When reading the translated works of ancient astrologers, such as Vettius Valens, one of the things that stands out is the lists of significations for planets and signs. These are usually an overwhelming barrage of words and phrases that range from simple and tangible to complex and conceptual. The lists are usually quite generous, as well, especially when compared to modern/contemporary significations, which seem to strive for a few concise descriptors , which can then be broadened and expanded by unpacking. To use a modern analogy: the contemporary approach is like a compressed ZIP file; while the ancient approach is like a folder full of loose files.
We moderns tend to resist this untidiness, and so It is the contemporary tendency to want to impose order, where none seems to exist, by organizing, and striving toward portability and conciseness. This is done by eliminating the seemingly redundant and archaic. And from the contemporary point of view, there is an obvious merit to this tendency. However, when working with these lists of significations, this tendency can also be a major failing because the compression process and the eventual unpacking effort can allow for variations of interpretation. For example, consider that one of the contemporary significations of the second house is values, as in the things we hold as internal personal values, such as privacy, independence, love of country, loyalty, etc. Yet, for the ancients the second house signified income, possessions, and tangible physical portable things of value, not personal values. It is easy to see the unpacking error if the compressed contemporary signification was labeled ‘what we value’..
But again, who can fault contemporary astrologers? The signification lists are difficult and do not easily lend themselves to rote memorization. There are so many. Valens gives Saturn 72 significations, and assigns 84 to Mercury. Of course we want to enumerate them, bullet list them, reduce their number, and manage them for convenience. But we should resist this tendency because maybe the significations are not meant to be read in a truncated fashion. Perhaps the lists are meant to be read in their entirety, each word and phrase in the list in order, always in order, contiguous, first to last, complete. When read in this persistent contemplative fashion, an image builds in our mind, something upon which we can meditate and contemplate. And extracting a word or a phrase makes the image incomplete . Perhaps, we are literally not looking at the presentation of the significations correctly, and we need to not so much read them but see them, as if they were meant to leave the reader with a mental image, an impression, of what the planet or sign signifies. For your consideration, here are Valens significations for Saturn:
“Saturn makes those born under him petty, malignant, care-worn, self-depreciating, solitary, deceitful, secretive in their trickery, strict, downcast, with a hypocritical air, squalid, black-clad, importunate, sad-looking, miserable, with a nautical bent, plying waterside trades. Saturn also causes humblings, sluggishness, unemployment, obstacles in business, interminable lawsuits, subversion of business, secrets, imprisonment, chains, griefs, accusations, tears, bereavement, capture, exposures of children. Saturn makes serfs and farmers because of its rule over the land, and it causes men to be renters of property, tax farmers, and violent in action. It puts into one’s hands great ranks and distinguished positions, supervisions, management of others’ property, and the fathership of others’ children. Of materials, it rules lead, wood, and stone. Of the limbs of the body, it rules the legs, the knees, the tendons, the lymph, the phlegm, the bladder, the kidneys, and the internal, hidden organs. Saturn is indicative of injuries arising from cold and moisture, such as dropsy, neuralgia, gout, cough, dysentery, hernia, spasms. It is indicative of these syndromes: possession, homosexuality, and depravity. Saturn makes bachelors and widows, bereavements, and childlessness. It causes violent deaths by water, strangulation, imprisonment, or dysentery. It also causes falling on the face. It is the star of Nemesis; it is of the day sect. It is like castor in color and astringent in taste.”
