♂ is the astrological and alchemical glyph for Mars, the Red Planet, named for the Roman god of war. Its form—a circle with an arrow extending upward and to the right—represents a shield and spear, the arms of the warrior. In the Greek tradition the planet is Πυρόεις (Pyroeis, “the fiery one”), and the god is Ares, son of Zeus and Hera, a figure of violent, untamed conflict.

Position on the Tree of Life

The glyph ♂ corresponds to Path 15, which links Geburah (Severity, the sephirah of Mars) to Tiphareth (Beauty, the solar center). This is the path of the Hebrew letter Heh (ה), the window through which divine judgment and disciplined force enter the microcosm. On this path, the martial energy of Geburah is not pure destruction but a crucible—a necessary severity that burns away dross in the aspirant’s soul.

Astrological and Planetary Correspondence

In astrology, ♂ rules the signs Aries and (traditionally) Scorpio; it is exalted in Capricorn and in its fall in Libra. Its metal is iron, its day Tuesday (French mardi, from Mars), and its color is red in all shades, from vermilion to the rust of dried blood. In the human body, Mars governs the muscles, the adrenal system, and the blood’s red corpuscles—the principle of assertive, aggressive life-sustaining action. Its number in planetary magic is 5, and its geomantic figure is Puer (the boy, a rash youth holding a banner).

Historical Context

Classical planetary magic, as systematized in works like the Picatrix and Cornelius Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, treats ♂ as the source of all “vehement, fiery, and angry” virtues. Its incense is dragon’s blood, its stone the bloodstone (heliotrope), and its plant the nettle or the thistle—everything sharp, pungent, and protective. In the Hebrew alphabet, the Mars attribution is to Peh (פ), the mouth, indicating that speech—especially the word of command or curse—carries the Martian current. The grimoire The Key of Solomon places Mars at work in the red circles and iron swords of ritual, used to compel and subjugate spirits.

In alchemy, ♂ symbolizes the active, male principle of sulfur at its most violent—sulphur philosophorum when fixed, or the corrosive aqua fortis when dissolved. The “Mars of the philosophers” is iron, which must be consumed and reborn in the aludel to yield the medicine of the martial tincture. The symbol itself appears in medieval manuscripts as shorthand for both the planet and the metal, unified under the maxim “Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem” (V.I.T.R.I.O.L.)—where the “Visita” (visit) is the Martian descent into the underworld of the work.

Place in Liber 777

In the present table (Column CXXXVIII of Liber 777, step 15), ♂ rules the list of planetary correspondences given for the preceding column. It is thus the governing intelligence for that entire set of attributions—confirming that the martial current permeates every entry in the row, from the god-forms to the perfumes. The glyph does not appear here as one item among many; it stands as the regent of the path, the force that must be channeled, mastered, and ultimately transcended on the journey from Geburah to Tiphareth.