Tenth Aphorism: Malitia Beneficorum

10. Fert a 6 vel a 12 loco mala benevolus, cum ibi fuerit a malevolis impeditus.

"A benefic planet brings about evils from the 6th or from the 12th house, when he is obstructed there by the malefics."

This is truly a striking statement! Contrary to popular belief, the Benefics (Jupiter and Venus) can sometimes exert a baleful influence. Our aphorism describes one such configuration.

There are two conditions which produce this configuration: first, Jupiter or Venus must be in the Sixth or the Twelfth House. The meaning of this is clear enough. In addition, the benefic planet must be "obstructed there" by the Malefics. What does this mean? My first thought was that since the plural (malevolis) is used, both Malefics (Saturn and Mars) had to be involved, meaning that the aphorism was referring to a case of obsidio (besiegement). Obsidio occurs whenever a planet is enclosed between two other planets (the Malefics in this case), or between the rays of two planets making aspects to either side of it; provided that no other planet intervenes or casts its ray into the seven degrees preceding or following the besieged planet (this is the definition given by both Antiochus and Rhetorius).

However, a study of various instances of the word impeditus in the astrological literature reveals that its meaning is less specific: impeditus is simply a synonym for laesus ("afflicted"), meaning that the "impedited" planet receives an applying square or oppositional aspect from either of the Malefics (not a sextile or trine--remembering that the nature of an aspect overrides the nature of the aspecting planet). It is clear from this that the plural malevolis is used only loosely; hard aspects from either or both of the Malefics would fulfill this condition. Still, since obsidio is a special case of affliction, we  may probably assume that cases of obsidio are probably embraced in this aphorism as well.

Let us see how this aphorism applies to our Inception Chart, which contains the relevant planets in the following positions:

Jupiter 21 Aquarius Saturn 23 Virgo

Venus 29 Cancer Mars 30 Gemini

Since Aries is the rising sign, Virgo is the 6th house, and Pisces the 12th house. Thus the first condition of the aphorism is not fulfilled and we need go no further--neither of the Benefics exerts an evil influence in this case. But just for practice, let us also evaluate the second condition. Clearly, no aspect exists between Jupiter and Saturn since the signs of Aquarius and Virgo are inconjunct. Jupiter is moving toward an aspect to Mars; however, the two planets are still separated by 9 degrees, too far apart for a valid aspect; moreover, Mars will leave its current sign long before Jupiter is in application to it.  As for Venus, it is inconjunct to Mars, and has already separated from its sextile aspect to Saturn. So neither of the Benefics is impedited by Malefics. If we extend the definition of impeditus to include obsidio, we will be looking for planets which lie within the arc between the 23rd degree (occupied by Saturn) and the 30th degree (occupied by Mars). Venus does lie within this arc; however, Venus is not besieged because there is in fact no aspect between Venus and Mars (the two planets are Inconjunct, just one sign apart).

A final question we should address is, what is the nature of the "evils" (mala) entailed in cases to which this aphorism applies? Since the sixth house pertains to illness, a benefic impedited by malefics in the sixth house may be expected to bring about illness. The twelfth house ("the House of Undoing") pertains to secret enemies and to imprisonment, so a benefic impedited by malefics in the twelfth house will occasion misfortunes of that sort. As to the difference between the effects of Jupiter and Venus in such situations, let us turn our attention to a pertinent passage from al-Biruni (Kitab al-Tafhim, 431-432), which associates Jupiter with "sickness, fatigue, fever, death in childbed, Caesarean section. Kings, vezirs, nobles, magnates, lawyers, merchants, the rich and their sycophants." Based on this, we will expect an impedited Jupiter in the sixth house to bring about illnesses of the kind listed. If impedited in the twelfth house, Jupiter will bring about insidious attacks by the classes of people just mentioned. The same passage has this to say about Venus: "Nobles, plutocrats, queens, courtesans, adulterers and their children." So an impedited Venus in the twelfth house will result in plots and betrayals from people of this sort. No illnesses are listed for Venus in this passage; however, in another passage (425) al-Biruni associates Venus with "womb, genitals, hands and fingers." So presumably an impedited Venus in the sixth house would bring about diseases affecting those members. According to William Andrews, a later writer on Medical Astrology, Jupiter is particularly associated with diseases of the Blood, while Venus is associated with reproductive difficulties and venereal diseases (The Astrologicall Physitian, 1655).

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