6. Opponitur Venus Mercurio: hic quidem sermones & disciplinas, illa vero voluptates & delectationes amplectitur. Similiter & Iupiter Marti, hic quidem vult misericordiam & iustitiam, ille vero impietatem & crudelitatem.
"Venus is opposed to Mercury: the latter indeed is involved with discussions and studies, the former with dissipations and pleasures. Likewise Jupiter [is opposed to] Mars—the former indeed wants mercy and justice, [but] the latter impiety and cruelty."
A casual reading of this aphorism might suggest the vague idea that these two pairs of planets have "opposite tendencies." Indeed, if this aphorism were a product of modern astrology (which thrives on vagary and imprecision), that's as far as it would go. In fact, our aphorism concerns itself with something much more precise: the Exaltations of the planets. Just as certain signs are the Domiciles of certain planets (as mentioned in the 5th aphorism), certain signs are also assigned to the planets as their Exaltations. While each of the planets (except the Sun and Moon) has two domiciles, each planet has only one exaltation. They are described as "the secret houses of the planets" [Holden, Rhetorius the Egyptian (Tempe, AZ: American Federation of Astrologers, 2009), p. 7]. The exaltations of the planets are these: Aries (Sun), Taurus (Moon), Cancer (Jupiter), Virgo (Mercury), Libra (Saturn), Capricornus (Mars), Pisces (Venus).
The controlling idea of this aphorism is expressed by the verb opponitur. The two pairs of planets not only have opposite tendencies, which the aphorism describes, but in both cases their signs of Exaltation are in Opposition (180º apart).
The sign opposite a planet's Exaltation (altitudo, hypsoma) is the sign of its Depression (dejectio, casus, tapeinoma, "fall"). Notice how the ideas of "up" and "down" are implicit to this terminology.
It may prove instructive at this point to lay out the entire scheme of domiciles and exaltations:
domus exilium exaltatio depressio
ARIES Mars Venus Sun (19º) Saturn (21º)1
TAURUS Venus Mars Moon (3º) ------
GEMINI Mercury Jupiter ------ ------
CANCER Moon Saturn Jupiter (15º) Mars (28º)
LEO Sun Saturn ------ ------
VIRGO Mercury Jupiter Mercury (15º) Venus (27º)2
LIBRA Venus Mars Saturn (21º )1 Sun (19º)
SCORPIO Mars Venus ------ Moon (3º)
SAGITTARIUS Jupiter Mercury ------ ------
CAPRICORNUS Saturn Moon Mars (28º) Jupiter (15º)
AQUARIUS Saturn Sun ------ ------
PISCES Jupiter Mercury Venus (27º )2 Mercury (15º)
1Antiochus says the 20th degree.
2Antiochus says the 26th degree.
While the zodiacal signs themselves are described as Exaltations, the precise Exaltations are associated with the so-called Hypsomatic Degrees. Each planet is said to be exalted in a specific degree, and to be depressed in the degree precisely opposite. Notice that while Aries is the sign of the Sun's exaltation and of Saturn's depression, the precise hypsoma and tapeinoma of the two planets are two degrees apart. In the case of Jupiter and Mars, they are 13º apart; in the case of Venus and Mercury, 12º apart. The numbers 2, 12, and 13 are in fact fundamental to all of Astrology, as we shall demonstrate in a future essay.
The hypsomatic degrees, like the exaltations themselves, are of Babylonian origin. Cyril Fagan, the siderealist, attempted to demonstrate that these precise degrees are derived from the position of Venus and the luminaries on 1 Nissan (4 April) 786 B.C., along with the associated heliacal risings and settings of the other four planets. This date is associated with the dedication of the temple of Nabu (Mercury) at Calah (http://edkohout.com/mundane/earthday-02.html). Whatever their origin, the hypsomatic degrees are very old and are transmitted (with slight variations) by nearly every writer on Astrology. At the same time, no one seems to know what they are used for—very few writers do more than list them before moving on to the next topic. One very notable exception is the System of Balbillus, which is preserved in a fragment from the anthology of Palchus:
"And [Balbillus] says about the transfer of time that when each star is in its own exaltation it is allotted its complete cyclical years, that is the least [years]. For example, the Sun 19, the Moon 25, Saturn 30, Jupiter 12, Mars 15, Venus 8, Mercury 20.3 But if they are not in the degree of that same exaltation, for each degree [of separation] it is necessary to take away as many days as are the years of the star, and for each sign [of separation] that same number of months." [Palchus, Apotelesmaticorum Liber, ch. 81, ed. In CCAG VIII.4, 235-238; translated by J.H. Holden, A History of Horoscopic Astrology, 2d ed. (Tempe, AZ: American Federation of Astrologers, 2006), p. 31].
3These are the so-called Least Years or Minor Years of the planets, as transmitted by al-Biruni (Kitab al-Tafhim, 436-437) and many other authors.
Tiberius Claudius Balbillus (20-79 A.D.) was the son of Thrasyllus, the court astrologer to Tiberius, and princess Aka II of Commagene. Balbillus’ sister Ennia married Naevius Macro, the Praetorian Prefect (if you saw the 1976 BBC series I, Claudius, you will certainly remember Macro, who was brilliantly played by John Rhys-Davies). Balbillus was court astrologer to the emperors Claudius, Nero, and Vespasian. Balbillus was an extremely prominent personage in the Roman Empire, and indeed the Balbillean Games were held at Ephesus for nearly 200 years after his death. His granddaughter Julia Balbilla was a noted poetess; four of her epigrams were inscribed on the base of one of the Colossi of Memnon (the twin statues of Amenhotep III at Luxor; the colossi attracted many visitors in Roman times because the one on the right used to emit a mysterious musical tone at sunrise, a phenomenon reported by Strabo (Geog. XVII.i.46) and other classical authors).
If we apply the Method of Balbillus to our Inception Chart, it results in the following reductions:
distance from exaltation reduction
Moon (5 Scorpio) 7 signs + 28º 175 months, 700 days
Mercury (30 Virgo) 15º 300 days
Venus (29 Cancer) 4 signs + 2º 32 months, 16 days
Sun (3 Virgo) 4 signs + 14º 76 months, 266 days
Mars (30 Gemini) 5 signs + 2º 75 months, 30 days
Jupiter (21 Aquarius) 4 signs + 24º 48 months, 288 days
Saturn (23 Virgo) 28º 840 days
Minor Years (minus) Result
Moon 25 16y, 6m, 10d 8y, 5m, 20d
Mercury 20 10m 19y, 2m
Venus 8 2y, 8m, 16d 5y, 3m, 14d
Sun 19 7y, 26d 11y, 11m, 4d
Mars 15 6y, 4m 8y, 8m
Jupiter 12 4y, 9m, 18d 7y, 2m, 12d
Saturn 30 2y, 4m 27y, 8m
The Method of Balbillus has application to the procedure of evaluating the chronocrators, as well as to certain techniques of Primary Direction. We shall discuss these matters in a future essay.
While the domiciles are clearly associated with the Sun (as Ptolemy explains in Quadripartitum I.17), Robert Schmidt has discovered that the common denominator for the seven Exaltations is that they are the signs which aspect Cancer, the Domicile of the Moon: there is Cancer itself, then Taurus and Virgo which are sextile to Cancer, Aries and Libra which are square to Cancer, Pisces and Scorpio which are trine to Cancer, and Capricorn which is in opposition to Cancer. The omission of Scorpio is in keeping with an old astrological doctrine transmitted by Rhetorius: "Where the Moon is exalted, nothing can be depressed; where the Moon is depressed, nothing can be exalted." The seven signs which remain are precisely the seven signs of planetary exaltation. Thus the Moon is the dispensatrix of the exaltations. [Robert Schmidt, Definitions and Foundations (Cumberland, MD: Golden Hind Press, 2009), p. 110]. The old designation of the exaltations as the "secret houses" or "hiding places" of the planets may thus refer either to their disappearance into the Sun's glare (the heliacal risings and settings of 786 B.C.) or to their lunar (nocturnal) associations.
Ptolemy (Quadripartitum I.19) attempts to establish a connection between the arrangement of the planetary exaltations and the seasonal ingresses of the Sun into the cardinal signs, since four of the seven are associated with cardinal signs. According to Ptolemy, the opposition of the domiciles of the Sun and Saturn gives rise to the opposition of their exaltations. He says that Jupiter is exalted in Cancer because it "produces the fecund north winds," in contrast to Mars, "which by nature is fiery and becomes all the more so in Capricorn because in it he is farthest south." Likewise, Venus "is moist by nature and increases her own proper power all the more in Pisces, where the beginning of the moist spring is indicated," while Mercury, being dry by nature, is exalted in Virgo, "in which the dry autumn is signified." According to Porphyry, the planets of the diurnal sect (Sun, Jupiter, Saturn) have their exaltations in signs in trine to their domiciles. Those of the nocturnal sect (Moon, Venus, Mars) have their exaltations in signs sextile to their domiciles ("due to the weakness of their ray"). Mercury, whose ray is the weakest, has his domicile and exaltation in the same sign (Virgo). For this reason, Mercury is extremely strong in Virgo, but extremely weak in Pisces.
Which of these two Dignities takes precedence? Traditionally, when points are assigned to the Essential Dignities, 5 points are assigned to a planet in its own domicile, and 4 points to a planet in its own exaltation. On the other hand, Porphyry's discussion of the matter implies that Exaltation is the greater dignity. While the domiciles, being associated with the Sun (luminare majus), presumably take precedence over the (lunar) scheme of exaltations, it could still be plausibly argued that the exaltations have pride of place since they are of Babylonian origin and hence presumably much older. At the same time, if the scheme of exaltations derives from aspects to the Moon's domicile in Cancer, the exaltations are secondary to the domiciles.
How do exaltations differ from domiciles, based on this and the previous aphorism? The 5th aphorism clearly associates the domiciles with amicitia and inimicitia, so we must assume that opposition of domiciles bears some analogy to the planetary enmities and to the "hard" aspects (square, opposition). However, we must note that Mercury and Jupiter are friends, while some degree of friendship also exists between Venus and Mars, and between Saturn and both of the Luminaries. By contrast, in the present aphorism the opposing exaltations are described in terms of antithetical tendencies. With respect to the planetary affinities, while Venus and Mercury are friends, there is intense enmity between Jupiter and Mars. Saturn is in opposition to the Lights both by domicile and by exaltation. As for the four planets which concern us here, the pairs Jupiter/Mercury and Venus/Mars are opposed by domicile, while the pairs Jupiter/Mars and Venus/Mercury are opposed by exaltation. The two modes of opposition thus demonstrate an entirely different dynamic. It appears from all of this that opposite exaltations reflect a fundamental incompatibility of character, while opposite domiciles reflect differing but complementary roles. Such a conclusion accords very well with the association of the domiciles with the Sun, and of the exaltations with the Moon (the Sun is involved with a person's role in society, while the Moon is the index to a person's inner character).
Our aphorism describes the nature of the Venus/Mercury opposition and the Jupiter/Mars opposition, yet nothing is said about the Sun/Saturn opposition. Why is this? It may be because the Sun/Saturn opposition involves one of the luminaries and so falls in a different category; or it may be because (as Ptolemy suggests) the opposition of the exaltations of the Sun and Saturn simply reflects the opposition of their domiciles. I suspect that the Sun and Saturn are omitted from the present aphorism because (like aphorism no. 4) it is concerned with the Benefics (Jupiter and Venus).
Each of the four planets in view is associated with a pair of ideas, and it is tempting to analyze the connections that may exist among these eight concepts: for one thing, Mercury's sermones & disciplinas are both neutral (or mildly positive) concepts, corresponding to the ambiguous nature of that planet. The voluptates & delectationes associated with Venus are negative and positive concepts, respectively. Jupiter is associated with two positive concepts (misericordiam & justitiam), while Mars is associated with two negative concepts (impietatem & crudelitatem). In the second place, a catenic structure is seen in the layout of the four concepts associated with Venus and Mercury: Mercury's sermones correspond to Venus' delectationes (both essentially positive concepts), while Mercury's disciplinas contrast with Venus' voluptates (positive and negative, respectively). In the same way, Jupiter's (positive) misericordiam contrasts with Mars' (negative) crudelitatem, and Jupiter's (positive) justitiam contrasts with Mars' (negative) impietatem. Moreover, there is an interesting catenic structure to the way the proper names and their corresponding pronouns are presented: the first series Venus—Mercurio : hic (Mercury)—illa (Venus) presents the concepts in the form A—B : B—A; while in the second half of the aphorism, Jupiter—Marti : hic (Jupiter)—ille (Mars), the pattern is reversed to A—B : A—B.
Venus and Mercury are inferiores (closer to the Sun than the earth is), while Jupiter and Mars are superiores (further from the Sun than the earth is). Moreover, if we study the precise order in which the four planets are mentioned, we see that the Chaldaean Order of the planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon) is inherent to their arrangement: the aphorism begins with Venus and Mercury, skips the Moon and Saturn, and concludes with Jupiter and Mars, skipping the Sun. The four planets are thus presented in the Chaldaean order, beginning with Venus and with the Luminaries and Saturn omitted.
This leads us to a discussion of the various Planetary Orders, of which the ordo Chaldaicus (descendens) (descending Chaldaean order) is the most frequently used. Many other arrangements may be found in the astrological literature. For example, there is the ordo Chaldaicus (ascendens): (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn), the ordo hebdomadalis (weekday order): (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn), and several others as well. We will discuss this topic at length in some future posting.
The order of the four planets presented here (Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars) may be analyzed in a number of ways. For one thing, it will be seen that each of the pairs is presented in Descending Order, and that the (anticipated) third item in each of the two series is one of the Luminaries (Venus, Mercury, Moon; Jupiter, Mars, Sun). Also, if we compare this to the Chaldaean Order (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon), we find that this series of four planets results from the omission of the supremum, medium, and imum (the two extremities and the central term). Furthermore, the four planets which remain are those whose exaltations are not in opposition to either of the Luminaries. This establishes the planets into three categories: these four planets; the Luminaries; and Saturn (characterized by its special stance of opposition to the Luminaries).
Clearly, there is much more to this aphorism than what is at first apparent!
BELTRANO
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