The following is a brief introduction to Classical Astrology and Essential Dignities. This material first appeared in 2001 in my book, Astrology: Understanding the Birth Chart. The qualities of the Essential Dignities are a fundamental part of predictive astrology, particularly with Horary and Electional Astrology. However, a system of rating the “score” or “strength” of a planet has limited value in the context of a natal chart. 

If you would like to learn how to use Essential Dignities to unlock the secrets of the natal chart and allow you to come up with your own detailed, specific, synthesized interpretations of any planet in any chart, visit the Learn Astrology section. These tutorials will get you up and running very quickly, using astrology in powerful, practical ways to improve your life. All that I ask is that you become a member of The Real Astrology in order to access these articles. Membership is FREE, and gives you access to all sorts of goodies and special offers. Your privacy is important to me. Your personal information—including your eMail address—will never be shared with anyone.

Essential Dignities and Classical Astrology

Essential Dignities are at the heart of Classical Astrology, and as such, are going to come up a great deal in this chapter. In order to bring everyone up to speed, I’ve included an excerpt from Chapter 4 of Astrology: Understanding the Birth Chart, which gives an overview and definition of the essential dignities.

Let’s consider the analogy that the planets are actors and the signs are the roles that they play. Needless to say, actors are far more comfortable and convincing in certain roles than they are in others. The more a given role fits an actor’s “type” the more comfortable the actor is playing that role, and the more effective and compelling the performance.

Unlike actors (at least the best actors), the planets will never lose themselves in their roles. Mars is always Mars, no matter what sign it is in, or where it is placed in the chart. No amount of makeup and costuming could ever make us mistake Jupiter for Saturn. For example, take Sylvester Stallone, the action hero actor. He’s the most convincing when he’s doing Rambo, blowing things up and saving the day—that’s the type of role that best fits his image, and he’s by far the most comfortable in those roles. To cast Stallone as Hamlet, for example, or even worse, as Juliet, would be a grave mistake. (O.K., I know that I’d buy a ticket to see him play Juliet, but that’s not the point.) By the same token, you wouldn’t expect to see Shirley Temple playing an action hero. Most actors are lucky enough to only play roles that suit them and that will allow them to show off their strengths. The planets, on the other hand, aren’t nearly as lucky.

In Astrology, we have 12 different roles: the 12 signs of the zodiac. And eventually each and every planet has to step into each and every role, no matter how miserable they may be playing the part, or how terribly miscast they may seem to be.

So how can we tell how convincingly a planet is going to play a given part? We do that by evaluating a planet’s overall strength or essential dignity in a particular sign.

Introduction to Essential Dignities

Essential Dignities were a fundamental part of classical astrology—one that has been largely forgotten or misunderstood by most modern astrologers. Thanks largely to the work of Project Hindsight, ARHAT (the Archive for the Retrieval of Historical Astrological Texts), and in particular to classical astrologers like Rob Hand and Dr. J. Lee Lehman, Ph.D., modern astrologers can now begin to understand the nature and quality of the Dignities, and discover how working with them makes interpreting and delineating the planets both much easier and far more accurate.

A table of Essential Dignities is shown in Figure 3, courtesy of J. Lee Lehman, Ph.D., and her book, Essential Dignities.

I've created a more user-friendly version of this table in the form of E-Z Essential Dignity Cards, available in the Online Store for only $9.95 each plus shipping. 

As you will notice, there are five essential dignities (Rulership or House, Exaltation, Triplicity, Term, Face), and two essential debilities (Detriment, Fall). You may also notice that only the “inner” planets through Saturn are included in the table. The use of essential dignities predated the discovery of the outer planets by almost two thousand years. The outer planets can have no essential dignity or debility. Some of these terms may be very familiar to you: in particular, the concepts of “Rulership,” “Exaltation,” “Detriment,” and “Fall” have also survived into modern astrology, although few astrologers seem to understand exactly what they mean or how to work with them.

All degrees indicated in the table are rounded to the next whole degree: that is, 12°01¢ would be rounded up to 13°. The degrees also represent the last degree that a planet rules. For example, Jupiter in Aries is in Terms from 0°00¢ Aries to 5°59¢ Aries, but at 6°00¢Aries, Venus takes over.

Rulership

The definition of Rulership is the single biggest difference between Classical Astrology and Modern Astrology, and the cause of more verbal brawls at astrology conferences than I even want to think about. In Classical Astrology, there were only the seven planets, and the sign rulers were neatly divided with each planet ruling a pair of signs, and the Sun and Moon each ruling one. This was perfectly acceptable until 1781 when Uranus showed up and, true to its nature, shook everything up. No longer did the planets and the signs match up neatly. And the subsequent discoveries of Neptune and Pluto made things even more messy. Modern astrologers decided to change the system of sign rulerships to include these new planets.

This was only possible because at the time, the link between classical techniques and modern astrology had already been severed, and few astrologers either used or understood the true meaning of the essential dignities. Instead, they reassigned the rulerships based not on how strong a planet was in a given sign, but on how much they felt a planet was like a given sign. Aquarius was taken away from Saturn and assigned to Uranus; Pisces was taken away from Jupiter and assigned to Neptune; and after a long dispute between Aries and Scorpio, the general consensus decided that Scorpio ruled by Pluto, not Mars. The modern usage of the term “rulership” is really a system of “affinities” and has nothing whatsoever to do with “rulership” as an essential dignity.

When we talk about a planet in a sign that it rules, it is an evaluation of that planet’s strength in that sign. How well can that planet play the role that it’s been given? Well, a planet in a sign that it rules is playing the role that it is most famous for—the signature part that turned it into a $20 Million Plus A-List star. This is a planet that can do whatever it wants, and that doesn’t have to answer to anyone or anything. It is the master of its own destiny. This is wonderful for the planet, but it’s not always the best thing for the individual! Just like an A-List Hollywood star, no one is going to say “no” to a planet in rulership—no matter how stupid, self-centered, dangerous, or potentially destructive their ideas happen to be.

On an esoteric level, planets in the signs of their rulership are operating on the highest plane of existence: the level of pure being. In their own sign, planets are able to express their true nature, their highest purpose in its purest form. We have the opportunity to begin to understand and work with the planet on this level after the age of 60.

Exaltation

Exaltation is a term that has more or less survived into the modern literature, but with little or no information on exactly what it means. Planets in the sign of their exaltation are treated like honored guests: things are done on their behalf by others, and with the best of intentions; but no matter how comfortable and pampered these planets may be, they ultimately do not get to choose their own agenda. They are bound by certain standards of acceptable behavior, and kept in check.

Planets in exaltation are very strong—and in many ways much easier to deal with than planets in the signs that they rule. As honored guests, planets in exaltation tend to be on their best behavior; they strive to be gracious and to express their higher nature. On an esoteric level, planets in exaltation are operating on what we would call the Spirit or Soul level (what the Greeks called “Nous”), which is where we connect with our higher selves and our guides. We are able to access and experience planets in exaltation on this level from the ages of 45–60.

Triplicity

Triplicity is a moderately strong essential dignity; it is not nearly as strong a placement as exaltation or rulership, but a planet with dignity by triplicity is still quite fortunate. In fact, “fortune” and “luck” seem to be the best ways to describe a planet in triplicity. These planets just seem to be lucky. They have a knack for being in the right place at the right time, and receiving benefits because of this. Their strength, then, does not seem to come from any inherent talent or ability, merely from good timing. Think of triplicity as an actor who comes off well in a performance because of strong direction, good production, and outstanding material—in other words, an actor in a role that would be very difficult to screw up. Luck is a very tricky thing, though, and with planets in triplicity (as with so many other things), luck has a nasty habit of running out just when you begin to rely on it. To some extent, we can relate this to the fact that triplicity is usually determined by the sect of the chart: a planet that would be dignified by triplicity in a diurnal (day) chart, may have no dignity at all at the same position in a nocturnal (night) chart.

Term

A planet with dignity by term is one that makes a valiant effort at the part that it’s playing, but is simply out of its league. William Lilly described terms as representing a planet that was in very declining fortunes; someone who was struggling to make ends meet, and was perhaps only a short while from being turned out onto the street. Planets with dignity only by terms have an interest in the matter, but not enough strength, skill or luck to have much of an impact or to accomplish their goals. More than any other quality or dignity, William Lilly used the terms to assign physical descriptions to people.

Face

Face is by far the weakest of the essential dignities: in fact it is hardly a dignity at all. A planet that only has dignity by face has a great deal of anxiety about its situation. Because fear and anxiety about something give it focus, planets in face at least have an interest in the situation—but they are in no position to have any kind of an impact on it whatsoever. This is an actor who probably stepped into the part at the last minute, had no time to prepare, and knows that his career depends on his performance. The only thing that can be said about face is that it will keep a planet from being classified as peregrine (without any essential dignity at all). The fear and anxiety keeps the planet focused on the goal, but in no way gives the planet the resources or ability to reach the goal.

Detriment

A planet in a sign opposite of the sign that it rules is in the sign of its detriment. Planets in detriment are classified as debilitated, but this does not mean that they are necessarily weak. In fact, planets in detriment are actually quite strong; however, they tend to use their strength in ways that are inappropriate to their current situation, and as a result, end up in some very difficult positions. Planets in detriment are in poor condition because of their own actions. A planet in detriment is like Sylvester Stallone playing Juliet on Broadway because he insists that playing Juliet will be the best thing for his career. No one is going to tell him that he can’t do it, but this doesn’t mean that he’s going to do well in the part.

On an esoteric level, planets in detriment are operating on the Mental/Emotional plane, and are most challenging to us between the ages of 15–45. In practice, individuals with planets in detriment tend to worry too much about the affairs of that planet, and are often exceedingly self-conscious about how they express the energy of that planet.

Fall

A planet in the sign opposite the sign of its exaltation is said to be in fall. Planets in fall are not in quite as bad a situation as planets in detriment. Planets in fall are weak because they are in a place where they have no influence—sort of like being stranded in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language and don’t understand the local customs. Planets in fall are debilitated through no fault of their own. To continue with the actor analogy, a planet in fall is Sylvester Stallone playing Juliet on Broadway because his agent got him into the contract, and he can’t break it.

On an esoteric level, planets in fall are operating on the physical plane, and are most prominent from birth to age 15. When we are not able to express the energy of a planet in fall, when we experience difficulties and challenges with the planet, these will tend to manifest in our physical bodies as illnesses and injuries.

Peregrine

A planet with no essential dignity is called peregrine, which means “wandering.” Peregrine planets have no affinity, strength, talent or resources; but at the same time, they do not have any essential debilities either. Peregrine planets in natal charts are very different from peregrine planets in other forms of astrology. In Horary and Electional Astrology, a peregrine planet is in very bad shape; in Natal Astrology, where we have the ability to work with our understanding of the planets over the course of our lives, peregrine planets are simply less predictable and less typical in their expression. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and it also does not mean that peregrine planets can’t express themselves. However, peregrine planets do seem to take a very round about way of getting from point A to point B. A peregrine planet in a natal chart is like an actor who has been cast against type in a role; the actor’s approach to the part is unusual, and not at all what we would expect, and it takes some time to get used to it and to accept the actor’s performance. But the actor still has a fighting chance of turning in an acceptable performance in the end.