HORARY ASTROLOGY: The practical way to learn your fate by Petros Eleftheriadis. The Wessex
Astrologer, 4A Woodside Road, Bournemouth, England BH5 2AZ. www.wessexastrologer.com.
Trade Paper. 145 Pages. £12.50. $20.00.

A very deep and interesting book. This is definitely not for beginners or casual readers of astrology. They
will be lost. Nor is this beach reading material. It is for the advanced student and the professional who
wants to learn the techniques of Horary Astrology.

Don’t let the lingo confuse you. A horary chart is a natal chart. It is the chart cast for the “birth” of a
question.

But the rules of horary (taken mostly from the ancient writers like Al Biruni, Ibn Ezra, Lilly and Ptolemy) are
different from the rules of Natal Astrology (though it seems to me that it shouldn’t be so – we should apply
the rules of a Natal Chart to it – since it is basically a Natal Chart).

What I personally found most interesting is how he evaluates the strength or weakness of a planet. A
complicated process. He goes beyond, rulerships , exaltations and detriments, but into almutens,terms,
faces and receptions. He goes into it much, much deeper than in typical Natal Astrology.

The best way to read this book is to follow along with his charts and case histories. He has chapters on
finance, career, health and death – and there is even a chapter on sports. Look at the chart and follow his
explanations.

The trick with Horary is to determine the rulerships and significators of the activity in question. This, it
seems to me, is 90% of it.

What is interesting and powerful here is that he able to predict the winner of sporting events and elections
by his methods. This warrants much further study and research.

The book is clear, well written and highly informative. Many of the techniques (not all) can easily be
transposed to Natal astrology. But there is only one issue that needs to be dealt with. Our author (may he
be blessed) is a fatalist. Everything is fated. There is nothing a person can do to avoid or better his or her
condition. The best the astrologer can do is to help the person to accept it. He is not the first to espouse
this. The arguments over fate and free will have been going on for millenia. But this is not the spiritual
perspective. Free will was the greatest gift given to us by our creator. Yes, there are many things that are
fated – they will happen not matter what a person does. But the person has the power to soften the effects
of these things. And, in many cases, to even avert fated events. Life, say the sages, is in the interaction
between fate and free will. Personally I’ve seen many “death aspects” that didn’t result in death – they did
bring life and death crisis – but not death. The way we handle fate changes the fate.

Omraam Mikhael Aivonhov, the great Bulgarian adept explains things this way – I’m paraphrasing. Imagine
that you booked a cruise to England. Before you booked you were shown the pamphlets, the sights you
would see, the accommodations and the costs. Of your own free will, no one forced you, you book the
cruise. Now you are on the cruise. You can’t suddenly decide that you want to be off it. The captain will not
turn the ship around. You’re stuck. Certain experiences will happen. This is fate. (But notice, this fate
arose out of your free will choice). However, in spite of this fated experience, you have much free will.
How will you spend your time on the cruise. Will you eat non stop? Will you moan and wail about your
fate? Perhaps you will read a book, exercise, or romance that interesting lady that you met at dinner?
Depending on your free will choices, the cruise will either be a nightmare or a very pleasant experience.

Before incarnation the soul made free will choices. Not every little thing was foreordained. But the major
events of life were shown to it. It made the choice to incarnate. Now, in incarnation, it cannot say I want
out. But must go on with the “cruise”. The free will choices that are made in life will determine whether the
life is happy or sad. It all depends on how we exercise the free will.