Sect

Think of how different a place feels at noon and at midnight. The same street, the same buildings, a completely different mood. Traditional astrology says the same about charts: a chart born by day and a chart born by night are different in kind. That difference is called sect.

Sect is not a dignity. It is a condition of the whole chart, and it changes how every planet behaves.

Day chart or night chart?

It is simple to check. Look at where the Sun is on your chart wheel:

• Above the horizon (in the top half, houses 7 to 12): a day chart.
• Below the horizon (in the bottom half, houses 1 to 6): a night chart.

If you were born around sunrise or sunset, the exact Ascendant decides.

The two teams

Here is the heart of sect, little known in modern astrology. The planets are divided into two teams.

• The day team: the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn. Their light, warmth and order belong to the day.
• The night team: the Moon, Venus and Mars. Their feeling, pleasure and passion belong to the night.
• Mercury joins the day team when it rises before the Sun, and the night team when it sets after it.

Each team has a benefic (Jupiter by day, Venus by night) and a malefic (Saturn by day, Mars by night). The idea is that the night's coolness tempers hot Mars, and the day's warmth softens cold Saturn.

Which of your planets are strong?

See where your planets are at home, exalted, or working against the grain.

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