separate

greek: ἀπόρροια (aporrhoia) — flowing away, separation · latin: separatio / aporrhoea · arabic: النقل (an-naql)

Definition

In aspect doctrine, to separate is for the faster-moving planet to move past the exact angular distance of an aspect with a slower planet — leaving the aspect behind rather than approaching it. Separation is the technical opposite of application; together they describe the two phases of the aspect cycle. A planet that has just perfected an aspect and is now pulling away is said to be separating from that contact.

In Tradition

Across the Hellenistic-Arabic-Latin tradition, separation is read as the aspect's after-state — what has been completed and is now passing. In horary judgment, the Moon's most recent separation reveals the immediate past, the events or circumstances that led to the question being asked. The Sahl/Masha'allah doctrine of translation of light (an-naql) defines separation as the first phase of a three-step mediating configuration: a lighter planet separates from a heavier one and then applies to another, carrying the nature of the first to the second.

In Practice

Horary practitioners check the Moon's recent separations first — typically the most recent exact aspect she has formed and is now leaving — to read the background of the question. Natal practitioners weigh separating aspects less heavily than applying aspects, since separating contacts represent energies whose peak expression has passed. In the Sahl/Masha'allah doctrine of translation of light, the technical procedure is: identify the lighter planet, confirm it is separating from a heavier planet, then confirm it is applying to another planet — if both conditions hold, the lighter planet carries the nature of the first heavier planet to the second, perfecting matters otherwise incapable of direct perfection. Bonatti's *Liber Astronomiae* extends the doctrine into the Latin tradition as transfer of nature (translatio naturae) with his methodological refinement that the swift planet must be joined to the ponderous planet by one of its dignities. Lilly defines the precise separation threshold as six minutes of arc past exactitude.

Historical Origin

Separation is foundational across the classical aspect doctrine. The Sahl/Masha'allah translation-of-light formulation (9th c. Arabic) is preserved in Dykes's *Works of Sahl & Masha'allah*, with Sahl's *Introduction* §5.5 defining it via 'a lighter planet is being separated from another, heavier one.' The doctrine is inherited by Bonatti's *Liber Astronomiae* Tractatus III (13th c.) as translatio naturae and reaches Lilly's *Christian Astrology* (1647) with the six-arc-minute separation threshold.

Etymology

Origin: Latin. Meaning: To draw apart; to leave behind.

Further Reading