Lifepath Astrology

Some astrologers claim that horary is the easiest branch of astrology, and that it is the branch one should learn first. Personally, I started by learning natal astrology, and found horary to be the most difficult and obscure part of the art – for quite some time, I could hardly agree. There is something very elegant and simple about horary, however. Its core principle is extremely straightforward, arguably being more intuitive than the study of natal astrology. In this article, I present this principle as it would have been useful to me when I was first learning.

How does horary work? In the following manner: there is a planet in charge of the inquiry, and a planet that has the power to answer that inquiry affirmatively. Horary grants a positive answer when 1. these two planets connect, and 2. their condition is good enough to see the matter through successfully. If the ascendant ruler or the Moon connect with the lord of the quesited, this indicates that the seeker and the questioner finds the answer that he is looking for. The matter inquired about finds a resolution. If we were to use a metaphor, we could say that the ascendant ruler (or the Moon) is like a student applying for a scholarship – he has the scholarship application with him, but must hand it over to the relevant authority so that the authority may grant him his request. If there is no meeting, the documents never reach their intended recipient – no positive response is possible. But a positive response is not always guaranteed even if the documents do reach the administrator’s office! Here is where planetary condition becomes relevant – Mars may reject the application outright, a strong Jupiter may accept it immediately, and a very weak Jupiter may genuinely try to approve the application, but be unable to do so due to overwork or excessive bureaucracy.

In other words, we have one significator bearing the question, and another bearing the answer. If the two do not connect, we have a question bearing no answer, and if they do connect but the lord of the quesited is too weak or malefic to help, the answer is negative. Simple, right?

Actual horary interpretation can be a bit more challenging, because of the various conditions for arriving at a positive or negative answer, and because of the interpretative nuances with each chart. In this sense, I still think that horary can in some ways be harder than natal astrology – it is easy to make simple statement about natal placements like Mars in the 9th or Jupiter in the 10th, which will be true to some extent even if the astrologer does not properly assess planetary condition or integrate his analysis of the chart. With horary, it is different – you are looking for one specific connection, and cannot afford to make mistakes in analysing it without arriving at an incorrect answer. The core principle, therefore, can pose some difficulties, but it can also offer great clarity and elegant accuracy.

Let us consider the following example and see how this works out in practice.

The querent’s question for the above horary is: “Will I find spiritual and creative fulfilment in life?”

It is a long term question, and the chart itself is very interesting. The Moon is the ascendant ruler, representing the querent, and it bears the first part of the matter. It is placed in the sign of Scorpio, the fall of the Moon – this can indicate base, low, difficult circumstances with regard to the querent’s aims. Scorpio is a Mars ruled sign, and fighting for one’s goals is necessary. This is bad for the purposes of our question, because it means that the Moon will be less able to do its job properly in handing off the question to the authority that can accomplish it. But the situation is not all bad!

In fact, there is something reassuring about the Moon’s placement in the 5th house, since the querent asked about creativity as well. The Moon is also very strongly bonified by both benefics, by degree. She is also overcome by Venus. While the Moon may suffer from low dignity in Scorpio, its otherwise excellent condition compensates – we can speak of the best possible circumstances in a bad situation. This being the case, it seems that the Moon will be able to handle the first part of the matter well, and transfer it to the lord of the quesited in a proper way.

Who is the lord of the quesited? Since we are reading for a spiritual question, it is the ruler of the 9th house, in this case Jupiter. Jupiter’s condition is highly interesting. He is also bonified by Venus due to their tight, degree-based configuration. He is also placed in the good 11th house. He is, however, retrograde, which according to Sahl is one of the worst things for a horary indicator to be. What do we make of that? While it might at first seem that Jupiter is too weak to answer the question affirmatively, and that the whole matter may fall apart simply because Jupiter is incapable of accepting and resolving the matter that the Moon is handing over to him via aspect, it is not quite so.

Jupiter’s good condition by house and aspect make him a force to be reckoned with. What is more, Jupiter receives double reception in this chart – he is received by Venus with regard to domicile, and by the Moon with regard to exaltation. Both are connected with tight degree-based aspects. The reception with the Moon is especially important, because it is one of the things that according to Sahl helps guarantee the successful transmission of a matter from the lord of the ascendant to the lord of the quesited. Jupiter, then, seems a mighty power, fully capable of providing a “Yes” answer to our question. The chart itself helps us to complete the picture: the succedent house placement, the retrogradation, and the opposition aspect that connects the ascendant ruler and the 9th house ruler all indicate prolonged struggle, delay, and strain. Money and friendship may also be particularly relevant in this question due to the aspects to the Moon, and creative expression may also be attained earlier than spiritual realisation due to the fact that the Moon governs the first part of the matter while in fairly good condition; the same is indicated by Saturn in the 9th, indicating delay and slowness.

The key thing about this chart example is the connection between the Moon and Jupiter, but the rest of the chart is also very helpful in completing the picture, and informing us about the conditions and the situation of this horary question. The Venus bonifications and the Saturn placement allow us to give a more accurate assessment of what is possible and likely, and even to tease out interpretative information that does not strictly have to do with planetary condition.

In horary, everything counts – but it counts only in relation to that desired querent-quesited connection, serving as a means to an end for seeing the “management of the matter” transferred from point A to point B, fruitfully and successfully.

I hope this article has been useful in clarifying the workings of horary for you!