Triplicities were used by the Hellenistic astrologers. Hellenistic astrology appears to be the most advanced form of astrology, requiring little intuition on part of the Artist. It was developed 300 B.C.E. - 100 A.D. The technique was mostly lost by the time the Medieval period arrived, and thus into this modern age, this form of Essential Rulership is still lost to most.
Nevertheless, Triplicities are actually, because of their essential nature, such an important and fundament concept to that I promise you -- once you learn this technique you will be able to make predictions that are more accurate than ever before.
Just as an overview, there are 5 forms of rulership for any Planet in the horoscope, and these 5 forms of rulership are based on the Celestial Longitude (a fancy way of saying degree) in the Zodiac. Rulership shows the Essential Dignity of a planet. The word planet, in Greek, means "wanderer." When a planet is
found in any of its dignities, it is strengthened. Most people learning astrology are only aware of the 2 first forms of rulership, listed below:
5 - Domicile (aka Sign)
4 - Exaltation
3 - Triplicity (aka Trigon)
2 - Term
1 - Face (aka Decan).
These are the 5 modes of rulership that there are. The phonetic of domicile is: dough-ma-sigh-el. Each one of these forms of rulership has a specific function in the horoscope. Today, we are looking at Triplicities.
Triplicities are used to determine how a person's life will favor. Will they experience success? Will life be difficult? These questions are the fundamental yearnings found within people's heart and souls, and Triplicities Lords are the fundamental rulers of the Elements. In order to assess the condition of a person's life (will they be Queen or a lowly beggar?), the ancient Hellenistic authors
Dorotheus and Valens tell us to begin by observing the
Luminary in charge of the chart. People are governed by either the Sun, or the Moon, depending on what time they were born.
This is called
Sect.
It has been lost to modern astrology. But understanding Sect is crucial to understanding the heart of astrology!
It is simple to discover the Sect of any chart.
If the Sun is
below the horizon--the ascendant/descendant axis--then the
Moon is the Luminary in charge of the chart. The sect is Nocturnal. Theoretically, this is because the light of the Sun is gone from view, and so it cannot perform. And so of course when the Sun is
above the horizon, the
Sun is the Luminary in charge of the chart, and the Sect is Diurnal (day). That's all that Sect is -- day or night.
You'll notice that the concept of Sect implies that there is an inherent division. There is. Which ever Luminary is in charge is the more powerful of the two, and directs the native's actions. This planet is a person's inner guiding light, is that which leads them to wisdom, is their motivating voice and command which has the power to make decisions. In life, all the decisions which are made by individuals are based on the Sect of their chart, spurting from either the qualities of the Moon, or the Sun. This is where it all starts. Sect is based on the idea of masculinity and femininity, and it literally gives a government to one of these planets, and their instinctive principles.
Besides the Sun and Moon, there are different corresponding planets which
co-rule the Sect, as well. For the Diurnal (day) Sect and Nocturnal (night) Sect, there are two sets of planets that carry out the decisions of the Luminary in charge, like servants do. The Diurnal Sect, uses Jupiter and Saturn to perform what is born from the inspiration of the Sun. The Nocturnal Sect uses Venus and Mars to perform the what the Moon feels it needs.
And so, if you were born at night time, the Sun isn't quite as important as you might have otherwise thought!
The final piece of Sect is to simply look at the Luminary, and the planets ruling the Sect. The Sun, Jupiter and Saturn perform best when above the horizon, and it is considered to harmful to be ruled by the Sun, but having the co-rulers placed in the wrong sect! And the same with the Nocturnal Sect. If you are born with the Sun even a hair below the horizon, the Moon is in power, and you want the Moon, Venus and Mars under the horizon, where they perform best.
To have the Diurnal Planets in Masculine Signs (aries, gemini, leo, libra, sagittarius, aquarius) and in the proper sect, meaning above the horizon, then these planets are granted the term Hayz, and are operating at full dignity! Same thing reverse for nocturnal, you want this sect in feminine signs and below the horizon. If they are also in their Domicile or Exaltation, wow, you're onto something!
Once Sect is understood, then the next thing to do is to look at the Triplicity Ruler of whatever Luminary is in charge. So we consult the chart below, which tells us this information.
Triplicities Lords are the planets which the ancients assigned to rule each group of the Elements. They were very careful in electing them, and I suggest researching it further than we will here, to discover why the planets were chosen.
The Fire, Earth, Air and Water Trigons each have their own set of rulers. Reading the "Day Rulers" column left to right, the Fire Trigon's
Day Ruler is the Sun, and then the Night Ruler is Jupiter. Saturn is the Participating Ruler. Do you see how the "Night Rulers" column is the exact same as the day one, except that the planets are just reversed? The Participating Planet always stays the same.
This table is sort of ambiguous, so I will just list them, to be clear.
Fire Trigon = Day Ruler - Sun, Night Ruler - Jupiter
Earth Trigon = Day Ruler - Venus, Night Ruler - Moon
Air Trigon = Day Ruler - Saturn, Night Ruler - Mercury
Water Trigon = Day Ruler - Venus, Night Ruler - Mars
Actually, I wouldn't even worry about the participating ruler until later, once you're attempting to perfect the whole thing. Quite simply, the participating ruler watches over the other two Lords when they're in power, adding support. Eventually, you'll want to really consider that, but when we are just beginning, I feel that it's okay to breeze over; we'll return in time.
Okay. The most important one of the rulers of these Trigon Lords, is the one that rules your Sect Luminary. If you are of the Diurnal Sect, then use the
Day Ruler of the Element your Luminary is in. If you are of the Nocturnal Sect, then the use the
Night Ruler of the Element your Luminary is in.
Did you follow that? Look at the
Element your Luminary is in. Fire, Earth, Air or Water. And then if you were born at night or during the day, use the night ruler or day ruler to match.
Now we're getting somewhere!
So if you are a Day Birth, it is theoretically best to have the Sun in a Fire sign, according to the table. If for example, the Sun is in a Fire sign, and it is not harmed by the malefic planets, and let's say its placed in the 10th house, and we see that it is in good condition, then according to what the Hellenistic's discovered about these Triplicities -- the
first part of life will be great.
The
first part of life. Hold that italic thought.
If you are a Nocturnal birth, ruled by the Moon Light, the tables tells us that it is strongest if you have your Moon in an Earth Sign. And so having the Moon in Taurus in the 4th house, sextile its Domicile Ruler, Venus, would indicate an extremely fortunate situation growing up, and a loving mother or father. This, as long as there are not other indicators in the horoscope telling us different.
Do you see how this works?
By looking at the Trigon Lord of the Sun or the Moon (which ever you are ruled by according to Sect) and the quality of the corresponding Day or Night ruler, the 1st part of life is determined. Later in life, the other ruler will become active.
If the 1st Trigon Lord is well placed, then quite simply, life will be good. If it is not well placed, then the native will suffer. Depending on the nature of the affliction, a certain measure of unpleasantness can be expected. Without using these Triplicities, you'd never know, you could only guess. That *****!
What's fascinating is that if a person has their First Trigon Lord in bad shape, yet their Second Trigon Lord is in fantastic shape, then they will literally have the ability to turn their lives around for the better once they switch. A person can go from zero to Hero, using Triplicities!
Likewise, when we go to our 20 year High School Reunion, and we see the people who were very successful back then, as the total opposite as you imagined them to be, then, perhaps we can draw the conclusion that Triplicities had something to do with this!
This technique is incredibly accurate, try it with Kings and beggars alike, and see how it tells the fortunes of such people.
Before moving onto an example, we must indicate what to look for in determining if the Triplicity Lord is in fact well placed in the chart, or not. This is called Accidental Dignity. It may seem obvious to the affluent student of astrology, but going over these rules is necessary to create a complete description of the technique of Triplicities. What makes a planet well placed in a chart?
Most importantly, we want the planet to be in an Angular House, because the Angles are where planets are the strongest. For a Diurnal Sect, the strength of the houses is as follows: the 1st, 10th, 11th, 7th then 9th. You want the Diurnal Triplicity Lords placed in these houses. These are the happy and fortunate places, and this applies in all of astrology. You can't go wrong here!
The next thing to consider in regards to the strength of the Triplicity Lord, is to notice if it is negatively aspected by the malefics (Saturn and Mars) or not. In any diurnal chart, negative aspects to Mars are particularly upsetting to the native, causing rash behavior and chaos. This is because Mars is out of Sect, and doesn't have any business upsetting the structure of the Diurnal Sect. For a nocturnal chart, when Saturn negatively aspects the Triplicity Lord, there are long delays, much sorrow and tribulations to be expected in the native's life. Again, this is because Saturn is of the opposite sect, and causes extreme misfortune when getting involved by negative aspect to the opposite sect.
Similarly, if the Triplicity Lord is placed in an unfortunate house, there will be misfortune. As well, it is not good when the Triplicity Lord is combust or retrograde. Yet this is obvious. Classically,
combustion is considered the most destructive of all potential hinderances for a planet to experience, losing all its power to perform.
For a nocturnal chart, the order of the strength of the houses (I suspect) is the 1st, 4th, 2nd, 5th, and then 3rd.
This is how triplicity works, and it is very accurate. Allow me to use a personal example.
This is my chart. My Moon is in Scorpio, and I am a Nocturnal birth. Since Scorpio is a Water Sign, we know that Mars is the Triplicity Lord of my Luminary,
and that Mars governs the first part of my life.
Now, looking at the condition of Mars, we will notice that we are dealing with a Malefic planet. Automatically, we see that the beginning of my life deals with hardship, because that is the job of the Malefics, they make life difficult. Then, we will realize that Mars is in Taurus (detriment). This is not good. So far things are off to a bad start. A planet in detriment is full of bad energy. Next, we will figure out that Mars is under the beams of the Sun, within 17*. The is bad. The worst possible hinderance for a planet in all of astrology is for it to be combust, which is within 8* within the Sun. Yikes! And finally, we notice that Mars is placed on the IC, giving it is a very powerful influence over chart, because Angular planets seek immediate expression, for better or worse. In this case, for worse.
So Mars is in terrible shape, and because it is conjunct the IC, this influence is extremely overbearing. The IC is associated with "the window to the soul" and thus you can say that this window was metaphorically blocked by warriors that I had to either kill, or be killed. Is it any wonder why I threw knives to the floor? (Mars rules knives) Is it any wonder that I loved martial arts, although was denied permission by my mother to participate? (Mars is the Dispositor of the Moon in Scorpio. The Opposition is very Malefic. Moon in Scorpio is very Malefic. Mars in Taurus, as we know, is very Malefic, in my chart.)
Indeed, as the Triplicity Lord suggests, the first part of my life was extremely difficult. I lived upon a true battle ground. This battle ground existed because of Triplicities. It had to manifest somehow. And so, everyday, I fought an extremely powerful force that tugged at my soul. As a teenager, suicide was not out of the question, nor was sex at a young age (Mars and the IC are in the 5th Whole Sign House, the this house rules over having fun with young people). This would continue for many years, until the next Triplicity Lord took over, which happens to be Venus. Venus is a much better Triplicity Lord than Mars!
So the first ruler is Mars, the second ruler is Venus.
Do you see?
This is because I was born at night, and so we start with the Night ruler of my Luminary, which is in a Water sign.
The second part of your life will be governed by the other Triplicity Lord. While the Participating Ruler watches everything and keeps the balance.
This is the reason why people's life's are able to turn around, for better or worse! Triplicities Rulership periods! The expression "from zero to hero," and vice versa, is definitely a Triplicity Lord type of statement, in the Hellenistic sense !
For fun and for another example, let's imagine that I was born with the Sun in Leo, right around noon. This is one of the most fortunate qualities to be found in a nativity! Why? Because the Sun is in its own sign (domicile) in Leo, and during the day, the Triplicity Lord for the Fire Signs is the Sun. The Sun is placed in the 10th house is a position of authority, giving the ability to command others and really be in charge. As long as there are no negative aspects to the Sun, I would be very happy and successful in life, extremely fortunate and strong, in a position to achieve much. People would look up to me and I would have command of them. What a guy I would be then!!
Now, here's where it gets interesting. How's the second Triplicity Lord? How's the second part of life looking?
Eventually, the first Triplicity Lord, the Sun, will stop shining, so to speak, and then the second Lord will take over. Now, this
isn't the Participating Ruler. That planet just watches over everything, and gives support to the efforts. It's pretty simple to understand how, generally, the Participating Ruler can provide help and aid to the efforts of the Trigon Lord if it is well placed, or hinder if it is not well placed.
How do we know when the next period begins? Well, it is hard to say, even for the best of astrologers.
The time it takes for the Circular Period to end, or when the next Trigon Lord Phase begins, is generally a full Saturn Cycle, or 29.45 years. There are more complex rules, but you can estimate using this simple method.
If the Trigon Lord, by Primary Direction, reaches any of the Angles, it is said that the period switches.
What seemed to switch the Trigon Lords for me, was when my Sun by Primary Direction reached the sign of Gemini, entering the house which contained Venus, the next Trigon Lord, at age 25. This makes sense.
Once the other Triplicity Lord takes over, we similarly need to consider its "status." Sticking with our example of the Sun in Leo in the 10th house, the following ruler for the Fire Trigon is Jupiter. We see this on the diagram above.
Okay. For fun, let's make this 2nd half of this person's life difficult. Let's place Jupiter in the 12th house, the house of imprisonment. And let's place Saturn and Mars on either side of him. This is called
besieging, and it is very cruel, let alone in the 12th house. It would be very hard to escape.
Here we would have the story of a person who started off well in life, and later in life lost everything, and probably ended up in prison or dead.
Isn't that interesting?
That's how the Hellenistic's used Triplicities.
Joseph
