Five dignities and two debilities, sign by sign and degree by degree. Egyptian terms, faces in Chaldean order, Dorothean triplicities.
A planet is not equally strong everywhere. Tradition measures that strength with dignities: each is worth a number of points, and their sum tells you what means a planet has at the degree it occupies. Venus in Taurus has everything she needs; the same Venus in Virgo works against the grain.
These tables are not transcribed: they are read from the engine that calculates your chart. The same terms, the same faces and the same scale print a reference here and weigh a reading there, so there cannot be one version for display and another for the maths.
Egyptian terms, faces in Chaldean order, Dorothean triplicities, scoring after Al-Biruni as carried on by William Lilly.
See our calculation method →
What each dignity is worth
Domicile+5
The planet is at home: it acts with its own means, owing nothing to anyone.
Exaltation+4
Received as an honoured guest: entirely at ease, in a house that is not its own.
Triplicities+3
It rules the element of the sign, by day, by night or as participant. Quiet, steady backing.
Terms+2
A stretch of degrees belongs to it inside the sign: local support that shifts every five to eight degrees.
Faces+1
The slenderest footing, over ten degrees: enough not to be quite without resource.
Detriment−5
Opposite its domicile: it works in the conditions that suit it least.
Fall−4
Opposite its exaltation: neither expected nor welcomed, it has to prove itself.
Day chart
Sun above the horizon. The diurnal triplicity ruler takes its three points, and the almuten of the degree changes with it: Aries goes back to the Sun.
DignitySign
Domicile
Exaltation
Triplicities
Terms
Faces
Detriment
Fall
Almuten
sign
sign + degree
day · night · part.
5°10°15°20°25°
10°20°
sign
sign + degree
5°10°15°20°25°
Aries
19°
D
N
P
6
12
20
25
21°
20
25
Taurus
3°
D
N
P
8
14
22
27
—
Gemini
3°
D
N
P
6
12
17
24
3°
24
Cancer
joy
15°
D
N
P
7
13
19
26
28°
7
10
13
19
20
26
Leo
joy
—
D
N
P
6
11
18
24
—
Virgo
15°
D
N
P
7
17
21
28
27°
Libra
21°
D
N
P
6
14
21
28
19°
21
28
Scorpio
joy
—
D
N
P
7
11
19
24
3°
Sagittarius
joy
3°
D
N
P
12
17
21
26
3°
Capricorn
28°
D
N
P
7
14
22
26
15°
10
14
20
22
26
Aquarius
joy
—
D
N
P
7
13
20
25
—
Pisces
27°
D
N
P
12
16
19
28
15°
12
16
Score
+5
+4
+3
+2
+1
−5
−4
the highest total of the degree
Night chart
Sun below the horizon. The nocturnal ruler counts instead, and the same table yields another almuten: Aries passes to Mars.
DignitySign
Domicile
Exaltation
Triplicities
Terms
Faces
Detriment
Fall
Almuten
sign
sign + degree
day · night · part.
5°10°15°20°25°
10°20°
sign
sign + degree
5°10°15°20°25°
Aries
19°
D
N
P
6
12
20
25
21°
10
20
Taurus
3°
D
N
P
8
14
22
27
—
8
Gemini
3°
D
N
P
6
12
17
24
3°
Cancer
joy
15°
D
N
P
7
13
19
26
28°
19
20
26
Leo
joy
—
D
N
P
6
11
18
24
—
6
Virgo
15°
D
N
P
7
17
21
28
27°
Libra
21°
D
N
P
6
14
21
28
19°
6
10
14
20
Scorpio
joy
—
D
N
P
7
11
19
24
3°
Sagittarius
joy
3°
D
N
P
12
17
21
26
3°
Capricorn
28°
D
N
P
7
14
22
26
15°
10
20
26
Aquarius
joy
—
D
N
P
7
13
20
25
—
7
Pisces
27°
D
N
P
12
16
19
28
15°
10
12
20
28
Score
+5
+4
+3
+2
+1
−5
−4
the highest total of the degree
What we do with it
This table is traditional: seven planets, not ten. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto have neither term nor face, and describe a generation rather than a person. They stay out of the count, as they do in your chart's almuten.
Elsewhere we read house rulerships, the ruler of the Ascendant and the chain of dispositors with modern rulerships: Scorpio to Pluto, Aquarius to Uranus, Pisces to Neptune. The two schools live side by side without mixing, and we say so rather than let one page contradict another.
See them at work in your chart
Your birth chart works out these dignities for each of your planets, and draws its almuten from them: the ruler of your sky.