Cornelia:

I must say you are completely blowing my mind. How fascinating. The idea that the type of inception chart one responds to can reflect the nativity is very compelling. My brain is going to be spinning that all weekend. Do any of the classical texts discuss this issue, I wonder? I have only just begun reading Lilly, so I am not qualified to say.

My chart is predominantly Southern and Eastern in orientation, which seems to reflect what you are saying about your friend. Another thing is that most of my natal planets are fixed. I have no cardinality, although several planets are angular. So I always have to make a conscious effort to take action--it?s not instinctive, as I imagine it would be for someone with a lot of cardinal planets. I do take initiative--I have definite moments of ?jumping off the cliff?--although these usually come after much premeditation. Maybe that?s another reason why I feel drawn to elections: one arrives at the moment of action, but it has been thoroughly considered beforehand. The moment is not instinctual but chosen and therefore in its own way already familiar, just as a fixed temperament likes things.

Well, have a nice weekend!

LP

I'm very new to the study of traditional astrology so I can't help you with the classical references. I don't have the kind of mind that retains a lot of details and what details I do retain have to be carefully stored in complex conceptual structures. So the detail oriented nature of the classical techniques where you often just have to memorize the traditions passed down is a real challenge for me.

So the base chart probably has a lot to do with whether you could use elections effectively.

I am not sure exactly what you mean here, but as it is written, I can?t agree with this idea. Everybody can use electional, the same way everybody can do and read horary, natal, mundane, etc.

Of course the same election will not give the same results to different people, and different people will have different potencials in their charts, but everybody can try to use their best, even if their best will greatly differ.

In "profit by electional astrology" the author says that electional charts for publishing didn?t give him any results, and better results were given when using progressions and transits to the natal chart (2nd, 3rd, 8th, 9th houses). I like the book, although I think his methods are not so great, so I though it was worth a quote. It also fits my vision of electional astrology.

It's no good trying to elect a good time for a wedding, if you haven't first of all picked a good marriage partner

Hi, Deb, I couldn?t agree more. I have written a series of posts in electional astrology because people usually when start doing an electional, suddenly forget that there is a particular reality, that exists before the election! It doesn?t matter how good is the electional chart, you will not find a moment that will help you do something impossible or unlikely!

Thanks for all the feedback. Lots to think about.

LP