Of Foreign Travel [According to Egyptian Ptolemy]
last updated: 26/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 8, pages 106-108 [London, Davis and Dickson; 1822].
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VIII. Of Foreign Travel
“The topic of foreign travel receives treatment by observing the position of the luminaries to the angles, both of them, but particularly the Moon.”
Strange to our days, Ptolemy instead of pointing out to Jupiter in order to indicate that topic of Foreign Travel, he gives then such power to the Luminaries relative to the angles of the radix, and as he said/wrote, specially the Moon. As my understanding, this particular chapter is a good example of Horary Astrology as well, even when Ptolemy didn’t/won’t point that out, also, you could read it when such configuration may be happening in Directions or even Progressions. The Ingresses of transiting planets then say when such natal promisses will be evident in the native’s life. Read it:
MOON, THE PLANETS, LOT & FOREIGN TRAVEL
| |
Abroad | Investigate |
Change of Place & Journey Abroad | “…For when the Moon is setting [Dsc] or declining from the angles [12th, 9th, 6th, 3rd places], she portends journeys abroad or changes of place. |
Change of Place & Journey Abroad | Mars too sometimes has a similar force, either when he is setting or when he himself also has declined from mid-heaven [9th place], when he is in opposition or quartile to the luminaries. |
Whole Life Abroad | If the Lot of Fortune also falls among the signe that cause travel, the subjects spend their whole lives abroad and will have all their personal relations and business there. |
Quick Return but Successful & Profitable | If beneficent planets regard the aforesaid places or succeed them, their activities abroad will be honorable and profitable and their return quick and unimpeded; |
Laborious, Dangerous Travel & Difficult Return | but if the maleficent planets regard them, their journeys will be laborious, injurious, and dangerous, and the return difficult, |
“…although in every case the mixture of influences is taken into consideration, determined by the dominance of the planets that bear an aspect to these same places, as we explained at first.”
Direction of Journey | Investigate |
East and South of the World | “In general, it happens that, if the luminaries fall in the lower parts of the eastern quadrants, the travel is to the eastern and southern parts of the world, |
North and West of the World | but if in the western quadrants or in the occident itself, to the north and the west; |
The Kind & Time of Journey | Investigate |
Long Intervals & Occasional | “and if the zodiacal signs which caused the travel chance to be those of a single figure, either themselves or the planets that rule them, the journeys will be made at long intervals and upon occasion; [Sun/Moon in any Sign that is not Mutable] |
Continuously and | but if they are Bicorporeal signs [Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces], or of double form, they will travel continuously and for a very long time. |
1. Safe & Pleasant 2. By Aid and Help of Friends & Associations | 1. If Jupiter and Venus are the rulers of the places which govern travel [more specifically the 3rd and 9th places, butI think he also meant the 12th and 6th houses just because of what he wrote at the beginning of the chapter: “…For when the Moon is setting or declining from the angles she portends journeys abroad or changes of place], and of the luminaries [4th and 5th places], they make the journeys not only safe but also pleasant; [from this, I assume not to let the Moon be in the 1st, 2nd, 8th, 10th & 11th places when to travel rather abroad or regional] – 2. for the subjects will be sent on their way either by the chief men of the country or by the resources of their friends, and favorable conditions of weather and abundance of supplies will also aid them. |
Profitable & Honorable | Often, too, if Mercury is added to these, profit, gain, gifts, and |
Saturn + Mars | Investigate |
Great Danger | If Saturn and Mars control the luminaries, however, and particularly if they are in opposition to each other, they will make the results useless and will involve the subject in great dangers, |
Shipwreck, | through unfortunate voyages and shipwreck if they are in watery [Water] signs, or again through hard going and desert places; |
Falling | and if they are in solid signs [Fire], through falling from heights and assaults of winds; |
Improvised & | in the solstitial [Cancer-Capricorn] and equinoctial signs [Aries-Libra], through lack of provisions and unhealthy conditions; |
Robberies & | in the signs [Air] of human form, through piracy, plots, and robberies; |
Animal Attack | in the terrestrial signs [Earth], through the attacks of beasts, or earthquakes, |
Accusations, | and if Mercury is present at the same time, through the weather, dangerous accusations, and, furthermore, through the bites of reptiles and other poisonous creatures. |
Beneficial/Harmful Quality Ahead; Rulers of Houses & Ingresses of the Planets: …The peculiar quality of the events, whether they be beneficial or harmful that is, the differentiation in the cause is observed from the government of the places significant of action, property, body, or dignity, according to our original disposition of them, and the occasions which will to the greatest degree bring about these portended events are judged from the time of the ingresses of the five planets. Such be our general account of the matter.”
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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.)