Wind of the Star

Definition

The wind of a star (Greek anemos, "wind") is a directional orientation Valens ties to the star's exaltation point. Of the two points square to that exaltation, the one falling earlier in zodiacal order he names northern, the one falling later, southern. Each step spans fifteen degrees. The Sun, exalted at Aries 19°, has its earlier square at Capricorn 19°, and that is its northern point. The technique lets you ask which "wind" any star carries.

In Tradition

Valens traces the full circuit out from the Sun's exaltation, marking each quarter of the wheel. The arc up to Cancer 19° he reads as a descending-north stretch; on to Libra 19°, descending south; on again to Capricorn 19°, ascending south. The step itself is got by taking a degree's distance and dividing it by fifteen. He applies the scheme by first settling which star is the apheta and which wind it holds. Then he checks the rest: a star sharing the apheta's wind he treats as kindred to it, the bond felt most during its own chronocratorships. Some of his contemporaries called the method pointless; Valens answers that it is the most scientific approach there is.

In Practice

To find a star's wind, start from its exaltation degree and locate the two points square to it. The earlier of the pair gives the northern wind, the later one the southern. Measure the steps in fifteen-degree units as Valens directs, dividing any degree's distance by that figure. In a chart, settle the apheta first — the Sun, the Moon, or the Ascendant — and note its wind. Then read the other stars: any that share the apheta's wind work as its associates, the link strongest when those stars hold their own chronocratorships during a span of time you are timing.

Historical Origin

The doctrine is given by Vettius Valens, Anthology Book III (in Mark Riley's translation, pp. 63-64). There the northern and southern winds are fixed by the points square to a star's exaltation, and the Sun's monthly quarters are stepped in fifteen-degree units. The matching of stars to the apheta's wind is applied to their chronocratorships.

Etymology

Origin: Greek. Meaning: wind; directional orientation.

Further Reading

• Vettius Valens, Anthology
• Chris Brennan, Hellenistic Astrology