Transits & cycles

Firdaria (Persian planetary periods)

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The firdaria (singular firdar) are a Persian time-lord technique, described by Abu Ma'shar, that divides a life of 75 years into consecutive periods ruled by the seven visible planets and the two lunar nodes. The order depends on whether the birth chart is a day chart or a night chart, and each planetary period has seven sub-periods.

The firdaria, singular firdar, are a time-lord technique that Persian astrologers adopted and set out in a clear scheme. The best-known description is that of Abu Ma'shar in the ninth century, and the method then passed to Arabic and Latin astrology. It is not found in the Greek texts of Valens or Ptolemy, and is therefore usually counted as a Persian addition to the Hellenistic inheritance. The idea is that a human life of 75 years is shared between the seven visible planets and the two lunar nodes, each ruling one stretch of years in turn.

The order is decided by sect. In a day chart, where the Sun is above the horizon at birth, the sequence is the Sun for 10 years, Venus for 8, Mercury for 13, the Moon for 9, Saturn for 11, Jupiter for 12 and Mars for 7, followed by the North Node for 3 years and the South Node for 2. In a night chart the sequence begins with the Moon for 9 years, then Saturn for 11, Jupiter for 12, Mars for 7, the Sun for 10, Venus for 8 and Mercury for 13, followed again by the two nodes. The nine periods add up to 75 years, and when they are over the cycle starts again from the first planet.

The placement of the nodes is not the same in every source. Some authors, Bonatti among them, put the nodes after Mars instead of at the end of the sequence, and sources differ in other details too. The version described here, with the nodes at the end, is the one found in the commonly used modern tables.

Each planetary period is divided into seven equal sub-periods. The first sub-period belongs to the planet that rules the main period, and the other six follow in the same order as the main sequence, each with its own planet as the sub-lord. In a 10-year Sun period each sub-period therefore lasts one seventh of ten years, a little under a year and a half. The nodes, with their short periods of 3 and 2 years, have no sub-periods.

In the tradition the main lord names the planet whose themes colour a long stretch of life, and the sub-lord adds a shorter chapter with its own tone. The reading looks at how each of these planets is placed in the birth chart: its sign, its house, its dignity and whether it is in sect. This is a description of emphasis and not of fixed events.

The firdaria are a tradition, not a science, and they do not give advice or forecasts. They show how medieval astrologers divided a life among the planets.

AstroSensus shows the firdaria in its free traditional chart, with the order set by the sect of the chart, the nodes placed at the end, and the periods counted in calendar years from the birthday. A birth time is needed, because it decides whether the chart is a day chart or a night chart. No AI and no account is involved.