Mixed Reception

Definition

Mixed reception is when two planets receive each other, but through different kinds of essential dignity. One planet sits in a sign or degree where the other holds one dignity — say, domicile — while that second planet sits in a sign or degree where the first holds a different one — exaltation, triplicity, term, or face. The exchange goes both ways, but the two dignity types do not match. That sets it apart from strict mutual reception, where both planets receive each other through the same kind of dignity, usually two domiciles.

In Tradition

In medieval Latin and early-modern English horary and birth-chart practice, mixed reception is read as a real but weaker link between two planets, its strength set by which specific dignities are involved. Bonatti's Liber Astronomiae — treated systematically by Hand in the Project Hindsight Volume VIII appendix on reception — and Lilly's Christian Astrology, Book III, give the framework, while Ibn Ezra's Beginning of Wisdom lists how strong each dignity's reception is.

In Practice

To spot it, you check each planet's sign and dignity. For example, Mars in Aquarius (Saturn's domicile) while Saturn is in Aries (Mars's domicile) is a strict mutual reception; but Mars in Aquarius while Saturn is in a bound of Mars within Capricorn, or a face of Mars within Aries, is a mixed reception. Its strength depends on the dignities involved — a domicile-and-exaltation mixed reception is read as substantial, while a triplicity-and-face one is read as weaker and more conditional. In horary, a question read from a chart, mixed reception can carry a question through that would otherwise stall, but only if an aspect goes with it — and some authorities, such as Schoener, insist on the aspect. In a birth chart, mixed reception is read as a bond of sympathy between the topics the two planets rule or stand for.

Historical Origin

Reception doctrine is securely Hellenistic, Arabic, and medieval. Ibn Ezra's Beginning of Wisdom (12th century) gives the canonical multi-grade reception scheme — perfect, strong, moderate, and weak, by domicile and exaltation versus triplicity, term, and face. Bonatti's Liber Astronomiae (13th century) treats reception throughout, and Robert Hand's appendix in Project Hindsight Volume VIII (1996) compiles the medieval Latin reception sources. Lilly's Christian Astrology, Book III (1647), preserves the English horary version.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading