Andrew

Dodekatemoria 54: Capricorn of Leo

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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Capricorn of Leo: The Treasure House

12° Leo 30′ to 14° Leo 59′

These many marvelous things on display
all had real purpose once. Now they show wealth,
granted to merchants — masterworks of clay,
exotic woods, and metal. Dust and filth
cover them, each long unused. That’s’ the rub.
Such lovely stuff was once in common use,
showing off fruit, serving uncommon grub —

but now it languishes, with no excuse
for the long neglect. Each item gets cleaned
maybe once a year — until the big sale.
The whole collection gets whittled and weaned,
a tchotchke valued equal to the Grail.
Buyers will give pennies for what cost gold,
and soon? All will be junked, that hasn’t sold.

Image: A conservator in white gloves polishes an object in a treasury — the thing is of no value and has no certain purpose.

Important Relationships

  • Part of the Egyptian Term of Mercury in Leo
  • Part of the Egyptian Term of Venus in Leo
  • Part of Decan II of Leo (administrated by Jupiter): The Laurel Wreath

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.

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