Venus in Aries: “This placement is energetic in relationships, acts with assertion, desires independence and initiative from their partner.” Venus in Cancer: “This placement desires emotional closeness, comfort and nurturing.” Open almost any astrology book in a bookstore and you’ll find a description for each planet in each sign along these lines. These descriptions aren’t inaccurate, but incomplete. I’m left thinking OK; this is how I approach relationships but why? And how does this impact my ability to build and maintain relationships?
Most modern astrological analyses focus on the behavior of planets in a particular sign and leave it at that. And now with social media, generalized posts about a planet in a sign like “Having the Sun in Capricorn is the real placement for wealth” are common and while entertaining, offer little value because modern astrology assumes neutrality of all planetary placements. So, most astrology books can’t explain why someone with Venus in Cancer desires nurturing and emotional safety in their relationships, nor can they explain why someone with Venus in Aries might face power struggles or competition in their relationships. Taken further, astrology that relies on a neutral explanation for placements can’t explain why some people are seemingly never without a partner, while others struggle to find partners. Traditional astrology can.
Each planet has an agenda it’s trying to manifest—a promise made to the native. The Sun is responsible for life purpose and vitality, Venus wants strong social bonds, Saturn brings obstacles, responsibilities and longevity. How each planet manifests these things changes depending on the sign it’s in. Venus brings social bonds differently in Leo than in Scorpio. The Sun brings life purpose differently in Pisces compared to Aquarius. Saturn imposes obstacles differently in Aries than in Capricorn. Remember from the last post that planets are guests in the signs. Each planet has sign(s) where they can more easily make themselves at home, signs where they are treated like royalty, and others where they are treated with hostility. As the planets move through the zodiac, the relationship between the guest-planet and its host-sign is a key indicator for what’s modernly called dignity—how comfortable or strong a planet is in an astrology chart.[1] Dignity is the modern word for what Abu Ma’shar described as a partnership between the planets and the signs. Each planet has its share in the zodiac. A share is a partnership between a planet and a sign which gives the planet rulership over that sign and is assigned in these categories: domicile, exaltation, triplicity, bound (or term), the decans, joy, fall and detriment.[2]
The most powerful forms of dignity come from domicile and exaltation so that will be the focus for this post, since modern astrology lightly nods to it. We’ll also discuss the corresponding debilities detriment and fall. Pre-modern astrologers disagreed over the reasoning for some planetary rulerships, but there was a consensus that Mars rules over Aries and Scorpio, Venus rules over Taurus and Libra, Mercury rules over Gemini and Virgo, Saturn rules over Capricorn and Aquarius, Jupiter rules over Sagittarius and Pisces, the Sun rules over Leo and the Moon rules Cancer. A planet in a sign it rules over is ‘at home’ and able to act freely.
An important note: Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were unknown to traditional astrologers, so the modern rulerships of Uranus ruling Aquarius, Neptune ruling Pisces and Pluto ruling Scorpio did not exist.
Next up is exaltation. Some astrologers believe a planet in its exaltation is more powerful than a planet in its home sign because exalted means elevation, with honors, or esteemed. An exalted planet not only has free rein to do what it wants but does so with honors. [3] The Sun is exalted in Aries, the Moon is exalted in Taurus, Mercury is exalted in Virgo, Venus is exalted in Pisces, Mars is exalted in Capricorn, Jupiter is exalted in Cancer and Saturn is exalted in Libra.
On the opposite end, detriment and fall are forms of debility. The sign does not support the planet’s agenda, which makes it difficult for the planet to act as it naturally wants to. A planet’s signs of detriment and fall are taken from the opposite of their signs of domicile and exaltation.[4] So, the Sun is debilitated in Libra and Aquarius, since Leo opposes Aquarius and Libra opposes Aries. Mercury is debilitated in Sagittarius and Pisces, since those signs oppose Gemini and Virgo. And Saturn is debilitated in Aries, Cancer and Leo, and so on.
Dignity by rulership—known as essential dignity is the first part of evaluating a planet’s strength. Essential dignity is whether a planet’s sign placement aligns with its essence. There’s also accidental dignity—conditions of the planet in a chart that either support or hinder a planet’s expression. A planet with accidental dignity is more powerful and able to have its significations manifest.[5] Some of the things to look for in accidental dignity are house location, the aspect a planet makes with benefics and malefics, its relationship to the Sun and whether the planet is retrograde or direct.
Now that we’ve laid out the framework, let’s see dignity in action with some examples. Dignity tells us the potential. What we look for is whether the promise becomes reality.
A couple of straight forward examples of dignified planet(s) successfully manifesting their agenda are in Serena Williams’ and Whitney Houston’s charts.
Serena Williams has an exalted Saturn in Libra in the 6th house of disease and injuries, along with benefic Jupiter. When dignified, Saturn can bring endurance. Despite dealing with health issues and injuries, sometimes resulting in her inability to compete, she is considered the G.O.A.T. of tennis and returned to the sport this summer after retiring and won a spot at Wimbledon, though she later withdrew due to injuries.
Whitney Houston is considered one of the greatest singers of all time. In her chart, Mercury which rules communication and voice, is both at home and exalted in Virgo. In addition, it is in the strong, angular 7th house of partnerships.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have debilitated planets which struggle to manifest their agenda.
We return to Lauryn Hill’s chart. Her Saturn is debilitated in Cancer and further weakened by an overcoming square (conflict) from malefic Mars. Saturn naturally wants to bring longevity but is unable to as Lauryn Hill only released one, though highly successful album. In addition, Venus which rules relationships is made worse by its co-presence with Saturn and square with Mars, illustrated by her volatile relationships and financial problems.
Where things get interesting is a chart with a dignified planet that fails to manifest its agenda, or a debilitated planet that turns into a strength. Remember, a dignified planet is more able to act on its agenda. That’s not a guarantee that it will. A debilitated planet struggles to act the way it’s naturally inclined to. That doesn’t mean it can’t bring positive things despite being in an unfriendly environment.
Two great examples of a debilitated planet being helpful are Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. Both women had a debilitated Mercury in Pisces yet were famous for their distinctive voices and songwriting abilities that poetically even if somberly illustrate what it means to be Black woman. Their impact on song has endured after their lifetimes.
However tragically Billie Holiday is also an example of dignified planets not being able to fully manifest their agenda. Her chart contains an exalted Sun in Aries (vitality), an exalted Venus in Pisces (money and relationships) and domiciled Jupiter in Pisces (expansion). Yet her vitality suffered due to drug abuse which she ultimately died from. Throughout her life she was destitute despite being one of the most successful singers of her time. Perhaps this is also a result of Mercury being debilitated in Pisces since Mercury rules intellect and discernment. The reason Mercury is both at home and exalted in Virgo is because Virgo is about discernment and acting on knowledge. Pisces is unfiltered emotion and is amazing for using voice to emotionally resonate, but not so great for logic and discernment.
Dignity tells us the promise. Whether the promise becomes reality depends on multiple factors. As we’ll see in our next post, the area of life a planet uses to manifest its agenda plays a central role in what a planet delivers.
Works Cited
[1] Helena Avelar and Luis Ribeiro. On The Heavenly Spheres: A Treatise on Traditional Astrology. American Federation of Astrologers, 2010. P. 67
[2] Abu Ma’shar. The Great Introduction to Astrology. Vol.1. Edited and translated by Keiji Yamamoto and Charles Burnett, Brill, 2019. P. 439
[3] On The Heavenly Spheres, p. 70
[4] On The Heavenly Spheres, p. 71
[5] On The Heavenly Spheres, p. 196