Persian, Arabic & Medieval Astrology
Essential dignities, reception, firdaria and the lunar mansions.
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Level 1Units: 7
Level 1 · Unit 1
The great transmission
How astrology travelled from Greek into Middle Persian, Arabic and Latin, and the key astrologers of Baghdad, Central Asia and medieval Europe.
- From Greek to Middle Persian
- Baghdad and the translation movement
- Māshāʾallāh and Abū Maʿshar
- Al-Bīrūnī, Toledo and Bonatti
- Checkpoint: The great transmission
Level 1 · Unit 2
Essential dignities
Domicile, exaltation, triplicity, term and face: how medieval astrologers rated a planet's strength by zodiac position, plus detriment and fall.
- Domicile and detriment
- Exaltation and fall
- Triplicity rulers
- Terms and faces
- Checkpoint: Essential dignities
Level 1 · Unit 3
Accidental dignity and reception
Strength from a planet's situation in a chart: houses, motion, closeness to the Sun, and how planets receive one another.
- Accidental dignity and the houses
- Motion: direct, retrograde, swift, slow
- Close to the Sun
- Reception and mutual reception
- Checkpoint: Accidental dignity and reception
Level 1 · Unit 4
The Egyptian terms in full
The complete table of the Egyptian terms (bounds) for all twelve signs: how to read it, how to find a degree's term ruler, and the patterns that help memory.
- Reading a term table: Aries to Gemini
- Terms of Cancer to Virgo
- Terms of Libra to Sagittarius
- Capricorn to Pisces, and the patterns
- Checkpoint: The Egyptian terms
Level 1 · Unit 5
The 36 faces and the five lords of a degree
The full face (decan) table in the Chaldean order, and how to list all five dignity lords of a degree to see which dignities a planet holds.
- Faces from Aries to Virgo
- Faces from Libra to Pisces
- The five lords of a degree
- Which dignities does a planet hold?
- Checkpoint: Faces and the five lords
Level 1 · Unit 6
Weighing dignity: points, debility and the almuten
Lilly's point values applied to this course's tables, negative points for detriment, fall and peregrine, the almuten of a degree, and how essential and accidental strength combine.
- Points for dignity
- Detriment, fall and peregrine
- The almuten of a degree
- Quality and ability together
- Checkpoint: Weighing dignity
Level 1 · Unit 7
Practice: surveying a whole chart
An invented teaching chart surveyed planet by planet: houses and sect, essential scores, accidental condition, and the almuten of the Ascendant.
- Setting out the chart
- Essential dignity, planet by planet
- Accidental condition
- The almuten and the overall picture
- Checkpoint: Surveying a whole chart
Level 2Units: 7
Level 2 · Unit 1
Perfection and its obstacles
How medieval astrologers judged whether a matter comes about: applying aspects, translation and collection of light, the classic obstacles, and reception.
- Applying aspects and perfection
- Translation and collection of light
- Prohibition, refranation and frustration
- Reception and perfection
- Checkpoint: Perfection and its obstacles
Level 2 · Unit 2
The lunar mansions (manāzil al-qamar)
The 28 lunar mansions of Arabic and Latin astrology: how they are measured, how they differ from the Indian nakshatras, and how they were used in elections.
- Stations of the Moon
- Finding the mansion
- Mansions and nakshatras
- Mansions in elections
- Checkpoint: The lunar mansions
Level 2 · Unit 3
Firdaria and solar revolutions
Persian time-lord periods and their sub-periods, and the medieval annual chart with its profected lord of the year.
- The firdaria by day
- Night charts and the nodes
- Sub-periods
- Solar revolutions and the lord of the year
- Checkpoint: Firdaria and solar revolutions
Level 2 · Unit 4
Orbs, moieties and the Moon's course
Medieval planetary orbs and their halves (moieties), when two planets count as joined, the void-of-course and feral Moon, and tracking the Moon's last and next contacts.
- Orbs belong to planets
- Moieties and joining
- Void of course and feral
- The Moon's last and next contacts
- Checkpoint: Orbs, moieties and the Moon's course
Level 2 · Unit 5
The lots (Arabic parts)
How a lot is projected from the Ascendant, the Lots of Fortune and Spirit by day and night, the Father and Mother lots from the medieval lists, and a lot's house and lord.
- How a lot is made
- Fortune and Spirit
- More lots from the medieval lists
- A lot's house and lord
- Checkpoint: The lots
Level 2 · Unit 6
Annual time lords in depth
The profected house, profecting the Midheaven, lights and Lot of Fortune, reading the revolution with the nativity, and layering the firdar, sub-period and lord of the year.
- The profected house
- Profecting other points
- The revolution and the nativity
- Layering the time lords
- Checkpoint: Annual time lords in depth
Level 2 · Unit 7
Practice: a medieval year
An invented teaching nativity from a real sky, followed through one year: its lots, the Moon's mansion and contacts, the time lords at 27 and the revolution chart.
- The nativity and its lots
- The Moon: mansion and contacts
- The time lords of one year
- The revolution chart
- Checkpoint: A medieval year
Level 3Units: 7
Level 3 · Unit 1
Mundane astrology in the medieval tradition
Abū Maʿshar's great conjunctions, triplicity shifts and long cycles, the revolutions of the years of the world, and Māshāʾallāh's history, as history of ideas.
- Abū Maʿshar's book of conjunctions
- Triplicity shifts and the long cycle
- Revolutions of the years of the world
- Māshāʾallāh and the conjunction histories
- Checkpoint: Mundane astrology in the medieval tradition
Level 3 · Unit 2
Roots of horary and electional astrology
Questions in Arabic sources, Sahl ibn Bishr and the Fifty Judgments, choosing times by the Moon and the Ascendant lord, and the road to Bonatti and Lilly.
- Questions in Arabic sources
- Sahl ibn Bishr and the Fifty Judgments
- Elections: the Moon and the Ascendant lord
- From Sahl to Bonatti to Lilly
- Checkpoint: Roots of horary and electional astrology
Level 3 · Unit 3
Case studies
Invented teaching charts for a question and an election, judged with medieval perfection and dignity rules, plus the reported chart for Baghdad's founding.
- Case Q: the question and its significators
- Case Q: perfection and reception
- Case E: choosing among three moments
- Baghdad, 762: a historical case
- Checkpoint: Case studies
Level 3 · Unit 4
Planetary days and hours
The Chaldean order behind the seven-day week, the unequal hours of day and night, how to find the lord of any hour, and how medieval electors used the hours.
- The Chaldean order and the week
- Unequal hours
- Finding the lord of the hour
- Hours in medieval practice
- Checkpoint: Planetary days and hours
Level 3 · Unit 5
Nativities: triplicity lords and the lord of the chart
Medieval birth charts read through triplicity lords: the sect light's three lords and the parts of life, houses judged by their lords, the significators of a topic, and the lord of the nativity.
- The triplicity lords of the sect light
- Houses and their triplicity lords
- Significators of a topic
- The lord of the nativity
- Checkpoint: Nativities in the medieval style
Level 3 · Unit 6
Critics and defenders of astrology
How medieval thinkers argued about astrology: natural versus judicial astrology, defences and critiques in the Islamic world, Latin debates, and astrology in universities and poetry.
- Natural and judicial astrology
- Debate in the Islamic world
- Latin debates
- Universities, poets and critics
- Checkpoint: Critics and defenders
Level 3 · Unit 7
Practice: a medieval nativity
An invented teaching nativity from a real sky, judged in the medieval style: day and hour of birth, the sect light's triplicity lords, work and substance, and the lord of the nativity.
- Setting out the nativity
- The sect light's lords
- Work and substance
- The lord of the nativity
- Checkpoint: A medieval nativity