← Encyclopedia of Astrology · lesson 213/235
Time-lord techniques
What it is
Most modern forecasting asks what is the sky doing now — transits, progressions, solar arcs. Time-lord techniques ask a different question: which planet is in charge of this part of my life? They divide a lifetime into periods — years, chapters of several years, months within them — and assign each period to a planet, the time lord (Greek chronokratōr). For as long as a planet holds its period, its condition in the birth chart — sign, house, aspects, dignity — is read as setting the tone, and the promises it carries natally are read as more likely to come forward.
The idea is that a birth chart holds many possibilities, but they do not all speak at once. Time lords decide whose turn it is.
The main techniques
Annual profections. The simplest, and the place most people start. The Ascendant moves one sign per year, and the ruler of that sign is the Lord of the Year. See annual profections.
Firdaria. A Persian system (the word means "periods"), transmitted through Abu Ma'shar and later Bonatti. A life of 75 years is divided among the seven planets and the lunar nodes, each planet's period subdivided into seven sub-periods. The order depends on sect: a day birth begins with the Sun (10 years), then Venus (8), Mercury (13), Moon (9), Saturn (11), Jupiter (12) and Mars (7), with the North Node (3) and South Node (2) closing the cycle; a night birth begins with the Moon and follows the same order from there. Authors differ on where the nodes fall for night births.
Zodiacal releasing. A Hellenistic technique described by Vettius Valens. Periods are "released" sign by sign from a lot — usually the Lot of Fortune for matters of the body and circumstance, or the Lot of Spirit for career and action — each sign's period lasting a number of years set by its ruler. The periods nest inside one another, and particular points in the sequence are read as peaks and turning points. Revived since the 1990s through new translations, it is one of the most discussed techniques in current traditional astrology.
Dasas. In Vedic astrology, the best-known system is the Vimshottari dasa: a cycle of 120 years shared among nine planets (the seven classical planets plus Rahu and Ketu, the lunar nodes). The first period at birth belongs to the lord of the nakshatra the Moon occupies, and each major period (mahadasha) is divided into sub-periods (antardasha or bhukti). It uses the sidereal zodiac. Many other dasa systems exist.
The tradition holds others too: the decennials, the distribution of the Ascendant through the bounds by primary direction, and Ptolemy's ages of life, which hand the stages of a lifetime to the planets from the Moon in infancy to Saturn in old age.
How they are read
Time lords are almost never read alone. A typical traditional approach layers them: the period lord sets the broad chapter, the Lord of the Year narrows it to the year, the solar return describes how the year looks, and transits to the time lords — rather than to every point in the chart — show when things move. Planets that are time lords at the same moment, or that are configured with each other in the natal chart, are read as reinforcing one another.
Schools disagree on a good deal: which lot to release from, how to handle the nodes in firdaria, whether to use whole-sign or quadrant houses (most of these techniques were built on whole-sign houses), and how strictly to keep to the seven classical planets. And like every forecasting method, a time lord marks emphasis — which part of the chart is speaking — not a fate that must unfold.