Sources:
Baigent, Michael, Nicholas Campion, and Charles Harvey. Mundane Astrology.2d ed. London:
Aquarian Press, 1992.
Brau, Jean-Louis, Helen Weaver, and Allan Edmands. Larousse Encyclopedia of Astrology.New
York: New American Library, 1980.ELECTIONALASTROLOGY
Electional astrology is the branch of astrology dealing with selecting (“electing”) the
best time to initiate any given activity or project. Electional astrology is traditionally
regarded as a subdivision of horary astrology because it involves a reverse application
of horary principles. In other words, instead of examining an event that started at a
particular time and forecasting the outcome, one determines the outcome one wishes
to achieve and works backward to find an appropriate moment to start.
Electional methods have been applied to selecting the time for marriage,
planting (agricultural astrology), beginning journeys, opening businesses, buying land,
constructing buildings, initiating lawsuits, and so forth. Prior to the advent of modern,
psychologically oriented astrology, electing the proper time to begin an activity was
one of the chief reasons for consulting astrologers. There exists a vast traditional liter-
ature on the subject that stretches back to before the time of Ptolemy.Electional Astrology
[216] THEASTROLOGYBOOK
A fresco of the northern constellations discovered in the lower burial chamber of Seti I.
Reproduced by permission of Fortean Picture Library.