Your life chapters
Your life is written in chapters, and each one belongs to a planet. Firdaria, the life periods of Persian and medieval astrology, divide a life into seven planetary chapters and two short ones ruled by the Moon’s Nodes, seventy-five years in all. Enter your birth date, time and place to see the chapter you are living now, the season within it, and every chapter still to come.
What is firdaria?
A firdar is a chapter of life ruled by one planet. The old astrologers gave each planet a fixed number of years and laid them end to end, so that a whole life could be read as a story in parts: a childhood under the Sun or the Moon, a youth of Venus and Mercury, the long building years of Saturn, the open doors of Jupiter, the fire of Mars.
The technique flourished in the Persian and Arabic astrology of Baghdad between the 8th and 11th centuries, then travelled with its translated books into the Latin astrology of medieval Europe.
Day births and night births
Everything begins with a single question: was the Sun up when you were born? A day birth belongs to the Sun, so its chapters begin with the Sun. A night birth belongs to the Moon, so its chapters begin with the Moon. From there both follow the old Chaldean order of the planets, slowest to swiftest and round again. Both end with the two short Node chapters, and after seventy-five years the cycle begins again.
| Born by day | Ages |
|---|---|
| Sun | 0 to 10 |
| Venus | 10 to 18 |
| Mercury | 18 to 31 |
| Moon | 31 to 40 |
| Saturn | 40 to 51 |
| Jupiter | 51 to 63 |
| Mars | 63 to 70 |
| North Node | 70 to 73 |
| South Node | 73 to 75 |
| Born by night | Ages |
|---|---|
| Moon | 0 to 9 |
| Saturn | 9 to 20 |
| Jupiter | 20 to 32 |
| Mars | 32 to 39 |
| Sun | 39 to 49 |
| Venus | 49 to 57 |
| Mercury | 57 to 70 |
| North Node | 70 to 73 |
| South Node | 73 to 75 |
The seasons inside each chapter
Every planet’s chapter is divided into seven equal seasons. The first season belongs to the chapter’s own planet, so a Saturn chapter opens with a Saturn season, and the others follow in the old Chaldean order of the planets, from slowest to swiftest: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, and round again.
The chapter sets the theme of years. The season tells you which part of that theme is in the light right now. A Venus season inside a Saturn chapter, for example, softens long work with love, beauty or a little ease.
The two Node chapters are short and have no seasons. The North Node’s three years tend to pull life toward something new, and the South Node’s two years ask you to release what you have outgrown before the cycle turns.
What each chapter brings
- Sun chapter, 10 years
- A chapter of becoming visible: purpose, vitality, recognition and the courage to be yourself in full light.
- Moon chapter, 9 years
- A chapter of feeling and belonging: home, family, the body and the tides of everyday life.
- Mercury chapter, 13 years
- A chapter of learning and making: study, words, skills, trade and a mind always on the move.
- Venus chapter, 8 years
- A chapter of love and pleasure: relationships, beauty, art, comfort and learning what you truly enjoy.
- Mars chapter, 7 years
- A chapter of action: courage, ambition, competition and the energy to fight for what you want.
- Jupiter chapter, 12 years
- A chapter of growth: opportunity, generosity, teachers, travel and faith in what is possible.
- Saturn chapter, 11 years
- A chapter of building: responsibility, patience, hard-won mastery and the structures that will hold you for years.
- North Node chapter, 3 years
- A short chapter of new direction, three years when life tends to pull you toward something unfamiliar.
- South Node chapter, 2 years
- A short chapter of release, two years for letting go of what you have outgrown before the cycle begins again.
Where do firdaria come from?
The best known account comes from Abu Ma’shar, the great astrologer of 9th century Baghdad, in his work on the yearly revolutions of a birth chart. Two centuries later the Persian scholar al-Biruni set the periods out in his Book of Instruction of 1029. In the 13th century the Italian astrologer Guido Bonatti made them part of his great Latin textbook, and in the last twenty years the translator Benjamin Dykes has brought the original Persian and Arabic texts back into English.
The old authors agree on the chapter lengths and the day order. They part ways on one detail: where the Node chapters fall in a night birth. Abu Ma’shar and al-Biruni place them at the very end, as for a day birth, and Hali follows them. Bonatti places them straight after Mars.
Firdaria and your year
Firdaria and your profection year work together. Your life chapter is the long weather, a planet that colours many years. Your year is the season of one birthday to the next. When the lord of your year and the lord of your chapter are the same planet, many astrologers read that year as one in which the planet speaks with its whole voice.
How Hali works out your chapters
- Day or night comes from the Sun’s place against your Rising sign at your birth time and place, from the same astronomy engine behind every Hali birth chart.
- Chapters begin on your birthday on the local calendar, and each planet’s chapter is divided into seven seasons of equal length.
- With a rough birth time close to sunrise or sunset, Hali tells you your chapters could follow the other order.
- Without a birth time, Hali asks whether you were born by day or by night, and remembers your answer on this device.
Frequently asked questions
What is firdaria?
Firdaria is a way of dividing a whole life into planetary chapters, from Persian and medieval astrology. Each of the seven planets and the two lunar Nodes rules a stretch of years, together making 75, and each planet's chapter holds seven shorter seasons. Enter your birth details above to see the chapter you are living now.
How is firdaria calculated?
It starts from whether you were born by day or by night. A day birth begins with a 10 year Sun chapter, then Venus, Mercury, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. A night birth begins with a 9 year Moon chapter, then Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus and Mercury. Both end with the North and South Nodes, and the cycle repeats after 75 years.
Do I need my birth time for firdaria?
Only enough to know whether the Sun was up when you were born. A rough time is fine unless you were born close to sunrise or sunset. Without any time, you can tell Hali whether you were born by day or by night.
What are the seasons inside a firdaria chapter?
Every planet's chapter is divided into seven equal seasons. The first belongs to the chapter's own planet, and the rest follow the old Chaldean order of the planets. The two Node chapters are short and have no seasons.
Is firdaria the same as Vedic dasha?
They are cousins rather than twins. Both divide life into planetary periods with subperiods, but firdaria comes from the Persian and Arabic tradition, uses the tropical zodiac and starts from day or night, while the Vimshottari dasha of Indian astrology starts from the Moon's lunar mansion and runs 120 years.
Why does firdaria last 75 years?
The chapter lengths, 10, 8, 13, 9, 11, 12 and 7 years for the planets and 3 and 2 for the Nodes, add up to 75. After that the cycle simply begins again, so a long life lives its first chapters twice.
Which version of firdaria does Hali use?
Hali uses the order of Abu Ma'shar and al-Biruni, which places the two Node chapters at the very end for both day and night births. Some later astrologers, following Bonatti, place them after Mars for night births.