Swift in Motion

Definition

A planet is swift in motion when it is moving through the zodiac faster than its usual average speed on the day you are looking at. This is one of a planet's accidental dignities — a strength from its condition rather than its sign. The opposite, slow in motion, is a weakness. Each planet has its own average daily speed — the Moon about 13°10', the Sun about 59'08", Mercury and Venus close to the Sun's average, Mars about 31', Jupiter about 4'59", Saturn about 2'01" — so "swift" is measured against each planet's own pace.

In Tradition

Astrologers in the Hellenistic, Arabic-Persian, and traditional Western lines read swift motion as a strengthening condition: the planet is lively and decisive in delivering what it stands for, and acts on the matter unusually directly. It matters most in horary — answering a specific question from a chart — where how fast a planet moves tends to track how quickly the matter resolves. Lilly's Christian Astrology (1647) scores swift motion +2 and slow motion -2 on the standard accidental-dignity tally.

In Practice

To use this, you compare each planet's daily speed at the chart moment with its known average: faster than average is swift, slower is slow. The Moon's speed swings the most, between 11°51' when it is farthest from Earth and 14°31' when it is nearest. In horary, swift planets tend to bring quick, energetic resolution while slow ones tend to delay or falter. In a birth chart, a swift planet tends to lend a sense of liveliness to how that planet expresses itself. In transits and directions — timing methods that activate the chart later in life — the speed at the moment of activation tends to shape how decisively the timed event lands.

Historical Origin

The swift-versus-slow distinction appears in the Hellenistic technical writers and is consolidated in the Arabic line through Sahl, Abu Ma'shar, and al-Qabisi. Bonatti's Liber Astronomiae discusses rate of motion as an accidental factor, and Lilly's Christian Astrology (1647) scores swift motion +2 and slow motion -2 in the canonical English-language accidental-dignity tally. Modern coverage appears in Lee Lehman's Essential Dignities and across the wider traditional-revival horary literature.

Further Reading