Christian Astrology

Definition

*Christian Astrology* is a treatise of nearly 900 pages by the English astrologer William Lilly, first published in London in 1647 under the full title *Christian Astrology, modestly Treated of in three Books*. Book I gives an introduction with extensive tables of rulerships — which planet governs which sign, person, or thing. Book II treats horary astrology, the art of answering a specific question from a chart cast for the moment it was asked, with thirty-five or more example charts from Lilly's casebooks. Book III covers birth charts. The volume also lists the books in Lilly's library and has an index.

In Tradition

In the traditional and horary revival, *Christian Astrology* is treated as the prime modern English-language sourcebook for horary technique. Holden records that it is the ultimate source of most English-language horary treatises published since the 17th century, and that Zadkiel's 1835 *Introduction to Astrology* is essentially an abridged revision of it. The word "Christian" in the title is read as Lilly's claim that the practice was not opposed to Christianity.

In Practice

Horary astrologers turn to Book II for the standard English account of how to read a question chart: choosing significators (the planets that stand for the people and things asked about), and the ways an answer can come about or fall through — perfection, refranation, frustration, and the translation and collection of light, where a third planet carries influence between two others. It also covers the Moon's next aspect, the void-of-course Moon, and the "Considerations before judgement," cautions about when a chart should not be read at all. Most modern horary teachers — Olivia Barclay, John Frawley, Deborah Houlding — build their instruction on Lilly's formulations. They generally keep his Regiomontanus house system; Barclay's late-20th-century revival explicitly retained it on the grounds that "if they were good enough for Lilly, they are good enough for 20th-century horary astrologers" (per Holden).

Historical Origin

The first edition appeared in London in 1647, one volume bound as three books and sometimes split apart. A reprint followed in London in 1659, within Lilly's lifetime. Both the first edition and the 1659 reprint are public-domain originals. The text was reproduced in facsimile by Regulus Publishing (London 1985, Exeter) and forms the basis of Olivia Barclay's 1990s revival; a 19th-century Wright/Zadkiel abridgement also remains accessible. Lilly's casebooks survive in the Ashmolean Library, Oxford, which lets scholars verify the example charts in Book II.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading