The Fardaria is a Persian Time Lord technique that was used for emphasis of prediction and an understanding of life experiences that the native would go through in a very specific order. There are two main ways of reading it. One is for those born during the day, which is called the Day Sect. Then there is another variation for those born during the night, or Night Sect. In what is called the Nodal Variation, which I follow when I read your chart, the North Node and South Node are inserted after the period of Mars before the Period of the Sun. Below is an example chart of how this works in Astro Gold.
What is significantly cool—like a trumpet player leaning back, wearing a pair of Ray-Bans and a leather jacket on a pink ’57 Chevy—is that the Firdaria describes the quality of the soul’s evolution through life. It outlines how a person’s perceptions and experiences of the world unfold, not from outer events, but from inner awareness. This coolness comes to us through the astrologer Abū Maʿshar, who sourced it himself from al-Andarzaghar… perhaps around 1100 CE. It is explained in a predictive way, as most ancient Persian, Islamicate, and Latin texts are.
We moderns have become more concerned with using astrology to reveal the soul. Perhaps this is a result of having a greater life of ease; perhaps it is because we are less connected to our souls during our age of materialism and are searching for ways to feel connected again; or perhaps it is because we have a greater understanding of our place in the universe from a material perspective and thirst to know what the soul means in infinite space, with countless stars and planets and no doubt life extending in all directions. Regardless of the reason, I have come to meditate on the Firdaria as a path to understanding the soul’s development through life, rather than just as a predictive tool.
I would like to illustrate the point by asking you to meditate on this chart. You will first notice that the ages are set. They are based on the planetary years. The orders is Chaldean (which orders the planets based on their apparent speed around the earth) and descending. Hence we have the glory of the Sun, followed by the joy of Venus, the spirit of Mercury, the love of the Moon, the sternness of Saturn, the exuberance of Jupiter, the severing of Mars, then the Karmic Nature of the Nodes before we make it back to the Sun. The planets are given a number of years, the exact reason for which these years are chosen is debated, but they fit. They are also divided into sub years. I am not going to muse on those this post, but will on future Firdaria posts. Kick the can down the field, I am kicking the can down the field…
Sun Years
The Solar years are when the human child is age 0 through 10, it is the maximum potential of vitality for the human body, but also a time when the soul is still occupied with its own emanations on an unconscious level. Hence at this time the soul is vibrating from its unlimited vitality, but also self absorbed in its own consciousness. For the day chart then this is also a time of immense creativity. This is a time of great innocence.
Venus Years
We move into the Venus years as embodied souls and find a time where the soul experiences the development of sports, sensuality, sexuality, the pleasures of embodiment and the refinement of art. During this time from 10 years old to 18 years old the body moves through puberty and most humans become sexually aware, as the souls consciousness of seeking to unite with others becomes active. It is also though a continued time of innocence, which is why it is fraught with the possibility of the soul being damaged by having its innocence violated. During this age the young soul also learns of the intoxicating elixirs of physical embodiment, most kids will experiment with alcohol or other substances at this time, develop there own tastes in music and fashion. From a Classical firdaria perspective you would look at the meaning of Taurus and Libra, their house location, planets aspecting Venus and Venus’s dignities to understand how this plays out in a materially tracked way. It also though is a measure of the soul beginning to embody matter as its own experience.
Mercury Years
From the realms of the sensual the soul begins to develop an intellect and becomes distinctly aware that it has a place in the world. This is all before the first Saturn return so it is still a time of innocence, but often by this time that innocence is being shed as there is a strong dialogue with other souls that starts to happen during the Mercury Years from 18 to 31. This is of course when people go to college, and develop a sense of their own thinking separate from their peer group thinking which was emphasized in the Venus years. This is a time when the soul starts to express what its unique craft and thought is as a contribution to the world soul it has been incarnated into. For Voices of the generations, such as famous actors, actresses, and political revolutionaries as well as musicians, this is often when their “voice” is heard, and for some musicians at the end of this period, they remove themselves from incarnation.
Moon Years
After Mercury comes the Moon period which runs from 31 to 40. During this time many souls find themselves nurturing others, whether that is children, causes they are dedicated to, particular pets they love, or the work they have given themselves to do. The energy starts being less about personal enjoyment and more about nourishing the world. It is common for this to be strong child rearing years in our modern world, it is also a time, along with the Mercury years where there is more mobility in life in terms of moving to different cities, homes and place. Life starts taking on a more predictable routine than one finds during the Mercury years.
Saturn Years
Saturn years follow on from the Moon years. The Saturn years are of course about toil! The soul is reaching peak responsibility and duty in its physical form and is often locked into difficult routines at this time in life. There are studies out which famously show this is the period of life where people are the most unhappy with who they are and what there life experience is. By this time one has taken on the responsibility for keeping humanity going, in one way or another, through ones work. People tend to feel stuck at this time, which is a period of peak embodiment in physical form in all of its heaviness (outside of the bardo of dying and the bardo of sickness). Also though, if one works hard, one can commonly gain recognition during this time. It is a period where one starts to develop mastery of one’s purpose, even if one does not recognize that is what is happening in the process. This period ends when the Firdaria moves into the Jupiter years.
Jupiter Years
From 50 to 60 Jupiter maintains dominion over the souls expression and those who have made it through the toil of the Saturn years feel their life expanding into possibility again. The ability to craft narratives and see the whole picture starts to be emphasized by the soul, and there are actual brain changes that occur during this time which promote that. The result is that by 50 one is not taking things so seriously any more. We learn to just say fuck it, so we can enjoy ourselves. The Soul here is starting to embody its own philosophy of life in a way that brings joy back to the experience of living. The fifties bring greater joy and life satisfaction than the forties largely because of a major psychological shift that is moving away from heavy external pressures and toward self-acceptance, emotional clarity, and a deeper sense of meaning, according to science, but we know it is because the soul has entered the Jupiter Firdaria.
Mars Years
From 63 to 70 we get the Mars years. This is the age of retirement and usually people, if their bodies have held up, get to pursue personal passions, travel and roam the world, and develop strong convictions about what they accept and reject in the world. The body can start presenting major difficulties at this time as evidenced by Mars, being something that severs and cuts. The soul experiences a severing at this time from the affairs of the world, leaving the work to be done by younger generations in earlier stages of the Firdaria. Thelma and Louise get in the convertible and ride off on their adventure, and the soul is in the process of individuating from its duties into its own sphere of influence. As a result of this the personality usually becomes more forceful at this time. The soul experiences a severing at this time from the affairs of the world, leaving more of its work to younger generations. But this separation is not always easy. Having spent decades becoming necessary, the soul must now learn how to release its necessity. Mars supplies the blade with which it cuts some obligations, while other attachments are cut by circumstances beyond its choosing.
Nodal Years
Finally from 70 to 74 we reach the end of the soul development cycle that is represented by the Firdaria. The North Node Period gives an indication of what is to be expressed as life work in the next human incarnation and the South Node clears away final vestiges of previous karma brought in with this incarnation to help align the serpent spirit of your being once it sheds its skin to move into a new one.
The Firdaria pattern repeats after this, the effects of which are not generally experienced by most individuals as the body becomes a limiting factor in soul expression at this time. However we can all note that at this point in time, elders usually start becoming more simple an pure in their soul expression again, like they were in their childhood. This comes with a disrobing of learned filters through life, which can get them in trouble with younger generations and mores that have evolved in a different way than when they were young.
I would love to explore how the Firdaria works in your chart in a reading catering to you. Please book with this link if you are called to such a reading.