Term

Meaning

The terms (also called bounds) divide each sign into five segments of unequal length. Each segment belongs to one of the five planets other than the Sun and Moon: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury. A planet that stands in a segment it rules is in its own term, the fourth of the five essential dignities.

Because the terms are small (from 2° to 12°), they describe a planet's standing at a precise degree rather than across a whole sign. Lilly says a planet dignified only by its term describes a person's body and temperament more than any great fortune or standing [4]. The terms also colour every planet that falls in them: each segment takes on something of its ruler's nature, whether or not its ruler is the planet sitting there.

The Greek name is horia, "boundaries"; the Latin fines or termini; the Arabic hadd (plural hudūd), "limit". Term and bound are two English renderings of the same idea.

Origin and history

The oldest and most widely used set is the Egyptian terms. Valens lists them sign by sign and gives the character of each segment: the first 6° of Aries, belonging to Jupiter, are described as temperate and fruitful; the last 5°, belonging to Saturn, as cold and barren [2]. In the Egyptian table the last segment of every sign belongs to one of the two malefics, Mars or Saturn [1]; Ptolemy's own terms keep the same rule [5].

Ptolemy records the Egyptian terms but criticises them [1]. He finds no consistent rule for the order of the rulers or for the number of degrees given to each, and doubts the claim that the totals follow from the rising times of the signs. He then describes a second set, the Chaldean terms, built on the triplicity rulers with segments of 8°, 7°, 6°, 5° and 4° in a fixed pattern [1]. Finally he presents a third set, which he says he found in an old, damaged manuscript and which assigns the rulers according to exaltation, triplicity and domicile. These are the Ptolemaic terms [1].

The Arabic tradition kept the Egyptian set. Al-Biruni lists several systems (Chaldean, one attributed to an authority he calls Astaratus, and the Indian) but says professional astrologers used the Egyptian terms unanimously because they are more correct, while commentators on Ptolemy used his manuscript terms. He tabulates both [3]. Lilly, by contrast, gives the Ptolemaic terms, noting that the Greeks and the Christian astrologers of Europe had followed Ptolemy since his time, while the Moors of Barbary and those of their nation who had lived in Spain differed somewhat [4].

How it is used

The Egyptian terms (as given by Ptolemy and Valens [1][2]). Ranges run from the first number up to, but not including, the second: "0–6" means 0°00′ to 5°59′.

Summed round the zodiac, the Egyptian terms give Saturn 57°, Jupiter 79°, Mars 66°, Venus 82° and Mercury 76°, a total of 360°. These sums were used as the planets' "years"; Ptolemy mentions the practice and rejects the arguments offered for it [1].

Which terms to use. The choice changes results. In Aries, for example, Ptolemy's terms run Jupiter 0–6, Venus 6–14, Mercury 14–21, Mars 21–26, Saturn 26–30 [1]. So 13° Aries is Mercury's term in the Egyptian table but Venus's in the Ptolemaic, and 25° Aries is Saturn's in the Egyptian but Mars's in the Ptolemaic. Differences of this kind are common, especially in the middle segments. Modern traditional astrologers are divided: those working from Hellenistic and Arabic texts mostly use the Egyptian terms; those following Lilly often use his Ptolemaic table. This site uses the Egyptian terms.

Scoring. Lilly gives 2 points to a planet in its own term, whether by day or by night [4]. This site uses the same value (+2). The Sun and Moon never hold a term.

Other uses. The ruler of the term a planet occupies is one of its degree rulers. The terms also have a role in timing. In Ptolemy's method of prorogation, as the significant point is carried through the zodiac, the planets ruling the terms it passes through are given a share in ruling each period [1]. Medieval astrologers made this a technique of its own, the "distribution" or direction through the bounds, in which each term ruler in turn governs a stretch of life.

Examples

• Venus at 10° Pisces. Pisces is Venus's exaltation (+4); water is Venus's triplicity by day in the Dorotheus scheme (+3 in a day chart); and 0°–12° Pisces is Venus's Egyptian term (+2).
• Mercury at 15° Virgo. Domicile and exaltation, but 7°–17° Virgo is Venus's term, so no term dignity for Mercury.
• Saturn at 27° Aries. Saturn is in fall in Aries, but 25°–30° Aries is Saturn's Egyptian term (+2). Lilly uses almost exactly this case: Saturn at 10° Aries is peregrine, but at 27°, 28° or 29° Aries it is not, because there it is in its own term (in Lilly's Ptolemaic table as in the Egyptian) [4].
• The Moon at 5° Leo. The Moon has no terms, so the degree gives her nothing; the term ruler there, Jupiter, becomes one of her degree rulers.