Diurnal and nocturnal

Definition

Diurnal and nocturnal is the polarity that distinguishes day charts from night charts in traditional astrology. A chart is diurnal if the Sun sits above the horizon at the moment of birth and nocturnal if it sits below. The doctrine that systematizes this split is called sect, and it changes how certain planets are read: some planets favor diurnal charts, others favor nocturnal, and the favored team carries more weight.

In context

In a diurnal chart, the Sun, Jupiter, and Saturn are the diurnal team; in a nocturnal chart, the Moon, Venus, and Mars take over. Mercury switches sides depending on whether it rises before or after the Sun. Sect is a quiet reading layer that mostly stays in the background until a question of which planet to trust comes up. At that point the day-night polarity helps decide which ruler of the configuration speaks first.

To go deeper

Diurnal-nocturnal names one of several polarity axes:

• Masculine-feminine: the active-receptive polarity.
• Yin-yang: same polarity in non-gendered terms.
• Benefic-malefic: classical planet-mood polarity.