Kadhkhudah (Alcochoden)

Definition

In Arabic-Persian astrology, the kadhkhudāh is the planet that grants a set number of years of life. It is the one that "receives" the hīlāj — the releaser, the point chosen to stand for the life-force — preferably the planet that rules the bound the hīlāj sits in. The years it grants are then compared with the primary direction of the hīlāj to estimate lifespan. The Arabic word kadhkhudhāh (Latinised as alcocodo or alcochoden) comes from the Pahlavi xutāday, itself a translation of the Greek oikodespotēs, "master of the house."

In Tradition

In Arabic-Persian and medieval-Latin astrology, pairing the kadhkhudāh with the hīlāj is the main test for length of life. Dykes glosses the kadhkhudāh as the lord of the hīlāj that grants a set number of years. 'Umar al-Tabari, Masha'allah, Abu Ma'shar, and Bonatti all teach that this planet's years — its greater, mean, or lesser allotment, adjusted for sect, phase, and dignity — give a baseline lifespan, which directed aspects from benefics and malefics then raise or lower.

In Practice

You first find the hīlāj — the strongest qualifying signifier of life-force, chosen by sect and dignity from among the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Lot of Fortune, or Pre-Natal Syzygy. The kadhkhudāh is then the planet with the most essential dignity at the hīlāj's degree, with the bound-lord preferred, as Bonatti and the Persian transmission advise. Each planet carries its own greater, mean, or lesser years, set out in the planetary-years tables: a kadhkhudāh that is well placed and dignified gives the greater years, an average one the mean years, and a weak one the lesser years. Sect adjusts the total — an out-of-sect kadhkhudāh subtracts years, an in-sect one adds. You then direct the hīlāj forward through the bounds; benefic aspects met along the way add years, while malefic contacts — above all the anareta, the killing planet — subtract years or threaten cutting-points.

Historical Origin

The doctrine is attested in Dorotheus of Sidon's Carmen Astrologicum Book III (Greek 1st century CE; Pahlavi 3rd century; Arabic 8th century via 'Umar al-Tabari), Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos III.10-11 (where the kadhkhudāh is the oikodespotēs of the predominator), Al-Biruni's Kitāb al-Tafhīm (1029), Masha'allah's Book of Aristotle, and Bonatti's Liber Astronomiae Vol. XI Part III (13th century). The Pahlavi-through-Arabic vocabulary keeps xutāday → kadhkhudhāh as a loanword that fingerprints the line of transmission.

Further Reading

• Claudius Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos III
• Al-Biruni, Kitāb al-Tafhīm
• Guido Bonatti, Liber Astronomiae