← Encyclopedia of Astrology · lesson 122/235
Void of course
What it means
A planet is void of course when it has made its last major aspect in the sign it occupies and will make no other before it moves into the next sign. Lilly's definition is the classic one: a planet is void of course "when he is separated from a Planet, nor doth forthwith during his being in that Signe, apply to any other". The phrase can apply to any planet, but in practice it is almost always used of the Moon, because she moves fastest and her void spells come round every couple of days.
The aspects that count are the five Ptolemaic ones: conjunction, sextile, square, trine and opposition.
Traditional and modern definitions
Astrologers do not all draw the line in the same place.
- Modern practice measures the Moon's last exact aspect to the Sun and to every planet from Mercury to Pluto. From that moment until she enters the next sign, she is void.
- Traditional practice uses only the seven visible bodies, Sun to Saturn, so the Moon can be void in this reckoning when a modern calendar would still show an aspect to Uranus, Neptune or Pluto.
- Lilly also allowed for the orbs of the planets, so a Moon that would come within orb of an aspect, even if not exact, was not quite void.
- Some Hellenistic authors used a different test altogether: whether the Moon would meet any planet within the next 30 degrees, regardless of the sign boundary.
A void spell can last from a few minutes to a day or more, depending on where the Moon's last aspect fell.
How it is read
In horary and electional astrology this matters most. Among Lilly's considerations before judgement, a void Moon warns that, traditionally, little or nothing comes of the matter: the question may resolve of its own accord, or the plan may not take. For choosing a moment to begin something, many astrologers avoid a void Moon for launches, signings and first meetings, while finding it a good time for rest, routine and finishing what is already under way.
In a birth chart, deVore wrote that a void Moon "denies fruition to much of the good otherwise promised", while James Lewis gathers modern studies suggesting roughly one person in twelve is born with the Moon void. Modern astrologers tend to read it more gently: a person who moves by instinct, who may not need a clear destination to act, or who achieves things in unexpected ways once the Moon's sign changes by progression.
There is a well-known exception. Lilly held that a void Moon in Taurus, Cancer, Sagittarius or Pisces — signs where she is dignified or comfortable — can still perform something.
In the almanac
The Almanac's Moon panel shows when the Moon is void of course, from her last major aspect until she enters the next sign, and the rules it gives for beginnings, contracts and other elections leave those hours out.