Frustration

Definition

Frustration is one of the ways a horary chart says no, and it belongs to the family of prohibition. The slower of the two main significators completes an aspect with a different, third planet before the two can reach their own — so the third planet pulls away the outcome the pair were heading toward, "frustrating" the matter you asked about. The medieval Latin is frustratio; the Arabic is fawāt al-ʿaṭāʾ, "missing the gift." It differs from abscission of light, where a faster third planet intercepts the light, and from refranation, where no third planet is involved.

In Tradition

In the Arabic, Persian, and Latin horary tradition, frustration is read as a clear no — the third planet carries off the result that should have gone to the main applicant. The old teaching image is the proverb "the dogs quarrel, a third gets the bone." Bonatti and Lilly treat frustration alongside abscission as the two main third-party kinds of prohibition, told apart by whether the interference comes from the slower significator itself (frustration) or from a faster outside planet (abscission).

In Practice

Astrologers spot frustration by checking whether the slower of the two main significators will reach an aspect — or a bodily conjunction — with a different planet before the slower and the faster significator complete their own aspect. The house that frustrating planet rules names the third party — the competing suitor in a marriage question, the rival buyer in a sale, the other employer in a job question. Its dignity and aspect-condition refine the picture: a frustrating malefic (a difficult planet) in good shape tips the matter toward a severe loss, while a benefic produces a milder one. Frustration is weighed alongside the other no-modes when judging whether and how a question fails. Some classical writers say frustration applies strictly when the slower significator's contact with the third planet is a bodily conjunction, treating frustration by aspect alone as a weaker version.

Historical Origin

Frustration is attested in Arabic horary doctrine in Sahl ibn Bishr (9th century), Masha'allah, Abu Ma'shar, and the early ʿAbbasid school. Bonatti gives a systematic Latin account in the Liber Astronomiae (13th century), and Lilly carries it into English in Christian Astrology (1647). Holden documents frustration among the sixteen Arabic horary modes in A History of Horoscopic Astrology, p. 127. Its modern revival comes through Project Hindsight and Dykes.

Etymology

Origin: Latin. Meaning: From frustratio (deception, disappointment), from frustrare (to deceive, to disappoint). The astrological usage preserves the original sense of an expected outcome being thwarted..

Further Reading