What are the bounds in astrology?

Five unequal divisions of each sign, each ruled by one of the five planets — Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury. They are also called terms. A planet in its own bound has a minor dignity, and the ruler of the bound a point falls in is used in several techniques.

What is the difference between the Egyptian and Ptolemaic bounds?

Two different tables. The Egyptian table is the older and the one most Greek authors use; Ptolemy reports it and then proposes his own rearrangement, which later Latin astrology often adopted. Occult Astrology computes both.

Do the Sun and Moon rule any bounds?

No. Only the five planets hold bounds; the lights have none in either table.

Why does every sign end in a malefic's bound?

In the Egyptian table the last bound of every sign belongs to Mars or Saturn. The tradition reads the closing degrees of a sign as harder ground for that reason.

The bounds (the Egyptian terms)

Each sign cut into five unequal parts, one for each of the five planets — the finest of the five dignities, and one of the oldest tables in astrology.

What the bounds are

The bounds — horia in Greek, termini or terms in Latin — divide every sign into five stretches of unequal length, each assigned to one of the five planets other than the lights. A planet standing in a bound is in the territory of that bound's lord, and a planet in its own bound is dignified there, the fourth of the five kinds of rulership after domicile, exaltation and triplicity, and before face.

The most widely used table is the one the Greek authors call Egyptian. Ptolemy reports it, disputes its arrangement and offers his own; Valens, Dorotheus and Paulus use the Egyptian table without apology, and so does most of the later tradition. A third table, the Chaldean, survives in outline.

The Egyptian bounds

Sign	1st bound	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Aries	Jupiter 0°–6°	Venus 6°–12°	Mercury 12°–20°	Mars 20°–25°	Saturn 25°–30°
Taurus	Venus 0°–8°	Mercury 8°–14°	Jupiter 14°–22°	Saturn 22°–27°	Mars 27°–30°
Gemini	Mercury 0°–6°	Jupiter 6°–12°	Venus 12°–17°	Mars 17°–24°	Saturn 24°–30°
Cancer	Mars 0°–7°	Venus 7°–13°	Mercury 13°–19°	Jupiter 19°–26°	Saturn 26°–30°
Leo	Jupiter 0°–6°	Venus 6°–11°	Saturn 11°–18°	Mercury 18°–24°	Mars 24°–30°
Virgo	Mercury 0°–7°	Venus 7°–17°	Jupiter 17°–21°	Mars 21°–28°	Saturn 28°–30°
Libra	Saturn 0°–6°	Mercury 6°–14°	Jupiter 14°–21°	Venus 21°–28°	Mars 28°–30°
Scorpio	Mars 0°–7°	Venus 7°–11°	Mercury 11°–19°	Jupiter 19°–24°	Saturn 24°–30°
Sagittarius	Jupiter 0°–12°	Venus 12°–17°	Mercury 17°–21°	Saturn 21°–26°	Mars 26°–30°
Capricorn	Mercury 0°–7°	Jupiter 7°–14°	Venus 14°–22°	Saturn 22°–26°	Mars 26°–30°
Aquarius	Mercury 0°–7°	Venus 7°–13°	Jupiter 13°–20°	Mars 20°–25°	Saturn 25°–30°
Pisces	Venus 0°–12°	Jupiter 12°–16°	Mercury 16°–19°	Mars 19°–28°	Saturn 28°–30°

The bounds are not symmetrical and the lights have none: the Sun and Moon rule no bound anywhere. The last bound of every sign belongs to Mars or Saturn, which is why the final degrees of a sign are read as harsher ground.

How the bound lord is used

As a dignity. A planet in its own bound is strengthened; a planet in the bound of a malefic contrary to sect is weakened in that degree.
In finding the ruler of the chart. When the tradition weighs which planet has the most claim on a degree — the Ascendant, the lights, the Lot of Fortune — the bound lord is counted with the domicile, exaltation, triplicity and face lords, and can be the deciding vote.
In directions. When a point is directed through the zodiac, each bound it passes through hands the time to that bound's lord, and the quality of the years changes at each boundary.
In the reading of the rising degree. The lord of the bound the Ascendant falls in is one of the rulers of the body and temperament.

How Occult Astrology shows it

The wheel carries a bound ring that folds out around the signs, coloured by bound lord, with the Egyptian and Ptolemaic tables selectable and the difference visible on the same chart. The Bounds section lists the bound and bound lord of every planet and point, and the reading names them.

Read next: sect, which decides which malefic's bounds to fear, the twelve places, or all the techniques.

Questions

What are the bounds in astrology?: Five unequal divisions of each sign, each ruled by one of the five planets — Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury. They are also called terms. A planet in its own bound has a minor dignity, and the ruler of the bound a point falls in is used in several techniques.
What is the difference between the Egyptian and Ptolemaic bounds?: Two different tables. The Egyptian table is the older and the one most Greek authors use; Ptolemy reports it and then proposes his own rearrangement, which later Latin astrology often adopted. Occult Astrology computes both.
Do the Sun and Moon rule any bounds?: No. Only the five planets hold bounds; the lights have none in either table.
Why does every sign end in a malefic's bound?: In the Egyptian table the last bound of every sign belongs to Mars or Saturn. The tradition reads the closing degrees of a sign as harder ground for that reason.

Occult Astrology reads a birth chart the way the Greek-language astrologers of antiquity did. Cast a chart and compare it with a Vedic and a modern reading of the same sky.

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