Henads and Monads Included in the Primals

Henads and Monads

On the left, reading from top to bottom, are three diagrams. The topmost diagram depicts the dignities of house 1, symbolizing the One. The middle diagram depicts the dignities of houses 2 and 3, symbolizing the Dyad. The bottommost diagram depicts the dignities of houses 1-3, the Triad (also called “the Primals,” and “the Idea of the Good”).

Across the top, the dignities of the first quadrant are written in a line twice, grouped by rulerships, exaltations, detriments, and falls. This signifies that each of the Primals can be viewed either as including all its dignities (that is, as the henad of that Primal) or as including all the planets in signs that have the same form (that is, as the monad of either Being, Life, Intellect, Soul, Nature, or Body).

These two views are then illustrated by the diagram below. One the left side, the planets of the first quadrant are once again listed. Below Mars, Venus, and Mercury are listed the signs in which they are in dignity, in the order rulerships (Being), rulerships (Life), exaltations (Intellect) detriments (Soul), detriments (Nature), and falls (Matter or Body). These are the henads of Mars, Venus, and Mercury. Below the Sun in Aries are listed all the rulerships (Being); this is the monad of Being. Below the Moon in Taurus are listed all the rulerships (Life); this is the monad of Life. Below the Dragon’s Head in Gemini are listed all the exaltations (excluding the Sun in Aries and the Moon in Taurus); this is the monad of Intellect. Below Jupiter in Gemini are listed all the detriments (Soul); this is the monad of Soul. There is nothing listed below the Venus in Aries and Mars in Taurus; for some reason the monad of Nature—all the detriments (Nature)—is left out. Below Saturn in Aries are all the falls; this is the monad of Matter, or Body.

On the right side of the diagram, just the exaltations, detriments, and the fall of the first quadrant are listed (the rulerships are listed on the left side of the diagram, as mentioned above). The signs above and below each planet are the other dignities of that planet, and all together they constitute the henad of the planet. The signs in which the planet is in dignity, when read from top to bottom, are in the following order: rulerships, exaltations, detriments, and falls, and when a planet has two rulerships or two detriments, the rulership (Being) comes before the rulership (Life) and the detriment (Soul) comes before the detriment (Nature). The result is that some signs are listed above and others below the planet in the list.