Horary Astrology

Horary astrology is used when you have a vital and highly personal question about something that is genuinely happening in your life now.

The question should matter to you. You should usually be directly involved in the situation, and there should already be a real reason for asking.

For example:

• you have applied for a job and want to know whether you are likely to receive an offer
• you have submitted a manuscript after working on it for several years and want to know whether it is likely to be accepted
• you are considering a specific move and want to know whether it is likely to improve your financial or professional circumstances
• you are involved with someone and want to know whether the relationship has the potential to become a long-term partnership
• you have made an offer, sent an application, entered negotiations, or begun a process and want to understand the likely result

Horary is less useful for questions that are entirely hypothetical.

There is little value in asking whether you should move to a particular city when you have made no plans, have no realistic possibility of going there, and are only wondering abstractly what it might be like.

The situation should already have some life in it.

You have done something, something has happened, a decision is approaching, or you have developed a genuine and deep need to know what is likely to happen next.

Why I studied horary astrology

People very often come to an astrologer with what is, in essence, a horary question.

They may ask:

• Will I get this job?
• Will this relationship become permanent?
• Will the publisher accept my book?
• Will this move improve my circumstances?
• Will this sale go through?
• Will I recover what I have lost?
• Is this opportunity likely to lead anywhere?

Natal astrology is usually better for understanding the broader pattern of a life.

It can describe your temperament, your psyche, your relationship patterns, your vocation, the circumstances that repeatedly surround you, and the larger themes that shape your life.

Predictive astrology is usually better for understanding broader periods of time. It can show whether relationships, career, relocation, family, money, or another topic is becoming particularly important over the next year or several years.

Astrology is generally very good at describing these larger patterns and periods.

It may show, for example, that your love life is entering an important chapter and that a meaningful relationship is likely to begin. But it may be much harder to say whether the person you met two weeks ago is definitely the person you will marry.

Having the other person's chart may help. Looking at synastry may help. Predictive techniques may show that your relationship life is active. But even then, the broader astrological picture may not identify one specific person with complete certainty.

Horary astrology is an ancient attempt to answer these narrower and more immediate questions.

Rather than beginning with your birth chart, a horary chart is cast for the moment the astrologer receives and clearly understands the question.

The chart is then judged as a symbolic description of:

• the person asking
• the situation being asked about
• the people or objects involved
• what is helping the matter
• what is preventing it
• whether the desired outcome is likely to happen

Horary has been used for centuries to answer questions about relationships, work, property, journeys, money, applications, missing objects, illness, negotiations, and many other immediate concerns.

I studied horary because these are the kinds of questions people naturally bring to an astrologer.

Even when someone believes they are asking for a general reading, they often have one very particular concern in mind. An astrologer should be able to recognize when a question is genuinely horary in nature, cast the appropriate chart, and understand how to judge it.

My approach

My approach to horary astrology is mainly traditional.

I work especially from Sahl ibn Bishr, whose work on horary questions is available in Benjamin Dykes's English translation as On Questions, collected in Works of Sahl and Masha'allah.

I also use William Lilly's Christian Astrology, especially Book II, The Resolution of All Manners of Questions and Demands.

Lilly's work is extremely important in the later English horary tradition, but many of the principles he uses have much earlier roots. Sahl ibn Bishr is therefore especially important to my own understanding of how horary astrology should be practiced.

I also use the traditional Considerations Before Judgment.

These are rules and observations used to determine whether:

• the question has been asked clearly
• the chart properly describes the matter
• the question is ready to be judged
• important information may be missing
• the client may already know the answer
• the question has been asked repeatedly
• the astrologer has correctly understood what is being asked
• the chart contains signs of confusion, concealment, testing, or poor timing

The aim is not to reject questions unnecessarily.

The aim is to make sure that the astrologer is answering the question that is actually being asked and that the chart is sufficiently clear to support a judgment.

What horary astrology is best for

Horary is especially useful for questions that have a reasonably clear and recognizable outcome.

Examples include:

• Will I receive this particular job offer?
• Is this business agreement likely to go ahead?
• Will my manuscript be accepted by this publisher?
• Is this house purchase likely to complete?
• Will this relationship become a long-term partnership?
• Is this move likely to improve my financial circumstances?
• Will I recover the money I am owed?
• Is this person likely to contact me again?
• Will this application succeed?
• Is the missing object likely to be recovered?

Horary usually works best when you have already invested something into the situation.

That investment may be:

• time
• effort
• money
• emotion
• preparation
• hope
• practical action

For example, imagine that you have spent three years writing a book.

You have completed the manuscript, edited it, prepared a proposal, and submitted it to publishers. You now want to know whether it is likely to be accepted.

There is already a living situation.

You have done the work. The manuscript exists. It has been sent. A response is genuinely pending. The outcome matters to you.

That is very different from asking whether you might write a book one day and whether an imaginary publisher might accept it.

Horary is much stronger when the question arises naturally from something that is already taking place.

The question should be specific

The question should usually concern a particular situation, not an entire area of life.

For example:

• "Will I ever have a relationship?" is usually better answered through natal and predictive astrology.
• "Is the person I am currently seeing likely to become a long-term partner?" may be suitable for horary.
• "Will I ever move abroad?" is normally a broader natal and predictive question.
• "Is my current plan to move to Sydney likely to proceed successfully?" may be suitable for horary.
• "Will I ever have a successful career?" is too broad for one horary chart.
• "Am I likely to receive this particular promotion?" is much clearer.

A question about moving to another city or country may also require more than horary.

I may also look at:

• your natal chart
• current transits
• annual profections
• secondary progressions
• zodiacal releasing
• astrocartography
• a relocated natal chart

The horary chart can describe the immediate question, but the broader timing should also support a major change.

There is little point in asking whether a move will happen when there is no practical route toward it and the rest of the astrology shows no meaningful period of relocation or major life change.

Horary should be used within the reality of the situation, not separately from it.

Avoid vague "should" questions

Horary tends to answer what is likely to happen much better than what you should do.

The problem with a question such as "Should I move?" is that the word should can mean many different things.

Should you move:

• because it will improve your finances
• because it will help your career
• because it will improve your relationship
• because you will feel happier there
• because it will offer greater stability
• because the move itself is likely to proceed successfully

These are different questions.

A move might improve your career but make your personal life more difficult.

It might help you financially but leave you feeling isolated.

It might be emotionally fulfilling but professionally inconvenient.

The astrologer cannot judge what you should do until it is clear what you are actually trying to achieve.

Instead of asking:

Should I change jobs?

Ask:

Is accepting this particular job likely to improve my financial and professional position?

Instead of:

Should I move to this city?

Ask:

Is moving to this city likely to improve my career opportunities?

Or:

Am I likely to feel more settled and at home in this city?

Instead of:

Should I continue seeing this person?

Ask:

Does this relationship have a realistic chance of developing into the long-term partnership I want?

For many love questions, the real concern is marriage or a lasting partnership.

It is better to name that clearly than to ask whether you should go on another date or whether the other person likes you.

What do you actually want from the relationship?

Are you asking whether there is attraction?

Are you asking whether the person will contact you?

Are you asking whether the relationship will continue?

Are you asking whether it can lead to marriage or long-term partnership?

These are related questions, but they are not identical.

Clarity matters.

Horary works best when the question names the actual desired outcome.

The importance of a genuine question

The question should come from a genuine need to know.

It should not be casual, experimental, or asked merely to test whether the astrologer can produce the correct answer.

Traditional horary texts contain methods for recognizing charts that may not be ready or appropriate for judgment.

These methods are often discussed under the Considerations Before Judgment.

They may describe situations in which:

• the question is premature
• the situation has not properly formed
• the matter has already been decided
• the client already knows the answer
• the same question has been asked repeatedly
• important information is being withheld
• the astrologer has misunderstood the question
• the client is testing the astrologer
• the chart itself shows confusion, deception, or a lack of clarity

This does not mean that every unusual chart should be rejected.

It means the astrologer must first ask whether the chart accurately reflects the question and whether it can be judged clearly.

The chart may sometimes reveal that you are not asking the question you truly care about.

For example, you may ask whether someone will contact you, while your real question is whether the relationship has any future.

You may ask whether you will receive an offer, while you already know you would not accept it.

You may ask whether something is possible when what you actually want is permission to stop pursuing it.

Horary can sometimes expose this difference very clearly.

Signs that the chart may be unclear

Traditional horary uses a number of technical considerations to judge whether the chart is ready and reliable.

In my own practice, I may also pay attention to configurations suggesting confusion, unclear communication, concealment, or difficulty between the client and the astrologer.

For example, Mercury retrograde conjunct Neptune in the first or seventh house may act as an omen of:

• confusion
• miscommunication
• missing information
• unclear motives
• deception
• an astrologer misunderstanding the question
• a client not explaining the situation fully
• a reading that may be difficult to conduct cleanly

The first house describes the person asking and the question as it arrives.

The seventh house can describe the astrologer, the other person, or the person being asked about, depending on the question.

A difficult configuration in these places does not automatically make the chart unusable. But it may tell me that I need to proceed carefully, ask for clarification, or avoid giving an overly confident answer.

Include the horary question when you book

If you have a horary question, include it clearly in your booking request.

I may cast the chart for the moment I first read and understand your question.

This means that I may begin considering the answer as soon as I open the booking request or email and properly understand what you are asking.

Please include:

• the exact question
• the essential background
• what has already happened
• what outcome you actually want to know about
• any important dates
• whether you have already taken action
• whether another astrologer has already judged the same question

Do not bury the actual question inside a very long message.

State the question clearly first, then explain the context that I need to understand it.

Honesty is important.

You should not omit information because you believe it may influence the answer negatively. Information that changes the nature of the question needs to be disclosed.

The technical approach

You do not need to understand the technical language of horary astrology to receive a reading.

You do not need to know what a significator, reception, prohibition, or translation of light is.

However, if you are familiar with astrology and want to understand the techniques and concepts I use, this section gives a clear picture of how I approach horary and the tradition on which my work is based.

The chart is read through:

• the Ascendant and its ruler, which usually signify the person asking the question
• the house governing the subject being asked about
• the ruler of that house, which signifies the person, object, place, or outcome being asked about
• the Moon, which helps describe the client, the flow of events, and what happens next
• applying and separating aspects
• planetary dignity and debility
• reception between planets
• angular, succedent, and cadent houses
• planetary speed and visibility
• direct and retrograde motion
• combustion
• prohibition
• frustration
• refranation
• collection of light
• translation of light
• benefic and malefic intervention
• the condition of the relevant houses
• the ability of each significator to act
• timing through signs, houses, degrees, and planetary motion
• the Considerations Before Judgment
• whether the chart accurately and recognizably describes the question

The basic process is to identify:

1. you
2. the person, object, place, opportunity, or outcome being asked about
3. whether the relevant significators can connect
4. whether they receive or reject one another
5. what helps the matter
6. what prevents or delays it
7. what the Moon shows will happen next
8. whether the chart describes completion, denial, delay, reversal, or uncertainty

The method is based mainly on the traditional horary framework of Sahl ibn Bishr and William Lilly.

You do not need to understand any of these technical rules yourself.

They are included here only so that people who already know some astrology can understand exactly what kind of horary astrology I practice and where the method comes from.