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Geomancy · Figure 16 of 16

Cauda Draconis, the Tail of the Dragon: the threshold out

Cauda Draconis, the Tail of the Dragon, is the geomantic figure with three single lines over a double foot. It belongs to the Moon's south node, and the tradition reads it as a threshold crossed outward: endings, exits and passing out of a matter.

The figure Cauda Draconis drawn large: Fire at the head, one point; Air at the neck, one point; Water at the body, one point; Earth at the feet, two points. Below, the sixteen figures small in a row, the 16th marked. Cauda Draconis · the Dragon's Tail Fire, the head one Air, the neck one Water, the body one Earth, the feet two
Cauda Draconis, figure 16 of 16: its points head to feet, with the element and part of each line. Below, the sixteen in our order, the eight that can be Judge first.

Facts

Number
Figure 16 of 16; after the eight that can be Judge
Points, head to feet
1 · 1 · 1 · 2: one point in the Fire, Air and Water lines
Total
5 points, odd, so never the Judge
Planet (1655)
None: the Moon's south node, which follows its own nature
Sign (Gerard's scheme)
Sagittarius, in the Astronomical Geomancy attributed to Gerard of Cremona (1655 English)
Cattan's English (1591)
“the dragons taile”
Agrippa's glosses (1651)
“The Taile”, “The threshold going out”, “The lower threshold”
Turned over
Upside down: Caput Draconis. Every point swapped: Tristitia

Meaning

Cauda Draconis is a doorway out. Agrippa's glosses of 1651 are "The Taile", "The threshold going out" and "The lower threshold"; Hartmann's verdict is "exit, lower kingdom" and "bad"; the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn's handbook reads it as "good with evil, and evil with good", good for loss and "for passing out of a matter". The tradition reads it as poor for beginnings and good for endings: leaving, finishing, and losing what one wants to be rid of.

In the 1st house, and in the shield

With Rubeus, it is one of the two figures that, in the 1st house, lead the Golden Dawn paper to say the chart is not to be judged. Cattan judges such charts with warnings, and our chart reports the rule without enforcing it, making the next casting free. Cauda Draconis has five points, so it can never be Judge. Its head line is single, so the Way of the Point can pass through it. Upside down it becomes Caput Draconis, its partner; with every point swapped it becomes Tristitia.

The Moon's node, and the signs

It belongs to the Moon's south node, not to a planet. The 1655 Of Geomancy says the Dragons follow their own natures, and Cattan and the Golden Dawn give the Tail those of Saturn and Mars, the two malefics; by Cattan's rule it is a going-out figure, and ill. In Gerard's scheme it is Sagittarius, as in Agrippa, Cattan's own table and Hartmann; Cattan's page 63 gives Aquarius, and the Golden Dawn no sign at all. Wikipedia gives the Tail Virgo and calls that Gerard's, which is his sign for the Head.

Correspondences

Each item with how it stands: “sourced” is in the work cited, “our construction” is EsoTerrier’s own, and “disputed” means the sources disagree.

Planet
None: the Moon's south node, with the natures of Saturn and Mars (Cattan 1591 p. 54; Crowley 1909 p. 142) (Cattan, p. 54; Crowley, p. 142) sourced
Sign, Gerard's scheme (ours)
Sagittarius sourced
Sign, other schemes
Agrippa (1651): Sagittarius; Cattan's table (p. 56): Sagittarius; Cattan's “Gerard Cremon” (p. 63): Aquarius; the Golden Dawn (1909): no sign disputed
Quality (Cattan's rule)
Going out, and ill (pp. 62, 215) sourced
Lines
Single, active: Fire (head), Air (neck) and Water (body); double, passive: Earth (feet) sourced
Our keywords
An ending, an exit, going out our construction

How the schools read it

Cattan (1591)
Calls it “the dragons taile”; going out, and ill (pp. 62, 215).
Agrippa (1651)
Glosses it “The Taile”, “The threshold going out”, “The lower threshold”.
*Of Geomancy* (1655)
The Moon's south node; the 1655 text says the two Dragons 'follow their own natures'.
Hartmann (1889)
“Cauda Draconis, Dragon's tail, exit, lower kingdom, is bad.”
The Golden Dawn (Crowley, 1909)
“Good with evil, and evil with good; good for loss, and for passing out of a matter”
Modern practice (Greer, as reported)
Calls it mobile, the modern word for a going-out figure.
EsoTerrier
An ending, an exit, going out (our one-line reading in the chart).

Claims about it

  • Cauda Draconis is a figure a person is born under, worked out from a name and a birth date.

    false

    What the record shows: No source makes a geomantic figure from birth data; every casting is for a question. Our own app did this until October 2026, and the method was retired.

  • Cauda Draconis has one zodiac sign.

    disputed

    What the record shows: Gerard's scheme gives Sagittarius, the Golden Dawn no sign, Cattan's page 63 Aquarius. At least six schemes exist; we always name the one we use.

  • Cauda Draconis has an element of its own.

    disputed

    What the record shows: The sources give the figures at least six different sets of elements. We show only the four line elements, never an element for the whole figure.

  • Gerard of Cremona gives Caput Draconis Sagittarius and Cauda Draconis Virgo.

    false

    What the record shows: The 1655 English of the Astronomical Geomancy gives the Head Virgo and the Tail Sagittarius, as Agrippa and Hartmann do. Wikipedia has the two swapped.

  • A chart with Cauda Draconis in the 1st house must be destroyed.

    disputed

    What the record shows: The Golden Dawn paper's rule. Cattan judges such charts with warnings; our chart says the rule applies and leaves the choice to you.

Elsewhere on EsoTerrier

Sources

Primary texts (6)
  1. Christopher Cattan, The Geomancie of Maister Christopher Cattan Gentleman, translated by Francis Sparry. London: John Wolfe, 1591 (French original, Paris, 1558). wellcomecollection.org/works/gk8r8xpn
  2. Of Geomancy (attributed to Agrippa) and Astronomical Geomancy (attributed to Gerard of Cremona), in Henry Cornelius Agrippa his Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, translated by Robert Turner. London, 1655. github.com/textcreationpartnership/A26563
  3. Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, translated by J. F. London, 1651; Book II, chapter 48. github.com/textcreationpartnership/A26565
  4. Franz Hartmann, The Principles of Astrological Geomancy. London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1889. archive.org/details/b24884145
  5. [Aleister Crowley], “A Handbook of Geomancy”, The Equinox I(2), 1909, pp. 137 to 161. keepsilence.org/the-equinox/1.2/a-handbook-of-geomancy_low.pdf
  6. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn's paper on geomancy (S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1890s), as transcribed with later commentary. Facts only.
Studies and other sources (3)
  1. “Geomantic figures”, Wikipedia, revision 1364761246 (cited only for the claims we correct). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomantic_figures
  2. Sam Block, The Digital Ambler, posts on the shield, the Way of the Point, perfection, the elements and the signs, 2012 to 2020. digitalambler.com/2020/05/08/how-to-construct-the-shield-chart-of-geomancy
  3. John Michael Greer, The Art and Practice of Geomancy. San Francisco: Weiser, 2009. Facts only, known through reports.
Our own research (3)
  1. EsoTerrier, geomancy research and validation, 11 to 14 October 2026.
  2. EsoTerrier calculation engine, the geomancy service, its texts and documentation.
  3. EsoTerrier, the geomancy casting screen, catalog line and page brief, rewritten 11 October 2026.
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By EsoTerrier. Written with AI assistance from our research and checked against its sources; last revised 19 October 2026. How we write these pages.

First published ; last revised . Corrections: support@esoterrier.com.