Rewritten Summary of Section 3 incorporating Minderwiz's corrections
Summary of the current knowledge of Valen's use of triplicity lord's condition and its use in judging the general tenor of a nativity (many thanks for Minderwiz for multiple clarifications). Should be useful to people reading those notes/working thru Valens.
The confusing bit is that 'house ruler' is used as triplicity lord in the earlier parts of this section and as domicile lord in the latter parts. Minderwiz has cleared this up above.
1. Take the sign the sect lord is in
2. List the triplicity lords -primary, secondary, tertiary. These vary with day/night births and mode of sign the sect leader is in
3. The first triplicity lord rules the first half of life
4. The second triplicity lord rules the secondn half of life
5. The third lord assists both these throughout life, but subordinate to them
6. Judge first two triplicity lords by angularity, being in their own triplicities, heliacal rising or setting, and aspects by benefics or malefics.
7. The final 'state' of the lord determines the quality of life. The succession of states of the primary and secondary triplicity lord determines the relative quality of the first and second halves of life. This 'shift' is often triggered by the 'return of the appropriate chronocator' (this last yet to be deciphered)
8. Overall this schema of judgement - angularity + in own triplicity or not + heliacal rising or setting + aspects by benefics or malefics, gives a quick way to rank planets from most benefic to most malevolent in a horoscope. (Valens does not say this. This is just something I tried out on some horoscopes of friends and family, and seems valid. Might not hold universally, we'll see)
9. The harsh aspects of out of sect malefics to these lords, Mars for day births, and Saturn for night births, debilitates their condition and this reflects in the quality of that half of life
" If, for example, Saturn is found in opposition or in square for night births, it will bring about reversals, ruin, dangers, injuries, and diseases, as well as sluggishness in enterprises.
For day births, Mars causes hot, reckless men, precarious in their activities and in their livelihoods. They experience imprisonment, trials, abuse, cuts,burns, bleeding, and accidents/falls. But if these stars happen to be configured properly, in their own sects, they are actively positive.
"
The out of sect malefic can cause trouble even when well placed
" For night births, however, if Saturn is configured well and has a relationship
with the house ruler, it will also cause the loss of what was gained, reduction
in rank, and infamy.
For day births (if Mars is in operative places), it brings about the previously
mentioned circumstances, but it then turns them into reversals, fears, and
oppositions; it makes leadership subject to factionalism and terror. It brings
attacks of enemies and uprisings of the mob, famines and plagues on cities,
assaults, fires, dangerous crises."
10. The in sect malefic can be positive if configured well to triplicity lords, aspects benefics, or is angular. (Saturn for day births, Mars for night births.
11. If both the primary and secondary triplicity lords are badly situated, then we need to look at the staus of the Part of Fortune. (details to come)
12. Valens says
"In the same way the benefics will take on the character of malefics whenever they are situated badly as house rulers. If they happen to be at angles while their house ruler just precedes an angle, their ability to do good will be weakened.
In any type [of forecast/nativity] it will be necessary to examine
how the house ruler of the house ruler is situated and what stars it has in
aspect. If the overall house ruler is unfavourably situated, but its ruler
[=ruler of its sign] is configured well, then the native will have help and a
basis of livelihood and rank proportional to the position of the star"
NB: beware the 'house ruler' term here it seems to indicate the domicile ruler. wheras it indicated triplicity ruler in the initial parts of this section
Minderwiz explains
You have a range here from worst to best. The out of sect malefic shows where life will be most difficult, that's followed by the in sect malefic, which is not as bad or even approaching neutral, Sun, Moon and Mercury, which are relatively neutral, the out of sect benefic, which is neutral to rather positive and the in sect benefic, which shows where life is at its best.
....
By house ruler Valens means the ruler of the Sign in which Venus or Jupiter is placed. For example Venus in Gemini is in the House of Mercury - so Mercury is its house ruler.
In the same way the benefics will take on the character of malefics whenever they are situated badly as house rulers...
This could mean several things, all of which are consistent with the tradition.
Certainly in the later tradition Jupiter ruling the eighth, or the sixth or the twelfth, is an accidental malefic. And as such it can harm. I'm not sure that's exactly what Valens means but it seems close to it. The benefic Jupiter, is the house ruler of a bad place.
Alternatively he might mean that Jupiter and Venus in the sixth, eighth or twelfth are considerably weakened. That is also true in the later tradition and is true in Hellenistic Astrology. A second alternative could be that Jupiter is in Scorpio in a Day chart - it's ruled by the out of sect malefic, Mars. If Mars itself is badly placed, say in Libra in the sixth place, then Jupiter is weakened even more.
Sadly we don't have Valens here to explain which of these he meant, or whether he meant something different. It's a short sentence and, as the original was in Greek, we are also dependent on the translator (Mark Riley and his knowledge of the Astrology of the time).
If they happen to be at angles while their house ruler just precedes an angle, their ability to do good will be weakened.
He immediately goes on to say that even if they seem to be well placed, things might not actually work out that way. For example Jupiter in the Seventh is angular but if it's in Taurus and Venus is in Gemini (the preceding Sign) Jupiter is weakened because Venus is in the Sixth Place, which is one of the bad places. Venus in any cadent place, would have the same sort of affect. Worse in the sixth or twelfth not as bad in the third and better still in the ninth (though still reducing Jupiter's strength somewhat.
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Much clearer now thank you Minderwiz
This finishes section 3 of Book 2.
The next section deals with the Part of Fortune. After learning that, I'll take 2 or 3 horoscopes and run them against the framework delineated above. (+ the PoF material). Nothing like evaluating concrete horoscopes to check understanding.