Choosing good Wedding dates
Electing the dates for weddings.
This post contains thick astrology and is less narrative oriented than most of my posts. It will, however, educate the curious on how to choose a good wedding day astrologically.
If you are going to have a wedding, you want the day to be joyous, and you want the wedding to be the start of a long, successful relationship. I love electing astrology charts for weddings. You can tell months, even years in advance, when a good day will be. This brilliant feat enables us to gauge the joy that attendees will experience at the event, which is often a significant psychological, emotional, and financial undertaking. Everybody and their aunt wants it to go well, literally! There are certain days you know will be no good, though. I, as a deft and crafty astrologer, specialize in telling you what those days are. I, as a generous and caring astrologer, will lay out for you some possible indications.
The following presentation is divided into three parts. First, a simple method anyone can use. Then, a more complex method is required, requiring a greater understanding of the chart. Then we will touch on one of the many advanced techniques.
The Basics for a Good Date.
In Buddhism, we have a saying, Do no harm. I think that is the first rule of thumb for an astrological election. Find a day and a time when there is no harm occurring. We know as astrologers that if you get hard aspects to Mars or Saturn by planets or the Moon, then it is going to be a difficult day. By hard aspects, of course, we are talking about the square, which has the nature of Mars, and the opposition, which has the nature of Saturn.
Well, shucks, with the Moon spinning about the zodiac once a month, that means we will take six days off the calendar every month right off the bat. Do not have a wedding when the Moon is square or opposed to Saturn or Mars.
Now we do not want any other planet to be squared, Saturn or Mars either. I am serious, those are stressful days, and weird, uncomfortable events happen on those days. By any other planet, I mean the following: The Sun, The Moon (already covered), Mercury (unless you want to verbally spar your whole marriage), Venus (unless you are into bondage and power play…, no not Venus, sorry, never mind.), Mars to Saturn, or Jupiter.
If you take just this advice, you are on track for a great day and a decent marriage. The rest of the story becomes more complicated, but as we fine-tune, the results improve for the long term and the party. Modern astrology is simpler than traditional astrology. Do you want a soda pop or do you want deep alchemical alembic tincture? For some the Soda pop is good, it is refreshing, relieves the thirst and goes well with ice. For others, the ancient craft of making alchemical tinctures is compelling. I don’t think we have enough data to tell which one is better.
4 out of 5 marriages succeed with out a divorce, and the number has been getting better since the divorce rate peaked in 1981. If you ask me that probably reflects that really there are around 6 gnarly dates a month. This is not a scientific survey, and it is highly possible that the synastry charts are more impactful than the election charts in determining the long term viability of soul mating. (I do synastry charts if you are interested, click the link below to at least know if a prenup is a good idea)
Let’s look at the Soda approach first.
Modern approaches for a better date and time
The first and the seventh house represent the people in the marriage. We want the rulers of those two houses to be in good condition, and especially the seventh for it is the marriage. We also want any planets in the first, seventh, tenth, or fourth to be in good condition or good planets, by good condition that is not aspected by Mars or Saturn, and ideally not in their Fall. (I know it is getting complicated.).
Ideally, we want a Venus or Jupiter to be in one of those places. We definitely do not want Mars or Saturn in one of those places unless they are receiving support from Venus or Jupiter. Finally, we want the Ascendant at the moment, that is around a 15-minute window of receiving a good aspect from the ruler of the 7th (marriage) or a benefic.
Don’t worry about Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto unless it is in the 7th house, or aspecting by opposition or square the Ascendant or the ruler of either of those. Asteroid astrologers probably have some other things they can trip out on. Paying attention to asteroids is like taking acid, you can have good trips and bad trips with them, but the big bodies are the ones that make real trouble.
I warned you this gets complicated and if you eyes have not glazed over yet, here comes the real heady stuff as we drop into the traditional astrology.
The alchemical herbal sauce of tradition astrology
While one can find an number of formulas, I will just drop this brief piece by Bonatti into the brain of those who are still reading.
Bonatti, the great sage of Astrology, wrote the following:
“If someone wished to perfect a marriage union, whether to celebrate the marriage or the nuptials, and you wish to elect the fitting hour for him to do this, the sages said, adopt the ascendant and its Lord, also the moon and the Lord of the sign which she is in, and let the ascendant be likewise in a fixed sign, and the moon in a fixed sign of which the sages had Taurus and Leo were better this is true, even though Saul did not recommend Leo absolutely; For he said the marriage would be favorable, and that there will be consistency of love and agreement between them, but they will not be concerned to increase their substance, but rather on the other hand they will take care to destroy it unless the moon is joined to the sun when she is in Leo by a trine or sextile aspect because it breaks called malice; Indeed the square aspect decreases the substance much. Indeed, Scorpio and Aquarius are to be avoided, especially for the man, because they are malicious and the domiciles of the malefics when they harm the man. Indeed, for the woman, they are not so malicious.
For the ascendant and its Lord, and the Sun and the planet from which the moon is being separated, if the man asks, signify the condition of the man. The 7th and its Lord, Venus, and the planet to which the moon is joined signify the condition of the woman. The 10th sign and its Lord signify what is going to happen between them. The 4th sign and its Lord signify the end of both, namely of the man and the woman.” ~Dykes translation, Book of Astronomy Volume II. pg. 756.
Once we have dropped into this level of complexity, we are not just considering the “Marriage” as a be-all and end-all. We are also looking at how the marriage will affect both the man and the woman for the duration of the marriage. Also, when we read about placing the Ascendant in a fixed sign, we have to note that there is an angle here about making the marriage enduring. This is what fixed signs do, as they do not move. I assume you understand that fixed signs are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. This is not necessarily going to deliver happiness and harmony, but rather endurance. He does note, though, that Taurus and Leo as ascendants bring consistency of love and agreement.
Guido Bonatti, ever cynical and certainly not a romantic, then says that the happiness of the marriage that results will destroy the prosperity of the couple. The only counter to this is to have the Moon in a sextile or trine as[ect to the Sun, which means putting the Moon in an Air or Fire sign. Well, we all know (or at least should all know if you are reading this article still) that Air and Fire signs are ambitious signs of activity. This happy couple will then be filled with eagerness and ideas about how to exploit and dominate the world around them. He goes on to say a square aspect will decrease the green stack, a square highlighting the Earth and Water elements, both of which are sensually indulgent rather than ambitious.
The Lord of the Ascendant needs to be well placed, as does the Sun, for the Man to do well after marriage. So does the last planet, the Moon, aspected. For the woman, then we want to see the Lord of the Seventh and the Moon in good condition, as well as the planet the Moon will next conjunct. We are going to break the bank here, because if we start to consider all of these factors, we are really narrowing down our choice of days.
Bonatti goes on, quoting Sahl And Mash’allah, but the air is so thick in the room I am not sure if anyone is still awake.
The Weather
As a final note, when electing for a wedding, a good astrologer is also choosing good weather. Of course, place and time matter, so one must take that into account when paying attention to weather astrology. Is the Moon and Jupiter conjunct in Cancer going to increase the chances of rain in the Sahara, no. But it will increase the chances of a thunderstorm in August in Florida!!! Roll up your sleeves then and pay attention not only to the angles, the rulers of the angles, the indicators of the Bride and the Groom, and the malefic aspects, but also check out what weather is indicated. You got this, and if you want another eye on it, please book a reading!
Jay Z and Bey