Astrology has many uses leading to multiple categories of astrological practice. First and foremost is the personal birth chart, cast for the date, time, and location of someone’s birth. You can cast a chart for a specific question at a certain moment in time, on a certain day, in a certain location; this practice is Horary astrology. Synastry is relationship astrology when you look at two charts of two people in relation to one another (romance, friendship, family, and so on).
Astrocartography is the casting of a chart for relocation, using your birth date and time and the new location as the “birthplace”. This branch of astrology also looks at energy lines moving from your place of birth around the globe on a world map to determine how energy affects you in different locations. Mundane astrology casts charts for world events, such as a natural disaster or release of new technology. Finally, Electional astrology looks forward to dates that will produce a chart conducive to the desired goal.
This article will look at the Electional astrology and how to determine the best date and location for a wedding.
In the business of astrology, timing trumps everything else. The charts of two people can, on paper, look spectacular, but if the timing is off or wrong, timing will win out, always. Unfortunately, in our current era, we have mostly lost touch with one of astrology’s most powerful tools, choosing a date to imbue a goal or event with a certain energy to support the success of the goal.
As an ordained Priest of the Order of Melchizedek, I officiate weddings. As a professional astrologer, I encourage clients to let me work on finding the best date and time and location for their ceremony. The ideal wedding, for me as an astrologer, is one where there is no geographical limit and at least a year of time to work with. Realistically, this situation is very rare, especially with regard to “any” location.
Since the vast majority of people must choose the location where they currently live or someplace nearby, the date and time are the most significant considerations. And it is not simply a matter of choosing the date of the wedding as an isolated process. The event of the wedding is a birth chart, and that chart needs to connect well with both individuals getting married.
It is possible that a “good date” could be great for one person, but energetically problematic for the other person. So, finding the right date is a process designed around three charts: the date of the wedding and the birth charts of person one and person two.
Since a chart is made up of 12 segments (known as Houses), and the signs associated with each House get assigned based on the time the Sun crosses the horizon on a given day at a certain time, I can place the Sun in any House by setting the time of the ceremony. Each House and Sign will set the tone of the marriage and the couple can work with me to determine where they want the Sun to shine on their marriage.
There is a House specific to marriage, the 7th. If you wanted the Sun to shine in that House, we would select a time just before sunset. The Ascendant and Descendant in a chart image represent the horizon line on a given day. Below, you will see two charts, one for a sunrise wedding and one for a sunset wedding.
Starting around March 21st of each year you can choose to have an Aries wedding. Around the 21st of the following month, April, you can select a Taurus wedding (like the two charts above). Each year a sign can begin as early as the 20th or as late as the 22nd; these would be “cusp” weddings since you would be choosing to marry just at the end of a sign or just at the beginning of one. What does it mean to shine a light on a sign for your wedding, below is the quick list:
Based on the time of day, you can determine which House the Sun will illuminate on the day of your wedding. Keep in mind, you may have to choose a strange time that will make the ceremonial wedding hard to pull off even though you can do the legal wedding any time you can get the officiant and 2 witnesses to join you. More about this solution in the next section.
I will use May 12, 2020, in Durham, North Carolina:
Most of the time the legal and ceremonial wedding are the same. However, if you look at the times for the House placements of the Sun above, you will see that that getting a 3rd to 5th House placement would be rather prohibitive for the ceremony, but not the legal binding. In fact, I have worked couples who wanted to get one of the very early morning House placements for the legal wedding and schedule the ceremony on a completely different day, at a time more in line with gathering people together.
Choosing to be conscious about your wedding day in terms of astrology can help you “birth” your journey together in such a way that it infuses the marriage with dynamic energy aligned with your individual charts and your goals, both as a couple and as individuals. There is certainly much more to consider than the Sun, but this article should provide a taste of what’s possible “electing” to choose your wedding date based on astrology.
