Who is who in the chart
Horary astrology casts a chart for the moment a question is asked and reads it by the rules of traditional astrology. A question about another person’s feelings is a question about two people, so it needs two houses. The 1st house is you, the querent, and the planet that rules the sign on its cusp is your significator. The Moon is your co-significator in every chart. The 7th house is the other person: a partner, a date, a crush or an open rival, anyone you deal with one to one. The planet that rules the sign on the 7th cusp stands for them, whatever the genders involved. See the houses and significators sections of the guide for how the rulers are found.
Once you know which planet is you and which is him, the rest of the reading is about how those two planets relate: where each one stands, what each one is in, and whether they are moving toward each other.
Reception: where feelings show
In traditional astrology a planet standing in a sign that another planet rules, or is exalted in, is in that planet’s care. Lilly’s rule of thumb is that the planet in another’s dignity is affected toward it: it is drawn to the ruler of the place where it stands. That is the guest’s side of reception, the liking this question asks about; the host’s side, the ruler’s inclination to help the planet in its sign, is the sense other questions use for help and goodwill. So if his significator is in a sign your significator rules or is exalted in, he is well disposed toward you. If yours is in his, you are drawn to him. When each is in the other’s sign, the reception is mutual and the feeling runs both ways.
Reception shows feeling; it does not show action. Two people can like each other and never do anything about it. Action shows as an applying aspect between the two significators: a conjunction, sextile or trine is the easy road, a square or opposition gets there with friction. It must perfect before either planet leaves its sign. Reception with an aspect is the best case: the feeling is there, and something comes of it. An aspect without reception is contact without much warmth, such as meeting someone you are indifferent to. The aspects and condition sections of the guide explain both ideas in more detail.
The Moon adds a second line of evidence. As your co-significator, she shows where your attention is going, and if she leaves his significator and goes on to yours, she carries his light to you, a translation of light that joins the two of you.
Signs of interest and of indifference
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| His significator in a sign your significator rules or is exalted in | He likes you: he is drawn toward you |
| Each significator in the other’s sign (mutual reception) | The feeling runs both ways |
| Your significator in his sign, but not the other way round | One-sided: you like him more than he likes you |
| His significator in a sign where yours is in detriment or fall | Dislike or disregard |
| An applying aspect between the two significators | Something happens between you: a message, a meeting, a move |
| No aspect and no reception | There is little between you |
| His significator combust, close to the Sun | He is hidden or distracted, or not yet aware of you |
What the chart can’t tell you
A horary chart describes a situation at the moment you ask. It does not override the other person’s free will, and it is not a reason to press anyone who has not shown interest. If the chart says he likes you, that is still not consent to anything, and if it says he does not, it is not a judgment of your worth. People change, and so do the questions worth asking. Use the reading for reflection, not as a script for how someone else must behave. The limits section of the guide says more about what horary can and cannot do.
How AstroGPT reads it
AstroGPT, the app behind this site, does the same thing for your own question. It casts a chart for the moment you ask, at your phone’s location, in Western mode with Equal houses, and a language model writes the reading by the traditional rules above. The chart is kept for 60 minutes, so you can ask follow-up questions in the same chat against the same chart; after that a new chat casts a new one. The example below is a real chart and the answer AstroGPT gave for it. It is a reading for reflection and entertainment, and it can be wrong, like any astrologer’s.