Minderwiz
Moongold,
Thanks for the compliment on the Avatar - yes it is Saturn - as he's my ruling planet (conjunct my Leo Ascendant) I've decided to give him his due.
On the essential dignities. I know you are familiar with rulerships - Mars rules Aries (and traditionally also rules Scorpio). You are also probably familiar with exaltation, Mars is also exalted in Capricorn. These two types of dignity are used by vritually all Astrologers today - though they may differ over the traditional rulerships.
However Rulership and Exaltation are not the only form of essential dignities. Ptolemy listed three other forms (and two debilities).
In order of strength (following on from exaltation) these are:
Triplicity - a dignity associated with Fire, Earth, Air, Water and also split into day and night rulership. Thus the Sun rules Fire signs by day and Jupiter rules them by night. So if you have Jupiter in Aries and were born after sunset it has dignity because it rules the triplicity (the same would be true in Jupiter was in Leo, or in Sagittarius and you were born after sunset). Although not nearly as strong as Rulership or Exaltation a planet with dignity by Terms is a rather fortunate placement. You might find it odd, until you remember Mars' rulership of Scorpio, that Mars has dignity by Terms in Water signs (both by day and by night). Venus rules Earth by day and the Moon rules Earth by night. Saturn rules Air signs by day (Traditional ruler of Aquarius) and Mercury rules Air by night.
Terms is not particularly fortunate - just about holding its own. Each sign has 5 Terms and to be honest I'm not clear on the way these were assigned by Ptolemy.
Lastly there is dignity by Face (decanate), based on the subdivision of each sign into 3 equal 10 degree segments. I haave seen two ways of assigning dignity here - Ptolemy starts with Mars ruling the first decan of Aries and then assigns every other decan (contiuning on through all twelve signs) according to chaldean order - thus the Sun rules the second of Aries, Venus the third, Mercury the first of Taurus, the Moon the second of Taurus, back to Saturn for the third of Taurus, Jupiter first of Gemini and so on.
The other system I've seen is to give the Ruling planet the first decan and the other two to the remaining two planets ruling that triplicity. Thus Aries would be Mars, Sun, Jupiter, Taurus would be Venus, Mercury, Saturn. T his dignity Liily described as being like a man ready to be turned out of doors - on his last gasp. However if the planet also has dignity from the other sources then it actually might become very strong
Ptolemy mentions three other conditions - Peregrine which is the absence of any dignity at all and Detriment and Fall which are situations where the planet is actually debilitated.
Lilly actually set up a points score method to calculate how strong a planet was in any chart, because it could have dignity by more than one of the above (and indeed by other factors as well).
Thanks for the compliment on the Avatar - yes it is Saturn - as he's my ruling planet (conjunct my Leo Ascendant) I've decided to give him his due.
On the essential dignities. I know you are familiar with rulerships - Mars rules Aries (and traditionally also rules Scorpio). You are also probably familiar with exaltation, Mars is also exalted in Capricorn. These two types of dignity are used by vritually all Astrologers today - though they may differ over the traditional rulerships.
However Rulership and Exaltation are not the only form of essential dignities. Ptolemy listed three other forms (and two debilities).
In order of strength (following on from exaltation) these are:
Triplicity - a dignity associated with Fire, Earth, Air, Water and also split into day and night rulership. Thus the Sun rules Fire signs by day and Jupiter rules them by night. So if you have Jupiter in Aries and were born after sunset it has dignity because it rules the triplicity (the same would be true in Jupiter was in Leo, or in Sagittarius and you were born after sunset). Although not nearly as strong as Rulership or Exaltation a planet with dignity by Terms is a rather fortunate placement. You might find it odd, until you remember Mars' rulership of Scorpio, that Mars has dignity by Terms in Water signs (both by day and by night). Venus rules Earth by day and the Moon rules Earth by night. Saturn rules Air signs by day (Traditional ruler of Aquarius) and Mercury rules Air by night.
Terms is not particularly fortunate - just about holding its own. Each sign has 5 Terms and to be honest I'm not clear on the way these were assigned by Ptolemy.
Lastly there is dignity by Face (decanate), based on the subdivision of each sign into 3 equal 10 degree segments. I haave seen two ways of assigning dignity here - Ptolemy starts with Mars ruling the first decan of Aries and then assigns every other decan (contiuning on through all twelve signs) according to chaldean order - thus the Sun rules the second of Aries, Venus the third, Mercury the first of Taurus, the Moon the second of Taurus, back to Saturn for the third of Taurus, Jupiter first of Gemini and so on.
The other system I've seen is to give the Ruling planet the first decan and the other two to the remaining two planets ruling that triplicity. Thus Aries would be Mars, Sun, Jupiter, Taurus would be Venus, Mercury, Saturn. T his dignity Liily described as being like a man ready to be turned out of doors - on his last gasp. However if the planet also has dignity from the other sources then it actually might become very strong
Ptolemy mentions three other conditions - Peregrine which is the absence of any dignity at all and Detriment and Fall which are situations where the planet is actually debilitated.
Lilly actually set up a points score method to calculate how strong a planet was in any chart, because it could have dignity by more than one of the above (and indeed by other factors as well).
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