astrologers, it is unclear exactly what the Viais. It is also not known
whether the reference is tropical or sidereal.Ascendant too early or too late: An early ascendant of 3° or less may
mean either that it is too early to ask the question, or that there is
much free will in place to presume to give an answer. A late ascendant,
generally 27° or later, means that there is nothing that the querent can
do to change the outcome: other plans and events have happened ren-
dering the question moot.Moon void-of-course: As the Moon traverses a sign it (usually) makes
aspects to the Sun and other planets. It is as if the Moon still has work
to do. After the Moon has completed the last aspect to a planet, its con-
dition is said to be void-of-course, or vacua cursus.The aspects in use
were the five ptolemaic aspects and the bodies, the Sun through Saturn.
In classical times, the Moon was not void-of-course if occupying four
signs: Cancer, Taurus, Sagittarius, and Pisces (i.e., the Moon’s own sign
and exaltation sign, and Jupiter’s two signs). There are multiple inter-
pretations to what this means in practice. The simplest starting point is
to be aware that most timing in a horary comes from the Moon: when
void-of-course, there are no events being recorded by the Moon.The planetary hour matches the ascendant ruler by triplicity (i.e., their
signs are in the same element). The use of planetary hours in modern
times has dwindled, but traditionally, these were supposed to match,
sharing an affinity between the question and the moment.
The traditional purpose of the considerations was to look for issues that would
make judgment difficult.
Providing an Answer to the Question
Generally, the astrologer needs to be able to do the following things to delin-
eate the question:
- Describe the querent.
- Describe the quesited (that which is asked about).
- See if there is any relationship between the two.
- Provide some detail on how the querent does or does not attain the desired
end.
The querent is always given by the first house. The possible significators for
the querent are:
The Ascendant itself
The Ascendant Ruler
Planets in the first house
The Moon, occasionally, but this is problematic, because what the Moon real-
ly shows in the chart is the sequence of eventsTHEASTROLOGYBOOK [325]
Horary Astrology