Antares Behenian

Antares is one of the stars directly preserved in the local Behenian corpus, and that classical membership should do most of the work on this page. In the local magical line, Antares is not a vague symbol of intensity. It is a specific star in the transmitted fifteen with specific materia and specific operations. (Hess and Warnock, De Quindecim Stellis; Agrippa, Three Books, Book II, ch. 47)

Warnock's summary of the Bodleian material and Agrippa's list pair Antares with sardonyx, amethyst, and birthwort. The effects attached to those materials are also concrete: healthy color, good memory, intelligence, and defense against harmful spirits. Agrippa's image of the armed man or scorpion stays close to that same line of martial protection and guarded force. (Warnock, Fixed Star, Sign and Constellation Magic; Agrippa, Three Books, Book I and Book II, ch. 47)

Ptolemy gives Antares a Mars-and-Jupiter nature, which helps explain why the local operation combines courage and intensity with a more dignified or intellectually directed use. Brady's later shorthand is also a useful warning: the need to avoid obsession. That modern caution is compatible with the older material as long as it does not replace it. (Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, Book I, ch. 9; Brady, Brady's Book of Fixed Stars)

So the safest reading of Antares here is protective and disciplined: a strong Behenian star for guarding the mind, strengthening resolve, and driving away hostile influences without turning the whole page into inflated martial mythology.