Vulcan appears in 2 systems: the same name is used for more than one thing. Both are shown below.
Deities
Vulcan
Vulcanus is the Roman god of fire - the fire of the hearth and the smithy, the fire under the earth, and the fire that gets out of hand - and his festival, the Volcanalia of 23 August, was kept at the height of the dry season, when the city's fires were most likely.
Vulcan's forge, his lameness and his marriage to Venus all belong to the Greek Hephaestus; the Roman Volcanus is fire itself, kept within bounds, and his Roman cult partner is Maia, to whom the flamen Volcanalis sacrificed on the Kalends of May. The Volcanalia's substitution of living creatures for human lives is recorded but variously explained. His planetary attribution is to a hypothetical intra-Mercurial planet that was never found - a nineteenth-century hypothesis that planets.json keeps as such.
Correspondences
- Planetary Correspondence
- Vulcan
Offerings
- Offerings
- WineIncenseIronFireThe first piece of a craft
Sacred timing
- Sacred Timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- VolcanusVulcanus
- Gender Expression
- Masculine
- Titles
- Lord of FireThe SmithKeeper of the ForgeThe Fire That Is BoundLord of the Volcano
- Symbols
- HammerAnvilTongsFireVolcano
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneWarm plainAddressVulcanusLord of FireKeeper of the ForgeRelationshipThe fire you borrow and must returnWarningHe is fire and fire does not negotiate its boundsResonanceSmiths craftspeople those working with heat or risk
- Modern Practice
Vulcan is called on before any work with fire, metal or heat, and at the end of a season of making. His practice is the bound fire: the forge lit deliberately, the metal worked, the flame put out.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- FireThe forgeMetalworkVolcanoesDestruction by fireCraftTransformation
- Mythology Summary
Vulcanus is the Roman god of fire - the fire of the hearth and the smithy, the fire under the earth, and the fire that gets out of hand - and his festival, the Volcanalia of 23 August, was kept at the height of the dry season, when the city's fires were most likely. His oldest shrine, the Volcanal, stood in the Comitium, and at the Volcanalia living creatures were thrown into the fire in place of human lives. The forge, the hammer, the lame smith and the marriage to Venus are Greek stories about Hephaestus, who was identified with him.
- Related Deities
- HephaestusVestaMaiaMarsSol
Details
- Correspondences
- ColorsRedOrangeBronzeBlackScentsSulphurCedarMetalsIronBronzeAnimalsFish
Planets
Correspondences
- Tarot
- Major arcanaAlternateStrengthNote
The forge breaks to remake; strength is the fire held rather than spent
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneHammer blow directAddressVulcanHephaestusThe SmithRelationshipSmith who shapes by heatWarning
The forge does not negotiate—what enters is not what leaves
ResonanceCraftspeople makers those working metal or breaking a pattern
Nature and meaning
- Mythology Summary
Vulcan is the smith: the fire that is deliberately held and struck rather than merely burned. The hypothetical planet never existed, but the figure did, and it is reached for where stone is born of eruption - pumice carries it beside Pluto. In occult work it stands for the heat that transforms material, and for the endurance that shaping costs.
Details
- Astronomical Type
- Hypothetical planet
- Astronomical Note
Proposed inside Mercury's orbit to explain Mercury's perihelion precession; ruled out by observation and by general relativity. It survives as the forge planet of Theosophical and Uranian astrology
- Timing
- Day of weekTuesday altNote
No traditional day—given the Mars day by the forge tradition, not by the planetary week
- Qualities
- NatureHot forgingTemperamentCholericGenderMasculineSectDiurnalQualityMalefic forgingSpeedHypothetical
- Domains
- The forgeVolcanic fireMetalworkCraftAlchemyLatent powerEruptionIndustrySubterranean fireTransmutation through heatEndurance
- Correspondences
- ElementSecondary elementColorsPrimaryRedSecondaryBlackOrangeIron greyHex#8B0000StonesHerbs—AnimalsSalamanderBoarBullChakraSecondary chakraDirectionSouthSeasonSummerTime of dayNoon
- Archetype
- PrimaryThe smithSecondaryThe alchemistThe artisanShadowThe destroyer uncontrolledPsychologicalCraft and eruption
- Magical Workings
- Optimal forForge workMetalworkingAlchemyTransmutationStrengthProtectionBreaking obstaclesCraft magicEnduranceFire magicAvoid forCooling workGentlenessRestConciliationBest timingDayTuesdayHourMars or sunSpecialAt the forge or before volcanic work
- Deities Associated
- HephaestusMarsPluto
- Occult Notes
Vulcan is unobserved and has no traditional herb rulership, so its herb list is empty by design—putting a herb there would invent an attribution that no source makes. It holds no rulership and its day is borrowed from Mars.
One of 3,120 entries in the Grimoire — the whole library, every cross-reference, is free to take. Take the whole thing Is it wrong somewhere?
Referenced by 12
Every entry that names Vulcan, grouped by the system it comes from.
☥ Deities 7
🜔 Elements 1
- Fire Gods
🐾 Animal totems 1
- Beaver Deities
◆ Stones 1
- Pumice Planet
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