It’s very common to see social media posts that say: “Jupiter rules expansion, growth, luck and abundance.” As I study traditional astrology, something that continues to amaze me is how watered down and distorted the planets and signs are in modern astrology from their original meanings in pre-modern times.
It’s not that these takes are wrong, Jupiter does bring expansion. But that only captures a tiny bit of what Jupiter does, or how Jupiter functions. Saying Jupiter is about expansion, luck and abundance and leaving it at that is incomplete. If you asked an astrologer from the medieval Islamicate period about Jupiter, they’d say Jupiter is the masculine, diurnal benefic, bringing temperate heat and wetness, creating the conditions for life, generation and growth. This isn’t imagery. Life cannot exist without heat and moisture. Jupiter brings these things wherever it is in a person’s chart: to the houses or areas of life it rules, to the planets it aspects, and when activated over the course of a lifetime.
In Islamic cosmology, the events in our lives are directly caused by movements of the wandering stars [the planets.] Each planet brings its energy to its interactions. We feel this energy on a personal and collective level. When the planets move, changes occur in the four elements, which result in both creation and destruction. All living things—plants, animals and humans are vulnerable to these changes. Thus, events on earth are either fortunate or unfortunate. Just as scientists today understand that life on earth exists because of a delicate balance of the elements, so too did pre-modern astrologers. Hence the distinction between benefics, planets which bring generation, elevation and joy; and malefics, planets which bring corruption, griefs, and troubles. Jupiter, Venus & the Moon are considered benefics. Saturn & Mars are considered malefics. The Sun & Mercury are beneficial in some situations, and harmful in others. [1]
This is a classification known as planetary condition—whether a planet brings blessings or harm to a person. This distinction does not exist in modern astrology, which casts planets as neutral archetypal symbols. The ‘self’ is the most powerful actor. [2] Whereas in traditional astrology the planets are actors that affect the real circumstances of someone’s life, for better or worse. Another example is how modern astrology says Saturn represents restrictions, limitations and brings structure to our lives. In traditional astrology, Saturn is the greater malefic, bringing extreme coldness and dryness. Coldness and dryness are not conducive to life. So, Saturn has a delaying or a denying effect. Events are slowed down coinciding with a time when we feel doubtful, encounter obstacles, or even experience illness. That’s why Saturn rules sorrow, anxiety, and chronic disease.
Another way of looking at the difference between benefics and malefics is considering the difference between moderation and excess. Jupiter and Venus are benefics because they bring a moderate amount of heat and moisture to sustain and grow life. Mars and Saturn are considered malefic because they bring too much heat and coldness respectively. They represent excess, and that excess results in corruption and destruction in Mars and Saturn’s interactions. [3]
This difference in modern and medieval Islamicate astrology is especially notable in world/historical astrology. Or mundane astrology as it’s known modernly which is a complete misnomer. Side note: I had an issue with this before I started studying traditional astrology. ”Mundane” comes from the Latin word mundus, meaning “world.” And modern astrology was created largely from Latin translations of Arabic and Greek texts from the pre-modern era. In this context, mundane isn’t intended to mean dull or lacking excitement. It’s just a literal translation.
Back to benefics and malefics—benefics bring temperance. Malefics bring excess. An example is Jupiter and Saturn when it comes to wealth. Jupiter represents wealth and abundance. Jupiter is a benefic, so it’s essential nature is to increase wealth but wealth that is shared and used to increase the welfare of everyone. By contrast, Saturn brings extreme amounts of wealth and scarcity—greed that results in extreme wealth held by a small few at the expense of everyone else.
You can take nearly any polarity: wealth vs poverty; intelligence vs ignorance; humility vs arrogance, and the positive manifestations are ruled by the benefics: the Moon, Venus and Jupiter. While the negative manifestations are ruled by the malefics: Mars and Saturn. Whenever a planet enters a sign, it brings temperateness or excess to that sign, which changes the elements and ultimately causes events that happen to all of us—both individually and collectively. For example: Saturn is currently in the sign of Aries, bringing corruption to that which Aries rules: soldiers, doctors & youth. By contrast, until the end of June, Jupiter was in Cancer, bringing temperance to that which Cancer rules: family, home and love.
Benefic and malefic are classifications that pre-modern astrologers gave the planets based on our reaction to the events they cause. [4] Jupiter and Venus bring wealth, pleasure and an increase in station and we consider those beneficial things. Saturn and Mars bring loss, hostility and scarcity and we consider those harmful things. Knowing this distinction is the first step to understanding—and ultimately predicting what times in your life are abundant and fortunate, and why other periods bring challenges and misfortune. Modern astrology sanitizes planetary meanings to make them all equal in benefit and harm. The birth chart puts the individual as the focus. Leaving us without a way to acknowledge events we have no control over, or why we struggle in some areas of our lives and succeed in others. Traditional astrology gives us a method and vocabulary to understand these things.
The wandering stars [planets] are not neutral archetypes. They are powerful actors that affect how our life unfolds, both individually and collectively. In Part Two, we’ll look at some real-life example charts of benefics and malefics in action—including situations where the results don’t always follow the rules.
Sources Cited
[1] Abu Ma’shar. The Great Introduction to Astrology. Vol. 1. Edited and translated by Keiji Yamamoto and Charles Burnett, Brill, 2019. p. 367
[2] Helena Avelar and Luis Ribeiro. On The Heavenly Spheres: A Treatise on Traditional Astrology. American Federation of Astrologers, 2010. p. 7
[3] Abu Ma’shar, Great Introduction, p. 373
[4] Abu Ma’shar, Great Introduction, pp. 391, 393