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| Giuseppe Bezza
The profection. Linguaggio Astrale 104, september 1996. |
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Maybe not all those aware of the term profection, or not all those who have either a sure or vague idea about it, know where it originates. It is a word which does not appear in modern languages and we cannot even say it is a neologism: only few astrologers use it and they make opinion in the literary world less than one swallow makes a summer. Let us ask ourselves then where it derives from. Apparently from Latin profectio, the verbal noun of proficiscor, which has the literal sense of "starting" and the metaphorical meaning of "origin". Let us ask ourselves something else: who used it and since when and how long. We find this term in the astrological literature from the end of the XV century until the middle of the XVII century. A very brief period, indeed. However, the most interesting thing is that we find this term only after the invention of printing and more precisely when the elegant bookish Gothic fonts gave way to typographical characters closer to ours. The consequence of this change is the loss of many abbreviations typical of the medieval manuscripts. Among these abbreviations, some of them were object of some ambiguity, for example a ‘p’ with a short underlined hyphen which orthogonally crossed its tail and which could mean both "per" or "pro". Now, the correct form of our term is perfectio, "ending, accomplishment", from perficere, "to bring to an end", "to finish, to conclude" and profectio is its corruption. We have a clear witness of it in a passage of Eleutherios Zebelenos: The general signs of the completion are the foundations which proceed, year after year, from sign to sign: beginning from the horoscope or from the culmination or from any star. The star that is the lord of the sign in which the completion arrives, starting from the sign of the horoscope of the nativity, year after year, is the chronocrator or the Lord of the Year. Eleutherios writes in the second half of the XIV century in Mytilene, a city in the island of Lesbos. His astronomical-astrological knowledge is deeply contaminated by the Arabic literature. This is proved by the use of technical terms transliterated from Arabic and then translated into Greek: talêl = dalîl = significator, chasìm = qâsim = divisor, etc. Eleutherios does not give us the transliteration of the Arabic word from which the term “perfectio” derives, but only its Greek equivalent: teléiôsis, which means precisely "completion", "accomplishment". Therefore, we can arrive to the conclusion that the word "profection" is a corruption of an Arabic term which is properly translated both in Byzantine world and in the Latin West by two corresponding words: teléiôsis, perfectio. Nevertheless, we should notice that none of these translations fully express the meaning of the original Arabic word, intihâ', which means "end", completion. The transmission of the technical terms of the astrological vocabulary from Arabic into Greek and into Latin does not imply that the techniques corresponding to these terms derive from Arab astrology. We find the technique of "perfectio" in all the great Greek-speaking astrologers, in absence of any technical term to define it. The only exception is Vettius Valens who devotes almost the whole of the IV book of his Anthologiae to this technique. Let us see briefly its main points. The figure of the nativity, which should be impossible to conceive as fixed, is subject to a regular and uniform motion, year after year, according to a duodecennial cycle. If for example someone is born at the rising of Virgo, the following year the sign of Libra will reach the rising point and the sign of Virgo, proceeding towards the culmination, will be in the XII place. The third year the sign of Scorpio will be next to rise and so on. According this regular motion, when the twelve-year cycle will be completed, this our man born at the rising of Virgo, in his 12 years, will enter in the thirteenth year and the sign of Virgo will be next to rise again. We have seen that the Arabs call this sign intihâ', finishing line, the Latins "perfectio" or accomplishment while the Greek-speaking astrologers generally call it "the sign of the year". Consequently, the lord of this sign is called chronocrator or also "the Lord of the Year". In the eleventh chapter of the fourth book Valens gives an example of this technique and defines it in an articulated way. Let us take, he says, the following geniture (which corresponds to the 8th of February 120) and judge about the thirty-third year. Valens divides 35 by 12, considers the remainder, 11, and distributes it starting from the sign which is rising: the eleventh sign from Virgo is Cancer, which becomes therefore the sign of the year. It looks like the general disposition of the sky moves with reference to the motionless earth: in fact, the 12 places or houses are not altered, but the signs and the stars which are there, nearly infixed, transit from house to house by a regular and uniform motion.
Valens distinguishes between the one which "hands over" and the one which "takes over", using two expressions from time to time, a short one and one which has the function of a technical definition. The sign of "perfection" of the horoscope or the sign of the year is Cancer, which is in the nativity occupied by Saturn. Then he says: the horoscope hands over to Saturn and Saturn receives it or more precisely: the horoscope passes its own nature to Cancer and Saturn, which is in Cancer, receives it and disposes this nature in the year. Continuing, Valens states that the "perfections" of the horoscope, of the Moon, of Mars and Venus are the most effective in this XXXV year, certainly because they hand over to occupied places, where there is presence of stars of the nativity:
Since the different accidents occuring to the human being have different significators, Valens defines them briefly in the following way, in a form similar to Ptolemy and extremely similar to the one Rhetorius will repeat at the end of the VI century: When we want to inquire about life and activities connected with the body or the soul, we progress from the horoscope. Whenever concerning glory, the dignity, the splendour, the father or when more powerful people are concerned, it is the nature of the Sun which is more suitable for the judgement: we will progress the years beginning from the Sun. Whenever dangers to the body, weaknesses, blood effusions, the mother, from the Moon. For actions, livelihood, profession from the upper culmination. For prosperity and acquisitions from the Part of Fortune. For matters of death, changes and torments from the West. For permanent things, foundations, possessions, hidden things and matters relating to dead people from the lower culmination. Whenever about women, relationships, marriage and all the things of feminine nature from Venus. For military things and for every public affair from Mars. For failure or divestment of activities, patrimony, for hidden sufferings, for the paternal inheritance from Saturn. For fame, friendship, supports and alliances, wealth from Jupiter. For association, societies, servants, slaves, debits and credits, writings from Mercury. However, Valens informs that among all the "perfections" of these significators the most important, the "absolute", are the perfections of the horoscope, of the Sun and of the Moon. Moreover, the perfection of the horoscope has its own, somehow pre-eminent, meaning, as already seen in Dorotheus and in Paulus Alexandrinus and as confirmed later by the Arabs who will call with a Persian word, salkhudâh ("The Lord of the Year") the Lord of the perfection of the horoscope, employing it as a privileged interpreter of the general course of the year. We are therefore facing a cyclic and regular process which starts again every twelve years and remains always the same. Cardano, commenting last chapter of Ptolemy's last book, notices that in the distinction of the time to come it is necessary to be based on a regular and uniform progression and that Ptolemy lists three of them. In the first progression, according the age, the order to follow is the order of the spheres, from the Moon to Saturn; in the second, which many people today call the primary direction, the order of the planetary terms should be followed; finally, in the third, the progression of the "perfections", the order of the twelve signs - starting from the rising one- should be followed. However, Cardano goes on saying that if in this triple distinction there is no room for revolutions it is because the revolution does not follow an uniform process, but an alterative motion. Whether these remarks are proper or not, the uniformity of a cycle which reproposes the same arrangements with a regular rhythm of twelve years is the undeniable basis of the "perfections". Vettius Valens says: let us suppose that someone has begotten children in a given time. When the same transmission (paràdosis) recurs and this person arrives at the highest prime of life or at the declining age he will beget children again or will buy slaves or bring up someone else's children as they were his ones, or have troubles due to children. Let us suppose that a man has taken the command or the leadership in a certain moment of the cycle. When the same temporal configuration recurs and the geniture has a good support, this person will receive new commands and high offices; if, on the contrary, the geniture is middling either the same things will be repeated or there will be only apparent. At last, let us suppose that a man get married: in the following cycle he will have troubles concerning his marriage or he will marry again or will experience something else concerning women. In other words: let us suppose I was born when the Moon illuminated the Scorpio and Jupiter the Virgo.There will be "perfection" or intihâ' of the Moon to the Virgo and over Jupiter by the number 11, therefore in the eleventh year, next in the twenty-second, next in the thirty-third, etc. The first time my mother’s position may improve, the second time I may get married, the third time I may get supports and alliances from powerful men, the fourth time I may bear a child, the fifth I may receive commands and high offices, the sixth I may see unexpected hopes come true, etc. Later on, let us suppose that Mars is in Leo and the Moon in an unfavourable figure, I mean increasing in light and in a diurnal nativity. The Moon will complete the "perfection" in Leo and over Mars by 10: in the tenth year, in the twenty-second, in the thirty-fourth and so on. However, these "perfections" will signify sometimes dangers and diseases, sometimes blood effusions, sometimes separations of the husband from the wife, sometimes hostilities, sometimes accusations, soemtimes the wife’s death, sometimes the mother’s death and finally my death. Nevertheless, the short judgements exemplified will occur in this or that time and in that simple form which has been described by the following conditions:
When an astrologer judges about future events, he necessarily has to project the directions of all the places, of the stars and of the Lots and evaluate their figures. These figures generate the most important events which contain all the various events of life and they are slow and ‘lazy’ in their execution, difficult to be turned into actions and difficult to remove. Then, the astrologer should consider, among all the above mentioned elements, the single "perfections" that cause an original disposition, which is in itself indifferent with reference to the real occurence since it has not in itself the conditions that express the forms of its accomplishment. These forms lie in the ingresses of the planets in the moment of the return of the Sun and in the general disposition of the figure of the revolution of the year. However, who does not know the places of the "perfections" is not aware of which stars are taking over this or that rulership in the year and can not have knowledge of the real form of the events. Let us suppose for example that in my LVIII year the Moon culminates in the figure of annual revolution and opposes Mars. Now, since 58/12 gives 10 as remainder and 10 is a number according which the Moon accomplishes its "perfection" to the sign of Leo and over Mars, the described figure is a sign of sudden disaster caused by fire or collapses and death danger. However, if the opposition of Mars to the Moon, about which we have talked about, would occur during my LIX year, since 59/12 gives 11 as remainder and 11 is the number which expresses the "perfection" of the Moon to the sign of Virgo and over Jupiter, I will not be in danger of death and the sign of disaster vanishes, especially if Jupiter testifies from any part and in any way the Moon in the year. In the first case, in fact, Mars has a rulership over the Moon of the year, in the second it is Jupiter which has the rulership. Therefore, those who want to judge the future events have to turn much of their attention to the relation between the "perfections" and the revolutions of the years. Vettius Valens expresses this relation in the passage that follows which I translate using some paraphrases and integrations in order to make their technical meaning more intelligible and comprehensible. 1. All the events that can happen in life arrive according to the "perfections" (paradóseis, transmissions). However, they get an utmost variety, because of the general configurations of the time, of the revolutions of the years, of the ingresses and of the appearances of the stars, since all these configurations have different form one from the other. In fact, when the stars of the time <of the revolution> make their ingress <in the spaces> of the transit of the stars <or of the places> beginning from the time of the geniture or over the stars which receive their transit or in the angles, they rule the time according to their own nature and therefore, they will produce the good or the evil or they will confirm the event making it stronger or, on the contrary, they will prevent it from taking place. 2. We will consider the event firm and certain if the star that makes its ingress < in the place of the transit (paràdosis) of a given star> has a figure which is in agreement with this star or if the transiting stars show, with reference to the stars that receive them, a similar figure to the figure of the moment of nativity . However, if the general times show one thing and the alternating of the year and the ingresses of the stars something else, there will be a medium condition of the events. 3. Usually, when the star which performs the transmission or receives appears <in its ingress> under the Sun's beams, it should be considered inactive and dissolving; and if it inclined to indicate good things, it would show nothing but appearance. If, besides, the three directions of the Sun, of the Moon and of the horoscope mean different things, the year will be varied. Indeed, it often happens that when <from the principal places> does not derive a transmission (paràdosis), with a single and defined inclination, it's the general times which show considerable and remarkable events. For this reason, it is necessary to judge from them (from the directions of the horoscope, of the Sun and of the Moon) the original principle and then consider the annual times. Let us try to explain, partly but in plain words, this passage from Valens. In all three paragraphs by the expression "general configurations of the time", "general times" the astrologer of Antioch means the times and the figures coming from the primary direction of the sphere (the so-called "primary directions"). In the first paragraph he states three fundamental forms of judgement based on the primary direction, which gives the general times, the transmission (paràdosis) or "perfection", the annual revolution. With regard to the second form he takes as significant places the places of the star which transits and the places of the star which receives it: in Valens’example, the place of the transit of the Moon in the XXXV year is Virgo, the place of the star which receives it, that is Mars, is Cancer. Finally, for what concerns the third form, he defines the conditions of force of the stars at the time of the annual revolution, or the stars which make their ingress. These conditions are two: the configuration and the appearance, understood in their essence: the configuration with reference to the angles of the figure, the appearance for what concerns the light of stars in respect of the light of the Sun: if it increases or diminishes, if it is hidden or evident, if it is new or old. After these introductory statements, he comes to a conclusion: they are the stars making their ingress to take over the apotelesmatic virtue, or faculty of producing the events. And the ingress, he explains, should be considered in respect to three places: the place where a certain significator arrives by the motion of the primary direction, the place of its transit (paràdosis) by an uniform proceeding of the "perfections" and the place of the star which receives it. In the second paragraph he explains the conditions of efficacy of the stars that make their ingress, which is based on the testimony, in the figure of revolution, with the transiting stars and of transiting stars with the stars receiving them and on the repetition of the figures similar to those of the time of the nativity. It should be observed that the judgement given by Albumasar in his book about the revolutions of the years in the nativities (partly mentioned later by Giuntini), are merely based on this presupposition. In the third paragraph he gives an example of the condition of weakness and chooses among all the most serious, the one which blunts, cancels or corrupts the uniform disposition of the transit. Then he alludes to configurations presenting a deviation from the given scheme. At this point two short remarks about the first paragraph: the places will be three if the star transits in a “occupied" place, like the Moon of the XXXV year transiting from Scorpio over Virgo where is present the star of Mars in the geniture, and this is not always given. Moreover, Valens does not mention the so-called radical places or places of geniture and the reason is the following. He has at heart the methodic, orderly and consequent explanation of the doctrine. By transmission or perfection we mean an uniform process of the sky that embraces all and surrounds us. The surrounded remains necessarilly motionless in relation to the surrounder. Motionless is, therefore, any reference to the local space: the principles of our orientation, the places where the north or south wind blow do not change. On the other hand, we that are made up of earth and of sky change in time remaining however the same. This way of changing, the Greek-speaking astrologers sometimes express with words that seem to come from Aristotle natural philosophy: an alteration of the quantity, a plus or a minus, as for example of a person who is healthy and falls ill or of a sick person who recovers. If for example in nativity the Moon is in Scorpio and in the XXXV year it is in Virgo, it does not mean that this person from impudent and shameless will become bashful and humble and from bold and resolute will be reflective or thoughtful. It means that what concerns the physical well-being, the mother’s condition, the cohabitation and in general the affections of the heart, are ruled by Mercury during that year, according the nature which Mercury has in nativity and according the disposition which Mercury gets in the figure of revolution. If however, as in the example, in the sign of Virgo there is a planet, that planet will get the right to signify the things showed by the Moon. * * * Now are necessary a few words about the calculation of the perfections. Firstly, we can notice that the literature about the "perfections" or transmissions or transits (we can call them as we prefer), is continuously proposed by the astrologers. Sometimes it is because of the simple duty of handing down the opinions of the tradition. Andrea Argoli, for example, around the middle of the XVII century, performs this task, but premising his it's just a duty to information since he observes their truthfulness is very poor. On the other hand, as the elements available to the astrologer are very numerous, first of all the theory must be sounded and it is necessary that the person who judges has the possibility to do this using the criteria inherent in the judgement itself, therefore he should proceed through philosophical and dialectical channels, avoiding every thing that can lend to a kind of "identification-game". Placido Titi, a little younger than his Paduan colleague, will resolutely refuse profections since he does not find any acceptable mathematical principle in them. Let us see the matter closer. Usually, the texts which transmit to us the way in which the cyclic and regular motion of the perfections is produced present them as a matter of adding 30 zodiacal degrees to every place (or house) and star and Lot. The annual perfection would be placed inside a space of 30 degrees. We will give as an example the nativity of a girl who suffered rape and whose data have been gathered by G. Bordoni (Dati di nascita interessanti, vol. III, s.v. Caputi).
Let us consider the year from November 1975 to November 1976. In this period of time the girl runs away from home in January 1976, goes to Rome for work and on the 30th August of 1976 suffers violence from a group of young people. The astrologer of the XV, XVI and XVII century would say that the cyclic motion of the perfections has reached the sixth sign and he would make a synoptical table arranged in the following way, taking into consideration the five main significators, according to the quadr. IV, 10:
The table shows for every year, from 1st to 60th, the spaces of the "perfections" of the five significators which we will call, for sake of brevity, "Ptolemaic". We will consider these spaces relating to the distress, changes and violences arrived when she was already 17 years old, namely in the XVIII year of life: let us divide 18 by 12 and we get 6 as remainder. We say that the space of "perfections" will be included between 6 and 7: for the horoscope from 2°24' Libra to 2°24' Scorpio, for the Sun from 28°46' Aries to 28°46' Taurus, for the Moon from 6°20' Virgo to 6°20' Libra, for the Part of Fortune from 2°53' Capricorn to 2°53' Aquarius, for the Midheaven from 17°27' Gemini to 17°27'Cancer. This calculation is not correct. Who is familiar with calculations required by the astrological judgements and who is able to weigh up the reliability and effectiveness of a calculation on the base of the theory of motions, understands that the sky which surrounds us can move around the surrounded only through the motion of primum mobile. In support of my thesis I quote just one passage of Ibn Ezra (Opera fo. 57v) in which we are informed that in the calculation of the spaces of "perfection" (that in the Latin version are translated by a calque from Arabic intihâ': "finis", "signum finis"), it is necessary to operate with the tables of the right and oblique ascensions. This statement infers that for those places of the geniture which do not culminate or rise, it will be necessary to use both, or rather the mixed ascensions. Let us try to explain. In the first year of life the sign of the year (signum anni, signum finis, intihâ' or horoscope "perfectio" ) is, in its beginning, the rising degree itself, in our example 2°24' Taurus. When the native is already one year old and has entered the second year of life, the primum mobile will have moved and the rising degree will have advanced towards the culmination of a quantity equal to its double temporal hour. The measure of this quantity is given by the amplitude of a house because every house consists of two temporal hours. It is necessary to remark that this is a main concept of the astrological art, from the very beginning of this art and without which it is not possible to foresee either the duration of life or set up precisely a future event.
the animated figure shows the cycle of the 12 profections along The calculation for the angles of the figure is simple. Let us take the double diurnal temporal hour of the degree of the horoscope and add it to the oblique ascension of the horoscope itself so many times as we want to progress this degree, namely three until the culmination, six until the setting. If we want to go farther, let us take the whole diurnal arc of the horoscope degree and add the oblique ascension of the same horoscope and to the result let us add the double nocturnal temporal hour of the degree of the horoscope, so many times as it is necessary: three until the lower culmination, six until the rising. Or in a simpler way: by adding to the final result the double nocturnal temporal hour of the horoscope and continuing in the same way.
In order to know the succession of the Midheaven perfections it is enough to know its right ascensions which can be always calculated subtracting 90 degrees from the horoscope oblique ascensions. Therefore, let us convert right ascension values into zodiacal longitude. For example: for the second year the horoscope oblique ascension is 52°41'. Thus: (360 + 52°41' - 90) = 322°41' RAMC, equal to 20°17' Aquarius. The calculation of the spaces of perfection for planets and Lots is apparently less simple. The concept is however the same. Let us suppose that taken for fixed the "local virtue" of the star, we have to examine what degree of zodiac reaches it. Let us calculate, in our example, the space of perfection of the Sun for the second year. We see that the Sun is in the seventh place and is 4 hours, 25 minutes and 24 seconds away from the culmination. We can convert this time-distance into degrees of equator, multiplying them by 15 (66°21'), and then we subtract it, since the Sun is in a feminine quadrant (if the Sun was in a masculine one, we would add it), from the right ascension of the Midheaven of the second year: 322°41' - 66°21' = 256°20'. The result is the in mundo position of the Sun expressed in mixed descensions. Therefore, we have to convert it into zodiacal degrees. We can do this using tables of oblique ascensions since we know the Sun hourly circle (33°84'), entering the opposite values. Or taking away 180 degrees, we can assume 76°20' as the ideal oblique ascension of a zodiacal degree that rises at 23°50' of geographical latitude. In any case, we get the result of 2°56' Capricorn. We should repeat this calculation for all planets and Lots and for all the annual spaces of perfections, in order to have the whole picture of the elements of the judgment. The complexity of the calculation can be compensated by practice; its repetitiveness by its mathematical processing through a software. At last, the inconvenience deriving from complexity is compensated by the incentive of the certainty of judgement and the satisfaction of having hit the target. All these things stated, the correct table of perfections will appear to us in the following way:
Before judging about the year in which the girl suffered violence, let us observe the figure of nativity. The opposition of Mars to the Sun, taking place in adverse signs means a father weak in its paternal functions and violent, because Mars is near the Lot of the Father. Notice also that Mars means violence because it is a nocturnal star which occupies an angle in a diurnal geniture and is therefore against its own sect. The father is also a person who takes little care of his family and practices adultery: this is showed by Venus, since it has a rulership over the paternal Lot and is familiar with Mars by declination. Moreover, there is no harmony between the parents because of the quadrature intercurrent between the father’s and the mother’s Lot, because of the lack of figures between the Moon and the Sun and for the testimony which Mars gives to both luminaries: to the Sun in the mentioned way, to the Moon by the horizontal equidistance. On the other hand, when the luminaries are inconjunct and the Lot of Eros is with one of them, the Lot shows that love between the parents is only on one side. Furthermore, since Venus is void of light and is with the stars of the Scorpio forehead, which are bright and have Saturn and Mars’nature, and it is with Nemesis near the cusp of the eighth place, it is placed by declination between Saturn and Mars, it is neither configurated to Jupiter or the Moon, it is very unfortunate. Venus rules the Lot of Marriage which does not only signify about every thing concerning the marriage, but signifies about every relationship and intercourse in general and their manners. And since the Lot of Marriage is with Mars, in an active place because angular, it necessarily means violence, wrongs, ravages and physical damage. Now, let us cast the figure of the revolution of the year and judge about it in a brief and schematic way.
THE ANNUAL REVOLUTION
The sign of the year falls for the greater part in Libra: Scorpio takes over the rulership with only two degrees equivalent to no more than about two months. Therefore, the sign of Libra rules until the end of September 1976. Venus is the Lady of the Year and signifies events of its nature. Since Venus is very unfortunate in the nativity, it may indicate the good only if the configurations of the year are absolutely favourable. Moreover, Venus makes its ingress in the sign of the year and this indicates the importance of the event. The importance, and the danger, are also prefigured by the presence in the sign of Libra, in the geniture, of the Dragon’s Head. Venus is configured to Mars by a trine in the world (less than 125 degrees), to Saturn by equidistance from the meridian (both stars are 2 hours and 27 minutes away from the lower culmination), to Jupiter by opposition. Therefore, it is familiar with the stars to which it was configured in the geniture. One of these figures, Jupiter's one, usually denotes disloyalty, friends' lack of sincerity or the loss of their support or friendship; the figure with Mars means a venereal event, sudden, or without any previous cause, because Mars and Venus are not configured in the geniture; it also means the violence since Mars is in an angle with the Moon; the figure with Saturn is a sign of sorrow, tears and of the event baseness and since Saturn is with Eros and with the Lot of Sickness the nature of the event is clear. The second planet which has a right in the year is Mars because for what concerns the general times the degree of the horoscope has reached its terms, which are the last two degrees of Taurus. Mars is therefore the divisor of the horoscope and rises with the Moon in the figure of the year. This figure shows the parting of the parents, Mars having familiarity with the Moon and the Moon with the Sun. If we look at the space of perfection which reaches the Moon in the year, we see that it is opposite to its natal place. Usually, the perfections of the stars to their opposite places are always significant of changes and the nature of this change follows the nature of the star: this star is the Moon, so it concerns cohabitation, affections, state of mind and body. However, this change caused by the cyclic progress sometimes remains imperceptible, other times manifests itself with great strength. There are two ways to understand the real form which occurs in act: the first is to observe the space of the perfection of the star itself, the other lies in the observation of the same star, if it is active or not in the figure of the year. In our example we have the latter. We can therefore say that the change is great: the Moon rises in the figure of the year, so usually it causes deep passions, excites, disconcerts, upsets and worries (conditions which the Greek astrologers call meteorism, a word still in our language as a medical term, meaning the state of tension, in particular the abdominal one). Finally, since the Moon is with Mars and both are with the stars of Mars’nature their co-presence indicates a violent occurrence. The cycle of the perfections also progresses the spaces of the year. The tropical year is divided into thirteen equal parts, each of them of 28 days, 2 hours and fractions of hours. We should not go deeply into the monthly perfections and into the revolutions of the months, it will be enough for us to understand the need of reaching these smaller spaces of the year for two reasons: one concerns the exact determination of the month of the events, the other a confirmation of the event the astrologer conjectures.[4] In our example: if Venus is the significator of the year, Saturn is the star afflicting it in the revolution, and Saturn is placed in the first degrees of Leo with the lot of Sickness and the Lot of Eros, diametrally opposite to Nemesis and transiting together with Aselli and with the Manger. If the astrologer identifies Saturn as the star which conjures the cause, he can presume that the event will occur when the monthly perfection reaches Saturn. Therefore, if he has knowledge of the perfections and the revolutions of all the months of the year, he will be able to compare them and assess in which month the event will occur and if the form in which the event is signified in the month is commensurable in quality and force to the form previously verified in the year. Now, the monthly perfection reaches Saturn at the beginning of the eleventh month, which space is from 16°43' Cancer to 13°27' Leo (see table) while in the revolution of the month the fifth degree of Aquarius is rising: Saturn is setting and is opposing the profected space from the eleventh degree of Leo. Moreover, Eros, Nemesis, the Lot of Foundation (Basis), in opposition to the Lot of Sickness (Sinos), are joined in Scorpio, and ruled by Mars which is with Venus and Mercury in the eighth place. We can therefore say that the month attests the event as sure and shows it in a form in agreement to the form of the year. On the other hand, the day of the violence, the 30th of August 1976, the Moon, which rules days ,was transiting over the three above-mentioned Lots. * * * In closing this short exposition of the profections, now perfections, let us give in a schematic and, I can say, resolutive form, the principles of the method. I. The directions of the stars and of all the elements of the figure of the nativity should be performed observing whether figures and encounters come to accomplishment. If encounters are found, we will observe the ingress of the star which performs the encounter to the significator encountered in the annual revolution figure:
Remark (1) - if the star performing the encounter, testifies the significator in the nativity, the event derives from a remote cause. For example: if Jupiter meets the Sun and testifies it in the nativity (either by figure or because the Sun is in one of Jupiter signs) it means an honour that the father will receive or the honour the son will receive because of his father or his birth. If Saturn meets the Moon and testifies it in the nativity it means a damage to the body that originates from the bad original temperament etc. Remark (2) - if the testimony is absent in the nativity, the event is always lesser and it often originates from a new cause. II. One should observe which terms the significators transit, especially the five ”ptolemaic” significators. a. notice in which year the lords of terms have taken the rulership;
III. When the lords of the terms of the five "ptolemaic" significators have the power to show something, they always show, but their power is strong when:
Remark (1) - the greatest power of a divisor occurs when in the same time it is the Lord of the Year. Then, the qualities of that year follow the nature of the divisor in everything and, in particular, the nature of the significator which the divisor refers to. Example: let Mars be the Lord of the Year and also the divisor of the Sun: the qualities of the year will be related to a great extent to what the Sun means: honours, power and leadership, good reputation, the father. Remark (2) - the most powerful divisor in the revolution shows which are the most conspicuous events in the year according to the nature of the significator to which it refers to: if it is the Moon it means physical and moral well-being, the mother, the wife, the cohabitation; if it is the Midheaven, the activities, if it is the horoscope, the physical well-being, the background, if it is the Lot of the Fortune, riches, acquisitions and every thing deriving from profession. IV. On the Lord of the Year. The Lord of the Year is the general interpreter and gives its quality to the year. For example: if Saturn is the Lord of the Year we can say that the year will be poor. Now, if Saturn in the nativity is not configured to the beneficent stars, poverty is sure, but if it is configured to the beneficent stars, observe whether in the revolution are also present these figures, since in that case the year will not be poor.
All these conditions indicate strength, benefit, profit, positive outcome.
For example: if Jupiter is well placed in both times it indicates great honours and profits during that year, and the positive outcome of everything is started. If it is bad placed in both times, it means that the benefits will not arrive and that the native will suffer because of them. If it is well placed in the nativity and bad placed in the revolution, it means a partial loss of these things. If it is bad placed in the nativity and well placed in the revolution, it means that the benefit will be not very big. The dimension of good and evil depends on the strength of the Lord of the Year. |
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