On the art of electing a good moment

Masters tell us that astrologers should not analyze a horary question for themselves. In the same way, they can make a mistake by creating an electional chart for themselves.

Our desire for something to happen, or not to happen, leads to difficulties in interpreting the astrological configurations, giving room to ours unconscious mind.

It is true that mistakes mark us more than correctness, so we should learn more from them, but … this is not always possible.

Sometimes, even “a posteriori ” we are not able to identify the error, and yet, the election has not occurred as it was expected.

Any chart, but especially the electional one, is of extraordinary complexity, perhaps because in the final analysis we may be playing God.

So here’s an advice to the astrologer: never read a chart in a hurry, without sleeping for at least two nights from the first sight. The initial trust of an electional date must remain unabated. If not, it should be reviewed.

It may just be a personal opinion, but it is not possible to serve too many customers. Ideally, the astrologer would have to be paid enough, so he or her could devote several days to the same chart. This would give chance to be dazzled by the enigma of the unknown that must be deciphered and enable the professional to become a scholar.

Having the client’s chart in mind, memorized, from so much studying it, it is possible to do the best . The professional who has time to dwell unhurriedly on the chart benefits clients enormously, because their charts live in the astrologer’s memory.

I can say that there are people who I have not seen for years, and for so many years that their charts have been lost on old thirty years old drives. Many of them are dead. But the charts are still in my mind, like those of my friends, relatives and children. I forget birthdays, numbers, but I do not forget the charts I worked on.

I mention this fact of “digesting” the chart, because it is fundamental especially for any election.

I advice also to the astrologer avoid in any way to erect an electional chart whose purpose he, as a person, does not agree. The astrologer has to be on the client´s side, so considering his goal unacceptable or impossible, is a bad way to begin the work.

What can happen on this cases is that the astrologer will not find plausible dates, will start running for years without finding anything, and finally will adapt some things correctly, but usually as a result of the time and context of the client.

The result is ineffective and will ultimately harm the client and his/her own name.

Such a thing has happened to me, and up to this day I do not discovered a mistake in that disastrous electional chart! Apparently the choice for the day was okay…but the subject was not one, but a bunch of events very intricate and not depending one of the other, even if they will begin at the same time.

If the desired outcome is unreasonable, such as winning the lottery, doing several surgeries at the same time, in order to take advantage of the election, or because of the hurry, or if a woman wants to become pregnant at age 55, frankly, it is better to decline the election, even if the client is willing to pay a big money, so big as the client´s fantasy and desires.

In the case of several surgeries on the same day, for example, it is difficult to hit a good day, because the procedure lasts too long: the position of the Moon changes and also the ascendant which can be able to harbour Saturn or Mars, which dilutes the election, even if it has been well done.

The electional chart must take into account the client’s natal chart, the cyclical moment in which he is living, which is provided by the rulers and sub-rulers of firdars and profections, and by the ruler of the year, indicated by the solar revolution. The last one will be the Lord of the Year and we have to look exactly how it is configured in the natal chart and in the solar revolution, which means signs and houses it rules, its dispositor and finally, the aspects that it realizes and receives in the natal chart and in the solar revolution.

Writing what we observe is useful, because there are so many things to consider that our mind often forgets some very important of them

– Even if it seems obvious to you, write it down.

Yes, write down to yourself, it do not hurts, and justify your choice as if you were in the court room, until you have pages and pages of thoughts about what is important and why you have to take it into account, which houses should be avoided, which signs, which planets cannot be configured to some others … and much more.

At last but not least, consider the transits and avoid the malefic planets to be in configuration with the Lord of the Year and with the profection and firdar signs dispositors. If it is not possible, choose the less bad of the configurations.

All of the attention is good, but the astrologer will have to count on with some luck. I´ll give you an example:

Once, I chose the date of surgery for a client. I had already restricted the appropriate period, observing that both the firdar ruler and the sub-ruler were well configured in the natal chart, have avoided any contact with the eight house and her ruler, Venus, have paid good attention to where the profection felt in that year, which by the way was in the 8th house, which was ruled by Venus, as I said. In the natal chart Venus was in Virgo, very weak and in a cadent house, which was no good.

I had already verified the solar revolution, and the ascendant was Leo with Venus in the first house. Venus in this case, as ruler of the 8th house could be a light against a surgery. But the natal Leo was the sign of the 5th house, which seemed acceptable to me, due the intention of the surgery.

The Sun was the Lord of the Year, succedent in the solar revolution, applying itself to Saturn, but still distant, but I knew I had to take it into account.

Well, charts are imperfect, we have to get used with that, the malefics are always present, so the impression we have is that the astrologer flies from one side to another and when he thinks that has arrived at a good date, a planet appears to spoil all the job done.

I finally chose the day and the hour of my example chart. I justified the choice writing down to myself. And so I ended my day´s work and went out to watch a movie.

That night, when I closed my eyes to sleep, I remembered to send the report the next day and I felt uneasy. I stood up and opened the computer.

Out of the blue I saw that the Moon of the chosen date was in exact conjunction with Saturn in the Solar Revolution. The Moon was firdar´s sub-ruler and in addition, it has a huge importance over vital facts. I discarded the date and chose another one, very close, because the other planets were well.

It was not a perfect election, because after all, I realized that I could not accommodate well so many significators. But it looked as good as it was possible to be.

What is disturbing is the fact that it was virtually impossible to remember All ,as the fact that in the solar revolution Saturn would be at the same point and in the same degree as the Moon’s position of the chosen electional chart!

Saturn was not a significator, but it is the greatest malefic, and these coincidences, which in fact happen often, do not bode well.  Anyway, all this tiny thing requires a bionic attention! How do we ensure that we have all this in mind?

I don´t know if the surgery would be a disaster if I had forgot the position of Saturn, but I don´t like these kind of bad coincidences.

The question of choosing a date is complex. It is an intricate subject, because it uses the maximum freedom that is allowed to us, human beings.

In addition, there are elections of the date and time of birth, something of an unusual responsibility and that we must always carry out keeping in mind that we will try to reach some agreement with the divine.

Clélia Romano, DMA                                                        http://www.astrologiahumana.com

The Classical Astrologer and Family Planning

Today, huge amounts of time and money are spent on genetic research, pre-natal medical counselling, and direct medical intervention such as fertility treatment to help couples who, for one reason or another, have difficulty in conception. While we may like to think of this as an enlightened modern pre-occupation, it is not by any stretch of the imagination. The desire to unlock the mysteries of procreation has occupied man for a long, long time!

In the past, the astrologer employed in the courts of the ruling class and nobility was the first and most important figure upon whom a ruler or noble would depend for counsel to ensure a primogeniture to whom the reins of power or authority would pass.

The traditional or classical astrologer had to be proficient in not only natal delineation, but he had to be skilled in the Arts of Questions[1] and Elections.[2] It was not enough that the astrologer could delineate the possibility of children from the subjects’ nativity, but the question of a successor was so paramount that his aid and direct participation was sought to find the best moment for the act of intercourse to result in the successful generation of a child; and in most cases the desire for a male child. The ancient classical and medieval astrologer, by all accounts, was expected to not only arrange things so that a child of the requisite sex was conceived but also, it was expected that the child would be born at the proper time. This was tantamount to nothing less than a type of astrological genetic counselling!

In his role as ‘family planner’, the astrologer would first delineate the natal charts of the couple, see if child birth was possible, and perhaps see anything that might hinder conception. A couple might also come to him with specific questions which were presented in the form of «interrogations» or horary questions. We can see several of the typical questions that were anticipated in the text of the 9^th century Arabic astrologer, Sahl Ibn Bishr.[3]

«… if a man or a woman has asked whether or not he or she will have a child, look at the Ascendant; if there were benefics in it, or if the ruler of the Ascendant was in the Ascendant or in the tenth or in the eleventh or in the 5th, and Jupiter was in the best house from the Ascendant, a child will be born to him; and if the ruler of the Ascendant was in the Ascendant or in the 4th or in the 7th and Jupiter was in a good place from the Ascendant, a child will be born to him with some delay after [the time of] his own question. But if you have found a malefic in the Ascendant or if it aspects it by opposition or by square aspect, and the ruler of the Ascendant was in a bad place, and Jupiter was cadent or in the house of death or under the Sun beams, it signifies few children, and who will live only a short time if there are any…»

« …if the question was about some woman, whether or not she is pregnant and whether or not she will bear a child or whether it would be fortunate for her or not, look at the ruler of the Ascendant and the Moon, which are the significators of children. If you have found the ruler of the Ascendant and the Moon in the house of children, and if the ruler of the house of children is in the Ascendant free from the malefics, say that she is pregnant; and if the ruler of the Ascendant and the Moon have given, i.e. if they have committed, their own disposition to any planet in an angle, there will be a pregnancy, and all the more so if it was received; and if they were joined to a planet cadent from the Ascendant, it signifies loss, and the pregnancy is in vain; and even more so if the Ascendant was a mobile sign or if there was a malefic in an angle, or if the Moon was joined to a malefic, because all of these signify loss…»

« …if you have been asked whether she will bear a male or a female, look at the ruler of the Ascendant and the ruler of the house of children; if they were in masculine signs, there will be a male in her belly; and if they were in feminine signs, there will be a female in her belly; and if one of them was in a masculine sign and the other one was in a feminine sign, look at the Moon’s sign and at the planet to which the Moon is joined; if the Moon was in a masculine sign and was joined to a masculine planet, she will bear a male, but if the Moon was in a feminine sign or was joined to a feminine planet, she will bear a female. And know that Mercury, when it is oriental, i.e. when it is behind the Sun, will be feminine, if God wills!»[4]

He would then «elect» the most auspicious time for conception to occur.

«When you want to elect an hour for intercourse, i.e. when you want to have intercourse with your wife, so that you can beget a male child, let the Ascendant and its ruler and the Moon and the ruler of the house of children be in masculine signs or in a masculine quadrant of the circle in the hour of intercourse, and in that hour you should not put any planet but a masculine one in the Ascendant and in the sign [house] of children. And if you want it to be a female, let these significators be in feminine signs and in a feminine quadrant of the circle…»[5]

 

Next, the astrologer/physician would cast a chart at the time of conception to determine the length of the pregnancy and find out how long the woman would carry the developing child! The ancient astrologers/physicians believed that fertilization  occurred at the time of insemination. They did not know that conception was a process that involved the fertilization of an egg by the male sperm. They simply assumed that the woman’s womb was a protected environment where the man’s «seed» would develop into an infant! Their idea of conception was formed largely from watching plants. It was not until the microscope in the 18^th century that physicians learned what true conception was and it was not until the 20^th century that physicians learned that true conception might not occur until days after coitus, therefore, it is difficult to credit astrological dicta.

One of the older extant texts containing the astrological instructions for determining the term of a pregnancy and the time of conception can be found in the writings of the Greek astrologer Vettius Valens![6]

It is difficult in such a short synopsis to go into all the details of the method for calculating the term of the pregnancy. In general it is based on the conception that the degree of the sign in which the Moon is at the time of the infusion of sperm will be the degree of the ascendant in the nativity and that the degree that was ascending at the time of conception will be the same degree as the Moon in the sign it will be posited in the nativity!

Vettius Valens writes,

«The Moon at birth will indicate the hour of conception in respect to the zoion[7] in which it took place,[8] while the hōroskopos of conception will have as many degrees as the Moon has at birth.»

It is later quoted as the 51^st aphorism in the Centiloquium.[9]

«Make the sign occupied by the Moon at the time of birth the ascending sign at the conception; and consider that in which she may be posited at the conception, or the opposite one, as the sign ascending at birth.»

The method postulates that there are three terms of the pregnancy;[10] a least, a middle, and a greatest. The difference between each term is fifteen days. Which term was chosen depended on the position of the Moon in the chart of the conception. The least term is 258 days which was when the Moon was in the degrees of the descending sign above the horizon. The middle term was 15 days more than that, or 273 days and was attributed when Moon was in the ascendant. The greatest term was 15 days more or 289 days, when the Moon was in the degrees of the descendant below the horizon.

Let us say for example, 10º Cancer is rising, then, 10º Capricorn is setting. The conception is that between the setting degree (the least term) moving in the order of the signs to the eastern horizon[11] (the middle term) there are 180º, which are the equivalent of 15 days. Therefore, 30º equalled 2½ days, which can be further divided. 2½ days is 60 hours so 1º was equal to 2 hours. Likewise, from the Ascending sign continuing to move below the horizon in the order of the signs towards the west, those 180 º also equalled 15 days.

So depending on where the Moon was posited, above or below the horizon, then a certain number of days and hours was added to either the least or middle term and that was the length of the pregnancy.

In our example then, if the Moon (for simplicities sake) was at 25º Taurus, then we could find the length of the pregnancy by counting the number of degrees between the descending degree of 10º Capricorn (280º longitude) and subtract that from the degrees of the Moon at 25º Taurus (55º of longitude). Since 55º is smaller than 280º, I add 360º to 55º, which is 415º. Now I can subtract; 415 – 280 = 135º. I can then divide that by 30º, which gives me 4 which a remainder of 15º. Each of those 30º divisions is equal to 2½ days, which gives me 10 days plus 15º, or 10 days and 30 hours,[12] or simply 11 days and 6 hours. This then would be added to the least term of 258 days giving 269 days and 6 hours as the term of the pregnancy.

Just as simply one could of course calculate the degrees between the Ascendant degree and the Moon and subtract the equivalent days from the middle term of 273 days.

I hope the reader realises this is a very simplistic overview of the technique. One finds much more complete instructions in Guido Bonatti’s text book, Liber Astronomiae Tractatus Decimus called, Trutine of Hermes on the Causation of the Length of Pregnancy. This of course, is not the only medieval text discussing the Length of Pregnancy. Dominicus Maria de Novarra[13] wrote an entire manuscript on the subject and found in the Biblioteca Paletina. There are several others from this period also.

What can I say as an astrologer? Does it work? I don’t know as I do not have enough experience in this particular ‘field’ to be able to judge one way or the other. That is the purpose of this short article, to expose this teaching in order to encourage further inquiry!

I do think it is fair enough to speculate in this regard and we should not just dismiss off hand such speculation. For while we may with no certainty say the method does or does not work, it was most certainly a major part of the medieval and classical astrologers ‘bread and butter’.

If such a method was effective and in fact widely practiced, then our predecessors were a long way ahead of us today in their medical ‘technology’ because such a method would be entirely without any deleterious side effects that are always present to some degree with our modern drug, hormone and surgery treatments! It would be an entirely natural solution!

[1] Horary astrology – casting a chart for the moment of an important question and determining the outcome from identification and particular circumstances of the significators of the querent and question

[2] Electional astrology – the art of determining the most auspicious moment to do something through examining the astrologicals at certain times

[3] The Arabian astrologer later known in the West as Zahel (or Zael), a Jew, who served as court astrologer to the governor of Khurasan in the period 820-822 A.D. and later to al-Hasan ibn Sahl (d. 850/851), the vizier of Baghdad during the reign of the caliph al-Ma^’mūn (reigned 813-833). Among the 18 books that are attributed to him to have written, five were translated into Latin by 12th century translators in Spain.

[4] The Introduction to the Science of the Judgments of the Stars, translated from the 12^th century Latin text by James H. Holden

[5] Ibid

[6] Vettius Valens was a young contemporary of Ptolemy. Valens tells us himself that he was conceived on the 13^th of May 119 C.E. and born 9 months later on February 8, 120 C.E. His death is a little more uncertain but he is presumed to have died in the time period 173 – 175 C.E. in his 50’s. His major literary contribution, called the Anthology (Anthologiae) is probably the most massive and comprehensive picture of Hellenistic astrology that exists and not only includes detailed natal methodology but also 125 charts of apparently, Valens own «clients». The Anthology was a major reference work for Byzantine and Medieval Arabic astrologers.

[7] That is, sign

[8] That is to say, that the Moon in the nativity is the same as the hour, or ascendant degree, of the conception.

[9] This work, as the name implies, is a compilation of 100 astrological aphorisms. It was also known by the name Liber Fructus or Book of Fruit and often attributed to Ptolemy. However, this attribution has become very doubtful since a majority of the aphorisms deal with horary, which is a subject Ptolemy appears to disdain and ignore totally in Tetrabiblos. Modern scientific historians also cast much doubt on this attribution and suspect it was rather an ambitious Medieval Arabic writer’s work in the 9^th century and assuming Ptolemy’s authorship in order to lend greater authority to his own writings!

[10] I.e. from conception to birth

[11] I.e. the ascending degree

[12] 1º = 2 hours

[13] Dominicus was the student of Marsilio Ficino, the great Florentine Platonist and advisor to the Medicis. He was also reputed to have been friend and associate to Copernicus.