Introduction to Hellenistic Astrology (2) - Annual Profections, Lots, and Zodiacal Releasing

by Chris Brennan

In the first part of this series (TMA Feb./March 2012), you were introduced to some of the basic concepts of Hellenistic astrology and learned how those concepts were used in order to determine information about an individual’s fate. In this final part, I will present two timing techniques that were used by Hellenistic astrologers to determine when certain events would occur during the course of a native’s life. First, though, I would like to expand on some statements I made previously about the different philosophical positions that were adopted by astrologers in the ancient world. As you will see, many of the philosophical positions that were first defined in ancient times are still very relevant to the practice of astrology today.1

The Philosophy of Hellenistic Astrology

In my previous article, I briefly discussed the various ways in which the Hellenistic astrologers viewed the planets as being either “signs” of future events or “causes” of future events, as well as the conceptualization that, in both cases, the planets acted as instruments of fate. The philosophical backdrop that astrologers adopt provides the context within which they use and interpret the information derived from techniques, so I will expand on those points here before launching into a discussion about timing techniques.

The philosophical views adopted by astrologers in the Hellenistic period can be roughly divided into four distinct positions, illustrated by Diagram 1. The vertical axis is composed of two competing positions that hold that the planets are either “signs” of future events or “causes” of future events. The horizontal axis represents a spectrum; on one side is the position I’m calling “complete determinism,” which is the view that everything that happens in the world is completely predetermined, while on the other end of the spectrum is the position I’m calling “partial determinism,” which is the view that only some things are predetermined.

The Astrological Mechanism: Signs vs. Causes

The question of whether astrology works as a result of the planets and other celestial bodies acting as “signs” or “causes” of future events is one that was probably first defined during the Hellenistic period. In the earlier Mesopotamian tradition, the astrologers appear to have conceptualized the planets as being capable of sending messages to mankind from the gods about future events, but the planets themselves were not seen as actually causing these future events to occur. Just as a clock on the wall is capable of telling you that it is 9:00 in the morning without actually being the cause or reason that it is 9:00, the planets were similarly thought to be capable of giving signs of future events without necessarily being the reason that those events occur. So, the original Mesopotamian view was that astrology works as a result of celestial phenomena acting as signs rather than causes.

In the later Hellenistic tradition, the adoption of this conceptualization allowed for some flexibility in the interpretation of astrological placements, since it was understood that astrological significators were acting as symbolic representations of the things that they correlated with on Earth. So, for example, the 2nd­century astrologer Vettius Valens says that the Sun “signifies” the father in a person’s natal chart, or the person who is like a father.2 This point is subtle but important. For Valens, the Sun is conceptualized as being symbolically significant for the father figure in a person’s chart, whether or not that person is the biological father. This is similar to the modern view that the planets act as archetypal significators for people and things in a person’s life.

At some point during the Hellenistic period, astrologers began to conceptualize the planets as being the causes of future events, either directly or indirectly. This conceptualization reached its most elaborate form in the work of the 2nd-century astrologer Claudius Ptolemy. In Ptolemy’s work, the planets were seen as capable of influencing events and people on Earth because they emitted differing levels of heat and moisture, and it was through these general qualities that all of the individual significations were able to manifest, once they filtered down to Earth through the celestial spheres. For example, Mars was conceptualized as being exceedingly hot and dry, and this was thought to result in specific effects in humans, such as anger or brashness, when Mars was having a prominent influence on the natal chart. On the other hand, Saturn was conceptualized as being excessively cold and dry, and thus he became associated with qualities such as sluggishness and depression. In each case, the specific significations associated with each of the planets are byproducts of the general influence of the planets on the environment and temperament of the native.

There is some evidence that the role of the planets in acting as either signs or causes was a topic that was debated both within and outside of the astrological community during the time of the Roman Empire. It appears that, after the 2nd century C.E., the view that the planets acted as causes became more dominant due to the influence of Ptolemy, although there is some evidence that the sign-based conceptualization also persisted in later centuries.

Astrological Determinism: Complete vs. Partial

Aside from the differing views as to the mechanism underlying astrology, there were also different opinions about the degree to which our lives and events in the world are predetermined. Some level of determinism is built into the very concept of natal astrology, since the basic premise is that something can be said about a person’s future based on the positions of the planets at the moment of birth. The implication is that at least some parts of the future must be arranged ahead of time. However, astrologers were not entirely in agreement about the degree to which events and circumstances in a person’s life are predetermined.

In the early Roman Empire, the philosophy of Stoicism was very much in vogue, and some of the more Stoically inclined astrologers adopted the position that everything that happens in a person’s life is destined from the moment of birth. In this conceptualization, it is not just the events and circumstances occurring in a person’s life that are fated to occur, but even the person’s very character and actions. Because the future was viewed as completely predetermined, these astrologers believed that the events of a person’s life could be predicted in detail.

On the other end of the spectrum fell those astrologers who held that, while some things are predetermined according to the natal chart, not everything is predetermined, and there is some room for the natives to make choices that will change or alter their fate. Ptolemy is one astrologer who held this view, since he thought that the influences of the planets can sometimes be counteracted. Another astrologer who may have held this view was Dorotheus of Sidon, and other astrologers like him, who advocated the use of electional astrology, under the presupposition that what is fated to occur is not set in stone until the moment that the inception of some venture takes place. If one can control when something begins, then there is the possibility of manipulating the outcome as well.

Most of the astrologers of the Hellenistic tradition can be placed in one of the four overlapping areas where their views on determinism and astrology’s underlying mechanism intersect. For example, Ptolemy advocated a causal approach to astrology where the planets influence individuals, but he also held the view that some things about the future could be changed or altered, thus placing him in the causal/partial determinism category. (See Diagram 2) On the other hand, Firmicus Maternus also advocated a causal approach to astrology, viewing the planets as being the causes of what they correlated with, but he believed that a person’s fate could not be altered, which places him firmly in the causal/complete determinism camp. On the other end of the spectrum may be astrologers such as Vettius Valens, who in certain parts of his work seemed to hold the view that the planets act primarily as signs of future events, while at the same time believing that everything is completely predetermined. I suspect that astrologers such as Dorotheus of Sidon would fall into the fourth category, although we don’t know much about his philosophy due to the loss of much of the non­ technical portions of his original text. For some astrologers like Dorotheus, the planets would be viewed as giving signs of future events, but the future was seen as negotiable, primarily through the use of electional astrology and its related applications.

The issues that were originally raised and dealt with by astrologers during the Hellenistic and Roman periods are, I think, still very much relevant to astrologers today. It would be useful to reflect on where your own views on astrology stand with respect to these positions, since an astrologer’s view of how astrology works informs the way that he or she actually uses and applies the techniques in practice.

Time-Lords

In Part 1, I outlined some basic concepts that were used in order to determine information about a native’s life based on their birth chart. This primarily has to do with the fourfold system of planets, signs, houses, and aspects. For a Hellenistic astrologer, the next step, once you have assessed the natal potential of the planetary placements in a person’s birth chart, is then to determine when those potentials will actually manifest themselves in the life of the native. So, for example, if the chart indicates that the native will be married, the next question that naturally follows from that is “When?” Or if the chart indicates eminence, it is natural to then ask, “When will the native become eminent?” In order to answer these questions, the Hellenistic astrologers employed a collection of timing procedures known as “time-lord” techniques.

The term “time-lord” is a literal translation of the Greek word chronocrator. The premise underlying the time-lord techniques is that not all parts of a person’s chart are activated at all times, but rather that the full natal potential of a specific chart placement lies dormant until that part of the chart becomes activated. Only when a planet becomes activated or awakened as a time-lord is it able to manifest its natal potential in the life of the native.

In what follows, I will present two time-lord techniques that have been recovered from the Hellenistic tradition, which I feel are particularly compelling in the way that they can be used in order to predict events in a native’s life. Many of the time-lord techniques were lost during the course of the transmission of astrology over the past 2,000 years, and it is only recently that we have begun to recover them through the translation of ancient texts from Greek and Latin.

It is worth noting that, although the time-lord systems were lost in the West, the basic concept survived and has been practiced continually in the Indian tradition over the past 2,000 years. Indian astrologers refer to their equivalent set of techniques as dasha systems, and in some instances the way they apply these systems is very similar to the way the Hellenistic astrologers used the time-lord techniques. Western astrologers may have much to gain by studying these parallels as we continue to recover these systems.

Annual Profections

The most widespread time-lord system in the Hellenistic tradition was a technique that is referred to today as Annual Profections. Almost every major astrologer whose work survived from the Hellenistic tradition used or referred to this technique.

In the basic version of the technique, you begin from the sign that contains the Ascendant; the ruler of that sign becomes the “time-lord of the year” for the first year of the native’s life. For example, if Gemini is rising, then Mercury becomes activated as the time lord for the first year of the native’s life. If Cancer is rising, then the Moon becomes activated for the first year of the native’s life. If Sagittarius is rising, then Jupiter becomes activated, and so on.

Diagram 3: Annual Profections When a person is born, start from zero at the sign that contains the Ascendant, which is the 1st Whole Sign house or place. This is a 1st-house profection year. When the person turns one year old, the profection moves to the next sign in zodiacal order, which is the 2nd Whole Sign house. The profection jumps one sign per year for each year of the native’s life, so each sign repeats every 12 years.

After the first year of the native’s life (once they reach their first birthday), the sign that follows the rising sign in zodiacal order becomes activated, and the ruler of that sign takes over as the lord of the year. Once the native’s second year is completed, the next sign in zodiacal order becomes activated, and then the ruler of that sign becomes the lord of the year, and this process continues in the same manner every year, one year for each sign. Eventually, the rising sign becomes activated again at the age of 12, the ruler of that sign becomes the lord of the year once more, and the cycle begins again. Every twelve years, the profection returns to the rising sign, first at 12 years old, then at 24, then 36, 48, 60, and so on. (See Diagram 3)

For example, say that there is a natal chart with Cancer rising. For the first year of the native’s life, the sign Cancer is activated, and thus the Moon becomes the lord of the year. In the second year of the native’s life, starting on their first solar return, the next sign in zodiacal order, Leo, is activated, and the Sun becomes the ruler of the second year. The following year, Virgo is activated, so Mercury becomes the lord of the year, and so on.

The importance of this technique lies in this basic premise: Whatever events or circumstances a planet indicates will happen in a person’s life, based on its placement and condition in the natal chart, will occur when that planet becomes activated as a time-lord. Within the context of the dasha systems, Indian astrologers often summarize this principle with the maxim: “Whatever a planet promises in a natal chart will be delivered in the year in which the planet is activated,” and this is very much the spirit of the Hellenistic approach to time-lords as well. So, if a planet is well placed and promises good things, then the years in which that planet is activated are the ones in which good things will occur in the native’s life. On the other hand, if a planet is poorly placed and promises bad things, then the years in which it is activated are the ones in which bad things will occur in the native’s life. This is why it is important to apply all of the basic concepts first in order to come to a complete understanding of the condition of each planet in the natal chart, since you can’t make a prediction about what will happen when a planet is activated unless you understand exactly what that planet is saying about the person’s life.

Let’s use film director Francis Ford Coppola as an example. Some planets in his chart are very well placed, and some are very poorly placed. (See Diagram 4) Thus, we would expect that the years in which the well placed planets are activated as time-lords would be positive ones for him, and the years in which the poorly placed planets are activated would be difficult ones for him. As it turns out, there are two particular sets of years that illustrate this point nicely.

The filming of the movie The Godfather took place between late March and early August 1971, followed by several months of editing and post­ production work. Most of this time co­incided with a Virgo profection year for Coppola, which began when he turned 32 years old on April 7, 1971. This activated his natal Mercury as the time-lord of the year. Mercury is not the worst planet in his chart, but it is not very well placed since it is retrograde, under the beams of the Sun, co­present 3 with Saturn, and is being overcome by a superior square (see Part 1) from Mars. As it turns out, the production of The Godfather was actually a difficult period for him. According to Coppola:

The Godfather was a very unappreciated movie when we were making it. They [the film studio] were very unhappy with it. They didn’t like the cast. They didn’t like the way I was shooting it. I was always on the verge of getting fired. So it was an extremely nightmarish experience. I had two little kids, and the third one was born during that ... [W]hen it was all over I wasn’t at all confident that it was going to be successful, and that I’d ever get another job.4

The movie was released the following year, in March 1972, shortly before Coppola’s next solar return, when he moved into his 10th­ house Libra profection year. The Libra profection activated his natal Venus as the lord of the year, which is the most well­ placed planet in his chart, being a benefic planet, of the sect in favor in a night chart (see Part 1), in the sign of its exaltation, in one of the good houses that are configured to the Ascendant, co­present with Jupiter, and in aversion 5 to the malefic that is contrary to the sect (Saturn). The movie was a great success after its release, receiving numerous awards as well as widespread critical and public acclaim, and firmly establishing Coppola as one of the leading directors in Hollywood.

This theme of stark shifts in Coppola’s experience of certain years, based on which planets were activated, would become a pattern for him, with the most famous example occurring later in the same decade. Filming for the movie Apocalypse Now began in March 1976, shortly before Coppola turned 37 years old and moved into an Aquarius profection year. In his chart, Aquarius is ruled by a poorly placed Saturn, which is a malefic planet, contrary to the sect in a night chart, in the sign of its fall or depression, being overcome via a superior square from Mars, in aversion to both of the benefics, and under the beams of the Sun. This year in which Saturn was activated as the lord of the year is publicly known as one of the most difficult years of Coppola’s life, due to a widely publicized series of unfortunate events, difficulties, and setbacks surrounding the filming of Apocalypse Now. Shortly after filming began, he was forced to replace one of the lead actors. Then, a few months later, a typhoon swept through the area of the Philippines where filming was taking place, destroying some parts of the set and forcing production to close down for several weeks. Coppola also had to contend with the theft of the cast’s payroll, a lead actor returning from the filming hiatus so seriously overweight that the end of the film had to be rewritten, and finally one of the lead actors having a heart attack. The problems surrounding the production of the film were so numerous that Coppola’s wife later released a documentary chronicling all of the issues that arose.

Much of the following two years were spent in post­production; the film was finally released in the summer of 1979, after Coppola had moved into a Taurus profection year, and his well­ placed natal Venus was once again activated as the lord of the year. The film received widespread public acclaim, reaffirming Coppola’s position as one of Hollywood’s foremost directors, despite the notoriously difficult production of the film.

Annual Profections and Transits

While there are sometimes similarities and repetitions of certain themes when the same planets are activated as time-lords according to Annual Profections, there are also differences, sometimes major ones, and these differences can usually be seen by studying the transits to a person’s chart in a given year. This brings us to an important point regarding Annual Profections: When a planet becomes the lord of the year, it becomes activated both in its natal placement and in its transits.

What this means is that when a planet is activated as a time-lord, it is not just that the natal potential of that placement is being drawn out, but also that the transits both to and from that planet will be more significant during that time period. For example, if Jupiter is activated as the lord of the year in a given chart, then any transiting aspects made to natal Jupiter in that year will be more important than usual, and also any aspects that transiting Jupiter himself makes will also be more important as well.

This concept, which is missing from modern transit theory, is crucial because it allows us to pinpoint which transits will be most significant and will actually coincide with specific events in a given year. This is why astrologers often have the experience of seeing what they think is an important transit coming up in the near future, but then having it go by without anything noteworthy happening. The reason is that, in order for a transit to result in a specific event, the planet involved must be activated as a time-lord.

To illustrate this concept, we will use the chart of filmmaker George Lucas, who is famous for movies such as the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series. (See Diagram 5) Earlier in his life, before he got into filmmaking, Lucas wanted to become a professional race-car driver, and he spent a lot of time in high school driving cars and taking part in races. However, when he turned 18, he went into a Scorpio profection year, activating Mars as the lord of the year. About a month later, on June 12, 1962, transiting Mars moved into an exact conjunction with his natal Venus at 11° Taurus in the 1st house, which is the ruler of his Ascendant, and on that day he was involved in a major car accident in which he almost died. In this way, one of the most important transits of the year was highlighted because the transiting planet involved was Mars. Interestingly, on the same day, transiting Venus was in the process of forming a conjunction with his natal Mars, providing part of the necessary mitigation that helped to ensure that he would survive the wreck. After this event, Lucas lost interest in racing cars and went to college, where he eventually became interested in filmmaking.

In this way, Annual Profections can be a very powerful tool for identifying important periods in a person’s life, especially when combined with transits. The ability to integrate this with transits in order to identify the most significant ones in a given year provides a useful example of how Hellenistic astrology can sometimes enhance techniques and theories that are still in use today.

Although beyond the scope of this article, there are more advanced approaches to Annual Profections that involve starting from different points in the chart, as well as different rules for determining which planets become activated in a given year.

Lots

Before discussing this article’s second time-lord technique, I need to digress a bit and talk about a separate technical concept that is a necessary prerequisite. This is the concept of “Lots,” which are often known in modern times as “Arabic Parts.” As it turns out, the Arabian astrologers of the Medieval period inherited this concept from the earlier Hellenistic tradition, so the term “Arabic Parts” is actually a misnomer. For that reason, I will use the older Hellenistic designation of “Lots” rather than “Arabic Parts” in the rest of this article.

A Lot is a mathematical point in a chart that carries a specific set of significations or topics. For example, the Lot of Fortune was often associated with the body of the native, while the Lot of Spirit was associated with the mind. There are also other Lots that signify things like children, parents, success, strife, and other such topics.

Lots are usually derived by measuring the distance between two planets in a chart and then measuring out the same distance from the degree of the Ascendant. For example, in a day chart the Lot of Fortune is calculated by measuring the shortest distance from the degree of the Sun to the degree of the Moon, then measuring the same distance from the degree of the Ascendant, moving in the same direction as the measurement from the Sun to the Moon.

Let’s use Al Gore’s chart as an example. (See Diagram 6) He has a day chart with the Sun at 10° Aries, the Moon at 3° Capricorn, and the Ascendant at 4° Leo. To find the Lot of Fortune in a day chart, we measure the shortest distance from the Sun to the Moon, and then the same distance from the Ascendant. When we measure the distance from Gore’s Aries Sun to his Capricorn Moon, we find that there are approximately 97 degrees between the two. We then take this 97 degrees and measure out the same distance from the degree of the Ascendant, going in the same direction as we did when we measured the shortest distance from the Sun to the Moon, which in this instance is clockwise. Measuring 97 degrees from the degree of the Ascendant going clockwise brings us to 27° Aries, which is approximately where the Lot of Fortune is located in this chart.

Most Lots follow this general formula of measuring the distance between two points in the chart and then measuring the same distance from the degree of the Ascendant. The nature of the Lot itself is usually derived from two factors: (1) the nature of the two planets involved in the calculation, and (2) the order in which the two planets are measured, insomuch as you are counting the number of degrees from planet A to planet B, or from planet B to planet A. For most Lots, it actually makes a difference which planet you start from and whether you are counting from A to B, or B to A.

The two most widely used Lots in the Hellenistic tradition were the Lot of Fortune and the Lot of Spirit. Here are the formulas used to calculate those two Lots:

The Lot of Fortune

Day chart: Measure the distance from the Sun to the Moon, and then measure the same distance from the Ascendant.

Night chart: Measure the distance from the Moon to the Sun, and then measure the same distance from the Ascendant.

The rationale underlying the calculation is that, in both instances, you start from the luminary that is of the sect in favor during that part of the day, and then you measure the distance to the luminary contrary to the sect in favor during that part of the day. In this way, the calculation for the Lot of Fortune symbolically mimics a process of moving from light to darkness. Darkness then becomes the primary concept underlying the significations associated with the Lot of Fortune.

The Lot of Spirit

Day chart: Measure the distance from the Moon to the Sun, and then measure the same distance from the Ascendant.

Night chart: Measure the distance from the Sun to the Moon, and then measure the same distance from the Ascendant.

The rationale underlying the calculation of the Lot of Spirit is that, in both instances, you start from the luminary that is contrary to the sect during that particular part of the day, and then you measure the distance to the luminary that is of the sect in favor. In this way, the calculation for the Lot of Spirit symbolically mimics a process of moving from darkness to light. For this reason, the concept of light becomes the primary theme underlying the significations associated with the Lot of Spirit.

Most of the significations associated with the Lots are derived from the basic distinction of Fortune being associated with darkness and Spirit with light. For our purposes, the most important signification associated with each Lot as a result of this distinction is that the Lot of Spirit is associated with the mind and the intellect, while the Lot of Fortune is associated with the body and the physical incarnation. There are also other relevant associations, such as the Lot of Spirit having to do with deliberate choices and actions that the native takes of his own volition, while the Lot of Fortune is related to circumstances that are outside of the native’s control. All of this becomes relevant within the context of the second timing technique, which utilizes these two Lots as its starting points.

Zodiacal Releasing

With transits and progressions, astrologers are able to study time periods in a person’s life that last for days, months, or even years. But how do we account for longer periods of time and for phases in a person’s life that can sometimes last for decades? This is where some of the more advanced time­ lord techniques of the Hellenistic tradition come in handy.

In the fourth book of his Anthology, the 2nd ­century astrologer Vettius Valens outlines a powerful time-lord technique that has come to be known as Zodiacal Releasing.6 Zodiacal Releasing is used to divide a native’s life into distinct segments or spans of time. You can think of this as separating the native’s life into chapters and paragraphs, as if the entirety of the life itself were a book with a continuous narrative. Whereas Annual Profections are limited to the study of individual years, Zodiacal Releasing can provide information about entire decades of a native’s life. Moreover, once the chapters have been divided, Zodiacal Releasing can be used to identify some of the high and low points during the course of the story, as well as which chapters are the most important within the context of the book as a whole.

Calculating Zodiacal Releasing Periods

In Zodiacal Releasing, each sign of the zodiac is assigned a certain number of years based on the planetary period of the sign’s ruling planet. For example, Aries is ruled by Mars, and the planetary period of Mars is 15 years. Therefore, within the context of Zodiacal Releasing, the number of years associated with the sign Aries is 15. Taurus is ruled by Venus, which has a planetary period of 8 years, so the period associated with the sign Taurus is 8, and so on. Cancer is 25 years, Leo is 19 years, Virgo and Gemini are 20 years, Libra and Taurus have 8 years, Scorpio and Aries have 15 years, Sagittarius and Pisces have 12 years, Capricorn has 27 years, and Aquarius has 30 years. These are the periods associated with each sign within the context of Zodiacal Releasing. (See Diagram 7)

To calculate a native’s Zodiacal Releasing periods, you must first determine where the Lot of Fortune and the Lot of Spirit are in the chart. These two Lots are the starting points for the technique, just as the Ascendant is used as the primary starting point for Annual Profections.

The Lot that you start from provides the context for the timing periods that are produced. If you want to study the native’s career and life direction, you must calculate the Lot of Spirit and use the sign that it is located in as the starting point. However, if you want to study periods related to the native’s body and health, then you calculate the Lot of Fortune and use the sign that it is located in as the starting point. One important exception to this is that, if the Lots of Spirit and Fortune fall in the same sign in a chart, then for the purposes of Zodiacal Releasing you move the Lot of Spirit forward one sign. This rule is outlined by Valens, and although it seems a bit strange, it works quite well in practice.

Whatever sign the Lot you are studying falls in, that sign and its ruler become activated for the number of years associated with that sign. Once the native has completed the number of years associated with the sign that the Lot is located in, the next sign in zodiacal order becomes activated. Once the native has completed the number of years associated with that sign, you then move to the following sign in zodiacal order, which becomes activated for the number of years associated with it, and so on. In this way, the technique is similar to Annual Profections, in that it moves from sign to sign in zodiacal order; the difference is that Zodiacal Releasing moves through the signs at a variable rate depending on the planetary period associated with each sign.

Here is an example using George W. Bush’s chart. (See Diagram 8) To study time periods related to his career, we would start from the Lot of Spirit, which is in Taurus in his chart. Taurus is ruled by Venus, which has an 8-year period, so for the first 8 years of Bush’s life, Taurus and Venus would be activated, from when he was born in 1946 until the period is completed in 1954. Once these 8 years have elapsed, Taurus ceases to be the active sign, and the following sign, Gemini, becomes activated for the number of years associated with it. Once the 20­year period of Gemini is completed, the next sign, Cancer, becomes activated for 25 years. After the 25 years of Cancer are completed, Leo becomes activated for 19 years. This process continues for as long as the native is alive, jumping from sign to sign in zodiacal order.

Table 1: Bush’s Zodiacal Releasing Periods
Taurus	07/06/1946
Gemini	05/25/1954
Cancer	02/09/1974
Leo	10/01/1998
Virgo	06/23/2017

What you end up with is a list of years in which certain signs are activated. Some of these periods are quite long, so most people only make it through a few signs during the course of their life. Bush’s periods would look like this (see Table 1).

Sub-periods

Within each of these general periods, there are also sub-periods that are assigned a certain number of months, based on the same planetary periods. For example, Cancer becomes 25 months instead of 25 years, Leo becomes 19 months rather than 19 years, Virgo and Gemini become 20 months rather than 20 years, and so on.

Table 2: Bushʹs First Sub-periods
Taurus L1*	07/06/1946
	Taurus L2**: 07/06/1946 (8 months)
	Gemini L2: 03/03/1947 (20 months)
	Cancer L2: 10/23/1948 (25 months)
	Leo L2: 11/12/1950 (19 months)
	Virgo L2: 06/04/1952 (20 months)
	Libra L2: 01/25/1954 (8 months)
Gemini L1	05/25/1954
Cancer L1	02/09/1974
Leo L1	10/01/1998
Virgo L1	06/23/2017

These sub-periods take place within the general periods, beginning with the sign that is activated on the yearly level. For instance, when a 25-year Cancer period begins, the first sub­period within that is a 25-month Cancer period. Once the 25-month Cancer sub-period is finished, it moves to the next sign, Leo, for 19 months. Then Virgo begins, lasting for 20 months, and so on. The sub-periods continue to move around the zodiac, activating each sign, until the general period is completed. To give an example of what this looks like, here are the sub-periods within Bush’s first 8­year Taurus period (see Table 2).

So, at any one time in a person’s life, there can be multiple signs activated, relative to a specific Lot: a general period (Level 1) and a sub-period (Level 2). It is important to note here that, in Zodiacal Releasing, general periods are calculated using idealized 360­day years and sub-periods using idealized 30-day months, so that the sub­periods are exactly 1/12th of the general periods.7

The sub­periods can also be divided into third and fourth levels to study even smaller divisions of weeks and days, but for the purposes of this article we will focus only on the first­ and second­ level periods.

Interpreting Zodiacal Releasing Periods

Once you have determined that a specific sign is activated in someone’s chart, you can look at three things to find the implications for their life during that period of time:

1. The nature of any planets in the sign that is activated.
2. The nature of any planets that are configured to the activated sign either by opposition or square.
3. The nature and condition of the planet ruling the sign activated.

Here, we will focus on the first two points, since I’ve found that planets either located in or aspecting the active sign by hard aspect are often the most relevant factors in determining the quality of a period.

When trying to determine the nature of a native’s Zodiacal Releasing periods, the first step is to identify what the most positive and negative periods will be in the person’s life. To do this, you must first identify the benefic planet of the sect in favor and the malefic that is contrary to the sect. As noted in Part 1 of this series, these planets would be Jupiter and Mars in a day chart or Venus and Saturn in a night chart. This brings us to our first interpretive rule:

(1) The signs that either contain or are configured by square or opposition to the benefic that is of the sect in favor will coincide with some of the most positive periods in the native’s life when they are activated.

The corollary to this rule is:

(2) The signs that either contain or are configured by square or opposition to the malefic that is contrary to the sect in favor will coincide with some of the most negative periods in the native’s life when they are activated.

Note that the emphasis here is on the most positive and negative planets in the chart, since these two planets tend to denote some of the most unambiguously positive or negative periods during the course of the life. Although the activation of the signs configured to the benefic that is contrary to the sect will sometimes coincide with positive periods, these periods are generally not the most positive. Similarly, the activation of the signs configured to the malefic that is of the sect in favor will sometimes coincide with periods of difficulty, but these periods tend to be relatively mild compared to those of the malefic that is contrary to the sect. Thus, the starkness of the periods associated with the most benefic and most malefic planets in the chart allows you to very quickly identify some of the most favorable and unfavorable times in the native’s life.

When using the Zodiacal Releasing technique with the Lot of Spirit, the periods will generally be favorable or unfavorable within the context of the native’s career and life direction, whereas when using the Zodiacal Releasing technique with the Lot of Fortune, the findings will be within the context of the native’s health and general circumstances.

We will use actor Charlie Sheen’s chart to demonstrate this concept. (See Diagram 9) His Lot of Spirit is in Virgo, so we begin from that sign in order to study his career periods. Table 3 shows us his general periods.

Table 3: Sheen’s Zodiacal Releasing Periods
Virgo L1	09/04/1965
Libra L1	05/22/1985
Scorpio L1	04/10/1993
Sagittarius L1	01/22/2008
Capricorn L1	11/20/2019

Sheen began his professional career as an actor and started appearing in films in the mid 1980s. This coincided with the beginning of his 8-year Libra period in Zodiacal Releasing from Spirit. The only planet in this sign is Venus, who happens to be the benefic of the sect in favor, since this is a night chart. No malefics are making a hard aspect to this sign, so we would expect this to be a very positive period for the native, as indeed it was. He appeared in a number of films during this period, and by the time the 8-year Venus period was over, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 1993, Sheen moved into a new 15-year Scorpio period. In his chart, Scorpio contains Mars, which is in its own sign, and the only other planet making a hard aspect to this sign is Mercury in Leo. Mars is a malefic, but since this is a night chart, the negative significations of Mars are restrained, to the extent that it only presented a few surmountable difficulties during the course of this period. During this 15-year period, Charlie Sheen reached what may have been the peak of his career, for reasons we will discuss later.

In 2008, this 15-year Scorpio period came to a close, and he began a 12­year Sagittarius period. The only benefic configured to Sagittarius by a hard aspect is Jupiter in Gemini, but Jupiter is contrary to the sect and thus not as beneficent as it could be. Conversely, the only malefic that is configured to Sagittarius is Saturn, who is contrary to the sect and thus the most difficult planet in the chart. Just based on the presence of Saturn in Pisces, we know that the mutable periods will tend to be the most difficult for Sheen, because the activation of those signs will always activate Saturn. When Sheen ended the 15­year Scorpio period and began the Sagittarius period, he was the most highly paid actor on television, starring in the popular sitcom Two and a Half Men. However, just a couple of years into this Sagittarius period, he began sabotaging himself due to substance abuse issues. This eventually culminated in early 2011 when he was fired from the sitcom and replaced.

In this way, Spirit periods are able to describe not just the circumstances surrounding one’s career and success, but also sometimes the native’s own acts of personal volition. In this case, the native’s actions became self-destructive shortly after one of the more difficult malefic periods began.

Angularity from Fortune

Sheen’s chart is also a useful example because it highlights one of the most interesting facets of the technique: the ability to identify high points in a person’s career. In Valens’ exposition of Zodiacal Releasing, he tells the reader to pay special attention to periods when the releasing from the Lot of Spirit comes to the angular signs (1st, 4th, 7th, or 10th) relative to the Lot of Fortune, as these will be periods of eminence and notoriety.8 This is related to the common Hellenistic practice of using the Lot of Fortune in order to create a set of derivative Whole Sign houses, where the sign of Fortune becomes an alternate 1st house, the second sign from Fortune becomes an alternate 2nd house, and so on. At this point in his treatise, Valens specifically says that, within the context of Zodiacal Releasing, the angles from the Lot of Fortune are more powerful than the angles from the Ascendant. As it turns out, when the technique is applied to modern charts, the periods in which the angles from the Lot of Fortune are activated usually do tend to coincide with pivotal periods of heightened importance and activity in the native’s life. I refer to these periods when the angles from Fortune are activated as “peak periods.” The most significant ones occur when the native reaches a general period in which the sign is angular (1st, 4th, 7th, or 10th sign) from the Lot of Fortune, but these peaks can also be quite significant when activated in the sub-periods as well.

In the above example, Charlie Sheen has the Lot of Fortune in Aquarius, so his major peak period occurred when the releasing from the Lot of Spirit reached Scorpio for 15 years, which is the 10th sign from his Lot of Fortune. This period lasted from 1993 until 2008, and according to the technique, this should have been the most active and important period for him within the context of his career.

Going back to our first example with George W. Bush’s chart, we can see that he also hit a peak period during the high point of his career and eminence. With his Lot of Fortune in Scorpio, he reached his peak period when the releasing from Spirit reached Leo, the 10th sign from Fortune, beginning in 1998, shortly before he first ran for president.

Looking at angles from the Lot of Fortune is not the only technique that is used to determine periods of heightened importance and activity; however, it can be a useful tool when analyzing charts in order to help identify some of the most pivotal times in a native’s life.

The Loosing of the Bond

One particularly strange but important facet of Zodiacal Releasing is something that Valens calls the “loosing of the bond” or the “breaking of the sequence.” A loosing of the bond occurs in periods of longer duration where the general period is long enough to allow the sub­periods to repeat themselves. For example, within a 20­year Gemini period, the sub-periods begin with a 20-month Gemini period, then shift to a 25-month Cancer period, then 19 months of Leo, and so on. Eventually, the sub­periods will return back to where they started, in Gemini, but instead of starting the cycle over again with that sign, according to Valens you jump to the opposite sign from the general period and then continue the sub-period distribution from there. This jump is referred to as a loosing of the bond or breaking of the sequence because it literally breaks the order of signs activated in the sub-periods, starting the cycle over again at the halfway point. This occurs in any signs that have periods longer than 17 years, the approximate time it takes for the sub-periods to complete one cycle.

Here is an example using Al Gore’s chart again. Gore has the Lot of Spirit in Scorpio and Fortune in Aries. (See Diagram 10) He entered a 27­year peak period in Zodiacal Releasing from the Lot of Spirit when he reached Capricorn in 1974, which is the 10th sign relative to his Lot of Fortune. Shortly after he started this 27­year peak period, he began his career in politics, first deciding to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976.

Table 4: Al Goreʹs Zodiacal Releasing Periods
Scorpio L1	03/31/1948
Sagittarius L1	01/12/1963
Capricorn L1	11/10/1974
	Capricorn L2: 11/10/1974
	Aquarius L2: 01/28/1977
	Pisces L2: 07/17/1979
	Aries L2: 07/11/1980
	Taurus L2: 10/04/1981
	Gemini L2: 06/01/1982
	Cancer L2: 01/22/1984
	Leo L2: 02/10/1986
	Virgo L2: 09/03/1987
	Libra L2: 04/25/1989
	Scorpio L2: 12/21/1989
	Sagittarius L2: 03/16/1991
	Cancer L2: 03/10/1992 LB (Loosing of the Bond)
	Leo L2: 03/30/1994
	Virgo L2: 10/21/1995
	Libra L2: 06/12/1997
	Scorpio L2: 02/07/1998
	Sagittarius L2: 05/03/1999
	Capricorn L2: 04/27/2000
Aquarius L1	06/21/2001

As you can see in Table 4, after he entered this 27­year Capricorn period, he slowly began moving through each of the sub-periods over the course of the next two decades, starting first with Capricorn for 27 months, then Aquarius for 30, Pisces for 12, etc. Eventually in 1991, the sub-periods reached Sagittarius, the last sign before returning to where the cycle started in Capricorn. However, when the 12-month Sagittarius period was completed, instead of starting the cycle over again at Capricorn, there was a jump to the opposite sign, Cancer. This 25­month Cancer period that occurred after the jump is the loosing of the bond. A few months after Gore’s loosing of the bond began in March 1992, he was selected as Bill Clinton’s running mate for the 1992 U.S. presidential election; later that year, he and Clinton were elected to office.

The loosing of the bond is important because it generally indicates a major transition in the native’s life. Within the context of Zodiacal Releasing from the Lot of Spirit, this is usually a major transition in the native’s career or life direction. Within the context of releasing from Fortune, it is sometimes a transition in the native’s health or general circumstances.

A good example of a loosing of the bond in Zodiacal Releasing from the Lot of Fortune is in the chart of Princess Diana. (See Diagram 11) Diana has a day chart with Mars in Virgo, so we know that the mutable signs will be the most difficult for her when they become activated. With the Lot of Fortune in Leo, the first 19 years of her life were in that sign. (See Table 5)

Table 5: Princess Dianaʹs Zodiacal Releasing Periods
Leo L1	07/01/1961
Virgo L1	03/23/1980
	Virgo L2: 03/23/1980
	Libra L2: 11/13/1981
	Scorpio L2: 07/11/1982
	Sagittarius L2: 10/04/1983
	Capricorn L2: 09/28/1984
	Aquarius L2: 12/17/1986
	Pisces L2: 06/04/1989
	Aries L2: 05/30/1990
	Taurus L2: 08/23/1991
	Gemini L2: 04/19/1992
	Cancer L2: 12/10/1993
	Leo L2: 12/30/1995
	Pisces L2: 07/22/1997 LB (Loosing of the Bond)
	Aries L2: 07/17/1998
	Taurus L2: 10/10/1999
Libra L1	12/09/1999

After that 19-year Leo period was completed in 1980, the releasing moved to Virgo for 20 years and activated the natal Mars placement in this sign. Her year-long loosing of the bond took place 17 years into this period, when the sub-periods jumped from Virgo to Pisces. This period began on July 22, 1997, a little more than a month before she died in a car accident in Paris on August 31, 1997.

The last chart that I want to mention here in connection with the loosing of the bond is that of President Barack Obama (Diagram 12), since he will be a good example of what happens when someone has a loosing of the bond after they have already reached the top of their career. Obama is currently in the middle of a 30-year Aquarius period that began in 2000. (See Table 6)

Table 6: Obamaʹs Zodiacal Releasing Periods
Sagittarius L1	08/05/1961
Capricorn L1	06/03/1973
Aquarius L1	01/13/2000
	Aquarius L2: 01/13/2000
	Pisces L2: 07/01/2002
	Aries L2: 06/26/2003
	Taurus L2: 09/18/2004
	Gemini L2: 05/16/2005
	Cancer L2: 01/06/2007
	Leo L2: 01/25/2009
	Virgo L2: 08/18/2010
	Libra L2: 04/09/2012
	Scorpio L2: 12/05/2012
	Sagittarius L2: 02/28/2014
	Capricorn L2: 02/23/2015
	Leo L2: 05/13/2017 LB (Loosing of the Bond)
	Virgo L2: 12/04/2018
	Libra L2: 07/26/2020
	Scorpio L2: 03/23/2021
	Sagittarius L2: 06/16/2022
	Capricorn L2: 06/11/2023
	Aquarius L2: 08/29/2025
	Pisces L2: 02/15/2028
	Aries L2: 02/09/2029
Pisces L1	08/08/2029

He will have a loosing of the bond in Zodiacal Releasing from the Lot of Spirit starting in May 2017, which will last for 19 months. This indicates that he is due for a major career transition just five years from now. One explanation for why Obama would have a major career transition in 2017 is that, if he were to be re-elected to the presidency in 2012, then his second term of office would come to an end in early 2017 when the new president is sworn in. Thus, Obama’s loosing of the bond would coincide with his transition from being the current president to being a former president. Based on this, I have been under the impression for the past few years that he will be re-elected in late 2012.

Concluding Remarks

The benefit of studying Hellenistic astrology — and traditional astrology in general — lies in the twofold process of understanding the original motivation behind many of the techniques and concepts that astrologers still use today, as well as recovering techniques that were lost during the course of the transmission over the past 2,000 years. This is not done simply for antiquarian purposes, but rather because the ideas and techniques that have been recovered have real value and application for astrologers today.

In some instances, we can recover concepts that can enhance techniques that we already use today, as with using Annual Profections in order to identify important transits. In other instances, we can recover techniques that can do things that we didn’t even know were possible, such as using Zodiacal Releasing to time peak periods in a person’s career.

For obvious reasons, these discoveries have generated quite a bit of excitement in certain quarters of the astrological community in recent times. I hope that, with this introduction, I have been able to demonstrate the value and appeal that the study of this tradition has for astrological practitioners today — and why I and many others have come to the conclusion that by looking back into the past, we can create a better astrology for the future.

More information about Zodiacal Releasing can be found in this recent overview/podcast by Chris Brennan:
http://theastrologypodcast.com/2019/02/11/zodiacal-releasing-an-ancient-timing-technique/
Create your hellenistic chart, including Zodiacal Releasing information here.

Chart data and sources:
(in alphabetical order)
George W. Bush, July 6, 1946; 7:26 a.m. EDT; New Haven, CT, USA (41°N18', 72°W56'); AA: birth certificate.
Francis Ford Coppola, April 7, 1939; 1:38 a.m. EST; Detroit, MI, USA (42°N19', 83°W02'); AA: birth certificate.
Diana, Princess of Wales, July 1, 1961; 7:45 p.m. GDT; Sandringham, England (52°N40', 00°E30'); A: mother’s memory.
Al Gore, March 31, 1948; 12:53 p.m. EST; Washington, D.C., USA (38°N54', 77°W02'); AA: birth certificate.
George Lucas, May 14, 1944; 5:40 a.m. PWT; Modesto, CA, USA (37°N39', 121°W00'); AA: birth certificate.
Barack Obama, August 4, 1961; 7:24 p.m. AHST; Honolulu, HI, USA (21°N18', 157°W51'); AA: birth certificate.
Charlie Sheen, September 3, 1965; 10:48 p.m. EDT; New York, NY, USA (40°N42', 74°W00'); A: Linda Clark quotes him.

Notes and References:
1. I would like to thank Shannon Garcia, Patrick Watson, and especially Leisa Schaim for their help and feedback in writing this article. I would also like to thank Tem Tarriktar and Nan Geary for their help and patience with the writing process.
2. Vettius Valens, Anthology, book 4, 17: 2, edited in Vettii Valentis Anthologiarum Libri Novem, ed. David Pingree, Teubner (Leipzig), 1986.
3. Co­presence is when two planets are in the same sign together. This is essentially interpreted as a type of sign­based conjunction.
4. Interview with Francis Ford Coppola, Academy of Achievement, June 17, 1994, www. achievement.org/autodoc/page/cop0int­3 (retrieved February 2012).
5. Planets are in aversion when they are in signs that are not configured. This is a positive instance of aversion, since Saturn is not able to aspect Venus.
6. Valens, Anthology, book 4, chapters 4–10. As with most time­lord systems, Valens doesn’t give the technique a specific name, but instead he just refers to it generally as a “releasing” technique that involves the signs that contain the Lots of Fortune and Spirit. The technique originally came to be called Zodiacal Releasing by Robert Schmidt of Project Hindsight.
7. The Zodiacal Releasing periods used in this article were calculated using the software program Delphic Oracle by Curtis Manwaring of Zoidiasoft Technologies.
8. Valens, Anthology, 4, 7: 14–17.

Image sources:
All diagrams provided by the author
Other illustration: CC0 Creative Commons, via pixabay.com

First published in: The Mountain Astrologer, Apr/May 2012.

Author:
Chris Brennan is a professional astrologer from Denver, Colorado, USA. He is the former President of the Association for Young Astrologers, and former Research Director of the National Council for Geocosmic Research. Since 2012 he has been the host of The Astrology Podcast. He specializes in ancient astrology, and is the author of a book on the subject titled Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune. For more information visit his website www.ChrisBrennanAstrologer.com.

© 2012/19 - Chris Brennan - published by The Mountain Astrologer

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