A fantastic two days of learning The Art of Horary was had by all at Muqita's recent workshop. We worked through a pile of examples and gained a lot of knowledge BUT I still have a provocative question about one department: STRICTURES OF JUDGEMENT - TO USE OR NOT TO USE?

(Muqita has kindly supplied the strictures for the benefit of Beginners at the end of this Forum discussion)

According to John Frawley, strictures were an insurance policy put in place by astrologers of olde to ensure that they didn't lose their heads (literally) in the process of answering the King's questions to his dissatisfaction. Therefore, if the astrologer thought the king would not like the answer given by the chart he would claim that the chart is ‘not fit to be read'.

William Lilly says, "It is presumed that if the mind is clear regarding the question, the Ascendant will not be in the first or last degrees of a sign."

Furthermore, from Nicholas De Vore, "A figure cast for a trivial or confused issue or query will be unrevealing, since the significance one is able to extract from an Horary Figure is limited to the precise quality of consciousness brought to bear upon it."

I know that when Geoffrey Cornelius was asked about Strictures at last year's Argo conference he replied that "they are important, they say do not judge me; the astrology will not speak" [i]

An Internet search led me to an answer by someone called Pocket Dragon: "As I understand it, strictures are merely warnings. You can still attempt to interpret the chart, but you need to exercise caution. I think the thing with a 7th house Saturn is that Lilly warned that the Astrologer was in danger of making an error of judgement. If ever I get a 7th house Saturn, I take it that the universe is ‘out to lunch'."

My Mercury was now in the burning way, and I started a frantic email/telephone assault to clarify my mind. The universe felt kindly towards me, and within less than 2 hours I had some responses from our members:

Muqita:

"After throwing out almost 80% of the horaries because the ascendant ruler was not of the same nature as the planetary hour, I can safely say looking back at these charts that there was nothing wrong with them.

Applying all these rules by bringing out your most fastidious Virgo traits is just bad for business. Rather use these strictures in your judgement than use them against judgement. The astrologer should not agree to do a horary if the client wishes to spy on others, has a hidden agenda that is questionable, or thinks astrology is a joke and wishes to test you.

If the client refuses to accept the answer given in the first couple of horaries and keeps asking in the hope of receiving a different answer, the chart will reflect the situation. It's as if the universe grows tired of saying the same thing. The only stricture that makes a chart invalid is if you can't see the answer, no matter how hard you try. Throw this chart out and ask the client to ask again when the ‘heavens are friendlier'."

Cynthia Thorburn:

"I find that the VoC Moon is a very valid stricture. We use the VoC Moon in so many other ways why shouldn't we use it in Astrology? In some strange way the VoC Moon actually supplies an answer in its own right in that the question that was posed ‘will come to nought'; and in fact, usually this answers the querent's question by telling him/her that there is nothing to worry about.

When the Ascendant is less than 3 degrees, I usually tell my client that it's too early to cast judgement and that they need to go and do some homework on the situation surrounding the question.

If the Ascendant is more than 27 degrees, I warn the person asking the question that the situation is literally ‘out of their hands' and has already been decided. As for Saturn in the 7th house of a Horary Chart ... I SIMPLY WOULDN'T TRUST MYSELF TO ANSWER.

Strangely enough, I never really get Horaries where the strictures apply anymore. When I was first starting out (for about a year or so into my Horary experience) I had a larger percentage of charts that didn't pass the strictures and thus were deemed unreadable. I think the cosmos gets kinder to the astrologer as the astrologer's experience grows ...

When the Moon is in the Via Combusta, I don't consider it as a valid stricture, since the Via Combusta has now shifted. What I will warn the client is that he/she is in a LOW EMOTIONAL STATE. Another consideration is when the Ascendant ruler is combust. It shows that the person is under a greater power and being DEVOURED by the Sun, once again, the person is in a bad way and the situation is pretty much out of their hands."

Cindy Lubner:

"I think strictures are important in Horary Astrology, they give us the backbone in identifying if the time is right in revealing the unknown and making it known. We know that if the Sun isn't out it is not the right time to take a swim. The strictures cushion us with the right setting, giving us support and direction in a question being judged. Some may disagree with this, but I cannot see the logic in removing the rules, when Horary is truly a well thought out rule-based system. It can only threaten what is being asked."

After some further consideration and chewing of the cud like a true Taurean, I decided to conclude the following:

Rules are rules for beginners. Follow the Horary strictures whilst you are just starting out because the cosmos always knows more than you, but remember that a lot of the time the stricture actually answers the question, which, for a lazy bull like me, saves a lot of brain twisting!!

SEND YOUR OPINIONS ON THE MATTER TO ASPECTS on

Repeatedly in his Christian Astrology, Lilly is seen to warn the astrologer to check that the horary chart "be radical or fit to be judged" (p. 121, 298). These "considerations" before judgement generally included:

1. Ruler of the ascendant and planetary hour must be of the same nature or triplicity
2. If less than 3 degrees ascend, the matter "is not yet ripe for judgement"
3. If more than 27 degrees ascend, it's too late or the querent has already asked others or "despairs of any success" in the matter
4. If the moon is VoC, there is little hope for the question, unless the moon is in Taurus, Cancer, Sagittarius or Pisces
5. If the moon is Via Combusta (i.e. within the last 15 degrees of Libra and first 15 degrees of Scorpio)
6. If the ascendant ruler is combust, the querent will not listen to reason
7. If Saturn or Mars are peregrine or otherwise unfortunate and posited in the 10th house, or the south node is in that house, the astrologer gets little credit for the judgement
8. If the question is about some other matter than the 7th house and the 7th house cusp is afflicted or ruler of the 7th is retrograde or impedited, then the astrologer's judgement is faulty or the judgement doesn't please the querent. A peregrine or detrimented Saturn in the 7th was a definite stricture, since the 7th house signified the astrologer. The same went for ruler of the 7th being in the terms of the infortunes.

Notes & References:

[i] Geoffrey Cornelius - The Moment of Astrology by Jerome Ainsley, page 14 - ASPECTS magazine December/January 2006.