Welcome back to our series on planetary exaltation, detriment, and fall! Today we are tackling our most flighty friend, Mercury. Unlike the luminaries, whose phases can be clearly seen and understood through their apparent rotation around the earth, and thus are receptive to a fairly straightforward geocentric explanation of exaltation, detriment, and fall, Mercury’s phases […]
The waxing and waning cycle that we touched on in our discussion of the Sun’s exaltation, detriment, and fall finds analogy in the cycles of the Moon. When the Sun is exalted (lifted up), it is essentially at the beginning of its yearly ‘waxing’ stage, gaining strength and angle in the sky on its way
Exaltation, detriment, and fall are underutilized concepts in modern astrology, perhaps in part because even the ancients did not leave us a lot of clear explanation on the matter. Every planet has a sign (and degree) of exaltation, an opposite sign of fall, and a sign of detriment opposite its domicile (you may read a
In the scheme of planetary rulership outlined by Ptolemy, we see a symmetry that can be otherwise obscured in modern astrology with the addition of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto as sign rulers. Uranus is the modern ruler of Aquarius, Neptune of Pisces, and Pluto of Scorpio. Traditionally, these signs are ruled by Saturn, Jupiter, and
