Oriental

or-ee-EN-tuhl

Definition

A planet is oriental when it sits ahead of the Sun in the zodiac — within roughly six signs (180°) — so it rises before the Sun and shows up as a morning star just before dawn. The Latin name orientalis means "of the east", which is where it rises; the older Greek term is anatolikos. Being oriental is one of a planet's accidental dignities — strength that comes from where it sits rather than from its sign — and astrologers weigh it on its own, alongside a planet's sect (whether the chart is a day or night chart), its sign, and its house.

In Tradition

Astrologers in the Hellenistic, Arabic-Persian, and traditional Western lines read oriental status as a moderate boost for the so-called "masculine" planets — Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars — and a matching weakening for the "feminine" ones, Venus and the Moon. Mercury can go either way: as an oriental morning star it joins the day team, as an occidental evening star it joins the night team. Oriental and occidental are simply the two halves of one idea — a planet's standing relative to the Sun — read together with sect.

In Practice

To use this, you look at where each planet (other than the Sun and Moon) sits relative to the Sun: ahead of it within 180° is oriental, behind it within 180° is occidental. Then you weigh that against which team the planet belongs to. An oriental Saturn or Mars in a day chart is strengthened twice over — oriental and on its preferred team — while an oriental Venus is read as somewhat out of place. In horary, where astrologers answer a specific question from a chart, the orientation fine-tunes how able a planet is to act; in electional work, picking a good moment to start something, an oriental benefic supports the launch. In primary directions, a traditional timing method, it feeds into which planet is chosen as the marker of life and into the timing itself.

Historical Origin

The oriental/occidental distinction appears in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos (under the terms anatolikos and dutikos) and is developed further in Valens's Anthologiae. The Arabic line carries the doctrine through Sahl, Abu Ma'shar, and al-Qabisi, and Bonatti brings it into the medieval Latin tradition. Lilly's Christian Astrology (1647) scores orientality at +/-2 on the standard accidental-dignity tally, and Brennan's Hellenistic Astrology and Lehman's Essential Dignities consolidate it in the modern traditional revival.

Further Reading