Of the Quality of Death [According to Egyptian Ptolemy]
last updated: 27/Sep/2021
Note: For references, I utilized the version of the cosmopolitan Tetrabiblos from the anthologist Ptolemy’s four books of the influence of the stars [or the Quadripartite Mathematical Treatise] translated from the Greek paraphrase of Proclus by j. m. Ashmand – more specifically I will refer this article to the Book IV; Chapter 9, pages 108-110 [London, Davis and Dickson; 1822].
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IX. Of the Quality of Death
“Time of Death” in death certificates is actually the time of when Hyleg is met by Killer and Murderous Point or Planet in the radix by Primary Directions. Although antagonist Ptolemy only cites Mars-Saturn as Anaereta more specifically, he does acknowledge other planets could kill under certain conditions, like if the Moon is the Hyleg, the Sun is the murderer as seen in Chapter 10 of Book III etc.
Suicide or natural death? From double fatalities to death by fever and others, Ptolemy makes a brief review on the planetary conditions and by themselves, as well in the signs of the Zodiac, all related to death and quality that shall result from specific configurations. Read it by yourself:
Projection of Rays or Horimaea? “Since after all the others the inquiry concerning the quality of death remains, we shall first determine, through the means furnished by the discussion of the length of life [Book III; Chapter X], whether the destruction will be accomplished by the projection of a ray or by the descent of the significator [Hylegical Place (Horimaea) or Planet] to the occident [7th cusp – Dsc].
Quality of Death from The Murderous Place: …For if the destruction should come about through the projection of rays and occourse [Dsc], it is fitting to observe the place of the occourse in order to determine the quality of the death, but if it occurs by the descent of the significator to the occident [setting by primary direction from the primum mobile], we must observe the occident itself [if the determination of Length of Life involves the Dc, read the Sign on it].
Planet Approaching Such Place & How Death Will Be: For of whatever quality are the planets that are upon the aforesaid places, or, if they are not upon them, the first planets to approach them, such we must understand that the deaths will be,
The Aspecting Planets that Add & Terms of the Zodiac: …while at the same time the planets in aspect by their natures contribute to the complexity of the events, as do also the peculiar characters of the aforesaid destructive places themselves, both through the Signs of the Zodiac and through the nature of the terms.”
THE PLANETS & DEATH
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Planets | Death Through |
Saturn | “Now then, if Saturn holds the lordship of death, he brings about the end through lang illness, phthisis, rheumatism, colliquations, chills and fever, and splenic, dropsical, enteric, or hysteric conditions, and such as arise through excesses of cold. |
Jupiter | Jupiter causes death through strangulation, pneumonia, apoplexy, spasms, headaches, and cardiac affections, and such conditions as are accompanied by irregularity or foulness of breath. |
Mars | Mars kills by means of fevers, continued or intermittent at intervals of one and a half days, sudden strokes, nephritic conditions and those that involve the spitting of blood, hæmorrhages, miscarriages, childbirth, erysipelas, and pestilences, and such diseases as induce death by fever and immoderate heat. |
Venus | Venus causes death by stomachic, hepatic, and intestinal conditions, and furthermore through cancers, fistulas, lichens, taking poisons, and such misfortunes as come about from excess or deficiency of moisture. |
Mercury | Mercury portends death by madness, distraction, melancholy, the falling sickness, epilepsy, diseases accompanied by coughing and raising, and all such ailments as arise from the excess or deficiency of dryness.” |
Natural Death: “Thus, then, those who depart from life in the way described die natural deaths, whenever the lords of death ] happen to be in their own or in kindred natural characters, and if no planet that is able to do injury and to make the end more remarkable overcomes them. [ex. let the Sun be in Leo and is killer of the Moon but no harmful aspects or any aspect from malefics in the radix]
Violent Death: They die, however, by violent and conspicuous means whenever both the evil planets dominate the destructive places, either in conjunction, or in quartile, or in opposition, or also if one of the two, or both, seize upon the Sun, or the Moon, or both the luminaries. [ex. let Saturn-Mars exact conjunct Dsc in the radix and the Hyleg Moon in terms with Mars while descend by Primary Direction (supposed the Dsc was in Taurus) when the native was at the age of 68y and Mars was actually the Anaereta]
In the Woe of Death: The affliction of the death in this case arises from their junction, its magnitude from the testimony of the luminaries, and its quality, again, from the way in which the other planets regard them, and from the signs in which the evil planets are found.”
What will be the type of my or others people’s death? Ahead in the text, Ptolemy cites death from poisonous creatures, from convulsions and even from height trampling in a mob. Will it be a tragic end? Is my/your fate death in the hands of criminals? You sort this out by yourself in your own investigations. What kind of configurations and operation would have to happen in order for a person to be killed and not even have a burial? Read the types of death from Ptolemy’s researches:
Planet | Type of Death + |
Saturn
1.A. Trampling in a Mob 1.B. Wild Beasts
2.A. Public Places 2.B. Death in Prison
3. Bite of Poisonous Creature
2.A.
2.A.
2.A. | 1.A. “For if Saturn is in quartile [square] to the Sun from a sign of the opposite sect, or is in opposition, in the solid signs he causes death by trampling in a mob, or by the noose, or by indurations, and similarly if he is setting and the Moon is approaching him; 1.B. in the signs that have the form of animals, he causes death by wild beasts, – 2. and if Jupiter, who is himself afflicted, bears witness to him, death in public places, or on days of celebration, in fighting with the beasts; 2.B. but in the ascendant, in opposition to either of the luminaries, death in prison. – 3. If he is in aspect to Mercury, and particularly in the neighborhood of the serpents in the sphere, or in the terrestrial signs, he makes men die from the bites of poisonous creatures, – 4.A. and if Venus is present with them, by poisoning and by feminine plots; 4.B. but in Virgo and Pisces, or the watery signs, if the moon is in aspect, by drowning and suffocation in water; in the neighborhood of Argo, as the victims of shipwreck ; in the tropical or four-footed signs, – 5. when Saturn is with the Sun or is in opposition to him, or if he is with Mars instead of the sun, by being caught in the collapse of a house; and if they are in mid-heaven, above or below the earth, by a fall from a height.” |
Mars Suicide, by Enemy or Slaughtered | “If Mars is quartile or in opposition to the Sun or the Moon, from a sign of the other sect, in the signs of human form, he causes the subjects to be slaughtered in civil factions or by the enemy, or to commit suicide, |
Venus Murder of Women | and to die because of women or as murderers of women, whenever Venus testifies to them; |
Mercury
1. In the Hand of Criminals
2. Decapitation or Mutilation
3. In Convulstions, Cutting or Amputation
4. On Stakes
5. Burned Alive
6. Building Collapses, Crushed | 1. and if Mercury also is in aspect to these, he causes death at the bands of pirates, robbers, or criminals; – 2. in the mutilated and imperfect signs, or in the Gorgon of Perseus, death by decapitation or mutilation; – 3. in Scorpio and Taurus, death through cautery, cutting, or amputation by physicians, or death in convulsions; – 4. at mid-heaven or the opposite point, by being set up on stakes, and particularly in Cepheus and Andromeda; – 5. at the occident or in opposition to the horoscope, by being burned alive; – 6. in the quadrupedal signs, death by the collapse of houses, by breaking, or by crushing; |
Jupiter | if Jupiter also bears witness to him and is afflicted at the same time, again the subjects perish conspicuously by condemnation and through the anger of generals or kings.” |
Malefics Mars Saturn Opposite Anaereta
Multiple Fatalities and: “If the maleficent planets are together and in this state are in opposition in same one of the aforesaid significant positions, they work together all the more for the affliction of the death. [I think here he says something like, if the place/planet responsible for the killing/destruction of the Hyleg is actually opposite by Mars-Saturn at the same time in the radix, the torment of the native will be even harder]. In this case the signification of the quality of the death lies with the one that chances to occupy the destructive place, or else the fatal occurrences are multiplied, or doubled, either in quality or in quantity, whenever both have same relation to the destructive places.
No Burial and left in the Wild: Persons with such genitures are even left without burial, and are consumed by wild beasts or birds, whenever the maleficent planets chance to be in signs of such form, if none of the beneficent planets is witnessing to the lower mid-heaven or to the destructive places. Deaths occur in foreign lands if the planets that occupy the destructive places fall in the declining places, and particularly whenever the moon happens to be in, or quartile to, or in opposition to, the aforesaid regions.
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References
Tetrabiblos Ptolemy’s four books of the influence of the stars [or the Quadripartite Mathematical Treatise] translated from the Greek paraphrase of Proclus by j. m. Ashmand – [London, Davis and Dickson; 1822]
Ptolemy. Tetrabiblos. Translated by F. E. Robbins. Loeb Classical Library 435. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1940.
Porphyry The Philosopher – Introduction To The Tetrabiblos & Serapio Of Alexandria; Astrological Definitions (Translated from the Greek by ] James Herschel Holden, M.A.)