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to no. 11
Aleister Crowley
to no. 9
Firesign Theater
[10] Horary Astrology
ABSAdomain no.: 10
[Primary] Knowledge Type: Esoteric
Role in ABSAprime's Worldview: Very High
ABSAlink(s): TBA [through ABSAdomain interaction]
Degree of Difficulty: Somewhat difficult
How does it work?
Horary astrology is a branch of astrology that answers specific questions by studying the positions and aspects of celestial bodies at the moment a question is formulated. The term "horary" comes from the Latin "hora," meaning "hour," reflecting the importance of the exact time in this practice.
How is this done? Despite the seemingly simple execution (many horary questions can be accurately answered “yes” or “no” simply by comparing the querent’s (person asking the question) ruling planet with the planet that rules what is asked about [the quesited]. If the angular aspect between them is good (like a 120° trine [“very good”], 60° sextile [“pretty good”], or 0° conjunction [“good or bad,” depending on what bodies are involved), the astrologer might forecast a favorable end to the situation. If the aspect is bad (like a 90° square (“bad”) or 180° opposition (“also bad”), one might forecast a negative outcome.
Other things the astrologer, of whatever specialty, must take cognizance of are details that further describe context (though the basic judgment always depends on the aspect between the querent’s planet and the quesited’s), including the zodiacal sign of the significators; which of the twelve houses of the Zodiacal chart they occupy; and so on. In other words, even after the question is answered, a horary chart has a great deal more to say.
The Pre-eminent Moon
One factor of enormous importance in horary is the condition of the Moon. The Moon, as it traverses a horary chart in roughly two-and-a-half days, times future events by the angular aspects its makes. If the first aspect is good, then things should start off well (and the context for that will be described by house and sign positions) of the two planets (remember that, for convenience we sometimes refer to all bodies in the chart as “planets,” even though of course the Sun is a star and the Moon is a satellite). If the last aspect the Moon makes is good, the matter should yield a favorable outcome. However, bad aspects at the first and the last can foretell an unfavorable start and/or finish to the matter.
Just as with the best natal astrological interpretations, there is so much more revealed as one dives into the seemingly bottomless realm of astrological symbolism. My horary mentor, Ivy M. Jacobson-Goldstein, wrote a very amusing piece titled, if memory serves, “What ELSE does it say about me?” This is a recognition of the inevitable moment when the (often neophyte) querent realizes that there’s so much more in the world than they suspected and that is shown on that astrological chart you just generated. It’s a great way to get people out of the psychic encumbrances they’ve surrounded themselves with. ABSAprime actually wrote a scholarly paper proposing the horary interpretation session as an episode of communicative counseling. We hope to be able to take this up in a future discussion.
Perhaps by now you have cottoned onto the basic idea inspiring ABSApundit: we deal in linkages. Although we’ve separated things into twelve ABSAdomains, what we are really turns us on is activities that link these together. As an example, check out the delineation of the horary chart (ABSAdomain10) on the Seth page (ABSAdomain03). In this chart, I asked the question, “What is my Pentad like?” The Pentad is the name I use in describing myself and the other five entities who comprise my self. According to Seth’s teachings, we are all composites of several so-called separate entities, usually separated by considerable time and space; what I did was take what I was most competent at (horary astrology) and use it as a lens to ask for something to describe a world that, prior to that, literally did not exist for me.
As recorded in the interpretation, the experiment was an overwhelming success, yielding precisely five entities: [1] (Lucius the Roman legionnaire; [2] Iliza, the 15th century Russian wise woman; [3] the shadowy Nema (gender and race indeterminant, [apparently] from tens of thousands of years B.C.); [4] the redoubtable astrologer Ivy Goldstein-Jacobson; and [5] the furtive half-Moor teenager known only as Cinq (“the fifth”).
"As Below, So Above"
[Graphics by Descript's Overlord and Microsoft's Powerpoint. Background videos by Wix.com].
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