Horary 0029: Should I Launch a Simple Site Soon or a Polished Site Later?
Overview
The querent was preparing to launch a creative project on a website and wanted to know whether it would be more advantageous to launch quickly and iterate in public or take time to polish it up first.
What follows is a master class in an astrologer taking a beautifully radical chart and completely falling on his face reading it wrong.
The querent assures me they are not upset about my poor advice, and that it has all worked out for the best.
Judgment
I assigned the querent’s project Jupiter, ruler of the 5th. The querent is the Sun, ruler of the ascendant. Both planets — as well as Mercury, who rules the 11th house of friends and networks, the 2nd house of money and resources, and the 3rd house of writing and communication — are in Aries. I delineated Aries as a place of impulsiveness and adventure. So far, so good.
I described the Sun’s powerful stature in this chart as another positive sign. It’s exalted in Aries, and it rejoices in the 9th house. I also noted that while Mercury — signifying just about everything this website needs to do — is rushing ahead of the Sun to make contact with Jupiter (the project), the Sun will catch up with Jupiter, making it gradually more and more combust and debilitated. I took this as a sign to “go now,” rather than wait.
I can, at least, see why I said all of those things. Now for a litany of things I missed or screwed up.
First of all, my delineation does not mention the Moon at all, which is horrifying to me. When it’s available, the Moon is always another important significator of the querent. This Moon is powerfully angular, and it is exalted in Taurus, but it has only been in Taurus for less than an hour. It is freshly pumped up by its new condition, as the querent is excited about this new business idea.
Indeed, the midheaven — the point which signifies the querent’s career — is just 19 arc minutes — less than TWO CLOCK MINUTES — into Taurus. This career idea is so new that it has barely even formed. I could have taken both of these sign changes as extremely loud indications that the querent’s career is not indicated by Aries conditions but rather by Taurus conditions.
And this is far from the worst mistake in my judgment involving a change of signs.
By now, 40 charts later, a planet at 29º of a sign — which Mars is here — is one of the first things that draws my attention. Moreover, at the time this chart was cast, I and every other astrologer in the world was deeply aware that Mars had been in the sign of Gemini for SEVEN MONTHS, and that it was AT LAST about to free us from that torment.
In a horary chart, when a planet is about to change signs, it means the condition of whatever it signifies is about to change. As you may have noticed, in this chart, Mars is the ruler of absolutely everything I am delineating as significant, i.e. the three planets together in Aries. And when Mars enters Cancer, it goes into its fall, a precipitous drop in dignity. Yes, the conditions for the querent, their creative idea, and all the connections, resources, and communication involved in doing what they propose to do are about to get much worse.
Did I even describe Mars’ condition to the querent at all? No, reader, I did not.
To throw in one final mistake, I delineated the 9th house as “the place of lofty ideas such as the one you have here.” Combining that with the Sun’s joy there, I took that to be a good thing. What I failed to do was observe that the 9th is a cadent house, a place of falling action. The midheaven and 10th house are the place of the querent’s work. The 9th house is a place of reflection and contemplation, even when the aggressive sign of Aries is there. But I just… didn’t realize that at the time, I guess?
I told the querent to go for it.
Outcome
After three months with the site online and only two posts published on it, the querent called it a day and has already moved on to different and very exciting ideas.
They didn’t have to say this, but they said this was a useful experience for them, and that they were glad to have received this advice to get some practice at striking while the iron is hot rather than stewing on it.
Analysis
Here’s how I would delineate this beautiful chart now:
“You are consumed with passion about this idea, but meanwhile your career matters — not to mention the inner exhortations of your soul, as indicated by the 12th house Lot of Spirit in Cancer ruled by the exalted, culminating Moon — have already moved on from it, and the condition of the project is about to get a lot worse. I recommend concentrating instead on Venusian matters of what you really desire to do, rather than charging ahead with this concept.”
I remain deeply grateful to get one wrong. There is no better way to make improvements to the practice.
And lest the above train wreck of astrology dissuade you from my services, I assure you I’m learning pretty fast and performing pretty well overall.
