How many questions can you ask for one chart?

[Kerrie]

I am starting to get into horary and so I thought William Lilly's Christian Astrology books would be good to start my learning.

Now I like the "am I pregnant, will I conceive" horary questions, just because it interests me at the moment, and I am trying myself to conceive.

So anyway what is the best thing to do. In Christian Astrology, Lilly lists specific questions and then has a paragraph after of the things you need to look for in the chart.

Example the first one for the 5th House is "If one shall have Children, yea or no?" Now what I would think I would do is go through his paragraph while looking at the chart and see where it matches and so I will get a yes or no, and stop there and not go to the next question or any other questions in the 5th house section.

So if I asked the question if I will have a child, I wouldnt then use the same chart and go and get another question answered, like "If a woman doe conceive with childe or more than one?" because wouldnt it then require me to ask the how many children question again with a different chart?

I have noticed though that people on this site and other sites, ask a specific question, but then get a few answers out of it? My question is what does Lilly say is the best thing to do and what do people do themselves ?

[archergirl]

It's generally a one-shot deal, Kerrie. If you create a chart for 'Will I have a baby?" (or something like that), then you look at the significations in the chart to answer that question, and that's that.

People often try to milk a chart for several only mildly-related questions (When will I have a relationship? And will it last forever? And will he be rich? And will we have children?) but this doesn't work. It's best to 'just answer the question'.

In fact, one of Lilly's main considerations (in the Aphorisms section) is:

Judge not upon every light motion, or without premeditation of the Querent, nor upon slight and trivial Questions, or when the Querent has not wit to know what he would demand.

This requires you, the astrologer, to be discerning about the questions you accept to cast a chart for. This is especially important when you are casting charts for yourself. It's generally not recommended that astrologers read their own charts because they find it very difficult to achieve the objectivity one needs in order to interpret the symbolism accurately.

But to answer your original question, if you are clear about what the question is you are seeking an answer to, then you read the chart just for that question. Many questions are multi-faceted, which is why you often see 'situational' interpretations that pull in additional details besides just the question to hand...but you'll note that in most of these charts the question is a singular one about a specific issue.

AG

[Kerrie]

Thanks for your help.