dispositors

this week we’re learning about dispositors: what they are, how they’re used, and their interpretative techniques!

im sure by now you’re familiar with planetary rulership, how every planet rules a sign or two. this is how we describe the relationship between planets and signs— the planet that rules a sign is its ruler or lord, and the sign is the planets domicile. the term dispositor describes a relationship between planets: a dispositor is simply a planet that rules another planet. say we have a chart with mars in libra— mars’ dispositor is venus, the ruler of libra. you can also say mars’ ruler is venus, but dispositor is a bit more descriptive because it’s used specifically for rulership of planets.

so why are dispositors important?

in interpretation, dispositors act as a kind of counterpart to essential dignity. essential dignity tells us the signs and degrees a planet rules, where it has agency and is willing to express it’s natural characteristics. this relationship from planet to sign is static and doesn’t change over time. when a planet is in another planet’s sign or degrees, it doesn’t have agency over its expression because it relies on its ruler or dispositor. a planets relationship to its dispositor, however, does change over time, and that relationship has the potential to support or further hinder that planets expression. dispositors can basically tell us if a planet outside it’s own rulership is supported or hindered.

returning to the example of mars in libra: here mars is in the sign of his detriment, so he lacks agency and is not willing to express himself— but is this a mars in libra ruled by venus in cancer, who is then in a square to mars from his sign of fall? or it is a mars in libra ruled by venus in gemini, who is trine mars from a fellow air sign?

although mars is always in detriment in libra, he could be supported by the dispositor venus sending a trine from gemini!

with mars and his dispositor in a positive relationship in air signs, mars is supported by a venus in gemini that seeks conversation and novelty. mars might be more willing to disrupt a social situation when he’s supported by a cunning gemini venus who can talk them both out of trouble.

mars in libra isn’t simply about avoiding conflict— it’s about making conflict generative and mutually beneficial, which is really hard to accomplish! support from the dispositor can help mars successfully express himself in a venusian way.

by contrast, venus squaring mars from cancer creates a tense relationship. venus in cancer is interested in initiating intimate connections, and mars impedes that if he’s simultaneously introducing conflict in social settings, however well-intentioned.

there’s an inherent conflict between these two. venus hinders mars’ expression by insisting that they focus on building nurturing relationships. mars isn’t in a position to refuse venus, so he will try his best to be quiet and complacent— inevitably leading to resentment and discontent. this is where we might see the stereotypical description of mars in detriment as conflict avoidant, as a result of the relationship to the dispositor.

this is how you can use dispositors to interpret planets in the natal chart, and add nuance to their expression by essential dignity. it’s all about the relationships!

now let’s discuss some techniques that use dispositorship:

dispositor techniques

one common use of dispositors is the “dispositor tree”— a diagram showing which planets disposit or rule each other, usually with the “final dispositor” at the top. I’ve drawn up an example using the chart below:

the lines of the tree represent dispositorship, and here it’s read from the bottom up. remember that we’re using “ruled” and “disposited” interchangeably!

in this chart we see that the moon and saturn are disposited by mars, mars and venus are disposited by the sun, and jupiter is disposited by mercury. there are two final dispositors at the top of the tree, the sun and mercury— because they’re both in domicile they essentially disposit themselves. (see why being in domicile is so powerful!)

the idea of the final dispositor was introduced by modern astrologers as a kind of chart ruler. from chris brennan’s astrology dictionary:

The final dispositor is viewed as an important planet in the chart because it is the only planet that is in its own sign, which is seen as auspicious, but also because it is the only planet that has complete autonomy, being ruled by no other planet. To the extent that other planets are in signs ruled by the final dispositor, or in signs that are ruled by planets which are themselves ruled by the final dispositor, all planets in the chart are viewed as ultimately being under the sway of the final dispositor.

(Retrieved from The Astrology Dictionary)

try drawing a dispositor tree for your own chart. if you have a final dispositor, you might find it interesting to read more about them! I don’t usually use final dispositors, but the concept lead me to the idea of main dispositors: the planets who rule all other planets in the chart.

main dispositors

in the previous example, the sun and mercury were the final dispositors, but mars acts as a dispositor as well! mars rules the moon and saturn. even if he isn’t in domicile and answers to another planet, there are planets in mars’ signs so a martial energy is clearly present in the chart.

the sun, mercury and mars, as the planets who disposit all other planets in the chart, together represent this person’s way of being, the archetypes through which they interact with and interpret the world. instead of focusing on the relationship between just one planet and it’s dispositor, we can take a holistic look at the dispositors of the whole chart to narrow down the qualities/perspective/temperament of a person.

I like to use main dispositors as a quick and easy starting point for interpretation. examining the nature of each planet is the first step, but you’ll also want to look for symbolic considerations— are they benefic or malefic? are they dignified or debilitated? which dispositor rules the most planets? what aspect does each dispositor make to it’s dispositees? all of these q’s will help us get a feeling for who this person is and how they navigate the world.

let’s get into some examples:

ex. 1

in this chart we have planets in leo, sagittarius, capricorn, and aquarius, so the main dispositors are the sun, jupiter, and saturn.

you’ll notice that the majority of planets are ruled by the outer planets, jupiter and saturn. as the slower moving planets these two are concerned with generational cycles and collective experiences. being largely ruled by this pair, this person sees the world from that higher outer planet viewpoint of long-term growth and decay. their focus and concern is with jupiterian and saturnian topics and ways of being.

the sun is also involved as the dispositor of saturn, but since saturn is the only planet ruled by the sun and it’s in detriment, we won’t see classically solar qualities from this person. instead we might see a subversion of solar qualities, someone who takes the spotlight to draw attention to the margins. as a dispositor, the sun works with jupiter and saturn to shine a light on their long-term collective concerns.

now let’s address the ascendant: the ruler is mars, who doesn’t dispose any planets. what’s mars’ role here?

the primary function of the ASC and its ruler is to represent the person themself. so although this person is concerned with the topics of the sun and outer planets, their role in those topics is to embody mars— specifically, the fiery diurnal mars that is aries. the ASC could have been in pisces or taurus, but it’s placement in aries indicates that they need to be mars in order to navigate this outer-defined reality.

ex. 2

here we have planets in taurus, gemini, virgo, and sagittarius, so the dispositors are venus, mercury, and jupiter.

these three planets share a similar connective quality — mercury through communication and commerce, venus through relationship and law, and jupiter through belief — so this person is largely concerned with creating connections. let’s try to add more nuance to this character by considering the essential dignity and house placement of the dispositors:

venus and jupiter are in very different positions of power in this chart. venus is in her joy in the 5th house, ruling the sun and mercury who are co-present, and is situated in her domicile of taurus. jupiter is in the cadent 9th house, in detriment in virgo, and ruling both malefics placed in the 12th house.

we can say that the influence of venus as a dispositor is generally positive and easy to access because she’s well placed. jupiter, on the other hand, has both malefics in his domicile and is in detriment. if malefics are social rejects and planets in detriment are subversive, then this person could be rejected for their expression of jupiter and have to find unconventional ways of relating to jupiter. he’s a dispositor and so has an influence on the nature of the individual, but it’s a complicated relationship! maybe their venusian qualities will help them in developing their jupiterian qualities— indeed, we see that venus is assisting jupiter through a close trine. returning to the connective quality of the dispositors, we can see that this person is best suited to making connections in a venusian way — through interpersonal relationships, socializing and sharing pleasure.

jupiter’s role as a dispositor is important in this situation. consider a chart where jupiter isn’t a dispositor and is in detriment in virgo— no one is looking to jupiter as their ruler, so he isn’t in charge of anyone! in this case the ruler mercury would take over jupiter’s influence and mercurial qualities would take priority. this person has planets in jupiter’s sign (notably the ASC ruler saturn) so parts of themself are filtered through a jupiterian lens, which means they have to personally reckon with that archetype. that is the significance of the dispositors, as filters or archetypes that influence a person’s way of being in the world.

tips from valens

stuck on how to describe your main dispositors? vettius valens, an ancient greek astrologer, can help us out! provided you have three dispositors, you can check valens’ delineations for combinations of three planets to get a general idea of their nature. they’re on pages 19-22.

as an example for valens, let’s use the chart of logan paul, infamous vlogger, entrepreneur, and youtube apologizer.

he has planets in pisces, aries, leo and sagittarius, so the dispositors are jupiter, mars and the sun. valens says of this combination:

Jupiter, Mars, and the sun are indicative of men involved in disturbances and dangers, but enthusiastic and effective in their business enterprises. These men have a share of glory: they are leaders, governors, supervisors of public matters, but are prone to fall because the hatred of the great follows them, along with threats, betrayals, plots from their families, and criminal charges. A few, lifted from average fortune by the favor of the great, have later been ruined.

(Valens, Anthologies, Book I, pg. 20)

sounds about right! when he was a vlogger on youtube, logan paul was known for performing dangerous and outrageous stunts. one particularly disturbing video caused a huge scandal that reached mainstream news outlets, ultimately running him off the platform. he was demonetized by youtube and sued by a production company he was working with at the time. he quickly pivoted to various business enterprises, which became shockingly successful despite his past.

untimed charts

a useful feature of the main dispositor technique is that it can be used on charts with an unknown birth time.

let’s draw on valens again using the untimed chart of elon musk.

this is the chart at noon. we don’t know the ascendant; with the moon in the middle of virgo we can be sure of it’s placement.

he has planets in scorpio, aquarius, gemini, cancer and virgo, so the dispositors are mars, saturn, mercury and the moon.

since we have more than three planets, we’ll have to narrow down our options to use valens’ descriptions. the moon and mercury rule the majority of planets, so I don’t want to leave them out. valens doesn’t give a description of the combination of saturn, mercury and the moon, so let’s see what he has to say on mars, mercury and the moon:

Mars, the moon, and Mercury make men skillful and ingenious, easily aroused to action and very vigorous, wanting to act quickly, but being remiss, seekers of curious lore, initiates of the mysteries, and partakers of secret knowledge. They are oppressors, violent, insubordinate, covetous, falling into accusations and suits for damages, into trials and dangers, and they experience alarms because of documents and money. However, these stars do make men wealthy and lavish, although failing in their livelihood.

(Valens, Anthologies, Book I, pg. 22)

even without saturn, this is pretty accurate! elon musk is perceived as “skillful and ingenious”, despite his failing businesses, but also for making rash comments on social media that get him into trouble. I see the emphasis on “mysteries” and “secret knowledge” in his interest in neurotechnology and space colonization, industries that are mysterious because they’re so new and difficult to enter. he’s been the subject of many accusations and trials, from overt racism in his warehouses to sexual harassment cases. he is wealthy as the current richest person in the history of the world, but failing in his livelihood because his businesses are constantly on the edge of collapse.

dispositors in your chart

I’ve outlined a lot of information here, so let’s review the ways you can apply dispositors in your own natal chart.

dispositors can be used to:

• describe the relationship between a planet and it’s ruler. this adds nuance to the placement and essential dignity of the planet.

• create a dispositor tree, a way to visualize who rules who in a chart. you can use it find your final dispositor or main dispositors.

• describe the nature of a person through their main dispositors. by focusing on the main dispositors and their placement in the chart, you can quickly discover how a person interacts with and interprets the world.

try these techniques out in your own chart and, if you’re so inclined, share what you discover in the comments!

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