by Robert Wilkinson
Today we take a new look at a key factor in how practical Astrology works. Dispositorship is a major influence in how any planet in any sign manifests, as it provides the background material to why the "inner lights" (planets) work as they do. Though each of the planets has their areas of influence, how that influence works is entirely dependent on a) what sign they’re in, and b) what planet rules the sign they're in.
The concept of dispositorship, i.e. the rulership of a planet by another planet, is of paramount importance if we want to know how any given planet will express. That’s because planet A disposing planet B will indicate the “backdrop” to planet B, which will be the sign of planet A.
When a planet rules the sign another planet is in, we say it “disposes,” or is the dispositor of, that planet. It rules the sign expression of the planet it disposes. That's why it's important to know which signs a given planet rules.
It’s easy to see how the sign any planet occupies is affected by the planet that rules that sign. For example, a planet in Libra will be affected by where Venus is, since Venus rules Libra. Venus in turn is shaded by the sign of the planetary ruler of the sign it’s in, and so on. We call this a “chain of dispositors.” There are usually only 3 or 4 at the most in any given chain, but I’ve included an example further down that involves 5 planets in a chain.
When two planets occupy signs that are ruled by each other, it’s called “mutual reception.” An example of this would be Venus in Gemini and Mercury in Taurus. Venus rules Taurus, Mercury rules Gemini. This is a very powerful self-reinforcing energy that feeds into itself and cross-references each planet’s experience and expression. It’s a “feedback loop,” and can manifest as a perfect coordination between planetary principles or a closed system resisting change.
When a planet is in its home sign (the sign it rules), it is its own “final dispositor.” Therefore it is the final dispositor of any "chain of dispositors" occupying a sign it rules. We’ll discuss chains of dispositors, mutual reception, and final dispositors later in the article.
If you are unfamiliar with the worldly and spiritual rulers of the various signs, please take a quick look at Astrology Class - The Rulership and Exile Positions of the Planets This will help you understand the two signs where a planet finds its “home,” and where it finds itself in “exile,” which are the signs opposite its home signs.
So How Does This Work?
Let’s take Mars for an example. Mars is now in Taurus, and therefore heavily affected by Venus, which rules Taurus and Libra. That makes the sign Venus occupies important in showing us the backdrop to how Mars in Taurus energies express themselves. It is the backdrop to the Mars expression, much like a song’s key signature stands as the backdrop to the melodies being played.
Mars will be in Taurus through the end of March 2019. That means the signs Venus will transit will show what’s behind all Mars activities as long as Mars is in Taurus. Venus has been in Capricorn since early February, so once Mars left its home sign of Aries and entered Venus’ sign of Taurus, it immediately brought a Capricorn backdrop or quality to Mars.
As Mars will still be in Taurus when Venus enters Aquarius in early March, the backdrop of Mars will be more Aquarius. In our analogy, the key signature of Mars’ expression will change from A (Capricorn) to A# or B flat (Aquarius). The song will still be Mars in Taurus, but it will be played in a different key.
When Mars enters Gemini in late March, Venus will stop determining the backdrop to Mars, and Mercury, ruler of Gemini, will take the stage. As Mercury will be in Pisces at that time, Mars in Gemini will “play its melody in the key of Pisces.” Mars will still be in Gemini when Mercury enters Aries in mid-April, changing the backdrop to how Mars expresses its energies from watery mutable Pisces to fiery cardinal Aries. Then, in early May while Mars is still in Gemini, Mercury will move into Taurus, making fixed earthy Taurus the backdrop to how Mars expresses itself. Then Mars moves into Cancer, where its Lunar backdrop will change every 2 days based in what sign the Moon is transiting.
As Capricorn through Gemini are all signs in the hemisphere of “self” (Cancer through Sag are “not-self”), then it would seem that while Mars is in Taurus and Gemini, both signs in the hemisphere of “self,” it will operate referencing those sign energies. And since it will be disposed by planets in Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, and Taurus, it will be totally focused though the energies of the Self rather than the Not-Self.
So when in Taurus, Mars will be restructured while Venus is in Capricorn, and move into greater views while Venus is in Aquarius. Then when in Gemini with Mercury in Pisces, Mars will operate with more depth and awareness of universals, more directness when Mercury is in Aries, and more deliberation when Mercury is in Taurus, to offer a few examples.
You can see how dispositorship shows us how a planet in a sign operates! When a planet is in Taurus or Libra, Venus’ sign would make a big difference. When the Sun is in Taurus each year, Venus could be in Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, or Cancer.
Venus in Pisces is a much different Venus energy than when Venus is in Aries! And if the Sun is in Taurus and Venus is in Pisces, it’s easy to see how Venus’ dispositor, Jupiter, would have a much different influence on Venus if it were in Scorpio rather than Sagittarius!
What Is A Final Dispositor, A Chain of Dispositors, and Mutual Rception?
When a planet is in its home sign (the sign it rules), it is its own final dispositor. Therefore it is the the final dispositor of any "chain of dispositors" occupying a sign it rules. Moon in Cancer, Sun in Leo, Mars in Aries, Jupiter in Sagittarius, Saturn in Capricorn, and Neptune in Pisces are all examples of when these planets were/are their own final dispositor.
An example of how a final dispositor is found would be when the Moon was in Taurus, it was disposited by Venus in Capricorn, which was disposited by Saturn in Capricorn. Saturn is the final dispositer here, since it’s in its home sign. Another example of this would be Moon in Scorpio disposited by Mars in Taurus disposited by Venus in Capricorn disposited by Saturn in Capricorn. In yet another example, the Moon in Leo was disposited by the Sun in Pisces which was disposited by Jupiter in Sagittarius. Jupiter is the final dispositor here, since it too is in its home sign. For this "final dispositor" circumstance to occur, a planet must occupy one of the two signs it rules.
Sometimes there is no final dispositor, in which case a chain of dispositors is set up with a group influencing each other through the qualities of what sign they’re in. As Jupiter and Saturn are the final dispositors of all the other planets at this time, we have no chains of dispositors at work.
Still by way of example, Saturn in Libra is disposited by Venus in Cancer which is disposited by the Moon in Capricorn disposited by Saturn in Libra with no other planet in one of its home signs.
This "chain of dispositors" rules a number of other planets, In the example, any planet in Taurus, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn, and Aquarius is ruled by one of the planets in the chain. Any other planet would be ruled by another planet, whether itself a final dispositor or part of another chain.
Another example of a chain of dispositors is Jupiter in Cancer disposed by Moon in Aquarius disposed by Saturn in Scorpio disposed by Mars in Libra disposed by Venus in Pisces. (In an interesting “coincidence,” this very specific example occurred exactly during the Great Fracturing in late April 2014!)
Then there are those special situations when two planets dispose each other, such as Moon in Aquarius and Uranus in Cancer, or Jupiter in Gemini and Mercury in Sagittarius. As I offered you at the beginning of this article, this is called “mutual reception,” and is a very strong influence. It is as though the two planets feed each other, and grow stronger, for good or ill, in their ability to dominate those affairs in the chart.
You can find any and/or all of these at work in a chart, such as when one planet is the final dispositor for 2 or 3 others, two are in mutual reception, and 3 or 4 more form a chain of dispositors between them. In my own chart I have Jupiter in Pisces as its own final dispositor, Moon in Aquarius and Uranus in Cancer in mutual reception, and two other final dispositors for all the rest of my natal planets.
Mars is the final dispositor of my Mercury in Aries, Sun in Aries, and Mars in Aries; My Saturn in Virgo is disposited by Mercury in Aries, and Pluto in Leo is disposited by the Sun in Aries. I also have Venus in Taurus as final dispositor of my Neptune in Libra and Venus in Taurus. While this quantity of final dispositors (Venus, Mars, and Jupiter all in their home signs!) is rare, all birth charts have one or more chains of dispositors, mutual receptions, or final dispositors in a chart.
Other examples of mutual reception are when the Moon transits Sagittarius and Pisces while Jupiter is in Cancer, or when Mars is in Capricorn or Aquarius while Saturn is in Scorpio or Aries. Mercury in Cancer and Moon in Gemini or Virgo are in mutual reception, as are Venus in Aries or Scorpio when Mars is in Libra or Taurus.
So you can see that during the year when planets are in Leo, they'll have more of the qualities of the sign the Sun is in, just like when planets are in Gemini and Virgo they will be more the quality of the sign(s) Mercury occupies. When planets are in Taurus or Libra they will take on the quality of whatever sign Venus is in, and when they are in Aries or Scorpio they will take on the quality of whatever sign Mars is in.
In part 2, I’ll give you further analysis of what we can expect from the planetary positions in 2019 and examples of how the dispositors will operate. I’ll also include a few examples of how aspects between dispositors can work.
© Copyright 2019 Robert Wilkinson
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