For those who may be unfamiliar with Electional Astrology, its primary aim is to identify the best date and time to start a project or event, such as starting a business, buying or selling a house or a car, getting married, and scheduling surgery in non-emergency situations. Another example is starting this blog for Friends of Astrology. However, before the discussion about the chart for starting the blog, there are a few rules to consider.
First, the cardinal rule for Electional Astrology is that there should not be any square aspects from the Moon. A void-of-course Moon should be avoided, unless there is some derived benefit from it. Please note that the Moon is the fasting moving planetary body and it never turns retrograde. Because of this, a separating square aspect from the Moon would never perfect and hence would not carry as much weight. Speaking of aspects, only Ptolemaic aspects which are applying count for consideration. The Ptolemaic aspects are the conjunction, sextile, square, trine, and opposition.
Second, the planetary ruler of the activity or event should be fortified or made as strong as possible given the conditions of the chart. For example, Mercury rules written communication, and its placement by sign, house position, and the applying aspects it makes would potentially fortify or depress the energy of the planet. Cardinal signs, Fixed signs, and Mutable signs make a difference. The Rising sign should be taken into account as a supporting feature.
Third, it is best to generally keep Saturn out of the angles, which are the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth houses. This would also apply to Mars and Uranus based on the nature of the activity or event. The exception to this would be if one of these planets were the planetary ruler for the activity or event to be undertaken. There are more rules to follow for this branch of astrology and several books are available in the Friends of Astrology Library.
As previously mentioned, Mercury rules written communication. The date, time, and place 'elected' for the start of this blog is Friday, May 9, 2014 at 1:48 pm CDT in Chicago, IL., and the chart can be found above. Is this is a good date and time to start the blog? What are your thoughts?