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Glossary of Horary Terms

Antiscia. The plural of antiscion, or antiscium.

Antiscion.

    According to Lilly, "The antiscion signs are those which are of the same virtue and are equally distant from the first degree of the two tropical signs Cancer and Capricorn and in which degrees where the Sun is, the days and nights are of equal length. For example, when the Sun is in the tenth degree of Taurus he is as far distant from the first degree of Cancer as when in the twentieth degree of Leo. Therefore when the Sun is in the tenth of Taurus, he has his antiscion to the twentieth of Leo, that is he gives virtue or influence to any star or planet that at that time either is in the same degree by conjunction or casts any aspect to it."

    A modern example of how the the Sun links in with its own longitude position, its parallel of declination both north and south, and its antiscion and contrantiscion throughout the year.

1. On the 30^th August 1999 the Sun at noon was at 6°. 40 Virgo.

     In the following table, a planet at 1 degree Aries will have its antiscion point at 29 degrees Virgo.  A planet at 2 degrees Taurus will have its antiscion point at 28 degrees Leo etc.  A simplistic explanation is that the midpoint of 0 degrees Cancer/Capricorn will always result.

Antiscium. The Latin singular of antiscia. See antiscion above.

Ascendant. The degree of the zodiac rising on the eastern horizon. Today the term Ascendant is often used to describe the whole sign rising and not just the degree.

Aspects. Lilly wrote that "The most forcible or strongest rays, configurations or aspects are only these (nominated below) the sextile, quadrarte (square), trine and opposition. We use to call the conjunction an aspect but very improperly." These are better known as the Ptolemaic aspects.

Aspects, whole sign. In ancient times planets in Aries could sextile planets anywhere in Aquarius or Gemini, square planets in Capricorn and Cancer, trine planets in Sagittarius and Leo and oppose planets placed anywhere in Libra. The same applied to all the other signs.

Beholding. To apply by conjunction or aspect to planets and their antiscia within the moiety of orbs.

Cadent. Usually refers to a planet or planets in the cadent houses: they are the 3rd, 6th, 9th or 12th.

Cazimi. A planet within 17 minutes of a conjunction with the Sun.

Combust. Planets are combust when within 8.30 degrees of a conjunction with the Sun. Lilly considered it to be the worst of all aspects.

Conjunction. When two or more planets are within moiety of orbs in the same sign or in signs next to each other. It was never referred to as an aspect but often called a bodily conjunction.

Considerations before judgment. These were a number of conditions probably first invented by Guido Bonatti which were believed to guide or advise the astrologer as to whether or not the horoscope was radical. Lilly mentions 12 considerations some of which are based on Bonatti’s but most appear to be invented by himself. He did not allow any of them, even if more than one appeared in the same horoscope, to distract him from judging the horoscope. Not all astrologers agreed on the considerations before judgment or even what constituted a consideration. There is no reason to believe that Lilly’s list was any better than other astrologers’. In my experience they do not prevent the judgment of horaries. The two exceptions being those considerations relating to combustion and the void of course Moon.

1. The Planetary Hour: "All the ancients that have wrote of questions, do give warning to the astrologer that before he deliver judgment he well consider whether the figure is radical and capable of judgment; the question then shall be taken for radical, or fit to be judged, when as the Lord of the hour at the time of proposing the question, and erecting the figure, and the Lord of the Ascendant or first house, are of one triplicity, or be one, or of the same nature."

In Christian Astrology the Lord of the hour was not recorded in 10 of the horoscopes. In 11 horoscopes the lord of the hour disagreed with Lilly’s conditions. Only 14 horoscopes out of the 35 had the lord of the hour in agreement with Lilly’s conditions.

2. The early degrees: "When either 00 degrees, or the first or second degrees of a sign ascend especially in sign of short ascentions, viz. Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus , Gemini, you may not venture judgment, unless the querent be very young, and his corporature, complexion and moles or scars of his body agree with the quality of the sign ascending."

Only one horoscope had an early degree on the Ascendant.

3. The late degrees: "If 27, 28 or 29 degrees ascend of any sign, it’s no way safe to give judgment except the querent be in years corresponding to the number of degrees ascending; or unless the figure be set upon a time certain, viz. A man went away or fled at such a time precise; here you may judge, because its no propounded question."

There are no horoscopes with late degrees on the Ascendant in Christian Astrology.

4. "It’s not safe to judge when the Moon is in the later degrees of a sign, especially in Gemini, Scorpio or Capricorn."

There are no horoscopes with the Moon in the later degrees in any of these signs.

5. The Via Combusta: "It’s not safe to judge when the Moon is in the Via Combusta, which is, when she is in the last 15 degrees of Libra, or the first 15 degrees of Scorpio."

The Moon was in the Via Combusta in two horoscopes.

6. The void of course Moon: "All manner of matters go hardly on (except the principal significators be very strong) when the Moon is void of course; yet somewhat she performs if void of course, and be either in Taurus, Cancer, Sagittarius or Pisces."

There are no horoscopes containing a void of course Moon in Christian Astrology although Lilly mistakenly mentions 5 cases.

7. The 7th cusp afflicted: "You must also be wary, when in any question propounded you find the cusp of the seventh house afflicted, or the lord of that house retrograde or impedited, and the matter at that time not concerning the 7th house, but belonging to any other house, it’s an argument the judgment of the astrologer will give small content, or any thing please the querent; for the 7th house generally has signification of the artist."

There were 5 horoscopes where the cusp of the 7th house was afflicted.

8. Saturn conjunct the Ascendant or in the first house: "If Saturn is in the Ascendant, especially retrograde, the matter of that question seldom or never comes to good."

Only one horoscope contained a retrograde Saturn in the first house.

9. Saturn in the 7th house: "Saturn in the seventh either corrupts the judgment of the astrologer, or is a sign the matter propounded will come from one misfortune to another."

Two horoscopes had Saturn in the 7th house.

10. The ruler of the Ascendant combust: "If the lord of the ascendent be combust, neither question propounded will take, or the querent be regulated."

The ruler of the Ascendant was combust in 2 of the horoscopes.

11. The ruler of the 7th unfortunate: "The lord of the seventh unfortunate, or in his fall, or terms of the infortunes, the artist shall scarce give a solid judgment."

There were 22 horoscopes where the ruler of the 7th house was unfortunate, in fall or terms of the infortunes.

12. "When the testimonies of fortunes and infortunes are equal, defer judgment, it’s not possible to know which way the balance will turn: however, defer you your question till another question better inform you."

Lilly did not give any indication in Christian Astrology that he had deferred his judgment.

Co-significator. The Moon usually acts as co-significator of the querent, except on those occasions when it rules Cancer on the cusp of the house of the quesited.

Critical Degrees.

Very often they are rounded up to the next number, for instance 1, 13 & 26 for the cardinals, 9 & 22 for the fixed and 5 & 18 for the mutables.

Cusp. The line which separates the grids of the houses in a horoscope. The Ascendant line for instance is regarded as the cusp of the 1st house and the midheaven as the cusp of the 10th house.

Dexter. Aspects formed against the signs of the Zodiac. For instance a planet in Aries applying by sextile to a planet in Aquarius or applying by square to a planet in Capricorn.

Early degrees. The first three degrees of any sign on the Ascendant are called the early degrees in horary. In some quarters, they are considered to be one of the most important of the considerations before judgment, see above.

Essential dignity. Each planet is said to have its own dignity. A planet in its own sign is said to be in its rulership and is the strongest of all dignities. Next in strength is its sign of exaltation, then triplicity, term, and finally face.

Exaltation. In ancient times a planet was said to be exalted when in a certain sign and degree.

Face. This is the weakest of all the essential dignities it happens when planets are placed within certain degrees in certain signs.  See Ptolemy's table of essential dignities.

Fall. Planets are in fall when in the sign opposite to their sign of exaltation.

Fortuna. The part of fortune.

Frustration. In horary, when one significator applies within the moiety of orbs to the other significator by conjunction or aspect, but before the perfection is completed the slower of the two perfects a conjunction or aspect with a third planet. This is one of the rules of imperfection and often leads to a negative answer.

Horary Astrology. The branch of astrology dealing with answering questions, usually making predictions.

House. The horoscope is divided into 12 sections or houses. Each house rules an area of life which in horary helps to locate the quesited or thing asked about.

The first house rules the querent.

The second house rules money and possessions.

The third house rules brothers and sisters, communications and short

journeys.

The fourth house rules the home, buildings, the land and the end of matters.

The fifth house rules children, lovers, gambling and speculation.

The sixth house rules health and medicine.

The seventh house rules partners, marriage, contracts and agreements.

The eighth house rules sex, partner’s money and death.

The ninth house rules foreign travel, religion.

The tenth house rules career, those in authority, courts.

The eleventh house rules friends, large groups of people and associations.

The twelfth house rules hospitals, institutions prisons and is said to rule self undoing.

Inconjunct. Lilly called signs inconjunct "...if a planet be in one of them, he cannot have any aspect to another in the sign underneath: as one in Aries can have no aspect to another in Taurus or Scorpio, or one in Taurus to one in Aries, Gemini, Libra or Sagittarius." See table of "Signs not beholding one another" on page 12.

Malefic planets. Mars and Saturn are said to be the malefic planets because of Mars’ excessive heat and Saturn’s excessive cold both of which are detrimental to life.

Minor aspects. These are the semi-sextile of 30 degrees, the semi-square of 45 degrees, the quintile of 72 degrees, the sesquiquadrate of 135 degrees, the bi-quintile of 144 degrees and the quincunx of 150 degrees. It was after Johannes Kepler had invented the septile family of aspects in the mid 17th century that the expression "minor aspects" begin to slowly enter the astrological vocabulary. Before that time there were only the conjunction and the four aspects: the sextile, square, trine and opposition. Minor aspects do not produce results of any kind in horary astrology therefore are ineffective. It is also doubtful whether they are valid in other forms of astrology.

Moiety. This refers to half of a planet’s orb which is used in all three forms of aspects, the Ptolemaic, antiscia and the parallels of declination. See table below

Orbs. Lilly wrote that each planet had a certain number of degrees for its orbs. The Sun had 17, the Moon 12, Mercury 7, Venus 8, Mars 7.30, Jupiter 12 and Saturn 10 degrees. Other authorities varied slightly.

Note: The orbs of the outer planets are as yet unknown with certainty.  As a guide an orb of 8 degrees may serve until further research has proven otherwise.

Outer Planets. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are known as the outer planets.  In horary astrology they never serve as main significators.

Part of fortune. A nodal point in the horoscope which is the same distance of zodiacal arc from the Ascendant as the Moon is from the Sun. The part of fortune or fortuna indicates the place where the Moon would be at the symbolic sunrise.

Partile. A conjunction or aspect that is exact to the degree, minute and second, though some prefer to consider partile to mean exact within one degree. 

Peregrine. Planets with no essential dignity are said to be peregrine or totally without power.

Peregrine Status of Planets in Signs, according to Lilly:

	Sun	Moon	Mercury	Venus	Mars	Jupiter	Saturn
Aries	Exalted	P	00 – 14 21 - 30	00 – 06 14 – 20	Ruler	NT 06 - 30	00 - 26
Taurus	P	Exalted	15 - 30	Ruler	00 - 26	00 – 15 22 - 30	00 – 20
Gemini	00 - 20	P	Ruler	00 – 13 21 – 30	00 – 10 20 - 25	13 - 30	DT 00 – 21 25 - 30
Cancer	P	Ruler	00 – 10 20 – 30	10 – 20 27 – 30	DNT	Exalted	00 - 27
Leo	Ruler	P	00 – 06 13 - 30	00 – 13 19 - 30	00 - 20	NT 00 – 10 25 - 30	10 - 30
Virgo	10 – 30	NT P	Ruler Exalted	DT 00 – 07 20 - 30	00 - 24	00 – 13 18 - 30	00 – 18 24 - 30
Libra	P	10 - 30	NT 00 - 1 9 24 - 30	Ruler	00 - 24	00 – 11 19 - 20	Exalted
Scorpio	00 – 10 20 – 30	P	00 – 21 27 - 30	00 – 14	Ruler	00 – 06 14 – 30	00 - 27
Sag	DT P	00 – 10 20 - 30	10 – 14 19 – 30	00 – 08 14 – 30	00 - 25	Ruler	00 - 19
Cap	00 – 20	NT P	00 – 06 12 – 30	DT 06 – 30	Exalted	10 –12 19 - 30	Ruler
Aqu	P	00 - 20	NT 00 – 06 20 – 30	10 – 12 20 – 30	00 - 25	00 – 20 25 - 30	Ruler
Pisces	P	P	00 – 14 20 - 30	Exalted	DNT	Ruler	10 - 26

P: Peregrine throughout the sign. DT: Day Triplicity. NT: Night Triplicity.

Planets are not peregrine while between the degree numbers in the sign, for example: Mercury is peregrine between 00 – 14 and 21 – 30 of Aries but is not peregrine while between 14-21 degrees of Aries. Venus is peregrine between 00 – 06 and 14 – 20 Aries but not peregrine while between 6-14 and 20-30 of Aries.

Perfection. One planet applying to another by conjunction or aspect will perfect only when it has reached the exact degree and minute. In horary it can also mean reaching perfection without interference from other planets, in other words where there is no frustration, prohibition or refranation involved.

Platic. An inexact conjunction or aspect within the moiety of orbs.

Prohibition. One significator applying to the other within moiety of orbs, but before perfecting, a third faster planet first aspects the one then the other, preventing perfection from taking place. This will usually result in a negative answer to a horary question.

Ptolemy's Table of Essential Dignities.  These essential dignities are listed separately under: Exaltation, Face, Rulership, Terms and Triplicity.

Querent. In horary it is the technical name given to the person asking the question.

Quesited.   In horary it is the name give to the person or thing asked about.

Radical. Of the root. Forming the basis, primary. Affecting the foundation, going to the root.

Radix. Pertaining to the birth horoscope. In horary it means the original horoscope.

Refranation. One of the horary rules meaning that one planet although applying within the moiety of orbs of another planet turns either stationary retrograde or direct failing to perfect the aspect.

Retrograde. A planet’s apparent backward movement in the sky when decreasing in longitude as viewed from the earth.

Ruler of the Ascendant. The planet ruling the sign on the Ascendant. In horary it signifies the querent or person asking the question.

Rulership.

Separation. Lilly wrote that two planets had to be 6 minutes apart before they could be regarded as separating from conjunction or aspect. Separation showed that two significators could no longer be used to predict the outcome to the question. At this point translation of light begins to operate.

Sextile. An aspect of 60 degrees.

Sinister. Aspects formed following the order of the signs: For example a planet in Aries applying to a planet in Gemini or Cancer.

Square.  An aspect of 90 degrees.

Terms.  This is the second weakest of all the essential dignities it happens when planets are placed within certain degrees in certain signs.