Promittor

Definition

A promittor is the birth planet or birth aspect-degree — a fixed body or fixed point — that the sky's daily turning delivers to a moving significator over the course of a primary direction. The Latin word means "the one promising," and it keeps the old idea that the birth chart "promises" certain events whose timing the directional method later releases. A promittor is usually a birth planet, but it can also be an aspect-point — for example, the degree where a trine to birth Jupiter would fall, projected forward around the zodiac.

In Tradition

In the Renaissance-Latin tradition of primary directions, the split between promittor and significator is the heart of the method: the significator names the area of life in question, while the promittor supplies the particular flavor of the event. The promittor's own condition shades how welcome the matured direction is — whether it is a benefic or a malefic, well or poorly placed, aligned with the chart's sect or against it. This reading goes back to Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos IV and was developed by Bonatti, Placidus, and Morinus.

In Practice

You read a maturing direction as the promittor acting on the significator. A sextile or trine from benefic Jupiter, as promittor, to the Ascendant points to an opening in your circumstances; a square or opposition from malefic Saturn to the Midheaven points to obstacles in work and standing. Where two benefics or two malefics meet, you weigh dignity and sect to judge the outcome. Direct and converse directions are sometimes read differently — a direct direction (the promittor moving forward toward the significator) tends to stress active development, while a converse direction (the significator moving back toward the promittor) tends to stress a situation already settled.

Historical Origin

The promittor is implied in the release doctrine of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos III-IV, and was made explicit in Latin Renaissance practice from Regiomontanus' Tabulae Directionum (1467) onward. Bonatti uses promittor-language in Liber Astronomiae, Tractatus IX; Placidus and Morinus settled the modern Latin terminology. For a modern treatment, see Gansten's Primary Directions (2009).

Further Reading

• Claudius Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos
• Bernhard Gansten, Primary Directions: Astrology's Old Master Technique
• Marion March & Joan McEvers, The Only Way to Learn Astrology Volume V & VI