Recently I’ve seen an uptick in horary questions on the Let’s Fuck with Astrology subreddit (which is awesome – I’m glad that so many people seem to be curious about this!). For those unfamiliar with what horary astrology is here is a definition from Wikipedia (it’s less “wordy” than anything I tried to type up myself hahaha):

“Horary Astrology is an ancient branch of horoscopic astrology in which an astrologer attempts to answer a question by constructing a horoscope.”

So, essentially, what you do is you ask a question such as “will I get into university?” (or whatever) and then you cast the chart for the date, time, and location that the question was asked/came to your mind. The chart can, hopefully, answer the question in a direct yes or no way. One of the best ways to use horary astrology is for direct “yes” or “no” questions. If a client has a question like “will I get into university A or university B?” – questions where there is more than one “yes” or “no” thing to be answered in the question – I will break the question down to ONE thing. Even though they are asking about two different universities I will focus on university A (or university B) when casting the chart.
^{**Another way to use horary astrology is when you’re looking for something that you’ve lost. That will be talked about in a different post**}

Real Quick! For those of you who would rather watch than read, here is a link to a video I made on the same topic (that might go more in depth).

In order to do horary astrology, you have to know WHAT houses to look at in a horary chart. For a question like the one above (“will I get into university?”), you would be looking at the Ascendant (which represents the querant) and the 9^thHouse (which is the house where university and higher learning falls). It’s also important that you understand planetary rulerships, too. For this reason, below you will find a list of all of the houses (and the WHERE/areas of life under their domain)

*First House – sense of self, knee jerk reactions to the world, the vibe of the person
*Second House – resources/money, values/self-value, security, stability, survival, where we are comfortable (or not!)
*Third House – communication, basic learning (school), thinking, area that is local to you, logic & reason
*Fourth House – home, family, private spheres of life, the deeply conscious
*Fifth House – creative self-expression, risk taking (or not), leisure/hobbies, lighter side of sex and dating, where we create (this can include children)
*Sixth House – work/work environment, daily routines/habits, health of the body & mind, real world, unequal relationships
*Seventh House – relationships/partnerships of ALL varieties, legal contracts, balance (or lack thereof)
*Eighth House – other people’s money/resources/values (or those that are shared), deep soul merging between two people, insecurity, instability, discomfort, inheritance (tangible & intangible), the bridge between the conscious & unconscious
*Ninth House – understanding & assimilating information, higher learning (university, etc.), areas that are NOT local, abstract thinking, beliefs of all kinds
*Tenth House – public spheres of life, career, reputation, goals & ambitions (or lack thereof)
*Eleventh House – long term goals, hopes & wishes, influence, (career) legacy, what we share with other people, friends/groups/social & humanitarian causes
*Twelfth House – health of the mind & spirit, release (what this house wants most of all), the unconscious/unseen, imprisonment (of all kinds), escape, spirituality
**This above is in no means a complete list, lol, but it gives you an idea for the purposes of this blog post**

You also need to have a firm grasp on basic planetary rulership to do horary astrology. They are as follows:
*Aries is ruled by Mars
*Taurus is ruled by Venus
*Gemini is ruled by Mercury
*Cancer is ruled by the Moon
*Leo is ruled by the Sun
*Virgo is ruled by Mercury
*Libra is ruled by Venus
*Scorpio is ruled by Mars (traditional) & Pluto (modern)
*Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter
*Capricorn is ruled by Saturn
*Aquarius is ruled by Saturn (traditional) & Uranus (modern)
*Pisces is ruled by Jupiter (traditional) & Neptune (modern)
**Specifically in horary, I’d focus more on traditional than modern rulership (since the traditional ruling planets move faster than the modern ones)**

….and just throwing this out there: if you want to REALLY learn the language of astrology (for horary astrology purposes, general astrology purposes, etc.), check out The Star Cards! Also, if you ever want me to read for you (a horary question, a regular astrology chart reading, whatever), you can get a reading from me by clicking on this text.

Some simple guidelines that I follow when I do horary astrology for clients and friends:
^{(this is not a complete list AT ALL ???? but it’s pretty good and gets the highlights across)}

• Focus on the Ascendant (the querant) and the planetary ruler of the Ascendant. The other part of the equation is the house with which the question deals. If you’re asking about money, you would probably look at the 2^nd House (and planetary ruler(s)). Asking about marriage? You would look at the 7^th House (and planetary ruler(s)). Focus on looking for an aspect between these two planets.
  -If there are two rulers of one (or both!) of the houses that you’re considering with your question, focus on traditional rulership first. If there is no aspect made between the traditional rulership planets, then I would extend that to look at modern rulership (should that exist).
• Planets applying in a trine or a sextile are thought of as a “yes.” Planets applying in a square or opposition are thought of as a “no.” Planets applying in a conjunction could be a “yes” or a “no” (though, generally speaking, I find them to be a “yes” more often than not).
  -While the quincunx isn’t a major aspect, I think of planets applying in a quincunx as EITHER adjustments need to be made OR “ask again later.”
• Aspects between planets only matter when they are applying. An aspect can be considered applying anywhere from 0° to 29° of a sign. Orbs don’t matter as much in horary. For instance, in horary astrology Venus at 3° Sagittarius can be considered applying in a trine with Mars at 26° Aries. Another example is Mars at 17° Sagittarius and Venus at 21° Aries. Since Venus is the faster moving planet
• If the Moon is void of course, I won’t fuck with it (lol). When the Moon is void of course things don’t always go “as planned.” The energy can be “off,” and things might not make as much sense. It can also translate as there won’t be much that comes of the question, or it might not really matter. I tend to think of the Moon void of course in a horary chart as a magic 8 ball saying “ask again later.” 
• The Moon is always co-ruler in a horary chart. The Moon can be used to reinforce (or not!) the answer that you get from looking at aspects between the planets in question. For instance, the Moon making an applying trine to the ruler of the 9th House (from the example question of getting into university), that would back up a “yes” answer that was already seen via the rulers of the Ascendant and 9th House making a harmonious/”yes” aspect.
• Finding Pluto and/or Mars in the 1st House will back up an already found “no” answer. Finding Venus and/or Jupiter in the 1st House can back up an already found “yes” answer. Finding these planets in the 1st House very rarely gives the “yes” or “no” answer in total.
• Retrograde planets don’t automatically mean a “no” answer. I only bring this up because I’ve seen it different places that when you have a retrograde chart ruler/planetary ruler of the Ascendant (or whatever), it means that the answer is a “no.” I haven’t found this to be the case. I have found, however, that retrograde planets ruling one of the important houses in a horary chart can point towards a “yes” or a “no” answer to take a little longer to play out in real life.
• Planets that are “domicile” or “exalted” are strengthened while planets that are in “detriment” or “falls” tend to be weakened. I tend to look at this in horary as “strengthening” or “weakening” the “yes,” “no,” or “ask again later” quality of the answer that comes up.

This is one of the MOST important things (and will greatly “simplify” how you find an answer): Go into the reading with a strategy in mind. In the example question “will I get into university” (chart pictured below), I am the Ascendant (and planetary ruler of the Ascendant) since I’m asking the question. The 9^th House (and planetary ruler) represent the university part of the question. I am going into this reading looking for aspects between the planetary ruler of the Ascendant and the planetary ruler of the 9^th House. 

In the chart above, you will see that I (the querent) am the Capricorn Ascendant with Saturn at 27° Pisces in the 3rd House. The 9th House (university) is in Virgo and its planetary ruler is Mercury at 0° Scorpio in the 10th House. The Moon (co-ruler of the chart) is at 8° Aries in the 3rd House. Mercury (the faster moving planet out of Mercury and Saturn) is making an applying trine with Saturn. The applying trine between the two planets would indicate to me that the answer to this question is a “yes.” Because Saturn is retrograde, it could indicate that it might take a little longer for me to get into university (or something like that), or for this to play out in real life.

There are a couple of other things to mention with horary:

• If you are doing horary astrology on behalf of someone else, you want to use the time, date, and location of where YOU (the reader) were when you first understood a question was being asked.
• Some astrologers feel like if you are running a horary chart for someone else, that the “someone else” asking the question should be represented by the Descendant (since the 7th House is the house that deals with the concept of “the other”…among other things). I personally DON’T subscribe to this way of doing horary astrology (it’s totally fine if it’s your jam to do this and it works for you – not knocking it ????). The way I think of it is if the question didn’t initially come organically from me and my mind, then the other person asking the question is still the querent meaning they should still be represented by the Ascendant and the 1st House planetary ruler/chart ruler. The other person is still the one ASKING the question, I’m just the astrologer translating it.
• This is my personal preference as a practitioner, but I will ask ONE horary question at a time about the same subject. In the example of getting into a university, let’s say there are multiple universities that I’m curious if I will get into. I would ask about university A first. Then a day later (or whatever) I would ask about university B (and so on).