Schools of thought
Traditional horary is not one book. Where its authorities disagree, this engine makes one recorded choice — and says so, instead of presenting the choice as settled fact.
These are the 5 disagreements the engine currently marks, drawn from a working register of 239 recorded entries. Most of that register is corrections to our own code, not two schools in a standoff.
When a third planet steps between the two significators before they meet, does that alone stop the matter?
The positions
- William LillyChristian Astrology (1647), pp. 112–113A swifter planet that comes between them before they can meet frustrates the matter by that geometry alone.
- Deborah HouldingSkyscript Astrology Forum postsAn interposing planet is neutral in itself: whether it harms, helps, or only describes the circumstances depends on its own condition and power.
This engine follows Deborah Houlding.
Which school is right is not a matter of taste. The outcome record is what will settle it — the charts whose real result comes back — and this choice will stand or fall on that. That record is still being gathered; it has not judged this one yet.
The checks made before judgment — do they bar the chart from being read, or only weigh on the answer?
The positions
- William LillyChristian Astrology (1647)The considerations before judgment are conventionally read as barring judgment: a chart that trips one should not be read at all.
- Mychal A. BryanHorary Astrology & the Natal Promise (2024), ch. 8, f. 137A chart that can be cast can be read; a consideration is a caution to weigh, never a gate that stops the reading.
This engine follows Mychal A. Bryan.
Which school is right is not a matter of taste. The outcome record is what will settle it — the charts whose real result comes back — and this choice will stand or fall on that. That record is still being gathered; it has not judged this one yet.
For a question to count as radical, the ruler of the planetary hour must agree with the ascending sign — but the sources test that agreement differently.
The positions
- William LillyChristian Astrology (1647), Bk 1, pp. 121–122Agreement means the hour ruler is the ascending sign’s own triplicity ruler for the chart’s sect — or rules that sign, or shares its humour.
- Guido BonattiLiber Astronomiae, Tr. 5, 143rd Consideration (trans. Dykes)It is enough that the hour ruler and the ascendant ruler stand in signs belonging to one triplicity.
- Deborah HouldingHour Agreement & Radical Questions (2007)Both sets of conditions are legitimate, and a question is radical if it satisfies any one of them.
This engine follows Deborah Houlding.
Which school is right is not a matter of taste. The outcome record is what will settle it — the charts whose real result comes back — and this choice will stand or fall on that. That record is still being gathered; it has not judged this one yet.
How close to the Sun must a planet come before it counts as burnt up by him?
The positions
- Mychal A. BryanHorary Astrology & the Natal Promise: A Concrete Guide to Astral Divination (2024)Worked charts are read with a wider bracket than the Sun’s half-orb.
- William LillyChristian Astrology (1647), p. 113Combustion runs to the moiety of the Sun’s orb — 8°30′ — with under the beams at the full 17° and cazimi at 17 minutes.
- William LillyChristian Astrology (1647), p. 298ff, Aphorism 26The same author’s aphorism list gives different figures again: under the beams within 12°, and cazimi within 16 minutes.
This engine follows William Lilly.
Which school is right is not a matter of taste. The outcome record is what will settle it — the charts whose real result comes back — and this choice will stand or fall on that. That record is still being gathered; it has not judged this one yet.
The Moon is the asker’s second significator on every chart — but what if she already signifies one of the parties in her own right?
The positions
- Classical traditionGeneral classical horary convention — no single author or edition claimedThe Moon is co-significator of the asker in every question, always counted alongside the ruler of the ascendant.
- Mychal A. BryanHorary Astrology & the Natal Promise (2024), ch. 21, f. 441She cannot be counted twice: where she already signifies one of the parties, she is read in that role alone.
This engine follows Mychal A. Bryan.
Which school is right is not a matter of taste. The outcome record is what will settle it — the charts whose real result comes back — and this choice will stand or fall on that. That record is still being gathered; it has not judged this one yet.