The concept of Astrological sect is very simple. If you were born during the day, your chart belongs to the day, or diurnal, sect. If you were born at night, your chart belongs to the night, or nocturnal, sect. Astrologers who use the concept of sect in their work read day charts and night charts in different ways. Working with sect adds some powerful tools to the astrologers’ toolkit.
Sect was a foundational concept in astrology until relatively recently. It has come back into broad use thanks to the traditional revival of the last couple of decades.
This post offers a short primer on sect, not an exhaustive treatment. It’s dedicated to one or two regular readers, along with anyone who hasn’t yet used sect in their readings.
Sect light
Determining the sect light is easy. There are two luminaries, or lights: the Sun and the Moon. If you were born in the daytime, your sect light is the Sun, and if you were born at night, your sect light is the Moon. The sect light is the primary luminary. It will have the biggest stamp on the personality by sign and aspects. That is, it will describe characteristics that you are known for, characteristics other people notice because they shine out to the world. Both luminaries are still important and retain their individual functions, but the sect light should be considered stronger than other luminary. A luminary or planet that is not in sect (e.g., the Sun in a night chart) is referred to as “contrary to sect.”
My first example chart below is for “Red,” a man born at night with a Gemini Sun and a Sagittarius Moon. He was intellectually curious like a Gemini but had difficulty with both spoken and written communication. He had a philosophical temperament, and his political views were based on well-reasoned moral convictions. He struggled with reading throughout his life. He loved the outdoors, and his favorite activity was deer hunting. He drove a semitruck for a living, and he loved barreling down a rural highway in his ten-foot-high perch with his arm hanging out the open window. He was, in short, more Sagittarian than Gemini.
In Red’s chart, Venus, his most beneficial planet, is in his fifth house of children. One could easily observe that Red was fortunate in few areas of his life, but he had two accomplished sons whom he loved very much and of whom he was very proud. An astrologer not working with sect might point out that malefic Mars is also in this house. But because Mars is contrary to sect, its harmful potential is mitigated, so it lacks the full harmful effects of a daytime Mars. And, indeed, whatever conflicts there were between Red and his sons, I think it’s safe to say that the house of children was the luckiest area of his life.
Most positive planet in the chart
This is also a simple idea, but like all simple ideas, it includes many little caveats and qualifications. Nonetheless, I find it always reveals important things about how much power certain planets have to cause ease or difficulty.
First the benefics, or good-doers. Venus and Jupiter are the two benifics of the zodiac. Other planets can act beneficially under the right conditions, but these two are always trying to bring out their goodness even when they are badly placed. Jupiter is the diurnal (i.e. daytime) benefic, and Venus is the nocturnal (i.e. nighttime) benefic. Hence Venus works best in night charts, and Jupiter works best in day charts.
My second example chart is for “MR,” who had a night chart, making Venus her most positive planet. Hers is a good example of how a positive benefic can have its most visible effects on the houses it rules. In her case, Venus is located in Pisces (where it exalts), and it rules the third house of communication and the eighth house of inheritance (this is because Venus rules Taurus and Libra, where MR’s 3rd and 8th houses are). She was a well-educated and talented communicator who found it easy to get high-paying office jobs in finance (Taurus and 8th house). She eventually came into a large inheritance (8th house) when her adopted mother died.
I find it interesting to observe what happens to the benefic that is contrary to sect. Jupiter is contrary to sect in a night chart, and Venus is contrary to sect in a day chart. The benefic that is contrary to sect, while still acting in some beneficial ways, has the potential to bring some problems with it, and these problems usually fall into the category of “too much of a good thing.”
In MR’s and Red’s night charts, Jupiter is contrary to sect. Jupiter rules both of their first houses of the body and appearance, and both had difficulties keeping their weight down. This is something I’ve often noticed with people with night charts, especially when Jupiter is a signifier for the body. This is because, in night charts, Jupiter’s characteristic lack of temperance goes unchecked. Daytime helps to mitigate Jupiter’s excesses because the day is more conducive to drawing boundaries. At night, Jupiter tends to expand unchecked. Other Jupiterian excesses are being overly opinionated, being loose with finances (this was very true for MR), having an overblown sense of confidence, even to the point of having delusions of grandeur.
If Venus is contrary to sect (i.e., in a day chart), one sees some Venusian excesses like avarice, promiscuity, jealousy, and infidelity. These are all on display in the person belonging to my third example chart: Donald Trump.
The most difficult planet in the chart
There are two malefic, or harmful, planets, just like there are two benefic planets. Both malefics will be troublesome, but the malefic that is out of sect will show the areas of life where the person experiences the most difficulties.
Saturn is the daytime (diurnal) malefic, and Mars is the nighttime (nocturnal) malefic. This means that Saturn is out of sect at night and therefore is most difficult in nighttime charts, and Mars is most difficult in daytime charts.
Malefics are harmful in all charts because they are extreme. Saturn represents extremes of cold (both literal and metaphorical), and Mars represents extremes of heat. Saturn is thought to be less malefic in the day because of the daytime’s warming nature. Mars is said to be less malefic at night because the night cools Mars’ extreme heat.
In the example of Trump’s daytime chart, Mars is the most difficult planet. It sits on his Ascendant in his Leo first house of self. The first house and planets there strongly stamp the personality. There is often an innocent, almost infantile quality to the ways first house planets express themselves. This is true of Trump’s Mars. There is nothing to moderate his Mars expression. And, being Mars, those very visible Martian traits include self-centeredness, combativeness, impulsiveness, and a ruthless impulse to lash out at perceived enemies. Whether people love Trump or hate him, there is universal agreement that he is his own worst enemy. This is a clear manifestation of his most difficult planet sitting squarely in his house of self.
Trump’s Saturn is in sect so is the less-difficult of the two malefic planets. It is located in his twelfth house of secrets conjunct the lesser benefic, Venus. Venus in the twelfth house is often connected with secret love affairs. In Trump’s case, two extramarital affairs became very public. The second of these (with Stormy Daniels) almost sunk his political career — but didn’t. That is the key quality of the out-of-sect malefic: it can cause difficulties, but the difficulties can be overcome. This is less true with the in-sect malefic, which tends to create more long-lasting problems or even total destruction of what it touches.
My final example chart is for Amanda Knox, an American writer, activist and journalist. However, Knox will always be best-known for being wrongfully convicted of the murder of her college roommate.
Knox has a night chart, making Saturn the most difficult planet in her chart. Saturn is in Sagittarius in her seventh house. Saturn conjuncts her sect light, the Moon, which is important because the sect light shows what someone is known for — and in her case, what she is known for was also the most difficult episode in her life.
Knox and the murder victim, Merideth Kercher, were both exchange students in Italy in 2007. In the wake of Kercher’s murder by a burglar, Knox and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were both arrested along with Knox’s boss. The fact that the incident happened with a boyfriend is indicative of a very malefic Saturn in the seventh house of relationships.
When one is looking at the most malefic or benefic planet in a chart, it’s always revealing to look at which houses in the chart these planets rule. These houses will show areas of life where a planet’s benefits or harms will also be seen. So, while Knox’s Saturn is in her 7th house of partnership, it also rules her 9th house, which is related to both foreign travel and university education.
Conclusion
This is just a quick sketch of how sect works, but I hope it’s enough to help you see charts differently. One of the weaknesses of modern astrology has been its lack of tools for determining how strong or weak a given planet’s influence will be in a person’s life. Sect is a simple and straightforward way to do that.
Chadwalk's Astrology 