Occidental

ok-sih-DEN-tuhl

Definition

A planet is occidental when it sits behind the Sun in the zodiac — within roughly six signs (180°) — so it sets after the Sun and shows up as an evening star after sunset. The Latin name occidentalis means "of the west", which is where it sets; the older Greek term is dutikos. Occidental is the matching other half of oriental — together they describe a planet's standing relative to the Sun — and astrologers count it as one of a planet's accidental dignities, the strengths that come from where it sits rather than from its sign.

In Tradition

Astrologers in the Hellenistic, Arabic-Persian, and traditional Western lines read occidental status as a moderate boost for the so-called "feminine" planets — Venus and the Moon — and a matching weakening for the "masculine" ones, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. Mercury can go either way: as an occidental evening star it joins the night team, as an oriental morning star it joins the day team. So the same Mercury strengthens a night chart when occidental and a day chart when oriental.

In Practice

To use this, you compare each planet (other than the Sun and Moon) with the Sun: behind it is occidental, ahead of it is oriental. Then you weigh that against which team the planet belongs to. An occidental Venus in a night chart is strengthened twice over — occidental and on its preferred team — while an occidental Saturn is read as somewhat weakened. In horary, where astrologers answer a specific question from a chart, the orientation shapes how able a planet is to act through the evening or quieter half of the day; in electional work, choosing a good moment to begin something, an occidental Venus or Moon supports starts for matters traditionally read as nocturnal in nature.

Historical Origin

The oriental/occidental distinction appears in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos and Valens's Anthologiae, is preserved through the Arabic line (Sahl, Abu Ma'shar, al-Qabisi), and is carried into the medieval Latin tradition by Bonatti. Lilly's Christian Astrology (1647) scores the orientation at +/-2 on the standard accidental-dignity tally, and Brennan's Hellenistic Astrology and Lehman's Essential Dignities keep the doctrine alive in the modern traditional revival, including the morning-versus-evening distinction for Mercury.

Further Reading