Ancient astrology was good at predicting. Back in the days before psychology, astrology was perfected as a predictive art. I won’t go into the reasons for its demise here, but thankfully, many of the older philosophies and techniques have been being recovered by skilled astrologer-linguists in recent decades.
Two of the “lost techniques of the ancients” that work particularly well, and which I use in my daily practice are Profections and Firdaria (planetary periods).
Profections
This is a simple and ancient technique, and not to be confused with Secondary Progressions, which is a fairly modern one. It is based on symbolically moving the chart one house per year. So from age 0-1, everyone is in a 1st house year. From age 1-2, all are in a 2nd house year, etc. Every 12 years, we return back to the Ascendent and a 1st house year again. So on birthdays # 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96, we start the 12-year cycle again. There is much more detailed information to be gained by thoroughly employing this technique; for now, I will focus only on the main house for each year. Ideally, it should also be used in conjunction with Solar Returns, but that’s more detail than I want to involve here.
Firdaria
This is a Persian word that comes from the Greek “period” (Greek ‘p’ > ‘f’ in Persian). The basic idea is that we are all subject to the rulership of each of the planets at different points in our lives. The scheme is the same for everyone, with one variation, which I’ll explain in a moment. The planets are used from Saturn inward through the Moon, and each rules a given number of years. Saturn rules 11 years, Jupiter 12, Mars 7, the Sun 10 years, Venus 8, Mercury 13, and the Moon 9. The North and South Lunar Nodes get 3 and 2 years respectively, and are inserted after Mars.
The variation I mentioned is this: Anyone born in the day time starts with the Sun as their ruler (for 10 years) and continues around the circle in order. Anyone born at night time (that is, with the Sun below the horizon in their natal chart) starts their lives with the Moon (for 9 years) and then continues on, clockwise, in order. This brings 75 years, which is a healthy life span for most humans. Each of these periods is subdivided again by 7, and each of the other planets co-rules one of those 7 subdivisions, but I won't go into that more. After age 75, you simply begin again with the Sun or the Moon, depending on the diurnal or nocturnal chart.
Coming next: Part II, the case of Betty WhiteLabels: Firdaria, Modern v Medieval, Planetary Periods, Prediction, Profections