Page 43 - Talented Astrologer • Volume 2 Number 1 • Winter 2019

interrogatory astrology, which includes horary, electional, and event interpretation. It also plays a slightly different role in natal astrology.
Power evaluates how successful a planet will be when pursuing its own agenda.
The five Essential Dignities each award a different number of points, while the Essential Debilities (Detriment, Fall, Peregrine) subtract points. A planet with a dignity score of 3 or higher is strong enough to exert its will and to overcome most obstacles in its path. A planet in Rulership, with a score of at least 5, is virtually unstoppable. Planets with a score lower than 3 have little chance of success without extraordinary circumstantial assistance. This is of critical importance in horary, electional, and other forms of predictive astrology and of virtually no practical value in the context of descriptive natal astrology.
To get a “yes” answer in horary astrology, you generally need to see the two planets that signify the key houses of the question moving into a supportive aspect with each other. But a good aspect between the significators is not sufficient. You also have to evaluate the Essential Dignity of each planet. If both significators are applying to a trine with each other, but both planets are peregrine (lacking Essential Dignity), there’s little chance
of a good outcome. The planets must have sufficient power to produce the desired result.
The outer planets do not have Essential Dignity, so it’s not possible to evaluate their relative power.
While modern astrologers assign Rulership to the outer planets, and some have even gone so far as to assign Exaltation to them as well, no one has been able to integrate the outer planets into the other three dignities, Triplicity, Term, and Face. If Uranus only has dignity in Aquarius
(Rulership) and Scorpio (Exaltation) then it’s
peregrine (without Essential Dignity) in every other sign. Put another way, Uranus is peregrine for 70 out of 84 years. In
horary astrology, a peregrine planet is severely debilitated. Neptune and Pluto would be peregrine for even longer stretches of time. If Pluto rules Scorpio, we will never again see a dignified Pluto because it will be over 200 years before it returns to Scorpio.
On a practical level, this means that in every horary chart there will be at least three houses (the houses with Aquarius, Scorpio, and Pisces on the cusps) that are dead zones. If one of those signs is rising, there’s
virtually no way to get a “yes” answer on the question because the outer planet significators would always be
powerless.
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