Nine planetary periods, seventy-five years, two orders depending on whether you were born by day or by night. Each one divides into seven.
Firdaria cuts a life into chapters. Each chapter belongs to a planet, which holds its tone for a fixed number of years: thirteen for Mercury, seven for Mars. The order does not depend on your chart but on one thing only: whether the Sun stood above or below the horizon when you were born.
Each major period then divides into seven equal sub-periods, running through the seven planets from the ruling lord onwards. A Saturn year under Jupiter is nothing like a Saturn year under Venus: this second level is what gives the technique its grain.
Orders and lengths from Abu Ma'shar, carried on by Al-Biruni and the Latin tradition; sub-periods in descending Chaldean order.
The library →
Diurnal order
Born by day, Sun above the horizon: the sequence opens on the Sun and works down the Chaldean order.
Diurnal order
No.
Lord
Years
Ages
Sub-periods
1
Sun
10
0 – 10
2
Venus
8
10 – 18
3
Mercury
13
18 – 31
4
Moon
9
31 – 40
5
Saturn
11
40 – 51
6
Jupiter
12
51 – 63
7
Mars
7
63 – 70
8
North Node
3
70 – 73
-
9
South Node
2
73 – 75
-
Full cycle
75
Nocturnal order
Born by night: the sequence opens on the Moon. Same planets, same lengths, shifted order, and therefore chapters that do not fall at the same ages.
Nocturnal order
No.
Lord
Years
Ages
Sub-periods
1
Moon
9
0 – 9
2
Saturn
11
9 – 20
3
Jupiter
12
20 – 32
4
Mars
7
32 – 39
5
Sun
10
39 – 49
6
Venus
8
49 – 57
7
Mercury
13
57 – 70
8
North Node
3
70 – 73
-
9
South Node
2
73 – 75
-
Full cycle
75
What we do with it
The two nodes close the sequence, for three years and two years. They receive no sub-periods: the tradition gives them none, and we invent none.
The cycle runs seventy-five years, then repeats unchanged. Past that age the table says nothing new: it starts over, and we say so rather than let you believe in a continuation.
Years are counted as tropical years, not calendar years: it is the unit your year reading uses too, so that the two never date the same turn two days apart.
See it at work in your year
The year reading crosses your firdaria with your annual profection: two lords of time, and what they make of the coming year together.