Temporary planetary friendship: count from the reference planet
Temporary relationships depend on where one planet is placed relative to another. Unlike the natural table, this classification can change when those relative positions change.
STEP 1
Choose the starting position
Choose one planet as the reference and count its position as first. The next position is second, and so on through twelve. Count from that planet, not automatically from the ascendant. The example below uses numbered positions so it does not assume a house-calculation system.
STEP 2
Use the six friendly positions
Under the stanza’s main rule, other planets in positions 2, 3, 4, 10, 11 and 12 are temporary friends of the reference planet. Other positions are classified as temporary enemies.
STEP 3
Try a numbered example
Take Jupiter as the reference. If Venus occupies the second position from Jupiter, Venus is Jupiter’s temporary friend. A Saturn in the seventh position is Jupiter’s temporary enemy. These are two separate comparisons with Jupiter as the starting point.
STEP 4
Compare without merging the labels
The natural table classifies Venus as an enemy in Jupiter’s row. In the second-position example, Venus is a temporary friend. Both labels can be recorded: one comes from the fixed table, the other from relative placement.
Stanza 18 also records an exaltation-sign friendship rule attributed to some authorities. That addition is not part of the six-position rule explained here.