A Theory of the Exaltation and Debilitation Degrees of the
Planets
(Revised July 27, 2017)
Michael Douglas Neely
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to offer a different theory on the exaltation and debilitation degrees
of the planets based on observable periodic cycles in nature and mathematical relationships
between the different exaltation degrees of the planets and the cumulative mathematical results
as a whole. L ife Cycles: Astrology and Its Connection to Nature by this author provides a
complete explanation of this theory.
Other Theories on the Exaltation and Debilitation Signs and Degrees
Chris Brennan published an online article about the past theories on exaltation and debilitation of
the planets titled, “The Questionable Origins of the Exaltations in Astrology” (Nov. 16, 2008
with a Jan. 11, 2016 update). This article can be found at
http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/2008/11/16/the-questionable-origins-of-the-exaltations-in-as
trology/
Just as Brennan states in the article, there are various problems with the previous theories, and
none of them discuss why the planets are at particular degrees within their exaltation or
debilitation signs. The sign-based exaltation and debilitation theories have not been worked out
in any particular detail besides indicating the exaltation placements by sect and aspect doctrine in
other astrological schemes such as the Thema Mundi.
References in Astrology Texts
There are numerous references to the exaltation and debilitation signs and degrees. The Book of
Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology by Albiruni, an Arabic astrology text from the
1
11th century CE states the differences between Greek and East Indian exaltation and debilitation
degrees. The earliest Greek source is the C armen Astrologicum of Dorotheus of Sidon, which is
1
"Exaltation (astrology)," Wikipedia, last modified June 8, 2017, h ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exaltation_(astrology).
© 2009-2017 Michael Douglas Neely 1
2
dated to the 1st Century CE. The Yavanajataka has a conjectured publication date from 120 BCE
3
to the 6th Century CE. It is interesting that the Yavanajataka is of Greek origin, but it lists the
exaltation and debilitation degrees common in the East Indian tradition. Some of the astrological
principles and techniques found in the Yavanajataka are Greek in origin, but others are not. Some
techniques are not found in either Greek or East Indian astrological systems. This could be a
result of the text being modified over time, but there is still a lot of speculation around it. The East
4
Indian astrological text, The Brihat Jataka, has a more solid dating from the 6th Century CE. This
text also lists the East Indian exaltation and debilitation degrees. The two main traditions’
exaltation points are as follows:
Planet ast Indian Exaltation
E Greek Exaltation
Sun 10° Aries 19° Aries
Moon 3° Taurus 3° Taurus
Mercury 15° Virgo 15° Virgo
Venus 27° Pisces 27° Pisces
Mars 28° Capricorn 28° Capricorn
Jupiter 5° Cancer 15° Cancer
Saturn 20° Libra 21° Libra
Rahu/Dragon’s Head N/A 3° Gemini
Ketu/Dragon’s Tail N/A 3° Sagittarius
The Sun, Jupiter, and Saturn are the only planets that differ in exaltation degrees from the two
traditions. East Indian astrology does at times assign Rahu and Ketu to certain exaltation and
debilitation signs, but these positions are highly debated and varied. Debilitation degrees are
always 180° away from the exaltation degrees. Once again, it is interesting that the Greek
tradition has specific exaltation and debilitation degrees for Rahu and Ketu and not the East
Indian tradition when the East Indian tradition seems to use Rahu and Ketu in its tradition more
often. One would think it would be the other way around given Rahu and Ketu’s importance in
East Indian astrology.
2
"Dorotheus of Sidon," Wikipedia, last modified July 2, 2017, h ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorotheus_of_Sidon
3
"Yavanajataka," Wikipedia, last modified July 2, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yavanajataka
4
"Brihat Jataka," Wikipedia, last modified May 30, 2017, h ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brihat_Jataka
© 2009-2017 Michael Douglas Neely 2
Practical Application
The exaltation typically determines that a planet will manifest its qualities and create conditions
that will be beneficial to the native; the debilitation typically determines that it will not and
create detrimental conditions for the native. In some astrological systems, such as East Indian
astrology, planets in exaltation are given the highest value of 60 points in a sexagesimal point
5
system, and planets in debilitation are given 0 points, the lowest value. Practical application of
exaltation and debilitation of the planets in astrology has met with limited success and much
critique by contemporary astrologers such that exaltation and debilitation points are often only
used by astrologers working within traditional systems. A common critique is that the placement
of a planet’s exaltation and debilitation sign does not seem to flow with the principles and
correspondences of mainstream astrology techniques and designations. For example, how can
Mars be exalted in Capricorn, ruled by Saturn, when Saturn is debilitated in Aries, ruled by
6
Mars?
Another issue are the interpretations of the words “exaltation” and “debilitation” from Sanskrit
and the epithets assigned to the planets do not match the actual observable phenomena of the
tropical zodiac sign in which the planet is either exalted or debilitated. For example, the Sun is
not observably considered exalted at the time of year when the Sun is at 10° Aries (~March 31st
in the Gregorian calendar system) with the East Indian system nor 19° Aries (~April 9th in the
Gregorian calendar system) with the Greek system. The Sun would be considered exalted by its
observable phenomena when it is 90° progressed in the tropical zodiac at 10° of Cancer around
July 2nd (East Indian system) or 19° of Cancer around July 11th (Greek system) when the
summer season is underway in the Northern Hemisphere.
Another example concerns the epithets for Jupiter and Venus. Jupiter’s epithet is the giver of
pleasantness and Venus’ is the giver of vigor. Jupiter is often associated with wealth and
benefice. Jupiter is exalted in Cancer at 5° in the East Indian system or 15° in the Greek system.
If one would be living off the land and very susceptible to the environmental cycles like the
ancient people were, then the time of year represented by 5° or 15° Cancer, late June/early July,
would not be represented by much pleasantness in the Northern Hemisphere given the crops are
just starting to grow. Applying the same logic as was done for the Sun and moving 90° forward
to 5° or 15° Libra (late September/early October) would show Jupiter’s qualities at their apex
during the harvest season experienced by most civilizations in the Northern Hemisphere at this
time of year.
5
Parashara, Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, 2 vols., ed., Chapter 29: Evaluation of Strengths, Verse 1 Girish Chand Sharma,
Sagar Publications, New Delhi, India, 1994
6
Robert Hand, Horoscope Symbols. Schiffer Publishing (Easton, PA., 1987), ISBN 0 -914918-16-8.
© 2009-2017 Michael Douglas Neely 3
Venus is often associated with vigor, beauty, love, and vessels. Venus is exalted at 27° of Pisces,
which is around March 18th each year. There is not a lot of vigor, beauty, or noticeable vessels at
their apex. This is the time of year when nature is slowly being released from the grip of the
winter season in the Northern Hemisphere. Fast forward 90° when Venus is at 27° Gemini
around June 19th in the Northern Hemisphere when nature is at its most beautiful with lush,
germinating and pollinating plants and weddings galore. The apex of Venus would be a much
better fit at this progressed time of year.
Proposed Resolution of Planetary Dignities
With the examples given in the previous paragraphs, the major thrust of this paper is to
recalibrate the exaltation and debilitation points of the visible planets from how they are typically
assigned by both traditional and contemporary astrologers. The recalibration of the visible
planets would resemble a triangle wave patterns found in nature that have a planet going through
its unique life cycle of upswing, climax, downswing, and anti-climax in the zodiac. Some
examples of these triangle wave patterns observed in nature are as follows:
Life Cycle Upswing Climax Downswing Anti-climax
Day Morning Noon Evening Midnight
Lunar Quarter Moon Full Moon Quarter Moon New Moon
Waxing Waning
Year Spring Summer Fall Winter
Human Life Birth Adult Retirement Death
This recalibration would require astrologers to change the traditional notion of what exaltation
and debilitation points represent. In particular, it would involve changing the term “exaltation” to
the term “upswing” and changing the term “debilitation” to the term “downswing.” From this
point onwards, I will often use the terms “upswing” and “downswing” when I am speaking of the
terms “exaltation” and “debilitation,” respectively, to properly match a planet’s term to its
dignity. The interpretation of the words in Sanskrit texts for “exaltation” and “debilitation” do
allow for interpretations of “upswing” and “downswing,” respectively.
© 2009-2017 Michael Douglas Neely 4
When all the planets are put within this triangle wave framework the following table can be
created:
Planet Upswing Climax Downswing Anti-climax
Sun 10° Aries (30) 10° Cancer (60) 10° Libra (30) 10° Capricorn (0)
(East Indian) (East Indian) (East Indian) (East Indian)
19° Aries (30) 19° Cancer (60) 19° Libra (30) 19° Capricorn (0)
(Greek) (Greek) (Greek) (Greek)
Moon 3° Taurus (30) 3° Leo (60) 3° Scorpio (30) 3° Aquarius (0)
Mars 28° Capricorn (30) 28° Aries (60) 28° Cancer (30) 28° Libra (0)
Mercury 15° Virgo (30) 15° Sagittarius (60) 15° Pisces (30) 15° Gemini (0)
Jupiter 5° Cancer (30) 5° Libra (60) 5° Capricorn (30) 5° Aries (0)
(East Indian) (East Indian) (East Indian) (East Indian)
15° Cancer (30) 15° Libra (60) 15° Capricorn (30) 15° Aries (0)
(Greek) (Greek) (Greek) (Greek)
Venus 27° Pisces (30) 27° Gemini (60) 27° Virgo (30) 27° Sagittarius (0)
Saturn 20° Libra (30) 20° Capricorn (60) 20° Aries (30) 20° Cancer (0)
(East Indian) (East Indian) (East Indian) (East Indian)
21° Libra (30) 21° Capricorn (60) 21° Aries (30) 21° Cancer (0)
(Greek) (Greek) (Greek) (Greek)
Rahu 3° Gemini (30) 3° Virgo (60) 3° Sagittarius (30) 3° Pisces (0)
(Greek) (Greek) (Greek) (Greek)
Ketu 3° Sagittarius (30) 3° Pisces (60) 3° Gemini (30) 3° Virgo (0)
(Greek) (Greek) (Greek) (Greek)
© 2009-2017 Michael Douglas Neely 5
Spatial Symmetries with the Proposed Framework
When one places the visible planets in the signs of a southern style East Indian zodiac based on
their upswing, climax, downswing, and anti-climax sign placements; the below symmetrical
pattern emerges. The upper left hand corner is Pisces, to the right of Pisces is Aries, and next to
Aries is Taurus, etc.
© 2009-2017 Michael Douglas Neely 6
The cardinal or movable signs have four planets (the Sun, Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter) in them, the
fixed signs have just one planet (the Moon) in them, and the mutable or dual signs have two
planets (Mercury and Venus) in them. It is very telling that the particular quadruplicity (cardinal,
fixed, or dual) of the signs echoes the number of planets within the signs based on their four
point life cycle of upswing, climax, downswing, and anti-climax. The cardinal signs, which mark
the beginning of each season, contain the most planets (four) and each planet has a different
turning point (i.e., upswing, climax, downswing, and anti-climax) in each of the cardinal signs.
The Sun has its climax in Leo, Jupiter has its climax in Libra, Saturn has its climax in Capricorn,
and Mars has its climax in Aries. The Sun and Saturn are polar opposites of one another; the
same is true for Jupiter and Mars. The ancient epithets of the Sun, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars also
bare this out. Saturn is “the son of the Sun.” Jupiter is the “heavy one” while Mars is the “the one
with a thin waist.” The fixed signs only contain one planet, the Moon. The mutable or dual signs
just hold two planets, Mercury and Venus. It is also very interesting that the two planets in the
dual signs look very much alike with the exception of Mercury having a crescent on top of its
glyph.
Mathematical Symmetries within a Proposed Rank of the Planetary Life Cycles
With the proposed triangle wave and sexagesimal (0-60) numbering system of the life cycle
framework, some interesting mathematical symmetries also come up and point to the more
symmetrical of the two most common exaltation and debilitation systems (i.e., Greek and East
Indian). Please note, that arithmetic values are used in all my math calculations, not sine wave
values. Sine waves give a good visual representation of my theory, but the values will not match
due to the difference between linear and curved interpolation. .
Per the B rihat Parashara Hora Shastra, a significant East Indian astrology text, an
exalted/upswing planet would receive 1 rupa (60 v irupas) and a debilitated/downswing planet
would receive 0 virupas. In the proposed phases, the life cycle stations would receive the
following amounts in virupas:
Anti-climax: 0 v irupas
Upswing: 30 virupas
Climax: 1 rupa/60 virupas
Downswing: 30 virupas
© 2009-2017 Michael Douglas Neely 7
Each quarter (90°), a planet will gain or lose 30 virupas depending on if it is moving towards
climax or anti-climax, respectively. This is .3333..., per degree of a 360° zodiac. This ranking
system creates a triangle wave life cycle pattern that is observed throughout nature.
East Indian Astrology Virupa Symmetry Analysis
Appendix A lists each planet’s v irupa amount at each degree of the 360° zodiac, the cumulative
virupa t otals for all planets at each degree of the 360° zodiac, and a graph of those virupa totals
by planet and cumulatively; which are all based on the East Indian astrology exaltation and
debilitation degrees. From the spreadsheet and graph, a number of interesting symmetries pop
out.
The theoretical high of the virupa cumulative totals is 420 virupas (7 planets x 60 v irupas) and
the theoretical low is 0 virupas (7 planets x 0 v irupas). The actual high of the cumulative points
of the planets is 248.33 virupas at 3° Leo and the actual low of the cumulative points of the
planets is 171.67 v irupas at 3° Aquarius. These two zodiac points are the same as the Moon’s
climax and anti-climax points, respectively. This is interesting because the Moon is one of the
two luminaries (the other is the Sun) and the Moon is the closest planet to the Earth. The
theoretical midpoint between the theoretical high (420 virupas) a nd low (0 virupas) is 210
virupas ( 420 v irupas d ivided by 2). The degrees where the Moon’s upswing (3° Taurus) and
downswing (3° Scorpio) points are located have actual cumulative totals of the planets at 217
virupas and 203 v irupas, respectively. These cumulative point totals of the planets are both 7
virupas from the midpoint theoretical mid-point of 210 virupas.
Looking at the numbers of the spreadsheet and/or seeing the peaks and valleys of the graph, each
of the planets’ climaxes can be seen in the peaks and each of the planets’ anti-climaxes can be
seen in the valleys. The cumulative totals of the planets increase or decrease by 1 rupa each
degree between 5-28° for both Aries and Libra and 15-27° for both Gemini and Sagittarius,
which are within either a male and fire sign or air sign that is not a fixed quadruplicity sign. All
other degrees of the zodiac are increased or decreased by ~.3333. The range between 5-28° Aries
is where Jupiter has its anti-climax point (5°), the Sun has its upswing point (10°), Saturn has its
downswing point (20°), and Mars has its climax point (28°). The range between 5-28° Libra is
where Jupiter has its climax point (5°), the Sun has its downswing point (10°), Saturn has its
upswing point (20°), and Mars has its anti-climax point (28°). The range between 15-27° Gemini
is where Mercury has its anti-climax point (15°) and Venus has its climax point (27°). The range
between 15-27° Sagittarius is where Mercury has its climax point (15°) and Venus has its climax
point (27°). The Moon is the only planet that does not fall in a range that has a 1 r upa cumulative
© 2009-2017 Michael Douglas Neely 8
jump at the points of its upswing, climax, downswing, or anti-climax points. But as mentioned
above, the Moon’s climax and anti-climax points are the framework of the cumulative actual
highs (248.33 virupas) and low (171.67 v irupas) totals of the plants at 3° Leo and Aquarius,
respectively.
Greek Astrology Virupa Symmetry Analysis
Appendix B lists each planet’s virupa amount at each degree of the 360° zodiac, the cumulative
virupa t otals for all planets at each degree of the 360° zodiac, and a graph of those virupa totals
by planet and cumulatively; which are all based on the Greek astrology exaltation degrees. From
the spreadsheet and graph, a number of interesting symmetries also pop out and which seem to
be more symmetrical and theoretically sound than the East Indian system.
I believe the theoretical high and low of the virupa totals of the Greek system should also be at
420 virupas (7 planets x 60 v irupas) and 0 v irupas (7 planets x 0 v irupas), respectively, because
the Rahu and Ketu numbers cancel themselves out given Rahu and Ketu are always 180° apart in
their life cycles. The actual high of the cumulative points of the planets is 247.67 virupas at 3°
Leo and the actual low of the cumulative points of the planets is 172.33 v irupas at 3° Aquarius.
These two zodiac points are at the Moon’s climax and anti-climax points, respectively; just like
the East Indian system! There is a ~.66 virupas difference in allocation of the v irupas due to the
difference in exaltation points of three planets (Sun, Jupiter, and Saturn), previously mentioned.
The theoretical midpoints between the theoretical highs and lows are 210 virupas, which is the
same for either system. The cumulative virupa t otals of the planets at the Moon’s upswing and
downswing points are 211 virupas and 209 virupas, respectively. These points are both 1 virupa
from the theoretical midpoint of 210 v irupas. It is very interesting that the virupa c umulative
midpoint totals of the Moon’s upswing and downswing points are only 1 virupa o ff the mark
from the theoretical midpoint of the theoretical highs and lows of the virupas c umulative totals
of all the planets. Given the actual high and low cumulative totals of the virupa values are the
same as the Moon’s climax and anti-climax v irupa point totals, it would seem the Greek system
of exaltation points would be more accurate given the theoretical and actual midpoint v irupa
totals of all the planets at the Moon’s upswing (211 virupas) and downswing (209 virupas)
points in the zodiac differ from the theoretical and actual virupa midpoint (210 virupa) by just 1
virupa verses 7 virupas in the East Indian system.
Looking at the numbers of the spreadsheet and/or seeing the peaks and valleys of the graph of
the Greek system, each of the planets’ climaxes can be seen in the peaks and the planets’
anti-climaxes can be seen in the valleys, just like the East Indian system. The difference in the
© 2009-2017 Michael Douglas Neely 9
Greek system is that cumulative totals of the planets increase or decrease by 1 rupa between
15-28° Aries is where Jupiter has its anti-climax point (15°), the Sun has its upswing point (19°),
Saturn has its downing swing point (21°), and Mars has its climax point (28°). The range
between 15-28° Libra is where Jupiter is at its climax point (15°), the Sun is at its downswing
point (19°), Saturn is at its upswing point (21°), and Mars is at its anti-climax point (28°). The
range between 15-27° Gemini is where Mercury is at its anti-climax point (15°) and Venus is at
its climax point (27°). The range between 15-27° Sagittarius is where Mercury is at its climax
point (15°) and Venus is at its anti-climax point (27°). The Moon is the only planet that does not
fall in a range that has a 1 rupa cumulative jump at the points of its upswing, climax,
downswing, or anti-climax points. But as mentioned above, the Moon’s climax and anti-climax
points holds the cumulative actual highs (247.67 virupas) and low (172.33 virupas) t otals of the
plants at 3° Leo and Aquarius, respectively.
© 2009-2017 Michael Douglas Neely 10
Appendix A
Appendix A
Appendix A
Appendix A
Appendix A
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