All In Good Time
Timing is the most impressive and likely the most difficult aspect of horary astrology. While easy to understand, it can be difficult to master, even for more advanced students as the rules surrounding it lack a logical formula and often require the student to estimate, provide ranges, and use wiggle words. Perhaps the most frustrating part of timing techniques is the lack of concrete units of time, instead the astrologer will often find themselves relying on intuition or context to determine what sounds most likely or what the chart is trying to communicate to them.
Symbolic Timing
The most widely reported method of timing is the symbolic or degree-by-degree technique. Here, after an astrologer identifies the aspect that indicates the perfection or accomplishment of the matter being asked about, they would then convert the number of degrees that separate the two planets into the appropriate unit of time. As an example, if the astrologer suspected the Moon’s applying trine to Jupiter signified the completion with the Moon being in 12° and Jupiter in 18°, this is a difference of 6, so it would be 6 somethings, be that days, weeks, or years.
Determining which unit of time is the right one to use is the tricky part with different astrologers in history prioritizing different considerations to point the way. The 9th century astrologer Jirjis instructs us to prioritize the quadruplicity of the sign through which the aspect will take place, focusing on the sign the lighter applying planet occupies while also factoring in the angularity of the planets.
Jirjis instructs us to use years if the planet being applied to is in a fixed sign, if this planet is in a mutable sign and a succedent house each degree is a month. That same planet in a mutable sign and a cadent house, then every 2.5° represents a month, but if the planet is in a cadent house and a cardinal sign, we will interpret every degree as a day. Should the Moon’s application represent timing, we use a lunar-specific set of timing where if she is in a cardinal sign and a succedent house, every 30° between her and the significator will present a day; if she’s in a cardinal sign and cadent house then every 12° separating them will be one hour, for example.
Authorities generally agree - and we can see it represented even in Jirjis’s more unorthodox system - that cardinal signs represent the shortest unit of time, fixed signs represent the longest unit, and mutable signs represent something in between. Usually this is written as cardinal signs represent days, mutable represent weeks, and fixed represent months, but the timing may be shifted for fixed signs to represent years if applicable.
Bonatti, writing about 400 years after Jirjis, discusses timing in his horary text in chapter 6 of his section on the second house. Here, Bonatti focuses on the houses that the aspecting significators occupy with no mention of the signs.
“And say that there will be so many days before the effecting of the matter if they were both in cadent houses; if they are in succedent houses it will be weeks, if they were in angles it will be months.”
He goes on to describe combinations with cadent houses always shortening the time and fixed houses prolonging it. Such as one planet in an angle while the other is in a succedent will indicate months.
Renaissance astrologer William Lilly discusses timing methods all throughout his work Christian Astrology, most often we encounter it in his example charts where the timing is discussed as part of the overall consultation and advice given to the client. We first see it in his section on first house questions when discussing when someone may expect accidents (injury or illness) to befall them so that they might better prepare. Here, Lilly tells us the fixed signs indicate years, mutable signs indicate months, and cardinal signs can indicate weeks.
Lilly notes the Moon applying a trine to Jupiter within three degrees and says this shows three years, most likely because Jupiter is both in a fixed sign and an angular house which both indicate the longest periods of time. Afterwards, he looks at the Lord of the Ascendant and sees it (the Sun) is in its sign of exaltation and even though the Sun is in a cardinal sign and conjoined the cusp of a cadent house (which should indicate very short amounts of time) he assigns a month to every degree before the Sun enters Taurus. Finally, he considers the distance between the opposition of the Moon and Mars which is a little more than seven degrees, but he specifically points out that it is not seven years, nor is it seven months because the mutable signs should signify a mean of both and gives this 3 and a half years, or 7 half-years though 7 seasons would likely have been a more logical option.
The next time we encounter Lilly discussing timing is probably the most generally useful. We find this in the middle of his section on questions concerning the second house and these echo the rules handed down to us by Bonatti. The number of degrees between an aspect occurring in a cadent house signifies days, if it occurs in succedent houses it signifies weeks, and if in angular houses it signifies months.
“But herein the astrologer must use discretion and consider if it be possible that the matter inquired after may be effected in days, weeks, or months; for if it be a business that many require much time, instead of months you may add years.”
This highlights the overall issue. The astrologer must adapt to what makes the most sense and use the symbolism in the chart as guideposts to get there.
Mundane Timing
The second method of timing - and one that is generally less utilized in contemporary practice - is what is referred to as mundane timing. This takes into consideration the real-time motion and completion of aspects between significators instead of utilizing degrees and signs or houses to symbolize units of time.
We seem to originally find this method mentioned in Masha’allah’s On Reception saying that if both of the significators are in the same sign and the Lord of the Ascendant is the heavier planet then the matter will perfect on the day when the two planets perfect their conjunction. Later authors would generally agree with this, but remove the condition that it work by conjunction only and use it for any applying aspect that will perfect.
In this chart example, the question concerned a brother who was traveling that the querent had not heard from. After providing the querent with a description of events and his current condition (and discovering that he was not dead), Lilly looks to the trine between Venus (who signifies the missing brother) and Saturn (who signifies the querent by being lord of the Ascendant). He notes that this aspect perfected that same day and indicates the querent should hear news of his brother later that day. Lilly reports that this was the case.
In our final example, Lilly is asked by a mother if her son is at her house in the country, or with his employer. From the chart, Lilly judge that her son is at her own house and that she will see him there on the day that Venus (the significator of the mother as the Lord of the Ascendant) perfects her applying trine to Jupiter (who signifies her son as the Lord of the Fifth), which was July 25th - about four days later. Lilly reports that this was the case as it took her until the 25th to return home from her visit to the city where she found her son waiting for her.
Mundane timing is, in many ways, much easier to use than symbolic timing as it removes the guesswork component of accurately assigning units of time. The astrologer simply has to identify the correct aspect and follow it until it completes.
Conclusion
While difficult and confusing, mastering timing techniques is probably the most immediately rewarding part of horary as it allows the astrologer to pinpoint when events occur. This is a massive boost to one’s ability to practice and predict and is a skill worth practicing as much as you can. Thankfully, the tradition gives us both the symbolic and mundane timing techniques to incorporate into our toolkit and there is no reason why both cannot be practiced at the same time. In fact, I encourage it to see which technique ends up being the most accurate most often.