A simple yet effective demonstration of timing techniques in an everyday situation.

Alongside my work as an astrologer is my parallel career as an inventory planner with a well-known American clothing retailer. On this particular Wednesday I was heading into work, my mind preoccupied with all the things needed doing as I prepared for a major milestone meeting on Thursday.

At 9:03am, I received an email notification that all network connectivity was down at my workplace. We were without internet and, if that wasn’t tough enough, unable to access any file stored on a network drive. One friend commented that it felt like the equivalent of a corporate “snow day” — what we needed to do any and all aspects of our job was inaccessible.

I work for a company with multiple brands in its portfolio, and our sister offices weren’t impacted with connectivity issues. Was it worth trekking across town to camp out at another office? While we’d be able to access the internet in these sister offices, our access to network drives would remain unreliable at best, and we’d have none of our standard resources.

The 9:03am email clearly stated that there was no estimated time of resolution. I wanted to know — is it better to wait out the network connectivity storm at my main office, or is it a better choice to temporarily relocate to another office?

There are, undoubtedly, a number of ways to tackle this situation astrologically. The angle I took was one of timing. I wanted to determine when network connectivity would be restored, using very basic timing techniques. If the chart led me to believe that connectivity would return by 11am, I would remain at my primary office. If connectivity appeared to return later than 11am, I was inclined to either temporarily relocate my working space or — if it was looking truly grim — head home for the day.

I set the chart for the timestamp on the email from corporate operations. My immediate focus was on the Moon and the angles of the chart.

When timing with horary and event charts, what we look for are symbolic units of time that, when played forward in appropriate measure, correspond with real-time transits. What I noticed was a recurring factor of four. There were four degrees (nearly five) between the Moon and Mercury, the two bodies charged with symbolism of communication, and Mercury was just under four degrees from exiting his sign of detriment. Venus, the 10th-ruler (thereby showing issues relating to the workplace) was just under four degrees shy of a square to the 10th house cusp. The MC itself, at 25° Libra, was just over four degrees away from changing signs.

I have my base symbolic measurement of four units of time. But are we talking, days? Hours?

It seemed unlikely to me that this would take four days to resolve, especially given the cardinal angles (known to hasten timelines) and 10th-ruler Venus moving swiftly to her square with the MC. Four hours seemed the most likely time of resolution. I took a look at the position of the planets four hours forward, at 1:03pm, and saw that the 3rd house cusp of the event chart (21° Pisces) would be nearly on the ascendant, which was significant to me given the 3rd house’s connections to communication technologies. I also found that the Moon/Mercury conjunction would be culminating on the midheaven. Those arguments were clear enough indications for me. I immediately texted my team to take bets on when the issue would be resolved, and I put my hat in for 1pm. (Everyone had their guess; some said by noon, some said by 3pm.) We agreed that it was far more likely to be resolved in the afternoon than morning, and while it was massively inconvenient, it was better to relocate for the day as we could always return to our office in the afternoon if my prediction was right.

At 1:08pm, we received an email from our IT department confirming that the network was brought back online. The exact degree of the event chart’s 3rd house cusp — 21° Pisces — was then rising, and the Moon/Mercury conjunction was, as noted above, dominating the chart on the 10th house cusp. Further, Venus was in a very close sextile to the ascendant, only 1° separated.

Working through some personal issues? Looking for a solution, but coming up short? Consider a horary astrological consultation, a time-tested technique that treats astrological signatures as a divinatory oracle. Click here for information about consultations with Wade Caves, the author of this article.