Horary Astrology

The art of interpreting the relationship between cosmic phenomena resulting from the ordered motions of the celestial bodies, and a thought, situation or event. It deals successfully only with concrete, well-defined queries, and its validity is subject to question when the particular problem to be analyzed is hazy in the mind of the querent, or ill-defined in its presentation to the astrologer.

Since the Horary Figure centers around the person of the querent and his consciousness at the time of the query, a clear concept of the problem for which a solution is sought is essential if the heavens are faithfully to reflect the question and portray the outcome. If the query is correctly conceived the resultant Figure is presumed to provide the correct answer, showing the manner in which the subsequent motions of the planets will mold events to their eventual culmination. This does not infer that cosmic influences will suspend the operation of the law of cause and effect, or deny the exercise of free-will; but the heavenly bodies through their House and Sign positions and the qualities they assume in the Figure will indicate the precise factors that are involved.

Horary Astrology has its own canons, apart from those governing other branches of Astrology, but the rules peculiar to it are reasonably simple and easily comprehended. However, the more worldly knowledge the practitioner possesses the more deftly will he inter- pret the Scheme, and the greater number of details he will be able to extract from it.

The science of judging how a certain matter will turn out from a figure set up for the time the question was asked. The philosophy is that the same stellar influence which makes a person sufficiently anxious to ask the question contains also the answer. Therefore, if the person who wants to know is an astrologer, he erects a horoscope for the time when he first thought of consulting the stars. If a person who cannot set up a figure applies personally to an astrologer, the latter sets up a figure for the time when the question is asked of him, and if the question comes through the mail, he casts a horoscope for the time he actually read the question in the letter. This is very important, for if the figure be set up for a wrong time, the judgment is certain to be wrong. It sometimes happens that the matter asked about has not reached such a state of completion that the issue is settled, and a definite answer can be given. Therefore the first thing to do after the figure has been cast, is to see if it is 'radical,' and can be judged.

If the first or second degree of any sign is rising, or if one of the three last degrees of any sign rises, or if the Moon is in the last three degrees of any sign, or void of course, it is not safe to judge but the inquirer should wait a more favorable time and ask the question again. When Saturn is on the Ascendant or in the First House he always obstructs the matter, and if he is in the Seventh House the astrologer's judgment fails. If none of these things hinder, the figure may be judged by the following method.

The Lord of the Ascendant, planets in the First House, if any, and the Moon represent the inquirer. Determine next by what House the thing asked about is ruled, then consider whether the Lord of that House is favorably aspected with the Lord of the Ascendant, the planets in the First House, and the Moon. If so, the matter will come to a favorable conclusion, but if these significators are aspected by square or opposition, the matter will come to naught. But if someone else comes to you with a proposition, and you set up a figure to aid you in forming an idea of what to do, be sure to remember that he is the prime mover in the matter, and that therefore the Moon, Ascendant and First House are his significators, while you are represented by the seventh house and its lord. It does not matter that you ask the question, the proposition that you ask about is his; and lack of this knowledge has been a stumbling block to many who have given a wrong judgment on that account.

The things signified by the Houses are briefly as follows:
First House: Matters of an intimate personal nature.
Second House: Financial gain.
Third House: Matters concerning brothers and sisters, short journeys.
Fourth House: Houses and lands, patrimony and removals.
Fifth House: Children, messengers and newspapers.
Sixth House: Servants and disease.
Seventh House: Marriage, partnership, law-suits.
Eighth House: Legacies.
Ninth House: Travel, mental state and capacity.
Tenth House: Social standing.
Eleventh House: Friends, hopes and wishes.
Twelfth House: Enemies and trouble.

The planets which aspect your significators favorably show whence you may find help to obtain your wish, and the planets which afflict your stars indicate what hinders, and by blending these augurs you may know what to expect and how to proceed. Study these rules carefully and pay strict attention to them, then you will know how to answer all questions that may be asked.

Horary Astrology may also be used to select a favorable time for commencing an important undertaking, for the starting point of an enterprise is its birth, and the influences then governing will be powerful determinators of success or failure. It is said that the Royal Astronomer who laid the corner-stone for the Observatory at Greenwich used this method, and that has certainly been a very useful and successful institution.

To thus select a time for an undertaking is called "making an election."