But the climax of inconsistency is reached in the suggestion contained in _The Mysteries_, where it is said that the planets Mercury and Venus are misnamed, that Mercury is the antithesis of Mars and Venus that of Jupiter, and that their numbers are interchangeable! It is, in fact, calmly suggested that at some remote period of history not named by the author, the name-plates of Venus and Mercury became detached, and as a result the one planet was thereafter mistaken for the other! I can imagine sober astrologers directing the planet Mercury to a conjunction with the Sun for the event of marriage, or predicting travels from the conjunction of the Ascendant with Venus. In effect we are asked to regard the signs Libra and Taurus as the signs of Mercury, while Venus in exchange takes Gemini and Virgo. This may not appear so terribly inconsistent to such as are ignorant of the disposition of the signs and planets as to others, but I think that any one would jib at the idea of Venus as the significatrix of travel and trade. And when I speak of Venus in this connection I mean Venus and not Mercury in disguise. Yet one would have supposed that the very order of the days of the week and the planetary sequence from which it is derived would have given the author pause to think. So far from that, however, it seems to be set up as an unique discovery of the utmost importance. It is time, therefore, that the matter should be set straight, and the need for this seems the more urgent since I have actually known persons, intelligent and conservative of the truth in these matters, but keen to follow up any new clue, actually transposing the planets Mercury and Venus in their horoscopes and willing to believe, on the authority of an Occultist of some distinction who in a weak moment was induced to write a preface to the book, that the astronomers have all been wrong for many ages, and that in following the course of the planet Venus they were unwittingly pursuing that of Mercury! The position would be incredible were it not a fact in cold print. Let us proceed with the justification of the old tradition. I have elsewhere shown that the planetary periods bear a direct relationship to their sign rulerships as determined by the ancients. It is seen that six bodies, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury and the Moon, embrace between them the circle of 360, each pair being divisors of one-third, or 120° or years. The pairs are as follows— Moon rules for 4 years, which divided into 120 equals 30. Saturn rules for 30 years, which divided into 120 equals 4. These two are opposites, Saturn ruling Capricorn and the Moon ruling Cancer. Jupiter rules for 12 years, which divided into 120 gives 10. Mercury rules for 10 years, which divided into 120 gives 12. These two are opposites, for whereas Jupiter rules Sagittarius and Pisces, Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo, which are the opposite signs.