Cazimi

Meaning

A planet is cazimi when it is so close to the Sun that it is, in the traditional phrase, "in the heart of the Sun". The usual limit is 17 minutes of arc (a little over a quarter of a degree) on either side of the Sun's exact degree. Some authors use 16′, and some describe the condition as being within the body of the Sun itself; since the Sun's visible disc has a radius of about 16′, these come to nearly the same thing.

Cazimi is the striking exception to the rule about the Sun. A planet a few degrees from the Sun is combust, "burned up", one of the worst debilities; but a planet at the very centre is not burned. It is instead treated as united with the Sun and sharing its power, one of the strongest accidental dignities. A common image is that of a person admitted to sit beside the king, rather than one standing in his shadow.

Origin and history

Surviving Hellenistic texts treat closeness to the Sun mainly as a weakness. Paulus Alexandrinus says a planet is conjunct the Sun when it is within about 59′ of it, and that planets within 9° are ineffectual [3]; he does not describe the exact conjunction as a strength. The distinct doctrine of cazimi is first clearly found in astrologers writing in Arabic.

Al-Bīrūnī, writing in 1029, gives a precise definition: a planet less than 16′ before or after exact conjunction with the Sun is in taṣmīm, which his translator glosses as being "in the middle of the heart" of the Sun [1]. He notes a consequence of the planets' cycles: the superior planets can only reach this position in the middle of their direct motion, while Mercury and Venus reach it both in the middle of their direct motion (superior conjunction) and in the middle of their retrograde motion (inferior conjunction) [1]. He also points out that latitude matters: when Venus passes the Sun at a high northern latitude she remains visible, and should then be called neither cazimi nor combust, but simply accompanying the Sun [1]. He describes the Moon's closeness to the Sun in the same terms as the other planets' [1]. And he reports that astrologers agree a planet's influence is at its greatest in this position, with indications of happiness and good news, and at its least in combustion [1].

The Latin word cazimi is a borrowing from the Arabic, in a garbled form. Wright notes that the Latin astrological works use cazimi for al-Bīrūnī's term. He mentions a suggested derivation from qalb (heart) and shams (sun), but thinks it more probable that the Latin comes from an Arabic phrase meaning "as if [in] the heart" (ka-, "as if", with ṣamīm) [1].

Lilly gives the definition most used in English: a planet is cazimi when it is not more than 17′ from the Sun, forward or backward, and "all authors" agree that it is fortified by this [2]. His table awards it +5, the same as the reward for being free from combustion, while combustion costs −5 [2].

How it is used

Points on this site. A planet within 17′ (0.283°) of the Sun in longitude scores +5 and is not also counted as combust. The site measures distance in zodiacal longitude only and does not apply al-Bīrūnī's latitude caution [1]. It does not score the Moon for cazimi, combustion or the beams.

Orb. The orb is the main technical disagreement: 16′ in al-Bīrūnī [1], 17′ in Lilly [2], and "within the Sun's body" in some modern writers. At the speeds involved the difference is small. For Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn, and for Venus at her inferior conjunction, the whole 34′ window is crossed in less than a day, because the Sun and the planet move relative to each other by most of a degree (or more) each day. Mars, and Venus at her superior conjunction, move almost as fast as the Sun, so the window can last roughly two to three days. Cazimi is therefore a brief and fairly rare condition, most important in horary and electional charts, where a timing of minutes matters.

Latitude. Some practitioners require the planet to be close to the Sun in latitude as well as longitude, following al-Bīrūnī's remark about Venus [1]; most modern software, including this site, uses longitude only.

Interpretation. A significator in cazimi is read as strongly favoured, in the confidence of someone powerful, or in the best possible position to act. Some modern traditional astrologers question how far the benefit goes, pointing out that a cazimi planet is still invisible and, in the older texts, still near the Sun's rays. Others see cazimi as a short moment of renewal at the start of a new synodic cycle. The site follows Lilly's straightforward reading.

The Moon. At the exact New Moon, the Moon is within 17′ of the Sun. Al-Bīrūnī treats the Moon's closeness to the Sun like that of the other planets [1], and some astrologers count the moment of the New Moon as a cazimi; others regard the Moon at conjunction as simply dark and weak. The site leaves the Moon out.

Examples

• Mercury at 15°20′ Taurus with the Sun at 15°30′ Taurus: 10′ apart, cazimi, +5 on this site.
• Mercury at 15°00′ Taurus with the Sun at 15°30′ Taurus: 30′ apart, no longer cazimi but combust, −5. A difference of 20′ turns the strongest solar condition into one of the weakest.
• Venus at her inferior conjunction, retrograde and within 17′ of the Sun: cazimi +5 and retrograde −5 on this site. If her latitude is high, al-Bīrūnī would call her simply "with the Sun" [1].
• Saturn at its conjunction with the Sun: Saturn is always direct at this point [1]. Because the Sun gains on Saturn by nearly a degree a day, Saturn is cazimi only for about eight hours either side of the exact conjunction.

See also

The neighbouring bands are described under combust and under the beams.