Paradosis

Definition

Paradosis (Greek παράδοσις, "handing over") is the act of transmission that underlies the time-lord techniques: one ruler hands the governance of a stretch of life to the next. In ordinary Greek the word means tradition, the handing-down of teaching. The astrological sense keeps that flavor — the chart's symbolism passes, period by period, from each lord to its successor.

In Tradition

In the glossary to Hephaistio's Book III, Benjamin Dykes glosses paradosis as "handing over," noting that it often refers to profections. That technique advances one sign per year of life, so the symbolism passes forward sign by sign. But the handover is the general mechanism beneath the whole family of time-lord procedures: profections advance it yearly, while the releasing and decennial systems transfer governance on their own schedules.

In Practice

Think of paradosis whenever a timing technique transfers rulership from one period-lord to the next — the moment of handover that opens a new chapter. In profections it falls each year as the active sign and its lord advance; in the longer releasing and decennial methods, the same transfer governs the turn of each period. When you weigh how a new time-lord relates to the one it succeeds — by aspect, reception, or condition — you are reading the quality of that handover.

Historical Origin

The term is glossed in Hephaistio of Thebes, Apotelesmatics Book III, in Benjamin N. Dykes' Greek-English glossary (§7, p. 31), where Dykes defines it as "handing over, often referring to profections." The broader application across time-lord transmission is the doctrinal context for that gloss.

Etymology

Origin: Greek. Meaning: handing over; transmission; tradition.

Further Reading

• Hephaistio of Thebes, Apotelesmatics Book III
• Chris Brennan, Hellenistic Astrology