Degrees Charming the Eyes
Definition
The degrees charming the eyes are a fixed list of bright-star zodiacal positions held to afflict the eyes when the Moon stands there and is regarded by the malefics. Dorotheus names the mane of the Lion (Leo 18°), the sting of the Scorpion (Scorpio 23°), the forehead and eyes of the Scorpion (Scorpio 8°, 9°, 10°), the tip of the arrow (Sagittarius 3°), the Pleiades (Taurus 6°–9°), and Cancer 9°. These positions fall on dense or bright star-clusters — the Pleiades, the Praesepe near Cancer 9°, and the Antares region — taken to carry a sight-harming power.
In Tradition
In the Arabic-Persian reception of Dorotheus, these degrees belong to medical natal judgment, not to any strength scheme. The danger is conditional: the Moon must occupy a listed degree and be looked at by the malefics from a square or opposition, or be joined to them. The Moon's phase then grades the outcome — a Moon decreasing in light there, with the malefics upon it, indicates darkness or loss of sight, while a full Moon indicates affliction without blindness.
In Practice
When judging the eyes in a natal chart, first check whether the Moon sits at one of the listed bright-star degrees — Leo 18, Scorpio 8/9/10/23, Sagittarius 3, Taurus 6–9, or Cancer 9. If it does, test whether the malefics Mars and Saturn look at her from a square or opposition, or are joined to her bodily; without that malefic testimony the degree alone is not enough. Then weigh the Moon's light: a Moon decreasing in glow at such a degree, afflicted by the malefics, points to darkness of the eyes, whereas a full or increasing Moon points to affliction short of blindness. Combine this with sect-based side-of-body discrimination — a day chart with a corrupted Sun throws the affliction to the right eye, a night chart with the Moon ill-placed to the left. Later authorities extend the list (the Pitcher of Aquarius and the Spine of Capricorn appear in Sahl), so treat the degrees as a tradition that grew rather than a closed table.
Historical Origin
The list is given in Dorotheus of Sidon's Carmen Astrologicum (Book IV Ch 2), preserved through ʿUmar al-Ṭabarī's Arabic and in Benjamin Dykes's translation. Sahl ibn Bishr's book on nativities extends it with further positions. The mapping of bright-star degrees to bodily affliction is ancestral to the later Behenian fixed-star tradition of medieval Arabic and Latin astrology.