Free Alcocoden Calculator

The alcocoden, from a Perso-Arabic term often glossed as "master of the house," is the planet connected to the hyleg's degree in traditional length-of-life doctrine. Historical authors used the alcocoden's planetary years and condition in lifespan techniques. This calculator shows those symbolic year bands without treating them as a lifespan forecast.

Sources disagree about which ruler should be preferred. Valens places special weight on the bound lord, while medieval and Renaissance procedures often emphasize the ruler with the strongest dignity at the hyleg's degree. Augurine defaults to the bound lord and shows the almuten of the degree as a comparison so the disagreement stays visible.

The calculation runs in five steps, with the first inherited from the hyleg calculator.

1. Identify the hyleg. The five hylegiacal points (Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Lot of Fortune,prenatal syzygy) are evaluated; whichever qualifies under this calculator's rule set becomes the input.
2. Find the lord(s) of the hyleg's degree. At your hyleg's exact degree, multiple planets often hold dignity: the sign ruler, the bound (term) ruler, the triplicity ruler(s) of your sect, and the exaltation ruler if applicable.
3. Choose between bound lord and almuten of the degree. This tool defaults to the bound lord and also shows the planet with the highest summed dignity at the degree. Both approaches appear in historical and modern traditional discussions.
4. Evaluate the chosen ruler's condition. This tool evaluates a simplified condition score from dignity, angularity, retrograde status, and whether the ruler aspects the hyleg. Strong condition selects the greater band, neutral selects the middle band, and weak selects the lesser band.
5. Apply the planetary-years table. Each traditional planet has three historical year values. The condition score selects which symbolic band is highlighted.

Later medieval formulations took planetary years, modified them by the alcocoden's condition, and projected the result as a lifespan number. Practitioners then directed the hyleg to malefic degrees ("anaretic" points) using primary directions and looked for the death prediction to confirm.

The Seven Stars overview documents the problem: different authors use different rules, and later demonstrations often rely on adjustments, substitutions, or added mitigating factors when the simple prediction misses.

We do not present the medieval lifespan calculation as reliable modern prediction. The classical concept of the alcocoden remains useful for symbolic interpretation: which planet is tied to the hyleg, which historical year band the rule selects, and what condition factors modify that testimony.

For practical timing tools that survive modern scrutiny, the profection year calculator covers a Hellenistic technique that uses the same planetary-years tradition without pretending to predict lifespan.

Classical authorities: Ptolemy Tetrabiblos III.10, Dorotheus of Sidon Carmen Astrologicum III, Vettius Valens AnthologyIII, Masha'allah On Nativities, later Perso-Arabic authors, Bonatti Liber Astronomiae III, and William Lilly Christian Astrology.

Modern reception: Bernadette Brady The Hyleg and Alcoccoden, Robert Schmidt Definitions and Foundations, Skyscript's alchocoden glossary, and the Seven Stars overview of traditional length-of-life techniques.

Computational defaults: computed from the same natal chart service used by the rest of the public tools. Whole Sign houses by default. Hyleg dependency uses the same logic as the hyleg calculator. Default rule set: bound lord. Almuten of degree is available and shown for comparison. Year-table source: the traditional planetary years preserved in medieval and Renaissance sources.