Most foreground planets

[mikestar13]

What is the largest number of foreground planets you have encountered in a nativity? I ran across one nativity with six, and the most striking thing about the native was that his picture was next to "larger than life" in the dictionary. Is there some significance to having a high number of foreground planets as such? Also solunars, etc. raise similar questions.

[Jim Eshelman]

Marion (my mate) has six, plus three others with luminary aspects. Arena also has 6.

I might have seen 9 or 10 at some point, though I didn't make any more note of it than the occasional chart I see that has zero. I'll keep my eyes open.

[mikestar13]

Using James' recommendations of considering a planet to be foreground if it is (a) within 10 degrees measured on the prime vertical from a major angle, (b) within 2 degrees of longitude from an ecliptic square of a major angle, or (c) within 3 degrees of right ascension from the eastpoint or westpoint, the chance of a planet being foreground is 30%. Assuming planets are randomly placed, the changes of having each possible number of foreground planets is:

0...2.8%
1...12.1%
2...23.3%
3...26.7%
4...20.0%
5...10.3%
6...3.6%
7...0.9%
8...0.1%
9...0.01%
10...0.0006%

So nine planets foreground is one chart in ten thousand, and all ten is a minor miracle. Two, three, or four planets foreground will occur about 70% of the time, with zero or one and five to ten each having about 15% probability.

I thought these numbers may be of interest to Mr. E or anyone who wishes to look deeper into this.