b. Translation of Sefer ha-Olam from J.L
Fleischer's edition
of 1937 with explanatory notes
The Book of the World according to our rabbi Abraham
Ibn Ezra
Through the
power of the Living
God, hidden from all,
he25 will begin the Book
of the
World.
[lines]
[1-4] If you have come across the book by Abu Ma'shar on
the conjunctions of
the
planets26, do not
accept it,
and do not listen
to him, because he relies on
the conjunctions of
the planets by
mean
motion, and no scholar agrees with him, because the
truth is that the
conjunctions are
relative to the wheel of
stars (the zodiac). Also
do not rely on the
conjunctions of the
planets that are in
the (astronomical) tables of
the
scholars of
India,
since they are not altogether correct, and the correct (thing to
do) is to rely on the
tables of
the scientists who made observations from generation to
generation27.
[4-11] The conjunctions are
120 (in number). And this is how you can learn
their
number: it is known
that every calculation
that adds from one
to any number that one wishes,
one can
25 Ibn Ezra refers
to himself in the third
person later in the
text, as “Abraham
says...” and also in the
concluding poem. It
is however, possible that this
should read “I” instead.
26 Abu Ma’shar’s On the Great Conjunctions (ed. and transl. Burnett
and
Yamamoto 2000).
27 Ibn Ezra's critique of Abu
Ma'shar in this passage is motivated by the
fact that Abu
Ma'shar uses
Indian
astronomical
tables of mean
motion (Abu Ma'shar 2000,
13), which are not
sufficiently accurate.
Ibn Ezra
holds
that one must make continual observations to assure that the predictions are made from when
conjunctions actually
occur instead
of only when they are calculated
to occur.
obtain by multiplying28 the latter
value with
its half plus its half29 Here is an
example: we
wish to
know the sum of
the numbers of
one to
twenty. We will multiply twenty
with its half
and add its half, and we get 210. And
now we begin
to find out how many
combinations (there are) of two planets only. And it is known that the number of planets is
seven. So Saturn can combine with the
six
other planets. And
six
(multiplied) with its half plus the half
of it is twenty-one. And thus is the number
of combinations of two (planets).
[12-16] We wish
to know the number of conjunctions of
three
(planets). Here we begin by putting
Jupiter and Saturn
with one of the other
five, and
thence we get the number
five. And
we
multiply it by two and a
half, and add half of it and
thus
(we get) fifteen. And the
conjunctions of
Mars
are three which
we
multiply
with two and arrive at six30. And
the conjunctions of the
sun are two, which we
multiply
with one and a half and get three31. And
the
conjunction of Venus with
the
inferior planets is (only) one, and thus the whole
number is 3532. And
these
were
the numbers of the
combinations of three
planets.
[16-23] We wish
to produce the conjunctions of
four (planets). Then we
begin
with
Saturn and Jupiter
and Mars with it (a
fourth planet).
Since
three combining with it are required,
the
conjunction begins with
four that we multiply with
two
plus its half33 and get ten, and after
that are the conjunctions of Saturn
and Jupiter with the others, and these will be three
that we
multiply
with two is six,
and thus (we get)16. And after
that we
begin by (combining) Saturn
with Mars and they are 2x1,5 = 3 and after this is one conjunction, and thus the number
of Saturn's conjunctions amount to 20. Then
one begins by combining
Jupiter with
3 and we multiply
them with 2, which
equals 6 and after that (there is) one conjunction,
thus 4 conjunctions34. And
the conjunction
of the sun with the
inferior planets35 is one. And thus the conjunctions of
four (planets) are 35 (in all).
[23-26] We wish
to find out the (conjunctions of) five (planet)s, and we found that Saturn
has 15, Jupiter 5 and Mars one, and thus the conjunctions of five (planets) are 21.
And the conjunctions of six (planets); Saturn
has 6 and Jupiter 1, thus 7, and the conjunction
of seven (planets) is (just) one.36 Thus the number
amounts to 120 conjunctions. All the (sums of the)
conjunctions are uneven
numbers, and are divisible
by 737.
[27-33] The “great conjunction” is a
conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter
in the
sign
of Aries.
And that is because they are
heavy (and therefore
slow) planets. And thus they
do not indicate38 details,
but general (matters). And
since Aries is the
first of the signs (of the zodiac),
this is why
it
is called the
great conjunction. And this conjunction occurs
approximately (every)
1000 years, because such is the
course of movement of
these two (planets). After
they join together in Aries, they
join
together
after 20 years in a house in
the triplicity
of Aries39, and it is Sagittarius. And it is the
ninth
sign
from the sign where
the first conjunction took place40. After another
20 years they join
together in a house of the
one triplicity, and it is Leo, which
is
the ninth from Sagittarius.
[33-42] And
after 60 years from the first conjunction they
join together in Aries where they
started at the beginning, since
it
is the ninth
from Leo, except that they do not join together
28 Ibn Ezra uses the word erekh,
which means
value, to denote ratio
or proportion or
multiplication (Sela
2007,
388).
29 A( 1 - n)= n(n/2)+n/2.
30 According to the formula given above, this
should be 3x1,5+1,5 = 6,
rather than 3x2
= 6 as given here.
31 2x1½ =3.
32 5+15+3+6+2+3+1.
33 4x2+2.
34 Ibn Ezra does
not seem to follow the formula he has
just set out himself. It
may
also
be a
copyist error.
35 Venus and
Mercury
are called
“inferior planets” in
astrological thought. Saturn
and Jupiter are
correspondingly “superior planets”,
leaving Mars alone without
such epithet.
36 Sela has translated
this passage in equivalent terms
in Sela 2003, 381. He also translates
erekh as
multiplication
in this context.
37 For an
analysis
of the number of the conjunctions in this text, see section
4.4. of this study.
38 Ibn Ezra repeatedly uses
the word yoreh as the signification or representation by the astrological
sign of
the earthly event, in
a way
that
is best translated as ” indicates”.
39 This means in one of the fire signs.
40 In Aries.
at the
same
degree, but instead
approximately in
quartile41 to another sign. And so
they
do for 240 or 260 years, and thus they
join
together in the houses of a triplicity
12 or 13 times. And after that they
move out of the fire-signs to the
earth-signs that are
next to them. And
when they begin
to move
there, it is called
a “middle conjunction”. And thus they proceed from triplicity42 to triplicity until the end of 12 or 13 times. After
this they move to the triplicity of the
air-signs, and after
that to (that of) the
water-signs according to
the
rule that I have mentioned, and in nearly 1000 years they will return
to join together in Aries. And thus their
conjunction every 20 years in one of the three
houses of any triplicity, is called
a “small conjunction”.
[42-44] The great conjunction
indicates that a prophet will arise to
establish a nation43, if
the
place where
the
conjunction occurs is in the
9th house or in the 3rd house relative
to the
ascendant, in
the revolution of the
year44 of the conjunction, because these two houses indicate
signs and wonders.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [45-51] Many believe that it is in their power to
find out the
ascendant in
the hour of the
conjunction of the
superior planets. But this is not possible because of two things: one is
that the location of Saturn and Jupiter
is
not equal in
the
tables of mean
motion,
or even in
the tables of those scientists who
make observations,
even if we set aside the
differences
between the scientists of
India
and those who make
observations, because they are
today
close to
9 degrees (different). On
the other hand, if the place of
Saturn
becomes clear to
us
in the (tables of) mean
motion, (and) also that of
Jupiter, on
the
basis of any table
that
(relies on) observation,
it
would be true and
correct. However, we would not be able
to
produce the
moment of the
conjunction, because of
the
movement of these
two
planets.
And if we could
know the date that they
will join together, that would (already)
be a great
thing45.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [52-58] And
I shall give you additional reasons46. Ptolemy 47 said “the scholars of
our
generation praise themselves because
they are able to produce the ascendant for
any
location
at the
revolution of the year, which
is
at the moment of
the
Aries ingress. And
I
say: I cannot know it. Those who were before did
not know it, nor will those
who come
after”. Abraham says: now I shall explain to
you Ptolemy's reason.
Know that no
person
can know
exactly how long
a solar
year is. And
the
reason is that in a year, the sun returns
to the center of the intersection
of the two great circles48 of which
the
beginning point is
northern/hidden49, and the instruments that are made
for determining
the apogee of the sun
at noon, if
they are sufficiently precise,
they
will be able to produce the minutes but not the
seconds50.
41 In counting from any
sign to the ninth from
it, that ninth sign will be in quartile aspect
to the original sign.
42 A triplicity is a
group of three zodiacal
signs of the same element. Thus
the three fire-signs Aries,
Leo and
Sagittarius form one triplicity.
43 The Hebrew reads literally, to “arouse a people”. I want to thank
Haseeb
Shehadeh
especially
for
drawing
my attention
to the meaning "to establish
a nation" of this expression.
44 The "revolution of the years"
was a horoscope that
was cast yearly
at the beginning of the year in order to
predict the
circumstances of teh
coming year.
45 In the preceding
passages, Ibn Ezra has explained
the basics of the Saturn-Jupiter doctrine, which
correspond closely to Abu Ma'shar (2000, 11, 37-41). The reason why the ascendant
is so crucial in
this
argument is that while the conjunction
determines
the time that a new era will begin, its
ascendant,
if it could
be specified, would
determine the nature of that new
era. But the ascendant
changes
every two hours
or so,
and can therefore,
according to
Ibn Ezra, not be determined with accuracy. This argument
is also critique
aimed at Abu Ma'shar.
46 I have here interpreted the Hebrew phrase “to
add water to the Nile/river” as an
idiom meaning to add
proof to an already proven case.
I have been unable to verify
such usage, however.
47 Ibn Ezra spells the names of both
Ptolemy and
Hipparchus in Arabic fashion,
which is natural as this was
his first language.
48 The great
and small wheels refer to
the epicycle and
deferent of
the Ptolemaic cosmological
model.
49 Tsafon means
northern and tsafun
hidden. I am unsure which
one he means
here.
50 The Hebrew words rishonim
and shiniyim are here used for the terms
“minutes” and “seconds” (of arc) ,
see Sela's translation of
Sefer ha-Te'amim 1.1:6
(2007).
[59-68] Already Shakir's sons51, who
made three instruments that were
the first to divide them,
they
also
used to give them (a precision) of ten seconds.
But when they were determining by them (the instruments) the
apogee of the sun at noon, the
dispute between
them52 was about two minutes. And this is due to an error in the
craft.
If we say we shall measure
the
shadow on the ground (to
determine the position of the
sun),
an error will equally
occur there because of the
ground if it is not level,
and likewise because of the
pillar (of measurement),
if it is not straight, also
in its erectness. And because of such
things, all astronomers have been obliged to
add precision (to
the tables)
generation after generation.
Hipparchus already
said that the
solar
year is 365 whole
days
and less than 1/4
day, but he
did not know how much
less. Then
came Ptolemy after him and specified the
date of the revolution
of the year, and a way to
approximate the
moment, and so
he did, and no person could know
when (exactly) the Aries ingress occurred in
a given location
without knowing the latitude of that location,
which
means its distance from the equator.
[68-76] Therefore, they observe the
measure of
the sun's apogee at noon
as
it is at the
end of North, which is at the head of Cancer, and also they
determined how it was at the end
of South, which is the
head of Capricorn53, and after they knew this, they could
produce the latitude of the place in
degrees and minutes if the
sun's angle of inclination
was correct. Because the scholars of
India said that it is 24
full
degrees, and Ptolemy said "more than
23 degrees and more than
45 parts54 and less than 51 parts55, so
Ptolemy
could not know the (exact) truth. And Hipparchus
said that it is 11/83 parts in
every revolution, and thus it is
23°51’. And
Muslim scientists have specified more
than all of them, and their knowledge agrees that the
angle of inclination is 23°35’, except for Yahya b. Abu Mansur 56 and Ibrahim al-Zarqal 57, who
specified even
more than all of
them and they
said
that
it is
23°33’.
[76-96] After one knows the
latitude of the
country
in degrees and in fractions,
one will (be able
to) determine
the
sun's apogee at noon
when it is close
to the Aries ingress, and from that one
knows it. Here is an example: we are
in a place with the latitude of
42°39', it turns
out to
be the first apogee,
and its reason
is
that the Aries ingress occurs at 47°30'. And then
we measure the sun at noon
before the Aries ingress and we
find it at 47°20'. Also
we take
the
apogee of the sun
at noon the following day, and it ought to be at
47°44', and the
reason
for this is that the
inclination of the
sun is on that one day, when it (enters)
in the
sign
of Aries, close to
24°. And thus 1' is added
to every hour of both day
and night. And we have already
said that the
apogee of the sun the
preceding day was 47°20',
and thus 10’ remain
to complete
the apogee of Aries in
our (chosen) locality, then we
know that 11 hours after
midday
the
Aries ingress will occur, which is 4 hours
from nightfall. And since
there
is
a long time-gap between
the
beginning of the
year as one of the
astrologers specified and (the value
given
by) another astrologer
who came
after
him,
because they both
agreed that no person
can specify
them by minutes, until they amount to
days. And therefore
the
latter scholar divided
the measure of time that was between him and his predecessor, and
produced the mean motion of the sun. And
if the predecessor erred
slightly, the
error will
be found in
the successor, because one relied on
the other, since there was nothing else
he could do. And in this manner Ptolemy
found in relation to
the estimation
of time (made by) Hipparchus, that the
solar
year was less than 1/4
plus
the three hundred and sixty(five)
days. And the time (that elapsed)
between him and
Hipparchus was 280 years58. And
Ptolemy
said that the
position of the
sun's apogee
is
in Gemini 6°,
so it had been,
and so it will be always. And many more people (who)
made
specifications came after
him,
and they were no less wise than he was, and during
the 720 years (that have elapsed)
between them
51 The Banu Musa,
Musa Shakir's sons;
Muhammad, Ahmad and al-Hasan
were three brothers
who were all
scholars of mathematics
and astronomy. They
lived in Baghdad in the 9th century.
52 That is,
between the data in the
tables and the
data of observation.
53 The apogee is measured
relative to
the equator and to the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
54 >23°45’.
55 <23°51’.
56 This is probably a
reference to Abu Nasr Mansur ibn Ali
ibn Iraq, ca 970-1036,
notable for his discovery
of sine-laws in astronomical trigonometry. He is also
mentioned
by Ibn Ezra in Sefer ha-Moladot, 2008, 71.
57 Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Zarqali,
ca 1028-1087, astronomer famous as
the compiler of the Toledan Tables.
58 Here Ibn
Ezra is citing from Ptolemy's Almagest (Almagest VIII (3) 1984, 333; cf. Sela 2003,
304).
and Ptolemy, 400 more59 to be added [?] on the mean motion
of Ptolemy, up until now, and
Ptolemy's tables have
no relevance today60.
[96-100] It is very surprising that such a great man who
corrected the astronomical tables
of mean motion
made
by al-Battani61, claimed that those were
Ptolemy's tables62. These specialists found the
sun's apogee to be, in their time, at Gemini 22°. Also Ptolemy said
that the motion of the
stars that are in
the
upper sphere63, is one degree in every 100 years64.
But they
found their motion to
be 1,5° per 100 years.
[100-105] There are those who say
that
the amount that the year
every year falls short of
(365+) 1/4
day, is by 1/106
and those who say
1/11065 . But the correct
way, I believe, is
1/131, and
this is based on the
position of the
sun in
al-Sufi's66 time, and we have not heard
that there
was
any specialist in astronomical calculation
like him, and
he taught like this.
And after him came Ibrahim al-Zarqal, and there
was
no scientist like him in
his
generation, and he measured the position
of the sun in his own time,
and his method was
equivalent to
the one described by al-Sufi67.
[105-111] And so
it
has been made
clear for you that man is unable to
know the ascendant from the revolution
of the year, of which
spoke Ptolemy, and the scholars of
India, Egypt and Persia, and Doronius68, because
(instead),
we
shall always look
for the moment of
the conjunction of the
luminaries or their opposition, (to
find out)
which
of them is at the
beginning (of the year) before the Aries ingress,
so that we
will be able to
define it properly; therefore
there
is
nothing anywhere that gets us as close to what we want (as
this), and
from this, we
are able to
specify
and to know all mundane
laws. And
this is correct because the luminaries signify
the world more than any
of the planets (do),
indeed the Muslims and all the Ancients admit that it is so.
[111-122]
Ptolemy said: “Look whether the sun
or the moon is eclipsed, and
from this you can know
all the events that will occur
in that year”. And he does not rely on anything else than the
ascendant at the moment of
the
conjunction
of the luminaries when
the sun
is eclipsed,
or on the ascendant at the moment of the
opposition of the luminaries when
the moon is eclipsed,
as I will later interpret it. And
also
look at the great conjunction for the
ascendant in
the conjunction of the
luminaries or their opposition, (that is,)
the cusp of which sign
will be (just)
before the Aries ingress. Also
look for the rising
sign
at the
moment of the
conjunction of the luminaries or
their
opposition before the
entrance of the sun into the beginning of the quadrant
where the great conjunction is to
occur, and also observe
the rising sign at the moment of
the
conjunction
of the luminaries or
their
opposition, which
of them is before the great conjunction,
that is, the
conjunction that is to occur
in the same month69. And
if the
conjunction occurs in Aries,
then there is no
need to
produce the ascendant,
(it
can be) only one alone. And if in
the
remaining
quadrants, one
59 Here Sela translates
“there is
a discrepancy of 400”, but he also
adds a question mark as
to the meaning of this sentence. (Sela 2003, 368)
60 They had been
replaced by the
much more accurate Arabic zijes. For an alternative translation
of this passage,
see
Sela 2003, 368.
61 Muhammad ibn Jabir
al-Harrani
al-Battani , 850-929, astronomer from
Harran, calculated
the
values for
the precession of the equinoxes
and the inclination of
the Earth's axis as
23° 35'.
62 According to Sela,
this remark is aimed at Abraham Bar Hiyya, and
addressing
him as a “great man” is
sarcasm (Sela 2003, 99).
63 The fixed stars.
64 Ibn Ezra here speaks
of precession. For Sela's,
essentially equivalent translation of
this passage see Sela
2003,
362.
65 The meaning
of this
sentence is unclear to me.
66 Abd al-Rahman
al-Sufi, 903 -986,
was
a Persian
astronomer and known in the west
as Azophi. Al-Sufi
published his famous
"Book of Fixed Stars" in 964.
67 I have analysed Ibn Ezra's treatment of
the length of the solar year in section 4.3. of this study. This
passage is also
critique of Abu Ma'shar, insofar as Abu
Ma'shar uses Persian years of exactly
365 days
(Burnett and Yamamoto 2000,
582). Ibn Ezra makes the justified point
that
such
inaccuracy
accumulates into
major discrepancies over time, especially since mundane astrology dealt
with
periods of many hundreds
of
years in its predictions
and retrodictions.
68 Dorotheus of Sidon, a
1st century Hellenistic astrologer, author of the very influential Carmen
Astrologicum.
69 The sun-moon conjunction that
occurs in the same month as
the great one.
must sometimes produce
a second sign with
the first; there are
also times when one
should produce two.
But that will not happen unless the conjunction
occurs in the first sign of the
quadrant70.
[122-131] And
at the
time of the
conjunction,
observe the circumstances of
Saturn and Jupiter
to see
which of them is closer to its apogee or
to the place of
its
perigee, relative to the great wheel, that its center
is
far from the centre
of the earth71. And
observe
also which one
of them is closer
to its apogee on the
small wheel72. And
whether both
of them are
straight in their movement or they are retrograde
and whether one of them has northern
latitude,
and how great its latitude
is
and observe also whether one
of them is (as) ruler in
(its own planetary) house (domicile). And so,
if you find that Saturn is closer to
its apogee than is Jupiter, or its latitude is northern while Jupiter
is
southern or it is on the
ecliptic, or the latitude of Saturn
is
more northern than Jupiter's while it (too)
is
northern, or if Saturn
is
on the ecliptic and the
measurement of
how southern Jupiter
is,
or if they are both
southern, and the
latitude
of Saturn is smaller
than the latitude of Jupiter, also if
Saturn is in the place where
it
has rulership, then
it
indicates that an old people that dwells in
any inhabited place, will not be
conquered and will not move from its place73.
[131-140] According to
the nature74 of Saturn, hatred, envy, hostility, strife, famine and (all) sorts of diseases will increase in
the
world. And if
all
this influence75 that we mentioned of Saturn
and Jupiter (was the
other
way
around76), then
it
indicates a
new people that conquers
the old people, and the
kingdom is turned
from (the dominion
of) one people to another. And in
accordance with the aspect of Mars shall be the shedding of blood. If it is eastern, then many
victims shall fall, and if
it
is western, there
will be
more
fear and refugees than massacres.
But if Venus aspects it with any aspect ,
its (Mars') malignancy will be
removed. And always observe
at the day of the
conjunction, how the
planets aspect each
other, because it is an
important principle, especially if
Mars
aspects with opposition or quartile then
the world will be
turned over with
many
wars, and if
Venus, then
the intercourse and
fornication will increase with
satiety, without wars. And if the moon
will be in a beneficent place,
everybody will be joyful,
and the opposite will be
the
case if it will be with
one of the malefics.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [140-148] The scientists of
Persia said to
always observe
the portion that is called the
fardar77, and it returns again
and again every 75 years. And such
is
their beginning, (that)
the sun is at the beginning for ten
years (and) she will withdraw to serve
in the seventh
70 The doctrine here presented is found
in
Tetrabiblos
(Ptolemy 1940, 195-199) and is based on the
new and full moon (conjunction of the luminaries
or their opposition). Here this
doctrine is meant to supplant
the technique of using
the ascendant of the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction, which
Ibn Ezra has just
proven is impossible to calculate.
71 This refers
to the deferent
and the equant, which were elements of ptolemaic cosmology. The deferent
was the large orbit
(the great wheel) of the planet around
the Earth, and the
equant was the centre of the deferent,
which is situated
some way off from the
Earth for mathematical reasons
(Lindberg 1992, 98-105).
72 “The small wheel” refers to
the so called epicycle of the ptolemaic model,
the smaller orbit
of the planet
around
a point on its deferent. See previous
note.
73 The circle of the ecliptic
was divided according to
several systems, but Ibn
Ezra favours the division into quadrants,
where the quadrant between the ascendant
and midheaven is called southern, and
its opposite quadrant is northern, the quadrant between
midheaven
and the descendant is called western and
its opposite is eastern. (Sefer ha-Te'amim 2007, 63;
Reshit Hokhmah 1939,
191-192 on different ways to
divide the ecliptic.
On how the position in each
quadrant affects the influences of the planets, see Sefer ha-Te'amim 2007,
89.
The system of transits
are
derived from Abu Ma'shar 2000,
part VI, see also
Ptolemy 1940, 117-121, 161-163.
74 Ibn Ezra consistently uses
the
word toledet,
which normally
means "generation", as "nature"(Sela 2003,
130-137).
75 Ibn Ezra often uses
the word koach, which means power, to
denote the power that the stars
have over
earthly
affairs
(Sela 2003,
120).
76 This sentence did not make sense,
as it would contradict
the statement in the previous passage.
I have
therefore added
this note to make sense of it,
as what he describes now is the opposite of what
he described
earlier.
77 The fardar is an
astrological
period of 360, 78 or 75 years, of
Persian origin.
(See Tester 1987, 165-6.) Ibn
Ezra mentions
the fardar also
many times in his other writings (Sefer ha-Te'amim 2007, 107, 178, 219, 225;
Sefer ha-Moladot 2008, 76). In Sefer ha-Te'amim (2007,
107) Ibn Ezra promises to deal more fully with this
subject
in Sefer ha-Olam,
a promise he fulfils here. See also
section 3.3.1. of this study.
part, and in
the rest of the seven
parts78 the planets will participate with
her (the sun) when they
are in this order: sun, Venus, Mercury, moon and Saturn, Jupiter, Mars79. And
after
that, the moon
will serve 9 years and then withdraw in the
seventh part, and
in the rest they
will participate
with it80. After that, Caput Draconis three
years and after that Jupiter
12,
and after
that Mercury
13, and after that Mercury 1381, and after that Saturn 11, and after
that Cauda Draconis82 2 years, and after that Mars 7
years and after that Venus 8 years. And the reason
for these numbers of years
I do not know, I only
know the reason for this order,
why it is such.
[148-153] It is because they began to
give these parts according
to the
number of Aries,
so that whoever is in
its
exaltation at the beginning will serve
as
the beginning83. And
the reason behind the (number of) years of Venus and
Jupiter are
known, since such
is
the number of their small years84 because
this is the
number in which
they
will finally return to their
(original) degrees (positions).
If you wish to know
(concerning) this year, which
is
the year (4)90885 , which (of
the planets)
is
the ruler according to
the calculation of
the
Persians, it is the fourth revolution
of Mars. And each
one will be alone in its seventh
part
(1/7) and
the others will participate with
it
in the rest of
the
seventh part.
[153-164] And
if
one will argue86 that (in that case) every 75 years would have to
be alike, the following to
the previous, because
the planets and
the partners (stars) are (only) two, then this is the answer: he
should
not count mathematically assuming the ascendant and the
angle of the planets to
it
and the proportion
of one to the other
to be always the same,
as if
the
world was always stationary. This matter you can observe since Saturn
has
many different ways of being
in relation87 to the sun
and also in
relation to
the
planets and also
in proportion to the upper stars,
and these (stars)
are moving one degree every 70
years, and
it will not have the relation that it had at
the beginning to
one of the upper stars,
but only
once in 25 000 years. And there
is
no need to go on about this,
since the
author of the Sefer
Yetsirah already mentioned
(that) “two stones build
two
houses, three
stones six
houses, four stones build twenty-four88, and from
ten upwards, go on and
calculate
that which the
mouth
cannot utter and the ear
cannot hear”. Therefore one (can) not calculate a birth-chart
(in
its every detail) and one (birth-chart)
cannot be compared
to another birth-chart like it.
Because the wheel is not fixed to
one coordinate, but every
moment the
coordinate will change
to a different one,
and it will not be
(the same any more),
and the mathematicians know
this89.
78 See Tester 1987, 168.
79 This is the
same order of the planets that
Ibn
Ezra gives in Sefer ha-Te'amim
(2007, 49). Strangely this odd
order is not the order of exaltation, as he says the
fardar should be,
but it is the one explicitly given by Abu
Mashar (see Tester 1987,
166), clearly
showing that Abu Ma'shar was Ibn
Ezra's
source for the fardar .
80 The precise meaning
of the word
hishtatef, “participate”, in
this context is unclear to me.
81 This is probably undue
repetition.
82 Cauda and Caput Draconis are the Latin names
for
the lunar nodes. These are the two
points where the
paths of
the sun and the moon around the earth
intersect. Caput Draconis,
the Head of the Dragon,
is the
ascending node, and Cauda Draconis, the
Tail of the Dragon, is the descending
node. These two points of
intersection were treated as
planets
in Persian
and Hindu astrology, for which Ibn
Ezra criticizes them
(Sefer
ha-Te’amim 2007,
85).
83 Tester explains (1987,
166): the first planet is the
sun because it
is exalted in Aries, the
second is the moon,
because it is exalted in Taurus, etc. This is however not the order given
by Ibn Ezra, see note 36 above.
84 Revolutions on the epicycle?
85 The Hebrew gives
only the number 908,
but Sela translates this
in Sefer ha-Te'amim (2007,
53) as being
shorthand for 4908. Converted,
this Hebrew year corresponds to 1147-1148 C.E. This
conveniently dates
our
document.
86 “The arguer argues”,
see
Sela's translation
of Sefer ha-Te'amim (2007, 213, 247).
87 Ibn Ezra uses the word pe'ah in many
different ways in his
texts. While mip'at generally means
“because
of”,
I have here followed the context.
See Sela's notes on Sefer ha-Te'amim,
2007, 123.
88 1x2=2, 1x2x3=6,
1x2x3x4=24 etc. This
kind of calculation
is used in probability calculus. Ibn
Ezra's point is that since the celestial
bodies are so very numerous,
and all
are
variable, the possible combinations in a
birth-chart
are vast beyond
reckoning.
He makes a similar point in Yesod Morah (1995,
173).
89 The Sefer Yetzirah is
a 3rd - 6th century anonymous
Jewish mystical
tract which
forms
one of the basic texts
of Jewish mysticism, the
kabbalah. Sefer Yetzirah 4:12 (transl. Aryeh Kaplan 1997)
reads as follows: “The
Seven Doubles,
how does one permute them? Two stones build two houses,
three build six
houses, four build
24
houses, five build
120 houses, six build 720
houses,
and seven build 5040 houses. From
there on go out
and calculate that
which the mouth cannot speak
and the ear cannot
hear. These are the seven
planets in the
Universe: The sun, Venus, Mercury, the moon,
Saturn, Jupiter, Mars”.
Ibn Ezra makes
a similar point
in
Yesod Morah (1995, 173).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[165-174] Masha'allah said
(that) if
you know a country's sign,
observe in the revolution
of the year of a conjunction (of Saturn and Jupiter) whether
any planet is aspected to
that sign, and how the ruler of that sign
(is
aspected). And
as
you see (them aspecting), judge according to
it. Because if Mars or Saturn
are in
opposition or a quartile aspect to
the
nation
('s
sign), and no benefic planet aspects the sign, or if
the
ruler of the sign
is
burned by the sun or the
sign
of the nation is in
one of the cardines and
it
is (there) with Saturn or Mars, or (if
the
nation's sign
is)
in opposition
or quartile aspect with
them (Saturn or Mars), it indicates a great misfortune
that
will come to
the nation, and even worse if
the malefic is in the
nation's sign. And (if) you find the
ruler
of the country's sign
in the
8th house (death and inheritance) in respect to
the
nation's sign
or in the 12th house (grief and animosity)
or in the 6th house (diseases and servants90), then they will die and fall into
the
hands of their
enemies,
and if
a benefic was in
the rising sign with
a malefic planet,
look at which of them
has more power due to its (higher)
position on the
wheel and with
regard to the ecliptic, as
I have explained. And
judge according to what you see.
[174-181] And
know that Venus will deflect the injury of Mars in a conjunction
or in aspect, so
that Mars will appear injurious only
in thoughts and
words, but Venus does not have
the power to deflect the
injury
of Saturn, only Jupiter, whether in
conjunction or in aspect,
deflects the
injury
of Saturn. And all that we
have said, (is)
in case Venus or Jupiter
are not under the light of the sun,
if
(they are), they are
not usable in
this way. And Ptolemy
has said that Jupiter
cannot deflect the injury of Mars, despite its being higher (in
rank)
than it (Mars), because Jupiter with
Saturn do not have (equal) rank (to Mars), only Venus is (of the same) rank.
And make sure you do not forget to look
every 30 years for a conjunction
of Saturn with
Mars
in the sign of Cancer, which is the sign of the world91. And
look (in) every nation ('s case) how the planets are positioned relative
to
the nation's sign.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [182-191] Ptolemy
said
(that)
if a solar eclipse is calculated to
occur a certain year, we
should observe the moment of
the eclipse and judge according to
the
ascendant. And if
the
solar eclipse is complete, then
the
judgement is certain. And we shall give judgement
according
to what the eclipse is like. And the
truth
of the matter
is
that the moment of
the
eclipse is in
reality
the moment of
conjunction of the two luminaries. And this is not the
case with
the
moments of
the rest of the
conjunctions. And so
shall we judge
(as
in a
conjunction). We shall observe the place of the
conjunction, whether it is in
one of the
houses that have
a human
image92, (and if)
there
are benefic planets aspecting the
sun and
the moon as
they are in conjunction,
and (whether) they are in
human-form signs,
it
indicates physical health for human
beings, and peace and quiet among them. But
if there
are malefics in aspect with
the luminaries,
then the matter
is
the reverse. Illnesses and
great
bloodshed will be in
the world. And if
the conjunction
occurred in one of the water-signs
and malefics are aspecting
them, there will be
evils for all those whose nature
is
of water
and (is susceptible to) tides. And
judge like this if
(the eclipse) is in Aries (it signifies)
small cattle and if
in
Taurus (it signifies) large
cattle and Leo (signifies) wild animals.
[192-207] Ptolemy said “If
we wish
to
know the time when
the
majority of things that are
significant, will be visible, but
disappear immediately
again, we have to look
at the
place of the solar
or lunar eclipse, and we
will see in
which house
it
will be of the six houses that
90 The indications
of the houses that
I have here added in brackets are taken
from Reshit Hokhmah (1939,
192-193).
91 This is a
reference to the
so called Thema
Mundi, the horoscope supposedly
representing
the creation
of
the world,
where Cancer was
the
ascendant and the sun was
in midheaven at
the
beginning of Aries. The
Thema Mundi was
familiar already
to the Greeks.
See Abu Ma’shar 2000, 23, 123-137; Burnett
and
Yamamoto 2000, 529-543;
Sela 2007,
128; Tester 1987,
94, 119-120.
92 The signs with human-form constellation: Gemini, Libra, Virgo, half of Aquarius and
Sagittarius. Animal-
shaped
signs indicate illness,
human-shaped signs
indicate health, according to
Sefer ha-Te'amim 2.3:1
(2007, 41),
see
also Sela's notes 9-10
on page 277. Just as Ibn
Ezra writes, the idea is derived
from Ptolemy
(1940, 171-173).
are above the earth
(above the horizon) especially
whether it is at the cusp of the
first
house, this will (mean) the beginning of the
year, or in
the
descendant, (which will mean)
the
end of the year, or
if
at the cusp
of the 10th house, (which will mean)
the middle
of the year. And
this is the
rule: we shall assign
two
months for every
house, and it shall begin from
the rising degree
(and move) towards the last degree, and this is the opinion
of Ptolemy93. But the ancient scientists, and also
the later ones, did
not agree with
him.
Because (instead) in
a solar
eclipse we
will take a whole year (to correspond)
to every straight hour94, and in
accordance with
the partitions of
the
hour (minutes) we shall take from the year
(the minutes are to correspond
with
months etc.), and so (the duration)
from the beginning on to
the
end are those that indicate about it (the year)
until its end; according to
the hours they are either benefic or
opposite
ones. And the major
thing (the culmination of the
event)
is
visible in
the middle time95 which is where the actual moment
of the conjunction is, (that is) the
one which was taken from
the tables, not the conjunction
which was observed. And
at
the eclipse of
the moon they (the ancient and later
scholars) will assign
a month to every straight hour. I am inclined to
agree with them, and know
that Mercury, if it is in
one of the malefics' houses, and if it and the malefics are close to
the conjunction at the time
of the lunar eclipse, (then) there is no malefic like
it. The
benefic planets in opposition
(with Mercury)
at the
lunar eclipse are beneficial, from the
conjunction on to the solar eclipse,
and the malefics in
opposition (with Mercury)
become
more injurious than
they
are at the conjunction, because at the conjunction
they are burned by the sun.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [207-215] Doronius the king96 said that he found
in the Book of Secrets by Enoch97 that he
instructed that at the revolution of the
year (in which
occurs) a conjunction of Saturn and
Jupiter, (whether
it
is) the Great Conjunction or the
medium or the
small one,
to always
observe the
position of the
planets at the
beginning of the Aries ingress, and
to see in
which
sign the influence of
the
dodecatemoria98, from the malefic or
the benefic planets falls99. If,
for example, we find Saturn
in
Taurus 14°, then
we shall assign
one sign to every 2,5
degrees100, and we shall get five degrees
and a degree and a half remains for
us, and we
assign
12 degrees for every degree, and thus is produced Libra 18°. Since Saturn is malefic,
it signifies that evil will come to every nation whose sign
is
18 from Libra, and (in this)
degree, it will cause it injury, but if the nation has less than
these degrees, harm will not
befall it.
[215-222] And
know that the influence of
the dodecatemoria is stronger in
the great conjunction
than (it is) in
the medium, and
(stronger)
in the medium than in
the small one and
(stronger) in
the
small one than
in the
revolution of every year. And
if the
influence of
the
dodecatemoria
is
assigned to a benefic planet, benefit will come
to the
nation101, and if
93 Tetrabiblos 1940, 161, 165 ,
199. Sela (2003,
249) mentions this passage as
an example of Ibn
Ezra disagreeing
with Ptolemy. Ibn Ezra lived in a
time which was
beginning to question and
criticise Ptolemy's theories, which
had
been almost
unquestioned for hundreds of years
(See also Saliba 1994, 72-75).
94 ”Straight
hour” is apparently equivalent
to the”straight degree”, which is
a degree along the celestial
equator, called elsewhere ”equal
degree”.
95 That is,
the middle one of the three parts
of the arc from ascendant
to descendant,
corresponding
to the middle of the year in
the system here described.
96 Ibn Ezra refers
to Dorotheus of Sidon as “king” because he sees him
as the head of a certain
astrological
school of thought (Sela 2003,
65).
97 Enoch was
a character treated
by Ibn Ezra as
a prominent ancient
Egyptian astronomer and
astrologer, but was
simultaneously an embodiment
of the mythical
Hermes, “author” of the Hermetic literature. The Biblical Enoch
was the first out of
three manifestations of
Hermes. According
to Ibn Ezra, he was
an astrologer, and had astrologically
predicted the
Flood (Sela 2003, 185). See Pingree (1968,
15) on the Hermes-myth in
Abu Ma'shar's
work. The “ Book
of Secrets” that Ibn
Ezra refers
to is also
found by Pingree in
a manuscript
called “Book of the Secrets
of
the Words of Hermes who is tripled in Wisdom” (Pingree 1994,
43).
98 The dodecatemoria
were small
divisions of the circle,
obtained by dividing a zodiacal sign (30°) into twelve parts
(dodeca – Gr. “twelve”),
thus producing 144
dodecatemoria of 2½° each.
Each dodecatemorion
was assigned a zodiacal sign
in addition to the one in which
the dodecatemorion was situated
(Tester 1987,
27-29).
99 Sela 2007, 134-135.
100 1/12
of 1/12 of the 360 degrees,
thus 1/12 of a sign, and thus we will get 5 degrees. We get
two
signs
when we count from Aries to Taurus.
101 Sela 2007, 135.
two influences join in the
nation's sign; (being
assigned) to
(both) a malefic and
to
a benefic
planet, (then)
find out which one
of them is dominant and
has more visible power
than the other. (If) the one of them is under the light of the
sun it has no
influence, and (if)
that one which is in a falling house
relative to the
nation's sign,
it
also has no influence. (This is)
also the
case if
that one is in the
house of its dejection or detriment or it is retrograde. You must observe every year, especially
the year of a conjunction
(of Saturn and Jupiter),
because (then) all that is indicated there
is
fortified102.
[222-235] And
so, if
you find the ruler of the nation's sign
in the
7th house, it signifies that
there
will be wars against it (the nation),
and especially if
it
is aspecting Mars. And if
the ruler of the sign is one of
the superior planets (Saturn
or Jupiter), do not predict evil for the
nation,
but (only) that there will be a siege or a
crisis, but not more,
only if it is retrograde,
then
its
power (of influence) will be
weakened and the
evil
(befalling the nation) will (also) increase
if
it (the superior
planet) is under
the burning light. And if
the ruler of the 7th
house103 is in the ascendant,
judge that they (the nation)
will defeat their enemies and
especially so
if it is one of the inferior planets. And
if
either the
ruler of the nation's sign or the ruler
of the 10th house is in
question, look whether they are in
conjunction or (whether)
there
is
an aspect between them,
and look which of them is more dominant,
as I have mentioned
in the Book of Elections104. And
judge accordingly, (that is)
according
to the
aspects,
because if there is between them a hostile aspect, which means quartile aspect or
opposition, the wars between them105 will be renewed, and if
(there
is)
a friendly aspect
(trine
or sextile), there
will be peace
between them. But if one of the
malefics is in
one of the nation's cardines,
it
is a bad sign for the nation: and
thus
you shall judge that if it (the
malefic) is in
the ascendant (1st house),
it
indicates physical harm for the nation's people,
and if
in the 10th house
(midheaven),
it
indicates evil befalling its king, and if
in the
7th house (descendant),
it
indicates evil befalling
the nation's people, but also
to those who are
warring
against them. And
if it is in
the 4th house (lower midheaven)
it
indicates
destruction
of its fields and
vineyards. And if
there
is
a (benefic) planet in one of the cardines,
predict good, and if
malefics are with
the benefics in the cardines,
see which place
is
more powerful, and that power is to be more
visible.
[236-240] In general, Enoch the Ancient said,
Saturn indicates old people and farmers
(field-workers) and Jupiter
indicates judges and worshippers of the
Lord and Mars (indicates) princes and warriors and the
sun (indicates)
kings and Venus (indicates) women
and eunuchs, and Mercury (indicates) scholars and scribes and
youths, and the moon (indicates) all people, and in
accordance with its (the planet's)
dominance or weakness in
the
revolution of the year, so
will happen that (group)
that it indicates.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [242-245] Enoch the Egyptian106 said that the planet Jupiter with the
sign
of Aries indicates
the land of Iraq and the kingdom of
Persia. And Saturn with
Libra
indicates the
land of
Edom (Rome), and
Mercury
with Capricorn
indicates the land
of India, and Venus with
Scorpio indicates Arabia and Mars with
Leo indicates the land of Baragan107 and the sun
with Aquarius indicate the lands of Canaan and Greece and Egypt,
and the
moon with
Virgo (indicates)
the land of Khurasan108. And
in accordance with the planet and
its power,
and in
accordance with the
sign
in the
revolution
of the year109 (how the nation's planet and
sign are situated),
so shall the events of
each of them be.
102 The great
conjunction enhances all
the
influences.
103 This apparently does
not refer to the 7th astrological house
in the system of houses relative to the
ascendant, but merely
to the seventh
sign counting from the nation's sign, meaning the
sign that is opposite to
that sign.
104 This refers
to Ibn Ezra’s Sefer ha-Mivharim, see the Introduction to this study.
105 Two nations.
106 Note the three different
epithets for Enoch. See also section
3.3.4. of the present study.
107 Baragan is a plain
in Romania, by metonymy
this may mean Byzantium. Abu Ma'shar lists these same
locations in On the Great
Conjunctions, and he includes
Byzantium
(Abu Ma'shar 2000, 515).
108 Khurasan
was a vast
area in east Persia, today
incorporating territories
of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and
Tajikistan.
109 How the nation's
planet and
sign are situated
in the yearly horoscope cast at
the
Aries Ingress.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[246-253] These signs of the cities110 that we did not111 know of ; Baghdad's sign
is
Cancer
21°, Egypt's is Taurus 5°
, Almohadia’s [?]
Leo 3°, Avila's [?] Virgo 15°, Tunis' Virgo 4°,
Palermo's Leo
1°, Rome's Leo 15°, Pisa's Aquarius 3°, Béziers'
Pisces, Saragossa's Aries
6°, Almeria's Libra
20°, Valencia's Scorpio 6°, Cordoba's Gemini 22°, Seville's Pisces 7°,
Granada's Cancer
10°, Messina's [?] Taurus 6°, the city of
Jerusalem's Capricorn 6° ,
Buzayah's112 Gemini 7°, and the city of
Huesca's Taurus, Gabes'
2
degrees Pisces,
and
Kairouan's113 Cancer 15°. And this is how these
are found written
in a book114.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [254-266] You have to
observe at any conjunction, whether
great,
medium or small, the
position of Mars. Because
if it is in
the revolution (of the
year) (in conjunction)
with Saturn
or Jupiter, or
in opposition
or in quartile aspect with
them,
then wars will break
out again in
the world,
and they will occur
when
the sign in which the conjunction
occurs arrives to
the
position of Mars. And
I will give you an example.
Let
us say that, in
the revolution of the
year, Jupiter
is
at Taurus 10°
and Saturn is at 13° and Mars is at Aries 26°, and the
conjunction occurred in Taurus 14°.
I will assign
one year to
every sign, and so in
year 12
we bring the sign to
the place of Mars,
and we already said that it was at Aries 26°
and so
the beginning
of the year starts at Aries 14°115. And
we
shall ask what the
ratio
of 12 and 30
is 116, and it is 2/5. And
thus after 2/5 (has passed) of year 12 of the small conjunction of
Saturn and
Jupiter, there will be
great bloodshed in every country whose sign is Aries or
one of the
(other) cardinal signs. We also
have to look at the
revolution of the year
in order
to see the
position
of the planets and how
they are aspected to the sign of Aries, which
(corresponds to) the last house117, and this is how we
shall judge according to
whether they
are benefic planets or
malefic ones.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [266-269] All the astrologers
say that the fire-signs and air-signs indicate
prices going up
and famine to
occur in the world,
and even more so when conjunctions occur
in them,
and
earth-signs and water-signs indicate great satiety
and low prices.
One must also look
at the
revolution of
every year, because
if
both Saturn and
Jupiter are in
the
signs that indicate
higher
prices, this indicates prices going up, and the opposite is the
case if they are in
the
other
signs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [270-278] Masha'allah
has said
(that) we
shall always look
at the
beginning
of each year
for the position of the
moon at the moment of separation
from the conjunction
or
opposition with the sun, which
of them will be at the
beginning before the Aries ingress. If
it is in conjunction
with a malefic or
is
in a hostile aspect, it indicates evil for
the
world,
and if
benefic, it indicates good. And Saturn indicates illnesses and hatred
without cause
and quarrels and destruction of places and the
sinking of ships. And Jupiter
indicates peace
and plenty
of produce and quiet and security. And Mars indicates dissension,
wars, plagues
110 Ibn Ezra writes
in his commentary on Deut 4:19:”It
has been established
by experience that each
and every
nation
has a specific star and constellation. Every city
similarly has its own constellation” (C.Deut
2001,
24).
111 It is
unclear to
me why
Ibn Ezra here uses negation. Fleischer seems to share my
confusion, as
he has
inserted
an exclamation mark
after the negation
to indicate that
he suspects
copyist error.
112 Fleischer's
note
says North Africa for this locality.
113 Gabes
and Kairouan are both in what
today
is Tunisia.
114 These cities and
localities are mostly
situated around the Mediterranean. Since there are no cities in the
Holy
Land included, it seems
that this list was pragmatic,
offering
the professional astrologer coordinates for
making predictions
for
important trade-ports in the interest
of merchant-customers. For Abu
Ma'shar's list of
correspondences, see 2000, 45. See also
al-Kindi's
list for comparison
(Burnett
and
Yamamoto
2000, 529)
and Ptolemy's (Ptolemy 1940, 161-163).
115 I do not
know what he means
here. The year should always begin
at
Aries 0º.
116 30°
in each sign, divided
by 12 signs.
117 Usually Aries
is said to correspond to the first house, but
of course any sign can
coincide with any
house.
and migration
between localities. And Venus indicates that appetites and pleasures increase
in
the world and especially
in
any place which is ruled
by Venus or in
whose
sign Venus is
(at that moment). And Mercury
indicates scholarly inquiry and
the success of scribes, the scholars and also of the merchants.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [279-290] Masha'allah
has said
to always in the (year of a) great conjunction, or the
medium one or
the small one,
(and) also at the revolutions of
each year, observe the
ascendant at the moment of conjunction
or opposition of the luminaries,
for every nation,
before the Aries ingress,
because this a principle great importance! And observe
the ruler of
the ascendant
at the moment of
the conjunction or opposition, and
the ascendant's ruler
shall rule
the place because
it
aspects it. Thus if we find the
ruler
in the 1st or in
the
10th
cardine118, it indicates increase in
the prices of
wheat in that region, and
even more
so if
it
(the ruler of the ascendant)
is
enhanced in its course,
meaning that it will move faster than
its mean motion, but if it moves slower than its mean motion119, or it is retrograde, which
causes prices to go down
day by day. And this is how to
judge if
it
gives the power to
the
planet which
is
in one of the mentioned cardines. And if
it
was in one of the
other cardines
the case would be (of)
medium (influence), and thus in
the succedents and
in the cadent
(houses),
prices will go down. And
if the ruler
is
burned by the sun,
damage
will occur to
the produce. And
if it is in
one of the cardines, then
the
damage will occur
and if in the
cadents, only
a little will be (damaged),
and thus you shall do year by year and month by
month.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [291-295] Masha'allah
has said
(that) the place of the
conjunction
indicates olive
oil,
because
that is tested. Therefore
you have to observe the ruler of the place of
the
conjunction, and as you will see,
so you shall judge,
according to the judgment of
the ruler
of the produce
(in
the aforementioned
case), and know that if
the ruler is in its house of
exaltation,
the price of the
product will go
up, and less so if it was in its (own) house120.
And if it is in its house of dejection,
it
will get sufficient cheap, and
if in its house
of
detriment121, it will be so,
but not like the
first122.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [296-311] Ya'qub al-Kindi has said in
his
Book of Revolution123 (to) observe before the
Aries ingress the sign of the
conjunction or the opposition of the luminaries which is at the
beginning
(of the year) and if you find the ascendant (to be) of
the water-signs, it indicates
rain falling
in (the time
of) that same conjunction or the same
opposition, and so
also if
the
place
of the conjunction or opposition was in
one of the rising cardines124 at that time,
relative to
the latitude of the
country
for which you are calculating the luminaries. And
if
the place
of the conjunction
or opposition is in one of the falling
houses, judge that rain
will not fall during the whole month, or during most of
the same year. And
if the rising
sign
is of the water-signs and the ruler of the sign
aspects it, this is also
complete proof of
(heavy) rainfall. And
if the
ruler
(of the rising sign) is there
in
the rising sign,
then there
will be (even) more (rain). And
if the ruler
is
(in conjunction) with a luminary, then there
will be very heavy rains (indeed), and if
you wish to know
the day when the rain
will fall,
118 That is,
the 1st or 10th houses,
which coincide with the cardinal points
ascendant and
midheaven.
119 It appears to slow down and
speed
up again.
120 Apparently Ibn Ezra is
of the opinion that exaltation is stronger than domicile, and dejection is stronger
than detriment.
121 A planet's
dejection
is the sign opposite the house of exaltation of
that planet,
detriment
is the sign
opposite the planets
house or domicile.
For
details, see Sela 2007, 280.
122 Here Ibn
Ezra begins to discuss
“financial astrology”. The prices of olive-oil
and wheat would have been
the corner-stones
of the medieval
economy, and were therefore naturally
the object of intense efforts of
prediction.
123 Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn
Ishaq al-Kindi , ca 801–873, Islamic polymath,
wrote on almost all kinds of
science.
He was
the first Muslim
peripatetic, and
is particularly known
for
introducing Aristotelian thought
into the
Arab
world. I have been
unable to identify this
"Book of Revolution".
124 The ascendant or
midheaven.
look to the day when the
moon reaches the rising
degree, and that is when the rains will come. And
I, Abraham,
say that if
it
is not so125, there will be clouds and rain
will not fall. And
so
said Plato in his book of Rain126, and it is a tested matter. And
know that the planets
that are retrograde
indicate showers; also
the inferior ones
that are under the sun and also
if they are between
inferiors and
superiors in a feminine sign. And
further clear proof is it if the sign is of the cold
ones, whether of the
earth-signs or of the
water-signs. And
the
sign of Aquarius indicates water
because of the stars that are called “pour
out”127, that are there. Also,
the
sign of Leo indicates water, because
of the constellation of the
ship128 that is
there129.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [312-330] Abu
Sarq130 has said: “The ruler of the
7th house131is always the superior
planet's key.” And therefore Saturn's keys are the luminaries,
because their
houses are in
opposition to
its (Saturn's) houses132 like if the
moon is in conjunction
or is conferring its
influence to
Saturn in any conjunction or opposition that it (the moon) has
with the sun.
Know that in that same
month
(heavy) rains will fall and
you can know the day that it will
rain when you count the equal degrees between
the
place of the conjunction or opposition
and the
place
where the aspect of Saturn
is
complete, and as the
(same) number
of days are
completed, you shall assign one day for every degree, and that is when
the rain will fall.
Further clear evidence
(is
obtained) if by
chance the moon is that same day
in
one of its
phases133, and these are
the
12 keys of the moon134. The first one is the
moment of the
conjunction with
the
sun equally [?], and the second
is
the separation from the sun,
in equal
degrees (it is)
12 degrees. And the third will be
a separation of 45 degrees which
is
1/8 of
the wheel. And the fourth
is
a separation
of 90 degrees, which is 1/4
of the wheel, and the
fifth is a separation from
the sun by 135 degrees, which is 3/4135 of the
wheel. And
the
sixth
is a separation of 168 degrees from the sun,
and the rule is that between it and the
opposition of the sun,
there
are 12 degrees, and the
eighth is a separation
of 192 degrees
from the
sun, and the reason is that the
separation
is
12 degrees from the opposition to the
sun136. And
the ninth is a
separation of 225 degrees from the sun; its reason is that it is the
separation from
the sun by 3/8 of the wheel137. And
the tenth is a separation of 270 degrees
from the
sun, and its reason is that it is the separation
from the sun by 1/4
of the wheel.
And the eleventh key (phase) is separated from the
sun by 315 degrees,
and its reason is
that it is the separation
from the sun by half a quarter, which is 1/8. And
the twelfth is
separated from
the sun by 348 degrees and its reason is that it is separated from the sun
by
125 It is
unclear to me
whether he means
if the ruler is not with a luminary, or failing all
above criteria.
126 I have been
unable to
identify this work with
certainty. There is, however, a text entitled
“The
Treatise of
Humidity and Rain” by
al-Kindi, which is included
in at least one manuscript containing Ibn
Ezra's
astrological
works (Levy &Cantera 1939,
17). Since al-Kindi is
cited at the beginning of this passage, there
may have been copyist
confusion
involved here.
127 I have as yet
not identified these stars.
128 This refers
to the ancient constellation Argo Navis.
129 It is
clear that in a
warm Mediterranean climate, and indeed
for
all cultures living off agriculture, the
amount of rain affected
entire nations, and
was
therefore the object
of mundane astrological prediction. It
is
good
to bear in mind also that
the
entire science of meteorology
was astrological
at the time (see Forcada
1998
on meteorological books in al-Andalus).
130 Despite the erroneous spelling in the Hebrew, this
is apparently Abu al-Saqr al-Qabisi Abd al-Aziz ibn
Uthman, who was a 10th century Arabic astrologer (d. 967). Known in Latin
as Alchabitius, he is
primarily
known for his treatise on judicial astrology, Introduction
to the Art of Judgments
of the Stars , which was, in
Latin
translation,
prized in medieval
and Renaissance Europe.
131 This is apparently
not a reference to
the
7th house in the system of houses relative to the
ascendant, but
rather the 7th
sign counting from the domicile of the superior planet,
thereby
being in opposition with it.
132 Saturn's domiciles
are Aquarius
and Capricorn. See Reshit Hokhmah 1998, 121: "Conferring of
influence
is
when a planet
is in its domicile, or exaltation, or triplicity, or bound, or face,
and it is joining another planet
or aspecting it, then it confers
its power upon it." Levy and
Cantera call this
“communication of influence”
(Reshit
Hokhmah 1939, 212).
133 The Hebrew word mafteah means "key", which in astrology usually refers to
phases
of the moon (Sela
383).
134 This passage refers to the doctrine that the lunar phases are useful
in predicting rain,
see Sela 2007,
166.
See also Abu Ma’shar 2000, 481 and part V.
135 This seems to
be a
scribal error, this
should surely be 3/8!
136 180+12=192.
137 That is,
counted in the opposite direction from
135.
12 degrees before it. These
keys
(phases) are tested by the ancients and
(also) by later
(scholars).
[330-342] Always observe
if a planet is retrograde in
the 1st house, indicating rain,
because the planet in
the first house is thought
of as the power of
the ruler of that house and
(also)
the
ruler of the 7th,
(thus) in the
case of Jupiter
(it
is) Mercury (because their domiciles are opposite each other)
and both indicate winds. Therefore look
every month if the ruler of the
ascendant is Jupiter
or Mercury, and
if one aspects the other or if
they
are in the cardines of one of
the rising signs138, then
it
indicates that winds will increase in
the world. And all this is if the
sign
of the country is in one of the cardinal signs or they
aspect the sign
and if Venus or
Mars is ruler
of the ascendant
and one aspects the other, and also if
they are in
one of the
rising cardines,
then
they indicate rain in
lightning
and thunder and flames,
and even more so if there
is
between them a quartile aspect or
an aspect of hostility
(opposition). And if
one of them is in an earth-sign, then it indicates hails. You always have
to
observe Saturn in
the revolution (of the year), for if it is in one of the
earth-signs and no benefic planet aspects it, and if the
moon is in a quartile aspect or
in opposition
with it, then
it
indicates great earth-quakes in
the entire country where Saturn
is
in its own sign139, or (one
of) its sign(s)
is
in one of the cardines.
[342-350] And
always observe Mars at the beginning of the
year, especially if it is east of the sun and it has the rulership
of the ascendant of the
revolution of the year, (observe)
which (sign) it rules,
and whether it is in
one of
the rising cardines; then it indicates wars
and bloodshed. And more so
if
it is in a
sign
with a human
(-formed) constellation140. And
if
it is in one of
the fire-signs, it indicates that fires will burn in
the
country, and if
the ruler of the sign of the
country
aspects a benefic sign
in its place141, then
the people of the country
will be saved,
and if (it is) not (aspecting
a benefic), then (it will)
not (be saved).
And if
it
is occidental of the sun
and is in
a sign
of a human (-formed) constellation, it
indicates wars,
yet there will be more fear
than bloodshed. And earth-signs (with Mars)
indicate ruin,
and if
it
is at the beginning of
the year in a cadent house or is retrograde,
(then)
the earth will fall silent from wars142.
[350-362] And
always observe the position of the moon,
because it indicates all mankind, so
that if (the moon) is at the beginning
(in conjunction) with a benefic (planet)
or in a benefic aspect with
one, it indicates physical health, and if
(the moon) is with Saturn or
in an aspect of opposition or quartile with
it,
and Saturn is in one of
the deformed
signs143, which are Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Scorpio,
Capricorn and Pisces, it indicates severe diseases
and (different) kinds of inflammations144 and coughs. And
if Saturn is in
one of the water-
signs, it means great evil for
those
crossing the sea, and also
if it is in
the
sign of Cancer. And
the
general (rule)
is
that it145 causes injury
to all who travel by
water and the waters of
the
rivers will grow (flood) and spoil the crops if
heavy rains come that harm (them), and
Mars
in the water-signs indicates destructive hailstones. And
if Saturn or Mars are in Virgo or in
Capricorn146 or in
air-signs,
it
indicates coming
evil
(in the form of) of locusts and
(other) swarming insects in
places that are suitable for them to
be
there147. And
if Mars or
Saturn are in those signs which have human (-form)
constellations, it indicates disputes and quarrels and wars, and
if they
are oriental, then
it
is visible148 that they
indicate more of
(the same). And if
one aspects the other with
a quartile aspect or
an opposition and Venus or Jupiter
do not aspect, then it indicates great evil. And
you can know the place where this
138 The meaning
of this
sentence is odd, perhaps it should read
“if
they are in the cardines or one of them is in the ascendant”.
139 Capricorn
or Aquarius.
140 Gemini, Virgo, Libra, and half of Sagittarius and Aquarius.
141 Instead of Mars.
142 Cease from warring. This
whole passage corresponds
to Ptolemy 1940, 173.
143 These are all
the animal-shaped signs, with the exclusion of Leo.
“Deformed” are all
animal shaped signs
except Leo,
which together with Virgo are “strong signs”(Sela 2007, 278). This probably has
seasonal
reasons.
144 This word can also
mean “malaria”.
145 Saturn in water-signs
or in Cancer specifically.
146 Virgo and
Capricorn are earth-signs.
147 That is,
where such swarms
naturally
occur.
148 “Visible” may here mean
“obvious”.
will occur.
[362-372] Enoch the
First149 has said that Jupiter with
the
sign of Cancer
indicates the
country called al-Iraq, and already Abu
Ma'shar
mentioned that the sign of al-Iraq is the
term of Jupiter150 in the sign
of Cancer which is 21
degrees of the sign
(Cancer 21°). And it is a tested matter
that every malefic planet which is in this degree or aspects it with an opposition
or a quartile aspect at the beginning
of the revolution of the
year, harms the
mentioned
place
(Iraq) and the opposite (is the
case), if
there (at Cancer 21°) is a benefic
planet or an
aspect with it. These (issues) have
been tested endless times. And
Saturn with Libra corresponds to
the
land of Rome, and it is the kingdom
of Edom151. And Mercury with Capricorn is for the
people of India, called “al-Hindi”. On
this (issue), Abu
Ma'shar
said that Mercury indicates their spirits,
which is why
they (the Hindus) are learned
in wisdom, and Capricorn indicates their bodies, therefore they are not white (-skinned).
And
Venus in
Scorpio is for al-Higaz152 where Mecca is.
On this (matter), Abu Ma'shar said
that
every year that Scorpio aspects a malefic (at the revolution of the
year), the king
of the Kedar153 and the ruler154 of the Ishmaelite
empire
will die. And
he
mentioned several examples from his experience.
[373-376] Mars with
Leo is Baragan155, and the sun
with Aquarius is the
Land
of Israel and Ionia (Greece)
and Egypt. And the
moon with Virgo is for the land
of China and Khurasan156. And
the reason is that this is the same planet that is ruling
them,
and of the signs the mentioned sign. And when
they
are both in the revolution
of the year, and also
in the revolution
of a year of a conjunction (of Saturn
and Jupiter), judge accordingly,
whether (for) good or evil.
[376-388] And
in
order to know the
year of a drought, Masha'allah
said
(to) put great importance
on the place where the great,
medium or
small conjunction (occurs), and such a year when the
last house arrives at the place of
Mars or Saturn,
if its power over Jupiter
will increase,
like
I mentioned in the
beginning157, it indicates a
year of drought for every country in whose (sign) the
last house
arrives in. The meaning of the last house is that you
assign
one sign to
every year, and you start from the sign of the
conjunction from the (very)
degree of the conjunction, counting up to
30 degrees and it (means)
equal (degrees), which is a number
that will cover
one sign or two signs. And the
important thing
is
that you count in equal degrees. Every
year in which you
arrive to158 Venus or Mercury, if it is in
a beneficent mixture, or to
Jupiter if
its power
is
increasing
and it is dominating over Saturn
in the
beginning of the conjunction,
it
indicates abundance, especially in every country
whose sign is one of the cardinal signs of
(coinciding with)
the last house159. And
al- Andruzgar
the
Israelite160 said: “We shall always observe the
Great Conjunction,
which
is the conjunction
of Saturn and Jupiter (in Aries),
and we shall assign
one year to every equal degree, and we
must start from the
place
of the conjunction
and we
must not make haste, whatever
the
time of year may be. And
after
360 years, which is the number
of degrees on
149 See section 3.3.4. of this study.
150 The Hebrew gives
merely”Jupiter with
Cancer” which makes no sense. However, the”astrological
term”
of Jupiter in Cancer makes good sense. Astrological “terms” are ancient divisions of 1/5 of a sign
that were
believed to correspond to the planets,
in this case excluding the sun and
the moon.
(See Tester, 76-77).
Ibn
Ezra usually uses the word
gevul for astrological term
(Sela 2007,
390).
151 Edom is a common Hebrew word for Christendom,
referring
to the assumed descendants of
the Biblical
Esau, Jacob's brother.
152 The western region
of the Arabian Peninsula.
153 The Kedar were Arabian tribe, but later the name came to
mean Arabs in general. See, however, note 17
on page 72.
154 The Hebrew reads molekh, but the context clearly assumes a king. Abu Ma'shar speaks of
the death
of the
king
in connection with Scorpio (Abu
Ma’shar 2000,
113).
155 See note 107
above.
156 See note 108
above.
157 I have not
found the passage that Ibn
Ezra here refers to.
158 That is,
after the mentioned counting,
it coincides
with Venus or Mercury.
159 This passage corresponds to
Ibn Ezra’s Sefer ha-Moladot
(2008, 79). This technique
is known as
“progression”. According
to Tester, it was
a debated technique, because it
had its
roots in magic. Ptolemy
does not deal with progression. (Tester 1987, 87-88.)
160 Andruzgar ben Zadi
Faruk, a 9th century Persian Jewish
astrologer. Very little is known of him.
the wheel,
we shall return to look
like
(we did) at first”161.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [389-403] Abu
Ma'shar
said
that today we
are at the 7th degree of the sign of Libra,
because
according
to the
knowledge of the
scholars of
India they will assign 1000 years to
every degree. Ya'qub al-Kindi said
(to) observe the conjunction of
the luminaries,
or their
opposition, which one
of them is closer to
the
Aries ingress. And
do not heed to the
words
of one who says that we shall always observe the
entrance of the sun into Cancer 20(°) ,
because
from there on the waters of the
wells begin to
increase. If Venus was oriental162 at
the beginning
of the year, then the first half of the
year will be better than
the latter
(part)
and if
it
is occidental, the
case is the
opposite. And
the
correct (way to
judge) is what I have
said, that if
one of the benefic planets is at the place of a
conjunction
or an opposition, then
(that) one of them will have great dominance in
the
place, and (if) no malefic planet (is
present there), it is the sign of a good year. And
also if
the benefic planet is in one of
the
cardines, (that is simultaneously) the
rising
sign
which
is
(means) the ascendant, at the
moment of the
conjunction or the opposition, and according to
the longitude of
each
country and according to the
calculation of the
houses that are cardines163, because they
will change according to
the
latitude of each country. And
if the
opposite is the case,
that
malefics are aspecting or they
are in
one of the cardinal signs that is (simultaneously)
the
rising sign164, which is the ascendant, and no
benefic planet is aspecting,
(it
is a sign of a)
bad year. And if the
benefics and
malefics (both)
are aspecting, observe which one has
greater
influence (and
that
is) the ruler. And
know that a superior planet,
if it is oriental and
another superior is occidental, the
greater
influence is with the oriental (one). And
if the
inferior ones
(are aspecting),
the case is the
opposite, because they are on
the eastern
horizon. And
the
one that is under the light of the
sun has no influence at all,
and similarly
one that is retrograde.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [404-407] Abu
Ma'shar, who tested these things many times,
said
that if Mars is at the
Aries ingress in one of the
houses of Saturn165, it indicates drought, and if it is in
one of its
(own) houses, it indicates plenty
of rain and (if)
in the rest of the
places, medium
(moisture). And
I do not know the reason for this.
I also tried it, but
I did not succeed, and I
could not reach it. Therefore
I mention it to you, so
that
if you find his book,
do not rely on
it. And none of the things (he said) about
rain is (worth any) more than
this166.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [408-416] The scholars of
India said that the lunar
mansions are 28 (in number). And thus
it will amount to 2 1/3
mansions for each
sign167 And thus it will be from the beginning
of
Aries which
is
its beginning168 according
to the
knowledge of the
scholars of the
images169,
and 8° before the horns of Aries and
they are at this degree at 22° from
the beginning of
161 Ibn Ezra presents
this same method for birth charts
in Sefer ha-Moladot (2008,
79.) The period of
360 years is known as a dawr, an important astrological period
used by Abu Ma'shar and other Muslim astrologers (see Burnett
and
Yamamoto 2000, 587-592).
162 A planet
is oriental when it
is east of the sun, and
occidental
when it is west of the sun.
163 That is, the 1st, the 4th,
the 7th and the 10th houses coincide with
the cardinal points.
164 Ibn Ezra here uses confusing terminology
when he speaks of
cardines, yetadot,
meaning either cardinal
signs: Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn, and
on the other hand
the cardinal points of the horoscope;
ascendant,
midheaven,
descendant,
lower midheaven. On the
other hand consider also
the
idea presented in
Sefer ha-
Te'amim 3.6:1 (2007,67) where Ibn Ezra says that
the ascendant
is determined by midheaven and
lower
midheaven.
165 Saturn's domiciles
are Aquarius
and Capricorn.
166 Again, this is critique aimed at Abu Ma'shar. It seems
that Ibn Ezra was
aware of the great popularity
enjoyed by Abu Ma'shar's works
in Ibn Ezra's time. He wanted
to warn his readers
not to trust these works
blindly.
167 28/12=2 1/3.
168 It is
the beginning of the astrological year, hence of the counting of the mansions.
169 The hahkamei
ha-tsurot are elsewhere mentioned by Ibn Ezra as
idolatrous
star-worshippers (probably
referring to Hindus and Persians), thus
practising
a forbidden form of astrology
(Sefer ha-Te'amim 2007, 191;
Sela 2007, 276).
Aries, which is (on)
the (celestial) equator170, that is, according to
the division
of the system171 and not according to
the constellation,
since the
constellation Aries is small and
(occupies) less than 1/4
of the sign. And
thus,
if you want to find the lunar mansion, subtract from the position
of the moon the appropriate (amount), by using the tables of
al- Battani: (subtract)
8° and then you find what you want (to
know). From Aries,
which is the
constellation
up to 13°, and it is also
51 parts172, it is the first mansion which
is
called al- Nath173 and I already listed them for
you174, all the mansions, in
their constellations,
and their Arabic names and their
explanations.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [417-430] The wise men of India have said
that 10 mansions are
moist and they
indicate
rain and torrents and
these are their
names in
the
Arabic language:
al-Dabaran, al-Dhira, al-
Gabhah, al-Sarfah, al-Ghabbar, al-Ikhlil, al-Shaula, al-Baldah175, al-Fart and al-Mukar. And
they say
that as the moon's light becomes visible at the beginning
of the month, if
it
is in
one of the
rain-mansions and a retrograde
planet aspects it and
especially if
it
is in a
feminine sign
and even more if it is in a water-sign,
then it indicates rain. And
(for) this,
observe every
month at the beginning of each
month
and even more at the beginning of the
month which
is
before the Aries ingress, and also (the ingresses of)
Cancer and Libra and
Capricorn176 and in
general in one of the changeable
signs. The reason is that the time of
the Aries ingress is in opposition
to that (place), because
from the beginning of Aries to the
head of Cancer it is a hot and humid time, and after
that the time changes to
its
opposite so
that the moist turns to dryness and the
time from the beginning of Cancer to the end of
Virgo is hot and
dry.
After that the
time
changes to its opposite (so as)
to remove the
heat
and the
cold comes after it, and times will be cold and dry, because one
property177 will
remain
as
it is. And at the entrance
of the sun into the
sign
of Capricorn, the dryness will
stand aside and the
cold will remain as it is,
and times will be cold
and moist,
and so on
always. And the
dry mansions are
al-Butain, al-Han'ah, al-Tarf, al-Qalb, Sad al-Ahbiya, al-
Farch al-Muqdam178. And
the rest of the
mansions are
mixed
(in their
properties)179.
[430-436] And
now I will mention a rule. You always have to
observe the 120 conjunctions which are
conjunctions of the ministering
planets and the
luminaries. And
after (what)
you know from the book
of the Beginning of Wisdom180 (on) the mixture of every planet, so
shall you judge and every thing that (each) planet indicates,
and if
it
it strong because of
the sun or because
of the rising
degree, or else on account of
its
ruler (being) in
its (own)
place; all that it indicates becomes significant. And it is the
opposite of this if
it
is in the house
of its dejection or the
house of its detriment,
and even more so if it is burned
by the sun or is retrograde. And according to the
benefic and malefic aspects of the
planets shall
170 Ibn Ezra uses the curious term
qav ha-tsedeq for “equator” (Sela 2007,
381). The word thus has
nothing to do with Jupiter (Tsedeq), as one
would expect.
171 The Hebrew word is machshevet,
evoking the meaning
of a system of thought. What Ibn
Ezra means
is that the division of the ecliptic into
12 zodiacal signs is
mathematical and
conventional, as
the borders of the
signs are not existing things observable in the
actual sky, but are based on
convention. The actual constellations Aries, Taurus etc. do not follow even
30º sectors.
172 13°51'.
173 Al-Nath
is the Arabic name for the first lunar mansion.
There is a het in the
Hebrew that seems
to be misplaced, either because of Fleischer's
or earlier copyists'
error.
174 I have been
unable to
determine where this list
occurs, but it is probable that it is
included in Ibn
Ezra's
Sefer
ha Ta'amei ha-Luchot, a treatise explaining the reasons
for
the data in the astronomical tables,
specifically those of al-Khwarizmi
(ca 780-850, Iraqi
mathematician. The algorithm
is named
after him).
175 The Arabic names of the lunar mansions are available for instance in www.mazzaroth.com.
Many
of these
coincide with
major stars
like Aldebaran
(Alpha Taurii), Alderamin (Alpha Cephei), Algiega (Gamma
Leonis), Rigel
(Beta Orionis) etc.
176 The cardinal signs.
177 Cold, dry, hot
or moist.
178 See www.mazzaroth.com for the list. These coincide with
stars like
Botein (Delta Arietis) and Alhena
(Gamma Geminorum).
179 In this
passage, Ibn Ezra introduced
the lunar mansions, a doctrine based
on a kind of lunar zodiac. The
mansions or Stations, as
they were also called,
coincided
with certain major stars
along the moon's path. The
important
pre-Islamic Arabic meteorological
system
of anwa was based
on these mansions. (See Forcada
1998.)
180 This is a
reference to Reshit Hokhmah,
(transl. Levy
and
Cantera 1939, Epstein 1998), which
is the first
part
of Ibn Ezra’s astrological
encyclopedia. See also the
introduction to the present
study.
you judge.
[436-442] I have also
tested
several times (that) the
sun indicates Christians and Saturn
(indicates) the
Jews181 and Mars (indicates) Kedar182 and Venus (indicates) Muslims183. And
according to its (the planet's)
influence at the
beginning of the year, so shall you
judge. And as I have
said, Saturn indicates old
people and slaves,
and Jupiter men of wealth
and
judges, and
Mars men
of war and the sun craftsmen and Venus women and eunuchs and Mercury
minors and scholars and scribes, and the moon
indicates every human
being. And every year that you
find the moon in
opposition to
the sun
or in quartile aspect (to
it), it indicates a plot against the king
in whatever
country the moon is in, and the
reason is that it
is
in its sign184.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [443-452] Andruzgar has said
(to) observe the ruler
of the ascendant at the beginning of the
revolution of
the year, and the reason
(for
this) is (to find out)
who is the ruler of the
rising
degree. If there are two or three trine (aspects)
that
aspect (the ruler
of the ascendant), then
you rely
on these, and if several aspect (it), take
the
one that has more dominion
in the
rising degree
and do the way you would
do in a birth-chart185. And
if the ruler is (at present
found to
be)
in the rising
sign,
it
indicates joy
and physical health
for the people
of that
place. And if
in the second (house),
it
indicates, if
it
is burned there,
diseases and death
and
plagues, and if
in the
second (house) and
in a good place, it indicates abundance for all the
people of that place.
If it is burned by the sun, it indicates that the
(lesser)
rulers are
harming
the appointed (king). And
if in
the
third house, travellers (on
the roads) will
increase. And if
in the fourth
house, the seed
will multiply. And
if it is (in
a) deformed
(sign),
judge the
opposite. And
if in
house five, their
children will increase, and
if one of
the malefics is there, the
small boys will die. And
in this way
you shall judge
in the
rest
of
the houses, and
always observe the aspects,
because all judgments rest upon them.
The Book
of the
World is completed
Praise be to
the Creator of the World,
through
which all books on
judgments are completed.
The scholar Ben-Ezer 186 has finished them.
181 The Hebrew word he uses here, ha-pishtim, means linens,
which apparently evokes
the tradition of sha'atnez, the prohibition
of mixing
linen with wool. The people associated
with Saturn is certainly
the Jews, according to
what Ibn Ezra mentions in several other texts
(C.Ex
32:1, 33:21; Sefer ha-Te'amim 2007, 71).
See also
Sela 2003,
291-292; 2007, 158; Zafran
1979 on the connection
between
Saturn and
the
Jews. Abu Ma'shar (2000,
44-45) presents the interesting
view that the connection is related
to the fact that Judaism is
the oldest of the monotheistic religions and
that the other ones confess
to its validity while it confesses the validity
of none of the others. It would have been very interesting to
read
what Ibn Ezra would
have commented on this
statement.
182 See note 17
on page 7.
183 Ishmael
was the son of the patriarch Abraham
and Isaac's
elder half-brother in
the
Biblical story. Both
Muslims and
Jews
consider Muslims to be
Ishmael's descendants.
184 That is,
the country in whose sign the moon is at the
beginning of the year.
185 See Sefer ha-Moladot
2008, 4-8.
186 Ben-Ezer means “son of the Helper “. This pun
on his own name is typical
of Ibn Ezra’s style.
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