Back in practice

It's been a nice two months off, but it's time to get back to my practice.

First of all, there's been some changes to the site, and there's more coming.

As you'll notice, I've completely re-written the Horary and Elections pages. If you haven't already done so, take a look and see what you think. I hope you'll agree that they now read much more clearly and simply, and I think they also look more attractive to the eye while still retaining the "old-fashioned" feel of the site.

I haven't yet solved the ongoing problem with the volume of horary requests I receive, though I have given it some thought. I will be curious to see if the trend continues after my two month break. For now I've decided to play it by ear; if I start getting too many requests again, I may have to cease taking questions once more.

Long-term, I have decided that I will continue to offer astrological elections more or less indefinitely, but I will cease answering horary questions at the end of the year. I feel this merits an explanation.

There are 4 branches of the astrological tree; horary questions, elections, the judgement of nativities, and mundane astrology. Horary forms the lowest branch of the tree. To continue the metaphor, when you climb the astrological tree, horary is the easiest branch to reach. It's the first step in the journey.

I've always said that the only reason I practice astrology for the public is to help me master the art. Within that context, you can perhaps understand why I never intended to practice horary questions indefinitely. My idea was always to cease horary work once I felt I had become fairly proficient and then move on to the other branches. I started answering horary questions for the public about 4 years ago, and I've answered over 100 horary questions in that time. I feel that I now have a decent enough grasp of how it works.

My real goal in studying traditional astrology is to perfect the art of elections within the context of the nativity - to become the proverbial "wise man" who is "master of the stars." So, at the years end, I will work exclusively with astrological elections. It will, in fact, become my entire focus. I'm excited to see where this change in focus will take me and the site.

More broadly I see traditional astrology as one of the few doorways available for the modern person to access the real esoteric tradition of the Western world - a tradition that provides a healthy alternative to the dangers of pseudo-religions and so-called "spiritualism." For better or worse, astrology has been the path by which I discovered my faith and my humanity, and I am hopeful that the art can do the same for others. I want the site to become more of a tool for sharing knowledge of traditional astrology with the public, and I am working on producing the promised "History" and "Lore" pages for just that purpose.

For the mean time, though, Archaic Astrology is back in business, and I am happy to begin accepting horary questions and election requests once more.

Yours, etc.

Robert Bailey

Student in Astrology.