Hellenistic Astrology
Sect, lots, whole-sign houses and time-lord techniques from the ancient sources.
Course names, family names and outlines are shown in English. Lessons use English when a published translation is unavailable; the lesson shows a notice when this happens.
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Level 1Units: 7
Level 1 · Unit 1
Origins and sources
Where Hellenistic astrology took shape, the key surviving authors and texts, and why it uses only the seven visible planets.
- Where Hellenistic astrology began
- Dorotheus and Ptolemy
- Valens and Firmicus
- Seven planets and a modern revival
- Checkpoint: Origins and sources
Level 1 · Unit 2
Whole-sign houses and the places
Whole-sign houses, the Hour-Marker, angular, succedent and declining places, and the planetary joys.
- Whole-sign houses
- The Hour-Marker and the angles
- Angular, succedent and declining
- The planetary joys
- Checkpoint: Whole-sign houses and the places
Level 1 · Unit 3
Sect
Day and night charts, the planets of each sect, the sect light, and the benefic and malefic of sect.
- Day charts and night charts
- Day planets and night planets
- Benefic and malefic of sect
- Reading sect in practice
- Checkpoint: Sect
Level 1 · Unit 4
The seven planets in the classical tradition
Ptolemy's hot, cold, wet and dry, masculine and feminine planets, the Chaldean order and the week, and planetary significations and ages of life.
- Hot, cold, wet and dry
- Masculine, feminine and common
- The Chaldean order and the week
- Significations and the ages of life
- Checkpoint: The seven planets in the classical tradition
Level 1 · Unit 5
Signs in the classical tradition
Masculine and feminine signs, Ptolemy's tropical, solid and double-bodied signs, rising times, and classifying signs in a practice chart.
- Masculine and feminine signs
- Tropical, solid and double-bodied
- Rising times
- Classifying signs in a chart
- Checkpoint: Signs in the classical tradition
Level 1 · Unit 6
Domiciles, exaltations and the Thema Mundi
The pattern of domiciles outward from the lights, Ptolemy's solar and lunar halves, the Thema Mundi, exaltation and depression, and checking a planet's standing.
- Domiciles from the lights
- The Thema Mundi
- Exaltation and depression
- Checking a planet's standing
- Checkpoint: Domiciles, exaltations and the Thema Mundi
Level 1 · Unit 7
The topics of the places
The traditional topics and names of the twelve places, lords of places, and a Level 1 practice chart read for sect, joys, standing and lords.
- What each place signifies
- Lords of the places
- Practice chart: first look
- Practice chart: following the lords
- Checkpoint: The topics of the places
Level 2Units: 7
Level 2 · Unit 1
Joys and witnessing
Finding the planetary joys in a chart, and how planets witness one another by sign: sextile, square, trine, opposition and aversion.
- Finding the joys in a chart
- Witnessing by sign
- Configured signs and aversion
- Testimony in practice
- Checkpoint: Joys and witnessing
Level 2 · Unit 2
Bonification, maltreatment and triplicity rulers
How ancient definitions describe planets helping or hindering one another, and the triplicity rulers of the sect light.
- Help and hindrance
- Overcoming
- Enclosure and adherence
- Triplicity rulers of the sect light
- Checkpoint: Bonification, maltreatment and triplicity rulers
Level 2 · Unit 3
Lots and bounds
Calculating the Lots of Fortune and Spirit, the Egyptian bounds of Aries, and the faces in the Chaldean order.
- The Lot of Fortune
- The Lot of Spirit
- The Egyptian bounds
- Faces in the Chaldean order
- Checkpoint: Lots and bounds
Level 2 · Unit 4
Solar phase
A planet's changing relation to the Sun: under the beams, morning and evening stars, heliacal rising and setting, stations and retrograde, and the Moon's phase.
- Under the beams
- Morning and evening stars
- Stations and retrograde
- Reading solar phase in practice
- Checkpoint: Solar phase
Level 2 · Unit 5
The Egyptian bounds in full
The complete Egyptian bounds table, its patterns and totals, looking up any bound, what the bound lord adds, and bounds and faces in a practice chart.
- The whole table
- Looking up a bound
- What the bound lord adds
- Bounds and faces in a chart
- Checkpoint: The Egyptian bounds in full
Level 2 · Unit 6
More lots
The 'from A to B' pattern behind every lot, Dorotheus's lots of the father and mother, Paulus's seven Hermetic lots, and computing lots in a practice chart.
- Lots as a family
- Lots of the father and mother
- Paulus's Hermetic lots
- Computing lots in practice
- Checkpoint: More lots
Level 2 · Unit 7
Judging a planet's condition
Bringing Levels 1 and 2 together: a checklist for a planet's condition, applied to the benefics, malefics, lights and lots of one real-sky practice chart.
- A condition checklist
- Practice chart: the benefics
- Practice chart: the malefics
- Practice chart: the lights and lots
- Checkpoint: Judging a planet's condition
Level 3Units: 7
Level 3 · Unit 1
Profections and zodiacal releasing
Monthly profections, judging the lord of the year's condition, and zodiacal releasing from a lot through its Level 1 periods.
- Monthly profections
- The lord of the year's condition
- Zodiacal releasing: the periods
- Level 1 periods in sequence
- Checkpoint: Profections and zodiacal releasing
Level 3 · Unit 2
Introduction to primary directions
The daily turning of the sky as a timing key: arcs of direction, promissors and significators, the Ptolemy and Naibod keys, and why methods differ.
- The turning sky
- Promissors and significators
- Keys: Ptolemy and Naibod
- Why directions are demanding
- Checkpoint: Introduction to primary directions
Level 3 · Unit 3
Reading Valens's Anthology
Vettius Valens and his nine-book Anthology: his life and candid voice, his example charts, the editions and translations, and how to read an ancient source.
- Valens the practitioner
- Nine books and real charts
- Translations and editions
- Reading an ancient source
- Checkpoint: Reading Valens's Anthology
Level 3 · Unit 4
Profections in depth
Profecting points other than the Hour-Marker, natal planets in the year's sign, transits alongside a profection year, and a five-year timeline on a real-sky night chart.
- Profecting other points
- Planets in the year's sign
- Transits and the year
- A profection timeline
- Checkpoint: Profections in depth
Level 3 · Unit 5
Decennials and planetary years
The minor years and the sky cycles behind them, Valens's decennials of 129 months, their sub-periods, and a worked decennial timeline on the practice chart.
- The minor years revisited
- Periods of 129 months
- Sub-periods
- A worked decennial timeline
- Checkpoint: Decennials and planetary years
Level 3 · Unit 6
Circumambulation through the bounds
Carrying the Hour-Marker through the bounds: distributors and partners, rising times as the clock, and a circumambulation timeline on a new real-sky practice chart.
- The Hour-Marker on the move
- Distributors and partners
- Rising times as the clock
- A circumambulation timeline
- Checkpoint: Circumambulation through the bounds
Level 3 · Unit 7
Layering the time-lords
A Level 3 casebook: annual and monthly profections, zodiacal releasing, decennials and circumambulation read side by side on the Libra practice chart.
- Five clocks at once
- Practice chart: years and months
- Practice chart: releasing and decennials
- Reading the layers together
- Checkpoint: Layering the time-lords
Level 4Units: 7
Level 4 · Unit 1
Advanced zodiacal releasing
Level 2 sub-periods, the loosing of the bond and peak periods from the Lot of Fortune, worked through step by step.
- Level 2 sub-periods
- Loosing of the bond
- Peak periods
- Worked releasing timelines
- Checkpoint: Advanced zodiacal releasing
Level 4 · Unit 2
Synthesis on teaching charts
Combining sect, the lord of the year, profections and zodiacal releasing on two invented teaching charts, and phrasing findings responsibly.
- Chart A: an invented day chart
- Chart A: layering the techniques
- Chart B: an invented night chart
- Phrasing findings responsibly
- Checkpoint: Synthesis on teaching charts
Level 4 · Unit 3
Translating the sources
Greek technical terms such as hairesis, klēros and chrēmatistikos, how translators render them, and why modern translations differ.
- Hairesis: sect
- Klēros: lot or part
- Chrēmatistikos: busy or advantageous
- Why modern translations differ
- Checkpoint: Translating the sources
Level 4 · Unit 4
Ethics
Ancient fatalism and modern practice, presenting time-lord periods without fear, and scenario practice with clear best answers.
- Fate in the ancient sources
- Modern practice
- Time-lord periods without fear
- Scenarios
- Checkpoint: Ethics
Level 4 · Unit 5
Ancient horoscopes as documents
Babylonian birth records, Greek horoscopes on papyrus and in books, how historians date them from the sky, and reading an ancient-style chart.
- From Babylon to Egypt
- Papyri and literary charts
- Dating a horoscope
- Reading an ancient-style chart
- Checkpoint: Ancient horoscopes as documents
Level 4 · Unit 6
Later authors and the survival of the texts
Legendary founders, early Roman authors, late antique handbooks by Paulus, Hephaistio and Rhetorius, and how fragments and manuscripts carried the tradition to us.
- Legendary founders
- Poets and court astrologers
- Late antique handbooks
- Fragments, manuscripts and catalogues
- Checkpoint: Later authors and the survival of the texts
Level 4 · Unit 7
Ptolemy and the practitioners
How Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos differs from the working astrologers: its plan and natural causes, his bounds and Lot of Fortune, commanding and beholding signs, and comparing the authors.
- The plan of the Tetrabiblos
- Ptolemy's bounds and lot
- Commanding and beholding signs
- Comparing the authors
- Checkpoint: Ptolemy and the practitioners