Horary 0039: When Will the Statues Arrive?
Overview
The querent purchased statues for a shrine space from an online vendor based in Greece, hadn’t received any update, and wanted to know when they would arrive.
I assigned the statues to Venus, ruler of the 8th (2nd from the 7th, the seller’s possession, since they do not yet belong to the querent). Venus seemed an ideal natural ruler of beautiful images of divinity.
The Moon is also a natural ruler of travelers or missing objects, or simply the flow of events in general, as well as a secondary significator of the querent. The querent’s main significator is the ascendant ruler, Jupiter. Any impending contact between these planets could show receipt of the statues, but there is none.
In fact, the Moon is deeply void-of-course. I have encountered enough warning in my studies to be wary of that condition, and my judgment here would hinge on it. But this chart displays another overriding Moon condition that I did not recognize as such, and I got to see what happens when they go head-to-head.
Judgment
I judged on the basis of the void Moon alone that the statues would not arrive. I saw further testimony in the combustion of Jupiter, the afflicted and powerless condition of the querent.
I noted that Venus has no impending aspects, and that its next contact is with the Moon after over 60º of the Moon’s travel. This seemed much too far to push the Moon through the chart to indicate an arrival — remember, the querent asked when the statues would arrive — because the timing there would take years.
My error is revealed in my judgment in the next step, where I ruled that the Moon’s travel to Venus is “prohibited by the Sun,” which I saw as the factor afflicting the querent, Jupiter. This instead turned out to be the indication that the statues would arrive by surprise.
Outcome
A week after the verdict, the querent replied to inform me that the statues had arrived. The tracking still indicated that they had never left their country of origin, but they showed up anyway.
Analysis
I am grateful for the practice provided by this chart, which — in retrospect — allows me to weigh two overriding chart conditions together, and to improve my understanding of the limits of traditional horary methods of timing.
I don’t think it was a mistake per se to consider the void-of-course Moon as a grave indication, because I believe it describes the situation quite radically. The querent was expecting to be able to track the shipment, and it appeared not to be moving. It was lost and wandering. This is exactly what a void Moon signifies.
My mistake was not considering that the Moon’s next aspect — while over a day away — was with the Sun, and a Full Moon, no less.
My teacher repeatedly emphasized that harmony of the lights is an overriding condition in a horary judgment. I don’t believe any applying Moon/Sun aspect can override any other testimony, but when it radically describes the situation, it should. The Moon running through the void until it reaches its point of maximum visibility describes this situation so well, the package hidden in travel and then popping into view.
If I were to judge this chart again knowing what I know now, I would tell the querent, “I am unable to judge when it will arrive, but it will certainly arrive.” That’s because timing this application according to horary rules doesn’t make sense; it would still indicate months of waiting.
But that wouldn’t have phased me; I was taught that harmony of the lights is a symbolic condition that is deeper than the rest of the chart in some way; the surface-level rules no longer apply. It is a yes, but not one that is quantifiable by the ordinary rules, which of course also radically describes the inability to track the package in this particular question.
So I’ll happily take the L on this one for the lessons it taught me.
