Abraham Ibn Ezra - On Elections, Interrogations, and Medical Astrology

I have already explained to you in the Book of the Beginning of

Wisdom all the significations of each of the planets

Seriously considering M¯ash¯a"all¯ah’s warning to the astrologer

not to pronounce judgment on any interrogation if the querent is cheating
or scoffing, and guided by Dorotheus’ deterministic statement that
the configurationof theplanets produces aquestioninthe querent’smind
that corresponds to the celestial configuration, Ibn Ezra devotes the
remainder of the introduction to She"elot I (§§–) to expounding a
series of techniques that would enable the astrologer to know what the
querent is thinking. The assumption is that even when the querent is
cheating, an appropriate study of the celestial configuration will allow
the astrologer to read the querent’s mind.-81 By contrast, the balance of
the introduction to She"elot II is a brief overview of astrology that defines
fundamental tenets and highlights their relevance and application to the
doctrine of interrogations.-82 Not until the end of the introduction to
She"elot II does Ibn Ezra put forward M¯ash¯a"all¯ah’s two procedures for
reading the querent’s mind, which is the main focus of interest of the
introduction to She"elot I.-83

81-In a nutshell, these techniques consist of casting a horoscope at the time of

the
interrogation, choosing a planet that plays the role of ruler of this celestial
configuration
(the Moon is a favorite choice), and then determining what the querent has in his
mind
according to the specific indications of the horoscopic place in which the ruler is
and the
nature of the ruler itself. See She"elot I, §:–, §:– and notes.
82-This concerns the following well-entrenched doctrines: (a) the tripartite
division of
the zodiac signs into fixed, tropical, and bicorporal signs (see She"elot II, §:–
; §:–
and notes); (b) the effect of the planets when they are in the cardines (the first,
fourth,
seventh, and tenth horoscopic places) or close to them (see She"elot II, §:– and
notes);
(c) the effects of the planets when they are direct or retrograde, in the first or
second
station, oriental or occidental of the Sun, with the ray of the Sun’s body or under
the rays
of burning (see She"elot II, §:– and notes); (d) the effects of the planets’
natures (see
She"elot II, §:–); (e) the procedure to be followed when there is more than one
ruler
(see She"elot II, §:–; §:).
83-See She"elot II, §:–; §:–.
In other words,the astrological judgments that apply to human beings in larger
social
and geographical units take precedence over the astrological judgments
pertinent to individuals and their own personal destiny, as dictated by
their nativities.-93

93-This closely echoes the approach adopted by Ibn Ezra in the introduction to
Sefer
ha-Moladot (Book of Nativities), where, drawing on Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos (, II:
, –), he writes: “I state it as a general rule that judgments about
collectives
take precedence over those about individuals.” Next, he demonstrates the
correctness
of the previous statement by presenting eight powerful principles that override the
significations of the native’s personal horoscope. These are: () national or
religious
affiliation; () the place of birth according to the seven climates; () the great
conjunction
of Saturn and Jupiter; () the “revolution of the world”; () the social rank of
the family;
() the authority of the king; () weather; () the power of the wise soul. For the
complete
Hebrew text of the introduction to Sefer ha-Moladot and its corresponding
translation,
see #Olam, , pp. –. For an interpretation of this text, see #Olam, ,
pp. –
.

“The reason that the power of its-saturn body covers nine degrees is the size of
its body, since it is almost of the size of Jupiter; and except for the Sun
no planet is bigger than they are. This is why they said that the light of
the Sun extends fifteen degrees before it and also after it, and #the light#
of the Moon twelve #degrees#, because its light is less the Sun’s. None of
the stars gives as much light as the Moon, except for the Sun.They also
said that the light of Jupiter is nine degrees, like Saturn’s. Because the
body of Mars is smaller than theirs #and# it is closer to the Earth, they
subtracted one degree and said that its light is eight degrees; and Venus
and Mercury are seven degrees. This was the opinion of the Ancients,
and they successfully verified it by experience”

“Ptolemy and
Dorotheus said: we should always try to determine which planet is the
ruler of the native, and this is howwe shall find it.We knowthat the places
of life are five: #The first# two are the positions of the two luminaries,
by day and by night; the third is the position of the conjunction of the
luminaries or their opposition, whichever occurs first before the birth of
the native; the fourth is thedegree of the ascendant; andthe fifth is the lot
of Fortune, as I have explained in the Book of Reasons of the Beginning of
Wisdom. So we assign to the lord of the #planetary# house five portions of
power, and to the lord of the exaltation four #portions of power#, and to
the lord of the triplicity three #portions of power#, and to the lord of the
term two #portions of power#, and to the lord of the decan one #portion
of power#.We proceed likewise regarding any #planet# that exerts some
lordship over any of the five places #of life#. In addition, if it [the ruler of
the nativity] is one of the upper planets and it moves away from the Sun
with its greatest power,we assign to it three portions of power, if #itmoves
away# with an intermediary power, two #portions of power#, and if with
the least power, one #portion of power#. In addition, we shall also take
into account the places, for if #some planet# is in the first place we assign
 portions of powers, in the tenth place  #portions of powers#, in the
seventh #place#  #portions of powers#, in the fourth , in the eleventh
, in the fifth , in the second , in the eighth , in the ninth , in the third
, in the twelfth , in the sixth . And the nature of the lord corresponds
to the nature of the native’s body” (Moladot,MS BNF , f. a). For a
definition of the “five places of life,” see note on She"elot II, §.:.

“I have also verified many

times by experience that the Sun gives an indication about the Christians,
Saturn about the Philistines,Mars about theArabs,Venus about the
Muslims.…I have already said that Saturn gives an indication about the
elderly and slaves, Jupiter about the wealthy and judges,Mars about warriors,
the Sun about kings, Venus about women and eunuchs, Mercury
about adolescents, scholars, and scribes, and the Moon about everyone”

[5]3: The eighth…. place of worries. Cf. Moladot, MS BNF 1053, f. 57a:
“Al-Andruzagar said: the first lord of the first triplicity in
the eighth place signifies death, and the second lord signifies inheritance,
and the third lord of the triplicity signifies worries, and pass judgment
according to the power of each of them.”

[6]3: The sixth … place of diseases.

“The sixth place: #this is the# place of slaves,
livestock, sheep, cattle, diseases, fractures and falling.”

“The places of joy of

the seven planets.Mercury in the first place, because both indicate the
soul; the Moon in the third, because both indicate short journeys and
religions; Venus in the fifth, because both indicate pleasures; Mars in
the sixth, because both indicate diseases; the Sun in the ninth, because
both indicate long journeys and beliefs; Jupiter in the eleventh place,
because both indicate good fortune and beauty and honor; and Saturn in
the twelfth place, because both indicate shame and quarrels and prison”

“The ninth place is theMoon’s place ofmourning, because it is the seventh after
[i.e.,
opposite] the place of its joy”

Mercury
“Mercury…the human
soul and the power of understanding is in its portion, and, of human
beings, philosophers, scholars, physicians, writers, mathematicians, geometricians…
and in its portion of human nature are language, thinking,
morality, wisdom, astronomy, guessing, all sort ofmagic, purity in speaking,
grammar, fluency in speaking, knowledge of stories, poetry”

“This place signifies sciences:

the science under the charge of Saturn is geometry,
Jupiter is in charge of jurisprudence,
Mars of medicine,
the Sun of laws,
the science under the charge of Venus is music,
the science under the charge of Mercury is grammar, proofs, philosophy, arithmetic,
and it has a share in all sorts of sciences”

Secludes itself,This refers to the condition of

“transit in seclusion” (VOC), as explained in Reshit .Hokhmah:

“Traveling in seclusion: this occurs when a planet departs from its companion,
either from conjunction, from 15° away, or from aspect, from 6° away, and when it
does not conjoin another planet as far as it remains in the same sign,
or when no planet aspects it in a full aspect, whichever aspect it may
be”

“King Ptolemy said: assign a part of the body to# the ascending sign as the
astrologers assigned the parts of the body to the zodiacal signs.
He said: #assign to# Aries the head,
Taurus the neck, Gemini the arms, Cancer the chest, Leo the heart and
the upper stomach, Virgo the belly and the diaphragm, Libra the hips,
Scorpio the genitals, Sagittarius the back, Capricorn the thighs, Aquarius
the legs, Pisces the feet.
I explains the division of the zodiac into a “smaller domain,” assigned
to the Moon, and a “larger domain,” assigned to the Sun:
“Enoch said: because we know that these signs [Leo and
Cancer] are the houses of the luminaries, they assigned the remaining
ten signs to the planets. Accordingly, each planet was assigned a house in
the domain of the Sun and a house in the domain of theMoon, although
one forward and the other backward.Therefore the astrologers said that
from the beginning of Leo to the end of Capricorn is the domain of the
Sun, and this is the larger domain.The Sun has power in its domain like
the power of the planets in their terms; the same applies to the Moon
in its smaller domain, which is from the beginning of Aquarius to the
end of Cancer. Therefore the scholars who rely on experience said that
if a person buys something when theMoon is in the smaller domain, he
will sell it for more than the purchase price, and the opposite occurs if
it [the Moon] was in the larger domain”

Jupiter signifies money

Lot of Fortune.The same lot is referred to as the lot of theMoon

Know that the seventh place-7.kuca signifies your destination. Corresponds

to the fifth book ofDorotheus’ Pentabiblos

:Deformed signs…signs with a human shape.These two categories

of zodiacal signs are listed by Ibn Ezra in Mishpe.tei ha-Mazzalot: as follows:
“Signs with a human shape:
Gemini, Virgo, Libra and the first half of Sagittarius and Aquarius.

Cut in their limbs: Taurus, Leo.

Deformed: Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces”

“Cardinal points.Observe in which of the

quadrants are located the malefic and benefic #planets#, as it is explained
in the Book of the Beginning of Wisdom, then choose for him to travel
in the direction where the benefic planets #are located#”

Place of burning-Latin via combusta-“Now the degree of the

dejection of the Sun is Libra 19°, and the degree of the dejection of the
Moon is Scorpio 3°; hence they called from Libra 19° to Scorpio 3° ‘the
place of burning’ and said that the power of any planet is exhausted in
this place. It was called ‘place of burning’ as if the planet were burnt by
the light of the Sun”

-The eighth place, which signifies fear and death.“The eighth place: the place of
death, worry, sadness and fear, and of inheritance from the deceased”

-: In one of the cardines of the Moon.This expression is a unicum in

Ibn Ezra’s work. It means that Mars is in quartile or opposition to the
Moon.

::::::::::::::::::::
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:This sign is false through and through. Corresponds to She"elot II,

where such a statement is ascribed to Ab¯u Ma#shar
and other astrologers. See also Abraham Bar Hiyya’sMegillat ha-Megalleh
“Scorpio, a sign of fraud and falseness and the house of
wickedness, war, and robbery”
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“Thescholar namedMâshâ"allâh said that

males are always born in an hour whose number is odd, whereas females
#are born# in even #hours#, and this is true for most natives, male and
female, but not for all of them”
4.14-they are evennumbered.

-The category of the signs with a human

shape comprisesGemini, Virgo, Libra, and the first half of Sagittarius and
Aquarius.

-[M¯ash¯a"all¯ah] said in his Book of Experiences

“The scientist of
India, whose name was M¯ash¯a"all¯ah, said in his Book of Experiences that
the lot of the Absent by night is stronger than the lot of Fortune, and
he unknowingly endorsed Ptolemy’s opinion.”

-Olam II offers a similar allocation of the ages of human life to the planets,
according to
the order of their orbs:

“Saturn gives indications about the elderly, Jupiter about those between
fifty and sixty years old, Mars between forty and fifty, the Sun between
thirty and forty, Venus between twenty and thirty,Mercury between ten
and twenty”

For any natal horoscope…between them. Cf.Dorotheus’ Pentabiblos

(fifth book on interrogations): “It is necessary with regard to a marriage
that you look at the nativities of the man and the woman. … If in
the nativities of the man and the woman you find a benefic in the same
place, then it indicates the love of each one of the two for his companion”

Dodecatemoria

is doctrine divides each

of the zodiacal signs into twelfths (Arab. ithna ashriyât, Heb. #
,
Latin duodecatemorion) by two methods: (a) The first divides the sign
into twelfths of .; the lord of the first twelfth is the lord of the whole sign,
and the lords of the subsequent twelfths those of the subsequent signs.
This is the method applied in #Olam I and #Olam
II and usually referred to in Arabic introductions
to astrology
(b)The second method assigns the successive degrees of a certain sign successively
and recurrently to the  signs, whose lords are the lords of the
signs of the corresponding twelfths.Thismethod is ascribed to Enoch or
Hermes in Kita¯b al-Madh. al and in Reshit
H. okhmah

-There is no disagreement … Jupiter elephants

Masculine planet

“Some of these seven planets are masculine and

others are feminine, some of them are diurnal and others are nocturnal,
some of them benefic and other malefic. There are two luminaries,
two benefic and two malefic, and another that is mixed and mutable in
keeping with every nature. So one of the luminaries, the Sun, is masculine
and its power is felt by day, and the other luminary, the Moon,
is feminine and its power is felt by night. One of the benefics, Jupiter,
is masculine and diurnal, and the other, Venus, is feminine and nocturnal.
One of the malefics, Saturn, is masculine and diurnal, and the
other, Mars, is feminine and nocturnal. Mercury is mixed, because it is
mutable, sometimes masculine sometimes feminine, sometimes diurnal
sometimes nocturnal, sometimes benefic sometimes malefic, in keeping
with the planet with which it is in conjunction or in aspect”

A masculine quadrant
A masculine quadrant with respect to the ascendant degree, as I
havementioned.This is not explained above, nor elsewhere inMivh. arim
II. In Reshit .Hokhmah, Ibn Ezra defines the masculine and feminine
quadrants with respect to the ascendant as follows:

“At any minute of the hour the orb

is divided into four parts. The quadrant that extends from the line of
midheaven to the ascendant degree is oriental and masculine…and the
quadrant that extends from the line of midheaven to the setting degree
is southern and weak as the feminine … and the quadrant that extends
from the setting degree to the line of the lower midheaven is occidental
and with masculine power … and the quadrant that extends from the
line of the lower midheaven to the ascendant degree is northern and
similar to the feminine”

She"elot I offers an explanation of the quadrants

with respect to the ascendant in contrast to the quadrants with respect to
the Sun.

The astrologers say … its heat. Ibn Ezra explains the changes in
the Moon’s four qualities according to its four phases

“The power
of the Moon changes according to the four periods of the month: from
the Moon’s conjunction with the Sun in its corrected motion to ° the
power of the Moon is hot and moist; from there to ° it is hot and
dry; from there to °—when the Moon’s elongation from the Sun is
° and the Moon is ahead of the Sun—this quadrant is cold and dry;
and from there to the new moon [i.e., when the Moon is in conjunction
with the Sun as seen from Earth] it is cold and moist”

-House of its dejection-house of its dishonor-a planet is said to be in its house

of
dejection if it is in the house opposite its exaltation

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part seven FIRST VERSION OF THE BOOK OF INTERROGATIONS

BY ABRAHAM IBN EZRA

1 (1) The astrologers are divided into two great schools of thought
regarding interrogations.1 (2)The first is the school of Enoch,2 Ptolemy,3
and many of the Ancients. They all maintain that astral judgments are
clear and reliable, both with respect to mundane affairs and with respect
to natives,4 but interrogations are of no substance.5 (3) This is their
reasoning: it is known that everything that occurs to the bodies of the
lower world is caused by the movements of the upper bodies, and they
[the bodies of the lower world] change according to the change in the
configuration of the upper bodies with respect to one other. (4)

2 (1)The second school is headed by Dorotheus,1 the scientists of India,

the scientists of Persia, the scientists of Egypt, and all the astrologers who
are close to us. (2)They all concur that judgments based on interrogations
are as reliable as judgments based on nativities.2 (3)This is their reasoning:
It is known in natural science that the thoughts of themind change in
accordancewith the change in the physical nature of the body.Therefore,
the power of the soul is altered according to the variation of the power of
the body; and since the stars indicate the physical nature of the body and
how it is altered, therefore we can know thoughts and interrogations.3

3 (1) For this reason M¯ash¯a"all¯ah1 said: be careful not to pronounce

judgment on any interrogation for a man who intends to cheat or mock.
(2)This is true because man’s soul has the power to annul a small part of
the details (of the natal horoscope).2,3 (3) He also said in another place:
if the querent does not pose the question appropriately, the astrologer
will not be able to pronounce judgment correctly.4 (4)

Dorotheus said:
the configuration of the planets with respect to one other produces in a
man’s mind a question that is analogous to the (celestial) configuration.
Therefore, we may know the querent’s thoughts. (5) I, Abraham, say that
in most cases interrogations are reliable, but they are not as powerful as
nativities. (6)

Ab¯u Ma#shar 5 said: if you find Mars in one of the cardines

when the querent poses a question, do not pronounce judgment, because
any judgment you pronounced would be false. (7) I say that his statement
is true; but you should pronounce judgment if the interrogation relates
to war or a quarrel, because (in this case) your judgment will be true.6

4 (1) Now I begin explaining how the astrologer can know what the
querent is thinking.1 (2) Calculate the ascendant degree (at the time of
the interrogation), determine the positions of all the planets, find out
whether the Moon is in conjunction with a planet or with the Sun or
in aspect with any of them, and whether it [the Moon] parts from an
aspect with a planet and gives power to another planet, as is written in
the Book of the Beginning of Wisdom.2 (3) Know that the Moon is a major
root in any interrogation,3 because it is close to the Earth and its light is
analogous to the new-born, in that it appears, then grows, and afterwards
wanes until its light disappears.4 (4) Also, because the Moon is like a
body, it receives power from the upper (planets) and gives it to what is
below it; therefore, you should observe its position in any interrogation.
(5) To be short, I shall designate the Moon the “significator,” because in
any interrogation it signifies good fortune and misfortune.

5(1) Dorotheus said: observe the lord of the ascendant sign, or the lord
of its exaltation, or (the lord of) the house [i.e., the sign] of the triplicity,
or the lord of the term, or the lord of the decan1—whichever of them
aspects the ascendant degree and is closer to it. But if the significator
aspects any of them, take it and ignore the others, for it is designated the
ruler.2 (2)
Now if the ruler is in the first (horoscopic) place, this signifies
that the querent will pose a question about his life or bodily health; if in
the second place, aboutmoney; if in the third place about his brothers or
kin; and likewise for all the other places according to their division.3

6 (1) I now give you a general rule: if you find the ruler in the seventh
place (and I have already mentioned in the Book of Nativities that the
seventh place is the place of women, wars, and partnership) 1 you should
combine the nature of the planet, as explained in (the Book of the)
Beginning ofWisdom,2 with [that of] the (horoscopic) place where it [the

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