© Copyright 2002 Sue
Ward. All rights reserved.
Horary astrology
answers individual questions; it is an examination of a
chart especially drawn up for the purpose. This chart is
called a horary chart. It is calculated for the "birth"
of the question, the gestation period being the preceding
thoughts or concerns. This map, or chart, is calculated
for the moment that the question is made clear to the astrologer,
using his or her location, and without reference to the
questioner’s birth.
Questions can
relate to virtually everything. They can
concern marriage or relationships, business or employment,
wealth or income, children and education. It can also be
used to locate lost items or missing animals or people,
or to help solve crimes, confirm or deny rumours, or find
the outcome of a court case – civil or criminal. Matters
of health and sickness also fall under its remit.
Horary is more
usefully employed in these material concerns, rather than
in matters relating to emotional or psychological issues.
It uses the symbolic
language of astrology to find answers from the movements
and positions of the planets and luminaries (the Sun and
Moon) of our solar system. Those answers form glimpses of
the Divine Mind, or the Will of God because Horary is a
system of Divination. The question, in the astrological
tradition, being like a prayer to God, where the astrologer
‘modulates’ the question, and ‘demodulates’ the answer,
a little like the modem in your computer.
Horary requires
a specialised education in its techniques and method. Years
of practice and study are demanded before a deep comprehension
can be achieved. A competent horary astrologer can though,
quite often relate the answer to a horary question, known
as the judgement, in half an hour or less.
The Horary
Question
The person asking
the horary question, that is, the person who wants to know
something, needs
to give careful thought to the information they are seeking.
The horary chart will answer many questions, but it cannot
answer a question that is less than honest. This does not
mean that the questioner, or querent, is lying, but sometimes
a question is put that reflects a sideways view of the real
issue.
For example, a
person may ask if they will ever marry, when what they really
want to know is if they will marry a particular person.
The answer
might be positive, but it will not necessarily relate to
the person of their desire. Asking if you are pregnant will
not provide an answer when the real question is "what
will I do if I am pregnant?" or, "who is the father
of my child?". Asking whether a specified job will
be obtained is fruitless if the querent has not made any
attempt to procure it, such as putting in an application
to the employer.
It is vital that
the querent is clear about what they want to know, and that
the matter has some importance for them. Relevant background
information is usually helpful, although not always necessary,
enabling the astrologer to assess the current stage of the
matter.
The chart must
be valid before the astrologer will read it.
There are several ways of testing such validity,
one being to find the querent’s physical description from
the chart. Another is to see that the past and present is
accurately described within the chart. There are other points
needing attention, known generally as the Considerations,
and when one or more of these is in evidence the astrology
may refrain from giving judgement at all.
If there is something
wrong with the question, an invalid chart may result. The
querent might be asking about an issue
that they know has little possibility of concluding
satisfactorily. For example, "will my wife return to
me?" is a valid question, but if the wife has remarried,
and made no overtures to the former husband, there is little
likelihood of a positive outcome. Horary cannot deal reliably
with matters that are based solely in the emotions or imagination.
Amended 4 August
2003
