By Dorian Grimault, astrologer · Published · updated
A sign spans 30°, and the tradition does not treat it as a uniform block. The terms, also called bounds or confines, divide it into five slices of unequal length, each assigned to a planet. They specify what the sign alone does not say: the nuance of the exact degree. AstralPro uses the so-called Egyptian table, and one paragraph of each planet block reads it. Example with Camille Morel, AstralPro's sample chart (fictional data).
The terms already appear in Dorotheus of Sidon and Vettius Valens, in the 1st and 2nd centuries. Ptolemy, in the Tetrabiblos, discusses several versions before proposing his own. The most widely transmitted version, called Egyptian, is the one al-Biruni, in the 11th century, describes as used by all professional astrologers, and it is the one AstralPro uses. William Lilly, in the 17th century, would prefer Ptolemy's table.
Two features set it apart. The slices are not the same length: from 2° to 12° depending on the sign and the position. And only five planets receive any: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The Sun and the Moon have no terms, nor do Uranus, Neptune or Pluto. This is not AstralPro's choice: it is the table as it has come down to us.
The reading is mechanical: the starting boundary belongs to the slice, the ending boundary to the next one. A planet at exactly 24°00' Scorpio is no longer in Jupiter terms, but in Saturn terms.
In Chapter I, each planet block contains three distinct technical paragraphs: dignity, house rulership, then decan and term. The last one follows a fixed form, “In the 2nd decan (sub-ruler Mercury, Gemini) in Venus terms”, followed by a short interpretation. The term is a discreet enrichment there, one sentence at most: a nuance of the degree, not a verdict.
The term does not change the dignity word. A peregrine planet placed in its own term remains “peregrine” in the text and keeps its dash in the table: at AstralPro, only triplicity can lift peregrine status. The glossary at the end of the report defines the Term as an unequal division of a sign attributed to a planet, inherited from ancient astrology.
Finally, the term enters one calculation: the scale that adds up the dignities of the Ascendant's degree gives it 2 points out of 15. The luminaries, which have no term, can therefore never exceed 13 points on this scale.
Camille's Sun is at 21°55' Scorpio. In Scorpio, the slice from 19° to 24° belongs to Jupiter: her Sun is therefore in Jupiter terms. For a peregrine Sun, at the heart of a sign of depth and restraint, this term adds a tone of broadening: the need to give meaning to what is lived intensely.
Her other planets in Scorpio are spread over two other terms. Mercury (6°37'), Venus (6°30') and Jupiter (0°50') are in Mars terms (0-7°). The Moon (27°09') and Pluto (25°17') are in Saturn terms (24-30°). One sign, six bodies, three colors of degree: that is what the term brings in its own right.
Outside Scorpio, Mars, at 3°38' Sagittarius, is in Jupiter terms (0-12°), Jupiter also being the ruler of its sign; the North Node, at 3°00' Sagittarius, shares this term. Saturn, at 23°53' Aquarius, is in Mars terms (20-25°). Uranus and Neptune, in Capricorn, are in Venus terms (14-22°). Lilith, at 14°01' Aries, is in Mercury terms (12-20°), and Chiron, at 7°52' Virgo, in Venus terms (7-17°).
The term replaces neither the sign nor the dignity. It adds the color of the planet that rules the slice, and this color is read in relation to the planet occupying it: a Saturn in Mars terms does not look like a Venus in Mars terms, even though both receive the same Martian tint.
Term and decan share a paragraph because they answer the same question, that of the degree, but they are not calculated the same way. The decan cuts the sign into three equal parts of 10° and gives a modern sub-ruler; the term cuts it into five unequal parts and knows only the five visible planets other than the luminaries. The two may fall on the same planet or on two different planets: in Camille's chart, the Sun has the Moon as decan sub-ruler and Jupiter as term ruler.
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