ASTROLOGIA MUNDA - Classical Astrologer Weblog

Book IV – Astrologia Munda
Appendix I
Following are two excerpts. The first is from a treatise by Al Biruni concerning
the concept of «elevation», or what Ramesey inappropriately calls «exaltation».
Excerpt from A Study of an Arabic Treatise entitled
Al Biruni on Transits, by Abū al-Rayhān, Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Bīrūnī (d.1048)
– translated by Mohammad Saffouri & Adnan Ifram. –
«[7:4] the Property of Elevation
[7:5] And associated with that transit 1 is the property of elevation. It is used in longitude in [7:6]
two ways. One is restricted and the other is absolute, The restricted one a consequence of
the westward motion 2 [7:7] characterising the horizon of an assumed abode, 3 and it is that the
planet by it should be [7:8] in the tenth or the eleventh house, and it will rise because of its high
position, there, over [7:9] all planets which are not in one of these two places at that time [7:10]
and at that horizon, because elevation according to this restriction will be given to what is at the
zenith, [7:11] and then (afterwards) to what is at the meridian, which is the extreme of the
moving [7:12] by the westward motion, and the extreme elevation for a
abode. 4 And the eleventh is preferred for its propriety 5 to the [7:13] ninth for its adversity 6 and its
declining, but if they become equally distant from [7:14] the meridian … 7
[7:15] And as to the absolute one, also a consequence of the western motion not
characterising any [7:16] particular horizon. 8 And this is why it is imagined to be a consequence of
the westward . And it is that [7:17] the planet be in the tenth sign of another planet’s sign,
because the tenth [7:18] is the most exalted centre 9 and the place of sovereignty and
capture of everything else. So, on whichever horizon [7:19] this planet may be, by necessity it
must continue in it, the first planet [8:1] will be in its midheaven elevated above it. 10
[8:2] And the
specialists mix this absolute type with the restricted one. [8:3] And they express their two
situations by motion of the strong one in the figure of the assumed horizon, and they use it [8:4]
according to them because the seventh, though it is the tenth of the tenth, is then lower than it
[8:5] and less than it in exaltation.”
1
This is referring to the «transit» of the two superiors, Jupiter and Saturn’s conjunction, when it
changes from one triplicity to another.
2
I.e., the diurnal motion of the signs rising in the east and setting in the west as a result of the earth’s
rotation
3
I.e. a specific geographical position or latitude
4
I.e. locality
5
Lit. ’Coming forward’ – i.e. post-ascending (Greek) or succedent
6
Lit. ”going away” – i.e. decline (Greek) or cadent
7
The sentence is incomplete in the MS.
8
I.e. specific geographical location
9
Or Cardine
10
I.e. the other planet
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