Hi Ckr.
The thing about philosophical questions, is that there is never really an answer for sure. The aim of horary is to do the precise opposite, to eliminate confusion and speculation, and to try and determine the facts. With sufficient interest, aptitude, ethusiasm and a willingness to learn, it can be shown how horary can indeed work, and work very well. Those who believe that astrology has no valid basis will have a hard time with this.
My personal view, is that if we have no opportunity of verifying whether our horary interpretation was right or wrong, then why bother? If I correctly determine where the missing cat was, then I have learned something from this and it becomes part of my experience and might help me to judge in the future. If I do not find where the missing cat was, then when I do find out, I'll revisit the horary and find out where I went wrong, which will give me something to bear in mind the next time. Astrology can help us to try and determine facts where they need to be known, so that we can adapt our life path accordingly, and so that we can have the art revealed to us. There is no point in utilising astrology to assist our speculations upon whether there is a monster under the bed or if I was abducted by aliens. Of course, it is always fascinating to ask such questions, but as there is no verification possible as to the answers we have deduced, then we have learned nothing, and each horary should reveal some new lesson to you, even if, eventually, it's to make you realise why philosophical questions are not valid. This is something I'm slowly coming to realise now. I'm realising that if I am not learning something from each chart I look at and writing it down, then I'm just idly entertaining myself and I'll never be a real astrologer. In the earliest stages of learning horary, of course it is entirely natural to be casting dozens of charts a day upon the most trivial and flippant of issues, and this is fine because you can't expect much else from an enthusiastic beginner, and you need to do this to get used to what you're doing with horary. However, once you get to know what you're doing with horary technique, and you just need the practice and experience (which I've neglected terribly due to a new-found interest in nativities), then you ought to know better. Not that I have no sense of fun, you will find articles on this site where Radu has interpreted some philosophical questions of my own with horary, and of course this is fascinating speculation, but I will never find out if the answer is true or not for sure, so what have I learned? I have too many reason for no longer asking or answering such questions.
The purpose of horary is to find something out when the information is needed, then the time is right to ask a question, questions asked out of anything other than a real, genuine need for information when no other sources of insight are available, can lead to some very scatty charts, and often inspire more questions than answers.
Philosophical ponderings are for the contemplation of the human mind. Horary can only give us the facts, philosophy by it's very nature does not deal with facts, it's about attempting to answer the unanswerable, horary is the precise opposite, it concerns determining the facts where an answer can be found, which is why it cannot answer philisophical questions.
