Place of Foreigners

Definition

This is Valens's doctrine that the four places falling just before the angles — the third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth — signify foreigners, slaves, alien lands, and outsiders in a life. The Greek names them topoi tōn xenōn, "places of strangers." Each sits immediately ahead of an angle. The third precedes the fourth, the sixth the seventh, the ninth the tenth, the twelfth the first. Which planet occupies such a place colors how travel and life abroad turn out.

In Tradition

Valens holds that the points preceding the angles indicate foreigners, and that a planet found there tells the story of residence abroad. Mercury or Venus there gives a stay abroad that is short rather than extended, since neither strays far from the Sun. Saturn, Mars, or the Moon points to a dangerous life abroad on land and sea — restless roving in foreign parts, with the threat of shipwreck. The Sun marks a native honored and well-liked abroad; Jupiter, one comfortable and well-befriended there. The same four places, he adds, serve as the places of slaves as well as foreigners.

In Practice

When you read questions of travel, migration, or dealings with outsiders, look first to the four cadent places set just before the angles — the third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth. The planet sitting there shades the verdict. Mercury or Venus suggests a stay abroad that stays brief; the Sun, an honored welcome; Jupiter, ease and friendship far from home. Saturn, Mars, or the Moon warns of hard, hazardous wandering and the perils of the sea. Keep this apart from the Lot of Foreign Lands: the Lot is a calculated point, while this is a doctrine about which whole places of the chart speak to life among strangers.

Historical Origin

The doctrine is set out by Vettius Valens, Anthology Book IV (in Mark Riley's translation, pp. 76 and 82). There the places preceding the angles are named as indicators of foreigners, and the planet-by-planet travel outcomes are given. The same four pre-angular places are identified as the places of foreigners and of slaves alike.

Etymology

Origin: Greek. Meaning: the places of foreigners / strangers.

Further Reading

• Vettius Valens, Anthology
• Chris Brennan, Hellenistic Astrology