N.B.: The instructions here do not quite make sense to me, since they suggest a continuous direction through the ninth-parts beginning where the 30º annual increment falls; but in Abū Ma’shar’s own example, it is as though the year begins with the Lord of the first ninth-part in every case. I report the instructions as I understand them by continuous directions.
Indicators may be found for the following points:
(a) The sign of the annual profection (probably by 30º increments). The Lord of the Year will be the Lord of the first ninth-part of the sign, as described in III.10 above.[697] Then the following nine ninth-parts (by a 30º increment) will be assigned to the first month of the year: the Lord of the sign is the Lord of the initial ninth-part, the Lord of the next sign rules the following ninth-part, and so on. The next 30º increment will be the second month of the year in the same way. Each ninth-part may also be sub-divided into three equal parts (as in III.9-10 above), to yield sub-periods of 1 1/9 days. You could even divide each subdivision by 9 to get hourly divisions, and so on.[698]
(b) Do the same for the degree of the Ascendant of the revolution, beginning in the sign in which it as at the revolution.
(c) Do the same for the degree of the transiting Moon at the revolution, beginning the ninth-parts from the degree where she is.
Appendix A: Alternative Text for the Firdārīyyāt of the Nodes
The following two paragraphs originally appeared at the end of IV.7 in On Rev. Nat. (now IV.8), but I have replaced them with this fuller version which had been incorporated incorrectly into the material on transits. This fuller version parallels Māshā’allāh’s own use of al-Andarzaghar in BA IV.24-25, and has allowed me to correct the Latin text of Abū Ma‘shar.
“Then the Head of the Dragon alone disposes 3 years, and it signifies that in a distribution of this kind he will be prospering, and will befriend princes and will rule over many, he will even buy male and female slaves, and he will have friendship with women.
“Then the Tail disposes 2 years. In a distribution of this kind he will become inimical to his friends, and he will be fined and saddened about his wife, and he will be defamed because of her, and he will be sick with a vicious illness.”
Appendix B: Table of Egyptian Bounds for distributors
Appendix C: Aphorisms on Revolutions
Following are some aphorisms taken from three well-known medieval centiloquies: the Centiloquy of pseudo-Ptolemy, that attributed to Hermes, and that attributed to al-Mansūr. I have also translated some of the medieval commentary by al-Ridwān to pseudo-Ptolemy’s Centiloquy.
1. Pseudo-Ptolemy: Centiloquium Aphorism 24:
A n eclipse of the luminaries in the angles of nativities or the revolutions of years impedes according to the nature of the sign in which the eclipse comes to be: namely according to house. And the time in this is that there be a proportion which is between the ascending degree and the degree of the eclipse, up to that hour, to the total time which is signified from the total eclipse, with each hour [being] a month [in the case of lunar eclipses, but a year for solar eclipses].[699]
Al-Ridwān: His intention is that as the Sun and Moon, if either of them is being eclipsed in the angle of a human nativity, or in the angles of his revolutions of years, something to shudder at will reach him in the place which belongs to that sign: for example, if it was the angle of the house of the kingdom, it will be in [his] kingdom; but if it were the angle of the house of life, it will be in his body. And speak in the rest of the angles according to this way, except that the angles of revolutions are easier than the angles of nativities. However, the hour at which it especially happens to be, [is] that you should look at the hours of the eclipse, to see how many they are. And if it were an eclipse of the Sun, I put a year for an hour of it, and the same proportion for a fraction of an hour. Then look at that whole time, to see how many years it is, and how many years the fraction is, and take from that according to the quantity of that which is between the ascending degree and the place of the eclipse, from 180º.
Dykes: al-Ridwān now offers an example that conflates the chart of the eclipse with the nativity. My understanding of Ptolemy’s method in Tet. II.6 is as follows. Cast the chart for the eclipse, at the location of the nativity. Measure how long the eclipse lasts, in
“equinoctial” or standard 60-minute hours by the clock. The total number of hours (and fractions of hours) is equated to years for solar eclipses, and months for lunar ones. The 180º of the hemisphere where it takes place is made equivalent to that whole period, but the place of the eclipse within that hemisphere determines when the effects will take place.
So, suppose it is a solar eclipse that lasts one hour, and it occurs above the earth: then the whole upper hemisphere of the chart is equated to one year. Now suppose that the eclipse took place more towards the Ascendant of the eclipse chart: then the effects will happen in the first portion of the year, proportionate to its distance from the horizon; if it were nearer the Midheaven, then the effects would be expected closer to the middle of the period; and so on.
Aphorism 77:
Direct the ascending degree for accidents of the body, and the degree of the Lot of Fortune
[for] his substance; but the degree of the Moon for the being of the body with the soul; and the degree of the Sun for the power of his princes; the degree of the Midheaven, however, for those things in which he works—[giving] a year to every degree.
Al-Ridwān: This statement is as plain as it appears: however, it renders doubts regarding the degree of the Ascendant and the degree of the Moon. For by the ascending degree we know about the condition of the body and its alterations and complexions—
according to which it is repeated for this with respect to diseases and health. And we will direct the degree of the Moon for that which will be for the body in terms of cheerfulness and agility, and what obeys the soul; and they do those things which pertain to the soul.
But the direction of the Lot of Fortune [is] for that which he will acquire or lose. And we will direct the degree of the Sun for the power or dignity which he will have from his own prince or king, for good or evil: because if the degree of the Sun encountered a fortune or its rays, his honor with respect to his master will be increased; but if to a bad one or its rays, his honor will be diminished. And the direction of the degree of the Midheaven does not come to be thus, because the direction of the Sun is for you, and all of those who rule over you;
but the direction of the Midheaven is for you and all those whom you rule. And the direction is just as we have said. Which if [the direction] were in the Midheaven, you will direct by the ascensions of the right circle; if it were in the Ascendant, by the ascensions of your region. But if it were not in one of these, by the ascensions of these two.[700] Also, [direct]
the degree of the Midheaven for that in which he busies himself, in terms of works; [but]
direct the degree of the Sun for a dignity which he has from his king. These are in the last chapter of the book of the Tetrabiblos.[701]
Aphorism 87:
The time of the changing of signs in the revolution, initiated by the sign of the profection, are 28 days and 2 hours and approximately 18 minutes of one hour. But initiated by the Ascendant, namely in the hemisphere in the east, 28 days and approximately 1/5 of a day. But the solar month is from the changing of the Sun from the degree in which the nativity was, into the degree corresponding to it in another sign.
Al-Ridwān: He wants to show us this: how many days one must note that the profection of the sign is in charge of, from the Ascendant, and from the observed Ascendant to the revolution. And what are the minutes of the degree of the Sun in the other solar months, near to the truth. And that the sign in which the solar year begins (namely, the one which we revolve in the Ascendant) will be the second from that one in which the concluded year began.[702] And it is that we should direct from the beginning of the sign up to its end, and the signs will be completed in the solar year, that is the signs in which the native will be changed: and his condition will be signified. Therefore once we have distributed the 365 and ¼ days through 13 signs,[703] they will come out as 28 days and 2 hours and 18 minutes of an hour, approximately. And this is the time in which the profection will stay in every sign, until it is moved from that one to the sign which succeeds it, and it is called the month of the profection:[704] wherefore however, the hour of its revolution is initiated by the Ascendant; wherefore [it is] a year which is of 365 and approximately ¼ days. If it were distributed through 13 signs and approximately 1/10 of one sign, from the observed minute of the Ascendant in the revolution, up to the Ascendant in which the following year began.
To every sign fall 28 days and approximately 1/5 of a day. Indeed the times of the solar month are different: and they are from the ingress of the Sun into the minute in which it was
at the hour of the nativity, up to where he reaches one like it in the following sign from it:
and we have already made clear the property of each one of those parts in our books of judgments.
Aphorism 88:
If we wished to direct the Lot of Fortune in some revolution of years, we will take it from the place of the Sun in the nativity to the place of the Moon, and we will project out from the degree of the Ascendant of the revolution of the year.[705]
2. Hermes: Centiloquium Aphorism 87:
There will be an impediment around that part of the body which a sign which was impeded at the time of the nativity, signifies.
3. Al-Mansūr: Propositions Proposition 63:
From the degree of the Ascendant are known the accidents of the body; from the degree of the Lot of Fortune, the being of substance; but from the degree of the Moon is observed the being of the body; from the degree of the Sun, however, his strengths, but masteries and works are distinguished from the degree of the Midheaven: give a year to each degree.[706]
Proposition 64:
He will be made fortunate, and will be of a good condition, not to mention powerful, whose revolution of the year[707] were similar to the root, and whose circle was in that same likeness in which it will be in that year of the root.[708]
Proposition 65:
The daily being of the native is taken from a direction, in one way from the motion of the Lord.[709] [But] the day-to-day being of the native is taken in another way: from the motion of the Lord of the sign of the profection of the year, in the bounds [which are] laid out (belonging to the Lord of the sign of the completion[710] of the year), to [other] bounds [which are] laid out.[711]
Proposition 81:
If the infortunes reached a suitable place,[712] they will not harm, if there were not a signification of that in the root of the nativity; and likewise the fortunes will not be of benefit if there is not a signification of those things in the root.
Appendix D: Study Guide to Persian Nativities
This guide will help students compare the natal teachings of the five astrologers in Persian Nativities I-III. References are listed by chapter based on their main content, so not every possible reference to every topic is listed. The division of questions for each topic is based mainly on those found in BA.
Book Abbreviations Abū Bakr Abū Bakr, On Nativities
BA Māshā’allāh bin Atharī, The Book of Aristotle
JN Al-Khayyāt, Abū ’Ali, The Judgments of Nativities
Nativities Māshā’allāh bin Atharī, On Nativities (in Works of Sahl & Māshā’allāh)
On Rev. Nat. Abū Ma‘shar al-Balhi, On the Revolutions of the Years of Nativities
TBN Al-Tabarī, ’Umar, Three Books on Nativities
1. Overview of questions and methods: Abū Bakr I.1 2. Rectification/namūdārs
BA TBN Abū Bakr
1. Ptolemaic I.2
2. Hermetic III.1.10 I.4.1-2
3. Other I.4.3
3. Conception, gestation and birth