Neighboring

Definition

Neighboring (Greek homoresis) is the relationship between two planets that aspect each other while both sitting in the bounds of the same planet. Brennan, drawing on Porphyry's Introduction 22, gives it two forms. The first is an applying bodily conjunction within three degrees — an adherence — inside a shared bound. The second is two planets in different signs holding a sign-based configuration while still sharing a bound-ruler. The shared bound is what makes them "neighbors."

In Tradition

Brennan presents neighboring as a Hellenistic precursor of the later medieval doctrine of reception, while keeping the two distinct. Planets that share a bound-ruler are pictured as becoming friends or neighbors, and the configuration is read with a friendly, favorable cast. He sets it inside the broader rule that the more two planets have in common, the more kindly they act toward each other, almost as members of one household. Porphyry Introduction 22 is the named primary source; Antiochus and Rhetorius preserve parallel definitions.

In Practice

When two planets aspect one another, check their bounds before you judge the contact. If both fall in the bounds ruled by a single planet, they are neighboring, and the exchange reads more warmly than the bare aspect would suggest. The strict case is an applying conjunction within three degrees in a shared bound; the looser case is a sign-based aspect across a shared bound-ruler. Treat it as a forerunner of reception rather than the same thing — reception turns on a planet visiting another's dignity, while neighboring turns on two planets sharing one bound-lord and acting like family.

Historical Origin

Brennan defines neighboring in Hellenistic Astrology (2017) — in the chapter on aspect doctrine (p. 519, quoting Porphyry Introduction 22 in Demetra George's translation) and again in the glossary (p. 613, the two-sense definition citing the same Porphyry passage). He notes the parallel definitions in Antiochus and Rhetorius.

Etymology

Origin: Greek. Meaning: sharing a border; being neighbors.

Further Reading

• Chris Brennan, Hellenistic Astrology
• Porphyry, Introduction to the Tetrabiblos