lingam-Yoni
Colophon
This is a part of a series of poems based on the dodekatemoria, or twelfth parts, of the Zodiac signs. The dodekatemoria are sub-segments of the Zodiac, each representing two degrees thirty minutes (2° 30′) of arc; there are 144 dodeks (as I call them) in the full Zodiac, or twelve in each sign. Each dodek is supposed to be a recapitulation or miniature repetition or summary of its parent zodiac sign, as though it were filtered through the lens of the main sign.
The Sun crosses this distance of 2° 30′ in about two and a half days, making these dodeks cognate with the Moon, which crosses one sign of the Zodiac, or thirty degrees (30°) in about two and a half days. The Sun’s passage through a dodek thus mirrors the Moon’s passage through a sign, and squeezes a “mini-year” of passage through twelve signs into a single month.
Each series of dodeks begins at 0° 00′ of its parent sign with the same sign, and there are four dodeks in each sequence of 10° degrees. Each poem in this series will give a (my) name of the dodek, its relevant degrees, a sonnet describing it, a 1-2 sentence description of the dodek, and some other information.
