Directions

greek: ἄφεσις (aphesis) — release, sending forth · arabic: تسيير (tasyīr) — distribution, direction · latin: directio

Definition

Directions are predictive techniques in which a single chart point — typically the Ascendant, a luminary, or a chosen releaser — is moved forward at a uniform symbolic rate to encounter natal positions and aspect-degrees, with each unit of arc corresponding to a unit of life. The symbolic motion does not track real ephemeris motion: unlike progressions, where each planet keeps its own ephemeris speed, directions move at a single rate, so the resulting configurations are mathematically projected rather than astronomically realised.

In Tradition

Across the Hellenistic-Arabic-Latin lineage, direction (Greek aphesis, Arabic tasyīr, Latin directio) is read as the primary length-of-life and life-events technique: a releaser-point is sent forward across the zodiac at a fixed rate, and the contacts it makes with bound rulers and the aspect-rays of malefics are read as the timed unfolding of fate. The technique operates in two registers — symbolic directions at a fixed degree-per-year and primary directions converting arc to time via ascensional times.

In Practice

Practitioners identify a releaser (the haylāj / hyleg — Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Lot of Fortune, or pre-natal syzygy degree, selected by sect and condition) and direct it forward through the zodiac. Dorotheus's worked Chart 9 in Carmen Astrologicum Book III.1 illustrates the procedure: when the Ascendant entered the Jupiter-Mars bound at 19°-24° Scorpio at puberty, Jupiter as bound ruler indicated 'praise through culture and eloquence'; partnering Mars contributed harm. The Arabic technical term is tasyīr (تسيير, 'distribution / direction'). Sahl's On Times §4 sets out the explicit method: direct the mubtazz to the conjunctions and aspects of malefics, giving one year per degree by ascensional times of the querent's city. Modern Western practice inherits the technique through two streams: primary directions, computed at the ascensional rate (close to 1° per year), and secondary or symbolic directions, which apply a fixed simple rate to all chart points.

Historical Origin

Directions descend from the Hellenistic aphesis doctrine (Vettius Valens, Ptolemy Tetrabiblos III), preserved into Arabic-Persian astrology as tasyīr by Dorotheus (via ʿUmar al-Ṭabarī) and systematised in Sahl, Māshā'allāh, and Abu Maʿshar. The Latin Middle Ages inherit directio through the Toledan translations; Bonatti and Lilly transmit the technique into early-modern horary and natal practice. Modern Western symbolic-direction practice (Forrest, Tyl) layers a simple-rate gloss on the older ascensional-time apparatus.

Etymology

Origin: Latin. Meaning: From Latin directio ('a making straight, direction'), built on dirigere ('to guide, set in line'); the medieval Latin technical term renders Arabic tasyīr (تسيير, 'distribution, sending forth'), itself rendering the Hellenistic Greek aphesis (ἄφεσις, 'release, sending forth')..

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Etymology

Further Reading