NOW. For the fourth thread in my #essentialdignities series, let's talk about what happens when a planet is both debilitated and dignified on different tiers at the same time. Let's take, for example, Venus at 23º Scorpio in a day chart. #astrology
(As an FYI, I'm using Dorothean triplicities.) In this instance, Venus is both in the sign of her detriment, as Scorpio is the opposite sign to Taurus, one of the signs that Venus rules. Yet, at 23º in a day chart, Venus has dignity both by triplicity and by face (decan).
So in this instance, Venus is functioning as the UN advisor for the watery triplicity, and is in her own little Venus-flavored corner of Scorpio where she can do something really interesting. Her weird Venus superpower gets activated by being under duress.
Remember that scene in Prisoner of Azkaban when Harry gets so pissed off at Aunt Marge that he accidentally smashes her brandy glass and inflates her with magic? That's the kind of thing that can happen when a planet is both debilitated and dignified in the same sign.
So in this instance, we might imagine Venus' peacemaking superpowers being activated by being in an environment that is overly hostile to her. Venus in the third decan of Scorpio is like that person in the famous photo of the tanks in Tiananmen Square, standing them down unarmed.
She's accomplishing Mars purposes (fighting) in a Venus style (non-violence) and representing the priorities of the entire watery triplicity there—where her allies in this are the Moon and Jupiter.
Venus in Scorpio, especially when she has some dignity, makes for a style of connecting with other people that plunges deep into any nascent relationship, skipping small talk and going straight for the jugular. But it's in a non-violent way, because Venus is never violent.
Let's talk about another example: Mercury at 17º Pisces. Here, Mercury has BOTH debilities: detriment and fall. But she also has dignity by term, so she is holding on to some shred of reason. Pisces is so bad for Mercury because it opposes his home base of Virgo.
Pisces' priorities are set by expansive and enervating Jupiter, with assistance from Venus, who is Jupiter's exalted guest here. Hence, Pisces becomes about dissipation, dreams, fogs, transcendence, spiritual pleasure, idealism. Mercury can't hang there.
He's peregrine for most of the sign. But give Mercury a shred of dignity in the middle of Pisces and she'll come in and at least try to make the best he can out of it: she'll put some words down that encapsulate Jupiter's purposes with uttermost precision.
Mercury in his tiny term rulership in Pisces is a poet and can give a little bit of shape to a mystical experience, with swirly words such as,
"For God is all things in all,
and he is nothing in any;
he is often found in one thing small—
conversely, he is often missed in many."
"For God is all things in all,
and he is nothing in any;
he is often found in one thing small—
conversely, he is often missed in many."
So minor dignities being activated when a planet is in detriment or fall can activate the powers said planet needs in order to be able to hang in that sign and at least do a little something in accordance with their own nature and priorities. #astrology #essentialdignities
