I have been summoned to report for federal jury duty on Monday. So I asked myself a horary question this morning: Will I have to serve on a jury? This specific situation isn’t covered in Lilly, but I have an idea about how to find the answer in the chart. Tell me if you think my reasoning is sound or skewed.
First, some background information for my non-US friends: In the United States, citizens of voting age may be asked to serve on a jury for a civil or a criminal trial, for their state or for the federal government. You are called at random, asked to serve for one day or one trial, and then are exempt from having to serve for another four years, I think. Not everyone who reports for jury duty is called to serve on a trial. I have reported twice in the past and not yet been chosen, but this is the first time I’ve been called for federal, not state, jury duty. If I’m asked to serve, I will have to miss work at my regular job.
I asked myself the question while driving this morning, so I looked at nearby highway signs to figure out which city to use for the location. Here’s the chart for my question.
Will I be impaneled?
The key to successfully reading a horary chart is finding the right house to study. To do this, we must think about the essence of what is being asked. It would be easy to jump to conclusions when we hear keywords like “court” or “trial,” because there are clear directions in Lilly and others for horary questions about trials in which the querent is the plaintiff or the defendant. In those questions, the roles are clear: querent = 1, enemy/opponent = 7, judge = 10, outcome = 4. (Note that it’s slightly different for a trial event chart. If you cast an event chart for the start time of the trial, give 1 to the plaintiff and 7 to the defendant.)
But I’m not the one on trial, nor the one bringing the suit. I’m just a citizen, and my government is asking me to go to work for it. Therefore, thinking about the essence of the question, my reasoning is that I’m really asking a form of “Will I get the government job?” And that is a 10th house question.
Now, assigning significators is easy. Gemini rises, so my significators are Mercury in Gemini and Moon in Leo. Whether I call it “getting a job” or “connecting with the government,” the thing I’m asking about is signified by the 10th house. Aquarius culminates, and its traditional ruler is Saturn, currently retrograde in Virgo.
Can we connect me to the government? Mercury looks like it’s applying to square Saturn, and even with Mercury’s intervening sextiles to Venus and Mars, there is so much mutual reception between Mercury and Saturn that I might have said that the square shows me eventually getting impaneled after several intervening events.
But! Mercury is not going to perfect that square to Saturn. It’s not even going to reach the Venus sextile. Why? Because, as a look at the ephemeris shows, it’s just a degree away from its station. At about 1 Gemini 44, Mercury’s three-week retrograde period begins. It never gets close to aspecting the other planets. No aspect, no action. I won’t be serving on a jury this time.
I think it’s interesting to look at the Moon’s next aspect, too. Moon, my co-significator, applies to oppose Jupiter, natural ruler of the law. The opposition is the aspect of regret, things that come together only to break apart. I’ll make the journey to the courthouse, but it won’t actually result in serving on a trial.
Good reasoning, poor reasoning? Tell me what you think. I’ll let you know what happens.
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May 2, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Hi, as I know you use Frawley´s method:
you already have been called, don´t you? It seems that there is a great chance of you been chosen, because Saturn “loves” (in frawley´s method) mercury.
May 2, 2009 at 11:30 pm
It does seem so – but is love enough? Or do I need an aspect? That’s the question.
May 4, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Love is not enough! At least for jury duty. I was not impaneled after all. (Every time I write “impaneled,” it looks like “impaled.” Ouch.)
May 3, 2009 at 12:02 am
Hi Christine:
First of all, I want to say that I am no where near the astrologer you are, and I know there’s a lot about horary I don’t understand yet. In a lot of ways, your reasoning seems quite good to me.
However, I think it’s worth considering the sixth house to represent being on a jury, mainly because of how juries are viewed by our society and by our government. We speak of having “jury duty.” Duty is a sixth house thing. The government “summons” us to this task–we aren’t offered a position on a jury as we would be a regular job. The government insists that we be on juries as a duty of citizenship. One really has no choice in the matter; depending on where one lives, one can sometimes get some leeway, but after a certain point you have to come and serve once you’re summoned, whether you want to or not. It’s like being conscripted, which is (I think) a sixth house thing–I believe the defined tenure of service is “one day or one trial.” You can be fined and even go to jail if you don’t fulfill your obligation when summoned. It seems to me that what you’re really asking is “Am I going to have to perform the most onerous part of my obligation (i.e. be impaneled on a jury)?” I don’t really see it as a “will I get the job” question.
Also, the sixth house represents civil servants. Jurors could be considered civil servants.
If one uses the sixth house, then the prospect of jury service is represented by Mars in Aries. Is this a criminal jury for which you’ve been called? Somehow Aries makes me think it must be a criminal as opposed to a civil case–although you may not know that yet. Sometimes you don’t know which jury pool you’re in till you get to the courthouse. When I lived up north, I used to get called for jury duty like clockwork every two years. I was only impanelled once out of about five times I was summoned.
Your sig Mercury appears to be applying to a sextile with Venus and then Mars; but, as you noted, Mercury goes retrograde before either of those aspects can be perfected. So you don’t end up on the jury.
Here’s a bit of advice someone once gave me on getting out of jury service: act as brainy and intellectual as you possibly can when you’re being questioned by the attorneys for each side. Bring a really highbrow publication with you to read and display it prominently (I used to bring poetry journals). Believe it or not, most attorneys don’t want really smart jurors who can think for themselves. They want people who are easily persuaded. So, if you show that you have a brain, you’re much less likely to be selected.
May 4, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Hi, Judy – I see where you’re coming from (and thanks for the advice, too). In old-school astrology, the 6th has to do with your own servants, the people you pay to do your bidding (so nowadays that might include your cleaning lady or the plumber). It isn’t where we’d place the duty we owe to another. “The boss” who tells us what to do is a 10th house figure, whether we asked for the job or not. All the more so when it is my governing institution or my king giving me orders: I disobey at my own peril.
Anyway, I wasn’t impaneled! So we’re both right
May 3, 2009 at 3:38 am
Hi Christine,
I like the way you read this chart.
The “new job offered by the government” is signified by the next sign in the 10th house and its lord. Pisces is intercepted in the 10th and it is ruled by Jupiter in the 9th of legal proceedings.
Mercury L1 just entered Jupiter’s detriment, so you don’t want the job. Mercury will not perfect any aspect before it stations rx. so it is also Voc. Moon will oppose Jupiter.
Still, Jupiter applies to trine the Asc, which might suggest you do get the undesirable “job”.
In “will I get the job?” charts I’ve seen, where there’s an intercepted sign in the 10th house, and the lord of the intercepted sign comes together (by aspect) with the Asc, its ruler or Moon (as co-sig), the outcome is usually “yes”.
So I’m not really sure about the outcome of this chart, especially as the Asc is mutable and tightly square Uranus intercepted in the 10th, while Mc is at an anaretic degree. Should one expect the unexpected?
Yes, maybe you will be chosen to serve in the jury, but something unexpected happens and you will be released, as the trial is canceled or postponed?
Good luck anyway.
May 4, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Hiya Naggie
Thanks for your analysis. I showed up at court, was brought up to a courtroom for voir dire (when potential jurors are interviewed and eliminated or moved forward), but never entered the jurors’ box. Then I was sent back downstairs, waited for another hour to see if I was needed for another case, and finally was sent home. Lord 1 = Mercury stationing – no further movement forward for me in the process.
May 4, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Hi Christine:
My copy of Frawley’s Horary Textbook arrived in the mail just this morning!! After reading the sections on the houses, I was certain that five out of five Frawley students would give thumbs to 6th house = jury duty. Probably one of the few sure bets left in the world.
But I tried!
Glad you don’t have to sit on a jury.