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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Taurus of Cancer: The Gnostic’s Adventure
25° Cancer 00′ to 27° Cancer 29′
You can change your head with some chemistry
that twitches the way your neurons behave —
and the drug, by act of artistry
might send you to hells, this side of the grave,
or bring you to paradise for a time,
or wrap you in light beyond illusion,
or see Ideals through terrestrial grime.
But which view is real? Which one delusion?
Which one was bought with a price of poison
that carries hidden costs in the fine print?
The narrow road’s risks have their own frisson,
and the tripper’s world-view has a bright tint.
Yet the journey’s costs grow and accrue :
Can no one tell you when the bill comes due?
Image: An old man leans on a staff as he climbs a mountain to a distant shrine, while a young person meditates on a rock near at hand, in bliss.
Important Relationships
- Part of the Egyptian Term of Venus in Cancer
- Part of Decan III of Cancer (administrated by the Moon): The Overflowing Cup
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.
