Intro to Predictive Methods

Making Predictions

The purpose of astrology is not to obsess over a single chart for 20-30 years. It’s to make predictions. We can make predictions because no one has Free Will. We know that no one has Free Will because the chart is about a person and all the other people in their lives whether they know those people or not.

When some nameless faceless bureaucratic bean counter who might not even live in your country decides that your office or factory needs to close because it’s redundant or isn’t turning a profit or the grass is greener somewhere else (meaning another city, county, state, province or country has better tax breaks or cheaper labor) and you lose your job, where’s your Free Will?

Maybe you’re eligible to apply for unemployment benefits. That’s your Free Will. Knowing in advance you’re going to lose your job would be a good thing, wouldn’t it? Yes, it would.

Some Caveats

No facet of pseudo-astrology can be used to make astrological predictions. That means you cannot use the celestial bodies from Modern astrology (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Chiron and other minor planets or asteroids). You must use the original house meanings instead of the corrupted house meanings from Arab, Persian or Medieval astrologers or the corrupted and perverted house meanings from the Renaissance or Classical astrologers —sorry, the 3rd House has never been and never will be the “natural sign” of Libra and Mars is not the “natural ruler.” Jupiter is not the archangel Zadkiel and you cannot use the perverted house meanings from Modern astrology based on the religion Theosophy.

Bad Astrologers & Bad Astrology

One way to identify bad astrologers and bad astrology is by the amount of cherry-picking they do. This is our favorite quote from Robert Hand:

It is not enough, as many astrologers do, to proliferate predictive techniques until everything is explained (after the fact, of course), with every event, every characteristic period in a native’s life explained using a different astrological technique. Not only is such an approach chaotic from an esthetic point of view, but lacking method, it cannot describe events before the fact even in general terms. Also the proliferation of methods means that many apparent “hits” by these techniques are really quite accidental and have no basis in astrological principle. They certainly do not “prove” that astrology “works.”

[bold emphasis added]

Astrology is a rules-based scientific study of Fate. Captain Obvious says fate is not something that happens to you every day because astrology doesn’t care about the banal trivialities of everyday life. The idea that transiting stars generate a Cause & Effect every single day of your life is delusional nonsense. Not only can that be scientifically refuted, it can be astrologically refuted as well.

We all know the idiots who think transiting retrograde Mercury “caused” them to lose their car keys and a package from Amazon. But, ask them to prove it and they’ll go sit in a corner and sulk because they can’t. The only way they could possibly “prove” it is to cast 20 different charts, then cherry-pick things from the different charts to concoct some sort of astrological explanation. That is not the art of astrology.

So, what will predictive methods tell you? Those things that are fated to happen to you and the people in your chart over the course of your life. If you want to know what will happen tomorrow call the Psychic Line at 1-800-966-2294. They take all major credit and debit cards. Can astrology characterize different time periods in your life? Absolutely it can, and we’ll show you how to do that.

The Hierarchical Scheme of Predictive Methods

The scheme is simple:

1. Primary predictive methods
2. Secondary charts
3. Tertiary charts

1. Primary methods: These are used to make predictions. There are several different primary methods to use. There’s no point in casting multiple charts because the beauty of this scheme is that all primary methods ultimately give the same results. In other words, if you don’t like what you see, using a different primary method in the pathetic hope of getting a different result to make you feel all warm and good inside will only lead to frustration since the results never differ.

2. Secondary methods: secondary progressed charts (which no one calculates correctly), solar return charts, and monthly profections.

3. Tertiary charts: transit charts, lunation charts and daily profection charts.

If Transits Have No Cause & Effect Then What Does?

It’s the stars in the chart that produce the Cause & Effect, not the transiting stars. We move the stars around in the chart, not the skies. How? There are several different ways to do that:

1. Directing significators thru the signs. Profections are the most commonly known. There are other arcane less understood methods like using exaltation signs.
2. Directing significators using planetary periods. These are very powerful methods that include zodiacal releasing, decennials, and planetary days.
3. Directing significators using ascensional times. These are primary directions or adding ascensional times for signs and stars to arrive at a certain date.

The primary predictive method predicts what happens. The secondary method tells you how it comes about. Or why it doesn’t. The transits? For most predictive methods they’re like a Roman emperor at a gladiator bout: thumbs up or thumbs down.

Planetary Period Example: Zodiacal Releasing

In our opinion, this is the most powerful predictive method available. The 7 Hermetic Lots are directed thru the signs using planetary periods. Although we can use any of the 7 Hermetic Lots, we focus on the Lot of Fortune. Why? Well, think of it this way (a little literary license from the Lord of the Rings):

One Lot to rule them all.
One Lot to find them.
One Lot to bring them all,
And in the chart to bind them.

For things affecting one’s career, we use the Lot of Fortune. We’ll provide a thorough explanation of the use of the 7 Hermetic Lots plus other relevant Lots in the advanced section on astrology. The Lots of Fortune and Spirit are easy to calculate but not easy to identify since sometimes Fortune is Spirit and Spirit is Fortune. We do not use the Arabic Parts since of the 96 different Arabic Parts, the overwhelming majority —about 78 of them— were created solely, exclusively, purposely for use in horary or mundane charts meaning they were never intended for use in natal charts.

We’re not going to going to explain the details of zodiacal releasing here. Be very careful surfing the internet since there are many false teachings on zodiacal releasing from Modern astrologers and others. When you see nonsense like “cardinal cool-downs” that’s a hint to runaway. This method is very good for “yes/no” questions and works better than horary.

Question: Will Kamala Harris win the 2024 U.S. Election?

This is what a zodiacal releasing table looks like. We are releasing from the Lot of Fortune although in this instance it doesn’t matter since the Lot of Fortune and the Lot of Spirit fall in the same sign, specifically Sagittarius.

The mechanics are straight forward. The Lot of Fortune, or Spirit, Eros, Necessity et al fall in a certain sign. Distribution beings with the next sign in zodiac order. The Lot at Level 1 remains in that sign for a certain number of years. Here, the distribution for Level 1 begins in Capricorn which is 27 years before moving to Aquarius where it will spend 30 years and then into Pisces where it will spend 12 years, and so on, based on the small planetary periods.

The Level 2 distribution begins where the Lot falls for the Level 1 distribution. The Level 3 distribution begins where the Lot falls for the Level 2 distribution and so on. These distributions use the mean and major planetary periods which is why a “year” (Level 2) can be more or less than a calendar year; a “month” (Level 3) can be more or less than a month; and a “day” (Level 4) can be more or less than a 24-hour period and is typically several days.

Briefly, Level 1 is the “Great Period.” The transits of the house ruler have no impact but we do pay attention to it when looking at death. Saturn is in good condition so you’d expect the first 57 years of her life to be good and they were. Then on December 25, 2020 (shortly after the 2020 U.S. Election) it shifts to Pisces ruled by maltreated Jupiter and her career goes into a tail-spin. It’s just one problem after another.

The Level 2 house ruler is like a snapshot of what’s happening within the Level 1 period. The transits of the house ruler have low impact and are generally ignored unless you need clarification. The Level 3 house ruler is like a snapshot of what’s happening within the Level 2 period. The transits of the house ruler have a greater impact but typically we look at it for confirmation. The transiting Level 4 ruler has the highest impact and is our primary focus.

What houses were activated? Level 2 is Gemini activating the 1st House and house ruler Mercury. Level 3 is Capricorn activating the 8th House and house ruler Saturn. Level 4 is Sagittarius activating house ruler Jupiter and the 7th House. Those are appropriate. As always, we need the significators to be angular and they are with Jupiter retrograde transiting the 1st House and Saturn retrograde transiting the 10th House. Where are the rest of the stars?

They had the day off. This is zodiacal releasing. The Level 4 significator is Sagittarius and the Level 3 significator is Capricorn. The house rulers are Jupiter and Saturn respectively. That’s all we need. Was Leo activated as a significator on Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 or Level 4? No. So, why would you be looking at Sun? These are the rules for zodiacal releasing. They apply to zodiacal releasing and only to zodiacal releasing. Remember, never blend techniques or methods.

Our Level 4 significator is Sagittarius. Yes, in the chart Jupiter is the domicile ruler and Sun is the domicile lord but we look at the house rulers, not the actual rulers we assigned in the chart. Notice that transiting Jupiter is angular and retrograde.

For those not familiar with the meaning of “retrograde” it means that some one —only a narcissistic self-centered ego-maniac would knee-jerk and automatically assume it’s about them— or some thing —meaning not a person— suffers a serious set-back, or a major reversal of fortune or circumstance, or is rejected, denied, thwarted or frustrated, or things fall apart.

And it means that 100% of the time in 100% of charts, no exceptions ever.

Because Jupiter is retrograde transiting the 1st House which is her life, and is the domicile ruler of the Pisces 10th House which is her career, your interpretation is:

• Harris’ life and career ambitions suffer a serious setback; or
• Harris’ life and career ambitions suffer a major reversal of fortune; or
• Harris’ life and career ambitions suffer a major reversal of circumstance; or
• Harris’ life and career ambitions are denied; or
• Harris’ life and career ambitions are rejected; or
• Harris’ life and career ambitions are thwarted; or
• Harris’ life and career ambitions are frustrated; or
• Harris’ life and career ambitions are ruined; or
• Harris’ life and career ambitions are destroyed; or
• Harris; life and career ambitions fall apart.

Pick one. Choose wisely. Your prediction is that Harris loses the election. If you’re not confident, you can look at the Level 3 significator which is Capricorn and the house ruler is Saturn. Saturn is retrograde transiting her 10th House of career. What does retrograde mean? We already covered that. The meaning of “retrograde” does not change because we are using a different planet.

• Harris’ career suffers a serious setback; or
• Harris’ career suffers a major reversal of fortune or circumstance; or
• Harris’ career is denied, rejected, thwarted or frustrated; or
• Harris’ career is ruined or destroyed; or
• Harris; life and career ambitions fall apart.

Pick one. Your prediction is Harris loses the election since that is exactly what the chart is telling you. What about the aspects? Who cares? Jupiter is retrograde. Transiting retrograde Jupiter right sextile natal Mars is irrelevant since whatever it means gets destroyed. The same for transiting retrograde Jupiter right trine natal Sun. It doesn’t matter what it means. It gets destroyed.

We reviewed several hundred websites and Useless Tube channels making predictions noting that no one mentioned transiting Jupiter was retrograde. The few who mentioned transiting Saturn also failed or refused to acknowledge that Saturn was retrograde. We suspect it’s due to the fact that a) they didn’t know how to interpret retrograde planets; and b) they were incapable of being objective; and c) they suck big time bad.

If you cannot be objective, take the moral high-road and bow out. You can tell people, “Hey, I can’t render a prediction because I can’t be objective.” If anyone gives you any grief, let us know. We’re here to support you. We will back you 100%. We will stomp their guts out and embarrass them on the worldwide internet and we will not do that in a very nice way, either. Truth is the most important thing whether it’s scientific truth, historical truth, or personal truth (like Picard said).

Sign-based Example: Profections

Profections are a sign-based method of predicting. It was the standard until Placidus. He rejected profections because —are you sitting down?— they were too easy. No kidding. Like we said, there were some in the Renaissance Era who thought they could make astrology more scientific by making people jump thru hoops with mathematical acrobatics.

Nearly everyone does profections wrong and to prove that, you need only search the internet. What do you see? A lot of profection wheels starting where? The Ascendant. If you were looking for death in someone’s chart, the Ascendant is probably the last significator you’d profect. What can you profect?

• All four angles (the Ascending Degree, Descending Degree, MC Point, and IMC Point)
• The 7 Hermetic Lots (Lots of Fortune, Spirit, Eros, Necessity, Victory, Courage, and Nemesis)
• The 5 “Family” Lots (Marriage, Mother, Father, Siblings, and Children)
• Other Lots (Debt, Travel, Exaltation, Deceit, Honor, and Affliction)
• The 7 Stars

If you were looking for death, you’d profect either the Descending Degree, or the Lot of Fortune, or both (yes, you can do that).

You don’t need profection wheels. You only need to know how to correctly calculate profections and assuming you’re up-to-speed on 4th Grade math it’s real easy. Someone is 29 years old. How many multiples of 12 are in 29? Two of them. 2 x 12 = 24. 29 – 24 = 5. That’s your answer.

Using the number “5” —brought to you by the letters “I” and “Y” and the color “blue” (a Sesame Street joke)— you can now profect any significator in the chart. Just remember you always start with zero (0). You want to profect the Lot of Marriage for a person in their 29th year. The Lot of Marriage is in Gemini in the natal chart. Gemini = 0; Cancer = 1; Leo = 2; Virgo =3; Libra = 4; Scorpio = 5. There we are. The Lot of Marriage falls in Scorpio for the profection year.

When delineating career in a natal chart, are you looking at the 1st House or the 10th House? Right, the 10th House. So why would you profect the Ascendant? You wouldn’t unless you were incompetent. You’d profect the MC Point, so let’s do that for Kamala Harris.

That’s from PlanetDance —free software— providing annual, monthly and daily profections. Morinus —also free— provides annual and monthly profections. We mention that so you don’t waste lots of money on SolarFire who only provide annual profections. Those people suck. If it’s woo-woo astrology or pseudo-astrology they’re all over it like white on rice but if you want them to include tried-and-true methods that are 2,000 or more years old you have to get on your hands and knees and beg. You have no idea how much begging had to be done to get those people to add zodiacal releasing to SolarFire.

We mention Morinus because unlike PlanetDance, Morinus gives you the option of including all significators instead of the usual suspects like PlanetDance does. Morinus gives you tables like this:

On the left are the annual profections for the usual suspects and on the right are the monthly profections for age 60 for Kamala Harris using Morinus freeware (we’re showing the usual suspects because the tables are too wide to post when using all significators).

One thing people don’t understand about profections is that the only secondary chart you’re allowed to use is the solar return chart. The other thing they don’t understand is that when the profected significator falls in an empty house (house = sign and sign = house) in the natal chart and that sign is also empty in the solar return chart you can expect nothing to happen very slowly. But when that house is occupied in the solar return chart, the star(s) occupying that house become activated and are just as important as the star ruling the sign of the profected significator.

Looking at the profection chart from PlanetDance we can see that in the solar return chart Saturn falls in Pisces and that activates Saturn. That makes our significators Mercury (from the daily profection of the MC Point), Jupiter (from the annual and monthly profection of the MC Point), and Saturn activated by solar return. Let’s look at the chart:

What’s your prediction?

Nothing fundamental has changed. We should probably point out that there’s no such thing as transit-to-transit aspects. Since Jupiter and Saturn were both active significators in the zodiacal releasing method and in the profection chart that activates the Saturn right square Jupiter configuration in her chart which means being demoted, getting fired, or losing one’s power, position or status.

Ascensional Times Example: Circumambulations

Circumambulation. That’s a mouthful. It’s actually primary directions. In fact, this is the original method of primary directions before Placidus started messing with them because they were too easy. So, no, we will not be teaching the Placidean direct, inverse, converse, reverse, over-the-pole and under-the-pole and thru the woods to grandma’s house we go primary directions.

You’ve probably been told that you’re directing a significator in zodiac order. That is not technically correct. Your significator is frozen wherever it is in the chart and the chart moves clock-wise around your frozen significator. That gives the appearance that you’re moving your significator in zodiac order, but that isn’t what’s really happening. We just wanted you to understand the technical basis. And here we are:

You cannot use the primary directions in SolarFire because they refuse to add tried-and-true methods. You can use PlanetDance or Morinus. We prefer Morinus since it’s easier to use. This is sometimes called Ptolemaic Directions but they have nothing to do with Ptolemy. He certainly did not create them. Ptolemy was a liar, cheat, fraud and plagiarizer and we know that because Greeks before Ptolemy discuss this method.

This is one of those predictive methods that was not translated or explained well so it got corrupted over time. For Kamala Harris, Moon is the controller. We’re not going to explain here how we came to that conclusion. Suffice to say that the chart is nocturnal; Moon is the sect light; Moon is in the 11th House; Moon is in the bounds of Saturn; and Saturn aspects his own bounds in Aries.

We’re also going to use the Ascending Degree. Wait a minute. Didn’t we just say don’t use the Ascendant? That was for profections. We’re not doing profections. We’re doing primary directions. It is absolutely critical that you never mix or blend techniques of predictive methods. It isn’t one theory many methods. No, each primary method is based on an underlying theory and rationale. In zodiacal releasing, the significators need to be angular in a transit chart but that restriction does not apply to profections or primary directions. For profections, we rarely use the Ascendant but in primary directions we do.

Also, for each predictive method, the style or method of interpretation is not the same. We don’t interpret a profection chart the same way we interpret a natal chart. We don’t interpret primary directions in the same way we interpret a natal chart or other predictive charts.

Our focus in primary directions is largely on Benefics and Malefics, the bound rulers, and stars that aspect the bounds. So let’s do that.

This is the table from Morinus. What are you looking at?

• M/Z = In Mundo or in Zodiaco: The “Z” tells us we’re using in zodiaco
• Prom = “Promissor”: These are the bounds that will pass over the Ascending Degree over a period of 100 years (you can choose 25 year blocks if you prefer)
• D/C = “Direct” or “Converse”: We always use direct meaning diurnal motion
• Sig = “Significator”: We are using the Ascending Degree which passes thru bounds in the signs of Cancer, Leo and Virgo
• Arc = Age at the time the Ascending Degree enters a bound.
• Date = The calendar date at the time the Ascending Degree enters a bound

What does it say? The highlighted part tells you the Ascending Degree entered the bounds of Saturn in the sign of Leo at age 54.939 years on September 29, 2019. The Ascending Degree enters the bounds of Mercury in Leo on August 28, 2028, so Saturn is a time-ruler for the next 9 and ½ years more or less.

We’ll put up Kamala’s chart again:

Does any star aspect the bounds of Saturn in Leo? Not at first.

Folks, that is critical. We are looking at the rays of the stars. The rays have a width or span of 14°. That means the rays of a star at Gemini 15° will fall between Gemini 8° and Gemini 22°. Any star or bound degree between Gemini 8° and 14° is under the rays of that star.

When the directed Ascendant first enters the bounds of Saturn at Leo 11° it is not under the rays of any star. That is good because Saturn is a Malefic. But when the Ascending Degree reaches Leo 14° it is now under the rays of Mars. The Ascending Degree is now in the bounds of a malefic and under the rays of a malefic. That indicates problems.

Mercury’s bound doesn’t start until Leo 18°. From the table, you can subtract the age and know the Ascending Degree is in the bounds of Saturn for 8.748 years. Subtracting Leo 11° from Leo 18° gives you 7 degrees or 1° =1.24971 years. Multiply that by 3 and you get 3.74914 years and adding that to 54.939 gives you an age of 58.688 years which is when the real problems in her life started.

What kind of problems? Let’s look at Moon as controller moving thru the bounds:

On April 3, 2023, Moon in Cancer enters the bounds of malefic Mars. Yikes!

Now, who aspects the bounds?

Her age on Election Day, November 5, 2024 was 60 years, 0 months, and 16 days (60.043 years). The bound ruler is Mars and Moon trines Mercury who is maltreated in her chart. That makes the significators Saturn, Mars and Mercury.

Note the date: November 5, 2024. Wasn’t that Election Day in the United States? Yes, it was. The previous election was November 8, 2020 so the date of November 15, 2020 is 7 days later note the table provides for exact aspects. The effect actually starts when it falls under the rays.

If you’re looking at Planet Dance you should see this truncated table:

We want to explain something briefly lest people get confused.

1. The Dates: Not all of those are events. Your secondary and tertiary charts will tell you how and why those events do or do not come to pass.
2. The Aspects: There are no aspects. The person who wrote PlanetDance doesn’t really understand astrology. We know they don’t, because if they did, you know, understand astrology, they would not have included dexter (right) and sinister (left) since they have no meaning. The aspects themselves have no interpretation. Yes, on 11/05/24, Mercury is in a dexter (right) trine to Moon but that means nothing except for the fact that Mercury is now a co-significator. The whole point of the aspects is to identify possible co-significators.

Where are we now?

Directing the Ascendant with primary directions the directed Ascendant is in Leo in the bounds of Saturn and under the rays of Mars. Directing Moon as the controller we have identified Mars as bound ruler and Mercury in trine to Moon as co-significator.

That gives us:

• Saturn as a time-ruler for the Ascendant
• Mars as a sub-period ruler for the Ascendant
• Mars as a time-ruler for the controller (Moon)
• Mercury as a sub-period ruler for the controller (Moon)

Those are our significators.

But in zodiacal releasing the significators were Mercury, Jupiter rand Saturn!

Why are you even thinking about zodiacal releasing? Stay in your lane. Mise en place ladies and gentlemen, mise en place. Socks go in the sock drawer, not the linen closet with the linen. Tools go in the tool-box, not in the drawer with all the silverware. Gasoline goes in your car, not the refrigerator. When doing primary directions, stay in your lane. When you stop doing primary directions and start looking at profections you need to stay in the profection lane. That is the hardest thing for people to do. They have a tendency to want to mix techniques from different primary methods together. If you do that, you’ll fail.

We’re going to skip the secondary chart and go straight to it:

Nothing fundamental changed. Your prediction is she loses since Saturn is retrograde transiting the 10th House. Neither Mercury nor Mars indicate winning.

Notice the lack of “exact” aspects. Those were never a requirement. That’s something Modern astrologers conjured up. For many predictive methods, your only considerations are where the significator(s) are placed by house and what are they doing, meaning are they direct, stationary or retrograde.

The Beauty of Primary Methods

The point of this exercise was to demonstrate futility.

And beauty. Every primary method will give you the same answer. That’s the awesome beauty of primary predictive methods. If you don’t like what you see in a chart, there’s no point in using a different primary method because every method will give you the same answer. Why torture yourself?

That’s why it’s called Fate.

As a beginner we want you to use multiple methods. Everyone’s different. Some methods will “speak to you.” It’ll be intuitive and easy for you to grasp the nuances. You’ll take to it like a fish in water. Always have a back-up method. That will help build your confidence and allow you to check for errors. It’s easy to make mistakes casting charts. Everyone makes a mistake sooner or later and your back-up method can catch that so’s you can fix it.

In case you’re wondering why none of us are members of anything, we want to distance ourselves from the losers. Why would anyone want to be a member of ISAR (the International Society for Ass-Clown Astrological Research)?

They set up two separate panels of 5 astrologers each and unanimously concluded Kamala Harris would win. That’s 0-for-10. What a spectacular fail. And they want people to pay money to be members? Not gonna happen. On the other hand if you learn the concepts and apply them to natal or mundane charts and learn predictive methods and apply the rules correctly —and that’s the art of astrology— you can do better than any of the ass-clowns in ISAR.

Seriously. Elections are the easiest thing to predict. Way easier than marriage, childbirth, divorce or death. Anyone who can’t even get elections right has a lot nerve calling themselves an astrologer.