In the 17th century, the French astrologer and professor of mathematics at the Royal University, J.B. Morin de Villefranche, put forward the hypothesis that transit charts act as triggers that fulfill the promises of the previous radix.
During the examination of horary forecasts, which were later confirmed, it was found that on the day of the promised event's realization, corresponding transits indeed occurred. This article illustrates the remarkable behavior of horary charts through several examples.
Aspects in a horary chart indicate a future moment when the necessary conditions for events will occur.
Suppose the question is, “When will I have a child?” The Moon translates the light from the ruler of the 5th house to the querent. The Moon has 6 degrees left to perform the first aspect with the ruler of the 5th (pregnancy) and another 9 degrees to complete the second aspect (the birth of a child).
In that case, the actual time for the Moon to complete the translation of light is 27 hours. This does not mean that a woman who has not even become pregnant will give birth tomorrow. It shows that a celestial configuration will occur in six months, causing pregnancy, and another nine months later, the birth will happen. The future planetary disposition that realizes the promise of the horary chart “in the current moment” is called a transit chart.
When the significators in their natural motion simultaneously repeat their meanings of the initial radix (or radical horary chart) in several different ways, we talk about the transit of the planets, which repeats the patterns of the radical chart.
In a transit chart, the planets act not as promissors of events but as agents of the promise that the horary chart gave earlier. The number of degrees in an aspect in a horary chart indicates the number of Earth’s revolutions around its axis/the Sun or the number of lunar phases that will occur before the moment of the appropriate transit.
For example, if there are 17 degrees left for Mercury to reach the aspect of Saturn in a horary chart, this could mean:
- The number of revolutions of the Earth around its axis (17 days);
- The number of planetary hours (a 1/12 fraction of day/night), corresponding roughly to 17 hours;
- The number of phases of the Moon, corresponding roughly to 17 weeks;
- The number of cycles of the Moon (approximately 17 months);
- The number of revolutions of the Earth around the Sun (17 years).
In 17 time units, we expect the onset of the transit that will trigger the promised event. Please note that 17 degrees is not the distance from Mercury’s position to the current position of Saturn. Saturn doesn’t stay on place—it moves away while Mercury approaching it. So 17 degrees represents the distance until Mercury reaches Saturn’s aspect in real time.
Real-life Example #1
Let’s explore this more with an example. I bought a car but am still waiting to receive it. A dealer delivers a car from another city. My question is, “When will my car arrive?”
If the question were, “What is the condition of the car I am going to buy?” I’d look at the 2nd house as if the car were already in my hands. I would see the possible future, were the car bought.
In that case, I need to see when the car goes from the dealer’s possession to mine, so I’ll look at the 2nd house of the dealer—his item—to see when it comes to my 2nd house or comes to me.
The car, the ruler of the 8th house, is Venus. I need to see when I encounter the vehicle or when the car comes into my possession. The aspect between Venus and me shows the first option, and the aspect between Venus and the ruler of the 2nd house, Mars, shows the second.
The lord of the 1st house, Venus, and the Moon show the querent. But Venus is already occupied by the car, so we cannot use it. So, we will use the Moon instead.
The Moon applies to the sextile of Venus in 14.5 degrees. I expect to receive the car in 14.5 time units without delay or obstacles.
Mars also has an aspect with Venus but through the intermediate planet, the Moon. The Moon has taken the light of Mars in the past, and now it carries it to Venus. The Moon, i.e., the querent, has started arranging car delivery to the garage. And this is true—I have already purchased the vehicle. The Moon must pass the same 14.5 degrees to complete the translation of light.
It could be around 15 hours, 15 days, or 15 weeks in the context of the question. The Moon is in the 8th house and in a fixed sign. It points to the most realistic period, 14.5 days. I asked this question on the 9th of June, so I expect the car to arrive between the evening of the 23rd and the morning of the 24th.
And so it proved. On the 23rd of June, the dealer called me, and the following morning, on the 24th of June, I received his car.
Looking at the transit chart that day, you see how stars trigger the event.
- The Moon (me) performs an exact aspect with Venus (the car in the radical chart or radix)
- At the same time, Venus (the ruler of the 8th house in radix) enters the 8th house of the transit chart, repeating the same pattern.
- At that very moment, the lord of the transit’s 8th house (the car in the dealer’s hand) rises above the horizon, becoming visible to the querent.
All three testimonies happen simultaneously, within a couple of seconds. What are the chances for it? They are nearly zero, but this is the way the planets act.
However, it doesn’t mean I’ll receive the car at that exact moment. It implies that the stars will trigger the event that day by this particular transit. However, the moment of manifestation of the event that day heavily depends on different external factors, which can postpone or accelerate the manifestation by several hours.
During the previous two weeks, the stars influenced the whole group participating in the delivery to clear the route from obstacles and delays to complete the delivery process on the 24th of June. The more you practice with accurate forecasts, the more you will see how the stars arrange the flow of events.
Real-life Example #2
The head of the department gives his employees contacts of clients for personal assistance once a month, meaning the employees have a private part-time job in addition to their primary work. However, this month, the boss did not give staff contacts. One of the staff asks, “When will I get a private part-time job again?”
We begin to follow our algorithm—cast a chart and look for the principal houses in question. But first, let’s think about what houses we expect to be essential.
The querent wants to meet with clients. These are other people, 7th house. Also, the querent wants to receive money from these clients. It is the 8th house. So, the chart may highlight both the 7th and 8th houses.
Let’s check this assumption. The Moon, co-significator of the querent, exalts Jupiter. The exact Jupiter disposits Pars of Fortune—the deepest desires. The querent desperately wants something that Jupiter signifies. Jupiter rules the 7th and the 8th house—the client and his money.
The chart is radical; we can create a list of techniques. What technique should we use? We are looking for an event that involves meeting two external objects—the querent and the customers or the querent and the customers’ money.
The meeting of two objects is an aspect between 2 significators of these objects. So we are looking for an aspect between the querent and Jupiter, the ruler of the 7th house (a client).
There is an exact indirect aspect between these planets in the chart. The third planet, the Sun, will bind the querent and clients—it took the light of the Moon and carries it to Jupiter. This means the querent will not find a future client himself—the Sun will help him. As you remember, the Sun shows all the kings and bosses. In the context of the question, this is the head of the department where the querent works. It is he who will bring the querent and the future client together. The aspect will perform in 3 degrees.
Which time scale should we choose—fast (that is, days), medium (weeks), or long (months)? The Sun (boss) is the applying planet. We will look at the Sun’s position. The Sun is in a fast sign and the 8th house. It indicates an average time scale of weeks. So, the boss will bring the client in roughly three weeks.
Remember that the degrees in the long term may well correlate with those of the exact one. If this is the case, we can use it to clarify the timing.
Look, the Moon will meet Jupiter in 24 degrees in the long-term aspect. Three degrees correlate with 24 degrees, indicating the same period—about three weeks or 24 days.
Finally, our forecast looks like this: You will get the next client in around three weeks (24 days to be exact). Indeed, on April 28 (exactly 24 days later), the querent got the new private contract. We made the forecast with an accuracy of up to one day. Isn’t it beautiful?
Let’s look at the transit that occurred on that day.
On that day, the Moon—the fastest of the planets and the universal significator of the flow of events—was closely conjunct with Mars. For several hours, Mars had become the ruler of the 8th house, symbolizing other people’s money. At the same time, the Moon was temporarily taking on the role of the flow of events related to other people’s money due to the close connection with Mars.
At a particular moment during this period, the Moon's squre had just passed through 6° 41’ Pisces, the cusp of the 7th house of the horary chart. It connected the appearance of another person (the client), promised by the preceding horary chart, with his money (Mars) at a specific minute.
Simultaneously, another square of the Moon had passed through the 1st house of the horary chart, connecting the querent with someone’s money within that minute.
During this minute, there was a particular second when Jupiter—the ruler of the client and money in the preceding horary chart—had just passed strictly along the cusp of the 2nd house. At that moment, it connected the promised client and his money with the querent’s wallet.
In addition, Jupiter had strengthened its role as the client since it was also ruling the 7th house at that moment.
This configuration lasted for a very short time and then disintegrated. However, several factors manifested simultaneously and connected the chart’s promise with the current moment. Even with all the desire, you can hardly guess such a successful combination. However, it occurs 24 days after the horary chart, and we knew in advance that it would happen.
You can see how the degrees in the aspects in the horary chart indicate the period (in this case, 24 complete rotations of the Earth around its axis), after which a suitable transit will occur that will fulfill the chart’s promise.
Transit Chart as the Radical figure
Although each transit is a triggers that fulfill the promises of the previous radical chart, these exact transits also include promises for subsequent events, which will manifest on the following transits. Each transit chart is a basis (or radical chart) for the next transit.
This idea can be easily traced in Morin’s works. For example, he correctly predicted that Cardinal Richelieu would leave Paris in a specific month and year and that this journey would be fatal. When the appropriate transit formed that month and the cardinal left Paris, Morin cast another chart for this moment and made further predictions regarding the future journey.
At critical moments of transits occurrence, the stars simultaneously fulfill the promises specified by the previous radical chart and lay the vector of a person’s micro-decisions and motives, determining him to future events that will manifest in the next transit.
In theory, if you know the exact moments when these key transits occur, you can track the development of any situation step by step. Sometimes, an astrologer manages to “catch” such a moment and observes that transit as a radical chart to see the next step of the situation’s development. If he catches it correctly, we call a transit chart for that moment a radical horary chart—it determines the development of the situation in question one step ahead.
For this reason, we do not move the significators several signs ahead; we examine them while they are in their own signs, or we simply look at the entry into the adjacent sign, considering it as the upcoming change of circumstances, but no more than that.
If an astrologer casts a chart at an inappropriate moment, the chart will not reflect the current situation and offer no promises about its development. While it technically remains a horary chart, it loses its radical nature, rendering any predictions based on it unreliable.
Real-life Example #3
The girl recently started dating a guy from her office and asked about the future of their relationship.
As usual, we will start with the radicality assessment. First, look at the lord of the 1st house, Saturn, which is in the 8th house. The position of the qierent in the 8th house may signify her desire to be in the “close circle of trusted people” of that guy. Does the girl want to be a trusted person for him? Yes, it is possible if she is not there yet, i.e. if he still considers other girls around.
We need to ask a clarifying question about the guy to make the correct interpretation of Saturn’s position. The querent proved that the guy is trendy among the girls in that office and constantly flirts with others.
It is precisely the option here. Saturn in the 8th house represents the desire of the girl to be the only trusted and loved person in a close environment of that guy.
Then look at her Venus. As a woman, she stays opposite the 7th house cusp with a negative feeling toward the Moon. She is very upset about that guy. And now we know why—she doesn’t feel trusted in that relationship.
Does she admire his behavior as a “right man”? No way, nor of her planets loves the Sun. Indeed, it is strange to expect enthusiasm if your partner flirts with others. It completely corresponds to the reality. We consider the chart as radical and move on to the prognosis.
Since the question concerns a prospective change of feelings, we first need to estimate the partner’s current feelings and then let his planets pass 3-4 degrees to see if they change their attitudes.
First, we assess the guy’s current feelings for the girl. His Moon is full of passion for the girl. It is in the sign of Venus and exalts Saturn. Great.
The Moon is in the place of the Sun’s detriment. The guy “rejects” or “hates” his own behavior as a man. But why? What prominent is happening to the Sun?
It is in conjunction with two planets. The conjunction or “coitus” of two planets in the relationship question almost always means the coitus of two persons. We are nearly sure that the guy has sex with two other girls, and he hates hiding it from the querent. On the other hand, he cannot leave these two girls since Mercury and Mars are applying to the Sun, not separating from it.
Well, we have discovered some hidden details about the current situation. But what will happen in the following few degrees? Nothing prominent happens with Saturn or Venus. But look at this:
- The Sun will eventually conjunct Mercury. The guy will bind himself with another woman.
- At the same time, the Moon shortly leaves Libra, the place where it is so passionate for the querent.
We have two coherent indications that the guy is dropping his current relationship and moving to another.
The timing is typically shown in the relationship question when explicitly asked. Nevertheless, if we have a prominent coincidence of timing indicators, we can consider them. It could be, for instance, 1 degree and 7 degrees until the same event, which shows one week or seven days.
In our case, Mercury needs to pass 2.5 degrees for the actual conjunction with the Sun, and Moon needs to pass 4.5 degrees to change her feelings for the querent.
2.5 and 4.5 do not correspond to each other. But if we apply the “freezing the significator” technique, Mercury will move one degree to conjunct with the Sun.
One degree and 4.5 degrees correspond to one month and 4.5 weeks. It is a remarkable correlation. Hence, the chart shows the timing, even if it was not part of the question.
So we know the guy will turn to another girl one month after the question was asked.
And so it proved. Indeed, the guy was engaged with two other girls all this time. On the 24th of November, he moved into the house of one of those girls, and a few days later, the querent found out about it.
What is interesting is that the guy didn’t know about this forecast, and the result of this forecast could not influence his actions. But I not only predicted his own free will but also the exact date when his free will will transform into action.
Transit Chart
Sometimes, we can get extra details from the transit chart, which, as I said before, realizes the promise of the preceding horary radix and sets the next trend for the situation development.
On the 24th of November, the Moon was in Scorpio (the place of the querent’s exile). Around 10 AM, the transit chart’s descendant coincided with the horary radix’s descendant. This immediately replaced the Moon’s meaning of “the guy who is still in love” from the horary chart with the current meaning of “guy who hates.”
But look at what was happening right at that moment.
- Regarding receptions toward Venus, the Moon opposed the radical Moon of the horary chart. It replaced the “love about to die” promise with the actual “hate” meaning, triggering the guy’s decision to break up at that moment.
- Mercury, i.e., another girl, is immediately rising in the ascendant of the querent, meaning the other girl appears in the querent’s life that day.
Again, you see a scarce combination of coherent factors that happen simultaneously. But let’s now look at this transit as a chart, setting tendencies for the next step in developing the situation.
Lines of Destiny
Simultaneously with opposition to its radical position, the Moon makes an exact aspect with Jupiter. After that, it will come into Jupiter’s sign. Ascending Mercury also will shortly transit through Jupiter. So Jupiter will be the main character throughout this storyline’s next stage of development.
Jupiter also has the voice in the preceding horary chart. Look, both the guy’s and his new girlfriend’s planets are in the sign of Jupiter. The last aspect the Moon had before it left the sign of passion for the querent was Jupiter. It means that Jupiter is the reason for the guy’s decision to change his attitude. The exact Jupiter ascends in the horary chart, meaning it shortly became visible to the querent.
No doubt Jupiter relates to the guy’s new relationship with another girl, and Jupiter becomes the main character for the next part of the story. What does it signify? Jupiter rules the 11th house in the horary, the 5th house of the guy—his child. At the same time, we know that guy has sex with two other girls. It is easy to conclude that Jupiter’s most probable role is the pregnancy of one of those girls. It caused the guy to change his mind and move to another girl.
The horary chart supports this idea. Jupiter’s antis falls into the 11th house cusp, which enforces his role as the quesited’s child, which is hidden but is about to appear. That is what antiscia does.
The transit chart also supports this idea. Jupiter also rules the 11th house of the transit chart, and the Pars of Fortune occupies that house. Though there is no querent, the < signifies the hidden things followed by their short appearance.
Indeed, the querent shortly knew that the guy’s new girlfriend was pregnant, which is why he dropped his relationship with the querent.
Note that the transit chart continued the story, but it was not the story of the querent anymore; it was a story about the pregnancy of the other girl in the guy’s life. This particular moment has completed the previous step of the flow of events. The same moment could be appropriate for a new horary, where the guy would be a new querent.
I aim to show you a fascinating thing I discovered purely in practice. Imagine the streams of interconnected life events as lines stretched over time. Then, the planets interpose into these lines and adjust their directions at specific moments. These streams of events do not belong adequately to any of the participants in the storyline. As you can see in practice, first, the storyline intertwined the girl with the guy, then switched to the guy and his child, and then, who knows, this line could have split into a storyline about the child and a storyline about his mother, and so on.
These invisible to the eye but well-calculated streams of interconnected events, I call for myself “lines of destiny.” The holders of different horoscopes are destined to meet each other in a specific place at a particular time to realize the significant life events promised by their birth charts (like marriage or car incidents, which involves several participants). I suspect it happens with the help of these streams—shortly before the event occurs, all the participants are already involved in these streams to meet each other on the final transit as shown in the live examples above.
