Read the five positions before naming the condition
Lilly’s traditional teaching lists five kinds of essential dignity: domicile, exaltation, triplicity, terms (bounds), and faces. They answer position questions in different-sized parts of the zodiac: sign, elemental group, unequal degree-range, and ten-degree division. A complete statement therefore needs the chart’s zodiacal degree, a named table, and the convention used for triplicity.
This is a historical classification method. It can make a position auditable, but neither the label nor a score inferred from it measures a planet’s physical power, establishes a personality trait, or supplies a judgment without the rest of the chosen method.
William Lilly, Christian Astrology (1647), original printed p104 ↗William Lilly: Christian Astrology (1647), original text, pp. 101–112 ↗
Work at the exact degree boundary
Under this tool’s default continuous-interval convention, the three zodiacal faces are [0°,10°), [10°,20°) and [20°,30°). An invented position of 9°59′59″ remains in the first face; exactly 10° enters the second and exactly 20° enters the third. The optional upper-inclusive comparison keeps exact internal endpoints in the previous interval. Both options start a new sign at 0°. These are explicit arithmetic adaptations, not a verified reconstruction of historical minute rounding. Preserve the unrounded longitude: the displayed rounded position can conceal the governing interval.
Bounds are not three equal intervals. Locate the same degree in the chosen bounds table, and use that table’s next written boundary to determine the new ruler. Do not copy a ruler from another bounds table or infer it from the face; the two classifications are separate.
William Lilly, Christian Astrology (1647), original printed p104 ↗William Lilly: Christian Astrology (1647), original text, pp. 101–112 ↗
Check day or night before the triplicity result
A Lilly-style triplicity judgment uses a day/night distinction. Identify the chart’s sect under the method before selecting the relevant triplicity ruler; an elemental sign name by itself does not finish that step. Record the table rather than assuming that a modern summary uses Lilly’s ordering or assigns the same role to each ruler.
This dependency matters when testing peregrine. A planet lacking domicile and exaltation may still receive triplicity, bound, or face dignity. Only after every applicable category has been checked can the selected historical definition be applied.
Here day means the true topocentric center of the Sun is at or above the horizon. Refraction and the solar upper limb are excluded. Lilly’s printed table assigns Mars to water triplicity both by day and by night; other schools can use different rulers.
William Lilly, Christian Astrology (1647), original printed p104 ↗William Lilly: Christian Astrology (1647), original text, pp. 101–112 ↗
Word origin · etymology
Latin-derived technical phrase.
Dignity comes from dignitas, worth or rank; essential identifies status inherent to a body's zodiacal placement.
How we know · epistemology
Historical evaluative convention
Specified tables assign dignity from zodiacal position. Alternative tables can produce different scores, so the source matters; these scores describe traditional suitability or standing, not measured force, moral worth or a person's intrinsic value.
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Sources & provenance
Use the citations beside each section to distinguish a calculation convention, a historical teaching and an editorial example.