john frawley - sports astrology

8/13/2019 John Frawley - Sports Astrology

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SPORTSASTROLOGY


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There are many methods ofpredicting sports results with astrologyHere are some that work

Journey with a s tudent as he makes his voyage towards

knowledge at the feet of a Master Astrologer. With the assis tanof his pet raven an d a ba d-te m pe red yak the Ma ster leads h iand you - s tep by s tep through the analysis of over 60 chartscove r ing a wide range of spor ts . This de ta i led eng agem ent w i tthe prac t ice of char t judgement i s un ique in as t ro logica l wr i t inm ak ing th is book invaluab le not on ly to spor ts - fans bu t toanyone with an interest in predict ive astrology.

I believed everything that John Frawley said, until he told mthat Arsenal would win the league. - London TonightArsenal won the league.

John Frawley i s one of the few contemporarypract i t ioners of the Real Astrology, with cl iand students in s ix cont inents . Using themethods taught here , he has predicted not othe result but the final score of top sportsf ixture s, bo th on TV - inc lud ing his own dashow, Frawley and the Fish - and in astrologiand sports magazines. As an exposi t ion of aapplied to one area of l ife, this book has no

ISBN 978 0 9539774 2

20 . 00USA: 35

APPRENTICE BOOKS


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S P O RT SA S T R O L O G Y

John Frawley

A P P R E N T I C E B O O K S


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Copyright John Frawley 2007

Published 2007 by Apprentice BooksLondon

www.johnfrawley.com

ISBN 978 0953977420

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used orreproduced in any manner without written permission,

except in critical articles and reviews.

Cover photograph by Sergio Bondioni, Yellow Brick StudiosDesign and typesetting by John Saunders Design & Production

Printed and bound in Great Britain byBiddies Ltd., King's Lynn, Norfolk
http://www.johnfrawley.com/http://www.johnfrawley.com/


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Contents

To the Reader vii

Acknowledgements viii

Key xi

1. He Arrives and the Journey Begins i

Interlude: 'The Sportsman of the Cen tury' 68

2. Th e Ch art for the Event 71

Interlude: Babe Ruth Hits 60 Ho me Runs 123

3. A D ay at the Races 129

Interlude: Th e Greatest Racehorse Ever? 150

4. The Question of Profit 155

Appendices

1. Ho w to Calculate Antiscia 186 2. H ow to Calculate Arabian Parts 189 3. Answers to Set Questions 192 4. Judgements of Set Charts 194

Index 201


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To the Reader

T h e purp ose o f this bo ok is to teach yo u som ethin g. If yo u read it , yo u wil l learna l i t t le; i f you work through i t , you wil l learn a lot . The book is cast as a dialoguebetween master and student . I encourage you to put yourself in the place of the

s tudent . Whenever a ques t ion i s asked, t ry to answer i t yoursel f before readingon. Judge the charts yourself , rather than simply reading the judgements given.That way l ies knowledge.

This i s not an encyclopedia of techniques . I see no purpose in present ing amul t i tude of methods , most of which do not work. Here are a few methods thatI have tr ied and found do work, as I have repeatedly demonstrated on television(on my own dai ly show, Frawley and the Fish; Odds on Sport, Predictions -, LondonTonight, Under the Moon-, Richard Littlejohn - Live and Direct) and in print (T h eAstrologer's Apprentice, FourFo urTw o-, Total Football-, The Ma nchester UnitedMagazine). T h e core o f the bo ok is the system I have develop ed for jud gin g theresult of a sport ing contest usin g a chart set for the start o f the event . T h is wo rkswel l , but there i s room for improvement . My hope in wri t ing th is book is thatsomeone wi l l p ick up th is sys tem and make the improvement . Onward

I have wrest led hard with the Atlantic Ocean, without being able to defeat i t .' M a n c h e s t e r U n i t e d is p la y ing Arse na l , ' as an Am er ic an w ou ld wr i t e , ma y be

grammat ical ly correct , but sounds horr ib ly pedant ic to the Engl ish ear. Engl ishears being the only variety I possess, I t rust I shal l be forgiven for s t icking with'Manches te r Uni ted are pla ying Arsena l ' and even 'the team are.. .

For simplicity, the terms 'Lord i , Lord 2, etc. ' are used here to mean 'the planetthat rules the sign on the cusp of the fi rs t house, second house, etc. ' If , forexam ple, the secon d cusp is in Cancer, L ord 2 wil l be the M o o n , ruler o f Can cer.


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Acknowledgements

So many years have passed since Olivia Barclay firs t encouraged me to wri te thisbook, that I fear memory may not s t re tch back far enough to acknowledge manyw h o m I w o u l d w i s h to t h an k . Sh i n i n g li k e b eaco n s t h ro u g h t h e c l o u d s t h a t

enwrap recognisance are Sandy and Pat Curran , wi th whom I have enjoyed longd i scuss ions on spor t s p red ic t ion - and Pa t ' s a t t empts to exp la in Amer icanfoo tba l l to me. Also he lp ing to b r idge the At lan t i c , Tom Cal lanan has pouredcopiously from his wealth of baseball lore in response to my every query.

M ik e Edw ards in t rod uced m e to John Addey ' s sys tem fo r p red ic t ing horse-races , and I am gra te fu l to Tim Addey fo r h i s warm suppor t when I p roposeddiscussing his father 's w or k. Frank C liff or d has been as generou s as ever w ith theresults of his data-collect ing. Christ ian Borup and Patrick Casey have hunted outreferences for me.

T o n y Ba l d w i n , Be rn h a rd Be rgb au e r, A n n e Co ra l i e , Lo u i s e H u t s o n , A n n eSandu, Yoko Sugimura, Tony Tsousis , and Yasha Yothi have provided char ts forthe book, and s t imulat ing conversat ion upon them. I apologise to anyone whosenam e I have om i t t ed f ro m th i s l is t . N in a Ho l ly, Rich ard Re dm on d , Bran kaS t amen k o v i c , an d Ca ro l Wal s h s co u red t h e man u s c r i p t , p ro v i d i n g v a l u ab l esuggest ions and correct ions. The errors that remain are mine alone.

I w i s h t o t h an k Mary b e t h Beech en an d Ch ad H en ry fo r a l l t h e e ffo r t t h eyexert to further understanding of the Real Astrology.

M y greates t than ks m ust , as ever, be to the on e w h o has bo rne wi th m et h ro u g h t h e mo n t h s o f g es t a t io n an d a mo s t p ro l o n g ed l ab o u r. W i t h o u t t h epa t i enc e , to le rance , and lov ing suppo r t o f m y w i fe , A n na , there w ou ld be noSports Astrology.


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Some people bel ieve footbal l i s a mat ter of l i fe and death . I 'mvery disappointed with that at t i tude. I can assure you i t is much,much more important than that .

Bill Shankly


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Key

Aries ruled by Mars0 Taurus ruled by Venus0 Gem ini ruled by MercuryS? Cancer ruled by the M oo n

^ Leo ruled by the SunTI3 Virgo ruled by MercuryQ Libra ruled by Venusl b Scorpio ruled by Mars/ Sagittarius ruled by Jupiter


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1

He arrives and the journey begins

I was si t t ing at the mouth of my cave, boil ing a few roots to make the simple soupthat is all the mortal sustenance a Master Astrologer either needs or desires, whena squawk from my pet raven alerted me to the impending arrival of a gaudily cladyouth , whom I could see guiding h is mule a long the winding t rack that leads upthe hillside. I calculated (Solar Fire 6) that I had just t ime enough to eat the soupbefore he arrived, so was applying a balm of ewe's milk to my burning tongue ashe d ismounted.

'Master' , he began, 'your prowess in predicting sports results is the subject of

unceasing wonder in every land through which I 've t ravel led. ''How much wonder? ' I asked.'Lots of wonder, ' he repl ied.'Is that all?''Oh, lots and lots of wonder. First magnitude wonder. ''Ah '' I wa nt to learn you r secrets. Teac h m e, oh Ma ster '

'M y chi ld , do yo u un ders tand that w hic h yo u ask? Are yo u ready to abjure a llinterest in the fleeting pleasures of this world?'


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IO S P O R T S A S T R O L O G Y

gave to me. ' I ' ll ho ld on to this , ' I exp lained . 'Th er e wil l doubtless be oth erexpenses along the way. Now we can begin. '

Saying this , I hi t him sharply across the shoulders with the st ick I had been

using to poke my cooking-f i re . 'Thank you, Master, ' he said , bowing low.'He wil l be a good student , ' I thought . 'Best order more st icks. ' I passed the

card back to Sedna.'Tel l me, my boy, ' I began, 'which sports do you wish to predict? ''All sports , Master. I would be proficient in al l , from footbal l to crown green

bowls. 'A n d w h a t d o y o u mean b y football? I was test ing him .'There can be no dispute among the lovers of wisdom, Master. As the circle is

the per fectio n o f all plane figures an d hen ce the sphere is the pe rfectio n o f all solidshapes, so must the fo rm of footba l l kn ow n to the heathens as "soccer" be the per-fect ion o f all sport . Indeed, Josephus recounts h ow , not lo ng after his ba nishm entfro m E den , A da m fashioned a footb al l after the image o f the celestial orbs to havea kick-about with Seth. I t was only in recent t imes that Johannes Kepler, his viewo f heaven ly things obscured by the fogs of Boh em ia, m odelled a s ti ll further fal lenuniverse based upon that imperfect shape, the el l ipse. While angelic beings con-

t inue to play the divine game, the denizens of darkness fol low Kepler with theirstrange local variants using odd -shap ed orbs. '

'You u nderstand w ell , boy. A n y astrologer mu st recognise the superiori ty of thespherical game. Despite their baser nature, however, those bizarre variants of thesport are nonetheless predictable too. '

'G ol ly gee, Ma ster C a n you teach m e to do that? ''Keep that Mastercard topped up and I wil l teach you al l I know. Now, let us

begin. Sit on that stone and prepare to take notes. 'I wh ist led, and a yak w h o ha d been grazing pea ceful ly beside a nearby spring

ambled over. 'Stand there, Bri tney, ' I asked her. I took a chalk from my pocketand began to write on her black flank as I began my first discourse.

I began wi th another tes t . 'Where shal l we s tar t our inves t igat ion of sportsastrology?'

He gave me a look of the 'do you think I was born yesterday?' variety before

answering, 'With horary, of course: the best s tart ing poin t for any stud y o f astrol-ogy'-

I smiled, but hi t him with my st ick, as a precaution. 'Well done, my child. Butbe wa rned . M y venerable teacher told m e:


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H E A R R I V E S A N D T H E J O U R N E Y B E G I N S II

ST UD E NT W H O AT T E MPT S T O MAST ER ONE ARE A OF HORARY W I T H OU TMA STERING ALL IS LIKE YAK W H O BALANCES ON ON E LEG.

I t i s important tha t you have a sound knowledge of horary in a l l i t s appl ica t ions. 'H e leaped up and ran to h is saddlebag, f rom w here he prod uce d a ba t te red blue

vo lu m e tha t looked as m uc h used as a we l l - loved te dd y bear. 'Th is bo ok has beenm y study by day and m y pi l low b y night . D ee p have I dru nk o f i ts wel l s ; fu l ly haveI feasted at i ts groaning table; high have I soared on i ts spiral l ing thermals; happyhave I wal lowed in i t s mud-pools . . . . '

'Less is m ore , dear boy. W h a t , pray, is it? ''Tha t dea th le ss mas te rp iece The Horary Textbook, wri t ten by tha t f ine fe l low

Joh n Frawley, pub l i shed by Ap pre n t i c e Bo oks and ava il ab le th ro ugh any g oo dbookshop fo r on ly 22 . '

'You have chosen wel l . Devoted s tudy of tha t book should give anyone a fa i rgrasp of horary. N o w tel l m e, in a nuts hel l , wh at is horary. '

' I t is the astrology of interrogat ions. The chart is cast for the t ime and place atw hi ch a quest ion is asked, and, in the wo rds o f the grea t master of horary, W il l i amLi l ly, jud ge m en t is dra wn " instan t ly" . '

A defini t ion close enough for most purposes. To be exact , the chart is cast forthe t ime and p lace a t which the a s t ro loge r unders t ands the ques t ion . I f t heast rologer is w or ki ng on his ow n q uest ion these wi l l , of course , be the same as thet ime and place a t w hi ch i t wa s asked. M or e o f ten than no t , tha t is the case w i thspor t s a s t ro logy. Use Regiomontanus houses . Cons ide r on ly ma jor a spec t s anddisregard cosm ic flo tsam such as Ura nu s, N ep tu n e and tha t car to on dog .

'Bu t yo u k n ow a ll tha t , and i f yo u do n eed to re f resh yo ur m em or y o f the basicsyou can turn to The Horary Textbook. W e can conce nt ra te o n the app l ica t ion o f

horary to sport . '

'Where do we beg in , Mas te r? ''W i t h the quest ions. W e can divide spor t in g horar ies in to four k inds:

contests: W ill we win this ma tch/this series?t i t le fights: W ill the king lose his crown?long- term forecasts : H ow will w e fare this season?beat ing the bookie : Will I profit?

Each of these ca tegor ies demands a d i fferent approach to the char t . We ' l l wai t t i l lyour educat ion has reached chapter 4 before we look a t prof i t char ts . The othertypes we can consider now. '


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I pluck ed a feather from Sedna's tail , pick ed up a leaf fal len fro m the m ou nta inpa lm (Treeus usefulus) that f lourished beside m y cave, and bega n to w ri te. H ew atc he d in cu rious silence, as if I were wr itin g a presc ription . 'Ta ke th is, ' I said, as

I ha nd ed h im the leaf. 'Use i t as a wo rksh eet u nt i l yo u have me m orised themethod. ' He studied it attentively. "We'll start with contest questions, as these arethe m ost co m m on . W h a t is our f irs t s tep?'

H O R A R Y C H E C K L I S T

Cast chart for t ime and place of a quest ion.Regiomontanus houses .

Seven planets only.Major aspects only.

Select the appropriate houses.Check the condi t ion of these houses .

Locate the house rulers.Ch ec k: are they com bust , under the sunbeams, cazimi , opp osing the

Sun?house p lacementare they con jun ct the Nodes?speed and direct ionaspectsare they besieged?are they on Regulus, Spica or Algol?are they in their joy?essential dignity/debilityreceptions between the rulers: does one dominate the other?

If the M o o n is on e o f the house rulers:how much l ight does i t have?is it in the via combusta?

Select the appropriate houses

From the worksheet , he read, 'Select the appropriate houses. ''How do we do that? ' I asked.


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'Suppose i t ' s not a team game. A tennis match, perhaps. '' It 's less co m m o n for an ind ivid ua l p layer to pass the W e Test , bu t it s t il l

happens. An Aussie querent might wel l be suppor t ing the Aussie p layer, whi le aBri t i sh querent might suppor t the Br i t . '

' Is there any purpose in judging horaries about Bri t ish tennis players? ''Not real ly. Just say "No". You'l l usual ly be r ight . People f ind l ikes and disl ikes

am on g spor tsmen for any n um ber of reasons. As lo ng as the querent has a genu inepar t ia l i ty one way or the other, we can judge . I t doesn ' t have to be a consumingpassion: a s igni f icant preference for one over the oth er i s en ou gh . '

'Suppose the querent doesn' t support the team, doesn' t hate them, has no inter-e st i n anyon e w h o does supp or t them or ha te them . W h a t then? '

'T he n , w e mig h t we l l w on de r w h y the ques t ion i s be in g a sked . Espec ia l ly i fthere i s a consul ta t ion fee . Often, even wi th a team the querent suppor ts , the rea lquest ion i s W ill I profit by betting on this team? We must be qui te c lear about th is .If the querent 's interest is in a potent ial profi t , we must address this as a profi tquest ion, not as a contest quest ion. This is an important rule in al l horary: be clearon what i s be ing asked.

JUDGE T HE W RON G QUE ST I ON AN D YOU'LL GE T T H E W RO NG ANSW E R.'

'OK. But suppose the querent i sn ' t t ry ing to win money. '

'Then, my boy, we have a problem. You wi l l hear i t suggested tha t you can givethe i s t house to the home team or to the team the querent ment ions, or ment ionsfirst . Su ch sugge st ions are f ine - unless y o u wa n t to get the r ight answe r from thechar t . I f the queren t is indi ffere nt to bo th team s we h ave no groun ds for ass igninghouses. '

'So what do we do? ''N ot h i ng . W e can't j ud ge the ques t ion . W e m ay, howev er, be ab le to mak e a

predic t ion f rom the char t for the event i t se l f . You ' l l f ind out how to do tha t inchapter 2. '

'And what i f i t i sn ' t a one- to-one contest? Suppose the querent i s asking Willmy hero win this golf tournament? O we player against many. Is that ist house against7th house , too? '

' Is there no en d to the boy 's quest ions? ' I w on de red . ' N o , ' I repl ied . 'T hi s i s aquest ion of one player against a f ie ld. We'l l look at methods for judging this la ter. '1

1 See pp . 49 -6 2 below and chap ter 3 .


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I thought for a peaceful moment he had run out of points to ra ise , t i l l suddenlyhe became agi tated, as i f stung. 'Master, Master ' he cried in his distress, 'We'ved ived s t ra igh t in to se l ec t ing the houses . Shouldn ' t we have checked fo r

Considerations beforeJudgementbeiore. do in g that? T h e char t m ight no t be radica l .W e m igh t no t be able to jud ge i t . W e m igh t ge t i t wr on g '

I gestured to Sedna, who flapped off into the cave to process an order for morest icks , whi le I composed a pol i te response . 'These considera t ions were developedto give the as t rologer an excuse for not judging any char t tha t might jeopardisehis safety. As tro log y does n ot stop wo rkin g If i t did, the merest peasant could seizeon e of these gaps in fate to ma ke h im self em peror, or do wha teve r else m igh t pleasehim. Have you ever heard someone say "This i sn ' t radica l . I t can ' t be judged,"

when looking a t a b i r thchar t? ''No, Master. ' His agi ta t ion had disappeared.'Regard for these considerat ions is the hal lmark of the amateur, the di let tante .

The professional - so long as he i s not working for a bad- tempered king has noneed of them. You may not wish to be a professional as t ro loger, my boy, but youcan at least learn to think l ike one. That is essent ial i f you wish to reach a profes-s ional s tandard of judgement . '

'Yes, Master. ''And anyw ay, ' I con t inu ed , tapp ing ou t m y wo rds on his skul l w i th m y s t ick ,

T HE RE'S NOT H I NG W R ON G W I T H BE ING W RO NG.

Get t ing th ings wrong i s most benef ic ia l , both in what you wi l l learn f rom i t and- even more important - in prevent ing you f rom f ly ing up your own ast rologica lbacks ide . ' Br i tney mooed in agreement .

He thought for a whi le , d igest ing a l l tha t I had to ld him. 'So, Master, we haveour houses , which wi l l usual ly be the i s t and the 7th . '

'Yes.'

'What about the other houses? '' Ignore them. Horary i s s imple ; keep i t so . I have seen so many horary judge-

ments drown in a sea of confusion as the art ist t r ies to f ind the team's fans, i tsco ac h, its finances a nd its star player's m istress in the chart . D on 't A ll w e w a n t to

do is f ind out who wil l win. ist house and 7th house, that 's a l l . You don't have togive a commentary on the match: the resul t a lone i s suff ic ient . '

'What about the referee? He can have a b ig inf luence on the game. '' Is he going to score a goal or hi t a home run? '


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'No, Master. ''So leave him out of i t . Even if he is partial, the team must stil l achieve more

than the o ther team in order to win . The los ing team may blame i t a l l on the

referee, the weather, the poor quality of the pitch; we won't . '

Consider the houses

'Our first step is to look at the houses themselves to see if anything is affectingthem, for bet ter or for worse. Is there anything in ei ther of our chosen houses?Re m em ber that the 5 or so degrees before the hou se cusp are considered as bein gpart of that house, provided they are in the same sign as the house cusp. If the

A sce nd an t is at 12 Ar ies, a planet at 8 Ar ies is in th e xst ho use, no t th e 12th. If theAsc end ant is at 1 Aries, a planet at 29 Pisces is not in the ist house, but is still in the12th. '

'This is true even if the planet is retrograde, Master?''Yes, even if i t is retrograde. Use you r co m m o n sense to decide where the bo un d-

ary lies: i t wil l be som ewh ere aro und the 5 degree mark. N ow , if there is n oth ingin the house, we can move on. I f there i s something there , we must consider

whether i t benefi ts that house, harms i t or has no effect . ''Master, you said if there is nothing in the houses we can move on. But what

about aspects to the house cusp? Don't they affect the house?''They do. But because we are looking at houses that are opposi te each other, i f

something aspects the cusp of one it will also aspect the cusp of the other. If Saturnis square the As cen da nt it is also square the D esce nd an t. A n y such plan et will shareits influence equally, so we can ignore it . The only aspect to a house cusp that con-cerns us here is conjunction, and that is covered by a planet being in a house. '

'What abou t oppos i t ion? '' If w e were lo ok ing at houses that weren't oppo si te each other, yes. But a planet

con jun ct the ist cusp wil l opp ose the 7th cusp, and vice versa. Use the c on jun ctionand ignore the opposi t ion. '

'So a m alefic planet in the is t house is an affl ict ion to the goo d gu ys. A m aleficplanet in the 7th afflicts the bad guys. '

'Yes. But what do you mean by a malefic planet? '

'Mars or Saturn. ''No ' I l i f ted his chin with the end of my st ick. This point is important , so I

needed his fu l l a t tent ion . 'Any planet can be malef ic . Mars and Saturn can bebenefic.


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AN Y PLANET W IT H ESSENTIAL DIG NIT Y IS BENEFICANY PLANET IN ITS DETRIMENT OR FALL IS MALEFIC

It doesn' t matter which planet i t is: i t is the digni ty or debil i ty that makes i t e i therbenef ic or malef ic . Got tha t? '2

' I thin k so, Ma ster. I f Ve nu s is in V ir go , i t aff l ic ts the ho use i t is in. If Satu rn isin Aquarius, i t helps the house i t is in. Is that r ight? '

'Yes, that 's it . Be care ful , th ou gh : w e are no t discussin g Lo rds i and 7 now . W eare ta lk ing o nl y abo ut the oth er f ive planets . We ' l l loo k a t Lo rds 1 an d 7 in am i nu t e . '

'Yes, Master. Only the other f ive planets. '

'Lords 6, 8, and 12 are said to be accidental malefics, because they rule theseun for tu na te houses . In theory, the ir p lace m en t in a hou se aff l ic t s tha t house . Bu ttha t i s theory; in prac t ice , we can ignore th is in contest horar ies . These housesaren' t re levant to the matter at hand. '

'Wha t abou t the Nodes , Mas te r? ''T he i r tes t im on y in these horar ies is very s imple : No rt h N od e in a hou se he lps

tha t house ; Sou th N o d e in a hou se aff l ic t s tha t h ouse . '

'So i f the North Node i s in the i s t , tha t ' s good for our team. And i f the SouthN o d e is a lso in the 7th , that aff l ic ts ou r enem ies, so that's do ub ly go od new s ''No, my boy. The Nodes are opposi te each other. I f the North i s in the i s t , the

South wi l l a lways be in the 7th . This i s one tes t imony, not two. The Nodal axisfavours one team or the other. '

'And if the Nodes aren' t in the ist and 7th? ''T h en they are i rre levant , unless Lor d 1 or Lord 7 is con jun ct one o f them . N ow ,

here 's another important ru le , important in a l l as t ro logy:

THE CLOSER, THE STRONG ER

The closer the affect ing planet is to the house cusp, the greater the affect i t wil lhave . Su pp ose there is a m alefic plan et in the ist ho use , just 3 degrees awa y fr omthe cusp, and there is another malefic in the 7th, 15 degrees away from the cusp.W h ic h hou se is the m ore affl ic ted? '

'The i s t , Master. ''Yes, good. Also:

2 For further explan ation, see m y The Horary Textbook, p . 45; London, 2005.


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SIGN BOUND ARIES AC T LIKE INSULATORS

A plan et that is in a hou se bu t no t in the same sign as the cusp o f that hou se affectsthat house, but nowhere near as strongly as a planet that is in the house and in thesame sign as the cusp. This is t rue no matter how close the planet is to the cusp. '

He looked unce r t a in . 'Give me an example , Mas te r. ''Suppose I cast a horary. The Ascendant is a t 10 Libra and there is a benefic at

29 Libra . Then you cast a horary. The Ascendant i s a t 28 Scorpio and there i s aben ef ic a t 1 Sagi t ta r ius . W h o se i s t hou se i s m ost he lp ed, your s or m ine? '

'The benef ic in my horary i s much c loser to the cusp. You to ld me the closer, thestronger. B ut on the other hand , in m y horary there is a s ign bou nd ary be twe en the

cusp and the benefic . That acts l ike insulat ion. I 'd say your ist house is probablyhelped the most . '

'And you would be r igh t . Even though the bene f i c in my cha r t i s so muchfurther from the cusp, i t st i l l has more effect than the benefic in yours, which is ina di fferent s ign to the hou se cusp. T h o u g h the bene f ic in yours s t il l has an effec t . '

'Does the Par t of For tune he lp a house? '

'No. In fact :

IGNO RE ARABIAN PARTS

I 've not fou n d them to have any imp orta nce in these horar ies - no t even the Par tsw i th s uch te m pt in g nam es as the Part o f Vic tory . T h e Par ts p lay m u ch less o f arole in horary than they do in natal astrology, and in this part icular applicat ion ofhorary they have no role at a l l . I t is a common error to think that the presence ofthe Part of Fortune benefits a house. It doesn't . It 's a rule: Parts don't do, they are

done to . So how can the Par t benef i t something? '' I see. Should I pay any at tent ion to a Part 's disposi tor? I know that the dispos-

i tor o f an A ra bia n P ar t s igni f ies tha t th in g - l ike the dispo si tor o f the Par t o fSurgery signifies surgery. '

'T h at is t rue . Bu t you are st il l be t te r of f ign or in g the m . I f yo u wa nt to be fussy,yo u co uld lo ok a t the disposi tor of the Part o f For tu ne . F ind ing tha t tucke d insidethe enemy's house i s a bad s ign, though only a minor one . I t i s most unl ike ly to

swi n g a j udge m e n t . ''What about Fixed Stars? ''The se , too , yo u can p re t ty m uc h fo rge t . T h e s ta rs beco m e mo re impo r tan t the

higher up the astrological scale we go. Horary is c lose to the bot tom of that scale .


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H E A R R I V E S A N D T H E J O U R N E Y B E G I N S I I

Regulus within a couple of degrees of the cusp would favour that house. Antarescould be a negative. Regulus is now at 29 Leo, Antares at 9 Sagittarius. You cansafely ignore the others. '

'But Master, on my checkl is t you 've wri t ten "are they on Regulus , Spica orAlg ol?" N o w you're saying that Regulus and Antares are the only stars w orth notic-ing. '

The lad had his wits about him. 'Regulus and Antares are the only ones thatwil l have a s ignificant effect upon a house in these horaries . Regulus, Spica andAlgol are the only ones that will have a significant effect upon a planet. I ' l l tell youabout that in a while. '

Locate the house rulers

'We've now considered the condition of the houses. As often as not, there's nothinghappening to ei ther of them. The next s tep is to locate the house rulers . How dowe do that?'

'The planet that rules the sign on the cusp rules that house. So the ruler of thesign on the ist cusp is Lord 1, and signifies the querent 's team. The ruler of the

sign on the 7th cusp is Lord 7, s ignifying the enemy. ''Yes. There is only one significator per team, and that is the ruler of that team's

house . Do not, on pain of being eaten al ive by wild yaks, take a planet placed inthat h ouse as significator, or as cosignificator. Planets in the house affect that housefor good or i l l ; they do not represent the things of that house. Not even if youwant them to . '

'What about the Moon, Master? Is that the querent 's cosignificator? ''Unless the querent is actually playing in the game, he isn't personally involved

in the quest ion, even though we treat his team as w e. So n o, we don' t give th equerent the Moon as cosignificator. This is the same in horary charts on other sub-jects: if the question is asked about someone else, that other person isn't given theM o o n . Where is my cat? and I get the M o o n as cosignificator. Where is my daugh-ter's cat?and my daughter doesn ' t . '

And if the querent is playing in the game?'' I t is to be ho pe d he wo uldn ' t be asking a hora ry abou t it s ou tcom e W h a t

chance would he have of winning if that were his at t i tude? Even there, the Moonwould have only a t iny role. We certainly wouldn' t consider i ts s trength as part ofour judgement. In these charts , the spotl ight is solely on our two main significa-tors . The other planets may be hanging around at the back of the stage, but we


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don ' t pay them any a t tent ion unless they are d i rec t ly in terac t ing wi th our mainsigni f ica tors or the tw o re levant houses . T h e M o o n som et im es has a ro le as " thef low of even t s" , bu t we would need to be ve ry shor t o f t e s t imony fo r tha t tobe c om e i m por t a n t . '

Accidental dignity of the rulers

'Once we have se lec ted our s igni f ica tors , we must weigh them against each otherto see w h o w i l l w in . In contest horar ies,

ACCI DE NTAL DI GNI T Y IS M UC H MOR E I MPORTANT T H AN

ESSENTIAL DIG NITY .

A s in a ho rary a bo ut a cou rt case, wh ere essent ial digni t y show s w h o is in the r ight ,which may or may not be the person who wins the case , so in a contest horary:essent ia l d igni ty may show who plays be t te r, but th is may or may not be the onewho wins the game . '

' I understand the basic idea of acc identa l d igni ty, Master. Are a l l acc identa l

factors of equal importance in these charts? ''No. First , check to see if either significator is combust. T ha t means wi th in e ight

and a half degrees of the Sun and in the same sign as the Sun. ''So if i t is within three degrees of the Sun but in a different sign it isn't combust?''Yes. That 's why I said "and in the same s ign". Do pay a t tent ion. After you 've

had a l i t t le prac t ice you wi l l not ice combust p lanets as soon as you glance a t thecha r t ; you won ' t need to go look ing fo r them. Combust ion i s the mos t se r iousdebi l i ty tha t a p lanet can suffer, so i f on e o f our s igni f ica tors is co m bu st w e cou ld

almost stop there: that team wil l lose. ''Do we s top there , Master? ''No. Even though i t i s most unl ike ly tha t the other team's s igni f ica tor could be

in as bad a state , we st i l l must consider i t . For a second or two. ''What i f both planets a re combust? ''T h a t i s a very rare "w hat i f? " B ut i t is possible . In spor ts wh ere the m atc h can

be d rawn, bo th p lane t s combus t would be t e s t imony fo r tha t . I f someone has to

win , r emember :* the closer the stronger. The planet closer to the Sun is the more aff l ic ted.* ap ply in g is wo rse than sep arat ing. A plan et get t in g closer to the Sun is m ore

affl ic ted than one that is separat ing from i t .


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Reception with the Sun can also be important when judging combustion. A planetcombust in its own sign or exaltation is not debilitated at all . That works much likea mutual reception between the planet and the Sun. A planet combust in i ts owndet rim en t or fall is if this is possible deb ilitated even m ore seriou sly than isusual with combustion. I t is affl icted by a Sun which, as this negative receptionshows, hates it . Bad news indeed '

' I 've heard that Mars is not affected by combustion. ''I 've heard that too. It isn't true. Mars is as much affected as any other planet.

To give you a l i t t le example of this , the winner of a horse-race was shown in thechar t by Mars , which was combus t . The winner was Surfeit of Sun. If Mars werenot debil i tated by being com bus t , i t w o ul d no t have been suffering from a surfeit . '

' W h a t a b o u t under the sunbeams?'Defini t ion, please?''A planet that is not combust , but is within seventeen and a half degrees of the

Sun. ''That 's r ight . Unlike combustion, the planet does not have to be in the same

sign as the Sun. This is a much more minor affl ict ion. I t weakens the planet a bi t ,but most char ts wi l l have more important tes t imony than th is . As wi th combus-

t ion, distance from the Sun, applying or separat ing, and reception may make adifference. ''Suppose a planet is sub radiis...'T ha t b rou gh t h im a w ha ck wi th the s t ick . 'Do n ' t show off , boy. "Un der the

sunbeams" wi l l do . As you were saying. . .? ''Supp ose a planet were und er the sunbea ms, Master, and abou t to enter co m -

bust ion?''Good quest ion, boy. In a contest horary, the change to combustion wil l not be

significant. The event asked about is too short-term. If the horary question is abouta long-term issue, though, such as How will my team do this season? this chan gewould be important . How would we judge th is? '

'Your team's not doing well now, but i t 's about to start doing a whole lot worse. ''Time to send out for some Kleenex, yes . The only except ion to th is would be

in a Will my team win anything this season? ques t ion, wh ere the Su n ruled the 10thhouse and hence signified the trophy. In this case we want the conjunction with

the Sun, and i f that is wh at we wan t w e m ust over look the com bu st ion . ''Else we would never be able to have a Sun conjunction?''Exact ly. Talking of Sun conjunct ions , cazimi is rare, but extremely important

when you find i t . That 's a planet within seventeen and a half minutes of the Sun. '


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'You mean one tha t wi l l pe r fec t a con junc t ion wi th the Sun wi th in seven teenand a ha l f m inutes ' t ime? '

'No. Minutes of a rc , not minutes of t ime. A planet whose posi t ion in the char t

is w i th in seven teen a nd a ha l f m inu te s o f the Sun' s. T h o u g h l oo k in g fo r ha l fm inute s is too fussy: ca ll i t e ighteen m inutes . Co m bu st io n is the m ost w ea ke nin gth in g tha t can happ en to a p lane t ; caz imi is the mo s t s t reng the n ing . A p lane tcom bu st wi l l a lmost cer ta in ly lose ; a p lanet caz im i wi l l a lmo st cer ta in ly w in . '

'Nex t on the workshee t comes house placement. Tel l me about tha t , Master. ''Very im portan t . M or e contest horaries a re dec ided b y house placem ent than by

any o the r t e s t imon y. Lo ok to see w hi ch h ouse each s ign i f ica to r is in . B road lyspeaking, be in g in an angular house m akes i t s t rong; a succe den t ho use i s neut ra l;a cadent house makes it weak. But i t 's not quite as straightforward as that. First , thedivision into strong/neutral /weak isn ' t real ly angular/succedent/cadent . I t is:

H ou ses i , 4, 7, io : st ro ngHo use s z , 3 ,5 , 9 ,1 1: neut ra lHo use s 6 , 8 ,12: we ak.

Do n ' t t ry to c rea te a peckin g-orde r o f houses w i th in each divis ion. Th ere is no s ig-

ni f icant gradat ion of s t rength , for example , be tween the i s t , 4 th , 7 th and 10th .'T he n , be in g in an angular house mak es you r signi f ica tor s t rong. Bu t not i f tha t

angular hou se is the house o f you r enem y Be ing in an angle is l ike bein g in a cast le .If you're in a castle, you're in a position of strength. Unless i t is your enemy's castle,in which case you're in prison. '

'So L or d 1 in the ist , 4th or 10th is ve ry stron g, bu t in the 7 th i t is ver y w ea k. ''Th at 's r igh t . A n d L or d 7 in the 7th , 4th or 10th is ve ry stron g, bu t in the ist is

very weak. Capisce? ''Yes, Master. ''Now, I gave you two rules ear l ie r th is morning. They both apply here , too.

TH E CLOSER, THE STRONGERSIGN BOUNDA RIES A C T LIKE INSULATORS

W h e n assessing the planet' s s t rength by house placem ent , the rule " T h e c loser the

st ronger" i s o f im por tan ce o nly wh en the s igni f ica tor is in an angular house - no ti f i t i s succedent or cadent . Give me an example of how i t might work. '

H e t ho ug ht fo r a wh i le , gaz ing hard a t Br i tn ey as i f she co uld be ca joled in tosupplying the answer. 'Suppose Lord 1 is in the 10th, 2 degrees from the cusp. And


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Lord 7 i s in the 4th , 10 degrees f rom the cusp. They are both s t rengthened; butLo rd 1 is s t rengthen ed m ore . '

'Good . Now g ive me an example o f how the s ign boundary ru le migh t work . '

Th i s ques t ion was more demanding , h i s th ink ing accompanied by fac ia l con-tort ions that threatened to dislocate ei ther his jaw or, i f this can be done, a t leastone eyebrow. At last, he had an idea: 'Suppose Lord 1 is in the 7th house, 10 degreesinside the house, and in the same sign as the house cusp. Then suppose Lord 7 isin the is t house . O n ly 2 degrees inside the hous e , bu t in a d i ffer en t s ign to thecusp. Lord 1 is m uc h m ore aff l ic ted than L ord 7 , even tho ug h i t is fur ther f rom thecusp. '

'O h , a f ine exam ple , m y boy ' I was de l ighte d. 'N ow , one f ina l , v i ta l po int onhouse p lacement :

A PL ANE T ON A CUSP CONT R OL S T HA T H OUSEA PLANET INSIDE THE CUSP IS CON TRO LLED BY THAT HOUSE

This i s of importance only when one of our main s igni f ica tors i s in i t s enemy'sho us e. S up po se t he ist cus p is at 5 Le o. I f L or d 7 is at 4 Le o, i t sits o n t ha t cusp. It

cont rols the i s t house . W e lose . T h e p lanet m ust be wi t hin 2 or 3 degrees of thecusp and in the same sign as the cusp for this to be an important test imony. Butif Lord 7 is a t 6 Leo i t is just inside that cusp. I t is control led by that house, l ike aman in p r i son . We win . '

'Tha t ' s c lear enou gh , Master. W h a t i f the planet is re t rograde? ''Le t us cont inue wi th the same example . Suppose Lord 7 a t 6 Leo i s re t rograde .

I t is in the ist house, but is applying to the cusp. This does notQVQ it power overthat house. I t is l ike a man in prison banging on his cel l door: bang as much as hewants, he is sti l l in prison.


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'Suppose Lord 7 at 4 Leo is retrograde. I t is st i l l si t t ing on the ist cusp, but isnow moving away f rom i t . I t s t i l l has power over tha t house , but much less thani t i f we re dire ct in m ot io n . I t is l ike an arm y tha t has bee n lay ing siege to a castle ,

but i s now packing up i t s tents and going home.

HOUSE PL ACEME NT DE CI DE S MORE CO NT E ST HORARIE S T H ANANY OT HE R T E ST I MONY

Make sure you unders t and i t . 'Wi th tha t admoni t ion I le f t h im to digest what he had been taught whi le I went

to fe tch Bri tney her lunch.

The Nodes

Br i tney fed , I con t inue d . 'C on ju nc t io n w i th one o f the M oo n ' s No de s is ano the rfac tor tha t can dec ide a char t on i t s own. A s igni f ica tor conjunct the North Nodei s g rea t ly s t reng thened ; one con junc t the South Node grea t ly weakened . Keep toa ma xi m um separa t ion o f ab ou t 5 degrees, w i th the usual ru le of " the c loser thest ronger" . In th is context , i t makes no di fferenc e w het he r the planet is app lying to

or sepa ra t ing f rom the Node . ''Wha t abou t a spec t s to the Nodes , Mas te r? ''T he re is n o such thing. T h e N od es nei ther cast nor receive aspects. W e are con -

ce rned on ly wi th con junc t ion to them. '

'Suppose Lo rd 1 is con jun c t the N or th N od e and Lo rd 7 con jun c t the Sou thN od e. Is tha t on ly one tes t im ony, as yo u sa id abou t the N od es in the houses? '

'Not a t a l l . I f one Node i s in one house , the other Node wi l l be in the opposi tehouse . That i s automat ic , so i s only one tes t imony. But our s igni f ica tors can beanywhere . I f one o f them i s on one Node , the re i s no th ing au tomat i c abou t theo the r be ing on the o the r Node . Tha t would be two t e s t imonies . '

' I 've not iced that the Nodes are sometimes retrograde, Master. Does that changethe way we read them? '

'No, boy. Thei r na tura l d i rec t ion of mot ion i s re t rograde . There i s none of tha tsense of be ing against na ture wh ich is w ha t make s re t rogradat ion d ebi l i ta t ing fo ra p lane t . The Nodes ' d i rec t ion o f movement makes no d i ffe rence . '

'So how strong are they, Master? ''Very. Co m bu st i on , caz imi , and a pow er fu l ind ica t ion by house p lacem ent can

a l l ou twe igh con junc t ion to a Node ; bu t tha t in i t s t u rn wi l l ou twe igh any o the rs ingle acc identa l tes t imony. '


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H E A R R I V E S A N D T H E J O U R N E Y B E G I N S 1 7

Speed and direction

'The faster a planet moves, relat ive to i ts average speed, the stronger i t is . Theexception to this is Saturn, which doesn't l ike going fast. It is against i ts nature. '

'You m ean I must check the speed of all the planets in every chart? Har d w or k,Master '

'No, you don' t need to do that . At least , not for most sports . All you need beaware of is w he n a planet is app roac hing or leaving stat ion. I ts speed then w il l beslower than usual. If i t is stationary, or almost so, i t will be very weak. This can bean important tes t imony. '

'You said, "not for most sports"?'' O f course, for those sports wh ere victory is determ ined entirely by speed, the

speed of the significators becom es m uc h mo re imp ortan t . If I am a sking if so-and-so will win a Grand Prix, and find his significator in station, he has no chance. Ifhe is entering a slow-cyc ling race he should d o well. B ut even if speed alone decidesthe sport ing victory, speed alone wil l not decide our astrological judgement: westill must consider other factors. '

'Isn't speed crucial in all sports?''O n ly tangentially. W e can put a cheetah on to a tennis court . His inabil i ty to

return a service means he will lose, no matter how fast he races around the court. ''So, Master, a player whose significator is the Moon wil l always win, because

the M o o n is the fastest planet . 'I gasped, then looked lo ng at Britney, wo nd ering if I w ou ld not be m ore profitably

occ up ied teachin g her astrology. 'N o , m y boy. N o . It is the planet 's speed now , rela-tive to its o w n average speed. If Jupiter is mo vin g at 13' per day it is mo vin g very fast,by its own standards, even though the Moon moves 13' in a matter of minutes. It isthat which is important to us.' I drew a table on Britney's flank. 'You have, I'm sure,com m itted to m em ory the table of s ignificant speeds in The Horary Textbook .3 Th i stable differs, because for our p urposes here w e are con cern ed o nly w ith extremes o fspeed.'

Fas t wh en above: Slow w he n below:T h e M o o n i4io ' per day I2i5' per dayM erc ur y i40' 020'Venus I I O oi5'

M ars o43' o io 'Jupiter o i2 003'Saturn oo6 ' o"o2'

3 p- 59


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To his rel ief , I told him he did not need to memorise this. 'Unless you are goingto concent ra te on speed-based spor ts , you wi l l not of ten need i t . '

' W h a t a b o u t retrogradation, Master? '' It 's w or th no t ing , but it 's no t of m ajor imp ortan ce . R et rogra dat ion wi l l add to

an acc um ula t ion of w eak en ing tes t imon ies , or take the shine of f a s t rong one . I twon ' t dec ide a contest on i t s own. '

'W h a t i f a p lanet i s m ov in g very fast , but re t rograde? '' In those spor ts where speed i s important , d i rec t ion i s important too. Driving

the wrong way round a Grand Pr ix c i rcui t wi l l not lead to v ic tory. So th is i s nothe lpful . There may be rare occasions when speed and re t rogradat ion can be use-ful ly com bin ed . If w e are asking abou t a racing pigeo n, for instance, w e wan t to see

i t t ravel l ing fast back to where i t was. '' In a chart for a footbal l match, might retrogradat ion show that team scoring an

own goal? ''Did someone ask you to g ive a commenta ry on the game? ''No , Mas te r. ''S o D O N ' T D O I T '

Aspects

H e look ed so abashed tha t I qu ickly m ov ed to a ne w subjec t . 'O u r s igni fica torsare affected by close aspects from other planets, for bet ter or for worse. '

'So a t r ine f rom Jupi te r i s very he lpful and a square f rom Saturn i s a b ig hin-drance? '

'Maybe. I see we need to discuss this in depth.

TH E CON DI TIO N OF THE ASPECTIN G PLANET, N OT THE NATURE OF TH EASPECT, SHOW S IF TH AT ASPECT IS G O O D OR BAD

Co nju nc t io ns , t r ines and sexti les sho w things hap pen ing easily; squares and op po -si t ions show them happening wi th di ff icul ty. But even tha t s imple divis ion i s toosub t l e fo r our purposes he re . We a re conce rned on ly wi th wha t s t reng thens o rweakens our significators. A square from a good planet wil l be helpful ; a t r ine from

a bad one wi l l be weakening. ''You're saying that i t doesn't matter what sort of aspect i t is? ''Exact ly. Excep t for an op po si t ion , w hi ch i s a lways an aff l ic t ion . W h a t mat te rs

is whether the aspect ing planet is a nice one or a nasty one. '


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'So a square from Jupiter will be good, because Jupiter is nice?''N o. Jupiter m ay or ma y no t be nice. Saturn ma y or may not be nice. If a planet

has essential dignity it is nice. If i t is peregrine or, even worse, in its detriment or

fall it is nasty.''So an aspect from Saturn in Capricorn is nice?''Yes.''And an aspect from Jupiter in Virgo is nasty?''Yes.''So a square from Mars in Scorpio wil l help our s ignificator, while a t r ine from

Venus in Aries wil l harm i t . ''Exact ly. The same wi th conjunct ions : conjunct ion wi th a d igni f ied p lanet i s

helpful ; conju nct io n wi t h a debi li ta ted p lanet i s harm ful . ''How close do the aspects need to be?''It 's the same rule as usual: the closer, the stronger. Take 5 degrees of separation

as the absolute maximum, but anything over 3 degrees will have only a mild effect.A llo w a wider orb for opp osi t ion fr om the Sun. Bein g opposed to the Sun is m uc hl ike being combust , so g ive i t a maximum of 8 degrees, wi t h any thing w i th in 4degrees being seriously affl icted. Remember that al l aspects must be within the

appropriate signs. For instance, a planet at 29 Virgo opposes a planet at 28 Pisces,but not one at o Aries. '

'W h a t abo ut receptions? D o they affect the aspects? ''Yes . Suppose your s igni f icator i s the Moon, which i s t r ined by Jupi ter in

Cancer. This is a nice aspect , because Jupiter is in i ts exal tat ion: i t has lots ofdignity. I t is even nicer because Jupiter is ruled by the Moon. Or suppose yourM o o n is aspected by Venu s in Sco rpio. Th is is a nasty aspect, because Ven us is inits detriment, and is even nastier because Venus is in the fall of the Moon.'

I could see he was t ry ing to f ind a more compl icated example. He found one.'Supp ose m y significator, the M o o n , is aspected by M ars in Tauru s. W h a t then?'

'It is aspected by a nasty M ars - in its ow n d etrim ent - w h o likes it lots, becausei t is in the exal tat ion of the Moon. This wil l be significantly less harmful than anaspect from nasty Mars would otherwise have been. If i t was aspected by Mars inScorpio, the aspect is from a nice Mars (lots of dignity) who hates the Moon (inthe M oon 's fal l) . T h is w il l be significantly less beneficial than an aspect from nice

Mars would otherwise have been. But stil l better than any aspect from nasty Mars. ''Compl ica ted ''N o t really. It w ou ld be a rare chart that was decided o n an aspect alone. T he re

would have to be a terrible paucity of test imony for that to happen. So we don' t


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need to be too sub tle in our judg em en t o f any ind ividual aspect . It wil l ei ther helpa bi t or harm a bi t . Remember that this discussion on receptions applies only tocontest horaries. Elsewhere, they be com e far m ore significant . T h e co ntex t here isso l imit ing that they work only l ike this . '

'What about aspects between our main significators? Are they important? ''N o . T h ey can be ignored. In a court-case horary, an applyin g aspect between

the s igni f icators wi l l show the contes tants se t t l ing out of court . In a sport ingcontest, we can assume that the opponents aren't going to kiss and make up beforethe gam e is over. If the cha rt we re for a chess ma tch w e m igh t take an asp ect as tes-t im on y of the players agreeing a draw, but fe w sports offer that possibi li ty.'

Besiegement

It was t ime for a pract ical lesson. Too much theory would addle the lad 's brain.'Stand up, ' I told him, and led him to si t beside Bri tney. I whist led, and Sednaflu ttered do w n to si t by h is o ther s ide . T h e y bo th loo ked at m e, aw ai t ing m ysignal . W h e n I gave it , the bo y cringed as Sedna peck ed at him from one side whileBri tney snapp ed yakkishly at him from the other. 'Stop them , Master ' he pleaded.I did so, after a minute or two.

'How did that feel? ''Not nice, Master. ' He glared at Bri tney.'T h a t is w ha t bes iegem ent i s l ike . A planet caugh t c lose between two nas ty

planets i s bes ieged. Whichever way i t turns , i t wi l l be harmed. ' I repeated thesignal . This t ime Bri tney slurped at his face with her long, warm tongue, whileSedna nuzzled him as affect ionately as a raven can. The boy tr ied to say some-thing, but his huge grin prevented him.

'You are no w experiencing a posi t ive besiegement. A planet caught betw een twonice planets is favoured whichever way i t turns. This is most fortunate. ' I cal ledthe m off. 'As always, the closer the stronger. To be wo rth no tin g in these charts, thebesieging planets shou ld be no mo re than 10 degrees apart at the very m ost . '

'Yo u m ean n ice and nasty in the same w ay as w ith aspects: dig nified nice; de bil-itated nasty?'

'That is always the distinction, yes. A planet can also be besieged by the rays. If itcasts i ts aspect into the narrow space between two nasty planets, this is weakening.If between two nice planets, i t is help ful. T h e planets m ust be very close together forthis to be significant in contest horaries: no more than two degrees apart at most.Even at it strongest, i t is a we aker tes tim on y tha n bo dily besiege m ent. '


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Fixed stars

'Fixed stars play only a small part in horary, and there are only three whose effectup on a planet is w or th no ting in these charts. Regulus is by far the mo st im po rtan t

of these. A significator at 28 or 29 Leo is on Regulus, and is greatly strengthened.Spica, at 23 Libra, offers some protection against defeat, but can be overruled bystrong test imony. A lgo l , at 26 Tau rus, is a negative of mod erate s trength. Al lo w adegree or so of orb either way, but no more than that. '

'You ment ioned Antares before , Master. ''So I did. But then I was talking about s tars affect ing a house by fal l ing on i ts

cusp. Now I am ta lk ing about p lanets being affected by fa l l ing onto a s tar.

Different s tars are worth noting in these different contexts . '

Joys

'Master, you have to ld me about house p lacement . But you didn ' t ment ion thejoys o f the planets . W h y not? '

'I was getting to it , my boy. I didn't mention it earlier, when we discussed thestrength or weakness offered by being in an angular, succedent , or cadent house,

lest speaking about i t then made you bel ieve i t more important than i t real ly is . ''So I can ignore it?''You're unlikely to go too far wrong if you do. But i t does have some signifi-

cance, so is worth noting. Each planet has one house where it is particularly happy.Be ing in that ho use strengthens it a bit . Saturn, for exam ple, joys in the 12th. If oursignificator is Saturn in the 12th, i t is weak, because it is cadent; but not quite soweak, because i t is in i ts joy. The joy certainly doesn' t balance out the cadency,though: it is sti l l weak. '

'So what point is there in considering i t? ''Suppose our other s ignificator were in the 8th house. Usually, planets in the

12th and 8th houses have about the same level of weakness. But Saturn in the 12thwould be significantly less weak than a planet in the 8th. Similarly if the other sig-nificator were in the 6th. So long as that other s ignificator wasn' t Mars, whichitself joys in the 6th, Sa turn wo ul d h ave the ed ge. '

'Would being in i ts joy make Saturn in the 12th equal to a succedent planet? '

'N ot in itself . Bu t a m inor a ffl ict ion to that succedent planet wo uld render themabout equal. Or suppose we had Venus in its joy, in the 5th. If the other significa-tor were angular, but a ffl icted in some way, m ayb e by an aspect , Ven us ' joy cou ldrender it about equal. '


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'So anything else helping Venus could make i t s t ronger. ''Yes. A planet very close to an angle w o ul d need to be severely afflicted for Ven us

in joy to match i t , though. '

'So overall, joys are pretty useless, Master?''No need to be qui te so d isparaging, boy. They have l i t t le effect in contes t

horaries because there is so li t t le scope for subtlety here. In more complex horaryquest ions they can be more significant . In natal work, even more so. The joys ofthe planets are these:

M ercury : i s t house M oo n: 3rd houseVenu s: 5th house M ars: 6th hou se

Sun: 9th house Jupiter: n t h houseSaturn: 12th house

The Moon

'If the Moon is one of our main significators let me stress this: I mean only if t heM o o n is one o f our m ain significators - there are som e other points w e mus t co n-sider: things that don't apply to any other planet, but are important when assess-

ing the Moon's condit ion. First is the amount of l ight i t has. ''How do I tel l that , Master? ''The nearer the Moon is to full , the more light i t has; the nearer it is to new, the

less it has. For these charts, we can say that if it is more than 120 degrees from theSun it has lots of light, so it 's strong. If it is less than 60 degrees from the Sun, ithas li t t le l ight, so it 's moderately weak. Less than 30 degrees and it 's very weak. '

'Does i t matter i f i t 's gaining or losing l ight? ''Not in these quest ions. If the Moon were our s ignificator in a long-term ques-

t ion , tho ugh - m aybe How is my team going to do this season? t ha t wo uld beimportant . Moving away from the Sun shows the Moon gaining l ight and get t ingstronger; moving towards the Sun shows i t losing l ight and get t ing weaker. '

'What about i t direct ly opposing the Sun? You said that was a major affl ict ion. ''G oo d T h at is as t rue of the M o o n as of any other p lanet . Even tho ugh i t has

lots o f light then , with in 8 degrees of opp osi t ion to the Su n i t is badly affl icted.'And the v ia combusta? '

'Yes, i f the Moon is in the via combusta, which is between 15 Libra and 15Scorpio, it is seriously afflicted. In m ost cases w e w ou ld read this as a general w eak -ening, but the connection between the via combusta and the ancient taboos aroundthe issue of blood can give it a special significance in charts for boxing matches. '


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'So if w e kn ow that the boxer s ignified by the M o o n in the via com bu sta has atendency to cut up. . . '

'Exact ly. N o w remem ber: these points abou t the M o o n are re levant only if theMoon is one of our main significators . '

Void of course

'But w ha t i f the M o o n is void of course , M aster? ''Oh, my boy, there are few th ings that l ighten the solemn world of a Master

Ast ro loger as much as hear ing d iscuss ions of the void of course Moon. EvenBri tney canno t suppress a smi le a t the com m ents they contain . No th in g happens

w he n the M o o n is void , we are told. T h e wh ole o f Cre at ion stands st il l, ho ldin g i tsbreath for hours or even days t il l the M o o n mo ves on. So con tests that s tart undera void Moon can have no resul t . Nor can those contes ts for which some id leas t ro loger cas ts a ho rary w h en the M o o n is void . T h e po or sportsm en wi l l beplaying forever, get t ing no nearer the final whist le than Tantalus to s laking histh i rst . T h is i s, o f course , u t ter nonsense. L i fe does no t s top wh en the M o o n isvoid . '

'So what does i t mean in a contest horary?'' If the M o o n is on e o f the m ain significators , it means n oth ing at all . Ignore i t.

If the Moon is not one of the main significators, i t is a minor testimony that thingsmay not fall out as the querent wishes. That 's all . It can easily be overruled. '

'The void Moon is one that makes no further aspects before leaving i ts presentsign?'

'Yes. T h e M o o n can be vo id at other t imes, but they need not con cern us here.'

Essential d ignity of the rulers

'We've deal t with the houses themselves and with the accidental dignit ies of theirru lers . Now we must move on. '

'You mean there 's more, Master? Judging one of these charts must take hours. 'He looked so despondent I half expected to see tears running down his cheeks.Bri tney l icked him again, which certainly distracted him, i f i t didn ' t not iceably

cheer him up.'No horary chart should take hours, my boy. Least of all these. Fear not: thesepo ints take far longe r to explain than th ey do to apply. W it h a li t tle practice, yo u'llsee them al l with barely more than a glance. '


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Sign Ruler Exa l t -ation

Tripl ici ty Terrr Face D e t r i -ment

Fall

bay Night

T cT O O 3 2 9 r c r 5 & O 9 9T19 6 14 21 26 30 10 2 0 3 0

9 D 9 D 9 3 - c r D ~ c T3 8 15 22 26 30 10 20 30

H 3 - 9 Cf a cr o7 14 21 2 5 30 10 20 3 0

2 3 D cT c F c r ? 9 9 D c f15 6 13 20 2 7 30 10 20 3 0

O O 9 cT cT "56 13 19 25 30 10 20 3 0

fH> ? ?9 D " 9

\5 c r o 9 9

fH> 15 7 13 18 24 30 10 20 30

9 9 9 X cT D 3 - c f O21 6 t i 19 24 30 10 20 30

ttt cT cT c f 9 cT o 9 9 Dttt6 14 21 27 3 0 10 20 30

\ 8 914

1925

c r30 10

D20 30

CT D 9 X c r 3 a cr o D28 b 12 19 25 30 10 20 30

A W/ W \ T 5 9 c r 9 D O

6 12 20 25 30 10 20 3 0

X 3 - 9 o* cT 9 ^ c r 3- c r27 8 14 20 26 3 0 10 20 30

'But even so , Master - ye t more to remember. ''W h a t we 've don e so fa r covers the bu lk o f mos t judge m ent s . W e can look ove r

these f inal points qui te briefly. But look we must , for you wil l f ind charts where

they are important . 'Sedn a had been bus y dr aw ing the Table o f Dig ni t ie s on Bri tney 's flank. 'To o

much work , ' I t o ld h im. 'You needn ' t have bo the red wi th those minor d ign i t i e s ,te rm an d face . T h e y are o f no s igni f icance in these jud gem en ts . ' H is expressionsa id I might have to ld him tha t sooner, but I knew Sedna was a lways pleased toshow he 'd performed the qui te unnecessary fea t of memoris ing the whole table .

'A big discrepancy in essent ia l d igni ty can t ip the ba lance when acc identa l tes-

t imonies a re more or less even. Suppose my s igni f ica tor i s in i t s own s ign whi lemy opponen t ' s i s i n i t s de t r iment o r i s pe regr ine : tha t would g ive my t eam anadvantage . But i f my opponent i s acc identa l ly much s t ronger, h is team wi l l s t i l lwin , even i f I have the advantage essent ial ly. '


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'What about exal ta t ions , Master? Aren ' t they of special importance in thesequestions?'

'Yes. In contest charts a planet in its own exaltation is especially strong. This is

the one essential factor that can be weighed against the major accidental dignities.If a planet exal ts i tself , what that planet s ignifies wil l be ful l of confidence.Confidence doesn' t guarantee victory, of course, but i t does make i t more l ikely. '

'So if my planet is in its exaltation and yours is in its own sign, my planet ismuch stronger than yours. '

'A mos t unlikely circumstan ce, m y boy, but yes, that w ou ld b e so. A planet in fallis in the sign opposite to its exaltation, so that would betray a lack of confidence.Again, not a guarantee of defeat, but certainly worth noting as a negative factor. '

'What else, Master? ''Nothing else . That ' s a l l we need know about essent ia l d igni ty for judging

contest horaries. '

Receptions

He looked a good deal more cheerful after that brief lesson. 'Receptions too have

a l imited applicat ion in contest horaries . ''So if my planet is in a sign ruled by your planet, my team likes your team?'T ha t broug ht him a smart tap on the head. 'No , boy. W h o l ikes w h o m is hardly

relevant in these charts W h a t concern s us is w h o has pow er over w h o m . If yo urplanet is in a sign ruled by my planet, your team is in my team's power. To someextent. As w ith essential dignity, this can tip a chart tha t is othe rwise ev en, b ut is no tusually a pow erful thing in i ts el f- except wh en that reception is by exaltation. '

' If my team exalts your team we think your team is wonderful . ''Th at 's exact ly i t. Yo u thin k you're dest ined to lose. T h is doesn 't mea n that yo u

will lose, but i t does make it more likely. ''And if my planet is ruled by your planet.. . '' I t wil l be in i ts own detriment . Be careful with that one. Don't count this as

two separate testimonies. If Lord 1 is in a sign ruled by Lord 7, i t will always be inits detriment. Or vice versa. We can ignore the reception and just say it 's debili-tated. Similarly if Lord 1 is just inside the 7th house (or vice versa): i t is in the

enemy's house. It will also be in its detriment. This is one testimony, not two.''What about o ther recept ions? '' If m y planet is in the tr ipl ici ty ruled by you r planet , that is a m inor test im on y

in your favour. Reception by term, face, detriment and fal l can be ignored. '


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'And wha t abou t mutua l r ecep t ion wi th o the r p lane t s? Tha t mus t be he lp fu l . ''No, i t i sn ' t . You ' re th inking in abst rac t ions, taking a l i t t le formula : mutual

recept ion = he lp ful . Do n ' t . Yo u must th in k about w ha t these th ings m ean . M ut ua lreception is l ike fr iendship: the tw o planets wa nt to help each other. In a court-casehorary, which has some similari t ies to a contest horary, that may make sense. Ifmy p lane t i s i n mutua l r ecep t ion wi th ano the r p lane t , t ha t o the r p lane t cou ldsign i fy m y wi tnesses so m eb od y e lse w h o is he lpin g m e. In a contest , there i sn 'tan yb od y e lse : it's jus t m e an d the enem y. M y fr iend m ay wis h m e wel l , but he i sn 'tgoing to run onto the f ie ld and score a home run for me. '

' I see . Th er e n eeds to be a con text wh ere the m utu al recept ion can m ake sense .''Exact ly. T hi s is t rue of every tes t im on y in every branch o f as t ro logy. N o mat ter

h ow glor ious or ho w d readfu l w ha t w e see in the s ta rs , i t wi l l n ot hap pe n o n Ear thunless there is scope for that glorious or dreadful thing within the immediate , real ,con text . Th e s tars m ay sho w tha t I w in a for tu ne . Bu t i f I am pl ayin g cards form a tchs t i cks , I wi l l no t w in a fo r tun e . Th er e is no scope fo r w in n i n g a fo r tu newi thin the rea l context .

'N o w - tha t has s tu ffed qu i t e enou gh in form a t ion in to your head fo r one day.G o no w an d draw wa te r fo r our even ing soup . To m orr ow we can s ta r t pu t t ing th i sall together. '

Putting it together

Next morning we s ta r ted ear ly, beneath a g lor ious sky wi th a i r so c lear i t seemedI could reach out my hand and touch the nearby peaks. Bri tney set t led down in hercustomary place , ready for another day of be ing a doci le b lackboard. Sedna was al i t t le la te in joining us. Clearly he had been in a rush, as I had to make a discreet

gesture to te l l him some of his breakfast was st i l l a t tached to his beak. He wipedi t o ff w i th a wing - t ip .

'W e 've been thr ou gh the theory. N o w yo u ' l l see ho w tha t wo rks in the hur ly-bur ly of a char t . N o a cco un t of the theory, n o mat ter ho w exhaust ive , can ful lyshow ho w the cha r t is j udge d . Re m em ber :

IN THEOR Y THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ORY AND PRACTICE.

IN PRACTICE THERE IS. '

'Wi l l i am Li l ly? ''Yogi Berra. '


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'As you gain experience, you wil l increasingly be able to judge charts at a glance,w i tho u t go ing th roug h a fo rm a l p rocess. Unt i l t hen , yo u mu st w or k th rou gh thepoints on your checklist . These points are cumulat ive: a planet in an angular house

and on the No rt h N o d e i s s t ronger than i f i t were angular and no t on the N or thNode . But we cannot reduce our judgement to an a r i thmet i ca l fo rmula . Al l ourtes t imonies admit of gradat ion: how c lose to the angle? how c lose to the NorthNode? So i t is impossible to f ix a numerical value for any dignity or debil i ty. '

'Wil l I be able to judge al l charts at a glance, Master? ''N o t i f yo u wan t to ge t the r ight answer, no , my boy. W el l -be hav ed char ts have

clear-cut tes t imonies . O th ers do n ot . M a n y char ts a re finely ba lan ced. ''T h at c ou ld show a draw, couldn ' t i t, Ma ster? ''Yes. That f ine ba lance wi l l of ten be tes t imony tha t the game wi l l be drawn. I f

the draw is a possible outcome. If i t isn ' t , though:

DON'T SPLIT HAIRS

If w e wan t re liable judg em ents , we m ust be thorou gh, b ut i f the argum ent for eachteam is equal ly persuasive , we are unl ike ly to choose the vic tor by a microscopicanalysis of test imony. '

'So wha t do we do? ''Fi rs t , check tha t we haven ' t missed anything. Even the most obvious of tes t i -

m onies can t em pora r i ly concea l i t sel f beh ind a c lou d of ina t t en t ion . T h e th ingmost of ten forgot ten i s ant i sc ia . '

'An what? '

'W e ' l l co m e to tha t . Bu t i f you 've thoro ugh ly checke d every thing, then chec kedagain , and s t i l l honours a re even, fo l low Wil l iam Li l ly 's advice : When the testi-

m onies of Fortunes and In fortunes a re equal, defer udgem ent, it's not possible to knowwhich way the balance will turn.A We don ' t have to provide an answer for everychar t . Regard for the l imi ta t ions of knowledge , whether individual or col lec t ive ,is no failure. '

'But in The Horary Textbook it says: a lways force yourself to reach a judgem ent.'5

'So i t does . Our context here i s so l imi ted, however, tha t th is i s one area ofhorary where we may a l low ourse lves to pul l up shor t . Our choice in these char tsis between black and white . If a l l we can see is an exact mid-grey, this is nei thermore b lack nor more whi t e . Choos ing one o r the o the r would no t be judgement ,

4 W ill iam Lilly, Christian Astrology, p . 123; Lo nd on , 1647. T he best modern edit ion is the Astrolo gy Classicsed i t io n , f ro m T h e A s t ro lo g y C e n te r o f A m e r ica , A b in g d o n , 2 0 0 4.

5 P-5-


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W ho w ill w in? June 28th 2004, 9.29 pm BST, 51N311E06.

p. 5.


but guesswork. M o un t yoursel f instead upon the next bejewel led camel of advicein that r ichly laden caravan of as t ro logical wisdom: save the charts so you canexamine them once the outcome is known.6 W it h a sports char t, that ou tco m e is

l ikely to come soon, so you can quickly learn. ''And if i t is almost mid-grey, but not quite?''Sometimes we might detect a s l ight balance in favour of one team or the other.

In a match that somebody must win, even that s l ight balance wil l be sufficient tosh ow the victor. If a draw is a possib le result, so is a ju dg em en t su ch as, "It lo ok sl ike a draw, but your team might just edge i t". By rul ing out an enemy victory,even a hedged judgement l ike this has given us something. '

'Let 's look at a chart. ' I sketched a chart on Britney's flank. By now she had fallenasleep. ' Who will win, our guy or their guy?'


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H e sat in si lence, look ing at m e expecta ntly. ' N o , ' I told him . 'D on ' t wa it for m eto explain i t to you. You must do the work. As the Ancient Masters put i t , "Nopain, no gain". If I explain the judgement to you, i t wil l go in one ear and out the

other. I f yo u wo rk at it yoursel f , yo u m ight rem emb er som ething. So s tudy thechart yourself and tel l me what you think. '

Without hesi tat ion he said, 'Look at the posi t ion of Lord i Just inside the 7thhouse, the house of the enemy. I t looks bad for our guy. '

'So i t does. So bad that we could almost base judgement on this alone. Lord 7would have to be in a truly parlous state to be worse placed than this. But is thereanything else?'

H e tho ug ht for a m om en t. 'L ord 1 is in its detrime nt . '' If placed so close to the 7th cusp, i t will be. The sign on the 7th cusp is always

the det r iment of the Ascendant ru ler. Lord 1 being in i t s det r iment here i sinevitab le, so this is no t a seco nd tes t im on y and m ust no t be co un ted as such.Anyway, essential dignity makes l i t t le difference in these charts . I t is accidentaldignity that counts . '

H e tr ied again. 'Lo rd 1 is ruled by L ord 7. 'This warranted a smack with my st ick. ' If placed so close to the 7th cusp, of

course L ord 1 w ill be ruled by L or d 7. T h is too is no t a separate testim ony . It iseasy to repeat the same thing in different words and think you are pi l ing up test i -m onies. Th is is a trap. Yo u are not . So far we ha ve on ly on e test imon y. '

' I kno w Saturn is com bus t . ''Yes, goo d It is at the outer l imits o f co m bu stio n, but wit h the Sun ap plyin g to

i t is rapid ly bec om ing more deep ly com bust . W e n ow have two ser ious aff l ic t ionsto Lo rd 1, each o f w hi ch on i ts ow n w ou ld spell almost certain defeat . It is hard toimagine Lord 7 being in a worse condition, but we should glance at i t , just in case. '

'It's in its fall.''So what? It is accidental dignity that counts in contest horaries. ''I t's r ight on the M C . W h a t a pow erful p lacement T h e o ther guy m ust win . ''And so i t pro ved. W e have tw o serious affl ict ion s to Lo rd 1, w hile L or d 7 is

strong. I t is close to the South Node, but not close enough for this to be signifi-cant . '

'How close would i t need to be for that to be taken into account? '

'5 degrees at mo st. 3 or less for it to be a m ajo r testim on y.'I rubbed the chart from Bri tney's coat and drew another. This brought some

subd ued sno rt ing, as i f she were arguing with so meo ne in her s leep. 'N o w com parethis one. Same quest ion: Our g uys or their guys?'


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'Lord i on the 7th cusp: our guys lose ''No. Right tes t imony; wrong conclus ion. Think again . How does th is p lace-

ment of Lord 1 differ from the one we've just looked at? ''Here, Saturn is sitt ing on the 7th cusp; there, Saturn was inside it . ''So?''O h Sit t ing on the cusp, the planet controls the house. O u r guys con trol their

guys . We win. ''Exactly. Inside the cusp, the house con trols the planet . On the cusp, the planet

controls the house. This is so powerful a testimony it is almost conclusive. Is thereanything else of note? '

'Lord 7 doesn't seem to tell us much. ''No, i t doesn't . It 's in the 9th house, which is neither good nor bad. It has some

minor dignity by being in its joy, but this is trivial compared to the powerful place-


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ment of Lord I . Nothing much to be said about Lord 7; s trong test imony for Lord1. Our guys wil l win. '

'What about Lord 7 applying to oppose Mars , which ru les i t? '

'Good quest ion, my boy. If this were about a contest taking place over a longerperiod , such as the W or ld Series, Am erica 's C up , a chess cha m pion ship , or even atest match, this would be an important test imony. For a short , one-off game suchas a footbal l or rugby match, i t is too distant to be counted. If i t were within adegree or two i t would be significant here. '

'And what about the square between the Sun and Saturn?''Irrelevant Even if i t were tigh tly app lyin g it w o ul d have no relevance at all. A n

aspect brings the two things together. In this case it brings our guys and their guys

together. But we know that 's going to happen: we wouldn' t have a contest other-wise. W e don' t need to prove that both teams turn up. N o r is i t any m ore of acontest if we have an aspect, or any less of one if we don't . You have probably readhor ary judg em ents w her e an aspect is accor ded great significance. I f that were true,this separat ing aspect would show that the teams have already been in contact .The match must be over. Which was not , of course , the case when the ques t ionwas asked. '

'T h is is so simple W e can see the jud ge m en t here at a glance. ''This is t rue. We have a clear, powerful test imony in favour of one team. That 's

not quite enough for judgement: we must s t i l l take a quick look around the chartto make sure there is nothing equally powerful in favour of the other team. Butwith pract ice, my boy, you' l l be judging charts l ike this in a matter of seconds. 'He seemed sui tably impressed. Horary is a marvellous tool .

'You must real ise, though, that I am let t ing you in gently. ' He rubbed his shoul-der and loo ked unc on vince d. 'N o t all charts are quite so straightforward. Th is oneis a l i t t le more complex. Same quest ion: W ill we winV Britney rolled over in hersleep. I brushed the dust off her other flank and drew a new chart. He gazed at i tthoughtful ly.

'I see w ha t yo u m ean , ' he said. 'Th is on e doesn't seem to have a strong, clear-cuttest imony. '

'So start at the be gin nin g and let's see w ha t we can fin d. Lord 1 is M ercu ry. H o w

is Mercury?'' I t 's in the 7th house. But i t 's such a long way from the cusp. And, even more,

it 's in a different sign to the cusp. This testimony's not so strong. ''Oh, my beamish boy ' I chortled, 'Quite right, quite right. It 's almost 14 degrees


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Who w ill win?January 6th 1997, 2.12 pm GMT, London.

from the cusp, which great ly diminishes the negative effects of i ts being in theenemy's house. While being in a different s ign is l ike having a layer of protect iveinsulat ion around i t . This is s t i l l a minor negative test imony for the good guys,but i t's noth ing to get excited abo ut . W h a t else?'

' I t 's retrograde and under the sunbeams. Those are both weakening. ''Yes, and look how far i t is from the Sun. I t must be turning direct sometime

soon. That means i t must be moving s lowly and los ing speed. We can check thatin the ephemeris. ' I tweaked Sedna's tail .

'Slow in mot ion, ' he squawked.

'So L ord 1 is we ak. Tha t 's a bad sign for the goo d guys. ''What about the squares f rom Mars and Saturn? ''Two debil i tated malefics . Those squares would be very nasty, but at almost 5


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'W h at abo ut Venus? A benefic just inside the 7th house m ust favour the enem y. ''At 25 Sagittar ius, Ven us is peregrine . It 's essentially wea k, so it isn't that be ne fic.

A no th er m ino r tes timony . Ven us is the d isposi tor of Fortu na, tho ug h. Placed

wh ere it is, it is in the hand s o f the enem y. Th at 's an other testim ony in their favour,th ou gh again, on ly a m ino r one. So far i t looks finely balan ced. '

'A draw, then?''The main significators are about equal . I t would be too precious of us to try to

determ ine wh ic h is the stronger. So a draw is l ikely. If this were a kno ck -o ut m atch ,a game one team had to win , those minor tes t imonies would become important .As a draw is no longer possible, we can scrape the bottom of the testimonial barrelin an at temp t to find som ething o n wh ich to ha ng a judge m ent. Bu t you've missedsomething. The major tes t imony that makes judgement cer ta in . '

'What? We've looked at everything. ''N o, m y boy. Lo ok again. Lo ok at Lo rd 1 and the 7th cusp. ' I lay back to rest my

eyes. T h is co uld take some t ime .I was awakened by Bri tney clambering to her feet . I t was growing dark, t ime

for her milking. He was st i l l s i t t ing by her s ide, despondent . 'Come, ' I said, myhand on his shoulder. We walked back to the cave in s i lence, the sound of our

footsteps echoing among the mountains, so quiet i t was. I gestured to Bri tney tobe pat ient a moment longer and led him to the back of the cave, where a hutchheld a number of small mammals. He was entranced. 'Oh, what are they, Master?They're so sweet . Chipmunks? Some kind of marsupial? Potteroos?'

'N on e o f those, m y boy. T h ey are ant iscia. Every astrologer should have some o fthese l i t t le animals. ' I picked one up and gave i t to him. He pet ted i t , hugging i tand stroking i ts head. 'Take i t outside and put i t into that chart . '

He went back to where Bri tney was wait ing and held the ant iscion against thecha rt, w h ic h wa s stil l dim ly visible on her coat. 'M aster M aster I see ' H e wa s asexcited as a yo un g b oy w ith his first puppy . 'M ercu ry is at 6.04 Ca pric orn . I ts ant i-scion is at 23.56 Sagittarius.7 Im me diately inside the 7th cusp Lor d 1 is comp letelyin the power of the enemy. The good guys must lose. '

'And so they did. T h is is the one po we rful , determ ining test imo ny in this chart .It is quite as powerful as Lord 1 being there bodily, as you saw in the first chart wejudged. You see, these li t t le creatures are important. Look after the one I 've given

you . I f yo u had n ot used an ant isc ion, w ha t w ou ld yo u have been?''Wrong, Master. ''Louder. '

7 If yo u don ' t kn ow h ow to calculate antiscia, see Ap pe nd ix i .


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' W R O N G , M a ste r.'

'So don' t forget this lesson. Now go feed your ant iscion, while I milk Bri tney.That 's enough astrology for today. '

W e s tar ted again early the next mo rnin g. H av in g enjo yed a hear ty b reakfas t,Bri tney was more than obliging, lying down to snooze as I made use of her pi tch-black coat . 'The querent here was Norwegian. The ques t ion , Will Norway beatBrazil?'

'That 's easy ' he said after only a glance at the chart. I invited him to explain.'The querent i s Norwegian, so h is favouri tes , Norway, wi l l be shown by the i s thouse and their enemies by the 7th. Lord 1 is in a suc

john frawley - sports astrology

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