What Is Horary Astrology and What Is It For?

How does horary work?

At the moment the question is asked, a chart is cast for the place where it is asked. This is the chart of the question, not of the person asking. So the planets in it do not describe anyone's character; they only have roles in relation to the question.

The rising sign and its ruler represent the person asking. The Moon is a second significator for them and shows how events flow. The subject of the question falls into one of the twelve houses: money is the 2nd house, siblings and contracts the 3rd, home and family the 4th, children and romance the 5th, work and health the 6th, partner and open rivals the 7th, shared money the 8th, travel and law the 9th, career the 10th, friends and hopes the 11th, hidden matters the 12th. The ruler of that house represents the thing asked about.

The answer comes from the relationship between these two significators. If they are moving toward an aspect with each other, the matter is heading toward happening; the books call this perfection. A conjunction, trine or sextile is an easy yes; a square is a yes that comes with struggle; an opposition is a yes that brings regret afterward. Separating aspects show what has already passed.

What is checked before judgement

Not every question chart is fit to be read. The seventeenth-century astrologer William Lilly listed warnings to check before giving judgement. If the rising sign is at a very early degree, in its first three degrees, the question was asked too early and the matter has not ripened. If it is at a very late degree, the last three, the matter has already been decided. If the Moon is void of course, meaning it will make no aspect before leaving its sign, usually nothing comes of it.

These warnings are taken seriously. When several appear together, the chart is honestly judged as 'not fit to read right now'. That is not a failure; it is horary's own rule.

Whether the significators are strong or weak is also read. A planet in its own sign or its sign of exaltation is strong enough to carry the matter; one in its fall or detriment is weakened. A planet very close to the Sun, called combust, counts as having lost its strength. One significator receiving the other, by ruling the sign it sits in, softens even a hard aspect; mutual reception is a strong sign of help.

Which questions can horary answer?

The best results come from concrete questions about one matter that you genuinely want answered: "Will I get the job I applied for?", "Will the house sell?", "Where is the ring I lost?", "Will a decision come this week?"

Vague questions, questions about many things at once, or questions asked out of idle curiosity give weak results. "What will my life be like?" is not a horary question; that is the work of the birth chart. Traditionally you also do not ask the same question again and again until you like the answer, because the first moment it was asked is the real one.

Timing can be read too. The number of degrees left before the aspect between the significators is complete gives a clue to when it will happen; the degrees are read as days, weeks or months depending on the nature of the sign and the position of the house.

How horary works in FalAstry

You write your question. The chart is cast for the moment you send it and the city you are in, using real sky data rather than approximations. The code then calculates the warnings before judgement one by one: the degree of the rising sign, whether the Moon is void, the strength of the significators, receptions, and the planetary hour in which the question was asked.

The interpretation is built on this computed data. No placements are invented, and the question chart is not read as a birth chart: it never says "your Sun" or "your rising sign", because this chart is not yours but the question's. At the end comes a clear judgement: yes, no or conditional, with its reasoning and any timing.