Horary – A Retro Science | Capricorn Astrology Research

Education is not about being told what to think, but how to.

Do we have the skills to critically analyse what we are being told, or do we just accept what our elders are telling us?

This applies just as much in the subject of astrology as in any other.

In fact we even have to question whether astrology is one subject or more than one.

A common theme in my articles about Horary astrology is the need to separate it from the study of Nativities.

This was a viewpoint strongly held by horary practitioners and was drummed into me by my first teacher, a lady of the old school who returned my scripts decorated with red biro markings whenever I tried to apply my natal knowledge to her questions.

The other side of this coin does not seem to apply though. Many astrologers seem perfectly content to import horary principles on mass into their natal practice, without questioning their fitness for such a different subject and often without even realising that they are doing it.

This practice has become so commonplace and unconscious that whenever I write about horary, I feel the need to push people to question it.

They are different subjects. A natal chart is about one moment and the positions in space of the planets at that moment and the angular interactions between them.

When we use it to explain someone’s character or their life themes or even events that are likely to occur at some point in their life, we make this moment our point of reference.

We don’t take into account what the planets might be doing 3 hours, days or even weeks later. That would make no sense, because if we did we would be discussing someone else’s life.

Natal astrology is about this moment.

Horary is not, it is entirely focused on moments that are to come.

If someone asks a horary question, whether it’s will they get the job they’ve applied for or will their lost cat return home, they want to know what will happen in future moments.

They don’t want you to tell them that they’ve just been to an interview or that their cat was last seen on Wednesday. They already know that and have probably told it to you anyway.

It’s like someone consulting a forecaster to find out what the weather will be for their party at the weekend. They don’t want to be told what the weather is now, they can just open the curtains to see that.

Horary is not about this moment, it is about the ones to come.

So whereas a natal chart is focused on the static conditions of that moment, a horary chart is concerned with the movements of those planets from that moment.

In a natal chart, a planet’s direction of travel is irrelevant.

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve read about what Mars retrograde means for us all, I could afford to hop on one of Elon’s spaceships and go and live there.

Most interpretations of Mars retrograde in a natal chart will emphasise weakness, indecision, frustration and a difficulty in asserting the self.

In that case how do you explain so many famous people who have it including Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, David Bowie and Oprah Winfrey?

A natal chart is focused on where those planets are, not where they will be going.

In a horary chart, a retrograde planet is crucial, because we are looking at what will happen in the future.

A horary is not concerned with the aspects that two planets share now, it is looking to see whether they make a connection over the time period relevant to the question.

If Mars in a natal chart is at 1 degree Aries and Saturn at 28 of the sign, no sane astrologer would call that a conjunction, but in a horary this is important because Mars will perfect that aspect over the next few weeks and before Saturn leaves the sign.

So if Aries is rising in that horary chart, making Mars the significator of the querent and Saturn the ruler of the job enquired about, we would say the answer is yes and she will probably hear the positive news when Mars reaches Saturn.

If Mars is retrograde at the time, it is travelling away from Saturn and will even move back into the previous sign (Pisces), so she won’t get the job.

So while the retrograde planets are irrelevant in natal, they are critical in horary.

A few weeks ago I was asked this question by a client

“Have I reconnected with the love that I missed because I left it too late to share my feelings?”

The background to this question describes a sliding doors scenario that we sometimes come across in films, but seldom in real life.

“Back in 2000, I was introduced to a wonderful human, we became dear friends without going down the romantic path. I fell madly in love with him because we had a powerful friendship bond. I was still young and wanted to live my life while he was looking to settle down, have a family.

I decided I would tell him the truth about my feelings, I even said after he returned from a wedding abroad that I had something to tell him.

On his return, he told me he had something to tell me too.

I said you go first. He told me he’d met someone who he was going to marry.

Instead of telling him my true feelings, I quickly changed my story and told him I was moving abroad.

Anyway fast forward 23 years, I had a dream urging me to contact him and we’re back in touch (he’s divorced and back in the South Coast of England) although I haven’t had the opportunity to tell him what I wanted to say all those years ago yet!

Should I tell him my true feelings or maybe I just need to focus on getting well and back out into the world again?”

The first thing I would do when asked a question like this is to check their natal charts and synastry, before casting a horary.

As you can imagine, their synastry is powerful but challenging.

Her Mars is square to his Venus.

His Mars is conjunct her Pluto.

There is a strong Moon/Mercury link, which you would expect for dear friends.

Her Moon is conjunct his Mercury and his Moon is opposite her Mercury.

However she has a Sun/Moon square so her Sun is square to his Mercury.

He has a Mercury/Saturn opposition and this is where the difficulties lie.

Her Moon is conjunct his Saturn and her Sun is square to it.

My work with Secondary Progressions has shown me that these will indicate when important members of our soul group come into our lives.

There is none more important than the progressed Sun conjunct natal Venus or vice versa.

In 2000-01 when these two people met, her progressed Venus was conjunct her Sun.

But the important thing to note about soulmates is that they come into our lives to help us with the life patterns that are indicated in our charts.

She has a Venus/Uranus conjunction and a Sun/Moon square so there was always likely to be some challenges associated with her love life.

At the time that they met, she also had her progressed Sun opposite her Saturn, so from her perspective this meeting with her soulmate was not allowed to stick.

Of course we could only have one progressed Sun/Venus conjunction in a lifetime, but there can be one or possibly two other aspects between them.

During 2026-27 her progressed Sun will be square to her natal Venus, so this could be an indication of another connection.

Here is the horary chart.

It’s fascinating how strongly this horary reflects the situation around her question.

As Capricorn is rising, she would be signified by Saturn.

The Moon is the 7th house ruler, so could be said to represent her love interest.

Both are in Pisces in the 3rd house, so it feels very appropriate that she had a dream telling her to make contact and that she should be communicating her true feelings to him.

Both the Moon and Saturn have received challenging aspects from the Sun in Sagittarius in the 11th house and Jupiter in the 5th.

So we have the friendship (11th) / potential lover (5th) theme along with the travelling.

But does this indicate a future together?

The Moon having separated from a conjunction with Saturn might be indicating that they reconnected but that there would be no future in it.

But does the Moon actually represent this man?

He isn’t currently her partner so should not be indicated by the 7th house ruler.

He actually is her friend, so the 11th house is his.

With Scorpio on the cusp, he is signified by Mars and Pluto.

It’s always important to do check a horary alongside the natal charts of the people concerned with the question.

My client’s friend’s natal Sun is at 7 Leo, so it’s clear that Mars in the horary represents him. This makes perfect sense as Mars is in the 7th house of relationships.

But Mars is retrograde.

So that is a bad thing right?

As regular readers of my articles know, there are many things that are heavily promoted in the astrological world (both by modernists and traditionalists) that I have profound disagreement with.

But the one that I feel strongest about is the quasi religious obsession of the latter group with notions of good and bad.

Astrology, particularly horary, is not so judgemental.

Mars being retrograde simply means that the person identified by this planet is heading backwards, reversing a situation.

In this case, backwards means back towards something.

Because just as we can see Mars as the client’s friend and hoped for partner, we have to see Venus as also representing her.

Venus is in Aquarius (the sign of her natal Moon) in the 1st house.

Venus has just separated from a conjunction with Pluto (the 11th co-ruler), showing their recent reconnection.

Venus is applying to an opposition with Mars.

But surely the opposition is a bad thing?

No it isn’t. In horary the type of aspect made is relatively unimportant, the only thing that really matters is that there is one.

So Venus is applying to Mars which means there would be a coming together.

Mars, because it is retrograde, is also applying to Venus which is a double whammy saying that they are both equally moving toward each other.

I spoke to my client the following day and told her that she should definitely write to her friend expressing her long held feelings and that he would be very receptive to her.

I also told her to do it straight away as the next few days with Venus and Mars coming together provided maximum opportunity.

Later in the week I received a message from her.

“Thank you so much for the wonderfully helpful reading last Monday.

I followed your guidance and sent the letter off to him, I’m not sure if he’s received it yet with the Christmas rush and 2nd class stamp.

However, on Wednesday (3 days after the horary question was asked) he revealed his fondness for me and we’re in the midst of arranging to meet up, and see where this adventure takes us on this next level of friendship.

It was the perfect time to ask the question and all is moving forward in the way it is meant to be, even after 23 years.

He had fallen in love with me too but didn’t want to challenge our wonderful friendship. It’s moving in a beautiful way now we’ve both shared our feelings and those past feelings have remained all these years.”

Venus is applying to Mars, the distance is 4 degrees, so under normal circumstances I would have said that she would make the connection with him in 4 days time.

However Mars is also applying to Venus, so he is also moving towards her and this speeds up the process to make it 3 days.

This is why we have to make a strong distinction between horary and natal charts.

If we were looking at the above chart as a nativity, Venus in Aquarius conjunct Pluto in the 1st house opposite a retrograde Mars in Leo in the 7th would generally be seen as very difficult.

The person would certainly receive some major conflict between what she wanted to do as an independent individual and what she needed to experience through relationships.

With Pluto involved, you could even imagine that domestic violence could be on the agenda.

But this chart is not a nativity. It is cast for a very specific question about the possibility of two soulmates who life had driven apart, coming back together.

In some ways, this chart could even describe horary astrology itself.

An art that had been lost or at least neglected by mainstream astrologers for a couple of centuries has been making a comeback.

This has to be a good thing, but with it must come a re-examination of the horary principles in the light of modern day experience.

The only way to do this is through objective research, to cast charts for questions and see what actually happens in the person’s life as a result.

In this way we can analyse them in an objective way and not just think what we were told by the old masters.

Such an approach would make Horary a true retro science.

Posted on December 29th 2024

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