3
I would use fifth. Is it a sport, right? The sports are 5th. The 10th is the success you get in the competition, the first place or biggest prize. The 7th signifies the competitors.
Amor ordinem nescit.
Love does not know order.
- Saint Jerome -

Significator for triatholon

4
Thank you both for your reply. I feel the 10th house is the significator for the race rather than the 5th using Lilly's CA page 53 descibing 5th house matter - "By this house we judge of children, of Ambassadors, of the state of a Woman with child, of Banquets, of Alehouses, Taverns, Plays, Messengers or Agents of Republics, of the Wealth of the Father, the Ammunition of a Town besieged etc".

Would you not bring in the 4th house as the end of the matter? I wondered if you could judge this sort of chart using the method Lilly used for judging a journey where he used the 4 angles to describe the journey and the final outcome. In this instance Querent 1st house, 10th house the race, 7th house the race itself and 4th house as the outcome of the race?
Susie

5
Lilly did not address gambling, but Gadbury did and gave rules on the matter of "play", which he gave to the 5th house. Play, or sport, in the 17th century was essentially gambling in one form or another and so that is why the 5th house was to be considered.

Today, 'sport' is something done usually for enjoyment and to keep fit - notions that would have been alien in the 17th century. So, the word 'sport' has changed its meaning somewhat and for this reason, giving modern day sports to the 5th may be questionable.

Generally, the "opposition" in sport or play was given to the 7th of open enemies, recognising that sport was a form of warfare - which is no less true today. Whether the querent was the winner or not was judged by the relative strengths of 1st and 7th houses and their significators, as judged in all the usual ways.

As to whether the querent has the strength to complete the race in this case, I would look at the strength of the querent's significator and judge from that. If the significator is well placed, has dignity and is free from malignant aspects, it is an argument that he or she will complete the race.

Geoffrey

6
Would you consider 10th house the significator for the race, 7th house as the race itself and 4th house as the result? The Querent is asking if they will complete the race.
I have found that, with the exception of lost items etc, it is not necessary to have a complete list of house significations for everything. Most questions can be boiled down to one the following core meanings
Sucess in public eyes -10th
Relationship of any kind with another ( for good or bad) 7th
Self satisfaction ( quite rare that a serious horary does not involve other though) 5th
Money 2nd
etc
The key to the question is the motivation of the querent.

In this case you need to know why they want to complete the race:
So they can do better than someone else - look at 1st vs 7th house
So they can achieve something in the eyes of others in general - 10th
To raise money for a cause - 2nd probably - though might need to identify cause and derived 2nd house for that
For pure fun or to prove only to themselves they can do it - 5th
To explore the experience of what it feels like to be in a triathon - 9th
Fitness - possibly 1st vs 6th
etc etc
"The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper" Eden Phillpotts