By Dorian Grimault, astrologer · Published · updated
In an AstralPro report, most planets are neither in domicile nor in detriment, neither exalted nor in fall: they are called peregrine. The word comes from the Latin peregrinus, the foreigner, the traveler passing through. It is the most frequent situation, and it deserves to be properly understood, because it is often mistaken for a weakness. Here is an example with Camille Morel, AstralPro's sample chart (fictional data), who has seven peregrine planets.
For the classical authors, William Lilly first among them, a planet is peregrine when it has no essential dignity at the degree it occupies. Their definition is broad: domicile, exaltation, triplicity, term and face all count, so that a peregrine planet is relatively rare for them.
AstralPro uses a narrower definition, the one in its table: a planet is peregrine when, in its sign, it is neither in domicile, nor in detriment, nor in exaltation, nor in fall. Term and decan are read separately, in another paragraph, and do not change this word. Only one secondary dignity can lift peregrine status: triplicity, presented below.
Peregrine does not mean weak. A peregrine planet has no support of its own in its sign, but it is not thwarted there either. It acts according to what its links with the rest of the chart bring it: the house it occupies, its aspects, and above all its dispositor, the ruler of the sign it is in.
It is also the ordinary situation. According to AstralPro's measurements, about seven planet-and-chart pairs out of ten fall in a sign with none of the four dignities, and still two out of three once triplicity is taken into account. A chart rich in peregrine planets is therefore nothing exceptional.
In the positions table, the Dignity column of a peregrine planet carries only a dash. The word itself appears in Chapter I, in the dignity paragraph of each planet's block: “peregrine”, the term supplied by the engine and copied verbatim. Under the table, a note specifies that the dignities follow the modern rulerships and that a planet with neither dignity nor weakness in its sign is called peregrine.
These modern rulerships make peregrine status more frequent. A Saturn in Aquarius, a Jupiter in Pisces or a Mars in Scorpio, in domicile for the tradition, have none of the four dignities at AstralPro, since these signs go to Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. These three slow planets, with neither exaltation nor fall, are themselves peregrine in ten signs out of twelve.
Three points in the table are never called peregrine, because they are outside the system: the North Node, Lilith and Chiron. Neither the tradition nor the engine gives them a domicile, detriment, exaltation or fall. For them the report writes “no essential dignity”. This phrase does not signal any lack: it indicates that the question does not arise for them. In the table, their Dignity cell carries a dash, like that of the asteroids Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta.
The four elements group the signs in threes, and each group has a day ruler and a night ruler. AstralPro uses the day and night rulers of Dorotheus of Sidon, which Ptolemy keeps for Fire, Earth and Air: Fire, the Sun by day and Jupiter by night; Earth, Venus and the Moon; Air, Saturn and Mercury; Water, Venus and Mars. Only the seven traditional planets appear.
When a planet that would be peregrine rules the triplicity of its sign for the chart's sect, it is no longer called peregrine: its dignity paragraph describes it as a planet that finds workable ground without being its master. The word “triplicity” is not written in the text, and the table cell keeps its dash. If the planet already has one of the four dignities, triplicity is calculated but left unsaid: a Venus in Scorpio in a diurnal chart remains in detriment. And when the sect is not established (Sun less than 2° from the horizon), no triplicity is used.
In Camille's chart, seven planets are peregrine: the Sun, Mercury and Jupiter in Scorpio, Mars in Sagittarius, Saturn in Aquarius, Uranus and Neptune in Capricorn. Only the Moon (fall), Venus (detriment) and Pluto (domicile) carry a strong word. The North Node in Sagittarius, Lilith in Aries and Chiron in Virgo have no essential dignity.
No triplicity lifts these peregrine states, and Saturn gives the most telling example. At 23°53' Aquarius, it would be in domicile for the tradition; at AstralPro, it has none of the four dignities. By day, Saturn rules the Air triplicity and would leave peregrine status. But Camille was born at night, and at night Air goes to Mercury: her Saturn remains peregrine. The same reasoning applies to Mars, night ruler of Water: it sits in Sagittarius, a Fire sign, whose night ruler is Jupiter.
What these peregrine planets become is therefore read in their links. Camille's Sun, peregrine at 21°55' Scorpio in house 1, has Pluto as its dispositor, in domicile in the same house: it is through this relay that it finds support.
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