Horary Astrology
The Art of Giving an Astrological Answers in a Quick and Easy Way
THE NOTION OF HORARY ASTROLOGY
Horary astrology is a branch of astrology where an astrologer gives answers to concrete questions constructing an astrological (horary) chart for the time and the date when he or she found out (heard or read ) the question and understood it as well as for the place where he or she was at that moment. When we speak about the notion of the horary astrology it is important to say that there is an important difference between the horary and the natal astrology. The subject of the horary astrology is limited to an analyse (giving an answer) of some specific question which is given to an astrologer in order to some person gets a concrete astrological answer. In distinction from the horary astrology, the subject of the natal astrology is not so limited and it refers to the most important aspects of someone’s life for whom the natal horoscope is being constructed (temperament, behaviour and character, health, different life predispositions - especially those referring to schooling, a choice of profession and professional improving, emotional life and tendency to a specific type of partner, family and marriage, offspring and relationships with children, possibility for going and living abroad, etc.). Different subjects of the horary and the natal astrology have a practical consequence - the horary astrology, that is the horary horoscopes are more suitable astrological devices for giving precise answers to some clear and concrete question, while the natal horoscopes are more suitable for a wide, but at the same time, more common analyse of the whole natus life, that is the most important life aspects.
THE HYSTORY OF HORARY ASTROLOGY
Chronologically watched, horary astrology is the youngest branch of astrology, so, the statements, that it is the oldest, which can occasionally be found, are not true. No doubt, the oldest astrology is the so-called proto-mundane astrology from the early Babylonian period. Natal astrology developed after this first Babylonian astrology between the 8th and the 5th century BC. Horary astrology developed after natal astrology from the group of Old Greek astrological methods known as katarche (beginnings). Katarche are comperative, predictive and diagnostic astrological techniques for chart analyses made for the moments of different beginnings which were usually compared with the radix charts (more often with the natal ones). Katarche charts are divided into comparative charts of beginnings (elections), predictive charts of beginnings (questions) and diagnostic charts (horary decumbiture or iatromathematics decumbitura). Katarche are all charts made for the moment of the news announcement connected to any event. As you can see from the previous division of katarche charts, the horary astrology developed from katarche predictive charts of beginnings, diagnostic katarche charts and katarche charts of the news announcement.
The earliest rules of the katarche astrology, from which horary astrology developed, differs from the later Arabic and European rules established during the period when the horary astrology experienced its expansion and was formed as a particular branch from the 8th to the 17th century. Ptolemy didn’t mention katarche methods as well as many other antique astrologers such as Paulus Alexandrinus, Heliodorus, Firmicus Maternus, etc. Those rules (from which the horary astrology was developed) were often used by Nigidius Figulus, Antiochus of Athens and Dorotheus of Sidon. When we speak about katarche, it is important to add that it is believed that first katarche methods originate from the Babylonian magic. These methods are divided into magic (intervened) and prognostic (diagnostic) katarche astrology by some authors. The magic katarche astrology concerns the electional interventions as well as the interventions on the basis of horary advisory questions and interpretations. The prognostic katarche astrology is based on all horary charts and charts of beginnings from which, without any intervention, an astrologer is searching for the prediction of future events or illumination of some completed situation. In their earliest form, katarche are mostly based on the positions of horoscope angles and Moon where you can see the link with the Babylonian lunar houses (mansions). For example, Dorotheus emphasizes the kinds of signs. He especially insists on using the division of signs into “the straight” and “the bowed”, actually, on the short-rising and the long-rising ones, that is, on those that go out in more or less than two equinoctial hours. The occurrence is commented in the context of each question. He discusses this material in the fifth book of “Carmen Astrologicum”. Dodecatemoria of signs as well as the obliged comparison of katarche charts with the original radix charts are the main characteristics of his work. This link disappears because of the development of horary astrology later.
The famous astrologers, who lived and created between the 8th and the 17th century, are especially meritorious for the creation of the horary astrology as a special astrological branch, the development of its specific rules and the great recognition of the horary astrology (Mashallah, Bonatti, Saunders, Lilly, Culpeper and others). They created the horary astrology we have known nowadays and which, among few real experts, has been studied and practised as a branch of astrology called the traditional astrology. Those, who try to study it and who follow the so-called modern (popular) astrology contriving some new rules that, especially in relation to the time and the place which are relevant for constructing a horary chart, have no base in a theory of horary astrology (contained in the works of the famous astrologers), damage this ancient skill.
Author: Natasa Karalic Koprivica