Electional Rules

Definition

Electional rules are the guidelines astrologers use to choose a favorable moment to begin something. They serve four aims: strengthen the house and ruler that signify the matter (the 7th for marriage, the 10th for business, the 9th for travel); place the helpful planets, benefics Venus and Jupiter, on the chart's angles and in signs that suit them, while pushing the malefics Mars and Saturn into cadent positions or rendering them harmless; keep the Moon waxing, well-aspected, and not void-of-course; and shield the matter's significator from combustion, retrograde motion, and besiegement.

In Tradition

Electional doctrine runs through the Hellenistic, Persian-Arabic, medieval Latin, and modern Western traditions alike. The shared idea: the same rules that read a chart already cast also shape one built in advance — the moment you begin something inherits the sky it begins under. Astrologers agree no election can satisfy every goal at once, so prioritizing is the real art — protect the Moon and the matter's main significator first, then improve the rest as the schedule allows.

In Practice

The astrologer first identifies the houses and planets relevant to the undertaking, then surveys the timeframe within which the action must take place. Within that window, candidate moments are scored against the standard checklist: Moon's sign, phase, void-of-course status, and aspects; condition of the Ascendant ruler and the matter's significator; angular versus cadent placement of benefics and malefics; aspects formed during the chart's immediately following hours. The Moon's next-applying aspect is read as the chart's outcome trajectory. Trade-offs are accepted — a perfect election is rarely possible — and the astrologer documents which factors were prioritized and which compromised.

Historical Origin

Electional astrology is treated systematically in Dorotheus of Sidon's *Carmen Astrologicum* (1st c. CE), which devotes its fifth book to elections, and in the Persian-Arabic transmission via Sahl ibn Bishr (*On Elections*) and al-Kindi. William Lilly's *Christian Astrology* (1647; public domain) preserves the Latin-medieval consensus into early modern English. Modern coverage includes John Frawley's *The Horary Textbook* (Apprentice Books 2005) for the traditional revival.

Etymology

Origin: Latin. Meaning: From electio (a choosing) + regula (rule) — rules for choosing the right moment.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Etymology

Further Reading