by April Elliott Kent

A quick, but regrettably necessary note about this tutorial: Since 2001, I've offered this tutorial online, free of charge, simply because I believe in empowering people to do their own astrology work if they can. All I ask in return is that this work not be used in any other form or context without my written permission and proper attribution. Any other use is in violation of copyright. ~ AEK

Introduction

A man and a woman decide to get married, and in the first flush of excitement they might do a number of things: call everyone they know, make a pilgrimage to the newstand to stock up on five-pound bridal magazines, start fighting over the kind of wedding they'll have.  But what an astrologer or serious student of astrology does as soon as the question has been popped is pretty much what my spouse and I did: We made a beeline to my astrology teacher to choose an astrologically appropriate day to tie the knot.

In my years as a professional astrologer, I've been honored to perform the same service for a number of my clients.  It's work I've always enjoyed, much the same way that in a previous career incarnation I always enjoyed singing at weddings.  After all, I was born with the moon in the seventh house of marriage: I dig weddings, marriage, love, all that. 

But one of the main reasons I've always enjoyed choosing wedding dates for people is that it's so straightforward.  The rules are simple and clear.  Anyone with the ability to read an ephemeris can do it -- which I intend to prove to you in this tutorial.

Why bother at all choosing an astrologically fabulous date/time for a wedding?  The premise of electional astrology is that a marriage, business venture, presidency, or what have you begins at a specific moment, and that within that moment are the seeds of how subsequent events will unfold.  It's the same idea as casting a chart for the moment of a person's birth and assuming it will tell us something about how the person's life and character might unfold.

In electional astrology we determine (1) what moment something will truly begin; in a marriage, it's that moment in the wedding ceremony where the couple says "I Do"; and (2) what astrological factors correspond to making this particular thing unfold to maximum benefit of all involved.  Then a date and time are chosen that will provide the greatest number of these astrological factors.

For the record, I rarely use electional astrology in my own life.  I think it's best used for events of tremendous importance (like getting married, planning important surgery, buying a house), and I would feel kind of frivolous trying to choose the most adventageous time to, say, shop for produce.  It's electional astrology of that kind that tends to make astrology and its devotees appear a bit--well, silly.
 

© 2001 April Elliott Kent
All rights reserved