Prediction,
Providence & Power
Deborah Houlding is the web mistress of
the Skyscript site. The past editor of The
Traditional Astrologer magazine, and
author of The Houses: Temples of the Sky,
her articles feature regularly in
astrological journals. She has a particular
interest in researching the origin and
development of astrological technique and
as a consulting astrologer specialises in
horary. She is the principal of the STA
School of traditional horary astrology,
which offers courses by correspondence
and intensive residential seminars. Her
website http://www.skyscript.co.uk is one
of the most popular western astrology sites
for scholars in astrology.
of ‘Self’ in Horary
By
Deborah Houlding, U.K
"be a good example thy selfe, avoid
the fashion of the times"
William Lilly, CA, 'Letter to the Student
of Astrology' (1647)
D uring the last century the
word 'prediction' (pre dict:
'to say before') came to be
something of a dirty word in
astrology. When I started studying
astrology in the 1980s, I remember
frequent reminders that astrologers
should not attempt to 'predict' but
should merely aim to forecast
'psychological trends of experience'.
I was probably typical of many
students, in that the bestselling
book, The Complete Astrologer by
Derek and Julia Parker, was one of
my first introductory guides to the
subject, and for me an early source
of reference as to what astrology
was all about. Later editions have
been updated and no longer reflect
some of its earlier attitudes, but
their first edition (published in 1971)
was very representative of the
prevailing views towards the use of
astrology as a divinational tool.
Horary astrology was particularly singled out as epitomising all that could be
defined as shallow and ridiculous in the 'old fashioned' approach. Their
assessment was:
The student will be more than likely to encounter horary astrology. While
there are astrologers who take this branch of astrology seriously, its effect is
to trivialise astrology by its dangerous affinity to fortune-telling and
divination. [1]

Serving to emphasise the point, the same section of the book included
persuasive images of 'the astrologer at work'. The first (fig. 1 below) portrayed
"The 'modern day' astrologer at work" with a picture of the widely respected
astrologer John Addey. With his academic stance and half-ringed glasses,
surrounded by books and notes and papers, he looks entirely respectable and
erudite. The clock is suggestive of the intricacy of the subject with precise
timing; and he sits pen in hand, coffee on desk, looking every bit the
dedicated, hard-working professional we would all like to emulate. An
especially nice touch about this picture is the black cat sitting on the table, a
subliminal reminder perhaps of astrology's integration between the rational
and the mystical?

By comparison, consider the image headed "The horary astrologer at work"

(fig. 2), where the horary astrologer is characterised as the astral tramp and
downcast member of our society. Here, someone we are led to believe is a
typical horary astrologer sets to work looking like a bit of a spiv! Working on
the streets without books or papers to suggest study or acquired technical
knowledge, his working environment comprises a collection of sensationalist
mystic symbols and palm prints. He doesn't appear to need any chart forms as
he stares intently into his client's eyes. The Parkers conclude their paragraph
on horary with the statement:
The theory that events take on the nature of the time in which they occur is
basic to astrology. But the notion that the planetary positions can produce an
'answer' of this kind, usually to the most petty questions, seems too absurd for
consideration and is the kind of activity that can only call serious astrology
into disrepute. [2]

Whilst entirely representative of mainstream astrological opinion in Britain

at that time, such a flippant dismissal of horary would surely cause
widespread concern amongst astrologers today. Currently, after many decades
of being frowned upon for its supposedly 'vagrant-style', horary is undergoing
a renewal of interest and popularity, even among astrologers who previously
believed it lacked the potential for creative psychological analysis. Others
have come to see horary as a kind of gateway that leads to greater
understanding of traditional astrological philosophy. In my view, the
potential of horary is still often misunderstood or underestimated, but it has
certainly re-established itself to the point where it now seems hard to
understand why a branch of astrology as powerful and as proven as horary
came to lose its footing in the first place. If the Parkers were mistaken and the
notion that the planetary positions can produce answers is a sound one, then
how and why did horary fall into such a disreputable position in recent times?

The demise of horary in the early 20th century was a complicated issue, but
one major impact can be realised through events that affected the life of Alan
Leo, the great British champion of astrology at the turn of the last century,
whose influence upon the perception of astrology amongst his contemporaries
and later practitioners can hardly be over-stated.

Leo's own attitude towards horary was somewhat ambivalent. He practised

horary and even wrote a book about it, [3] but he also referred to the type of
horary practised in his day as "the vilest rubbish imaginable". [4] He
alternates between recommending it as something best pursued in conjunction
with the birth chart, to elsewhere arguing that it's real value is when the birth
time is unknown. Overall it seems that Leo had respect for the concept of
horary when used to answer serious questions, and on occasions he felt it
could be "exceedingly useful"; but from a moral standpoint he loathed the idea
of people becoming overly reliant upon it, through which he felt it would
weaken rather than strengthen the individual's character and sense of free
will. [5]

The significant events began to emerge on 29 April, 1914, when Leo, then aged
54, was summoned to court to answer the charge that he "did unlawfully
pretend to tell fortunes" through astrology. The case was dismissed for lack of
evidence but it left an uncomfortable feeling among astrologers. [6] For Leo, it
prompted a resolution to safeguard the legality of his position and have
astrology recognised as a creditable science. In order to do this he advised:
Let us part company with the fatalistic astrologer who prides himself on his
predictions and who is ever seeking to convince the world that in the
predictive side of Astrology alone shall we find its value. We need not argue
the point as to its reality, but instead make a much-needed change in the word
and call Astrology the science of tendencies. [7]

In 1917 Leo was brought to trial again on a similar charge. This time his
defence was that he did not offer predictions, but only focused on general
character analysis and astrological trends:
I most emphatically say that I do not tell fortunes. I tell tendencies from the
horoscope and in every horoscope I send out I make that statement.

The prosecution read out several passages from a report prepared by Leo, part
of which included the statement "at this time a death in your family is likely
to cause you sorrow". His case fell apart when the prosecution asked him "is
this death a tendency, or is there a tendency to be dead?" [8]

On conviction of the charge of "pretending and professing to tell fortunes"

Leo faced up to three months imprisonment with hard labour, but he actually
suffered only a minor penalty of a £5 fine plus costs. The political issue was
never about punishing Leo, it was about forcing legal boundaries upon the
rising interest in spiritualist movements, and clarifying a murky aspect of
British Law which had criminalized astrology as part of an 1824 Act
introduced for "the Punishment of idle and Disorderly Persons, and Rogues and
Vagabonds..." The Act's purpose was to deal with homeless vagrants and
gypsies, but Section 4 specified that it applied to "every Person pretending or
professing to tell Fortunes, or using any subtle Craft, Means, or Device, by Palmistry
or otherwise, to deceive and impose on any of His Majesty's Subjects …"
It was not until 16 November 1989, that the Law Commission repealed the Act
without replacement. Over time it had become so ineffective and impotent
that few people even noticed its passing. It was only in 1991 that the
astrological community realised its removal, revealing how little concern was
then given to the potential of it holding legal consequences. [9] But Alan Leo's
conviction shows that things were very different in the early 20th century;
and if the hidden motives of the prosecutors were to restrict the activities and
inhibit the confidence of astrologers, they certainly did the trick. Leo's
colleague, H.S. Green, wrote of the effect that the criminal charge had upon
Leo, saying:
It became evident that his whole system of reading horoscopes would have to
be revised, because what he regarded as no more than truthful and legitimate
advice to clients, the law insisted upon treating as fortune-telling. Therefore
he decided to recast the whole system and make it run along the lines of
character reading.... This entailed a tremendous amount of rewriting of
reference-books and sheets. [10]

Leo's determination to 'recast' astrology fell heaviest upon the branch of

horary, which though its ability to offer specific advice upon specific
situations, could present exactly the kind of fatalistic undertones that his legal
insecurities obliged him to distance himself from. But even within natal
technique, the fashionable new doctrine of 'tendencies' fostered an attitude
where rigour was loosened, specifics were frowned upon, and the potential
meaning of the chart was as open and free as the will of the person it was
intending to guide. The unfortunate consequence was that later generations of
students tutored in purely modern methods were admitting, if they were not
making predictions, it was not simply a case of choosing not to, but also
feeling incapable of doing so anyway; the lack of specific predictive technique
and the more creative style of 'free-will' judgement being of little practical use
in trying to establish what is likely to happen, rather than what is likely to be
inwardly experienced.

Thanks to the outspoken spirit (and in some cases bloody-minded

determination) of a few remaining advocates of horary, a striving for the
traditional definition and detail that is most readily apparent in that branch of
astrology never really disappeared, but horary did become a fragmented
branch which lost its voice amongst mainstream astrological practitioners. An
active drive to call attention back to horary in Britain began in the 1970s and
started to gain effect in the 1980s, a decade which saw fruitful results of
collaboration between horary enthusiasts such as Olivia Barclay and Derek
Appleby, and those with a passion for traditional techniques and philosophy,
such as Geoffrey Cornelius and other members of the Company of
Astrologers. All, of course, were served by Clive Kavan's facsimile
reproduction of William Lilly's 17th century work Christian Astrology,
regarded as the most authoritative text on horary astrology and offering
demonstrations of specific astrological judgements that most astrologers of
the 80s felt ill equipped to replicate. Still, it wasn't until the end of the 1990s
that most horary practitioners began to feel comfortably re-integrated within
astrological society, and we are really only now seeing the effects of restoring
respect for horary as a credible astrological tool. [11]

It is not my objective to analyse the details of that recent resurgence of

interest in horary, except to suggest that the motivation for many of those
involved in it was a sense of dissatisfaction with never-ending options
presented by loosely defined, 'open to your own interpretation' symbolism.
My main objective is to argue that the approach to horary which has
resurfaced today has been influenced by its earlier 20th century rejection, and
that despite the general view that this 'loosening' was a negative thing, there
have also been many positive consequences of an interim which allowed
astrologers the room to think creatively and freely, to re-question the
symbolism, and to consider the importance of psychological states of mind.
My argument is not that the traditional approach to horary is generally
inhibitive, but that by the early 20th century it had certainly become so.

It is a mistake to assume that the divide between those who see horary as
trivializing, and those who see it as empowering, revolves around the
'traditional v. modern' debate or the specific details of the techniques
employed. But the spirit of any age does set the standard by which
practitioners are expected to approach and utilise the information at their
disposal. In the 17th century mindset of astrologers such as William Lilly,
society still held a collective expectation that the material world was animated
by a spiritual design. This allowed astrologers great freedom in symbolic
reasoning, and they took up an active engagement with astrological
movements as a way to navigate their clients through difficult situations. We
may consider this style of astrology predictive, but it wasn't fatalistic. Lilly for
example, demonstrates many charts where the predicted outcome for the
client's course of action looks bleak, and so he recommends a change of
course, or scrutinises the more positive connections in the chart to identify a
person whose help could be sought, or an unexploited situation that could be
more advantageous than that currently embarked upon. This is active horary
analysis.

But as we move through the materialistic (or scientifically enlightened) ages

of the 18th century up to the early 20th century, this spiritual undertone to
astrology becomes increasingly lost; the fashion moves towards seeing
astrology, and every branch of it, as an astral 'science' that has an objective
reality in its own right. Providing the 'rules' are thoroughly known and
techniques are applied correctly, horary is expected to perform regardless of
the personal involvement of the individual reading the symbolism. This trend
is aptly demonstrated by William J. Simmonite's 1852 book on horary
astrology, subtitled The Key to Scientific Prediction; in which horary is referred
to as "the truest science of which mankind has any knowledge". Here horary
is expected to demonstrate unfailing reliability - false predictions being the
unfortunate consequence of failing to apply a necessary rule or mistaking the
correct significator. Even the Foreword of the book prepares the reader for
dire consequences should a fundamental rule be "violated or misunderstood".
This is passive horary analysis because the onus is placed upon the system, and
under this system the astrologer assumes the role of passive observer and
interpreter of what the stars declare, not daring to maximize upon their own
creative input.

When we compare the works of Lilly and Simmonite we see a difference

between them that goes far beyond the size of the text. The fact that Lilly's
work is very comprehensive is not one of its great strengths, for much of the
information is unnecessarily repetitive or even contradictory, and his horary
volume suffers for want of the editorial cuts that modern readers take for
granted. Lilly's strength lies in the fact that he not only displays great breadth
and depth of knowledge in his subject (both technical and philosophical), he
also takes full responsibility and ownership for his judgements, being
prepared to sculpture traditionally accepted knowledge to the specific
requirements of each individual chart. He isn't following rules, but working
with them, allowing them to be the springboard from which his creative
assessment arises, but never being afraid to read the symbolism in a way that
makes most sense to the situation it is tied to. Currently, most new horary
students are advised to hold back on their own creative impulses in order to
develop a thorough and detailed knowledge of traditional horary technique.
This is an important part of developing the structured processing involved.
But unfortunately many students, having sufficiently redressed that
imbalance, create a new one in their fear of imparting their own intuitive
reasoning in case it affects their judgement, rather than seeing it as the critical
factor that turns a passive judgement into an active one. Passive judgements
are predictive but they are also fatalistic. This is the style of horary promoted
around the time of Alan Leo but which Leo himself abhorred: supposedly
scientific, but noticeably rigid and dry. The astrologer is involved in a process,
but it is so programmed and routinely mechanical as to appear robotic or
computerised. [12]

Naturally, a branch of astrology that purports to be thoroughly reliable in

providing answers on what will happen is bound to retain some interest. But
horary is quickly open to abuse and scorn when people become overly
dependent on it as a decision-making tool; undermining the benefits of fully
employing their own inner wisdom, common sense and judgement born from
experience. The distaste that some modern astrologers feel towards horary can
seem justifiable when we witness it being used as a system that only aims to
reveal what the answers are; rather than a system that demands self-
reflection, an exploration of the root causes which led to the development of
the problem in the first place, or a desire to acquire a mastery of the self that
allows the problem to be more competently addressed at any other point in
the future. When this neglect of deeper exploration happens in situations
where clients have brought problems on their own heads through emotional
insecurities or mismanagement, the horary resolution is not really an insight
into how to treat the cause, merely a quick-fix solution to a symptom that is
bound to repeat itself. Of course everyone wants to know the answers, but as
any student knows, it is so much more useful when you understand why those
are the answers.

In aiming only to predict, and in failing to counsel or advise, this type of

fatalistic astrology missed the rising spirit of the 20th century, which turned
against the failed promise of scientific materialism and placed its favour in the
humanistic approach to astrology, as was so effectively promoted by the likes
of Dane Rudhyar. Rudyhar, Parisian by birth and American by nationality,
[13] had no concern for championing astrology as a science. Like many of the
great astrological philosophers of the past, he was passionately involved in
music and theories of harmony; his combined interests in religion, philosophy
and theosophy gave him a great knowledge of spiritual beliefs, which he
married very neatly to the emerging interest in Jungian psychology.

It is generally assumed that the humanistic astrology of Rudhyar sounded the

death knell for horary, and that there's little ground for reconciliation between
Rudhyar's view of the chart as potential, and the horary urge to reveal the
inevitable. But horary was already gasping for breath before Rudhyar entered
the scene, having lost contact with its spiritual basis. Rudhyar made his own
attempt to resurrect it as a creative tool, one that recognized the individual's
power to influence their own environment as well as be affected by it. In fact
Rudhyar is an undeservedly forgotten name in the recent history of horary
and ought to have some recognition for the way that he attempted to rescue
this branch of astrology from the soulless place in which it had been left
forgotten. In 1969 he published his Practice of Astrology, the twelfth step of
which was entitled 'The Significant Use of Horary Techniques'. [14]
Although this lacks the details of technique found in other works, it
contributes a very impressive philosophy on what horary is, how it works,
and how it is most gainfully employed as a system of direction and
reorientation rather than a means to static prediction. In contrast to many
other astrologers of his age, Rudhyar maintained a high regard for horary, and
provided a dignified answer to the Parkers' charge of 'fortune-telling' two
years before it was raised:
The real function of horary astrology is to establish a state of relationship
between universal intelligence or divine Grace and the individual person … It
is not "fortune telling" as an escape from personal responsibility and effort,
still less for curiosity's sake. It is instead a sign of the conscious binding of the
individual to the rhythm and purpose of the universal Whole in which he
accepts full and deliberate participation. From this Whole the individual
receives understanding and healing, and the key to his many problems, in
proportion as he is willing to consciously fulfil his function and his destiny.
[15]

Rudhyar's support for horary was longer and more committed than most
astrologers realise, and appears to have been prompted by his collaboration
with another American whose name doesn't readily spring to mind in
association with its restoration: Marc Edmund Jones. As early as 1943, Jones
had published Problem Solving by Horary Astrology, and it was to this book that
Rudhyar referred his readers for the details of horary technique. Jones himself
pays homage to Rudhyar in his Foreword, stating that it is due to Rudhyar's
early support that he gave up anonymity of the authorship, and adding:
If the volume were to have a dedication, it should be inscribed to Dane
Rudhyar, who early took an interest in the mimeographed materials and
insisted upon giving credit in print to the whole research project. [16]

The substance of technique explained in Jones' work was largely derived from
Zadkiel's edition of Lilly's Introduction to Astrology; hence the wordy subtitle:
"A complete analysis and demonstration comprising a clarification and
modernization of an interestingly effective seventeenth century psychology".

Unfortunately the analysis was a little too complete and the demonstration
was lacking. There are some real gems of psychological insight hidden within
its pages, but I would find it hard to recommend this book to anyone; most of
its content is so dull and boring that it becomes almost interesting by virtue of
trying to find the point of it. [17] But despite the unwieldiness of it all, and
the absence of good practical examples, here and there Jones reveals a glimpse
of his genius; and though he still refers to horary as an 'astral science' he does
at least point out that this is not really an appropriate way to consider a
subject that places such a strong emphasis upon symbolic reasoning. The real
value of his work lies in the way Jones' set out his theory on how the
mechanism of horary works. This undoubtedly influenced Rudhyar, or at
least sat comfortably with Rudhyar's own views, so that when Rudhyar wrote
about horary himself two decades later, he ran with the idea presented by
Jones, but articulated it in a much more persuasive and elegant manner.

Jones' suggestion was that a horary chart encapsulates the issues that are most
relevant in the mind, and as such reveals both the subconscious and conscious
knowledge contained within the mind, as reflected by the cosmos of which all
individuals are a part. He spends considerable time suggesting, and
attempting to demonstrate, that the subconscious mind is fully aware of the
reasons for past experiences and the future opportunities that lie before it.
Hence those 'chance meetings' that arise due to inexplicable wrong turns in
our journeys are actually designed by our subconscious mind in an effort to
unite us with our potential destiny. The horary chart is therefore not just a
map of the external heavens, but also a map of the internal mind and all the
information that the mind is able to project forward to collect or cast back to
recollect. This applies to both the conscious and the subconscious part of it,
and 'judgement' draws upon the knowledge contained within this map and
that of the mind of the astrologer, who must use subjective symbolic
processing as well as rational processing in order to extract its full meaning
and value. Jones explains that this is the reason why some astrologers can
make certain procedures work for them although these may be of little use to
anyone else:
The chart, in the case of a question, patterns a matter resident in some
individual's mind; and the content of that mind is also contained in the
general social complex - along with everything else - and hence under as real a
necessity to operate in concordance with universal order. This leads to the
rule that anyone who practices horary astrology must be very definite in
everything he does, not hesitating to express his own individuality. Every
good practitioner makes modifications in the techniques according to his own
tastes, because his private universe of thought has a specialized way of
ordering things. It is in accordance with the general reality, of necessity, but it
is also necessarily personal in all respects. [18]

As far as I can ascertain, Marc Edmund Jones, supported by his friend Dane
Rudhyar, was the first modern horary astrologer to make a deep and
committed attempt to offer a rationale for the workings of horary in such a
way that it offers no conflict to spiritual beliefs and yet remains compatible
with modern views on the power of the subconscious. He was obviously not
the first to touch upon these issues, but he appears to be innovatively involved
in the revival of astrology in modern times, in his attempt to give horary
respect as a technique which demonstrates remarkable power and needn't be
inappropriately defined as a science nor cast off into the negative bracket of
superstitious fortune-telling. He also moved beyond the ominous warnings of
'violation of technique' that we witness in the earlier works, placing the onus
back onto the astrologer to mould the techniques under their own judgement
as Lilly did. The fact that he subtitled his work "clarification and
modernization of an interestingly effective seventeenth century psychology"
illustrates that he felt more inspired and compatible with the creative
approach of Lilly than he was with the static and passive approach that had
since come to dominate the British astrological scene. He gives his main
credit to Lilly and mentions that it is Lilly's pioneer work "together with a
very few and sometimes surprisingly inconsequential books on the subject
written since his day" that formed his bibliography. In all, this totals only
seven works on horary that he had access to at that time: Zadkiel's version of
Lilly's text, the 19th century works of Simmonite, and Raphael, and the early
20th century works of Leo, C.C. Zain, Geraldine Davis and Robert de Luce. It
seems clear from his reference to these being "surprisingly inconsequential",
that he held much of the latter in scant regard. [19]

Recent articles and publications suggesting that the influences which

resurrected horary in recent times were centred upon what was happening in
Britain ought to be reconsidered. The evidence suggests that the British
influence around the turn of the last century had become stifling in its use of
horary, and was consequently generating hostility towards the concept that
lay beneath it. There didn't seem to be any attempt in Britain, in the early
20th century, to consider horary as anything but the fatalistic branch of
astrology that could drag all other branches into disrepute. Yet in America
there emerged much more of a will to work creatively with horary and to
recapture that "interestingly effective seventeenth century psychology".

Perhaps it is highly relevant that in America, around the same time that Leo
was enduring his legal trials, the law was pressing down just as heavily on the
activities of Evangeline Adams - but Adams fought back more effectively.
Adams never denied that she made predictions; she insisted that she did and
that they were very good ones too! She was first arrested under suspicion of
'fortune telling' in 1911 and although the charges were dropped, she revelled in
the publicity she gained from them. Then when she was brought to trial again
on similar charges in 1914, her decision to impress the judge with just how
good she was, not only led to her being acquitted of all 'wrong doing', but also
brought a commendation from the judge (reported in the papers) that she "had
raised astrology to the dignity of an exact science". [20]

So horary was never squashed in America, not even by those involved in the
humanistic movement, who offered the means to ennoble its philosophy in a
way that removed the final charge of being too fatalistic and potentially
weakening of the will. Later American writers such as Australian born Ivy
Goldstein Jacobson, who wrote her Simplified Horary Astrology in 1960, and
Barbara Watters, who wrote her Horary Astrology and the Judgement of Events
in 1973, subsequently felt no need to argue or defend their interest to 'modern
astrologers'.

Ivy Goldstein Jacobson's book was particularly influential, triggering the

interests of Derek Appleby and Olivia Barclay, both of whom then had a
persuasion upon other British astrologers.[21] But still, even in the Foreword
of Olivia Barclay's own book, Horary Astrology Rediscovered (1990), there is
respectful acknowledgement to the efforts made by Dane Rudhyar and Marc
Edmund Jones in restoring to astrology "a sense of responsibility for the
creation of our own lives". Barclay is generally considered 'strictly traditional'
in her interests, but although she condemns some changes made under the
umbrella of humanistic astrology that were "simply for the sake of change" or
"wandering off track", she was still of the opinion that "For the most part, the
new Humanistic Astrology was an evolution, a step forward".[22]

The fact that the respect which horary needed was being offered through the
humanist branch of astrology is either a good thing or beside the point.
Traditionalists will find that their techniques work just as well whether it is
believed that the individual creates its own opportunities or is submissive to
the limitations of fate. Lilly obviously believed that his clients had options
worth exploring, but he also recognized the fatedness of situations that had
moved beyond the point of return. His advice then was:
… afflict not the miserable with terror of a harsh judgement; in such cases let
them know their hard fate by degrees. [23]

Through this comment we can see that Lilly valued the usefulness of the
process above the 'cleverness' of the prediction. We can also see that he was
conscious of the need to treat the mind of the recipient with care, so that
problems weren't augmented through a client being paralysed by fear of the
unavoidable, but that there was a gentle leading towards a state of realisation
which worked in harmony with the client's inevitable progress towards self-
recognition. Thus Lilly adhered to Ptolemy's reasoning that "foreknowledge
accustoms and calms the soul and prepares it to greet with steadiness
whatever comes", [24] and yet he wouldn't have been in conflict with
Rudhyar either, because whether it's appropriate to call it a psychology or not,
his astrology involved taking every opportunity to offer guidance and advice,
and he was fully appreciative of the need to be sensitive and sensible with his
words.

Conclusion

T here can be no doubt that horary is properly described as a 'predictive'

branch of astrology; but it is also probably obvious that I favour the
active approach rather than the passive one. To me the veracity of
horary illustrates the existence of a cosmic environment that is very rich,
purposeful and meaningful. Its creative intelligence is full of signs, pointers,
omens, and warnings, designed to lead us towards opportunities or necessary
crisis points, and aiming to constantly develop our own ability to make wise
and informed decisions on the possibilities before us. I am personally a
believer that the human spirit does have the power to rise above what might
be expected, but that this entails an effort of will to transcend the 'predictable'
and to consciously conquer the baser instinctive responses. Horary is
divination, and there is no denying that. But does the phrase 'fortune telling'
adequately summarise what divination could and should mean? To 'tell one's
fortune' implies that we are delivering advance news of what will inevitably
fall upon someone's head regardless of what they do or how they strive to
perform; but 'divination', in its original sense, indicates inspiration and
guidance from a 'divine' or 'spiritual source'. Maybe it is wrong to worry
about whether that divine source originates from without or from within or
both at the same time; the only relevant point is that no one can practise
horary effectively without a firm belief in the existence of providence.

Historical lessons remain invaluable to us as situations we can learn from, and

one question I have often reflected upon is, given the circumstances he found
himself in, can we really blame Leo for distancing himself from the concept of
prediction? I realise there is no easy answer, but my conclusion is that, if he
did regard what he was doing as "truthful and legitimate advice" as H.S.
Green reports, then it really was foolish to try and argue that astrology can
operate without being seen as a predictive tool. Once again, words from Lilly's
'Letter to the Student' echo down the centuries as a pertinent reminder: "avoid
the fashion of the times"! Hopefully astrologers will never allow themselves
to fall into that trap again. [25] If we are to retain our own respect as
astrologers we must first give it to astrology and to what we aim to do with it.
Our argument should not be to reject the potential of prediction, but to exalt
its purpose, and to hold it always in a place of philosophical and spiritual
respect. Prediction will never again seem like a dirty word if we keep in mind
that it is representing the ability to 'say before' what appears to be 'fated' has
truly become so.

Notes & References:

1] Initially published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, this book, written
jointly by Derek and Julia Parker, has sold millions of copies and has
been translated into 12 languages. It should be pointed out that their
more recent editions now contain a very useful introductory guide to
horary and their earlier comments are referred to here only because
they demonstrate an attitude that was typical and widespread in
western astrology at that time.

2] In response to the original publication of an earlier version of this

article in the Traditional Astrologer magazine (Sept. 1998), Maurice
McCann wrote an interesting letter which picked up an intriguing
point concerning this picture: it has been altered! This appears to
deepen someone's commitment to discredit the reputation of horary
astrologers. A section of McCann's letter (published in the TA, issue
18, March 1999) reads:
I had been discussing your article with Peter Berresford Ellis when he
noticed that one of the photos had been tinkered with. I recognised the
photo of the so-called horary astrologer from page 19 of Louis
MacNeice’s book Astrology, first published in 1964 a year after his
death. This was one of three books published posthumously. Louis
MacNeice (1907-63) was the famous Irish poet who lived in Antrim a
few miles up the coast from Belfast. You acknowledge that both
photos, the horary astrologer and the photo of John Addey beside it,
have been reproduced with permission from Derek Parker. On p.350 in
the MacNeice book this photograph of the so-called horary astrologer is
acknowledged to Herbert List.

In the MacNeice book the caption says: 'Casting horoscopes to answer

questions is called “horary” astrology; below right, an Italian fortune
teller outside a Naples law court undertakes to answer litigants’
questions by this method.'

On the banner in the MacNeice version, underneath the drawing of a

hand and the diagram of the zodiac with the signs in reverse order, are
the words: Kiromanzia (cartomanzia) attraverso la costra mono. Potete
conoscere scientificamente ii vostro destino. Consultatemi.

In English this roughly means “Chiromancy (fortune telling by cards)

through your hand we will be able to know your fate scientifically.
Consult me.”
 The words at the top part of the banner in English read roughly
“Famous magician Hans D’Anna will reveal whatever the future”. In
short, the so-called horary astrologer would appear to be more of a
palmist, a hand reader and not an astrologer at all!

In the photo which appeared in the TA, these words have been blacked
out. It was this blacking that made Peter suspicious. If you look
carefully you will see a black bar with a straight white line at the
bottom of the banner blotting out these give-away words. The bottom
of the banner is lined up with the top of the palmist’s head. In the
MacNeice photo the bottom of the banner is lined up just beneath his
left shoulder. The blacked out banner space between the top of his head
and his shoulder has been altered to appear as if part of the stone wall.
The photograph has been cleverly forged. The only apparent reason
would seem to be to give horary astrology a very bad press and to
attempt to dishonour it. The dishonour, I would suggest, must be
bestowed on those, whoever they may be, who deliberately and with
malice aforethought falsified this photograph.

3] Horary Astrology, published through Leo's 'Modern Astrology' office in

London, 1907.

4] " ... Horary Astrology, as practised to-day, is the vilest rubbish

imaginable, and not worthy of the name."
Modern Astrology, vol2, no 10. May 1897.

5] I am grateful to Maurice McCann for providing some pertinent

references that illustrate the harsh things Leo had to say about horary:
The first aim of the Simple Method of Instruction given in these pages
was to clear away the rubbish of horary Astrology from the path of the
true practical Astrology.
Ibid., p.433
IT IS THE CURSE OF THE SCIENCE AND THE RUIN OF THE
ASTROLOGER.
Ibid., p.437
Nevertheless, incessant recourse to Horary Astrology is not to be
recommended; and this on two grounds. First and foremost, undue
reliance upon horary astrology is to be strongly deprecated on (in the
 highest sense of the word) moral grounds, in that it weakens the true
judgement and if practised to excess gradually deprives those who lean
on it of all independence and self-reliance. Secondly, and from a more
practical standpoint, because, unless pursued in conjunction with Natal
Astrology, it is apt to lead to erroneous judgements.
Horary Astrology by Alan Leo, 1909. Reprinted by Ascella. Supplement:
'Horary Astrology and Divination'
It requires very little skill to become a successful Horary Astrologer,
and it will very often happen that those who would shrink from the
more abstruse study of Natal Astrology may become experts in
divination by the aid of horary figures.
Ibid. Introduction.

6] For "A Brief Biography of Alan Leo" see

www.skyscript.co.uk/Alan_Leo.html

The details of this particular affair are explored at length in A

Confusion of Prophets: Victorian and Edwardian Astrology, by Patrick
Curry (Collins & Brown, London, 1992). Leo asked one of his assistants
to draw up a chart for 4:15 pm after he was presented with the
summons at his London address. If Leo treated this as a horary chart,
then he would have judged that he (Venus) was in a stronger position
than his opponents (Mars), and with the Moon void of course, he
might have expected the charges to be dropped. The presence of the
12th house ruler in the 7th is one of the indications of sinsiter motives
by his accusers.

7] Curry, p.149.
8] Ibid., p.155.

9] Ibid., p.14

10] Ibid., p.157

11] This is my own assessment based upon personal experience and

dialogues with relevant friends and colleagues. I became personally
involved in the efforts to raise attention in horary through lectures and
courses, publishing reprints of traditional texts, and in the distribution
of the Traditional Astrologer magazine that ran between June 1993 and
January 2000. Throughout that time my experience was that horary sat
on the fringes and a certain amount of diplomacy needed to be
exercised in order to talk or write openly about horary and traditional
technique without generating a hostile reaction from mainstream
astrologers. Due to illness I dropped off the astrological scene at the
end of 1999 and regained an involvement when I set up the Skyscript
website in spring 2003. It came as a surprise for me to realise that
during the interim there had been a noticeable shift of attitude and that
a great many mainstream astrologers were now looking to further their
knowledge of horary and traditional techniques in general.

For a more detailed exploration of the restoration of horary in Britain

since the 1970s, especially as it relates to the efforts of Geoffrey
Cornelius, see Kirk Little's paper Defining the Moment - Geoffrey
Cornelius and the Development of the Divinatory Perspective, available as a
pdf download from Garry Phillipson's website:
www.astrozero.co.uk/articles/Defining.htm

Or for a more general view see Nick Campion's The Traditional Revival
in Modern Astrology: A Preliminary History, available at
www.astrolodge.co.uk/astro/quarterly/traditionalrevival.html
Back to text
12] Upon this theme Leo wrote:
A Horary figure is useful to answer serious questions when the birth
time is unknown, or when the mind is very anxious concerning any
important event; and so long as it is not confounded with natal
astrology it can be exceedingly useful. It tends, however, to weaken the
will and initiative of the user who relies upon the figure, for he thereby
 becomes, more or less, a fatalist.

From one of two (undated) hardback notebooks by Leo containing

Lessons For Beginners In Astrology held in the library of the Astrological
Lodge of London.

13] He was born in Paris (Mar 23, 1895 12:42 am LMT) but emigrated to
New York in 1916. For a detailed biography see Dane Rudhyar: An
Illustrated Biographical Sketch at www.khaldea.com.

14] Reproduced in full on Michael R. Meyer 'Rudhyar Archival Project':

www.khaldea.com/rudhyar/pofa/pofa_12.shtml

15] Practice of Astrology, the Twelfth Step. See above.

16] Marc Edmund Jones, Problem Solving by Horary Astrology, (David

McKay, Philadelphia, 1946), Foreword, p.10.

17] Jones tries to make his book all things to all people. It deals with a
specialist subject and yet he aims it at the popular market, and so the
first 100 pages or so are taken up explaining such elementary principles
as what the zodiac is and the difference between the ecliptic and
equator, etc. He feels obliged to detail everything needed to be known
in order to manually cast a chart, forcing such explanations as what
sidereal time is and how to calculate angles. Although this part of the
book goes on and on, the instruction is still very rushed and
incomplete, presumably so that Jones can get around to horary; so from
the start there is a sense of confusion that makes his explanations seem
incomprehensible even for an experienced astrologer. By the time he
gets around to outlining horary techniques it all feels very tedious and
laborious. He is neither detailed nor illuminating in his explanations of
the actual principles of horary. There are very few practical examples
and references to these are scattered; one comment regarding the chart
appearing in one place, another appearing elsewhere. In all, it is a very
long winded text which would probably confuse most students more
then it enlightened them. He obviously had a passion for horary to
write a book of over 400 pages about it, but his mistake was to market
it at the man in the street, when no-one but a die-hard enthusiast
would be willing to mine his nuggets of gold from the surrounding
 dross.

18] Jones, p.58.

19] His full bibliography, including reference to his own research, is:

Lilly, William, An Introduction to Astrology (incorporated in "Christian

Astrology"), London, 1647; edited by Zadkiel (Richard James
Morrison), London, 1852; popular edition, "Bohn's Scientific Library",
London, 1865 (?)

Simmonite, William Joseph, The Prognostic Astrologer, London, 1851(?);

new edition, Horary Astrology, by John Story, Sheffield, 1896

Raphael (Robert Cross), Horary Astrology, London, 1883

Leo, Alan, Horary Astrology, London, 1907

Zain, C. C. (Elbert Benjamine) Horary Astrology; three manuscript

lessons; Los Angeles, October-November, 1920; combined with three
general lessons and another on elections; Los Angeles, 1931

Jones, Marc Edmund, Divinatory Astrology, twenty-four manuscript

lessons issued in mimeographed form; Hollywood, California, 1930-31

DeLuce, Robert, Horary Astrology, Los Angeles, California, 1932; new

"improved, revised and enlarged" edition; Los Angeles, California, 1942

Davis, Geraldine, Modern Scientific Textbook on Horary Astrology with

Authentic Charts and Predictions, Los Angeles, California, 1942

20] See A Brief Biography of Evangeline Adams by Karen Christino

www.skyscript.co.uk/adams.html

21] Irish astrologer Maurice McCann, who was close friend and colleague
of Derek Appleby and himself very influential in his horary teachings,
writings and lectures, also reports that Ivy Goldstein Jacobson's work
was one of his earliest sources. He recalls that Derek Appleby first
became interested in the subject after reading a short article written by
 Joan Rodgers in the popular 'new age' magazine Prediction, (sometime
around the mid 70s). After this Appleby more or less developed his
own system, later coming across the work of Goldstein-Jacobson which
offered him a more defined and structured approach. Derek mainly
adhered to his own techniques so is far more important in the revival
of interest in horary than the revival of interest in traditional astrology
as some reports claim; for he never had a great passion for the
traditional texts.

Maurice also recalls that his own interest in horary was activated after
hearing Bernard Eccles speak of it at the Astrological Lodge of London
in the early 80s, and that during this talk his notion of astrology
changed from 'black and white to full glorious Technicolor!' Clearly the
British community did benefit from having a nucleus of well informed
and passionately interested astrologers working together and meeting
at groups that were physically close to each other. This allowed them to
'turn up the volume' about horary so that it had its fair representation
in journals, and it gathered enough demand for information to see
Lilly's text back brought back into circulation. Even so, it has to be
appreciated that the impetus for their interest had come over from
America.

22] Olivia Barclay, Horary Astrology Rediscovered, (Whitford Press,

Pennysylvania, 1990) Foreword pp.13-14.

23] William Lilly, Christian Astrology, (originally published London, 1647);

'Letter to the Student of Astrology'.

24] Tetrabiblos, (1st century AD), translated by F.E. Robbins, Harvard

Heinemann, Loeb Classical Library; 1.3.

25] One incident that springs to mind occurred a few years back when the
British AA circulated a proposal for feedback that suggested defining
astrology as a religion, in order that it would be able to claim more
rights in its representation on British television.