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Combustion, Under the Beams, and Cazimi in Horary Astrology
How close a planet sits to the Sun changes its accidental dignity dramatically: burned up too close (combust), it's read as one of the weakest conditions a planet can be in, while sitting exactly at the Sun's heart (cazimi) is read as a rare, powerful condition instead. The distance in between (under the beams) is weakened but not as severely.
Horary astrology is a traditional, rule-based symbolic practice with no empirical scientific basis -- treat this page, and Querens itself, as entertainment and a genuinely interesting historical system, not fact.
What Lilly says
Christian Astrology, p.115 (1647 ed.)
These four solar conditions are part of the same accidental-dignity table Lilly uses to score a planet's overall condition, alongside house placement, motion, and speed -- proximity to the Sun is one line in that same table, not a separate rule.
How Querens reads this
Querens scores solar proximity on exact orb bands: within 17 arcminutes of the Sun is cazimi (+5, "in the heart of the Sun"); within 8.5° is combust (−5, the most debilitating solar condition); between 8.5° and 17° is under the beams (−4); anything past 17° is free of the Sun's beams and unaffected. This is one line of the accidental dignity score shown on every reading, alongside the essential dignity score.
See it in a real chart
Frequently asked questions
- What does combust mean in astrology?
- A planet within 8.5° of the Sun is combust -- scored −5, the most debilitating solar condition in the accidental dignity table.
- What is cazimi?
- A planet within 17 arcminutes of the Sun -- "in the heart of the Sun" -- is cazimi, scored +5, a rare and powerful condition rather than a weak one.
- What's the difference between combust and under the beams?
- Combust is within 8.5° of the Sun (−5). Under the beams is the wider band from 8.5° to 17° (−4) -- weakened, but less severely.