A Table of Planetary Dignities, with Correspondences to Plotinus (IV.3.30), the Chaldean Theogony, Samkhya, and the Divided Line

Metaphysical Chart

This is a 5-row by 5-column table. (For ease of reference, the columns will be referred to as columns 1-5, reading from left to right, and the rows will be referred to as rows 1-5, reading from top to bottom.)

Columns 1-4 are the quadrants of the metaphysical chart, from first to fourth, with one exception: row 1, labeled “Being, or Idea of Good,” consists of the dignities of the first quadrant, and the columns divide them by rulerships, exaltations, detriments, and falls, not by quadrant.

Column 5 consists of the falls and is identical to row 5.

Row 2, labeled “Intelligible Intellectual,” consists of the rulerships, with the Life rulerships in parentheses, except for the last entry in column 5, which is the fall in the first quadrant; row 3, labeled “Intellectual,” consists of the exaltations, except for the last entries in column 5, which are the falls in the second quadrant; row 4, labeled “Soul,” consists of the detriments, with the Nature detriments in parentheses, or, in the case of Mercury in Pisces, placed below the line of detriments, except for the last entries in column 5, which are the falls in the third quadrant; and row 5, labeled “Body,” consists of the falls (the falls in the fourth quadrant are repeated in columns 4 and 5).

The labels “three ethereal worlds,” “upper solar world,” and “three material worlds” are taken from the Chaldean theogony and correspond to the supercosmic, liberated, and cosmic orders of the gods, respectively.

The labels “buddhi,” “ahamkara, and “manas and the five senses” refer to tattvas in the Samkhya system.

Each entry in row 1 is associated with one of the sixteen states of consciousness, where each of the four states—turiya, sushupti (deep sleep), svapna (dream), and jagrat (being awake)—is, in turn, divided into four, so there is, for example, turiya-turiya, turiya-sushupti, turiya-svapna, and turiya-jagrat.

In this diagram, when determining the name of the state that applies to a dignity, the quadrant determines which of the states comes first, and the ring determines which of the states comes second.

There are also two labels (Viraj Turiya and Viraj Avyakta) that refer to one of the sixteen aspects of Brahman, where each of the four aspects—Turiya, Avyakta (unmanifest), Hiranyagarbha (subtle), and Viraj (gross)—is, in turn, divided into four, so there is, for example, Avyakta-Turiya, Avyakta-Avyakta, Avyakta-Hiranyagarbha, and Avyakta-Viraj.

In this diagram, when determining the name of the aspect of Brahman that applies to a dignity, the ring determines which of the aspects comes first, and the quadrant determines which of the aspects comes second. Note that the entry for row 1 column 4 mixes terms from the two classification schemes, labeling Saturn in Aries “Turiya-Viraj,” but it should be “turiya-jagrat.”