Skyscript Astrology Forum

Hi all,
trying to learn medieval astrology - having a tough time of it in that I'm having trouble delineating my own chart. I want to be able to do it because I want to prove to myself that astrology works.

I have a diurnal natal chart.

My ascendant is 4 deg cancer and my moon is 1 deg cancer. In alphabiticus houses, the moon is in the 12th, but in whole sign it is in the first.
Would the moon be considered out of sect (in its house of self-undoing - which is me quite a bit)?

secondly, the sun is in the 9th at 3 deg pisces and the MC is 6 deg pisces. Does this make the sun angular?

thirdly, venus & jupiter are both in 10 th house by quadrant houses, conjunct, both in aries, 14 & 18 deg respectively. now, the 11th house starts with 18 deg aries (3 minutes from jupiter). does this mean that venus and jupiter are not angular, but really 11th house planets?

I have done a lot of searching on these above points, but can get no clear answers, so I'm hoping someone can set me straight.

Appreciate any help.
Sincerely, Wolfie

Wolfie wrote:

My ascendant is 4 deg cancer and my moon is 1 deg cancer. In alphabiticus houses, the moon is in the 12th, but in whole sign it is in the first.
Would the moon be considere out of sect (in its house of self-undoing - which is me quite a bit)?

I think you are really confusing two issues here which are planetary sect and house placement.

Planetary sect was originally developed in Greco-Roman astrology. The fundamental distinction in ancient astrology was whether your chart was diurnal or nocturnal. With the Sun above the ASC-Desc axis your chart is diurnal while below it it is nocturnal.

If the chart is diurnal the Sun is your sect light. In a nighttime chart the Moon is the sect light. So by definition if you were born in the daytime your Moon is out of sect. Other planets aligned with the nocturnal sect such as Venus and Mars are also out of sect. In contrast the Sun and the other planets aligned with the diurnal sect such as Jupiter and Saturn are in sect in your chart.

There are other conditions that strenghthen or weaken how in/out of sect a planet is. In particular diurnal planets are better above the ASC -Desc axis in a day chart with the Sun while better below the ASC-DESC in a night chart. The position is reversed for nocturnal planets so that the Moon Venus, and Mars is better below the horizon in a day chart and above the horizon at night. Other factors are that a diurnal planet is judged better in a masculine sign and and nocturnal planet in a feminine sign.

In medieval astrology the basic distinction of day and night was somewhat lost so that planetary sect became largely focused on whether planets were above/below the horizon with the sect light of the time.
Here is a good article explaining planetary sect:

http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/2008 ... y-of-sect/

Wolfie wrote:

secondly, the sun is in the 9th at 3 deg pisces and the MC is 6 deg pisces. Does this make the sun angular?

thirdly, venus & jupiter are both in 10 th house by quadrant houses, conjunct, both in aries, 14 & 18 deg respectively. now, the 11th house starts with 18 deg aries (3 minutes from jupiter). does this mean that venus and jupiter are not angular, but really 11th house planets?

Your answer is determined by whether you use the so called 5 degree rule or not.

Many medieval or renaissance authorities using quadrant house systems (Alcabitius, Placidus, Regiomontanus, Campanus etc) allowed the so called 5 degree rule. This meant that any planet falling up to 5 degrees before an angle or indeed any house cusp was actually counted as being already being in the next house since the cusps were seen as power points which gave out an influence beforehand. The source for this idea was found in the second century CE astrologer, Claudius Ptolemy who appeared to advocate such an approach in his astrological text the Tetrabiblos. Although , ironically there is no consensus on what house system Ptolemy was actually using and whether it was a quadrant, equal or whole sign system.

However, if you use whole sign houses rather than quadrant houses the definition of 'angular' will definitely change because in whole sign houses angular houses are just the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th sign irrespective of the ASC degree. Moreover, the 4th and 10th houses or places from the ASC will not necessarily fall where the MC or IC axis lies. Still, even those that use whole sign houses (as I do) would consider planets close to angles as strong, busy, and active in whatever whole sign houses they fall.

In any case whole sign houses died out in Perso-Arabic astrology in the early medieval period so that when astrology was retransmitted to Europe in the middle ages only quadrant houses were passed on. So if its really medieval astrology you are focusing on quadrant houses are of primary historical significance.

How harmonious, and comfortable those planets on angles are will depend on other factors such as sect, essential dignity, reception, and aspectual contacts.

Mark

thanks very much, Mark. I will check out that link you provided.

Wolfie wrote:

thanks very much, Mark. I will check out that link you provided.

Hi Wolfie,

I should have also given you this link to to the Skyscript Glossary link on the term Hayz/Similitude.

If you study medieval astrology you may encounter the Arabic term Hayz while Renaissance European texts use the term similtude.

These are rather technical sounding terms to simply distinguish whether a planet is in harmony with the hemisphere of its sect and/or the sign they are in.

http://www.skyscript.co.uk/gl/hayz.html

Mark