Exaltation

Meaning

Each of the seven traditional planets has one sign of exaltation. The Sun is exalted in Aries, the Moon in Taurus, Mercury in Virgo, Venus in Pisces, Mars in Capricorn, Jupiter in Cancer and Saturn in Libra. Many authors also name a single degree within that sign, the place of the planet’s greatest exaltation.

In its domicile a planet owns the house. In its exaltation it is an honoured guest: received with ceremony and raised up, but not in charge of the household. Tradition reads an exalted planet as dignified and admired, showing its qualities at their most noble, sometimes in an idealised form.

Exaltation is the second of the five essential dignities. William Lilly gives it four points, one less than domicile. The sign opposite an exaltation is the planet’s fall, where the same planet is read as lowered.

Five signs hold no exaltation at all: Gemini, Leo, Scorpio, Sagittarius and Aquarius. Mercury is the only planet exalted in a sign it also rules, Virgo.

In practice

• The Sun in Aries: vitality and initiative, a will that shows itself clearly.
• The Moon in Taurus: steady feelings, a love of comfort and calm, and a talent for soothing others.
• Mars in Capricorn: energy given aim and discipline, effort spent where it counts.
• Venus in Pisces: tenderness and compassion, a love that asks few conditions.
• Jupiter in Cancer: generosity expressed as care, protection and a sense of belonging.
• Saturn in Libra: a feeling for fairness, commitments kept, and rules that serve everyone.
• What is raised can also be proud. Some readings add that an exalted planet may expect the honours it is used to, and do less well where it is not admired.

Across traditions

• Indian astrology calls exaltation uccha, and uses the same seven signs. Most of its deepest degrees match the Western ones. It places the Sun at 10° Aries, Jupiter at 5° Cancer and Saturn at 20° Libra, however.
• It ranks exaltation above the own sign, where the West puts domicile first. Indian astrology also gives exaltations to the lunar nodes, though authors disagree on the signs.

Origin and history

Historians trace the exaltations to Babylonian astrology, which gave the planets a “secret house”, each in a particular sign. Greek astrologers called the place a planet’s hypsōma, its height, and the opposite sign its tapeinōma, its lowering.

Ptolemy, in the Tetrabiblos, explains the Sun’s exaltation by the seasons. In Aries the Sun begins to climb into the northern half of the sky, and the days grow longer. In Libra it begins to sink, so Libra is its fall. Saturn, which Ptolemy links with cold, takes the reverse: it is exalted where the Sun falls and falls where the Sun is exalted.

Firmicus Maternus is among the ancient authors who give each exaltation its degree, such as the Sun at 19° Aries. Lilly kept these degrees and scored exaltation at four points in Christian Astrology (1647).

How Ulune calculates it

Ulune counts exaltation by the whole sign, for the seven traditional planets. A planet anywhere in its sign of exaltation earns four of Lilly’s points, added to its other dignities. The degree of greatest exaltation is not weighed. Mercury in Virgo holds both its domicile and its exaltation, nine points before any term or face.

The Dignities table names, for each degree, the planet exalted there, or none in the five signs that hold no exaltation. The wheel’s dignity overlay marks an exalted planet with an E. Exaltation also counts in Ulune’s mutual receptions, by exaltation or mixed with domicile. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto have no exaltation in Ulune.

Correspondences