Questions about past?

1
Simply -can we ask a question regarding a past event or anything else that belongs to the past?


I'll give you a brief picture of what made me ask this question - not so long ago, I had an absolutely unexpected call from my ex boyfriend (lover, seemed-to-be-a-soulmate, almost a husband.. :D ) from whom I haven't heard in quite a long time (4, maybe 5 years). It was one of those Venus-aspect-Saturn relationships that apparently all of us who have got one need to experience and survive. :D He was in the town and wanted to see me. now, it's been a looong time since our last quarrels, lousy feelings and open wounds have healed and finished but, no matter how distant it all now seems, the picture of spending as much as half an hour with him, made me feel that bitter taste in my mouth again. I said I needed to think and, tomorrow morning I asked a Horary question to help me decide. I asked if the reason for this call had anything to do with him wanting to start a new relationship (of any kind) with me. Reconciliation is just not the word here, he's more than a stranger now.(Hard to explain but a YES answer would have almost been an insult for me). Any way, it was basically a NO and the chart didn't even "say" anything in particular which perfectly fits his behavior (he usually doesn't know himself what he wants and I've got a strong feeling it was the case now as well). I decided not to go anyway and spared myself of meeting the ghosts from the past when I least needed it but that chart actually triggered this question- there was absolutely no sign of mutual affection between the two of us in it, which, of course, fits the actual story but, just a few years ago it was an insane love. The question about us was concerning our present connections and thus nothing but a chart showing two people who are very distant and not interested in each other could have been expected. BUT- what if my question was concerning some of our past issues or the period when we actually were attached to each other? Can we do that? My starting point is that- if a Horary chart is a chart made for the moment the QUESTION is born, then it would make sense to make any kind of question and get accurate results. But, then again, we should be very moderate when asking questions regarding future events and try to locate them in a proper time frame of a foreseen future. So, how far back can a chart see?

I'm guessing many people would appreciate informations such as- Was he/she cheating on me when we were together? or Did something happen to me when I was a child? etc.

There was a topic here on the forum with a question about a husband spending the family money for a long period of time but, from what I recall, the construction of the question was "Where did my money go" so it was almost a lost object chart. But what if that woman had asked- Where/how did my ex husband spend our savings in 1990.? - could we still answer that?

Ok, I think you got the point of what I'm actually asking here! :D

2
I don't have an astrological answer to this, because it seems logical that you could ask a horary question on just about anything, whether it was sensible to, or not.

My philosophical answer would be, 'No', because the past is utterly gone, so what is the point of mulling over things that no longer exist? Whether one was molested as a child or whether the husband did, in fact, steal the money, and regardless of the ripple effect of it, it's still my belief that we deal with the NOW and the immediate future, rather than dig into the past. In some ways, the past doesn't matter.

But that isn't the answer you're looking for! :lol:

GH

3
My answer is that even if the chart do answer (and I believe it do), that you shouldn?t ask the question:

1 - as gunhilde said we shouldn?t dwell in the past... horaries should be asked so we can take action or come to terms with some present matter.
2- the question has kinda of a "metaphisical" flavor. Is like asking "who killed kennedy?". How are you going to know if you got it right ? Altough some people think they are never wrong, is good for an astrologer to always have a little doubt about his own judgement !
3- It seems to me that this kind of questions can easily go putting gasoline into the flames of querent?s imagination. People generally have fantasies about the past that many times should not be enabled by the astrologer. I have face more than one client who were clearly delusional about their own reality. You should be careful with this situation.
Meu blog de astrologia (em portugues) http://yuzuru.wordpress.com
My blog of astrology (in english) http://episthemologie.wordpress.com

5
Thank you for your opinions! Of course, this is just one of the technical things someone new in Horary Astrology (like me) might ask sooner or later but, as you have pointed out, it does open some other, even deeper questions, I agree. I believe it is good because Astrology neccessarilly involves all sorts of moral and psychological questions and it's good to re-check our points of view from time to time.
Altough some people think they are never wrong, is good for an astrologer to always have a little doubt about his own judgement !
I agree, of course! And to question their approaches which I find sometimes to be a very tricky thing to do. What is the right thing to say? If I had divorced, I don't think I'd want to know if he had been cheating on me, why bothering- it's over after all. But it is just me and - what if a client insists!? It is his own will after all and our duty to tell him the truth as long as Astrology offers the desired answer (and as long as we are, as you suggest, sure we can read it from the chart). That is something I especially like in Horary- early Ascendants, no radical charts..helping us to determine whether the Querent is actually prepared for the answer. But it is a bit different when it comes to a Natal chart analysis!
It seems to me that this kind of questions can easily go putting gasoline into the flames of querent?s imagination. People generally have fantasies about the past that many times should not be enabled by the astrologer. I have face more than one client who were clearly delusional about their own reality. You should be careful with this situation.
I agree again. But, unfortunately, sometimes we can't fight other peoples' Neptune :lol: and no matter what the astrological advice might be, they'll listen to themselves. But, regardless of whether a Horary chart can or can not answer these questions (technically), are we really allowed to suggest a client to dismiss the past and focus exclusively on his future when he/she thinks that some past issues are rather important for his future decisions? Having said that, a story comes to my mind of a woman who actually managed to keep her children after divorce thanks to an Astrologer and the informations regarding her past. She was in the middle of a divorce and her soon-to-be-ex husband was fighting a huge battle to get the custody. Now, he is a very rough man and, knowing him, it was more a battle he wanted to win rather than the real wish to live with the kids. Though he's traveling almost all of the time, he's rather well off and, thanks to a great team of lawyers, he managed to present himself as almost a dream-father while she, on the other hand, was presented almost as a prostitute.When he started attacking her She was absolutely unprepared (she expected he'd only want to keep his money) and suddenly realized that he just might win that battle because all of the sudden she was presented as a witch while he, on the other hand was presented as a polite man, living alone, a good and carrying father (which was far from the actual truth). She didn't know how to play that game and nore did her lawyer. So- she went to an Astrologer, luckily a good one and asked him if there were any secrets in their marriage, anything she didn't know of that might help her fight him because she was just not the kinf of person who would reconstruct their marriage with the aim of destroying his the way he did to her. She never even suspected of him having a mistress (too busy all the time) but it turned out that the chart was obviously suggesting her first husband (him) will have an extra marital affair. More than that, the Astrologer thought that he might have as well been living with that woman as they spoke. It took just a little bit of digging and she found out that he actually did move in with that woman and had even been leaving their kids with her for 2 days!!! (kids were too young to tell her that). When that woman was called to the court, she admitted it and it was the end of his false story. He immediately said yes to a shared custody and the story ended. So, obviously, an information concerning past had actually helped her win that battle. What if that Astrologer had said to her- Why bothering with the past?
Of course, she might have just a well hired a private detective to check if he were living with someone else but I don't think that guy would be very lucky because, during the trial, ex husband temporarily moved to a different apartment so, it really was an enormous help from the Astrologer!

Now, I'm not trying to suggest it's not true what each one of you has said, I'm just trying to put all the things together and to recall all the situations I know or have heard of that might be helpful on this issue.

6
@Goca
I think every preciese question can be answered by Horary chart, and if it is about past event, you look for separate Moon's aspects which in that case tell the story.
I did think of that but it seems extremely confusing. First of all- the question I had already asked- how far back in the past can we expect to see?
And, second of all - in "YES or NO" questions, it's the applying aspects that usually (depending of the constructions of the rest of the question, of course) give positive answers. Just recently I have met a person and asked a Horary question if he were married and it was more than obvious that he had separated from (possibly) his wife recently. Later on I did find out he had been divorced for about a year and a half but my question was about present and the separating Moon aspect was suggesting he had divorced in the past.
in this case, just the thought of using a separating aspect to get a yes (or no) answer regarding past or looking for applying ones to get a yes though it was in the past makes me dizzy :-sk , it seems like "Back to the future" or "Terminator" story! Too much to handle! :D

Questions about the Past

8
Hi, Aglaya

Part of your question seems to be, can we ask about the past? There is a tradition of horary astrology that does ask about the past. Lilly used separating aspects, as you mentioned, to show past events. Look at his first chart example in Book Two, and you will see how he reads the past in a chart. Decumbitures also use separating aspects to determine the cause of illness.

If the question itself is phrased to gather information about the past, it is entirely within bounds to examine the past events of the chart; in fact, if you don't, you're not answering the question. However, if the question is about the present or future (my impression is that your question fell into this category), then we would not expect the chart to be focussed on this area. We have to be cautious any time we begin reading beyond the question that was asked.

I have posted a recent question about the past on the list as an example in another thread.

Best,

Pam
"Id rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance"

9
Hi, there, Pam, haven't been here for a few days and have obviously skipped that chart you posted, I'l, try to find it now, I am curious to see it.

Thanks for suggesting lilly's chart too, I'll have to give it a closer look, I did try to find anything in his books regarding this questions but have obviously forgoten about that one.