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And far more than an addition to Martin?s text is the following compilation given by Larxene.
Larxene wrote: [...]

Martin is correct. Maternus did mention the 2nd and 6th houses indirectly, although he doesn't describe the technique sufficiently:
"Now we ought to know which [star] denotes [actions] for individual men and what actions it denotes. Moreover, there are three who denote actions for men--Mars, Venus, and Mercury. Therefore, these three [stars] denotes actions which was either in the MC or in dexter trine to the MC, or in sinister trine, or which was found in [one of] the other angles."

- Holden trans., p. 230-231.
The Bram equivalent is on page 145. Note that although Maternus did not explicitly state the 2nd and 6th houses, he seemed to have recommended the use of Equal Houses. Thus, to be in dexter or sinister trine to the MC is, in 30/31 cases, equivalent to being in the 6th and 2nd houses respectively.



Ptolemy disagrees, however. For him, if there are no planets on the MC nor making a heliacal phase, the domicile lord of the MC becomes the significator of Action automatically. He also accounts for menial/non-prestigious work using the domicile lord of the MC:
"But where not any planet may be found so situated, neither making its appearance as above described, nor being in the mid-heaven, then that one, possessing the dominion of the mid-heaven, 2 is to be considered as lord of the employment: it is, however, only some occasional occupation which can be thus denoted; because persons, born under such a configuration, most commonly remain at leisure and unemployed."

- Ashmand trans., Book IV, Chapter IV.
My interpretation is that Ptolemy is also saying that these are the people with "odd jobs", or only work occasionally. If you read Robbin's translation (same chapter), you find that the translation is something like "such persons are often inactive", meaning that sometimes they have a proper profession, while at other times they remain without one.



Paul of Alexandria has an interesting interpretation for career. He was aware of both techniques mentioned by Ptolemy and Maternus. Although he seems to be a slightly younger contemporary of Maternus according to this timeline, I am not sure if he got the technique from the latter. Holden believed that the passage in Maternus was actually from the same source used by Ptolemy when the latter wrote that chapter on Actions. If Holden is right, then Paul might have gotten hold of this same source, and instead of omitting information like Ptolemy seemingly did (alternatively, we may infer that the Tetrabiblos is not complete or was edited in some way), he presented everything (or most things) intact.

Anyway, here's the passage:
"The determination concerning what one does is grasped through its keenness from the stars having fast motion (I mean Ares, Aphrodite and Hermes), though certainly not every art and science is studied from these three.

The places that make the dealings all the more effectual in relation to the stars present in them are these: all the pivots, and the post-ascensions of these, and the sixth from the Horoskopos--the zoidion of the Midheaven being preferred above the other points, and the second zoidion from the Horoskopos being preferred among the post-ascensions."

- Schmidt trans., p. 59
There is more to what Paul elaborated (very intriguing information), but I'll leave it to you to read the rest.

The point here is that the Midheaven is preferred among the four angles, and the 2nd sign/house is preferred among the succeedents. This implies that the 6th sign/house is the least preferred among the nine houses, and this is logical, because cadent houses are the weakest.



In conclusion, different authors have diverging opinions on which factors are more important for finding the significator of Actions, but all three authors agree that the 10th house/MC has primacy over the other factors. So, if there's a prominent planet in the 10th, don't insist on looking at the 6th house planet(s). Look to the 10th. Practically speaking, if the chart has X in the 10th and Y in the 6th, I would say that the significators of Actions are X/y. X is the primary indicator, while y influences X through the trine, so it has to be taken into account, but it has secondary importance.

Personally I wouldn't look at jobs as being prestigious/important vs. menial. My preference is to look at prolific vs. barren, that is, whether the person is productive and effective or the opposite.
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Last edited by johannes susato on Wed Oct 22, 2014 9:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.