Traditional Techniques
An overview of the Hellenistic and traditional techniques HOSHIDOU surfaces - essential dignities, mutual reception, declination and out-of-bounds, and fixed stars.
HOSHIDOU includes a set of traditional and Hellenistic techniques that go beyond the modern planet-and-aspect picture. This page gives a brief overview of each technique, how the app surfaces it, and which setting controls it. These techniques work alongside the Single Wheel and complement timing tools like Profection Year and concepts like Sect.
Essential Dignities
Essential dignity describes how "comfortable" a planet is in the sign it occupies. The four core states are:
- Domicile - the planet is in the sign it rules (its home), expressing its nature with full strength.
- Exaltation - the planet is in a sign where it is honored and amplified.
- Detriment - the planet is in the sign opposite its domicile, working against its grain.
- Fall - the planet is in the sign opposite its exaltation, at its weakest.
In the app, a dignity badge appears next to each planet in the planet table. The dignity calculation is preset-aware: under a traditional preset, the classical rulerships are used (for example, Mars rules Scorpio and Saturn rules Aquarius), while a modern preset uses the modern rulerships (Pluto for Scorpio, Uranus for Aquarius). This means the same chart can show different dignity badges depending on the preset.
Dignities are toggled under Settings → Points & Aspects (天体&アスペクト). See Points & Aspects Settings for details.
Mutual Reception
Mutual reception occurs when two planets each occupy the sign ruled by the other. For example, if the Moon is in Capricorn (ruled by Saturn) and Saturn is in Cancer (ruled by the Moon), the two are in mutual reception - they are read as exchanging and supporting each other's energy, as if each were a guest in the other's home.
When the app detects a mutual reception, it shows a dedicated row in the form A♋ ↔ B♑, naming the two planets and the signs they occupy. Because reception depends on rulerships, this calculation is also preset-aware: a traditional preset and a modern preset can produce different receptions for the same chart.
Mutual reception is toggled under Settings → Points & Aspects (天体&アスペクト) along with the dignity display. See Points & Aspects Settings.
Declination and Out-of-Bounds
Most chart work uses zodiacal longitude, but declination - a body's angular distance north or south of the celestial equator - carries its own meaning. The planet table includes a declination column so you can see this second coordinate at a glance.
When a body's absolute declination exceeds approximately 23.44° (the obliquity of the ecliptic, the maximum the Sun ever reaches), it is out of bounds (OOB). The app flags OOB bodies with a badge. Out-of-bounds planets are commonly read as expressing their energy in more extreme, unconventional, or rule-breaking ways.
The declination column and OOB flag are controlled under Settings → General (一般).
Fixed Stars
Beyond the planets, certain fixed stars - Regulus, Algol, Spica, Antares, and others - have a long interpretive tradition. HOSHIDOU checks each natal body for a conjunction to a major fixed star within a configurable orb and lists any hits in a dedicated fixed-stars table, along with the star name and the orb of the conjunction.
Because a fixed star is read almost entirely through conjunction, the orb you allow has a strong effect on how many stars appear. A tighter orb yields only the closest, most significant contacts.
The fixed-stars display and its orb are configured under Settings → General (一般).
Related
- Single Wheel - where dignity, mutual reception, declination, and fixed-star data appear
- Sect - the day/night distinction that shapes Hellenistic interpretation
- Profection Year - the time-lord timing technique
- Arabic Parts - calculated lots such as the Part of Fortune
- Points & Aspects Settings - toggles for dignities and mutual reception