Oriental and Occidental

Meaning

Oriental and occidental describe where a planet stands in relation to the Sun.

• A planet is oriental (eastern) when it rises before the Sun. It is in earlier degrees of the zodiac than the Sun, so the daily rotation brings it over the eastern horizon first. When it is far enough from the Sun to be seen, it is a morning star.
• A planet is occidental (western) when it sets after the Sun. It is in later degrees of the zodiac than the Sun and, when visible, is seen in the western sky after sunset: an evening star.

Lilly puts it simply: to be oriental is to rise before the Sun; to be occidental is to be seen above the horizon after the Sun has set [4].

The condition is judged differently for the two kinds of planet:

Origin and history

The distinction comes from the visible cycle of each planet around the Sun, which ancient astrologers observed closely. Greek texts speak of a planet making a morning or evening rising or setting, and describe the eastern and western sides of the Sun [1][2]. Paulus Alexandrinus describes these phases in detail. A planet becomes a morning riser once it is 15° from the Sun in the degrees preceding it, and remains one until it reaches the trine on that side; it is an evening riser once it is 15° from the Sun in the degrees following it. Within that distance it is setting, that is, hidden by the Sun [1]. He adds that at morning rising planets are active and effective, and that planets acting as "spear-bearers" of the Sun are stronger when they are morning risers [1]. Ptolemy describes how the qualities of the planets change as they move from morning rising through their stations to evening setting [2].

The idea that the superior and inferior planets are favoured on opposite sides is also old. When Paulus discusses which planet signifies a person's work, he looks for Saturn, Jupiter or Mars in a morning appearance, but for Venus or Mercury in an evening rising [1]. Mercury's sect was also tied to his phase: diurnal as a morning star, nocturnal as an evening star [1].

Al-Bīrūnī uses the Arabic terms tashrīq (orientality) and taghrīb (occidentality). He describes the phases degree by degree: a superior planet is oriental in the full sense from its first appearance until it is about 30° from the Sun, only weakly oriental from there to 90°, and the term ceases to apply once it is more than 90° from the Sun [3]. He says planets are joyful when the superior ones are oriental and the inferior ones occidental in their direct course [3], and warns that an inferior planet at the end of its occidental phase, slowing towards retrograde motion and combustion, is badly weakened [3]. He also reports the view that the east favours the superior planets and the west the inferior ones, but remarks that it rests on an analogy with male and female, and that the real criterion is distance from the Sun [3].

Lilly defines the condition more broadly. For him Saturn, Jupiter and Mars are oriental for the whole half-cycle from their conjunction with the Sun until their opposition, and occidental from opposition back to conjunction [4]. Venus and Mercury are oriental when in fewer degrees of the Sun's sign or in the sign before it, and occidental when in more degrees or in the sign after [4]. The Moon is oriental from her opposition to the Sun until the conjunction (waning), and occidental from conjunction to opposition (waxing) [4]. His table gives +2 for Saturn, Jupiter and Mars oriental and for Venus and Mercury occidental, −2 for the reverse, and separately +2 for the Moon increasing in light or occidental and −2 for her decreasing [4].

How it is used

Points on this site. The site follows Lilly's rule: +2 for Saturn, Jupiter or Mars oriental and for Mercury or Venus occidental; −2 for Saturn, Jupiter or Mars occidental and for Mercury or Venus oriental [4]. The label shown is the planet's actual position (oriental or occidental); the sign of the score depends on whether it is a superior or inferior planet. The Sun and Moon are not scored for this condition on this site, although Lilly scores the Moon's waxing and waning [4].

Narrow and broad definitions. Authorities disagree about how far the condition extends. Lilly counts the whole half-cycle [4]; al-Bīrūnī limits true orientality to the first 90° from the Sun and calls only the first 30° or so strong [3]; the Hellenistic phase doctrine is concerned mainly with the period just after a planet emerges from the Sun's rays [1]. A planet 170° from the Sun is oriental for Lilly but no longer counts as oriental in the narrower sense.

Orientality and the Sun's rays. A planet within about 15°–17° of the Sun is under the beams whichever side it is on, and the conditions of cazimi, combust and under the beams are judged separately. Oriental or occidental says which side of the Sun the planet is on; the other conditions say how close.

A second meaning. "Oriental" and "occidental" are also used of the halves of the chart: the eastern half (houses 10 to 3, around the Ascendant) and the western half (houses 4 to 9, around the Descendant). Lilly calls the quadrant from the Ascendant to the Midheaven the oriental quarter [4]. This is a different condition and is not what the score measures.

Examples

• Jupiter at 5° Leo with the Sun at 25° Leo: Jupiter is in earlier degrees and rises before the Sun, so it is oriental: +2 on this site. (At 20° from the Sun it has just cleared the beams.)
• Mars at 10° Libra with the Sun at 20° Taurus: Mars is well past opposition and heading back towards the Sun, so it is occidental: −2.
• Venus at 15° Aries with the Sun at 5° Aries: Venus is in later degrees, sets after the Sun and is an evening star: occidental, +2 for Venus.
• Mercury at 20° Pisces with the Sun at 5° Aries: Mercury rises before the Sun, a morning star: oriental, −2 for Mercury (and, at 15° from the Sun, under the beams as well).

See also

For how close to the Sun a planet can be before it is weakened, see under the beams, combust and cazimi.