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Petosiris to Nechepso is a letter describing an ancient
divination
Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...
technique using
numerology
Numerology (also known as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in ...
and a diagram. It is likely to be a
pseudepigraph.
Petosiris
Petosiris ( grc, Πετόσιρις), called Ankhefenkhons, was the high priest of Thoth at Hermopolis and held various priestly degrees in the service of Sakhmet, Khnum, Amen-Re and Hathor.
Petosiris was the son of Sishu and Nefer-renpet. He li ...
and
Nechepso are considered to be the founders of
astrology in some traditions. One translation of this letter into Latin is attributed to
Saint Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
, and can be found in
Cotton Tiberius.
The technique is known by several names, including the Petosiris Circle,
the Sphere of
Apuleius, Columcille's Circle, and
Democritus's Sphere. The attribution of ancient authors is a typical practice of
Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, and the technique may arise from this tradition. Examples of the figure are known from Anglo-Saxon manuscripts.
The technique involves calculating the numerical value of a patient's name, then dividing by 30 or 29, a number derived from the
lunar month to find the remainder, which is (mod 29) or (mod 30) in
modular arithmetic. The number is then found on the diagram, to determine the
prognosis
Prognosis (Greek: πρόγνωσις "fore-knowing, foreseeing") is a medical term for predicting the likely or expected development of a disease, including whether the signs and symptoms will improve or worsen (and how quickly) or remain stabl ...
.
See also
*
Computus
As a moveable feast, the date of Easter is determined in each year through a calculation known as (). Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon, which is the first full moon on or after 21 March (a fixed approxi ...
References
Bibliography
* Fuentes González, Pedro Pablo,
Néchepso-Pétosiris, in R. Goulet (ed.), ''Dictionnaire des Philosophes Antiques'', vol. IV, Paris, CNRS, 2005, p. 601-615.
External links
Magic (supernatural)
Numerology
Occult texts
History of Catholicism in England
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