7 Steps to Astrological Prediction: Part 4

Delineation and Prediction are two distinctly different steps, and as Zoller points out, prediction is impossible without proper delineation. Prediction is tricky enough as it is without muddling it up with shoddy delineation.

Step 1 Ask the question
Step 2 Cast the chart
Step 3 Determine if chart is radical or fit to be judged
Step 4 Delineate the condition of each planet and luminary
Step 5 Determine primary significators
Step 6 Observe relations of significators
Step 7 If an outcome is determined, then predict the time it is determined for

Delineating the condition of the planets and luminaries is an essential step and makes delineating the rest of the chart much easier if it's done before looking for the Primary Significators. Lilly has a chart in his Christian Astrology and I highly recommend using it for every chart until it is fully committed to memory. It's an elementary pointing/grading system which will tell you how much dignity versus debility a planet has.

You have to delineate the state of at least three planets in order to determine if the chart is radical or fit to be judged, two of which are your primary significators (Lord of the 1st and the Moon). Why is it necessary to delineate all of them? All planets have to be considered in every question. There is no point at which a planet does not have something to do with the event. They may not have as much bearing on the case as your primary significators, but they still affect the outcome. Not only that, but once you really get into determining an answer, the planets you thought were the primary influence in the matter can quickly change to other planets by virtue of dignity, debility or aspect.

One tip I will tell you to watch out for (and again more experienced Astrologers will tell you it's not always necessary but I like to err on the side of caution) is the Fixed Stars, one in particular is Caput Algol (the head of Medusa). Fixed stars are obviously not fixed in place but they move slowly enough that they seem not to move at all. Caput Algol is somewhere around 25 Taurus. If a planet is conjunct this star, it is considered debilitated.

Lilly's chart for delineating planets can be found on page 115 if you have a copy of the traditional text.

Recommended Reading

Come back tomorrow for a free gift and an interview with the leading Traditional Astrologer Christopher Warnock, Esq.

Prediction

Please read this brief introduction if you are new to this blog before reading the following post.

Predictions are made every day, but as Robert Zoller points out in his Diploma Course, prediction is impossible without proper delineation.  So what does this mean and what predictions are we talking about?

The meteorologist studies atmospheric conditions and based on previous events, anticipated occurrences and details too laboring for the layman to research, s/he makes a mathematical prediction of when it will rain, snow or even when a hurricane will make landfall.  We all know that it's not an exact science, and the joke is quite consistent that the "weatherman" is always wrong.  Actually, meteorologists are pretty accurate 80%-90% of the time, but the few times that they're wrong give us the fuel to joke about their inadequacies.

The origins of the meteorologist actually stem from man's constant need to know what's coming.  For this, we have always looked to the stars.  The word meteorology comes from the Greek meteorologia, meaning "treatise on celestial phenomena".  Even in the Book of Genesis, we read that God put lights in the firmament and said "let them be for signs and for seasons", evidence that early man was dependant on celestial activity to predict events.

Traditional Astrology, including Horary, Natal, Mundane and many other branches, is no less a complicated matter or any less effective of a technique than modern meteorology.  Its only perceived folly is that it is antiquated in comparison to our moern understanding of the cosmos.  The Astrologer knows different, but the layman does not.

It is imperative that the novice, apprentice, and sometimes even the experienced astrologer understand and remember that "planetary rulership" does not necessarily mean that the planets empirically affect any person or object.  Instead, rulership is demonstrable evidence of the Hermetic adage "As Above, So Below".  For instance, our solar system is representative of cellular activity and molecular activity within us and all things.  The very simplest example is that of an atom, wherein we observe an electron orbiting the nucleus, just as the planets orbit the sun.  Before we understood the galaxy to be heliocentric, we still understood the planets and stars to orbit the earth - either way its the same concept as an atom.  So we observe the motion of the planets because that same motion is happening here on earth on a smaller scale.

To provide a working example of just how astrology works, imagine two solar systems, containing exactly the same shape and orbiting the planets but occupying two separate spaces and oriented in two different directions.  We'll call them S1 and S2.  S1 is horizontal meaning that the planets orbit the sun of S1 counterclockwise from left to right as we look at it.  S2 is vertical, where the planets orbit the sun counterclockwise up and down as we look at it.  As these two solar systems come within each others spaces, the planets orbiting them, and the gravity which each planet owns, affects those of the other.  When we have two people interacting with each other, we understand that the habits and personality traits affecting each of their decisions will also affect the reaction of the other.  As a hypnotist, I have had multiple opportunities to observe the motivations and habits of individuals as well as relationships and found this to be unequivocally true.

In order to properly predict when an event will occur, the Astrologer must take into account as many details of the circumstance as he can determine.  This process is called delineation.  Once he has accurately delineated all of these interactions, he can then mathematically calculate the time the outcome will culminate.

It should go without saying, but I'll mention it anyways, that the reason we look to the stars to determine these events is because of the scale.  The simple question is then asked, is it easier to observe the motion of the stars than it is to observe the motion of atoms? Obviously.

Suggested Reading:
John Frawley's The Real Astrology

John Frawley's The Real Astrology Applied

William Lilly's Christian Astrology

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