Beginner information AM

Compiled by Ineke
Dorothy J. Kovach dorothy@worldastrology.net
Where should I begin reading?
I would suggest that you start with Book One of Christian Astrology which is available over at
our website www.worldastrology.net under 'e books' Horary is the first step, I think in coming
to understand the greater body of Astrology, because if you follow the rules, laid out by the
ancients, it is the best way to learn astrology, because you will get used to seeing the heavens
respond in accord to the rules of horary in a way you cannot from doing natal charts right off,
because, with horary you can see cause, and effect, while with natal, we never seem to meet
enough people to gather confidence, in reading their charts, but there is no end to the amount of
horarys you can gather, and try. So start with learning horary.
My feeling is the best thing to do is to download book 1 of Christian Astrology over at the and
then make a separate copy of the last few chapters. Horary is a very house oriented study, so I
would suggest starting by memorizing the meanings of the houses, and then take on the signs
and then the planets.
The next thing, get hands on practice.
I recommend is that you start asking horarys and ask your friends and family to ask you horary
questions, as well as start trying the horarys that come up on list. Each time you hear a
question, or have a question, stop, what you are doing, sit down, and write down the time and
the place of the question and draw up a chart. Get out book one for each. I am working on
transcribing Book 2 of Christian Astrology, as we speak, that is also very helpful to have. I
think you can get the whole thing at www.astroamerica.com Above all, just try the charts as
they come up on list, and when you are stuck, ask for help. We are lucky to be surrounded by
brilliance and kindness, on this list. And everybody helps everybody else!!!
I think everybody
should read Christian Astrology do at least once, but I would consider reading Christian
Astrology along with the horaries that come up on list. This is the best way, to my way of
thinking, bar none, to get great at horaries. Each time a subject comes up, if a person asks you a
horary, or if somebody asks a horary on AM, just take out Christian Astrology books 1 and 2,
and go over the pertinent subject material. One can buy all the books in the world, but
without a chart, in front of you, the words in them will not sink into your brain. It is like when
we buy an astrology cook book. Nothing sticks in one's grey matter without something to tie us
to it. A horary will do just this. Again, there are a million books out there, but if you do not tie
them to a specific chart, they will just remain books on your shelf you once read.
The more you do this, the better you will get. I promise you. The more you do this and then
write what you think to list, giving Lilly's citations, the faster you will get confident at horary,
because it will stick in your head.
You can own a million books on the subject, but once you get in the habit of always sitting
down and working the charts with Lilly and or Dorotheus in hand, you will make leaps and
bounds in your abilities with horary.
Caroline Allen trinesandsextiles@btinternet.com

You don't need to read everything that has ever been written! I think it is far better to
thoroughly digest the crme de la crme of the crop than spread your studies too thinly, so go
for quality rather than quantity :0)
I don't know about a sequence, but if you are focussing on Horary, then apart from Christian
Astrology by William Lilly (which should be essential reading and the starting point of any
Horary studies) then I would suggest that if you don't own "Carmen Astrologicum" by
Dorotheus of Sidon translated by David Pingree that you immediately rush out and procure a
copy. It is the oldest text on Horary that we have :0) Dorotheus pre-dates Firmicus Maternus,
Vettius Valens and Ptolemy as he lived and worked just after Manilius around 50 AD and
this enchanting book was originally written in verse, hence its title which means `Song of
Astrology'.
In my copy, there is a forward by that eminent English astrologer Nicholas Campion who
quotes Jim Tester saying: "Dorotheus' principle impact on Hellenistic astrology was to
irrevocably shift the emphasis from the character analysis of birth charts to the study of
Katachai, or interrogations. These were horoscopes cast for the asking of questions, or what
have come to be known as Horary charts. It would be more correct to say that Dorotheus was
the first Greek known to have written extensively upon such matters. His work must have been
preceded by earlier studies which have been lost. . . . through Dorotheus and his successors, the
rules of horary astrology were available to medieval European astrologers. Michael Scot, for
example, cast horary charts for his master, Frederick II. Thus the foremost scholar in Europe
was advising the most powerful man on the basis of the rules for celestial analysis set down
1200 years earlier by Dorotheus of Sidon'" ends quote
Carmen Astrologicum starts off with an exploration of nativities, explaining such timeless
issues as health, wealth, romance, marriage, children, sickness and death before covering
`interrogations' such as how to demolish a building, hire a property, buying and selling,
courtship, theft, constipation and surgical operations etc. My copy is published by Ascella, but
there are other houses who have published it.
Then, in no particular order, my absolutely essential reading (in that these are books that I have
on my desk permanently and never get put back on the bookshelf) are:
`Anima Astrologiae' The Astrologers Guide the Considerations of Guido Bonatus (13th c)
`The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology' (11th c) Al-Biruni
`The Judgements of Nativities' by Abu `Ali Al-Khayyat (8th c) translated by James Holden
`Matheseos Libri VIII by Firmicus Maternus (4th c) translated by Jean Rhys Bram
`The Beginning of Wisdom' by Avraham Ibn-Ezra (12th c) translated by Meira B Epstein
`Liber Astronomiae' by Guido Bonatus (13th c) translated by Robert Zoller and Robert Hand
I use the above all the time and only occasionally go for corroboration of a testimony from Abu
Ma'shar, Masha' Allah, Omar of Tiberius, or Hermes Trismegistus etc.
Tropical zodiac?
The tropical zodiac is based upon seasons. While the constellational or sidereal is based upon
the stars.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac
The beginning of the tropical zodiac is the first moment of Spring. We all this 0 Aries. In India

where astrology did not grow up in the seasons, stuck to the actual constellations.
In the west the astrology grew up with seasons.
The problem with the tropical zodiac, is that if you look in your 'tropical' ephemeris, and see
that Venus is in Taurus and decide to get out your telescope at night to spot Venus via the
constellation Taurus, the odds are 23/30 that you might not find the constellation Taurus behind
Venus.....
This is because of precession of the equinoxes (see above link).
Once upon a time, two thousand plus or minus years ago, when we looked up at the
constellations of animals (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, etc.) that we call the zodiac, when we looked
up at a planet, say Venus in the evening sky, the constellation that backed it was the exact same
constellation up in the heavens. However, little by little the zodiac slipped away from the
positions that the ancients looked at to the point where now the as true to both the beginning of
spring and the actual constellations up in the heaven.
Placidus house division?
The most important thing to demark in charts, is said to be the 'rising sign' or ascendant (the
first house). This is the spot that symbolic of sun rise in the chart. The Sun Moon and the stars
rise up from this place in the chart.
The next most important place is the Midheaven, or the 10th house. This is the spot that
symbolically marks the noon spot. At the moment that planets and stars get to this point, they
start to fall. This is why this point is so very important. Rising and Falling are most important
feature to be aware of in a chart, so the ancients were careful to mark these points.
The 7th house marks sunset, and after this point, the Sun sets, into the horizon and the stars fall
and go down below the horizon into the dark abyss.
The 4th house denotes the darkest point in the heavens and the midnight hour. Some call the
witching hour, the darkest part of night.
In ancient times, the houses were basically set at 0 cusps, no matter what. As time went on the
ancient astrologers decided to bisect the 4 angles, and this is how the other houses were
created, by bisecting the quarters, the succeedent (2, 5, 8, 11) and the cadent (3, 6, 9, 12) were
created Placidus is one of various astrologers and mathematicians who tried to define where
the succeedent and cadent houses would land, exactly. For our purposes, I do not want to bring
up the various arguments for one house system over another. Basically on AM some prefer the
Placidus, and some prefer others. I prefer Regiomontanus, because this is a land based house
system, and we live on earth.
Process of delineation
I no longer use a check list as such.
- I first automatically look at the ASC of the chart. I note the sign, and what it stands for.
- I look for early late degrees
- then I look to the ruler. What is he or she doing? Where is she or he placed. Is it a good house
(1, 5, 9, 10, 7, 11, 2 )? Or is it a rotten house (especially the 12th, 6th and 8th)? Is it on his own

side of the chart, or on the opposite side of the chart? Is he or she very close to the Sun? Is she
or he strong or weak by sign (as you said) ?
- Is she or he interacting with the ruler of whatever house is the objective of the querent? Are
they in aspect? Are they separating or applying aspects. If so then are the aspects easy aspects?
Or are they rough ones?
This is what I do, pretty much. I just go round and round and round. I tend not to read modern
authors, too much. For the most part, I keep going back to Lilly, especially his charts, which
have been an enormous help to me in learning Art.
I would also recommend if you have not been to our files section of the list, that you might
enjoy a perusal of it. There are many great works that our members have shared that might help
you on your way to learning horary. Ineke has done a marvellous job of picking out the cream
of the crop of the work on the list and saving them for posterity. I would also especially
recommend that you and our other newbies, might consider downloading Jane Griscti's
excellent work, on Christian Astrology Book one. She has done a marvellous job of bringing
Lilly's words to life in a modern language.
How many degrees for the aspect orb?
Once you download Christian Astrology book 2 there is a section that covers moiety.
Are the coordinates Geocentric or Topocentric?
Geocentric. We live on earth.
Are the nodes True Node or Mean Node?
As Hart Defouw says, 'how does one measure a shadow? Anybody who says they have any sort
of 'true' anything when it comes to the node is really pulling your and everybody elses leg that
uses it. Use the Mean Node.
Is exaltation of the NN (north node? head of the dragon?) an issue?
No. Once again, we need to remember that the Nodes have no light. They are the place that
marks the shadow of the eclipse.
In Sanskrit the term, 'exaltation' is called, ''Diptha' . This means, 'bright' or 'shining'.
Now, since we know that the nodes mark shadows, this brings the question....
how can a shadow, a marker of darkness, be bright or shining???? Answer, it can't.
This is one of the many problems that come up because so many astrologers do not learn
astronomy or look at the heavens. There will always be controversy around exaltation of a dark
spot, and so I do not bother with it.
The nodes are demons, they are not like stars or planets. They give no light and so therefore
they cannot possibly be exalted.
There may be signs where they do less mischief. However, when trying to evaluate with
demons, all we do is waste time.
But we do have the Nodes in the chart?
Yes, always keep them in the chart. Just as we like to know where the light is, we also want to
know where the shadows are, too.
Are confines an issues? If so, should they be Egyptians, Ptolemy, or Valens?

Good question, and I tend to use Ptolemy, but others prefer Dorothean (which is the same as
Egyptian) which when I did experiment with them, I thought they worked very well, for
predicting weather, however, the lots (aka the terms) are but a small thing to consider in the
larger scheme of thing and this is where it is up to you!! Free Will Astrology!! Enjoy,
experiment, see what you think!!
Are trigons an issue? If so, should they be Dorotheus or Ptolemy?
Trigons are more commonly known as triplicity rulers in traditional horary study (they are also
called elements, and mark off the rulers of the earth, fire, air, and water triplicities). In horary
as practiced by Lilly we tend to use the dual night and day rulers, but I like to use the
Dorothean rulerships in natal, but for now, I would set your computer for Ptolemy's
triplicity rulers.
Are there were no traditional strictures against the answering of the prior horary
There were no 'strictures' because there is no such thing in traditional astrology as a 'stricture'.
Stricture is a modern term brought to us by Barbara Watters to describe some of the
'considerations before judgment.' The considerations, like late degrees rising or malefics like
Saturn in the 7th are more like things to consider (in other words with stars) this means,
think it over. The considerations are like when you are driving on a twisting highway, and a
sign of a big Curve comes up, you can continue going 70mph and get in a crack up, or you can
consider the Curve sign, and slow down. If we see a late degree rising or an early degree rising,
it does not mean we cannot judge the chart, it means we should take into consideration
the condition that represented therein. Besides, Lilly mentions some 43 considerations, and
Barbara Watters and her followers like Ivy Goldman only mentioned but a few. He never called
them Strictures, only "Considerations and Aphorisms for Better Judging Any Horary Question"
the 'term 'stricture' was thought up in the 1950s. It is hardly ancient, and it is definitely
incomplete.
Is Mercury retrograde or the combust rulers of the Ascendant or house of the matter
warning signs that do not necessarily follow traditional strictures but the wise should
always note them.
Again that icky modern word Strictures... get rid of it (please). It will lead you down the
primrose path, because it will lead you to think that there is some blockage that keeps you from
reading a horary, when in fact there is not. There are things to be considered, before you jump
in, that is all. Remember Lilly recommended to consider 43 aphorisms. And if you look to
Lilly's list there and we find the following:
"# 13. A planet retrograde, or one in its first station, denotes ill in the question, discord and
much contradiction. "
# 23. "Beware in all judgments, when the significator of the question is either combust or in
opposition to the Sun, he will then signify nothing will come of the matter, no good nor is it
able to bring anything to perfection. "
Stick with Lilly, and the ancients, and you will never go wrong, but above all, forget that term,
'strictures' does not exist, it was poetic license on the part of Barbara Watters.
Hour ruler
First, let's think about the hour ruler and what it might mean. Bonatti thought that the hour
ruler should have something in common with the sign ruler, or the chart should not be read.

Some teachers scoff at this, and throw out the hour ruler altogether! However, I think this may
be a bit of an over reaction, because the Hour ruler, will always represent some key issue. I
find a difference in the hour ruler and the ASc ruler do not agree, there is often more chances
that the chart will go astray or cause controversy. In your chart, we have Gemini is
on the ASC so Mercury rules the Sign, while our Hour ruler at the time of the question, was
Mars. Mars is not in any of Mercury's dignities, but Mercury and Mars are in the same sign,
and separating from conjunction, so we have agreement, and Bonatti would smile on our
efforts.
However, I think we should remember this guy, Mars, because he is going to be an issue.
Early Degrees
I notice is there are early degrees right on the eastern horizon (the ASC), and so you may need
to remind your querent that this question is early. In other words, she may want to move to
America, but it may be premature in that she will have to make provisions to move, and so it is
a sign that it is early, very early in this question.
Rulership Day / Night
The idea of day and night rulerships of the planets is very much at the core of tradition. Any
modern astrology book that includes this truth, happily, still has seeds of ancient celestial and
mathematical truth, still beating within its veins. And its a good thing :-)
Way back around 500 BC, Pythagoras taught that the essence of all things was number, and
there is no better example of this feature than the dividing of the sphere. This division brings us
day and night and is the very core of all things we deal with on earth.
We live in a place of duality. Regardless of what the, ' brave new world media' of the 60s and
the 70s, tried to feed us, we have learned that there are vast, both the obvious biological
differences, but also mental differences between men and women. The night and day rulerships
is just one more way to express the symbolism of this dual existence lived on the blue green
planet we call Earth.
As above, so below. It is the dance of dualities that makes this sphere what it is, of light and
darkness, of man and woman, happiness and sorrow, 'us vs. them'; love and hate, war and hate,
our beliefs vs. their beliefs'. This is why the ancients gave us day and night rulership.
Our tradition is called, 'light' from time memorable, by the ancients in the east. What we study
when we study Art, is the manner in which this light falls onto the sphere we call earth. It is the
symmetry within this division of the night and day rulerships that is why true traditionalists
compare the idea of giving the 'new' (fslo) planets sign rulerships akin to the sound created by
the running of a finger along a blackboard.
The Sun is the luminary of the day, and the Moon the luminary of the night. Just as the idea of
duality permeates the planet we call earth, there are nocturnal and diurnal signs, and nocturnal
and diurnal planets, too! This is the idea of sect. When in Rome, do what the Romans do.
If you were judging a father, and the Sun was shining, you would want the Sun to be strong
and in a good house, and in good dignity. If it was night, then you would want the same for
Saturn. Nowhere, have I seen the importance of the day and night rulers (sect) being more
beautifully brought to life, than in the work of 2nd century great, Firmicus Maternus.

I know you are a new member, perhaps I might suggest checking out our files and archives,
where a real treat awaits you on this very subject. There you may see the dualities of day and
night rulership come to life, in the lives of our very own members, and brought to life by the
elegant teaching of our very own, Co Moderator, Caroline Allen.