Horary is the branch of astrology that provides clear, specific answers to specific questions. Quick, simple, and accurate, horary was for centuries the most valuable tool in any astrologer's work-box. Whether the question be on love, career, illness - or predicting the weather for a barbecue, this clear and comprehensive guide by a modern master of horary shows you how to answer it. The first edition of this book quickly established itself as a classic of astrological teaching. Now this master of the craft shares his deepening understanding, bringing what he has learned in the intervening years of teaching and practice to clarify, expand upon, and correct the original text. With the wit and lucidity that characterise his writing, the author guides all from beginners to seasoned practitioners to the very heart of horary astrology. "Frawley's prowess as a horary astrologer is awesome." - The Mountain Astrologer.
A professional traditional astrologer, author and lecturer. Frawley has written several books on the subject of horary astrology and also sports astrology.
[4½ stars] The Horary Textbook: Revised Edition is noticeably different than its 2005 predecessor. Frawley has included the entire original text and then has added commentary, clarifications, and/or further explanations where needed in brackets. That makes this edition about 40 pages longer than the original.
New edition or not, Frawley is still Frawley. He is not shy about stating his opinions and he's definitely from the "do not suffer fools gladly" school of writing, and you are likely to find this refreshing, annoying as all get-out, or both (I'm in that last camp). He makes it clear when he disagrees with William Lilly and other classical authorities on astrology, but then he's also open about when he thinks he was wrong in the first edition. He begins with several chapters on the basics of horary astrology: houses, signs, planets, dignities, receptions, and so on. The second part of the book looks at typical horary issues organized by house (second house questions about lost objects, tenth house questions about jobs, etc.). He concludes with chapters on weather and electional astrology and a set of appendices.
Even when I think Frawley is at his most irritating, I find his explanations straightforward and easy to understand. Still, you should probably have a basic understanding of astrology before tackling this book. I think he does a particularly good job with analogies. Many astrological writers compare the planets to actors in a play, but Frawley extends this to make the point that you shouldn't confuse the essential character of a planet with what it represents in a horary chart any more than you should say that only wicked people should play villainous characters. He likens reception to planets loving or hating each other, which makes a lot of sense to me as an explanation of the planetary relationships in charts. This book is definitely my go-to reference on horary astrology.
This timeless master piece is a treasure for all astrologers to review again and again. Since I am not a big fan of personal astrology and they are very subjective and without immediate practice.
Human being's fate is too long to predict and and everyone has their own opinion whether certain circumstances are good or bad. Unlike modern astrology theories, this traditional approach in divination has a more strict mathematical foundation for it and the most important thing is -- they really work !
From my very short years' of practice in horary like 3 years, I still found it so fascinating in predicting the trends of certain things like sports/gaming/relationship problems. If you master the logic of this book, you will also find it came in handy when in practice
John Frawley is a master in presenting the ancient knowledge to who are really delved into the astrology work, not just checking out the sun signs for simple explanation. Every chapter is easy to read and the math is hands-on calculation. And the most important about this book is he provides easy to understand examples in each house to study. Although I found horary applying in modern times will be sometimes confusing, I still value this book so much and I would recommend anyone who really likes self-discovery process.
Since I just finish half way and I will keep updating this review.
A great book with a wealth of information for casting horary charts. I'm now using it as a ready reckoner. While I'm not entirely sure of Frawley's countenance at times, I found myself laughing at his analogies and completely relating to his narrative. I'm really glad to have this book!