The essential dignities are five types of sign rulership which are used in order to determine whether a planet is auspiciously placed in an astrological chart.
In late Medieval and Renaissance astrology the five essential dignities are as follows, listed in order of importance:
- Domicile
- Exaltation
- Triplicity
- Term
- Face
The dignities were used to determine how well-placed a planet is in a chart. If a planet is in one of the places that it rules by domicile, exaltation, triplicity, term, or face, then it was considered to be “dignified”, which was considered to be auspicious.
