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Astral Atlas
Wiki concept · Timing & comparison

Apheta

Also called Aphetes

In Valens's Anthology, the star or point from which a reckoning of time begins. In the decennials the apheta is the first star of the sequence: the sect light if it is well situated or, if both luminaries are badly situated, the star following the Ascendant (VI.5K;6P, VI.7). In Book III Valens also uses the word for the luminary or point from which the length of life is reckoned, which a marginal note in Riley's translation keeps apart from the controller and from the houseruler.

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In this entry

Word origin · etymology

Greek aphetes, a releaser, from aphienai, to send forth.

Merriam-Webster's entry, read here only through a search summary, derives apheta from the Greek aphetes, a heavenly body determining the vital quadrant, from aphienai, to send forth (apo, from, and hienai, to send). The word came into English astrology through New Latin apheta.

Merriam-Webster, apheta (read here only through a search summary) ↗Vettius Valens, Anthologies, translated by Mark Riley: Book III chapter 1 (the control and the apheta), Book VI chapters 5K;6P to 7 (the decennials) and the Book IX fifth-century addition ↗

How we know · epistemology

Ancient technical term used in more than one technique

Valens uses apheta for the starting point of the 129-month sequence (VI.5K;6P, VI.7) and, in Book III chapter 1, for the point from which the length of life is reckoned; Riley's marginal note says the controller is one thing, the houseruler another and the apheta another. The decennials tool uses the first sense only, and which star is the apheta rests on a test of how well the luminaries are placed that the tool does not apply.

Vettius Valens, Anthologies, translated by Mark Riley: Book III chapter 1 (the control and the apheta), Book VI chapters 5K;6P to 7 (the decennials) and the Book IX fifth-century addition ↗

Connected concepts

Read alongside this entry

DecennialsZodiacal releasingSectChronocrator

Terms used in this explanation

Ascendant

Sources & provenance

Use the citations beside each section to distinguish a calculation convention, a historical teaching and an editorial example.

Find these sources across the wiki →

  1. Vettius Valens, Anthologies, translated by Mark Riley: Book III chapter 1 (the control and the apheta), Book VI chapters 5K;6P to 7 (the decennials) and the Book IX fifth-century addition ↗
  2. Merriam-Webster, apheta (read here only through a search summary) ↗