I seldom judge charts for myself – there is no specific reason for that, I suppose the old saying of the plumbers toilet doesn't work is applicable– but recently I needed to make an important decision and thought "of course, why not judge a Horary question for myself?". A smart move wouldn't you agree?

When this chart unfolded I literally clapped my hands with delight – charts seldom behave as they should but this one exposed itself to me like a beautifully choreographed ballet – it was perfect in its technicality and in its essence – an absolute delight. I hope that you find as much joy in following my judgement as I did in attaining it.

As I am the Querent I will use the first person throughout this article – I can never understand why some refer to themselves in the third person – so my Planets are Lord 1 Saturn and the Moon as co-significator.

The history around the Quesited is as follows – I recently resigned from full time employment to pursue a career as a professional Astrologer and teacher. I have however retained certain portfolios for the company which I attend to on a contractual basis. This significator is therefore Lord 10, Venus, as it is still a current "job". I was then approached by another company who was prepared to meet my criteria of flexible hours and independence and they were about to make me an offer. This significator is thus Mars as Scorpio is the next sign round after Libra - Venus is already occupied by the current job. The position on offer was exciting and would take me back into my former arena where I had excelled and where I was well known. However, my passion and heart lie with Astrology and my dilemma was primarily one of a financial nature – no matter how much we trust in our abilities and in our faith, it is human nature to have fears and doubts, especially when it comes to the ability to meet financial deadlines.

I did not ask a specific question, instead what I wanted to determine was the comparison of quality and essence of the two positions against each other and against my Astrological aspirations and I desired to look at the financial implications of any decisions I made.

Significators are as follows:

• Saturn and the Moon – me
• Venus – Lord 10 – my previous (current) company that I contract to, so the current job
• Mars – next sign round – the new job on offer
• Mars is also the contractual work's money (2 nd from 10 th )
• Jupiter is the money of the job being offered (2 nd from Scorpio)
• Mercury – Lord 9 – is Astrology in general and my Astrological knowledge and teaching ability, it is also my brain child (my Astrology practice and Horary course that I teach) as it is Lord 5 as well. Saturn also signifies my personal finances as it is Lord 2. I could have investigated further options such as the money from my clients and students but it does not pay to over complicate a chart and I had more than enough information to obtain a clear picture of the situation.

Once again please note that we do not introduce any unnecessary players onto the stage so I will only explain what a significator represents if it has any bearing on the judgement.

Judgement:

Saturn is ruled by and in the exaltation of Mercury – rather easy to see what I truly love – triplicity and term of Venus – I like my current contractual work – in the detriment of Jupiter – the money of the job on offer and in the fall of Venus – the current contractual work which does steal time away from Astrology but which is a necessity. He is also peregrine and retrograde – wandering and going against his nature which is extremely accurate as I seldom have dilemmas or procrastinate as I was currently doing – he is posited in the 8 th which further weakens him and is thus affected by or at the mercy of others money. He is applying to conjunct the S.Node which is on Regulus showing that if I go back to working for someone on a more permanent basis I will achieve material and worldly success in that realm, and the applying conjunction portrays my thought process of considering going back.

However that conjunction never reaches perfection – I do not change my mind about going back to the past. Saturn is in a mutable sign which shows that I will need to do more than one thing for awhile (as I am currently doing) while I pursue my dreams, and that I will have the resources and energy levels available to do so.

The Moon is ruled by Mercury – once again showing my true love on an emotional level – in the triplicity of Saturn – my emotions are in tune with what I need – term of Jupiter so I like the thought of the new job's money, and in the face of Mars – I like the thought of the new job and the current job's money, and in the detriment of the new job's money – it can harm me. She is peregrine so emotionally I am a lost or undecided, she is in the 5 th thus neutral but this is also the house of my brain child – emotionally this is what I want and where I want to be. She is applying to conjunct the Part of Fortune which has the same dignity and detriment as she does being in Gemini. The PoF lies in Astrology in the 5 th – my brain child.

Venus is ruled by Jupiter (we are not concerned with Jupiter here as we really don't need to study this job's intricacies), in the triplicity of the Sun (same applies), in the term and face of Saturn, so this job has a mild liking for me, and in the detriment of Mercury – yes, I am sure that on some level I harmed it when I resigned, peregrine so not that strong but in the 11 th which is neutral.

Viewing Mars as the money from this job we see that it is ruled by Mercury (not a player here) in the triplicity and term of Saturn, so the money likes me, in the face of the Sun and detriment of Jupiter, both irrelevant – no need to search for additional or hidden meanings. He is in the neutral 5 th but peregrine and in second station making him very weak indeed. The money from this job is not good, but this can also be seen against the money from the other job on offer – the remuneration for the contractual work that I do is significantly less than what will be offered for the new position but one has to compare apples with apples. This was a perfectly accurate assessment of the situation.

Mars seen as the job on offer gives us a different picture – what I am interested in seeing is if it likes me, and yes it does – triplicity and term of Saturn, but its money worries me – in detriment of Jupiter, its financial situation is not as strong as it appears or the amount of input will not equal the financial output. Its accidental dignities of being peregrine, retrograde and in second station show its weakness and vulnerability and are also of concern.

Jupiter, the money from the job likes me so will want to come to me but it is in fall, once again showing that things are not as rosy as the prospective employers said they were – this is further enhanced by its placement in the 12th. Jupiter is conjunct the Fixed Star Facies – a violent star indicating some form of a blind spot – negative indeed.

The Antiscia of the significators shed no major light on the judgement however there was a very interesting story between the current job and the future jobs money of which I was aware but which I will refrain from sharing – corporate politics are not that exciting anyway.

The position of the Nodes is of interest – the Nodes do not cast aspects and we are only interested in them if a significator aspects them by conjunction. However, they can shed light on the quality of a house – the N.Node is in the 2nd of my finances and assets and the S.Node in the 8 th – others money. This is positive showing that my assets would improve and that in fact they were in a better position then those on whom I was relying – far better to rely on my own skills, talents and assets in this instance.

The last technicality that I looked at was the Part of Resignation and Dismissal – I was concerned that if I turned down the job on offer, I had no guarantee in place as to how long I would be doing the contract work for the present company – I wished to see if that work would be ongoing. The PoRD is at 16Leo24 in the 7 th . We are only interested in opposition and conjunction when working with a Part and neither the current jobs significator nor its money were playing ball. The interesting factor was that Mercury was separating from an exact opposition to the Part, it was still partile, and in most scenarios in Horary opposition show the event occurring but with regret. I was coming very close to shelving my professional Astrological aspirations and resigning myself to working for someone on a more permanent basis again – had I done so there would have been regret.

Please note that we are not looking for aspects between me and the two positions – I already have one of them, the other is about to be offered to me, and it is a foregone conclusion that I can choose which one I want – we are not waiting to see if an event will occur.

The strongest mutual receptions in this chart are between me and Astrology – I love it and it loves me – the receptions between me and the two "jobs" are much weaker. In judging this chart I came to the conclusion which I instinctively and emotionally knew to be true – to follow ones dream is not easy, nowhere is it written that dreams should be easily attained and at the end of the day all we can truly do is to honour the self.

"…..to honour the self is to be in love with our own life, in love with our possibilities for growth and for experiencing joy, in love with the process of discovering and exploring our distinctively human potentialities…….and this I shall argue, requires enormous independence, courage and integrity." Nathaniel Branden, Honouring the Self.