Alcochoden

Definition

The alcochoden is the "giver of years" in classical longevity work — the planet that estimates how long a life may last. The name comes from Arabic al-kadhkhudhāh, from Middle Persian kad-khudā, "master of the house." It is the planet with the strongest essential dignity (its own zodiacal rulerships) at the degree of the hyleg, the chart's focal life-point, and medieval practice adds that it must also aspect the hyleg. Each planet carries minor, middle, mean, and major year-counts; the alcochoden's condition decides which set it grants.

In Tradition

In medieval Arabic-Persian and Latin practice, the hyleg and alcochoden together form the core of length-of-life calculation. The hyleg fixes the life-point; the alcochoden supplies the span of years. A well-dignified, well-aspected alcochoden tends to grant its greater years, a weakened one only its lesser. Helpful aspects from benefics add years, harmful ones from malefics subtract them, and conjunctions to the lunar nodes Caput and Cauda Draconis adjust the total by fixed fractions documented in Thabit and 'Umar.

In Practice

Once the hyleg is chosen, the astrologer scores each candidate planet's essential dignity at the exact degree of the hyleg — weighting domicile, exaltation, triplicity, term, and face 5/4/3/2/1. Masha'allah's standard adds that the highest-scoring planet must also aspect the hyleg to qualify; if none does, the procedure falls through to the backup steps in al-Biruni's Kitab al-Tafhim. The chosen alcochoden's condition then sets the years it bestows: greatest if angular, well-dignified, well-aspected, and free from combustion (lost in the Sun's glare); mean if mixed; least if weakened. Other aspecting planets add or subtract their own greater or lesser years by whether they help or harm and how exact the aspect is. The total gives a baseline life-length, refined as the hyleg is directed through the bounds. Many traditional practitioners today read the technique as a picture of vitality rather than a literal lifespan forecast.

Historical Origin

The term alcochoden is medieval Arabic-Persian, codified in Masha'allah's On Nativities and in the fitness-test procedure of Dorotheus of Sidon's Carmen Astrologicum Book III §§1-7 (the 1st-century-CE Greek is lost; it survives in Arabic through 'Umar al-Tabari). It is elaborated in al-Biruni's Kitab al-Tafhim §§560-577 (1029 CE), 'Umar al-Tabari's Three Books on Nativities, and Bonatti's Liber Astronomiae Tractate VIII (c. 1277). The Latin transmission keeps the Arabic name as almutem-vita, alcochoden, or alcocoden.

Etymology

Origin: Arabic/Persian. Meaning: Master of the house, householder.

Further Reading

  • Al-Biruni, Kitāb al-Tafhīm
  • Benjamin N. Dykes, Persian Nativities (Vol I)
  • Guido Bonatti, Liber Astronomiae