A friend of mine sent me a Horary chart a few days ago. The question was: “Will a vaccine be found?”. The chart below is cast for the time and coordinates provided by this friend, since he is astrology-savvy and cast the chart himself. The outer planets are not turned off since in this particular case there is one significant conjunction, but normally I ignore them and judge Horary with septener only.

If you’re familiar with Horary practice – take a minute and try to find the answer in the following:

If you’re just starting to learn, I’ll break this down for you:

The virus is the 6th house of health and disease, straight in accordance with the classical rules. The significator is Jupiter (ruler of Sag)

The vaccine should be determined by turning the chart. It is tempting to think of a vaccine as the open enemy of the virus but that would not be in line with the idea of a vaccine. The house of open enemies and opponents does not mean we automatically beat them. In fact, in Horaries about, say, court cases it is often a question of who is stronger – the 1st house ruler (you) or the 7th house ruler (the opponent). If we take that approach and the significator for the virus is stronger ( the medicine is weaker than the virus) than it can not be called “vaccine”. Vaccine kills the virus, so it’s the death of it. We need to look at the house of virus’ death, which will be the 8th house from the 6th (turning the chart) which means that in this Horary vaccine is shown by the Moon, the ruler of the 1st house (8th house from the 6th).

Before we look at what’s happening with the vaccine, let’s evaluate the state of the disease itself. The 6th house is ruled by Jupiter which is placed in Capricorn (the sign of its fall) and in a cadent house. So while the disease has spread widely (Jupiter) it is not as dangerous (in fall= weak) and doesn’t have the ability to act (cadent house). Capricorn is ruled by Saturn that has affinity with old people, clearly confirming what we know about is so far: widespread, mostly dangerous for old folk, but weak compared to some other recent (as well as historical) epidemics in terms of fatality rate. It is also placed in the sign where the Moon is detriment, so Jupiter “hates” the Moon = the virus “hates” the vaccine. So far, everything checks out.

The Moon here carries the double load: in any Horary the Moon shows the course of events, how the situation is going to develop. In this particular chart it is also the significator of the thing in question – the vaccine. Either way it is in the sign ruled by Jupiter (remember – only septener in Horary!) so it has no power over it. Quite the opposite, actually – the disease has the power (rules) over the vaccine and over the situation in general. Borders are shut down, streets are empty, people are staying at home during the 2-week social distancing period… Jupiter (virus) rules the Moon (current situation) but is filtered/expressed through a Saturnian sign (borders, limitations, distancing).

The movements of the Moon and the applying aspects it makes show us the development of the events. The Moon is closing in on a sextile with Mars (about 1 degree). In this chart Mars rules the 5th and the 10th houses. The 5th house doesn’t give us much but the 10th house being “the king” aka the government brings our attention to the fact that there is Pluto closely conjunct the planet the Moon is about to contact. Don’t let the 5th house Scorpio fool you – in Horary Pluto is more like an additional significator, like a fixed star. It doesn’t rule houses. But it does signify several things, among which are large scale processes, people in power (government) as well as hidden, secret things. Looks like in about 1 measure of time the vaccine (or at least the first successful trial batch) will be created in government labs somewhere. Which government? That I can not be too sure about, but with the strong Saturn/Pluto/Mars=order/control/military flavor it is likely to be the homeland of the virus – China.

What happens next? There are no other aspects till the end of the sign, but that end is pretty near. Just over 6 degrees (6 and 1/3). The change of sign in Horary always signifies the change of the situation. In addition, in this particular case the vaccine will leave the sign where it is ruled (overpowered) by the virus and will go into the sign where it is ruled by Mars (=controlled by the government). So we can expect the vaccine to appear about 6 measures of time from now (end of March).

Now, comes the most difficult (for me) part of judging. Which measures of time? Days, weeks, months, years? With the nature of the house (cadent) and the sign (mutable) of the applying planet (the Moon) suggesting the “medium-fast” type of units we can eliminate “days” or “years” being too fast and too slow. It is tempting to think that “months” would be shown by both a sign and a house from the “medium speed” category (I am still hoping to be able to travel this summer) but the scale of the question begs to differ. This is a question of a grand scale and in terms of the world and history (for example, how fast the vaccines for pox or cholera or Spanish flu had been created) 6 months from now (and just under a year from its appearance) is actually pretty fast.