Major Years (Planetary)

Definition

The major years are the longer set of period-lengths assigned to each planet in the Hellenistic timing scales: Sun 120, Moon 108, Mercury 76, Venus 82, Mars 66, Jupiter 79, Saturn 57. They sit beside the minor years and the mean and greatest-years scales, all recorded in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos III-IV and developed further through the Persian-Arabic tradition of estimating length of life. These longer figures matter for longevity work — the alcochoden calculation, where one planet is read as the "giver of years" — and for certain time-lord distributions that share out years among the planets.

In Tradition

In Hellenistic and medieval Arabic-Persian length-of-life work, the major years are one of four planetary-year scales — least, mean, middle, and greatest — used to set how long a span the giver-of-years (the alcochoden) grants to the hyleg, the chart's vital releaser. Which scale applies depends on the alcochoden's condition: a planet that is strongly dignified, well-aspected, and near an angle grants its greater years, while a weakened one grants only its lesser years. The doctrine remains a core part of the classical longevity apparatus.

In Practice

You first pick the hyleg — the chart's vital releaser — following the cascade Dorotheus lays out in Carmen Astrologicum Book III. The planet with the strongest essential dignity at the hyleg's degree becomes the alcochoden, the giver of years. You then weigh the alcochoden's essential dignity and its accidental condition: angular and well-aspected points to its greater years, while cadent or badly placed points to its lesser years. Other planets aspecting it add or subtract their own years, depending on whether they are benefic or malefic and on the quality of the aspect. The total gives a baseline figure for length of life, which is then refined by directing the hyleg forward through the bounds. The modern traditional revival treats all of this as a framework for reading vitality rather than a literal lifespan calculator.

Historical Origin

The major-years values are recorded in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos III-IV (c. 150 CE), within his treatment of length-of-life calculation, and in Vettius Valens' Anthologiae. The full four-scale planetary-years apparatus survives in the Arabic-Persian transmission through Masha'allah's On Nativities, 'Umar al-Tabari's Three Books on Nativities, and al-Biruni's Kitab al-Tafhim §§560-577 (1029). Bonatti's Liber Astronomiae Tractate VIII (c. 1277) gives the standard medieval-Latin formulation.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading