The Importance of the Lord of the Orb

The concept of the Lord of the Orb appears repeatedly in medieval and Renaissance texts and was widely used by astrologers of those periods, but it has largely been ignored by English-speaking astrologers. Its importance derives from the role played by the Lord of the Hour in classical astrology. Abu Ali al-Khayyat in The Judgments of Nativities (9th century CE) tells us that Hermes, one of the legendary founders of horoscopic astrology in the centuries before Christ, regarded the planet ruling the hour of birth, aka the Lord of the Hour, to be on a par with the Lord of the Ascendant. According to al-Khayyat, both Lords (of the Asc and of the hour of birth) share the same significations, and the judgement of the nativity is the same from either of them.

Planetary Lords of the Hour, from Theatro del Mundo y del Tiempo (1606)
by Giovanni Paolo Gallucci, 1538-1621?

Understanding that the Lord of the Ascendant has a counterpart in the Lord of the Hour of Birth, classical astrologers incorporated the hour lord into their predictive method of annual profections. To forecast for the year ahead, the astrologer had to determine annual timelord, or the Lord of the Year, which is the planet ruling the profected Ascendant sign, at a rate of one sign per year. Thus, the 1st year of life belongs to the ruler of the rising sign, the 2nd year of life is ruled by the lord of the next sign after the Ascendant, the 3rd year of life has as its timelord the ruler of the third sign as measured from the Ascendant, and so on throughout the life cycle.

The Lord of the Year has a counterpart, the Lord of the Hour of Birth, which is also “profected” in a special way, that is, it is advanced in the Chaldean order of the planets from the slowest to the fastest: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and finally the Moon.

For instance, if Venus were your hour ruler at birth, then Venus would be a participating timelord with the Ascendant-ruler during the 1st year of life. After Venus comes Mercury, so Mercury would be the participating timelord with the ruler of the next sign after the Ascendant during the 2nd year of life, and so on for the rest of your life.

Because there are only 7 visible planets, the Lord of the Orb sequence repeats after every 7 planets. Hence, in our example, Venus rules the hour at birth (age 0) and then again at ages 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and so on. It is easy to calculate the Lord of the Orb at any age. For example, if Venus rules the hour at birth and we want to know at what ages the Moon will be the participating timelord, we simply have to note that the Moon is two planets past Venus in the Chaldean sequence: Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, …, and so on.

In our example, because Venus is a timelord at ages 0, 7 , 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, etc., then the Moon will be a participating timelord (Lord of the Orb) at ages 0+2, 7+2, 14+2, etc., that is, at ages 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 37, 44, and so on. This table should make the method used in the example clearer:

In this table we see that when Venus is the Lord of the Hour of the Nativity, then at age 37 the Moon is the annual Lord of the Orb, which works cooperatively with the Lord of the Year (profected Ascendant ruler) as a timelord for the given year.

To show how this works in practice, let’s look at a chart from the literature. I randomly opened Martin Gansten’s book Annual Predictive Techniques to the chart of a man with congenital lung disease who died in 1996 at age 37 when, owing to his chronic health condition, he contracted pneumonia. Gansten gives the man’s birth data as Wednesday (a Mercury day), December 31, 1958 at 12:40 CET, at 56N03, 12E42.

At age 37, the annual profected rising sign would be the 2nd sign from the Ascendant. We know this because the ruler of the ascending sign is Lord of the year, which has a 12-year cycle, at ages 0, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, and so on. Casting the birth chart of the lung-damaged native in the tropical zodiac, we find 15 Taurus rising. The sign that follows Taurus is Gemini, making Mercury the Lord of the Year of his demise at age 37. The symbolism seems fitting because he died of lung disease.

Next we must determine the Lord of the Orb. Born 40 minutes after Noon, his natal Sun lies in the first half of the Placidus 9th house. Each Placidus House measures two planetary hours. He was born during the 7th hour of the day, a Wednesday. Counting 7 hours in Chaldean order, starting with Mercury at sunrise, we arrive at Venus as the Lord of the Hour of Birth: Mercury (Lord of House at Sunrise of the Birthday), Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus (ruler of the 7th hour, which is the Hour of Birth).

Because Venus ruled his Hour of Birth, at age 37 the Moon becomes the participating timelord of the hour, that is, the annual Lord of the Orb. This is so because at age 35, a multiple of 7, Venus is Lord of the Orb, and at age 37 the Moon is two planets past Venus in the Chaldean sequence.

We conclude that at age 37, when he died, the native’s annual timelords in the tropical zodiac were: Mercury, Lord of the Year, and the Moon, Lord of the Orb. Now, let’s look at the chart to see what these planets signify in the birth chart.

Man with congenital lung disease, tropical zodiac, Placidus houses, true node.

At age 37, the Lord of the Year is the timelord Mercury, which lies in the 8th house of death and conjoins the 8th cusp. Mercury rules the Placidus 3rd cusp (the lungs), the 4th cusp (conditions at the end of life), and the 6th cusp (bodily ailments).

At age 37, the participating timelord, the Lord of the Orb, is the Moon, which occupies the 6th house and conjoins the 6th cusp of illness, and squares the Lord of the Year, Mercury, which lies in the 8th house of death. The Moon is also the ruler of the Ascendant by exaltation and therefore signifies the body and vital force of the native. An annual timelord in the 8th of death (Mercury, Lord of the Year) squaring a participating annual timelord in the 6th of illness (Moon, annual Lord of the Orb) suggests some type of life-threatening health crisis during the year.

The natal Moon applies to make a favorable trine with the natal Ascendant degree and will also trine Mars and sextile Jupiter, which are in opposition across the horizon. Mars is in its debility in Taurus, and Jupiter is ruler of the 8th cusp of death and the 12th of misfortune and suffering. It may be that the trine signifies a welcome death that will put an end to suffering.

In the Solar Return at age 37, Venus lies at 11 Aquarius in square to the Moon at 10 Taurus in the 1st house of the return. Venus rules the natal Asc (which is at 15 Taurus) by domicile, and the Moon rules the natal Asc by exaltation. In the the nativity and the solar return charts, the Moon rules the 4th cusp of the mother. In this case, the man’s mother had the painful experience of discovering her son’s body in his home after he had died of pneumonia. In the solar return the Moon (mother) occupies the 1st house (the native’s body) and closely applies to square Venus (the Asc-ruler of the natal chart and also the natal Lord of the Hour, which Hermes says has the same significations as the ruler of the natal Ascendant).

Solar Return Jupiter lies at 29 Sag 21 in partile conjunction with natal Saturn in the 8th but at the cusp of the 9th. Jupiter rules the 8th cusp of death in both the natal and the solar return charts. It often happens that the 9th house (of God) is activated during the year of one’s demise.

Saturn in the Solar Return lies at 19 Pisces in the unfortunate 12th house in square to natal Mercury (Lord of the Year) at 17 Sagittarius in the natal 8th house.

The Ascendant of the Solar Return lies at 28 Aries 34′, so that Mars rules the 1st house of the return chart. Natally, Mars lies in the 1st and is opposed by 8th-ruler Jupiter from the 7th. In the return chart Mars lies “at the bendings” at 23 Capricorn in square to the Lunar Nodes at 23 Aries & Libra.

Also in the solar return chart, the Sun rules the Leo 6th cusp and is in partile conjunction with the MC.

This example demonstrates the usefulness of the Lord of the Orb in delineating annual profections and solar returns.

Solar Return at age 37 of man with lung disease