Profection

proh-FEK-shuhn

Definition

Profection is a timing technique — a way of working out which part of your chart is "switched on" in a given year. It is a time-lord method, meaning each year is handed to a particular planet to govern. Starting from the Ascendant, the chart advances one whole sign per year of life. The sign you land on becomes that year's "profected sign," and its ruling planet becomes the "lord of the year." With twelve signs, the cycle repeats every twelve years, returning to your starting sign at ages 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, and 96.

In Tradition

In the Hellenistic tradition, annual profections are regarded as the most widely used time-lord technique. Astrologers turn to them to see which planet and which house topics are activated for a particular year of someone's life.

In Practice

To work out an annual profection, an astrologer counts forward one sign per year of age, starting from the Ascendant. The condition of the lord of the year in the birth chart — whether it is angular or cadent, dignified or debilitated, in sect or out of sect (in keeping with the day-or-night character of the chart, or against it) — gives a sense of how the year is likely to go. Profections also act as a filter on transits: practitioners watch which transits touch the natal lord of the year, which helps explain why the very same transit can bring real events in one year and pass quietly in another.

Historical Origin

The technique appears in many Hellenistic sources, including Manilius, Dorotheus, Ptolemy, Valens, Firmicus, and Paulus. The Greek term is aphesis ("releasing"); the Latin profectio became the standard name in the Medieval tradition.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading