Astrological Terminology
Astrological predictions are based on the movements of the planets (seven at the time of Firmicus, including the Sun and Moon). To the naked eyes these are seen to move against, and actually to become part of, the set of twelve constellations called the zodiac which lies along the path of the Sun at an angle to the equator. Although in reality these constellations are of different sizes, it became conventional very early to assume that each was one-twelfth of the circle, i.e., 30 degrees each, the circle having been divided into 360 degrees (duodecimal system) as early as Babylonian times by astronomers (the equal sign theory), and that six are at all times above the horizon.
These planets were believed to be particularly influential when they appear to be in (the ancients said "inhabit") the signs to which they are conventionally allotted as rulers: the Sun and Moon, one sign each, the other planets two each, thus totaling the number twelve. Modern day astrology with its increased number of planets has altered this allotment.
The signs of the zodiac of course were believed to be in constant movement. There was, however, another concept, a set of stationary "houses" also in the shape of a great circle, through which the signs move as if within the framework of something like a bent ladder. Each of the "houses" has a meaning relating to the various phases or attributes of human life: parents, children, careers, death, and so on. The forecast depends partly on whether malevolent or benevolent signs and planets occupy these houses.
What are now called "houses" in English were known in the ancient languages as "places" (Latin loca, Greek topoi). What we call "signs" were houses or domiciles. When the planets were in the signs which they ruled, the ancients would say that they were in their own houses. One would say in English, "the planet is in its own sign in the first house."
According to the ancient system the zodiac is divided into quadrants by four points called cardines (sg. cardo), now known as angles. The one in the East is now called the ascendant; its opposite is the descendant. The highest point is the Medium Coelum (now the Medium Coeli); the lowest is the Imum Coelum. These last two are usually abbreviated to MC and IMC in Firmicus and other ancient writers. In the ancient world the ascendant was known both in Greek and Latin as the horoscopus, a word which has come to mean to us the nativity, or chart (Latingenitura), that is, a map of the planets, Sun, and Moon at the moment of birth.
A set of geometric relationships among the planets as they appear on this chart is called the "aspects." These can be visualized as chords of a circle joining every second, third, fourth, or seventh sign. The two planets at either end of the diameter of the circle form an aspect known as "opposition." Others form a hexagon (sextile), square, or triangle (trine). Trine and sextile are considered fortunate, square and opposition unfortunate. A "conjunction," that is, the appearance of two planets very close to one another (distant no further than eight or ten degrees—the "orb") is considered another type of aspect. Firmicus, like all other ancient astrologers, did not know that Mercury and Venus can never be more than 28 and 59 degrees respectively from the Sun and therefore cannot form the larger aspects with the Sun.
Each of the seven planets has an "exaltation," a sign usually different from the one it rules, in which it is said to be particularly strong and favorable. Firmicus like the other ancient authors says the planet "re-joices"(gaudet) in its exaltation. The sign opposite the exaltation, a placeof weakness for the planet, is known as its "fall" or its "debility." "Terms" (fines, orai) are fractions o f other signs in which the planets are as powerful as in their own signs.
The thirty degrees of a sign are also divided into three decans of ten degrees each which are ruled by various planets in a system of rotation. But in some accounts other than Firmicus' they are ruled by different signs. The concept of the decans may have derived from a very old Egyptian division of the heavens into hours and minutes with special heavenly rulers for each.
Further complications of the heavenly positions are described by Firmicus in the second book. Books III to VII then discuss the meaning and interpretations of this great variety of combinations, providing special examples in some cases. The eighth book contains material known as the theory of the Sphaera Barbarica, that is, forecasting by stars and constellations outside the zodiac.
The first book of the Mathesis is a defense of the subject, together with detailed discussion of the traditional criticisms of fatal astrology. Firmicus tells us that he has written seven books for seven planets with the eighth as introduction. The first book differs from the other more pedestrian chapters in that it is composed with all the attention to style and in particular to the florid and elaborate rhetoric which could be expected of an able and learned lawyer of aristocratic family and expensive education in fourth century Sicily. The other seven books apparently have been translated literally from the source, but they are often introduced and ended with rhetorical passages. Some of the astrological calculations seem not to be completely understood by the author, but Firmicus occasionally notes that he has made use of this or that technique. He has apparently dabbled in the casting of charts and no doubt discussed the theory with his circle of friends.
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