Pushing Power (Daf'a)

DAF-ah

arabic: دفع القوة (Daf'a al-Quwwa)

Definition

In medieval Arabic horary astrology, "pushing" (dafʿ) is the family of moves by which one planet hands a quality over to another it aspects. There are four: pushing of strength (dafʿ al-quwwa), pushing of nature (dafʿ al-tabīʿa), pushing of disposition (dafʿ al-tadbīr), and pushing of light. Sahl ibn Bishr, in the 9th century, lists these among his sixteen "accidents" — the recognized ways planets relate. When a faster planet completes an aspect to a slower one, it is said to "push" what it has gathered onto the receiver, who then carries the matter forward.

In Tradition

Medieval Arabic-Persian and Latin astrologers read the pushing moves as the working mechanism by which significator status, dignity, or virtue passes from one planet to another in a horary or electional chart. Sahl, Masha'allah, Abu Ma'shar, and Bonatti treat pushing as the partner of reception: reception is the receiver agreeing to take something on, pushing is the giver handing it over. Together they explain how a matter comes together through chains of go-betweens.

In Practice

You pick out the significators — usually the lord of the Ascendant and the lord of the house you are asking about, plus the Moon — then watch how a faster planet aspects and "pushes" toward the heavier one that receives it. Pushing of strength hands over essential dignity: the giver is dignified in the receiver's sign. Pushing of nature hands over the giver's own qualities. Pushing of disposition hands over charge of the matter. Pushing of light hands over the active aspect itself, often through the Moon as the universal go-between. You read all four alongside reception, translation of light, collection of light, and prohibition to judge whether the matter completes, by what route, and through whom. Sahl's On the Questions §10.1 shows the technique in a kingdom-attainment example, where the Moon collects light between the lord of the Ascendant and the lord of the Midheaven through a third planet they both aspect.

Historical Origin

The pushing-power doctrine is set out in Sahl ibn Bishr's Introduction to Astrology (early 9th century) and Masha'allah's On Reception (c. 770-815 CE). It is preserved in al-Biruni's Kitab al-Tafhim (1029, "Donor / al-Daff" §§504-511) and elaborated in Bonatti's Liber Astronomiae (c. 1277). It enters the Latin medieval horary tradition through the John of Spain and Hugo of Santalla translations, and William Lilly draws it together in Christian Astrology (1647).

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading