Monthly Profections

greek: παραβάλλειν (paraballein, 'to cast alongside')

Definition

Monthly profection is a Hellenistic predictive time-lord technique that advances one sign per month within the larger yearly profection — so that each month of life is governed by a specific zoidion (sign) and its ruling planet within the annual profected sign. Crane documents two attested computational methods: Valens uses thirty-day months, derived by subtracting the Sun's position on the date in question from the natal Sun and converting the arc to zoidia; Ptolemy uses twenty-eight-day months, giving thirteen-month years that resync monthly and yearly profections.

In Tradition

Across the Hellenistic timing techniques the monthly profection nests inside the yearly profection to refine the chronocrator (time-lord) ladder: the year-lord rules the whole solar year, the month-lord rules a thirty-day (Valens) or twenty-eight-day (Ptolemaic) sub-period within it. The technique is read alongside other Hellenistic time-lord chains — zodiacal releasing, primary directions, planetary periods — to produce a multi-layer activation map.

In Practice

You compute the monthly profection by starting from the natal Ascendant on the birthday, advancing one sign per month (Valens 30-day reckoning) or per 28 days (Ptolemaic 13-month reckoning), and identifying the ruler of the activated sign as the month-lord. The month-lord's natal placement, dignity, transits, and aspects to natal positions tell you the texture of that month. Crane notes that the two methods often give different month-lords and suggests practitioners try both and prefer one in their own work. The technique pairs particularly well with concurrent yearly-profection and transit work for high-density timing readings.

Historical Origin

Monthly profection is attested in Vettius Valens's Anthologies (using the 30-day reckoning) and in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos (using the 28-day reckoning). Crane traces Ptolemy's 28-day month-length to the Moon's mean sidereal period through the zodiac — though the divisional logic (thirteen months giving an almost-complete year, with monthly and yearly profections coinciding at year-start) is the more explicit rationale in Ptolemy's text. The technique transmits through Arabic and medieval Latin sources.

Etymology

Origin: Latin. Meaning: From profectio ('a setting forth' or 'departure'), the medieval Latin rendering of Greek paraballein — the technical term for the year-by-year (and month-by-month) advancement of chart factors..

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Etymology

Further Reading