Besiegement, or Intermediacy of Misfortune, is the opposite of Benefaction: a highly unfavorable affliction in a geomantic chart. It occurs when the figure occupying a house is placed between figures of the Malefics—L Saturn and F Mars.
Besiegement does not have to be formed by L Saturn and F Mars together. It may arise between two figures of L Saturn, between two figures of F Mars, or between a figure of L Saturn on one side and a figure of F Mars on the other. Cauda Draconis may also take part in forming Besiegement, since it carries the destructive nature of both Malefics.
Meaning of Besiegement
Besiegement shows that the people, things, or circumstances signified by the besieged house are under pressure from a hostile surrounding. They are, as it were, surrounded by enemies, trapped, immobilized, restricted, or forced to choose between two bad options.
In other words, this is a position between two evils: between the hammer and the anvil, between Scylla and Charybdis, between two fires, caught in the grip of circumstances, or trapped with no good way out.
Conditions of Besiegement
The rule of Besiegement applies when the figure occupying a house is placed between two malefic figures and does not form Company with the neighboring figure with which Company is technically possible.
The figures of L Saturn are:
- Carcer;
- Tristitia.
The figures of F Mars are:
- Puer;
- Rubeus.
Cauda Draconis may also participate in Besiegement, since it combines the nature of L Saturn and F Mars.
Example of Application
- For example, Lætitia in the first house may be besieged by Rubeus in the second house and Tristitia in the twelfth house.
The rule of Besiegement is also applied automatically in the author’s own application available at Geomancy.tools.
Quotes on Besiegement
A Planet is besieged, when he is between the Bodies of the two Malevolents, L Saturn and F Mars.
The Gentleman’s Recreation, 1686, quoted in the Oxford English Dictionary
“Intermediacy [of Misfortune]” is when a planet moves away from a malefic planet and moves towards application, whether in R conjunction or in aspect, to a malefic planet.
If the A Sun aspects the planet that is intermediate between two malefics, it alleviates much of the hurt.
Abraham Ibn Ezra, The Beginning of Wisdom, Chapter VII, § 32
A planet is weak when it is intermediate between two malefics, whether in R conjunction or in aspect.
Abraham Ibn Ezra, The Beginning of Wisdom, Chapter V, § 7
The testimony of the significator, if it is in the condition of intermediacy of misfortune, indicates those held prisoner and torture; and if in the condition of intermediacy of good fortune, it indicates the highest of good fortune.
Abraham Ibn Ezra, The Beginning of Wisdom, Chapter VIII, § 6
Every thing that is suddenly made, and suddenly destroyed, and remains long in destruction, is caused by L Saturn and F Mars.
Nicholas Culpeper, Opus Astrologicum, Elections Concerning Journeys, Aphorism 14
F Mars spoils matters by too much hastiness: L Saturn, by slowness.
Nicholas Culpeper, Opus Astrologicum, Aphorisms for Resolving Horary Questions, Aphorism 89
L Saturn and F Mars go together very well, and this has to do with an extension of the principle of sympathy as it is described by the 17th century medical astrologers Nicholas Culpeper and Joseph Blagrave. This is called “sympathy by exaltation.” F Mars, for example, is exalted in j Capricorn, where L Saturn rules. It means that F Mars supports and strengthens L Saturn. If you want to defend the border, an army will help. And the other way around, if you want to have an army, you need discipline.
Oscar Hofman, The Tradition Journal, vol. 1
