Traditional astrology

The attributes of the seven planets

Nature, sect, qualities, humour, sex, joys, dignities, years. Every value under its author's name.

Attribute tables have been copied for centuries, and each copy loses its author's name. You then read that Venus is cold and moist, when Ptolemy calls her hot.

The dignities are not retyped: they come from the table that weighs your chart. The greater years are cross-checked against the Egyptian term degrees.

Fourteen authorities, from the first century to the seventeenth, each cited in its Latin form with its work: the full table is at the foot of the page. The library →

The sect test

The table gives the rule; the judgement depends on a chart. Say which one, and see who holds to its party and who acts against it.

The chart Day chart Night chart

Mercury's phase Mercury's sign Degree (0 to 29)

A chart is diurnal when the Sun is above the horizon. Phase and position serve Mercury alone. Nothing is stored.

The seven in this chart

Saturn diurnal In sect Malefic of the sect
Jupiter diurnal In sect Benefic of the sect
Mars nocturnal Out of sect Malefic out of sect
Sun diurnal In sect No role: its nature or its sect is disputed
Venus nocturnal Out of sect Benefic out of sect
Mercury No agreed value No agreed sect No role: its nature or its sect is disputed
Moon nocturnal Out of sect No role: its nature or its sect is disputed

Here Saturn is the malefic of the sect and Mars the one acting against its party: tradition holds the second to be the harsher of the two, and it changes with the chart.

Jupiter is the benefic of the sect; Venus helps from further away: same nature, two different reaches.

And Mercury?

Four incompatible rules are attested for him, applied here to the same chart: his phase, the sect of his term lord, his sign (Fire and Air for the day, Earth and Water for the night), or nothing.

Claudius Ptolemaeus Sect follows phase: diurnal when he is a morning star, nocturnal when he is an evening star. (Ptolemy I.7) Give his phase
Vettius Valens Common to both sects: he rejoices according to the sect of the lord of the terms he occupies. Give his position
Alcabitius Abu Ma'shar Al-Biruni Guido Bonatti Masculine and diurnal by his own nature, but he takes the sect of the sign or the planet he is joined to. In sect By his own nature: diurnal
William Lilly Lilly gives him no sect at all. Says nothing of it

Temperament

Five columns handbooks give as one block and which, in the texts, contradict one another: the Moon's nature, Mercury's sect and sex have no agreed value.

Temperament
Planet	Nature	Sect	Qualities	Humour	Sex
Saturn	greater malefic	diurnal	cold, dry The sources disagree Vettius Valens cold, moist Valens gives him lymph and phlegm, and the ills of cold and moisture, such as dropsy. Abu Ma'shar cold, moist One variant of Abu Ma'shar has cold and moist. Lilly hedges himself: cold and dry, and moist vapours.	melancholic The sources disagree Vettius Valens phlegmatic Valens gives him lymph and phlegm.	masculine Al-Biruni files him among the masculine, but as a eunuch, without influence on the birth.
Jupiter	greater benefic	diurnal	hot, moist	sanguine	masculine
Mars	lesser malefic	nocturnal	hot, dry	choleric	masculine Al-Biruni §385 reports that some call Mars feminine, and refuses it: this opinion is not accepted.
Sun	common to both, variable	diurnal The Sun is lord of the day. (Al-Biruni §386) Ptolemy does not say so.	hot, dry	No agreed value The sources disagree Abu Ma'shar yellow bile Abu Ma'shar files yellow bile among his significations, which is not quite the same as assigning it to him. The Sun's humour is rarely named.	masculine
Venus	lesser benefic	nocturnal	moist The sources disagree Claudius Ptolemaeus hot, moist She warms moderately through her nearness to the Sun, but above all moistens, like the Moon. (I.4) Hot, therefore. Abu Ma'shar Al-Biruni Guido Bonatti cold, moist The Arabic-Latin chain calls her cold and moist: moderately cold and moist in Al-Biruni, cold, moist and phlegmatic in Abu Ma'shar. William Lilly cold, moist Temperately cold and moist. The sharpest disagreement in the table: Ptolemy stands alone against the whole Arabic-Latin-English chain.	No agreed value The sources disagree Abu Ma'shar Al-Biruni Guido Bonatti phlegmatic Cold and moist, therefore phlegmatic. William Lilly phlegmatic Temperately cold and moist, and thence phlegmatic. No agreed value: the phlegm follows the cold quality of the Arabic-Latin chain, that is, the camp the next column declares disputed.	feminine
Mercury	common to both, variable	No agreed value The sources disagree Claudius Ptolemaeus by his phase Sect follows phase: diurnal when he is a morning star, nocturnal when he is an evening star. (Ptolemy I.7) Vettius Valens common to both sects Common to both sects: he rejoices according to the sect of the lord of the terms he occupies. Alcabitius Abu Ma'shar Al-Biruni Guido Bonatti diurnal, by what he is joined to Masculine and diurnal by his own nature, but he takes the sect of the sign or the planet he is joined to. William Lilly Says nothing of it Lilly gives him no sect at all. The common formula oriental therefore diurnal is Ptolemaic: it is not what the medieval current says.	No agreed value The sources disagree Claudius Ptolemaeus variable Now drying, now moistening, changing quickly from one to the other. Al-Biruni cold, dry Moderately cold and dry. William Lilly cold, dry Cold and dry, hence melancholic, and yet, among the humours, the mixed one.	No agreed value The sources disagree William Lilly melancholic, mixed Cold and dry, hence melancholic, then, among the humours, the mixed one.	No agreed value The sources disagree Claudius Ptolemaeus common to both Common to both. William Lilly common to both We can call him neither masculine nor feminine. Al-Biruni common to both, masculine Hermaphrodite, and on his own he is male by nature. Guido Bonatti masculine Inclined by his own nature to be masculine. Three positions, not one: common, undeterminable, or masculine by default.
Moon	No agreed value The sources disagree Claudius Ptolemaeus benefic The ancients accepted two of the planets, Jupiter and Venus, together with the Moon, as benefic. (Tetrabiblos I.5) Alcabitius Guido Bonatti benefic A feminine, nocturnal fortune. Al-Biruni benefic, malefic Benefic and malefic in the table, and yet, by her own nature, the Moon is fortunate. Table and commentary do not say the same thing. William Lilly Says nothing of it Lilly gives her no label at all. A silence, not a refusal. The most contested cell in the column, and the one where ruling in silence betrays its sources most.	nocturnal The Moon is lady of the night. (Al-Biruni §386) Ptolemy does not say so.	moist The sources disagree Claudius Ptolemaeus moist The greater part of the Moon's power consists in moistening. Ptolemy does not call her cold. Al-Biruni variable The quality changes by quarter: the first, vernal, hot and moist; the second, summery, hot and dry; the third, autumnal, cold and dry; the fourth, wintry, cold and moist. Guido Bonatti cold, moist Cold and moist. William Lilly cold, moist Cold and moist, and thereby phlegmatic. Only the moisture is unanimous; the coldness is a later addition.	phlegmatic	feminine

Nature: Benefic or malefic, in the sense of temperament and not of intent. The classification states temperament, not intent: any planet whose two qualities stand at an extreme degree is malefic, at a moderate degree benefic. A table counting only Jupiter and Venus among the benefics follows the late tradition. Ptolemy counts three, the Moon with them.
Sect: The party of the day, or that of the night. The division follows temperament, not affinity: they assigned Saturn, which is cold, to the heat of the day, and Mars, which is dry, to the moisture of the night, for each thus reaches due proportion by mixture (Ptolemy I.7). Sect and sex are two axes: Mars is masculine and nocturnal, Saturn masculine and diurnal.
Qualities: The active and passive qualities: hot or cold, dry or moist. Ptolemy reasons in pairs of qualities: one active, hot or cold, one passive, dry or moist. He never names a humour.
Humour: The bodily humour, added by the Arabic-Latin tradition. The four humours are not Ptolemy's: their names come from the Arabic-Latin tradition. Valens draws up no table of humours or qualities: he characterises by colour and taste, Saturn the colour of castoreum and astringent in taste, Venus white and very greasy in taste.
Sex: Masculine, feminine or common, following the predominance of moist or dry. Sex follows the predominance of moist or dry (I.6), sect follows temperament (I.7). Two axes, two columns. Valens assigns no sex to the planets: with him sex belongs to the signs. A sex column presented as Hellenistic would be false.

Dignities and joys

These columns come from the table that weighs a chart, exaltation degree included. Only the house joys are brought in here, and Manilius moves two of them.

Dignities and joys
Planet	Domicile	Exaltation	Triplicity	Detriment	Fall	House joy	Sign joy
Saturn	Capricorn Aquarius	Libra 21°	Fire participating Air by day	Cancer Leo	Aries 21°	XII The sources disagree Marcus Manilius IV Manilius puts Saturn in the fourth.	Aquarius
Jupiter	Sagittarius Pisces	Cancer 15°	Fire by night Air participating	Gemini Virgo	Capricorn 15°	XI	Sagittarius
Mars	Aries Scorpio	Capricorn 28°	Earth participating Water by night	Libra Taurus	Cancer 28°	VI	Scorpio
Sun	Leo	Aries 19°	Fire by day	Aquarius	Libra 19°	IX	Leo
Venus	Taurus Libra	Pisces 27°	Earth by day Water by day	Scorpio Aries	Virgo 27°	V The sources disagree Marcus Manilius X Manilius puts Venus in the tenth.	None
Mercury	Gemini Virgo	Virgo 15°	Air by night	Sagittarius Pisces	Pisces 15°	I	None
Moon	Cancer	Taurus 3°	Earth by night Water participating	Capricorn	Scorpio 3°	III	Cancer

Domicile Read from the calculation: The signs it rules. Domicile, exaltation, triplicity, detriment and fall are not retyped here: they are read from the very table that weighs a chart.
Exaltation Read from the calculation: The sign of its exaltation, and its degree.
Triplicity Read from the calculation: The elements it rules, by day, by night or as participant.
Detriment Read from the calculation: The signs opposite its domiciles.
Fall Read from the calculation: The sign opposite its exaltation.
House joy: The house where the planet rejoices. Ancient witnesses: Paulus Alexandrinus 24, Olympiodorus 23, Firmicus 2.15 to 19, Rhetorius 54, Dorotheus 1.5.3 and 1.10.28 for the Moon in the third, Valens 2.5 to 16 scattered. Ptolemy does not hand the joys down as doctrine. Lilly gives all seven. Manilius (Astronomica 2.918 to 938) puts Venus in the tenth and Saturn in the fourth. Not to be confused with the sign joy, which is another notion and lives in the next column.
Sign joy Read from the calculation: The sign where the planet rejoices. The sign joys are read from the calculation: each luminary in its domicile, the other three in whichever of their two domiciles agrees with their sect.

The planetary years

The least are unanimous. The greater are the Egyptian term totals, checked on every display. The mean have two methods. The greatest, no agreement at all.

The planetary years
Planet	Least years	Greater years	Mean years	Greatest years
Saturn	30	57	43.5	Not published
Jupiter	12	79	45.5	Not published
Mars	15	66	40.5	Not published Mars circulates at 214 as well as 264.
Sun	19	120	No agreed value Vettius Valens Guido Bonatti 39.5 Method of the luminaries: half the greater year, then the mean with the least. William Lilly 69.5 The general rule. Lilly prints it 69 and a half, and it is often quoted without the half.	Not published
Venus	8	82 Vettius Valens 84 Valens gives 84.	45 With Valens's 84, the mean becomes 46.	Not published Lilly's 151 is almost certainly a figure dropped from 1151.
Mercury	20	76	48	Not published
Moon	25	108	No agreed value Vettius Valens Guido Bonatti 39.5 Method of the luminaries: half the greater year, then the mean with the least. William Lilly 66.5 The general rule. Lilly prints it 66 and a half, and it is often quoted without the half. Bonatti knows this figure and refuses it: against that I see no reason to assent.	Not published The Moon circulates at 321, 420 or 520.

Planetary years: Least, greater, mean: the durations attached to each planet. The greater years of the five planets are exactly the totals of Egyptian term degrees, and Ptolemy writes it in the same place. Two rival methods. The general rule averages the greater and the least years. The greatest years are not published, and that is a choice.

Significations, by authority

Three lists per planet, never melted into one. Valens writes in Greek in the 2nd century, Abu Ma'shar in Arabic in the 9th, Lilly in English in the 17th: one name, three worlds.

Saturn

Vettius ValensAnthologiae: Solitude, secrecy, misery, trades along the water, imprisonment and chains, mourning.
Abu Ma'sharIntroductorium Maius: Tilling the earth, buildings, poverty and great wealth, truth in speech, prudence, experience.
William LillyChristian Astrology: Ploughmen, beggars, monks, miners, potters, gravediggers.

Jupiter

Vettius ValensAnthologiae: Childbearing, alliances and friendships with the great, abundance, gifts, harvests, justice.
Abu Ma'sharIntroductorium Maius: Religion, law, wisdom, justice, faith, piety.
William LillyChristian Astrology: Judges, senators, counsellors, churchmen, doctors, lawyers.

Mars

Vettius ValensAnthologiae: Violence, wars, plunder, shouting, excess, adultery.
Abu Ma'sharIntroductorium Maius: War, quarrel, deceit, tyranny, blood, surgery.
William LillyChristian Astrology: Surgeons, apothecaries, soldiers, captains, butchers, farriers.

Sun

Vettius ValensAnthologiae: Light of the mind, kingship, command, action, fortune, fatherhood.
Abu Ma'sharIntroductorium Maius: The soul, the mind, sovereignty, glory, gold, yellow bile.
William LillyChristian Astrology: Kings, princes, dukes, gentlemen, goldsmiths, huntsmen.

Venus

Vettius ValensAnthologiae: Desire, love, beauty, art, song, music.
Abu Ma'sharIntroductorium Maius: Joy, ornament, beauty, pleasure, song, games.
William LillyChristian Astrology: Musicians, jewellers, embroiderers, drapers, painters, perfumers.

Mercury

Vettius ValensAnthologiae: Writing, discussion, trade, numbers and accounts, arts, philosophy.
Abu Ma'sharIntroductorium Maius: Speech, writing, reckoning, geometry, astronomy, trade.
William LillyChristian Astrology: Astrologers, philosophers, mathematicians, merchants, secretaries, printers.

Moon

Vettius ValensAnthologiae: Life, the body, the mother, conception, beauty, assemblies.
Abu Ma'sharIntroductorium Maius: The body, the mother, the nurse, infancy, forgetfulness, travels.
William LillyChristian Astrology: Queens, sailors, fishermen, brewers, dairywomen, midwives.

What each authority files under the planet. No merged canonical list exists: each authority has its own, and melting them together would manufacture a tradition that never existed.

The authorities cited

Fourteen, by century: chronological order shows when a doctrine appeared, not merely who carries it. Names in their Latin citation form.

The authorities cited
Authority	Work	Century
Thrasyllus	Pinax	1
Dorotheus Sidonius	Carmen Astrologicum	1
Marcus Manilius	Astronomica	1
Claudius Ptolemaeus	Tetrabiblos	2
Vettius Valens	Anthologiae	2
Firmicus Maternus	Mathesis	4
Paulus Alexandrinus	Eisagogika	4
Olympiodorus	In Paulum	6
Rhetorius	Compendium	6
Abu Ma'shar	Introductorium Maius	9
Alcabitius	Liber Introductorius	10
Al-Biruni	Kitab al-Tafhim	11
Guido Bonatti	Liber Astronomiae	13
William Lilly	Christian Astrology	17

What we do with it

Sect we use: your chart is diurnal if the Sun is above the horizon. With no birth time there is no sect, and we assume none. A planet in its party gains weight, against its party it loses some.

Mercury weighs neither way: where four schools contradict one another, we pick none. A malefic acting within its party softens what it touches, and that is the only nuance sect brings.

On benefics and malefics we follow the late list, without the Moon. That is a choice, and the first column shows what it costs: Ptolemy counts the Moon among the benefics.

Humour, sex, house joys and years enter no calculation: they are there to be read. The dignities do weigh, and that is why they are not retyped here.

See them at work in your chart

Your birth chart places your seven planets, gives the sect of your birth and counts each one's dignities.

Cast my birth chart The library