ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

Towards an Order of Hermes Paradigm

The magickal paradigm as presented in Mage is vaguely Hermetic but it has been made generic enough to apply to all Traditions. This piece attempts to give a richer feel to Hermetic magic by making such mages pay more attention to factors like the day of the week, the time of the year and the planets that rule the magick the mage creates. This effort was based on my limited understanding of astrology, Kaballah, and the western esoteric tradition generally. I have also tried to make it playable. In short, I may be completely wrong about some of the attributions or other such things because I have tried to stress consistency over accuracy. I was inspired by, and copped much from, the Nephilim RPG magic system by Chaosium, which is of course highly recommended.

Mage Terms — Clarifications, Additions, Changes

The Paradigm: Ascension. Each mage must, through effort and experience, fully Awaken from the sleep of unconsciousness. By rousing the Self, part of the universe is aroused. The ultimate goal is that the entire universe be fully awakened, either by its own efforts or through the efforts of the Awakened. This would represent complete victory for the Order of Hermes in the so-called Ascension War.

Paradox: Imbalance. In order to make something move, it is often necessary to make it imbalanced. In the the same way, a mage can make Reality move by imbalancing it. Because of the principle of "as above, so below" the mage also becomes imbalanced. Another way to think of it is the mage becomes unbalanced by moving from Tipareth (the center of the Tree of Life) to one of the Spheres in order to take advantage of that Sphere's power. Either way, the mage will eventually have to come back into balance, and this may be painful. This is the price of power.

The Spheres. A Hermetic mage would likely have little trouble thinking of the Spheres as they are presented in Mage or calling them by the names there. Hermetic mages are able to understand the world in Technocratic terms and may even take advantage of the innovations the Technocracy has made. However, the Techno worldview is inherently limited and while it may be a source of inspiration, the Tree of Life and the Hermetic tradition are the best way to interpret all phenomena, including those produced by the Technocrats. The Tree of Life includes all possible systems, because it is the blueprint of Creation. The Technomancers are just trapped in the lower worlds, unable to leave the world of matter behind and reach the higher worlds.

I have attributed each of the Spheres to one of the Sephiroth (Hebrew for spheres) of the Tree of Life. A Hermetic mage might be as likely to call a Sphere by its Sephirot name, and should be encouraged to think of the implications the rulership of that sphere has. For example, a pacifistic mage would avoid Entropy magick, which is ruled by the warlike sephiroth Geburah. I will list the Sephiroth, its associated Sphere, then the Ruling Planet, the day associated with the planet and the traditional one-word description of the Sephiroth. The explanatory text is mine and I hope I have come close to what the Tree is supposed to represent.

Kether — Prime — None, None, Crown

Kether is the Crown and that from which everything proceeds. Essential reality is beyond the rulership of the planets because their authority comes from reality. Alternatively, planetary influences do effect Prime but usually in ways that cancel out (see below), making for no visible influence.

Chokmah — Time — Saturn, Saturday, Wisdom

As the second emanation, Chokmah is well-suited to represent time. As Father Time, he is associated with Saturn.

Binah — Correspondence — Moon, Monday, Understanding

Binah is the third emanation. She completes the upper triad, giving us a triangle and thus making her mother to space and geometry. As a goddess, she is associated with the moon.

Chesed — Mind — Thursday, Jupiter, Mercy

Mercy is often the prerogative of a ruler, such as Jupiter, king of the gods. In order to rule well, a king must have a finely honed mind.

Geburah — Entropy — Tuesday, Mars, Strength

It seemed a good match to put Entropy with a Sephiroth ruled by the War God given the chaos war causes. As Mercy gives way to Strength, so even Mind's best thoughts give way to forgetfulness, entropy.

Tiphareth — the Mage's self — Sunday, Sun, Beauty

When a person Awakens, they are said to have moved into the Sphere of Tiphareth. Tiphareth mediates between the other spheres. It is at the center of the tree — its hub. From here, the mage can be the unmoved mover.

Netzach — Life — Friday, Venus, Victory

Love, lust, attraction and other feelings proceed from Life.

Hod — Forces — Wednesday, Mercury, Splendor

As the Sphere aligned to their legendary founder, the Order of Hermes felt obliged to make Forces their specialty Sphere. Of course, they do not object to the sheer power it offers, either. However, they would object that emphasizing power misses the point. A mage must move from his or her center, and that is why the mage is located in Tipareth instead of Hod.

Yesod — Spirit — Monday, Moon, Foundation

Governed by the Moon, this Sephiroth also governs interactions with "things that go bump in the night."

Malkuth — Matter — None, Earth, Kingdom

Malkuth is the reality we see. As the last emanation, it is the most dense. Matter is a natural fit. As the ground on which we stand, Matter has no planet that rules it.

For convenience, here is the same list alphabetized by Mage Sphere with their associated planets, colors and days.

Correspondence	Binah	Moon	Purple	Monday
Entropry	Geburah	Mars	Red	Tuesday
Forces	Hod	Mercury	White	Wednesday
Life	Netzach	Venus	Green	Friday
Matter	Malkuth	Earth	Black	none
Mind	Chesed	Jupiter	Orange	Thursday
Prime	Kether	none	none	none
Spirit	Yesod	Moon	Purple	Monday
Time	Chokmah	Saturn	Blue	Saturday
the mage	Tiphareth	Sun	Yellow	Sunday

Times and Seasons

Depending on the day of the week and astrological month of the year, Hermetic mages may be stronger or weaker than mages of other Traditions. In game terms, they will gain bonuses or penalties to their difficulty numbers.

Difficulties above 10 mean the spell is not possible; the stars are against you. Of course, a mage could spend Quintessence to lower, for example, an impossibly high 11 to a barely possible 10 or lower. All modifiers are cumulative in conjunctional magick. However, they cannot go above +3 or below -3.

Bonuses are given on the chart below. You first need to know the day and date. Then, go to the Months Table. Find out the Enthronement type for that day on that month. It can be Grand, Neutral or Opposed. Then, roll on the Modifier Table based on the Enthronement. Then, consult the Days Table to see what Spheres will get a modifier that day. Modifiers last from sunrise to sunrise.

Example: Valerius wants to cast Unseen Nomenclature (BoS pg. 142) on his diary. Today is Saturday, the 30th of March. That makes today a Neutral Enthronement in the month of Aries. Valerius is in luck because the GM rolled a 0 on the modifier table, giving today a base modifier of -1 to difficulty. Looking at the Days Table, we see Mind is Favored, making the difficulty -2. Matter or Prime may be Disfavored today. Valerius's luck does not hold here, the GM rolls a 1 and Matter is an Opposed Sphere today. The base modifier -1 has 1 added to it: Matter gives a +0 modifier. Prime gives no modifer as per the rule on selecting between Matter and Prime. So, Valerius can roll at -2 to difficulty.

Months Table

		Enthronement Type
Month	Ascendant Planet	Grand	Neutral	Opposed
Aries 21 Mar - 20 Apr	Mars	Tue	Thu, Fri Sat, Sun	Mon, Wed
Taurus 21 Apr - 20 May	Venus	Fri	Mon, Tue Wed, Sun	Thu, Sat
Gemini 21 May - 21 Jun	Mercury	Wed	Mon, Fri Sat, Sun	Tue, Thu
Cancer 22 Jun - 22 Jul	Moon	Mon	Wed, Sat Thu, Fri	Tue, Sun
Leo 23 Jul - 22 Aug	Sun	Sun	Tue, Wed Thu, Fri	Mon, Sat
Virgo 23 Aug - 22 Sep	Mercury	Wed	Mon, Fri Sat, Sun	Thu, Sat
Libra 23 Sep - 22 Oct	Venus	Fri	Mon, Tue Wed, Sun	Thu, Sat
Scorpio 23 Oct - 21 Nov	Mars	Tue	Thu, Fri Sat, Sun	Mon, Wed
Sagittarius 22 Nov - 20 Dec	Jupiter	Thu	Tue, Sat Mon, Sun	Wed, Fri
Capricorn 21 Dec - 19 Jan	Saturn	Sat	Mon, Thu Tue, Wed	Fri, Sun
Aquarius 20 Jan - 18 Feb	Saturn	Sat	Mon, Tue Wed, Thu	Fri, Sun
Pisces 19 Feb - 20 Mar	Jupiter	Thu	Mon, Tue Sat, Sun	Wed, Fri

Modifiers Table

Grand Enthronement		Neutral Enthronement		Opposed Enthronment
Roll	Modifier	Roll	Modifier	Roll	Modifier
1	+0	1	+1	1	+2
2-6	-1	2-6	+0	2-6	+1
7-0	-2	7-0	-1	7-0	+0

Days Table

For Favored, subtract 1 from modifier
For Neutral, use the modifer
For Disfavored, add 1 to the modifier
C/S = Correspondence/Spirit
M/P = Matter/Prime

Day	Favored	Neutral	Disfavored
Mon.	Binah/Corr. Yesod/Spirit	Forces, Time, Mind, Life	Entropy, M/P*
Tue.	Geburah/Entropy	Mind, Life, Time, M/P*	C/S, Forces
Wed.	Hod/Forces	C/S, Life, Time, M/P*	Entropy, Mind
Thu.	Chesed/Mind	Entropy, Time, C/S, M/P*	Forces, Life
Fri.	Netzach/Life	Forces, C/S, Entropy, M/P*	Mind, Time
Sat.	Chokmah/Time	C/S, Mind, Entropy, Forces	Life, M/P*
Sun.	Special**

* On these days, Matter or Prime may receive a modifier. On a 1, Matter gets modified, on a 0 Prime gets modified. Any other result means no modifier for either.

** Roll randomly among the 6 other days to find which pattern will get bonuses today. Matter and Prime are eligible for Favored status. Roll again. On a 1, replace the Sphere randomly selected for Favored with Matter, on a 0 with Prime. Any other roll means no modifier that day for Matter or Prime. Sometimes, the randomly selected pattern for that day will make Matter and Prime eligible for modifier in addition to the one in the Favored column. Ignore that possibility.

Predicting the Astrological Modifier

A Mage may attempt to predict the modifier for a given day. The roll is Intelligence + Occult, difficulty 8, requires at least three dots in Occult. If the Mage has the Astrology skill (at least two dots), or has Occult specialized in Astrology, the difficulty is 7. Use of the Time Sphere can lower this difficulty as per BoS pg. 112. Normally, a mage only tries to predict for one Sphere at a time, so increase the difficulty by one for each additional Sphere. Each attempt takes one hour for consulting star charts or making observations, making calculations, etc. If you don't have reference materials or Eidetic Memory (from the Merit or generated with Mind effects) raise the difficulty by 2. One success will let a mage know if the modifier is positive (bad) or negative (good) with zero being positive. Three or more successes will give the mage the exact number. Failure gives no information. Botching gives incorrect information. Making a prediction for the same day takes 30 minutes and is difficulty 6. Predictions for far in the future should take longer and be more difficult — Storyteller's discretion.

Sympathies

Hermetic Mages are very big on sympathetic magick. They will often go so far as to wear clothing, eat foods, wear jewelry, take actions, etc. that are in sympathy with/correspond to the kind of magickal effects they wish to produce. A mage should receive bonuses for doing this consistently and should receive penalties if entirely out of step with the appropriate elements, planets and Spheres at Storyteller's discretion.

Please note that is not just flavor! Orange things, to a Hermetic mage, are not just symbolic of Jupiter. They partake in Jupiter's very nature! Thus, a Storyteller could introduce a number of orange things into an adventure to give a mage a clue. However, convincing the Virtual Adept in the party that the increasing number of orange things portends increasing NWO activity in their city is that mage's problem and should make for interesting and fun roleplaying.

Conclusion

I hope you will see that this helps to explain much of the text in Mage as regards the Order. A class of Apprentice mages that graduates during one of the rare Grand Enthronments of Kether is probably destined for great things but a class that graduates on a day with a poor astrological modifier will probably be mediocre at best. The importance of the astrological modifier should generate Hermetics that want to delay doing certain magick until next Thursday, after they have studied the myriad charts and books (or laptop computer for non-technophobes) they always seem to carry with them. And, for those of you who have played with the other Paradigm pages, you already know it will makes for a better roleplaying experience to say "Using the energies of Yesod, I part the Veil" rather than "I go into the Umbra using Spirit 3."

I hope that my efforts will provide more than just flavor, but a more comprehensive way of looking at the World of Darkness for Hermetic mages. I think the little added complexity will be worth it to make your characters more complex.