Essential Dignity

Essential dignity is the traditional way of measuring whether a planet is in a strong or weak position by sign and degree. Think of it like a visiting dignitary: in some cities they are honored as a local hero (domicile, +5), in others they are a celebrated guest (exaltation, +4), in others they have useful allies (triplicity, +3), in others they know the local customs (bounds, +2), and in others they at least have a familiar face in the crowd (face, +1). The flip side is essential debility: a planet in detriment (-5) is in the sign opposite its home, and in fall (-4) it is opposite its exaltation, like being in a city where everything works against you. A planet with no dignity or debility at all is called peregrine (-5 in this scorecard): a wanderer with no local connections, forced to rely entirely on its own resources. This system draws on ancient and medieval dignity doctrine. The total dignity score gives you a quick sense of which planets in your chart are operating from a position of strength and which ones are working harder to express themselves.