Reception in Horary: Will I survive this illness?

In April of 791 CE, a man asked the astrologer Masha’allah whether he would survive his illness, or was it going to kill him? Mahas’allah cast a horary chart for the time he understood the question. It looked something like this (I used Alcabitius houses, but the original may have used whole signs as houses).

Will I survive this illness or will it cause my death?

Masha’allah’s approach to horary is a bit different from that of William Lilly. According to Masah’allah, the querent and the horary question are signified either by the Ascendant-ruler (Mercury here) or by the Moon, whichever is stronger in the chart, especially which one aspects the Ascendant.

Here Mercury in Aries lies in aversion to Virgo, whereas the Moon in Taurus lies in trine to Virgo. The Moon is the clear winner and so gets to primarily represent the sick man asking the question about the outcome of his illness. Mercury is regarded as a participant with the Moon in that signification.

Masha’allah notes that both the Moon and Mercury are void in the course. Neither will complete an aspect before entering the next sign. However, the Moon moves faster than Mercury and will enter Gemini before Mercury is able to depart from Aries.

Once in Gemini, the Moon (the querent, the sick man, the signifier of the querent’s health question) will soon square Venus in Pisces in the 6th. In doing so, the Moon “commits her disposition” to Venus, putting Venus in charge of the outcome of the question. The Moon does not occupy the domicile or exaltation of Venus, and Venus does not occupy the domicile or exaltation of the Moon, so Moon square Venus occurs without reception. Nonetheless, the Moon, being the Moon, is able to commit her disposition to any planet she applies by aspect.

Now the matter of the outcome of the querent’s illness lies in Venus’s hands. What will Venus do with the Moon’s disposition with which she is now charged? To answer this question we must look at the future aspects of Venus. Being in Pisces, Venus will eventually square Mars and sextile Jupiter. A square to Mars would indicate death because Mars is malefic and rules the 8th house of death in this chart. A sextile to Jupiter in Taurus, the domicile of Venus, would mean recovery from illness, especially because a mutual reception would be in effect between Venus in Pisces (ruled by Jupiter) and Jupiter in Taurus (ruled by Venus), linked by a favorable sextile.

Rather than judge by the static positions of Mars and Jupiter in the original horary chart, Masah’allah appears to consider these aspects in real time. As Venus advances in Pisces, Mars will advance in Gemini. By the time Venus reaches the sextile to Jupiter in real time, Mars will be far enough along in the zodiac so that the square from Venus will not occur before Venus can aspect Jupiter. Here is the horary chart advanced by 15 days to the day that Venus will sextile Jupiter. Notice that Mars is well out of the way, so the Venus square Mars will not occur before Venus has a chance to sextile Jupiter.

15 days after the sick man asked his horary question. Venus will sextile Jupiter in real time before the Venus square Mars can take place.

Venus was carrying the disposition of the Moon for 15 days, and on the 15th day she passed the Moon’s disposition and the question on to Jupiter, who is now in charge of the outcome of the question. Jupiter is in good condition. In the original horary chart, Jupiter lies in Taurus and trines the Ascendant from the fortunate 9th house, the house of God. The sextile from Venus in Pisces, with mutual reception, is quite beneficial. Venus, exalted in Pisces, “pushes” the strength or virtue of her exaltation in Pisces to Jupiter. Venus in Pisces is imbued with the Jupiterian nature of Pisces and “pushes” that nature to Jupiter, who welcomes it with open arms. Jupiter in Taurus is bathed in Venusian light and “pushes” that Venusian nature back to Venus, who is overjoyed to receive it.

Next, because Jupiter is not applying to aspect Saturn, the outermost and heaviest planet, the buck stops with Jupiter. If Jupiter were applying to aspect Saturn, then Saturn would have the final say in answering the question. In this chart, Saturn remains silent and Jupiter has the final say in answering the horary question: the man will recover from his illness and go on with life.

This answer is reinforced by that fact that Mercury, ruler of the Ascendant and participant with the Moon in signifying the querent and his question, conjoined Jupiter about a day before Venus perfected her sextile to Jupiter.