W.J. Simmonite and the Rules for Winning

Something tells me that W. J. Simmonite, the 19th century English astrologer, and author of such books as The Complete Arcana of Astral Philosophy or Celestial Philosopher was a wagering man. I wanted to share with you some of his rules for determining who will win (but really, whether he will profit). His book The Prognostic Astronomer, or Horary Astrology (1851), included in Philip Graves’s (astrolearn.com) DVD From Sibly to Simmonite, contains in-depth horary rules loosely dealing with gain and loss, that the author claims work in a wide variety of settings (p. 84-87).

The rules mix together significations of battle or contest victory (considerations of the first and seventh houses), profit (second house and the Part of Fortune) and gaming (the fifth house). We tease out the various techniques that Simmonite commingles in one set of methods. I would take Simmonite’s rules with a significant grain of salt, as he lumps together different methods that only all work together in a limited setting – betting on contests – and tries to apply them to a much broader set of questions. The inclusion in his rules of Fortuna, the fifth house, and the second would be puzzling if it were not for the fact that these are all questions with one underlying issue: will the querent win money?

Questions for Which Simmonite’s Rules Allegedly Work:

1. Will A.B. win the foot race? [NG: Who cares who wins: will I win my bet? This is primarily a second house concern, in this context.]
2. Which will win the Quoit match ? [NG: Again, will I win my bet? And what is a quoit? Google says: a ring of iron, rope, or rubber thrown in a game to encircle or land as near as possible to an upright peg.]
3. Which will win the game at cards [NG: At this point, you can guess the underlying question.]
4. Shall I be able to win the battle? [NG: Disagree with this being an appropriate question for these rules: if you had bet on the battle and it’s a form of entertainment, sure, but there is nothing fifth house about a battle, nor second house.]
5. Can I bargain to my advantage? [NG: Here the inclusion of the second house significators makes sense, as does the first-versus-seventh analysis; the fifth as the house of pleasure, not so much.]
6. Shall I be successful in the Raffle? [NG: Finally! This is the question these rules were made for.]
7. Shall I win this wager? [NG: See above.]
8. Shall I win or lose by purchasing these shares? [NG: And we were doing so well up until now. Investments are primarily a way to make a profit rather than have fun, so the fifth house is not very relevant. Nor, especially, the first-versus-seventh analysis for contests.]

Simmonite’s Rules for Winning:

1. Rulers of the first and fifth, or the first and second strong, or Jupiter and Venus therein, unafflicted, and not retrograde.
2. The Moon unafflicted, or the ruler of the first or second, or the Moon in conjunction or good aspect of the Part of Fortune.
3. The Part of Fortune in the first, tenth, or fifth, and not in bad aspect with the malefics, or the ruler of the first, fifth, or seventh.
4. Jupiter, ruler of both the first and second, or the fifth, unafflicted.
5. The ruler of the first or the Moon in the seventh, or especially in Taurus, in the fifth, or the ruler of the fifth in the first, in dignities, and not afflicted by aspect of Uranus, Saturn, Mars, or the South Node
6. The governor of the first in conjunction, sextile, or trine, to the lord of the fifth, especially if these significators are in reception.
7. The ruler of the second a benevolent, and powerfully posited.
8. A benevolent strong in the fifth or second, and also in good aspect of the lord of the first, second, or fifth.
9. The ruler of the fifth better dignified than the ruler of the seventh.
10. The rulers of the fifth and eighth separating from good with each other, and the lord of the fifth applying benevolently to either the ruler of the first, second, or the Part of Fortune.
11. The North Node in the first, second, fifth, or tenth, is a slight testimony.

Losing Testimonies:

1. The lord of the fifth, second, or seventh, an infortune, or retrograde, or debilitated.
2. The ruler of the first, or fifth, or the Moon, afflicted or much debilitated.
3. The lord of the fifth in the seventh, in reception of the ruler of the seventh.
4. The lord of the fifth separating from the lord of the second, and applying by conjunction, sextile or trine, to the lord of the eighth, or Uranus, Saturn, Mars, or South Node.
5. The Part of Fortune in the seventh, or in good aspect to the ruler of the seventh or eighth, or Uranus, Saturn or Mars in the fifth, and not the ruler.
6. The Moon in square of Jupiter or Venus, will not detriment unless she be debilitated.
7. The South Node in the first, second, fifth, or twelfth house.

“If you find equal testimonies, judge the most powerful significators win; but if there happen to be more of the one than the other, always decide in all questions, in favor of the greater number of reasons or testimonies.”

Later on, Simonnite includes a short section on whether the lottery or raffle ticket is a winner. Those rules are as follows:

“Will a ticket in a lottery be a blank or a prize?”

These rules (p 99) are fine as far as they go, though it’s probably best to apply them *before* purchasing said ticket. Otherwise, one can just wait for the drawing without casting a horary.

1. The Part of Fortune well-aspected, and its dispositor in a good aspect, and the ruler of the first and the Moon well dignified and well-aspected, there is no doubt of the ticket being a prize.
2. The Part of Fortune in the tenth, or many planets dignified in angles, and the Moon at the same time unafflicted and in good aspect to the Sun, these portend a chance of success.
3. If the ruler of the first, second, Part of Fortune, and the Moon be in affliction in any way, then loss; and you may safely predict the ticket being drawn a blank. I more generally take the fifth house for these things, the same as in horse racing, etc.