Commit Disposition

Definition

A doctrine of horary practice in which an applying planet entrusts ('commits' or 'pushes') its disposition — the matter or office it is responsible for — to the planet it is approaching by aspect or conjunction. The receiving planet then acts as steward of the matter on the committing planet's behalf, with the outcome read from the receiver's condition and dignity.

In Tradition

In the Arabic-Persian horary tradition Sahl and Masha'allah systematise the doctrine as two related forms of pushing (dafʿ): pushing of strength (dafʿ al-quwwah), in which a planet in its own dignity joined to another entrusts its authority to the receiver; and pushing of disposition-and-nature (dafʿ at-tadbīr wa-aṭ-ṭabīʿah), in which a planet joining another from the other's dignity commits its matter to a stronger host. The Moon is treated as exempt from the dignity requirement (disputed by Bonatti).

In Practice

Horary practitioners trace the chain of significators through commitments of disposition: when the Lord of the Ascendant (querent's significator) applies to the Lord of the house-of-matter (quesited), the querent commits the matter to that planet's stewardship; if the receiver is in dignity and well-disposed, the commitment is honoured and the matter perfects; if the receiver is afflicted or peregrine, the commitment fails. The doctrine interlocks with the three methods of horary perfection (conjunction, transfer of light, collection of light) — conjunction is the direct commitment from one significator to the other, while transfer and collection are mediated chains of multiple commitments.

Historical Origin

The doctrine is grounded in 9th-century Arabic horary practice (Sahl *Introduction* §5.12 'On the pushing of virtue', preserved in Latin column per Dykes p. 20). It is transmitted into the medieval Latin West through Sahl and Masha'allah and worked into systematic form by Bonatti in *Liber Astronomiae* — Bonatti disputes the Sahl/Masha'allah exception for the Moon. Lilly preserves the doctrine in *Christian Astrology* (1647) and modern revival traditional horary (Frawley, Dykes) carries it into contemporary practice.

Etymology

Origin: Arabic. Meaning: dafʿ at-tadbīr = pushing of governance / disposition / responsibility.

Further Reading

• Sahl ibn Bishr, Introduction (in Works of Sahl & Masha'allah)
• Guido Bonatti, Liber Astronomiae
• William Lilly, Christian Astrology
• Benjamin N. Dykes, Works of Sahl & Masha'allah