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Planetary dignities: domicile, exaltation, detriment, fall

A planet does not behave the same way in every sign, tradition held.

  • dignities
  • domicile and exaltation
  • detriment and fall
The essentials

Essential dignities of the planets at a glance

For you

Dignities measure a planet’s traditional ease in a sign: comfortable, strained, or neutral.

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The signs
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Read the explanation Calculate my rising sign

By Thomas Guilhot · updated

Essential dignities of the planets: the explanation

A planet is in domicile in the sign it rules, as if at home: Mars in Aries, Venus in Taurus.

It is exalted in a sign of honor, where it would be received with respect: the Sun in Aries, the Moon in Taurus, Mercury in Virgo, Venus in Pisces, Mars in Capricorn, Jupiter in Cancer, Saturn in Libra. The opposite signs give detriment, opposite the domicile, and fall, opposite the exaltation.

Lilly, in the 17th century, details five essential dignities: domicile, exaltation, triplicity, term, and face. He gives them decreasing weights from five to one, and counts the corresponding deficits. A planet with no dignity at all is called peregrine. The site calculates the dignities of a chart, from the table of domicile, exaltation, detriment, and fall.

Detriment is not a moral judgment. Tradition sees in it a planet less at ease, whose expression would take more effort; fall, a less supported expression. A planet in dignity is not “good” for that reason, and a planet in detriment is nothing “bad”: it is a reading reference point, reported in the conditional.

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The signs
The diagram
The table of dignities
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Sign rulerships

History, debates, and sources

A little history

Ptolemy sets out the domiciles and exaltations in the Tetrabiblos, in Book I. Dorotheus of Sidon, in the 1st century, gives the rulers of the triplicities, that is, of the groups of elements.

What is debated

Traditional astrologers use the whole table, sometimes to judge a planet’s strength.

Where this concept comes from

The authors and texts that establish or discuss this concept, with the passage when it is known.

Related concepts

To go further

The diagram and how it is calculated

The diagram’s figures are calculated by the site’s engine (Astronomy Engine) or taken from the recorded facts, never copied by hand.

Frequently asked questions: essential dignities of the planets

What is an essential dignity?

It is the position of a planet in a sign that suits it, or not, according to tradition. There are four main situations: domicile, exaltation, detriment, fall. They are used to add nuance to the reading of a planet, never to judge it.

Is a planet in detriment “bad”?

No. Detriment indicates, according to tradition, that a planet is not in its natural register, which can give a more indirect expression. Every chart contains some, and the reading depends on many other elements: aspects, houses, the ruler of the sign.

Where do dignities come from?

From Greek and Roman astrology, systematized by Ptolemy in the 2nd century, then gathered by Arab and medieval authors. William Lilly gave the classic table in 1647. The exaltations are said to have an older, Mesopotamian origin.