124 SIMPLIFIED SCIENTIFIC ASTROLOGY
ious to ask the question contains also the answer. Therefore, if the person who wants to know is an astrologer, he erects a horoscope for the time when he first thought of consulting the stars. If a person who cannot set up a figure applies personally to an astrologer, the latter sets up a figure for the time when the question is asked of him, and if the question comes through the mail, he casts a horoscope for the time he actually read the question in the letter. This is very important, for if the figure be set up for a wrong time, the judgment is certain to be wrong. It sometimes happens that the matter asked about has not reached such a state of completion that the issue is settled, and a definite answer can be given. Therefore the first thing to do after the figure has been cast, is to see if it is ‘radical’, and can be judged.
If the first or second degree of any sign is rising, or if one of the three last degrees of any sign rises, or if the Moon is in the last three degrees of any sign, or void of course, it is not safe to judge but the inquirer should wait a more favorable time and ask the question again.
When Saturn is on the Ascendant or in the First House he always obstructs the matter, and if he is in the Seventh House the astrologer’s judgment fails.
If none of these things hinder, the figure may be judged by the following method:
