Halb

Meaning

Halb is a refinement of sect. Sect asks whether a planet belongs to the day team or the night team. Halb asks a further question: is the planet on the side of the horizon that suits its team at this time?

The rule follows the Sun. A diurnal planet keeps the Sun company: in a day chart it likes to be above the horizon with the Sun, and in a night chart below the horizon, on the same side as the hidden Sun. A nocturnal planet does the opposite: by night it likes to be above the horizon, by day below it, always on the side away from the Sun [1].

Put simply: a diurnal planet is in halb when it is on the same side of the horizon as the Sun; a nocturnal planet is in halb when it is on the opposite side.

The Arabic word is ḥalb. In the astrological texts it simply names this condition. Wright's notes to al-Bīrūnī comment on the companion term ḥayyiz but not on ḥalb, and its etymology is not explained in the sources cited here.

Origin and history

The Greek background is the doctrine of sect itself, with its day and night teams [4] [5]. Whether a Hellenistic author states the hemisphere rule in this exact form has not been confirmed for this article; the named condition is Arabic.

The explicit terms ḥalb and ḥayyiz come from the Arabic tradition. Al-Bīrūnī, in his Book of Instruction of 1029, defines them together. The two terms are related in meaning, he says, and share one condition: when a diurnal planet is above the earth by day and beneath it at night, or a nocturnal planet above the earth at night and beneath it by day, it is in its halb. When, in addition, a masculine planet is in a masculine sign or a feminine planet in a feminine sign, the condition is called hayyiz. So every hayyiz is a halb, but not every halb is a hayyiz [1].

The same pairing is transmitted by al-Qabīṣī's introduction, translated by Dykes, and in Latin by Bonatti [2] [3]; the exact section numbers in these translations have not been checked for this article. In Latin and English the word halb largely dropped out of use, while hayz survived: Lilly defines hayz in Christian Astrology but does not use the word halb.

How it is used

Halb is a small accidental dignity. It says the planet is comfortable with its position relative to the horizon: it is where a member of its team ought to be at this hour. It is a lighter condition than hayz, which adds the sign's gender.

On this site:

• a planet in halb but not in hayz scores +1;
• a planet in hayz scores +2 instead, and does not also receive the +1 for halb;
• "above" and "below" are measured against the Ascendant–Descendant line itself, not house numbers, so the result does not depend on the house system;
• the Sun and Moon are included. The Sun is always in halb, since by definition it is above the horizon by day and below it by night. The Moon is in halb when she is above the horizon at night or below it by day.

The +1 is this site's own weighting. Lilly's table of fortitudes, which the other point values follow, has no entry for halb, so the value is a modest addition rather than a traditional figure.

Where authorities differ.

• Same or opposite? Al-Bīrūnī gives the rule in the table above [1], and al-Qabīṣī's introduction is generally read the same way [2]. Some modern summaries simply say "a diurnal planet above the horizon by day, a nocturnal planet above the horizon by night", leaving out the second half of the rule.
• Halb versus hayz. Some later authors blur the two terms and use hayz for what al-Bīrūnī calls halb. See hayz.
• Mercury. Mercury's halb depends on which sect it has; authors differ on how to decide that.

Examples

• Day chart, Jupiter in the 10th house. Jupiter is diurnal and above the horizon with the Sun: in halb (+1 on this site, or +2 if it is also in a masculine sign and so in hayz).
• Day chart, Venus in the 3rd house. Venus is nocturnal and below the horizon by day: in halb. She is out of sect, but on her own side of the horizon.
• Night chart, Saturn in the 11th house. Saturn is diurnal, but by night a diurnal planet wants to be below the horizon. Saturn is out of sect and not in halb.
• Night chart, Mars in the 8th house. Mars is nocturnal and above the horizon at night: in halb.

See also

The fuller condition, with sign gender added, is hayz. The underlying division into day and night planets is explained in sect.