Skyscript Astrology Forum

I'm looking at p. 234 of R. Ramsay Wright's translation of Al-Biruni's The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology, #385:

Some people say that Mars is female, but this opinion is not received.

Does anyone have deeper information regarding this bit of trivia? It's something I saw a while ago which fascinated me, but unfortunately the online version I'm looking at doesn't have a footnote for this section. Thanks in advance.

Mars is a nocturnal planet and as night is associated with the feminine, some people tend to use the words 'nocturnal' and 'feminine' synonimously, so I'm afraid there's nothing fascinating here, only some laxity on some peaple's part. :)

Actually Clelia Romano brought this point up before. The discussion intersects another discussion so you have to weave through a few posts, but it starts here:

http://skyscript.co.uk/forums/viewtopic ... 5&start=60

Skar, that's how I was thinking. Because there are no other nocturnal male planets, and no diurnal female planets... Anyway, thanks for the link Deb. I'll go check that out.

Talk of female planets is misleading. 'Feminine' takes us to principles, 'female' leads us to gender. Gender keeps us on the surface.

Kirk wrote:Gender keeps us on the surface.

So do short declarative statements.
But you're right, this is an easy way to get oneself tied into knots over nothing.

I tend to think of Saturn as feminine and Mars as masculine and that by placing them in the opposing sect to their nature that the masculine and feminine are balanced out.

Saturn makes one fall on ones face, Mars on ones back (Valens) presumably because the agnoia of Saturn which is yin causes one to trip whereas falling on ones back is a yang (being pushed). Saturn is deceptive as well and would not be seen as feminine because with age, sex is erased (hidden).

Well, in the thread title I meant female as a synonym of feminine. And yes, I am aware that they have different meanings. I would hope that people could overlook such minor offenses and not discredit the whole issue because of them...

zoidsoft, thats actually a very interesting and believeable idea. Do you have have any sources for this, or is it simply something you've came about through your own theorization?

I have to concede that the overwhelming majority of astrological literature from the pre-modern era gives Mars as masculine (and Saturn as well), but the imbalance of "gender" in the Seven bothers me very much. It seems like most everything else in the system is balanced and harmonized; why not the "genders" of the planets?. I am also aware that for the most part, in ancient times the male gender was considered superior; but again, everything else is balanced. Why would "they" deviate here?

I remember that this unbalance bothered me a lot as well. After some time I just dropped it, but I remember that I made a (mental) case for Jupiter as a feminine planet because it was moist, and I believed that all the moist planets would have to be feminine (Moon, Venus, Jupiter) and all the dry ones masculine (Sun, Mars, Saturn). Mercury was gender free... and this was symmetrical... but, you could also say that only Moon, Sun, Mars, Venus would have this classification (I remember to read an article where the author was categoric in stating so...). But all in all, these are speculations with no historical basis, as far as I know...

If you are looking for symmetry, Dorotheus said that Saturn is feminine.

cicatrix wrote: zoidsoft, thats actually a very interesting and believeable idea. Do you have have any sources for this, or is it simply something you've came about through your own theorization?

I have seen a source somewhere and it may be Dorotheus, but I just don't remember the text source. I've heard Jack Calabrese say this as well and he took Zoller's course so Zoller might have said it too. Once given this statement, I began to theorize as to why this might be true (as stated above) based upon some of Schmidt's ideas.

There is symmetry on multiple levels if Saturn is feminine. It gives each sex/sect a malefic and a benefic and a light.

I may not have made this explicit, but one of Saturn's significations (according to Schmidt) is "feigned appearance". When something is black (or it is dark outside) it is easier to mistake it for something else. Our imagination plays tricks in the darkness... but because of this signification, Saturn is also said to represent theater because acting is "feigned appearance" as in becoming something you're not. Saturn is exalted in Libra - while Schmidt says that this is because Venus as domicile lord cleans up Saturn's dirt, I have thought that one of the activities more prevalent among women than men is changing one's appearance with makeup. There have been some women I've known to do this to such a degree that I did not even recognize who they were.